#even the one scene from ice pick Joe has something

[whyiseverythingscary]

okay but can we talk about the color in goncharov for a second? like, yes it has some pacing issues but oh my god the aesthetics of the film are on point

first off! when we open and goncharov is shown killing that man, the lighting makes it look as if the blood isn't red, but a dark and deep brown that is almost black and that color specifically! follows goncharov!

in the bar scene when he's drinking with Andrey the first time the wood of the bar is stained a near exact match near goncharovs hand, which has narrative significance! because if it wasn't significant then why would they put so much focus on the stain when andrey takes goncharovs hand? (other than, yknow, andrey taking his hand)

but even further! during the dinner scene with katya, the entire time that she is setting it up and placing the silverware the table runner is a deep green, (one of sofias colors but let's not get into that) only after goncharov comes home late with the lighting change it appears to be that same dark brown as the blood from the beginning! even at home, where he should feel the safest and most relaxed, he's followed by the blood he's spilled!

and it isn't only in dim lighting! it's hard to tell but when in full sunlight, like the scene with the anchovies, his own suit is dark brown and not black! stained with his sins and carrying them with him everywhere!

in fact the only time in the entire movie when blood is shown as red (and when the dark brown isn't near/on goncharov) is the ending scene when he's dying, only his own blood is red and thats the only time he isn't shown as stained with the blood he's spilled! when he finally accepts what he has done!

honestly shout out to the set designers

#goncharov #this does carry out with the other characters as well #it's just harder to tell because most of the film is focused on goncharov #but like #Sofia has green and growing things near her almost all the time #the only times they are absent are when she is speaking with goncharov #and it's most obvious when she's with katya #katya doesn't seem to have a color so much as she reflects color? #like I said the table runner is sofias color #and as the film goes on you see that more and more #until the titular scene where katya must make a choice #and she's wearing sofias green as her dress even while rejecting her #even the one scene from ice pick Joe has something #though it's more of a filter than a single color #everything is much brighter than usual and blue really sticks out #unreality

[see-arcane]

Goncharov (1973): “Why an apple?”

I know Goncharov is drowning in so MANY themes. We have the Running Out of Time theme, the Cycle of Violence and Repression theme, the Can’t Fight Nature theme with all its animal motifs, we even have Ice Pick Joe’s criminally underappreciated arc about Humanity Doing Violence to Anything/Anyone Outside the Mold of the Cycle/What the Majority Says is Natural theme. Themes on themes on themes!

But the one that still keeps needling me in the heart is, of all things, the Fruit theme. Yes, really. 

Sure, right, the whole ‘Forbidden Fruit’ thing is extremely old hat to cinema now, especially within media dealing with gay romances (rather, gay romances that Almost Were and Ended Tragically). But the way it’s played with in Goncharov seems to hit just to the left of the cliché and lets something new grow.

Or, in the case of our various doomed characters, lets it get mowed down.

It starts with the fruit stand. Katya and Sofia, two wives shopping for two husbands. They come to the apples. Sofia, with her serpent bracelet twinkling, stoops to help Katya pick up the fallen fruit that escaped her basket. Is the meeting orchestrated? Accident? Neither woman would ever tell, considering where both stand--where they recognize each other from. The worlds of men and murder they stand so precariously within.

Still. It is so hard to make friends in their worlds. And they are in public. And just for a while, just here, in the sun, they can pretend they are just two women who know each other from somewhere. Just making friends. 

Apples segues to temptation, you know the drill--they even bring it up in conversation! 

...A conversation that the cut to the far end of afternoon reveals has stretched all the way out of the market and into a bistro. Just two women, just two friends, just talking (in public). They bring up Adam and Eve and the Forbidden Fruit and--

Sofia: I never got why it had to be an apple.

Katya: What do you mean? 

Sofia: I mean I don’t get it. Why an apple? 

Katya: I don’t know. Because it’s always been an apple, I guess. It’s easier to pull off in art. All the painters and sculptors and everyone else who makes those kind of calls, they all just got together and decided, ‘An apple looks pretty simple. Nice, smooth, round. Easy enough to draw in a tree.’ And boom, everyone sees nothing but apples in the Tree of Knowledge ever after. So it’s always apples.

Sofia: The dullest possible produce. The Forbidden Fruit is supposed to be something off limits, something special. All the knowledge of the world and of each other and of the realization that these two fools are running around the Garden with their asses bare in front of the Almighty. Apples don’t seem right for that. It’s dull. It’s a thing for pastry and postcards. 

Katya: ...What would you pick instead?

Sofia: Pomegranates. No question.

Katya: Why pomegranates? 

Sofia: It’s the fruit that the God of the Dead uses to trick the Goddess of Spring into staying with him in the Underworld. She tastes the seeds and she’s forced to stay down there for half a year, every year, forever. A fruit so powerful it can trap a goddess seems like the kind of fruit that could banish humanity from Paradise. 

(Cue that Very Telling pause. The unbroken eye contact. Then...)

Sofia: Tastes better than apples too. And it looks like a jewel when you split it open. 

(Of course, when it’s time to order dessert, they split a pomegranate panna cotta. The scene closes with Katya licking her lips.)

Katya: I do like apples. But this? This is amazing. I’d go to Hell for this.*

(*There’s a whole other essay in describing Katya’s bisexuality, her partaking of apples and pomegranates in equal measure, the genuine hurt she feels in knowing that Goncharov cares for her, but not beyond the presentation they put on for his peers. Arm candy with benefits (and constant threat to her life). And it wouldn’t be so bad, she knows, if they were at least still friends like they were at the start--but all of that has gone to Andrey. The friendship, the love, the care; at least as much as Goncharov is capable of beyond his own issues. But I digress.)

We see this whole undercurrent play out through the film, in parallel to the hammered-in fear and resignation that comes with the characters being crushed by the mantra of You Can’t Go On Forever, Can’t Fight the Cycle, Can’t Fight Nature, Can’t Step Outside the Norm/the Nuclear Family (of the Mafia/the Mob Or Else).

Because it doesn’t have to be an apple.

They never had to worry about the time burning away their lives one miserable day at a time, unhappy and cramped with violence and expectations that are a wholly self-perpetuating horror show that humanity inflicts on itself. The characters compare themselves to animals more than once in the film, all unable to fight the inevitable. But as Andrey and Katya point out to their respective paramours, it does not have to be that way. It never did--it doesn’t need to be now. Please. Please.

They can have the Forbidden Fruit and it can be whatever they want! Let it be a pomegranate! Let them glut themselves on it! And, hell, why do they have to buy into everyone else’s rules about what is and isn’t forbidden anyway? They’re none of them living within the law in the first place. Blood’s on everyone’s hands. Can’t they sin a little sweeter? Can’t they admit the sin they want most isn’t a sin at all, no matter what lies to the contrary they’ve swallowed in the caustic hell they’ve found themselves in?

“We can grow our own garden somewhere,” Katya pleads with Sofia, smiling through tears trying so hard not to fall--the first tears she’s allowed herself in years. 

“We can grow our own tobacco,” Andrey tries to joke with Goncharov, not joking at all. He still has that cheap scuffed lighter Goncharov gifted him years ago when they were both nobodies, and he grips it in his visible hand like a talisman.

Of course, we know the endings there. 

Katya lives to leave, without husband or lover or friend, and mourn the fact that her beloved Temptation cannot be tempted in turn. Not with where Sofia stands. Rooted by cold blood as much as fear. This is what she knows. This is her world, her Tree, her Devil she knows, her Underworld to rule as much as any queen can rule there, unhappy but resigned. Go, Eve. Grow your garden alone. 

Andrey pulls the trigger, and feels more pain in that instant than even Goncharov does with the hole in his heart. He walks away, mourning the man who is as much a victim of himself as the bullet; a stubborn Adam who spat out his fruit and insisted upon fighting the Serpent, who dies reliving a memory of two cigars, sharing a flame against a cold night--the light fading, fading, fading...

It never had to be this way. Not for any of them. Not really. But even with the Forbidden Fruits of their choice hanging in reach, free to take and run, it was not eating them that resulted in their respective tragedies. 

The Forbidden Fruit is there to be eaten. To be learned from. To force you to grow and go. To step outside the boundaries made to keep you in. 

But you just can’t make everyone eat.

#taking a break from ghouls to get in my two cents about Goncharov and the Themes #still holding out for my extremely late KatyaxSofia sequel Mr. Scorsese #goncharov #katya #sofia #andrey #ice pick joe #unreality

[vendetta-if]

What are the ROs, Luka, Jackal, Viktor, and Grandpa' opinion on the movie Goncharov (1973)?

Scorsese’s Goncharov (1973). A classic, undoubtedly one of the best mafia movies ever made😩

Ash

Watched it with MC and Luka. Thinks it’s pretty neat, doesn’t really care too much about the imageries and symbolisms, but loves its thrilling story and the tragedy. If MC likes it, then they have no problem with it 👍🏻 Also, they probably won’t admit this but their favorite character from the movie is ‘Ice Pick Joe’.

Rin

They enjoy it and approve of how Scorsese didn’t shy away from the gritty and violent portrayal of the world of organized crime.

Santana

Sadly has never watched it yet. Has heard of it, of course. They just have never been a huge movie enthusiast. Maybe your MC will be able to make them watch the movie with them? 🤔

Skylar

Watched it and loved it. The frames are well shot and as always with most of Scorsese’s movies, the acting by the actors are phenomenal. Not to mention, the drama and the tragic romance. Oof, Skylar can’t get enough of it 😩

Luka

Luka is kinda a film buff and he really loves it. Still thinks it’s one of Scorsese’s best works yet (yes, even better than ‘Taxi Driver’). Can talk and discuss about the imageries or just the scenes of the movie for hours! Don’t let him catch you saying that you haven’t watched Goncharov (1973) yet!

Jackal

Jackal is a victim of letting Luka hear that you have never watched Goncharov (1973) yet! Well, Luka has often invited Jackal to come watch some classic films together, so no big problem.

Here’s a snippet of their conversation after the movie is done:

Luka: “So… What do you think?”

Jackal: “I think that if Goncharov and Andrey just fucked, a lot of the deaths in the film could’ve been prevented.” [shurgs]

Luka: “W—What? But one of the themes of the movie is about inevitability… with all those ticking clocks imageries—”

Jackal: “Spare me that pretentious stuff and just take a second to picture what would happen if only they fucked and tell me that I’m wrong.”

Luka: … [thinking about it]

Jackal: …

Luka: [sighs] “You know what? You have a great point…”

Viktor

Can relate to Goncharov a bit, about trying to get away from your past and outrun the looming consequences dogging your footsteps, the inevitable karma making it feel as if you’re constantly running out of time.

Grandpa

Can relate a lot with Goncharov, as a fellow immigrant from the Soviet Union setting foot in a new country trying to build something better for his family and getting embroiled with the local criminal organizations.

The only difference is he succeeded, of course.

Grandma

Can understand and sympathize with Katya’s strained relationship with her husband, Goncharov. After all, her own marriage to Grandpa started out pretty rocky, but thankfully, they managed to fix that not long after her sons were born and they eventually fall in love for real.

Cara

She fell asleep halfway through the movie when Luka invited her and Viktor to watch it together. She only remembers the ice pick guy. Don’t tell Luka, please! He’ll ask her to watch it again with him.

Takashi

He would be most interested in the sexual tension between Goncharov and Andrey… No reason at all… Would totally agree with Jackal’s statement 😂

#asks #anon ask #if: vendetta #full cast ros #ro reactions #ro: ash #ro: rin #ro: santana #ro: skylar #char: luka #char: jackal #char: viktor #char: grandpa #char: grandma #char: cara #if game #if wip #dashingdon #choicescript #meme #goncharov

[pen-your-dragons]

Okay hear me out, Goncharov AU of BBC Merlin

Arthur is obviously Goncharov himself — The Protagonist, struggling to define who he is a person, always running out of time, constantly betrayed by the ones close to him. Marries Katya but has that whole homoerotic tension with Andrey. The whole “was doomed from the start”/tragic hero narrative

Merlin is Andrey — Is always by Goncharov’s side. His inevitable betrayal towards Goncharov (revealing his magic to Arthur)

Guinevere is Katya — Marries Goncharov. Even her devotion to him isn’t enough to save him from the narrative. Had something going on with Sofia before deciding to marry Goncharov, strangling their bonds afterwards even though the bittersweet memories will always be there

Morgana is a perfect Sofia — Protective over Katya from the very first scene where Goncharov asks about her. Had something going on with Katya before she decided to marry Goncharov. Still feels for Katya

Gwaine is (hear me out, you know it’s true) Ice Pick Joe — Always looking for a fight/someone to stab. Stuck in the cycle of violence. Playful attitude to hide the traumas from his past

#bbc merlin #goncharov #arthur pendragon #merthur #merlin #merlin bbc #merlin emrys #morgana #uther pendragon #guinevere #the once and future king #gaius #the knights of the round table #merlin x arthur #bbcmerlin #gwaine #lancelot du lac #kilgharrah #goncharov 1973 #goncharov (1973) #andrey goncharov #katya goncharov #sofia goncharov #ice pick joe #martin scorcese #mop

[hauntedpearl]

A lesser known fact about The Room (2003, dir. Tommy Wiseau) is that the iconic "Oh, hi, Mark!" scene is inspired by one of the charged confrontations that take place between Goncharov and Ice Pick Joe in the first act of the Scorsese film. Now, Wiseau is infamous for his poor directorial skills, and so, it's no surprise that this reference that he put in the movie was almost indiscernible as an homage by the audience. However according to this interview, it was something that was really important to him as he based Lisa's character off of Katya Goncharova, and also wanted to depict the relationship between Johnny and Mark to be similar to the one Goncharov shares with his not-so-trustworthy double-crosser of a right-hand-man Ice Pick Joe.

In the book about Wiseau and the filming of The Room, The Disaster Artist, his co-star and friend Greg Sestero writes:

Tommy was always very secretive about where he came from, or how he came by the fortune that he spent on the filming of The Room. He often vaguely alluded to time spent on the French coast or the vineyards of Italy while talking about his past, but he never did go into the specifics of his life, or his businesses. From these conversations, I got the idea that his life before he came to the States probably involved things that were either extremely illegal, or traumatizing, or both. Still, there's always been a dreamer in Tommy. It seemed that he'd clung to the idea of fame and the glamorous life of a Hollywood star to get him through those years.

In the early stages of the production, before we'd begun filming, Tommy and I were getting dinner at an extremely expensive restaurant in downtown LA. It was the kind of place paparazzi flooded in hopes of catching a glimpse of the elusive Elite in the business. Over plates of fish that cost more than my rent, Tommy told me about the kind of film that he wanted The Room to be.

"I watch this film when I was young," he said, a faraway look in his eyes that reminded me that for all that Tommy came off as the clown with too much money to burn, he had come from pain. "It was a Scorsese. We did not have it in English, so my brother and I, we watch this in Italian. I think, 'I am going to go to America, and I am going to make movie like this.' And look! Now I am!"

He was, of course, talking about the '73 Scorsese classic, Goncharov. It's not unknown that physical copies of the film were really hard to come by in the 80s, which is probably when Tommy and his brother would have watched the film. My guess is that they might have managed to find some illegal copies of the Italian dub of the film through personal channels. Debates about the differences in the two versions of the films aside, I understand what about that film drew Tommy into the industry and the glitz and glamour of it all. This story about love and power and betrayal and family, all set in the bustling streets of Italy — streets that Tommy was familiar with, I'm quite sure — that captivates the audience and makes them forget where their world ends and Goncharov's begins. It's a special movie, and Tommy is a special guy. Makes sense that he was moved by it. That it inspired him.

We toasted to this sentiment that night, and for that one moment, even though I knew that The Room was an unintentional parody of the genius of Goncharov at best, I believed in Tommy. I believed in his dreams. I hoped that at the end of this journey, we would make magic like that, too.

The book is a great read (would definitely recommend!!), and it's filled with these little moments where we see what it was like to interact with the person Tommy rather than the caricature Wiseau has become over the years. It's quite heartwarming to see how a film like Goncharov reached this little boy somewhere, and made him want to leap for the stars. Maybe we didn't get another Scorsese out of it, but we did get a cult classic that managed to have a huge cultural impact, all the same.

It's really fascinating to see the ripples Goncharov has caused in the landscape of film, the unexpected projects it inspired and continues to do so to this day. So. The next time you watch The Room, and have a hearty laugh about it, remember that there's a little piece of Goncharov in it, too. God!! Truly, what a masterpiece of a movie!!

#goncharov #unreality #The Room #bet y'all didn't know about the tommy wiseau goncharov thing DIDJA??? #Tommy Wiseau #martin Scorsese #the Disaster Artist #actually have read the disaster artist tho it's a super fun book you should check it out #SPENT TOO LONG THINKING ABOUT HER ACTUALLY LMAO

[zoeology31]

Something I’ve noticed in all the excellent Goncharov analysis is is that people don’t seem to talk about Mario Ambrosini much? Like, he’s the main antagonist of the film, and Al Pacino’s billed second in the credits, but the fandom focus is always on Goncharov, Katya, and Andrey. I totally get why, I mean those three are the emotional core of the film, and flawed tragic leader/loyal lieutenant is an absolutely unmatched ship dynamic. Comparatively, Ambrosini is very much an external force and his dynamic with Goncharov doesn’t really change as the plot progresses.

But without Ambrosini, I honestly don’t think the entire story is possible. Like, at the beginning, why does Goncharov decide to have Russo killed? Because Ambrosini implied he’d switched loyalties. Sure, Katya already suspected that and probably would’ve done something soon, but it was that conversation that pushed Goncharov to act. Throughout the film, Goncharov is reacting to Ambrosini’s actions, always trying to gain the advantage over him and creating more pressure on himself and his allies in the process.

Now, the opening scene introduces us to the Goncharov-Ambrosini rivalry right away, but why is this rivalry such a big deal? We see in the dinner scene that there’s multiple other local mafia leaders who are probably bigger threats to Goncharov than Ambrosini and vice versa, but they’re clearly fixated on each other. This is where the context of the time period and the characters’ backgrounds comes into play. There’s definitely elements of nationalism/xenophobia in Ambrosini’s character; see how he treats Andrey vs the army captain in the dinner scene. He views Goncharov’s faction as a threat due to their “outside” status, while Goncharov feels he has to prove himself worthy and Ambrosini is the one standing in his way.

Adding another layer to this is Ice Pick Joe, who as others have discussed is written as Italian-American. Ambrosini, an Italian nationalist, has an Italian immigrant to the US as his closest associate while opposing Russian immigrants to Italy. This illustrates the main theme Ambrosini represents: what does it mean to be Italian? Scorsese pretty roundly condemns Ambrosini’s views on this subject, considering the strong parallels between Ice Pick Joe and Katya.

A quick breakdown, in case you haven’t heard of said parallels: We know Joe spent his early childhood in Italy (his offhand mention to Sofia of driving to Rome on holiday), and given actor John Cazale’s age at the time of filming, his family likely fled during WWII. Similarly, we know Katya’s departure from the USSR is something she tries to forget, and the letter from Valery she burns right before the apple buying scene implies their parents were dissidents. The two characters are mirrors of one another, and Joe’s death scene is even a literal mirror to the bit where Goncharov wakes Katya up the morning after the church scene. I don’t have screenshots handy, but look at how the doorway frames the shot when Ambrosini kneels over Joe’s body; the composition and lighting is exactly the same.

So Ambrosini’s a pretty static character, yeah, but that’s done intentionally. He symbolizes the challenges Goncharov faces, the motives that drive his spiral of self-destruction. And he’s not without depth; he cares about Ice Pick Joe in a way that no other character tries to (though I’d say Sofia understands Joe best), even if that care doesn’t show overtly until Joe’s death. I do think it’s fitting that Goncharov kills Ambrosini with 15 minutes still left in the movie, because though Ambrosini initiates the plot, it’s Goncharov’s own actions that make his ending inevitable. Katya and Andrey’s betrayals are already in motion and the clocks are running down.

#goncharov #mario ambrosini #katya #ice pick joe #unreality #wanted some meta writing practice so here we are #my stuff

[noir-renard]

Okay so stop me if you've heard this one before, but I'm really happy to see the long-overdue recognition Goncharov is getting now (just in time for the 50th year anniversary too!)

BUT! Something I haven't seen anyone talking about is the 1987 stage adaptation of Goncharov, which is really too bad because it is ICONIC.

Like, okay, it's been a few years since I took American Theater History, but Goncharov was doing things no one else was doing. It did things no one has done since. This was a transformative adaptation to the point where it deserves to be recognized as its own thing.

I don't think I can possibly encapsulate everything this play is and accomplished so I'll focus on a few things, but I recommend looking up Taylor & Francis Contemporary Theatre Review for some articles on Goncharov (the play).

So, first of all, they had A Different Actor play Goncharov in Every Scene (*almost every scene, we'll come back to that). That in itself is absolutely buckwild, like this should have been a relatively inexpensive play to produce (small cast, minimal set, small stage, etc etc) but there were at least twenty four Goncharovs, possibly more. No one actually knows how many actors played Goncharov during its full run because they kept rotating the cast, but some estimates number in the hundreds; but there were never more than 24 during each performance. InSaNe, right?

But it doesn't stop there. See, the various Gonchs didn't wait backstage for their scenes, oh no. They sat in the audience. Pretending to be the audience, but was it really pretend? I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall for opening night. You arrive, you're excited to see this timeless film classic on stage (Theater purists will tell you stage theater is always better). The opening scene happens (you know the one lol), and you think, okay, this is fine, they're playing this by the book.

AND THEN THE GUY SITTING NEXT TO YOU WHO CAME WITH HIS WIFE STANDS UP AND WALKS UP TO THE STAGE, TAKES GONCHAROV'S HAT, COAT, AND TIE, DOES THE COSTUME CHANGE ON STAGE, AND STARTS THE NEXT SCENE!!

(and then the opening scene actor comes and sits down next to you, taking Gonch II's place, awkwardly squeezing past in the tiny seats to sit, asking you if he missed anything while he was in the bathroom??)

So you're confused, but the play is still going so you try to focus. Andrey is acting like everything is the same. Goncharov II makes a phone call to Ice Pick Joe, and he doesn't say he's ordering a hit, but you've seen the movie, you know what's up (this will be important later stay with me).

So there's another scene change, and sure enough, someone else gets up from the audience, walks to the stage, does the costume change, continues the play as if everything is normal and fine.

And this happens 23 times.

Now, you might think this is a novelty and that even if no one who watched the play talked about it to anyone who hadn't seen it, if you went back for a repeat viewing you'd know what to expect. But get this: they changed the order of the actors every night. And where they sat. And how they were dressed when they were part of the audience. So. Even if you knew it was going to happen, there was no way to predict exactly how it would happen!

Okay, so, I need to talk about the costume change on stage bit. Like, sure, kind of neat, but we all know there's a repeated motif in the film of Goncharov trying to fix his tie (symbolic of the "noose of time" tightening around his neck) but he never gets it quite right until Andrey fixes it for him.

And they did this in the play, too, but with a twist. See, up until the Andrey Ties The Knot Scene (lol subtle much), the Gonch who was leaving the stage would put the hat, coat, and tie on the new Gonch. So of course it wasn't quite right, all of these actors were built really differently! (Incredible costume design credit has to go to Nana Hastings here, like I don't know how she made the Sisterhood of the Traveling Goncharov work on stage but by god did she make it work)

Okay ajsjsjsb I keep getting sidetracked. Anyway. When Andrey fixes the tie and coat for the Goncharov on stage, this is, in fact, the final "actor" change. There are further scene changes, but now there's no one getting up from the audience anymore. And if you've seen the film, then it dawns on you: the Goncharov on stage is the one Andrey is gonna kill. Notably, the play reordered things a bit so the Katya Betrays Goncharov scene already happened before Andrey Ties the Knot, and the Gonch she tried to kill was a different Actor (yeah yeah symbolism of who you can show your truest self to we've all seen it).

So, back to the Andrey Ties the Knot scene (it's really important can I live). You might remember the argument that happens at the beginning of this scene in the movie. Well, in the play, the argument happens closer to the end. So if you know what's coming, the tension is building and building, and then the iconic line: Goncharov yells "how can you claim to understand me? To know what I want? To promise to give it to me? You don't even know who I am! I don't even know who I am!" Which, chills. But you see, at this moment, all the Goncharov Actors who've returned to sitting in the audience all stand up and yell the final line of this monologue with the Goncharov on stage. SO WILD. can you even imagine what that was like? You're so engrossed in the drama that you've forgotten the woman sitting next to you was on stage during scene 3. And now she's standing up and yelling! What's going to happen next??

Well. You know the line. Andrey sighs fondly, walks up to Goncharov, and says "I know you." And fixes Goncharov's tie.

And then it's intermission.

You're getting a snack in the lobby, and it's 1987 so you don't have access to a phone to tell your Goncharov Discord Server what you just witnessed. And what's going to happen next?? You still have half the play! (Or ⅓, at least!) But all that's really left is the betrayal scene. How are they going to stretch it out? You can't wait to see.

Intermission ends, you go back to your seat. It opens with Katya and Sofia. Ah, you think, so they've gone with the 'faked her death' interpretation. But then you notice the clock—which is front and center on the stage at all times during the play—has been set back. Is this a memory, then? A dream?

The question is never answered, but then Ice Pick Joe comes on stage and physically changes the hands himself. You see him get a phone call. You remember this—from the other end of the line. Goncharov is calling a hit. Ice Pick Joes accepts the hit. Hangs up. Walks to the clock. Moves it forward an hour, and leaves the stage. Another Katya scene, but she's changed into summer clothes. An actor you've never seen is on stage with her—this is her father, before he died. A death she feels responsible for.

The scene ends, Ice Pick Joe again. Same deal—a phone call from Gonch. He accepts the hit, and moves the clock forward. The next scene is an Andrey and Katya scene. There's so much subtext, it's hard to follow. Are they flirting? Plotting? Do they hate each other?

Ice Pick Joe again.

Now, at this point you start to notice something. There are fewer people in the audience than there should be (it was a small Blackbox theatre that got torn down in 1993, so I couldn't find any good photos, but it was small enough that you'd notice people missing).

You then realize that the ones going missing are the actors who played Goncharov. And then you see a pattern: every time Ice Pick Joe takes a call, an actor disappears. What does it mean?

This is never actually given meaningful resolution in the play, by the way, and the director refused to elaborate. What does it mean to you? Is all he'd say on the matter, but no one knew that while they were watching. Anyway I had to mention it because it's one of the wilder things this play did.

So there's all these out of time scenes staggered with Ice Pick Joe (until he dies RIP), and we "catch up". It's the final betrayal. Andrey is going to kill Goncharov, and everyone knows it, including Goncharov. "I never thought it would end like this." "You never were good at imagining happy endings," says Andrey. (I know you mouthed the lines don't lie no one can resist)

Andrey pulls the trigger, lights out—

When the lights come back up (RED LIGHTS) there's no body onstage, just the Goncharov costume. Andrey picks up the tie, the hat, the coat. He puts them all on. And he walks off stage.

AND THATS THE END OF THE PLAY. We don't see Goncharov actually die. We have no idea what happens to him. (When I tell you people have argued about this for decades, I mean it.)

The house lights turn up, you look around and see how empty the theater is. How many of the audience members were actors? You don't actually know. There is no curtain call. You walk out into the lobby in a daze, and all the actors are there, chatting. "Wild play, huh? I'm not sure I quite understood it, to be honest," they tell you. None of them break character. They are committed to the bit.

One of them tells you he enjoyed your performance. You think it might be Scorsese himself, though possibly it's Matteo JWHJ0715 in the flesh. Or maybe it was just another theater go-er trying to sound smart. Who knows?? Not you.

And that's Goncharov (1987), off Broadway in a nutshell.

It unfortunately only ran for a year because as it turns out, the theater owner had actual ties to the real mob and had to flee the country, and no one knew legally whether the play could run or if the theater counted as evidence—but that's another story.

The cast and crew of the play refused to move to a different theatre, though whether that was out of loyalty or fear, who can say?

#i didn't even touch on the symbolism of the tie #it seems to represents everything coming undone for Goncharov so Andrey fixing it is this hugely sentimental moment #but it actually foreshadows Andrey cinching the knot on Goncharov's fate #ISCREAM #someone please revive the play there'll never be a better moment #goncharov #unreality #long post

[raindropsonroses123]

Language and Identity in Goncharov

Since Goncharov is having a tumblr revival, I thought I’d contribute my two cents and share a few things I’ve noticed about the languages/dialects/accents in this incredible movie! As with so many other aspects of the film, Scorsese’s attention to detail really paid off and the use of languages underscores many key themes.

Goncharov- As the main character, nearly all of Goncharov’s dialogue is in English, even though sometimes he’s clearly meant to be speaking Russian or Italian/Neapolitan (more on that divide later!) What is interesting, though, is the way his accent changes over the course of the film. At the beginning, his Russian accent is quite strong, even cartoonish--which makes sense with his identity as “lo straniero.” Goncharov actually is quite confident in his identity as “the stranger.” He knows who he is, and identifies strongly with his Russian homeland, (which, at the beginning of the movie, he still plans to return to.) In fact, one of the only times in the movie where Russian is actually spoken is when Goncharov describes the story of when his parents met in Leningrad. So it makes sense that his accent is present. But his accent actually gets weaker over the course of the movie, so that by the end, it’s barely noticeable at all, overshadowed by the actor’s (I think New York?) accent. Original audiences thought this might have been a goof-like Scorsese forgot which mobster culture he was parodying-but I think it’s intentional, especially when we note that Goncharov’s accent first starts to change after Andrey mocks it during the Palazzo Royale scene. Goncharov’s accent changing marks his famous loss of identity in the film, so that by the end neither he nor the audience knows who he really is. Which brings me to:

Andrey- Andrey’s language, whether Russian, Italian, or Neapolitan, is always pitch-perfect, reflecting both his mixed heritage and his ability (unlike Goncharov) to blend into any society/group of people. What is interesting is that  his default language, what he uses when talking to himself, is almost always Italian. Although he barely mentions his parents in the film (and they certainly don’t haunt him the same way Goncharov’s do,) this may reflect some of Andrey’s confidence in navigating Italian connections and his reluctance to ever return to Russia.

Katya/Sofia- I’m sorry I don’t have much on them but I do think it’s noteworthy that, like Andrey, they are some of the only characters who seamlessly switch between languages/dialects, even from sentence to sentence, and especially when communicating with each other! (which ik is like one scene but still...) Something something shows their adaptability but also their compatibility with each other...

Joe “Ice Pick” Manelli- finally, who I’ve been waiting to get to! Ice pick Joe actually caused some controversy/annoyance in Naples when the movie was first released in 1973, because Scorsese was accused of stereotyping Neapolitans as sleazy, violent criminals. Neapolitans were especially annoyed because Ice Pick Joe speaks Neapolitan, not Italian in the film, highlighting his Neapolitan heritage. Although similar to Italian, Neapolitan is actually a unique language with native speakers in Naples and the surrounding area. It was only recently officially recognized as a unique language by the UN, and it’s generally a spoken, not written, language, so it was a big deal when a major American movie actually showed the Neapolitan dialect on screen, and many Neapolitans were angry that it was presenting Neapolitans in a criminal light. However, in the decades since the film came out, it has actually become a cult classic in Naples (despite both this issue and the fact that it’s mostly about Russians,) and Ice Pick Joe has become a favorite, even appearing on tourist perch throughout the city. Younger Neapolitans are more likely to celebrate Ice Pick Joe as a symbol of their cultural identity and Naples’ influence on the world, seeing him as an underrated figure who, although violent, is also loyal, committed, and patriotic. Which I think is fun given that he’s recently become such a Tumblr hit :)

#goncharov #Goncharov (1973) #ice pick joe #katya goncharov #goncharov analysis #Goncharov meta #goncharov 1973 #unreality #the first Tumblr post I make in years and its this lololol

[bekaroth-reads]

Goncharov and the Symbology of Cigarettes

So, I have plenty of things that I should be working on right now, but the Goncharov brain rot has been hitting me hard.

I know a lot of people talk about the symbolism of time, which is valid and certainly one of the main themes in the film; Ice Pick Joe going as far as smashing the face of a grandfather clock and screaming, “We still have time? Haven’t you realized, Andrey? Our days were numbered- my days were numbered- the moment you walked into that office!”

But! The theme that most people don’t look into as much is the cigarettes. These scenes have some good symbolism and I love it.

When we first see cigarettes is when Andrey walks into Goncharov’s office. We see that there are two cases: a plain, dented, worn out case and a fancy, gold plated, case with leaf designs etched into it. Goncharov takes a cigarette from the old case, and Andrey asks him why he had two of them. Goncharov explains that each case has a different kind to match the exterior- the old case has cheap cigarettes and the gold one has expensive ones that are only not considered actual cigars because of their size. Andrey then asks how he decides which ones to smoke, and Goncharov replies, “The company. All of these people walking around here, spending their money on things to make them more comfortable- things to help cushion their ears from the sound of the people on the streets crying for nothing more than food- they don’t like the smell of cheap tobacco. It takes away their ear muffs and blinders and reminds them of the dirty kids they saw on their walk over here. As for the expensive ones- can’t be wasting those on people who don’t deserve them.”

We can see form this that at this point in the film, Goncharov sees Andrey as inferior to him, seeing as he smoked a cheap cigarette when he was in the office. Andrey, however doesn’t seem to mind this. He doesn’t want to be associated with the rich bureaucrats that he feels are ruining his country and killing his people. We see him embrace not only this feeling, but the role of being the fighter for his cause, no matter how little his efforts might affect, when he boldly walks around the desk, opens the old case, takes out a cigarette, and lights it with Goncharov’s own lighter. “Expensive tobacco always gives me a headache.” He blows the first puff of smoke at Goncharov before walking out of the office.

(Bonus point that doesn’t necessarily have to do with the cigarette theme: just look at the way the Goncharov watches him while he takes the cigarette from the case, especially how he focuses on Andrey’s hands. Kills me every time! 😩)

Something else that is used for the whole, “cigarettes are a metaphor for power,” thing is the fact that Ice Pick Joe is always bumming them off of other people. It’s something that he desires, but wishes that he didn’t as every time that he takes one he says it’s his last one then he’s going to quit. The same way that he wants out of this lifestyle and desperately tries to find ways to leave, but there always one more thing that pulls him back in. There’s more to this later, but I’ll talk about things chronologically so they get too muddled.

Another thing to note in this theme is the fact that Mario, arguably the most power hungry character, is almost always smoking. They even gave him a cigarette in the theatre poster. He’s always seeking power and trying to lord the power that he does have over anyone he can. When he especially lights up is when he’s in a situation where he’s trying to regain authority that he feel like he’s losing (seen in the few scenes where he and Goncharov meet in person, and in the infamous, “eye for an eye,” scene).

Cigarettes also are used to show the two-faced nature of Katya. There is some foreshadowing during the scene where she and Andrey are talking on the balcony. While they are talking, she takes his cigarette. While this might look like flirting, it’s most likely a visual metaphor for her being very advantageous with her stances; wanting to look good to people, but not actually willing to give up her prestigious status to stand up for Andrey or the others when Mario is going after them. This is represented by how she takes Andrey’s cigarette, takes one puff from it, then complaining that it’s, “too harsh,” for her before snuffing it out. She only wants Andrey to have power if it gives her power, and would rather see him taken out of the picture if he won’t stay in her grip, much like she would rather put out the cigarette than give it back to him.

The first time that Goncharov sees Andrey after he’s lost his eye, one of the first things does is to offer him a cigarette. Though there are no words spoken, it is hinted that this is also a way for him to ask Andrey to work with him now that he’s out of favor with Mario. Andrey turns it down, saying that he’s not so sure he likes cigarettes anymore, and that maybe Joe is onto something. It could also be that he sees Goncharov offering him one from the old, tin case, showing that while he respects Andrey enough to want him to work for him, he doesn’t respect him enough to call him his equal. That this would be the same situation that he was in with Mario, but just with a different person to step on him.

The Mario and Joe parts of this analogy both come to a head when Joe finally buys his own pack of cigarettes only to be shortly shot by Mario. In this case, Joe buying them showing that he’s finally accepted that much like his smoking habit, there is seemingly no way for him to escape the mafia life. And, the fact that Mario shoots him himself, and then proceeds to take pack off of Joe’s body shows that he’s desperate to regain any shred of power he can get, even if it’s over someone considered to be pretty low on the food chain like Joe.

The final bit of this we get shown is toward the end where, after taking out Mario as well as stopping Katya from killing Goncharov, Andrey is sitting on the floor and looking at his shoulder that got shot during the whole scuffle. Goncharov, almost as beaten and battered as Andrey, and certainly as disheveled, messes around at his desk for a moment before shuffling his way over to Andrey. He sits down, puts a cigarette in his mouth, puts one in Andrey’s, then lights them both. Then, Goncharov puts another cigarette into Andrey’s pocket. In the end, Andrey wasn’t worth a single, expensive cigarette to Goncharov. He was worth two. Andrey was twice the man that Goncharov thought he was.

It’s implied that Andrey kept closely working with Goncharov even after everything, as part of the closing narration says the line, “After that, I developed a taste for expensive tobacco, though, it still gave me a headache from time to time.”

#unfiction #goncharov #does it count as fanfiction if the actual work never existed in the first place? #just made for fun please don't take too seriously

[soyboymalewife]

I love all this new appreciation for Goncharov 1973, this was my father's favorite film for a long time and I remember fondly watching it as a child, but with all the talk, I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone talk about one of the things I personally love the most about the movie, how it’s theme of time applies so well to the three main characters, in three diferente ways.

We see it constantly, represented in the abundance of clocks that plague us throughout this film, and also in many lines of dialogue, but clocks don't mean the same thing to all the characters. 

For Goncharov the clocks symbolize the future, what he believes to be fame and fortune and we know is his inevitable end. We can see this clearly when we are told by Andrei that Goncharov is not bothered by the sound the clocks make, that he finds it relaxing, to know that time is passing and he is moving closer to what he believes is his destiny, Goncharov feels that his time is running out, his time to be somebody, to be a man his father would have been proud of, but it will be this ambition that will kill him, because he does not actually care about his life, death would mean he does not have to worry about his legacy anymore, he would be free. (That’s why he tells Katya: “If we were in love, you wouldn’t have missed.”)

But what makes this film so special is how the theme also applies to the other two protagonists in a different way. While Goncharov represents a future that will never be, Katya represents being stuck in the present and Andrei represents longing for a lost past.

Katya is an intelligent and capable woman, but she is trapped in a loop that she is convinced she cannot get out of, so she feels she is not moving forward, she is trapped in the present. We see this in several moments, such as the scene of the broken clock in the living room, where she is the only one who has realized that the clock has stopped ticking, or in her conversation with Sofia just after the boat scene, where she confesses that sometimes she feels that time has stopped running for her, this is the reason why she is unable to shoot Goncharov and or leave with him. She is unable to imagine a different life, because she does not see herself as capable of changing, and overcoming her demons.

Finally Andrei, he feels overwhelmed by the passing of time. He himself tells us that unlike Goncharov, the sound of the clocks causes him anxiety, every time the clock ticks it’s a second his further away from a past in which everything was easier, everything has become complicated between him and Goncharov since they arrived in Naples, and for this reason, in their last conversation on that bridge where they’ve met so many nights before, just before shooting him, he asks “If you could run back time, would you do anything differently?” Hoping that the answer will change something, the he will maybe have some regrets, but Goncharov’s ambition does not let him see this, he’s not repentant, not about Ice pick Joe’s death, not about how his treated Katya, not even about everything he has made Andrei go through, and so he dies, by the hand of the man he would of never expected.

#goncharov #goncharov posting #goncharov 1973 #katya goncharov #gaslight gatekeep goncharov #katya goncharova #art #digital art #movie poster

[waterfallsnwhiskey]

Something people miss in Goncharov is this scene. It's easy to miss since it's at the beginning of the film when the setting is primarily Leningrad. Mario has just enthusiastically supported Goncharov's idea to expand a Russian mafia presence in Naples and won the support of the elders. We're about to get to the celebration scene the night before Goncharov, Katya and Andrey leave for Italy (the scene where we meet Sofia for the first time) and Mario is on the way to the party. He stops to meet his father, the elder named Sergei from the prior scene, at this park on the water. It's a brief scene but Sergei gives his misgivings to Mario about the expansion and he basically becomes a prophet to everything that is about to happen, not just in the movie but in the real world too. "This generation, Mikhail. you move too fast. You've forgotten everything the past had bled for." Not only do we learn Mario's birth name but its also among the film's early references to the symbolism of time and blood. Sergei thinks the focus shouldn't be on the west but the vultures circling in Russia. He laments the rot in places like Moscow and thinks the ideals of his grand fathers generation will be tossed aside in two decades time (Given the film was released in 1973 this means Scorsese eerily missed the collapse of the USSR by two years btw). He urges Mario not to let Italy change him though he predicts it will change all of them and he hopes that won't cost them everything. Mario excuses himself and we pretty quickly get to the infamous party scene, the last on-screen look at Segei being this shot.

But Segei's backstory continues the whole movie in dramatic ways. Remember the scene where Katya is getting ready for Goncharov's birthday party, at the height of the crime empire? Remember she was met in the dressing room by Anastasia, Sergei's wife, who came to celebrate on behalf of the elders (and brought the secret note to Mario). In the same talk about the prior day's firefight with the Sicilian mobsters she says "darling I've seen war. I've soaked up shell wounds with dirty rags, disinfected surgical tools with vodka and eaten bread that was half sawdust. And I was just a nurse. I had it easy. That's where I met my husband after all and you know what he went through." Of course we the viewer do not but it's HIGHLY implied that Sergei and Anastasia fought and lived through the Nazi siege of Leningrad, arguably the most brutal extended siege and battle in human history. How could the note to Mario be so brutal? Because Sergei and the elders aren't being brutal...they have seen true brutality. They know true war. They know real horrors. And they want to pull the plug while they're ahead. It also adds extra depth to the early scene with Mario. Sergei isn't an old man lamenting changing times, he knows the dangers that lie ahead when progress and ambition and a desire to conquer come to ahead. The way he speaks makes him sound like a true believer, not just in the possibility of Russia but also the internationalist hope of the USSR, despite knowing full well that the Socialist experiment has run off the rails by the 1970s. Still he laments the changes and what will be lost, what he fought for, and even his own son going by "Mario" (an Italian, ally of Germany, name btw) rather than his birth name. This also adds an interesting wrinkle on things like the rivalry between St. Petersburg and Moscow, communism and capitalism, ussr and nazi Germany, and even Stalinism versus Leninism. Anyone connect the dots about that weird allusion Ice Pick Joe made about being the one to assassinate Trotsky?

And oh yeah, the scene immediately after the birthday party when Anastasia gives her above speech and then gives the note to Mario....Pompeii.

This film is brilliant.

#goncharov #katya #sofia #unrealism #andrey #martin scorsese #sergei #Anastasia

[bymyprettyfloralbonnet]

okay, I’ve been sitting on this take for a couple days because I feel like I’m probably going to get hate mail over it but here goes.

I think Goncharov is overrated.

Now, before Tumblr tars and feathers me, let me say that I don’t think Goncharov is a BAD movie; I’m not even saying that I dislike it. There are some things about it that are excellent: every single actor gives it their all (especially the brilliant Cybill Shepherd), and the bridge scene is genuinely devastating. I remember seeing it in film class in college, and the entire room was dead silent for several minutes after the end--no small feat for a class full of squirrelly freshmen!

but there are a couple things that, imo, hold it back from being truly great.

The dialogue is deliberately, almost artificially philosophical, which, fine, it’s a stylistic choice that could work, but it doesn’t match the general tone or cinematography, which feels grittier and more down-to-earth. You could say that the contrast is the point, but I’d argue that it actually works against the movie in that it verges into presenting us archetypes rather than characters sometimes. For example, “We are birds, my dear, and each feather in our wings one more broken promise,” is a good line, but it’s not something you say after six glasses of cognac in negotiations with your rival. It always holds us at a remove, making us acutely aware we’re watching a construct rather than immersing us in the characters’ lives.

Also, characters will just...disappear. We never see what happens to Mario; Ice Pick Joe vanishes for forty-five minutes and then his murder is revealed in a blnk-and-you’ll-miss it line during Katya and Goncharov’s argument in the Sicilian cafe; and poor Valery gets about half an hour of screen time (kind of a waste of Gene Hackman) before he’s only ever alluded to for the rest of the film with vague mentions of what he’s up to. (Honestly, I think the theory that he dies at the same time as Ice Pick Joe has some merit, but there’s not a whole lot to support it directly.)

And this is going to sound crazy, but I think, as good as the actors are, De Niro and Keitel should have switched roles? I know “wistful pining” isn’t usually the sort of role De Niro is known for, but god, imagine.

idk, maybe I’m just salty because Goncharov gets so much acclaim for its themes of the inevitability of time and your downfall being inextricably linked to those you’re closest to when Marco Ferreri explored those same themes a full two years earlier (and to better effect, imo) in Postcards from a December Wedding, and was way bolder regarding the homerotic undertones and resultant tragedy (that shower scene still makes me cry every time).

anyway, now I’ve got that off my chest. Am I missing something? I think Goncharov is a good movie, just not the masterpiece everyone’s been making it out to be.

#Goncharov (1973) #unreality #this is my contribution to The Bit #please enjoy

[cipher-fresh]

random asks just for fun, no pressure to answer <33

do you have any ocs? feel free to talk about them!!

what are your favorite movies? how about comfort movies, if they're different?

what's something you own that you think is really neat?

free space to share/promote any works that you've made !! have you made anything recently?

favorite smell in the world?

1. I have 3 main ones-

a Star Trek one that, as time goes on, is less and less of a self-insert: a Starfleet Captain named Adriel Kelfade. She’s an original species because I really wanted a species with wings.

a Doctor Who one, a future version of the Doctor. I call him the Sunflower Doctor and I wanted to use him as a general thing for DW stuff, so I didn’t have to worry about characterization for a particular Doctor. Designing an outfit was fun, and I also made him Hispanic because I’m predictable

From my own original story that’s 2 years old now is Vinra Arquiel, a 13-year-old boy who develops pyrokinesis. My thesis with him is presenting a healthy masculinity in young male character- he can cry, apologize, he’s open with his feelings, friendly, helpful and eager. My pinned post right now is art of him dancing with his back turned to the camera.

Specific asks about any of them to help me think and develop them more are fun

2. My favorite movies include The Lego Movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Upgrade, Into the Spider-Verse, Star Trek: Beyond, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Shazam!.

Comfort movies in my mind are like, eat-ice-cream-on-the-couch movies so the more comedic ones would be comfort movies- as funny as EEAAO is, if I was upset and watched this movie, I’d probably be thinking about relationship with my mom.

3. I have a BIG asexual flag on my wall over my bed- it’s angled a bit oddly but I think the dog more then makes up for it

[ID: A small white and brown dog standing with an asexual flag in the background. /End ID]

4. I’ve posted a few things on my AO3 in the last weeks, and I’m pretty proud of everything I’ve posted this year. I wrote a death scene for Ice Pick Joe that added to the Goncharov Google doc, and I even saw in a screenshot on YouTube yesterday. I think I’m most happy with my Doctor Who one, it’s my shortest one.

5. For some reason, I really love the smell of gasoline? If we pull up to a gas station to refill the car I’ll open the window. I’m not really a scented candle person so I don’t have favorites in a row or something. My sibling on the other hand has a bunch of scented candles and every few weeks a new one will waft around the house

#updates from cipher #image

[happytapirstudio]

April 2024 Book Log

(bold means new this month)

The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution and Retribution from the Ottoman Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond by André Gerolymatos

Bosnia: A Short History by Noel Malcolm (finished)

The Chronicles of Prydain Book 1: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (half-reread)

Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Orochi Volume 2 by Kazou Umezz

Pegasus Book 1: The Flame of Olympus by Kate O'Hearn

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (reread)

Ranger’s Apprentice Book 2: The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan (finished)

Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-95 by Joe Sacco (reread)

Guess who kept going back to the library and getting new books before the old ones were finished.

Like Graceling and (from last month's log) Ranger's Apprentice, the Pegasus series was one I always saw hanging around shelves and in other kids' book piles. It's a thick volume, so it definitely stands out. I'm enjoying it so far, but I must confess that I cringed when I read that our main character's dad is a cop. Funny how that would've gone straight over my head if I'd read it as a kid. What probably wouldn't have gone over my head, even back then: the soldier who's serving in Iraq. What a way to date your book.

I'm gonna be honest I would not have guessed there'd be such a strong mythological component to this book? I thought I remembered reading the backs of one of these books--though it might've been another series, come to think of it--and getting the impression that it was its own universe, and a pretty mature one at that. But it's not, and that only makes sense...Pegasus is a mythological figure, after all! Not just some horse with wings! It's still giving Horse Girl, though, and I appreciate that.

One little detail I love is the fact that Pegasus, as an Olympian, subsists on ambrosia in his home world, but the best we have on earth is ice cream and sugary cereal. So he just chows down on that. Completely disregards normal horse food. Reading that made me cackle.

You'll notice Goražde is back on the list. I finished Malcolm's Bosnia and wanted to reread Goražde immediately now that I had clearer historical context.

Another graphic novel nonfiction reread up there...Persepolis! I think I initially read this when I was in high school, so I really didn't know nothing. Like nothing, nothing. Still, it left a really big impression on me. Originally I started rereading it on a whim when I was in Baltimore--just picked it up at a library and read a few chapters before I had to leave--but then after we got home we made a dedicated trip to a special branch to get The Book of Three, and Persepolis was there, so I grabbed it, too.

As for The Book of Three...let's just say checking out books and needing to return them before I finished reading them is one of my oldest and strongest talents. I had just gotten my rats when I first tried reading this, and they were still quite scared of and aggressive towards me, so I read part of this out loud to them in hopes of trying to bridge that gap. I guess it's no surprise that I didn't finish it.

Well the scene in the barrow has haunted me ever since, so I've been meaning to get back to it for a while now. Already halfway through in only a couple days, well past the point I originally stopped at, so I'd say we're doing good! I keep wondering how many of the authors whose work I read as a kid had read this book when they were kids. Everyone in fantasy always cites Lord of the Rings or maybe Narnia, but The Chronicles of Prydain (from the 60's) must've been right up there. There's something sort of ubiquitous about this story. I'm not even at The Black Cauldron, but already I can say the Disney adaptation did not do this series justice.

#long post #tapir literacy #i might need to get a new tag for these because my shit's showing up in the 'tapir' tag #or maybe i won't you know who really gives a fuck right?

[takeeachdayonebookatatime]

Law and order svu fanfiction 

Video killed the pedophile part 14

Fin: pov Liv mentions I should stay at the scene with Amanda,  Joe and Muncy. Because she is heading to the OC squad room to get a confession from the guy. Elliot tells her to ride with him back to the station, that way we can have 2 cars at the crime scene. 

Jet: pov in the squad room I head over to my desk and start looking this guy's mother up to see if i can find a motive to why he would kill her.

Amanda: pov at the crime scene Joe and Muncy are looking for evidence, something to link him to the other crimes, that is when I hear Muncy shouting she seems to have found something in the basement. Joe says she looked into a freezer down here and that is when she saw the finger. Fin tells the crime scene people to bag it and test it to see if it's the dead guys. Fin sends Joe and Muncy back to the SVU squad room in case we get more info or another case. Liv texted me telling me to head back to the hospital to see if our victim can identify the guy from a photo. 

Liv: pov I get a text from Fin letting me know what they found in the suspects house. Elliot insists on being present during the interview which I told him is not going to happen. The suspect is now being difficult and will only talk to Elliot,  no way I'm going to let that happen. I mention to Elliot I'm sitting in on this. The guy says he will only talk if both his hands are unruffled, I tell Elliot that is a bad idea he is just using you. The suspect has now realized that Elliot is willing to do anything to get him to talk. Elliot starts by asking why he killed that man and assaulted the girlfriend, the suspect is starting to talk. Once Elliot mentions his mother and son the guy says you weren't there to save them like you weren't there to save Captain Benson all those years ago, do you even care about your family because you are never there for them. Plus you sleep with all these women after your wife dies, you know while Captain Benson was fighting to survive she was thinking about you, how you would save her but you never did. 

Elliot: pov this guy keeps going on, saying you know while you were gone some detective named Cassidy got to do her and that IAB guy got to do her to, I wonder how that feels everybody getting to do her but you. You  weren't even there for your child's birth.

Liv: pov I can tell Elliot is about to explode, he tells the guy you're the one who did his mother. It is starting to get ugly. I can tell Elliot is about to punch the guy who just shoved him. I'm in between them in seconds but it is too late . Fists are flying Elliot hits the guy in the face and as the guy is going to hit Elliot he gets me instead, I yelp in surprise.  I tell detective Elliot Stabler to stand down now, I managed to break it up. I handcuff the guy to the table and Ayanna who ran in the room grabs Elliot and takes him into the room next door and handcuffs him to the table since it's protocol. She calls McGrath while I'm on the phone with Fin. I tell him to get here to the OC squad room immediately, we have a situation. Ayanna says McGrath will be here soon and so will the lady from IAB. Jet is nice enough to get me an ice pack for my face, which is starting to swell.

Joe: pov at the SVU squad room me and Muncy are looking into the suspects mother that is when Fin, who just arrived back at the squad room a few minutes ago from the crime scene picks up his phone and answers it once the call is over he says that was Liv they have an issue at the OC squad room I have to go I will call you both later.

Fin: pov as soon as I arrive at the OC squad room I notice it is 100 percent chaos, I then notice McGrath walking in and the lady from IAB. Ayanna and Liv are sitting down together talking, I ask what's going on Liv turns to me and says take a guess that is when I notice her black eye. I ask what happened to her eye. Liv says our suspect and Elliot both got angry and said some nasty things to each other and the suspect shoved Elliot a little so he punched the guy and when the suspect went to hit him back he got me instead who was trying to break it up. It all just happened so fast.

Ayanna: McGrath and the lady from IAB interview the suspect, then Elliot once they have both been interviewed they ask Captain Benson for her side of the story because it's most likely the truth, same with me. Since the suspect is getting charged with assaulting a police officer there is no need to interview him for the crimes. Elliot is getting suspended upon further review which means  he is suspended Without pay until they look at all his cases and make a decision which could take a while. He also has to go to anger management. Fin is taking Liv back to there squad room,

Amanda: pov back at the squad room Joe mentions what Fin said to him it's been hours since then, Fin finally texts Joe if he can order some pizza they got stuck talking to IAB and McGrath. That does not sound good, Joe arrives back with the food and is setting it up, as soon as Fin and Liv walk in i notice something is off immediately that is when i notice her black eye that was not there before, i ask what happened and Liv told me everything. Since the suspect assaulted a police officer he is going away for a long time, the case is also now closed. to be continued.  ……

#lawanordersvu #oliviabenson #mariskahargitay #elliotstabler #christophermeloni #fanfiction #tvshow #fintutuola #icet #ayanbabell #amandarollins #kelligiddish

[aroaceofthesea]

I posted 7,695 times in 2022

That's 7,651 more posts than 2021!

318 posts created (4%)

7,377 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@incorrectinfinity

@jankwritten

@minglana

@glassamphibians

I tagged 761 of my posts in 2022

#mine - 281 posts

#percy jackson - 91 posts

#life - 73 posts

#pjo - 61 posts

#dracula daily - 38 posts

#goncharov - 21 posts

#me - 20 posts

#ace - 17 posts

#school - 17 posts

#asexual - 15 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#reading a post thinking bout some1 nd then baam its bout that 1 character whose personalty you only know thru textposts nd has the same nam

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

What the fuck is going on over there wtf

256 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

#4

Tips to, you know, not die in your sleep when being attacked by a vampire:

Use a garlic flower wreath to keep the vampire away

Idk maybe NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO OPHELIA who died with a lot of flowers over her

Maybe (just maybe) don't ignore the flapping just outside the window like what the One Person Who Seems To Know What Is Going On has mentioned specifically

Don't sign off with a fckin 'Goodnight everyone' in your diary this is literally How To Die Tonight 101 even if you're not being attacked by a vampire

(please don't take out your flower wreath while sleepwalking tonight lucy)

299 notes - Posted September 12, 2022

#3

I saw something a couple days ago about wanting more aro content so here i am to deliver

398 notes - Posted September 29, 2022

#2

They're a 10 but im aroace so i don't really care

1,477 notes - Posted July 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Haven't seen goncharov (1973) yet? In that case go watch it RIGHT NOW, but if you don't have the time for a 3h 32mins film (which is understandable but you have to make the time at some point) and you want to understand the memes I have you covered. (Keep in mind that there are gonna be important spoilers in this post)

Important characters:

Goncharov

Katya Michailov - Goncharov's wife

Andrey - Goncharov's lover (or almost)

Sofia - Katya's lover

Minor characters

Mario Ambrosini

Ice pick Joe

Valery Michailov - Katya's brother

Important scenes

The Boat Scene: a scene in which Katya almost dies.

Beer Bottle Scene: an infamous scene in the movie

Anchovy scene: a scene with heavy homoerotic subtext between Goncharov and Andrey

Dressing for dinner scene: a scene where Katya and Andrey are shown dressing up with cuts that give each of the things they wear the same importance as survival items, from Katya's high heels to Andrey's dagger

Bridge scene: goodbye scene between Katya and Goncharov. Beautifully made as you can see Katya second guessing her choice to betray him but she's too far in to turn back

Fruit stand scene: a heavily homoerotic conversation between Katya and Sofia while they are buying apples

Important plot points

Katya betrays Goncharov

Andrey betrays him too for money

Goncharov has betrayed Katya's family too, and Andrey is a living reminder of that

Goncharov is shot at the end, resulting in his death

Katya fakes her death at one point

Katya's father is killed at the beginning of the movie and she feels responsible for it for almost the entire movie, until she finally accepts that there was nothing more she could have done to save him, only to die alone in the boathouse

Even though Katya loves Goncharov, when she has to choose between him and Sofia, she chooses Sofia

There is a love triangle between Goncharov, Andrey and Katya too

Other important things

The clock symbolism is just so important in this film it deserved to be here

18,304 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

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