#and it was supposed to just be his more iconic quotes over very simple scenes

[deanncastiel]

All you have to do is be unafraid. For the first time in a long time, I am.

for Cas’ BeeDay celebration hosted by @thenightwemetnatural

#spnedit #casbeedayparty #cowboycoven #spncentral #spncreatorsdaily #creativecaviar #Castiel #castieledit #casedit #Supernatural #briededits #spn: gifs #100 #i need people to understand that this was neither the first nor the second idea that i had for this set #and it was supposed to just be his more iconic quotes over very simple scenes #and then i just..... couldn't help myself #anyway we're gonna pretend that this was published yesterday yes? yes.

[alexhoghdaily]

Alex’s Instagram Live interview with Tommy DiDario for #LetsStayTogether

Once again this got extremely long. Because as usual I cannot grasp the simple concept of ‘Highlights’. I basically wanted to write every single sentence down. Forgive me.

(note: this interview contains spoilers for the Vikings finale!)

The comments are turned off. This sets a relaxing mood for the interview.

Alex starts by asking if he’s getting through alright, Tommy is in New York and Alex is in Denmark. Which can make the time difference and connection difficult. He was confused about the actual time of the interview. His email said the show would be at 9pm, but the instagram countdown was set for 7pm. He’s not a technical person so he got a little nervous and was very happy to be live.

Tommy mentioned he started the show #LetsStayTogether during covid to give people a place where they can turn to for some joy, hope and inspiration. A place to just have fun. He said Alex brings all that and more so it was a pleasure to have him on the show.

He spoke about his character and the show Vikings, and asked him What made him want to play the part of Ivar on the Show. Alex answered the question with him being a ‘nobody’ when he came into the show, and he was very thankful to get the opportunity. He didn’t think about wether or not he liked the character, for him it was more like “I’m going to be an actor on Vikings? Are you kidding me? That’s a solid yes.” He didn’t even know what character he was going to play. It started with a regular self-tape of him doing weird accents and weird lines and then multiple auditions for all of the brothers. He said it was an intense audition. He remembered coming into the room and immediately noticing that the people present there were very important.

Tommy mentioned the darkness he brought to the show, the rise and fall of Ivar and how people were rooting for him in the end, and then asked Alex what he loved about playing such a great character like this. Alex answered with the ups and down’s, those are always fun for an actor to get into. Ivar is complicated and that’s always fun to take on as an actor. you always have to defend him [Ivar] even despite him making that very tough. “When he started burning people for a living I was like Michael Hirst are you kidding me. How am I supposed to make people still kind of love him?” It was challenging and fun.

Tommy asked Alex if he was protective of him [Ivar] because he felt like he had to figure out a way to make people like him. Alex answered with: Absolutely. He needs to be, because he always has to understand him and never judge him. And if he would struggle with that, the audience would absolutely 100% too. He has to be the last line of defense. He explained his thoughts and reasoning behind Ivar’s decisions. If he can reason with his thoughts and feelings behind it, it can completely change how he says his lines. It’s all in the little details and that’s what makes the job fun.

He didn’t get his script long ahead of time, only a week, so when he was still rehearsing his lines for one episode he already got his lines for the next and that was really though.

Tommy asked him why he [Alex] thinks is the reason fansresponded so well to his character even with his darknes. Alex answered this wit that he thinks it’s because he’s an antihero. You like rooting for someone who isn’t always perfect because we as human beings are also not always perfect. (He compared it to him liking batman over superman because batman is more flawed than superman.) He also said that he loves that he’s [Ivar] complicated. Every time you create a character that has a lot of depth to them, you challenge the audience and force the audience to always question him and ask themselves what they think about him and his actions. Why is he doing what he’s doing? That keeps people invested and engaged with the story/character. That’s his job.

Favorite scenes: Alex’s favorite scenes are 5x03 where Ivar is yelling, covered in blood in York. (He repeated his iconic Icelandic line as usual.) Another favorite scene was the one where Ivar said goodbye to Baldur in the woods. It is a scene that is really close to his heart. This is because Ivar was honest and vulnerable. Usually he’s doing crazy stuff and yelling and killing people. Alex likes the quiet moments more where he’s just in his own head and having a heart time. He loved the scene because it was so real.

Tommy asked Alex how he views Ivar’s relationship with love. (Absent father, overprotective and smothering mother, a tragic marriage, how does Ivar view love after this.) Alex said that he understands why Ivar does not understand love. After his absent father, smothering mother, tough love from his brothers, he was so blinded by Freydis’ love and his love for her that she could fully manipulate him. It was a complete disaster. When they started season 6 Alex thought that Ivar had completely given up on love. He had discussed this issue with Michael Hirst and the directors. Alex found him to be a sociopath and not an actual psychopath. Because he understands emotions, and he has a lot of them. He does have love and he does have empathy. He thought it was great to focus more on that in season 6. Showing more of Ivar’s human side was very important to him. He has many emotions and he was never just a crazy guy, Alex never thought he was crazy, nor that he was a god, he believed that Ivar knew better than to actually view himself a god. He thinks Ivar is an actor, and he is more broken on the inside than on the outside. The whole “I’m a god” act was all fake, and it was Ivar’s defense mechanism.

For his journey in season 6, Alex asked Michael Hirst to take it down a notch for Ivar. in season 5, especially 5B, he was challenging to like and Alex was struggling to defend him. He wanted to turn that around. He said that after losing his wife, his throne, and being on the run really makes him think. He says Ivar was smart enough to learn from his mistakes. He loved to come to a new place and start from the beginning. He did say that even with the new beginning Ivar was still plotting and manipulating and smart. He is still Ivar the Boneless. Alex was always amazed by his smarts when he read the scripts. He loves season 6 because Ivar was more human and humble.

They discuss Ivar’s death in the final episode. Alex said that he was on top of that. It was completely his idea. He wanted him to go out with a bang and not survive. He told Michael Hirst he wanted a death scene for Ivar. He also discussed with Michael that he loved the idea of Ivar being scared in the end. That he showed himself to be extemely human in his very last moments. Which Alex himself thinks all of us would be. Ivar is the guy who has been yelling that he’s a god, and he loved to contrast of him showing who he really was in the end, and just being afraid. He wanted him to be human in the end, the little boy that he really is. He needed him to show it in his last moment. He thought it was a beautiful brotherly and honest moment. Quote: “I like honesty.” He said that it was also one of his favorite scenes.

Tommy asked what it was like for him, and Alex said that he was bawling his eyes out. He cried the entire day. It was the end of 3,5 years of Vikings, the end of a very intense period of his life and it had been extremely challenging. He was happy to go but he also knew he was going to miss everyone. They were like family. It was the very last scene he shot, and it was magical to finish filming the show with his death scene. After it he was like I guess it is really over. He got a microphone and a signed shield with little messages. He was crying and everyone was gathering around him in a circle, which made him very nervous. It was a regular day with many extras and crew members and performing for them is no problem but when it get’s personal it’s more difficult. It felt like a very private moment. It wasn’t until he got home 14 days later that he fully understood what happened.

Tommy said that he understood that after such an intense role it would take a bit to come back from that and realize what he’s done. Alex agreed 100%. He said it can really feel like an empty dark hole, because you’re so used to working with so many people around him and he’s in a groove and all of a sudden it stops.

He mentioned that he was in his studio, and that he has a band. “That’s what’s happening in the background here.” It’s a fun hobby, nothing official. It’s just them doing decent cover songs. When Tommy asked if we would be able to hear any of them Alex answered with: “Absolutely not”. He joked about it being a secret passion and that it’s not supposed to be talked about. Tommy said no one would be opposed to them releasing a single.

After tommy asked about on set relationships Alex said they were all really close like a family. Filming was tough, not the best circumstances, 15 hour workdays, no breaks, eating the same cold food in between takes and the only way to get through it is because you’re with family. He said he worked with incredibly beautiful and talented people and that helped getting through it. He says he keeps in touch with a lot of people, not just cast members. He said that this is the beautiful thing about this job, you get families all around the world. He mentioned that there were a lot of food battles between the actors.

They moved on to the most popular fan questions.

Who would Alex play if he wasn’t Ivar? In return Alex asked if he could pick anyone and it wouldn’t matter. He jokingly said Lagertha, then said he would actually like it. Then he said Floki because he loves both Floki and Gustaf. (insert little floki laugh.) He also said Ragnar and King Ecbert.

What was the experience like filming Ivar’s genetic disorder? Alex said it was such a challenge. Especially physically because had to crawl around. He thought it was very important to him because he studied OI for his role and he said it’s an awful disease. It was important to him to make it as authentic as possible and show the struggles people who have that disease go through every day. Tommy said that people really appreciated the honesty that Alex brought to that portion of the character and he saw a lot of comments from people in the disabled community saying that they appreciated seeing someone go through that on a mainstream show because they can relate to it. It’s very powerful. Alex had also received some messages from people suffering from OI and it was very inspirational and humbling. It made the experience even better because he likes that he can give people the extra confidence to go out there and do things.

The third question was if Alex would ever be interested in doing a prequel about Ivar’s life. Alex said that he would want to. He jokingly said: “Why not? if the money is good enough.” Of course he would because he loves his character. He also said that even though he would love to, he also has to admit that his character has been a big part of his life and he would like to do portray other characters. (They joked about a lot of people wanting to see Alex in a romantic comedy and Alex mentioned it’s not his favorite thing to do).

Is there a behind the scenes secret that people would be surprised to know about? Alex said that on Vikings they were allowed to write their own lines once in a while and that’s not very common.

Alex’s screen froze and he suddenly left the livestream, but he finally was able to come back after a few minutes. (Insert embarrassed face and him apologizing for being a technical disaster).

He continued about writing their own lines. They really had a say in their own lines and character’s storylines and that was amazing. It helped getting a better sense of understanding characters.

Tommy asked him if he had a favorite line or scene that he’s written. Alex told about the scene where Hvitserk and Ivar meet each other again in season 6 after being separated for a long time. Marco and himself wrote the tiny scene together where they sit together next to the river where Ivar says to Hvitserk: “You look like shit” and Hvitserk replies with “I feel like it.” Followed by “What are you wearing?” Alex loves that little moment because after everything it brings them straight back to their original relationship.

The last fan question was actually not a question, it was a happy early birthday! Tommy asked Alex how he would celebrate and what he would like for his birthday. Alex answered the question with Less COVID and peace in the world. It’s really the time to stick together. He can talk about it and use his platform but that’s all he himself can do. He said he’s happy and priveleged, everything is good. Copenhagen is opening up. Because cafe’s are opening up again he can go out to have lunch and a beer. But there are so much places around the world where circumstances are horrible and it would make him happy if everyone could get a little closer together. Tommy agreed that it was an important message to put out there.

They joked about his band again, Alex not committing to putting anything out. Alex said it’s absolutely noted. He also jokingly said he would tell his bandmates that they should put out some originals.

They spoke about Alex’s photography. Alex said it’s a side thing and a hobby, a way for him (when on set) to relax and focus his mind on something else. He also thinks it’s so much fun to capture moments. He likes to capture moments in front and behind the camera, that’s what photography for him is about. Capturing moments and telling stories. It’s a pleasure to bring his camera on set because he can capture so many different things. He likes to keep doing it. He also said he’s working on a photography book but he wants to wait with releasing it until he has enough good material from a lot of different projects to include.

Finally Tommy asked him what he would like to say to everyone who tuned in and who stood by him for all these years. Alex answered with: “Thank you very much for all the support throughout the years, he literally couldn’t have done it without you [the fans] because that’s why they keep doing another season and another episode. Because you tune in every single week and do that for several years. It’s all for the fans. Sure they do it for themselves but in the end it’s all for you and they are proudly trying to make it as good as possible because of you, and because you are watching. Thank you for doing that.”

#interviews #instagram #live #alex høgh andersen

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: The Pillar Men

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

“Awaken my masters!”

Sometimes it’s really hard to divide a villain team into singular entries to cover on Psycho Analysis; the characters are just too intrinsically linked to take apart and do individually. So, the easy answer to this problem is to just do the whole group together! And considering these guys come right out and make their big debut by striking a pose together, how can I not group them together?

The Pillar Men are the major antagonists of the second (and objectively one of the best) parts of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The trio consists of sinister and mysterious leader Kars, crafty and determined second-in-command Esidisi, and loyal and noble warrior Wamuu, and they pose one of the greatest threats in all of the JoJo canon on account of being enormous, ridiculously buff ancient Aztec vampires with insanely bizarre powers.

Oh, and Kars is the one who made the mask that turned Dio, thereby making Kars a greater scope villain for the entire franchise, so there’s that too.

Of course, while they’re all a serious threat, they aren’t really totally equal in terms of quality. Just watching the show it’s easy to tell who the more interesting Pillar Men are, though I will say all of them are good villains.

Actor: Kars is portrayed by John DeMita, who has had a long history voice acting smaller roles; Esidisi is portrayed by Chris Jai Alex, whose biggest role to date aside from this is Panthro in ThunderCats Roar; Wamuu is voiced by Paul St. Peter, who is probably the most famous of the three as he is the voice behind Xemnas of Kingdom Hearts fame, Kurama in Naruto media since 2014, and perhaps most surprisingly (and amazingly) of all, Wormmon in Digimon Adventure 02. All three do excellent jobs, with their voices really helping sell the character of the Pillar Man they’re voicing, and generally speaking they seem to be considered some of the best-voiced characters in the dub.

Motivation/Goals: The Pillar Men share one simple goal: they desire to obtain the stone mask and the Red Stone of Aja and combine them so that they may become the ultimate lifeforms, thus becoming invincible. This seems like a really good plan… but, frankly, it also seems like overkill considering these guys are basically godly powerful right off the bat, their only major weakness being sunlight. I suppose wanting to find and eradicate your only weakness is a smart goal, and the fact you become a literal god on top of that is icing on the cake.

Personality: Wamuu and Esidisi both really shine in the personality department, while Kars, unfortunately, hangs behind the two. Wamuu especially is a very interesting character, being the most honorable and noble of the Pillar Men; from his allowing Caesar’s blood bubble headband to continue to exist to his constant playing fair in his fights, Wamuu easily cements himself as one of the most affable antagonists in the franchise, to the point where he and Joseph basically become friends as he dies. His code of honor, fierce loyalty, and sheer badassery makes him a lot of fun to watch.

Esidisi is not quite as nice or honorable as Wamuu; considering he posessed the body of an innocent girl just so he could try one final suicide attack after his initial defeat shows he’s not afraid to be a bit underhanded, as does his crying psych out trick. And yet, that being said, Esidisi is still a pretty honorable villain in his own right, and much like Wamuu he does view Joseph as a very worthy adversary. The lengths he goes to aid his fellow Pillar Men indicates he does have a fondness for them, one that is seemingly reciprocated, and this sort of villainous friendship is always nice to see. While definitely more pragmatic and tricky than Whamuu, there’s no denying Esidisi was a worthy foe.

Kars… is odd. As the leader and the final foe to be faced in the story, he spends much of the series mysterious, his nature and motives shrouded in mystery. However, unlike DIO or Yoshikage Kira, we never really do get much of a sense of who Kars is in comparison to his fellow Pillar Men until the very end of this part. What we do get ultimately ends up being contradicted as well; his love of the natural world, for instance, shown best when he kills drunk drivers to save a dog and overcomplicates a landing to avoid crushing flowers, is tossed out the window when he becomes the Ultimate Life Form and allows his squirrel hand to kill another squirrel. He also puts up an act of being honorable and noble like his subordinates, but it’s all seemingly for show, as he goes back on his word when it suits him and he plays dirty and sadistically. Even his love for his fellow Pillar Men is a bit iffy; while it’s pretty obvious that he did care for Wamuu and Esidisi, and he told Joseph he would avenge them after their deaths, he does at one point pretty callously dismiss Santana, a Pillar Man he himself had raised. Kars’ personality just seems to flip flop back and forth when it suits him, and putting that aside he’s just a bit too mysterious and vague for his own good.

However, if nothing else, Kars shares one trait with his fellow Pillar Men: he is undeniably over-the-top and hammy to an absurd degree when the scene calls for it, and that honestly does redeem him at least a bit. And what little we do get about his origins and the source of his motivations is pretty interesting and makes a lot of sense. It just comes a bit too late for his own good.

Final Fate: All three Pillar Men meet their end in this part. Esidisi diees first; after being reduced to little more than a brain and some blood vessels, he is vaporized by sunlight after trying to steal Suzie Q.’s body. Wamuu is defeated in one-on-one combat between himself and Joseph, with his dying moments cementing how honorable he is and showcasing the culmination of his relationship with Joseph. Kars has the most sever and disturbing fate of all three; after becoming the Ultimate Lifeform and being blasted into space by sheer accident, his adaptive abilities kick in and put him into a state of hibernation to save him from the cold, airless vacuum of space. Unable to move and trapped entirely as he drifts further and further away, Kars eventually ceases thinking to cope with this horrible situation.

Best Scene: As a group, there is no better scene with all three than their introduction, in which upon waking up for the first time in thousands of years, all three of them strike a dramatic pose together. It is one of the most JoJo moments you will ever witness.

Individually, Wamuu has his final battle and ultimate death against Joseph, which cements his status as the very best Pillar Man with his noble and badass qualities on full display. 

Esidisi has the scene where he breaks out crying to psych Joseph out, a weird and iconic trait of the character that was even adapted as a taunt in All-Star Battle. 

And Kars has the moment where he decides to strum the opening notes of “Roandabout” on Lisa Lisa’s legs solely to piss off Joseph.

Best Quote: Wamuu’s best quote is the one used to introduce this Psycho Analysis, and the one used to introduce the Pillar Men as a whole: “Awaken, my masters!”

Esidisi gets this when he turns Joseph’s signature trick on him: “Next you'll say, ‘I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face!’ Watch.” This is only improved when Joseph responds with exactly that and then calls him out on stealing his tricks.

Kars gets this after the Pillar Men give their wedding rings to Joseph: “Let us keep moving. Apparently the human race has regressed rather than evolved.”

Final Thoughts & Score: The Pillar Men are really fun antagonists. They bring a level of seriousness and drama to the story that plays well off of Joseph’s goofy and eccentric personality, while not being entirely above goofiness themselves; I mean, Esidisi’s sobbing trick and Kars turning his hand into a squirrel are both things that happened, after all. And on top of all of that, they take the overly buff and macho aesthetic of early JoJo to its ludicrous, logical extreme with their awesomely god-like builds. They’re not called “The Aztec Gods of Fitness” by fans for nothing.

As I mentioned though, some of the Pillar Men are just more interesting than others. Unsurprisingly, Wamuu is a 10/10; with his excellent voice acting, his defined and noble personality, and his strange yet compelling relationship with Joseph make him one of the most notable antagonists in the entire franchise, and he’s not even the big bad!

Esidisi scores an 8/10. He’s not quite as impressive as Wamuu is, but he’s still pretty awesome in his own right. His incredible determination and love for his comrades to the point where he just refused to die for a bit solely to make their lives a little easier is honestly a bit inspiring and a great show of his true character. The fact he fights with his own blood veins is also ridiculously cool and disgusting all at once. Kars… I am giving a 6/10. He has a reputation of being one of the more base-breaking villains of the franchise, though definitely not to the extent of Diavolo, and it is a bit easy to see why. Kars is a bit too mysterious for his own good, and what little we do see of him seems to get dropped whenever it suits his mood. All that aside, there really is no denying that what we do learn about him is relatively interesting, and when he finally cuts loose towards the end and starts hamming it up, he honestly does live up to the precedent set by his cohorts. Still, I can’t pretend like he’s not overshadowed a lot by Esidisi and Wamuu; they’re just a lot more fun as antagonists. At the very least Kars is a lot of fun to play as in All-Star Battle, though his GHA really is a pain to pull off.

No matter the individual quality level though, as the collective big bads of this part of the Joestar Saga the Pillar Men are all some of the most interesting and unique foes in the series. I think what’s most impressive is that the series somehow managed to top these guys with nearly every villain after this. You heard right, this series gave giant ancient Aztec vampires with incredibly strange body powers and with one of them literally becoming the ultimate lifeform in the second part of eight and counting, and yet somehow they still managed to keep escalating the villains from here to ludicrous extremes, with a bisexual psychopathic egomaniac vampire who can stop time, a hand-fetishizing serial killer who can turn things into bombs and rewind time, a paranoid mafia don with multiple personalities  and the ability to erase short chunks of time, a gay priest who has a thing for prime numbers and wants to reset the universe for his vampire boyfriend, and a dimension-hopping United States president who wants to collect the pieces of Jesus Christ’s corpse to attain ultimate power all following as big bads.

It really is that sort of series. And when the series is like that, it’s better to start embracing how crazy and over-the-top you are early on, and what better way to do that than with Aztec super vampires? The Pillar Men are a great way to ease people in to the insanity that would follow, being a perfect mix of down-to-earth understandable weirdness and out-there bonkers wackiness. Much like Forever after, they marked a point where the series really started shaping up into the one we all know and love by truly creating and embracing its identity. For that, they definitely deserve a lot of respect.

UPDATE: The only real change here is that Wammu gets bumped down to a 9/10. This is mainly because, as amazing as Wammu is, he’s still not quite on the level as villains like DIO or Kira in terms of iconicness. I wish he was, but sadly we do not live in that world.

#Psycho Analysis #The Pillar Men #Kars #Wamuu #Esidisi #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

[laniakeabooks]

Free to Fall by Lauren Miller, A Rant Review by Laniakea

Hello. How are you?

It’s been a long ass time. Why? My dumbass decided to take summer courses. You know those super condensed ones? The ones that make you want to rip your eyeballs out? Yeah... I took three at once. What was I thinking, right? I couldn’t tell you. I regret it. 

BUT. I still managed to read. And in July I read this gem of a book dubbed Free to Fall, written by Lauren Miller. And oooooooooh boy do I have shit to say about this... shit. So, brace yourselves, because this is a long and angry one.  

So, this is how this review is going to go:

       The major issues I had with this book and its narrative (when I say major issues, I mean MAJOR ISSUES… like, dare I say, problematic aspects of this book).

       Because it’s me, the deplorable excuse for science/neuroscience that Lauren Miller apparently didn’t find the need to take five minutes to google-check the concepts she was using.

       The little things that just kind of twisted the knife of annoyance

You may be saying: “Wait a second, she isn’t going to be talking about anything that the book did right.” And to that I say: “The things that the book did right? Nothing, IN MY OPINION. The thing that Lauren Miller did right, though, was write in a style that jives with my personal tastes. She didn’t beat around the bush to say something, she just said it outright. WHICH I LIKE, because, I don’t have time or the patience to suss out all of those little details and symbolisms just to get to the point that (for example) it’s a beautiful day.” There. Positive point. Hey, I didn’t rate it one star because it had a lot of positives.

So, let’s get started, shall we? (Shout-out to Corrine and Rob because damn, they’ve had a tough year.)

Issue #1: This is the biggest issue I had with this book. It has nothing to do with the plot or the characters or anything like that, but it’s what bothers me the most. What is it, you may ask? Well, it’s the simple fact that everyone in this book (and I have to assume Lauren Miller too) refers to the mentally ill as “crazy”. If you don’t understand my issue with this, let me explain. Calling someone who is mentally ill “crazy” is equivalent to calling a black person a “nigger” or calling a gay person a “faggot”. The word crazy is used as a slur to put someone beneath you, to make them less believable or trustworthy… to dehumanize them. It’s derogatory and offensive. It’s time that we stop using that word when talking about mental illness. It’s 2019 (2014 in the book’s case). Unacceptable.

So, when do we see the mentally ill referred to as crazy in Free to Fall? Throughout the entire book pretty much. It’s just said over and over and over again. But the worst instance? Here it is as a direct quote from page 127 (Oh, and mind you, the character saying this is a psychologist teaching a cognitive psychology class. Let that sink in.):

“You’ve all been given limited access to the Department of Public Health’s medical records database,” Rudd said as he returned to the front of the room.

(*record scratch* Wait a second, high school students having access to medical files? Absolutely not. Would never happen. You usually can’t even get your hands on medical records unless you’re the patient’s doctor. So that’s a technical issue with this book… one of many. Again, five minutes on Google, Lauren. Okay, back to the whole “crazy” thing.)

“Your login has been coded to the research topic you selected, allowing you to review the med records for patients who suffered from the mental illness you’re studying.” He picked up his tablet off his desk and tapped the DPH icon. The app launched on the screen at the front of the room. “Now, I know what some of you are thinking,” he deadpanned as he logged himself in. “You’re hoping this means you’ll be able to prove once and for all that your frenemy in a certified nut job. But, alas, your access is limited to dead crazies, and this particular database is anonymous anyway, which means the only identifying information you’ll have are gender, ethnic origin, and birth and death dates.”

That’s right. Lauren Miller had this character say, “dead crazies”. Dead. Crazies. The note I wrote in the margin right beside this passage? Word for word: FUCK YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT. Not sure if I’m directing this at Lauren Miller, Rudd or both, but I stand by it. In reality though, I don’t think there are any words to describe how disgusted and offended (and it’s VERY hard to offend me) I am by those two words. At this point, page 137 out of page 469, I decided this book would get a 1 star and a damning review.

“Oh, you’re being so petty.” Yeah bitch, I sure fucking am.

“It’s just a word.” No bitch, it fucking ain’t.

“You shouldn’t read books that say things like that.” Well bitch, I didn’t know books written in 2014 would use derogatory words like crazy. And I’d rather it be me who reads it and warns people about it than have someone who is vulnerable read it and take it seriously.

I am a huge advocate for mental illness and destigmatizing it. It’s time we stop using this disgusting derogatory word when talking about mental illness. And a good place to start is right here in the media.

Issue #2: Rory and North are preparing to roofie someone. That’s right. Roofie. As in drug them against their will. Assault them. Violate them. And to make it worse, they’re planning to administer it intravenously, because the whole assault thing wasn’t despicable enough. BUT DON’T WORRY YOU GUYS! North says he’ll get some legal drugs from a pharmacist because that makes it okay.

He objects for 0.5 seconds… but it doesn’t last. Here’s how the conversation goes:

“The only question is, how do we take Liam out of commission for a couple of hours?” North asked.

“We roofie him” I say without hesitation. “It’ll incapacitate him without killing him, and it’ll screw with his memories.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll just grab the bottle of date-rape pills I have in my medicine cabinet.”

“Not pills,” I corrected. “Has to be injectable. There’s no way we can guarantee that he’ll drink whatever we put it in.”

North gave me an incredulous look. “You’re actually serious?”

“What? It’s what the society uses. And it’ll do exactly what we need it to do.

North tugged at this Mohawk. “I know we don’t have time to get into this right now, but, holy crap, Rory, this shit is seriously messed up.”

“You’re right. Not the time. We have to go buy roofies.”

“Where, at Walgreens? I’m sure we’ll find them right next to the Advil.”

I crossed my arms, irritated by the sarcasm. “You’re a guy with a Mohawk and tattoos. Don’t you know people?”

“People with Rohypnol?”

“So, you don’t know anyone who can get it?”

He started to shake his head but seemed to think of something. “One of my clients is a pharmacist in Greenfield. I could probably get a prescription sleeping serum from him. Something potent but legal. I can message him from my apartment.”

North said it, this is so messed up… but is surpasses the “messed up” title and deserves the “fucked up” title. By the way, they never talk about it again. Getting “legal” drugs does not make the act of drugging someone okay. Ever. And on top of that Rory wants someone that will mess with Liam’s memories? I guess assaulting him and revoking his control over his own body wasn’t evil enough for Rory, she had to fuck with the essence of who he is.    

Moving on to the… “science”. Listen, I get it, this is fiction. It doesn’t have to be 100% in line with reality. But do you know what isn’t fiction? Neuroscience. Science that has already been researched and accepted. Why does this matter so much to me? I hate misinformation. It leads to fear and people doing stupid shit. Also, I am an aspiring neuroscientist myself and would like for people to understand how the brain works on a physiological (and psychological) level. That way there will be less of that “vaccines cause autism” and “sunscreen causes ADHD” crap, because they don’t, by the way.

Lauren Miller latches onto the term “synaptic pruning”. This is a real thing. During your first few months of life, unused/rarely used neurons will die (don’t worry, this is perfectly normal and an essential step in neurodevelopment). How does Lauren Miller incorporate this into her story?

“Now we knew that the inner voice was nothing more than a glitch in the brain’s circuitry, something to do with ‘synaptic pruning’ and the development of the frontal lobe.” (p.13)

My response went something like this: NoOOoooOOOOoOo! It’s only page 13 and I’m being subjected to poorly researched scienceeeeeeEEEeEEEeeee.

It would have taken five minutes on Google to look up: Which areas of the brain have to do with hearing voices? Answer: temporal and frontal lobes. Done. Next: why do people hear voices? Answer: potentially neuronal death in said brain regions (not synaptic pruning, very different concepts). Why? We don’t know yet. Anyway, the voice they are talking about here is “The Doubt” which is basically intuition so that would most likely relate to the hippocampus (and other memory-storing regions) and the prefrontal cortex. But then again, “The Doubt” is supposed to be altruism… but it’s written as intuition, so I’m just confused.

Next in bad (neuro)science, Lauren Miller claims that enzymes for memories (this relates back to the whole roofie scene where Rory wants to mess with Liam’s memories too). Basically, neurotransmitters are responsible for memories, namely glutamate and dopamine. I’ll be talking about glutamate here because dopamine forms the “do that again because it made us feel good” kind of memory, and glutamate forms the kind of memory Lauren Miller is referring to. You need to glutamate for LTP (basically a memory) which, in short, is strengthening the connection between two neurons. If you’ve ever heard the term “Neurons that fire together wire together.”, that’s exactly what I’m talking about here. So, no, enzymes do not form memories. (P.S. LTP is really interesting... if you’re interested in brains, so check it out!)

Onto “SynOx” (synthetic oxytocin) which is really, from what I understand, simulates oxytocin but activating oxytocin receptors on neurons (Lauren Miller doesn’t go into this much detail on how SynOx works, but I’m just trying to understand by talking through it so bear with me). First of all, Lauren Miller describes oxytocin as the “love drug” which isn’t exactly true… it’s more of a bonding “drug”. Love is a little but more complicated than oxytocin release. Not that big of a deal, but I thought I’d point it out.

Unfortunately, SynOx has a major role in the plot… and it doesn’t… work. Basically, the big bad corporation is relying on SynOx to make consumers trust their products unconditionally by injecting people with SynOx nanobots under the guise of a flu shot. That way the nanobots can get into their brains and they can be forced to trust everything Lux suggests. Essential mass mind control. Theoretically that could actually work… BUT the nanobots would never be able to cross the blood-brain barrier to actually get into the brain, and therefor wouldn’t be there to allow Gnosis to control people. Did that make sense? Basically, SynOx is the soldier, the brain is enemy headquarters. But enemy headquarters is so highly reinforced that the soldier can’t get in to do its job, so it’s left out in the cold with no power. Maybe I just confused you, but what I’m saying is that this SynOx would never work as a mind control device unless it is injected directly into the brain (or even spinal cord)… through the skull and everything. That being said, the evil plot would have failed form the get-go.

And yes, I do hate being this rational sometimes because suspension of disbelief is very difficult and makes it very hard for me to enjoy some works of fiction.      

Now the little things.

In the synopsis: “Rory Vaugh: a brainy sixteen-year-old…”. She’s also a “hepta” which means she shows aptitude in all seven liberal arts at Theden and makes her the smartest kid at school. Well, she sure doesn’t act it.

She can’t tell the difference between Arabic and Hebrew writing. I mean… are you serious? Have you seen them? They look nothing alike.

Doesn’t see the value of experiments in ethics such as the Trolley Problem. I mean, one of the liberal arts is philosophy and she’s supposed to be naturally gifted at it… but I guess not.

Proudly states she took human anatomy in grade nine (and considers herself an expert from that one class in middle school)… but doesn’t know how ABO relates to blood. I guess she forgot the mention she failed the class.

Also seems to consider herself an expert in genetics but never thinks to ask herself as to why she and her father share zero genetic traits.

She can’t figure out a simple riddle (You know that one about the letter e? Yeah that one)

It takes her forever to figure out who her biological father is (should be glaringly obvious from a certain physical description and all the other evidence Rory gathers)

Doesn’t know what a USB is or what it does (Oh, I’ll get to that in a minute)

There’s so much more… but the review would have to be a whole book if I were to list them all. Basically, if you’re going to call your character a genius, MAKE SURE THEY ACT LIKE ONE.

It seems that Lauren Miller forgot Rory’s blood type (little detail, I know), but instead of going back to look at what she wrote, she just gives her a new blood type. Rory goes from being A+ at p .226 to being AB+ at p. 237/238. That’s just lazy.

When Rory finds out the man that raised her and loved her doesn’t share her genetics, all of a sudden, he’s no longer her dad. Imagine being a vulnerable teenager who is being raised and loved by someone who may not be biologically related to you and reading that a character you may look up to goes through the same thing and says that that makes that parent’s love irrelevant. They aren’t related to you, so they’re not your dad/mum. How sad. 

Now, the USB thing. This book is set in the mid-2030s and they don’t use USBs anymore. Basically, they’re obsolete technology. And that’s fine! There will come a day when this is a reality. Here’s the thing, though: Rory the “genius” doesn’t know what it is or what it does. You expect me to believe that? When I see a floppy disk (which I have never used), I know what it is and how it works. Even a telegraph! I’ve only ever seen pictures of telegraphs, but I know what they are and what they do.

Page 229. North says (in response to Rory talking about research and science):

“Whose research are we talking about here?” He scoffed. “’Science’ with a capital S? The same geniuses who said the Earth was the center of the universe?”

Um… the church actually said that. And then they murdered anyone who dared to say otherwise. Wrong “geniuses”, genius. (Also, scientists rethink their beliefs all the time, and are more than willing to accept discoveries that overwrite their previous beliefs as long as there is evidence. Just saying.)

Rory goes from relying solely on Lux to make her decision to criticizing everyone who does the exact same thing within a few pages. Hypocrisy, not my favourite.

Hershey is described as a naturally beautiful woman who wears makeup to highlight that beauty… but the tone of the narration suggests that that’s a bad thing? Gross.

When they are preparing for the final boss fight, Rory wants North to write an algorithm that will reverse Lux’s algorithm. North says that it would take weeks for a professional programmer to write an algorithm like that… than proceeds to do it overnight. And manages to get some roofies to assault Liam.

North gifts Rory with a necklace that contains a tracking device and a camera… and she thinks that’s romantic and sweet because hE cArEs. I… have no words for how creepy (and honestly bordering on abusive) that is.

So, in conclusion, I feel that Lauren Miller wrote an offensive mess that didn’t know what the hell it was talking about, topped with despicable (and flat) characters that think drugging someone against their will is okay as long as the drug you use is legal.

The end! 😊

Oh yeah, 1 out of 5 stars!

#free to fall #lauren miller #book review #rant review #books #young adult books #goodreads #bookstragram #booklr #read #tbr #to be read #dystopia #sci fi #science fiction

[peekychu]

The history of my fursonas! 🐱

I’m in an especially infodump-y mood at the moment and I watched a video about fursonas that inspired me (Shoutout to Pocari Roo’s channel!) so here we go ^o^ 

Click under the cut to read the whole enchilada! (It’s a long post, make sure you have the appetite for it first xD)

I first learned about the furry fandom in about 2013-14 from some friends at school! Granted, the two teenage boys I talked to a lot were more obsessed with the... sexual side of that xD I won’t go into that though because that would involve me talking about more uncomfortable stuff >.> I also had another friend that was such a huge influence to me and they’re a big reason that I still draw fuzzy animals to this day! Their fursona at the time was named Icy and I thought that character was the freakin’ coolest. I remember going home after talking to them, filled with inspiration and making my very first fursona!

Her original name was Rogue Feather, but the name Scarlett came later and ultimately stuck way better! Her design was simple, a red fox with a purple bandana! Not much thought was put into her, I just put together what I thought a typical fursona would look like :P I didn’t draw her much since I was way more focused on MLP and my ponysona Starfruit, but I still enjoyed doodling her!

Shortly after Scarlett, I created Citrus the cat! To be honest, she didn’t really represent me other than being a cat xD Her design was actually based off of a girl that I had a crush on at that time, but that’s a whole other story >.>

Also, it was coincidental that Twinkie has elements from both of these beginning characters, I just noticed that making this post! I learned that I loved cats from creating citrus, and I loved drawing Scarlett’s wings and bandanas so I suppose it was natural that my current fursona would have all of these traits :P

Well, months pass after posting the first drawings of Citrus and Scarlett on my Instagram, and at this point I decided to try taking up digital art! I downloaded FireAlpaca for free (still my program of choice x3) and worked really hard at drawing with only my mouse!

My friend that inspired me to draw more furry characters had changed their fursona over from a bright sparkledog-ish color scheme to another character with muted browns and oranges. Inspired once again, I designed another cat character to represent myself!

Meet Macchiato (or Mac for short)! They were made when I switched my focus from My Little Pony to furry characters, and I moved from Instagram to DeviantArt as my main art site. 

When I made Mac, I was close to beginning high school and I questioned a lot about my identity, mainly my gender and sexuality :P For a period of time, I pushed aside my adoration for ponies, Pokemon and colorful things in favor of things I thought were “cooler” and more boyish. A large part of this was my complicated relationship with my gender identity, but also because I thought I had to act more mature... so I expressed this by drawing myself as a cat? It was complicated xD

Anyways, while I have a soft spot for Mac, they’re sort of my own Rex Dangervest if that makes sense :P I mean, they were my first expression of feeling neutral to gender which was a big deal for me, but when I look at their drab colors it sort of makes me sad that I didn’t have much fun designing them. (I did have a blast drawing that pixel reference though, I remember that xD)

I also created a few more furry characters just for the fun of it! I won’t post pictures of all of them for the sake of length, but they were Chamomile the fennec fox, Minx the cat, Caira the alien dog, Pfeffer the bunny, Flicker the bat (who I should draw again sometime >.>) Mitzi the dog and... Whatever animal Skyler was supposed to be xD I made all these characters before I attempted to make a fursona that I felt more connected with...

Along came Clash the cat, an even more depressing character than Mac for me to look at xD I was considerably depressed at this point from the pressure of high school and my identity issues, the droopy eyelids and chaotic color scheme of him sort of reflect this. 

It’s a good thing you can’t read his description in that screenshot, Believe me, but I think I should quote a part of it because it greatly represents how I felt about myself during the time period when I made him.

“If you were to dissect his brain, you’d see something much like somebody’s tangled collection of thread and yarn. Colorful, unkept, and full of pushed aside potential.”

Ouch!!

Well, after a period of depressing fursonas I played that one cat icon creator game that circulated on Tumblr for a while, and I made my favorite old fursona! I think that he had a lot in common with Twinkie and I used them more than everyone else beforepaw.

Here’s Cetrada, my little Nickelodeon slime cat xD I named them after the Italian citron-flavored soda that my friend Francesca (Love ya buddy!) sent to me in the mail! That soda is actually spelled Cedrata, the misspelling of the name was not a creative choice but an actual dumb mistake xP 

I genuinely still love this character, I nicknamed them Limey since it’s simple and cutesy like them, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever use them again. Think of them as teenage Twinkie I guess xD I love ya Cetrada, you were a good kitty <3

Eventually Cetrada grew stale for me and I went through a couple of other fursonas. I don’t have much to say about them since they were pretty short lived, but I’ll post a single picture of each of them! I’m getting a bit tired of making mini collages of them anyways :P

While Reese’s design and colors are a bit awkward, I genuinely adore their mini companion Mallow the bat :P They look like pistachio pudding, what a cutie!

Ugh, this fursona stresses me out to look at too xD I mean arguably they’re the closest in design to Twinkie (yellow cat with angel wings and star knee markings) but they remind me of a rough time I suppose? I drew a couple pictures of them looking more sexualized and with a more slim body type when in reality I was overweight and scared of intimacy... they just remind me of an unhealthy period of my life @_@ I must have felt that too though, I dropped this fursona pretty quickly.

I do actually like Kit even though I used him very briefly, I was starting to have WAY more fun with bright colors in my drawings! Sure he’s a bit too pastel 2015 Tumblr, but I do still like that pink and yellow combo ^w^

Eventually I grew sick of my DeviantArt and mostly just posted art on my main Tumblr where I got super into the kidcore scene! I had rediscovered my love of fun colors and sparkly eyes, kidcore sparked a new me! I wasn’t doing fantastic in life, but I developed more optimism and a genuine love for simple things which grounded me a lot. This was such a wild part of my life, through reblogging pictures of rainbows and Pokemon and slime I gained over 2,000 followers O.O Two of my closest friends told me that they found me by my influence in the kidcore Tumblr community back around 2016 and were intimidated to talk which is just nuts to me x’D

Anyways I’ll try not to go on a tangent about that anymore, but 2016-17 was wild! I should give a shoutout to my very first sparklesona Cosi, but he was made only barely before my true fursona...

That’s right babey, the one... The only!!!

HE’S FINALLY HERE! Twinkie, the fursona I truly felt a personal connection with. I mean, he’s everything I love bundled into one! Pikachu has been my hugest comfort ever since I was four years old so naturally I would have to incorporate it into my fursona somehow! I also gave him a bandana, my favorite accessory to draw on furry characters, and wings! Of course I love rainbows too so I gave him rainbow wings..... But I tweaked his design since the colored wings made him more bird-like. Nothing against birds of course, but I thought plain white angel wings were simpler and more iconic for him! I did give him a touch of rainbow later with his tag design! I also scrapped his red dot eyebrows and his tail bandana, but overall I loved the character I made! I was thrilled to have a fun cartoon kitty that I could use to express myself :3

Before him my only true-feeling ‘sona was Starfruit the pegasus, it was fulfilling because I feel like when I made Twinkie, I started to find myself! 

Twinkie did go through a couple redesigns including a semi-drastic color change sometime in early 2018, but I really do feel content with the way he looks right now! In Twinkie I see friendliness, optimism, and a caring heart which is what I strive for! He represents the journeys I took to be more comfortable with myself and he radiates the confidence that I hope to achieve one day as well >:3 I mean it is possible I could change him for a new fursona or even flat out drop him in the future, but after 3 strong years I think Twinkie will stay a part of me for a while ^w^

Anyways, if you’ve read all of this, THANK YOU!! This was a really personal post and I think it’s fascinating to look at my own self progression this way, I hope somebody gained something from this but if it was just for me that’s okay too xD

If anyone read all of this looong post and wants to make a similar post, PLEASE tag me! I’ve been so interested in fursonas and how people see/represent themselves through cartoon animals, isn’t it a wild phenomenon?? 

If you don’t feel like making a big post like I did though, you should reply with some cool facts about your fursona or count how many you’ve made in the past xD That would be rad <3

#speakachu #fursona #boy this was quite the project of a post! it was really nice for me to do though #i sort of relived my whole teenage life while making this.. glad the post ended on a good note ^w^ #twinkie and i plan on moving forward and striving for an even better life!

[evotter]

jan, march, sept + one of your choice, love. have a great day, u icon

thank u kyra i adore u

january: what was the first fic you posted this year?

the first fic i posted this year TECHNICALLY was the epilogue of a different path. the first standalone was chewbacca (aka my introduction to the jily world once again and i have such a soft spot for it)

march: do you listen to music whilst writing? 

yes! pretty much always; if it’s not music, it’s a TV show.

september: share a comment or review which still warms your heart?

quite literally anything you’ve left on any of my fics BUT there are a few that i hold dear to my heart. i’ll post them under the cut cause they are LONG :’)

ancient: the first fic you ever posted online?

hahahaaaaaaa. it was my own version of rick riordan’s the son of neptune before the actual book was published. it was on ff.net, and the first chapter got 7 reviews, and i felt so good about myself after that lmfao. who knew i’d still be writing 8 years later?

ask me questions!

OKAY so i have 3 top favorites:

from a different path:

okay so i had seen this in someone else’s bookmarks the other day, thought it was an interesting concept—especially since i too love slytherin!percy and strongly subscribe to ofswordsandpens’ headcanons about it—but didn’t give it another thought until i was listening to a video about the cursed child and went: wait, there’s a percabeth hogwarts au that i saw somewhere. and immediately i hunted this down and i’m just in awe? i tore through it. belatedly, i realized that i made a mistake: i didn’t write down my thoughts as i was reading, which is definitely a disservice to you. however, here are a generalized list of things that i loved.

first of all, with hogwarts au’s, there are three main aspects that i look for: plot, characterization, and quality of writing. normally, fics of this size lack one or more of these key factors, but i was astonished to find that the plot is tremendously tight and intriguing (my lip bled from biting it so much because i’ve been stressed to the max), you write these characters with such distinct voices i can easily picture them saying everything—except, of course, now in a little british accent—and your writing flows so well, it feels almost like i’m reading an actual harry potter book, just with percy and co. you also do a masterful job of weaving together aspects of the pjo universe with the established canon of hp.

and there are so many specific things that i love. primarily, the way you write the relationships in this story; not just concerning percabeth (though i will get to that in a minute), but also with each of the interactions between all of the characters. i applaud you for how you handled luke/annabeth and rachel/percy, and the friendship among them all is just incredibly well done. i especially love how well you wrote connor and zoë and just, a lot of characters that i don’t often think about when i think of pjo. grover and percy’s friendship especially is heartbreaking, i just. he’s so protective because he loves his friends and holy fuck i also love how you wrote grover in this. but i just adored how you wrote annabeth/percy—the love between them, both platonic in its early stages and the romantic all throughout, was doubly apparent. i ached when they kissed each other’s cheeks, and i inwardly cheered when she kissed him in the locker room. there was just such a natural progression, to me, of their relationship. and man did i dig it. i’m excited (and maybe a little scared) to see where you take their relationship in the future.

boy, this is getting long. sorry. but some more just little quick things: loved the b99 reference, with both of their competitive natures playing out in a similar way to jake and amy’s. i kind of want to go back and see if i can find any other references that i missed because i was just too engaged in the story to catch them. also, zoë’s death killed me all over again, thanks for that. i like how you’re working the kronos plot in, and i can’t wait to see how the Final Battle plays out. what else? oh! professor hestia? beautiful. eventual maybe professor percy? outstanding. percy kissing the top of annabeth’s head? breathtaking. rachel being a quidditch commentator? earth shattering. (truly i cackled when i saw that.) mrs. o’leary being a cat? incredible. how you incorporated percy’s water powers? stunning.

ooh, this exchange was beautiful and had me cackling it was so in-character:

“None of us are dying.” Connor clarifies. “Not you, not me, not Annie, not the rest of us.”

“I might have to dispute that.” Annabeth says, from Percy’s other side. “Call me ‘Annie’ one more time, Stoll, and I’ll kill you myself.”

Connor only grins at her. “Sorry, love. No more ‘Annie’. Can I call you Beth?”

“No.”

“Anna?”

“No.”

okay, so i just finished chapter nine and i am blown away. sorry for how long this comment was, but a fic of this magnitude truly warrants it. i can’t wait to see what happens next.

i leave you with just two words: “holy shit.”

from a different path: 

god, oh my god, am i the only dumb bitch who didn’t get what the prophecy was??

anyway, i stumbled on this fic last year, patiently waiting for its completion, and now that i’ve rediscovered it, i’m so glad i finished it all in one go! i couldn’t imagine the tension of waiting for the next chapter, especially since the tension is so well-crafted!! i hardly noticed the tonal shift even as the story got darker and darker as it led up to the war, and in that way i was reminded of how extremely similar it felt to reading the hp books for the first time! you nailed percy very well i might say, and the awkward-yet-caring relationship he has with his dad. i daresay you gave connor and zoe more characterization than rick riordan himself, and the percabeth you wrote is perfect to the nth degree. i appreciate that you didnt bother with all the love triangle and unrequited feelings nonsense as well.

but i have to say, even as i cried at sally and paul’s wedding, or at dionysus’ quiet mourning for castor, what really struck with me most was the way you handled silena. for that, i have no words. that was a job extremely well done. thank you so much for blessing us with this fic.

from chewbacca (a comment from u!): 

A girl in a bright yellow hooded raincoat stumbles into the cafe on one of the slowest nights James has ever seen. Her coat is dripping all over the floor he’d just cleaned (but it’s fine) and when he leans over the counter he sees that her boots match the coat.

First of all!!! Thats the best opening line in the world and nobody can convince me otherwise. I want to become a publisher just so that if you ever write a book, I’d be able to publish it. ( like omg, what an honor??? )

She looks like sunshine, standing there with the amount of yellow in her wardrobe. Briefly, James wonders if that’s her favorite color. It’s got to be.

Im going to quote this whole fic but I really love these lines? Like, you have this distinct style of writiting that I aim to acheive and you’re literally such a rolemodel!!! These are my favorite kind of fics to read. Funny story but I was going through a ‘no thanks Jily’ mood (  a horror, i know !! ) but your fics are just,,,,exceptions? You could write about trash and I’d love it and ask for you to sign me up.

 “Say it again, but convincingly this time.”

ooof this dialogue??? let me breathe

This is the longest he’s stood still since he started working. It’s actually a miracle.

and the funniest person award goes to YOU. also, the most talented and cutest but thats neither here nor there.

james taking care of fleamont, switching off the lights gives me just a nice and realistic vibe? its so simple but i love how you added it.

honestly at this point, ive been sucked again by the fanfic. it feels less like a fic and more like a masterpiece that belongs in a museum but anyway.

“James is supposed to be helping.

James is on his phone.”

ugh i love ur mind. im rereading and its so nice and lovely. even if its like 1am and im exhausted, this fic is sustaining me.

“Do it off the clock, would you?”

PEAK HUMOR

have i mentioned how much i love that scene with euphemia? she seems like such a lovely mom. i love ur euphemia the most. and ahh, both of them just rushing to the hospital ? another 100% good scene.

“Euphemia smiles too, but looks at Fleamont rather than at her son. “Yes,” she says. “It really does.””

fic? or shakspeare? HMMM

A girl in a bright yellow hooded raincoat stumbles into the cafe on one of the slowest nights James has ever seen // “Get fucked.”

the fic!! has made a circle!!! i love how it begins and ends along the same lines. I really want to know how??? are you so talented im in love.

i just really love this fic, okay? i love how james is just the kindest, lily is allowed to have feelings, its just so soft and warm. and it makes someone feel loved, want love anyway.

the dynamic between the characters are just so real and great and im astounded, in short.

your sirius is everything. so many fics potray him as a dick??? which is first of all #rude and also, not at all true. you made me love these characters even more so i sincerely hope you never stop writing.

you’re such a beautiful writer and the way you string words together is just poetic and gorgeous and all the other good adjectives you can think of. i read your spiderman x reader too and i was a goner for you. EVERYTHING YOU WRITE IS SO GOOD. i read it so long ago but i can vividly remember peter whipping the mask off and she just going wtf stop on the window ledge. what im trying to say is that you leave this lasting impression on people that make them remember random scenes and words / prose long after they’ve read it which is a remarkable feat, i believe.

and im so sorry im not on tumblr rn bc i cannot keep recing this fic but i have told my friends about your writing and they loved it too. you’ve got like a million fans. when i do get back from my hiatus, im going to keep recing your fics and people will cry because their universe will shift thanks to the newfound joy of your presence in their life.

lastly, im more of a dog person and that, more than anything, should tell you how much i love this fic. i love u. and basee on your writing, i want to hug you, be your best friend and make you cookies bc again

WOW

#thelaziestgeek #answers #friends! #<3

[eugene-my-love]

@mostlydaydreaming. we were limited to the number of pages we could write. i could have gone on for so much longer

This is my argument paper from writing 2 I took in the spring. Enjoy!!

Singin’ in the Rain:

Putting Smiles on Faces for More than 60 Years

Kandace Feorene

“I like old movies too! My favorite oldie is Pulp Fiction/Forrest Gump.” These are the words every classic film lover despises. My blood boils every time I hear similar phrases. The bubbling is new, yes, I will admit that, but it is genuine. I got into classic movies in July of last year, and I hope I never see the light at the end of this sometimes black and white, sometimes silent tunnel. Movies have been around for over 100 years, and the golden age of them is just that, golden! It started when the talkies were introduced in 1927, and there was no stopping them from there. That is of course until television came along and put an end to it slowly but surely (but let’s not open up that wound). Yes, films still have a significant role in today’s world, but the 30s, 40s, and early 50s were special to the industry. The studio system was roaring as though it would never end. Great characters who deliver beautiful words were the focus in the movies. Good stories were prominent because they couldn’t blow up buildings. The movie musical was big and beautiful being filmed on huge studio lots. There were many made in the golden era of Hollywood, but the best musical and movie ever made is Singin’ in the Rain.

If you’ve never seen it, get a hold of it as soon as possible and watch it. Make sure there are no distractions around. Tell people around you to be quiet. This masterpiece demands your undivided attention. Also, if you haven’t seen it, the title is referencing the title number. I would agree that not all old movies are accessible to most audiences. Some are slow and boring, as are some today. But Singin’ in the Rain is the best example of how people can enjoy movies that are over 60 years old. It is a classic in the true sense of the word.

Singin’ in the Rain was released in 1952 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and is number one on the American Film Institute’s (AFI’s) list of Greatest Movie Musicals of all Time (American Film Institute, 2006) and number five on their list of 100 Greatest American Films of All Time (American Film Institute, 2007). It was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1989 (its first year) for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” (Library of Congress). Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, with supporting cast members Jean Hagen, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as the screeching star, and Millard Mitchell, the plot is simple: “talkies” are introduced into Hollywood, and a fictional silent film production company (Monumental Pictures) must convert. Their problem is Lina Lamont, a gorgeous star whose voice rivals nails on a chalkboard. Laughs ensue as producer R. F. Simpson tries to hold on to Lina’s star status through filming her first talking picture, The Dueling Cavalier. Monumental Pictures replaces Lina’s voice with Kathy’s. Hollywood icon Debbie Reynolds was 19 while filming Kathy Selden’s journey from, in the words of Don Lockwood, “humble player” to star. Life imitated art after the picture was released, because Singin’ was Reynold’s breakout role.

Classics are hard to define, but easy to recognize. Singin’ in the Rain is, obviously, also the best classic movie ever made. The title number is often regarded as the most recognized dance sequence in all of film. Audiences appreciate it even more when they learn that Kelly had a fever of 103 while filming it (Ward Kelly, 2016). The script is unlike most musicals. The lines are witty and smart. One of my favorites is when a member of the publicity department says “Lina, you’re a beautiful woman—audiences think you’ve got the voice to match. The studio’s got to keep their stars from looking ridiculous at any cost.” O’Connor’s character responds with “No one’s got that much money” (Comden and Green). There is a story, and it interests the audience. Most musicals just have some scenes in between numbers that distract from the singing and dancing, but the scenes and numbers combine beautifully to create the perfect film that never skips a beat. The story is also educational. Writers Betty “Comden and her long-time writing partner, Adolf Green, interviewed washed-up silent film actors, read old magazines and viewed archival films during their writing process” (Laffel, 1992). So, the comical situations throughout the movie are true on top of hilarious. Jean Hagen’s comedic timing is gold. Similarly, Donald O’Connor’s, who won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, humor is never distracting from the story. His iconic Make ‘Em laugh number makes audiences of all ages light up. The 17-minute Broadway Melody number is a sight to behold. The colors are bright and exciting. The sets provide for lavish sequences. Each dance number, choreographed and staged by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, is special in its own right and doesn’t let you take your eyes off the screen. “Each draws from a different technical and aesthetic base: the traditions of lyrical ballet, modern dance, theatrical dancing, exaggeratedly hackneyed tap, familiar social dances, Euro-western folk steps, and a light feathery tap style form an elaborate grammar, the breadth and mastery of which was unique to dance” (La Pointe-Crump, 2004, 66). Kelly and O’Connor’s tap sequence Moses Supposes is very often regarded as the best tap number on film. Singin’ created a star out of Reynolds. She had no previous dancing experience, so Kelly had to teach her from scratch. She was a gymnast, so she knew a little bit about physically working hard, but dance is a whole other ballgame when it comes to technique. Future EGOT recipient Rita Moreno was also a player in the film’s success playing the “Zip Girl of the screen” Zelda Zanders (Comden & Green). Its influence is startling. Let’s take me, a pessimist. I want to sing in the rain now. A self-proclaimed pessimist is happy when it rains because I can play the song and sing along to the greatest classic film ever made.

I am not the only one in the world who has been impacted significantly by this glorious movie. I have met others online who share my thoughts. We talk occasionally, and they were nice enough to give me quotes on their thoughts on the film. Sherrie (2018) perfectly summarizes why people should watch it:

“I think it is the perfect introduction to movie musicals. It’s the first time I really appreciated all the time and skill that went into them. Most modern type musicals are mostly sung (and many auto-tuned) with maybe a few simple dance steps put in. Singin’ in the Rain is just a showcase of “triple threat” performers tied together by a brilliantly written script managing to combine heart and humor without being dated. The supporting characters are solid and memorable. The musical numbers are so well put together sometimes I’ll just watch them back to back and marvel at how all these came from the same movie. This coming from someone who, with a few exceptions, didn’t even like most old movie musicals.”

Sherrie mentions the most amazing feat of this film: the fact that there are so many iconic numbers. Almost all of them are extremely recognizable to people. The title number is the obvious one. It is the most recognizable dance number in all of film, and for good reason. Kelly exudes joy and love, and even though the steps are some of the easiest for a skilled dancer, he makes each special with a different splash in a puddle or shrug of his shoulders. My other friend Lena (2018) explains a concept that is talked about a lot with Singin’:

 “It’s special to me because it was my first introduction to Old Hollywood movies. My family is full of movie buffs, and Old Hollywood movies are a staple for references we all make. When I was ten, my mom told me she thought I was old enough to appreciate it. I don’t think I’d ever laughed so hard at a movie up until that point! The colors, the music, the humor, the romance, it all got to me! Its quality and story still hold up to this day! And it stuck because Old Hollywood is a huge part of my life now, and it’s all because of Singin’ in the Rain!”

If you were to ask people what their first Old Hollywood movie was, a good amount would say Singin’ in the Rain. I showed the film to my best friend a couple of months ago (it was her first Old Hollywood film too) even though she insisted on not watching it. When it was over, she just stared at the screen and apologized to me for saying she did not want to try it. It really is the perfect combination of most genres. There is humor, romance, drama, singing, dancing, and even a little bit of action! If you want to start watching classic films, there is no better movie to introduce you to them while meeting your needs of different movie genres.

The film earns the title of best picture ever made for not just what you see on film, but for the dedication that went on behind the camera as well. The film was directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, and the witty screenplay was written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who were legends in their field. Singin’ was Kelly’s second directing venture. He and Donen directed On the Town in 1949, which was a huge success. MGM was happy to see the two team up again since On the Town resulted in a healthy profit. Kelly was involved in practically every aspect of filming. Rita Moreno (2013) remembers filming, "I visited the set every single day. I did maybe, oh, a week and a half's worth of work on that show. But I visited all the sets every single day.” She only had a few scenes, so she could spend her time observing a legend creating his masterpiece. Kelly even had input in the wardrobe. For the iconic Broadway Melody sequence, he cheated the despised Hays Code, which was the code movies had to follow so films were family friendly. He told the wardrobe department to put slits in Cyd Charisse’s bright green flapper dress because a dancer’s lines should be seen (Ward Kelly, 2016). The slits disobeyed the Hayes Code’s rules on how short a dress can be, but since the material met the requirements, the censors couldn’t touch it. It is worth noting that Charisse had given birth just a few months before shooting her scenes. Kelly’s directing style was unique. He wanted the camera to dance along with the dancers, so the audience didn’t miss a single move. This is evident in Kelly’s part in Broadway Melody before he dances with Charisse. As an audience member, you feel as though you are dancing with him. Kelly’s service in the photographic unit in the Navy gave him the opportunity to explore the filmmaking process. Before the Navy, he was mostly interested in choreography, but after leaving the service, his interests in the movie making process as a whole grew. The Broadway Melody sequence is 14 minutes long. The studio had no problem with the number, since Kelly’s An American in Paris won best picture the year before. An American in Paris had a 17-minute-long ballet sequence, also directed by Kelly, that is also spectacular and should be watched by everyone. Kelly wanted Donald O’Connor for the part of Cosmo Brown. Rita Moreno (2014) said she once told Kelly, “I hope finally people will recognize what a great talent this man is, and he said that’s precisely why I had him in the film.” For his solo number, the film was lost so he had to do the whole energetic sequence again. Since he smoked many packs a day, he had to rest for a few days because the tricks took so much out of him.

This film has brought so much happiness into my life, and I know it will do so for others. If you are sad, the song, dances, and jokes will bring out of your slump. If you are happy, it will enhance your mood. Adolph Green once said, "You know what's wonderful. To be somewhere strange in a foreign country where no one knows you and to be introduced as the people who wrote Singin' in the Rain and to watch the people smile. It's a favorite film the world over. There and here people are always telling us that the family sits together to watch it” (as cited in Laffel, 1992). This quote was from the 90s, but it is due to this day. The dialogue, performances, music, and moves make Singin’ in the Rain the greatest motion picture of all time.

#mine

[forceprojecdin]

Mortis Explained (In Star Wars Rebels & The Clone Wars)

SPOILERS about Rebels season 4 ahead.  “Ezra, it’s art, everything has a meaning.” -Sabine Wren. Rebels season 4, ‘Wolves & A Door.’  Before I begin, keep this quote in mind. Nothing done in these episodes is an accident. Every detail is utterly and completely intentional. They just told you so. This post will be an ever expanding explanation of all things Mortis, as seen in Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars. Hopefully, this might aid some people in a fuller understanding. The Clone Wars ‘Mortis Trilogy’ (season 3) was essentially George Lucas explaining in greater detail, what The Force is to him, and now by extension, his Padawan Dave Filoni. I even see a lot of this in The Last Jedi (but that’s another blog!) As Joseph Campbell writes: “It will always be one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find, together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experienced than will ever be known or told... It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation.” The Mortis stuff (even the Yoda arc. TCW season 6 etc ) is the attempt to further express these inexhaustible energies. Before I go further, we need to understand the true purpose of all this stuff through the lens of Joseph Campbell. and we need to see through it translucently. As Campbell noted, “The problem of the theologian is to keep the symbols translucent, so that it may not block out the light it is supposed to convey.” What needs to be cleared from the lens is the view that Mortis could be anything other than what spirituality has always been in mythology through the ages: an attempt for the hero to return and show us that all is One. That all physical life in space and time is actually literally one with the spirit realm. This is what Campbell was on about and by extension (as it is more that well documented), this is what George Lucas was intentionally on about, in directly translating Campbell’s ideas to screen. The truth is that SW conveys spiritual ideas of the world – the ones that all the spiritual teachers have spoken of through time - SW does not make up its own spirituality. So to understand Mortis, one must understand Campbell’s view on spirituality in myth, more than Star Wars. Finally we need to understand what Campbell was telling us about the symbols. Their importance is not in the literal meaning, but in how they seem to magically transport us to the other world. They have always been used to this great effect in Star Wars. I.e. It is not so important to literally understand who The Father, Son and Daughter are in Mortis episodes, as it is to feel the “tone” that they bring through a common “Trinity” archetype, like The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, or Thought, Word & Action, or Body, Mind and soul, etc. Now, let's get started! The Two Kingdoms Are Actually One Let’s start with this George Lucas quote and then compare it to one of Campbell’s: “The role of the artist is to find the common threads that make all people one.“ In contemplating this quote, we begin to see that Lucas was making his intent very apparent. Yes, this is totally in line with everything Campbell was saying in his work. The mission could not be more clear! Compare to Campbell: “And here is a great key to the understanding of myth and symbol – the two kingdoms are actually one… and the exploration of that dimension, either willingly or unwillingly, is the whole sense of the deed of the hero.” Simply watch the Mortis stuff with that quote in mind - the two kingdoms (i.e Heaven and Earth) are actually one - and you will begin to notice your awareness of its metaphors telling you something. As the character of The Father said, “What happens here (on Mortis) will happen in your universe.” This may seem like something mysterious and bewildering, but it is in fact something that is actually quite utterly clear; he two kingdoms are actually one. This is why in The Clone Wars season 3 Blu Ray special features, director Dave Filoni said that he would not explain” Mortis - because it would rob the viewer of their ability to understand the metaphors. That is the purpose of this blog post, to uncover the language of the symbols. Which Star Wars did not make up, it is using, and always has used, the tried tested and true one. We finally see more of a conclusion to the “Mortis Trilogy” episodes, in Star Wars Rebels season 4, titled ‘Wolves And A Door’ and ‘A World Between Worlds.’ And wow what a conclusion! Everything that has been given so much more clarity. As I had been speculating, it is fully apparent now that Ezra Bridger’s last name was chosen to symbolize that he was to be a “bridger” between the Two Worlds. In the latter episode, Ezra comes to “understand” the Mortis mural on Lothol’s Jedi Temple, and thereby is able to walk through to the spirit realm. Interesting to note that religious art in cultures all over the world has always been thought of as a “window” as such, by the devout. In the Easter Orthodix Christian tradition, their painting are literally thought of as “Icons”  that mysteriously actually transport one to the oether realm (like this famous Holy Trinity Icon by Russian Iconographer Andre Rublev). Here is a screenshot of the mural. Anyhow, once there, Ezra walks along pathways encountering many circle shapes, which turn out to be actual windows through time (more on that later), but here is my instagram post and screenshot of the circles.  They are essentially a symbol for wholeness of the universe, and even the cyclical nature of time. Noted concept artist and Star Wars commentator Paul Bateman shared this Taost view on the circle symbol, on a post of mine on facebook. Paul commented, “It's all in the Tao - or Enso if you prefer. Microcosm to macrocosm, from the atoms to the spiral arms... it's all circles my friend from the womb to the tomb. The nothing and the all.” The microsom of the macrocosm is inside us all. Oh, it should be noted that Ezra Bridger was also walking across bridges to get to the circles. “Bridger.” Bridging the Two Worlds.  The Great Deed Of The Supreme Hero After a careful re-reading of the The Hero With A Thousand Faces, I noticed Campbell was saying (repeatedly to make a point) that the hero’s great deed is essentially that he/she discovers that everything in life and the universe is one, that there is literally no separation between oneself, the cosmos and the spirit realm. He wrote, “The great deed of the supreme hero is to come to the knowledge of this unity in multiplicity and then to make it known.”   Anyhow, Campbell adds the modern psychoanalytical side: that unconscious is also where we find the symbols and that other realm. Therefor, the Mortis trilogy starts with Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka fall asleep into the dream world, the unconsciousness. In the Jungian psychoanalytical view, we enter this other world symbolically through dreams.  Once there, there our three heroes find they are one with dark and light (Son and Daughter) and even other ‘dead’ beings like Qui-Gon Jinn, who says “I am here because you are here.” This statement could actually not be any more unambiguous; when all is one, you are connected to everyone everywhere, whether “dead“ or alive, simply because you exist. Again, the physical, spirit and unconscious realms are literally one.  Anakin even sees a vision of himself as the future Vader. Even time is one, meaning time all happens at once. More will be said later on the nature of time in a universe where there actually is no such thing as time. For now, let’s quote Campbell, “What is understood is that time and eternity are two aspects of the same experience-whole, two planes of the nondual ineffable.”    In Rebels episode ‘Dume’ (s.4 ep. 11) the Wolf tells Ezra his name is “Dume.” This could also not be more clear, in this sprit realm that Exra has been transported to, Kanan (Caleb Dume) and the wolf are one and the same, and the oneness of Kanan, the wolf and the entire universe is already and always inside us. Here is another Campbell quote to clarify even more: “And so it is that the cosmic symbols are presented in a spirit of thought bewildering sublime paradox. The kingdom of God is within, yet without.” That bewildering sublime paradox, of The Force being both within you, yet also everywhere outside you, is Mortis, as Mortis itself is both within our heroes and without them. It is an apt metaphor of the microcosm and the macrocosm. I can’t think of two better words than bewildering and sublime to encapsulate Mortis!  We Are The Light And The Dark George Lucas’ explained this stuff to The Clone Wars writing team, available as an easter egg special feature in the saga Blu Ray set: “We have a selfish side and a selfless side, when those two are kept in balance, we can do a lot of good.” I paraphrased a little, but I’ll watch this feature again sometime soon to get the exact wording. That’s the scene where Anakin tames the Son (Dark) and Daughter (Light). It’s that simple. Even the Dark and Light sides are one. The obvious lesson here from Lucas (and all the mystics through time) is that if we repress our dark side, and pretend it is not there, it will grow uncontrollably and take us over, to a point of imbalance.  Campbell explains the wholeness of these sides with the Taoist view: ‘Yang, the light, active, masculine principle, and Yin, the dark, passive, and feminine, in their interaction underlie and constitute the whole world of forms… They proceed from and together make manifest Tao.” By acknowledging the existence of our dark sides, we can understand and see clearly what we do not want to chose. We can begin to chose more selfless actions, and thereby live more fully in the light. The Eternal Moment Finally, a heavy idea and concept idea finally explained more fully in the recent Star Wars Rebels‘Mortis episodes, is the idea of time and space and how it relates to the galaxy and the ‘Cosmic Force’ in Star Wars. Today’s New Spirituality has admirably attempted to expand it’s understanding alongside science, with a concept that is sometimes called The Eternal Moment, where everything is happening all at once. Where even time and space are one! Walking around that circle, as the Wolves do in the Rebels episode ‘A World Between Worlds,’ would be the ultimate symbol for that, as there really is no begging point nor end to time. I’m no scientist, but the basic understanding of modern science is that there is no such thing as time, and I understand that basic premise. Some teachers and gurus in modern spirituality, also call it a “Divine Dichotomy.” If time is happening all at once, one would assume the future is written, so how could one have free will? The simple answer can be found in the idea of multiple parallel universes. We experience our differing chosen fates on different planes of existence, simultaneously. You might be saying “rubbish”, that’s okay, just follow me a little further here. The important thing here in mythology is not whether this is true or not, the important thing is that the symbols and metaphors of myth evolve and continue to attempt to express the insights of it’s time. I commend Star Wars creators for continuing to follow George Lucas’ intentions in doing this! The Daughter expressed this to Anakin on Mortis, “I am the beginning, the middle, and the end.” So basically, in the Rebels season 4 episode ‘A World Between Worlds’, Ezra peers through one of the circles (a window through time and space) to save Ahsoka from being killed by Vader on Malacor in the Rebels season 2 finale. This is also insight into “The victory for all time” that Yoda spoke of in the very last episode of The Clone Wars - the victory of all time is to exist all the time! But I digress. The knowledge that Ezra gains here is that he needs to learn from Kanan’s final act, to also selflessly let go of his attachments - and further, to accept the will and intentions of others. Ahsoka explains this to him, as she herself choses to return (travelling through time) back to her “decent” into the temple on Malacor. Finally, this now further clarifies why The Father made Anakin forget his vision of his future as Vader on Mortis in The Clone Wars season 3 episode. Anakin sees but one of his possible futures, but he needs to forget if, if he is to have true free will, when the moment comes for him to chose. Interesting that they have The Father touch Anakin’s Third Eye as he makes Anakin forget, using Hindu symbolism. Oh! By the way, this is also why when Anakin, Ahsoka nd Obi-Wan wake up from their Mortis “sleep”, it only registered as an instant in time. Just another Eternal Moment! Your Focus Determines Your Reality (Even In The Other Dimensions) Other concepts in modern spirituality heavily focus on thought as manifestation of reality. This is something I am convinced that George Lucas was studying heavily between his two trilogies (see my final note in this blog for recommendations of who to start checking out). Qui-Gon Jinn’s quote from The Phantom Menace defines what I have come to believe was Lucas’ key artistic statement regarding spirituality in the Prequels, “Your focus determines your reality.” This is essentially what Anakin did, he focused on Padme’s death, and that focus made that his reality. He killed her. He created this fate through thought. Dave Filoni further explained how this works even faster in the Cosmic Force. He explained: “You have to be careful when you’re moving through these big powerful dimensions and what you’re wishing for. Everything he [Ezra] wishes for, out loud, is a dangerous thing to do. If you watch and listen when Ezra talks and he makes certain statements, there’ll be a thunder clap, and that thunder is representative of something else listening.” The time between what you think and what is created is instantaneous, like thunder. Thought is creation. Or as more commonly heard in the Western religion, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was made flesh." Through this lens we even begin to understand other quotes from the Mortis Trilogy. When Qui-Gon responds to Obi-Wan, “I am here because you are here”,  we see that it's because the two worlds are actually one, and everyone is always already connected to everyone else - even through the oness of space and time. It just takes a willingness to be aware of that. Or it takes  being a Jedi who’s awareness is more honed, while also on a specially connected nd Force strong place like Mortis or Lothol.  The Mortis Mural As a Fine Art college grad and someone who apprenticed with an Eastern Orthodox “Iconographer” for many years, I was struck by how on point the Mortis mural on Lothol was. It reminded me most of this famous Eastern Russian Orthodox "Icon" by Rublev. Especially with use of hand gestures and the way the Daughter turns and bows her head to the central figure. This bog is getting long, so for brevity I’ll just say that the basic concept of “Icons” are that they are actual windows to heaven. Not painting but actual doors. So the Mortis mural pays homage to these iconic “Trinity” paintings, and uses the symbolism most appropriately. The Two Worlds Are Actually One.  I love that they keep telegraphing what they are doing by using key words that clearly and utterly indicate what language they are doing. Another moment like this, is when the Trandoshan worker say’s, “Lord Hydan, we have discovered more symbols. Symbols. Another word Campbell repeats to ne end. Sabine even say’s that the mural is a “language,” and calls the Father, Son and Daughter, “Archetypes”. It’s a language of “archetypes” and “symbols”. That’s Campbell. That’s the power of Myth, That much should be totally and completely clear by now! The Message Continues In Rebels, &The Sequel Trilogy So, even though the answers were there all along in symbol and metaphoric language, we now have more clarity on the Lothol Wolves, the Owl and Ahsoka. Ahsoka basically expresses that the Owl is another manifestion of The Daughter in who once helped her to survive. The Wolf is clarified as a manifestation in The Force of the “will” of Caleb “Kanan” Dume. Now that we know time is a circle, happening all at once, we see why Caleb Dume appeared to our characters even before Kanan had died! The Eternal Moment. This is great mind blowing stuff! Star Wars is so concisely expressing some of the heaviest concepts of spirituality and the universe. We see that dialogue has been obviously happening between Dave Filoni and the creators of the Sequel Trilogy. There are endless ties to cite that show this, like the Ying / Yan mural on Mortis to the one in the cave pool on Ahch-To, but I’ll stop there or this blog will go on forever. Dave Filoni is obviously Lucas’ Padawan with this stuff, for now I’ll just start with something Filoni said in the Rebels Recon episode on the season 4 episode ‘Jedi Night.’  "I could just see his (Kanan's) eyes, that's a moment where he could see here (Hera). In this moment, because he's in this point where he's this kind of energy, where he's about to die, where he's more one with everything than he's ever been, he'd have this moment of clarity, where things like physical sight just doesn't matter." Again, actual literal oneness between the physical and spiritual realm.  The title of Rebel episode ‘A World Between Worlds‘ is literally a riff on what Joseph Campbell repeatedly said is the great “deed” done by every hero in mythology, they return from their hero’s journey to show that “the two kingdoms are actually one.” Ezra has now returned from his bridge just in time for the series finale! We will see him return, like all heroes, to bring the treasure of “One final lesson” - to make his community one and whole again. The circle is now complete. 

Photo: Anakin was “chosen” to be whole with himself, everyone else, and the entire universe, by balancing his light and dark sides. As is Ezra. As we all are too. *  *  * Here are  few of my related blogs on this theme: A blog on a spiritual phrase used often in The Clone Wars - “Who You Really Are.”  This is an essay on Ahsoka’s fate in the Rebels season 2 episode finale. A blog about Luke Skywalker’s Buddha and Jesus-like hero’s journey in The Last Jedi. * All Joseph Campbell quotes are taken from his classic book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces.  If you truly enjoy this stuff, please check out Joseph Campbell as a starting point for these concepts in traditional world religions and mythologies.. If you are intrigued by how modern spiritual teachers speak of this stuff, please check out the writings of Neale Donald Walsch, Eckhart Tolle and Wayne Dyer to name but a few. Try some of the great poets like Kahlil Gibran, or even a great speaker like Alan Watts. They are all saying the same thing.  But remember, these new teachers are only expanding on the core messages of the mystics through the ages, in all mythologies and spiritualties!

#mortis #star wars rebels #the clone wars #dave filoni #george lucas #the force #spirituality #joseph campbell #the heros journey #the hero with a thousand faces #myth #mythology #lucasfilm

[blancmange]

LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

Well, more like “paste from Wikipedia”. I was looking something up and just found this and it’s PRETTY COOL.

Okay so if you somehow don’t know about this classic, it’s pretty much the first zombie movie. The word “zombie” isn’t even used in it. But dead people rise and eat people, so. Fair enough. “They won’t stay dead!”, as the poster said. So, the film was made in 1968. Oh shit, that was exactly 50 years ago! Is there some celebration or what? Anyway, let me just say that again, 1968. In America. And one of the main characters is black. Everyone else is white, but like, the one black man is the protagonist! SHOCKING

Well, IT WAS! Let’s look at the quotes:

Casting [Duane] Jones as the hero was potentially controversial in 1968: it was not typical for a black man to be the hero of an American film when the rest of the cast was composed of white actors at the time, but [George A.] Romero said that Jones simply gave the best audition.

OOHHHHHHH SHIHIITTTTTT YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I’M THINKING OF. You know those piece of shit assholes who just can’t imagine a woman being in charge? Or an actual transgender person playing a trans character? Or, you know, a black man playing the main character? They’re always using the argument, “well WHAT IF A MAN WAS SIMPLY THE BEST” “what if the cis male actor WAS SIMPLY THE BEST ACTOR FOR THE ROLE” “well maybe the white actor WAS JUST THE RIGHT CHOICE”? Yeah, FUCK YOU. Duane Jones. He SIMPLY. GAVE. THE BEST. AUDITION. And that’s not all.

The lead role was originally written for someone of Caucasian descent, but upon casting African-American actor Duane Jones, Romero intentionally did not alter the script to reflect this.

OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH fuckin BOOM. Let’s forgive the usage of “Caucasian” when they mean fucking white because people from the region of Caucus are definitely not white but like He just went, “oh, so this guy GAVE THE BEST AUDITION, we’re gonna take him. Hm, but I guess the role was written with a white dude in mind...OH WELL, WHOOPSIE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just gonna LEAVE IT LIKE THAT.” Yeah. You know why? Because white characters are written as just characters. Unless you actually want to address racism and stuff, there’s no need for any non-white character to be super special. Black characters are written as BLACK. This was a success because the character is just a character, and he’s also black, which is GREAT, but it’s not his defining feature! You know what was, though? HA. As Karl Hardman, one of the producers, said:

The script had been written with the character Ben as a rather simple truck driver. His dialogue was that of a lower class / uneducated person. Duane Jones was a very well educated man [and he] simply refused to do the role as it was written. As I recall, I believe that Duane himself upgraded his own dialogue to reflect how he felt the character should present himself.

WHOOPS

and as one reviewer said,

An unknown stage actor, Jones' performance depicted Ben as a "comparatively calm and resourceful Negro" (a distinguished gentleman and former university professor, in real life), according to a movie reviewer in 1969.

OH MY GOD. Can you imagine? THAT WAS A NORMAL THING TO SAY IN THE SIXTIES IN AMERICA. He called him THAT. The entire quote is just cringeworthy. But I guess it shows, he must’ve been impressed. And no wonder:

He was director of the Maguire Theater at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, and the artistic director of the Richard Allen Center for Culture and Art in Manhattan. [...] From 1972 to 1976, he oversaw the literature department at Antioch College. Jones was also a Phelps-Stokes exchange scholar in Niger and taught literature at Long Island University. [...] Jones was executive director of the Black Theater Alliance, a federation of theater companies, from 1976 through 1981. [...] As executive director of the Richard Allen Center for Culture and Art (RACCA), he promoted African-American theater.

Nice. Impressive indeed. And I cut stuff out.

But lemme just point out why Night of the Dead is ICONIC. So apparently, 50′s and 60′s had lots of “horror movies”. “Horror”, right. The horrors we have today would make those people fuckin DIE. Have you seen Hitchcock’s Birds? That shit is laughable. That was in 1963, and it is the classic of scary movies. It’s more a thriller than a horror if you ask me, ‘cause of the suspense, but think of how NOT SCARY it is now. People were scared then. So, Night of the Living Dead. It has flesh eating. Literally, the title originally mentioned flesh eaters, not living dead. There are GRUESOME scenes. The budget was low and it was the 1960′s, so don’t expect to be too impressed, but still, there were scenes of flesh eating. THAT was what shocked audiences. It was absolutely unthinkable at the time, it appears. Like, there’s a whole subsection on the controversy.

Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times chided theater owners and parents who allowed children access to the film with such potent content for a horror film they were entirely unprepared for: [...] "They were used to going to movies, sure, and they'd seen some horror movies before, sure, but this was something else.” [...] “The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying.”

“They’d seen horror movies”, but they were completely unprepared for this. Horrors were supposed to be “delightfully scary”. When this horror turned out to be terrifying, it was UNEXPECTED.

Response from Variety after the initial release reflects the outrage generated by Romero's film: "Until the Supreme Court establishes clear-cut guidelines for the pornography of violence, Night of the Living Dead will serve nicely as an outer-limit definition by example. In [a] mere 90 minutes this horror film (pun intended) casts serious aspersions on the integrity and social responsibility of its Pittsburgh-based makers, distributor Walter Reade, the film industry as a whole and [exhibitors] who book [the picture], as well as raising doubts about the future of the regional cinema movement and about the moral health of film goers who cheerfully opt for this unrelieved orgy of sadism..."

Orgy of sadism, haha. We’re not talking about friggin’ Salo here. That fragment I bolded. I just. Hahahashsajhdahahh IMAGINE.

And on a final note, I just want to point out this SWEET little detail. Sort of like a cherry on top. I suppose it only worked thanks to the film being black-and-white, because in colour it probably would’ve been too dark.

The blood, for example, was Bosco Chocolate Syrup drizzled over cast members' bodies.

Ravishing!

#night of the living dead #george a. romero #duane jones #long post #wikipedia as a source of many delights

[annavolovodov]

So I read Keep the Home Fires Burning Part Two and I have a few thoughts...

...and when I say a few I mean 2825 words worth. You can probably guess whose storyline most of them are on.

The thing is, the vast majority of this instalment was incredible with two character’s storylines in particular standing out as real highlights for me. Yet the fact that the quality of the rest of the book is so high makes those chapters so glaringly disappointing.

Spoilers under the cut!

Starting with the positives and one of my two favourite characters in the books so far - Pat. Her scenes have been utterly engrossing and I am so, so proud of the way she’s developed since 1x01. She may still be stuck with Bob but she sure as hell won’t let herself be trapped by him. She knows her worth and she’s biding her time.

As I predicted, Pat’s using the Mass Observation columns as an outlet to keep her sane. Since we know she has a literary background and has worked in publishing before, I am PRAYING that the observations she’s been detailing of her life will take off and the series will end with her as a hugely successful writer. Think about it: would it not be the ultimate vengeance against Bob, for her to achieve what he lacked the skill to? Of course I would love Bob to die but that  seems a tad contrived for Home Fires and forcing him to watch the woman he’s abused for years moving onto bigger and better things would be both a satisfying victory for Pat and would fit with the tone of the show.

Side note: I find Pat’s insistence to stick solely to the truth when writing to be an interesting contrast to her husband’s technique. Bob has a tendency to overdramatise aspects of his life and portray himself to be heroic and exciting when in reality, he’s the exact opposite. There’s probably a good meta in there for someone smarter than I am.

I can’t forego a mention of Pat’s quite frankly iconic dragging of Bob for almost a whole chapter. The revelation that she almost straight up murdered him a couple of years ago was unexpected but totally relatable. And some of the quotes from her writing?

“In my experience, men often like to sit around talking about doing great things, but it’s the women who get on and do them.”

“It makes me ashamed that we can be at war with fascist Germany yet exhibit the same base impulse to discriminate against people who simply don’t look like us.”

Pat is a great character.

AND THAT CLIFFHANGER. MAREK’S BEEN WRITING TO HER. HE’S ALIVE. THEY WILL BE TOGETHER AGAIN. FUCK YOU BOB.

As for my other favourite? Erica has been an unexpected highlight in the novels. Of those involved in the crash, I was pretty certain she’d make it. She never quite acquired her own storyline in the show, instead largely popping in and out of others plots as needed. I already had Will marked for death since he'd be killed off sooner or later with his illness so it was a nice surprise when he made it out (after saving Vivian!!! I still cry).

Or at least I thought it was a nice surprise right up till we found out his cancer had worsened and he had mere weeks left to live. When Dr Mitchell explained to Erica and Laura that he was nearing the end? When they went home and Erica decided she had to shoulder the burden and remain strong for the girls? Erica finally breaking down whilst the women of the WI held her? I full on sobbed at every single one of those scenes.

I think a lesser series would’ve killed Will instantly when the spitfire hit the house for the sake of drama and words can’t express how grateful I am that Home Fires didn’t, instead choosing to leave us with a poignant and painfully relatable exploration of terminal illness and grief.

I did appreciate the touches of humour in the Campbell’s storyline. Will literally pulled a “Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought you saw the last of me” on Erica like 70 years before the meme was invented. Incredible.

Dr Rosen is... intriguing, I guess. I don't dislike her. I think she has potential, even though I’m sceptical at the addition of yet another character when we have mains from S1 who have yet to make a significant impact in the book.

OH AND THE BATTLE OF WILLS BETWEEN HER AND MIRIAM??? The sort of content I paid 99p for. Poor Erica, getting caught in the middle of that. There were many great lines in this book, but I think this might just be my favourite:

“Erica felt a sudden rush of adrenaline, knowing Dr Rosen might get away with a comment like this with some patients, but not with Miriam Brindsley - a woman the rest of the village knew could single-handedly hold off a horde of invading Nazis with a gutting knife for a solid half-hour.”

If that doesn’t sum up Miriam as a character, I don’t know what does.

Speaking of the Brindsleys, do you know how satisfying it is to see them alive and flourishing after spending 15 months mentally preparing yourself to lose at least one of them?

I do.

I mean, they still have a huge target on their backs (Mim’s words in part one about how they’re blessed and are defo making it through the war? Yikes. An omen if ever I saw one) but considering their lack of page time I’m gonna gamble that we can quit worrying about that until Book 2 at the very least.

Moving on, I really did not go into this book expecting to care so deeply about Frances and Noah’s growing relationship yet here we are. Frances excessively calling to check on him every day was adorable. And this entire exchange with the head teacher was legendary:

"Frances didn't want to have an argument. She never wanted to have arguments with all sorts of people she eventually had arguments with; it was simply in her nature to be more challenging of other people's positions than they were used to. It put them on the defensive, and an argument would inevitably ensue. ‘I don’t wish to be confrontational –‘ There was a sudden snort at the other end of the line. Like the sound of someone choking on their tea, perhaps.”

I laughed.

However, despite the many, many positive aspects of this most recent instalment, there is one storyline in particular that singles itself out as Home Fires’ most glaring weak spot.

Of course, I’m referring to Teresa’s story and the awful place she’s currently occupying in the narrative.

Back when the whole Nick debacle began mid-S2, I figured I might as well give it a chance and see where it went. Simon Block was adamant on Twitter that Teresa’s endgame was not a man and what would be unfurling over the coming episodes was a historically accurate depiction of the trials lesbians faced during such time periods. It wasn’t ideal, nor was it what I expected for Teresa based around the promotional material released for S2, but the show hadn’t let me down yet.

And so I have waited, I have given it a chance, and based on the back half of S2 and the two instalments of KTHFB available so far, I am SO disappointed in what Simon Block has done with Teresa. Sure, things may improve in future novels, but right now I’m not sure I can adequately explain how much I hate this goddamn marriage.

Simply put, it is totally unnecessary. Every single aspect of it. Teresa’s chapters in Part Two were awful. I’m pretty sure we’ve established at this point that she is not into men. We do not need to read about her trying and failing to repress her attraction to women whilst having sex with Nick. Even if we absolutely unavoidably had to hear about Nick and Teresa’s sex life, we do not need aforementioned sex scene spread across the whole chapter.

I know this might be hard for Straight Guy Simon Block to understand, but I’m pretty sure exactly zero lesbians are going to want to read about a lesbian character who is struggling with compulsory heterosexuality having sex with a man. I’m bisexual and I found it sickening so God knows how that chapter is going to make lesbians feel. I strongly suspect that some are going to find it triggering, and if the storyline is triggering to the group it is supposed to represent you really have to ask yourself why you are even bothering to write the representation in the first place.

Teresa’s arc in the books so far has consisted of getting married, blaming herself for the crash because she feels like she isn’t taking the marriage seriously (seriously what the fuck was this???), Teresa having conflicting feelings about Annie, Teresa stuck at home worrying about her marriage, Teresa feeling awful whilst having sex with Nick, Teresa worrying about having children, Teresa having more conflicting feelings about Annie and Nick... Do we see a pattern here? Do we get any meaningful scenes of Teresa at school? Do we get any meaningful scenes of Teresa with her canonical close friends Alison and Steph, who she spent S1 and S2 building strong relationships with? Yeah, she occasionally gets a throwaway line in a group scene at a WI meeting, but what does Teresa really get to do outside of being emotionally tortured about her marriage? The change in format to the books has led to characters being isolated in their individual stories whereas the series could allow them to interact more freely, but it genuinely feels like Teresa is stuck in some sort of heterosexual hell and is allowed no reprieve.

And all of this feels completely divorced from S1 and the first half of S2??? S1!Teresa didn’t appear to have any sort of desire to marry a man in order to cover up her sexuality. From the limited screen time we had with them, the main reason the relationship between Teresa and Connie failed seemed to be due to interference from outsiders (aka the headteacher that blackmailed Teresa) and the simple fact that Connie and Teresa wanted different things. Nothing in the series suggested that Teresa was unsure or struggling with her sexuality. Nothing. When the synopsis for 2x04 came out and mentioned Teresa would be asked on a date, everyone immediately assumed it was Annie involved. The prospect of it being a man never crossed our minds because it just seemed so ridiculous.

Another aspect I’m struggling to comprehend is why Alison pushed Teresa towards Nick. There’s no logical explanation for this. Alison knew about Teresa’s sexuality. Alison was fine with it and explicitly wanted her to stay because - and I quote - she “enjoyed having her around”. So how on Earth did we get to this point, with Alison encouraging Teresa to marry a man she barely knows and can never love? The fuck did that come from? The reasoning was murky enough in the show but it’s even worse in the books. Chapter 17 is essentially Alison sitting alone in her house feeling depressed, missing Teresa, lowkey regretting telling her to go but consoling herself because “at least Teresa is in a happy marriage now” or whatever...

In what universe does any of this make sense?

Yet another person being screwed over by this whole shitshow is Annie. Marek was also introduced in S2 as a love interest for Pat yet he’s somehow obtained significantly more screen time and development than Annie. Despite appearing in four episodes and two instalments of the book I feel like we (and Teresa) barely know her, which is absolute bullshit if they’re seriously intending for her to be Teresa’s endgame. They’ve had three conversations! Any romantic relationship between two women should get equal, if not more focus than the hetero ones especially if they’re the only f/f romance on the show. One of the central themes of Home Fires is relationships between women so I cannot understand why the ball has been so spectacularly dropped here. It’s not fair on Teresa to get all this suffering and a half-baked romantic subplot, it’s not fair on Annie to be essentially non-existent as a character beyond her possible relationship with Teresa and it’s certainly not fair on any wlw reading/watching, desperate to see themselves represented and being given scraps.

Even if Teresa's marriage is over soon (which I'm not holding my breath about), I can't see how she'll get a happy ending with Annie in the village. I highly doubt Nick would be okay with her continuing to live with him whilst she was in a relationship with Annie. Getting a divorce and moving in together would arouse a ton of suspicion and defeat the purpose of Teresa’s marriage in the first place. The only way for them to be able to live as a couple would involve moving away and starting afresh... Exactly what Connie proposed in S1, only for Teresa to turn down because she’d feel much more comfortable living a quiet life in the village than going off to a strange place. Having her suddenly change her mind now after clearly explaining her decision to Connie would result in everything post-1x04 feeling utterly redundant.

I just... this whole plot was totally avoidable. It didn’t need to happen. In a more logical universe:

After the First Aid course, Steph notes Teresa’s discomfort at the casual homophobia, and when coupled with her Meaningful Look at Annie as she cycled away, Steph promptly puts two and two together (remember Steph noticing how quickly Teresa wanted to get away after that comment? Remember the close friendship Steph and Teresa have? Simon Block sure doesn’t).

Once she hears about the impending wedding, Steph gently asks Teresa if she’s sure she wants to do it. Teresa half-heartedly assures her that she loves Nick, so Steph - because she’s a good friend and this show is supposed to be about women helping each other - decides to go and speak to Annie.

Annie and Steph end up staging an intervention and in an important and touching scene, tell her she deserves better than having to hide herself in a marriage to a man.

Teresa, feeling supported and loved by her friends, calls off the wedding.

Nick fucks off and becomes irrelevant.

Steph and Annie’s intervention forces Alison to consider why she pushed Teresa away (spoiler alert: it only really makes sense if it was because she was trying to push away feelings of her own).

Teresa, Annie, Alison, Steph and later Joyce start a wlw group during which they talk about how gay they are and how straight people suck. Nothing bad happens to any of them ever.

See how easy that was? The evils of heteronormativity are depicted in a way that doesn’t cause a lesbian to suffer for months trapped in a horrible loveless marriage.

I really can’t express how disappointed I am in this storyline. Home Fires has handled numerous other sensitive topics well but this marriage plot is an absolute mess right now. I do apologise for going on such a rant about it and I hope my comments make sense. As a bisexual, I’m not as qualified to speak on this particular matter as others in the fandom may be and I hope I’ve not stepped out of turn, but I felt that something needed to be said about what’s happening with Teresa right now and I wasn’t sure if anyone else was going to say it.

Miscellaneous things I’m not going to elaborate on because this is far too long already:

I badly miss Sarah, the Farrows, the Brindsleys, Claire and Spencer, and everyone else who is currently out of rotation. Hope you’re all doing well, folks.

Also missing some of the best dynamics of S1/2. As mentioned earlier, everyone is kinda stuck in their own bubble interacting with the same people over and over again. I particularly want more Frances/Joyce, Teresa/Alison and Teresa/Steph interactions.

Of all the random secondary characters in the show, of course it’s Mrs Talbot who returns for the books. I groaned when I saw her name.

Maybe in some ways I’m glad the show got cancelled because at least I don’t have to witness the Teresa/Nick sex scenes with my own eyes. It was bad enough having to read it thank you very much.

If you’ve made it this far you deserve a medal for your stamina and, as ever, my inbox is always over if anyone else wants to discuss/theorise/rant with me.

See you all again on September 21st for what I’m sure will be another 2000+ word rant!

#home fires #home fires itv #itv home fires #home fires spoilers #spoilers #keep the home fires burning #keep the home fires burning spoilers #seriously this contains all the spoilers #also I hope it makes sense #its 2:25am ive spent five days on it and I can't look at it any longer #@ simon block: why. why are you doing this. #why are you ruining an otherwise good book with this shitty plot #anyway goodnight/morning everyone I hope at least one person reads this + I hope no one on mobile accidentally gets spoiled

[imogenmeehan]

‘Joker’ Review

For our last blog we’ve been given the choice to review a film or television show of our choice. I’ve chosen to review Joker (2019) directed by Todd Phillips, which I assume many others have chosen… but there is no other film I’d rather talk about! This film absolutely blew me away and affected me in a way very few other films have done in the past.

Right off the bat, I anticipated that the film would be great simply because Joaquin Phoenix had the lead role. Joaquin Phoenix is an incredible actor and I’ve always admired his work and his dedication to the craft of acting. I was unsure how he would make such an iconic character his own, but God almighty did he succeed! It was almost as if he originated this character himself, I often forgot that I was watching a film about an iconic villain from the DC universe. As we mention all the time in class, the best performances come from those who internalize their emotions and Joaquin is a perfect example of this. You can literally see and hear the thoughts running through his mind and the emotions radiating from within. He just has to give a simple look and we know what he wants to say and what he’s feeling.

I’ve researched this film quite a bit and have watched many of Joaquin’s interviews in which he explains how he prepared for the role and how he approached the character. Joaquin lost around 24kg for the role and had a very restricted diet which he claims added to his performance as he was literally and figuratively starving. Apart from that, he did an immense amount of research leading up to production and refined his skills in terms of voice and physicality. He watched old films, worked with a choreographer, kept a journal and studied the character inside and out. This was very inspiring to hear, and it’s help light the fire more for myself as an aspiring actress. I admire his passion and dedication and truly believe that he is a fantastic example of an actor who lives and breathes for their work.

Aside from Joaquin’s amazing performance, I believe that the direction of the themes is what made this film so great. There is still unfortunately a large stigma attached to mental illness and we as a society are often afraid to confront it or discuss it. We forget that how we treat one another affects people, especially those who are battling with inner demons. The film was uncensored and unfiltered in terms of showing just how selfish and unforgiving society can be and the character of Arthur absolutely broke my heart. He was just so real that it was difficult to remind myself that he was becoming a villain. The whole story begged the question of whether or not people are born evil and after watching this film, I don’t think anyone is. This film made me realize that everyone is born innocent and pure, it is only when they become poisoned by society that they find outlets such as drinking, drugs and murder. Mental illness is something that needs society’s full attention as it can become dangerous and unsteady when it is ignored or shamed. 

A favourite line of mine was: “What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash? You get what you f***ing deserve.” The entire film is full of brilliant quotes which is evidently a huge nod to the writers and their genius ability to tell a story. The quote that had the biggest impact on me was: “I just hope my death makes more cents than my life.” At first I (and I assume most people) took it as Arthur misspelling the word “sense” due to his lack of education however, I now truly understand it. Arthur didn’t misspell the word but rather was talking about the connection of money with death. He talks about a corrupt society that is selfish and full of greed and so all that he hopes for is that his death will result in financial support for his mother that he couldn’t give her while he was alive. 

The scene with Murray in which Arthur appears as a guest made an imprint in my mind that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It was one of the most shocking and confronting scenes I’d ever seen and although many have disagreed with Todd Phillip’s choice of explicit visuals and themes, especially within this scene, I believe it was a remarkable moment. The entire audience gasped, including myself, during the pivotal ending to the scene and I was completely in awe. Another scene which impacted me was the scene on the bus where Arthur playfully makes faces at a young boy in front of him. When he started laughing, I was initially confused however, when he gave the lady a card which explained his medical condition, I became very emotional. There was absolutely nothing funny about the scene anymore and you could feel his pain and embarrassment. There were moments where I felt like reaching through the screen and hugging him because I felt so incredibly awful for him – but then I found myself feeling conflicted because he’s a villain… right? We’re suppose to hate villains. We’re suppose to think they’re evil and deserve nothing. This was a strange realization for me, but it all came back to the incredible message of the film.

The entire film was shot beautifully and looked visually stunning. The use of colour was brilliant and I found an article which summed its use up very well. Cathy Whitlock of The Hollywood Reporter commented on the building of the character of Arthur through the use of various colour palettes. In the beginning of the film, we see him dressed in worn-out, dull and inexpensive clothing that reflects his lifestyle, financial status and the culture he has grown up in. The transformation into the Joker then showed him wearing brighter colours such as reds, blues, greens and so on which juxtaposed Arthur’s previous appearance. The costuming and sets were also true to the time period of the early 80s and I genuinely believed that the whole film was taking place within this era. Not a detail was out of place. 

The entire cast were remarkable with their performances and Todd Phillip’s genius direction gave the film a significant purpose. I would highly recommend this film to everyone… over the age of 18 (sorry kids, your parents will thank me later).

REFERENCES

Whitlock, C. (2019). The Style Transformation of Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker. Retrieved from The Hollywood Reporter website: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/joker-style-transformation-joaquin-phoenix-1243670

[evenstevensranked]

#32: Season 1, Episode 7 - “Foodzilla”

Louis convinces Ren to let him do a live news segment on the school lunch lady for the Wombat Report. Unfortunately, his inability to be serious turns the story into a fiasco -- ultimately causing the lunch lady to quit her job.

The episode opens with Louis and Ren walking home from school. He’s nagging her and asking “please?!” over and over. This is obviously setting us up to wonder what the heck he’s asking for. Side note: I love how even though I know they filmed the interior shots of the house on a set, I STILL like to think they used the real house from time to time, lol. This is another one of those instances. They’re walking out and about in the real world, up until they reach their front door. You can’t tell if they’re still outside or if they’ve captured great artificial “natural” light. Gahhh. You can also hear legitimate sounding wind and cars driving by, which is either great sound editing or... ya know, they were actually at the house. In which case.. IT TOTALLY IS THE SAME INSIDE! 

Yeah, this is definitely (probably) my wishful thinking talking tbh. The more I stare at these images the more it looks like a set with bright lights... But still. 

Anyway, nerd analyzation aside... Turns out Louis desperately wants to host a segment on the premiere installment of the Wombat Report, which Ren is in charge of. He says that he could make her a comic masterpiece, which is where Ren immediately shuts any prospect down. Naturally, she absolutely will not allow it because she thinks Louis is incapable of taking anything seriously. I don’t blame her. If only she could lighten up, though.. Louis probably could’ve delivered something great, hilarious and take it seriously. I would’ve loved to see that, tbh. 

Literally a million scenes/lines from this episode were used in Disney Channel promos for the show. Including “You think I need to shave my pits?” “I rest my case.” which happens around this point of the episode. 

Louis heads out to the backyard, where Eileen is attempting to do Tai-Chi. The only problem is that she can’t find the right music to help her relax. Louis confides in her about the Wombat Report situation, and she tells him if he really wants to do it, the only option is to take it seriously and present Ren with a professional idea. She invites Louis to try exercising with her “Do this with me! It’s called: Golden Chicken Stands on One Leg.” Louis gives up right away and says:

So freaking good. Louis Stevens is all of us. 

Eileen eventually looks though Ren’s CD collection for better relaxation tunes and chooses Limp Bizkit. Oh my god. “The Limp Biscuits. That sounds relaxing” she says. bahaha I can’t. 

The next day at school, Louis tries to figure out a good idea for a story and goes to Twitty and Tawny for help at lunch. Twitty suggests that he do a behind the scenes look at his band, The Alan Twitty Project! Ahhhh! This is the first ever hint at the band arc! :D He also says that his lead singer has mono. The number one sickness mentioned on teen shows that literally no one I’ve ever known in real life has contracted. We get another one of those lines used in promos here: Louis: “You think I’m just some goofball who can’t be serious?” Twitty and Tawny: “...........yeah.” 

Right about now is when Louis gets the bright idea to do his story on the school lunch lady.. played by Wendy Worthington who’s been in a zillion things you’ve probably seen. Including “Tower of Terror” -- the single most horrifying movie to ever air on Disney Channel. (Well, except for “Don’t Look Under The Bed.”) There’s a decapitated corpse and doll in the film. Just sayin. 

She’s honestly really good at playing a creepy lady, I guess. Also, the little girl is Morgan from Boy Meets World... which instead of a direct parallel, you could consider a 6 degrees of separation deal between this show and BMW. I mean, that’s kinda reaching... but.

Just for the laughs, here’s me on the ride at Disney World. I was... well, terrified of it, but oddly obsessed at the same time. Also, that is my uncle laughing at me to my right. 

Louis presents Ren with a rough draft of his report “The Lunch Lady: Life Behind The Hairnet” which seems extremely promising. Ren thinks so too, and allows him to do the segment. We sort of get mirror talk that night... but not really. It’s just Louis practicing various ways to act on air -- another bit used in promos. 

Okay, we’ve finally reached the debut of The Wombat Report! For some reason Ren can’t correctly pronounce “Wombat Report” and says “Wombat Waport” I never understood this until I asked my mother for confirmation today. Louis refers to her as “Bawa” (a.k.a Barbara Walters) at one point, so I always assumed this was a reference to her or something... turns out my assumption was correct. I apologize for being an uncultured swine.

They start off with a “Coming up...” intro that features a character named DaNica Henderson (played by Alexis Lopez from The Luck Of the Irish, whose sister is Bianca Lopez a.k.a Mandy “Always Gets Her Man” Sanchez! Holy crap!) To quote Season 3 Louis:

DaNica says “Ever wonder what happens to the fines you pay on overdue library books? I have a shocking report.” And the camera zooms out to reveal a fancy sports car in the librarian’s parking spot: 

Like, wth?! lol. Imagine if the librarian saved up enough piddly overdue fines to buy a freaking lambo or something?! omg. What’s funnier is that I’m picturing the stereotypical, old lady librarian driving around in that car. 

They segue to a sports report by the underused Artie Ryan. Yesssss. He’s interviewing Twitty about a recent basketball game. This scene cuts to Louis, who’s on next, telling Tom (who of course is the AV guy/cameraman) that he’s just gonna wing the interview with the lunch lady. Not good. When it cuts back to Artie’s segment, we get another one of those backends to a random sentence from Twitty: “...Let’s just say it’s the last time I played without a cup.” Oh my god. Chill, Disney. Twitty takes this on-air opportunity to say that his band is looking for a bassist. Artie leans in like “Hey! I play bass!” lol. This is so great because Artie goes on to join The Alan Twitty Project/Twitty-Stevens Connection! Again, very cool to see the band arc starting to form. Gotta love solid continuity. 

It’s time for Louis’ report and, well... this is just one of those absolutely iconic scenes ya gotta embed: 

“It’s FOODZILLA! Tokyo is dooooomed!” (At least, I think that’s what he’s saying.) 

..........as you can see, Louis started off his live-streamed interview sort of okay? And then it all just went down in flames pretty quickly. Only Louis Stevens could take an interview from a simple question, to a full out food war between the news crew and the Lunch Lady. It’s actually pretty hilarious, but you just cannot help but cringe at the fact Louis f’d up… again -- Much like his meltdown in Wild Child. But, I’m ranking this disaster higher because I find it less horrible than tarnishing the name of his own family and jeopardizing Eileen’s campaign on television. It’s a lil less cringy than that, which makes it funnier. I love how he shouts “MAN DOWN! I’ll try to get’cha out! I’ll try to get’cha!” as if they’re literally at war, which is too much lol.. and also predicted Shia’s future...? (Again, I’m reaching, but STILL.) That ending shot scene of Ren fuming with anger was also used for promos. Actually, you can just check out this promo video I posted recently to see every moment I’ve mentioned so far and then some.

To Ren’s surprise, everyone (including Principal Wexler for whatever reason) loved Louis’ segment and thought it was hilarious. DaNica refers to it as “phat” which definitely dates the show, lol. Just like that, Ren switches gears and tells Louis to prepare another segment. Wow. Unfortunately, at lunch that day.. all the kids start taunting the lunch lady by screaming “FOODZILLA!” at her. This one kid was the first one to shout it, and I always thought he was Khleo Thomas (Zero from Holes) lol:

The lunch lady is obviously mortified and runs away into the kitchen. :( Louis and Ren feel incredibly remorseful. When they get home from school, they tell Eileen everything and she forces them to go to the lunch lady’s house and apologize. (This is also the “You are a horrible little person” bit. As seen in that darn promo I linked.)

They go to her house later that night, and she reluctantly invites them in. We learn that her name is Elsa Schotz, and she “shows them who she really is” by yodeling for them. I don’t know how that’s supposed to reveal her true colors, but ok. We find out that she came over on a boat from Europe to become a professional yodeler, but sadly no one cares about yodeling in America — which is most definitely extremely factual. Have you ever heard a Top 40 yodeling hit? Honestly, why would ANYONE travel to America of all countries to pursue a yodeling career? She was already in Europe! That seems like something you’d go to Germany or Switzerland for??? I feel like this is a career endeavor you’d research where it’s most lucrative before moving to another country? Anyway, once she found out that yodeling work literally does not exist in the US, she started cooking at the school for money. But, now she’s depressed because she’s being made fun of.

This information somehow leads to Louis and Ren giving her a makeover??? I never realized it before, but that almost makes no sense? The kids at school weren’t making fun of her for the way she looks, but rather, because of her crazy outburst. I’d be so insulted and confused if I were Elsa. Is the makeover just a way to... somehow distract from the Foodzilla thing? Idk. She forgives them in the end though and her new-look gives her a confidence boost.

Where’d they get that outfit? Did she just happen to have something snazzy like that in the back of her closet? or did they seriously glamify her uniform?

They were pumped for the kids at school to see the “new and improved” Elsa Schotz, but she doesn’t show up the next day. Turns out she struck up a relationship with the school janitor and they eloped to Las Vegas to get married. Still a better love story than Twilight. 

And that’s pretty much it! The short return after the last commercial break is Louis yodeling for Eileen while she does her Tai-Chi. 

This episode remains super memorable. Probably because how many freaking scenes they used on commercials! It also aired a lot as well. Like, wow. But other than the actual Foodzilla scene, the rest of the episode is just a little bland and slightly random at times haha. It’s still good though. It’s nice to see Louis and Ren work together to help Elsa in the end. 

Thoughts?

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#rank #even stevens #louis stevens #shia labeouf #disney channel #old disney #nostalgia #old school disney #ren stevens #christy carlson romano #wendy worthington #foodzilla #season 1 #band arc #the twitty stevens connection #the alan twitty project #artie ryan

[themyskira]

Some disordered (spoilery) thoughts on the movie

Some things that I liked

Kid Diana racing through the streets, lighting up with excitement as she watches the warriors train. The not-at-all-innocent “hello, Mother” when Hippolyta catches her out (literally).

An active, bustling Amazon society. Amazons going about their days. Amazons sparring together, Amazons taking pleasure in one another’s company.

Diana’s compassion. Her instant willingness to risk her own life in the face of others’ suffering. 

“I am willing to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. Like you once did.” “You know that if you choose to leave us, you can never return.” “Who will I be if I stay?”

Hippolyta’s love and grief and pride. The parting gift of Antiope’s headband -- the iconic tiara.

Diana’s palpable delight in the little things -- The sight of a baby. Snow. Dancing. Celebrating townsfolk. The taste of ice cream.

(The ice cream moment, by the way -- so, so, so much better than the comic book scene it’s derived from, which was actually awful.)

Her refusal to walk past injustices or to sacrifice individuals for the greater good. Steve, the military intelligence man, forces himself to ignore the suffering civilians and focus on the mission, which will ultimately prevent greater suffering. Diana can’t accept that, won’t accept that. No other relief is coming for these people. She steps out into No Man’s Land.

Facing Ares at the last with that simple, powerful conviction: for all the darkness in human hearts, there is also the capacity for great love, and she’ll fight for that every day if she has to.

The use of the BvS quote in the trailer is thoroughly misleading: this isn’t the story of why Diana walked away from mankind. It’s the story of why she continues to fight for humanity, believing in people’s ability to rise above their darker impulses.

Some things that I did not like

DIANA IS A RASH, NAIVE IDIOT.

And yes, this is a young Diana, an untested Diana on her first journey into Man’s World. I realise that. I expect her to screw up, to misjudge things and have her preconceptions challenge. I expect there to be a learning curve.

Even allowing for that, the Diana in this movie is a complete dickhead.

She’s an adult who still believes in fairy tales. She thinks that humans are completely good and pure, and only the corruption of outside forces causes them to do bad things.

Over the course of the movie, she is continually confronted with situations that challenge this view. She meets good people who have done bad things -- people who don’t always have the luxury of standing up for principles, and people who’ve made terrible choices for right reasons. She witnesses and learns of corruption, discrimination and dispossession. Again and again and again.

And she learns nothing from any of this.

Because when she thinks she’s killed Ares (and oh, I’ll get to that bit of stupid), she is shocked -- shocked -- that people don’t immediately lay down their weapons.

And when Steve floats the possibility that maybe, maybe war is just a little more complicated that “the devil made them do it”, she can't fucking deal with it and decides “FUCK Y’ALL, YOU DON’T DESERVE MY HELP. NEVER MIND THE INNOCENT BYSTANDERS I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT BEFORE, THEY CAN ALL FUCKING BURN. IF HUMANS AREN’T PERFECT CREATURES OF VIRTUE THEN THEY DON’T DESERVE TO LIVE.”

but no I don’t think I’ve adequately explained what an absolute boneheaded twit this woman is.

Her naivety goes beyond the usual fish-out-of-water hijinks. She has no awareness of the people around her. She cannot make intuitive leaps. She doesn’t take on board what she’s told. She has no interest in planning or considering the consequences of her actions, which means that Steve’s constantly trailing one step behind her lecturing her about how she can’t do whatever it is she's about to do.

“OH NO I DON’T NEED A PLAN I’LL JUST RUN INTO THE PARTY AND MURDER A DUDE AND THEN THE WAR WILL MAGICALLY END I SEE NO REASON TO TALK ABOUT THIS FURTHER THERE IS NOTHING THAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG IN THIS EQUATION”

��WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE NEED TO THINK THIS THROUGH. WHY WOULD WE SECURE THE POISON MURDERGAS AND PREVENT IT FROM BEING DEPLOYED AGAINST ANYBODY WHEN WE COULD KILL A GUY ON A HUNCH I HAD INSTEAD. GOD STEVEN IT’S LIKE YOU’RE TRYING TO STOP ME FROM ENDING THE WAR”

She comes to the conclusion that General Ludendusseldorfendorf is Ares in disguise based solely on the fact that he is he one spearheading the German murdergas project, and obviously humans are not capable of doing evil things on their own, and it’s not like there are hundreds of other people involved in the production of these weapons or at least there are but she doesn’t know any of their names so she can probably pre-emptively rule them out and just go murder Ludenhoodendooden.

Sure, it helps that Ludenhorfledorf is an absurd cartoon villain of the sort who is prone to cackling maniacally and shooting his own men at random. Who, when Diana finally comes face-to-face with him, spends most of the conversation talking about the massive hard-on he has for war and slaughter and Ares specifically. But you kinda want to be sure before you jump to the dramatic speechifying and righteous murdering.

Gary Oldman Ares is awful. Everything about the gods is awful. Ares murdering all the gods. Zeus as a loving, self-sacrificing, pseudo-Christian god. Zeus replacing the role of the goddesses in the Amazons’ story. Ares describing himself as the god of truth URGH. The utter bullshit of Ares’ “boooooo humans are assholes, I want them all to die so much so that the world can be decent again” urgh fuck off mate you are such a disappointing villain.

And could anybody else figure out the logic in his ranting? because fuck knows it’s still eluding me. “oooooohhh I have so much faith in humans’ ability to fuck themselves and everybody else over that I’m actually helping to negotiate Armistice! I’m literally doing everything I can to stop the war because I know that in the end it will have no effect and humans will bomb each other into oblivion! and I won’t have had anything to do with their destruction! Sure, I very deliberately put the tools for mass slaughter in the hands of the select few people in this war who had both the desire and the power to use them, thus giving them the ability to overpower the majority who had turned their efforts to peace, and to escalate the conflict against the wishes of their leaders! But really it’s humanity as a whole that is the asshole here!”

Dr Poison is more plot device than character. She has no backstory, no arc and no personality. She’s a generic evil minion whose only pleasure in life comes from devising new ways to murder people with chemicals. She is wasted.

If Etta Candy were a rose by any other name, I might have liked her. I like Lucy Davis as an actress, and though I found the character a bit... overly quirky-loveable-British-comic-relief-girl... it was nice for Diana to have a potential female friend in what was (outside of Themyscira) a very male-dominated cast, and it would have been nice for them to interact more.

My sticking point with the character is that she was supposed to be Etta Candy. Who will always be, in my head, a fierce, fabulous, fearless, ass-kicking Texan lady. Quirky British “we use our principles, although I am not averse to engaging in fisticuffs should the occasion arise” haha jolly good... ain’t gonna cut it for me. Though I acknowledge that this is getting into nitpicking.

Steve annoyed the shit out of me. He is both the brains and the heart of the movie. He is the one who ultimately teaches Diana to love humanity, to fight for them, to be a hero. Diana wants to help end the war, but Steve’s words are what spur her to defy her mother’s forbiddance. She throws herself into the fight against Ares, but Steve’s sacrifice and the love and dedication behind it are what empower her to defeat him. She wants to help from the start, but it’s Steve who teaches her not to fight for people because they “deserve” it, but because it’s the right thing to do. It’s Steve who teaches Diana true compassion.

Throughout the film, Steve is the one trailing after Diana trying in vain to make her see reason. He’s the one making the plans to actually stop Ludendude from committing chemical genocide while Diana is crashing from scene to scene all “OKAY I WILL GO END THE WAR NOW. WHICH WAY IS THE WAR AGAIN?”

Steve is smarter, more understanding, more competent and more compassionate than Diana.

Also, after Diana sees Steve naked he spends the next two or three scenes anxiously assuring her that his dick is, in fact, larger than average.

(Diana knows about sex because she’s read all the books, urgh)

The sword is a misdirect: the weapon Zeus left the Amazons to counter Ares is Diana herself. Kind of cool as a general concept, except that this effectively replaces Diana’s “brought into being by a mother’s love” origin with one in which she is a weapon bequeathed by the Supreme Patriarch. Also, the foreshadowing of this was the exact opposite of subtle, taking some of the power out of the eventual revelation.

This origin also means that Diana is the only child on Themyscira, which adds to this whole... woman-child thing about her that I really don’t like. Because the movie requires her to go from “why are those people holding hands? because they’re together? well, you and I are together, why shouldn’t we hold hands? what do you mean it’s not the same? of course I know about sex I have read lots of books about human biology” to fucking (and, the implication is, losing her virginity to) Steve and... euuugh.

also 140 minutes is a fucking slog, man.

idk there is probably more to say but I feel like I’ve stopped being coherent.

#wondy film

[mexcine2]

               “More Fun Than a Puppy!” (Mickey Mouse Hand Puppets, 1949) 

Although I was once a child, I don’t have children of my own and I don’t associate with anyone who does. [That sounds as if I’m deliberately avoiding people with young children, which is not entirely true.] So I don’t know what “kids today” do for recreation.  Play video games?  Watch DVDs and television?  Go down to the old fishin’ hole with their pals?  Stage scorpion vs. ant fights?  I assume young children still play in groups, until they reach the age when they get a phone and start texting, says the grumpy old man (P.S.--get off my lawn).   So I guess it’s vaguely possible that kids still put on puppet shows and other amateur theatricals for and with their peers.

Today’s object of scrutiny is an advertisement for the“Amazing New Mickey Mouse Hand Puppets,” back in the day (1949) when children had to make their own fun, darn it.  Television was in its commercial infancy, “first” computer ENIAC had only recently been completed and—at 50 tons—was too large to be carried around in one’s pocket to play Fruit Ninja, and child labour laws had stripped kids (in the USA at least) of the opportunity to put in 12-hour days in factories, so they had a lot of free time that needed to be consumed.  Hey kids, let’s put on a show!

As has been mentioned before, the advertisements in comic books of the late 1940s and 1950s are not always appropriate for what one would perceive to be the intended audience of the publication.  This advertisement, seemingly aimed at children, appeared in the December 1949 issue of Romantic Confessions, a comic book whose readership was probably largely female and almost certainly teen-aged and above.  There are only 3 ads in the whole issue (the inside front and back covers, and the back cover): for the Mickey Mouse puppets, the “Dornol treatment” for acne, and a photo enlargement service.  On the other hand, perhaps the thinking was that adults (or older siblings) would purchase the puppets for children of the appropriate age to enjoy them.

[As an aside, Romantic Confessions was also where the “Giant Movie Cartoon Toy” ad appeared, discussed here.  It’s interesting to note that in less than a year, Romantic Confessions went from 3 pages of ads to 10.] 

There are many aspects of this advertisement worthy of comment. It’s loaded with art and text, requiring a considerable investment of time and effort on the part of potential buyers.  You’ve got to read a lot to learn about this product, but that’s only fair when you’re being asked to spend $1.95 per puppet (equivalent in “buying power” to $19.51 today). That’s alright, more content for us to snark on!

Let’s start with the art, shall we?  There are two basic visual components of this ad, the products themselves, and a comic-strip narrative.  The strip artwork appears to be by the same person who drew the famous “Shoots Like a Real Gun” ad, while the drawings of the puppet heads resemble those in another Rubber-for-Molds ad. In particular, the “Idiot” puppet is identical to the “Idiot” mask.  (As noted in the earlier article, this character somewhat resembles Alfred E. Newman and/or George W. Bush.)

The puppets themselves don’t look particularly interesting. Mickey Mouse is adequately represented, but Minnie has a glazed expression on her face. Thumper (from the film Bambi) is a grotesque cartoon rabbit, deliberately not resembling Bugs Bunny, while Donald Duck is not especially on-model (his head is too smooth, he’s missing his iconic cap, and his beak doesn’t look right).  And then there’s “Idiot,” that famous Disney character...?

In case you were wondering, these puppets “are the same type used on television.  Measuring almost 14 inches high, with a head the size of an orange...Extra thin, natural (not synthetic) rubber...hand painted in lifelike* colors.”  

*[In another part of the ad, the puppets are referred to as “flesh-colored”—I suppose that means mouse­-flesh, duck-flesh, and rabbit­-flesh, in addition to Idiot’s human-flesh?]

The comic strip narrative tells the story of Jimmy’s journey from social outcast to the envy of his peers in only three panels.  Jimmy reads an ad (just like this one) in a comic book (just like this one—spooky!) and learns he can “get puppets that really move!”  Not like those puppets that...don’t move?  Those are called “dolls,” Jimmy.  His little sister Babushka approves.

Some time later, “Jimmy’s Puppet Show” is a sensation, despite the outrageous ticket price of two cents.  Let’s see, he spent $3.90 on the two puppets we see, plus something for the sign, so he needs to sell approximately 200 tickets to turn a profit.  Good luck kid! But it seems he’s on to something—or the children in the audience are truly starved for entertainment—because there is “applause” for his puppet show which is “better than a movie!” (but is it better than...a Disney cartoon?)  We don’t get much detail about the content of the show, although in the scene depicted, Minnie appears to be demurely waiting for Mickey to kiss her, which he seems to be enthusiastically about to do.

“After the Show,” Jimmy is beseiged by admirers, one of whom offers to buy the Mickey puppet, claiming (rather obscurely) “It’s more fun than a puppy!”  Jimmy refuses to sell, realising that “the puppets have made Jimmy the most popular kid on the block,” and once he no longer has his puppets, he’ll return to his previous grim and friendless existence, hated and shunned by all.

There are also two pieces of artwork for those unclear on the concept of what a “puppet” is: you “slip them on like a glove and wiggle your fingers...Slip puppet over hand.  Move fingers.  He obeys every command...Come to Life When You Move Your Fingers.”  OK, I think I’ve got it.  Put hand inside puppet, move fingers.  Is that right?  I don’t want to miss a step even though you claim it’s “Easy as A-B-C.”  To be fair, it’s possible the copywriter wanted to distinguish these hand puppets from marionettes, and in fact the text emphasizes “No strings, nothing to break, wind or get out of order.”

The ad text reinforces the 3 basic themes introduced in the art: (a) these things are amazing; (b) they are easy to use; ( c ) they will change your life for the better.

How amazing are they?  “They laugh, cry and move like real!” Yeah, no they don’t.  These “Television Type Puppets”** can “’Talk’, Laugh, Practically Live” (notice “talk” is in quotes even in the ad copy).  “He laughs, moves, almost becomes alive at the slightest wiggle of your fingers.”  “Looks and acts so alive it’s uncanny.”  In fact, we advise you to securely lock up these puppets at night, to avoid...accidents, if you know what I mean.  Haven’t you ever seen those horror movies?  “Completely safe,” the ad reads.  Hmm...why did they feel compelled to say that?

**[Perhaps the most famous TV puppets were the Muppets (and the Sesame Street gang), Shari Lewis’s Lamb Chop, Howdy Doody, et al., but puppets were ubiquitous on television—local and network--from its earliest days.  Early television programs utilised puppets because they were cheap and simple entertainment: the “costumes,” sets, and so on were miniature, multiple “characters” could be interpreted by one or two people, and these factors allowed shows to create a fictional world (or bring fictional characters into the “real” world) for much less than live-action or animation.]

Alright, I agree these puppets are pretty amazing.  But aren’t they difficult to operate?  I didn’t major in theatre arts at university, after all.  Actually, “it’s easy to put on a puppet show in your home!”  “Just by moving your fingers, he will smile, laugh, cry, hide his head, put fingers in mouth, etc...Slips on and off hand in a jiffy. Even a child can work instantly. No experience necessary.”  “Over 1000 Different Movements!”  (Sorry, complete list of movements not available.) For those who are still insecure about their abilities, purchasers also receive “secret revealing pamphlets on ‘How to Become a Ventriloquist’ and ‘How to Put on a Puppet Show.’”   If there ever was something that deserved to be called “idiot-proof,” this product is it!

But wait, didn’t you mention something about these puppets changing my life?  Why yes I did, very observant of you.  If you put on puppet shows, you’ll “Cause a Sensation at the Next Party...Your Friends Will Scream with Delight and Amazement!”  [Unlike the last party, where you demonstrated how to slaughter & disembowel a hog. Your friends screamed all right, but probably not in Delight and Amazement.]  You’ll be “the most popular kid on the block,” if you don’t count Jonathan, Jordan, Joey, Donnie or Danny.

And don’t think your options are limited to backyard puppet shows only!  These puppets are “Ideal for shows or to carry in pocket or purse.”  Stuck in traffic? Waiting for a doctor’s appointment?  Killing time in a holding cell until your bail bondsman shows up?  Stuck with a  boring blind date?  Whip out your puppet and play with it!  “Pays for itself in fun and laughs first time used.”

Don’t think a hand puppet can make your life better?  Just watch Mel Gibson in The Beaver (2011).  I never saw the end, but I assume it worked out well for him. (hint: it sort of didn’t) 

Thanks Rubber-for-Molds!  I didn’t want that puppy anyway!

#Mickey Mouse #puppet #Donald Duck #hand puppet