#it's a really long story but basically i was massively obsessed with the clash in the first half of that year | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

minnowtank · 2 months

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so basically in my oc story it’s 2412 and everyone on earth lives on the planet exodus now due to a biological warfare accident which continues to affect people centuries later in the form of Fosse syndrome. the world has like a really weird version of communism where withering of the state doesn’t occur and religions and national differences and therefore the social constructs of race persist i’m sorry this is so bad you need context for this like it involves a hawaiian communist terrorist named kauhane becoming a saint in what later becomes neo-catholicism because a bunch of radicalized christian americans believed he could see into the future (he actually could) and he was like chosen by god and the communist terrorist also believed this and it made the politics all weird as a consequence. and then other stuff like the fosse gas affecting the state of politics. still working on the politics but that’s basically a theme of like oh everyone’s on a different planet are nations arbitrary ?? is anyone really anything anymore? and people like want to know where they “really” come from etc. and stuff and that’s a theme

so the plot is that a neo-catholic novice in the year 2412 named bianca must use her future-seeing abilities to stop a swedish ethnonationalist from creating a new hybrid species of super-swedes and the swedish guy in question is using these immortal worms that go in your brain and give you the ability to regrow limbs and stuff that are actually Adam, Eve, and Cain which would also take a while to explain lol but his name is stefan and he’s like wow sweden sucks now we used to be so great and he had a meltdown about ikea no longer existing once canonically and he becomes obsessed with Old World notions of racism and basically there are barely any ethnic swedes left due to a bunch of reasons involving eugenics in the past (they wanted to get rid of fosse syndrome in ethnic swedes) and so there are like barely any ethnic swedes and he wants to use the worms and yeah the worms can do stuff like “build themselves in the womb” and then it opens questions about like what the ideal human would actually look like if the fetus had the ability to create itself while in utero etc and things like that so whatever. he has a son with fosse syndrome that makes him have schizophrenic that cannot be medicated bc being fosse makes you resistant to a bunch of modern medicine. and the son has the adam worm while stefan has the cain worm and the son who is named alex btw is like i don’t wanna make a super race please let me kill myself instead but he’s being controlled by stefan and the worms. and then there’s that whole thing👍and there are other mutations regarding fosse syndrome and there’s like “epicentre nations” and other stuff and eugenics plot lines and things that will also take a while to explain. and the son and stefan are the remaining descendants of the long defunct swedish royal family.

also if the hybrid species super swede is born it will destroy the reality due to it breaking the law of evolution and i will explain that in the story also the virgin mary exists and like there’s that whole thing too and god exists but he left the universe and there’s the “purpose paradox” going on with god and stuff and yeah

and yeah there are a bunch of characters and there are 5 “main” protags: bianca, jacquie, enji (he has the eve worm and there’s backstory for that), sloane, and yousef and the plot is complicated and i’m not done but i want to keep going with it so idk. oh also settler colonial states don’t exist anymore there’s a country called the union of new world republics and it’s connected to the weird saint terrorist guy but like that guy was involved with their movement while also kind of being weird on the side but he was helpful to them despite being a massive catholic because his future vision constantly saved their asses from assassination and their views like clashed with his

#🐟

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eggmeralda · 3 years

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oop just unlocked 2014

#terrible idea #it's a really long story but basically i was massively obsessed with the clash in the first half of that year #and since then it was always seen as the most sacred hyperfixation of my life #so i never wanted to think about bc that era of my life was too good i couldn't even handle it #for the first time since then i am ascending to the clash and it's giving me an existential crisis #god i had such a solid identity in 2014 where did it go #i always split my ages as if they were separate people who i used to know #like deep down i know I'm still my 14yo self and she's still my 18yo and she's still my 3yo self etc. but i can't accept that?#some ages i can accept more than others? but some are almost off limits #''19 was too perfect don't touch it or you'll ruin it'' ''12 was too long ago you're not her anymore and you never will be again''#but 14 #oh my god #i haven't had a nostalgia attack for early 2014 since probably late 2014 lol #I've never delved into that year #possibly bc i knew exactly who i was and i was aware of my existence but wasn't really bothered?#by the end of that year i started questioning everything but the start i was just vibing?#and if i think about my 14yo self i have to think about the fact that i am still her #which means i have to acknowledge my own existence #which is literally horrendous and also terrifying and i might die in the process #fuckfuckfuvkfuckfuvkvikvufivuccuvidifjdifisifjsisjdjfbsjfishdufysi #i just wanna go back in time and have a really long chat with my 14yo self and all my past selves #not about anything in particular we just talk about songs we like and who our fav characters are etc.#but they all die every new year to make way for a new age who will be having a completely different existential crisis to the previous one #what the fuck am i talking about #I'm literally still listening to the clash if my 14yo self could see me now she'd probably agree but she's dead rip :/#ramble #sjdbsofbs #sjdbsufhsufudsnndefjfjaai #Kvuajdhcahduyahdcyuz #hell yeah boys i reached 30 tags

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pixelgrotto · 3 years

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Huntin’ yokai in 1889 Japan

I have been really busy lately. Changes in life and work are in full gear, and after years of doubting myself and making excuses, I’ve finally started freelancing in the gaming space! And for $$$, too! In short, I’ve been writing a ton of articles for D&D Beyond and a few other spots that are still under wraps, and really, I owe it to the good people at Asians Represent for giving me the encouragement I needed to get my name out there. (For those who read my stuff here but don’t follow me on Twitter, check out the massive Legends of the Five Rings readthrough that I did with Asians Rep. I appear in episode 6 onwards! You can also view my occasional appearances on their weekly talk show The Wrap Up.)

Recently, I’ve also made it a point to experiment with more tabletop games that are decidedly not D&D, especially indie stuff. For a while I’ve wanted to write about Yokai Hunters Society, a sweet game that I snagged during last year’s itch.io racial justice bundle. Made by one dude living in Taiwan (as a half-Taiwanese, you know I need to support this man), Yokai Hunters Society tasks players with becoming mask-wearing monster hunters, and it’s set during the late 1880s, when Japan was opening up to the rest of the world and on a heavy-duty industrialization kick. Not quite a empire obsessed with colonizing East Asia but no longer a secluded island nation, Japan experienced many reports of yokai sightings during this time, perhaps because as the nation modernized and clashed with tradition, the old school threat of ghosts lurking in the shadows reared its head. It’s a great time period, and frankly I find this history more interesting than the usual fetishization of samurai culture that you see in modern media. (Once again, watch those Legends of the Five Rings videos I linked above for my thoughts on samurai and all that jazz.)

The system itself plays similar to Powered by the Apocalypse, with swingy rolls of 2d6 determining most outcomes. On a roll of 10 or above, you succeed, on a 9 you succeed but suffer a consequence, and on an 8 or less, you fail and the situation escalates. There’s no need for the Game Master to ever roll dice, and the rules-light feel of the system lends itself to highly narrative, fast-paced gameplay.

Thus far, I’ve written and run a trilogy of adventures using this system, all of which I ran on Roll20 with a black and white aesthetic (I was trying to emulate World of Horror) and a bumpin’ playlist of Sega Genesis chiptune music (I used Revenge of Shinobi extensively.) All the adventures were centered around yokai affected by the burgeoning technology and civil changes of the era.

The first campaign, which I dubbed “Tragedy of the River Children,” was about a group of hunters venturing to a rice paddy village where farmers had forged a pact with kappa to irrigate their fields. In return, the kappa would be provided with food (cucumbers!) as well as the opportunity to mate with certain villagers and ensure the survival of their species via kappa-human hybrids. Unfortunately, modernization had brought in new irrigation machines that could render the pact obsolete, and a villager had turned up dead with all signs pointing to a kappa as the culprit. The game took on a very environmentalism-heavy feel when we played, and I was careful to keep us from veering into H.P. Lovecraft territory - specifically his story The Shadow Over Innsmouth, which clearly has the subtext of “interracial sexual relations are bad.”

For my next campaign, “The Long-Necked Ladies of Yoshiwara,” I wanted to continue looking at these themes in the most famous red-light district of Japan’s past - Yoshiwara, basically a mini-city within Tokyo. I did a lot of research into Yoshiwara’s history and devised a plot where a oiran (basically a high-ranking courtesan) revealed herself to the players as a rokurokubi, a stretchy-necked female yokai. She employed the party to investigate a rival brothel that had entrapped another rokurokubi and was secretly run by an oni, who was using a drug to disguise himself as a human and planned to ally with gangsters and take over Tokyo’s underworld. Once again, the goal here was to investigate how yokai had adapted to a changing world, specifically the red-light floating world. Why wouldn’t an enterprising oni with a fancy suit and the means of masquerading as a human take advantage of the new business opportunities that emerged during turn-of-the-century Japan, after all?

Finally, the most recent campaign that I just finished, “The Monsters of Mt. Mitake,” was a direct continuation that had players journeying to the mountain village of the brothel-running oni and destroying the drugs that he and his compatriots had used to disguise themselves as humans. This one was probably the most combat-heavy and least introspective adventure of the lot, but there were a ton of memorable moments, like a scene where the party entered a small mountain inn and were confronted by dozens of distrusting stares - all from people who could have been oni in disguse! (Turns out, there were only a handful of oni and kotengu in the village that were harvesting the drugs, and they’d enslaved the rest of the populace. Still suspenseful as heck, though.)

All in all, as someone who’s long enjoyed the nuances of late 19th-century Japanese history as well as stories that deal with how monsters and humans interact with each other, I’ve gotten quite a kick out of Yokai Hunters Society. Currently I’m putting the system aside for a bit to explore other indie RPGs, but I do have an idea percolating in the back of my mind for a future campaign involving Japan’s burgeoning railway system... Maybe something like The Last Express, but with yokai? If I ever end up running this, best believe that I’ll find time to write about it here!

#pixel grotto #now playing #tabletop gaming #ttrpgs #yokai hunters society

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flcydr · 5 years

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( demiboy ) haven’t seen FLOYD ROSENBERG around in a while. the EZRA MILLER lookalike has been known to be (+) WELL-READ & (+) EXPRESSIVE, but HE can also be (-) EXAGGERATED & (-) MALICIOUS. The 22 year old is a JUNIOR majoring in ENGLISH LITERATURE. I believe they’re living in PEREGRINIS but I popped by earlier and no one answered the door.

what is good my sweet friends?? it’s alex again, fresh kid & rushed intro but that’s how we do it in the partyhause. it’s currently 6 am and i might be going to bed soon ?? but probs not so likes this post if you’d like to plot and we’ll get down 2 it !

- born in louisiana to pair of filthy rich business people. seriously, his parents own like two companies and sleep on dollars. - so um yeah growing up, floyd and his sister had pretty much everything; expensive meals, private education, all that stuff! - minus attentive parents!! yo, here’s the catch! his parents usually weren’t home, and so the kids were mostly raised by their nanny, who was a very intelligent woman. floyd looked up to her a lot. - when they happened to be present, however, they’d usually complain a lot and criticize their children, especially papa rosenberg. okay, it was just the papa. their mom is actually pretty cool. in fact, floyd is a massive momma’s boy, but u didn’t hear that from me. - a lot happened in between, but this is still a p fresh muse so ... i’m still figuring stuff out. but basically, long story short, he grew up to despise his father actually. like, because they’re both real smart guys who like to voice their opinions their personalities clash a lot. - personality-wise he’s v sorta extra. umm, quite obnoxious at times but at the same time he’s such a character okay. he’s got that whole thing going on where you’d think he’s acting but then.. you just can’t be too sure. all his expressions are huge, overdone. kind of like a sitcom character lol. - easy for him to become obsessed. like, he goes through these periods where he’s really, really into some thing for quite a while, and then he switches and is suddenly into something else. anyway, he’s always doing something, soo .. . - very out there, not afraid to speak up, crack jokes. tends to cross the line bc frankly boi is also somewhat insensitive. like, for a moment it might seem like he cares about something, but then when it comes down to it, he rly doesn’t?? that’s the case especially when it comes to other people. - um , ,, he’s actually a bit twisted?? just uh some of his ideas and beliefs and actions are just off. - he sometimes behaves like he’s in a completely different world. always carrying that confident attitude. - he’s well-educated and well aware of it. very preppy & thinks highly of himself. - sometimes during conversations he suddenly just ... says something, but it’s not even directed at you?? like, he just turns and speaks into the abyss or mutters something to himself. as if he’s constantly speaking his mind. - english literature major and super into the subject. loves books, reading is what he does bEST. - ooh enjoys jazz music a lot. - wardrobe consists of mostly neat, somewhat fancy but at the same time bold and exaggerated pieces. i will make a pinterest board at some point and then u shall see !! - was friends with tatiana. actually, they were quite okay pals. he did not vote for her during the watershed, but after she died, he didn’t seem to care too much either?? see, that’s what i was talkin’ bout earlier. he .. tends to be empathetic. - not gonna lie he could probably kill someone. - i imagine most of his friends being girls?? - o h also boy likes to gossip a lot. and by that i mean gather information. he likes to have dirt on ppl lmao. but despite being all out there he never overshares. makes sure that his private stuff stays ... private. haha but for how long - will flirt with people but hardly takes it further than that?? he genuinely thinks he’s so good and great and most people just aren’t “worth” hooking up with. flirting is different though, cause it’s just a game of words. he loves words. - and that’s all i have for now !! this will 100% be updated at some point but until then i’m abe link and this has been the kill count.

#water:intro #tw: death #tw: murder #the overall quality of this intro is a solid 2/900 but pls dont let that stop us from fallin in love

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elizabethrobertajones · 6 years

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like? i honestly don't get people (haters and those who stopped watching) who say spn has bad writing? of course not ever episode will be as good, but for a show at it's THIRTEENTH season the writing hasn't let up at all (it's just more simplified), sfter all those years i still find the dialogue utterly fascinating. i really don't get it but maybe i'm just biased :/

Yeah, and the thing is the show has gradually moved from what was good writing for season 1 or 4 or whatever, to whatever makes it still work after 8 or 13 seasons…

Like, the internal mirroring in season 1? It’s there, it’s good, there’s a lot more than you think and you’d basically have to watch the season twice, once forwards and once backwards as soon as you’re done before you forget all the little details to catch all the stuff. I mean there’s some things which are obvious like the Mary and Jess dying either end of their episode things. And then there’s stuff like 1x09 and 1x17 both having Sam and Dean obsessed with drawing something that they’re trying to capture on a piece of motel notepaper or whatever. Little motifs that barely mean anything but give a sort of coherency and nod to earlier writing, which is basically just stuff you do to assure the viewer there’s a sense of having things under control.

Cycle all the way up to season 13 and you can have so many nuanced references going on that just the MotW in 13x05 mirrors 5 different season 1 episodes, a season 8 main arc thing, a random season 11 motw, or 7x19 even, for the house full of ghosts thing… and probably some other stuff I can’t even remember now, and that’s before we get to the main plot half, and the emotional arcs. And those references aren’t just in there as a competency check, but because it means stuff and it’s relevant. The parallel to Lucas the mute kid in 1x03 who Dean related to? SUPER RELEVANT to his emotional state now. For like the entire season we’ve had 1x02′s “saving people, hunting things” speech lurking around in Dean’s actions visibly decayed and broken from its original meaning. 1x10 was visually referenced and that is important because of the Sam and Dean at odds stuff, and some of their most important yelling at each other about how they see each other and how John affected them and how they see John through each other happened there, all of which is being recycled in how they’re treating Jack. I could keep going but point is, the writing is good surface viewing, and a really rich soup of past canon references for people who want to analyse it, because just showing they understand the story they’re telling is a huge sign of good writing, and makes me confident to assume they do mean basically everything they imply.

But on the other hand in season 1 you can really feel scared and alone and confused and like the entire universe around them is too big and filled with evil and they’re small and incompetent and just want to find their dad and go home, and that aesthetic is excellent, but you can’t keep going with that past even season 1, so they start to get more people in their lives, even just passing acquaintances at first, and a couple of settled locations. And the story can’t just be the same simple goals over and over again or what’s the point in setting up a big looming battle between good and evil from the very start if it’s just escalating and deescalating clashes with a few important demons, a 4 episode per season main arc about family, and then a bunch of monster hunts? For one thing they’d run out of hunts :P So more plot, more characters, and it all starts eroding the original aesthetic because better writing for what they’re working with means abandoning what originally made the show good because it can NEVER make the show good again IN THAT WAY.

And by season 6 the mytharc is all concluded, and you basically have to pick the show up and turn it around, and start telling it all backwards, and make it personal instead, because not only is escalating threat meaningless after the victory in season 5, but they have a massive world full of characters and resources and KNOWLEDGE and you can’t have the Winchesters alone against the world. There’s jokes about how in season 1 they wouldn’t know a vampire if it bit them on the arse but then in season 8 Dean just goes and clears a house of them out for his vampire BFF. Or season 1 Dean vs demons and then just cut to him and Crowley drinking together. Like… it’s experience and competence and also just the story can’t maintain itself if it never explores new avenues where monsters stop being scary for being monsters and start being scary for what they say about the characters… Which 2x03 does for Dean, and everything since has been post-picking up the story and turning it around. I mean, that can happen at any point really, but the season 1 approach to monsters was completely unsustainable because they’d run out of monsters. Look at how werewolves never came back until season 8 and when they did, Robbie retconned the crap out of them so they could be used in different stories. Werewolves who transform unknown to themselves and can be monsters without ever knowing it? Are good for like 1 story only, and that was the one they told in Heart. And until you suck it up and retcon it, you can NEVER use werewolves even as incidental monsters. We didn’t even see them in season 6.

And all these changes are happening all the time, and bit by bit things like “can’t have the Winchesters without any reoccurring side characters to help/hinder them” and “monsters aren’t all evil” and “escalate the mytharc at least a notch higher than previously or start over but make it personal” and all these changes happen one at a time for good reasons, until you end up with a show which looks nothing like the original one but still has its DNA. It’s just grown up into an adult version of itself that can carry its own weight. And that’s good long-form writing.

I don’t actually think the writing has simplified, it’s just behaving in a different way now. Season 1 and 2 were pretty raw and full of character dynamic stuff but the main plot was very simple and tropey because it could afford to be because the show was a bunch of world building and a focus on the MotW episodes, and the main plot was a bonus and a mystery to string us through episode to episode, so the main pull WAS the character stuff between Sam and Dean as an identifying feature of the show. But you can’t tell that story over and over where they don’t know what’s happening and it never comes near them until shit hits the fan. For one thing, they blew all their cards ages ago on things seeded into their life from birth that they had no idea about but were always fated to happen, unless there’s something that happened to Dean that’s just been idly ticking away waiting for him to hit 40 for him to be slapped with some ancient curse Millie Winchester activated poking around with artefacts Henry brought home from work or something. Again, once the demon blood reveal comes you basically pick up the show, turn it around, and start telling in the other direction from the build up to that reveal, and we’re still going in that same direction that Sam’s been reacting to since 2x21. That’s the hugest thing to happen in their family history in terms of plot so everything has to loop around that somehow, and new reveals are just “why” ones not “what” ones, in 4x03 and 5x13.

The show the hardcore original couple of seasons fans are longing for is one that wrote itself out of existence with its OWN good writing. Sam and Dean DEMANDED more characters to interact with to show more facets of themselves and for them to be challenged, so they got Ruby and then Cas. The plot was rolling along building up steam so excitingly that it COULD go to an epic fated apocalypse, and sell that our guys were the ones caught in the middle and ready to save the world. They weren’t the same dweebs as season 1.

And instead you get this INCREDIBLE character writing… Like, Sam and Dean leap off the page as it were right from the start, and without them being good characters the show would never have amounted to anything because Sam and Dean was all the show depended on to start with. And it’s still going on their charisma and chemistry, but it’s FAR from all that now. They get characters thrown at them to see what sticks, and increasingly characters begin to stick. Characters would basically never be seen again originally. And then a few began to show up over and over after Bobby and then the Roadhouse lot, and season 3 had a whole bunch of actual reoccurring characters and stuff like surprise returns for the Trickster or whatever - things that began to make it feel like the world was populated with more than the Winchesters. And by season 8 when the narrative shifts to being primarily character-based and action driven, repeat characters are allowed to show up and stay in ways that they never would have in the past. You get in season 8 Garth, Kevin and Charlie all coming back since season 7 first appearances, Cas and Crowley get their first season they’re actually both in all the way through at the same time, and then there’s repeat characters introduced in that season for its story. Amelia and Benny, and Abaddon and Metatron. It’s CROWDED. The Winchesters are being defined by the people around them and it’s how they react and make their decisions that affects the story. Which allows for delving right down into them and doing masses of character building because all the plot stuff is affected by character things.

And I think Destiel gets so compelling around this time because the shift to emotional storytelling means it’s less what they do and more how what they do affects them and each other. Everyone’s getting defined more by the people around them but Cas and Dean have this whole weird profound thing going already.

As we go through all that the story becomes more and more self-reflective. 6x01 and 8x01 both reboot the story in weird various ways, going back to the pilot for inspiration. 6x01 just again is about picking up the story and turning it around and telling it in another direction, but 8x01 gets really meta about it… Dabb era snuck up on us because it starts somewhere in the middle-end of season 11, but the end of season 11 is another pick up and turn around moment, but instead of re-telling it begins to completely deconstruct and break down everything that the story had been previously defined by. Which means in many ways the drift back to trying to tell simpler episodes with season 1 themes and style makes it look simpler, but after you stick out 12 years of the show and then get to it, if you look at what they’re doing, part of the reason why the episodes feel SO good, is because there’s a deep intelligence to it all, at least in storytelling terms. Finding what is fresh by taking the things which are worn down and tiresome and trying to do something with them. Subtly, in season 12… A bit louder for the people in the back in season 13 :P But there’s a clever purpose behind it, and the episodes are engaging for other reasons and as a bonus we’re seeing the characters in ways we haven’t really seen them before. Or as we haven’t seen them for a long long time.

I think a lot of intelligence in good writing is not forgetting the beginning of the story halfway through or at the end or anything. Which is a serious problem when the show is so long. It’s why you sometimes get lines like in 5x21 where Sam and Dean have an exchange where they talk about remember when we used to just hunt Wendigo (*takes a shot*) or in 12x06 why that was the monster they had that game about… It’s meta commentary for mentioning it to go back to the start, to examine their lives (as we were doing to Asa) and remember how it all began. To get a sense of context and continuity that these are the same guys from the start of the show, who have been through *all that* and are still here, being themselves, in their further adventures.

I think the style has obviously, necessarily, changed a lot but I don’t think it’s simplified anywhere, just that the changes and evolution it’s been through means that the way it’s told now is different, in this case blending nostalgia with trying to convince us we need to keep watching, still, after 13 years, for some of the weird ideas they have going forwards… I think that involves a LOT of character emphasis like being able to take most of 13x01 to mourn Cas when we know he’s coming back, or this whole grief arc, really. Or look at the evolution of Dean worrying about Cas in season 8, 11 and 12 when he’s missing/possessed and how each time it was significantly louder and more important as what Dean was dealing with and how it was affecting him and how important it was to the narrative as a whole. It’s like someone saying a sentence over and over but repeating it with different emphasis. And louder. And the longer the show goes on the less it can rely on one type of telling and the more it has to rely on the other, although I sort of feel like season 13 is hitting a point where I’m not sure where else they GO from here :P

It’s flipped right back to season 1 in a way, that there’s very little “main plot” intruding on them, right now, except via grief or having Jack around, which of course just elicits a bunch more character development and emotional arc stuff. But the entire history and complexity of the show is still there, so a regular MotW can turn into a chat with Death, who talks to Dean about cosmic matters. Their world is never not going to be huge now after it’s been escalated so far, but on the other hand, you can go back to that season 1 feeling where character development was basically all they had lying around… It’s all massively complex, but on a sublime lower level to what’s going on in the main plot.

Same as last year, the plot stuff all just served the emotional arcs and it could be literally anything as long as it gave the right nudges to the characters. So far this season it’s been going much better, probably because it feels simpler and there’s been less direct main plot nonsense going on and letting the characters breathe and deal with the emotional stuff…

Idk, tl:dr I sort of feel like everything season 11 onwards has just been rewarding fans of the show who kept watching that long, made by people who love the show and are delighted it’s been around this long… Like, if anything, the writing might seem simplified because they’ve written so much show that it’s like a self-fuelling self-nostalgia perpetual motion machine for the last couple of seasons. But the very fact it seems easy and simple is betraying how intelligent some of the writing actually is, because at no point has it let up on the depth it’s written at, and with more show it just means MORE stuff to mirror, parallel and build off of. The writing is probably proportionately better than it ever has been because it’s not a level playing field, it’s a MASSIVE MOUNTAIN of past canon all the new writers have to wrangle, learn, and love before they can start writing. And they show that they HAVE and produce great episodes out of it.

#Asks #asdsfdfhjkld I will never be free of this show

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pigballoon · 6 years

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Phantom Thread

(Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

The general sort of immediate take away from this movie, that thing which calls back to movies like The Leopard, or Madame de…, of lavish, pristine environs masking deeper, darker, internal troubles, is not something new to cinema, what makes Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest so wonderful in its own right is the precise and unique blend of the feelings that are being hidden, and the sort of idiosyncratic way in which its writer-director, in his 8th feature, presents them all to us in a fashion on screen unlike quite anything of its ilk.

Phantom Thread is most simply a relationship drama set against the backdrop of a fashion house in 1950s London. What makes it special is the nature of the two central characters that form this relationship - Daniel Day-Lewis’ Reynolds, and Vicky Krieps’ Alma are two incredibly precise and massively contrasting characters, both with a mass of bottled up feelings in this hermetically sealed world in which they find themselves (at least 90% of the movie takes place indoors, chamber play like, revolving around people talking, arguing, fretting, or suffering) but what she is bottling up, the sort of blushing simplicity, and passionate longing, clash with his blunt, regimented, unwavering adherence to his routines and high strung demands, and it's that central duel of natures that gives the movie its central conflict, is source of its darkest laughs, and stands as sort of representative of the melting pot of ideas that are woven together to make up Anderson's latest offering.

To me it's those ideas, the presentation of things, that is most special about this movie, the series of breakfasts throughout the film that chart the progression or regression of relations, the state of minds, it’s like Citizen Kane. Its in the series of car journeys filmed in ways you don't really see car journeys in movies portrayed, and the impressionistic touches that they lend proceedings early on. Still, it's not just stylistically that PTA is grooving, the way he's thinking about things is every bit as interesting as the way he’s framing them. There's a sort of dark fairy tale quality to the movie from the first dress we see designed (for the great Gina McKee!)tThat looks like something a Disney princess might wear, to the general waif-like heroine in awe inspiring castle quality of the central narrative, the almost nightmare like, journey down a rabbit hole design of their first car ride together. There’s an almost S&M like touch added to the relationship that's earned the movie unfavourable comparisons, it's a ghost story about haunted people in large old houses. Of course, encompassing all of that is the old period piece styling, masking what truly underneath is probably Anderson's most one of a kind work since Punch Drunk Love, another sort of strange movie about sort of odd people that heralded something of a new beginning for Anderson as a filmmaker.

This movie may not signal the beginning of much (though hopefully a long and successful career for Krieps shall follow. She so easily affects effortless naturalism while still conjuring up so much) but it for sure is (at least being sold as) an ending. A decade ago his Daniel Day-Lewis starring ode to crazy obsession in old timey America brought Anderson by far the greatest commercial success of his career to date, the duos new venture, an ode to crazy obsession in old timey England has had its release preceded by the actor announcing his retirement. However final a finale this proves to be for him, it is a film that beginning from that sliver of a similar sounding synopsis grows into something as different as two films made by the same director and leading actor, dealing in vaguely similar thematic territory could probably be.

Where There Will Be Blood was a full blown exercise in grandiosity in every regard, Phantom Thread, set in a world of grandiosity tries to play it low key at every turn (Anderson makes the choice to leave out at least one or two scenes - such as her discovering who he is - that could have easily made for big drama) and this is no less true for it’s leading man. This is by far the smallest Day-Lewis has been on screen in at least a couple of decades, there’s no outward tics to rest on, no accent to bury himself in. At 60 years old he goes back to basics, and is no less effective for it. Like in Lincoln there is so much wrapped up in the making of this man, that he becomes something of an enigma, at once haunted, and almost petulantly child like, quietly, stubbornly consumed by his work, and afraid of his own humanity.

The central trio is rounded out with the help of Lesley Manville, skirting, stony faced around the margins in a fashion that’d make Judith Anderson proud. Seven years on from Another Year it’s great to see her back in a notable role in a notable film from a notable filmmaker, but thankfully her performance here is the total opposite of what she was doing there. All stillness, delivery clipped, each flicker of movement, or slightest inflection in the voice adding so much to her black comic masterclass (where she looks during an argument, the timing of the pauses, the pitch perfect raising of a teacup).

Anyway, it’s not perfect. I think the finale transforms a movie of greatest subtlety into something suddenly far more obvious and on the nose, the interspersing at the movies opening and closing with an interview offers more than necessary in the way of exposition, and it takes a little of the edge off. There’s ultimately maybe a little less going on here than in some of the mans recent work (not saying much if you saw Inherent Vice or The Master) but it’s the way it’s put together, it’s in the craft itself, the ingenuity of the movies production (Jonny Greenwood is scoring again, but this time his score is shockingly normal. Normal in terms of the sounds he’s utilizing, not normal in terms of quality, it adds thrust, flavour, and colour to every scene it illuminates) it’s the story of an artist consumed by and in love with his work, made by a man clearly still also very much in love with his art, embracing the past and the future in equal measure.

#phantom thread #paul thomas anderson #daniel day-lewis #vicky krieps #lesley manville #pta #jonny greenwood #2017 #reviews #film #films #movie #movies #daniel day lewis #ddl #gina mckee

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thetribalmoth · 6 years

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the Victoria in my head by Janelle Milanes

This book would be pretty good for someone who likes close to real-world teen stories. If you feel any connection or relatability to the main character it's worth the read. Now this review is coming from someone who experiences maladaptive daydreaming. The back of the book frames the main character as if she has maladaptive daydreaming herself and that's why I was drawn to reading the book. Further this book has characters that are LGBTQ+ and alternative, I myself am both these things.

Now this particular genre is one I don't read and I wouldn't have read the book if it hadn't been free. I strongly stick to fantasy, horror, supernatural and sci-fi. I did enjoy this book but I wouldn't buy it. This was me giving this genre a chance and I'm satisfied but not impressed and I've got little desire to read more. I'd recommend this book as a preteen/tween novel, around 11-14. I'd class it as being better suited to the children's (9-12) section than YA section if it wasn't for the alcohol consumption and point blank sex mentions.

A book summary is pretty straightforward as not a whole lot happens. Basically the main character (Victoria) lives a boring life where every day is the same but this makes her parents happy. She dreams of being a singer and loves to make oddly specific playlist. Eventually these dreams get a chance to be reality and on top of that she falls for the sight of two boys. She also has a best friend named Annie who is far too tight laced of a person. The book also delves into dealing with parents wants and child's wants clashing. That's pretty much all there is to the book. Frankly the book is at least 20 chapters too long for the material and there's tons of filler.

World building is bare minimum which is unsurprising since the world it's in is just the real world basically.

Characters: All the characters are simple straightforward and cookie cutter Victoria is your shy "please the parents" girl who learns to break the rules for her own happiness. Annie is your school obsessed neat freak that learns to loosen up Levi is your work before everything unattached boy who really learns nothing. Strand is your bad boy womaniser who learns to be a little less of a creep. Krina is your edgy alternative badass lesbian who gets some genuine love (honestly this is the highlight of the book). A note in Annie's character: she's framed as this supposed happy positive good influence character. But she's actually painfully depressing. Whenever she thinks she's rights she just forces people into stuff, by whatever means, it's to the point of being cruel. A note about Victoria's character: She is for a lack of better words (plus this suits the book which attempts to be "edgy" and "vulgar") a whiny bitch.

Stereotypes: (yes I had to make a section just for this because the amount of stereotypes in this book is physically painful) The Book can't even go two pages without throwing puppy dog love at you. Plus the boy is "unobtainable" and a "bad boy jackass" talk about a stereotype. On top of this there's instalove with a totally different boy. Not even two chapters after the onset of puppy dog love for Mr.bad boy. Queue stereotypical good guy geek vs womanising bad boy love triangle. And of course, it turns into quite nervous shy sheltered girl makes a loyal decent man out of the bad boy. Plus good guy geek being Nice Guytm. Heavy emotions are mentioned to be always premenstrual which is a massive incorrect stereotype that women are bloody sick and tired of hearing. The book is wholeheartedly unable to sperate romance from sexuality. Apparently not kissing somehow equals "sexually stunted" (what? O_o). Feeding into the stereotype that relationships need the sexy stuff. The Mohawked alternative girl Krina is a walking stereotype. Fake id to get into bars, drinking pigs blood, being a "sexual deviant", scary, rebelling against society, hates beauty standards etc if you're going to do an alt girl do it right instead of low key insulting any alt folks that might read the book. But at least the author had the sense to make her a left-leaning feminist. As most alt folks actually are left-leaning feminists. Making the alternative feminist a lesbian was pretty stereotypical even if alt folks have higher rates of being LGBTQ+. Thankfully this stereotype is offset by the two other LGBTQ+ girls. However queue Stereotypical cute girl prep dates stereotypical edgy alt girl. (Not sure how much I can trash this stereotype tho as cutesy pretty girl is exactly my type). However Krina being a lesbian doesn't feel like an attempt at brownie points and neither do the other LGBTQ+ character. Victoria's father was a ladies man who "knows what boys are like", hello stereotypical overprotective dad. Her parents overall are stereotypical "we know what's best for you" "your friends need to be good kids" "rock music is a bad influence". But they truly appear to care and have heart felt-ish conversations with her. As soon as the Victoria is introduced to alcohol she practically becomes a drunkard and regrets everything she does whenever drunk. Hello stereotypical demonisation of alcohol and being drunk. Lastly, There's the "cats are cold distant pricks" stereotype thrown in for good measure.

Some stuff that's simply wrong or ridiculous to reality or to me: Again with the Author chalking up emotional behaviour as "premenstrual", that's not how that works at all. Someone being emotional doesn't equal them being on or near the period. The Book can't wait even 4 chapters before shoving it that the main character is vegetarian. Which I just have a personal issue with as no minor should be intentionally having an unbalanced and less healthy diet. The author throws in a "veal is baby animal and makes you vomit" scene just to guilt trip the reader/meat eaters, it's very rude and is shitty vegan/vegetarian agenda/propaganda. Thankfully Victoria drops the whole vegetarian thing and the entire book would have been far better off without the vegetarian thing thrown in. Plus removing the vegetarian thing would have removed an awful lot of the filler. Victoria is a total mess yet is also day in day out the same. It's illogical. The character can go from freaking out to the point of near vomiting to being good to go in two sentences. Real people aren't like this. The book summary makes it sound like the main character has maladaptive daydreaming, she very obviously doesn't. Daydreaming is rarely mentioned and even then it's nothing more than a mental scene to go along to music. I'll give the author slack for this tho seeing as the author and book never directly says Victoria has maladaptive daydreaming. However when you literally describe the main character as "living inside her fantasies", further to book title is a very unapologetic nod to living side your own head; the author might as well have said maladaptive daydreaming. As mentioned earlier the book can't sperate sexual from romantic. In real life no ones relationship (especially a minors relationship) has romance and sexual behaviour so heavily tied. This will be extremely off-putting to any asexual readers or really anyone who understands romance without sex.

Some other things: The quotes at the beginning of chapters are unfitting and just don't belong. Tossing cheerios into Krina spiked Mohawk was freaking adorable. "Cutlet-related violence" is actually pretty hilarious. And I like that it becomes a running joke. The book does a decent-ish job at points for making you feel bad or relate to the main character even if every attempt is covered in tons of stereotypical stuff. The 40's chapters do a great job of making the main character totally soul crushed almost to the point of being full blown depressed. Annie and Krina are adorable together and the book sets them up for perfect chemistry. The last 10-ish chapters are actually fantastic and do a great job at surprising and satisfying the reader. The cover is somewhat creative, has an old-timey feel (which I know is popular with hipsters *sigh*) and is a nod to the book being predominately about music.

Overall the book was passable but would qualify as good if you like the specific genre. However, it is filled to the brim with stereotypes and unnecessary attempts to be "edgy". It feels like an adult trying to pass as a hip teen. The representation of LGBTQ+ teens is nice and done decently. The representation of subcultural/alternative teen is nice to see but done quite poorly. I'd say give to book a go for cheap.

#book #books #book review #the Victoria in my head #thetribalmoth speaks #thetribalmoth #gothmoth #gothmoth speaks

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trendingnewsb · 7 years

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Salma Hayek: Trump couldn’t build a wall without illegal Mexicans’

Her new film, Beatriz at Dinner, already has Oscar buzz. But on top of the acting, Salma Hayek is also saving animals, running charities and beating the hell out of a Trump piata. Johnny Davis meets Hollywoods busiest firebrand

It was after a neighbour shot her dog that Salma Hayek realised Donald Trump would become president.

I thought it was a crazy thing, that it would never happen but then something really tragic happened to me, she explains. I have a ranch in America and a neighbour of mine killed my dog. Hayek, who owns around 50 animals, including 20 chickens, five parrots, four alpacas, two fish, some cats and a hamster, says that Mozart, the tragic German Shepherd in question, had never attacked anyone. And the authorities in dealing with the neighbour, and what he did How is that legal? [Police have said the neighbour shot her dog after he found it fighting with his dogs in his garage.] Just to understand what was the normality of things. I realised in this moment, Oh my God: hes going to win.

Hayek, a Mexican immigrant to America who identifies as half-Spanish and half- Lebanese, lives in London and is married to a Frenchman who happens to be Franois-Henri Pinault, billionaire CEO of the company that owns Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, Gucci is perhaps uniquely placed to have firm views on Trump, Brexit and immigration, and well get to them.

Hayek is primarily here this morning to talk about her new movie, The Hitmans Bodyguard. We are at a press junket for the film. Elsewhere on the first floor of this smart London hotel are Samuel L Jackson, Ryan Reynolds and Gary Oldman, answering questions. Junkets can be dispiriting, and rapport can be in short supply. That is, unless youre Salma Hayek, whose personality could light up a funeral. She arrives in a riot of black and red polka dots, tottering shoes and glossy hair, 5ft 2in and somehow 50 years old, although agelessly beautiful. She plonks herself into an armchair, hoists her legs up, and proceeds to tug the small table between us towards her. Do you mind? Theyre bringing me food. I like my food.

Hasnt she had breakfast?

I did but Im still hungry, she grins.

A round of avocado on toast is spirited into the room, accompanied by a mystery shake in a plastic container. (A second round soon follows.) Famous since she was a soap star in Mexico in her 20s and with 40-plus Hollywood films to her name, Hayek has done literally thousands of interviews. What does she make of the publicity circuit?

Im good! she says. I just pretend Im having a conversation with a new friend.

Other half: Hayek and her billionaire husband Franois-Henri Pinault. Photograph: Tony Barson Archive/WireImage

Indeed, Hayek proves impossible not to like. She may be the perfect chat-show guest: various presenters have hooted along as shes shown off pictures of her Donald Trump piata, discussed her experience as a late-developing teen immersing herself in holy water and praying to Jesus for breasts, or confessing she accused Monsieur Pinault of having an affair after discovering text messages from Elena, only to discover Elena was a language-teaching app.

In fact, we have Pinault to thank for Hayeks turn in The Hitmans Bodyguard. The comedy-action caper is basically a mismatched buddy movie for Jackson and Reynolds, hitman and bodyguard respectively. Hayek is only in a few scenes, but as Jacksons imprisoned criminal wife she matches him profanity for profanity.

I think Salma steals the whole movie, says director Patrick Hughes. I challenge anyone not to fall in love with her because (a) shes a polymath and (b) she kicks ass.

I have to tell you: action is not my favouritest [sic] genre of films, Hayek says. But I married a man who really likes them. So I became an expert. So I see them all!

The image of fashions most powerful CEO spending his downtime like this is intriguing. What is his favourite action movie?

Oh, its like Sophies choice for him, I think.

What about Die Hard, I suggest.

Oh, he loves Die Hard. But we love Bourne. She claps her hands. Sometimes he doesnt even like [a film], he says: Oh my God, that was so bad! But he still has to watch the whole thing.

Its a man thing, I say.

Yes! My brother likes that one, my father likes that one and because of that, when we were doing [The Hitmans Bodyguard] I was able to say it was going to work, because it had a lot of the stuff that the good ones have.

Mexican heroine: Hayek playing Frida Kahlo in Frida with Alfred Molina as Diego Rivera.

Similarly, do actors always know when theyre making a turkey?

Oh yeah! Hayek says, crunching through her toast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know. And unfortunately Ive never been wrong!

Her CV is mixed. The first Mexican actress to break into Hollywood since Dolores del Ro in the pre-sound 20s, shes played a lesbian taco in the kids film Sausage Party and so-so roles in films such as Spy Kids 3D and Wild, Wild West. But she also earned an Oscar nomination for Frida, her 2002 portrait of Frida Kahlo, and The Hollywood Reporter has just tipped her for 2018s awards season for Beatriz At Dinner, in which she plays an immigrant who clashes with a self-made billionaire.

At first, she says, she hated being famous. This was terrifying because in Mexico when you do a soap, at this point she leaps out of her chair and heads for the door Dont worry, Im not escaping Hello? Her security guard appears with a pack of American Spirit cigarettes. My soap was seen by 60% of the country, so its every day, in their house. Do you mind? Do you want one? she says, offering the smokes. So you become very familiar, like youre their cousin or something. Ive never been so famous since. I kind of hated it.

Taking aim: Hayek in The Hitmans Bodyguard. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

If she hated the attention so much, I wonder why she headed for Hollywood. But Hayek is battling with the curtains while she attempts to heave open a sash window so that she can smoke, unlit fag in her mouth. Not relishing the idea of Hayek tumbling on to the streets below, it seems only polite to help. For a few seconds she holds back the curtains, while I struggle to wrench the window.

Oh my God, that was so easy, she says. I really did want to be an actress, not just be famous. Its a different thing. Because I was famous on a soap! That doesnt make you a great actress. So I went to America to start all over again.

This was the 90s. She played extras and enrolled in the Stella Adler Academy Of Acting in LA, alma mater to Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro. And this is how old I am, she [Adler] was still alive! She was 90 and she was still teaching and flirting with the young boys. She was a tough cookie but she was brilliant.

Hayek could barely speak the language – My English sucked worse, there werent any parts. Mexican women played maids or gangsters wives. And thats if you got lucky.

Hayek threatened legal action against one director.

I was screen-testing for the lead in a film and they said that it was not written Latin, but they wouldnt mind changing it. I learned the script but when they sent me the pages [for the audition] there was none of the things I had learned, it was another role. So my agent called them and they said, Are you crazy? Shes Mexican. We can change [the race of] the bimbo, but not the lead.

Fashionista: at Stella McCartney, spring/summer 2016, Paris fashion week. Photograph: Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images

She got her agent to call back. Would they please just give her five minutes to audition for the part shed learned?

And they said, Absolutely under no circumstances. So I said, OK, you tell them that they either see me, or Im going to sue them. And they said, Theres no point in her coming, even if she had been the best audition she would have never gotten the part but now we hate her. Does she want to come knowing that we detest her? They kept her waiting for five hours. They wondered why would she do this to herself.

Ive never said this to anyone, the name of the director, but it was Ivan Reitman. And I said, Well, I thought that the director that could see Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito as twins [1988s Twins], and Arnold Schwarzenegger giving birth to a child [1994s Junior] maybe could see a Mexican as a fashion editor. I thought I owed it to the new generation of Mexicans. That if I got this right, maybe something will shift.

Years later, she bumped into Reitman and he apologised. We had such a lovely conversation, he was so elegant, Hayek says. He said, I was wrong.

All of this pales next to the hill she climbed for Frida.

I was obsessed, Hayek says. I was endeavouring to do a film about an artist in a time when all the films about artists had failed. Already [the studios] were going, Oh no. Then Id say, Its a period piece about Mexicans! And theyre communists! Its a love story between an overweight man and a woman that limps and has a moustache!

Committed: Hayek campaigning for womens empowerment with Guccis Frida Giannini and Beyonc. Photograph: Ian Gavan/Getty

One studio did eventually take it on, Edward Norton (her partner at the time) rewrote the script for free and Hayek called in favours from co-stars including Ashley Judd, then one of Hollywoods most bankable faces. It opened in two cinemas. Its success, I suggest, must have been all the sweeter.

Yes, she says. Because [the studio] dismissed it. I didnt even have a poster!

It may not surprise you to learn that Hayek is a committed activist: her list of charitable endeavours is too long to go into here, but it includes her own foundation helping women and children in Mexico, and the feminist charity Chime For Change, founded with Beyonc. Its so massive I dont even know what to tell you. I dont just do awareness, I actually do strategy. Im on the board. It takes a lot, a lot, a lot of time.

Other projects receiving the full force of the Hayek commitment include her range of nutritional juices, and a beauty line which she created herself. She also has her own production company, which helped turn the TV show Ugly Betty based on a Colombian telenovela into a worldwide hit. I ask where this drive comes from.

Its been there since Ive been a child. A sense of justice and responsibility for the human race. How can we be better? Because a lot of people dont think that way. They think: How can I pay less tax? And so when I see things that make me think we are degrading and degenerating mentally it makes me want to do something.

She has been hugely successful. Shes married to one of the worlds richest men. (Their daughter, Valentina, attends school in London.) She could just put her feet up. Of course, its a cheap question we already know the answer.

Why would anybody want to sit around and do nothing?

Hayek says that she made it clear she would always remain financially independent from her husband, whose net worth is around $17.3bn. Which may explain money-job films like Sausage Party.

Mirror mirror: Hayek guest stars in Ugly Betty with America Ferrera. Photograph: Danny Feld/ABC

At the time I met him, I had already decided I didnt want one of those [ie a husband], she says. I had set myself up for a completely different life. I was ready to live on my ranch that is a sanctuary for abused animals. I would come to LA and work a little bit. I was not planning on spending. I had no interest in jewellery or clothes or cars. I had everything I wanted. Maybe I had a guy here or there. I also thought I couldnt have children. Then he [Pinault] came along, swept me off my feet, changed my entire universe and knocked me up.

Can she remember what they first liked about one another?

Yes. I asked him, if he had not been doing what he was doing, what would have been his dream? And he said an astronaut and that was my dream! Then we started talking about different theories of physics, which is my secret passion. And soccer! Im a huge soccer fan [she supports Arsenal]. Just random things that nobody knows I like. It was just magical.

As a global citizen at a time when the world seems to be closing in on itself, is Hayek optimistic for the future?

Very optimistic. I have to look for the positive about everything.

Hayek campaigned for Clinton. Hows it going to end for Trump?

I can promise you hes not going to build the wall. You cannot build it without the Mexicans that are illegally in the country. That is what makes the economy so strong because they are paid less than half, with no benefit. Its just not going to happen!

Hayek is banging her fist on the table.

His days are numbered! Even if he becomes a dictator and rewrites the constitution and now the presidents can stay 12 years! Still his days are numbered!

Salma Hayek: activist, actor, producer, juicer, businesswoman, friend to the animals and all-round proper laugh. You wouldnt mess.

The Hitmans Bodyguard is in cinemas on 17 August