#he was also in that one episode of the west wing

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #622

Top Ten Bon Jovi Songs

There are a few things I want to celebrate around this time of year; that is, a few things I can hang a Top Ten hat on. My wife’s birthday, for one; and Valentine’s Day just around the corner. I also have a daughter who has a birthday, but I tend to turn the whole list over to my kids nowadays for their birthdays, so that might happen fairly soon too. Anyway, I was trying to think of things that felt a bit soppy or romantic this week, and I settled on a long-haired singer in his sixties.

I’ve always liked Bon Jovi, even before I really knew who they were. When I was a teenager, I discovered that – apparently – they weren’t really “cool” to like. I was a bit disappointed by that, but it didn’t faze me; I was never cool anyway. At the time, their melodramatic, emotional fusion of sentimental Americana and power chords was properly in my wheelhouse (see also: Meat Loaf and Bryan Adams – who, yes, is Canadian, but you see where I’m coming from). And so it has remained; if anything, my love for this whole genre and its adjacent musical styles (you can pop off in different directions and hit Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, or Metallica) has only grown and solidified. Sometimes I like my soft sad songs; sometimes I like a bit of distorted guitar. Acts like Bon Jovi (and, indeed, my beloved Bad Seeds) frequently do both.

Anyway, eventually I met my wife (technically we weren’t married at the time) and it turns out she’s a massive Bon Jovi fan. So now, as well as my general appreciation for them, it’s added to by the fact that they were one of her big favourites growing up. Back in the days of CDs (remember them?) she had loads of Bon Jovi, I had loads of Nick Cave; those were our things, I guess. So now as well as just liking them, it’s also something that I associate with my wife, too. Which adds to the resonance.

And so we come to this list: a celebration not only of a band I really like but also a person I’m quite fond of too. And no, I don’t mean John Francis Bongiovi Jr.

Bed of Roses (1992): so Bon Jovi tend to do either relatively heavy songs or soppy love ballads. This is the latter, but it’s a masterpiece of the genre, the mix of electric guitar and melancholy lyrics. There may be a sense of self-aggrandising tone to its tale of a musician on the road, it’s full of great imagery “my mistress she calls me to stand in her spotlight again”; and the chorus, and overall message, is beautiful and properly romantic.

Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night (1995): Bon Jovi specialises in songs about working-class Americans, and how hard life can be down on the breadline. This song is no exception, with allusions to prostitution and suicide; but as well as the upbeat and driving tune behind the dark lyrics, there’s also a terrific optimism to the whole thing – today sucks, but tomorrow might be better. And the way that’s expressed – “feeling like a Monday but someday I’ll be Saturday night” – is really great.

Last Man Standing (2004): okay, I know this is basically Jonny Bon telling us how amazing he is; and there’s very much a sense of Old Man Yells at Cloud about it. But man alive, I just adore it; the lyrics, painting an aging rocker as a superhero, are one thing, but it’s one of the most driving, rocky songs the band have produced.

(You Want To) Make a Memory (2007): another of their tender ballads, rather than being about a dedicated romantic away from their lover, it’s about a couple who might be about to embark on an affair. But it’s incredibly sweet and rather sexy, the vibe of a couple who’ve been just missing each other, or maybe let love get away, but now have a chance of happiness (“I see you reaching for your keys, looking for a reason not to leave”). And, yes, it’s pretty sexy; we all know what he means by “make a memory”.

Hey God (1995): the theme of life being a bit shit is very common in Bon Jovi’s oeuvre and here it is again. This time, though, it’s shot-through with righteous anger, the song a furious tirade against Creation itself, full of pissed-off people tearing strips off the Maker for the dark difficulties of life. “I saw a dying man too proud to beg spit on his own grave”; way to go full emo, Jon.

I’ll Be There For You (1989): probably occupying the middle ground between “soppy ballad” and “banging rock”, this has a pacy, loud, consistently driving beat, and even the soppy love lyrics are full of great imagery. Like Bed of Roses, the central motif is romantic; and like Make a Memory it’s rather sexy. There’s a heroic, almost sacrificial edge to the lyrics, and I’m very fond of the line “when you get drunk I’ll be the wine”.

Livin’ on a Prayer (1986): ah, probably the quintessential Bon Jovi track; one of the ones that really started it all. This is where we meet Tommy and Gina, down on their luck couple who love each other but can’t catch a break. It solidified the band’s preoccupation with the beaten-down strength of ordinary Americans wrestling with unfairness; and the music is great. The sense of optimism here is maybe a bit more forced than Saturday Night; yes, “we’ll make it I swear”, but it’s all hope and, well, prayers.

Real Life (1999): this one might just be for me. The song was featured in the underrated film EdTV, and features many allusions to both movies in particular but also heroic fantasies in general. It’s the juxtaposition of these images with the “real love” that causes pain that drives the song; but overall it’s just a fun listen.

Blaze of Glory (1990): this might feel like a cheat or a technicality, as Blaze of Glory is a solo album for Jon Bon Jovi, featuring songs from and inspired by Young Guns II. There’s a lot of great Western imagery, a motif Bon Jovi has used before (notably in Wanted Dead or Alive); but here it feels explicitly cowboy-y. There’s a darkness here that reflects the movie’s depiction of Billy the Kid; someone who knows eventually the violence will catch up with them.

Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen From Mars (2000): talking about “maybe it’s just me”, this is a really weird song. Okay, not quite Maxwell’s Silver Hammer-level oddness, but still; it’s daffy. Ostensibly a rather sweet song about a couple who are perfect together and draw strength from each other, it’s chock-full of strange imagery, whether it’s name-checking all manner of “celebrity” couples (from Fred and Ginger to Clyde and Bonnie) to the depiction of the central couple (dressed like Ziggy, wearing roller skates in bed, etc). Anyway, I dig it.

So that’s the list, but I also wanted to shout out a couple of songs from their most recent album, 2020 – American Reckoning and Unbroken. They might not quite hit the heights of some of their classics, but I do think it’s really good for a band the size and popularity of Bon Jovi to take such progressive stances, especially in this day and age, singing songs about police brutality. Given the type of music they play and the potential audience of it, it’s nice to see them wearing their hearts on their stonewashed sleeves.

#top ten #songs #music #bon jovi #jon bon jovi #80s rock #rock #he was also in that one episode of the west wing

[alexa-crowe]

in my mind there’s a sort of sequel show to The Fall in which Olivia is the main character and it’s like 2027. she’s working for a politician that’s known for supporting Irish unification and that politician (a woman) has been getting death threats that the police aren’t taking as seriously as Olivia believes they should. so in a last ditch attempt to get the situation resolved, she finds Stella all the way in London. but gasp! Reed answers the door. Olivia asks for Stella and then they talk and Olivia tries to convince Stella to come back because they’d listen to you, they remember you and she says that she’s read some of the files from Stella’s investigation into her father and that she’s talked to some of the officers and they remember how unapologetic she was about her sexuality and her antisexism. Olivia is sure that with Stella’s support and intervention, the death threats will get more attention. initially, Stella refuses to go back to Belfast, but after talking it over with Reed, she agrees to go, and Reed comes with her. this time, she’s just made a consultant, but she and Reed reconnect with some old faces—Ferrington, for one—who’s made SIO of the investigation. a few times, Olivia visits her mother, and her brother Liam’s brought in at some point as a lawyer. the point is really to get closure for the both of them—for Olivia by having someone to truly talk to about it that she remembers from that awful time in her life, and for Stella by seeing the aftermath of the investigation & being reconnected with Katie to see how she’s turned her life around and become a music teacher.

#another one of the shows / episodes that lives in my head ! #the fall #there would be some flashbacks to reed & stella reconnecting #reed and her ex-husband (amicable split) decide to move to london with the girls because he got a job there #and reed takes up a position at the morgue stella works with #so she hears about it and while reed's on duty she pays a visit and it's like a meet cute part 2 #and they're also married but like in the sense that nadja and laszlo from wwdits are married #in love and committed to each other but not to the exclusion of some hot steamy sex with other people #and like stella's not really a mom to reed's kids she's much closer to a fun aunt #all the fun of having kids without having to really take care of them #although she's much closer than your average aunt to them #bc stella's not interested in being a mother and that's a okay #it's a lot of shit to work through for both of them. internalized homophobia for reed... commitment issues for stella... #anyways. they were sexy and i'm still very sad that reed was just pretty much deleted from the show after that #it's like danny and cj from the west wing except the show ended before danny came back

[ingravinoveritas]

So came I came across this repost from Al that a fan posted yesterday to which she reposted and to have her say and ad I much I can see she trying to defend ms with the radio getting his name wrong it a common thing for poor ms and I don't think this personally was the guys fault and I think they was reading from a script which I think most radio presenters have I think.

But the thing I noticed also was yes she was trying to defend her parter but also seems complaining that she and the children have to endure listening to the station in the car all the time and that like a another red flag like they literally have nothing in common and I'm still wondering why they still together. Cos I've noticed since michael been London he seems alot happier and heathly cos he closer to his best friend and beaming also. Can we have him stay permanently in London and not go bk to Wales in May.

What ur thoughts on this repost for Al I would to hear

(Grouping these together for ease of answering.)

I had this sent to me a little while ago and I'm...well, it takes a lot to floor me these days, especially in this fandom, but...I think this did it. Because there is so much going on here, and almost none of it is good.

On the surface, I know this very much looks like AL defending Michael, but I do not think that's what this was about at all. I think she saw BBC Radio 6 tagged in the original tweet and saw an opportunity to gain attention due to the proximity of a high-profile account. The way she did it, however, was by making something related to Michael about her. Again. And again, the wording of this retweet takes it from AL defending him to something else entirely.

Saying that she has to "endure" Michael listening to this radio show in the car is just a terrible look, as if listening to something he enjoys is so unbearably awful, and that she only puts up with because she's stuck in a car with him. It feels like she's literally complaining about Michael under the pretense of defending him, and I don't know how she (or anyone else) thinks this is okay.

The thing is, the whole "Martin Sheen" thing has become a running joke precisely because Michael has been dealing with this not just for his whole career, but his entire life. It's something he has frequently talked about, and I can imagine that it has been challenging on so many levels, but Michael also knows that Martin Sheen has been in the business for 60 years, and more than that, he is also a fan of Martin's. He's even talked about being introduced to him at a party years ago (I can't remember by whom, but Michael described the person as saying "Mr. President, meet Mr. Prime Minister"--referring to Martin and Michael's roles in The West Wing and The Queen, respectively).

So yes, the overarching point is that Michael doesn't blame Martin Sheen for these repeated mix-ups, and actually respects him as an actor and person. And when he has felt annoyed about this happening (as he did in 2020 when an ITV announcer called him the wrong name prior to a new episode of Quiz), Michael has had no problem calling it out himself on his own social media. Which speaks to your point @thetardisisblueandroseistoo about her trying to speak on Michael's behalf, and again doing a miserable job of it.

Also, what Michael hasn't done--and I suspect would be horrified at Anna doing--is go after the hosts of a show that he just appeared on yesterday. Particularly a show with hosts he is a tremendous fan of, as he spent a good portion of his appearance gushing about them and how much he enjoys listening to the show. I think he would more than understand the one host making this mistake--given his age and how much more embedded Martin Sheen is in pop culture--and would certainly exercise a lot more graciousness than to write a nasty tweet like the one AL did above.

That's the best way I can describe it: Shades of what we saw in the Insta story from last week, with that same self-aggrandizing, passive-aggressive (and now also kind of bitter) tone. There are a hundred other ways she could have responded to this, yet what she chose was to get in a dig at Michael, plus QT a fan tweet so that it could be misconstrued as her yelling at the fan. And again, in the cases where Michael has called out announcers or others for getting his name wrong, it's because he felt he deserved to have his name said correctly. In this case, however, it seems that AL wants the presenter to get Michael's name right because not doing so is an inconvenience to her.

Those were my impressions of AL's tweet, at any rate. All I can say is that from my perspective, if this was her attempting to defend Michael, it could not have been more backhanded. Glad to hear from my followers as well about your thoughts on this. Thanks for writing in! x

#angel19924 #thetardisisblueandroseistoo #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #at this point i honestly do not understand why she is even still with him #when it seems like she can't stand anything about him #also every time she posts something now it just seems to get more awful #i don't even know anymore #there was just no reason for any of this #and yet #anna lundberg #discourse

[episodeoftv]

Round 3 of 8, Group 1 of 2

propaganda and summaries are under the cut (May include spoilers)

Merlin (BBC): 4.06 A Servant of Two Masters

cw there is a scene where Merlin gets a snake shoved into the back of his neck (which can then control him because magic) and obviously various failed attempts at assassinations

When Merlin falls into Morgana's hands, he becomes a deadly weapon in her fight for supremacy. Using ancient magic, she pits friend against friend to create the perfect assassin. An oblivious Arthur is in great danger. Will anyone notice Merlin's unusual behavior before he does the king some serious harm?

merlin (whose main role in the show is saving arthur's life over and over again) is enchanted to try to kill arthur. he makes a hilariously bad assassin and it's fun watching other characters react to the personality change, as well as getting to see some badass merlin and the whole scene with morgana in the beginning was so interesting to watch. he disguises himself as a mean old man so he can say what he really thinks! and the costumes are fantastic in this episode particularly

The West Wing: 2.22 Two Cathedrals

As the Haitian army continues their seizure of the American embassy there, Bartlet and the staff prepare for the announcement that Bartlet has M.S. and the President must decide whether or he will seek re-election. As the funeral for Mrs. Landingham takes place and the announcement draws nearer, Bartlet thinks back to his past in search of the answer to the question everyone is asking: Will he seek re-election?

This episode is such a tour de force. It makes me cry, it’s amazing. Also the casting of the flashbacks is so well done?? Idk, no clever thoughts, it’s just really good

Per Wikipedia, “widely considered to be one of the greatest episodes of The West Wing and one of the best episodes in television history.“ If you watch this episode and don’t have feelings all through Bartlet’s monologue then did you even watch it? No, you didn’t. If you haven’t seen this show, and this episode specifically, then you need to.

#merlin #bbc merlin #the west wing #tww #poll #polls #round3 #r3g1

[glennk56]

William Hootkins in the 2000s

In 2001 William Hootkins worked with Director Peter Chelsom for the third time in the comedy Town & Country starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton.

He also appeared in vampire movie The Breed in 2001.

In January 2002, he appeared in TV Movie The Magnificent Ambersons.

These photos are from the Screening of The Magnificent Ambersons. Notice the difference in height between William Hootkins and James Cromwell. Hootkins was a foot shorter. 5'7" vs 6'7".

In 2004 Hootkins was in Blessed, a supernatural Horror Thriller starring Heather Graham. Filmed in Romania, November 2003.

William Hootkins was in an episode of The West Wing as a translator. Hootkins learned Mandarin at Princeton University and that is what most likely got him this job but he was never shown speaking Mandarin or even got a close-up. This episode was shown in December 2004, one month before he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I don't know when it was filmed but he must've been dealing with symptoms (pain, jaundice, worsening diabetes) at the time.

William Hootkins made 3 appearances on film in 2005. He was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in January and passed away in October. There was the comedy film Dear Wendy that was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005 but it was filmed in late 2003. There was an episode of Absolute Power starring Stephen Fry that aired in August 2005. I don't have photos of these two. The last credit is from Colour Me Kubrick (photos above) which was shown in France at the Dinard Festival of British Cinema in October 2005, however this was filmed in early 2004. So his last appearance on film was either on the TV shows The West Wing or Absolute Power.

In 2003, William Hootkins played Alfred Hitchcock in Hitchcock Blonde in the London Theatre to great acclaim. Hootkins worked hard for this role learning Hitchcock's mannerisms and accent. There were plans to bring the production to Broadway in 2005 where he would've been eligible to win a Tony Award. This never happened once he was diagnosed with Cancer.

#William Hootkins #sexy fat actor #actor born in us and living in uk #2000s

[princesssarcastia]

thinking about the tragedy of The West Wing tonight. thinking about how jed bartlet convinced josh lyman to work for him, before they ever met, by telling the truth even when it cost him political points. thinking about how bartlet massively betrayed the trust of the people working for him, and also kind of did defraud the american public!

thinking about how even when american liberals write their wet dream political fantasy they still can't get anything done. thinking about how the bartlet white house got so stymied politically the show spent more and more time writing convoluted military plotlines, because they'd hit the ceiling of their own political imagination.

let bartlet be bartlet, they said, and bartlet wanted to lie. he compromised on his agenda and his values. he promoted moderate positions and people. he sat there and watched everything he'd worked for be unwritten by a maverick republican speaker.

the most interesting moment in the back half of the show is when bartlet attains some kind of meta-level awareness of his own ineffectiveness and sends the government into a shutdown because he can't bear to play politics by the rules anymore. but it only lasts for a few episodes before it's back to business as usual.

"Filling another seat on the court may be the only lasting thing I do in this office," Bartlet says, and he's right. yes, they negotiated that deal on social security, but they couldn't take credit for it and that was it! that was their one thing!

no, don't go after the KKK and other white supremacist groups. no, don't publish that study about the necessity of sex education. don't do anything. espouse some grand ideals and watch as they're slowing crushed by the political machinery that YOU are operating.

it's best epitomized long before aaron sorkin left, in a half-overheard exchange happening in another room.

BARTLET: I couldn't disagree more, Cal. As long as these people are funding their public school districts with property taxes, neither the value of the schools nor the value of their property is going to go up. It's a vicious circle. It's terrible and it has to be stopped. CAL: So we're going to do something about it. BARTLET: I wouldn't go that far.

That's a real issue that we need a real solution for. But instead of reaching for the stars, the west wing decided to stay right here in the dirt where our current system has left us. and here we still sit, together, over twenty years later.

#west wing #we are trapped by our own lack of radical imagination #not that any of these problems are the fault of the west wing lol #im not charging them with that #but it is emblematic of everything that's wrong with liberals

[adobongsiopao]

I was watching "Jane Eyre" 2006 version starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens and there's something on it that got me thinking. One of the scenes I remembered is that there are some dragonflies showed up on screen and it happens whenever Jane and Mr. Rochester are together outside Thornfield Hall. In the first episode, Mr. Rochester calls Jane that he discovered a dragonfly near the river and then he asked her to look at it closely with him. He explained to Jane that the dragonflies like the one they found usually live in the West Indies, the place would foreshadow Mr. Rochester's secret. It happenes again in the second episode after they talked about the Reed sisters and Mr. Rochester's future marriage plans. After that, the scene changes into first person view indicating that somebody is watching them from the top of the house, again foreshadowing the secret.

Then in the fourth episode, when the River sisters mentioned about Jane's skills in recognizing wild plants and animals while they're walking on the moors, Jane saw a dragonfly then she suddenly had a small flashback scene from the previous episode where she and Mr. Rochester discovered it.

Of all the insects, why this version used dragonfly and what does that signify in Jane and Mr. Rochester's relationship? Why they didn't use moths or any other insect mentioned in the novel? According to some websites I read about dragonflies, they have been a symbol for happiness, new beginnings and luck in several cultures. It also means hope and love. Though their bodies are small and frail, they emerge as messengers of rebirth and renewal. During their lifespan, dragonflies first grow in water before taking the air and learn to fly. From being unseen to spreading their wings to show their beauty (does this reminds you of Mr. Rochester's story about the firebird?), dragonflies symbolize new beginnings ahead. This perhaps are some of the reasons why Mr. Rochester is eager to look for some and he wants Jane to share his discovery with her. He wants to have a new life and happiness with Jane on his side.

#jane eyre #charlotte bronte #jane eyre 2006 #ruth wilson #toby stephens #dragonfly #dragonflies

[starsfic]

Season 4 episode 9 Eros and psyche prompt.

Red Son had never been so terrified.

The visit to his parents had been going surprisingly well. Huiying had been happily showing off her ability to crawl around, much to his father's delight. His mother had a pleased, doting smile when Huiying was excited to see his old nursery, especially loving the plush of his father that apparently Sun Wukong had made.

And now he was here.

The Golden-Winged Peng cackled above him. His mother hovered in a spell cast by the Yellow-Tusked Elephant. His father stood, frozen, as the Azure Lion, Head King of the Lion Camel Ridge, held his granddaughter. These figures, his father's old sworn brothers, were figures only spoken of in stories.

Red was terrified of these bedtime stories come to life.

"This pursuit has warped your mind, brother. It is the only reason I could imagine that you would have the nerve to assault my home and harm my family!" His father glared at the lion. Despite all his huffs and puffs, Red could see the terror in his eyes. It was the same terror that filled him every second of the second journey to the west, terrified of being unable to protect his husband or their baby.

"I only bear fangs to those that would bear theirs to my own. Your family doesn't understand." Red tried to flare up, but Peng's claws dug deep and he found himself stopping. "We are brothers. It was our dream to conquer the Celestial Realm together!"

"How many times must you be struck down chasing the same foolish dream?" His father growled. It was foolish- after all, Red knew what had followed that attempt at conquer.

"The Demon Bull King I used to know would not bend so willingly. He was strong!" Red growled as the lion glared at his mother. He was prepared for an insult spat at her, mocking the depths of the love his parents had for each other. He didn't expect for Azure to relax. "And now I also bend easily."

"Huh."

"What."

Azure turned to him. Huiying looked incredibly relaxed in his arms, her eyes wide and a silly smile on her face. Red, despite the situation, felt a brief smile form. She probably thought he looked like one of her silly stuffed animals.

"Peng, get off him."

"What." The eagle demon said. Azure made a shooing gesture and Red felt those claws tighten, just a bit, before pulling away. Dazed and more than a little confused, he sat up, staring at the lion.

"Your husband requested that I spare you," he said. Red could barely process that, the fact that Azure and his cronies had been anywhere near Xiaotian, before Huiying was held out. "He slips into hearts very easily." Red took his daughter, only taking slight comfort in her weight and her sweet smell. "Leave."

He...he couldn't. Not when-

DBK nodded. There was a plea in his eyes.

Leave. Flee. Get Huiying to safety, find Xiaotian, warn Heaven.

Red didn't speak. He took a breath and let himself light up in flames, the fire taking them away from his parents and his daughter's grandparents.

He faintly heard a roar.

Instead, he focused on Huiying's little heartbeat.

#Eros and Psyche AU #LMK #LMK AU #Monkie Kid #Monkie Kid AU #LEGO Monkie Kid #LEGO Monkie Kid AU #au #my writing #fic #fanfic #fanfiction #prompt fill #prompt fic

[meret118]

Please Watch The Diplomat!

Netflix decides if they are going to renew a show based on how many people watch all episodes the first month it's on. If you liked The West Wing, you will like this too! In fact, I think it's better than TWW, because it's set more in the real world, and doesn't contain sorkin's misogyny. Plus, a woman is the main character! The creator worked on TWW and Homeland, and this show combines the best elements of each.

Kate is a career diplomat who was working on getting people who helped the US out of Afghanistan, particularly women. She's ordered by the Biden stand in president, played by Micheal McKean, to take the appointment of ambassador to the UK, a post normally given as a reward to powerful donors, and one requiring speeches and shaking hands more often than actual work. She's determined to make a difference while there however.

Her marriage to Hal, a former ambassador and high profile diplomat in his own right, is ending(?), but he's going with her for the first few weeks while she gets up to speed for PR purposes and support. They're both having trouble in this switch of roles as they try to define new boundaries.

Their relationship is entertainingly codependent and complex. They have terrific chemistry, and are totally believable as a long time couple who love each other, but don't know if that's enough anymore.

Speaking of chemistry, Austin Dennison is the Foreign Secretary who's far more qualified to be PM than the blowhard BoJo stand in he serves. He wants to trust Kate and work with her toward common goals, but the Iraq war and more has damaged US/UK relations.

Stuart Hayford is Kate's Deputy Chief of Mission, a job Kate's more used to doing herself, and is having trouble relinquishing. He's also receiving orders about Kate from the WH Chief of Staff.

Stuart is in a secret relationship with CIA Station Chief Eidra Park. She's used to dealing with secrets, but some of the ones he's keeping may be more than their bond can tolerate. She expects Kate to be the typical political appointee, and has to rapidly adjust her opinion.

The center of the show, and where it shines, is its focus on the politics of the world we live in as the characters deal with terrorism, intrigue, corruption, and political text and subtext. The few times the show stumbles is when it forgets that, and focuses on the relationships too much. That's rare though, and the show normally does a good job of integrating both into an engrossing whole.

No country is presented as perfect, and if there are heroes they're more likely to be the unsung career foreign service employees more often solving problems in spite of elected officials and political appointees rather than because of them. I highly recommend it!

ETA: The final episode ends in a cliffhanger. It didn't bother me, especially since the outcome seemed obvious to me, but I wanted to mention it.

ETA 2 - It's been renewed for a 2nd season! Yay! :)

ETA 3 : I'm so glad people watched it. I'm excited to see season 2. :)

#The diplomat #Tv

[fate-magical-girls]

Comparing fairy tales with their inspirations from legendary sagas produces a weird effect, because you can see where the stories have been simplified and the behavior of the protagonists sanitized.

The Goose Girl whose position was stolen by her handmaiden and was reduced to speaking to her beheaded horse Falada was a club-footed princess who originally agreed to switch places with her maid because she was self-conscious about her feet and feared her prince was short and ugly. She was also mother of Charlemagne.

The Goose Girl at the Well who was exiled for saying she loved her father like meat loves salt was a British queen who led an army to rescue her father who had been driven insane by her abusive sisters.

Sleeping Beauty, who was cursed to sleep for a hundred years, was a Valkyrie who masterminded the death of her prince when he was brainwashed into marrying another woman, and then threw herself onto his pyre so she could die with him.

The youngest brother of the Wild Swans, whose arm remained a swan wing because his sister ran out of thread to make the tunic that would break his curse, became a knight in a swan boat that avenged a noble maiden's honor and had children with her that would give rise to the royal line of Bouillon.

Cinderella was a successful courtesan and a self-made woman, who had no fairy god mother, but did have a fling with fable-teller Aesop as well as an epic rivalry with her sister-in-law, who happened to be one of the greatest poets of their age. Alternatively, she was a queen of Egypt to died before seeing her family enslaved by the mad Persian king Cambyses.

The mystical husbands of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Iron Stove, and the Feather of Finist the Falcon were originally the god Eros, and the Beauty that had to find her husband after losing him was his wife Psyche.

Often the animal husband takes the form of a snake. In certain myths among the indigenous Taiwanese, the animal husband is a snake and the ancestor of their people. In Baltic and Slavic stories, the snake husband is never accepted by his wife's family, who kill him through deceit. Meanwhile, a 9th century Chinese story makes the husband into a Yaksha, and the lovers are eventually parted because the wife cannot stay in the realm of the Yaksha.

Related to the animal husband theme, the Beast was a tragic man from Tenerife with hypertrichosis, and Beauty was a noblewoman who was married to him almost as a joke. Though they lived a long and happy life together, four of their seven children were stolen away and sent to live in foreign courts because they shared their father's condition.

The Girl Without Hands was a Mercian queen who ruled her nation with iron fists, and was involved in more than one assassination.

Maid Maleen's original name was Brangaine, the maid of Tristan and Iseult. In most variants of the tale, it is the guilty bride who substitutes her maid in the bridal procession to hide her loss of virginity that is the actual protagonist. When the prince questions her about the children she has born, she is forced to reveal the tokens that her lover left with her, and the prince realizes that he himself is the lover in question, and apologizes and proceeds with the wedding.

The speechless Little Mermaid's beloved prince was a Swedish duke, brother to the king, named Magnus Vasa. He was afflicted with psychotic episodes throughout his life, and had assistants assigned to look after him. He never married but had a longtime affair with a commoner woman who cared for him. During one of his episodes, he jumped into a moat, claiming to have seen a woman there. This became the basis for a class of ballads called Herr Magnus and the Mermaid, which describes how Magnus lost his heart and then his mind to the mermaid after initially rejecting her. This then became stories of the tragic mermaid's rejection and revenge.

#mythology #history #fairy tale #little mermaid #sleeping beauty #cinderella #beauty and the beast #the goose girl #king lear #brothers grimm #hans christian andersen

[fastcardotmp3]

Clean-Up

The Hawk (S01:E06) | 4.7k words | "The Bear" AU

“I get that you sell drugs, and when that was just for your own finances, like, who gives a shit, right? But we are so close to closing permanently and none of you seem to get that taking risks—” “Hey, wait a second,” Eddie cuts her off, frowning deep, all but feeling the attention of everyone else in the building on them, “I did this to help the restaurant. Barb was drowning, Nance. Barb was in over her fucking head and she refused to even consider selling this place, so I stepped in and I helped—”  “I should call the fucking police on you—” “Oh, as if you don’t hate the idea of that as much as I do,” Eddie scoffs.  “Eddie!” 

read on ao3 | excerpt under the cut

“It’s just a shitty roommate sorta thing to do, you know?” Eddie slumps against Steve’s work station, “We watch that shit together, man, and now I’m a full episode behind him!”

“I thought we were talking about Jeff from your band?” Steve squints at him, hands freezing where he’s stirring batter in a big mixing bowl to instead focus all of his attention on Eddie’s shitty little story. 

Eddie isn’t going to fool himself into thinking it doesn’t feel kind of good, Steve Harrington’s attention. 

“Jeff from my band is also Jeff my roommate,” Eddie tells him flatly, “who is also Jeff who watched ahead of me on The West Wing.” 

“Woah,” Steve looks genuinely surprised. “I thought they were two different people this whole time.” 

“You thought I was just close with two guys named Jeff?” Eddie gawks at him, if only because watching the confusion on Steve’s face shift to indignant exasperation with a hint of mean girl is one of the most beautiful things he’ll see all day. 

“Do you know how many Steves I went to high school with?!” Steve throws his hands up in the air and creates a small explosion of a flour cloud for Eddie to wave away before it can turn his hair gray. “There’s definitely more than one goddamn Jeff in the greater Chicago area.” 

Eddie rolls his eyes, “well this Jeff knew how invested I was in what would happen when Donna and the guys got home from Indiana, but he watched without me!” 

And that, finally, earns a quirk of a hint of a smile from Steve as he shakes his head fondly and goes back to his dough. 

“You’ve been deeply wronged,” he says flatly, despite the grin tugging at his lips. Eddie can’t help but beam about it.

Eddie doesn’t care much to try these days. 

#bear au #dot fic #eddie munson #steddie #platonic edancy #my chefs are back at it!!! eddie pov episode! #pay no attention to how long it's been since i updated this series and just marvel at the eddie of it all

[ithastobethiswhitehouse]

Stockard Channing's appearance was originally a one-off, so she came in during a hiatus on a film shoot. After the episode aired, Aaron Sorkin took her to lunch. 'He said, "Everybody thought that was great. Also our ratings went up a lot when you were on,"' she told Brill Bundy on zap2it.com. 'Then, he said, "Do you want to be a doctor? I have this thing. [Bartlet] has a bad cold in the teaser and I'm thinking he might have MS."'

Excerpt from Inside Bartlet's White House: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to The West Wing by Keith Topping

#stockard channing #abbey bartlet #aaron sorkin #jed bartlet #the west wing #1.07

[the-one-where-casey-watches-tv]

The West Wing episode 4.20 "Evidence of Things Not Seen"

Have you ever noticed how the biggest names behind the camera tend to have close relationships with a handful of actors who are in everything they make? Aaron Sorkin is no exception, and honestly, I feel like I understand why. His work is so specific, just like Tarantino’s or Scorsese’s, and when you have such an identifiable style, I think it either clicks with you or it doesn’t. When you find people who click with you, whose brains meld seamlessly with yours, it really is a euphoric feeling and I imagine you’d want to keep those people close.

The West Wing, and Aaron Sorkin, click with me. Sometimes I watch a show and the thrill is having no idea what’s about to happen; I’m along for the ride in a vehicle that I barely recognize, let alone know how to drive. I would never be so bold as to think I could have taken the wheel of The West Wing, but to keep the comparison going, putting an episode on feels like getting into your mom’s car. You know all its little nuances, where the cupholders are, and how it’s going to feel on the road (and when to grab the handlebar).

“Evidence of Things Not Seen” has everything I love about The West Wing; it’s a fun one, but an inspiring one too, and it even guest stars- get this- Matthew Perry, fresh off of Friends. All the characters are mostly off the clock in this episode, so it’s time for a good poker game. Leo and the President are excited to kick back over a game of cards; Leo even has a full spread prepared, and tbh nothing makes me laugh like his reverent demand of CJ to “oooh squeeze this piece of rye bread”.

But the relaxation will of course be interrupted. The President will have to step in and out to negotiate with Kaliningrad- their government spotted an unmanned spy plane that we were flying over there, and Bartlet needs to talk them into giving it back. Our cover story: it was an environmental mission studying coastal erosion (Chinese spy balloon anyone?). Josh will have to do some back and forth too, interviewing a candidate to replace Ainsley Hayes as associate counsel.

Amid all of this, it’s the equinox, and CJ is convinced that at “the exact moment of the equinox” you can stand an egg on its end, and it won’t tip over. She’s carrying an egg around, but she hasn’t pulled it off yet and skepticism abounds.

All of Sorkin’s characters speak with what’s become his trademark cadence and tone so at times I see them as somewhat interchangeable- he just likes the sound of a group. But “Evidence of Things Not Seen” highlights the individual personalities and ideological differences that actually are present and consistent once you get past the similar speech pattern.

We’re launched into the title sequence with Bartlet giving the egg thing- and this coastal erosion cover story- a shot, but the egg topples over. His subsequently loaded “yeah, this isn’t gonna work” is about a lot more than the equinox. Compared to CJ, he’s always been a pragmatic optimist, entertaining every romantic idea but not expecting all of them to pan out. CJ, meanwhile, will always stick her neck out to vouch for the idealistic solution, even when it’s not even in the realm of realistic. She’s also usually right. In a previous episode, when everyone else guessed that the president’s approval rating had remained the same at best, she wagered that they had gone up 5 points, a number so preposterous Leo wouldn’t even repeat it to the President. Turns out she was lowballing. She’s also the voice of the iconic line “it’s about going to the blackboard and raising your hand- if you think you get it wrong sometimes, why don’t you come down here and see how the big boys do it.”

Toby’s even more complex than either of them, which I’d go so far as to say is the reason he also has the most complex individual relationship with almost every other character. He and Bartlet are a story for another day, but Toby and CJ’s deep, often wordless friendship really run wild in this episode. Toby’s created the image of himself as the pessimistic curmudgeon, but it’s a defense mechanism for the red hot idealism he’s carrying around. He’s so often disappointed, and he’s tired of it, but he can’t help but see so much potential in the world, even if he won’t admit it.

Will’s being in the Air Force won’t come up again after this episode, but it comes up in this one to serve the theme of Toby and CJ’s dueling worldviews. He’s heading to Wyoming to address a situation in which two launch crew officers who were slow to react to a threat of an incoming missile from North Korea. Turns out it was a good thing they asked some questions before enacting protocol, because it wasn’t a missile- it was a meteor from space. But they’re still being court-martialed because if it had been a missile, they wouldn’t have reacted in time. Toby can’t help but burst out laughing at this story (“Why do we think at this point that North Korea is attacking the East Coast of the United States?” “There are transcripts that show that surprise was expressed at that”). Then he turns it on CJ: “We failed on both a mechanical and human level. So tell me again what you have faith in”.

“Us. Because with what little free time he has, Will is going to Wyoming to defend one of these guys, and I don’t think it is failing on a human level”. Instead of responding, Toby lays down his cards, expecting to win the hand. But, in another symbolic move that speaks to a lot more than poker, CJ lays out a full house, sweeping up the chips in her unexpected win.

While this weighty discussion hung in the air, Will, Toby, and CJ had another thing to attend to- a bet amongst men that the other couldn’t hurl a playing card into the podium from the fifth row in the press room. They head down there, with CJ tagging along hoping to see them both fail- no one’s taking her very seriously tonight, after all. Instead of settling that debate, they’re interrupted by three gunshots slamming into the press room window. Will’s military training kicks in and he drops to the floor and rattles off ballistics to the secret service agents that instantly burst in, but CJ freezes. It’s Toby who pulls her to the ground in the heat of the moment.

I don’t love this being the second time CJ’s been “saved” by a man in this show (Sam did the same thing at Roslyn), but this interaction with Toby feels a lot more organic than that did, and so does the way they address it. On the whole, everything about an active shooter and subsequent crash of the building is a tired plot at this point. I’d actually go as far as to say this entire episode is pretty unoriginal- a criticism I read when doing some research on this episode. But I think the familiarity of the situation is exactly the thing that gives this episode that fun, cozy, President-in-a-sweatshirt feel. We’ve done the defcon 1 “can you believe it?!” active shooter plot before, so now we’re able to have some fun with it (“fun” on The West Wing is a relative term).

The secret service herds Toby, CJ, Will, and Josh into the oval office to make sure there’s eyes on everyone. Charlie and Debbie are already accounted for, but they don’t have code word clearance, so they’re not allowed in the Oval, where the spy plane discussion is still ongoing. At least, according to the Secret Service. Bartlet good naturedly explains that “if Charlie heard there were bullets, he’s gonna overpower whoever’s trying to—” and he’s cut off by Charlie, sure enough, bursting into the room. The President grins, we grin, he pulls Charlie in close and promises he’s okay. Satisfied, Charlie marches right back out. Then Bartlet says “I’m surprised you guys managed to keep Fiderer in her chair, I’d have thought she’d be the first one to- oh no here we are!” as she too fights her way in the room, looking the President up and down and declaring that she will be back to take his blood pressure shortly.

In a beat amidst the commotion, CJ asks Toby if he knew that a day on the moon and a year on the moon were the same thing. He did. The moment hangs there. Then she says, “I thought my reflexes before, in the press room, were cat-like.” And then we cut away. I love how little we have to say in this episode, and it’s our familiarity with these people, these rooms, and this situation that really let us all just play here in “Evidence of Things Not Seen”.

And nowhere is this episode having more fun than it is with Josh and the unexpectedly incredible chemistry he has with Matthew Perry’s Joe Quincy. Throughout this entire episode he’s back and forth between advising the President and interviewing new associate counsel Joe Quincy. Joe is quiet, collected, funny, and overqualified, but something is off about him, and Josh can’t figure out what. In an aside to Donna, Josh muses that “it’s the strangest feeling. It’s like… a really good baseball player is standing in the other team’s locker room for the first time.” To which Donna says, “I don’t understand, are you writing poetry about this now?”

But his gut is onto something, and he’s trying to figure out what- amidst it all, though, he’s also starting to like him. Josh is amused that the vetting team made Joe fill out the psychological part of the questionnaire- something he can relate to, and I’ll come right back to that in a second. Josh asks a question I think we all probably wonder when filling out forms like this but have never thought to put into words:

“Question 1: a) I do not feel sad; b) I feel sad; c) I am sad all the time and I can’t snap out of it; d) I am so sad or unhappy that I want to kill myself. You chose a) I do not feel sad.”

“Yes.”

“Good. Ever?”

“No.”

“No, you don’t ever feel sad, or…?”

“No, there are times when I feel sad.”

“Yet you checked the first box, why is that?”

“It said, ‘I do not feel sad’ and I didn’t at the time I checked it.”

This exchange, and their whole dynamic, feels both funny and poignant, but the tables turn when the shooting happens in the very next scene. Donna is instantaneous in checking on Josh, worried about the shooting stirring up his PTSD and telling him, against his wishes, that she is going to be giving his therapist a heads up that he might be calling later. 

When Josh explains the building crash to Joe, he says he didn’t hear the shots, but “I heard a brass quintet playing The First Noel, so I just assumed someone somewhere was locked and loaded.” Joe doesn’t hesitate to reply with “You know, not for nothing, but the people that I talk to don’t believe that story, and the people that you’d like don’t care.” He doesn’t say it unkindly, but like I said, funny and poignant.

But it’s not only the sentiment that throws Josh off, it’s the wording. Finally, Josh puts it together- Joe is a republican. Once his secret is out, Joe explains that he’s gotten himself in bad standing with the rest of the party by voicing an unpopular opinion, but he wants to work at the White House because, of course, he has a sense of duty. The whole thing is a soft, respectful, and incredibly loaded homage to both Ainsley Hayes and arguably the show’s best episode, “Noel”. And, just like Ainsley, Joe finds himself fitting right in, even as Josh tries to fight it. He recommends him to Leo and gets him the job.

I really love this episode for all the same reasons I think it often flies under the radar of West Wing greatest hits. It’s not remarkable, it’s not doing anything we haven’t done before, but it has its finger right on the pulse of every one of these characters. It’s exactly our deep familiarity with everyone and everything that lets the slightest touch hold so much significance, depth, and humor.  It just takes half a sentence for a character to say something profound about another, or to call back to nostalgic characters and plot points.  And I almost forgot to mention- we end with CJ standing an egg on its end. I well up every time.

#the west wing #evidence of things not seen #matthew perry #joe quincy #bradley whitford #josh lyman #allison janney #cj cregg #richard schiff #toby ziegler #martin sheen #jed bartlet #tww #josh malina #will bailey #tv criticism #tv review

[justforbooks]

Matthew Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the hit TV sitcom Friends, has died at 54, according to reports.

Perry drowned at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, sources including a representative for the actor and law enforcement told NBC News. Other US outlets also reported Perry had died.

After small roles in Growing Pains, Beverly Hills 90210 and Dream On, Perry scored a role in NBC sitcom Friends in 1994. The comedy, about six friends living in New York City, quickly became a phenomenon, winning multiple Emmys and scoring record ratings.

Perry went on to play the sarcastic and neurotic Chandler in 10 seasons with the 2004 finale reaching over 52 million viewers in the US, making it the most watched TV episode of the 2000s.

“People come up to me every day and say, ‘Hey Chandler!’ I don’t respond to it,” he said in a 2014 interview. “If somebody says, ‘Hi Matthew, I love your work’, that’s one thing. But if somebody goes ‘Yo, Chandler’, I don’t like that. I’m tired of it. I’m not Chandler.”

Perry was born in Massachusetts in 1969 to an American father and a Canadian mother, who would later move her son to Ottawa to work as a press aide to Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. In his bestselling 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry recalled acting up after his father abandoned his family to chase his own dreams of becoming an actor – including bullying a young Justin Trudeau. “I decided to end my argument with him when he was put in charge of an entire army,” he wrote.

At 15 Perry moved to Hollywood, with the hope of reconnecting with his father. It was there he began to enjoy acting, and was eventually spotted at a diner, “charming a bunch of young women”, by director William Richert, who left a note asking him to be in his next movie, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, alongside River Phoenix.

Perry was 24 when he started playing Chandler and was relatively unknown, just like his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer. In a 2019 interview, Friends creator David Crane said Chandler was the most difficult character to cast; actors Craig Bierko, Jon Cryer and Jon Favreau were also considered for the role.

“Marta [Kauffman, co-creator] and I were thinking Chandler is just poorly written,” added Crane. “Then Matthew came in and you went, ‘Oh, well, there you go. Done. Done. That’s the guy.’”

Perry was nominated for an Emmy award five times, including once for his Friends role and twice for his role as lawyer Joe Quincy on The West Wing.

During his tenure on Friends, Perry starred in films including Fools Rush In with Salma Hayek, Three to Tango with Neve Campbell and The Whole Nine Yards with Bruce Willis. He also played small roles in Ally McBeal and Scrubs.

In a 2002 interview with the New York Times, he confessed: “I wanted to be famous so badly. You want the attention, you want the bucks, and you want the best seat in the restaurant. I didn’t think what the repercussions would be.”

Perry’s personal life was afflicted by addiction, starting in 1997 when he became addicted to pain medication after a jetski accident. He later claimed to not remember three years of his time on Friends and to spending over $9m on his fight to stay sober.

“I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128lbs, I was on Friends getting watched by 30 million people – and that’s why I can’t watch the show, because I was brutally thin,” he said. Perry later admitted he had suffered severe anxiety “every night” while filming the show and felt nothing when the show ended.

Once Friends ended in 2004, Perry’s next small-screen lead was in Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which was cancelled after one season. In 2009 he starred in hit comedy 17 Again alongside Zac Efron, and later guest-starred on both The Good Wife and The Good Fight.

Perry also led one season sitcom Go On and a remake of The Odd Couple which lasted for three seasons. In 2016 he wrote and starred in play The End of Longing which opened in the West End and later transferred to Broadway.

In 2019, he was put in a two-week coma when his colon exploded due to opiate abuse; he had 14 surgeries due to his opiate abuse. “At this point in my life, the words of gratitude pour out of me because I should be dead, and yet somehow I am not,” he wrote in last year’s Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which was a hit with readers and critics. The Guardian’s Barbara Ellen called the memoir “harrowing and revealing about the juncture where extreme compound addiction collides with mega-celebrity”.

“You have to get famous to know that it’s not the answer. And nobody who is not famous will ever truly believe that,” Perry wrote.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #matthew perry #chandler bing #Friends

[episodeoftv]

Round 2 of 8, Group 1 of 4

propaganda and summaries are under the cut (May include spoilers)

Daredevil: 2.06 Regrets Only

cw there are some fight scenes and one character is in a hospital bed looking beat up for most of his screen time

A lethal foe returns with a vengeance, Foggy and Murdock risk the firm to ensure justice, and Karen sees a different side of the Punisher.

this is where the tension in the series starts really ramping up. s2 is all about figuring out what the truth/justice means to each character and how they can best get at it, and the way they all go about it is fascinating. also it's the episode where matt and elektra sneak into a fancy dress party and karen talks to frank about his family for the first time

The West Wing: 2.22 Two Cathedrals

As the Haitian army continues their seizure of the American embassy there, Bartlet and the staff prepare for the announcement that Bartlet has M.S. and the President must decide whether or he will seek re-election. As the funeral for Mrs. Landingham takes place and the announcement draws nearer, Bartlet thinks back to his past in search of the answer to the question everyone is asking: Will he seek re-election?

This episode is such a tour de force. It makes me cry, it’s amazing. Also the casting of the flashbacks is so well done?? Idk, no clever thoughts, it’s just really good

Per Wikipedia, “widely considered to be one of the greatest episodes of The West Wing and one of the best episodes in television history.“ If you watch this episode and don’t have feelings all through Bartlet’s monologue then did you even watch it? No, you didn’t. If you haven’t seen this show, and this episode specifically, then you need to.

#daredevil #the west wing #tww #poll #polls #round2 #r2g1

[jedineedlove]

Tang Sanzang's Secret Library?

Thought I give some quick thoughts on these scenes enjoy:)

In Embrace Your Destiny episodes The Corrupted King and Time to Be Warriors is the only time we see this hidden library belonging to the great monk with many filled scrolls and books of hidden writings sadly this place is never really brought up again after the fall LBD.

I decided to study on it a little bit. Mainy on the art you see around and just some general observations.

After they crashing down the winding stairs they find this small rotunda filled with writing and statues and art.

The statues are the first interesting thing you notice because they come up most in these scenes. The odd thing about them is the lack of Ao Lie.

The next thing is that the statues are placed unevenly Tripitaka is all the way in the back next to no one on his level and the other two Bajie and Wujing are next to each other level-wise. Then we have Monkey who isn't on the stairs at all and is instead his own podium front and center which is doubly odd this meant to be Tripitakas library after the journey of the west.

Why the lack of Ao Lie and center Wukong. Perhaps it is like many other motifs of their journey with Wukong at the top or center to symbolize him being the one front and center leading the group and the fact that Triptka is in the back because he himself doesn't need a statue of himself as not be vain but for other who visit.

But the lack of Ao Lie still gets me we see later when he gets his own painting. But there are two possibilities one Ao Lies statue did exist but crumbled and we can't see the remains or this is the biggest one as we see on Wukong's statue he is without his signature golden fillet what if these statues were molded a bit after the journey and the reason we don't have Ao Lie statue was that he died before this built This would mean Ao Lie died first then the others.

Another thing about the image behind them is the one of the mountain range on the top of the steps it is most likely meant to be the ritual sight

The other Art pieces might also tell the story of the Sahmiad Fire and the Rings

Ao Lie seemed to get his own sections a small staircase to get a closer look at his image which might solidify my earlier theory that Ao Lie was the first it die and this is a moment of him. Or if these all tell a story then this would point to his involvement in the ring's formation.

On the right we get another image of the pilgrims and like the statue Wukong is front and center depicted as the one leading them though waves.

the left image is hard to depict but the seems to be small things with wings all aimed to the center of the frame.

We also get over a lock-shaped door an image of the heavenly palace but if you look closer the seems to be the image of a bringing figure falling toward it from the upper middle of the image.

The image next to it are my reason for this theory of these telling a story.

next to it is the image of the Bull King and look at the emphases on his nose ring one of the rings of Samiadi. Next to it are images of flames but in another scene we get a smaller part of that image

You can see Bull King on the left but on the right, a continuation of the second image is someone in chains having something magically drained from them. The figures seem to have uplifted hair like red son.

This place is filled with info that could help them but the show never brings it up again. Also, the candles were already lit when they first arrived so either they are magic candles that always stay lit or someone was here before them and left recently.

Just saying:)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------BTW I have a major question my guess is this is a continuity error by Ao Lie horse form changed

In the image on the right we see Ao Lie horse form having a black main.

we also see it on Wukong's now former mural of the Pilgrims that Ao Lie was depicted with a black short main BUT.

Most likely this was a continuity error but I do like the white horse look more:)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Then this cute thing is faded by time but on the main pillar at the base is a fading image of the pilgrims or at least three of them.

I tried my best to recreate it with what I saw. Also, I think they also are meant to show Wukong because the golden wave going over them is most likely Wukong's cloud trail but he is hidden behind a d long purple tapestry. I encourage artists to take a closer look and see what I missed.

This image so far seems to be Wujing cheering out loud maybe at Wukong on his cloud then Tripitaka gives him a look but without the mouth, I can't tell and Bajie seems to be reaching for Tripitaka or just doing a pose.

#sun wukong #lego monkie kid #jttw #lmk #lmk mk #fan thoughts #lego monkey kid theory #journey to the west #scene study #art recreation