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batrachised · 5 months

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I HAVE FINISHED KILMENY.

Major thoughts

LM Montgomery really suffered from the tell and not show thing. We hear all about this sparkling conversations Eric and Kilmeny have, but every time we hear them speak it's so stilted.

Margaret fascinated me. I would have read an entire book about Margaret. She's the precursor to Leslie Moore.

Eric has some interesting thoughts about Neil's lips. Sir, you think this man's lips are beguiling? You've never had interest in any woman, no matter how beautiful? The first woman you fall in love with is someone who you can put on a pedestal as an idea rather than a person? mmm

Honest to God, Kilmeny cannot be that beautiful. This novel would have you believe she was so beautiful that as soon as everyone saw her they were like 'oh now I get it', even the men who were like "lol I won't be turned by a pretty face" and I'm like...I'm sorry...I just don't believe this lmao. No one on earth is beautiful enough to change everyone's mind on the spot. One person I can believe, two sure, but for it to be everyone consistently...no.

There are so many litte details in here that I NEED TO BE FLESHED OUT MORE. Kilmeny's mother, Margaret, is implied to haunt the house - someone stops midspeech and is like "turn on the lights because I feel like she's watching me right now." She's buried with her coffin nailed shut. There's the novel underneath this novel about an intense mother haunting a household beyond the grave, and it's one I want to read

the crux of the plot rests on "what's in the blood will out," or, Italians will be hotblooded murderers even if they're raised on oatmeal (this is actually cobbling together what the book says at different points, right down to the oatmeal). Definitely one of the more racist of LM Montgomery's works (most racist still goes to Tangled Web)

overall, this reads like a poorly written lmm fanfic rather than actual lmm. It makes me wonder why this novel, of all hers, strikes such a discordant note. There are other novels that aren't great (like we've discussed the ending of Emily's Quest at length on tumblr), but this is just so poorly written and in such an imitative style, it's almost hard to believe it's actually LM Montgomery.

#kilmeny of the orchard #batrachised reads kilmeny #kilmeny readalong

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alwayschasingrainbows · 16 days

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Hi- I was just wondering what are your thoughts and feelings about Ruby Gillis' death? Did you like it in terms of the plot or would you rather she had lived? Why do you think LMM chose to kill her off and do you believe it made the story better/worse? 🫶🏾

Thank you very much for this interesting question and I'm sorry it took me so long to answer...

Well, Ruby's death... Maybe I'll start by saying that I perceive this scene in a completely different way now, as an adult, than I did as a child, when I read it for the first time. At that time, this fragment seemed to me... tragic and sad, of course, but also beautiful and sublime. With my overly dramatic nature (and, worth noting - not knowing anything about real loss back then), I obviously romanticized the whole description and wept tragically (even though it wasn't without the kind of... delight that comes with reading about tragedy when somebody feels quite sure that it was just fictional and would never happen in real life), over Ruby's cruel fate.

Because, there was Ruby - a beautiful, young woman who became even more beautiful during her illness, whose death gave meaning and depth that she lacked in life. Ruby, who (at the time, when I was judging her with my ten-year-old wisdom), seemed shallow and silly to me because she giggled and chatted only about boys.

Of course, I looked at the whole situation through Anne's eyes - with Anne's noble ideals and dreams that were in no way focused on men. To ten-year-old me, pre-illness Ruby was the type of girl I couldn't understand and therefore - I believed, unworthy of my attention. Pre-illness Ruby just was. I fully agreed with Anne and Diana that Ruby's thoughts and dreams were petty, even a bit ridiculous. Maud herself described her in a rather mocking way: as an exaggerated, pretty girl, who looked very ordinary compared to sublime and subtle Anne.

But, ill Ruby... who suddenly became ethereal, delicate, tragic... Ruby, who realized too late that she should have been thinking about the high and the glorious, instead of focusing on the unimportant. Ruby, who was afraid of death - not of pain, but of not knowing the other world, because, in her earthly life, she focused on everyday matters: clothes, admirers, fun, instead of perfecting her mind and soul. And Anne, who - while looking at the face of the dead Ruby - came to the conclusion that she had to live differently, not focusing on the present, but striving for higher goals. Yes, when I read this scene as a child, I was moved by its dramatic beauty.

However, now, although I naturally recognize Maud's literary skill, my emotions - and approach to Ruby as a character - are completely different.

First of all, I realize that Ruby was still very young - she had every right to be a little silly, a little flirty, a little fun-loving. Because, deep inside, Ruby was looking for love - the way most people look for it, through experience, learning from their mistakes. The truth is, finding love looks like this for most of us. Not everyone can have their own Gilbert Blythe, who'd wait for them for years upon years and never look at another.

Ruby was only eighteen when she got sick - nineteen when she died - and Heaven knows, most people do not know what they want from life at this age. So, being a little flippant should be excused - both Anne and Diana were different of course, but it doesn't mean that all girls were. Maud wrote about all kinds of girls: clever or silly, serious or funny, ambitious or flippant, pretty or ugly. And the message, in later books, seems clear: all of them can change for better.

Ruby was full of life, joy, carefree. In a way, she reminded me about pre-war Rilla. She wasn't like Anne, at least on the outside. But... deep down they were a bit similar. Ruby said what Anne would think years later: that she wanted love, marriage and children.

In a way, I am quite certain that older Anne understood Ruby better than she understood Christine (a woman who decided not to have children and spoke freely about it). Anne, deep down, also yearned for home and family of her own - and although she didn't know it, she already loved Gilbert.

During the last conversation with Anne, Ruby confessed that she finally fell in love with a man who loved her. The moment she spoke about wanting to live, I realized the whole tragedy. Here was a girl who would soon have to cross the border between life and death, just as her womanhood was about to start. She was scared of unknown... and sorry for the life she could have had - should have had - the life that she was losing. I was surprised with Anne's answer: "Why would you be scared, dear?". Why wouldn't she be? The point of religion is not knowledge - it is a belief. Even if Ruby spent her nineteen years of life feverishly devoted to the church, with her eyes fixed on the sky, all her thoughts as pure as snow, she still would have had every right to be scared.

I believe that - by her death - Ruby became a symbol and a warning for the readers (especially - for young girls). A symbol of life that ended too soon; of dreams that never had a chance to become a reality; of a girl, whose joyful, flippant existence was going to become forgotten as soon as she was buried. Because... what did people talk about after Ruby's funeral? That she was "the handsomest corpse of Avonlea"? That she had been laid in a "splendid white velvet casket"? That she had a beauty that "spirit had never shone through it, intellect had never refined it."?

In a way, Ruby was just as much of a symbol as Walter was; a life that might have been: "But death had touched it and consecrated it, bringing out delicate modelings and purity of outline never seen before—doing what life and love and great sorrow and deep womanhood joys might have done for Ruby." (Anne of The Island).

So - Ruby might have become wiser, more mature with age, love, marriage, life. But instead, she had to leave the world innthe golden hour of her teens.

And, Ruby's death is a warning, too - which is seen, again, through Anne's eyes. To Anne, it might be seen as a milestone, that made her realize that she had to set her sight on something bigger than everyday life. "Life held a different meaning, a deeper purpose. On the surface it would go on just the same; but the deeps had been stirred. It must not be with her as with poor butterfly Ruby. When she came to the end of one life it must not be to face the next with the shrinking terror of something wholly different—something for which accustomed thought and ideal and aspiration had unfitted her. The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth." (Anne of The Island).

It is worth mentioning how Ruby had died - and when. Ruby, who loved dancing, died at her sleep, peacefully, when all of her friends were at the party. "The next night the A.V.I.S. gave a farewell party to Jane Andrews before her departure for the West. And, while light feet danced and bright eyes laughed and merry tongues chattered, there came a summons to a soul in Avonlea that might not be disregarded or evaded." (Anne of The Island). It is such an irony that Ruby - the liveliest and prettiest of Avonlea girls - would die alone, while her friends were having fun. On the other hand (although it was not mentioned in the book), maybe she danced her way out of life, led by the joyful sounds of music, just as she danced her way through life?

As @no-where-new-hero-hero said once - Anne's series has a very strong religious tone - much stronger than the rest of Montgomery's books. Perhaps this is due to the fact that these were the first novels Montgomery had written and she wanted to make sure her young readers knew that religion was an extremely important issue in their lives, and faith - the meaning of their existence?

And here this moral is very clearly visible. Montgomery seems to be saying: "Ruby should have thought about eternity, not only about everyday life - and we have to, as well. We do not know when the end of our earthly journey will come and we should live our lives in such a way as to prepare for life outside the world we know and not be afraid of crossing the border."

I believe that most of the death of Montgomery's books meant something: Ruby's - the consequence of not seeing "the highest" and living day by day; Walter's - he cruelty of war and the sacrifice; Douglas Starr's - a tragedy of a father who knew that he wouldn't be able to watch his daughter grow up; Beautice Burnley's - the end of joyful, flippant existance and the consequences such life might have had on one's children.

I am not sure if I enjoyed the religious tone of Ruby's death scene - although I must say it was beautifully and splendidly written. As for a Ruby as a character, of course I wish she had lived. She had so much ahead of her - so much to look forward to. She deserved to live her life - it shouldn't have ended so soon, so abruptly. But then - Montgomery's aim was to put a moral in her story - and Ruby's example fitted perfectly, for this purpose (or at least I am pretty certain that Montgomery thought so).

It is a little difficult to say if it made a story better or worse; on one hand, it was well-written and touching, on the other - I don't enjoy the way Maud tried to push her own way of thinking into the reader's head. I also believe that we ought to be less strict with Ruby - and young girls in general. Youth should have been allowed its silliness - flippancy - mistakes, even back then. It was what made them grow and gain experience.

In my opinion, Ruby's death was Montgomery's message to the young people: "Don't focus only on here-and-now. You need to seek the eternity, too." I suppose that the message itself would be beautiful to some people, disagreeable to others. I am not sure which category I belong to, if I am honest.

Thank you again for your lovely question!

#lm montgomery #anne of green gables #Ruby gillis #Anne of the Island

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afflictedgirls · 5 months

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okay i'm curious, what's everyone's LEAST favorite lmm book? i read pat of silver bush a few years ago and it was so painful i'm sorry......

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feerz · 4 days

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Ranking all the Jesuses from every version I've watched/listened to so far

without further ado let's get into it 🙌

Ian Gillan - 1970 Original concept album

The True Doer that you cannot outdo. The og who made this role what it is today. And since the og album was were I got my start and obsession with jcs, I have a huge fondness for him. There's just something so- so... about him. His vocals? Insane, fantastic, the golden standard. His Gethsemane is Everything. He raised the bar so high (literally lol) and made this role harder for everyone that came after him and I respect that. I also love his characterisation. He is a rockstar and he knows it. Adore this whiny ass messiah and his dramatics. 9/10

Ted Neeley - 1973 movie

Sad little mouse man. He's like some small rodent to me. His gethsemane is iconic, but beyond it I don't care to much about his Jesus. He's perfectly inoffensive, but I find him a bit boring. Poor guy also had the disadvantage of performing against Carl Anderson, who's too powerful and who commanded every scene he was in, outshining Jesus. Tedsus is not for me personally, but he's definitely not bad. 6/10

Camilo Sesto - Madrid 1975 album

I like him! He reminds me of Ian's Jesus but sadder (love to see it). Really good vocals. That 'POR QUE' ate. And his Gethsemane in general too. I don't have that much to say besides that, but Señor Sesto is really good in this role. 8/10

James Whitson - San Jose Civic Light Opera's 1990 production

Uhhhhhhh. Watched this in a discord watch party and for half of it we were thought this was Ted. It wasn't. Don't really know what to say, there wasn't anything really memorable or notable about him. Also has the disadvantage of being pared up with Carl Anderson, except it's even worse here. If Carl was anywhere near him, no chance I was paying attention to Jesus. Um... he chased Santa out of the Temple! That's something! 3/10

Steve Balsamo - 1996 London revival album

Steve Balsamo Jesus, my dearly beloved. How can you not love him. Just rewatch his Gethsemane for the 1000th time. His vocals are out of this world, man has organ pipes in place of vocal chords. Props to him for actually crying in gethsemane and still killing it. Absolutely fantastic. And his beautiful hair and those brown eyes really add to it. He's such a sad pathetic man, it's great. No complaints 10/10

Glenn Carter - 2000 movie

I'm shaking, please buy him brown contacts. I am a glensus hater, although I have to admit that during my second viewing I didn't dislike him as much. Easily my least favourite gethsemane (lmm excluded), except his delivery of "what you started, I didn't start it", that was surprisingly good. Again, I'm a hater but bonus points for the entertainment factor. 4/10

Paul Nolan - 2012 Broadway revival

BORING! Sorry your trouple doesn't save you from being so incredibly bland. It's like looking at a white wall that has just been painted over and you're watching it dry. Gethsemane is solid vocally, I like his interactions with others. But Jesus himself? No thanks. The staging of the crucifixion was so great, but then there he is with his mouth agape like a baby bird being fed and unconvincing "suffering". Also, no blood? 3/10

Ben Forster - 2012 UK Arena tour

THIS IS THE ONE. My roman empire. My most dear blorbo. He's been living in my head rent free for months. I love him so much. He's just so incredibly stressed out and angsty and pathetic and constantly on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. His gethsemane is my favourite. Just pretty much everything I could want from a performance of it. The way he curls up on the floor? The little moments when his voice breaks a bit from emotion?? The knee thing??? Great, fantastic, stunning, no notes. Also I adore his costuming, finally Jesus is given something more interesting. 11/10

John Legend - 2018 NBC

Hot take, but he's not nearly as bad as people make him out to be. He's just fine. I do enjoy his voice, Poor Jerusalem is especially good. Although I don't love his acting in the second act, but I really liked him in the first one. This Jesus just seems really nice and friendly and I love that. Gethsemane is solid vocally, even without the G5. Anyways he's not bad at all! 6/10

Andrew Latobesi - 2018 Villanova College

This was another wildcard from the watch party. Jesus didn't stand out much because we were all a bit distracted by Judi. And Mary. He was bland and the acting was not fantastic, but this is a high school prod, and for what it's worth he's not bad. Gethsemane was solid enough considering everything. The crucifixion surprisingly hit, good crying there. ??/10 since I don't think it would be fair to rank him against all those adult professional performers.

Jack Hopewell - 50th Anniversary North America tour

The only Jesus that made me cry while watching. He suffers real good (and looks very pretty while doing so). He's just so- so... I just wanted to wrap him up in a soft blanket and give him a kiss on the forehead and feed him soup. Tbh I think he's one of the best vocally too. His high note is my fav. Gethsemane in general is just great too. Love how much he's just some silly guy who then has to face the Horrors. He's just very cute :] 10/10

Jeangu Macrooy - 2024 Netherlands national tour

The most poor little meow meow Jesus ever. He's so pathetic it's great. Him smiling and being happy was also so cute. Really good vocals too, man killed those high notes. His gethsemane too... Jeangu Macrooy absolutely steels the show and it's fantastic and incredibly heartbreaking. Want to see his performance again so so badly. In the meantime everyone should check out a snippet of his performance 10/10

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felizusnavidad · 4 months

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Hi so i only recently got into hamilton and really liked lmm in it but ive been seeing a lot of pjo fans talking about not wanting him as hermes and you are a lmm expert so i wondered if you knew why people are hating on him for being casted in pjo?

first of all, i am actually flattered that you called me an expert (i am literally not but i do know a lot, i observe, i go through lmm tag every day, i get mad when i see people talk shit about him, basically i'm super loud about my love for this guy so there's that some call it dedication, i call it obsession lol).

there are a lot of reasons actually but all of them are just so silly to me. for example, some people say he is a bad actor (if hamilton is not enough for you, please go watch his dark materials, he is excellent and i will fight). others say he can't sing (he can, he may not have the most incredible vocals ever, not like most broadway stars and i know a lot of people compare him with the best singers out there, but it doesn't mean he can't sing, also, he is much better now than he used to be years ago, for example i'd recommend listening to vivo soundtrack, especially keep the beat or one more song, i mean EXCUSE ME BUT MY MAN CAN SING). another reason: some people say he is annoying because he puts raps everywhere. ok, and? he is a great rapper, i'll say more: he is also a freestyle rapper, very talented indeed (i recommend checking literally any freestyle love supreme video on youtube or you can just go through my fls tag here. making up rhymes on the spot? pretty insane if you ask me). there is also a group of people who think he is cringe, his rhymes are cringe, some of his songs are not good, etc etc (i bet those people can write better songs). i think he is one of the greatest composers of our generation and i will, of course, fight (haters, please shut the fuck up about the scuttlebutt, this song was supposed to be annoying, you just don't get it apparently? same with my own drum actually. can we just stop pretending that he is talentless because of those songs you guys literally have no taste and you hate fun and also shut tf up). oh, and also, people these days very often say he is everywhere and it's annoying (this is literally his job but whatever). and my all-time favourite: some people are mad that he was playing hamilton because they think he didn't deserve it (he literally wrote the whole thing but ok). one more thing: i have never read pjo, i literally just started reading it only because of lin, so i know nothing about hermes, but personally i really hope he will sing/rap, just because i want to see them all suffer.

there were also other controversial stuff (with in the heights, hamilton and puerto rico) but we are not going to discuss it on my blog, sorry (mostly because i have my own opinion about it and i know i will get a lot of hate for speaking my mind). one thing i can say is that nobody's perfect, we all make mistakes sometimes and i will always fight for him, no matter what.

#thank you for this ask #i really love talking about him and it always makes me super happy to know there are others who love him like i do #please feel free to visit my blog whenever you want to #it's a safe space for lin's fans #will i get hate for it? idk maybe #still i'm gonna tag it so others can find it #lin manuel miranda #lmm #anon #i saved every letter you wrote me*#(i am literally drunk and writing essays about lmm on christmas eve what tf is wrong with me)

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chaosteddybear · 17 hours

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Things I want to know about my fellow writers!

Thanks for the tag @theemptyislost ☺️

I'm tagging @dmagedgoods @ineadhyn @mslanna @eve-is-random @scuttlingcrab @loveless-nameless-graceless-two (no pressure! And sorry to those who have been tagged already!) and you, dear reader! ❤️

Last book I read:

The only one I feel comfortable sharing is Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney. I actually only just started it but I am excited! The others are mostly about mental health and such, and even the last smutty novel was very dark so this'll be a breath of fresh air I expect 😅

Greatest literary inspirations:

I am so inspired by lmm that it's embarrassing. More at my core though, would be books from my childhood. They might have formed a little more about who I am than anything else. So for example Lemony Snicket is my heart, and those books meant so much to me that I am pretty sure they're the subconscious reason I love dashes so much, for example. Also the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark series... I am still obsessed with the way they set a mood, the way they have a goal but never a conclusion, the creepiness and how they toy with various different ways to be terrifying.

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write:

Pretty much anything Raphael (bg3)! I am so insecure about my ability to write Raphael...

Things in my current fandoms I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me:

More OC stuff. I find it easy to write "you" or canon characters if they're ones I know well and feel comfortable writing, it just flows. But I'm not inspired to write that stuff anymore even a little bit. I want to do OC stuff, but it's so scary. Writing plot? *shivers*. I don't know how to turn it into anything, it's all just chaos in my head, and my wrists hurt even thinking of trying to untangle it.

You can recognize my writing by:

Feral tone. Probably no plot other than using kink and power dynamics to communicate. I'm sorry, and also not sorry, it is what it is 😭

My most controversial take (current fandom):

Sometimes I like to think that Haarlep leads a cushy life and makes Raphael happy! I like to imagine Raphael keeps them safe and happy and clean too 😌 just two cozy lovers 😌

My top three favorite tropes:

1. Regular person does something extraordinary, 2. Hero can't accept that they're a hero, 3. Misunderstandings, especially if it's two people who love each other but can't see that the other feels the same.

What’s your current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut):

Honestly, a 2. I'd say 0 but at least I have WIPs I keep running through in my head, I just can't write them down, and I'm still RPing.

Share a random frustration:

I just hate when my ideas are too complicated to write down 😭😭 usually my brain is very stream of consciousness and I can just write it as it flows, but when I'm thinking in multiple directions, it all breaks and I can't get anything down at all.

#Me irl

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pastelwitchling · 3 months

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Okay, here are my thoughts on episode six of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Fair warning, a lot of it is a rant. I love the show, I loved certain scenes, but I have my complaints, like any fan:

Wow, my thoughts are kind of all over the place on this one, so I'll start from beginning to end here.

I'm sorry to all Percabeth shippers, but that "Why do you guys sound like an old married couple" was so cringey and forced. To me, Percy and Annabeth in that moment were mostly having a funny conversation ("no, you died on monday," I mean, come on), and then they're a married couple? Guys, they're twelve. Can we chill on the insistent shipping all the time?

Really? Clarisse? I mean, it's a good fake-out, but the problem is that this deduction truly does make Grover completely useless in this show so far! It'd be fine if they had let him unmask Medusa or save Percy and Annabeth from the Water Park like in the books, but because they gave those roles to Annabeth (who didn't even need to do that stuff to be a valuable character), this now makes Grover completely pointless! There was a part in the episode when Percy says that they can't do this quest without him, and I swear, I just went, Really? That was true in the book, but here, he hasn't contributed a single thing!

The Lotus Hotel? sigh. What a bunch of nothing. In the book AND the movie, they show Percy and the others spending time there, losing focus, until Percy wakes up and goes and warns the others. I don't care how people whine about the movies, they kept the fear-factor up. The Lotus Hotel was a legitimately frightening place, especially when Percy started to realize what was going on. Here? They already know the dangers before even going in, and even then the threat's treated like nothing! The movie actually has the Hotel staff chasing Percy and his friends down to stop them, in this they chase after a guy who we'd never seen before (was he even mentioned at all before that point when Grover goes after him like we're supposed to have known who he was?), and who had run off for no reason. Why had he been trying to escape anyway? It makes no sense!

The moment with Hermes was also, I'm sorry, very lackluster. I still remember Nathan Fillion's hilarious portrayal of Hermes, I still remember his lines and it felt like the Hermes from the books, but this was just... dramatic and serious and edgy and teary-eyed, and it's like... why is everything so serious and dark all the time? The books were fun and funny, you had Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hermes and you didn't take advantage of having him at all. I didn't want him to start singing or anything, that's not what I mean, but LMM's very funny when he wants to be, and you just had him miserable and depressed the whole time, how's that fun?

Also, someone else brought this up, but in the books, they clarify that the reason the gods don't interfere in the lives of their kids is because they're not allowed to because of their own laws. In my opinion, this creates a compromise later for Percy and the gods. It teaches Percy that while he does want his father to be like a normal, mortal dad, that's not who Poseidon is, and the gods recognize the human side of their children and that they do need attention and help every now and then. Not everyone has that picture-perfect relationship with their parents, and it was a good lesson for both child and parent, that these relationships are more complicated than they would initially think and sometimes, you have to find that compromise to make things work and keep your family. Percy eventually recognized this, just as the gods recognized that they do have to be better with certain things.

Now the gods don't interfere because... they just don't know how to be parents. Awesome.

I saw some people talking like, Finally! Pan is mentioned! But I honestly felt like it came out of the blue. Searcher's license? When was that a thing, Grover? This stuff was Grover's entire storyline since the beginning, and here, they finally mention it when there's only two episodes left? Really? Do the writers even care about him, or are they too busy trying to make Annabeth look flawless that they've just completely dismissed his role?

We didn’t need to know about Luke’s mother yet. We really, really didn’t need to about Luke’s mother yet. How much more powerful was it when we EXPERIENCED time with her in the fifth book? At least SHOW her? What impact did they imagine more exposition would do?

That cab ride? Funniest thing I've ever seen, easily the funniest scene of the series so far.

THE SUMMER SOLSTICE IS JUST OVER???? WHAT????? FIRST OF ALL, THAT UNDERWATER SCENE WAS RIDICULOUS, I COULDN'T SEE A FREAKING THING. Second. The deadline, the moment when Percy ran into the gods' meeting just as the final second ticked down and screamed to WAIT, that's just not going to happen? I know I make a lot of comparisons to the movies, but that's because ALL RR does is crap on the movies, and yet THEY actually stayed true to the books' feel, pacing, and intensity. You FELT how important that deadline was, just like the book characters did. You FELT the excitement of every action scene, just like the book characters did. You FELT the colorfulness and playfulness of every lively moment, JUST LIKE THE BOOK CHARACTERS.

Sure, this book adapted more scenes from the actual book, but MOST of the actually important stuff from the books? GONE. It's not fun most of the time, it's exposition and dreary conversations and action scenes that are pushed into the last two minutes. It's not funny, it's serious and miserable. It's not colorful, it's (literally) too dark (to see)!

Say whatever you will about the movies, and I know RR hates them (sometimes, quite unreasonably and meanly, if you ask me, especially for the actors that had loved filming them and loved the characters, like you can lay off for two minutes, okay?), but in terms of which adaptation captured the HEART of the books? Don't get me started.

The movies actually had characters use their POWERS from the very first scene, the movies tried to establish the grandness of the gods, the movies were more concerned with making something bright and colorful than completely true to the books, yes, but if this is RR's ideal adaptation? I'm sorry, but I just thank the gods we AT LEAST have the movies to fall back on for a fun time.

Again, I know some people think you can't critique something and enjoy it, but I do enjoy this series, and I thank the gods that when everything else comes out lacking, AT LEAST we have the main characters to count on. The gods only know that in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Walker, Leah, and Aryan are the most (and often, ONLY) Percy Jackson things about it.

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #this is not anti #it's JUST a clinical critique #don't @ me I will not respond

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fuck-you-upmusicbracket · 7 months

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Love Me More (Mitski)

If I keep myself at home/I won't make the same mistake/That I made for fifteen years/I could be a new girl/I will be a new girl

"Npd vibes. also im a gifted kid sorry lmao"

One Last Time (Hamilton)

Mister President, they will say you're weak/No, they will see we're strong/Your position is so unique/So I'll use it to move them along/Why do you have to say goodbye/If I say goodbye, the nation learns to move on/It outlives me when I'm gone

"LMM took so Macy care and thought and consideration when writing this musical and all the songs really hit deep. But this one? Friend I love George Washington (with open eyes that are critical of some of his life choices) and the reason I love him is because of how he acted as President. The US would be so so so different if anyone else had been our first President. He set so many important presidents, including many we don’t follow any longer. One of them was giving up his power. This song takes that decision and explains it so beautifully. The way LMM and CJ sing it is perfect. LMM even used the actual Goodbye speech for lyrics. He also gracefully allowed George to exit the play. One Last Time is a beautiful tribute to one of the most important parts of any presidency and I can’t image how it could have been done any better. America and George have their issues, but that was a moment we got right. And I’m so thankful to LMM for his effort and time"

Poll Runner: Not American, but by god do I love me some Hamilton. This song is the send off for Washington's character, and they make it big and spectacular and also sad, because we don't see him again until he's died, and the moment Washington leaves the show is the moment Hamilton's life starts to decline.

#fuck you up bracket #tournament #polls #mitski #hamilton

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no-where-new-hero · 8 months

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☕ - booktok and I'm cheating to add the state of YA in general 👀

Disclaimer at first that I don't have TikTok (proudly) so that my experience with social media book discourse is through Instagram (which also has a lot of TikToks transferred over, obviously) but I'm not sure if the IG algorithm shows me different things from what TikTok would. Anyway.

I'm going to start with the state of YA actually because I feel slightly more familiar with this but also I think BookTok/Bookstagram trends are absolutely contributing to its hellscape. I may have talked about this in the post about where LMM would be shelved, but I think YA is losing its own identity. It's no longer about finding your place in the world or coming to terms with identity or dealing with themes that will help provide a bridge between childhood and adulthood. Romantasy abounds as much as in adult fiction, maybe just with a little less sex (though that's debatable). Contemporary feels reducible to a Pinterest moodboard (Portrait of a Thief, which I honestly liked in a lot of ways, suffered from this in my opinion). Fantasy without romance is almost nonexistent, and SF is more and more negligible.

All of these issues are perpetuated by BookTok. In a small video, there's only so much of a story you can share. Romantic tropes, aesthetic pictures, over-the-top dramatic lines sell well on there because they're catchy and cater to a romance- and visual-centric society. But I think it has given the false impression that you can stretch a skin of plot over these bones and call it an animal, and because everyone is accepting that this is an animal, the proliferation of such simulacra continues. Especially when the plot itself is none too strong.

You mentioned the trope problem, and I'll drill down on it because I definitely see this as the fanficification of published literature and the deterioration of rigorous plotting: A, because people enjoy it. B, because a majority of new authors grew up in the fanfic heyday and cut their teeth on that style, so they no longer know how to break free of it. C, because it's easy: you have narrative assumptions baked into rivals to lovers, in there's-only-one-bed, the coffeeshop au, etc. They're in fanfic because they're easy and provide a handy template for the meat of the story, which is the characters. But translating that into original fiction runs the risk of creating a predictable story. Predictability can mean palatability, which doesn't hurt on the whole. But it again inscribes this misbelief that if that's all that's on the market, that's all that people want.

The publishing industry absolutely is perpetuating it too: to sell a book now, you need to give comparative titles, "the books yours will sit next to on a display." There's more and more pigeonholing, which the fanfic style enables.

I could also get into the moral turpitude of some of the books on there (cough anything by colleen hoover not to mention HAUNTING ADELINE cough) but that will sound unnecessarily judgy, so I won't. Suffice to say that I feel sorry for anyone trying to "become a reader" by taking their recommendations solely from an app driven by popularity, shock-value, and the cultural capital of prettiness and success.

(Okay I need a last footnote to say that I understand that ALL advertising is driven by popularity, shock-value, and cultural capital. But you remember in the old days when you could go into the library and find a dusty book that was published in like 1990 or something and it smelled like it was growing mildew and it probably had a horrible cover and the author was someone you'd never heard of and none of your friends knew what the book was but you would bring it home and it would completely change your brain chemistry and everything you thought about the world? THAT'S HOW YOU BECOME A READER FELLAS. As a librarian in training, I'm going to die on this hill.)

#i still want to reblog your other post with gogandmagog because you guys brought up other fabulous things i didn't have time to address here #blake’s last braincell #blake’s mail #blake's asks

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