#and also expressing my love for non realistic tuning | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ellesliterarycorner · 3 years

Text

What My Followers Want To See More Of In Male Characters

I’m always looking for ways to improve my writing, especially writing male characters, and I’m happy to say that my WIP has quite a few of these. I think we can all agree that with the absolutely sickening influx of dark, broody, bad boys in YA fiction, having male characters with more nuance and hmmm I don’t know actual personalities is refreshing and something that all books need. Thank you guys so much for answering this poll(conducted through instagram), and let me know if there’s something else y’all want to be polled on that I can turn into a post! I didn’t change anything that you guys wrote, so there are some repeats on the list, but I think it makes a point to see how many people want to see the same (relatively simple) things in fiction!

Them being soft and kind

going to therapy/having mental health struggle

bisexuality!

non-toxic religious men

lgbt men(beyond being gay and fetishised)

feminine guys who aren’t gay

men of all sexualities being feminine

physically disabled men who are very masculine

straight male characters in close friendships with mlm characters

sensitive and weak moments

“feminine” men mb, guys who like flowers and stuff while also being very strong cause thats cool I think

confidence enough to compliment other men

feminine interests without being judged

discussing things they love doing

I think it’d be nice if people showed men’s insecurities more often. Also, men also get abused and stuff

emotions!!!

genuine friendships with someone who’s better than them

eating disorders, anxiety, insecurities, other common mental health concerns

guys not afraid to show their vulnerability and weaknesses to the people they care about

casually wearing makeup and not making a fuss or a statement out of it

being shy is ok. being nice to the mc and not being a complete douche bag, if the mc is being an idiot and playing with their feelings telling her straight up or leaving her, they don’t have to be attractive to be likable, their dark pasts isn’t an excuse for them to be shitty human beings

them being vulnerable

healthy platonic friendships

vulnerability and insecurity shown through non toxic traits

soft spoken, kind and gentle voice

I want to see them cook, sex, or such without invalidating their masculinity

male characters who express their emotions and aren’t ridiculed by others for it

I want more soft men tbh. It’s usually all badass and then breakdowns. I want someone who is fragile

affectionate with their friends and/or in tune with their emotions

less abs

males who aren’t afraid to cry and be affectionate with their friends

respect and genuine care for females and people of other genders, thank you

i would love to see more bisexual/pansexual male characters!!

the ability to take no for an answer

bisexual males that aren’t the main plot. they just get to be bi and it doesn’t affect the story

emotional softness

being vulnerable/crying without thinking that they’re weak for it

ones that are submissive and fine with it

Queer! Rep!

Ones that are fucking respectful of their female counterparts

talking about their feelings

kind to their lover without being called a simp

plus size

guys being allowed to be gentle and not seen as weak or inferior

openness rather than being closed off all of the time

I want to see witty and quirky characters + humor that is shown around EVERYONE

femininity and vulnerability, crying, breakdowns, etc.

varying sexualities

real emotion, crying, and for it be okay for them to do that

treats women like equals without having to be “taught” how to by a love interest

caring about others without being portrayed as awkward and/or flirtatious

emotions and kindness

showing emotions that isn’t anger

not being misogynistic

smart but not the typical ‘nerdy geek’ just there as an encyclopedia for the MC

Men who are comfortable with being emotionally open (and them being emotionally open DOESN’T automatically mean they’re gay

emotional maturity and having healthy relationships and behavior

showing affection to their platonic friends

respect toward others

male characters that are “motherly” Let them cook, clean, sew, and be good with kids

male characters who are perceptive and understanding

male characters with realistic, practical muscles

wanting hugs and getting giddy over little bits of affection

male characters who wear heels (even if the rest of their outfit is traditionally masculine)

black male protagonists

emotional strength instead of physical strength

males that let the non males take charge and our respectful

realistic bodies and insecurities

more males characters exploring their identity

males who have hobbies, they’re passionate about

physically and mentally strong and resilient. Protective, but respectful and supportive

not being overtly attractive and being okay with it

emotionally guarded without being cold or angry

more sympathy, less naïvety to the female protagonists feelings

stylish dudes who aren’t gay (not that lgbtq+ rep is bad it’s just a tiring stereotype)

guys friendships and protectiveness of non love interests

male characters being feminine without them being queer coded or comic relief

them finding a healthy way to cope with problems

healthy paternal figures that do not die in the saga please

big scary guys with hobbies like crochet, sewing and reading books for rescued animals

soft and loving and caring all the time who cry and are hurt and not badass all the time

be soft and kind to everyone, not just their bae

cool mysterious and stuff but not flipping depressed characters please stop that trope

them crying, having close female friends, being lgbt+(especially trans men), showing emotions

male characters that aren’t possessive/obsessive and know how to accept “no”

raising kids without a love interest involved

societies with men that aren’t stereotypical

male characters that aren’t naturally good leaders

a really straight guy having a really gay best friend

seeing more male characters be comfortable in expressing their feelings and emotions

#writers #writblr #writers on tumblr #writerslife #writing #writersofig #writersofinstagram #writers of instagram #writers of ig #creating characters #writing characters #male characters #writing advice #writing reference #writing resources #writing tip #writing tips #writingadvice

864 notes · View notes

anonil88 · 3 years

Text

Malcolm and Marie live blog

I don't usually do liveblogs for movies but yea.

Spoilers ahead!!

I love that its modern timed but very 70s stylized.

A tune indeed.

When you are high and drunk on success and

How the white critic reacts is why I feel like gatekeeping my scripts. At the same time some things I do make are about race or involve.

Marie sitting on the patio smoking is a mood whenever men are talking.

So he's pretentious and unaware.

Whoever chose the music for this, I feel like we would be Spotify mutuals.

Can this nigga stop pacing.

Also can he stop talking;

Marie is so tired and unimpressed.

Also little booties matter and are to be bitten.

Oooo the tension and the jazz.

Title Card over mac and cheese.

Shitty boxes mac and cheese but still mac and cheese.

Tbh i always wonder if spouses/significant others get upset when their spouses don't acknowledge them during speeches.

John sounds so much like his dad but I really hope his acting style differs from his dad a lot.

Guilty confession?

He did not profit off of his partners backstory and then not even acknowledge her.....I.....

If that ever happened to me catch me cussing my partner out during the beginning credits, the end credits, in the car, and at home.

GASLIGHTER!

The way I'm excited for Zendaya to give me some, oooo can she work with Regina King. Please on my knees I pray.

Um no that's not your job to coddle your lead.

He's a dick and the type of dick who makes himself look like a good person around other people.

If Sam Levinson is trying to make his viewers more of misandrist, it's working.

I feel like Marie has her flaws probably a lot of them and we will surely see as this continues, but Malcolm needs to learn how to apologize sincerely.

70s vibes! 70s vibes!

Them kissing and talking about criticism and dreams makes me miss a partner. A partner that I've had and haven't had.

Women really are behind every great man.

Yea sir you fucked a happy moment.

Oh visual allegories for looking in from the outside and cat and mouse chasing and looking from the outside in.

She's saying she doesn't feel noticed by you.

Gas lighter :0 he called her an emotional support dog, bruh.

I would LOVE to co-write or take a writing class held by Sam Levinson. The fights i write are very much in this same realm of reflection and anger and monologue.

Sam.....sam.....are all the sides inside of you doing okay sir?

The ugly side of dating and being in a relationship with someone who struggles with their own demons.

Honestly I could close my eyes and listen to this script being read without seeing these characters visually. Just close my eyes and get a sense of these characters like it was a radio story.

Oh. Oh this is a new wheelhouse of Zendaya acting; a different voice is like breaking through here and her expressions aren't the same we are used to. You can literally hear another character in there....hmm.

Mans is outside really fighting with his invisible demons lmfao.

Selfish ass, how after everything she said you came out of it thinking about your own craft and self instead of how you hurt her.

So she's conditional.

Me: did sam (a white man) say nigga this many times in his script or are the actors adding their own inflections. Not just the lingo used but the topic of race and directing etc. being written by a white writer about black characters is always gonna be a critique when you're writer is a white person.

Alexa play Broken Girls by Saba

He is so hurtful.

A clown nigga a clown look in the fucking mirror you bozo head ass looking like you need some Mehron clown white and a size 16 in clown shoes.

John is doing a really swell performance and reading of these lines.

He is reading her for her insecurities by bringing up his experiences with other women and that.....is yikes.

Arguments can get messy like this in real life but it takes a lot of maturity and control to either not let it get to this point or have a healthy conversation afterwards.

This film is really shot on some very crisp lenses.

They sitting there like 🚬🧍‍♀️🧍‍♂️.

Leftover Mac and Cheese and unfinished cigarettes.

The nyt etc. pay walls are so annoying, but there is a work around look at the articles on incognito or add a period at the end of the url.

He sounds like his daddy so much here, weird, this is the only part I'm eh on the dialogue it feels real but a bit out of pace in how they are bouncing off one another.

Nail scissors? So the end is not the only part he based off of Marie. 🙄

ITS A GOOD REVIEW YOU DINGUS but also its a full review they are going to critique things. She isn't wrong though he did profit off of a woman's story that was not his own to profit from.

Yes Malcolm because unfortunately all marginalized people look through a lens of life that is inherently political because of the world they live in.

He is so mad and upset and had a lot on his chest. But I think he Malcolm and Sam are talking about something thats an issue and a non issue. Being critiqued for you art is hard but also Malcolm is not super self aware. He's like a stand in figure of for example rich depop sellers who wanna be oppressed so badly they yell at others instead of examining their own personal behaviors and ethics.

Oh Marie, when you know the spark is gone and you pick fights because.

He ain't even ask her to read?

One critic I have for most of hollywood actors is they learn their cry and that is it. A change from this is Margot Robbie, I adore her fluctuations of crying being similar but the crying is carried differently for each character. If I had to say any actor that does a cry scene amazing its this woman right here (Amy Adams)

You stole her story from her and gave it away, she has a right to be upset and angry and a rubber band ball of emotions.

Citizen Kane, not the cinematography, but the story is it even that good? (Unpopular opinion but meh, maybe in my rewatch it will be better.)

But that is what people want authenticity and whatever authenticity means to them. What is real for one is false for another.

To be honest look at the criticism of Euphoria, well earned, but a lot of people were like this isn't real even though he literally wrote about his own life. People said it was inauthentic like....wtf.

Ahh the smoking is just a habit, he quit and she didn't.

CAST ZENDAYA IN A HORROR MOVIE PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING. Get Lupita and Zendaya and some more black actors preferably less known ones in a horror movie. One with a interesting script and story, directed by Regina King. Please and thankyou.

I love Marie yep that was amazing.

Behind every great man is a greater woman, one that deserves her credit for how she has stood behind. I wonder the stories of those women, what they have sacrificed or not sacrificed. Their thoughts and feelings when the world is surrounding their partner and views them as a plus one. (I'd write a short script about this but I think do I have the time, can I, or am I equipped ?)

He is a shitty person for bringing up his exes, like she even said I don't wanna know any of that.

Imagine being on anti depressents and rarely having a sex drive and then when you do your partner starts talking about their exes and tearing you apart for all your faults.

I love when you see peaks of Zendaya's cadence in roles.

Tension, what if's and he didn't even bring her up in his speech.

Marie to herself and the audience:

He is not afraid that he will loose her but as my character says in my unreleased story, "i can't wait til you give me a fucking reason to leave your ass." Malcolm expects everything in order for not even doing the bare minimum and she is only asking him for something as simple as consideration. She just wants him to be considerate. He wants to get married and considers their relationship like rolling down a hill at full speed and he cannot apologize, he cannot be considerate, and he cannot admit his wrongs. He can only offer her I love yous that he probably does mean but he does not back up outside of what he's done for her in the past. The past which was more of her experience than his and he sees his part in it as a burden. He doesn't use his own vantage point of the past to further his career he uses her. He does all of these things without a real apology or thankyou because he is not afraid to loose her.

The restrictions of quarantine and the panorama have made Sam's writing very no frills. I wonder how other films from other directors and writers that are filmed in small contained crews like this will be structured. But this was a very good movie gonna add to my letter box 3.3-3.5

Oh shit this is my song,

Ratings/overall thoughts:

Script is like a C+, B- : I could go into my heavier big brain thoughts on the script but I don't feel like it. You catch hints of it above it centers conversation on race and privilege, mainly the writers and questions i have that won't be answered but Sam did make me grow disdain for Malcolm over a short time. Which is sometimes hard to do because im one sympathetic person but the sympathy i have for Malcolm is at 0. Maybe a 2 at some scenes but then it quickly goes back to 0. Some parts of the dialogue miss the mark or hit the are off balanced. While some of it like Malcolm's bathroom speech albeit mean is really strong or their conversation when he comes back from peeing really shines for me.

Performances: B+ to A- because they carried the script further than it could of gone with less talented actors. The monologues do well to showcase their current skill levels which are already high af and leave room for anticipation in where these actors go next.

Zendaya holding a knife: A+ with a gold star. That switch on and off and on is delectable.

John being a shitty boyfriend but following Marie like a lost puppy: B+ with a good job written at the bottom of the paper, Malcolm being nervous a frantic dialed up with more realistic nervousness would have sold me completely on Malcolm's anxious waiting.

Cinematography: A and a participation award.

The mac and cheese: A+ for the easy mac. Wish it was like Annie's or Velveeta.

Cigarettes: Participation award and their picture hung up for student of the month. Why the grill lighter? Everytime Malcolm opened up his mouth Marie was like sparks fly.

The music: A++ with a prize. Whoever picked the music probably makes good Spotify playlists.

#Malcolm & Marie #malcolm and marie #zendaya coleman #zendaya #john david washington #liveblog #mine

258 notes · View notes

dweemeister · 4 years

Photo

Mad Monster Party? (1967)

You may not be aware of who Rankin/Bass are, but if you have seen a Christmas television special in the last half-century, chances are you have seen one of their works. In an increasingly fragmented popular culture, those Christmas specials remain touchstones. Among those specials from animation director-producers Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass are Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Frosty the Snowman (1969), Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970), The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974). Primarily known for their stop-motion animation television specials, Rankin/Bass also made theatrical films at the height of their popularity. Their third feature film, despite not being released in mind for Halloween, extended the studio’s stop-motion wizardry for the first time to all things spine-tingling and spooky.

Distributed by Embassy Pictures, Mad Monster Party? is a bizarre comedy that will delight the youngest set (frankly, I have never encountered a Rankin/Bass production that wasn’t bizarre), perhaps introducing some of them to the most famous monsters in film and literature. For Rankin/Bass’ older fans (or those not acquainted with their work), this film is one of their most ambitious projects; but it is underseen, rarely televised or programmed by independent movie theaters.

Residing in a castle on the Isle of Evil is Baron Boris von Frankenstein (voiced by Boris Karloff in his final Frankenstein-related work), who also cohabits the castle with his Monster (Alan Swift, who voices all other non-female characters in the film), the Monster’s more intelligent mate (Phyllis Diller), assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett; whose character might be the most buxom Rankin/Bass character ever), and the head zombie butler Yetch (who looks and, thanks to Swift, sounds like Peter Lorre). Baron Frankenstein has just successfully concocted a formula that can destroy any matter and, as the head of the Worldwide Organization of Monsters, wishes to announce his discovery and his retirement from the organization. A who’s who of monsters receive summons: Count Dracula, the Mummy, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Werewolf, the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and “The Creature” (the Creature from the Black Lagoon). Francesca notices there is one name on the list who is not a member of the organization – a pharmacist named Felix Flanken (Swift impersonating James Stewart). There has been no mistake, assures the Baron, because Felix is his intended successor. Francesca, who wanted the Baron’s position, is upset and plots to disrupt the succession. But when Felix arrives late to the mad monster party, Francesca is surprised to find that the heir apparent is inept, asthmatic, astigmatic.

Due to the filmmakers not wishing to pay royalties, some of the monsters that appear are called alternate names, even though each one is recognizable. Occasionally, Frankenstein’s monster is referred to as “Fang” (a reference to Phyllis Diller’s comedy acts, as she referred to her husband by this name during those acts); the Bride of Frankenstein becomes “The Monster’s Mate”; the Creature from the Black Lagoon is simply the “Creature”; a well-known monster that will go unnamed here due to spoilers is “It”; et cetera.

The screenplay by Len Korobkin and Harvey Kurtzman (a writer for and the founding editor of Mad magazine) contains plenty of comedic padding. Thus, Mad Monster Party? feels like an hourlong Rankin/Bass special that cannot justify its additional half-hour. Not that I minded too much in this case, despite the redundant character introductions and overlong slapstick scenes. Felix’s cluelessness onboard the ship ferrying the Baron’s guests to the Isle of Evil is situational hilarity. The variety of characters attending Baron Frankenstein’s gathering provides plenty of opportunities for them to interact with each other as a collection of dysfunctional colleagues. Their factionalism and widespread distrust between each other result in scheming and dry one-liners (including double entendres!) that complement the signature surreal humor of Rankin/Bass productions.

In a decade where monsters were having a resurgence in American popular culture (capped off by Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!), the relationships between the monsters in Mad Monster Party? feel influenced by earlier television series like The Addams Family (1964-1966) and The Munsters (1964-1966). Other influences and references will pass over the heads of most under a certain age; behaviors such as slapping a hysterical woman to make her come to her senses is deeply rooted in outdated ‘60s behavioral norms. Mad Monster Party? is funnier if one understands that there are stand-ins for certain actors: Baron Frankenstein resembles and is voiced by Karloff, Felix sounds like and acts like a Jimmy Stewart character from every romantic comedy he starred in, Yetch is obviously Peter Lorre, and the Monster’s Mate looks like and acts like Phyllis Diller. The band that plays at Baron Frankenstein’s dinner party seems to be a parody of the Rolling Stones. Though these decisions may need explaining to younger viewers and draw out the film’s runtime, the film’s comedy is just as weird as anything Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer offers. This is especially true in the final third of the film, defined by an out-of-left-field romance and an uninvited guest that wreaks havoc. These scenes give Rudolph’s “elf practice”, the reindeer’s interactions with each other, the Woodsman, and the Island of Misfit Toys a run for their money.

For almost all of Rankin/Bass’ television and film productions, the animation was entirely outsourced overseas. Such was the case for Mad Monster Party?. Using Rankin/Bass’ “Animagic” process, the film’s animation was spearheaded in Tokyo by Tadahito Mochinaga (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 1965’s The Daydreamer) of MOM Productions. In tandem with the character designs sketched by Jack Davis (an original artist for Mad magazine), the Japanese animators under Mochinaga meticulously moved the six-to-eight-inch puppets frame-by-frame – building open the advances pioneered by George Pal’s Puppetoons series of short films (1934-1947). The dolls’ realistic motions (or at least as realistic as such motion can be) were accomplished by using live actors standing nearby as reference. Mouth movements during dialogue was expressed using fine Japanese paper pasted for one frame and removed for the next. Each doll cost about $5,000 (just over $40,000 in 2020’s USD) to make and the animation itself was time-consuming.The production design for Mad Monster Party? represents some of the art direction in any stop-motion Rankin/Bass piece – especially the moody, cobweb-filled interior of the Baron’s castle.

youtube

Interspersed across Mad Monster Party? are several songs composed by Maury Laws (1964’s Return to Oz, The Year Without a Santa Claus) and lyrics by Jules Bass. Like almost all songs from Rankin/Bass pieces, the songs are not well-integrated into the story, but it is nevertheless difficult to imagine skipping any of them. The songs – though a vast majority are novelty songs – provide a bolt of energy where dialogue may have been trite. “Do the Mummy” by Little Tibia and the Fibias (reportedly real-life band Dyke and the Blazers) has absolutely zero lyrical interest along with its funk rock keyboard melody – but hey, we get the puppets to dance! “One Step Ahead” is just as repetitive, but arrives with the added benefit of Karloff speak-singing his parts (and who doesn’t want more Boris Karloff?). Phyllis Diller gets a solo number as the Monster’s Mate in “You’re Different” – a number to chastise Frankenstein’s Monster for his “roving eye[s]”.

But there are two songs by Laws and Bass in a different league than the rest. The first is the title song, “Mad Monster Party”, sung by jazz singer Ethel Ennis. On my first viewing of Mad Monster Party?, I never expected an opening tune as badass as this – replete with blaring brass, stabs of percussion, and string flourishes. It sounds like it was composed by John Barry for a James Bond movie; it makes a lyric like, “Did you sell your soul to Mephistopheles?” not feel awkward. “Mad Monster Party” is a snarling, unorthodox accompaniment to the monsters’ initial introductions over the opening credits – and the most pleasant surprise of the film. Almost as brilliant is a song for Francesca, with Gale Garnett singing the ballad “Never Was a Love Like Mine”. If only the context for that song (which I will not reveal to those who haven’t seen the film) was not so peculiar.

Upon viewing the final cut of Mad Monster Party?, executive producer and Embassy Pictures founder Joseph E. Levine expressed his disappointment in the picture and decided to limit the film’s theatrical release. The half-aborted theatrical release destined Mad Monster Party? to Rankin/Bass obscurity, even though it would be carried by select American television stations as a holiday special. The studio would remain focused on Christmas material, but would infrequently dabble in non-Yuletide projects. In 1972, Rankin/Bass directed a cel-animated television movie entitled Mad Mad Mad Monsters. The film is a “prequel of sorts” and includes many of the characters from Mad Monster Party?. To this day, Mad Monster Party? exists in the shadow of the better-known Christmas television specials. It also does not help that, since Rankin/Bass’ ultimate dissolution in 2001, the studio’s theatrical feature films have been separated from the rest of the Rankin/Bass library (pre-1974 specials are owned by Universal; specials from 1974 and after are owned by Warner Bros.). At the time of this review’s publication, Lionsgate holds the rights to Mad Monster Party?.

For a time, Rankin/Bass’ stop-motion animation films and television specials were popular in North America – their projects standing out from an animation industry beholden to cel animation perfected by Disney. Mad Monster Party? is Rankin/Bass craftsmanship (and lunacy) at a feature length, and necessary viewing for students of stop-motion animation. The film plays on the horror archetypes that audiences are now accustomed to, amid some of the most beautifully-designed sets in the studio’s history. It is an ideal Halloween viewing experience, but unfortunately it does not seem it has ever reached the audience that it deserves.

My rating: 6.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

#Mad Monster Party #Mad Monster Party?#Jules Bass #Arthur Rankin Jr.#Rankin Bass #Tadahito Mochinaga #Boris Karloff #Alan Swift #Phyllis Diller #Ethel Ennis #Gale Garnett #Len Korobkin #Jack Davis #Harvey Kurtzman #Maury Laws #stop motion #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

43 notes · View notes

cristalknife · 3 years

Text

Kadam Week 2021 Day 4 ~ You are my treasure, can I keep you as part of my hoard? 1/4

This is me trying to not start something on a platform only to post solely somewhere else aka AO3 and ff.net you can find the complete list of Kadam Week 2021 prompts and you might find more stories on the Kadam Week 2021 AO3 collection Someone please take the time to appreciate me not dumping a 23K+ story into a single post, OK thanks for coming to my Ted talk 4° prompt is I Had the Strangest Dream

namely kadam AU... And what you got is a dragons!kadam au where Kurt got into Nyada after his first audition, the story starts with Kurt still in Lima and still with Blaine. Because Klaine needed to die a painful death and you deserved to see that ship crash and burn... I present to you You are my treasure, can I keep you as part of my hoard? (In four parts Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 or read complete on ao3 or ff.net)

It was a rather well known fact that Nyada, being so exclusive and with limited opening every year, had a policy to never take more than a single student from the same school, even if there were more than one valid finalists.

What was not that well known, and certainly not at all advertised, was that such rule did not apply to supernatural beings.

If prospects were inclined toward the arts, and willing to join at least for the time of their education, the colony and the current ruling council.

Then they would be evaluated more on aspirations and skills, disregarding the presence of other finalists from the same school.

Once evaluated they would then be offered a position within one or more of the majors the school had that were in tune with the candidate's ability and affinities, rather than the candidate's preferred and declared choices.

Sometimes those two things matched, other times they didn't match at all.

In the end, once the offer was made, and it was cleared up that it was a non negotiable one, the prospect had to choose whether to accept the position offered by the Nyada's council, or simply choose to attend a different school.

When Kurt aced his audition he could hear the gears in Madam Tibideaux's mind turning, and humming pleasant vibrating sounds all around her. She was not at all like Kurt expected her to be, she felt like more, a more he couldn't place.

His dad had always been larger than life, Carole simply didn’t have the same presence about her.

And he knew that, despite loving how good she was for Burt, Kurt had yet to properly warm up to Carole. She was ok, he guessed, and she made his dad smile and feeling happier than Kurt could remember since his mom died.

But also she felt different... He felt awful for thinking so, but she sort of felt less...

Kurt had no idea who had come to examine him, or better he knew who she was, he just did not know there was also a what she was part that was making Kurt feeling even more invigorated and able to express himself fully.

Rachel on the other hand choked up, on a song she knew by heart, that she had sung so many times she should have muscle memories of how to produce those lyrics...

When the time got closer for their letters to arrive Kurt started to receive condescending looks full of pity, especially from his boyfriend.

When Rachel's letter arrived and she miraculously got in, everyone felt like they simply had to come to Kurt and offer their condolences and unique brand of what was supposedly comfort…

And worse of all Blaine had been the first in line to do so…

"Oh Kurt it's so bad you got to compete against Rach for the position at Nyada, but on the bright side you can stay here with me until I graduate and then we can move together to New York. Of course you'd have to wait another year before you'll be able to try again join Nyada, but at that point at least you'll have worked enough that maybe your cv won't look so anaemic..."

Kurt went rigid at Blaine's words and pressed his lips "Excuse me? Are you implying that you know already and more importantly you fully believe that I've been rejected when my letter didn't even arrive? And you dare to talk to me about my CV after you took the male lead part that was supposed to go to a senior in our only production? When you knew I needed it"

Blaine didn't even have the good grace of looking ashamed nor did he even give any indication of understanding why Kurt might be upset.

"Oh come on Kurt don't be so dull, we all know that only one student per institution can get in. And Rachel got her acceptance letter already, so clearly you've been rejected, but as I was saying it's ok. It even works out better this way. You'll stay here with me while I graduate and then we'll move to New York together, and we'll have enough money to have our own place"

That things with Blaine hadn't been that good was neither a good nor a new news, but this was taking the cake and Kurt huffed irritated "So you expect me to fail in reaching for my dreams, stay in Lima of all places, waiting a year for you to graduate and then do what exactly? Move to New York to work before I try to join my dream school, is that what you see and hope for my life?"

Blaine frowned confused "There's nothing wrong with that Kurt come on, you know what I mean, it's not like you're what people expect from a leading man anyway... I mean I support you but you do stand out too much, and you know, there's being a star and then being a little too unique to ever get a role. It's not a bad thing, it’s just, it makes things difficult and I don't want you to fail, I just want you to have realistic expectations... You know I love you, it's just you can be a little too much for people who don't get you..."

With every additional word that kept pouring out of Blaine’s mouth, Kurt felt something changing and growing at the very centre of his being.

Something he hadn't felt since he was a small child, and got so mad for the first time in his life that he pushed back one of the other kids that were tormenting him...

An action that then his mom scolded him thoroughly, making him promise to never seek violence as a way to solve a conflict. To always take a step back when he felt the sensation of something crawling under his skin ready to explode and make whatever was troubling him disappear.

This time however, it was starting to become harder to resist the temptation to just let it all go, just for this once.

Was this really how love was supposed to be? Because it was starting to seem like he was the only one with expectation to fulfil. And the worst of those expectations was the fact that apparently he was supposed to be the one making compromises…

It was becoming tiresome to say the least.

"Blaine tell me honestly is this what you think?"

Kurt's tone was clipped when he asked that, and yet Blaine once more gave no indication of seeing what was going on.

On the contrary, the boy had the gall to start getting upset, his voice turning into a whine

"Kurt come on, why are you being so difficult, I'm trying to be considerate here but you always make such a fuss about nothing, You're such a drama queen"

And with that something inside Kurt broke...

Whether it was something finally breaking free or simply a dam breaking down he did not know. Nor did he know whether where or how the growling sound reverberating in his throat originated from…

But one thing he did know. This was it, he had reached the point where he couldn't stand the being in front of that, that boy anymore...

With what was Kurt's iciest tone he said "If this is how you feel, then I believe we have nothing else to do. You are never around even for things you planned and scheduled. You don't answer when I call, and if you do answer my messages it’s hours later without apologies or explanations. And if what I've been told is correct, you'd rather spend your time with your friend Sebastian rather than staying with me"

Blaine didn't even let Kurt finish as he started countering "It's not my fault if you seemed so intent on leaving me behind as soon as you'd get your diploma from here. I was just trying to survive without you . Excuse me for being happy about not having to worry about being left behind by my boyfriend. Who I might add, was all too happy to discard me like yesterday trash for a shiny new life in New York, over six hundred miles away from me. How is it a bad thing being happy about having more time together?"

And Kurt was beyond furious "So as long as you are not left behind who cares if my life and my dreams get destroyed? Seriously what's wrong with you. You always comment on how supportive I am of you, and I've tried even when it hurt, even when to be honest I shouldn’t have. So why you never ever try to reciprocate? Why does it always have to be me, the one compromising?"

Blaine assumed that half irritated, half hurt that seriously implied that Kurt was being unreasonable and hurting him for futile reasons, as once again he started to talk over Kurt "Kurt stop being so unreasonable, why are you hurting me? I never asked you to compromise, in fact how can you even say such hurtful things? I was the one who left Dalton to transfer here for you, I was the one who didn't audition for Tony even if I could have used the role as well… It's not my fault if Artie, coach Beiste and Miss P thought I was a better Tony than you. Why are you blaming me for the decisions of others? Especially since it's not exactly my fault if you keep flaunting such extravagant outfits at all times... Why do you ask me that? It's not a matter of your dreams going up in flame or your life being destroyed, don’t you see that was exactly what I was talking about... You're just being overly dramatic instead of taking things with a pinch of maturity, you are such a crybaby at times, can we please stop this nonsense? It's just upsetting me, and it's not like it'll change the content of your nyada letter anyway. There's no need for us to fight over something so stupid..."

Then Kurt relaxed and nodded, and for the first time he saw exactly the moment when Blaine's expression shifted from hurt and pleading to a complacent one, clearly thinking that once more things had gone his way...

To a certain extent he was right, Kurt was going to at least partially grant him his wish for this to stop…

The only part Blaine might not yet realise was that Kurt would make it stop forever.

This was it, any chain, any bond that could have ever existed before, was now absolutely left in tatters on the floor as Kurt was going to soar high in the sky and fly free.

"You're right"

Blaine nodded and grabbed Kurt's hand patting it condescendingly.

Kurt hastily removed his hand from Blaine, motion that provoked Blaine's eyebrows to shoot up in surprise as he started to say "What.."

Kurt took a leaf out of Blaine's own book and started talking over him continuing with determination "You are right that we need to stop this nonsense, clearly you feel this way and I'm not going to ask you to change your mind."

Blaine's surprised expression softened into a pleased smile as he nodded, only to turn into a shocked frown as Kurt continued unrelentlessly "But I won't change my mind either. Whether I've been accepted or rejected from Nyada it won't matter. For one, I have other colleges I've applied to that I could attend coming fall, some of which I already have acceptance letters from. Something that had you been around like a boyfriend ought to be, you would have already known. So either as soon as I graduate or at the end of the summer I will leave Lima behind. But don't worry I won't leave you behind then"

Blaine was still frowning but offered a tentative smile and a nod. That until Kurt smiled back at him, in the same icy and sarcastic way that he had seen Kurt smile at Sebastian in those moments, right before and after they started one of their rounds of bickering.

"I won't leave you behind then, because I'm breaking up with you right now. Clearly we want different things from life, and hey we both know we had problems long before now... Who sets up appointments to make out? I might not have had other experiences before, but I can tell you this is not what I expected being with someone to be like. And you are not living up to the teenage dream you promised me either. So here's me growing up and taking things with a pinch of maturity. We’re done."

Blaine blinked confused and looked up at Kurt with his patented wounded puppy eyes, and for the first time Kurt started to wonder if what was going on wasn't as much as adorable obliviousness, as he had always assumed, but rather a masterful use of emotional manipulation.

Kurt looked down at Blaine, and for the first time he felt the bile rising up at the mere thought of having bowed down to this for over an year now, for having allowed himself to become nothing more than a spineless whipping boy. And in exchange for what exactly? For a boy who apparently had no care for him at all despite proclaiming his love? For a relationship in which he was the only one having to renounce things to make the other happy?

He didn't know anymore, and he wasn't that sure he even wanted to know at this point. He just wanted out of this situation for good.

Blaine was still staring like he couldn't understand Kurt at all as he voiced his confusion "What? I don't understand... Why are you trying to get back at me this way Kurt? Look I'll leave now, you clearly need the time to cool down, don't worry I won't hold this against you. I can see you're upset, and I do get how much it must hurt not having been accepted to the only school you applied to. There is no need to invent stories about how you applied to other schools and how you'll leave Lima after graduation or at the end of the summer just to get back at me. Rach told me you both applied only at Nyada and she got in, so clearly you would have no other place to go to..."

Kurt shook his head and felt the profound disappointment in seeing that even now Blaine simply either wasn't listening to him or didn't care at all about what Kurt had to say...

In a way it was a pity, he looked around and for the first time he was grateful that there were witnesses listening into every word they were exchanging, in fact Kurt thought he had also seen Jacob Ben Israel...

So he simply shrugged and left to go to his locker. He picked up what he needed, then simply walked out of the school without a second thought. Just to be on the safer side he sent a quick text to the whatsapp group chat that had all the glee club members on it that read simply ‘I just broke up with Blaine, I will never get back together with him so if someone is not happy with it either keep your mouth shut and your nose out of my own business or feel free to stay the hell out of my life for good. This is all I'll say on the subject and that's not up to debate. I hope we'll manage to finish the time we have until graduation with civility. Kurt’

Then as a second immediate action, he went and changed his status on facebook making a quick work of removing any trace of him and Blaine together from his albums and shared pictures, proceeding to repeat the procedure also on instagram and from his own phone.

The more he purged his profiles of Blaine, the more he noticed how much of a shadow of his former self he had become in the time they had been together. It was staggering seeing how, by removing Blaine from his storyline, only few traces were left of what happened to him in the past year.

Shaking his head he shot a quick text to Finn, letting him know he was going to pass by the garage to see dad before going home, and that he was leaving immediately because he didn't want to be cornered by anyone wanting to talk about the fact he broke up with Blaine.

Finn simply sent a smiley face and two thumbs up, apparently, despite all his fears, Kurt was still going to have someone on his side by the end of the tragedy... It was a comforting thought.

He relished in it as he drove to the garage, once there he called out "Hey dad do you have a minute?"

Burt called out from the farther aisle, and Kurt smiled and waved at Carl and Kenneth as he passed by the two other mechanics at work.

Once Kurt was close by, Burt tensed and looked completely frozen in worry and surprise a low growling "Damn" escaped Burt's lips as he grabbed the rag and cleaned his hand "Kurt we need to talk"

Kurt smiled and nodded "Yeah we do I just broke up with Blaine and I'd really appreciate your support if you could make sure to not let him into the house next time he comes around. Because despite telling him I was breaking up with him, he was acting like he wasn't listening to me, so I just wanted to make sure you knew. I am going to tell Carole as soon as we get back home, but... Dunno why, I felt like I had to come to you first and that it couldn't have waited till you'd get home, I'm not sure exactly on the reason behind such reasoning"

Burt kept a close look on his son and then said without preambles "Something else happened, didn't it?"

When Kurt didn't say anything but reluctantly nodded once, before looking surprised he had done that, Burt had all the answers he needed.

Kurt was as a dagon just like himself, just like Elizabeth had been, it was strange that it took so long for his supernatural heritage to pick that up, he should have taught so many things to Kurt already, but he never smelled like a hatchling or a youngling, Kurt had always smelled faintly like his Lizzy did... And a doubt started to creep up on Burt, Elizabeth and him had never discussed their supernatural heritage, he had always assumed that it was because Elizabeth was an orphan and she had ended up in Lima living with a distant relative that didn't have any trace of supernatural vibe to her, hence making the subject taboo in her household.

But now he wondered if she was simply not sure about Burt's own knowledge on the subject, or even possible reactions, if he was honest he could admit to have never been that interested in properly grooming that side of himself. He was more than happy to pass his live as a good mechanic, restoring cars to their original beauty.

He always felt too out of place in the sanctuaries, or trying to fly with other dragons living in the neighbourhood. He was nothing as impressive as the others, his own scales dull and his wings barely able to lift him off the ground and be serviceable, nothing like the spectacular acrobatics of the likes of Alexander Smythe or even Matt McNamara.

But that was still at a time when Lizzy was still alive. When she died, he simply didn't want to see the signs of what losing his mate had done to him, he had a normal kid, who apparently wasn't really normal at all, and in his grief he never looked deeper.

But something must have happened, because for the first time his son smelled like mint honey and rosemary, not at all like the sweet vanilla and ginger that was Lizzy’s scent, nor his own sandalwood and musk, nor was his son’s scent a mingle of those two scents as it would have been for a youngling.

Kurt had already grown into his own individual, and Burt had not prepared him yet for what it meant to be a dragon... And on top of that his kid was more than ready to leave and abandon this small town to live his life as soon as possible, giving Burt even less time to try to remedy to the many years they had already lost.

He was wondering exactly what happened for Kurt to break through, what probably was meant to be a temporary block that Lizzy had put on their child when he was very young, maybe to help him control his emotions, preventing emotional escalation and incidents that could have revealed their supernatural status to people without any prior knowledge of it, in a traumatic way.

"Let's go take a ride son and you can tell me what happened in details"

Kurt blinked confused, he had seen his dad looking at him rather surprised and then contemplative, and to be honest Kurt hadn't really intended to say or let his dad know that something had happened, mainly because he couldn't really explain it, he wasn't sure what had happened, even if he was sure something did…

While lying to his dad had not been an option, even when he managed to keep his mouth shut, preventing what seemed insane rambling to escape his lips, a part of him had wanted to just obey.

Somehow recognising the authority Burt still had over him, and it was a strange feeling, nothing like he had felt before, not that he didn't respect his dad, but at the same time he had never felt compelled to cower enough to tell him the whole truth…

As they walked out the garage Burt said softly "Do you want us to take the Navigator or shall we take my truck? We are going to do some off the road driving"

Kurt looked at his dad through slitted eyes, "I'll tell Finn to get a lift to pick my baby and take her home, we're taking your car to go wherever you want us to go, without me having to scrub mud from my baby for the next fortnight."

Burt chuckled and while Kurt took care of talking with Finn, he made a quick call to Carole telling her that something had happened with Kurt beside him breaking up with his boyfriend, and that he needed to get to the end of it, see if he could get his son to talk, and that he would tell her later what he found out...

He left behind that probably what he was going to share was going to be an edited version of what happened if his suspicions were proved correct. Burt, in a sudden strike of inspiration grabbed from the locker room Kurt's coverall and the changing bag his son had taken to keep here at the garage, if his nose wasn't wrong, then those might come in hand to make their journey back home more comfortable if things went wrong.

It took less than Burt remembered to reach the sanctuary's valley, and the closer they got, the more he could see Kurt's fascination growing, "So buddy what else happened, tell me please, even if it sounds crazy I want to know what went down with you"

Kurt looked a little worried before starting speaking "This might end up sounding crazy, but it felt like something broke, and at the same time it felt like I was free to fly for the first time... The way Blaine was speaking was making me so mad, and I know, I know I promised mom that I would never try to go with violence as a way to find a solution to an unpleasant situation. But I swear if you could have heard the bullshit he was saying, he was so condescending... Did you know that they are all assuming that just because Rachel got her acceptance letter from Nyada, that I would be automatically rejected? And I mean Rachel choked on her audition... If she did get in and I didn't I’m not even sure I'd want to get into a school with such screwed up criteria of selection."

Burt nodded, in that sea of words there were some things that clearly resonated with him. If Lizzy thought she and Kurt were the only dragons in their family then she probably had put a block around Kurt's powers to keep them tamed while he was growing up. Probably expecting to be there when he should have started to learn control over his abilities, around his twelfth birthday…

Burt hummed and nodded, totally understanding his son's point of view, and then prompted "And how did it felt? I'm not judging, but you sounded more surprised rather than upset about this whole ordeal"

Kurt took a deep breath and looked outside the window "I felt free... Like things were finally right, and Blaine, Blaine felt all wrong. Like I couldn't even believe why I had him in my life, like he wasn't supposed to be next to me at all. And it made me mad seeing that he wasn't even listening to me. I was there, telling him I was done with him and he left saying that he would not hold against me things I said when I was clearly upset... As if his assumption of me being rejected by one school would be the reason why I'd broke up with him, and it wasn't for example how he expected me to stay in Lima for another year until he graduated, in the meanwhile while I would surely fail again to get into nyada because he was applying..."

Kurt's rage was rapidly brewing up, and Burt could hear his son's breathing slowly turning into steam, only for his son to surprise him taking a deep breath and exhaling it with just a low hiss.

"He made me so mad I really fished to roast him, incinerate him right there where he standed, but alas even if I could have done that it was going to create so many problems that it wouldn't have been worth the satisfaction of doing it..."

Burt grinned amazed at his son's natural control, or maybe it was just that he trained in a whole different way than Burt himself had been trained...

He stopped the car and then patted his son on the shoulder "You did good son, I'm so proud of you, now come with me there's something I need to show you,"

Kurt felt himself preening under the unexpected praise. Burt directed them to what looked like the edge of a rather deep canyon, and Kurt looked worried at his father as he asked questioning "Dad?"

Burt smiled softly, in a way that Kurt hadn't seen since before his mom got sick "Buddy I don't know how else to do this, and I really wish your mom was here to help me out, so please forgive me for what I'm about to do."

The words made Kurt's blood freeze inside his veins, and in less than a second Burt had taken three steps back and was falling over the edge.

Without even realising he was moving, Kurt dived in after his father, and all of a sudden his vision changed, the world got blurred for a moment and the image of Burt falling body blurred as well, before being replaced by a bulky reptilian dragon, with sturdy wings to carry the compact body.

Kurt felt the wind offering resistance to his fall, and in a blink of an eye what was resistance was actually offering him support. Instead of keeping him from falling, like it had seemed in the beginning, Kurt found himself raising up above the canyon and into the sky.

And the dragon that used to be where his father was, suddenly raised up into the sky as well, emitting a sound that Kurt knew were not words, but that he could surprisingly understand anyway. They were directions telling him to land down on the clearing in the middle of the trees on their left. Kurt saw exactly the spot and dive in with surgical precision, landing exactly where he wanted, on the sandy patch on the lake shore.

Once there, in what felt a little mixed up curiosity and vanity he peered on the water to see his own reflection, and discovering that indeed he looked like a dragon too, he could see a silvery reflection, and he could feel something in on the top of his head, floating, he instinctively knew those appendices were having the same function as a cat’s whiskers.

As he tried to look at himself the only difference he could see, compared to what he saw of his dad, was that where his father was compact and sturdy, with wings short and strong, his own figure seemed to be made for agility and precision, his wings complimenting his agile body shining in the afternoon light.

With a lot less grace than Kurt had, Burt landed in the middle of the clearing where the grass was, he then turned into his human form to smile at his son "You did well buddy, now can you figure out how to return to your human form or do we need to find a way for you to get home this way?" the tone was teasing, and Kurt wasn’t amused at all.

He didn’t know exactly how it happened, but he could distinctly feel the need to express his frustration into a way this form’s language would not be able to properly express.

There was no such sound he could find that would carry on the meaning of your stunt scared me to death or the you don't get to make jokes like that.

There were some words that could be translated but even putting them together Kurt knew they wouldn't be able to carry on the same message he needed to rant at his father.

So there was no other option but having access to his human mouth, that was what he needed at the moment, and without even realising what he did, Kurt found himself standing in front of his grinning father.

He took exactly ten milliseconds of taking in his father’s expression for him to take a breath and starting to deliver a well deserved dressing down to the other man for his actions.

"How could you do that to me? I was scared to death, you made me think you were committing suicide in front of me. It sounded like you were saying goodbye and instead you just wanted to go for a fly? What the heck dad? Come on couldn't you have sat with me, safely inside your truck, and told me calmly Kurt we are dragons we can transform in giant flying reptiles and that's ok it's just who we are and there's nothing wrong with it, and then maybe actually telling me how that happened instead of jumping that way???"

If Kurt had been less scared and traumatised, maybe then he would have noticed the mischievous look into his father's eyes, as things were he completely missed that and when Burt opened his mouth and started answering Kurt’s immediate reaction was to groan "Well son, when a female dragon meets a male dragon and they love each other very much, they end up mating in human form, and the the female becomes pregnant, and then their offspring has high chances of having their supernatural heritage as well, meaning that he is born a dragon as well..."

Kurt scoffed irritated "Funny dad, very funny ah-ha"

Burt chuckle stopped and he sighed softly as well before saying sincerely "I'm sorry Kurt, I didn't want to scare you or upset you that much. I just didn't know how to do this. And I really didn't want to do to you what my pa did"

Kurt raised an eyebrow in silent question as he crossed his arms on his chest, realising for the first time that he was wearing clothes, and that those ere not the ones he had on before he transformed...

Burt shrugged and offered a tight smile "He was doing very much a lion king scene, you know that moment when Mufasa is telling to Simba about one day having to rule over all that was touched by the sun moment…”

Kurt nodded slowly releasing his arms listening as Burt continued "Only for him to then give me a pat on the back that sent me flying over the edge, making me feel like I was falling to my death before I figured out how to transform and fly"

At the scandalised look that Kurt was sending his way he simply shrugged "These were other times buddy, and I was a lot younger than you are... He didn't know any better, and that was exactly how his father had been taught him."

Kurt wrinkled his nose unsatisfied "I'm not sure I would have like any of those options…”

Burt scratched the back of his head and said wistfully "All I knew for sure was that I didn't want to do that to you, like ever, but now I'm not so sure my own was that much better"

Kurt sent him a levelled glare and shook his head, Burt then continued "But I had promised myself that I wouldn't do that to my son"

Kurt's eyes softened, as Burt finished softly "I wish your mom was here, she would have probably have handled all of this a lot better than I am"

Kurt smiled softly "If you can manage to avoid other scares like that, I'd appreciate it very much, but it's not like you're doing a terrible job of it dad"

Burt hummed softly and grinned "If you think you can figure out how to shift at will we can then head home and call it a day, putting all of this behind us."

Kurt attempted the shift a few more times, each time getting faster and easier than the time before. He kept repeating the action until both of them were satisfied with the results.

Burt smiled proudly and said "You are doing great son, once we're at home we'll get you a couple of books that will be useful and that you really need to read before leaving town."

Kurt nodded and simply followed his dad, they both shifted into their dragon form and flew to the car, before driving back home.

Once they reached the house, Carole hugged them both and then offered Kurt a sealed envelope "This was waiting for you when I arrived home."

It was the Nyada's letter Kurt was waiting for. As soon as he took it in his hands, and it got within Burt’s sniffing distance, his dad frowned and took a step closer so he could read its content over Kurt's shoulder, as he opened it up and read the school’s decision. ~End of Part 1 of 4~ Next

#kadam week 2021 #vcg73 #kadam fic #kadam #glee #glee prompts filling #my kadam fic #my glee fic #kadam glee #long post #it's a fic what did you expect #my writing is not suited for tumblr #~23.3K wc of story divided in 4 parts #part 1 of 4

3 notes · View notes

bestsouthindianmovies · 4 years

Text

Best South Indian Movies You Must Watch

Nonetheless, there is a significant utility in distinguishing and posting motion pictures that have pushed the limits of the medium over the range of the previous decade. While this rundown can't be all around authoritative, it actually permits us to have a brief look at the different true to life and socio-social mediations that films from a specific geology have been making. It likewise offers us a chance to reflect and see how every one of these local films have been affecting one another, just as their aggregate spot in Indian and world film. For more visit- best South Indian movies

Thanga Meenkal ('Gold Fish', 2013, Tamil)

In Tamil film, the dad girl relationship is frequently investigated distinctly with regards to another man entering the condition as the young lady's sweetheart or spouse. Thus, basically, the story gets decreased to a contention between two men competing for a similar lady's consideration. As opposed to this cliché design, Ram brazenly unloads the magnificence and untidiness of a dad little girl relationship in Thanga Meenkal (and furthermore later in Peranbu, 2018). By depicting a ridiculously optimistic however vulnerable dad in Thanga Meenkal, Ram compassionately pushes the crowd to consider on what genuinely makes for a decent dad.

Maheshinte Prathikaaram ('Mahesh's Revenge', 2016, Malayalam)

Dileesh Pothan's presentation film opens with a peaceful waterway stream, and the story also continues to stream like one. The magnificence of Pothan's portrayal lies by they way he meshes the topography of the area into the film as an inborn character (this remains constant for his subsequent film, 2017's Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, or 'The Mainour and the Witness', too). In Maheshinte Prathikaaram, Pothan gets a short story-esque quality to the film that follows a couple of sensational occasions in the life of exceptionally standard individuals. Investigating the misfortune and addition of affection and honor through its helpless and artistically atypical male characters, the film depicts men with unordinary affectability. The characters and the conditions appear to be genuine to the point that before the finish of the film, you can nearly smell the natural fragrance that develops when downpour falls on dry soil.

Madras (2014, Tamil)

Before Pa Ranjith caught the consideration of the country with his Rajinikanth starrers Kabali (2016) and Kaala (2018), he made this energetic, nuanced and layered film on the lives and governmental issues of middle class Dalit-Bahujans in Chennai. While most pop-social references to Chennai by and large incorporate any semblance of Carnatic music sabhas, channel espresso or the Mylapore sanctuary—which are altogether inseparable from the lives of Brahmin Savarnas—Ranjith's film permits the common laborers to recover the city that was worked with their blood and sweat. Madras is especially huge for how it injects Ambedkarite governmental issues into standard Tamil film. The film strangely depicts a scary divider as both a living character and an image of political capital and shows it as the purpose of contention.

Adaminte Makan ('Abu, Son of Adam', 2011, Malayalam)

Probably the most humanistic stories on the lives of Muslims have originated from Malayalam film. In this film, Salim Ahamed follows the yearnings and battles of an older Muslim couple who seek to go on a journey to Mecca. Catching the subtleties of Kerala's Malabar area, the film is a composition on trust, expectation, tirelessness and sympathy. Entertainer Salim Kumar who won the National Award for his job, conveys perhaps the best execution of his vocation. The film's peak explanation on the start and finishing of human interests is certainly one of the most lovely terminations.

Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum ('The Wolf and the Lamb', 2013, Tamil)

Mysskin's metaphorical wilderness story is both basic and philosophical simultaneously. In this colossally holding film, where the functions of the tracker and the pursued are tradable, Mysskin pushes us to mull over on the outrageous brutality and the exceptional sympathy that people are able to do. The movie producer himself stars as the 'wolf' and conveys one of the decade's best speech minutes. Mysskin is a self-proclaimed understudy and devotee of Akira Kurosawa, and in Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum he gets as near the Japanese producer as could reasonably be expected. The tune less film is additionally raised by Ilayaraaja's stunning foundation score.

C/o Kancharapalem (2018, Telugu)

Set in the thin paths of Kancharapalem, a territory in Visakhapatnam, this outside the box film by Maha Venkatesh is all heart. The film compassionately catches the bizarre romantic tales of characters who are infrequently found in the true to life universe. Populated basically by non-proficient entertainers, the appeal of the film lies by they way it can non-critically take a gander at all its characters. Aside from the idiosyncrasy and the flawlessness of the individual stories, the film additionally figures out how to easily mesh each strand into a more extensive socio-political setting. The film's capricious soundtrack makes the account significantly more vital. C/o Kancharapalem is strong evidence of the way that works of art can be made even on a tight spending plan with the correct producers in charge. Also, if the words 'exquisite' and 'beguiling' are abused in this note on the film, it is simply because the film is such.

Kuttram Kadithal ('The Punishment', 2015, Tamil)

Bramma's National Award-winning film is an extraordinary reflection on transgression, blame, discipline and absolution. While the film offers a significant investigate of the pervasive arrangement of training, the most fascinating part of Kuttram Kadithal is its depiction of its lady hero. While a lot of Indian film can't think past sexual or different types of brutality at whatever point a focal female character is included, Bramma's film powerfully follows the character of Merlin, a faithful Christian and a teacher (played by the fantastic Radhika Prasidhha) as she wrestles with an intense feeling of blame.

Aedan: Garden of Desire (2018, Malayalam)

In this film that uncovers itself as a story inside a story, Sanju Surendran plays with the genuine and the strange. Albeit set in a town in Kottayam, its characters could possibly be from a Gabriel Garcia Marquez tale. Investigating the complexities of human feelings—desire, energy and envy—Surendran takes us through a story that is unhurried however holding simultaneously. The three befuddling stories are described with an expressive visual quality that permits Surendran to differentiate magnificence and agony through want and demise.

Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum ('Love Too Shall Pass', 2016, Tamil)

To sidestep Nalan Kumarasamy's Soodhu Kavvum ('Gambling will Befall', 2013) and make space for his subsequent film may seem like an unexpected decision. However, in the event that you intently take a gander at how Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum flawlessly investigates and depicts the sensitive space among fellowship and sentiment, it may be anything but difficult to perceive any reason why. In this moderate blending story that feels like a prequel to the sentimental story that may follow, Vijay Sethupathi and Madonna Sebastian convey one of their most beguiling yet practical exhibitions. The scene where the two characters embrace each other just because may be one of the subtlest yet most powerful minutes in the Tamil sentimental type. While the film is a change of the Korean film My Dear Desperado, Kumarasamy easily limits it to the Tamil milieu and makes it his own.

Thithi ('Funeral', 2015, Kannada)

Catching the account of four ages of men in a Gowda family, the key to the viability of Ram Reddy's film lies in how precisely screenwriter Ere Gowda comprehends the town Node Koppalu (Mandya locale, Karnataka) and its kin. The film catches the arrangement of occasions that follow the passing of the oldest 'Century' Gowda and the occasions are both sensible and absurdist simultaneously. It includes the clashing quest for the men from three ensuing ages in the family and the energetic locals who are seeking after an excessive dining experience at the burial service. While the clamorous and philosophical nature of the film helps one to remember Italian movie producer Federico Fellini's Amarcord (1973), Thithi is solidly established in its provincial socio-political setting. The persuading exhibitions regarding the non-proficient entertainers helps hugely in keeping the account exceptionally valid.

Lucia (2013, Kannada)

Alright, it may seem like cheating to push for an eleventh film in a rundown of ten movies. However, of course, for a film like Lucia that twists all current artistic standards, one ought to be permitted to twist the principles of a rundown too. Pawan Kumar's film about the equal existences of its hero as an attendant and a film star plays precarious psyche games with the watcher and continually moves between the genuine and envisioned universes. Also, the film offers a significant critique on the territory of Kannada film and the demise of single-screen theaters. Lucia will without a doubt keep on staying a significant film for pushing the limits of realistic accounts.

#bestsouthindianmovies #southindianmoviesmustwatch

2 notes · View notes

danseikoe · 4 years

Text

What I've been listening to ★part 1:

Hey there! I hope you’re all keeping safe. Due to life and things, I was out of the loop regarding the otome community and releases, however due to determination to pursue my old hobbies I'm trying to get back into the swing of things because otome CDs are a fun way to pass time or partake in fantasy immersion when the going gets tough! While I haven’t made any big purchases in a while, I’ve been keeping up with some VAs on Youtube and thought I’d share what I’ve been listening to. There’s also a mini CD review☆

Here's a short list of some of the Youtubers who do 音フェチ (literally means sound fetish but I believe this is just how ASMR is referred to in casual Japanese) or drama situations that I’m currently into. The content and links are nsfw or may be triggering, so please exercise caution when reading The list contains both native English and Japanese speakers.

SeikyuuVA (English)

Going through SeikyuuVAs catalog made me delay actually writing this properly for about an hour, every upload is worth checking out! He uploads ASMR and full-fleshed situation dramas. His vocal range (and situations!) range from sweet and light hearted-boy-next door to more explicit, throaty and extremely dominant styles.

Another thing that pulled me into his channel is that he will do immersive situations with the listener as various “anime husbands” so if you have a favorite character you want to hear brought to life, you're in for a treat. I believe he's American or Canadian, though a fun thing he does is throw in Japanese セリフ(dialogue) which is lovely for those of us who have a kink for accents and foreign languages. His sfw audios are also wonderful! I have to add that he incorporates lots of background noises into his work that makes his recordings that much more immersive without being overwhelming or overpowering his lines!

Seikyuu uploads his recordings onto Youtube, but it’s possible to buy nsfw versions on DLsite or support him on patreon as well! I was so enamored with his voices and style that I had to make a Patreon to support him.

Recommended audio ☆Komaeda Nagito ASMR

Ryou Sasaki (Japanese)

His voice is so 萌えit hurts. Actually, his online persona is so sugary and sweet and a welcome addition to what I normally listen to! His voice reminds me of Yuki Kaji, or a younger friend you just wanna give head pats to!! Ryou Sasaki primarily uploads ASMR videos based on various boyfriend x listener scenarios, though he also is active on twitch and does gaming livestreams. I think it's fun how he isn't afraid to express a fondness for cute things, though whether that is just his personality or due to how prevalent “kawaii culture” is in japan, idk! It may sound weird, but I like the breathiness that Ryou Sasaki’s voice carries, if that makes sense?? (w) like in the same vein as Ariana Grande’s speaking voice, haha. Most of his work on his YouTube channel are sfw, though a few are a little ~spicy~

For those who enjoy roleplays by performers who have a light and fluffy voice, he's your guy.

Recommended audio ★ “A Tsundere Boyfriend Absorbed in His Vidya “ a short and cute recording . English captions available.

twitter

DEXVA (English)

A voice actor on Youtube I've recently just subscribed to! His earliest posting is from six months back but he has already amassed 12k followers which seems to be a testament of his talents. I'm still going through their channel, but I can already tell you that he takes a lot of care in the crafting of his recordings~ Also uses 3D audio! His uploads consist on immersive ASMR recordings involving the listener as well. but he’s also a talented artist and posts narrated speed drawings.

Recommended audio ★ TW: Yandere and associated themes (boiiiiii I I love yanderes and this was the best English voice yandere I’ve heard in a minute, couldn't stop smiling listening to this. The situation was incredibly creepy (in a good way!!) and realistic with excellent bgm and sfx.

Mini CD Review ★

TW: Yandere and other associated triggers

Title: ナース男子～病み系看護士編～ (R-18)🔞

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　illustration: 砂月

Publisher: Little Bird Studio

CV: Aouma Yukke

This is the second in a series revolving around male nurses who are all yandere. I purchased this CD late last year and actually lost access to the account that had this downloaded (rip) but from memory I can recall that I enjoyed this CD. The story involves you, a patient in a hospital and a male nurse who's fallen for you while treating you. He comes to you while you're sleeping, professes his love for you, and it then it gets more explicit. I do recall the initial encounter being non-con, so please exercise caution when listening. There’s also no sparring on the l e w d sound effects. I really like how polite and soft spoken the nurse is and then his switch to loony-tunes, screechy voice scary boi that’s so characteristic in yandere, though it never gets old.

Thank you for reading! Happy listening! ꒰* ॢꈍ◡ꈍ ॢ꒱.

#my post #virtual youtubers #ryou sasaki #seikyuuva #seikyuu #asmr #drama cds #drama cd #yandere #situation cd #situation cds #otome #otome cd #tsundere #reviews #r-18

12 notes · View notes

heroquills-a · 5 years

Text

s1lentsnip3r replied to your post: hmmmmmmmmmm……….. i feel like doing a random mun...

bet

cracks knuckles.

@s1lentsnip3r @chaosmixed @metallumdash

words can’t describe how impressed i am by how much you bring your muses to life bwaze. i used to like, not really give a darn heck about metal sonic at all? but after that first thread we had where sonic and proxy got into a fight, i was immediately hooked. you just do such an incredible job at fleshing out characters that i otherwise wouldn’t have really thought much of before and you just have this unique and interesting spin on them that feels fresh. i love the way you play the chao and whisper’s wisps and atia is just a little gremlin but i love them so much, and i’ve literally never seen anyone play chaos before. you just have this way of utilizing that potential that your characters and concepts have and it’s just really awesome to watch. i love it. absolutely a stellar roleplayer. absolutely stellar mun!!

@skyfcx @masterprotector @cosmcther

ties you to a chair. listen here little mister. youre probably one of the OG ppl in this rpc that i’ve lowkey looked up to since first joining. you’ve already heard it plenty of times already but your writing is just ?? stellar ?? from the way you use colorful idioms, expressions, metaphors, to how you capture movement and action in such an engaging way. it’s always a treat to read. the way you portray your muses is just always spot on and i love how seamlessly you capture their mannerisms and speech patterns. your headcanons for tails and knuckles just make me so giddy they just feel so right for their characters, and as far as rosalina goes--- while i know next to nothing about the mario franchise or this character in particular i’m still intrigued enough to peek in on what she’s up to every now and then. over all, you’re a rad roleplayer and a fun person to chat with ooc !!

@chaosbcrne

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again. i adore how you write shadow. i’m constantly blown away by how authentic he always feels and how realistic you write him while still remaining accurate and true to his character. like i legit cannot even think of any other place or media i’ve seen besides the games themselves (before sega started botching up his character anyway) where he’s portrayed as accurately as you write him. you manage to balance the serious, aloof, hostile side of him with his playful, competitive, smug side AND the inner naive, almost child like side almost perfectly. and then there’s more, because you add so much depth to him and realistically expand on so many unexplored facets of his character and his roots !! you can just tell this is a character who’s endured so many hardships and is still trying to recover and move on, and despite everything that’s hardened him into the person he is today he still has that innocent curiosity about the world and it makes me so emo every. single. time. you just put so much work into him and it shows, from your icons to your headcanon posts, to even the most minute detail. even when you host events you just go So Hard at it you’re literally out here setting the standard dude. and don’t even get me started on your writing style. i was hooked by the very first thread we did, i felt like i could never hold a candle to it honestly. just. the way you narrate shadow’s feelings and thoughts, how you capture his actions, his movement, his speech patterns, is just so good. and your vocabulary is so colorful and rich. just. hgnfhg its top tier content ALRIGHT you inspire me to push myself and to keep improving all the time and i have to say i couldn’t ask for a better writing partner. i love you so much eph 💕💕💕

@1110-01111011

hello yes trikey i love your omega so much. i’ve never really thought much of the death bot before but seeing all the headcanons and fleshing out you do for him just makes him so much more interesting and fascinating. down to the most intrinsic detail you put in for him it’s just really cool to see and adds so much to him that just !! i love it man. every time i think abt omega now my mind just automatically goes back to your portrayal because he is Just omega. i appreciate all the depth you add to him and his relationships to the rest of his team, it’s so pleasing to see and really helps solidify how strong team dark’s dynamic truly is..... not to mention your art is hecking gorgeous??? like damn dude, goals. anyway,, thank u for the blessed omega content. absolutely 10/10

@coolxnxblue @oforbis @hcrofraid @mastcrplanncr @powderbluestreaks

toxi i immediately fell in love with your sonic the first time we ever interacted. you just capture his sass so well, i just could not stop giggling that first night. he’s still my favorite sonic in this rpc, to be honest. and don’t even get me started on your other muses. it still baffles me how you manage to take on such a huge raster of characters yet manage to flesh them out all so well. every one of them feels so evenly developed and solid and just like bwaze you make me care about characters that i otherwise wouldn’t have before. i feel like i have a huge newfound appreciation for eggman bc of you and unsurprisingly he’s now my fave eggman on here hands down. and it goes without saying your writing is just, phenomenal. you capture dialogue so beautifully, the way you narrate on the feelings your characters are experiencing is engaging, to the point i’m lowkey intimidated by it sometimes LMAO. also your AUs are just rad as hell? and rlly interesting?? and your art style too ????? 10/10 roleplayer, i just think youre neat.

@antibadnik @godcontained

hey you? yes you. i love your muses so much. i especially love how you write amy, to be honest. she’s been my favorite character since forever and like?? you do just such a good job with her? i appreciate that you choose not to erase her intense affection for sonic, because more often than not i see people tone it way down to almost non-existent and it really is just such a big part of her character. i like the way you delve into that mindset of her’s, and expand on it and how it affects her. i also just. love your writing too. you just have this way of conveying feeling in your writing that’s always a punch to the gut you can feel it that hard. your headcanons for elise are really interesting too and definitely nothing i’ve actually seen before, what with how her powers work and how having to go emotionally dormant has effected her after all this time. also, i love ava. she is baby. it’s so cool getting to see a mute character!! all in all, its just good content man. god i love football.

@team-phantom @heartfelt-silver

pandaaaa i adore you !!! you were like my first friend in this heckin rpc. all of our dash shenanigans always have me wheezing and i just love your boys so much. i can certainly say without a shadow of a doubt that zero is one of my favorite takes on infinite. its hard to believe that he’s the same jackal who almost completely helped eggman take over the world--- he’s just come so far, he seamlessly fits into the rest of the cast. i adore how he works off of his team, and all their own unique little quirks that set them apart from each other. your headcanons and lore for your muse is just so sweet. and god i can’t get enough of your art?? your doodles always are a blessing to see ;-; i always appreciate you youre just such a sweet and kind mun, you’re so welcoming of ppl here and have this way of making ppl feel at home in this community. it absolutely wouldn’t be the same without you. keep it up <3

@lightdash @heartlop @enrichedheart

YOU. yes you. ame you’re so freakin’ cool and sweet. you’re always so nice and welcoming to people in the rpc it’s always a treat getting the chance to talk to you !! you’re another one of those peeps i look up to in this community TBH and youre muses are just portrayed and written so well!! i can just tell you’ve poured many years of thought, consideration, and work into your muses to the point that they’re just so finely tuned. i love the aesthetic you utilize for you blogs, from your icons to just the way you go about formatting your threads? and not to mention, your art style ??? is just so cute ??? ngl i lowkey wanna collab with you one of these days bc i just adore how you draw the sonic cast ;_; thank you for being a part of this rpc !! you’re wonderful !

@projectlightfox

moggg you’re so nice and chill to talk to. i love volt and harmony so much... they fit in really good with sonic world and mesh well with just about any characters i’ve seen them interact with so far--- even if its someone they don’t get along with. i’ve said it before but theyre just a really charming little duo and im always happy to see them on my dashboard. i love the overall aesthetic they got going, two travelers roaming the world from dimension to dimension. harmony is just a little bundle of precious fluffy joy and her interactions with sonic always make me cry. and volt--- he’s such a good dad !! he’s a really neat character and i’m certainly interested in learning more about the both of them. and as i said, you’re a rad person to talk to, i appreciate how welcoming and supportive you are of people. and your art style? absolutely adorable. thank you for being in this rpc ;-;

@dieviskais @solfading

king!! i’ve never seen anyone write the way you do, choosing to shift the view point onto the reader as if they themselves are the muse. it’s such a unique and interesting way to look into your muse’s mindsets and express how they are feeling and what they’re doing. your take on silver is very fresh compared to the way he’s typically written. i appreciate you don’t take the baby silver uwu route like don’t get me wrong he IS baby but he’s not a baby. you certainly have really neat headcanons surrounding his backstory and how he grew up, it’s nice to see the grim reality of his harsh bleak life being represented. it’s good !! your other muses are intriguing too and i’m eager to learn more about them. i love auburn?? he’s a really cool oc dude his aesthetic and powers are A+. and you know, i may be terrible at expressing it but you’re a delight to talk to!! never feel bad or discouraged for popping into my dms i honestly appreciate the company ;-; thank u for being u

@orbviously / @cubeviously

THESE TWO BOTS. i love them so much. literally every time i see orbot or cubot now in any context i just think back to your portrayal of them hebby, they’re just so dang spot on and good. i love how you go about interacting with people with these two tbh it never fails to make me giggle. i love your art style too it’s just pleasing to look at! you have so many creative AUs for these bots i’m honestly impressed by how much you manage to create with these guys man--- from their human/bot designs to their mobianbot designs theyre just so cool ?? even your other muses are always entertaining to watch regardless of what fandom theyre from youre just so fun to interact with. and just, you’re always a pleasure to talk to ooc, youre always putting a smile on my face! youre awesome hebby

@fishing-purple-cat

yes hi. sunny your take on big is so blessed. you’ve done so much justice for him. i’ve always really liked big tbh but i just love how much depth you put into his character, his backstory and his mannerisms. i love that you like,, actually give him a personality outside being a slow thinker. i can tell you’ve really developed your writing style with him, it speaks volumes about how much work you really put into writing him and it shows? heck, you even go the extra mile to draw your own icons and hang on i need a second to gush about your art because holy DAMN dude. your anatomy and painting abilities are nothing short of impressive--- especially your nack for painting backgrounds. i srsly gotta commission you at some point when i’m able to, heck. anyway, the rpc certainly wouldn’t be the same without you here

@lnfinitc

dude i love your take on infinite. he’s just about everything he should have been in forces, and even more. i love how malicious and intimidating you write him and your take on his speech patterns is just straight up eye-candy. i love your writing style, its so flavorful and rich--- your headcanons and lore on how infinite works is just astounding. and i like how you incorporate your drawings into your replies or threads too like even if its just icons your style is so heckin pretty ?? gosh dang. i’m definitely looking forward to interacting more in the future bc ur muse is just really fun and you seem like such a rad person !!

@pistolbitten

uhhh hello yes... while we haven’t interacted very much so far i JUST GOTTA SAY, i super enjoy your take on fang. from what i can tell he’s very well-rounded and fleshed out and a really interesting villain. i may or may not’ve been lowkey paying attention to that angel’s thesis thread you were doing w bwaze and aaron and i gotta say. holy damn. fang just done FUCKED UP. im certainly looking forward to him and shade interacting lmao. your writing style is so good too hh... just yeah i don’t have a whole lot to say if only because we haven’t interacted as much as i have with some of the other ppl on here BUT i certainly am looking forward to bc you seem cool. i’m loving what i’m seeing so far. have nack shoot sonic. DO IT.

@mobian-merc @funis-infinite

duuuudeeee. i’ll be honest i was super intimidated by you at first asdkjsah i don’t even know why i was ??? but like. you’re so hecking nice and fun to talk to ;_; scourge is an actual literal dipshit yet you manage to make him very likable and you have such a fun take on him. i’ve always been a little conflicted on the character tbh because of how popular he is and he seems like the type i’d like but i knew nothing about him and was kinda put off by the over hype sometimes, but honestly? your portrayal won me over. i love him now. he’s so stupid and hE’S GREAT. your infinite also seems so cool too i gotta hecking respond to that starter you made me when i get the chance, im looking forward to infinite & sonic just. talking and sassing eachother probably. i really like your writing style too!!! and your icons are absolutely gorgeous ok. alright, that is all.

@flyinginfreedom

uhhhhhhh hello i love your rouge so much ???? she’s literally so cool... you capture her aesthetic and over all mysterious yet cunning vibe perfectly and it’s just always a pleasure to see her on my dash. i loved her interactions with sonic during eph’s roadtrip event so much. your headcanons just feel so her and spot on, and you still manage to add so much depth and personality to her i just love it so much. i love your blog’s aesthetic down to the icons, and even the way you format your threads. over all just a stellar rouge blog and a really cool & chill mun!!

@rosehammcr @antihedgehog

hi rosie uhm i love your amy so much ok. she’s such a sweet heart, i love how you incorporate her tarot cards ?? it’s literally so cool... and the accuracy on those readings is shocking. she’s just such a sweet heart god i’m getting emo thinking abt her tbh like amy is !! one of my fave characters and !! you write her so well !! and your eggman too, god he’s incredible. i love how sinister yet goofy he can be he’s just a perfect combination of intimidating and silly. your takes on orbot and cubot also bring a smile to my face and i love how you incorporate them into your interactions!! you also just seem like a rlly rad person and i’d love to interact more !! yeah !

@a-wind-of-freedom

yuniiiiiiIII !! you’re such a sweet heart and your sonic is too. i’ve never seen someone play sonic the way you do before and it’s certainly interesting and unique !! you’ve got so many neat an thought out verses and AUs too, theyre all really intriguing ! our interactions with our sonics are always rlly blessed tbh starlight is just precious. i always appreciate getting to work with you as well for commission stuff, you’ve really been helping me out in that regard. plus you give me something artistic to work on and the chance to push my talents ! ;-; all in all you’re just a really sweet person and have a kind aura about you ! ;;

@champiionic

clears throat. hi yes you’ve been one of my fave sonics since day one. you’re just so creative with your muse its honestly impressive how many things you’ve able to come up with for sonic. from the portrayal you bring to the table down to your muse aesthetic its always just spot on you’ve got the blue speedster’s whole vibe down to a T. and your writing is just ? kisses my fingers. beautiful. your sonic is just so dang authentic, seeing him on my dash is always a pleasant sight. and i know this post is namely about sonic rpc muns & muses but i already love bubbles and blossom. i used to watch powerpuff girls when i was rlly little so its a real nostalgia trip to see them on my dashboard.

@hcpebloom @rcsebloom

bunny !! ur heckin sweet.. i love ur amy so much HSDFHDJ she’s just so soft. and unique too!! your headcanons for her are just so cute and make her stand out in her own way and i just appreciate that yo. and i admittedly don’t know a whole lot about cosmo since i havent really watched that far into sonic x but you’ve certainly got my attention with her. we just gotta interact more man ur muses are so precious !! ;_;

@fortruechaos

you !! your shadow is so good dude ! your portrayal of him is just so hecking accurate,, i highly appreciate how noble you write him to be. he’s serious, he’s prickly, but he’s got the world’s best interest at heart and it makes my heart do the fluttery thing. your writing is so good too gosh. no to mention youre just so hecking nice ??? youre just overall a rlly sweet mun & i appreciate your presence here in the rpc

@glittcrngcld @livelifc

hey fretcher ? ily. your muses are just so good from your canon characters to your ocs, i just love them sm?? and your ART? i swoon every time i see your doodles on my dash i’m still not over those doodles of lilly and azure ;-; not to mention your edits are scarily good like shit dude teach me your ways. your takes on your muses are awesome man i love ur sonic he’s such a MEME. and elise !!! she makes me so emo god. thank u for your blessed portrayals of these characters ! @elektrisch-felidae

YOU. precious is just, precious?? HAH. i love her, she’s so cool tbh. she’s so chill and laid back and seems like the kinda cool cat sonic can totally vibe with. you yourself are also rlly chill and fun to interact with--- even if we haven’t much so far. its no secret i just love sonic ocs so much and precious is just awesome. i love the idea of electricity powers. absolutely need to have sonic hang with her more ;;

@coldheartbeauty

SPEAKING of cool cats with cool powers, i love raven. her sass is just super entertaining to see on the dashboard tbh. i have to see her and sonic get into a sass off one of these days. her powers are also really cool too ? she reminds me of blaze in a sense, but just completely different in her own right. i also just hella love your art style its so cute, your doodles are always adorable to see!!

INHALES. ok. im done. if i missed anyone i am so sorry i ran out of steam. thank you all so much for making this rpc such an entertaining, dynamic, and creative place to be !!!

#🌀 — later guys! i’m outta here! ❪ ooc. ❫#i'm not tagging y'all down here LMAO it'll take me forever to #but yes #y'all are fuckin talented i have a whole lot of love for this rpc #lays down #okay im done #i'll be over in my sap corner if you need me

42 notes · View notes

lovehaswonangelnumbers · 4 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/karmic-tools-weekly-forecast-february-23-29-2020/

Karmic Tools Weekly Forecast: February 23 – 29, 2020

By Kelly M. Beard

The video version of this forecast, as read by Kelly, is available here.

The Karmic Tools Weekly Forecast covers the current planetary transits which affect people in different ways and to various degrees of intensity. Take notice when it is a Personal planet (Sun / Moon / Mercury / Venus / Mars) interacting with a Social (Jupiter/Saturn) or Collective planet (Uranus / Neptune/Pluto). And pay extremely close attention when it is a Social planet interacting with a Collective planet because that means something *big* is brewing that will move large groups of people along their evolutionary paths. Tuning in to the energy and rhythm of the planets can serve as a useful *guide* as you move along your Individual Path. It also helps to understand your place within the context of the larger Social & Collective Story. Below, you will find out how these energies tend to manifest, as well as guidance and direction.

*NOTE* There are some days when there are NO CONTACTS (besides the Moon), please note that there are no missing entries, we just list the actual Activations of each week + the day they happen.

Note from Kelly: For those of you who like to READ my Weekly Forecast, I wanted to just make sure you knew that on the VIDEO version of the forecast, I do add more insights that are more/less channeled in that moment and can be quite useful. If, after you’ve read the general energies, you want more, the audio is really good for that too. IN-Joy!

Weekly Forecast: February 22 – 29, 2020

2/23 ~ PISCES New Moon:

This is an annual crossroads we come to every year around this time. It is the completion of 12-new moons since the last Pisces New Moon 3.6.2019. How’s it going a year later? No one is exempt. We all have a House in our charts ruled by Pisces. It is here that you should seed your intentions and precious vision for the next year (minimum), with consideration of where you’d like to be at the 6-month MidPoint, the Pisces Full Moon 9.2.2020, when these very seeds will show their true promise. Consider that this crossroads is simultaneously an ending and the womb holding what will be birthed next. Virgo/Pisces realms teach us about being a Spirit in Human form. How’s that going for you at this time? Can you see any patterns in your health or consciousness, your physicality or spirituality and how all these dynamics are part of who & what you are? This month you get to dream – to dream the New Vision you’d like to experience in the 6-12 months. We are also blessed with Mercury Retro in Pisces helping us go even deeper to discover a new dream. We are not going to find solutions in the old or linear way. Sometimes you have to put the Monkey Mind in Time Out and let your Imagination lead the way. Give your Self ample time & space to do this over the next month because you are clarifying what you would like to initiate come the Aries New Moon 3.24.2020, a month from now.

2/23 ~ Venus (love, finances & relationships) ~square~ Jupiter (expansion & consciousness):

This energy is a happy-go-lucky kind of energy that doesn’t really want to be bothered with the mundane, however, you must not allow that passing energy to get you so off track that it costs you more than it is worth. If you don’t have any pressing obligations, then this can be a fun, relaxing time, possibly with friends doing something together. However, if you have work to do, make sure it gets done first so you can truly enjoy yourself without the worry of the pile being bigger when you return. Watch the excesses as well, food, drink and/or spending. On a deeper level, you may have to make some adjustments in your relationships or finances. Jupiter always reveals how we make things bigger’ (consciously or not) and this activation usually helps us be more realistic, so we can align our true priorities with our grand vision of the future.

2/24 ~ Sun (confidence) ~sextile~ Mars (action):

This is an excellent time for action! You may have some good, positive energy brewing that, if it does not find an outlet, could turn negative or destructive. So, DO something – get moving – take action! Work on accomplishing some long sought-after goals, physical, spiritual, emotional, mental or material. The Universe supports action at this time. Call in help from other like-minded souls – reach out – share this energy and see where it leads. During this kind of energy, you could secure a stronger position and if you have to fight for something, you will do so more effectively with this energetic support.

2/25 ~ Mercury Rx (communication & self-expression) ~conjunct~ Sun (core essential Self):

This energy will compel you to express yourself on many levels. Communication will be a focus, just make sure that it is reciprocated. You will have access to some powerful energy that can (and probably will) make quite an impression on others (if you need to). This is a good time to travel too, if possible. However, if not physically, then mentally and certainly within your own area, you will take in more information per square inch than usual. Pay attention! You may even gain the much-deserved recognition from others that you have worked so hard for.

*****

LoveHasWon.org is a Non-Profit Charity, Heartfully Associated with the “World Blessing Church Trust” for the Benefit of Mother Earth

Share Our Messages with Love and Gratitude

LOVE US @ MeWe mewe.com/join/lovehaswon

Visit Our Online Store for Higher Consciousness Products and Tools: LoveHasWon Essentials

http://lovehaswonessentials.org/

Visit Our NEW Sister Site: LoveHasWon Angel Numbers

https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/

Commentary from The First Contact Ground Crew 5dSpiritual Healing Team:

Feel Blocked, Drained, Fatigued, Restless, Nausea, Achy, Ready to Give Up? We Can Help! We are preparing everyone for a Full Planetary Ascension, and provide you with the tools and techniques to assist you Home Into The Light. The First Contact Ground Crew Team, Will Help to Get You Ready For Ascension which is Underway. New Spiritual Sessions have now been created for an Entire Family, including the Crystal Children; Group Family Healing & Therapy. We have just began these and they are incredible. Highly recommend for any families struggling together in these times of intense changes. Email: [email protected] for more information or to schedule an emergency spiritual session. We can Assist You into Awakening into 5d Reality, where your experience is one of Constant Joy, Wholeness of Being, Whole Health, Balanced, Happy and Abundant. Lets DO THIS! Schedule Your Session Below by following the Link! Visit: http://www.lovehaswon.org/awaken-to-5d/

Introducing our New LoveHasWon Twin Flame Spiritual Intuitive Ascension Session. Visit the link below:

https://lovehaswon.org/lovehaswon-twin-flame-spiritual-intuitive-ascension-session/

Request an Astonishing Personal Ascension Assessment Report or Astrology Reading, visit the link below for more information:

https://lovehaswon.org/lovehaswon-ascension-assessment-report

https://lovehaswon.org/lovehaswon-astrology/

Experiencing DeAscension Symptoms, Energy Blockages, Disease and more? Book a Holistic Healing Session

https://lovehaswon.org/lovehaswon-holistic-healing-session/

To read our Testimonials you can follow this link: http://www.lovehaswon.org/testimonials

Connect with MotherGod~Mother of All Creation on Skype @ mothergoddess8

Request a copy of our Book: The Tree of Life ~ Light of The Immortals Book

Order a copy of Our LoveHasWon Ascension Guide: https://lovehaswon.org/lovehaswon-ascension-guide/

**If you do not have a Paypal account, click on the button below:

If you wish to donate and receive a Tax Receipt, click the button below:

Donate with Paypal

Use Cash App with Our code and we’ll each get $5! FKMPGLH

Cash App Tag: $lovehaswon1111

Cash App

Donate with Venmo

VENMO

Support Our cause in the creation of the Crystal Schools for Children. Visit our fundraising link below:

LoveHasWon Charity for Crystal Schools

Support Our Charity in Co~Creating the New Earth Together by Helping Mother of All Creation. Visit our fundraising link below:

Support Mother Earth!

Support Us on PATREON

PATREON

Support Us Through Our LoveHasWon Wish List

LoveHasWon Wish List

We also accept Western Unionand Moneygram. You may send an email to [email protected] more information.

***If you wish to send Donations by mail or other methods, email us at [email protected] or [email protected]***

**** We Do Not Refund Donations****

MeWe ~ Youtube ~ Facebook~ Apple News ~ Linkedin ~ Twitter~ Tumblr ~ GAB ~ Minds ~ Google+~ Medium ~ StumbleUpon ~ Reddit~ Informed Planet~ Steemit~ SocialClub~ BlogLovin~ Flipboard ~ Pinterest ~ Instagram ~ Snapchat

#5D Astrology #Astrology Updates

1 note · View note

eallfan-1 · 5 years

Text

Kdrama Review: Cheese in the Trap

Or better said, me ranting over a kdrama for years in a lot of words.

It has been very difficult for me to start writing this review thanks to all the feelings with which this drama left me. After finishing it I had to get distracted by other things until the anger left me. It has been years, but I still remember this one very well.

Before expressing everything I think about this production, I will tell you a bit about the plot, its development, everything that happened throughout history and behind the scenes (scandal included) to end what went wrong. So, warning: this will contain spoilers. BUT they will be duly indicated.

Cheese in the trap is the adaptation of what at the time was an unfinished webtoon (from there it was an alarm, because it would be impossible for the drama to be 100% faithful to the original story, not that it tried precisely) written by Soon Ki.

I was filled with excitement before starting watching CIT because Park Hae Jin was the main lead.

Cheese in the trap tells us the story of Hong Seol (played by Kim Go Eun), a university student (finally a college girl in a drama and not in high school, yay!) Who, like any other student, suffers from problems relative to his student life.

And here is something that I loved about hers characterization and the drama in general: everything is very realistic. We see situations with which I identified 100%. The teamwork, the exam stress, always ending up doing all the work alone. These are veridic situations so I felt what Seol was feeling while living them, since I I have experienced them in my own flesh. That made me fond of her, and therefore, the drama.

Anyway, a year ago Seol met Yoo Jung Sunbae (played by the aforementioned, PHJ). With this character we find the true feeling of this drama.

At first, Hong Seol realizes certain things that differ of the public image of his Sunbae. Yoo Jung is a young man who always maintains a pleasant and smiling image, sociable and kind.

Like, he seems not able to kill a fly.

But Seol, who is quite observant, realizes that there is something he hides, something that does not show anyone but is there. Thanks to the fact that he realizes this, and worse, that Yoo Jung realizes that she realized (that sounded like tongue twisters) is that, in front of everyone, Yoo Jung treats Seol well, but when they are alone ... I would not say that he is bad, but the situations lent themselves in a way we are not sure whether Jung was the very embodiment of evil, or just a prejudiced person (and weird ...)

Yoo Jung is what makes this story be this story. He is a complex character, with nuances and secrets. With an unknown past and also unknown intentions. There were times when I didn't know what to think about him, and many times they leave us in the dark until later, making us see him in different lights throughout the first half of the drama. He is a very interesting character and I loved him, for the simple fact of his uncommonness and truthfulness, which lies in his complexity: because humans are complex, so a complex character feels very real.

Well, the fact is that Jung, for reasons unknown to viewers (at least at the beginning) seems that, one year after that almost hateful relationship with Seol, now he likes her. At least he acts like he does, but does he really like her, or is it a ploy? What does Jung hide? Is he a strange person, is he bad, is he good?

In the meantime, two brothers who grew up with Jung since childhood arrive to our screen. Baek In Ho (played by Seo Kang Joon) and Baek In Ha (played by Lee Sung Kyung, which we have already seen in It's okay, that's love).

This drama is PURE GOLD, that at least until chapter 9 (or 10, more or less) And here it is when I, somewhat confused by the change, goes to the net and looks for reviews of the drama, just to find what I should have known much earlier: news of the scandal. What happened, my lovely Cheese in the trap?

I read article after article, all to explain what I was seeing on the screen. My beautiful Jung, a character so interesting, so complex, that I wanted to know more, who I wanted to see grow up, suddenly, stopped appearing.

Just like that.

I mean, not completely. But Jung began to havejust fifteen minutes on screen, in a chapter of one hour, when the second main lead, Seo Kang Joon, who plays Baek In Ho, raises his time on screen until he seems more a main than Hong Seol herself (not that I would measure time, but more or less)

The change was noticed. I noticed that the story I wanted to know, Jung's, his problems at work, his relationship with Seol, and so on. All that was relegated to a non-existent plot plane, which focused on InHo and its problems: In Ho and his piano, In Ho and his insecurities, InHo and his little heart, In Ho and his work, In Ho and his debts, In Ho and In Ho and more and more In Ho. I am not blind to not notice such a radical change. And not that I didn't like In ho, but these scenes didn't contribute anything to the story.

Not only did Jung stop appearing, but his story went from important to irrelevant, and the drama that was about his personality, his relationship with Seol and the university ceased to be ... to be what? The InHo self-pity show?

So this is what happened: Park Hae Jin, the actor for whom I began to see this drama, which began, not only well, but in an excellent way, called an interview to complain about it.

That won’t sound strange (oh yes, an actor complained and?) But for this we must bear in mind that we are talking about a Korean actor. Korea, a country where all of us who have become accustomed to their culture know that everything is choreographed. The actors, the Idols are so correct that they say almost nothing out of place, because everything is scripted.

That a Korean actor, contrary to all his "culture" called an interview to complain about a production is unusual. What I say unusual, is very very very unusual. An actor who speaks like this is not only exposed to the condemnation of the netizens, but to bad publicity. And in Korea bad publicity is the bane of any public figure.

Anyway, that is why this was a big scandal here in kdramaland. PHJ says: “I recorded scenes, these were cut. Crucial scenes for my character and his growth, for the public to understand. I'm a webtoon fan, he says, so I wanted to do justice to the character. They cut scenes already recorded about Jung's childhood, scenes I worked hard on”

And the question is why did they do it? PHJ did not know and we, much less. Why cutting the wings of an actor who, without a doubt, was up to the character, who carried it masterfully, and who had already recorded what was necessary? Why?

It is when, in view of what was happening, the original webtoon writer, Soon Ki, now complained: “I was not consulted at all after chapter six”

That, along with the increase of the SKJ scenes, and that he was about to release a new drama with the channel, gave and continues to give rise to many conjectures about what happened there. That it was a strategy to promote the new SKJ drama, that problems between the director and PHJ, that this, the other ... But in reality, we know nothing for sure.

What happened to what could have been Cheese in the trap? Well, nothing, because it was in a noticeable decline.

Leaving aside the problems of production, that personally bother me a lot, are the problems of the drama itself, of what we see on the screen.

The last episode arrived and I was not disappointed. I was ANGRY. Rabid, even.

I didn't expect much, not only because it is common in kdramas to have bad endings, but also because, seeing the last episodes, there was no way for everything to be fixed. There was no way. And there was not.

The end is an insult to every viewer.

The ending was an insult to fans who gave them ratings.

It is an ending that should shame them, because honestly, they could have done better. But they didn’t. Why? Here I have an answer. Because they didn't want to. They didn't want to give back to the fan that was tuning them in, to the viewers who gave them sixteen hours of their lives at watching their drama.

First of all, Jung. Jung is a character who could have given much more. PHJ did an excellent job in his characterization, and with the little time he had on screen, he made magic at helping us to understand the character, even if we only saw it for fifteen minutes.

But the biggest problem I have with this story was not seeing In Ho playing the piano for so long, it was the waste of Jung's character. Many were left with the idea that Jung was the worst psychopath. We did not see his past because the scenes of his childhood were cut. We did not see his problems on a daily basis, we did not see his thoughts, as we were supposed to, because his scenes got cut.

And the most important. We did NOT see the long-awaited Character development. It supposedly happened. Jung grew up, learned, softened. Improved, accepted himself and so on. But it doesn't happen on our screen. And we can't even see which was the end result for Jung.

If you ask me, I don't think Jung was a psycho. He was a person who, from the little that I could capture, his past and his childhood taught him to be what he was, a person who does not always make the best decisions and who does not tempt his heart to take revenge on those who hurt him , which is not right, but that's what I wanted to see! Yes, he made the same mistake like three times, but i wanted to see him learning to be better, but we are not able to see any of that. Jung ended up being a secondary character in a story that deserved his stellar role.

The relationship of Hong Seol and Yoo Jung seemed very tender to me, the truth is that in the first half they were OTP. Although it had its flaws and that was what the drama dealt with, in a very bad way, at the end.

That if everything Jung did was forgivable? The truth is, I don't think what Jung did was so bad at any time, but that is maybe just me. It was not the best way, obviously, but it is not as if he had killed anyone or as if the injured ones were not doing bad things. He did what he thought was right, in his own way, and it was not always the best. And Seol came to understand and love him and accept him and ... to forgive him? I think not everything should be justified, and it is something that we also needed to see on screen: after the end, did they fix everything? But no matter what, there is no way that I can see the relationship between Seol and Jung as toxic.

Unknowns and more unknowns in this drama that could have been one of my favorites, but ended up being only a so-so kdrama (that is because even with all the wrongs, those first episodes are gold and I treasure them like nothing else)

I recommend it? After such a long review (but I had a lot to say about this) we could deliver by reading that, yes, I recommend it. Its first half is worth all the anger at thesecond. Everyone's performance is very good, the atmosphere is just right, not to mention the ost, its characters, the situations of the typical school life and Jung , a character that fascinated me from beginning to end, in spite of all the incongruities that the script had in its final round.

#kdrama review #kdrama #korean drama #tvn #cheese in the trap #park hae jin #seo kang jun #kim go eun #webtoon #soon ki #review #me #mine #jungseol

7 notes · View notes

rosecorcoranwrites · 5 years

Text

Movies and Plays as Audiovisual, Temporal Storytelling

Movies and plays are worth your while, and are a unique form of storytelling (Yes, that is almost exactly how I opened my last post; this is a series, after all!). Now, theoretically, I should talk about these two mediums separately, as they have some major differences. I could even do another post about TV shows as a sequential form of movies, but I think "serial storytelling" will have to be a topic for the far future. I believe, however, that these two mediums have much more in common than they have different.

Movies and plays—including musicals and TV shows as well—use semi-verbal, visual, temporal, and auditory storytelling.

Lights, Camera Angles, Action!

You'll recall that books are totally verbal, relying entirely on language to tell their stories. Movies and plays are semi-verbal. Most of them include dialogue, and some even have narration in the form of voice-over or a chorus. Though dialogue—often of the snappy variety—is an important part of many movies and plays, it is not a necessity. Silent short films can still tell stories, as can theatrical forms like ballet.

Movies and plays can get away with going light on dialogue because they rely heavily on visuals for their props, setting, costumes, and character actions. Just as an author chooses which words to use to convey a particular scene or feeling, moviemakers, playwrights, and directors—from henceforth grouped under the term "creators"—choose what objects will and won't be on stage or in frame. They can make the effects and set pieces realistic or stylized, and can choose to use colors, shapes, lighting, and other visual cues to convey messages to the audience without stating them verbally.

Blocking is a particular visual aspect of movies that books can't convey. Wether an actor is standing up or down-stage, in or out of focus, facing the audience or not can all be important parts of the story. Movies can also use reaction shots—that is, showing us a character's facial expression rather than what they are seeing—to build tension or evoke emotion. Technically, books can do something similar to this, by saying or showing how a character is feeling before telling/showing us what they're reacting to, but it's a bit different, largely because movie creators can hold on a shot for some time without needing to add new information in the form of words or description.

And this brings us to the next point: temporal storytelling. Plays and movies take a certain time to tell their story, whereas books take a specific number of words to tell theirs. These both pace the stories, but in different ways. A book might take a paragraph to tell all the important details of a room, while a movie can do this in a single shot. Creators can still choose to linger on objects, characters’ movements, and so forth in order to slow a scene down and give the audience time to process what's happening or, conversely, to build a sense of unease. While books, movies, and plays—all stories, really—are told in time (though not necessarily chronologically, as flashbacks and side stories exist), movies and plays can use time itself as a part of their storytelling process.

Music Speaks Louder Than Words

Finally, there is the audio aspect of movies and plays. Along with spoken dialogue, these mediums incorporate sound effects and music. Even silent films used music to evoke a mood for different scenarios, and many non-verbal cartoons utilize Mickey Mousing, or having the music match the movements of the characters—to play up the comedy of their stories. Foley artists, those behind-the-scenes folk who create sound effects for movies, are an important part of making movies seem real, or more-than-real, depending on the genre. Much like choosing what props to have on stage, creators choose what sounds should be included and what should be left out or muted.

Music (or the deliberate lack thereof, in some scenes) is my favorite part of movies, and is a big part of what makes them unique from books and comics. Obviously, music can set a tone, but in clever hands, it can do so much more. Characters or scenarios might be given a special theme, so that, even before they appear on screen, the audience knows to expect them. Themes can be used in call-backs, as when a certain song is played early in a movie and then brought back towards the ending. I especially love when the theme is changed in some way throughout the story.

The finest example of this, I think, are the songs in Les Miserables, particularly those of Javert and Valjean. "Valjean's Soliloquy", at the start of the play, and "Javert's Suicide", at the end, are the same tune and have similar lyrics, and are both a reaction to the character receiving an act of mercy. Both discuss how the character can no longer face the world as they once have. Valjean, however, uses this opportunity to turn his life around and become a better person; Javert rejects this mercy and throws his life away, refusing to live in a reality that doesn't fit with what he thought he knew. It's marvelous!

Promised Neverland does something interesting by taking a non-diegetic song (ie, mood music that is a part of the soundtrack) and showing us that it has diegetic origins (a character in the show wrote it, and other characters hum it). Once we realize where it came from, in the final episode of the show, it forces us to rethink why it's being used as the main theme of escape and hope, while other characters hum it during sorrowful circumstances. It evokes something beyond words that can't be described, but felt.

Even non-musical plays can use music like this. In Steel Magnolias, various songs play from a radio throughout the show, creating a mood but otherwise unimportant. It's also mentioned, off-handedly, that one of the characters likes the Hawaii 5-0 theme. In the final scene, where it's revealed that that character has died, there is no more music playing. The group of characters eventually come to terms with her death, realizing that life goes on but that they still want to keep her memory alive, and as the final moment of the play draws near, one of the characters hits the radio, and it comes back to life, playing the Hawaii 5-0 theme. As an audience member, I totally lost it at that point. I didn't even like that play that much, but when that song started playing, I burst out crying. Music is a powerful thing.

Humans and Emotions

You've probably noticed that I keep using the words "feel", "evoke", and other emotional phrases. Perhaps this is one reason why bookworms look down on movies, seeing them as long on feelings and short on substance. I think they are, in fact, long on both, but use their ability to elicit emotion—through visuals, timing, and audio cues—to underline their message and story. Just as books are the descendants of ancient songs and poems, movies and plays harken back to ancient forms of theater. The Greeks used tragedies specifically to give the audience a sense of catharsis as a way of dealing with and understanding emotion. Other theatrical forms—puppetry, kabuki and noh, ballet, and even rituals involving costumes and masks—are stylized in order to remove everything but the elemental aspects of the story they are telling. They are basic, but in a way that cuts to the heart of what it means to be human. Humans are verbal creatures, but we are also emotional in a way different from any other animal. We have archetypes, and symbols, and psychology, some of which can't quite be described in words and require us to see and hear and feel. And that is why movies and plays are unique and worthwhile.

And those, dear readers—and cinephiles, theater kids, and film buffs—are my thoughts on movies and plays.

7 notes · View notes

asterinjapan · 5 years

Text

Back in time

Good evening, this time from the train from Osaka to Okayama! It's a little past 8:30 pm now, and since I'll have to get up early tomorrow for my trip to Tokyo, I'll be typing most of today's report on my phone. Just a heads up in case you spot any weird typoes, haha.

Anyway! Today was indeed a busy day, although very much fun in a lot of senses. You see, today I was meeting up with a friend to go to Universal Studios Japan, and then to a concert by KOKIA, my absolute favourite artist. So that's 3 great things in one sentence already, haha.

I'll be splitting the report so that one half just concerns the concert, because I tend to do very detailed reports on those. Seeing KOKIA live is such a treat, I don't want to forget a single detail! So below follows the report on the rest of the day.

I had to get up early to catch my train, so of course I woke up wayyyy to early at 4 am, pff. I went right back to sleep and woke up a little before my 6 am alarm, which was still too early, because breakfast starts at 6:30, haha. Oh well, plenty of time to get dressed in peace!

After breakfast, I made my way to the station to catch the shinkansen to Shin-Osaka station. The train goes past Himeji, though sadly I wasn't in a good position to take a picture of the castle. I did however notice that you can see Okayama castle from the train as well, be it from quite the distance. The views weren't really superb today, which was to be expected, since there was rain forecasted for pretty much the entire country. Oh well, not much I can do about that but take an umbrella, haha.

The trip was smooth and I met up with my friend at the station. We were going to Osaka station from here, a mere 5 minute ride, but it was quite tricky to even make it through the shinkansen gates. It was really busy for some reason, though they had just announced a train further south had stopped running due to heavy rains. Uh oh... but so far so good in Osaka, no rain yet and we eventually made it to Osaka station and from there, 2 quick trains bound for Universal Studios Japan!

We first caught up a little over drinks, with matcha latte for me of course, before we made it to the park entrance and got tickets. Since it was a Saturday I suspected it would be busy and we'd need to draw a number for the Harry Potter part of the park, but apparently the weather forecast worked in our favour, because there were no numbers needed to enter today. Yaaay! I went to Universal 4 years ago as well and mostly spent my day in the Harry Potter part, haha, so I wasn't complaining about starting here. Actually, this part of the park only has two rides proper and they're both a bit wild for us, but just looking around here is an attraction in itself. I got all nostalgic over the music and the scenes, and after shop browsing for a while and having our picture taken in front of the Hogwarts Express, we went into the wand shop to experience some magic happening as a random audience member was picked to be chosen by a wand. Sadly this wasn't me, haha, although I have a great wand at home I bought here last time. It was a fun little show (this time Ollivander spoke both very good English and Japanese, haha), after which we ended up in the wand shop, but we passed through it in favour of the castle.

You can go into Hogwarts castle for a pretty intense adventure (I did it back in 2015, my stomach wasn't very happy), or you can choose to take a stroll inside and look up on awe at all the amazing detail they put on here, haha. We opted for the latter, and I definitely made use of the invitation to take pictures by going wild with my current camera. Much better quality! Ah, I love this camera so. The castle has a ton of talking and moving paintings as well as some projections and a ton of replicas from the movies. Aside maybe from the last bit, where we first had to wait for a while for unknown reasons and then were rushed through, it was really great.

Once outside, we spotted some performers coming out dressed like the students from the wizarding schools Beauxbatons and Durmstrang from the fourth book/movie, so we stayed to watch. I think i read somewhere that this was a limited time show, and they were really good, very athletic. (I'm personally not a big fan of the movie approach of "the French students are only girls who dance pretty dainty ballet and the vaguely Russian students are only manly guys who grunt and stomp with sticks", but hey, that says nothing about the performers here! And the costumes were lovely. )

After some more shop browsing, we were in for a surprise once we were outside: the sun was shining bright! Absolutely not according to the forecasts, absolutely not complaining, haha. I took some very pretty pictures of the castle if I do say so myself, and then we went for lunch here. The salad served at the Three Broomsticks was pretty big, plenty enough to share. After this and of course some butterbeer (non-alcoholic), we left the wizarding world behind us and moved into the rest of the park.

This mostly ended in sightseeing, since the rows were too long to consider queuing up with the concert time getting closer, but that was a lot of fun too. They put in so much detail, and since it is almost Halloween, a lot of people had come dressed up.They do in the Disney parks too, but Disney has pretty strict rules about which characters you're allowed to dress up as, while here it seems to be "anything goes". I saw a guy dressed up as a piece of corn, quite some elaborate costume dress ups, a surprising amount of guys in Sailor Moon outfits, a lot of fancy gothic dress up, and a surprising number of uh, nuns. Alright! And of course, there was the usual mix with outfits from the Harry Potter part and uh, Minions. They have their own spot here.

We also went into the Jurassic park area, which was closed for maintenance last time, although sadly we didn't see a lot of dinosaurs roaming around. There was a scarily realistic Velociraptor animatronic inside the gift shop though! (I think it might have been Blue? Look, I only saw Jurassic World once.) But well, I still love dinosaurs, so this was still cool, haha.

Once we were getting closer to the time of the concert, we went back to the station to catch the train to Osaka station. Luckily the concert venue was very close and actually within the same building in which they have the big Broadway musicals here, currently the little mermaid. It was the lion king last time I went here and got lost at Osaka station, haha. (That station is like 5 different stations all connected, so it's a bit of a maze.) We got seated, got ourselves a drink (it's kinda like a jazz bar here, so you sit at a table and you can order food and drinks), made a quick trip to the merchandise shop, and then sat back to enjoy the performance.

I'll save those details for my next post, haha, but rest assured I had a great time. KOKIA had two performances tonight, so it was a little shorter than a big hall concert, but she did make time for an autograph session! Naturally we queued up with our newly purchased albums, haha.

Ah, such a good time! It was around dinner time now, so my friend introduced me to akashiyaki, which is "sort of takoyaki, except not", haha. Akashi is a city in the nearby Hyogo prefecture, and these are dumplings made of egg rich batter and octopus you need to dump into thin fish broth before eating (thank you, wikipedia). Although takoyaki, also balls with octopus, is more popular and better known, akashiyaki apparently came first. It was really yummy! We shared akashiyaki and then had a takoyaki gratin, which sounded kinda odd, but ended up being delicious as well. We eventually had some desserts at a nearby tea shop that sold SO MANY matcha things, I nearly had a crisis deciding until I opted for the matcha roll cake, incidentally the best roll cake I've ever had.

It was time to part ways with the promise of reunion, and I made it to Shin-Osaka alone. Familiar territory after last year, haha. I caught a shinkansen for Okayama and I have just arrived in my hotel safe and sound, very tired but very pleased.

Tomorrow will be tiring without a doubt, as I'll be in a train for 4.5 hours straight (I did this to myself, I know). But then I'll be in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, my home away from home at this point, haha. I guess I'll ditch my things at the hotel and then rush to Shibuya for my favourite little shrine there, because I must owe some deity something for how lucky I've been so far. Did I mention it was dry the whole time we were outside? Yeah.

I love Tokyo, so I'm very excited about going back there, but it also means saying goodbye to Okayama and entering my last week already. Time really flies, huh...

Well, stay tuned for pictures and the concert review while I go pack my suitcase (the title will make sense after that review, haha, although Harry Potter and dinosaurs are both things I grew up with) and then see you tomorrow from Tokyo!

#report #japan 2019 #report: japan 2019 #places: universal studios

2 notes · View notes

hornyliverpudlianputz · 5 years

Note

Do you have any critique towards the boys’ acting?

…Anon I…I don’t think I can express to you just how much seeing this question made me want to yeet out of my skin in excitement. Like, I cackled. Out loud.

Alright um. I have sort of halfway addressed all the guys’ acting in this post, and I’m planning on doing a duo of posts at some point in the future about the crossing over of their strengths (the musicians, Mike and Peter, acting and the actors, Davy and Micky, being musicians) so I will try to be succinct with this.

The long and short of it is I think all of the guys are extraordinarily talented actors, and most negative things I have to say are not about their lack of talent but rather about them failing to use the talent they have. I may gush a little more about Mike and Peter, but that’s only because Davy and Micky had significantly more acting experience so it’s “less impressive” that they’re good. It’s still impressive. Anyway. I’ll do a quick breakdown of each of them.

I want to start with a general note. I have said before that what makes an actor good is their ability to “emote”; to give the audience non-verbal cues to make their performance more believable and realistic. All of the guys posses this skill. Body language, micro expressions, tone of voice, timing, etc; all of them are great at controlling these things and using them to deliver a more finely-tuned performance. As such these will be considered “givens” in my discussion, though I will be talking about certain aspects of them as it pertains to the strengths of each of the boys. They are also all more or less willing to throw themselves around pretty liberally, so their slapstick ability will also be considered a given.

Davy - In my opinion, what Davy brings to the table is his face. And no, I don’t mean his looks (although he is very pretty). What I mean is that, while Davy can certainly bring it with “small acting” (suitable for close-ups and more subtle emotional reads), he is very good at acting “big” (more exaggerated expressions better suited for wider shots) without it becoming “too much”. When Micky does his thing there’s always a touch of…sarcasm? Like you can tell he’s deliberately over-acting. (I want to be clear, I think that style works really well for his character and I am not at all trying to disparage Micky by this comparison.) When Davy goes all out, it still feels genuine; like it’s actually how he is expressing his fear/anxiety/anger/delight/confusion.

Maybe it’s the way he works his shoulders into it, or the way he looks around and involves other characters with his eyelines, I don’t know. Regardless, it’s funny in a very genuine way; it’s comically overdone but still feels like a real person.

Micky - Aside from his supernatural ability to rattle off lines like the chatterbox icon that he is, what makes Micky stand out for me is his very easy physicality when interacting with other characters. I’ve talked about this before with him, but when Micky enters another actor’s physical space (phrasing!) he is very good at meshing seamlessly with the other person. Partial credit is absolutely due to his costars, but it’s also partially because Micky is a chameleon. His give-and-take is very sensitive, and he makes all of his physical interactions look easy and natural. x x

Notice in that last one how Micky is the only one interacting physically with his scene partner. Because she’s a pretty blonde. This is not to say the other guys are lacking in this ability, I just think that Micky in particular has a natural talent for it.

Mike - Aside from Mike’s impressive ability to make his voice do gymnastics in the name of comedy, his stand-out talent for me is also in his physicality. But unlike Micky it is not when he interacts with other people, but rather it’s how he expresses the emotion of the scene and his lines with his entire body. But not in an over-exaggerated, stage acting kind of way. What I mean is that Mike is much more likely to “talk with his hands” than the other guys in an obvious (but not overdone) manner. x x x

Notice in the last gif what him fidgeting with his hand adds to the line. It emphasizes that we, the audience, are supposed to understand that Mike is feeling awkward and slightly abashed. We get that sufficiently enough with his tone, timing, and facial expression, but his nervous tic with his hand is the cherry on top.

Peter - I have said this before and I will say it again, Peter is a criminally underrated actor. His very special talent is the ability to deliver the pinnacle of dumb-blonde lines completely straight, and get away with it. It is not easy to be believable being as genuinely innocent/naive as Peter is in the show (especially when you’re his age) but he pulls it off. His deliveries never come off as sarcastic or stiff, and it never seems like he’s playing a role. We the audience believe that he’s just Like That. It’s what makes his character work in the show. x

I concede, part of why this works is how his face is structured (beautiful brown cow eyes never hurt when you want to play dumb believably) but the masterful manipulation of expression and tone is all Peter.

Anon I hope that’s the kind of thing you were looking for, like I said I’ve got a post coming somewhere down the line about Peter and Mike’s acting specifically so I wanted to hold back a bit. If you (or anyone else) wanted a different angle please do ask oh god please I love these.

#ask and ye shall receive #the monkees #acting #analysis #peter tork #mike nesmith #davy jones #micky dolenz #long ass post

49 notes · View notes

aloofcoolkid · 5 years

Text

Recent Changes and My Thoughts

Yo what up, it's ya boi, back after years of inactivity and lurking just in time to watch the end of an age as the very definition of what this site is or what is considered "acceptable self-expression" is about to be forever altered, and I'd argue for the worse. I get it, child pornography is a serious issue and an absolutely horrid thing that shouldn't be tolerated anywhere, and it's pretty hard to curate, especially on a site like this. But in the name of fairness and preserving individual freedom and liberty and expression, I think that the only correct thing to do is continue to fight that fight and only punish wrongdoers, not an overkill mass ban on anything that could be potentially harmful, regardless of whether or not it is, removing the burden of curation from the staff at the expense of all of the innocents who've done nothing wrong. I can't help but think of all of the NSFW artists who got as far as they did simply by harmlessly exploring their fascination with sex acts and depicting them that will now be completely shut down and erased. All of the blogs that have gone inactive will have their work erased with no backup or archive available. I can't help but think of all of the sex workers who will have their livelihoods affected by this change. I can't help but think of all of the completely innocent people who have their posts automatically and incorrectly and unjustly censored because of the overkill censorship devices being trained to ban first and fine-tune later. I can't help but think of all of the people that we've ALREADY seen affected by the pre-staging for this change, with informational and helpful and even safety-centric content and even entire tags such as surgery tags for trans folks getting incorrectly getting hit by the filter. I'm absolutely mortified by the precedent that this change sets, that the burden of proof should be on the individual to fight and struggle to prove that their post is innocent rather than it needing to be proved their post is in violation before being censored. Even worse, the precedent that sex acts and adult content are utterly vile and shouldn't be allowed, without taking into account that sex can also be a tender and intimate and healthy thing that is completely natural and has nothing wrong about it, or that exploring it can be entirely innocent, or that it can be a genuine expression of love, not just a lewd and vile topic. It sets a precedent that sex is to be painted in a negative light, rather than a positive one. It sets the precedent that even in cases of people drawing sex acts as a form of self-expression or exploring the topic, or people demonstrating sex acts for safety purposes, or people showing sex acts in a healthy way, that it's not okay. Given that before this whole issue with the app store and sudden pressure by Apple, Tumblr was okay with making adult content 18+ and leaving it at that, punishing unacceptable content on a case by case basis, I'd argue it sets the precedent that eventually, if wrongdoers cause you enough struggle, it's perfectly acceptable to sacrifice your ideals and the liberties of the innocents to ease your own personal burden of fighting them and their heinous actions, which is essentially giving them a massive victory in my eyes, if easing your personal burdens is as pyrrhic a victory as that. And last but certainly not least, by Tumblr changing as radically as this as soon as Apple applied the pressure by removing the app from the app store, this change sets the precedent that it's perfectly acceptable to compromise yourself and change and bow to the will of those stronger than you simply because of their might alone, no matter what you're sacrificing. Tumblr says that they've been thinking about these changes and removing adult content for a long time, but let's be realistic, that's just corporate-speak to save face. No corporation would readily outright admit they're doing something because they feel forced to. The fact that they've been content to keep adult content restricted behind 18+ filters while fighting child porn and the like, as well as the fact that they felt the need to address child pornography in their statement and that this change comes right on the heels of their removal from the app store is all the proof I and I believe anyone should need to see that they're simply lampshading and trying to preserve their image. If simply being removed from the iOS app store, even though their site can still be accessed on Android, computer, and even iPhones that still have the app installed (such as I am doing presently), is all it takes for them to compromise their ideals and sacrifice our ability to express ourselves, explore topics and share information as we please without being harmful, make certain non-harmful professions completely unviable, forcibly define our perception of a completely healthy and natural subject, place the burden of struggle on us, and even go so far as to demonstrate that powerful people can get what they want by bullying other people and applying pressure and that standing up for yourself and the people that trust you and place their faith in you isn't worth it, then I don't believe Tumblr is a platform that deserves the patronage of anyone. Out of respect for oneself, the other members of the community, and a basic set of values and beliefs such as the freedom to act in whatever way one sees fit provided it isn't harmful, I don't believe Tumblr nor the staff that manage it deserve our patronage or support. I do sympathize with their plight. I know it must be difficult to go up against a foe as large as Apple and to ensure that only wrongdoers are punished on such a large scale, but I don't believe compromising yourself and caving to pressure and refusing to fight for what's right is the correct response. To that end, as a form of protest, I can only think of two viable options. One would be to preserve and archive as much of the content that's to be removed as possible, to upload as much content that could get potentially flagged as possible, whether fairly or unfairly flagged, and contest every single claim to drain their resources, and to reupload flagged content but altered and transformed to circumvent the algorithm. The other, which I'm personally going to exercise and would strongly urge everyone else to as well, would be to completely abandon this site. I know, I should probably suggest an alternative place, but with the wide variety of reasons people use Tumblr I don't think one site would fit all. But by abandoning the site due to these changes, it would send a message that this kind of behavior isn't acceptable. If they're so concerned about potentially losing users from their removal from the iOS app store that they'd radically change their site, it shows that maintaining a large userbase is important to them. Let's demonstrate that losing a potential amount of userbase growth and accessibility isn't worth spitting all over the existing and loyal userbase they already have that has placed their trust and faith in them to represent their interests and protect and fight for the community that has formed along with basic fundamental ideals and decency. So with that being said, I don't really have much more to say. I suppose I'll take my leave now. I hope to see things change for the better, but if not, I hope to see you all again somewhere else. Somewhere better. Farewell.

#signal boost #content changes #app store #protest #policy changes #site changes

8 notes · View notes

dweemeister · 3 years

Photo

Soul (2020)

2020 dashed the best-laid plans, disrupted dreams, and brought disease. For almost one full year now, COVID-19 has upended society the world over, and taken the lives of almost two million as of the publication of this review. The pandemic, as contemporary readers may notice, has taken its toll on the film industry too. If you are reading this in the distant future, Soul is the first film that I have written in which its release date was delayed and its distribution altered because of the pandemic (from June 19 to Christmas). Pete Docter’s first directorial effort since becoming the chief creative officer of Pixar is part of a phenomenon which may or may not last past the pandemic. Soul, like a few other high-profile releases in 2020 and early 2021, debuted simultaneously in reduced-capacity theaters and streaming, via Disney+. The film itself is middling Pixar. But given the studio’s high quality – albeit sullied over the last decade with underwhelming sequels and glaring missteps from some non-sequels – it is still something worth celebrating.

Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx) works part-time as a middle school music teacher in New York City, but quietly harbors dreams of pursuing his dream of becoming a jazz pianist. Taking an opportunity to audition for professional jazz saxophonist Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett), Joe receives an offer to play with Dorothea’s band. Ecstatic, speaking giddily on his cell phone on the musical adventure that awaits that evening, Joe has forgotten to look wherever the hell he is walking. As a result, he falls down a manhole, Looney Tunes-style. He awakens as a fluorescent blue-green blob, his soul on a stairway to heaven. No, not yet, Joe says. He runs backwards, but ends up in the “Great Before” – a place where unborn souls are endowed the traits (in the form of a badge) that will direct, but not predestine, the course of their lives. In a case of mistaken identity, the Great Before’s leaders assign Joe to 22 (Tina Fey) as her counselor. 22 has been stuck in the Great Before for eons, fostering a cynical view of human existence that has confounded her previous counselors (“You can’t crush a soul here. That’s what life on Earth is for.”). If you are asking whether or not Joe will be the one that shows 22 life’s beauty, you clearly have never seen a Pixar movie before.

The English-language film’s voice cast also includes Graham Norton as a sign twirler extraordinaire, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Donnell Rawlings, Questlove, and Daveed Diggs. Veteran actress Phylicia Rashad plays Joe’s mother (who disapproves of his dreams of playing jazz professionally). This is the first Pixar movie without a character voiced by John Ratzenberger.

22 and Joe will prematurely escape to Earth, but the plot is unnecessarily complicated by a body swap and a tired trope of modern animated features: a non-white character accidentally spending more than half the film in the body of an animal. The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) and The Princess and the Frog (2009) are among the highest-profile examples of the trope. Like Cuzco and Tiana in those past films, Joe is not white – and, automatically, is someone the likes of whom has very little history of starring in a mainstream American animated feature. To see him lose his bodily agency for almost the entirety of the film is frustrating. The screenwriting team (Docter, Mike Jones, and Kemp Powers) declines to explore Joe’s racial identity, instead favoring the hero’s journey (Pixar has never deviated from this template, but that has not prevented them from making great films) and the predictable pratfalls often present in Pixar’s movies. Soul’s body-swapping comedy not only brushes away any such exploration of racial identity, but relegates the film’s jazz (an African-American creation) as ornamentation, overcomplicates the narrative structure, and interferes with its messaging. None of these issues existed in Coco (2017) – an unabashedly Mexican glimpse into the culture surrounding Día de Los Muertos and Mexican regional folk music all while retaining its primary themes.

Soul shares the introspective spirit of Docter’s previous film, Inside Out (2015). The lack of external adversity in both films allow us to better understand the passions of the main character. Joe’s conflict stirs from within – his dreams and expectations against practicality and unexpected realities. More prevalent than in Inside Out, Soul’s moments without dialogue poignantly depict those contradictions and unmitigated thrills. In Joe’s case, his near-total dedication to jazz is celebrated – never excessively mocked by 22 or any other character. But his passion, the film says (and as revealed through 22’s temporary occupation of his body), cannot alone quench the fullest expression of his humanity. The film is at its best in two types of contradictory moments. The first type occurs while Joe is playing his piano; the other appears when the film stops for several seconds to admire a minor detail, overlooked by everyone passing by except 22, along New York’s streets. In the latter, the film is allowed to take a breath, allowing just the ambient noise to play in the sound mix – the rustling foliage in the wind, the light traffic of one-way streets, the whoosh of passing subway cars. It is the closest Pixar has ever come to refuting Alfred Hitchcock’s flawed, oft-quoted statement that the movies are, “like life with the dull bits cut out.” For it is in some of life’s mundanities that 22 sees life as worth living. It is life’s mundanities that lie at the heart of Soul’s most powerful moments.

With the assistance of a legion of cultural consultants, Soul is, in spurts, a casual, intentionally unremarkable foray into New York’s black community and a faithful depiction of jazz performance. Animation history has long caricatured black roles in various ways, so the Pixar animators took pains to faithfully render hairstyles and varying skin tones to highlight the diversity of appearance in African-American communities. Many reviews of Soul will justly extol the background art, but plaudits must also go to the character design of the numerous African-American supporting figures across the entire film. It endows the film with an authentic vitality that I cannot envision happening in a film released by a studio concentrating on CGI animated features. A short scene to a barbershop underlines this laudable attention.

As a pianist and violinist, one of my personal pet peeves while watching movies is when an actor is fake-playing an instrument – it can be comically, pathetically obvious. I am certainly not the only one, as I’m sure some orch dorks, band geeks, and other instrumentalists might attest. Animated movies are not spared our eyes and ears. Soul, however, represents a glorious break from expectation. In a film already boasting photorealistic backgrounds and uncanny lighting effects, Joe’s piano playing is some of the most “realistic” I have seen in an animated film. His posture and muscular movement made me forget, momentarily, I was watching an animated movie. Perfectly rendered, too, are his fingering patterns (for the sake of consistent character design, Joe has elongated fingers). This musical accuracy extends to all other musicians in the film, too. It is glorious to behold as a musician. Soul could easily have cracked jokes at the expense of Joe’s passion. That the film affirms his love for jazz, all while tempering his desires (through 22, his mother, and other factors), is a high-wire balancing act that triumphs.

Soul’s score is split in two: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails fame (2010’s The Social Network, 2020’s Mank) compose for the scenes in the Great Before and jazz pianist Jon Batiste composes for the scenes in New York. Anyone who has read in my past reviews about my thoughts about film music are probably guessing that I dislike Reznor and Ross’ compositions for film. They would be correct. So far in their nascent film scoring careers, Reznor and Ross’ ominous synths for David Fincher’s movies sound too much like background droning, minimalist aural wallpaper. Their scores – all texture and little else – have no life outside the contexts of the movies they appear in. In Soul, Reznor and Ross develop a soothing synth sound that is some of their most melodic film music yet. It sounds like Jerry Martin’s music for the less interesting moments from the early Sims and SimCity soundtracks. Still, the score – even in its best moments, such as the lustrous cue “Epiphany” – suits the portions of the film it appears in. Perhaps Reznor and Ross are finally making progress towards understanding how melodic structure can dramatically reshape a film’s drama.

Down on Earth, Soul plays the music of Jon Batiste, perhaps best known as the bandleader of his band Stay Human on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Not all of Stay Human’s members were selected to perform for the score, as Batiste chose a handful of musicians from outside his band. The jazz score is mostly original, but includes variations on four pre-existing songs: “Space Maker” (Walter Norris), “Cristo Redentor” (Duke Pearson), “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart” (Duke Ellington), and “Blue Rondo à la Turk" (Dave Brubeck). Batiste’s jazz influences are too many to name for a review not solely dedicated to the score, but suffice it to say that Batiste intended his part of the film score to serve as a soft introduction to viewers who might not be accustomed to jazz. In this half, Batiste captures the bustle of New York City with his signature floating piano solos. Backed by tremendous saxophone lines, percussion, and double bass, this is a decidedly acoustic affair in marked contrast to the music of Reznor and Ross. The musical contrast is profound, easing the viewer into Soul’s occasionally chaotic narrative structure. By film’s end, though, despite Batiste’s end titles cover of The Impressions’ “It’s All Right” (a wise selection in no small part due to its lyrics), I wanted more from the jazz half of the score and wished it was held greater prominence in the film. Am I unashamedly asking for someone to hire Jon Batiste and give him the freedom to compose an unconstrained jazz score? Of course!

In a year where straight-to-streaming movie releases have dominated the American film industry, Soul ranked third in viewership behind Thomas Kail’s live stage filming of Hamilton (2020) and Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). Has Pixar righted its inconsistent form apparent over the 2010s decade? Can they ever recover the alchemy that reeled off consecutive pop culture touchstones and wondrous films for fifteen years (1995’s Toy Story to 2010’s Toy Story 3, excluding Cars)? Soul might not be the fair winds needed to steer Pixar from its worst habits, and it is unfair to place such a burden on this film. That fifteen-year run might also never be matched again. For what Soul represents to Pixar’s rather monochromatic leadership and narrative groupthink, it is a fascinating step outside the familiar.

My rating: 8/10

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

#Soul #Pete Docter #Pixar #Jamie Foxx #Tina Fey #Graham Norton #Phylicia Rashad #Donnell Rawlings #Questlove #Angela Bassett #Trent Reznor #Atticus Ross #Jon Batiste #Mike Jones #Kemp Powers #My Movie Odyssey

4 notes · View notes