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bourbon-ontherocks · 2 years

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Heyyyy, it’s been fucking ages! I just realised I totally forgot to check in and see what you thought about the ending of izombie!

Oh hiiiiiiiii Jade!!! It has been ages, thank you for checking in, how are you, love?

So, fun fact, while I watched 95% of iZombie about a year ago, I only watched the final ~3 episodes or so fairly recently, I think partly because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the show and characters, but also because by the end of season 5 I found that the plotlines tended to be a bit repetitive and everyone had been turned back and into a zombie so many times it was getting tiresome.

Anyway, the short answer is that I kinda hated the ending. Details under the cut for spoilers and also because it got a bit long lol.

So the thing is, I didn't expect the show to go for anything else than a happy ending, obviously. It has always been a fun, quirky show, and even though it got a bit plagued with heavier, heartwrenching drama in later seasons (Isobel... 💔), it was still greatly balanced with comedy. But my problem with the ending is that I found it overly simplistic, to the point of dumbness and naivety to be honest, and way too cheesy. This whole "everything and everyone is fine, the good ones were rewarded and the bad ones died" felt artificial, especially given the moral complexity that the show had managed to explore over the seasons.

Like, this is a show that started as a weird crime show, developed a whole universe of its own based on extremely believable premises (people starting a business by scratching people and them brain-food blackmailing them, etc), and switched its genre mid-show to explore a socio-political dystopia that while not necessarily avoiding all the clichés of the genre managed to be brilliant and disturbingly accurate in the way it portrayed the variety of human (and zombie lol) reactions to the publicity of the zombie outbreak.

Obviously, the parallels and metaphors with past and present real events were sometimes a bit too on-the-nose, with references to nazism, civil war(s), military dictatorships, predicators, racism (the parodic bit about the whiteface and zombies’ cultural appropriation was perfect in its delightful absurdity) etc, but for the most part it was handled pretty cleverly and entertainingly in my opinion.

All this long introduction to say that the show explored a certain kind of complexity that forced it to introduce some nuances. While the goods and the bads were clearly identified in early seasons, the characters started becoming more morally grey as the story progressed, the most spectacular example being the evolution of Major through the show. Not to mention the bigger picture of a humans vs. zombies society with extremists and idealists on both sides.

So for me, the simplistic conclusion of the ending felt like an insult to the show’s brilliance at delving into more nuanced statements. Some stuff also didn’t really add up (like, I read the interview of Rose McIver where she explains that zombi-ism had become a metaphor for minorities which is the reason why Liv decided to remain that way even in a post-cure world, but this feels like a character alteration mid-show since early Liv was begging for a cure and frankly eating brains didn’t sound so fun), and oh boy, must they be bored to hell on their island!

I also felt deeply betrayed by the fate of Blaine and Don E. Obviously, they were the villains of the story, but they were also audience-favourites, especially Blaine (just look at the fanfic section lol), and they both had quite interesting redemption/humanity arcs. So to just have them ending up in that well for eternity, after we’ve been extensively shown what happens to unfed zombies after a while, this was just a tragedy to me. Especially when Blaine’s last action was showing a bit of redemption by saving Peyton’s life, you know? I would have enjoyed SO MUCH to learn in the finale scene that Blaine was Liv and Major’s neighbour on zombies island and that they all spent their eternity time pranking against each other for instance.

Speaking of, the whole Zombie Island was so DUMB! Who would want to spend eternity isolated from all humanity with kindred brain-eaters? And to think that this would magically solve the problem of humans vs. zombies is borderline stupid. I expected a smarter statement from a show that indeed built this world where there is so much anger, resentment, disgust, predation, and fascination between both factions.

And pardon me but if zombi-ism was some kind of metaphor for minorities struggles, as the show claimed, then the segregation as ultimate solution is ironically the saddest ending that anyone could have come up with. I would have preferred a more realistic conclusion where both populations try to coexist more or less pacifically and a little teasing on the tensions/challenges/difficulties still at play. The ending as it is felt rushed and definitive, and wildly unrealistic.

tl;dr. There was absolutely no surprise to this ending, but I would have liked something more open and bittersweet and in one word, complex than this.

#ask #jade-marie #izombie #sorry this got a bit side-tracked lol #but I have the deepest love for this show #and to see it kinda ruined by the ending was a bit sad #and I didn't even speak of how much Liv x Major is a boring ship and why the show needed them together #and how the two of them sobbing bc they think the other is dead in the finale was ooc and ridiculous from the both ot them #or how fanfiction 100% sold me on Liv x Blaine instead lol #or on how my love for Ravi goes beyond anything I have ever felt for any character ever #but also can we talk about Blaine?#he's literally the most interesting character on this show and they got him REALLY dirty in that finale #😭😭😭😭😭😭

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brokehorrorfan · 3 years

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Unboxing HorrorPack - March 2021

HorrorPack is a subscription box featuring monthly shipments of four different horror movies on your choice of Blu-ray or DVD, including a limited edition title. As someone who collects horror movies and enjoys mystery boxes, it's right up my alley. I’ve detailed the films included in the March 2021 shipment below.

The only title I was familiar with in the package was Critters Attack, the fifth installment in the Critters franchise. Bobby Miller (The Cleanse) directs from a script by Scott Lobdell (Happy Death Day). Dee Wallace (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), who starred in the 1986 original, returns to the series as a bounty hunter - although her character has a different name for apparent legal reasons. Tashiana Washington, Ava Preston (Rusty Rivets), Jack Fulton, and Jaeden Noel (Killjoys) also star, with Steve Blum (Star Wars Rebels) voicing the crites.

Despite being made on a low budget as a Syfy original movie, the film boasts impressive practical creatures. The designs are faithful to the Chiodo Brothers' classic crites, and they have just as much personality. The film introduces a friendly crite, like Gizmo to Gremlins; a bit of an odd choice but it mostly works. The one-dimensional human story - revolving around a babysitter (Washington) watching three kids when the small yet vicious aliens invade - is regularly broken up by bursts of carnage, earning the series' first R rating.

Critters Attack was released on Blu-ray (with DVD and Digital) in 2019 via Warner Brothers. Special features include: Engineering Gore: Designing Critters featurette, Critters: An Out-of-this-World Experience featurette, The Critter Ball featurette, and scene-specific audio commentary with Miller and a crite. It also came with a slipcover.

As a collector, the greatest appeal of HorrorPack is the exclusive Blu-ray. These limited edition titles are often indie movies that otherwise may never be available in high definition, with past exclusives including The Barn, Dead Hooker in a Trunk, Night of Something Strange, 4/20 Massacre, The Black Dahlia Haunting, and President's Day.

This month's limited edition Blu-ray is After Dark. The 2013 effort is directed by Rico Johnson, who co-wrote the script with Carl Earhart. Korrina Rico, Scott DeFalco, Jesse James Youngblood, Mekia Cox (Once Upon a Time), David Thomas Jenkins, Marisa Saks, Lane Compton, and Jonathan Nsien star. The only special feature is the trailer.

I was hoping to enjoy this one, but it's a painfully generic slasher with a finale reflecting the then-popular so-called "torture porn" trend. It also features hateful language that no longer flies in 2021. It follows a group of shallow teenagers - entitled bros and catty girls - on a Spring Break trip to the sand dunes. While the film is hindered by its low budget, no amount of money could have saved it. It's so cliche ridden that it almost feels like a parody - except it's not (intentionally) funny.

Killer Movie premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. Largely populated by TV talent, the cast features Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries), Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory), Gloria Votsis (White Collar), Jason London (Dazed and Confused), Al Santos (Jeepers Creepers 2), Adriana DeMeo (Without a Trace), Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl), Nestor Carbonell (Bates Motel), Torrey DeVitto (Pretty Little Liars), Robert Buckley (iZombie), and NSYNC's JC Chasez.

Reality TV director Jeff Fisher (The Challenge, The Simple Life) makes his feature debut as writer and director. Drawing on his background, the slasher follows a film crew in a small North Dakota town shooting a reality series about an underdog hockey team, but the focus shifts to true crime when a masked killer who films his murders strikes. The reality show-style talking head interstitials provide some levity but not enough to push it into horror-comedy territory, which could have improved the film. It has good production value, a strong cast, and a fun setup, but there are too many underdeveloped characters and subplots that merely pad the runtime.

Killer Movie was released on Blu-ray in 2009 by Phase 4 Films. Special features include a behind-the-scenes featurette and the theatrical trailer.

Child of Satan (also known as Neron) is a 2016 film co-directed by Mitesh Kumar Patel and Sam Son and written by Lekhraj Patel. Kacey Clarke (Resident Evil: Afterlife), Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), Yves Bright, Caite Upton (The Amazing Race), James Martin Kelly, Raymond Forchion, Inger Tudor, and Kirk Bovill star.

Between the title and the artwork, it came as no surprise that this one is a riff on Rosemary's Baby. It doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it's so unintentionally campy that it's almost enjoyable... almost. After the premature birth of her son Neron (!), Allison (Clarke) begins to suspect there's something wrong with her baby, only to be dismissed by her husband (Bright) as the bodies of those close to her pile up. Roberts receives top billing despite limited screen time as a knowledgeable priest in an ill-fitting costume, though he earns his paycheck with his commitment to the balderdash he spews.

Child of Satan was released on Blu-ray in 2017 via Cinedigm and ITN Distribution. The lone special feature is a trailer.

From best to worst, I'd rank HorrorPack's March 2021 films as follows: Critters Attack, Killer Movie, Child of Satan, After Dark. While I wasn't a big fan of any of the selections this time around, the thrill of the unknown is what makes a mystery box so appealing. HorrorPack certainly delivers in that sense, along with the added allure of an exclusive/limited edition release. HorrorPack Blu-ray plans start at $24.99 for a single month and go as low as $22.74/month with an annual plan.

#critters attack #killer movie #child of satan #after dark #horrorpack #horror pack #unboxing #review #article #critters #dee wallace #eric roberts #kaley cuoco #leighton meester #paul wesley #jc chasez #torrey devitto

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alienjock · 4 years

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MY MUSIC

before i start this off id like to say that i fully acknowledge my music taste is not the end all be all of music taste, that being said i like to think that ive got a pretty decent music taste! none of these playlists are Finished. Ever. as my special interest, im constantly in the search for more music. its my lifeblood. its how i express myself. its my love language. i hope you enjoy!

(bolded are favorites, italics are potentially “outdated” or “unfinished”, meaning i need to clean them up.)

MISC:

bratpop - my BRAND. bratpop as a genre term was coined by holychild, and its this really good like front of the bleachers cymbal crashing pep rally LOUD noise pop that i LIVE for

bratrock - bratrock but make it cherry bomb by the runaways. gritty. little bit of riot girl.

SKATE OR DIE - songs i know by heart <3

a suitcase full of summertime - just a random grab bag of whatever!

songs i discovered through pokemon amvs - what it says on the tin.

psychic: what the fuck - sometimes u just have songs stuck in ur head constantly

candyland - songs with sugary titles.

dont forget the pack - songs about wolves

songs with people names - songs with people names

love is fun! - 100% uplifting happy positive love songs to remind you you shouldnt be suffering in love.

record wet summer - 2019 summer was SEXY.

i dont wanna be alone with me - an anxiety playlist that is uplifting or detrimental depending on ur mood.

this is my home - some of my favorite instrumentals.

post traumatic ennui - my favorite songs from izombie

shut up and (slow)dance - slow love songs i like

press ! to continue - chiptune!

CONCEPTS:

songs that hit different as a trans guy - yes there are two versions of girls just wanna have fun. yes it is a deeply personal playlist. love u all.

watching the ceiling fan spin - when youre filled with the emotion of What Can You Do But Lay In Bed For Hours. low energy but not like Slow.

the world’s gonna end. wanna hang out? - it's the end of the world and you go to spend the last few hours of your life with the person you love most.

where the sky meets the sea - oh you know. the ocean.

bury me in the ocean floor - see above, but darker.

girl of the future - one of my ocs but make her even more hatsune miku than she already is.

the divorced energy of it all - what it says on the tin.

mixtapes and landlines - when youre a gay high schooler in the 1980s and in love with your best friend

nose rings and cigarettes 2012 redux - when youre in love with the punk girl in your english class and its 2012

i’m an expert just like you - obligatory mad scientist playlist

MICHAEL AND HEATHER TAKE ON THE WORLD - my best friend drove me to college once and i made us a playlist to listen to during the ride

dc trip playlist - i met up with a bunch of my best friends at dc and these are all the songs we had stuck in our head that weekend (shout out to @taakitz @release-the-sheep @rearviewrosary)

high seas and childish dreams - my VIBES

ode to singing trees - concept playlist for my dnd campaign

FANMIXES:

and you are mine - symbrock babey. sometimes being possessed by an alien gets you an alien spouse.

LIMA VICTOR-426 - ONE OF MY FINEST CREATIONS. KAIJU!NEWTON. sometimes being possessed by an alien turns you into a rock star.

write you letters (in multicolor!) - newmann. its about the pen pals to lovers to enemies to lovers.

sharkflick! - my animal crossing island vibes! <3

SHARK PUPPY - i dont know who stephen king is. stream betty ripsoms torso

stray kittens - very gooey fanmix for kyo sohma and tohru honda.

🌻 🕷 - miles morales/itsv

dahlias and roses - jupeter from the penumbra podcast

tale as old as time - botw zelink. theyre complex

hero - botw link. hes out there in the woods.

justice, scorned by gods - lawful evil!keyleth of critical role

MADE BY OTHERS:

o.O - made by @realanimeboy, lu if youre not okay with me sharing this playlist let me know but it might be one of my favorite playlists someone else has ever made. if youre going to check out any playlist check out this one!

hozier’s influences - made by @fluoresensitive. VERY VERY good if you like hozier you HAVE to know his roots and inspirations

what if we kissed in the cold war - made by @viciousmaukery, a fanmix for curt mega and owen carvour

late night driving - made by @viciousmaukery. a secret fanmix. its about being in love with your best friend

monster mash (horny edition) - made by @crowlore. exactly what it sounds like.

ssc; chill cave - compiled by @crowlore. one time my server just like sat in vc for like five hours listening to the chillest music.

#music #save #about me #seashell collection #long post

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waveridden · 3 years

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thoughts on every cw show you've watched (a dark history i think we both share)

lily i wish you could hear the noise i just made when i saw this. god. okay. i’m going in approximate chronological order here. also an important piece of context is my mom did not let us watch ~adult tv~ until approximately 2010 so even though i am theoretically old enough to remember, like, one tree hill, i did not watch it.

also i’m putting this under a cut not out of shame but because it’s stupidly long but i’m putting the one everyone wonders about at the top (coincidentally i think it’s also chronologically first)

supernatural: meant a whole awful lot to me when i was a teen! ruby supernatural is how i figured out i like girls! i think i said this at the time but dean/cas canon (or. “canon”) means a lot to me not because i think it’s Good but because it was 14yo me’s wildest dream and i think sometimes our wildest teenage dreams deserve to come true. it’s a shitshow don’t get me wrong but it’s one that wormed its way into my brain and that in some ways i still care a lot about. i think it did a lot for my love of stories about families and about choice and free will like it was definitely formative and i’m cool with that. there are definitely dumber things that were formative for me

arrow: watched s1 while it was airing and i think i watched 3-4 total seasons on netflix. hot fucking garbage show. i think they had some interesting ideas in the early seasons - i like malcolm merlyn as a villain, i LOVE roy harper in this, thea queen is one of my favorite characters ever, there are lots of little things i could be kind about - but oliver is just such an irredeemable fucking bastard that it made the show unwatchable. also they put a jewish woman in a gas chamber, which is something i think we as a society need to talk about more???? in conclusion laurel lance i miss you

smallville: when i was in high school i bought the first season of smallville on dvd. i watched about half of it and never finished it. i do think it’s a fun concept tho and i like that it got to serve as sort of like... a proto legends of tomorrow situation where they could just throw random comics characters at you

the vampire diaries: bonnie was hot. idk i watched half a season and got bored

the flash: i watched the first... three-ish seasons while it was airing i think? i have a lot of fondness bc the flash is my dad’s favorite superhero and i genuinely think s1 is a lot of fun but man it went downhill huh. cisco ramon and iris west i love you and you deserve to be in a better show. also dc adaptations stop just randomly doing flashpoint challenge

izombie: rahul kohli i think of you every day. ravi/major was good. i remember not actually enjoying the first season but still being excited when s2 started and then like... not watching it. wasn’t arthur from merlin in this???

the 100: DEEP BREATHS. OKAY. the 100 was very important to me for a very long time and in some ways it still is because the first long fic i ever actually outlined and completed was for the 100, and that matters to me even though the show no longer does. however jesus christ what a fall from grace. like they even went from typical cw racist to just batshit levels of all the isms and phobias you could think of. i genuinely don’t understand how clexa is still in the public discourse at ALL like i get that fandom is overwhelmingly white and decided that they could look past the brownface but the violent homophobia isn’t great! also lily i know you know this but Justice For Jasper Jordan. that’s all

also i used to play this game in seasons 6-7 where whenever i saw an episode recap i would read it and it made me feel insane. did you know that in season 7 they went to a different planet? everyone was cryogenically frozen for like thirty years except for monty and harper (who had a DAUGHTER) and they went to a new planet. i’m not making this up. literal insanity. i’m foaming at the mouth as we speak

legends of tomorrow: i have seen season one of legends of tomorrow approximately six times. my url is a legends of tomorrow reference. i actually haven’t watched since s3 tho like i didn’t have cable/netflix for a while there and just... never caught up. it is such a perfectly ridiculous show. “we need to go back in time to make george lucas make movies so our historian is inspired by indiana jones!” “what if elvis’s guitar did necromancy?” stop wasting my time with talking and show me 45 minutes of that. lots of insane shit. nate heywood i think of you every day maisie richardson-sellers please call me

supergirl: i watched the pilot (fine) and the musical episode of the flash (honestly? pretty fun) and feel absolutely no desire to watch any more

riverdale: i watched the first season of riverdale and the reason i stopped watching was not related to the show itself, it’s because the roommate i lived with at the time who watched with me started making aggressive comments about the show being reverse racist and i removed myself from the situation. i really really want to watch it but i think you need someone to do it With you instead of doing it alone and tam keeps SAYING NO WHEN I ASK so idk maybe one day

crazy ex girlfriend: i never actually watched this but my roommate did and sometimes i would watch with her. there was a very smug quality to this show that really annoyed me? idk how to explain it. would not watch the whole thing tbqh. music was alright tho. i have referenced this moment in this song in way too many conversations that did not call for it

black lightning: i watched season one while it was airing and it was REALLY well done. i hope the future seasons were also good. anissa/grace fucking ruled we love a lesbian/bi relationship AND an interracial relationship with zero white people in it

also some bonus content for people who actually made it this far:

i have the wikipedia page for the cw open right now and i’m looking at all the kids shows, so i want to throw out there that 1) sonic x is the first fandom i remember being in 2) i watched a LOT of yugioh as a kid and i don’t care what anyone says yugioh gx fucking ruled and so did 5ds they really just went “what if we did it ON MOTORCYCLES” and i respect that 3) i watched the legion of superheroes cartoon with my dad and in retrospect it’s just stunningly fucking ugly but i loved it a lot when i was a kid

#waveridden.ask #mountalodiel #this is so long jfkldjsdklfds #ALSO heads up if anyone clicks the readmore:#cw for some discussion of the various isms/phobias that cw shows always seem to have #specifically the paragraph about arrow discusses a violently antisemitic thing that really stuck with me #and the 1oo includes racism/homophobia discussion #so idk just... tread with caution! if you're not in the mood to deal with that today don't deal with it today

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oodlyenough · 4 years

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some disorganized thoughts on bly manor now that i’ve had some time to digest it

i’ll start with things i liked:

-obviously i appreciated a lesbian love story front and center. that was a great pleasant surprise -i liked the idea of hopping between memories and the memories warping and changing and replaying -the dollhouse was creepy af and frankly underutilized -the kid who played miles cracked me tf up -i watched a single season of izombie years ago and have liked rahul kohli ever since so it was nice to see him in something! -i like these anthology ideas with different actors reappearing. i spent most of the season like “i’m sure theo is in this but where is she??” hahaha

i think this felt like a solid B draft to me... like not a first draft, but not quite as good as it might’ve been had it gone through another round of reworking. i like a lot of the fundamentals -- most of the characters are likable except the ones you aren’t meant to like, i like the cast, i like different bits of the concepts, i like the twist of “it’s a love story”.... but many of those separate threads never fully came together for me

we saw almost every major twist coming, literally from ep 1 we were like “hannah’s a ghost”. i dunno if i count this as a point off or not, because you want stories to be logically written and have foreshadowing you can follow, but it would’ve been nice to have any big surprises a la Nellie/Bent Neck Lady. plus, in the case of edmund i correctly guessed it was headlights/taillights reflecting off glasses, but i was disappointed because i thought Dani’s dark secret would be murder~ (or manslaughter i guess, accidental) and perhaps she’d backed up into some guy, and she’d seen it too late in her rearview mirror, which is why he always appeared in mirrors... but nope. the mirror connection was arbitrary and she was not at fault at all. i mean, i get why she was upset, but considering we spent several episodes thinking dani had murdered/accidentally killed someone, the reveal of “he got hit by a car in front of me and i had nothing to do with it” was an anticlimax lol.

every character got a really long soliloquy that was Too Long. hill house was prone to pretentious dialogue as well, but when it’s pretentious dialogue for a solid 5 minutes of one character talking, it got to be a bit much. and I like these people! so it’s not like the basic level of my interest wasn’t there, it just ...stretched on. a lot of this website probably disagrees, but jamie’s moonflower speech is the key example of this for me. i feel like we got the gist of what her life had been like and why she was the way she was in the first third of it, and then it just went on... and on...

then other things that just felt like they came up but weren’t tied together satisfactorily: peter and rebecca. i loved the turn at the end of... what, episode 7 I think?, where peter-miles leaves and you find out rebecca is undermining his plan and wants to save the kids and dani. that was a relief, since i spent the previous episode like ‘why the FUCK is rebecca on board with this’, and i thought we were building to some sort of peter/miles-rebecca-flora-dani confrontation... but then the lady of the lake interrupted and dominated the entire end of the series

which in some ways of course she did -- you don’t hear about “the lady in the lake” at the start of a haunted show and not have her center stage at some point -- but could we not have tied those two things together better?

i’m also not opposed to sad endings in this genre -- i am one of the people who thinks hill house should’ve gone with its original bleak ending lol -- but the tragedy felt a little strangely doled out. owen & hannah needed more screentime towards the end with actual-owen, I think? owen needed more to do writ large. rebecca’s story felt unfinished and rebecca in general never felt like a fully realized character -- which is part of why i was so excited when she was revealed to be working against peter, but then it barely went anywhere! (sensing an uncomfortable pattern...)

i found viola’s story strange... ok, so she’s lost her memory of everything except her walk, and she’s stuck there by sheer will, but when she’s in dani she doesn’t... change at all, or... she still just wants to be in the lake? no one ever dragged that damn lake when there’s so many bodies in it lmao? maybe finding a way to make viola at peace would’ve been too trite but i felt like the show had kind of set up for that and then didn’t go all the way with it.

ALSO... i get that bride flora “didn’t know” or whatever... but god her bawling @ this widowed lesbian the night before her marriage because what if he diiiiies one daaaaaaay we’re so perfect and happy waaaaaaaah was like.... obnoxious to me. lmfao

also it just wasn’t very scary imo. i apparently missed every background ghost because i saw, like, two, whereas in hill house i was ALWAYS on edge looking for them in that damn house lmao. in this one, there were a couple early scares but not many. dani’s fiance became routine, lol. peter quint was obviously just ghost peter quint. hill house did something similar, where the ghosts were slowly revealed and in essence became less scary -- ESPECIALLY bent neck lady who was terrifying af to start with lol but ultimately becomes tragic -- but i feel like hill house maintained the post-reveal scariness more effectively.

anyway I dunno, despite the above I didn’t hate it! I had fun watching it with friends and I will absolutely watch s3 The Haunting of Whatever to see this cast do other ghost stories. but it’s like a 6/10 for me. mostly it made me want to rewatch hill house. and maybe oculus.

#the haunting of bly manor #the haunting of bly manor spoilers

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lunchador · 4 years

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Don't mind me but I'm rambling. I'm gonna yell about this here cuz it is my fandom blog and that's what it's for.

Man, The Boys is the perfect example of seeing a comic, seeing the potential, and gutting it for something better. I used to be a fan of Garth Ennis, I used to say he was the kind of writer that could balance edgy in a fun way that wasn't too much, but after revisiting his work I'm like....very unimpressed. And I feel as he keeps releasing series they keep getting worse 😬 I can't say this on FB because some of my male friends hold it in high regards(lots of them read it as angry edgy teens) but Preacher? Kinda a super shit comic. I genuinely think the show was attempting something better by polishing up the core concept (also the casting? Chefs kiss). I liked The Boys. I own The Boys. But the show is a fantastic example of how a comic adaptation does not need to be faithful. I think they made the characters a lot more engaging, they kept the graphic violence but I'm not rolling my eyes at it, and made the overall plot more of an arc versus the previous baddie hero of the week style that made it feel disjointed. And it's nice not to be able to expect what is going to happen next, not like how some shows throw it in a new direction solely to fuck with you versus genuinely interesting. They still sprinkle tons of comic stuff nicely in the show (my friend and I screamed at love sausage). I think the timing of the show is excellent in both that there is a corporate superhero burnout with so many movies and shows being churned out (often playing it too safe where money > interesting) and also reflecting irl events in an eerie but clever way. The whole comic and show is assholes, and I'm thrilled to love to hate them. I couldn't even do much of a reread because it's just not that good to me anymore. Absolutely crazy that Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg read those two comics by Ennis and were like yeah, let's do this.

I feel the same way about Mark Millar though. I cannot stand his comics, I feel like he's pretty good with coming up with a concept but someone always executes it better on his behalf. Kingsman? Kick ass? Wanted? All superior to the comics. I think red son and jupiter's legacy are ones I did like, but I am very interested to see how netflix (?) Does jupiter's legacy in the wake of the boys. Not quite the same, but an edgy superhero series I highly expect people to make a comparison. It's about children of superheros that are struggling to live in their shadows. Drugs, sex, violence, drama.

On the other hand, I am screaming about the Invincible adaptation. IM SO FUCKING EXCITED. Invincible is in my top favorite comics, it got me INTO comics, and I always thought it was vastly superior to Kirkmans famous work Walking Dead. This I do hope sticks close to the comics (though maybe slightly better writing for women characters haha). I already know exactly what they're doing for the first arc and I really really hope we can get further than that because the series gets so fucking WILD. Insane all of the merch and now a show we are getting after the series ends. It's also super long for a western comic series at like 26 trades I think. I hope the show is a success for multiple reasons.

With the old guards success, I hope amazon finally does something with the rights they bought to Lazarus a few years ago. Greg Rucka is truly one of the best comic writers out there and that series is perfect for tv. Which reminds me I need to watch stumptown cuz I just bought the comic to reread and it's so good!!!!

And y the last man finally has its feet on the ground after being in development hell for like 10 years. Brian k vaughn writes the most human characters out there. And also paper girls is gonna be a series!!!! Fucking hell yeah!!! Hopefully it catches people attention as stranger things did. It's gonna be fun. And I hope saga never gets adapted. I truly think nothing will be able to capture it. Leave it as is.

And I'm still sad Chew ended up falling into development hell. Originally showtime wanted to use to to replace Dexter as that ended as their new bloody crime show, then it fell to an animated series which is better imo to pair with how weird it is and showcase the art style but I think the last I heard of it it was pretty much not happening. Especially since iZombie got surprising amount of traction and I guess they expected it to be too similar.

I'm also still bitter about Deadly Class's cancellation. I had a lot of potential. Great cast, good cinematography. It's such a fun tragic comic.

Locke&key was alright, it's such a good horror comic but I wouldn't be able to tell you what would have made the show better. Something didn't quite click for me.

I'm kinda really burnt out on marvel/dc. I don't think either is impressing me lately besides scattered things. I don't think I'm excited for any of the disney+ shows besides falcon+winter soldier and even then expectations are tentatively low. Maybe wandavision? I didn't give a shit about them in the movies but it's heavily based on a run of comics I did enjoy so I'm wary. I know only care about Hawkeye for Kate and she-hulk for the actress. Though I've been having a surprising amount of fun watching Doom Patrol and I enjoyed swamp thing. It's weird. It embraces that weird. There's something I feel like Umbrella Academy is missing it could learn from doom Patrol. Like ua still feels like it played it a bit safe. Idk. Haven't finished it because I'm not as motivated to.

And Faith?? Is gonna get a movie??? A plus size hero??? AHHHH. I have my first issue signed by the author I met at comic con a few years ago.

And watchmen of course.

And outcast, and happy, and powers! And I kill giants was turned into such a good movie!!! So many image comics!!

I just read nailbiter is gonna be a series so that's gonna be bloody and violent and full of serial killers lmao. The ending of that comic got a little ??? For me but I own the whole series so i guess that says something.

What a time to be a comics fan!!! We are so fucking spoiled lmao and there's still sooo many untapped series. I think Criminal would make a fantastic live action drama show. Who does like Intricate crimes and heists and overlapping stories And wic+div would make a stellar show especially if they really had fun with the music. And so many comics I like would make amazing animated series like pretty deadly, or chew, rocket girl. Haunt is another Kirkmans series that has potential to be a fun gritty superhero violent adaptation. Except the ectoplasma attacks haunt has looks like violent jizz sometimes. Idk. Like, URGHHHHHHH. Gimme gimme gimme more comic stuff.

And there's so many good things I'm not even aware it was a comic initially.

And there's so many things I hear good things I have yet to touch like black lightning, runaways ( I love the comics!!, Cloak and dagger (also great comics )

Old comic shit is good too. I've been rewatching the Spawn series. Adult animated superhero stuff is seriously underrated. The tank girl movie is FUN. ROCKETEEEEER!!!!! Disney was supposed to do a remake with a black girl. What happened to that?

I dislike all the cw shows though lmao too cheesy. Also why I can't get into agents of shield though I tried for Robbie.

So many THINGS

#hey i am a huge image fangirl if i havent screamed about that enough yet #ive been feeling emotional over comics #ever since invincible dropped the teaser #like legit tears smh #tumblr chabged how you do readmores i guess #i tried tk hide this so sorry if youre scrolling oast #i just #fuckjng love comics you guys

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cs-discourse · 4 years

Text

Reccomendations (V long sorry 😅)

I offer you all some shows to watch instead of hAzBiN hOtEL:

Epithet Erased (On YT I think. - Animation style is a little hard to get used to, but I love the chars and story line. Wholesome fun.)

Brooklyn 99 ( Netflix - please remember that real cops are not like this, it is a fictitious portrayal - the actors themselves donated 100,000 $ to support protesters against cops. Enjoy it but watch it as the fiction it is. Be aware that it’s copaganda.)

She-ra ( Netflix- we stan that lgbtq representation)

Avatar the Last Airbender (Netflix - Most of you have prbly already seen it but uh. If you haven’t, it’s pretty good. Definitely a lighthearted semi childish show.)

Daria (Crave - We stan unique poc representation. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59kp45/daria-jodie-landon-suburban-black-girl)

Adventure Time (Dailymotion -free- or Google Play - Just google best episodes and watch those ones. The ones with Marceline + PB are my personal faves.)

Magic For Humans (Netflix - Basically an interesting magic show. Fun activity: when I watch this w/ other ppl we try to figure out how he did the tricks.)

The Fresh Prince (Netflix - A classic. Still know the theme song by heart.)

Hilda or Kipo and the Wonderbeasts (Netflix - these two animated shows are new unique takes on fantasy adventures. )

IZombie ( Netflix - Basically a zombie detective, but better. Think Veronica Mars. -also a good detective show y'all should watch. *trigger warning: it’s a zombie murder show so it has some semi-realistic depictions of gore/brains.)

Disenchantment ( Netflix -The closest thing to Hazbin on this list. An animated show with dark humour without being racist or homophobic. *some animated gore that some people might find triggering. It’s been a while since I watched so idk exactly what.)

Final Space ( Netflix -like disenchantment, an animated show with an intended audience older than your average animation show. *again, animated gore.)

Mods, if any of these shows are homophobic/racist/otherwise problematic -(ignoring B99 which is obvious copganda. Again: It’s fiction. Do not -I repeat, DO NOT- look at it as a real representation of cops. It’s not.)- please say so. We not here tryna recommend problematic shows. Or, if you have any other reccomendations?

ps: I’m Canadian, so some of these shows may not be on american Netflix, or some of the ones that aren’t may be on it. Idk. Stay safe y'all. Oof way too long submission finally over.

if you like anime, here are things i watch:

blue exorcist - DEMONSSS (hulu and netflix im p sure)

scissor seven - its actually chinese animated, but its very well made and the production value goes up as the show goes on. i honestly rlly like the cliche anime backstory for the main char bc its also funny as hell (netflix)

saiki k - its like if one punch man was a teen who was also incredibly sarcastic. if you have adhd this shows p good for you too, it goes really fucking fast and you cant look away or youll miss something. its hilarious, go watch. (netflix)

also, some youtubers if youre feelin like that:

dream - minecraft youtuber, child friendly (not in the annoying way. just no cussing)!! hes like 5000 iq and holy shit his minecraft manhunts are insane. holds the mc speedrun world record POG. good coder, my fav youtuber right now.

hellfreezer - reading reddit stories youtuber. his voice is very nice, and videos are faily long. i use him as background noise when doing work.

TRO (the right opinion) - long commentary/rant videos on controversial topics/youtubers, like onision and yandere dev. sexy british voice ;)

mossbag - hollow knight lore and theories. i love hollow knight sm

penguinz0 - streams, commentaries, very short videos. one of the funniest men alive. absoultely incredicble. hes very quick witted and his insults make me scream laugh sometimes

joana ceddia - random life videos. full of personality! i love her honestly shes really chill but also gives off the energy of a thousand suns

pointcrow - gaming youtuber. makes a lot of insane challenge botw videos/zelda vids in general. he streams and then makes the videos.

jarvis johnson - makes videos like drew gooden/danny gonzalas do, but he is also a poc. his bids are entertaining and interesting!! i recommend greatly if you like shorter commentary videos.

.phe

my current faves are:

dorohedoro - anime about humans and wizards coexisting during a war against each other. the wizards hate the humans and curse them to experiment with their magic. all-powerful demons control the magic world behind the scenes. very graphic in regards to gore, some nudity on occasion. anime not finished adapting from manga.

hunter x hunter - anime about hunters who do just that-- go out into the world and hunt for whatever it is they want. examples include justice for their clan killed by genocide, a new family because the old one is a toxic group of assassins who believe you can’t have friends, friends to fill in for an absentee father, and a phd. somewhat graphic in regards to gore, especially so later on in the series. anime not finished adapting from manga.

what we do in the shadows - tv mockumentary series about vampires living in staten island. very funny but also VERY NSFW... lots of sexual references/content, gore and blood.

snowpiercer - tv fantasy series about the apocalypse in which the government fucked up and sent the world into a total deep freeze. 1001 train cars are all the life that remains on earth. VERY NSFW... sexual references/content, gore and blood. there’s also a movie adapted from the comic series by the iconic and incomparable bong joon ho on netflix which is good.

// Mod Peach

#cs discourse #submission

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whatafuckinnerd · 3 years

Note

2, 6, and 20 for the writing meme pretty please!

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project Well, just last night I plotted out a big reveal moment/first kiss scene for my latest OC, and my two biggest enablers are demanding I write it. I’m pretty excited to get that put onto paper.

6. What character do you have the most fun writing? Hmmm... Honestly, I have fun writing pretty much all the characters I write for. I’m a sucker for great dialogue so I get to write a lot of really fun lines with the characters I tend to write, both canon and OC. If I had to pick though, I’d likely go with a tie between Wrench from Watch Dogs 2 and Blaine DeBeers from iZombie.

Wrench is so ridiculous and volatile that writing something for him is always a wild and weird ride. As for Blaine, he’s such a charming scumbag, and getting to write how he would quip and schmooze and threaten his way through everything is an absolute delight.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?) Oh no... you don’t understand, friend. I do so much of this. I put so much work into detail no one will ever notice. Even just picking one* story, I put so much meta work into it. I mean, I’ll do it. Don’t you worry. But it’ll have to be its own post.

*one story, but in two parts, from both POVs

#ask meme #incessant asks #and I write write write #yourfloorislava #when i said go ask me things i kinda meant on my sideblog #but also this is exactly why i reblogged it here too lol #nobody probably saw that one

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i-maybe-exist · 4 years

Note

2, 3 and 4 for the top five ask game?

2 - Games

1. among us - i like that you have to like, pay attention in this game, but if you don’t it’s not super detrimental. recently, it’s defiantly been better playing with friends cuz more people are being assholes in public games recently. i’ve also made a few friends playing this!

2. minecraft - the recent resurgence/my new hyperfixation on minecraft youtubers has made me want to play minecraft again. plus, it’s just a fun game

3. animal crossing - this game is just really wholesome! i haven’t played it as much recently, but i do sometimes and it’s just really cute and nice to relax and do your daily tasks

4. mario kart - its somewhat fun to get mad at a princess peach ai for throwing a blue shell right when you were about to cross the finish line and making you get second place

5. mope.io - just fun game to waste a few hours on. i like the variety in it, and it’s fun to play

3 - TV shows

1. i am not okay with this - i just love this show so much! it has a great sense of humor, a fun gay romance subplot, and interesting superpowers (and i’m very salty that it’s not getting a second season)

2. kipo and the age of the wonderbeasts - this show just has such a positive vibe, the plot is really good, and i love the art style (and the ending!!! it was written so well)

3. the umbrella academy - similar to ianowt: great humor, gay sideplot, and interesting superpowers. main differences is that the plot is more complicated and there’s a slightly different vibe (neither of which are bad things!)

4. last week tonight with john oliver - most of the time it’s a fun comedy show with some information about a serious topic (it hasn’t been as funny recently, which makes sense given the world’s circumstances)

5. izombie - almost my guilty pleasure of the list. i think the premise is somewhat corny, but it has funny lines sometimes and good special effects

4 - Movies

1. love, simon - i usually don’t like romance movies, but this was just so wholesome and cute and like the plot made sense and just aaaaAAHHHH i love it so much

2. into the spiderverse - this movie is just really fun!!! i love the vibes it’s going for, the animations is so cool in so many different ways (the styles, the shading, the extra details in the background, etc) and it has both john mulaney and nick cage (what more do you need)

3. avengers endgame - this movie was just so good in so many different ways. like they managed to make the time travel not too complicated, it managed its cast really well, and it holds the esteemed title of “a piece of media that’s made me cry emotionally.” it’s also (arguably) one of the biggest movie events in recent pop culture history

4. the force awakens - the only good movie from the recent star wars trilogy. it’s funny, i like ray’s character, and the action is good

5. i honestly can’t think of another movie i really like (i don’t watch a lot of movies, even without a pandemic)

#ask #answered #butnobodycame627

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talesofafangirlwithadvr · 4 years

Text

MAY PICKS!

WELCOME BACK TO ANOTHER MONTH OF TV/MOVIE WATCHING!

Does it feel like it was just April or that it can’t even be May and yet it is coming to an end? I get it. Quarantine is doing weird things to my head and I can’t believe how far in the year it’s been. Looking back on my picks for this month I noticed that I have seemed to escape the world through historical period shows or movies. But that isn’t the entire bulk of the month (just half of it). Without further ado, here we go!

As always..spoilers....

THE HALF OF IT

This Netflix original movie was an early watch for me during this month and it came at the right time. I was looking for a movie, rather than a TV show, and something that was contemporary and not overly serious (although, there are serious themes in this film). As it repeatedly says, “it’s not a romance” yet it has that YA/teen romance feel. (Yes, I used YA/teen in the same description.) I really loved the Elle Chu and Paul Munsky friendship. While watching the trailer, I could tell this film would be highlighting a healthy friendship as its focal point and how your other half doesn’t have to be a romantic soulmate. A lot of times, these kinds of stories can seem very repetitive, but with the new plot of Elle and Paul in love with the same girl we encounter a new kind of obstacle. I think the resolution was pretty solid for both plot lines and I liked the train scene at the end. Certain shots felt long at times. There were lots of pauses, which I didn’t 100% like. Also, the awkwardness could feel pretty cringey. Overall, it is definitely worth the watch. I liked it and would watch it again. Paul might be one of my heartthrobs of 2020. I’m always a sucker for a sweet jock with a heart of gold.

THE OFFICE LADIES

Yes, I know I’m late to the show as this podcast started last year, but better late than never and what better time than quarantine. Plus, I don’t have to wait each week for a new episode (even though know I’m catching up, so eventually...) At first, I was worried when I would have time because of not spending as much time in the car for commuting, but I found it’s really soothing to listen to as I’m cleaning. It feels like I’m in the room with Angela and Jenna and we’re all BFFs. I love how they’re best friends in real life and how close they are. They give the trivia you really can only get from two people who were on the show. They also have several guest stars from actors on the show to writers, directors and producers. One of my most recent listens had Creed Bratton in the studio with them and they talked about the Halloween episode. It was great. Listening to their podcast is really making me want to rewatch the series for the 100th time. As an uber fan, I already get all of their references, but with the new Easter eggs I can’t wait to go back and see them.

STAR WARS RISE OF SKYWALKER

Not just in honor of May the 4th, but to finish up the Star Wars watch through that I was taking with my sister. I hadn’t seen it yet and while not a die heart fan, I still wanted to see the conclusion. I liked the Force Awakens a lot, but felt eh about Last Jedi. In ways this one kind of felt like a stand alone. It had a different vibe compared to the previous two. After watching I heard there was a different director for all three movies, so that makes sense-I guess. (It’s weird they wouldn’t have kept at least one to do two of them.) It also had a kind of fan fiction feel. SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! Bringing Palpatine back reminded me of Lord Voldemort having a kid in Cursed Child. BACK FROM SPOILERS! I’m happy that Rey’s parentage/lineage was revealed because it was such a major point in this series. I loved the Rey/Finn/Poe relationship. It was great to see them in the same story line and reminded me of the original three: Luke/Han/Leia. Leia :( It was so sad, but I always knew it had to happen, due to Carrie Fischer. It didn’t make it any easier to watch. MORE SPOILERSSSSS! I knew Kylo would turn back. It was nice to see that his mom was able to spark that. I did like his fight scene. I just didn’t love the connection him and Rey have/had. LOVED the ending. I’m cool with her taking the Skywalker name and the suns shot with the force them at the end had me screaming.

OPHELIA

From one Daisy Ridley film to another. This movie just recently got added to my list when I was channel surfing. I vaguely remembered it being advertised, but it felt like a while ago. I’m a sucker for a re-telling, so I was immediately intrigued to watch it. This film was adapted from a novel by the same name. It follows Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and gives her more of a story and character development. If you are familiar with the original, you know that Ophelia is only briefly mentioned and her character’s motives are really driven by her love for Hamlet. Even her famous death scene is very ambiguous. When this film begins, a voice-over narration by Ridley immediately brings us to her death scene and tells the audience “that there is more to the story than we think we know.” I really loved the twist and re-invention of this story through her point of view. I think Daisy Ridley was fantastic in the role. I haven’t seen her in a lot of other things, so it was great to see her here in a completely different role from Star Wars. The re-telling is very creative and very feminist. You get to see how Hamlet and Ophelia meet and then see him off to school. With this addition you can really get behind this relationship and see the mutual attraction and feelings between them. When relating back to the original, I like how they cut out scenes that Ophelia was not physically apart of and instead rely the events that happened. (Specifically with Polonius’ death.) I also enjoyed the new perspective of scenes. You really can tell that Ophelia is not mad, but it is the mask she must put on to survive. The ‘get thee to a nunnery’ scene takes on a whole different meaning now. There’s also a lot echoes to other Shakespearean plays and tropes which were fun to explore. Whether you’re a Shakespeare/Hamlet fan or not, I would definitely check this one out if you’re a fan of the time period, re-tellings or a strong female lead.

MEDICI THE MAGNIFICENT SEASON 3

I literally just finished this show this afternoon and I couldn’t wait to write about it. (Sorry if this post is pretty long, but that just shows you that you need to watch it.) I was very excited for the third and final season of Medici because I enjoyed season 2, so much. While this one might have taken me a little longer to watch, it was still a good time and I’m sad it’s over.

Watching this season I was super impressed by Daniel Sharman’s acting. He has great range as he goes from a young Lorenzo in season 2 to an adult and father and then an elderly man. I think he was convincing throughout each stage and I’m happy they kept the same actor. His make-up to help him age looked a lot more natural, compared to Richard Madden’s, in my opinion. I feel on shows like this it’s often hard seeing a jump in time (it helps with seeing the kids grow up), so when Lorenzo starts to get sick/age I at first, was like whoa, but then it was further explained (by inheriting his father’s illness, etc.)

Compared to season 2, I definitely liked the previous more. I not only enjoyed watching the more idealistic Lorenzo, but also plot-wise. In season 2 the Pazzi are the main antagonist/objective. Here in season 3 there were several obstacles/antagonists: The Pope, Riario, and Savonarola. Every time we thought there was a moment of peace...nope. Now, I get this is based on history and we need drama so you can only change so much, but I missed the Medici being at the top and being respected. I also know we covered A LOT of time. (I guess that shows you how connected I felt with them and the show.)

All of the history Easter Eggs were cool. Obviously, the Renaissance was extremely relevant, but it was cool seeing the big names like Botticelli (especially with his painting at the end, which I recognized), Da Vinci, and Michelangelo. I can’t get over how many of these famous painters were recognized by the Medici family. It just shows you how important and influential they were. Also, when Nico revealed his last name as Machiavelli. JAW DROP! This show has continually brought me back to researching (and mainly using Wikipedia). The writing at the end was accurate to what I found. Wish we had another season with the legacy to see it continue. I’m surprised I got teary eyed at the end.

WORLD ON FIRE

It may be listed last once again, this month, but it is definitely not least. The show may have finished its season a few weeks ago, but I still have two episodes left on my DVR. The last one I watched was when they were in Dunkirk and that was an intense time. I knew it was going to be, but it still didn’t prepare me. In this episode, we see many characters FINALLY meet up and join each other’s plot lines. I think that was one of my favorite parts of the episode/series. Some already knew each other, while others were meeting for the first time. While I am excited to see how it all turns out, I’m also not ready to say good-bye. Right now, I saw a potential for a season 2, but not sure if that was a fan made article or not. I’m hoping all of my favorite characters survive and get what can be considered a happier ending than what they are currently experiencing. I also hope we don’t end on too much of a cliffhanger. Either way, I’m happy I checked this show out.

RE-WATCHING

iZOMBIE

Currently I’m in the beginning of the second season. Sometime last month I felt the pull to start re-watching this show. It’s one that I have tried once or twice to watch again from the beginning, but now that it’s been finished for almost a year, it felt like time. It was a great decision, although right now there’s some character plots that are frustrating me and that I forgot about. But there’s some great brains that Liv has experienced and it was great seeing Lowell again (for as short-lived as it was). I’m excited to continue re-watching.

I DIDN’T DO IT

The re-watch for I Didn’t Do It basically began when it hit Disney Plus a few months ago. I just recently made it to season 2, which I remember enjoying more than season 1. One reason for this was because they get rid of the flashback format for each episode. I’m really early on, like episode 4, so I still have many more to go. Once I finish it I don’t know if I’ll explore a new Disney Plus show or watch another that I’ve seen before.

I also have a few things on DVR that I’m still finishing up. I haven’t watched the finale of Batwoman yet and I know it’s going to be weird now that Ruby Rose has left the show. I just finished the Flash and felt blah about the whole season, so I’m unsure if I’ll watch next season. But I am enjoying Stargirl. You can find my thoughts on the first episode here. I’m excited to see the rest of the season.

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popscenery · 4 years

Audio

LMFAO, »Party Rock Anthem«

by Jake Cleland

‘Party Rock Anthem’ isn’t the best song of the decade, it is the song of this decade. The rotten nucleotides that comprise its DNA and its video’s captured everything that would define the 2010s even before the decade had properly started. JJ Abrams’ franchise dominance, cinema’s sequelitis, Malcolm Goodwin’s role in iZombie — seen in retrospect, ‘Party Rock Anthem’ makes LMFAO seem downright prescient. But as an early decade phenomenon, it’s also an epitaph to a brutally missed 2000s. The Cobrasnake-via-Dim Mak-via-Ed Banger-via-Mad Decent street party fashion makes the post-#mensfashionadvice 2010s look hopelessly conservative.

So much of art and politics was deastheticised by the project of fundamentally reorganising how art and politics meet and whether that casualty was necessary has yet to be reckoned, although it was probably inevitable. But ‘Party Rock Anthem’ came out when hipster irony (a phrase, kids, that folks used to use with a straight face) was only uncertainly dead, with poptimism still holding the gun cautiously to its chest. The ensuing cultural/political schism ultimately wasn’t drawn on the line between left and right, but overwrought exegeses on the meme of any given week (sup) vs. pleading to just like what you like (aka Like Everything). Two fronts battling basically for the same humiliated cause of pop supremacy made the previously delicious sport of music snobbery just not very fun. The only available rebellion was to [extremely Big Sean voice] go stupid.

(This also meant the only space left for sincere irony was, like, /mu/ and /r/indieheads and Fantano’s comments section. (Pass.))

If ‘Party Rock Anthem’ came out a few years later, it might’ve been wilfully embraced, although its pariah status also left the life in it, so we take small blessings with gratitude. After all, it’s a safe song to like: it is exclusively about the unifying force of The Party. Lyrically it even reifies the previous paragraph: “Stop: hatin’ is bad.” Where it missed a trick was not predicting the trickle down stanonomics of K-Pop’s influence, but it was a utopian vision. Superficially, it’s apocalypse-pop but if so, it’s the only example that doesn’t sound hopeless or lifeless (James Murphy arrived five years late to this, but succinctly, at least, with LCD Soundsystem’s ‘tonite’.) You watch Redfoo - convincingly scared while two-stepping through a sea of Air Jordans and lame - finally succumb to The Party and tell me that the alleged zombies aren’t the good guys. NB: the only other guy afraid of them is wearing a shirt and tie.

He’s also the only one pushing a product in the whole clip. For all the zombies-as-consumerism metaphors, who’s really a conformist consumer here? Let’s not stretch this too far, but hand-on-heart finger-tapping-forehead: makes you think.

A month before ‘Party Rock Anthem’, Tom Ewing wrote a piece for The Guardian I still think about a lot. Riffing on Girl Talk’s pointillistic reference dropping, Ewing laments the deficiency of celebrating Moments in songs/albums/patchwork sample monster mixtapes which get lost in the holistic approach. In that spirit, the Beats product placement in the ‘Party Rock Anthem’ clip created a Moment which gummed up my brain creases all through this decade almost more than the song itself. The lone survivor tells LMFAO to use their earbuds. “You got ‘em in?” he says. And Skyblu says:

“What? Vitamins?”

No matter which way you interrogate this moment, it is downright hilarious. To research for this piece, I watched over 100 music videos. I watch a lot of music videos, so the research for this piece consisted of a lot + 100 music videos. That’s more than a lot of music videos. I also watched the ‘Party Rock Anthem’ video more than 100 times, just to make sure I was awarding this Moment the appropriate gravity. So I can say with scientific credibility that not only is ‘Party Rock Anthem’ the song of this decade, but that this moment is the Moment of every decade. It is a non-sequitur nonpareil. Was this scripted or improvised? And either way, in that moment, why would someone say to them, “Vitamins”?

The story of LMFAO concluded in another particularly 2010s way. Another victim of the neverending Scam Season, Redfoo allegedly ripped Skyblu off of all LMFAO royalties. Karma rewarded Redfoo a couple years later when he was hit with a glass in Sydney. In this, we may see ourselves, inevitably disgraced by time.

There are ways ‘Party Rock Anthem’ predicted the zeitgeist and ways ‘Party Rock Anthem’ created the zeitgeist and I was present for plenty of the latter. At least in Melbourne, LMFAO’s recycling of the Melbourne Shuffle filtered back to nightclubs in a way Klein et al. warned was already happening generally. Happy to have our culture regifted if it was also represented, it was less impossible than you might imagine to find yourself inside your own LMFAO music video. But it’s what I came home to after those nights that makes ‘Party Rock Anthem’ the song of the decade, which was: inbox notifications, gchat alerts, dashboards full of posts and replies wringing meaning from meaninglessness in the most seriously unserious way. Epitaphed plenty elsewhere, Music Tumblr doesn’t need another bouquet laid here, but ‘Party Rock Anthem’ is prominent on the playlist of associations I have with the first definitive part of the decade (other triggers: ‘Video Games’, ‘Gucci Gucci’, ‘Bangarang’, ‘What Makes You Beautiful’, ‘Furisodeshon’, ‘Hey QT’, SSSSSSSSOME NIGHTS I STAYYYYYYYY UP...)

Coming from the Gawker/Defamer/Idolator readership to find a group of mostly-communal-but-sometimes-adversarial-but-for-the-better (via “Iron sharpens iron” - Coach Wade) weirdoes eager to unwrap celebrity looms large, I have no doubt, in the definitions of this decade for the people involved. Most have since left music writing or been pushed out and found fulfilling lives elsewhere, but although the pop of the era trended towards the annhilistic, let’s not cave. When I first started writing about music on Tumblr, old heads were quick to say the jobs were gone. Defiant and determined to prove them wrong, I made a pretty good go of it, and others are still doing as much. All the pieces are there for anyone with a willingness to be wrong to pick up.

That’s enough navel gazing for a time long ago. Put it to bed. The revelation of ‘Party Rock Anthem’ isn’t that you should never leave The Party, it’s that the whole world is The Party. “Dancing all night isn’t legendary, only dancing all night is.” The only thing to do in the decade ahead is to keep listening attentively. Let music fill you up. It’ll get in your bones.

#lmfao #party rock anthem #vitamins

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venus-says · 4 years

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Kamen Rider Amazons Season 1

They're Here...And They're Hungry.

When I decided it was time to get back with the blog I knew that eventually at some point I would have to get back to the previous Kamen Rider series that I haven't watched, but I didn't want to come back to a full season of 50 episodes or so right away, I wanted something that would be a bit easier to do more or less just so that I could have time to prepare more posts ahead since to catch up with the time wasted I would have to start to release posts for Precure and Rider back-to-back and doing that without preparing would be a nightmare. And that's how I decided to watch Amazons now instead of doing it in a distant future after I had watched Amazon, as I had originally planned.

And talking about Amazons is a funny thing because back in last year before I decided I would jump head first in the Rider franchise I watched a lot of those "Where to start watching *insert huge franchise here*" videos and all of them always mentioned how Amazons was a different season because it was aimed at a much older audience and that it was dark, and serious, and very violent, and there was this aura that was created around this show and the Amazon from the 70s, and it was something I was really curious about, I'd say Amazon and Amazons were probably the things I was looking forward to watching the most.

And well... what I got from this show wasn't exactly that? Like, I was expecting something way more gruesome, but what I got was just another regular Kamen Rider season that has some CGI blood on it, it wasn't anything special, you know? The impression it gave me was that they gathered a bunch of boys and asked them what they considered to be "adult-like" and they took all the suggestions mixed them in this show and then they added a blue/gray filter on it to give it a ~serious~ vibe. They didn't even were that violent to be honest, outside of very few specific scenes we don't see anything that is too far from what Kamen Rider already does, and whenever it goes beyond it end up looking more gross rather than violent because they use a black/green-ish slimy blood for the monsters, who are the ones who suffer from this extra violence the most, and even then their blood usually is covering the screen making it hard for us to see whatever it is that is going on the screen. In other words, it was doing the cool for the cool.

Does that make it a bad show? Eh... not really? I mean, I understand it if someone doesn't like it because there's indeed not a lot to the show, but I enjoyed it. It wasn't anything that I loved, but it also didn't get me bored or utterly annoyed at the show. It was underwhelming, yes, which I believe is the reason of why this review will end up making this post be shorter than it should be considering I'm covering an entire season at once, but it more or less kept me entertained for a few hours so it wasn't an awful experience.

I think the biggest disappointment of this show is that it's always trying to raise interesting concepts, but they never commit with any of them and this kinda makes the show feels like it's hollow, like there's no proper theme at its core. And being honest, the biggest problem here isn't even that it feels like this show is about nothing, but the fact that they try to do an ethical discussion about life, and what lives are worth saving or not, but it was never an actual discussion, at least it never gave me that impression, what I was seeing was character A making X argument, and character B making Y argument, but they never have an actual conversation so characters A and B don't change at all and they just keep hanging to those arguments until the end. The whole rivalry between Omega and Alpha feels like this to me, it's supposed to show two different sides and they more or less end up at the same point where they started. Now that I think about it, it sounds a lot like Gaim... which is making me question my feelings for that season now... well that's not important now.

Like I always do I intended to dedicate a separate section to go through the characters, but as I was going through each one of them I realized they're not very interesting and I wouldn't have much to say about them so I'll just go briefly on what I think saved this show for me that was the side characters.

Okay, not all of them are good, but we had a few gems in this cast. I especially like Nanaha and how her relationship with Jin plays out in the show, of course, there's still a bit of that old Rider writing for women where she's more or less just an accessory for Jin, but they managed to make her personality still shine despite that which makes me fully believe she truly loves Jin and she does all that she does of her own choice (or at least I like to believe that). I also really like the pest control team, yeah they kinda end up merging into a single entity at some point, but I like having them there, especially for Mamoru who's a very interesting character, and one of the few ones of this show that actually goes through an arc (that go me quite emotional because I like the little dude and seeing him losing himself to the amazon cells was REALLY HARD), but that was sadly not used to its full potential (yes, I'm salty they called episode 13 "M" but instead of focusing on Mamoru they decided to focus in the pointless fight between Haruka and Jin).

Now the last thing I have comments to make about is the suits and the designs. Not gonna lie, it feels weird to have this section here because as I mentioned the show has this awful color filter on to make it look like something more dark and serious so I don't know if what we're seeing in terms of colors looks exactly with what they wanted during the conception and production phase, but overall I like the designs for both Riders and Amazons. I have a frustration with Omega's suit because they tried to make it something more modern and sleek but when they did that they lost all the charm of the original Kamen Rider Amazon that was left to be implemented more in Alpha and Sigma's suits, and I would be more okay with his design if they hadn't shown us his more primal form, that actually looks like Amazon, and that look more interesting than it's final design. Of our 3 riders, my favorite in terms of looks is Alpha, both because it has the iconic piranha imagery and also because it's color is such a vibrant red that even with the awful filter over it makes it stand out a lot and I love this. I feel like, in the end, poor Sigma got the short end of the stick here since his design is pretty much just a recolor from Alpha, but considering his plotline was pretty much useless it makes sense they wouldn't put that much effort on it. I feel like I don't talk much about the accessories in these but I really like Omega's weapons that come out from the handles on its belt, I think it's a pretty clever idea and it's cool as heck seeing him pull a spear and a whip out of that belt, it's sad it's not used all that much... I think it's used only once in the fight on the roof of that apartment and it never shows up again, which is just a tragedy.

You know, now that I mentioned it, I really like the different ideas they came up with for Amazons that were hunting their prey. I love that bus plot, the apartment building that is an ant colony was very fun, and the restaurant that cooks humans in a "civilized" way was also pretty good, it reminded me of the iZombie TV show where in one of the seasons the villain starts to run like a catering service in a similar fashion.

And I believe that's all I have to say about the first season of Amazons, it feels like I've left a lot of things out but most of those things didn't feel worthy of commenting on, it would more or less just me listing up all the events and I believe that's not what you all are here for. In any case, these were my thoughts on Amazons season 1, I'll watch season 2 and it should be my next review on the Kamen Rider seasons, but for now, let me know what do you think of this season. Do you love it? Do you hate it? Write it down in the comments. Stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so much for reading, and until the next time. See-ya~

#Kamen Rider Amazons #kamen rider

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tlbodine · 5 years

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Essential Zombie Media

A thing that’s come up over and over again in early reviews for River of Souls is the sentiment that it’s not-like-other-zombie-stories. And that was certainly my intention. But you don’t get to make a good deconstruction without a healthy knowledge and appreciation of the genre you’re twisting around.

So here is a list of what I would consider essential zombie media -- whether you want to write a story that plays it straight with the tropes, or one that twists everything around, or you just want something new to watch/read.

Your own suggestions and ideas are more than welcome in the comments! Please reblog with your own favorite zombie book/movie/TV show/comic, I’d love to discover some I haven’t seen.

The Origins

The generally agreed-upon first zombie movie is White Zombie (1932), starring Bela Lugosi, but I think it’s safe to skip it on account of both obscurity and some troubling racism. The Haitian-Voodoo zombi mythos and tradition is something best kept separate from our modern ideas of the walking dead.

Instead, start your journey with George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968), which starts codifying the tropes that persist well into modern media (including, like most modern stories, never using the word ‘zombie’).

Then compare and contrast with the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend (1954), which is ostensibly about vampires but I think basically invented the modern zombie genre -- from the post-apocalyptic setting to the spread of undeath by way of disease vectors.

Follow that up with Dawn of the Dead (1978), where George Romero revisits his Living Dead universe with the help of Dario Argento (if you’re interested, there’s a 2004 remake that’s decent, but unnecessary). And then, just to wrap up the trilogy, skip on ahead to Day of the Dead (1985).

For extra credit, play the videogame Dead Rising (2006), which draws liberally from Dawn of the Dead and also allows you to beat zombies to death with literally anything you can find in a shopping mall (I can’t speak for the sequels as I’ve never played them). Dead Rising is far from the only game franchise to use zombies (more on that in a bit), but it pays homage directly to the genre in a way that many others don’t.

The Zombie Renaissance

For a long while, zombies sort of fell out of fashion. Oh, there were some decent takes on the concept, like Re-Animator (1985) and Dead Alive (1992) but by and large zombies in the 1980s and 90s were played for laughs.

But then they made a great big comeback, stronger maybe than they had ever been before. What happened?

Well, for one, they stayed close to the public conscience thanks to video games. Games and zombies are a perfect fit. Their shambling movement and slow, stupid behavior makes them a great choice for imperfect AI programming. They’re people-shaped, which makes them easy to animate, but they can be gross and deformed and scary, which makes them fun for your art team. And since they’re inhuman and dead, you can kill them in any way you’d like without feeling bad about it.

Which is probably why zombies have been part-and-parcel of the gaming world since Entombed (1982) was released on the Atari. Doom (1993) was wildly popular, and just a few years later we’d start the Resident Evil franchise, which became both hugely influential as games and films. And lest we forget, Blizzard was giving us undead in Warcraft by the early 2000s, rising to greater prominence by World of Warcraft in its heydey (especially Wrath of the Lich King).

But I’d argue that the number one single most important ingredient in the horror revival was Danny Boyle’s 2002 film 28 Days Later.

28 Days Later was huge because it breathed fresh life (pun intended) into a genre that had gone stale. The monsters in 28 Days Later aren’t the walking dead at all -- they’re just people infected with a virus similar to rabies that makes them deadly (compare and contrast with The Crazies, both the 1973 original and 2010 remake, which deals with a similar concept.

But thanks to being an excellent film with some wonderfully creepy-gross effects, 28 Days Later reignited fearful imaginations. It also introduced the world to the idea of fast zombies as an alternative to the usual shambling monsters.

A couple years later, zombie content exploded. Aside from the Dawn of the Dead remake in 2004, and some Resident Evil and Doom film interpretations, we got Shaun of the Dead (2004), which is both hilarious and an exceptional zombie film.

There’s also 28 Weeks Later (2007), a sequel to 28 Days (there is much debate as to which is better, I’m in the Days camp) and Planet Terror (2007), a personal favorite and one of the two films in the special Grindhouse double-feature. I’d also like to shout out Pontypool (2009) and, of course, the horror-comedy Zombieland (2009).

ZOMBIE MANIA

Probably nothing has been as influential in drawing zombie discourse into the public as AMC’s hit TV show The Walking Dead (2010), drawing on the graphic novel series of the same name. With a level of gore and violence rarely seen on network TV, a cast of memorable characters and an anyone-can-die narrative, it ignited a zombie fervor greater than anything we’d ever seen.

The Walking Dead overlapped with a cultural apocalypse zeitgeist. Doomsday prepping started to go mainstream, and people started to plan their own personal zombie apocalypse survival plan. Hell, the CDC adopted zombie apocalypse language as a way to talk about real-world applications of survival knowledge. Zombies and survivalism now go hand-in-hand, for better or worse.

No discussion of a zombie apocalypse is complete without Max Brooks’ World War Z (2007), which bears little resemblance to the film that shares its name. We should also make a shout-out for his more comedic companion volume, The Zombie Survival Guide (2003), which laid a foundation for what followed.

For extra credit, play the TellTale Games: The Walking Dead (2012) and compare/contrast with the TV show and graphic novel. Then compare that with Train to Busan (2016), a Korean film that plays some tropes straight while turning others on their heads (it’s also one of my favorite films on this list).

SYMPATHETIC ZOMBIES

While the zombie apocalypse narrative took root and captured the imaginations of many, others started to look at things from a different angle.

What if, they asked, the zombies were the heroes rather than the villains?

John Ajvide Lindqvist, who you might know for the vampire story Let the Right One In, was ahead of his time with this on: Handling the Undead (2004) is a book that’s simultaneously heartbreaking and deeply unsettling in its portrayal of the dead returning to life and what that might mean to those they’d left behind. Compare and contrast that with the TV show Les Revenants (2004), which deals with a similar premise (there was an American remake, but I can’t speak for it as I didn’t watch it - seriously, just watch the subtitles and enjoy the French show).

But not every zombie-protagonist story was so heart-wrenching. Look at Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies (2010), and the film adaptation. There’s also Breathers! A Zombie’s Lament by S.G. Browne that is both hilarious and scathing.

Follow those up with Diana Rowland’s My Life as a White Trash Zombie (2012) and the comic book/TV show iZombie (2015), both of which feature pale-haired, witty female medical examiners with a taste for brains.

And finally, a shout-out to The Santa-Clarita Diet (2016), a hilariously dark and over-the-top gross show featuring Drew Barrymore as a zombie trying to get her life back together.

#how to write horror #zombies #horror movies #horror #film recs #house of lazarus

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