murfpersonalblog

[murfpersonalblog]

I dunno. I HOPE it's about the Trial--esp. wrt to who really slit Lestat's throat. Maybe Les throws Claudia under the bus to save Louis, lying that she did it, so Lou'd be spared?

But I voted Lestat in Dubai. I still doubt Lestat's The Groan, but considering how much Louis' been hallucinating Lestat in S2, I wouldn't be surprised if Lestat shows up in Dubai (busting Armand's lies about Lou/Les being "dead"), and Louis freaks TF out cuz he's not sure what he's seeing is real or not. Daniel gets jumped (a la the film), and that might be what finally convinces him that Lestat's really there? (That would make Les Daniel's Maker, which mixes him w/ David, and helps DM get over not being able to read e/o's minds.)

Sam: “There's a really fucking cool twist in this season that is not in the books that I struggled with because I was like, 'This is different, and I'm not sure.' But you can justify it... there's a bit of an unreliable element. You don't always have to know the truth."

#interview with the vampire #the hype is real #lestat de lioncourt

[murfpersonalblog]

Feature article from the May 2024 edition of SFX Magazine, written by Tara Bennett. Images courtesey of maharetcompound.

#interview with the vampire #must see tv #the hype is real

[murfpersonalblog]

rewind the tape

Why do you think Daniel insist that he wants to read about Claudia's assault and why does Louis refuse him that information?

- @iwtvfanevents

I think the answer to this is explicitly stated by Daniel a few times in the show, which is he's here for a big pay day and anything titillating helps him sell books. He might be convincing himself that he's here for the truth but in the end, he wants this book to be big and pay for his kids' inheritance (because they're not speaking to him). Paying for his daughters' inheritance by exploiting the trauma of teenage girl. I think Louis can see that, even without mindreading powers, Daniel has expressed before that he feels no sympathy for Claudia and doesn't really care how she'll be exploited by the world once the story is out.

What's even more interesting is that while Louis refuses to allow Daniel access to the gratuitous details of Claudia's assault, he does allow his own assault to be used. At the end of the episode, we all know there's an extremely graphic scene of domestic violence that in fact did become the biggest trending topic & point of discourse for the show and is still constantly being marketed in teasers of s2. It's almost meta in that what Louis refused on behalf of Claudia (allowing explicit violent details of her assault to be freely given to the public) is for himself the thing that makes him a figure of pity, scorn, and dismissal by the show's fanbase. Now Bruce is just some random character most people don't care about so not showing the assault didn't lead to hordes of fans calling her liar or saying it never happened. The assault at the end of episode 5 however is a different story. Do victims have to share all the explicit details of their trauma in order to believed and sometimes not even then.

#justice for claudia #louis de pointe du lac

[murfpersonalblog]

i never should have bought this game now youre all going to suffer for it

#baldur's gate 3 #food stuff #this is my life

[murfpersonalblog]

[After the pack runs into one of Derek's ex's from his time in New York]

Stiles: Oh my god, that girl was gorgeous! I mean, did you guys see her?!

The pack:

Stiles: Why on Earth would Derek ever break up with someone so beautiful? What was he even thinking?!

The pack:

Stiles: I know if I ever landed someone like that, I'd probably never let them go.

The pack:

Stiles: Aw shoot, I gotta get going or I'm gonna be late. See you later guys!

The pack: The pack:

Malia: So, are we all still pretending Derek's ex-girlfriend didn't just look like Stiles in a wig?

#sterek #lmao lol lmfao smh #stiles stilinski #sterek is eternal #eternal sterek

[murfpersonalblog]

i have a question for uhhhhh idk maybe anthropologists?

something that fills me with wonder beyond words are realistic models of ancient humans and our relatives. I’m well and truly obsessed.

i recently had the great pleasure of seeing perhaps my favorite neanderthal model of all, “neanderthal father and child” by kennis & kennis:

however, what always confuses and even disappoints me on even the most beautiful reconstructions I’ve seen, including this one, is the matted hair.

the hair is almost always matted. not tangled, as perhaps might happen to a child in a day of play, but truly “would have to cut it and start fresh” matted. the kind of matting that takes months of neglect to develop.

this troubles me because we of course know that matting poses health risks. to name a few—insect infestations, scalp sores which can become infected, and even mold growth.

Keeping hair clean and untangled isn’t just an aesthetic choice or luxury, it’s a medical necessity.

it’s for this reason that grooming practices feature so heavily in the social bonding of so many animals today. not just in primates, but in birds, cats, and more.

so it’s difficult for me to imagine that Neanderthals and indeed early humans would have walked around with matted hair, or to imagine at least matting would be the norm.

around the world, regardless of hair texture and ethnic heritage, humans of countless cultures use various braiding techniques as protective styles, to this day.

And we know that Neanderthals could twist cord. And of course that humans have been braiding hair for thousands of years.

so I again, I cannot imagine that our ancestors and relatives would have been walking around with their hair matted to the scalp.

even without protective styles, surely finger combing and detangling would have been common practice?

Am I missing something here? It seems like this is just an oversight & even stereotype that has become commonplace in this specific genre of scientific art. seems like a very reductive idea of the “dirty caveman” which has made its way into even modern scientific models.

#archaeology #hair #read a dang history book #fashion history

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Ep6 - Rewind the Tape

"Costume designer Carol Cutshall spoke about how she used stripes and key motifs to symbolize the enclosing cage that the family home has become. Did you notice other ways —for example, color and light, shot framing and blocking, or set design— in which this theme is hinted at through the episode?"

@iwtvfanevents

The entire townhouse set is a cage--one of my favorite architectural elements is the ironwork. The only way in/out are through big ole iron gates (the front door itself, and the gate to the courtyard/drivethru) that creak like jail cell bars.

And it also reminds me of the bars & gates on NOLA crypts.

Louis & Claudia are constantly being compared to baby birds, which is so interesting when it comes to vampires (who in other lore can turn into bats & nightbirds like owls). Their wings have been clipped, their growth stunted (Lou voluntarily, Claudia involuntarily). The night he sees the Cloud Gift in full effect is rock bottom for Loustat.

It's painfully beautiful, just Loustat in the clouds, as Les tells him how much he loves him. But Lou just got his arse kicked six ways to Sunday, right before Lestat drops him a million miles in the air--Lou's TERRIFIED. He knows he's undead, but he doesn't KNOW what will happen to him, he's AFRAID of how much the drop's going to hurt--even if he knows/hopes it's possible for vamps to survive such a drop.

He's paralyzed, stuck in his coffin, unable to even WALK on his own anymore. He's an apex predator stuck in that coffin/house, no better than all the caged prey Claudia brought fed to him so he'd recover.

It's such a shock to his system that he can't even sleep, jolting awake whenever he feels the air on his skin, thinking he's STILL falling (and slowing down his healing by moving around with broken bones).

What used to make the love feel like free-falling in a "well with no bottom" is now just raw PTSD--"I loved Lestat with a wounded one."

#vampterview #interview with the vampire #loustat #louis de pointe du lac

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Ep6 - Rewind the Tape

"After Louis tells Claudia that Lestat wants him to know he's still cheating, Claudia compares Lestat to her rapist, with the show literally putting Bruce's image over his. Immediately after, Louis' narration tells us he'd become numb and dissociated, "a vessel of acceptance." What do you think Claudia, Louis, and the show itself are suggesting about consent in this new domestic arrangement?"

@iwtvfanevents

A lot of the fandom H A T E S that Claudia was raped (even more than the Loustat fight), and they especially hate what Rolin Jones said about it toughening her up. But despite its inclusion/execution/explanation, I DO see where RJ was going with it all; as I've also mentioned how Claudia & Louis were deliberately put on the same level, as were Lestat and Bruce.

We know Carol Cutshall designed Lestat's matador costume for the "villain sequence" in Ep5 to emphasize his patriarchal hegemony over "the housewife and the mistake." Matador in Spanish literally means "killer." Through the matador costume, AMC brilliantly tied the Wolfkiller Lestat with Bruce the Killer.

We also have a hard time w/ instances of physical/sexual violence by Les against Lou--I saw a spicy post just the other day about whether or not the Disassociating scene was Les raping Lou or not.

I think in Lou's mind, sex with Les while he was disassociating wasn't rape. Louis himself pointed out that Lestat's affair with Antoinette was all tangled up in Lou's lack of libido due to his diet; and his later depression, ignoring Les' "considerable considerables." He WANTS Lestat ("I wanted him dead, I wanted him all to myself"), and when he comes back online he IS into it, cuz he loves the stupid man. I think he DOES consent, and TRIES to stay present--but "there were THREE of you" in that bed, and in that relationship.

I think in Claudia's mind, Lestat really was raping Louis. I think SHE had put Lestat & Bruce on the same level, convinced that Les felt the same way about Lou that Bruce did about her--and that Lou felt the same way about Les that she did--not understanding Loustat at all.

Claudia trips people up a lot wrt arrested development & stunted growth--she's either a little girl or a SUPER old woman or both or neither. How much can she REALLY know, process & experience?

Cuz in some ways, AMC!Lestat (& book!Louis) kinda did rape Claudia. Aside from the more sexual meaning, one can take "rape" in the original Latin sense (rapio/rapere: "to snatch, grab, carry off, abduct, rape, steal"); or we can take it in the vampiric sense, turning Claudia without her consent, and force/violence done to one's fledglings. Les is a bad Maker to Louis, but GODAWFUL to Claudia.

Lestat even puts himself above & beyond Bruce, saying he can and WILL do far worse than "defiling her pocket;" he'll KILL her.

Lestat snatched away Claudia's consent, & snatched her from the train crying & sobbing. He violated her autonomy just like he'd violated her privacy by reading her diary when Louis told him not to.

And what's sad is that because Claudia's a sadist like her father, she was initially charmed by Bruce & how he killed; just like she was charmed by Lestat's "extravagant" killing style. "He had a way about him." AMC!Claudia's the one who gives Bruce his epithet, but in the books his his name's just Killer (IIRC he's never given a real name).

But we soon see the gradual jadedness in Claudia. Her killing loses the bubbly giggling glee from her early years, as she becomes cold & far more calculating/methodical. Plus, she realizes that the men in her life that she initially THOUGHT were great heroes & "knights" & "angels" that had saved her, were really just HELL DEMONS. Lestat's not a cheeky "Brat" anymore, he's the frikkin Devil. The "darkness in her that wasn't there before" Lestat talks about is just REALITY; the dawning realization that Lestat, Louis, Bruce, NONE of these men were good to her. All good things died with Charlie.

She's desperate to go to Europe, cuz she's holding onto hope like a lifeline, that not all vampires are as bad as Bruce & Lestat. Unfortunately, Lestat was right when he said they're actually vicious and "far worse" in Europe. 😬

#vampterview #interview with the vampire #justice for claudia #loustat #lestat de lioncourt #operation matador

[murfpersonalblog]

Omg I never saw anyone point out the spreading tentacles detail, well spotted! 👀

And you're right, the cut of Armand's clothes is sharper, harder, more broad shouldered and "strong," and he stands ramrod straight. It's a formal coat, and makes him look like someone's boss. Meanwhile Louis is slumped sideways, with soft drooping shoulders, in a casual hoodie bordering on loungewear/athleisure.

Louis consistently falls for FAR older wealthy powerful men, so the ironic tragedy's that he'll never be in a truly equal relationship with anyone he's actually attracted to, despite his protests to the contrary.

But Loumand was on more "equal" footing, cuz Armand's not Louis' Maker. For Louis, the Fledgling/slave dynamic chaffed something fierce; and for Lestat, the inability to read Louis' mind made him paranoid & self-sabotaging. Cuz Loustat sucks at communication, which is KEY for any healthy relationship to work.

Armand seems far more communicative, but his problem's that he's an enabler. By bending over backwards to help make Louis delude himself into feeling more equal & more in control, Armand wasn't being true to himself, Louis, or Daniel. That's wildly unhealthy, and unsustainable.

I have suddenly understood why this shot with the "love of my life" line feels so strange.

Armand and Louis are both wearing black, but Armand's clothes have more sharp lines. Now he is the real predator.

Armand is not flying already, but he's still standing higher than Louis.

Armand's half of the picture is darker and heavier, he is the gravity center here. And it seems like he's spreading tentacles to Louis.

So does it look like equal and healthy relationship?

#loumand #fashion statement

[murfpersonalblog]

-- Blood Communion

#loustat #the feels #THE FEELS I TELL YOU #prince lestat and the chateau era

[murfpersonalblog]

#this is my life #pc problems

[murfpersonalblog]

ISTG this would fit perfectly in a rockstar!Lestat music video. Make it happen, AMC!

Lestat (and his morphing skills) in S2 teasers

#the vampire lestat #lestat de lioncourt #vampires

[murfpersonalblog]

The Vampire Chronicles characters as Onion headlines - part 3

Link to part 1 and part 2

Loustat:

Lestat:

Armand:

Lestat making Claudia:

David (and Marius):

Lestat:

Benji:

Devil's Minion rentals:

Armand:

Viktor and Rose:

Marius:

Lestat:

Armand:

#lmfao bye #the vampire chronicles #where is the lie

[murfpersonalblog]

I think Louis played those tapes over & over again--probably memorizing them just like he memorized Claudia's diaries & Daniel's books.

Cuz Lou wanted his memoir to be a warning, making vampirism look as bad as possible; a permanent reminder that he he was a failure. He'd been holding onto his resentment, regret & despair for decades, and then snapped when Dan demanded to be turned.

Book/film!Lou attacked Dan & left him for dead & never took the tapes with him, or followed up on if Dan ever managed to publish the interview--like he didn't care what happened one way or the other. In the books, it's a lot more explicit that Lou was talking to himself more than he was being interviewed--Daniel wasn't even given a name; he was just "the boy," cuz he didn't matter--what mattered is that everything Lou'd been bottling up finally had an outlet (albeit an unhealthy one), and the boy/Daniel was in the right place at the wrong time.

But as "disrespectful" as Dan was, he was right that Louis didn't understand "the meaning of his own story." Lou made the tapes all about how mad he was at Lestat for turning him, when really he was mad at himself for failing Claudia--his "light, redemption"--and hadn't taken accountability yet.

My running theory about the SanFran / Dubai timeline reckons that either the Talamasca gave him Claudia's diaries (as in the books), or Louis found them on his own (OR heist!Armand stole them 🤭). The diaries (& the tapes) would thus create the start of Louis' "archives."

I suspect AMC used the word "archives" deliberately cuz of the Merrick connection, where we learn that all of Claudia's stuff was kept in the Talamasca's archives. Cuz otherwise just call it a library or something ffs--"archives" makes it sound like educational material that is carefully being collected & PRESERVED for posterity's sake.

And it's even more interesting, cuz Daniel and Louis have a lot in common--2 jaded old AF men who've lived too long & seen too much, determined to tell the sordid truth (Daniel: about the world; Louis: about himself), by collecting, preserving & circulating information.

So I suspect that Lou collected his "archives" to get his affairs in order, a la Merrick. After the interview, I think he went back to Paris & NOLA looking for those "lost pieces" of himself that he'd left behind, back in Paris; the memories he'd been tryna repress (or that were repressed for him.... 👀).

Cuz SanFran!Lou is VERY different from depressed Paris/Dubai!Lou. I think he'd been running from his trauma in the 50s-70s, burying his pain, b4 Dan's interview shook Lou out of it.

IMO the "terrible thing" he's referring to is accepting the Dark Gift. He let Daniel interview him, but he wasn't ready to be honest with himself about Claudia at the time. He kept the tapes, probably played them on a loop, desperate to hold on to what he thought/wanted the truth to be: Lestat was a dumb loser who'd ruined his life, it wasn't his fault, "it could not have ended any other way," etc etc.

Then he found Claudia's diaries and it knocked him sideways. He realized just how bad he'd messed up, seeing the full scope of the consequences of all his bad actions, and in 2000 decided to clean up his act (literally): no more killing, eating human food, etc.

But he still wasn't ready to face the tapes. He'd held on to them as he stalked Dan's career for decades. He likely knew the whole time that he wanted Dan to re-interview him (he knew they were wrong, but were still a step in the right direction); but only got the courage to get in contact w/ Dan when he felt he might lose his chance: Daniel was dying of Parkinson's, and the pandemic was in full swing.

Lou gave the tapes back to Dan & agreed that they were a bust, "a fever dream told to an idiot." Dan had been a pisspoor interviewer, and Lou had been a pisspoor interviewee. "Truth and reconciliation."

Having decided to "get every detail right" this time (even though his memory's all effed up), only now is Louis in a place where he can both admit to his flaws, face them head on, and try cleansing himself--reborn/purified by fire. He can finally get rid of the tapes for good.

Granted, I still wonder what Armand's part in all this is, cuz yeah, I imagine he'd've wanted those tapes obliterated years ago. 🤔

I have a question : why didn't Louis & Armand throw the 70s tapes away ? Why did they keep it all these years ? Did they know they would do the interview again & need the tapes ? Or they didn't know how to dispose some tapes ? 😅

#louis de pointe du lac #loumand

[murfpersonalblog]

do you guys remember the Old Guard. remember when there was a major mainstream hollywood action scifi motion picture starring hot women with guns where gay people kissed on the mouth passionately. and the movie was both critically and financially successful. that movie feels like a fucking fever dream. i'll never achieve the high i got when that movie came out ever again

#the old guard #kaysanova #andynh #must see tv #lgbt #lgbtqia+

[murfpersonalblog]

When Influencers try to act like they care about Israel-Hamas war - LongBeachGriffy

#america #democracy of hypocrisy #capitalism #capitalism is evil #videos #youtube

[murfpersonalblog]

no but listen...

This is thiam

This is sterek

This is Petopher

And yes covid might have given me neurological damage but more importantly I'm right

#sterek #petopher