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princess-from-another-galaxy · 4 months

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Finale!! Let’s go!! (Gonna write as I watch)

1)The scene with Luke was so cute but also a little creepy. What was up with that?? Also!! The initial narration of episode 1 is Percy quoting Luke?!?! My heart, I love them so much 🥺

2)Omg!! The fight was good af! Did... did Walker's eyes change color???? Not Ares trying to kill them with his " true form" as a last resort, sore loser.

3) mom??? Bro, you just saw her statue in the Underworld.... holy shit!!! Mrs. Dodds!!! The helm looks cool af ngl. Percy is so cool, like damn. Oh, yeah, the deadline passed, which means Poseidon & Zeus are definitely at war!!! That's what started WW2?!?! Gods being petty bitches... damn... He's done running from monsters 😭 (I love the implication that Zeus is a monster. You're right and you should say it.) Annabeth gave him her necklace 😭😭😭, that's so cute. An email, Grover 😂😂

4) That's one way to get Zeus's attention, damn. Just dropped the bolt in front if the doorman 😂😂. What do mortals see when they see the bolt??

5) Olympus looks cool af!! Oh, Luke & Percy again! Annabeth is terrified of spiders! Things that are small and scary get squished. Oh Luke is in his big brother mentor era!! Love to see it!

6) the council room!! The thrones look cool af, I can't wait to see all of the God's sitting on it! Oh, I have no idea how they're going to replace the actor, he is perfect as Zeus!! Yes!! Read him to filth Percy!!!! Holy shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Poseidon surrended for Percy 😭😭😭😭, I'm- Oh, Toby Stephens always eat. Omg!!! They're speaking Greek!! Is it Greek Greek or ancient Greek. Does anyone speak ancient Greek. Everyone?? What are Apollo, Artemis, Dionysus, and Demeter??? 😭

7) Percy and Poseidon!! Omg! Patrus 😭😭. Poseidon's smile about Sally... Bro... Ares is a moron 😂😂 (they've done the family vibe of the Olympians so well! 😂). Answer the question, Poseidon!!! Do you dream about her!?!?!

8) I wonder if thet planted that tree specifically to be Thalia's tree or if they just found a cool tree they liked lol. They hugged!! Holy shit, Clarisse is still here??? What is happening?!?!?

9) Luke being a responsible leader! We stan!! Annabeth being all cool, I see her!

10) fireworks! So cool!! The mommy issues in Luke are through the roof. Wait does Luke look like he's crying?? Wait what??? What do you mean she didn't???? Wait what?!?! Wtf. Luke?!?! No. LUKE SAY SOMEGHING! NOT THAT!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!?! HOLY SHIT. IM CRYING. NO.

Oh, he's making some good points. This are some valid points. Episode 1 Percy would be eating this up ngl. I mean, not to be a bitch, but like... Luke sounds like those girls that have been groomed... all like "he loves me! He's gonna take care of me!" Like... are you sure???

Are they trying their best Percy?? Are they really?? I'm not an expert, but maybe don't mention his dad to the kid you know has daddy issues, if you don't want him to kill you, just a thought. I kinda of want Percy to say he's and go apeshit on the Gods ngl. He apologized for hurting Luke 😭😭😭. Wait, what??? Annabeth!! No!! 😭😭😭 she heard everything, Luke's face, my heart 😭😭😭 I was not ready for all of this emotion

11) Armed escort lol. He doesn't want you dead, he wants you next to him. Very persuasive... sounds manipulative to me.... Mr D! He's funny af. I'm 90% sure it's Peter😂. I don't think so 😂. Kicking them all out, I can't, bro...

12) Annabeth is going to see her dad?!?! Omg her hair looks so cute!! Her talking to Thalia's tree is cute. Her dad is taking her to Disney world 😭😭. Percy telling her to be a kid 😭😭😭 Grover is gonna search for Pan!! Percy is gonna help him search the seas!! (The next one is called sea of monsters right?? Maybe that's the "main quest"???) The hug!!! 😭

13) I hadn't realized it earlier, the beach is Montauk!! Where his mom went missing! It's the beach house they came to. She's here!!!! Look at her!!!! 😭😭 hugging her baby boy 😭😭wait what??? No, Sally!! Where are you?!?! Wait, is that kronos?!?!??!?!?!?!?!? Is he sassying time itself?!?!!?! Bro.... 😭😂😭😂😂 what does he mean?!?!?! What?!?!

14) Sally!!!!!! She's here!!! The fact that he's only just starting 7th grade is wild... he's baby. Percy calling Kronos grandpa, I can't 😂😂. Sally is done with Percy's shit , I can't. "Kronos, Lord of the Titans, said that?" I love her 😂

15) blue pancakes?? They look good af ngl. It's a storm!! Poseidon is also there for Percy's first day of school 🥺. Didn't percy have a step-dad?? The asshole one? What happened to him??

16) oh, there he is. What an asshole. Sally changed the locks 😂. Good for her!! What a dick. Wait.. is that.... is that Medusa??? Omg! Holy shit!! That's hilarious!! 😂😂 good riddance!!!

I have no words. I need a new season now!!! This was by far my new favorite episode!! I love this so much!!! I'm heart broken. I need more!!!

#pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #luke castellan #poseidon #zeus #ares #olympians #clarisse la rue #sally jackson #i am so broken #like.... i have no words #i am heart broken #my baby luke... I'm.... i need 3 to 5 business weeks to recover #disney #percy jackson show

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pjohoo-reclists · 9 months

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30k+ Completed Percy - Centric Fic Recs

Request: Anyone have any good, long, finished stories that focus on Percy? Really any variation, other than him killing everyone. No Percy/Nico, Percy/Jason or Percy/Rachel.

Here's a few. Just a heads up, a couple of these fics are completed but their series aren't. Posted 11/8/23. Enjoy!

I am not what I expected (The poison just didn't take) by dcninja for Sappho_of_Space

M | 30k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Hermes, Percy Jackson & Hades, Percy Jackson & Poseidon, Percy Jackson & Kymopoleia

Post Second Giant War, Powerful Percy Jackson, Ascension, Hermes is a good friend

After the War against Gaea, Percy finds himself struggling in the life he worked so hard to get back to. The more he tries to fit back in, pushing down his powers and emotions after the war, the more things seem to fall apart. As Olympus prepares to officially reopen at the Winter Solstice, Hermes takes notice that something is off with the Savior of Olympus. But when he asked for help from Hades, none of them could imagine what Percy’s trip to the Pit led to and what it will mean for the hero. Or Percy finally reckons with the consequences of challenging Akhlys with a little help from his immortal family, who he might be around for a lot longer than he thought.

Of Gods and Men by plottingalong

T | 40k | Complete

Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Paul Blofis/Sally Jackson, Paul Blofis & Percy Jackson

Post-Tartarus, Immortal Percy Jackson, Sad Percy Jackson

The order of things are changing. Old rules are shifting, old gods awakening. Percy Jackson must come to terms with his own mortality, or rather, the lack of it.

Trading Tomorrow by Darkmagyk, loosingletters

T | 44k | Complete

Luke Castellan/Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson

Time travel fix it, Luke Castellan Redemption, Childhood Trauma

Percy Jackson arrives at Camp Half-Blood bruised and bleeding, with the knowledge that he's the son of a god and his mother is dead. His little display with the Minotaur has caught the attention of the camp. But he’s not sure it is good attention, yet. Only the Hermes Cabin's not-quite Co-counselor Theseus, ‘call me Theo,’ doesn't treat him like a fascinating zoo exhibit. Which would be a relief, except he looks exactly like Percy: same green eyes, same trouble making smile, same black hair. The only differences are the fact that Theo is six years older, covered in battle scars, and the black tattoo on his arm. A trident and the letters SPQR. Theo is eighteen, powerful, and unclaimed. And his resemblance to Percy could set a dangerous precedent.

We shall meet again in the morning sun by iwillpassthis

T | 55k | Complete

Percy Jackson, Chiron, Gods and Goddesses (Percy Jackson)

Time Travel, Ancient Greece, Post-Canon

Percy is eighteen when the gods disappear. Percy is not even born when he has to save them. OR Of Percy's journey to Ancient Greece. Saving the world is a trial and error process isn't it?

Bloodlines by peachsocks

T | 61k | Complete

Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo & Thalia Grace & Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus), Angst with a Happy Ending

After a year of avoiding Camp Half-Blood (and his friends, and everyone, and everything) in the aftermath the Giant War, Percy returns. He quickly realizes that the gods never change, running from the past never works, and family is the one thing that might make all of the nonsense worth it.

Camera Shutters by nlpiersee

T | 66k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Apollo, Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood

Post Trials of Apollo, Coping, Moving on, Percy opens up

Percy is working in a cafe, living that demi-god college life. Or trying to. He's still not certain what he's going to school for just yet, but he's enjoying the swim team and being able to see his friends in a place he doesn't really have to worry about monsters. But he catches the attention of a photographer who thinks that Percy is what the world needs to see. And since Percy is impulsive, he decides, why not?

Fishing in Alaska by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

G | 112k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson & Triton, Percy Jackson & Poseidon

Family Feels, PTSD, Triton is a Good Sibling

[Note: fic was deleted from ao3. Link is to a google drive copy. The hassle is worth it].

"This... this would qualify as a mental breakdown right?" Triton asked, frowning over his shoulder to where Percy was still fuming gin the corner. The lady at the counter curiously glanced over before lifting a questioning brow. "My brother - half brother, technically, I have much better breeding - decided to run away from home to where our father can't reach him and now he won't leave. And now I can't leave unless he leaves," Triton continued. Percy opened his mouth to object that wasn't what happened at all, but the tyrant only waved a hand to silence him. "He's seen war or whatever, so if you could maybe just drug him and I'll throw him into a suitcase and we can be out of here by the Summer Solstice!" Silence. Finally, the woman cleared her throat and turned to Percy. "I'm guessing he's the one you want checked into the metal hospital?" She asked. Triton gasped as Percy punched the air in victory. "Aha!" Or Getting in trouble works a little differently when your parent is an all-powerful god. Sometimes you have to escape to the land beyond gods and get your immortal brother turned human to drag you back so you can be exploded into a million pieces. You know, normal teenage stuff.

Hold Tight and Pretend It's a Plan by Rynna_Aurelius

M | 112k | Complete

Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson (Past), Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson & Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson & Triton

Time Travel fix it, Dysfunctional Family, BAMF Percy Jackson

Olympus has fallen. The second Gigantomachy has ended far differently than the first, and in Gaea's triumph, the world has been torn apart. But the Fates have seen what ends their failed meddling have brought, look on at the dead—and undo what should never have happened the only way they possibly can. Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, is returned to his twelve-year-old self, memories intact and determined to save everyone he can. But he is not alone. The Moirai underestimated the strength of the Lord of Time when stealing his power, and there is something about this particular demigod brat that intrigues him. . . Perseus Jackson came roaring to life with a violent gasp, green eyes wild. After a moment of panicked flailing and struggling to breathe, his fear-filled gaze settled upon a girl with blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, her face stern and unimpressed. "You drool in your sleep."

Stars on the Water by liketolaugh

T | 116k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Thalia Grace, Percy Jackson & Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase & Grover Underwood

Percy Jackson Goes to Therapy, Past Child Abuse, Percy Jackson Needs a Hug

"I dunno, I just think it would make a lot of things easier for a lot of people," Percy said to Thalia, when she just stared at him. His cheek rested in his hand, a rare pensive look leaving his eyes distant and unfocused. "Mom has Paul now, so it’ll be easier on her if she doesn’t have to worry about me mucking things up. Dad won’t have to keep threatening war every time Zeus gets his toga twisted. The prophecy’s done, so I won’t be bringing it down on Nico. And no one will have to worry about me blowing up another volcano."

Who Would Dare? by PunkFlame

T | 120k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Triton, Percy Jackson & Poseidon, Poseidon & Triton, Amphitrite & Percy Jackson

Extreme Medical Trauma, Prince Percy, Seafam

"Listen." Triton's voice cut through Percy’s haze "We both know you're hurt, but you don’t have to play the hero. Now let me see your damn wound." Percy nodded, opening up his stance and allowing Triton to approach him. He lifted the hem of Percy’s shirt carefully, to reveal an inch deep gash that stretched from the top of his shoulder to his upper thigh. Triton froze, eyes widening in disbelief, but he remained silent. He reached out but stopped himself just short of touching the wound. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and grave. "Tell me who did this to you... Now." ________ Triton, at Poseidon's request, goes to seek out Percy; however, he finds him on the brink of death, and brings him back to Atlantis in an attempt to save his life. What will this mean for them, what will this mean for the royal family as a whole, and who would dare to have done this in the first place?

Green Day, Aerosmith, Vitamin C (and other cliches): Stories from Senior Year by No2Ticonderoga

M | 200k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Post Heroes of Olympus, High School, Sally Jackson is a Good Parent

Percy and Annabeth navigate the second half of their senior year, sweating out their grades, avoiding hallway hoodlums and the occasional monster. And there's that constant worry that something's gone wrong out west, since nobody seems to be able to communicate with them from out there. But it's not all bad. They finally get to do some normal high school-ly things. Like prom! And graduation! Still, they've got a lot on their minds. And nosy parents. Of both the mortal and the godly variety. A mostly fluffy look at their post-BOO relationship. Cameos by lots of folks. Rated mature, because high schoolers use bad language in real life. Shocking I know. *fans self like Hazel* And they get up to things when they're alone. Also, some nightmares and post-Tartarus trauma to deal with, in later chapters. See chapters for specific content warnings.

Nothing to make a song about but kings by iwillpassthis

T | 201k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Amphitrite, Percy Jackson & Poseidon

King!Percy, Undersea politics, Atlantis

Percy knelt before Atlantis’ throne, feeling the ancient power of the sea run through his veins in an uncoordinated dance. You are the sea now, it whispered, and the sea is you. A crown of gold and emeralds was placed on his head. Long live the king. Long live the king. . It’s a fortune that Poseidon has a mortal son, because when an ancient curse hits his kingdom and all the sea gods disappear… well, someone must rule.

alone at the edge of a universe by Sarcastic_Metaphor

M | 281k | Complete

Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson & Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson & Poseidon, Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood, Nico di Angelo & Percy Jackson

Chaos!Percy, Powerful Percy Jackson, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

The sea is not unlike the abyss; it is deadly, destructive. It hides secrets in its depths and threatens even those that know it well. The sea easily swallows life with no trace left behind. The sea can be quite similar to oblivion. But when the mood strikes them, both the oceans and the abyss can be tempted to create life instead. Or, a complete AU rewrite from pre-canon through all five PJO books: Percy is born a little less human and a little more otherworldly than healthy. With powers he was never meant to have, and a third parent he never wanted, the plans that the Fates originally made for him will be torn asunder.

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cybermarsbar · 4 months

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[📍] spider gang and their godly parents !!

﹫ thread for entertainment, only. it’s just an analysis based on my vision of each cabin and their personality. don’t take anything personally.

﹫ i’ve been in the pjo book fandom for years so yea, it has nothing to do with the series (keep boycotting huh 🫵🏽).

﹫ if you disagree, i don’t wanna know /j.

ㅤ #ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⟆ ׅ ◌ ׁ 𓆩͟𓆪 ׁ ֢ ⟅ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

☀️ miles morales ; son of apollo, 7

(second option: son of athena, cabin 6)

To me it’s obvious that Miles would be the son of Apollo, the god of the sun and art. I saw some people type him as Zeus’ son but, other than his electrical powers, he doesn’t carry any characteristics of Zeus. Miles is creative, artistic & passionate; main points found in the children of Apollo. People from this cabin tend to be bright and focused on their goals like their father, while also being extremely friendly and with a strong desire to help others. Apollo’s kids are driven by their artistic passion (whatever that may be) and, in Miles’ case, it’s his love for graffiti. He’s fearless, confident and loves expressing himself through his art, not being afraid to be who he is and much less accepting people determining how he should act. Miles likes freedom and is emotionally driven by his own morals and ideas for his future. Also being inclined towards protective behavior towards his loved ones.

⚖️ margo kess ; daughter of athena, 6

(second option: doesn’t have)

This girl gives Annabeth’s vibes and I’m not going against it, ya feel me? Athena’s children are responsible, intelligent and organized, and a good example of this comes from how Margo has an important position within the Spider Society – a position given by Miguel himself, who we know is strict when recruiting spideys (poor miles). Margo has a sharp mind, making the right decisions under pressure and certainly having diligence for knowledge since coming from a universe like hers where everything is technology – she’s in fact very practical, determined and confident about her abilities.

🏹 gwen stacy ; hunter of artemis, 8

(second option: daughter of nemesis, cabin 16)

I know what many will say now, “Gwen is Athena’s daughter!” but nuh huh. This girl definitely has nothing to do with the goddess of strategy. There’s a difference between wisdom & intelligence, and Gwen isn’t wise (at least not most of the time). She’s strongly driven by her personal ideas, her own sense of justice. Gwen doesn’t think before acting, unless the situation calls for it, because her original instinct is impulsiveness. Atsv shows this well, although not as much as I’d like. Gwen is extremely emotional, her feelings and how she feels are her pillars, and with that I have no doubt that she’d be a hunter of Artemis. Loyalty, courage, boldness, wit and a strong desire to protect those she loves because of the fear of losing them; all this compose her character.

🌪️ hobie brown ; son of hermes, 11

(second option: doesn’t have)

Hermes is the jack-off-all trades and the master of many! His children are cunning and resourceful, and who’s more resourceful than Hobie himself? He’s the perceptive one in his group of friends, the one who observes everything and keeps important information. Children of Hermes also have comedian and prankster tendencies, and these characteristics are so obvious when Hobie mocks Peter B’s arising or Miguel’s anger at not being able to ignore him. He disregards rules, doesn’t fear authority figures, and encourages originality and recklessness. Like, this punk guy stole technology from the Spider Society and made his own watch, he’s the epitome of “doing things in my way” and no wonder he and Miles get along so well in the end 😭 Hermes & Apollo are befriends.

🪷 pavitr prabhakar ; son of iris, 14

(second option: son of hebe, cabin 18)

SON OF THE RAINBOW GODDESS, YES! Iris’ children add color to people’s lives. They are independent, careful, friendly and natural confidants. Pav is the representation of Iris’s harmony and peacefulness, having a free spirit, living on his own terms and caring for those he loves. His individuality is what attracts the most attention and he ain’t afraid to defend what he believes in! One fact that I love about Pav is that he canonically helps stray dogs, which reminds me of the connection that children of Iris have with nature and animals in general. Despite my second choice in his godly parent, I have no doubt that he IS her son – the popular good character that everyone loves and is super charismatic and high spirits.

ㅤ # ㅤ／ㅤㅤbonus characters.

⚙️ miles g ; son of hephaestus, 9

(second option: song of hades, cabin 13)

I know, I know. You guys thought of Hades for Miles G and I don’t blame y’all. It was also my first option while analyzing him. But thinking about it further, Hephaestus has a lot more to do with 42 and that’s brilliant. Children of Hephaestus are hard-working and resourceful, but they are also kind and helpful. Feelings are difficult for them, and their interactions are often mission impossible, but they do their best. I’ve already said here that to me, Miles G is just a little more reclusive and introspective, but nothing denies me that he continues to have the same playful behavior as 1610 – the only difference is who he directs this behavior towards. Probably shy, but doesn’t show it. Still, he has all the stubbornness and temper of his father, and he needs that when he’s The Prowler.

💞 gayatri singh ; daughter of aphrodite, 10

(second option: doesn’t have)

Who better to be Gayatri’s godly parent than the goddess of love, beauty and passion? Unfortunately, Gayatri didn’t have enough screen time to me to talk as much about her as I did with the others, but from what little we had I know this girl has a kind and loving nature, seeing the best in others (the perfect match for Pav, I love them!) Children of Aphrodite are empathetic, gracious, and often the advisors of their friends. They tend to talk about feelings and teach emotional intelligence and empathy – Gayatri seems to be all of that. Not to mention she’s so beautiful! No wonder she’s canonically a model, a common career for Aphrodite’s children.

🌙 E-42 tiana toomes ; daughter of hecate, 20

(second option: doesn’t have)

I could never leave my girl out because I love her and for me, Tiana exists on earth 42 (and this drawing of her was done by an oomfie of mine). Hecate is the goddess of magic, her children are described as kind and helpful, but incredibly calculated and mysterious. To me it suits her so much, because I imagine 42 Tiana as a stubborn but intelligent and independent teenage girl. She does what she wants and doesn’t care about other people’s thoughts. 42 Tiana is firm in her values, her worldview is unique and can be frightening to others, but she ain’t afraid to achieve her goals. Hecate also represents a greater connection with our femininity.

🔱 ganke lee ; son of poseidon, 3

(second option: doesn’t have)

It was extremely difficult for me to determine Ganke’s Olympian parent 💀. But I finally came to a conclusion and I feel like he’s definitely my half brother lol. Another character who doesn’t have much to talk about, but taking into account his personality in the comics and his somewhat sassy attitude, I feel that Poseidon is a good option. Ganke is helpful and well-intentioned, and his dedication to his friendship with Miles reminds me a little of Percy & Grover. I like my choice, because Miles admires him a lot and that’s an effect that most of Poseidon’s children have on people.

🥊 em jay watson ; daughter of ares, 5

(second option: doesn’t have)

“you’ve got an ego and a temper, but you’re a good person.” There’s no better phrase than that to describe a daughter of Ares. I know some will stay ?? since Ares is the god of war, but trust me when I say that not all his children are bad. Anyway, Em Jay reminds me a lot of Clarisse, and that alone makes me sure that there’s no other cabin for her other than Ares. Even though atsv doesn’t have any content about her (or about The Mary Janes), I decided to take her canonical personality from the Spider-Gwen comics into consideration to add her here. Em Jay is arrogant, temperamental and self-centered; she’s impulsive and not afraid of the consequences, no wonder she and Gwen are always racking their brains when they’re alone for more than five minutes. She has all the determination and extremely short fuse of a typical children of Ares, always looking for a fight or someone to blame for things (poor Gwen). Still, Em Jay is loyal and protective, but only with those she truly cares about – which is another strong characteristic in her, although this can create problems as her lack of empathy with other people becomes very obvious. I have no doubt that she’s his legitimate daughter.

🌆 glory grant ; daughter of nyx, 27

(second option: doesn’t have)

Only those who really like pjo (or Greek mythology at all) know who Nyx is, and I ain’t going to lie that it took me a long time to think about Glory’s cabin since none of the other 20 seemed to match with her. Well, Nyx doesn’t have a cabin in canon either (not that I remember), but I like to think she does so here we are. In my little mind the children of Nyx are quiet but authoritative. They don’t realize when they’re being bossy. They don’t like little jokes, they appreciate silence and are always putting reason before emotion. For me, E-65 Glory is exactly like that. Maybe my memory is weak 😭 but Glory has always been the voice of reason between The Mary Janes, the most serious of all and the one that keeps Em Jay and Gwen from killing each other. I think that’s why Nyx seems like a good choice, since she’s like a mother, and the only one who can truly scare even Zeus.

💤 betty brant ; daughter of hypnos, 15

(second option: doesn’t have)

Quiet and calm. That’s the feeling that E-65 Betty from atsv gives me, although in the comics she’s not exactly like that. But as this is a hc then she’s the daughter of Hypnos, the god of sleep. People in this cabin are wise, but inattentive and detached from their surroundings, that person who doesn’t see something that’s right under their nose because they’re too busy concentrating on a specific spot in the corner of the room. Betty seems to be a fun procrastinator, who makes difficult jokes, but who still gets a laugh from her friends not because the joke was good, but because the way she tells it ends up being funny. Children of Hypnos have a very small group of friends, they’re generally slow minds, but good listeners and a comic relief. They’ve a calming influence on people.

ㅤ #ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⟆ ׅ ◌ ׁ 𓆩͟𓆪 ׁ ֢ ⟅ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

๑ I posted this thread on my Twitter @/cybermarsbar, but I’m posting it here too since Tumblr gives me better freedom when writing. Not to mention it was an opportunity to write something for my girls, The Mary Janes, as we have very little content about them 😞🤞🏽.

๑ Sorry for any mistakes. English ain’t my first language so I make grammar typos. If you see any, let me know, please! xoxo

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myburntwritings · 7 months

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Day 7: Fav character

Oh my Gods, why would you do this to me? Am I really only meant to pick one? Actually, I just saw day 11, and that one's going to be even more difficult. Okay, favourite character.

It's got to be Apollo.

There are some tough contenders for second place, but I think Apollo has to take that top spot. Apollo was the character I was most excited to see when I read about the show before attending. He was the one I desperately wanted to see his full story. As time went on, he became my most followed character, and the character I went to when I didn't know what I wanted to do.

I always knew I would have an amazing time following Apollo. The performers (especially cast 2 primaries Georges Hann and Seirian Griffiths) were so unbelievably talented in the mixture of chaotic emotions and behaviour of this version of Apollo, that I would be taken on a complete journey each and every time.

There were so many complex emotions in Apollo's loop. There were times I came out of that loop wondering why I still liked Apollo, since he can be abusive and controlling. He can be petty and violently reactive. There can sometimes be an element of

as he torments Cassandra as the Greeks are invading.

But then I'd see the way Georges Hann's Apollo stares longingly at Cassandra as she ascends the staircase after Agamemnon, and I would forgive him everything.

There was so much creativity that went into the creation and further development of Apollo throughout the run. Being divine, Apollo's ability and freedom to see the audience around him and play with them became something truly special. From Georges hand-on-shoulder walk to Mycenae, to the pop-out-from-behind-the-door during the Zagreus chase, to the Seirian Griffiths' hug in the light square, and later in the back streets of Troy, to Georges' hand-hold from above the door at reset... The performers were able to add in such beautiful and personal moments for their followers.

You'd think, following Apollo the number of times I did (and it was a lot) that the emotions of his loop wouldn't hit me as hard. That wasn't the case. In fact, sometimes it was so much worse as I delved deeper into the emotional undercurrent of the loop.

There was a show I followed Apollo in loop 3. It was Seirian's Apollo, and as he broke down leaving the Tenement Square after cursing Cassandra, as he silently screamed and cradled himself against the wall in the corridor, I promptly burst into tears.

The Apollo/Cassandra tryptic of dances is beautiful. There is enough emotion and beauty and devastation in those three dances alone to make it the entire story if you wanted. It's a fast, varied, and emotionally changing performance from both sides.

I know why I started crying, but that's not something I'm going to share here at this time. But the point is that I sobbed. I had tears streaming down my face under my mask until Apollo disappeared into the 2:1 with Zagreus and I finally had a few minutes to properly clean myself up.

I followed Apollo out of the 2:1 over to Mycenae (before the Apollo/Zagreus chase came into the choreography) and seeing him dance in the light square, I was promptly sobbing again. And then, suddenly, Apollo was stretching towards me, pulling me into a hug in this square of light he had found.

This precious square of light in amongst all of the darkness. He had forgotten the lighter parts of himself in amongst all of this darkness and trauma.

I was sobbing on and off through the rest of the loop, even as we went to Peep for Blue Monday. I was a mess.

That's somewhat besides the point. But the end result was that sometimes the characters we love the most are the ones that break us. They're only able to do that because we love them so much. We have made that emotional connection, however it came, and we cherish it.

Well, I cherish Apollo's ability to break me into pieces. I'm not sure what that says about me.

Plus, after a friend laughed that Georges Hann's portrayal of Apollo was basically Pegasus from Disney's Hercules, I couldn't stop seeing that, and I loved it!

#the burnt city #punchdrunk #immersive theatre #greek mythology #greek myth retelling #tbc #Apollo #tbc 30 day challenge

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ramrodd · 5 months

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COMMENTARY:

You and I are very much alike I I hope to enrich your method by restoring Hegel to your narrative, the Historic Gestalt of the academic before the imposition of the Post Modern Historic Deconstruction by the liberal victors of the anti-war draft dodgers of the Students for a Democratic Society's take over of Columbia University in 1969 and initiated the liberal Politically Correct cancel culture that persists on American campuses currently, They are opposed by the Nazification agenda of the MAGA January 6 insurgency.

I don't have much use for Paul. I'm an Army brat and I am a deist of the George Washington Angleton tradition, Cornelius was the abiding spirit of the Chapel I was confirmed in and eulogized my mon and dad, Being a deist meant rejecting the enthusiasms of Calvinism and all things Cromwell, which translates in this time and place to the January 6 revolt and, in 1968, the SDS.

The thing is, the Jesus Seminar comes out of that campus radical tradition of the US Campus. I did Hootnannies in High School and sang Masters of War at a couple of coffee houses around campus while in ROTC. I was cheek to jowl with both the SDS and the YAF, William F. Buckley's on campus Brown Shirts, The rhetoric from both sides is like fingernails on a chalk board for me and that's all I am haring from the MAGA Conservatives and the Jesus Seminar,

here's the thing: the Jesus Seminar has high jacked Paul for their political purposes by literally corrupting the text of the Gospels and various sacraments in order to prove the Jesus didn't exist and it all starts with the Dead Sea Scroll and Paul.

For the Italian Regiment of the Praetorian Guards, Romans 13:1 - 7 is divine validation of their function in the Roman Republic and the prototype for humanity, that makes the connection between the Pyramids and Apollo 11. And it goes right through the Corss.

From the Roman point of view, the rest of it is Jewish eye wash. For me, Romans 5 - 8 is Jewish gobbelty gook that gave riset to the punch line "I'm not arguing: I'm Jewish".

However, the thing that you have led me to understand that it is all about becoming a person and Jesus is all about individuation, IN this respect, Carl Roger's "Becoming a Person" is a variation of Romans 5 - 8. The complexity of the argument is like a parable that needs to be consumed and considered until one can grok it in fullness. For the Romans, and for me, everything in that is conveyed by the Bread and Wine of Melchizedek and the Last Supper..

Paul has a certain erotic appeal to women that is unavailable to me, This erotic quality is important to Calvinists because sexual arousal is construed as the Holy Spirit when, in fact" it is the Spirit of God feeding on the emotional emanations of the collective id. This sexual arousal is essential to the cohesion of the MAGA insurgency> Trump's polling is measuring his sex appeal and the epistles of Paul amplify those rating,

Understanding your understanding of Paul through Hegel and Kant instead of just your tried and true dialectical idealism will will crown your career. Jesus is the harmonizing figure of the Phenomenology of Spirit and everything else is Field. Cornelius draws the portrait of Pilate in all four Gospels and is, for all intents and purposes, Quelle. Cornelis was the senior centurion in Caesarea and was in the room with Pilate and Jesus. Paul and Jesus had crossed paths but never actually encountered each other. And then Jesus was dead and risen and Paul was still Saul and looking to terrorize Jesus Followers.

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honestlyfrance · 3 years

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first lines

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

thank you so much @buckyrhodey for the tag!! miss youu 💕

idk what were my last stories so i went deep for these hehe, mostly a mix of published and wips

1. A Better Starry Night (sam/bucky ; horror)

The sky was silent. There’s a thundering crack from down the horizon, heads turning down by the mountainside. It seems to be approaching — faster now.

2. the sweetest tragedy (sam/bucky; mcd) - def a fave of mine!

It's a goddamn tragedy, it's what it is. You love him but he's leaving, high on euphoria with a rank under his name, you're going to lose him in every universe and there's nothing you could do about it.

3. to cease intimacy (sam/bucky ; first date) - this makes me yearn till this day

It's that moment when your heart hitched in your throat and you're unable to breathe freely, feeling asphyxiation nipping at your veins, it’s like you know that your heart was too full of emotion to function right, too much love that sends your heart running a marathon. It was a good feeling, a blissful moment, yet there was that betrayal within it that makes you question your feelings over and over again because there’s that one question running through your head: “Why is it him?” but it’s all good, everything’s peachy-keen because you don’t have to hide it anymore — you had to show it now, however, and that was a wave of dread coming all at once.

4. hug infinitely (sam/bucky ; protective!bucky)

It’s only a fact that you can’t protect who you love from every little inconvenient thing. You can’t fix every crack in the world just so you could breathe easy thinking your love wouldn’t trip. You also can’t make the sun go away so your love can’t get a sunburn on your nice little beach date. It’s miserable thinking that the world just has it’s ways to hurt your love, but that’s reality, and to have it bother you so much, it’s only a tragedy in three acts.

5. falling in love against gravity (sam/bucky ; sam centric) - i loved exploring sam’s experience with flying in this one

Falling was a violent act. You’ll trust the fall with intent so dangerous it’s almost like a kiss with death, and you’ll love it. You’ll love how you can fall backward and have a night with death. You’ll love how you could close your eyes and never open them again. Yet, you fly instead somehow. You fall then you fly, defying the law of gravity.

6. pine (wip name) (sam/bucky/steve ; thirst tweet acc)

The thing is, it didn't happen suddenly at all. They had mulled it all over, understood the risks and consequences. It's dangerous work, and there's no assurance that they'll make it out with their dignity, but what the hell. The 21st century needed more of Captain America and the Winter Soldier pining over the Falcon; let them be.

7. (wip name after mutual heh) (sam/bucky)

Little boys growing up in grand houses and ocean views are the kind of boys who would like adventure, the kind of boys who would yearn for the woods, and cozy little cabins in farms. Instead, December comes and they grow up smoking like chimneys in winter. Yes, little boys grow up and move into cities with blinking white lights, but they always come back seeking adventure.

8. death speaks (they called it kindness) (sam/bucky ; sam centric ; wip)

They say death aches like a motherfucker. Sam Wilson presses on it like a bruise, wanting to feel something before the sensation leaves his senses. He’ll ache for it, flawlessly manipulating it, and sooner or later, he’ll resurface and regret every single bruise he’d made. They say death licks all the wounds of the forgotten faces away, but to Sam, it’s just unforgivable.

9. milkshakes in two (sam/steve/bucky ; stucky fight for sams luv ; wip)

Truth is, love comes in many forms, but the form of a fist fight at a parking lot in three in the goddamn morning, like a modern-day Achilles versus Hector except they both leave with a cut under the eye and a broken nose instead of, you know, a bloody corpse, is just as romantic as leaving cute sticky notes around the house for them to see. It’s even more romantic if they noticed it, but sometimes a romantic gesture such as a fist fight between two supersoldiers need to tilt towards the murder part of Troy before a certain Falcon could notice.

10. field of flowers (sam/bucky fatws drabble 1x03)

When you look into Sam Wilson’s eyes, maybe you might see something surreal. Maybe something you shouldn’t have seen in the first place. After all, the eyes are the window to the soul, wouldn’t it be quite intrusive to look at him so bare?

(yall know my damn first lines are chunky paragraphs long so more below 🥰 )

11. love sweeter than candy, cavities to the heart (sam/bucky)

It’s not that Sam despised the idea of it, in fact, he breathes it in like cocaine, feeling the rush and instant fall of his senses, and maybe it’s not actually drugs to him but maybe something milder, like, a kiss, one that is so slow and soft that it makes him scream at the deprivation, making himself aware of how desperate he just was about touch, literally any sort of touch, but then again, it’s Sam we’re talking about; suppressed and no-nonsense, he couldn’t possibly want something so good like some cliche grand romantic gesture that is too cheesy for its own good, and maybe it’s for the best that he keeps quiet about this want because it’s not like he gets it every day.

12. Partners (sam/bucky)

It was in the bathroom of a safe house that Sam Wilson finds himself bandaging himself up. There was a small gash on his forearm from the afternoon before; it ran down from below his shoulder blade to above his elbow, but it wasn’t as deep as it should be, just looking quite raw but wouldn’t need any serious stitching. He’s been washing the same spot with clean water from the faucet for the past solid half hour, the sound of water gushing echoing in the tiny bathroom.

13. oranges in october (sam/bucky) - this one!! this!!

You’d think that just because he had wings and he flies, that makes him an Icarus. Icarus fell to his death. He did not resurface, he did not live beyond that power. Sam Wilson soared high into the missiles of war and came back battered and red, dripping love and death as he stands in the aftermath of it all. You think he was an Icarus when he was actually Apollo. Anyone who gets close to him falls to the ocean waves, then sooner than later, he’s left singing eulogies as his heart rattles in a cage.

14. It Rains Every April 10th (sam/bucky; mcd) - this too! ive been told by someone that this was the most accurate desc of depression theyve seen

Depression hits like a wave on a cliffside — sometimes you see it coming, sometimes you didn’t see it, and sometimes you just let it happen. It sometimes gnaws at your skin, always there, but more of a ghostly hand hovering over you; there’s that presence but you think you don’t have enough proof to prove it existed. Times like these you try your best to move but you become unmotivated, absolutely immobile except for the moments your body decides to exhaust itself for unrelated things you shouldn’t be doing. It takes a toll on you you wouldn’t even realize, and even then, who else realized it? You’re just tired. You don’t cry. You’re just tired.

15. to hold dear (sam/bucky)

Bucky Barnes didn’t want a lot of things. He’s got a really low bar of standards now, even just waking up without a threat on his life counts as a win. He doesn’t even mind if there wasn’t any more soap in the bathroom; he’s just glad he’s got a shower in the first place. Breakfast? God, he’s just glad that he could walk around a house with his guard let down.

i have no more (:

tagging: @enchanted-lightning-aes @siancore @pianistwriter80 @glittercake @lesbians-love-samwilson @mariahthelioness29 @rhodeslabs @lovelyirony :)

#sambucky #got tagged

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jackfrostsander · 3 years

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I was tagged several days go (by @pamouche and @sandersdocs). Sorry that it took me this long... But here are my answers. It was a real struggle to make choices and so, sometimes I cheated by giving two answers… haha

fav wtfock s3 things

Their infinite love for each other is definitely the most beautiful thing about S03. It's so pure. The fact that at the start of the season Sander says, when he's putting out the glass with Robbe, that he's afraid that he will never find someone. At least not someone who loves him. And then at the end of the season he realizes he has finally found that. Someone who completely loves him. Someone who is not scared away by his MI and who also (unlike Britt) does not see his MI in everything he says or does.

I also cannot believe how perfect the acting of the two Willem's was throughout the season! Their chemistry feel so real. It's a testament of the absolute mind-blowing talent that these two young actors have. I am sure we're going to see a lot more from them in the future!

Also the attention for detail was amazing. The perfect choice of music (e.g. as I write below when Wandering Romance is playing during Friday 21:21 and they film Sander when the song goes “No one knows the pain”. Then the camera switches to Robbe as the song continues: “No one sees what I see in you”. To give just one example of the well thought out choices that the production team made.

Can I mention the real life mural here! OMG, such a masterpiece in the centre of Antwerp. This brings us to the amazing aesthetic of Sander. And his bleached hair! His bleached hair! He looked like a Greek God! Apollo has descended from mount Olympus!

fav clip

Friday 21:21 but as I am already answering that to other questions below let me add Wednesday 16:36. No better cuddle clip than Wednesday 16:36. How they couldn’t stop touching each other. Here Robbe earned the nickname koala Robbe as he clang to Sander when Sander got up to check his phone… Also the moment where Sander says another iconic line: “I immediately knew, he’s the one”. Sander truly is the king of one-liners…

fav scene

Monday 11:03 because up to that point Sander thought that his happiness with Robbe would end when Robbe sees his bipolar side. He even pushes Robbe away because he thinks he's toxic and Robbe deserves someone better than him. But then Robbe makes it clear to him how much Sander means to him and how Sander's illness is no obstruction in their relationship. Can you imagine the relief this must have brought to Sander???

fav shot

Again a hard choice... I like when Sander is playing with Robbe's angel necklace in Friday 22:21. Als the next clip Friday 22:52 is amazing as they are still in the same position in bed. Just in each other's arms, completely happy.

fav kiss that robbe initiates

Monday 11:03: "The next minute we are going to kiss", "That's chill"

This kiss is the confirmation that Sander needed to understand that Robbe was completely honest when he told Sander that he wanted him. This kiss caused such emotion that Sander started to cry and collapsed.

Second place would go to Tuesday 7:27 for the same reason. Nothing is more beautiful than when Robbe uses his kisses to comfort Sander. Because that's what true love means, being there for the other when they need you the most... And omg, seeing how Sander relaxed as soon as Robbe comforted him with "altijd" and his kiss...

fav kiss that sander initiates

Their first one in the swimming pool. It's such a magical moment. He finally had scrambled all the courage he needed to kiss the boy he was so utterly in love with...

Second place would be for Tuesday 16:31. A small peck at first to test the water that ended in a full make out session that was interrupted by Britt calling him. This time it was Sander who comforted Robbe when he said: "We are the future".

fav sander dialogue

"Gij en ik... 100% voor altijd... In elk universum..."

Ok, maybe not much of a dialogue but those few words carry such meaning... And the fact that Sander said these words with such conviction! You could feel how he meant every word of what he said!

fav robbe dialogue

The minute by minute speech and "You've touched me and I never felt anything like it" in Monday 11:03. Yes, I keep coming back to Monday 11:03 because I love that scene so incredibly much!!!!

fav hug

Wednesday 17:21

It's so cute how Robbe goes behind Sander and wraps his arms around him like a guardian angel and Sander then calls him an angel!

Fav 21:21

Friday 21:21

Look how vulnerable Sander is when he opens up to Robbe. The way Robbe melted when Sander spoke his iconic words. And this also marks the moment when they fully chose each other and never looked back.

And the funny parts like "Stomme schoenen!". Haha, such dorks. I love them!

Fav. Sobbe Instagram pic

The pic uploaded December 4th, 2019 on Sander's Insta. It's just the two of them acting silly (Sander sticks out his tongue). So, cute.

And then the Bowie caption:

"'Cause we're lovers

And that is a fact

Yes, we' re lovers

And that is that"

fav scene x song pair

Friday 21:21 with Wandering Romance by Lie Ning!

When during Friday 21:21 Sander's face is on screen the song goes: "No one knows the pain". Then the camera switches to Robbe as the song continues: "No one sees what I see in you". (*)

Is there a better song imaginable??? And then the fact that Lie Ning himself wrote on Instagram: "i wish i had Robbe and Sander when i was a teenager. this love that is not defined by gender or sexuality but purely by affection and heart is exactly what I was looking for back then. glad to be a part of this beautiful romance. everyone knows the pain. but few are brave enough to show it."

(*) Of course this must be a bit of a lie because someone as wonderful and sweet as Sander must have hordes of people who see how special he is...

fav message between Sander & Robbe

Hmmm, April 10th, 2020 is really nice. It starts with Sander saying that Robbe was hefty in his dreams that night... Definitely Robbe must have blushed so much reading that... Then he teased Robbe that his battery was empty and so that he couldn't record his lockdown walk movie. Such a Sander thing to do... Teasing his boyfriend...

Then Robbe writes: "I want to be with you sooooo much. How focking cute you are". Then Sander writes: "I love you, Robin" to which Robbe answers: "I love you too. Abnormally much!"

How perfect is this??? Like the teasing, Robbe calling Sander cute, Sander saying Robin, and then Robbe saying he loves Sander abnormally much.

fav banter on Instagram

Their discussion about their anniversary post. Robbe saying that this was ok for Sander to call him awake for but that Sander had to wait till tomorrow for Robbe's surprise. Saying "patience is a virtue". And then Robbe commenting on Sander's excessive use of emoji's. And Sander teasing Robbe by saying "Thus not like this" followed by 20 hearts... haha

I am not sure who has all done this so far so I am tagging @lucidpantone, @bowieexaminprogress, @tsjernobyl, @mijnlief, @indimlights, @sanderxrobbee, @debussyatmidnight, and @hereforsobbe. Feel free to ignore!

#wtfock #wtfock season 3 #robbe ijzermans #sander driesen

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alatismeni-theitsa · 3 years

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16 anti LO anon opinions

All under the cut

(1) Fastpassers are also probably mad bc when smythe post fastpass title on twitter(which was heathers musical song ripoff) everyone was so hyped up and excided, they thought this gonna be about "Underqold badass queen Persephone " or something with her trail or something big with her, but no, they got Minthe flashback that didnt change anything in the story

(2) Fastpassers are annoyed bc this episode was flashback of Minthe. Two previous fastpasses got pretty big(and stupid) revals(leto is bad guy,apollo and artemis may be zeus child and last but not least Cronus awakening) so they were hopping for something more not a filler wpisode that changes nothing in to the story bc there were wpisodes that make Minthe more "symphatetic" than this one.

(3) Am i the only one a bit concerned that a Minthe episode made LO fans demand their money back but apparently episodes and a planned redemption over Apollo, who R*PED the main character, was met with fans sympathizing with him and feeling bad for judging him "too soon"? They can accept a sexual assaulter having mommy issues to excuse his bad actions, but a boring filter episode about Minthe, who we know will be killed by the end anyway, gets outrage? That doesn't sit well with me.

(4) oh my god the LO fans hated the minthe fast pass so much they actually made LO's rating start to go down 😭 most of us here dont even like the comic but none of us would purposely review bomb it over a boring episode over a character we didnt like, thats so entitled!

(5) Adding on to the recent fastpass, it was extremely boring. I get that you can't please everyone but the fact that Minthe is having a backstory now just feels like filler.

This is the main issue I have with Rachel's story, she has so many characters but chooses to develop them at the worst times. If we got this backstory earlier in season 2, this would make sense. However, the fp before this one ended on a cliffhanger. You'd think it'd continue but no, we just get Minthe backstory.

I'd rather see an Apollo backstory, he's an active villain and would be interesting to see his motive.

Minthe doesn't have a compelling motive other than jealousy.

(6) I can't be the only one who thinks the new hairstyle updates for characters like Apollo or Eros look weird right? Eros literally looks like an adult version of one of his siblings Storge (who has curly permed hair and was holding a hamster)

(7) That Lo eros panel ... oof. Wheres his hairline going? He had a damn 7 head. Also at least for awhile the men had a different face from the women, but I guess they’re also women now, facial features wise?

(8) On a side note: why the fuck is Eros so ugly in this episode😭

(9) SMYTHE DOES NOT ONLY HAVE A DD/LG KINK, SHE A L S O HAS A PREGNANCY KINK!!! WHY ELSE HADES WAS SO *SMIRKY* ABOUT THE WHOLE FERTILITY GODDESS THING BACK WHEN HE AND PERSEPHONE WERE AT THE BEACH???? i swear to Allah this shit gets even more and more disgusting.

(10) This is something i see so much but LO especially but why do all of them have boring ancient clothes? It's always white or tan sheets or maybe black if it's someone in the Underworld. I'm going more off ancient images but shouldn't the gods especially have more grand and detailed clothing options? i get it's probably harder to design based off colorful skin tones but it's not impossible. it just seems so much of the comic design feels very flat, so if the story can't hold up then the art should.

(11) The main problem I had before with lore olympus was its cliffhanger syndrome. Like, why do some many chapters leave on a cliffhanger and for no reason at all? Like when Hera got hit and nothing happened. When I was experiencing the episodes coming out in real time, it drove me mad.

It's gotten better recently but that's probably because the three recent episodes (fastpass) felt more like filler.

That's the main reason why I feel like the plot is being dragged out. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for cute character moments and creators getting money but, LO is slowly becoming less and less interesting. I literally skipped around in most of the fasspasses because it really wasn't interesting. The only thing memorable about all of the fp episodes is the beginning and end, the middle is just kinda there.

(12) Ampelus (psyche)'s eyes used to be golden/yellow but now its coloured purple lmao

(13) Wtf is happening in lore olympus?! Now they want to bring cronus back and do another war?!? Are they crazy nothing like this didnt happen in mythology and obviously not bc of persephone(in comic her pink tree in underwold will give crounus power and life). It supposed to be romance not whatever fuck this is now.

(14) I feel like if I was at Henson Co. or Webtoons with a tv deal on the line, I would make Smythe to hand writing duties to a pro or take a hiatus seriously plan everything out, because all these new plots are distracting from what people signed up for, which is to see HxP get together and the myth. It seems like filter seeing as any TV adaption wouldn't cover most of it anyway, so why even include it? If RS wants it over sooner than later, this isn't how you do it, she's just procrastinating now.

(15) I find Demeter in LO just confusing. If she’s so overbearing and controlling, why would she ever allow Persephone out of their domain to live with Artemis in the city? Even the most liberally easy going parents don’t let their naive children out into the world like that with people they barely know, yet the supposed helicopter parent does. Why not literally literally lock her up? Especially when Persephone can’t control her powers and is desperate to hide that she killed a village of people? Demeter knows she’s a danger to others yet let her out anyway? That doesn’t sounding overbearing to me. It sounds like she’s right to want to hide her away. Persephone is a bigger threat to everyone else than they are to her. More so, actual controlling parents do give their children phones to keep easy tabs on them, yet LO Demeter doesn’t? She could constantly call Persephone or check up on her without physically needing to be there, yet they don’t do that. What modern parent would let their child leave home without a way to contact them? If anything, she’s extremely loose on parenting her and lets Persephone do/have whatever she wants. The controlling helicopter parent premise too is undercut by the fact LO Demeter ends up being right in wanting to hide her daughter away because within a month of leaving home Persephone is drugged, kidnapped, threatened by several people, r*ped, blackmailed, is close to dropping out of school, attacked by shades, and had a mental/emotional breakdown, many of those things being linked to her future “caring” husband. I just don’t buy it. Demeter ends up looking correct by anyone who isn’t blinded by the rose colored glasses of HxP.

(16) If I'll ever bother to read LO I'll do so only to see how horrible exactly it is.

#anti lo #answered

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technicallydeepbookworm · 4 years

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I wasn't really sure about posting my Riordanverse opinions buut Mercury @riordanversereyna asked for it so yeah.

Some of these are bombshells, so prepare yourself :

1)I didn't love Percy and had a crush on him like most of the fandom (here's a thing that me and Piper have in common). like yeah, he's a great person and character, it just... didn't click with me.

2)I don't like Annabeth that much. in TLT I loved her, them i started to like her a little less but when I read BOTL I was really disappointed because of her behavior towards Rachel, especially because (from what we know) she never apologized and *puff*they became bff. And also the way she sometimes treated Percy (*coff*judo flip*coffs*) and other people in general..

3) On the opposite, I love Rachel, I've loved her since we met her, she deserved better : she deserves all the love in this world and instead she literally gets bashed from the clowns because she liked a guy and made a move.. as if y'all don't have a crush on Percy.

4) I don't like what Luke did : I understand the idea of hating the gods and wanting to overthrow the government, but he literally manipulated a teenager and he was standing here while Annabeth (his best friend) was holding the sky... he sacrificed himself, but that doesn't mean that manipulating kids is right.

5) HoO could have been so much more, it has a lot of potential, but this.. it makes me think that Rick only wrote it to please his fans.

6)Piper is not weak or flat or annoying. y'all just love to say you want emotional female characters but then say they're annoying they actually act like normal teens (being insecure, worried, having crushes)

7) Jason isn't boring and he's actually funny and has a sense of humor too, he just isn't blatantly sassy like Percy, they grew up in completely different ways and places, it's understable. He doesn't think he's better than Percy, he's just used to being a leader and having to take care of others ; also, stop bringing Percy into everything.

8) Hazel isn't a sweetie, she canonically swears multiple times and she stood up for Nico when Jason doubted about him. She's a kind person, but she doesn't take shit from anyone.

9)Leo is funny, yeah, but not stupid, at all. And he would do great in math, it's canon that he did college's math when he was a child.

10) Hylla deserves more recognition. She's a badass queen and she supported and took care of Reyna in her most difficult moments, she's a great sister.

11) ToA is great and deserves better. We finally see an arrogant, selfish god turning slowly into a good guy, who wants to fix the big mistakes he did ; and Apollo has honestly the biggest and greatest character development of the entire Riordanverse.

12) People need to stop focusing on Pjo and HoO and give the other series a chance : I'm reading TKC and I'm loving it, it's a great book and one of the few with non white protagonist. Same goes for the others too.

#piper mclean #jason grace #trials of apollo #leo valdez #hylla ramirez arellano #apollo #hazel levesque #rachel dare #unpopular thoughts

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yieldfruit · 3 years

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Jesus' Revelation was final. There is no new revelation. Folks, Jesus said, "Don't let anyone add anything to this book. If anyone will subtract or will add, let him be anathema. Let him be accursed." Jude 3, "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you and exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. Revelation 22, "For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book."

Bible Bite: Is the Bible Still Being Written?

We hear a lot today about “extra-biblical revelation” and there are great emotional responses on both sides of the issue. The only way to make our way through the emotions and opinions on the matter is to look to the word of God. Some argue that God only speaks through His written word and never to individuals. Others say God speaks to individual things that are equal to the word of God. Regardless of one’s opinion on the matter, the Bible is the final authority on the issue.

Does God speak to us as individuals outside of reading His word?

Acts 16:6-10 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

This one scene gives us so many answers to the hotly-debated issue of “extra-biblical revelations.” Paul and company were forbidden by the Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Why? We do not know. How? We do not know other than the Holy Spirit was the agent of communication. The end result is that God the Holy Spirit was speaking to Paul about something that would never be found in the Scriptures. But note that what Paul was told was exactly what Paul needed to know in order to carry out what the word of God told Him, and all of us, to do; Go to the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).

Psalms 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

The Bible doesn’t say, “Jim Elliot, I am going to call you to go to Ecuador in 1950.” The Bible doesn’t say, “Billy Graham, I am going to launch you into international evangelism in 1949 in Los Angeles.” These men obviously were spoken to by the Holy Spirit just as He spoke to and directed the path of Paul.

Yes, God speaks to us outside of His word but never in conflict, contradiction, or in addition to His word. You may be thinking, “Isn’t directing our steps a form of speaking to us in addition to His word?” The Bible will again be the source for the answer.

Mark 7:6-9 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

Acts 17:11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

1 Corinthians 4:6 Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.

Jesus rebuked the scribes and pharisees for equating their commandments to the doctrines of Scripture. Paul said in Acts 17 that the Scriptures are the source of verification for all teaching and he warned those in Corinth not to allow their interpretations of any matter to go beyond the boundaries of Holy Scripture. This tells us that while God will speak to us as individuals, direct our paths, and order our steps, there is no “revelation” that applies to the whole church in addition to the written word of God.

With the word as our guide, we can well understand that those who claim apostolic authority or the office of the prophet today, who claim to be bringing messages from God for the whole church, are making false claims and are to be avoided. How do we know? We cannot verify their claims from Scripture. Not only that, we cannot verify their claims of office from Scripture. Nowhere does the Bible say that in the last days there will be another group of apostles likened unto the first century apostles and prophets who will guide the church into dominion over the world. They are doing exactly what Jesus rebuked the scribes and pharisees for doing, equating their words with Holy Scripture.

2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Everything we need to know about living a godly life is given to us in the word of God through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. The Holy Spirit will guide and direct us as to where and to whom our godly lives are to have an impact and influence, but there are no additions to the written word of God. Nor are there extra-biblical revelations that God has sent us through modern-day prophets and apostles.

We also have everything we need to know about future world events lined out for us as well through the prophetic books of the Bible. That means if anyone says there is a future for the church that contradicts what the Bible says, we are not to heed their words!

Revelation 22:18-21 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

- Amir Tsarfati

#Amir Tsarfati #Behold Israel

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lostinprocrastination · 4 years

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Episode Eight: Thoughts

Okay, this one I'm doing more than 12 hours after watching it and not as I was watching like the first seven, but I still have some stuff to say:

1. I saw the title was "A Jewish girl walks into the Apollo..." and I was *immediately* like oh boy...a pretty self-absorbed fluffy white girl who's lived in a bubble of privilege all her life? Yeah, this is *not* gonna work.

2. And then she has to follow Moms Mabley? At the freaking Apollo? That gave me even more assurance that she would bomb completely, and I would have been as freaked out as she was.

3. Then Reggie tells her to talk about Shy in her act and I myself freaked out so hard because a) it's the freaking Apollo!!!! and b) I knew what she was gonna talk about - we all knew, right? I know she wasn't being mean, but JESUS CHRIST, WOMAN! I actually thought everyone would be speechless, and what really surprised me most about her set was how much of a hit it was with the public. Did his Harlem people know or...

4. ...I guess not, otherwise Shy would have probably not opened with a song that specifically mentioned "a woman" (I started paying attention to every single musical cue after episode 5, go figure)

5. And, of course, he wouldn't have fired her, which I honestly thought was fair. Even not intentionally, causing other people harm has consequences. Things you say to and about someone, especially in a public setting, have to be thought through.

6. I gotta say though, I read the AV Club review of the episode and it went really hard against Midge, basically saying she's the kind of jerk who thinks of herself as a good person when she doesn't care who she has to step on to benefit herself and wait...what? She is certainly clueless about the world outside of her bubble, which can lead to being inappropriate and, yes, even harmful to others, but it's not like she's this monster who is deliberately destroying everything and everyone who gets in her way!

6a. That is such a fucking double standard! A man can leave his family and do whatever the fuck he wants with his life, and step up the ladder in any career leaving death and destruction - metaphorical or otherwise - in his wake but hey, he's successful and should be celebrated. When a woman breaks out of the traditional cycle of obedient daughter to obedient wife and eventually mother to sweet, always available grandma, she's a jerk? She leaves her kids with Joel because she KNOWS he's a great father and they would be much better off with him than on the road with her (as much as her lacking the patience to even listen to Ethan counting or saying the alphabet on the phone did make me pretty mad, had that been a man it wouldn't have been regarded as half as bad). When she hurts people is because she is, like I said, clueless and self-absorbed, sure, but much of this due to her upbringing - I mean, just look at Rose! So a woman pursuing her dreams makes her a jerk? She has to be unhappy with a life that makes her miserable? It's true that she hadn't realized that until she became aware of Joel's infidelity, but she did, and she had the guts to go do what made her happy! The fact that a woman wrote that review makes me really sad. She even wrote that watching her trajectory over these three seasons illustrates the problem with celebrating "women's liberation" and OH MY GOD.

7. Yeah, she doesn't care about Susie? When she freaked out about her managing Sophie as well, yeah, she was kind of a bitch, like I said in my post about that episode. She does eventually come to terms with it and supports her though. Susie's gambling problem and the whole deal with her mom is something she keeps away from Midge because she wants her to focus on her career (which by the way is her source of income as well) and, let's face it, if she got involved in her family stuff, Midge would drive her crazier than she already does and she'd end up in an institution.

8. I do worry about Susie though, a lot, because man, it's THE MOB. I know the show would never ever kill her off or anything like that, but it isn't the only unspeakable thing that may happen to her.

9. It was actually a smart move to ask Joel to manage Midge's money. That's how much she cares. And she was right when she said he loved her and always would...it's very obvious that if she gave up her career and said she wanted to go back to their old life he'd do it in a heartbeat. They are in completely different paths in life though, and he knows that.

10. Speaking of Joel, she didn't go to the stage for an impromptu set to upstage him...of course she didn't exactly mind being the center of attention, but she only did it so people wouldn't be mad and leave the club because of the problem with the lights, so fuck off, lady reviewer!

11. Also, did Midge *have* to be petty when replying to Mei? No, but Mei did want to seem ~superior herself when she said "I'm gonna be a doctor", so let's call it a tie.

12. All my defense of Midge aside, Benjamin was completely right and that outburst was a long time coming. He had to get it out if his system and she had to hear it. Rose inadvertently caused a very good thing.

13. Her emotional reunion with her old apartment, complete with the song played during that scene, was really cute.

You guys can totally message me if you think I'm being way too apologetic for Midge, for anything else about the show or, you know, if you just want to chat! Thank you for reading my thoughts on this season!

#the marvelous mrs. maisel spoilers #the marvelous mrs. maisel #midge maisel #susie myerson #joel maisel #mei #rose weissman #benjamin ettenberg

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swanlake1998 · 4 years

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Dance Magazine Article: The Singular Elegance of American Ballet Theatre's Calvin Royal III

Date: June 11, 2020

By: Marina Harss

In an iPhone video of a Romeo and Juliet rehearsal made in early March, Calvin Royal III stands in a corner of an American Ballet Theatre studio, arms reaching far into space, chin slightly raised in welcoming anticipation. There is such warmth and openness in his stance, you can understand why Juliet would want to hurl herself halfway across the stage into his arms. He looks directly into the eyes of his partner, Cassandra Trenary, and then lowers her into a swoon.

"He approaches everything with a sincerity that I love," Trenary says later. "No matter what he dances, he is always authentically himself."

Royal and Trenary were meant to make their debuts in the ballet on April 4, in Abu Dhabi. The following month, he was scheduled to perform as Romeo to Misty Copeland's Juliet, and make his Albrecht debut, at New York City's Metropolitan Opera House. But then the COVID-19 crisis hit, bringing the entire world to a halt and putting all premieres on an indefinite hold.

Royal—tall, lanky, with a silken, elegant way of moving and a gentle and open stage manner—would seem ideally suited to play Romeo. There is a quiet persuasiveness to his dancing. He doesn't show off. Instead, he imbues each movement with an aura of beauty and lyricism. As Kevin McKenzie, the artistic director of the company, puts it, "Calvin has an inner light."

Romeo is a role Royal has craved since he began to study dance. At times, though, he has wondered whether the opportunity would ever arrive. Royal wasn't a prodigy. His ascent has been gradual, even painstaking at times. You get the feeling he has earned every role, every opportunity through determination and the integrity of his dancing, but without ever losing that grace that makes him such a joy to watch onstage. He is hungry without being driven by ambition.

His quietly serious way of working has been one of the constants of his career. "Slow and steady, every day a little bit better, and absolutely consistent," Raymond Lukens, who taught him at the ABT-affiliated Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, says of his approach.

Royal didn't get his start in ballet until age 14, at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida. Before that, he had been a serious piano student. It was his grandmother Linda, a social worker and a lover of classical music, opera and dance, who first encouraged his artistic tendencies. When he was 10, she bought him a Yamaha electric keyboard for Christmas. "I'll never forget it," she says. "He called me one Sunday morning and said, 'I want you to listen to something.' " On the other end of the line, he started to play Beethoven's Für Elise. He had learned it by ear.

Royal excelled at his piano studies, but also loved to move. For a few years, he took part in a local production called The Chocolate Nutcracker, which included hip hop, West African and other styles of dance. One of his fellow participants encouraged him to audition for the high school dance program. Without ever having taken a formal dance class, he was accepted.

There was so much to learn, he sometimes felt he might never catch up. "I think it intrigued him that ballet took so much effort," says Suzanne Pomerantzeff, his main teacher at Pinellas. The intellectual challenge drew him in as much as the physical.

That focus carried him through some difficult times at home. In his sophomore year, he injured his back in a car accident and had to sit out ballet classes for several months, excruciating given he had only just begun to make progress. He would take notes on the side, "visualizing dance in my mind," as he puts it. Dance became a lifeline, a source of steadiness and hope.

In his junior year, he competed in Youth America Grand Prix, where he was spotted by Lukens and Franco De Vita, of the JKO School. "I was immediately struck by his elegance, his musicality and his coordination," remembers De Vita, who offered him a scholarship.

After a year in the school and two and a half in ABT II (now the ABT Studio Company), he got into the main company, initially as an apprentice, at 21. He was still getting his technique where he wanted it to be—quick footwork and beats were a challenge for his long, lithe physique. ("I wanted to move like those little guys," he says, "but it wasn't easy with these legs.")

But he also wondered whether he fit the typical mold of a principal dancer at the company. "It was only when I came to New York that I started to become more aware of race in ballet," says Royal. In Florida, his ballet classes had been mixed. In New York City, less so. When he first joined ABT II, he overheard other dancers from the company making snide comments about a fellow African-American dancer there. "Oh, well, I guess they needed a black girl,' " he heard one of them say.

He began to wonder whether he might never be given the chance to prove himself as a leading man by McKenzie and the rest of the artistic staff. "Will they see me as Romeo or Albrecht? Not only because I'm black, but also because I'm gay?"

At the time, he says, the company culture was different: "There was this sense of machismo, and this idea that the guys had to look sort of like football players." Ethan Stiefel, José Manuel Carreño and other powerhouses in that vein were company stars. Just a few years earlier, in 2003, the company had put out a video, Born to Be Wild, that depicted its male dancers as testosterone-driven guys who rode motorcycles and posed as matadors.

Since that time, much has changed. Fewer international stars come through ABT; a new generation of home-bred principals has risen to the top, and they are anything but cookie-cutter. (Only one, however, is black: Misty Copeland.) Rigid notions about what Romeo or Siegfried should look like have finally begun to relax, to the benefit of the dancers.

Royal's particular qualities have been recognized and put to artistic use, especially by choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, ABT's artist in residence. In 2013, Ratmansky gave him a major role in his evening-length Shostakovich Trilogy. Three years later, he created an extra-ordinary, melancholy solo for him in Serenade after Plato's Symposium. The solo showcased the gracefulness of Royal's port de bras, the inwardness of his dancing, and his capacity to communicate thought and emotion through movement. Others have danced it, but none with the same poetry.

Royal also leads one of the three debut casts of Ratmansky's newest ballet epic, Of Love and Rage, originally scheduled to have its New York premiere during the company's spring season at the Met. That too will have to wait, for now.

The poetry in Royal's dancing is related to his deep, subtle musicality; music flows through him. It's not surprising that his partner, ABT pianist Jacek Mysinski, is a musician. Their work spills over into their downtime; Mysinski practices at home, and they talk about the ballets in the rep. When Mysinski is playing from the pit during a performance, Royal can feel his presence, he says: "It's almost like having him at my side, almost like a partner."

Royal was promoted to soloist in 2017, nearly seven years after joining. At some point along the way, he admits, he had begun to spin his wheels. "I got my hopes up and then I got my hopes shattered. I even started thinking about exploring other options, maybe another company or something completely different."

What kept him going, he explains, were outside projects that fueled his creativity and imagination, as well as his confidence. He danced for several seasons with Daniil Simkin's touring group Intensio. And, perhaps most meaningfully, he became a repeat visitor to Damian Woetzel's yearly Vail Dance Festival in the Rockies, where he got to dance a completely new repertory: works by Balanchine and Merce Cunningham, new creations by Pam Tanowitz and others.

"Year after year, he has become ever more himself onstage," says Woetzel, who has become an important mentor. "His level of comfort in everything he does has become expansive." This year, he selected Royal to be the festival's artist in residence, leading workshops, performing in various premieres and taking part in initiatives related to the challenges boys face in ballet. "I see a real leadership quality in Calvin," says Woetzel.

Last summer at Vail, Royal danced excerpts from Apollo, one of the pinnacles of the male repertoire. A few months later, McKenzie asked him to make his debut in the full piece in New York, with ABT. It was a remarkable moment—he looked completely at home in the role of a young god. He may have to wait a little longer for his debut as Romeo, but his time, it seems, has finally come.

#calvin royal iii #ballet #ballerino #article #dance magazine #dancemagazine

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ahouseoflies · 4 years

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The Best Films of 2019, Part VI

Yes, I know that it’s almost March. Thanks for taking the ride. GREAT MOVIES

22. Apollo 11 (Todd Douglas Miller)- To disrespect this movie is to disrespect the moon landing itself so... I do like listening to the Walter Cronkite snippets about "the burdens and dreams of all mankind" and smirking at the idiots who talk about "back when people just read the news without editorializing." 21. Waves (Trey Edward Shults)- I could have done with five fewer shots of people holding each other, and the foreshadowing could be more subtle, but, man, Shults takes some huge swings here, for a more powerful effect than either of his previous films had. It isn't often that a colorist gets a single card in the opening credits, but it makes sense for a film that stands out as much as this loud, woozy piece does. I don't think there's anything as present-tense this year as a character drunk-driving to Kanye West's "I Am a God." 20. Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi)- The dissenters of Jojo Rabbit have been pretty uniform in their negativity, and I think their stance has to do with not wanting to be told what to think or feel. (Putting "an anti-hate satire" on the poster has to fire up those haters.) This movie is not subtle or ambiguous, but you know what? Casablanca is a pretty didactic movie too. Let me back up from the C-word. For me, the film's emotional scenes are better than its comedic scenes, but in either form, Waititi directly engages with a ten-year-old in a way that neither romanticizes him nor condescends to him. That's such an imperfect, transformative age in a boy, and not enough movies are willing to wrestle with how ugly it can be. Roman Griffin Davis is pretty good, but he's spotted by sincere, compassionate performances by Thomasin McKenzie and Scarlett Johansson. It's possible that Johansson has never been better. I totally understand why someone with her sex symbol baggage would resist playing mothers; if I've done my homework, this is the first time she has done it, even though she's a parent in real life. But her maternal scenes here are heartbreaking in their patience, particularly in a scene for which her character "plays" herself and her absent husband. Besides uncorking a more vulnerable part of herself, Johansson nails the performative aspect of being a parent, resisting the urge to make everything a lesson but wanting so desperately to be a positive example for a kid who needs one. 19. Honeyland (Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska)- I greatly prefer the term "non-professional actor" or "first-time actor" to "non-actor" because it's only human nature to act differently when being filmed. The second even a camera filming a birthday party captures you, you start to perform. But in handmade stone houses in rural Macedonia, the subjects are true non-actors. They have no affect because, in all likelihood, they have not seen a movie before. So the way that Hatidze lived over the course of the three years of this project--with purpose, focus, and wisdom--seemed new to me. Honeyland is the gift that I always hope for from documentary and (especially) foreign documentary: a slice of life that I never knew I needed. 18. Under the Silver Lake (David Robert Mitchell)- Andrew Garfield's Sam spends a lot of time on his balcony surveying his apartment complex, staring at a topless woman in a way that recalls Marlowe in The Long Goodbye, one reference point among hundreds. Sometimes he watches through binoculars, sometimes he watches through blinds--blind imagery that shows up over and over again in a movie about voyeurism. Anyway, this neighbor keeps parrots, who we're told as kids can "talk." Not that the animals have any conscious intention with their mimicking, but they replicate what they hear or are taught. The words are signified without any signifiers, so it's hard to even classify the noises as speech. Maybe those noises are everything--a tie to our species that reveals impressive intelligence--but maybe they're nothing--a silly hope of a world that seems less alone. And that subjective interpretation of code is the clearest metaphor in an otherwise elliptical, bizarre, sprawling, sui generis film. It's messy alright. Some of the threads lead nowhere, but in a movie about order and chaos, that's obviously the point. The scene with The Songwriter--barely any of the characters have names--is over ten minutes and might not have any narrative consequence. But in the moment it's earth-shattering and urgent. And maybe I'm the obvious audience, but I'm not going to complain about anyone taking a dance break for "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" 17. 1917 (Sam Mendes)- Weirdly enough, a Lauryn Hill line kept bouncing around in my head as I was nervously tapping my foot: "It could all be so simple, / But you had to make it hard." This is a direct story told with impossible technical aptitude. 1917 isn't saying anything new, but have you ever seen a plane crash ten feet away from the camera forty-five minutes into an unbroken take? No offense, but do you remember when we were all impressed that Creed had a five-minute fight in one take? Blimey. 16. American Factory (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert)- It's a rare documentary that makes its case so gracefully and so forcefully at the same time. The film ends so conclusively that it could be considered labor activism, but it's so fair that the union-busting schmucks are willing to joke around with the filmmakers without obfuscating at all. The obvious forebearer for this sort of boots-on-the-ground snapshot of American labor is Harlan County U.S.A., but American Factory is more staid and less concerned with setting because, you know, this could be anywhere.The Chairman is the best villain since Thanos, and as he looked back on his life while walking around his empty cabana, I had to squint a bit to make sure he wasn't purple.

15. Ad Astra (James Gray)- Ad Astra declares so that it can suggest. The opening crawl says that the near future is a "time of hope and conflict," but all we see is the conflict: the pirates on a borderless moon that we've ruined with Applebee'ses, the neglected wife leaving her ring on a table, the voiceover that declares, "I always wanted to be an astronaut...for all mankind and all." This film will take place in four parts--Earth, Moon, Mars, Neptune--and each part will offer unique obstacles to challenge our phlegmatic but confused hero. But all of that table-setting allows James Gray to explore. There's a scene in which the Roy character uses a belt to pull himself, one tug at a time, deeper into the unknown, and we see the action through the reflection in his helmet as we're watching his face. We're seeing through his eyes but at a remove, and in this moment we're watching him heave himself into emptiness, thinking that the more distant and lonely and absent he gets, the more of a man he becomes. We know that's not true, but we kind of think it is from the movies, and Ad Astra has a happy ending if only because it wants to disprove that notion. Lots of artistes talk about how they could, without compromise, make grand, big-budget entertainments if they only wanted to. James Gray did. 14. Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhangke)- In a train on the way to her hometown, the protagonist Xiao casually tells a fellow passenger that she has seen a UFO. Although it comes up later in a sort of magic realism flourish, her statement seemed like a character moment for me. People who see UFOs are either guileless rubes or attention-seeking hucksters, and that's the dance of Tao Zhao's performance. Even after seeing the movie, I can't tell which one Xiao is. Often it changes in the course of a scene. The time when she shows the most agency, firing off her boyfriend's illegal gun to ward off his attackers, results in the time when she is the most helpless, being ordered around in jail. She might confess her ex-con status in a moment of vulnerability, then flake out at the next train stop in an attempt to seize her power back. (It's worth mentioning that there are lots of movies about flaky drifters who don't pay the tab, but few of them are about women.) Even the way that she holds her backpack--frontways--is street-smart and child-like at the same time. This is the second film that Jia has made with a triptych setting, (Mountains May Depart is slightly superior.) and he doesn't make the flash forwards obvious. He invites the performance's same sort of healthy confusion upon the viewer with the formal elements. I, for one, am willing to get probed by these foreign objects. 13. Toy Story 4 (Josh Cooley)- I questioned a late moment in the film, one of the plottier ones in which Woody goes back to save another toy one more laborious time. When I sighed, my wife reminded me, "He never leaves a toy behind." Toy Story 4 is a dazzling upgrade in the series from a visual standpoint, (I gasped again at Woody lying in a damp, sunny patch of concrete.) but it's more of a reminder of the consistent character development and weight that have been blanketing us for twenty-three years. Pixar isn't reinventing the wheel because it is the wheel. Sure, the characters are too numerous and separate now. I miss the OG's Rex and Hamm. But for one thing, that rogue's gallery makes it funnier when, say, Buttercup pops up with a joke out of nowhere. And the new characters, particularly Forky the Nihilist, are so lovable that I wouldn't know who to trade. Toy Story 4 is probably the worst of the franchise, but that franchise--especially when its subtext seems to be questioning people who want to stop intellectual property from evolving--might be the best we have. 12. Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu)- In discussing the aftermath of an execution, Alfre Woodard's warden character Bernadine mentions the mother who will claim a prisoner's body, who will follow through with plans for burial. And I realized, to be honest, that I had never thought about how executed bodies are claimed and laid to rest, though obviously those sad practicalities persist. This whole film is a reminder of the numerous costs that arise from a system that is out of time and out of reason. To that end, every character is fully drawn with empathy. For example, the assistant warden, which could have been a nothing part, has ambitions and fears that give him an arc that shades the protagonist. The Richard Schiff and Wendell Pierce characters make the film about the compromised promises of retirement, but the assistant warden is there to tug us back into law enforcement. Neon ended up putting this movie on the awards circuit back burner, but Aldis Hodge deserves the world. Although the film piles on one indignity too many for my taste, drifting into miserableism, Hodge's performance has a rare possessive quality. Catatonic in his most crestfallen moments and antic when he clings to hope, Hodge drags the audience along with him. The character is quiet, but every word counts. 11. The Farewell (Lulu Wang)- I was not been more thoroughly charmed all year, especially by Awkwafina, who is a revelation in a tricky role. There are a few scenes that get comedic effect through repetition, and it's telling that the subtitles stop by the third or fourth run-through of a line. The movie assumes you're smart, which goes even further than its piercing emotion. Shout-out to Mr. Li, who made me crack up every time I saw him. The elderly sort-of-boyfriend is such a common figure in real life, but I'm not sure I've ever seen that character type on screen. I'm not sure I've seen any of this on-screen, and that's the reason the film exists.

10. Avengers: End Game (Joe Russo and Anthony Russo)- For a guy who grew up in the '30s, Captain America is pretty cool with gay people. 9. Gloria (Sebastian Lelio)- I saw Lelio's original Gloria, the one that he's remaking here, and it didn't do much for me, even though it hit some of the same beats as this one. I wonder what the difference could be...do you think the total commitment of one of the greatest actresses in the world matters? Lelio documents who this woman is to her children, to her mother, to her ex-husband, to her lover, to her co-workers, and it's by tracking the tiny compromises of those relationships that the viewer gets to see the fully realized her. The cyclical editing of those pieces--sing a disco song to herself in the car, rinse, repeat--ends up lulling the viewer into his role of seeing the complete Gloria. It ends up being a fun, absorbing process. I yelled out loud at Turturro for disrespecting my girl. Moore, who is in every scene, sells us on these different versions of the character through complete control of her instrument. She lets headphones slump along her body at work. She kneels down toward a street performer in a more maternal way than she ever presents with her actual daughter. She sits cross-legged with her best friend, as if they're little girls. I won't spoil what she does at the end, when she is at her most empowered. 8. Midsommar (Ari Aster)- I love this movie, but, boy, is it a friendship killer if you recommend it to the wrong person. Whether you liked Hereditary or not is a good predictor for your taste, but I think Ari Aster's follow-up is much better: Whereas the unpredictability of Hereditary makes the mysticism of its final fourth seem like a leap that you either accept or don't, Midsommar is driving so hard in one direction that its dread is even more pronounced. (The prologue is so masterfully deliberate and gloomy that it takes a long time for the film to get back to those depths.) For comparison's sake again, Aster was painting in the colors of hysteria and fractured relationships before, but the new film seems much more biting and vital in the way it depicts modern men and women. I'm thinking of the way Dani excuses herself at the risk of compromising her safety or rationalizes her boyfriend's forgetting her birthday with "Well, I didn't remind him." All of the characters become victims of a misinformed, selfish brand of multicultural tolerance that makes them rationalize evil instead of speaking up, and that acceptance serves the plot way better than the average horror movie's running up the stairs instead of out the door. For his part, Christian, who seems sympathetic at first, takes ideas, drugs, and even women for himself with impunity. (It's important that he's an anthropology student, and it's more important that his name is Christian.) When he colonizes his Black friend's thesis topic, it might seem like a tipping point, but he was one step ahead in using rules and approval for his purposes. None of the Americans bother to stop him, but that doesn't mean that no one stops him. 7. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick)- "The sun shines on good and evil the same." In the baggy second hour of what might be Terrence Malick's most direct and linear film, martyr Franz Jagerstatter tosses off that line with grace and aplomb, at a time when most of us would have neither to spare. His captors are confused when he denies that his conscientious objection will make any difference in the war or when he doubts that he is more morally evolved than his countrymen. His refusal to pledge an oath to Hitler is a state with no outcome in mind, which the results-obsessed Nazis cannot understand. In that way he is the perfect Malickian hero, which means he is the perfect Heideggerian hero: a man who sees all planes of existence as equal--or at least equally unknowable to him. As a farmer, Franz observes and acts upon cycles, but he is smaller than Nature and the communion he finds with God there. So when he's torn from his family and daily life to be stuck in a prison, he is separated from that concord further and further. The key, however, is that he is no more or less powerful than before, and that knowledge is what gives him transcendental perspective. He is indifferent in the way that only a saint can be. Of course, what I'm describing also makes for a passive protagonist, which is why the cross-cutting to his wife Fani is so effective. She is the one who has to shoulder the burden of his ideals, and Valerie Pachner's stolid performance sells that sacrifice. The overall balance comes from the jagged but precise editing, and the production is all the more impressive for retaining the Malick style despite the absence of most of his regular collaborators. (This is the first time since The Thin Red Line that he hasn't worked with Jack Fisk, but there the production design is, crafting a 1940 Austrian town out of nothing and building a network of water symbolism that I don't understand yet.) In fact, the whirling steadicam and the avoidance of artificial light have more of a thematic purpose than ever if "the sun shines on good and evil all the same." Perhaps the greatest achievement of this film about unjust war is that it made me pray for Donald Trump today. Because if I want to be like Franz Jagerstatter, then I have to believe the light of God shines on him too. 6. Knives Out (Rian Johnson)- A third of the way into this imaginative, absorbing whodunit, I started to talk myself into the surface pleasures of cinema. "So what if it doesn't have much to say; look at these stars going for it with this spicy dialogue and these gleeful twists." Then the subtext asserts itself through a radiant Ana de Armas, and the subtext becomes the text in the final shot. Knives Out is the best of all worlds. Rian Johnson might be the first filmmaker for whom a Star Wars movie ends up being a footnote. 5. Everybody Knows (Asghar Farhadi)- There's a photograph hanging in the library (yes, the stately library) of the patrician family of my childhood best friend, and I'm in that picture. There I am, dressed a bit sloppier than everyone else, near the edge of the frame. Because I was there, as usual, and because they are kind. Everybody Knows is about one of those family friend outsiders, perhaps in a way that no other movie has been. When it's at its best, it's about what those marginal figures can and can't say, can and can't do. The film dips into soap opera territory, but only to sell its message of how secrets beget other secrets. For me, it's another Farhadi hit of approachable, modest conflict that bakes itself into an experience. 4. Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)- The best divorce movie ever made--by the guy who wrote and directed the former belt holder of the best divorce movie ever made. These luminous lead performances aren't just about saying cutting, hurtful things or reacting to their child's preference for the other parent (or at least the other parent's toys). They're about the internal devastation of realizing you can never take back something you've said. Driver and Johansson each get a chance to sink into one of those moments, and they're joined by a head-tilting, blustery Laura Dern, who gets a Virgin Mary speech that won her an Oscar. And there are jokes! Underrated aspect of the movie: The son is kind of a dipshit. I like that he just hates math and wants to eat candy, as opposed to the cute prodigies we've seen before in this type of movie. They're fighting over a kid only a parent could love. INSTANT CLASSICS

3. Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie)- Howard the jeweler lives somewhere in upstate New York, but he has an apartment in the city. It's an apartment that is close enough for him to cab over to his mistress who lives there, but it's far enough away that his family wouldn't bother popping in for a visit. That sort of gap is present throughout Uncut Gems: Family members act differently in the Diamond District than they do at seder, and we first see Howard from the literally vulnerable inside of a colonoscopy, not the animated brio of his tightrope-walking exterior. Of course, the gem of the title is the ultimate division: something pure that the characters are searching for, untouched by the process that Howard, by definition, does. And the film is about how little he can abide by purity. Until now, The Gambler (1974) was probably the best film of this type, a snapshot of a cursed man who seems to be gambling with forces way beyond the game in question. But Uncut Gems is more pathological, more authentic, more intense, and more decisively realized. By focusing more on character than the Safdie Brothers' other work, it offers a unique depiction of compulsive behavior and implicates the audience in rooting for Howard's (technically unrealistic) parlay. By doubling down on his bets or re-uniting with his girlfriend, Howard thinks that he can reinvent himself and start anew. But like the legacy of the Chosen People the film depicts, like the lines on all of these great New York faces, some things are permanent.

2. The Irishman (Martin Scorsese)- "It's what it is." You wouldn't blame someone if he saw the logline and lineup of The Irishman and expected GoodFellas. In fact, this one quotes Scorsese's signature film continually. Instead of slicing onions with a razorblade, old convicts pitch bocce balls. Instead of tracking sumptuously through the Copa, Scorsese's camera wanders through a nursing home. Instead of pistol-whipping Karen's neighbor for getting handsy, our protagonist curb-stomps a grocery owner for shoving his daughter. But there's a GoodFellas staple that is missing. The first fourth of that crime saga closes as Young Henry, played by Christopher Serrone, gets rewarded for staying mum in court. All of his partners in crime cheer him, and he is told that he learned a valuable lesson (in protecting the family and subverting the law). Then we cut to Adult Henry, played by Ray Liotta now, because Young Henry has learned everything he has to know. The Irishman has no such moment of elevation or revelation. Frank is, crucially, played by Robert De Niro over the course of decades because his fall from grace--if there ever was grace--is too imperceptible for any before-and-after divide. The lessons that he learns are just as corrupting as what Henry discovers: Power comes from insularity. Having power means you don't have to prove it. Organized crime, organized labor, and the political process are all the same thing. A code is all a man has, but all codes have limits. However, Frank's corruption, the selling of his soul, doesn't even bring an Asian-inspired chiffonier or a Janice Rossi sidepiece. Frank doesn't get rich; he jams his hands into a plastic ice bucket at the bar next to his couch. He doesn't get powerful; he has to kill because Russell is too prominent to be in the same town as a hit. He doesn't get glory; even a celebration held in his honor is just an excuse for more influential men to do business. Frank is a tool, and he is trapped in a fruitless silence, at best an accessory at meetings. (De Niro is doing quoting of his own. There's a lot of Jackie Brown's Louis in his shrugs and smirks.) As boisterous as Scorsese's films can be, he also knows how to use silence. Robbie Robertson's score is weak, but luckily the film goes without for long stretches, including a suspenseful car ride that begins with a treacherous hug and ends with a malignant secret. The best performance comes from Joe Pesci, probably because his stolid stillness matches the overall atmosphere. Of course, the quietest moments correlate to the loneliest moments: Frank touring a cemetery or sitting with a door half-cracked to a complicit viewer. It's the silence of deliberate toil. Like the mobster ripping up carpet in the lake house, Scorsese is on his hands and knees destroying his own myths.

1. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)- Parasite is Bong Joon-Ho's masterpiece because it distills the worldview and passions that he previously flirted with into a condensed but elaborate statement. In the same way that Mean Streets is perfectly good but feels like a rehearsal for the slow boil of encircling gangster life in GoodFellas. In the same way that Hitchcock played with the impotent everyman voyeur in a confined setting but didn't perfect it until Rear Window. Like the examples above, Parasite, a true ensemble, is a case of the subtext becoming text. Back in his native country and language, working more or less with realism, Bong is free to take aim at class in a more direct but still wacky way. In all of its crowd provocation--there's so much pleasure in just a suspenseful winding down stairs--the film is destined to be a foreign film gateway drug. But really it just makes we want to take a half-star off my Snowpiercer review since I know Bong can do better now.

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