#I love making Mario face the Consequences of dating a princess.

[istadris]

Mareach headcanon time :

In the Mushroom World, King or Queen isn't a title you gain automatically when taking the throne of a kingdom. Prince or Princesses can be acting, legitimate rulers for years without anyone questioning their right to rule (aside from villains obviously).

Likewise, marrying royalty doesn't make you royalty by default. After her wedding, Peach is still the Princess, and Mario takes it for granted that he's still just Some Guy who happened to have married the ruler of the kingdom, and that said ruler's title is "princess". He'a a hero, sure, but he didn't become royalty or nobility or gain titles or land or anything he associates with royalty customs from Earth.

Things take a strange turn, however, when Peach becomes pregnant.

Mario doesn't pay attention to it at first, because he has other things to worry about like his wife (his wife!!!) expecting their child (their child !!!)

But some people start acting a bit weird around him.

"Did you think of what gems you will have on your crown?", someone asks in the same tone one would ask about your plans for the baby's bedroom.

"Can't wait to do business with you !", a king from another kingdom tells him cheerfully, as if Mario was ever expected to do more in politics than sit around, look pretty and bash some villain skulls.

"I'm expecting you for a visit as soon as you can find the time in your schedule!" The royal tailor says, which Mario takes as a joke about his eternal overalls.

Even Toadsworth suddenly asks him a lot more to help with various diplomatic and budgetary tasks, which Mario obliges with because he's a dear, but he doesn't get the sudden need for his help, given he's a plumber by trade when not punching Bowser in the face.

But as I said, Mario just waves it off and focuses on becoming a dad soon.

When Peach gives birth, he cries, Luigi (who's been waiting in the next room and drove him there because Mario was too nervous to drive his kart when he learned Peach's water broke) cries, everyone cries but not as much as the baby (or babies ? Haven't decided that yet), they show the baby to the crowd gathered outside the castle, it's a beautiful day and even Bowser sent a gift basket.

Then some days later, as Mario is busy cooing over Peach breastfeeding the baby, Toadsworth shows up and asks Mario to come greet a foreign delegation. No, not Peach, Mario.

"Why would they want to see me over Peach ?"

"Now now, it is part of your duties as King now after all"

"Part of my what now."

"After all the Queen has to rest, your Majesty."

"Wait what."

Turns out, in this world, one does become a King or Queen only after birthing or naming a heir. The role of Prince/Princess is then passed on to this heir, as their parent now enters a new step of their rule : acknowledging that they are now continuing the line even if they were to pass away.

And, especially in the case of birthing a heir, as the new parent will be too busy taking care of their child for the first months, it is expected of their partner to act in their stead in political decisions. And since you can't have any commoner acting in the Queen's name...

...Mario is now officially King of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Everyone just assumed he knew all of the package deal when he started courting Peach, so no one bothered to fill him in.

(Mario spends the next ten minutes hiding under Peach's bedsheets while she's very amused by the situation, before she comforts him and assures him he'll do great).

#super mario bros #mareach #miscellaneous mario madness #I love making Mario face the Consequences of dating a princess.

[cinema-tv-etc]

Why The Godfather Part III has been unfairly demonized

By Caryn James1st December 2020

he mafia trilogy ended with a closing chapter that has long been vilified. But as a new recut is released, 30 years on, Caryn James says it deserves to be re-evaluated. T

The final part of the Godfather trilogy is considered such an artistic disaster that you'd think Francis Ford Coppola had forgotten how to make a film in the 16 years that followed The Godfather Part II (1974). Part III's most famous dialogue – Al Pacino as the aging Mafia don Michael Corleone snarls, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" – has become an easy laugh line.

But 30 years after its release, it is time to rescue Godfather III from its terrible reputation. Pacino's eloquent, fiery, knowing central performance is supported by several bravura set pieces that are mini-masterpieces in themselves. With deliberate echoes of the earlier Godfather films, there is singing and dancing at a family party, a bold murder during the San Gennaro street festival, a tragedy on the steps of an opera house in Sicily.

In the film’s confusing main plot, Michael gets tangled up in dealing with the Vatican  

Hindsight alone would tell us how seriously the film has been undervalued, even without Coppola's newly restored, re-edited and renamed version. It now has the title Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. Calling it a coda emphasises its connection to the earlier instalments, and even hints at its lesser stature. And the word 'death' signals its dark inevitability, although the meaning of that word is slipperier than it first appears.

Twelve minutes shorter, it rearranges some key episodes, eliminates a few minor scenes and trims a line here or there. But until its altered ending, it is fundamentally the same film, better in parts than as a whole. It is too flawed to come close to the accomplishments of The Godfather (1972) or its sequel, both among the most towering and influential films of the 20th Century. They have penetrated the culture, from their language ("I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse") to their quintessentially American story of immigration and upward mobility. But the new version clarifies Coppola's epic vision, revealing how much the Corleone story was always Michael's, a deeply moral saga of guilt and redemption. He just happened to be a mob boss.

For me the tragedy of The Godfather, which is the tragedy of America, is about Michael Corleone – Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola was always lucid about the trilogy's vision, even when others were confused. "For me the tragedy of The Godfather, which is the tragedy of America, is about Michael Corleone," he says in the extras on a DVD set of the three films released in 2001. He wanted The Death of Michael Corleone to be the title back in 1990, but Paramount, the studio releasing it, did not. The film's initial reception was measured disappointment, not dismissal or horror as we now assume. Roger Ebert actually loved it. Pauline Kael did not love or hate it, but offered the withering, condescending assessment. "I don't think it's going to be a public humiliation." Expectations were high because of the legacy of the earlier films, yet low because Part III came with a whiff of desperation and of selling out. Coppola had resisted making another Godfather for years, then wrote the screenplay (with Mario Puzo) and edited it in a rush to meet its Christmas Day release. It even got seven Oscar nominations, including best picture and director. It is an odd example of a movie whose reputation has declined over the decades.

Why the film is misunderstood

Then and now, the series has largely been misunderstood. Crime movies like Coppola's and Martin Scorsese's are so seductive that audiences have embraced them for apparently glamorising the love of raw power and the concept of honour among thieves. Beneath the Mafia-friendly surface, though, they are built on ethical themes their more hot-headed characters don't grasp. The Godfather Coda tells us that crime really doesn't pay when you're ready to search your soul. The young Michael struggles with the idea of killing and crime in the first Godfather. The consequences of his decision are central to Part III, which takes place in 1979, 20 years after the events of Godfather II. Michael, a billionaire living in New York, has made his businesses legitimate and is left to grapple with his guilt for so many crimes, especially ordering the murder of his  brother Fredo, who betrayed him.

The film still has problems that no amount of editing can change. In a needlessly confusing main plot, Michael tries to take over a European conglomerate called International Immobiliare. By buying the Vatican's shares, he'll be bailing out the corrupt Vatican bank. The family part of the story revolves around Michael's nephew, Vincent Mancini, the illegitimate son of his brother Sonny. Andy Garcia is as good a Vincent as you could hope for, handsome, swaggering, rough around the edges, dynamic on screen. But his character never makes much sense. Vincent has his father's explosive temper and appetite for violence, but somehow goes from a not-so-bright thug to a shrewd, controlled crime strategist in a matter of months. His change is far from the engrossing, methodical character trajectory that takes the young Michael from idealist to murderer in the first Godfather.

And the film's most severely criticised element is no better than anyone remembers. Winona Ryder, who had been set to play Michael's daughter, Mary, dropped out weeks before filming started and was replaced with unabashed nepotism by Coppola's teenaged daughter, Sofia. Today, we know Sofia Coppola as a brilliant director, but it's easy to see why her amateurish performance made her another target of Godfather III jokes, particularly for the unintentionally awkward and passionless romance between Mary and her cousin Vincent. Coppola actually snipped a couple of Sofia's lines in the new version.

He makes a major change at the start of the re-edited film, eliminating the lovely original beginning. It set an elegiac tone by showing images of the abandoned family house in Lake Tahoe from Part II, and includes a flashback to Fredo's death, while Nino Rota's familiar soundtrack music evokes the past. The new version begins with a duplicitous archbishop soliciting Michael's help for the Vatican, a scene originally placed later in the film. The change highlights the finance plot without making it any clearer.  

The exhilarating start

But the film soon picks up with its true, exhilarating beginning. Several generations of Corleones, along with friends and business associates, gather at a party celebrating Michael. His sister, Connie, sings an Italian song, while shady-looking visitors pay homage to Michael in his office. He now has bristly grey hair and a lined face, and controls his family and business with authoritarian power. The extravagant 30-minute sequence echoes Connie's wedding at the start of The Godfather, and the First Communion party in Lake Tahoe that began Godfather II. Michael's office even has the same light slanting through the blinds that we saw in his father's office in the first Godfather, when Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone received visitors. Throughout, these call backs to the previous films add resonance while trenchantly revealing how things have changed.  Michael is burdened by conscience in a way Vito never was. "I don't apologise," Vito tells Michael near the end of The Godfather, justifying his brutality because he was trying to save his family. Godfather III is all about Michael's need to atone.  

Al Pacino's performance may have become an object of derision, but he knows what he's doing.

The party scene flows easily as it brings every character up to date. Diane Keaton is as deft as ever as Michael's ex-wife Kay, who pleads with him to allow their son, Tony, to pursue a career as an opera singer. Kay can be chilling. "Tony knows that you killed Fredo," she warns Michael. Yet she has never got over him, as we see in a later scene when they have a tearful tête-à-tête in Sicily, a scene Pacino and Keaton make painfully real.

Connie, played with glorious sharpness and wit by Talia Shire, has morphed into Lady Macbeth. Mafia princesses can never run things, but they can pull the strings. It's Connie who ruthlessly tells Vincent, "You're the only one in this family with my father's strength. If anything happens to Michael I want you to strike back." She has asked the right person.

Vincent is central to many of the set pieces. During a meeting of Mafia heads in Atlantic City, when Michael announces he is out of the crime business, a helicopter approaches the window and shoots most of them dead. Vincent rushes Michael, the main target, to safety. The intrigue and rapid-fire violence in the perfectly orchestrated scene might obscure the real point: Michael can't escape his past. That attack causes his cry: "Just when I thought I was out..." Pacino's performance may have become an object of derision, but he knows what he's doing. He is raw and angrily over-the-top in some scenes, but modulates those outbursts with quieter moments. When a stress-induced diabetic attack sends him to the hospital, in his delusional state he calls out Fredo's name. Pacino shows us a conflicted Michael, weakened yet clinging to power.

The power of the re-edited finale

The tone becomes more ominous and the themes more spiritual when the entire family goes to Sicily for Tony's opera debut. (There are spoilers here, but the time limit on spoilers has expired after 30 years.) Michael grapples with the Sicilian Mafia, for reasons linked to the Immobiliare deal, but that is less important than his inner crisis. He makes a confession to a cardinal, breaking down in tears as he says, "I'm beyond redemption." When his protector, Don Tommasino, becomes another victim of Michael's power struggle, he sits by the coffin and says to God, "I swear on the lives of my children, give me a chance to redeem myself and I will sin no more." In this version, Coppola eliminates lines in which Michael asks why he is feared and not loved, removing that plea for the audience's sympathy. Michael gives Vincent control of the family, but does he really have a clear conscience when he knows too well the vengeance Vincent will plan?

The Trump era has been full of Godfather references; Trump himself regularly attacks CNN's Chris Cuomo by calling him Fredo.

That revenge plays out in the elaborate, gripping final sequence at the opera, a counterpart to one of the most famous episodes from The Godfather, when a baptism is intercut with a series of murders. That first sequence was about Michael's rise to power; now he suffers the consequences. While the family watches Tony on stage, Coppola weaves in scenes of Vincent's crew settling scores. One shoots an enemy who plummets off a beautiful spiral staircase. Another murders a rival by stabbing the man's own eyeglasses into his neck. At the opera, hitmen are after Michael, which leads to the shooting on the steps, and a bullet meant for him that kills Mary. For him there is no coming back from that, no possible way to forgive himself.  

As the film ends, Coppola makes a brilliant editing choice. The original ending flashed ahead years to the elderly Michael, sitting alone in a gravelly yard as the camera closes in on a face still full of desolation and sadness. He falls to the ground, obviously dead.  With a tiny cut, Coppola transforms the meaning of the scene. It now ends with the close-up of Michael's face, still alive. Living with his guilt is his true death, a death of the soul and of hope. Coppola adds text at the end, which says: “When the Sicilians wish you ‘Cent'anni’... it means ‘for long life’... and a Sicilian never forgets.” Michael is doomed to a long life of remembering.

Godfather, Coda restores Coppola's original darker vision, but one element creates a jolt even he couldn't have seen coming. The locations listed in the end credits include Trump Castle Casino Resort in Atlantic City, where the exterior of the helicopter attack was shot. The Trump era has been full of Godfather references. Some are from mainsteam media, including a 2018 Atlantic Magazine article with the headline Donald Trump Goes Full Fredo, comparing a Trump tweet saying that he is “like, really smart” to Fredo famously insisting in Godfather II, “I'm smart! Not like everybody says, like dumb, I'm smart!”  Similarly, Twitter trolls routinely mock the president's circle and his grown children as Fredos, portraying them as weak and bumbling like the character,  including pasting Donald Trump Jr’s head on a photo of Fredo's body.  Donald Trump himself regularly attacks CNN's Chris Cuomo by calling him Fredo. Godfather II even turned up in court documents charging Trump's advisor Roger Stone with obstructing justice, citing an email in which Stone asked someone to protect him the way Frankie Pentangeli covered up for the Corleones. Today the location credit lands like a coda to the end of the Trump presidency, and offers a reminder of how influential the Godfather films have been, even when they were embraced for all the wrong reasons.

Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is available on BluRay and streaming from 8 December.

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https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201201-why-the-godfather-part-iii-has-been-unfairly-demonised

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201201-david-fincher-hollywoods-most-disturbing-director

#Godfather Part III

[bugheadfamily]

This week the spotlight is on Anna ( @writeradamanteve )! Click the read more link below to get to know our member!

Spotlight by Mila, @jughead-jones | Graphic by Katie, @betty-cooper

Anna | @writeradamanteve

Name: Anna 

Age: 40

Location: New Jersey

Any other languages aside from English people can contact you in?: Filipino.

Favourite Riverdale characters and ships?: Aside from Betty and Jughead, I do love the awfulness of Cheryl Blossom and spitfire that is season 1 Veronica.

Cheryl Blossom is unapologetically terrible, and in real life, I would absolutely HATE her, but there’s something to be said about a woman who just goes all in. I get that hardness in her, and I like it that she admires others for it, too. That Toni brings out her soft side is a plus, but I would prefer that she stays true to her character outside of her romantic relationship. 

Season 1 Veronica Lodge was a champion of women. I loved that about her. I may not have bought the whole “Betty is my best friend” assertion, but I did like that she was doing it to make amends for her past. S1!Veronica wanted to do better and she looked at Betty and thought Betty was a good person to hang out with to further that. Veronica as a person is methodical. Deliberate. And those are characteristics that can be both good and bad. I like it that Veronica can go both ways. I also mean that in a very gay way. No amount of her sleeping with Archie will convince me that her character can’t be bi. I can’t even say I hate her in season 2. She seemed a little lost there, but she was deciding between her family and her principles. For a while she thought that both could coexist, but when she realized in the end that it couldn’t, she broke away. That’s badass. 

As for Betty and Jughead, I have at least 500K worth of words in fanfic that expresses the many ways I love them. But to be clear: 

I love Betty for being so steadfast in her beliefs. She may have her insecurities when it comes to how she looks and what her mother may think of her, but when it comes injustice and friends endangering themselves for sex, she isn’t going to let anyone prevent her from doing the right thing. She is a go-getter, from saving Pop’s to saving her relationship (especially when Jughead was pulling away from her). She is a master at wielding household items — a skill, we learned, she got from Alice, who’s clearly handy with a lamp. She’s kinky, and she can be scary stone cold — forcing Cheryl to testify the truth with blackmail, watching Jughead punch Chic in the face without flinching, drowning a man to get him to confess to his sins (although ask me some other time about the morality and racial undertones of that, as that is an entirely different conversation). But she also deeply values her relationships. She cares for her loved ones so much, friend or family. That makes her so strong.

Let me tell you the many Jugheads I love: Soft!Jughead, Smughead Jones, Curious Jones, Snowflake!Jughead, ProudBF!Juggie, and even HaplessSerpent!Jughead. I like him best when he’s writing and when he’s making literary references in regular conversation. I love how sarcastic he could be and how his transition from loner weird kid in Riverdale High to popular serpent prince in Southside High tugs at my heartstrings and makes me mad, too. Like Betty, he cares fiercely for the people he loves. His need to belong becomes real to him, after he tried to deny it for so long. As much as we all have our issues with Season 2 Jughead, it added certain dimensions to Jughead that I love to write about in fanfic.

Favourite moments from S1 & S2?: I think I loved most of season 1, but the moments that stood out to me most were these: When Betty was dancing happily in her Cheerleading uniform, when Betty and Jughead were searching Jason’s room and got caught, when Jughead and Betty went to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy together, when Betty rushed to SSH to save Jughead only to find him laughing at the lunch tables with his newfound friends, when Veronica stood up for Betty at the tryouts, when Veronica showed Cheryl compassion, when the girls all banded together to make Chuck suffer the consequences of his misogyny (again, I have words for this, but mostly — why only him? His wasn’t the only name on that playbook), when Cheryl calls people names, when Jughead protected Betty from her vandalized locker, and of course, when Jughead climbed Betty’s bedroom window.  While I can’t get enough of Jughead throwing Betty against the kitchen counter, I have to admit I still loved those other scenes a whole lot more. That said, I will still hope for what I mention in question #7.

Season 2 — ah, my goodness. I don’t need to explain how S2 broke my heart in so many good and bad ways. While there were some golden moments, I think most of us are in agreement that there were so many things that could’ve been done better. However, I STILL do have favorite scenes in this Hell Season: Jughead running the gauntlet was amazing, Betty working on Reggie’s car, the entire street race sequence, every time Betty uses a household object to save people (a shovel, a rolling pin, a poker), Jughead and Betty disposing of the car--from her house to the swamp, that entire episode of “The Wicked and the Divine”, Cheryl and Toni finding one another, and the hunger strike scenes.

What are your hopes for S3?:

Bughead summer sex montage. 

MOAR Bughead Detective Agency. 

A slammin’ Riverdale Parents Flashback episode. 

Joaquin stays and Kevin gets better with love and BDE.  

Kevin and Josie becoming step-siblings.

Reggie and Sweetpea being half-brothers.

Veronica being the Speakeasy Queen.

Cheryl stirring trouble (even if I know I’ll hate her for it).

Archie getting a clue.

Other fandoms you’re into?: My thing is that I don’t usually fan hard on more than one thing. My past fandoms were Harry Potter, Teen Titans, Anime (many of them at once), Cowboy Bebop, X-Files, Star Trek Voyager, and Firefly. At present, I love Star Wars (all of them — eh, except maybe for Episodes 1, 2, and 3), Wonder Woman, and all the Marvel movies.  

What are some of your favourite movies/TV?: Classics: Galaxy Quest, Tropic Thunder, Labyrinth, The Princess Bride, Forest Gump, The Matrix, Constantine, Clueless, The Breakfast Club, Transformers: The Animated Movie, Snatch, Firefly, Veronica Mars, Supernatural (Seasons 1 - 5), X-Files; 

Most Recent: Pacific Rim, Black Panther, Wonder Woman, Rogue One, Ready Player One, Anne with an E, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Anthony Bourdaine’s old and new series. 

Favourite books?: There are so many, fam, but here are the ones that first come to mind:

Harry Potter 1 - 6 (yeah, sorry, not a huge fan of the 7th)

Emma by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

All of Louisa May Alcott’s books

All of Sharon Shinn

All of L.M. Montgomery

Anne Marston’s Rune Blade Trilogy

Barb and J.C. Hendee’s Noble Dead Saga

The Infernal Devices Trilogy (Cassandra Clare)

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

All of Zilpha Keatley Snyder books

All of Paula Danziger books

Juliet Naked by Nick Hornby

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose

The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi

The Terror by Dan Simmons

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Misery by Stephen King

Favourite bands/musicians?: I shall date myself, thanks:

Queen

Guns & Roses

Metallica

Nikki Minaj

Cardi B

Imagine Dragons

One Republic

The Killers

Lily Allen

Cake

Eminem

Amy Winehouse

U2

Sting

If you could live in any fictional world which one would you choose and why?: Harry Potter, no doubt. I would like to live in a world that relies on magic. I would like to go to a magical school like Hogwarts. I would love to fight in a resistance to overthrow an evil sorcerer. Plus, I would really, really love to meet Hermione.

Favourite food?:

Ramen (the real stuff, not the dried instant ones)

Banh Mi

Bun bo Hue

Sushi

Filipino Food — particularly Adobo

Tacos

Mangos and strawberries

Favourite season?: Summer.

Favourite plant?: This is an odd question to me as I don’t have a favorite plant. They are just there and sometimes they give me grief when I have to tend to the outside of my house because they’ve gotten unruly on some level (like — Fall, why do you have to discard your leaves all over my grounds?)

Favourite scent?: Baby’s breath, food, and freshly changed bed sheets.

Favourite colour?: Victorian pink.

Favourite animal?: Cats and Owls (I am definitely a witch by heart).

Are you a night owl, an early bird, or a vampire?: I sleep late and wake up early. I am an old person who can go on 5 hours of sleep.

Place you want to visit?: Portugal or Prague is next on my list.

Do you have pets? If you do, tell us a little about them: I have two pets. Pootie is a cat. He is a gray tuxedo. He loves me best, but he also hangs around my eldest child a lot. Every once in a while, he bothers my husband. Bob is a hermit crab. Bob bores the hell out of me and I am equal parts terrified that I will find him dead in his cage and tired that I am still taking care of him. His previous companions, Larry and Curly, have perished. When I found them dead, I screamed. Hermit crabs are creepy as fuck when they leave their shells, like I can’t stand them that way. I don’t know why I am stuck taking care of Bob, but he’s here, he is under my care, and God help me, he’s a stubborn bastard.

Tell us a little about yourself?: 

For work, I’m a web producer/web developer, and I maintain about 20 sites for my company.  

I used to work in publishing.

I went to law school and quit.

I eventually married my high school sweetheart and now we have 3 children.

I was always attracted to women, too, but growing up, I was too afraid to come out as bi. It still intimidates me, coming out to new people now. Most times, I just let them draw their own conclusions.

Fun or weird fact about you?: There’s nothing weird about me that you don’t already know. Fun fact: I kickbox in the nearby UFC gym, and one time, I was practicing with Tai pads with a dude who kicked me in the leg by accident — he just “grazed” me, really. I TRIED VERY HARD to pretend that I was alright. That night, my leg was swollen, and three months later, I saw that same dude fighting in the octagon on TV.

Asks for fanfic authors:

How long have you been writing?: 20 years.

Which is your favourite of the fics you’ve written?: That is impossible to answer. Truly. So I’m going to close my eyes over a list of my stories and where my finger lands, that’s my fave. It’s Drive.

Favourite fic/chapter/plot-point/character you’ve ever written?: This is even harder. 

Polly’s character arc in Wicked. I really love how I fleshed her out in that story

The development of Kevin and Jughead’s friendship in Harvest to Home

Jughead’s relationship with Archie and Jellybean in Drive.

Betty’s story arc in Drive.

The twists and turns of Wicked.

The rich ambience of Harvest to Home.

Betty and Cheryl’s friendship in Harvest to Home.

The text conversation in Drive.

Sweet Pea’s background character in Drive.

Cheryl’s character in Wicked.

The car chase scene in Drive.

The hotel scene in Cowboy Jones.

The Peitho kitchen scene in Cowboy Jones.

Which was the hardest to write, and why?: Wicked was hard to write. I had set out to write this story with the twists and turns in mind, and those twists were interlaced. I had to set stuff up all throughout the beginning and middle so that the end would make sense. It was also harder because of Season 2. The background of those episodes in contrast with what I had in mind tended to make me nervous about reader expectations. Like when Hal was suddenly the Black Hood on Riverdale, it felt odd to not make him so terrible in Wicked. 

One of the hardest chapters I had to write was a chapter written in Cheryl’s POV. Delving into her psyche was a difficult switch to turn on and at some point, I was doubting whether I can do it, but I did it and there it was. And I don’t regret it at all.

How do you come up with the ideas for you fic(s)? (examples: Do you draw inspiration from real life? Listen to music? Get inspired by TV/movies?) Do you have an process to your writing?: Inspiration is different every time. 

For Harvest to Home, I wanted to write a fic about a very domestic Betty who made beautiful things. While I was writing that fic, I was deeply into the show Fixer Upper because we had just moved into our own new home. I was absolutely inspired by the designs I saw on TV and our need to decorate our home. I wanted Betty to be so good at it that she wrote a blog about home making. I had a lot of inspiration for that as well, since in the publishing company I used to work for, I worked with a lot of chefs and homemakers who published books. 

For Drive, I was inspired by images of Mechanic!Betty at the start of Season 2. I think I may have seen a couple of fics inspired by the movie Baby Driver, where Jughead drove the getaway cars, and honestly, I got a little mad that Betty was never the driver. So I wrote the damn thing, and suddenly, Jughead was drag racing in Season 2. I wrote that fic with a lot of alternative music in the background. I usually started my chapters with the lyrics of those songs that inspired me.

For Wicked, I started writing it for Halloween and it basically grew too large of an idea to make it to Halloween of that year. I was also hesitant about how the fandom would receive a fic where Betty was a witch. Then there came that article about how Alice was possibly a Spellman. WELL THEN. 

Cowboy Jones was absolutely inspired by the Camp Bughead prompts. I figured since I hadn’t been driven out of the fandom by torches and pitchforks because of Wicked, I’d try for some sci-fi, a genre I really love. I aimed to misbehave with Cowboy Jones, so I told myself that this was going to be my smuttiest work yet. I had also put out an X-Files inspired bughead short called The Truth is Here for that same prompt. 

I answered the question about my writing process here and some more about character development here. 

Idea that you always wanted to write?: Kitchen Confidential type story, where Jughead is an asshole chef who is determined to make his restaurant succeed. Betty becomes his sous chef and shows him a thing or two about cooking and about life.

Favourite character to write?: Betty and Jughead, no doubt.

Best comment/review you’ve ever received?: Well, there are so many commenters who have been so fantastic, but my favorite comments come from those who want to have a discussion with me, mostly because I like to reply to all commenters to express my gratitude and it’s easier to reply when I can pick up a conversation.

Best and worst parts of being a writer?: Best part is finishing a chapter and posting it. Worst part is getting flamed. I have been fortunate enough to have a welcoming group of readers here, but I’ve had my share of flames in other fandoms. I always try to dig deep for something constructive in them — there always is something that can be so useful to my writing, but man, those are TOUGH to handle sometimes.

Do you have any advice to offer?: Few things:

Don’t let fear rule your life. Embrace that fear and get to know it. Find out what makes it frightening, then overcome it. 

Practice. That is the only thing that will make you better at anything. 

Learn from failure. It’s a bitch of a teacher but it’s the best lesson you’ll ever have.

Find work that you love. It always pays.

.

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This is the eleventh installment of Bughead Family’s Member Spotlight series. Each week, a member’s url is selected through a randomizer and they will be featured in a spotlight post. In order to participate, please join the Bughead Discord (more information found here). Thank you.

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[bts7writings]

Dating EXO’s Byun Baekhyun

Ahh where do I begin with Byun Baekhyun?

First of all forget about boring and simple

He is a literal car battery

“Y/n! Come to the dorm now! We just saw a cockroach and I want you to help me burn all my stuff”

“If you come to the studio, I’ll help you study this week”

“The guys and me are going to the amusement park and I already bought your ticket. so...”

Honestly just likes to go on adventures with people he loves

He’s the one dying to go public, but its because he doesn't like thinking you’re a secret

“Let’s say - I forgot my face mask, hypothetically. worse case scenario?” he jokes with his manager as he's on his way to see you

Warns you before hand of some of the consequence and will try to hold it off for as long as he cans if you're uncomfortable with it.

Doesn't let anything go

“Remember when I beat you last week in Mario Kart?”

“You said Saturday we’d go see a movie and today is Saturday so get dressed.”

“You promised me a kiss for that - so..” already picking his lips

Wants to make you friends with all of his friends, but because he doesn't like separating times and likes everyone together.

“Go downstairs to your building an Chanyeol will be there to pick you up and bring you to the studio”

“We should get D.O this for his birthday”

“Chen likes flowers, you know”

tries to include you in small things that he does.

He likes alone time, but it doesn't last long because he’s ready to go to the new restaurant that just opened downtown.

Dates

Everywhere is considered a date.

“Oh you’re here grocery shopping too? what a coincidence”

Prefers dates outside sometimes alone sometimes with friends.

Very charismatic and actually likes the feeling of you staring at him as he talks to others.

Pet names

“Y/n-ssi”

“Y/n-ee”

“Princess”

those three will be juggles around a lot, mostly because he doesn't have a specific reason why he calls you them, he just says what comes to mind.

Sex

all jokes aside, he doesn't like you teasing him - he prefers the latter.

“Stop it, before I have you strapped down”

Not so hyper or speedy with this. His long slow strokes, with his toughie slightly sticking out from the view of you below him, picture perfect.

Likes to end inside of you, every time, with him swallowing down your screams into climax.

Loves taking a shower with you in a nonsexual way.

“I bought us new scrubs and bath bombs!”

On Tour

Whines most of the time and jokes about it

“What’d you have for lunch? Oh I wanted that” his face resembles a crying one, “Well I guess I could settle from real Colombian coffee from Colombia”

Doesn't let distance get the best of him, mostly because he likes to summarize his day in some form to you.

Wake up to long text-essays explain why he didn't call and what he did that day

Forgets to send you photos and videos, but when he come back he goes through them with you.

Jealousy much?

You can automatically tell when he’s jealous.

The other guy never leaves his eyesight and he’s not paying attention or talking as much as he usually does

“I just don't like other guys thinking they can just stare at you”

“This is annoying” he says rolling his eyes at the guy and putting you infant of him so the guy can't see you.

Pulls you closer to prove his point

Teases you when you're jealous and tries to avoid situation that would make you feel that way

“Are you jealous?” he begins laughing, “Come on, I don't even remember her name and you should either. I’ll let her know she was getting too close to me then.”

Period cuddles

Doesn't know how to make anything better, but does cuddle you

Wraps his arms around you and just lets you do whatever you wants

Runs to the store for you because he gets free cuddles

Arguments

Even-though he's loud the majority of the time, when he's serious he gets more quiet and thoughtful

He listens to everything you say and tries to come up with a solutions

“Y/n, if you want to then go for it, but just know that I’m not going to be able to go back and forth”

“We can do this, if you think we can - so give me something here.”

He’s a lot of considerate then people give him credit for. He can't be selfish with you

When he’s mad, you'd know

he gets closed off for sometime until he’s leveled out his anger - so it’s best to give him time and space

He takes and talks up the whole room and he knows it, but with you he wants everywhere and everything to be filled up with a little of you so he can smile brightly. He’s not one to have patience or a filter, but he does mean it when he says you’re his princess.

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[aion-rsa]

Paper Mario: The Origami King Review – Innovative Turn-Based Combat

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Turn-based RPGs have been around since the ‘80s and have offered many different variations on combat. Since this genre is one of the oldest in video games, it’s become increasingly rare to see new innovations in turn-based combat.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is one of those rare titles that brings something wholly unique to the genre, offering turn-based combat that’s ostensibly simple but over time reveals itself to be deceptively complex and mind-numbingly challenging, particularly later in the game. Nintendo is known for introducing new, innovative concepts in its games, and Paper Mario: The Origami King’s combat is one of their very best contributions in recent memory.

This is how combat works: Mario is positioned inside a circle, from which four concentric circles (or rings) radiate out. Each of those rings is divided into twelve segments, making for a total of 48 tiles surrounding the paper-made plumber. Enemies are positioned on the tiles in jumbled formation and…this is where things get interesting.

Each turn is essentially a puzzle. Your primary task is to slide the tiles around in order to line up the enemies neatly so that Mario can attack them in groups. Mario attacks in various shapes (lines, squares) depending on which weapon you choose (boots for stomping, hammers for smashing or throwing), and there are often multiple ways to slide enemies into the correct formations.

Check out how this works in the video below:

You’re given a limited number of moves and a very limited amount of time to figure out your plan of attack, but if you align the enemies perfectly and press A at the right when Mario attacks to earn extra damage (a trademark feature for the series), it’s possible to take every single enemy out at once while taking no damage yourself. If you aren’t able to align your enemies correctly, however, they’ll have their turn to attack. When your turn comes around again, the enemies are re-scrambled and you’re faced with a new sliding-tile puzzle to solve.

The brilliant thing about the puzzle mechanic is that it raises the stakes of combat. In other words, the puzzles aren’t arbitrary. If you aren’t able to solve the puzzle, there are consequences, and the battle will be much more difficult to win. If you don’t improve your puzzle-solving skills, you’ll have a tough time with Paper Mario: The Origami King. You won’t be able to simply brute-force your way through the enemies in the game. This makes combat more intellectually stimulating than most turn-based RPGs, and I found myself looking forward to even the most common enemy encounters just to give my brain a workout.

The combat system seems relatively simple at first glance, and in certain respects, it is. Mario is your only controllable character, which is highly unconventional for a turn-based RPG, and there’s really only one way to approach normal enemy encounters — line ‘em up! But there are nuances that bubble to the surface and make combat engaging and addictive, and it all elegantly ties into the game’s exploration sections.

As you traverse an origami-invaded Mushroom Kingdom with Olivia, whose brother, Olly, has kidnapped Princess Peach, seized her castle, and sent his origami minions to loot and pillage the rest of the kingdom, you’ll uncover dozens of Toads hiding from Olly’s troops, folded up and tucked away across the game world. As you rescue them, they become the “audience” to Mario’s fights, sitting in the stands surrounding the circular battlefield. During the battle, you can pay them coins to cheer extra loud and get involved in the fight, causing damage to your foes, which can be useful when a puzzle is particularly tricky to solve. And in certain sections of the game, you’re joined by an ally who will do extra damage to enemies should you fail to solve a puzzle.

Coins can be spent in other ways to aid you in battle, too. You can spend them to add to the puzzle countdown clock (I used this feature with embarrassing frequency), and you can, of course, spend them on items and weapons before battle to give you an extra boost. Needless to say, using coins during battle is definitely helpful.

Release Date: July 17, 2020 Platform: Nintendo Switch Developer: Intelligent Systems Publisher: Nintendo Genre: Action-adventure

I tried to avoid all forms of extra, in-combat help, only using them as a last-ditch effort. Sure, the Toads and allies’ attacks could help me in a pinch, but having to use them meant that I’d failed to solve the puzzle, which ate me up inside. This forced me to improve my puzzle-solving skills, which is by far the most enjoyable thing about the game. This isn’t a knock on the game’s other strengths, of which there are many.

The art design is delightfully whimsical and imaginative, with environments and set pieces that made me laugh out loud and drew me into the story. And the characters and dialogue are fantastic as well. I even got a little choked up when one of the allies you meet early in the game does a particularly selfless act to save another. I enjoyed this game in myriad ways, but I can’t emphasize enough how much I adore the combat.

Since the game’s release, the combat system has been a point of contention among critics and fans alike, with some loving the puzzle-infused combat and others claiming it’s too repetitive and suffers from a lack of a traditional RPG character progression system. I can certainly understand why one would itch for a leveling system, But I couldn’t agree more with Nintendo’s decision to omit a leveling system from the game (you can improve your max HP and strength stats when you find and equip special items, but that’s the extent of it). 

Combat in Paper Mario: The Origami King was engaging and rewarding enough to compel me to finish the game, and I felt a traditional progression system was unnecessary because you do make progress as a player as you play through the game — it’s just not tracked onscreen in the form of extensive stat menus. Getting progressively better at the puzzle aspect of the game is addictive in the same way that playing, say, Tetris or traditional Mario platformers might be. No, you don’t level up in-game. But you do improve as a player, and this is enough.

There is also an additional layer of depth to combat in the form of the game’s boss fights, which are grueling and can take upwards of 20 minutes per try. They use the same radial battlefield as normal fights except that the bosses occupy the center circle and Mario must work his way from the outside circle to the center. Tiles feature various symbols that cause different effects. Arrows cause Mario to run in a certain direction, attack tiles allow you to, well, attack. Magic tiles allow you to use various special abilities that Mario acquires throughout the game, though you must step on an “On” button tile in order to turn them on. The objective is to slide the tiles around in an arrangement that gets Mario into an advantageous position to attack the boss where it’s weak. Sometimes, it’s in your best interest to set Mario up for a normal or special attack. Other times, it’s more advantageous to use a special ability defensively to avoid an impending boss attack.

The boss battles are the most challenging puzzles in the game, and there were many times when I felt incredibly frustrated because I couldn’t figure out the best plan of attack, let alone line up the tiles to implement them. But when I did finally suss out how to best dispatch each boss, it felt deeply rewarding.

There are perhaps better overall entries in the Paper Mario series than The Origami King (The Thousand-Year Door is tough to beat as it’s a masterpiece), but this installment easily boasts the best combat system in the series, and for my money, one of the best combat systems of any turn-based RPG in recent memory.

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