#so its just incredibly hilarious to me that sebastians just not interested in him

[soulbornincoldandrain]

tag game shenanigans huh [rubs hands] thanks @catmanbowser its been a while since ive thought about my blorbos of days past

10 character/ 10 fandoms (this is actually very interesting because ive never rlly though abt them? i kinda just frantically slide them into their slots in my brain so)

1. sebastian debeste/ ace attorney : who would i be without my emotional support lawyer of choice. while i have my favourites from the games i think seb deb remains on top for like. one his relationship with his dad (hngh) two his relationship with himself as a person, his sense of self esteem and how it is affected by his entitlement, his lack of awareness etcertera and three god his Design rlly gets to me for some reason i love the owlish eyes the hair the baton that's really only there because he's icky abt touching gruesome evidence like. girl he's my best friend he's Me

2. danny rand/ ultimate spider-man : transed my gender when i was thirteen. saw him on d*sney xd and i was never the same. iron fist animated ver did so much for me as a person he was my coolguy surfer-vibe snarky but kind prettyboy crush

3. peppermint patty/ peanuts : honestly its not like peanuts is like a revolutionary piece of work but it gets me every single motherfucking time man. peppermint patty is kind of an asshole but i love her character and also gay gay holy shit i was a small queer kid once and so is peppermint patty (also marcy schrodinger charlie ily beloveds)

4. murtagh morgansson (and nasuada!!)/ eragon (the inheritance cycle) : the tragedy of murtagh morgansson effectively changed me as a pre teen i enjoyed the entire series so much (don't talk to me about eragon and arya hngh) but murtaghs arc as a person filled me with so much love like he loved his brother!! he was chained to his blood father!! he loves his dragon!! he made difficult choices for them both despite everything!! even his romantic interest was so well done i genuinely loved him as a character and i still do (and yet i like nasuada more i just think murtaghs character had more weight in the story)

5. frederick the great knight/ fire emblem awakening : cannot explain how much i would've played the entire game all over just to romance frederick instead of my girlboss crown prince chrom i had such a Massive Raging crush on him it's not even funny

6. jung heewon/ orv : yeah okay ideally it would be dokja because he's the sort of parasite that's latched onto my brain but god. god. i never recovered from jung heewon as a character i never will recover. she loves her friends so deeply (as does the entirety of kim dokja company if we're being honest) but god she is so powerful in her love and i think it's ridiculous how much i love her favourite ever jihye x hyunsung x me are so right in having a massive crush on her hngghghh

7. michelangelo/ teenage mutant ninja turtles : ive only ever watched the cartoon series and that was like a solid six years ago but i wanted to be him so bad it was fucking hilarious. i thought he was coolest shit since sliced cheese. mikey my belovedsest hngh i loved donny too but mikey just has a special place in my heart

8. boss/ underworld office : THIS GAME OH GOD. think the only time i ever spoke about it was with shiro but oh God oh god this game got me so good and im still rusty on the names and such but boss as a character was so incredible and im a sucker for a good powerful character who is the looker after of their friend group but also Every Single One of those characters were so good and i literally cannot recommend that game enough the art animatics and story is so good hngh (ticket system kinda frustrating but i can forgive them for it dammit)

9. hannibal/ nbc hannibal : ideally the title should go to freddie lounds and frederick chilton for being my favourite characters of the show but because i have a deep intimate relationship with hamball i guess he takes first spot. i talk abt him way too much anyways so i refuse to elaborate. the elaboration is that i also sniff people. that is all.

10. jiro horikoshi/ wind rises : idk if he counts as a fictional character but miyazakis version of him was- and i cannot stress this enough- so incredibly gender. also i was fascinated by aeronautical design and engineering and also the vintage male fashion rlly got to me man. one of my favourite ghibli movies till date

and that's ten!! that's not all of them but boy i really fucking love to talk huh (also a lot of these were difficult because all my favourite characters are my favourites in context of other characters so many of these should've involved more than one character but whatever) anyways thanks so much for the tag cymber i hope i didn't ramble too much :]

#frog words

[sunflowerdales]

wait the bisexual explanation as to why sebastian isn't romanceable to male hawke is because sebastian's just not into them is kinda hilarious actually

especially as the fanon garrett is kinda a jerk but everyone acts like hawke is irresistible yet this smoking hot bisexual priest is just not into garrett is so funny

#i dont like fanon purple male hawke ok im sorry #but also in canon hawke is kinda a jerk anyway even when youre trying to be nice #so its just incredibly hilarious to me that sebastians just not interested in him

[gunmetal-ring]

11x16 stream of consciousness

This is reminding me of jeepers creepers for some reason and idk why lol

Flashback... surprise. Aw does hershel have a stuffed pig?! That's so fuckin cute I wanna see it

Lance is not a great military commander if he's just like. Flipping coins lmao

Oh shit real Stephanie/max and Eugene did the deed! Nerds. Manbun alert.

OK so they're gonna ditch I guess. Where are they? Isn't Leah with them? I guess not?

If they're trying to sneak away in broad daylight...?

Okay so Leah is with some non armored stormtroopers?? How did Leah not see them sneaking away aren't they like RIGHT there

Hiding underground. Nice. "My wife is pregnant" Oh? Interesting that it matters to you now. #foreshadowing Annie's gonna die. Maggie is starting to trust negan... spinoff alert. Ew gross swarm of locusts.

Where is the 2nd location WHAT are they clearing can I please get some goddamn answers are they just sweeping for maggie?? Hello?! Oop there it is. The revolution. Calling bs that the stormtroopers aren't radioing for help. GABE FOR THE SNEAK ATTACK GODDAMN ok I officially like him he's proved himself to be a badass this season.

"Scholarship fund" lol and pay for textbooks with $50,000 amirite?! #cancelstudentloandebt. Oh no, the fundraiser queen is corrupt, whoda thunkit

Incredible that all these secret hiding locations are just. Popping up out of nowhere. I rly find it hilarious that oceanside has existed only to tell the commonwealth to fuck off. No hiding Maggie and team family, no food assistance, no nothing.

Sebastian, how does the old saying go? If everyone around you is an asshole, maybe it's you? Also like literally all max had to do was say "Yup working late" and not act like she's snooping how the fuck would he know any better. You can tell she's the younger sibling. Her parents gave up on being strict by the time mercer got thru to them.

?? What?? Okay sure just rig the building. Uh oh... here comes Leah. She's a better shot than that. The whole swarm of locusts thing would have been better w pope bc he was the crazy religious one. Leah didn't rly seem to give a shit one way or the other. I find it hard to believe she couldn't hit Maggie while running away but whatever ok.

What do you know the rogue assassin you hired is rogue. Lance you rly do suck as a military commander lol

Yup here it comes, the nonsensical narrative arc in which Daryl kills Leah to save Maggie. Makes all the sense in the world. Ah and apparently everyone knows who leah is. Ok time to stop being bitter. Wait oh no oh fuck is Daryl gonna kill Leah bc Leah kills Lydia?! No God pls no I'm sorry Kang I'll take everything i said back this is a great season so far its my favorite ever and the writing has been a1 I swear and I don't even care abt caryl I promise ill nevet write fic that fixes nonexistent plot holes bc nothing about this season could possibly be improved just DONT kill Lydia.

Connie's outfit is very cute I like that shirt. Lol this is magnas first scene in like a hundred episodes I forgot about her. Zeke is a badass as per usual

Wouldn't all the walkers be drawn to the explosion at the building? Not just wandering in the woods? She knocked her out and tied her to a chair and Maggie has been unconscious for like 6 hours... sure. "Everyone you love will be dead" why not hunt them down while Maggie is knocked out overnight? Why just sit there the whole time? OK maybe Maggie will kill Leah and be done with it. I'd actually be fine with that. Yup ok there it is. Great. No fuckin fanfare or anything either. Whatever at least it's over now. I'm sure we won't ever see a discussion or outpouring of feelings about it either were just supposed to accept that Daryl had no feelings and was totally neutral about killing the first woman he'd ever had a relationship with. Sure. Honestly I'd be OK if he talked to Carol about it bc that would salvage this the absolute tiniest bit but I know that won't happen.

Real talk tho how did Connie get that shit printed lol. OK Alexandria is now property of commonwealth? And hilltop? Why? Why not just kill everyone and leave? Seriously this shit is so stupid. OK at least they're rounding people up. Oh lol there's oceanside. Heads they kill them tails they're prisoners of war? What?

Surprise surprise this episode sucked, I'm rly over it. I hate that I'm actually glad this arc is over like seriously I wish I loved this show still I wish I wasn't so fuckin invested and disappointed I want to love the show that my ship is in and I hate that I'm actually glad it's ending. Ugh. UGH. I hate that I'm actually looking forward to caryl going canon bc it means the buildup is over and I know they're gonna fuck up the build up. UGH!!!!

Anyway I'm just gonna start my 10c 11a 11b rewrite now. Leave the missing moments until after the series is over. I'm gonna make a list of moments that we should have seen tho bc no fuckin way am I ever gonna rewatch this season lol.

Omg I didn't even realize that they blew up Barrington house lol. "We've been talking about luck a lot" Oh right when else did they talk about luck? Wasn't that with Carol and Daryl? With double capper acorns? With "we have luck on our side" and "our luck has run out" like it JUST fucking happened! Where are THOSE callbacks?!

Overall disappointed but not the least bit surprised. Underwhelmed once more. Truly insane just how shitty this season has been so far. Glad this block is over and looking forward to all the fix it fic coming this hiatus. Ugh.

#op #twd #twd s11 spoilers #twd season 11 #twd s11 #twd spoilers #review

[starry-sky-stuff]

Since I kept seeing all this stuff about the Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas and how those books defined the genre, I decided to give them a read. Now that I've read all four I'm going to rank them:

1) It Happened One Autumn (Book 2) - Lord Westcliffe is the classic stuffy, overly proper British aristocrat and Lillian Bowman is an American heiress who gives absolutely no shit for proper decorum. Naturally, the two start off on the wrong foot. They were both introduced in the first book (Westcliffe is best friends with Simon Hunt), and I was immediately behind their relationship. I love when couples start off with an antagonistic relationship. The reason that this book is at the top is how much I enjoyed the relationship. I found their chemistry and attraction believable, and more importantly they promoted positive character growth in each other. Westcliffe was more affected by Lillian than vice versa, but male leads often tend to have more character growth in historical romance novels thought it's always instigated by the female lead. By the end, I really bought into their relationship and could genuinely believe they're in love and would be happily married (it sounds like a low bar but unfortunately romance novels rarely make me believe that). Westcliffe's also my favourite male lead in the series. He may not be the most charismatic, that would be Sebastian, but he's just a genuinely good, upstanding guy. He's also very emotionally reserved, but totally overcome by his attraction to and love for Lillian, which I love. Lillian's also so much fun, very brash and no-nonsense but not without her own flaws. The relationship between them is very much one of equals and its clear that they respect each other but also aren't afraid to call the other on their bullshit.

2) Devil in Winter (Book 3) - Sebastian St Vincent was the villain of Book 2. And not a minor villain either, he literally kidnapped Lillian, who was also his best friend's fiancee, because he needed to marry an heiress to save himself from financial ruin. Evie needs to escape her abusive family, who are trying to force her into a marriage, and so she proposes a marriage of convenience to Sebastian. I went into to this novel thinking I would despise him because he did an objectively awful thing (and to give the author credit she doesn't deny that it was awful and Lillian does not forgive him for it). I also didn't expect to enjoy Evie as much as I did, she was a bit bland in the previous two books, overshadowed by the stronger personalities. But both of their characters really shone through. Evie had such positive character growth, learning to stand her ground and growing in confidence. Sebastian is the classic charming rake, an archetype which is a personal favourite of mine and I can definitely see how much he influenced the male leads that followed. Evie and Sebastian had great chemistry and wonderful banter, which is a must for me. Sebastian being madly in love with Evie but totally in denial about it was hilarious. Boy literally took a bullet for her and even as he's bleeding out he still claims it doesn't mean anything. The 3 month celibacy promise Evie extracts from him, however, is an under-utilised plot, imo, considering Evie throws it out the window in less than a month. But, I suppose he did get shot for her and he is fully dedicated to proving he's capable of being faithful to her.

3) Secrets of a Summer Night (Book 1) - Annabelle is very beautiful but has no dowry and her gentry family is on the verge of financial ruin. Simon Hunt is a self-made man, the son of a butcher who's risen to become incredibly wealthy. Basically, Simon's wanted Annabelle for years but she has no interest in him at first, especially after he makes it clear he wants her as his mistress, although she can't deny that she finds him super hot. Obviously, he changes his mind and after they get caught in a compromising position they marry. Annabelle's probably the weakest of the female leads for me. She does have an arc of addressing her prejudices. She starts off determined to marry a titled man and she later realises that she only really wanted that life because it was what she'd been told to want. The arc was good, I just think it could've been executed a bit better. Simon was very charming and I loved his dry humour. Also emotionally constipated and very overcome by the extent of his love for his wife. All of these books have a bit of an anti-aristocratic bent to them, but this one's perhaps the most obvious and I do enjoy that class commentary. Simon is barely tolerated by the aristocracy, and a far few of the aristocratic men reject Annabelle as a bride but are chomping at the bits to take advantage of her family's financial circumstances to make her their mistress.

4) Scandal in Spring (Book 4) - Daisy Bowman, Lillian's younger sister, has been unable to find a titled husband so her father demands she marry his protege, Matthew Swift who, it turns out, has been in love with her for years. Least problematic but also the most boring. The chemistry between the leads was lacking and I couldn't figure out a reason why they worked. I was not at all convinced that they were in love by the end. The pacing was also off. The complication came really late and was resolved very easily, and that really undercut any tension. I was expecting Daisy to be at least annoyed that Matthew proposed without confessing his secret, but she literally had no problem with it. Matthew is the blandest of the male leads, and there isn't any real reason for why Daisy starts off hating him, unlike with Westcliffe and Lillian who we saw have genuine antagonistic interactions. Also, I can't figure out why Matthew was so in love with Daisy when she barely interacted with him and actively avoided him. I just can't buy into love like that when it's partly based on a fantasy version of a person.

All of these books were quite enjoyable, although perhaps a bit dated considering they were written in the mid 2000s. The writing was really good and Kleypas created very distinctive heroes and heroines with largely distinctive plots (she does reuse the couple encountering a life-threatening situation that one saves the other from). The friendship between the four heroines was strong, well-executed, and incorporated very well into the series. I can definitely see how this series was a seminal series for the romance genre, considering how many series centred on a group of female friends followed.

I also really liked how Kleypas veered on the showing side instead of the telling side when it came to the characters emotional states, particularly regarding their past traumas. Often, romance novels feel the need to lay out the characters trauma and pinpoint its affect on their actions, such that I feel like I'm reading a psychological profile written by their therapist. Kleypas trusts her audience to make the connection. For example, Westcliffe had emotionally abusive parents who punished him for showing emotions, and he's emotionally reserved and struggles to express his emotions and just deal with them in general. The connection is never explicitly made between the two but it's obvious that his actions are affected by his past trauma.

#the wallflowers series #lisa kleypas #romance tag #historical romance #I'm a bit more forgiving of the kidnapping plot since these books came out 15 yrs ago #if it was more recent I think I would've been harsher

[sophielovesbooks]

Sophie’s Dark Academia Rec List

In honour of my favourite genre, have a very personal, very subjective recommendations list!

-        The Secret History (Donna Tartt)

The obvious choice, a classic. In my personal opinion, it’s not perfect and there are better dark academia books out there, but it has massively shaped the genre and therefore deserves recognition. Also, the aesthetic is on point! Read if you want to get a feel for the genre or if you’re simply curious.

-        If We Were Villains (M. L. Rio)

Basically a newer, better The Secret History?? Plenty of similarities, minus certain problematic bits that were present in TSH. Amazing prose, incredible characters, absolutely worth the read. A prime example of dark academia! Read if you love Shakespeare and college settings and compelling characters and drama and just beautiful writing!

-        Black Chalk (Christopher J. Yates)

Also a fairly good example of the genre, but tragically underhyped. Darker than, for example, If We Were Villains. Set at Oxford! Will mess with your head. The characters are not necessarily likeable, but interesting. The writing is fairly complex. Read for a dark academia thriller which takes the unreliable narrator to an impressive new extreme (in a good way!)

-        Truly Devious (Maureen Johnson)

A rare YA dark academia book! Read for murder and mystery and a beautiful boarding school setting as well as a really likeable main character! Due to its nature less dark and somewhat less mature than most of the other books on this list, but if you’re looking for more of a quick and fun dark academia read, this is the one for you!

In a similar vain: The Vanishing Stair (Maureen Johnson)

Cannot actually vouch for this as I haven’t read it yet, but it’s the sequel to Truly Devious and I have heard good things.

-        The Secret Place (Tana French)

MASSIVELY underappreciated dark academia with (gasp) supernatural elements?! The most beautiful prose and funniest dialogue you will ever see. Incredible characters. Again, amazing boarding school setting and close group of female friends! (They will break your heart). Also murder. Also half of the story being told from a detective’s PoV. Read if you value good literature. Just. Read it.

-        The Likeness (Tana French)

Actually, maybe I was kidding before, maybe this book is the most underappreciated dark academia book out there? Either way, it’s my favourite. Within dark academia and within ALL OF THE BOOKS. This is it. The perfect novel. Characters that own my hearts to this day. Writing so beautiful that it had me sobbing uncontrollably on several occasions. The university it is set in is Trinity College Dublin. (Cue me being bitter that I don’t go there every single day for the rest of my life.) Very intriguing mystery, too. Hilarious dialogue. All the emotions. All the heartbreak. Just… I love it so much, okay? <3

-        The Lying Game (Ruth Ware)

Good, very good. Set in a boarding school near the ocean, but unfortunately, only the past tense story line is and we don’t get to see too much of it. Very interesting characters. Much heavier on the dark than the academia. Read if you’re looking for more of a classic murder mystery/thriller and are not too focussed on the academia. Also read for an interesting group of female friends.

-        The Basic Eight (Daniel Handler)

Very promising, but wasn’t my cup of tea at all. The setting is an American High School on the West Coast. The murder isn’t that much of a mystery. I’m mentioning it here because I know that other people love this book, even though I really didn’t. I would say don’t read, but see for yourself, I suppose.

-        The Lessons (Naomi Alderman)

Yes, okay, an interesting one. Set at Oxford, which was amazing. Interesting characters with interesting dynamics. I read it quickly and was quite entertained. But there were certain problematic bits (regarding LGBTQ+ representation and mental illness), so you’ve been warned. Not my fave, but I mostly enjoyed it while reading it.

 There are a few more dark academia books on my shelves, which I unfortunately cannot include on this list, as I haven’t read them yet. One of them is “The Lake of Dead Languages” by Carol Goodman. Another is “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh. Might edit this post later to add these and more. xx

UPDATE!! (With slightly longer descriptions this time, because people are actually reading this? Reblogging even? Wow!) 

-        The Lake of Dead Languages (Carol Goodman)

THE ALL-FEMALE DARK ACADEMIA NOVEL WE ALL NEED AND DESERVE…?? The setting is A++. An all-female boarding school in the Adirondack Mountains in New York! There is a lake that features so heavily in the story, it basically counts as a main character. Told from the PoV of a teacher who used to go to the school. There are two close groups of female friends, one in the present timeline, one in the past. Both have dark, dark secrets and both fit the dark academia genre so well! Also, heavy focus on Latin rather than Ancient Greek, which I have all the love for. This one is a gem, so give it a chance!

-        Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)

An actual classic, as in… first published in 1945. And it reads like it. The beginning came with beautiful vibes! Our young boy Charles starting his time at Oxford, meeting a lot of pretentious people, including one Lord Sebastian Flyte, who Charles is suspiciously fascinated by. Sebastian is the biggest dork to ever dork, carries around with him an actual teddy bear named Aloysius, the absolute madmen?? But it’s all downhill from there, with alcoholism and war and depressing times… And Oxford only really features in the first half or less.

-        People Like Us (Dana Mele)

Another rare YA dark academia!! Features a group of Mean Girls who one day, when out at night to go swimming, find one of their classmates floating dead in the lake. Which is an excellent dark academia set-up, let’s be honest. Also, sapphic girls, incredible sapphic girls with really complex relationships! Bi main character! A fun and quick read, much like “Truly Devious”. More descriptions of the beautiful boarding school buildings would have been welcome, but at least we got a few! Anyway, go forth and enjoy this little beauty.

-        Party Girls Die in Pearls (Plum Sykes)

Umm… I barely even comprehend this book’s existence? Has a prime dark academia set-up with a murdered girl in Oxford, but I still somehow DNF’d it after about 20 pages?! The main character’s name is Ursula Flowerbutton, and if you think that’s quirky and funny… good for you, you might actually enjoy this book. But you’ll also have to endure descriptions of clothes, oh, so many descriptions of clothes! And for anything unique to Oxford that might make the book fun because only those who know will know… you’ll get a footnote. So actually, everyone will know, with zero effort. Definitely not for me, but if you want to read a glossy magazine style dark academia, knock yourself out, friend!

-        The Night Climbers (Ivo Stourton)

Breath-taking! A piece of beauty! Set at Cambridge (and the campus features heavily!), a main character reminiscent of Richard Papen, an intriguing group of new friends that he would do anything to belong with. Including… climbing the buildings of Cambridge at night? Without proper equipment, just with his hands and feet?? Honestly, out of the books on this list, this one is the closest in style and maturity and characterisation to The Secret History! The writing is absolutely gorgeous, the plot fascinating. And it’s dark academia that features a non-violent crime, which works surprisingly well. All in all: A STUNNER THAT FANS OF THE SECRET HISTORY SHOULD CHECK OUT!!

-        As I Descended (Robyn Talley)

A queer, sapphic Macbeth retelling?? Also a rare YA dark academia with strong supernatural elements?! The representation is on point, with two hispanic main characters, wlw, mlm and one of the girls in the main couple being disabled! The boarding school setting is also on point (and uniquely different as the school building is actually a former plantation in Virginia). This book is so different and so spooky! It wasn’t perfect and some say the retelling didn’t work 100% (I, personally, felt that the plot slowed down a bit), but the atmosphere is amazing and the characters are pretty cool, too!

Not to worry, my quest to find and read as many DA books as possible isn’t over. So this list might be updates again some time in the future! :)

#dark academia #recommendations #rec list #personal rec list #favourite genre #booklr #the secret history #tsh #readalikes #if we were villains #black chalk #truly devious #the vanishing stair #the secret place #the likeness #the lying game #the basic eight #the lessons #the lake of dead languages #brideshead revisited #people like us #party girls die in pearls #the night climbers #as i descended

[nad-zeta]

Match up! (✪‿✪)ノ

Hi i was wondering if you could do a ikevamp mashup for me! I’m very antisocial and I love to work hard. It takes me a long time to get used to people and when I do I get cautious when they learn my religion, pegan/Wiccan. I love studying different cultures and religions. I love to learn self defense and I really want to learn horseback riding. I’m also very shortish but I surround myself with tall people. And I always have and open ear, mind, and arms for anyone! I hope I’m not asking for too much I’ll understand!

Hi hi, love! ❤🌻Thanks so much for the request! I am so sorry for taking soooooo long!😱🙈 You are most definitely not asking for too much dear!🌻❤ I legit love doing these match ups so thanks again for the request! 😆I hope you enjoy this and I hope you have a super good day! @acethephoenix256 ❤🌻

Hehe, so I was between Napoleon and Jean for me, and after spending a long time thinking about it I finally decided on……

So I match you with………………….. Jean

The first time you arrive at the mansion it is actually Napoleon who, takes you under his brotherly wing and befriends you. He sees how antisocial you are and as designated ‘get introverts and tsundere out of their shell person’ Napoleon enlists himself as your very own mansion big brother.

Your hard-working nature earned you the respect and trust of all those in the mansion. Sabastian was ecstatic that he finally had some help around the mansion, and honestly, he couldn’t ask for a better person to aid him in the daily runnings of the household. You were a quick learner, and you did your work with speed, accuracy and perfection. Sabastian TBH has never met someone as hard-working and diligent as you. After some time, you and the butler also befriend each other; however, your secret about your religion remained just that a secret. You really liked both Sabastian and Napoleon but you were still wary of them, you were always cautious when people learned your religion, so you best thought to keep it a secret for the time being. 

There however was one person in particular that you couldn’t help but feel drawn to and that was Jean. The two of you have been curiously watching each other since you arrived. Of course Napoleon took notice of your interest in each other and decided to give the two of you a little push. Napoleon had heard from Sabastian that one of your goals in life was to learn how to ride a horse. And it just so happened that the two of the best riders in the mansion was Napoleon and Jean. During one of your conversations with the former emperor, he offered to teach you how to ride, and offer which you excitingly accepted.

You waited at the stables for Napoleon to show up and give you your lesson. It had been 10 minutes already and still no Napoleon, so you started to wander around the stables while you waited. As you wandered around aimlessly, a large black horse caught your attention, the horse seemed to be on edge. You carefully approached the black beauty and very meekly held out your hand, reaching out as not to startle the already panicked horse. You remembered watching a show on TV once that spoke about the best way to approach a startled animal. You remember the main tip was to approach them slowly without making any sudden movements or eye contact, so you did just that. The black horse sniffed your hand before pushing her nose into the palm of your hand, an action which seemed to have calmed her down a bit. You then brought your other hand to gently stroke the horses face. 

Jean stood at the stable’s entrance in complete awe. The black horse was quite a temperamental creature and usually, wouldn’t let anyone besides himself to even get close to it. The poor horse was heavily abused and had a great mistrust of humans. Jean had stumbled upon the poor creature during one of his walks, and his heart broke to see such a beautiful creature being treated so poorly. He had rescued the animal and brought it to the mansion; however, he had been the only one permitted to touch him, well, that is until now.  

“Mademoiselle, you must be a truly wonderful person for Midnight to allow you to touch her.” You retracted your hand from the horse feeling slightly startled. Jean, then went on to explain that Napoleon had conveniently forgotten that he had promised his students that he would teach them reading that afternoon and ask him to teach you to ride a horse in his absence. You gave a small nod and smile, you low key did want to get to know this mysterious man better, and if he was willing to teach you to ride a horse, you were more than happy. 

Jean was an incredibly patient kind man and took his time going over all the basics, from explaining the function of every strap and stirrups, to saddling and mounting the horse. By the end of the lesson you could successfully saddle up a horse, you gave Jean a small smile and thanked him for giving you such an informative lesson. 

At your next lesson the exact same thing happened, and then the next and then the next. Napoleon every afternoon without fail would conveniently forget an errand that he had to run, and pass the job as teacher onto his friend Jean. You actually through these lessons started becoming more and more used to Jean, and soon you were comfortable enough to start opening up a bit more to the man. 

By this time, he had taught you all the basics, and you were finally ready to put your lessons to use and go on your first out ride. To say you were nervous would be an understatement, but with the help of Jean’s reassurance and encouragement, the two of you set off on an adventure. The two of you trotted through the countryside and then decided to take a break near a river. You freed the horses and let them graze on the lushes green grass, as you sat beneath a great big willow tree. Jean joined you under the shade of the tree and handed you some lunch, that Sebastian had packed for the two of you. As the two of you ate your lunch Jean couldn't help but want to get to know you slightly better.

He had noticed that you were very much into nature and the cycles of the moon, so he decided to ask you about it. Your guard had gone up instantly, you really liked Jean and the last thing you wanted was for him to judge you for your beliefs. As if sensing your defence, he then proceeded to change the subject slightly by telling you about his culture and religion, in hopes to get you to relax around him once more. You stared up at him bright-eyed, relaxing again slightly as you loved learning about different cultures and religions. It was especially fascinating to hear about Jeans experiences being from so far back in the past. 

You listened to Jean low key pour his heart out about his past and what had led him to the decision of becoming a vampire. He also told you how he now feels like a monster, a sinner, someone who is impure and undeserving of love. As he told you the tale of his life everything started falling into place and you had realized the reason as to why he never seemed to want to get too close to you. He thought that someone as impure as him belonged in the darkness and shadows away from someone as pure, innocent and beautiful as you. 

Your heart truly went out to him, especially when you saw the pain and regret swirling around in his eye, and that is when you decided to confide in him. You had told him of your religion/beliefs, that you were a pagan and that most people feared you, or judged you immensely once you revealed this piece of information to them. Jean simply sat and listen to you, he too had lost many a friend over the topic of religion. He surprised you when he curiously asked you all about your religion and its practices. He honestly found it so interesting and fascinating and hung onto your every word. The two of you spent the whole afternoon in deep conversation about religion of all topic.

By the time the two of you had arrived back at the mansion the sun had long ago dipped beneath the horizon. Sebastian and Comte were pacing around the entrance thinking the worst. Just before they decided to send a search party to find the two of you, you walked through the door. They took one look at yours and Jean’s faces and couldn’t even be mad at the two of you arriving home so late, and making them worry. As they had just witnessed something they had never really seen before in all their years, and that would be Jean genuinely smiling.

The two of you had since started spending a lot more time with each other. Jean had discovered that you also wanted to learn self-defence, so he decided to teach you some moves. He took you to the training hall where he taught you everything from fending off unwanted advances, to disarming potential attackers. You honestly had so much fun during your lessons with Jean. You had soon come to realize that under his mysterious persona laid a hilariously funny goofball. He at times would honestly make the punniest jokes, all while wearing the most beautiful smile. He would of course make these jokes just to be able to see your radiant smile light up the room. Jean also really enjoyed finally having another person to spar with other than his dear friend Napoleon, when his mind would feel crowded with negative thoughts.

You loved that Jean was a bit of a romantic and that he always seemed to remember even the smallest details you would reveal to him. He knew you loved nature so he would take you on little dates outside, like a walk in the forest, playing with his little tiger cub or simply stargazing. One night as the two of you was gazing up at the night sky, Jean turned to you and confessed his feelings for you. You too had long ago fallen in love with Jean, so you practically tackled him to the ground in a tight hug when he said that he loved you.

Jean, honestly loved everything about you from your open mind to your kind sweet, caring nature, helping anyone in need and never turning a hurt soul away. He will be forever thankful to you for helping him heal from some of his past traumas. You were the one who saved him from the darkness of his own mind and accepted him for who he was.

Jean absolutely loves to hold and cuddle you, showering you with endless amounts of affection. He is not big on PDA so if the two of you cuties are out on a walk or at a banquet he will opt to gently hold your hand in his or only give you a small kiss on the cheek as a display of his affection. Jean loves to give you small kisses on the tip of your nose, and you can’t help but chuckle slightly at the blush that would spread across his face whenever he would do this in public. 

He loves going horse riding with you and exploring new places. Often the two of you would go out horse riding together and then rest nestled together under the shade of a tree. All while sharing a romantic picnic 

The two of you cuties have also taken over a small section of the garden and have started gardening together. Jean found that spending time in nature and gardening has a way of calming his mind. After he shared his love for gardening with you, you low key fell in love with it as well. When the two of you are together, its always a good time, whether it’s playing in the garden, while planting herbs or laughing at Jeans terrible flower puns you can’t help but wear a bright, radiant smile around the soft boi

Because both of you share a love in learning about different cultures and religions, it is not uncommon for the two of you to visit the library or bookshop during your dates. The two of you would sit and read together for hours and hours and once you are done, you would go to the nearest café to discuss your new-found knowledge over a cup of tea.

Jean truly sends up a prayer of thanks everyday for having met such a wonderful amazing person

Other potential matches................ Napoleon 

I hope you enjoyed this love! And i hope you have a super good day! 🌻

#ikevamp jean #ikemen vampire jean #jean d'arc #matchups #match ups #ikevamp match up #ikevamp matchup #jean matchup #submission

[sebastianshaw]

Fic idea where its a swap and Shaw had a demon in his (titts) chest and Haven is the partner of Emma for the hellfire club. Bonus points if Haven has Shaw's mutation?

(Ok so firstly this is a wild concept and I LOVE IT! I’m sorry this took AGES to do because honestly this is so cool? But Bill happened, and, y’know...anyway! Also please take note this would be 80s villain Emma so she’s a bit more evil/heartless than you might be used to.) Radha Dastoor was a bit of a mystery to her White Queen counterpart, and it was in ways the latter’s telepathy could not help her with. For instance, she truly was not involved in the Inner Circle for her own gain. And though she had achieved the title of Black Queen, she did not wear it half so proudly as she did her nickname from those children she spoke of from years ago---Haven. And how had she even become Black Queen anyway?! She wasn’t ruthless or cutthroat or cruel, she did not politic or power-monger or manipulate. She just got here because it seemed everyone liked her just that much. How in the world did that work?! No one in the Hellfire Club liked ANYONE else! And no woman ever got anywhere by being likeable! ”And tell me again why I should care about this, darling?” ”Sebastian Shaw is an American industrialist on a scale rivaling a modern Rockefeller or Forbes--” ”Yes, I’ve heard of him, his wife drags him here sometimes.” ”---but we have evidence of his companies turning to most...uncharacteristic activities for him.” Haven spread out papers from a folder beneath her elegant gold-ringed fingers, ”Funding terrorist groups of all kinds, with no apparent commonality to their causes, only to the degree of chaos and violence they commit. Orchestrating civil unrest and environmental disasters across multiple countries. The death toll has hit the millions.” ”Again, explain to me the part where this concerns me enough to offer my aid.” Haven was trying to appeal to her morality, which Emma found hilarious. Would this poor dear never learn? It seemed she would, for she sighed and gave Emma a good answer at last, “Because the holdings of the Hellfire Club are taking a beating as well, Emma.” ”Then we either kill him, or find a way to profit from this.” Really, what was Haven expecting her to say? This was so tiresome.  And knowing Haven, she’d hate either option. Not that it would stop Emma from doing it. She’d probably do both! ”And, Emma---it’s not just his money doing this.” Emma arched an eyebrow, and Haven continued, “He’s manifested...incredible powers. Powers beyond...description. The reports suggest teleportation, reality warping, just...wiping people out. Into nothingness. Rewriting them from existence.” ”A mutant.” ”Perhaps. He’s in his 40s and I have it on good authority he never showed such abilities before.” ”Good authority?” ”His wife. Lourdes. She’s a mutant herself, and she---she brought this to my attention. She is terrified, Emma. Terrified of her husband. Of what he is doing. Of...who he is now. She says he is not himself.” ”Darling, none of us are who we pretend to be UNTIL we get the power to show it without risk,” Emma smirked. So many people, she knew as a fact, seemed good only because they did not have the POWER to afford to be what the world considered evil. This Sebastian was likely not a different man at all, but only showing who he had truly been all along beneath the surface. But Haven was right, this late-age manifestation was unusual, and perhaps he was not a mutant---but if he was this powerful, as Emma now perused with interest from the sheets, then he should be harnessed as any other asset. ”Very well,” she acquiesced primly, crossing one boot-clad ankle, “When can we leave?” ”Right now,” Haven replied, “Lourdes is a teleporter.” ***

The security was child’s play. Emma simply turned off the minds of the human ones-- “You didn’t KILL them did you Emma?” “No, darling, sadly that might prompt a police investigation and then it gets to be such an irritation wiping EVERYONE’S mind who knows about it”--- and as for the mechanical ones, well... ”Not that I ever understand you, Haven, but your mercy towards machines is truly ridiculous,” Emma commented, hanging back as Haven tore through the massive mech guards with her bare hands as though they were paper...paper that she was really very careful with, all things considered. Haven, too, was a mutant, but her powers, unlike Emma’s own, were physical. The other woman could absorb the physical force of any blow, and not only be unharmed by it, but channel it into strength. In other words, the harder she was hit, the more powerful she became. A most ironic power for a pacifist. And a pacifist she was. She never used these powers for anything worse than a gentle restraint on others when she could have crushed their bones into gelatin. And she ALMOST did the same with these machines, taking them out yet in the way that would cause the least damage. ”It’s reflex, really,” Haven admitted as she tossed a robot the size and weight of a car aside from her, “I logically KNOW they’re not alive, of course, and cannot feel pain, but my body just...automatically halts itself from doing all I could.” ”It’s called muscle memory, dear,” Emma side-stepped a bit of gravel that had been projected her way when the ‘bot crashed into the pavement of Shaw Industries’s now very battered private parking garage. She didn’t want dust on her shoes! ”You’re so used to reining yourself in you do it, as you say, automatically. Even with automatons!” ”Why, Emma, that’s quite a clever wordplay!” ”Also automatic, darling.” Once the droids were all dispatched, they continued, until they reached Shaw’s office and found him---not there. ”The roof,” said Emma, “I scanned for his mind, and he...I think he’s one the roof but Haven...” For the first time Haven had ever seen, Emma Grace Frost looked afraid. ”Haven, there is something else there in him. And it isn’t human.” *** He was one of the biggest men that Haven had ever seen. Photos had not done him justice, particularly since those photos had been taken of him while in the confines of a restraining business suit that disguised his massive physical. Now he stood before them in the middle of the roof, missing the top half of said suit, hirsute chest bared. But more remarkable than how a 40-something man stayed in a shape akin to an Olympic powerlifter, was that even from a distance, his eyes were solid black, like oil filling his sockets. And the fact that he was levitating before them as golden energy crackled in the air around him, the sky dark above, a strange vast symbol beneath his feet. ”Hello Dastoor, Frost” he said calmly, “I felt you poking around in here...he told me. So there’s really no point in lying, I suppose. A relief, really---I was getting tired of keeping things under wraps.” ”Under wraps? You’ve been making a bloody mess of the entire planet!” Emma said, but Haven heard the shakiness under her typical posh indignance. Haven didn’t blame her. The very air around them was...wrong. There was an ENERGY in it, a presence, something horrible that seemed to crawl under her skin and nest in her cells like a toxic infection of the soul. Every breath felt like an anathema against nature, every hair on her body seemed to simultaneously be standing up and trying to invert at the same time, her skin wanted to do the same, her stomach wanted to void itself--- ”I’m making the ideal world, you understand,” Shaw said, still very calmly, ”All of this destruction, it has a purpose---to give man something to rise above. The strong will prosper from it, the weak eliminated by it or crushed under the heel of the worthy. The world has become too soft, too gentle, and the parasites have flourished, feasting on the work of the deserving, miring the great in mediocrity. You and your kind, Emma, Haven, you understand that, do you not? The Hellfire Club has sought power, control, has always used its influence to push things as it pleases...and our goals are not dissimilar. He has told me of your powers, and I make you this offer: Be my angels, my acolytes, and you may live.” ”No!” both women erupted, but for different reasons. Haven because the idea was repulsive to her, immoral, evil. Emma because she had seen what was steering Shaw, what was only TELLING him that this man-made apocalypse would create his ideal world as it pushed him forward towards its own agenda...and what that agenda REALLY was. ”Shaw, you are being used!” Emma shouted, afraid to go back in his head again, ”It is NOT remaking the world for YOU, you are merely--” Emma vanished. As though she had never existed. Haven looked at where she had been, then back at Shaw, just before she too disappeared. ”No!” Lourdes emerged from her hiding place in the shadows, “Sebastian, what did you do?!” ”Lourdes?” Sebastian blinked his obsidian eyes. Up close, one could see they were not EXACTLY solid black---they were dotted with stars. And right now, flaming suns supernovaed within their centers. ”Lourdes, I had to, these women came here to--” ”Sebastian, I brought them here to save you!” she wailed, “Can’t you see you’ve gone mad?!” Shaw blinked down at her. And after a moment, he said, ”No.” But Lourdes sensed he was not speaking to her. ”No, I won’t. Not her. Let her go. She can do no harm.” ”Sebastian, what...who are you talking to?” Lourdes eyes widened. He really HAD gone mad. ”Lourdes,” he raised his hand, outstretched to her, ”Those women...they don’t exist anymore. Because I decided they did not. And I could decide the same of you, but---” I can’t ”---I shall let you live as a punishment instead. You will live with the knowledge you brought DEATH to these women who COULD have lived in the world I created---where YOU could have lived with me. Go--” Go, get away, save yourself “---and rue this day the rest of your miserable, wasted existence in the great plan to come.” “Sebastian--” Lourdes began to plead, tears welling in her dark eyes as she looked up at what had once been her husband. “Go!” he roared, and Lourdes vanished, not erased but teleported far away, not by her own power, but by his.

And Sebastian Shaw looked out at to the world he---W̴͈̔̌̏̄̅̃͆̂̌͗E̶̢͍̻͂́́̑̋̌̉̊͊̽͌̿͝ͅͅ

̸̢̡͈͇̯̪͖̬̳̼̬̈͆́̈́̍̆̎ ---would conquer-----D̸̖͎̜̣̱̈́̿͐̎̈͂͌̈́̈̕͜͝ͅE̴͕̥̣̖̋̽̈̉̈́͒̊̚S̷̳̦͉͚̲̭̱̤͌̃̈̈͋̑͑̈́̈̎̀̕T̶̳̹̆̆̈̈̃̐̍͋̈́̈́͒̀͘R̷̡͔͓̝̞̳͉̟̱̤͌̎̈̆̓̒͜O̷̢̢͇̥̯̻̝̠̦̫̲̝͕̣̒͊͋͂̋̽͂̏̂̄̆̉́̈́̑Y̸͓̓̂̉̽̈́̓̂̍̈̈́̇̽̕͝--and reshape in his---M̸̛̳͖͐̓̍̽̔̎̍̈́̈́̏̿͠Ÿ̷͖̰͎̯́̐̈̚--image

#fic #writing

[merinathropp]

Tanz der Vampire - Vienna 2018: Detailed Breakdown

Guys, this was such an amazing experience, I have a real mixed bag of opinions (both good and bad) and a lot of emotions. I feel so lucky to have seen this production. Now, to get all my thoughts down on paper! 

First night - from middle stalls front row Second night - from middle stalls seventh row

Graf von Krolock - Drew Sarich (second night) Graf von Krolock - Florian Fetterle (first night) Alfred - Raphael Gross Professor - Sebastian Brandmeir  Sarah - Diana Schnier Herbert - Charles Kreische Magda - Anja Backus 

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THE GOOD STUFF

ALFRED - Hello yes first off I would like to marry thank Mr. Raphael Gross for his powerful, heartfelt portrayal of one of my all-time favourite characters. He was everything I could ever want in an Alfred: sweet and devoted, full of energy and expression, and completely freaking adorable. He scurried around the stage like a frightened hedgehog, but I mean that in the best way possible. He was a ray of (very anxious) sunshine, you couldn’t help but love him and want him to win against all the odds. 

- Für Sarah was An Experience, in the best way possible. Raphi’s Alfred started off very soft and uncertain, sort of pep-talking himself into summoning up the courage to keep going, but as the song went on, he seemed to sort of...grow and strengthen in front of your eyes? Like he was channelling all his love for Sarah into fighting against his fears, and by the end of the song, he had defeated them completely. He was practically punching the air and thrusting the bag all over the place with passion and determination. It was sweet and stunning and perfect, and the audience rightfully cheered at the end :’)

- Loved this detail: when the Professor was demonstrating to Rebecca how he was going to stage Chagal, Raphi turned his head away and cringed and closed his eyes for the actual moment of staking. Such good foreshadowing, setting up how frightened Alfred is by the whole staking process, so early on!

- When the Professor gestured in Ein Guter Tag for a bowl of gruel, he leapt up and charged around the bed at such a speed, he completely forgot where he was going :’) because he headed straight for the Professor’s clothes instead of the trolley! He had to skid on his heel and go charging back to fetch a bowl of gruel instead. It was the most Alfred-y thing to do (being in such a desperate hurry to please the Professor, he forgets what the Professor actually asked him to do) - I loved it.

- When the Professor is chiding him for stepping on the creaky floorboard at the end of Act 1 (even though it’s actually the Professor himself), Raphi’s Alfred stood there with this expression of half-bewilderment, half-hurt on his face, kind of like: “But Professor I’m not...doing anything...” and it was both hilarious and sad all at the same time. Then when Alfred himself passed the creaky floorboard, he walked very carefully to make sure it didn’t creak again, which is the most Alfred-y thing and I loved it. 

- Okay, this made me laugh so much at the time, even though I always feel so bad for Alfred: when the Professor does his “Hast du ihn provoziert oder was?!” line and tries to investigate his trousers, Raphi’s Alfred went into a complete panic and struck this ridiculous wobbly pose where he tried to turn his legs in and cross his knees, he looked completely silly and like he was about to fall over at any moment :) poor Alfred, it’s just the icing on the cake in that scene...

- The bite was 10x more traumatic than it needed to be, because inbetween the usual screams of pain, Raphi’s Alfred cried out Sarah’s name, and that pretty much broke me. I don’t know whether he was begging her to stop or just crying out in horror, but either way, it was gut-wrenching. 

- He undid four of his shirt buttons in the bathroom scene??? revealing a lot of bare chest to the audience??? I think this is the most scandalous thing I’ve ever seen an Alfred do??? (not exactly complaining, it was just...unexpected)

- Raphi lost his red coat somewhere over the course of his dance with Herbert and it was the greatest thing I have ever witnessed in a rendition of Wenn Liebe. Literally, it was hanging off his shoulder, and he couldn’t pull it back up because of the mirror-reflection. This + drenched in sweat + his hair looking like he’d come through a hedge backwards = I felt bad for laughing, but it was hilarious and adorable in equal amounts, just the icing on the cake in that scene.

KROLOCK (DREW SARICH) - I was not prepared.

- Seriously, nothing could have prepared me.

- Nothing, I tell you.

- Don’t get me wrong, I’d seen this guy on YouTube before and always thought he was a perfectly decent Krolock. But seeing him live...oh boy, seeing him live was an experience I will never forget. I finally understand all the hype for Drewlock and it is so. freaking. justified. I’m now going to fangirl for a couple of paragraphs and probably say 19023 things that all his fangirls have been analysing for decades, but what can I say? I’m a shiny new fan!

- I think the best way to describe Drew’s performance is hypnotic, charismatic and animalistic. There was something so intimate about his portrayal, you hung on every single word he spoke. Each line was given purpose and meaning, every gesture controlled and planned, every tiny inflection mattered. He was magnetic to watch, sending this incredible hush over the audience whenever he spoke or sang. When he was onstage, it was like the entire world and all the other characters revolved around him, and each time he left the stage, I found myself wishing (for the first time) that there was more Krolock in the show. 

- He glided around with this incredible predatory grace. His hands were constantly moving and arching and flexing, like a cat with its claws. He’d snarl, hiss, bare his teeth, twitch his lips, lick his fangs etc. in a way that somehow always came off incredibly chilling, never silly or pantomimic. During his numbers, I kept noticing my heart literally pounding in my chest, or having to to lean back in my seat and let out my breath in a gush because I’d been holding it...ridiculous, but true, and completely awesome.

- His personality for Krolock was full of charisma, pathos, wit, genuine menace, and humour. Proper humour, that was what surprised me the most, e.g. his sarcasm with the Professor and mocking reaction to Alfred’s candlestick charge both made me laugh out loud. 

- His dynamic with Alfred was...full-on seduction? Vor Dem Schloss was surprisingly intense! I’m not a Krolfred shipper, but I can see where the inspiration comes from now, and understand why this ship has climbed in popularity recently. Drew’s Krolock approached Alfred and moved his fingers in front of his face, like he was casting a spell, and Raphi went all dopey and wide-eyed, like he’d slipped into a trance (much more interesting than Alfred looking mildly scared and awkward through the whole scene). Then during the ‘Ich lehr dich, was es heißt zu lieben’ line, when Alfred was gazing sleepily out into the audience, he tucked a finger under Alfred’s chin, guided it around and upwards to look at him, then begin to draw them together (literally, I thought a kiss was coming and was ready to throw a riot) - before breaking off at the last second and sweeping away. I was like: “This. This right here, is when the ship was born. I’m holding you personally responsible, Mr. Sarich.” 

- In fairness though, I like that Drew’s Krolock kept his interest in Alfred consistent throughout the show and made a proper ‘arc’ of it: during the He Ho Reprise, when speaking directly to Alfred (who had hunched in on himself and turned away, like he was hiding), he reached out a hand over the battlements and beckoned with one finger, and Raphi’s Alfred slowly looked up to meet his gaze, and started to shuffle towards him across the stage, like he was falling back into a trance again. Tom’s Alfred did something similar when I saw him in Hamburg, but this was much more obvious and a nice throwback to Act 1. 

PROFESSOR - This guy was perfect. Hilarious, frustrating, easy to love, fond of Alfred. Ticked all the boxes and an amazing voice to boot. What a great performance. 

- Once Alfred had helped him undress in Eine Schoner Tochter, he reached out and held his hand to Alfred’s cheek and gave him this proud grandfather smile like “Thank you my boy, another good day’s work done :)))” and I cried a lot on the inside...these two will be the death of me I swear...

- During the He Ho Reprise, he brandished his umbrella threateningly at Krolock, and then when Krolock spoke directly to Alfred, he encouraged Alfred to take his umbrella instead, so he could brandish it at the Evil Vampire Overlord too and presumably protect himself more effectively :’) 

HERBERT - Why, oh why is no one talking about Charles?! This guy is sheer perfection as Herbert! Hands down one of my all-time favourites. He reminded me strongly of Kirill Gordeev from the Russian production, but with his own personal flair. Very much a graceful, charming, vain, ‘spoiled princeling’ Herbert with the perfect amount of underlying menace. He felt very fresh, and there were so many little details to his performance that stood out. Best of all, he never played for laughs or threw Alfred around like a sack of potatoes to get an audience reaction.

- On the line: “Was macht dich so blass? Bist du krank?” he said the last part as if it were a dry witty joke, and then giggled and swept his hand like “I’m so funny!” and it made Alfred’s nonplussed reaction twice as hilarious :)

- When the minuet began in Tanzaal, he swept off his cloak and tossed it over Koukol like he was a hatstand, it was priceless. And 110% Herbert. Somebody write that into the official blocking for this character, please. 

- Throughout Carpe Noctem, he was very much embodying the ‘MC’ role and pulling all the strings. Lots of elegant gestures to pull dancers on and offstage, that kind of thing. At the end of the song, he focussed his attention completely on Alfred, watching him sleep with this :) expression whilst all the other dancers exited the stage. Then he clambered off the bed, and started to exit the stage...before pausing, and turning back to look at Alfred again (kind of like a kid sneaking a last glance at something special, it was unexpectedly sweet?) with this little smile on his face like “Awww look at my human! :3” and finally slinking offstage after that. Definitely stealing that for a fanfic someday...

KENTAUR SETS & COSTUMES - Are stunning and beautiful. ‘Nuff said. The vampire outfits in particular are exquisitely detailed and lovely to watch, all that sweeping velvet and heavy embroidery. The rotating set in Act 2 is also super neat! I think the projections are best seen from middle of the stalls, rather than front row though.

ORCHESTRA - Sounds like a dream, y’all were right, it’s a thousand times better than the German touring version. Full and luscious and gorgeous. Loved it so much.

THE BAD STUFF

SARAH - Oh boy, time to brace myself for the hate mail. I really, really didn’t like Diana’s Sarah. I found her belt shouty and downright painful at times, and her acting choices very confusing and inconsistent. I don’t want to turn this into an unnecessarily negative post, so I will just say: she’s clearly a wonderful talented young person, I just personally didn’t like her performance for Sarah at all. 

KROLOCK (FLORIAN FETTERLE) - Again, didn’t care for this guy’s performance. Very sedate, bored-by-his-eternal-life Krolock that came off...downright dull, for me. I felt as though he had no stage presence. He didn’t seem to want to give Krolock any real menace or personality in general, though I understand that this might be part of his take on the character as a vampire with ‘deadened’ emotions. Full respect to the guy as a performer, I just personally really, really wasn’t a fan of his Krolock. 

DANCING - Went wrong in multiple places, both times I saw it, which absolutely broke my heart. The cast I saw in Hamburg were flawless, not a foot out of place, but this was a whole different story. During Red Boots Ballet, Sarah didn’t even hit her splits on both performances I saw, and Krolock’s dance-double let one of her legs drop on that amazing ‘spinning’ lift at the end, which must have thrown him off balance, he was staggering around all over the place. Carpe Noctem was equally messy, with some really nice moments and some really “huh?” moments as well. White Vampire/Sarah seemed to lose their marks halfway through and face the bed instead of the audience, several moves felt like they were being ‘marked’ rather than fully danced, or left unfinished in aid of keeping up with the music. I spoke to two other fans who warned me that the Vienna dancing could be sloppy sometimes, but I genuinely didn’t think it would be this noticeable. I know we’re spoiled with all the Moscow/St. Petersburg bootlegs of insanely polished Russian dancers, but still...

BLOCKING ETC. - During my first performance, it seemed as though bits of blocking were being lost or accidentally messed up, e.g. when the Professor pushes his bag off the table using Chagal’s body and Alfred has to catch it...well, the bag was positioned wrong, so Alfred just picked up the bag and the joke was lost. The ensemble also managed to get out of time with the orchestra during Vor Dem Schloss, which was funny at first and then just frustrating. I’m going to put this down to the heat of the day, because it was pretty stuffy in the theatre and maybe the cast were just finding it hard to concentrate...?

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I’ve now seen Tanz four times in total, and continue to love this show more every day. Time to start saving for a trip to Russia, that’s the production next on my bucket list! Unless someone attempts a heavily, heavily revised Broadway revival before then...I mean, a girl can dream, right? :)

#tanz der vampire #dance of the vampires #tanzblr #bal vampirov #musicals #merina rambles #save

[mearnsblog]

“Pocahontas” (1995)

I have a bit of a funny relationship with "Pocahontas." Unlike all previous Disney movies, I definitely remember when this came out, and it was a big deal. Disney had produced hit after hit after hit, and there wasn't much to indicate that they'd be slowing down. Even after its somewhat disappointing critical reception, "Pocahontas" was still super popular. My kindergarten actually put on a mini-production of it at the end of the year*, and subsequently, the movie soundtrack my mom bought became one of the most frequently-played CDs in my room growing up.

*I played Kocoum. No, they didn't have me die in it, though in hindsight, that'd be hilarious. "Guess what, kids? Andrew's going to die in this scene!" Instead, they just had me arrest John Smith to get him into captivity or something like that. Not as interesting.

All that nostalgia aside though, one thing is evident: the story of Pocahontas should probably have not been made into a Disney film. Perusing the history of Disney canon, "Pocahontas" is pretty much the only one to be based on a real person. Given the colonists' shoddy history with Pocahontas and the Powhatan, this seems ill-advised and would likely not be attempted nowadays.

The Powhatan and Pocahontas herself suffered poor fates, and while it's nice that Disney portrayed them as having been thrown into an awful situation by the English invaders, to make a cutesy movie with all that lingering as the elephant in the room is honestly in poor taste. In one sense, it's throwing an emoji on the overall story of a tragedy, especially since we don't know if the positive climax in this situation -- Pocahontas saving John Smith -- even happened. There are so many wonderful Native American stories out there that they could've turned into a Disney film and represented their people in a much better fashion.**

**Pocahontas being the first non-white Disney princess is not nothing, and should be acknowledged. There's no doubt that Disney has struggled with representation over the years, and including someone like Pocahontas in their many branding efforts is important.

But, well, that's the '90s for you. What's done is done. So with all that being acknowledged as a caveat, is the fictional story any good?

Eh. A major weaknesses of "Pocahontas" is that it's relying too much on its leads (one of whom is voiced by human garbage Mel Gibson), and neither is that compelling. Think about the other great Disney movies of this period. They all had tremendous side characters who could not only carry some of the emotion of the movie, but also add to the story. I did like the "Looney Tunes"-esque comedy of Meeko, Percy, and Flit, but they don't measure up to the members of the household in "Beauty and the Beast" or the supporting cast of "Lion King." The same goes for the human side characters, who are at a bit of drag in comparison to, say, Sebastian and even the Sultan. They're fine, just not stand-outs.

Ratcliffe does check the boxes of an evil villain having a smashing time being a bastard, and you can tell that David Ogden Stiers (the former voice of Cogsworth) loves doing the back-and-forth dialogue between Ratcliffe and his butler all on his own. "Mine, Mine, Mine" is musically mediocre, but also pure lol. Once again, while he's not as good a villain as others of this period, he's at least on par with the similarly named (and animated) Ratigan from "Great Mouse Detective."

Despite my love of the soundtrack when I was little, I'd only grade it about a B. "Just Around the Riverbend" is a good, fast-paced hopeful ballad, and "Colors of the Wind" is a decent enough lead hit, even if the lyrics don't make much sense after the beginning. I also like its audio-only placement at the very end of the movie. Between that and the "Virginia Company" opening, the team did an excellent job of setting some stakes and going all-out with a grand finale. (So much of the movie's problem is its middle; the decision to not have Pocahontas go off to England with John was actually quite daring for the time, and I respect it.)

The rest of the songs aren't that good, and the less said about the heavy-handed "Savages," the better. The implication that the Powhatan were getting as bad as the settlers is... not great.

It's possible that the string of incredible Disney movies in a row has taken the shine off of "Pocahontas" in a way that I might not have noticed had it been thrown in the middle of a more mediocre stretch. However, I think I'm rating it correctly. Despite strong moments here and there, its entire premise is flawed, and it just leaves a lot to be desired.

Meeko forever though.

Best song: “Just Around the Riverbend”

Updated ranking

1. “Beauty and the Beast” (review) 2. “The Lion King” (review) 3. “The Little Mermaid” (review) 4. “Cinderella” (review) 5. “Sleeping Beauty” (review) 6. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (review) 7. “Aladdin” (review) 8. “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” (review) 9. “The Jungle Book” (review) 10. “The Great Mouse Detective” (review) 11. “Fantasia” (review) 12. “The Rescuers Down Under” (review) 13. “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” (review) 14. “Alice in Wonderland” (review) 15. “Lady and the Tramp” (review) 16. “Pinocchio” (review) 17. “Robin Hood” (review) 18. “Oliver & Company” (review) 19. “Pocahontas” 20. “The Rescuers” (review) 21. “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” (review) 22. “Bambi” (review) 23. “The Aristocats” (review) 24. “Dumbo” (review) 25. “Peter Pan” (review) 26. “Fun and Fancy Free” (review) 27. “The Fox and the Hound” (review) 28. “The Sword in the Stone” (review) 29. “The Three Caballeros” (review) 30. “Make Mine Music” (review) 31. “The Black Cauldron” (review) 32. “Saludos Amigos” (review) 33. “Melody Time” (review)

#disney

[thelondonfilmschool]

INTERVIEW with Newcastle-based and one-of-a-kind filmmaker: Benjamin Bee

Writer/Director Benjamin Bee graduated from London Film School in 2015 and moved back to his home town of Newcastle Upon Tyne, where he’s continued to hone the unique brand of personal- tragi-comedy which has seen his films screened at some of the world’s biggest film festivals and attracted the likes of Mike Leigh to his Crowdfunding videos. Ben turns his own life story into art, and it’s not hard to see why – within minutes of meeting him I’d been told an anecdote involving an axe, a crazed lunatic and a carton of banana milkshake. Below is the publishable version of Ben’s take on the North-South divide, his time at LFS and what it is that makes his ‘bonkers’ stories so universal.

S.M: Can you tell me a bit about your life before applying to London Film School?

B.B: I left school in Newcastle when I was 14 without any qualifications, and then I went to an access to college course. They did photography and had an old, broken VHS video camera, and with the people that I met there we started making comedy, stupid little films. They were unscripted, and weirdly I used that to get into the University of Westminster to do Contemporary Media Practice. That was in 2002, and then at the end of that course I made a short film called The Plastic Toy Dinosaur, which was produced by Rob Watson who’s an NFTS producing grad who’s doing really well now. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, I wrote it when I was 21 and I directed it when I was 22. I moved back to Newcastle and started working in a bar, but I hated it and I was miserable and the only thing I realised I had was this short film. I didn’t know about anything, I didn’t even know Cannes or Sundance existed. 

So, I just started entering it in places that I found and one of them was the BBC3 New Filmmaker of the Year Award. There were tons of submissions and they selected it down to the last ten. It was actually a really good year – Alice Lowe had written and starred in one of them, and Sean Conway had a film as well, he writes for Ray Donavan now. It was nice because people started to screen the film and it seemed like they liked it and it resonated with audiences, but I still had no idea what I was doing and I was incredibly naïve. I mean, seriously dyslexic and had the reading and writing age of an 8-year-old. Not going to school probably didn’t help. So, I was kind of lost. I started working a theatre box office and I worked, like, 60 hours a week and tried to save money. And then I saw a Skillset bursary advertised. I’d always looked at LFS but I couldn’t afford the fees, but eventually after I’d saved some money from my job I applied and I got the bursary.

S.M: What did applying for that involve?

B.B: It’s based on previous work and it’s means tested so you basically have to be poor and talented, or at least fake them into believing that you have some form of talent (laughs). I think I had something to say, coming from a slightly different background, and all my stories are weirdly personal. You go in front of a panel and when I got called back I literally cried like a small child. And then I went to LFS! It was interesting and difficult and there were people from so many different walks of life. I learnt the craft of filmmaking – I tried to eat up everything. 

The most important thing for me was the people – you’re surrounded by people who are really passionate about film. It’s two years surrounded by people who’ll put a lot of effort in, and I met a lot of people who had a lot of fun making films that I’m really proud of. I did a film called Step Right Up when I was there, which was my Term 4 exercise. We had 36 minutes of film stock to make a nine-minute film and it was screened at 40 film festivals. We got long-listed for the BAFTA, which means we were down to the last 10 or 15, which had never been done before by a fourth term film. It was huge.

S.M: What do you think it was about that film that made it so successful?

B.B: I make comedies and they’re personal. I’ve never really struggled with getting films into festivals because I don’t try to make arduous bulls**t. It’s personal, and also I’m not the most masculine man but I know lots of masculine men who do have feelings, and everybody has a shared experience of feelings and pain so there’s nothing that makes even the most masculine, awful guy not sensitive. A lot of my films are about paternal bonds or absent father figures, because my dad left and he was an utter c***. So, I’ve got a lot of things like that, that kind of resonate. 

My new one’s about something that genuinely happened, which was when my dad left when I was five and my mum decided to take me and my brother out of school and take us to Metroland, which is a theme park in Newcastle. My brother went on the dodgems but I was too little, so I had to go on the merry-go-round. It was amazing, and I was on a big white horse going round and round. Every time I’d come round I’d see my mum just stood there in floods and floods of tears, and then I’d go past her, and I could see my brother having the best time ever. That’s an analogy for my relationships with my siblings! I think if you say things that are deeply personal then they’re always going to do much better than things that aren’t you. When I started in term one and term two, I started trying to make stuff to look more “intelligent”, and then I realised that it wasn’t making me at all happy. So, by term four I made something ridiculous and by graduation I made a film called Sebastian which was a horror comedy which was also a bit nuts.

S.M: Was it always your plan to go back to Newcastle after graduation?

B.B: The day I handed my grad film in I went for a meeting to direct a pilot taster for Baby Cow, Steve Coogan and Henry Normal’s company. I got that, and I brought Yiannis (Manolopoulos, fellow LFS student and cinematographer) in, it was written by a friend of mine, Dan Mersh, who was also in Step Right Up, Plastic Toy Dinosaur, Sebastian and Mordechai. And that was really good because I got to meet Henry Normal, who was the managing director of the company. He’d written the Royle Family, Mrs Merton, he’d produced some of my fave TV shows, including the Mighty Boosh … He loved it. but Channel 4 didn’t pick it up. Then I moved back to Newcastle, in 2015, and broke my ankle running for a train! I was in a cast for over a year. 

Then I applied to the Jewish Film Fund for my film Mordechai, I’m not actually Jewish but the film’s subject is. It’s doing really well, it’s got into Palm Springs, BFI London Film Festival, and various others. It’s about these identical twins, one of which has left the community and one of whom has stayed at home. There’s an ultra-orthodox community in Gateshead and it’s quite insular and interesting. So, I developed a story about, what if one of them had left and then had to come home for a reason? The dad dies and the other brother comes home and he has to go and pick him up. They’ve got very different life choices – one brother’s dressed in black and the other turns up wearing tie-dyed hippy shit. He’s still Jewish but in his own way. Mordechai is really happy and charming and Daniel, who stayed at home, is a bit more down-trodden and miserable. Then Mordechai drops dead and Daniel makes the decision to body swap and becomes Mordechai and goes to his own funeral. It comes out the end quite positive but it’s also quite emotional!

S.M: You work a lot with producer Maria Caruana Galizia – is she someone you met through LFS?

B.B: No, she’s from Malta. She moved to Newcastle after living in Scotland for a while (I think), and there’s very few producers here. I met her at a networking event – she liked something I’d made, I liked something she’d made and we just decided to try and apply for stuff. She’s fu***ng awesome, super talented and incredibly hardworking. Also, she puts up with me…

S.M: Do you find that being based up in Newcastle has its pros and cons?

B.B: It really does. The benefits are that you can shoot anywhere for dead cheap but crewing’s impossible because every good member of crew’s doing Vera or The Dumping Ground. There’s swings and roundabouts. It’s beautiful, and has a better quality of life but there is definitely a massive divide. All the work’s in London, all the agents are there.

S.M: Do you manage to make a living out of the work you’re doing at the moment?

B.B: I’m a very cheap human being. It’s difficult when you start out because a lot of the stuff that you’re doing, like the shorts, aren’t going to make any money unless you start winning prize money. I’m at the stage now where it’s a little bit easier because I can apply for funding for development from the BFI etc. That’s what I’m applying for at the moment. I’m doing a project with Henry Normal, a documentary on him and his poetry. I’m also just finishing Metroland and I’m really, really happy with it, but I’ve got no idea how it’s going to go down ‘cause it’s a bit mental.

S.M: How did you get Mike Leigh to appear in the crowdfunding promo?

B.B: He pops up in it, and basically the whole joke is that the film’s kind of like Weekend at Bernie’s, but imagine Weekend at Bernie’s if it was directed by Mike Leigh. You see the door open and it’s Mike Leigh going “Ben, can you stop phoning and emailing me and if you give me another copy of Weekend at Bernie’s …” (laughs). 

I sent him an email going, “Hi Mike! Creative England are insisting that I do Crowdfunding and I really don’t wanna do it, so instead of making a video in which everybody’s positive, I want to make a video where everybody’s really negative about the experience.” He said yes without questioning it for a second… When I shot the video with Mike it was me, Yiannis and Eoin Maher, who did Filmmaking at LFS as well, and Mike who was just really hilarious. It was a lot of fun. Mike’s always been incredibly kind and supportive. He’s got a really good sense of humour. It’s the thing I love about his work to be honest.

S.M: Have you found it cathartic making such personal work based on your own life?

B.B: Unless you’re very good at what you do, this is just my advice, you can hide everything but what you do has to at some point be personal and resonate. Deconstruct any movie ever, like every movie Wes Anderson ever made is basically about his father walking out on his family, even though you don’t always realise it. It’s all about masculinity. It’s that thing that all your faults are your strongest features. I definitely find it therapeutic and I definitely think you deal with stuff. Spielberg says that it’s the only job where you get paid for therapy. I think that’s a great quote because it’s true in a way. Especially if you can’t afford therapy!

S.M: What do you think was the most important thing that LFS taught you?

B.B: The main revelation was that, whenever anybody goes into anything, doesn’t matter if it’s school, college or university, everybody comes in with a competitive nature that they’re going to be the best. Being competitive with yourself and wanting to make the best work is amazing, that’s the best way to be. But anybody else, whether they’re a director or whatever, should be your friends and your peer group, people that will help you. You basically have a support network with other filmmakers. That was really helpful, because it felt like you had a cheerleading squad and you could also do it for other people and you’d be really grateful. And that’s the industry – you’re not really in competition because nobody’s going to make the same film as you. You learn that very quickly at LFS because there’s people making such different work and you can really appreciate it. Then those people can come and work and collaborate on something you’re making, and you make something different and everybody learns from each other. Definitely the international vibe really helps as well. I was one of very few Brits and that was really nice, because obviously in Newcastle it’s mostly just people from there. In my term I had Yiannis from Greece, Pauline who was French, Rodrigo who was Mexican, Habib who’s American … it was really nice. I enjoyed it. Everybody’s great! Working with happy, positive people who feel comfortable in a nice environment is what makes the best work. And I think that’s what comes from having so many passionate people at LFS. It was a life-changing opportunity.

#mike leigh #filmmaking #weekendatbernies #filmstudies #wes anderson #creativeskillset #lfsorguk #gateshead #newcastle #steve coogan #babycow #metroland #sundance #rob watson #sean conway #dyslexia #london #bfi #jewish film fund

[adzpower]

Lord of Shadows Review - SPOILERS

Lord of Shadows. FUCK THIS BOOK.

That’s what I said out loud to myself as I finished the final page. What a ride.

What an incredible journey from start to finish. Cassandra Clare is one of those rare creators who just gets better and better with each release. Her writing is top class and it frightens me to think about where she will be in five or six books time.

The basic story of the book is follows. Annabel Blackthorn is bought back to life by Malcolm Fade, who didn’t die in Lady Midnight like we thought, he sacrifices Arthur (RIP) to do this and so he nobly died in place of his family, good for you Arthur.

Annabel has the black book which the Seelie Queen wants for some “unknown” reason, she tasks Julian with getting it for her, and she promises him that she knows a way to break the Parabatai bond so he and Emma can be together. Julian then has to arrange the players into place, have Kieran testify that the Unseelie King is plotting against the Nephilim, and that the Queen has agreed to help them if she gets the book and the Cold Peace is broken. Seems straightforward enough right? Wrong.

Enter my now most hated fictional character of all time, as I like to call her, Zara FUCKING Dearborn, that bitch. She is a racist, big-headed, lying bigot and I can’t wait for her to die.

Zara as well as a group of others make up the Centurions, an elite force of Shadowhunters who study at the academy, they’re supposed to be the best and most skilled for their age, unfortunately, Zara is a big fat liar and makes up all the stories of her heroics, she’s basically a female Gilderoy Lockhart, she gets her Centurion minions to back her up on all her claims. And together with her cronies and her father they make up a group called The Cohort, basically the Nazi’s of the Nephilim world, who want to see a return to Downworlders being treated like crap, and branded with signs, and put on a register, so at this point Zara and her father are like Hitler and Voldemort teaming up together (shivers).

To escape the threat of Malcolm the Blackthorns portal to London (yay), and stay in the institute there, until the very end when they must go to Idris and present Annabel and Kieran to give evidence against Zara and the Unseelie King.

That’s when things turn to shit.

The Cohort arrive and start heckling Annabel, she is given the Mortal Sword so they know she is telling the truth when she reveals Zara is a big phoney. Annabel then goes nuts and kills some people, which I will discuss more later.

Throughout all of this we have Emma and Jules trying to not feel anything for each other, Emma pretends to date Mark so Julian will stop loving her, of course this fails and they end up seeking help from Magnus Bane and the Inquisitor.

We see some older characters appear, Clary confides in Emma that she is having dreams of herself dying, and that she turned down a proposal from Jace because she thinks it will be harder for him if they are married when she dies. Hmm. Her and Jace then go on a secret mission to the Faerie world, we’re not sure what that mission is yet, but I have a pretty good guess.

Now to talk about the individual characters.

Emma, I feel doesn’t get a whole lot of progression in this book, aka she’s still an awesome badass, she manages to kill one of the seven warrior Faeries (I forget what they’re called) which is said to be near impossible, though I feel that has more to do with Cortana than it does Emma, but we will see.

Julian, this guy scares me, he is the perfect liar, I think Kit mentions that Jules would be great as a con-artist, he perfectly slots puzzle pieces into place, he’s a genius, I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him, he’d do anything for his family and for Emma, I will be very interested to see how his arc continues in the next book after what happens at the end of this one.

Mark, sweet, sweet Mark, he pretended to date Emma just so he could curl up on her floor and talk and not feel so alone, someone hug this guy! I feel like him, Kieran and Cristina are headed for a throuple situation, they all seem to gel so well, and I still love how he speaks to people, its hilarious.

Cristina, still a  great character, very caring, and I’d love to see more of her with Jamie and their long friendship with the Fae.

The Twins, Ty is my favorite character in this trilogy HANDS DOWN, he is written SO well, Cassandra has definitely done her research on Autism, I used to know a boy at school who also had it and he acted almost the exact same way, the sensations, the music, its scarily accurate. Livvy, my heart broke, I thought we were headed into a Harry, Ron and Hermione type friendship, sweet, fierce Livvy, rest in peace up in heaven with your parents and uncle.

Dru, this is who I actually thought was going to die, she seemed to be getting neglected right up until she meets Jamie, who is keeping the Seelie Queen’s secret child well….a secret, for reasons unknown, clearly Sebastian is the boy’s father, I won’t go into detail about my big theory surrounding the queen, the boy, Sebastian and Clary’s death as I’ve already made a post about my theories regarding that, but if Cassandra pulls this off, there will be some very upset fans.

I won’t really talk about Tavvy, he doesn’t do much except play with Alec and Magnus’ kids and throw tantrums, he’s seven, I forgive him for that.

Kit goes through so much growth in this book, he is so likeable, he’s our “way in”, the normal one who we can relate to because he grew up in the human world, believing himself to be a mundane. The Herondale is strong in this one, sarcastic, handsome, and grows very close with the twins, he’s going to become Ty’s rock now Livvy is gone, I still can’t work out if they’re going to become lovers (the gay is strong in the Blackthorn family) or just Parabatai.

Diana, “No way” I said out loud when her origin was revealed, she used to be a man, I certainly didn’t see that coming, what a revelation! I really felt for her when she poured her heart out to Gwyn (who is actually a big softie), that’s been her big secret this whole time, I’m sure that bitch Zara will find out and reveal all at some point but Diana is strong, she’ll get through it.

 I’d like to point out how seamless it is that the situation Malcolm and Annabel faced with the clave, is almost the same situation as the one Julian and Emma are facing, a forbidden love ruled as wrong by the law. Interesting the parallels we can draw from this. I almost feel like sometimes I’m reading about Incest, because the Parabatai relationship seems to be like siblings, strong, reliable and unconditional, it almost feels wrong reading about it, but its not like Cassandra Clare hasn’t touched on this subject before.

Also, Robert Lightwood was the other big death of the book, Annabel kills him as well as Livvy, she could have just dropped the sword and called it a day, but nope, she has to go bananas, thanks for breaking my heart Annabel, you bitch.

  My predictions for the next book. Julian will go batshit crazy on a quest for vengeance, and Emma will be the only one who will help him through that.

Mark, Kieran and Cristina will grow closer and we will learn even more about Cristina’s close ties to the Faerie world.

The Queen will get the book, kill Clary and resurrect Sebastian using her blood. I know his body was burnt but I think there will be a twist, she’ll create a new body or use the child to host his soul.  I detailed this theory more in a previous post, so check out the full details if you’re interested.

I’m pretty sure this ending will lead into a new trilogy, one where we get points of view from all the present characters, the Blackthorns/Carstairs clan as well as the Herondale/Lightwood clan.

Also I think Simon and Isabelle will appear, as they’re really the only two from the original series not to appear in the Dark Artifices yet.

 Stunning book, such a shame we have to wait until 2019 to see what happens next!

5/5.

#lord of shadows #emma carstairs #julian blackthorn #clary fairchild #jace herondale #tiberius blackthorn #livia blackthorn #drusilla blackthorn #cristina rosales #mark blackthorn #alex lightwood #magnus bane #sebastian morgenstern #the dark artifices #the mortal instruments #shadowhunters #lady midnight #review #book

[antthonystark]

Hi! You're my fav sh blog, so just wanted to say thanks and good job haha. Anything in particular from the books that you would like to see on the show? I would like Max's death, the 'hail and farewell my brother' battle between Sebastian/Jace/Isabelle and also Jace's death (Alec's reaction anyone?). Also when the gang went to hell and met Magnus' father could be interesting. But it depends on the showrunners, because they might take season 3 in a completely diff direction than the last 3 books.

oh thanks so much, that’s incredibly sweet! 

the family trip to the hell dimension is probably my favourite part of all six books. there were a lot of good moments for all the characters involved, it was engaging without being too melodramatic (like i think the books can get) and actually quite funny and touching at times. i feel like it contains some of the only true interesting character moments for alec throughout the books, which i appreciated. i mean the whole “this is in me in pieces”, the whole beautiful parabatai bonding moment, tipsy!alec, and of course the lead up to the amazing “i don’t want the world, i want you” moment is all alec gold and i know the show would just dial it all up to 11 and deliver on it in unexpected but amazing ways. and the moment between asmodeus and magnus - like i know the show would adapt that SO WELL and it’s such a good!!!!!!! magnus moment and honestly im really curious as to how they’re going to deal with that - are they going to do the simon copout? will they solve the magnus/malec immortality problem through this? i dont know but i hope they do it tbh

 but i agree with you in that it’s all up in the air, because so far they have adapted very little exactly as it was from the books. but shot-for-shot adaptation isn’t really what i want, i think they’ve succeeded in sort of bottling up that essence of the books and repackaging it in their own (usually better, imo) way so hopefully that does remain from this part of the book, because i actually quite enjoyed it. 

i like a lot of the stuff from the end of city of glass - the hall of accords malec scene has already been given its due in 1x12 i think, but a lite version of that would be very appreciated lol, but i’m really excited to see how they depict alliance rune fighting, since i think it’s SUCH a fascinating concept and id like to see it with all the downworlder characters, but it didn’t get shown too much in the book because of the whole thing with jace and sebastian and valentine and clary and the angel and stuff. but also yeah, i feel like the show would do jace’s “death” in a really good way too, and i really hope they involve alec more in it just because…..like, come on. they have to. that was an oversight on the part of the book, it has to be. 

and speaking of sebastian, i’m excited to see how they sort of create him as a villain. some of the demon blood mythology from the books are pretty dubious, but there are some really interestingly awful moments, and some moments that are just plain awful lol, between jace and sebastian and clary and sebastian, so i hope they trim out some of the iffier things and max out his potential as a villain, because if they do that he could be pretty awesome.

one of the smaller things from the earlier books i really liked was the introduction of the fearless rune, and they can’t really do it in the same way with alec since the trajectory of his story is quite different, but i feel like whatever they do with it and whomever they do it with, it has the potential to be both cool and sorta hilarious, so i’m into that. 

book five for me suffered a bit from two towers syndrome, i.e. there was one more interesting storyline (team good) happening simultaneously with a less interesting one (team evil, imo), which is why it’s not my favourite. but i really like some of the team good moments in it, esp the little road trip up to luke’s farm with alec izzy simon and magnus. idk i just thought it was a cute moment and it would be a nice change of scenery for the show lol i’m just thinking of the giffing potential tbh (i cant remember what book the ‘st magnus’ home for wayward shadowhunters’ was but honestly i love that scene too lol i think it was cols?) 

aaaaaaand also the whole simon/daylighter/mark of cain/raziel arc was really interesting and im excited to see what they do with that. 

finally this is an unpopular opinion but im hella looking forward to max’s death and funeral, and  i really don’t think that’s something they should shy away from (or at least if they do, they should replace it with something with equal weight to the characters esp. the lightwoods to give them more of a motivation in the second half of the series).  since there was a bit of a time skip and the lightwoods aren’t really main characters in the books, you didn’t get to see a lot of the emotional fallout on the page, and you have to know how much i love the lightwoods, so being able to see the effect of max’s death (and could you imagine the funeral scene? i deadass teared up just thinking about the prospect of it) on the remaining characters is a really exciting (im sorry) prospect for me. like, can you even imagine the angst tho…..im sorry it would be so good

and my ideal series finale for the show would have been the lucelyn wedding but they had to go and………………ruin that……………………forever………………so fuck man someone should get married lmao i nominate malec since they’re the next oldest relationship lol (or maybe luke gets another love interest? i’d be there for that too tbh luke needs to be happy.) 

i feel like there are more but honestly literally everything you said is exactly what i would want them to take from the books lol we think alike. 

#my thoughts #book spoilers #the books have a lot of potential but some of the execution is ..... not good #so i dont want exact adaptations of any of this necessarily #but i want the essence of all of this to be repurposed the way they show does it #i just like the way the show approaches things better #i read the books after the show so the show is like my default i guess no hate tho #tmi #shadowhunters #anonymous #mavra answers #text post

[maudelebowski29]

Marvel Confessions

@backpackfullofplums tagged me in this and I’m bored at work, so what the hell?

1. I’ve never seen any of the Marvel TV shows. I’ll get around to them, I promise. 

2. I’ve never seen any of the X-Men prequels. Another thing I’ll get around to. I think The Last Stand and Wolverine:Origins pissed me off so much that I just kind of lost interest. Also, I’ve always thought Bryan Singer was a mediocre director at best and the only one out of the original trilogy that holds up is X2 because of its fantastic screenplay.

3. I don’t hate Age Of Ultron. Is it a lesser film than the first Avengers? Is the Brucetasha shit really awkward? Yes and Yes. But it has too many good moments to ignore - Captain America throwing a motorcycle into a tank, the introduction of Vision, the “walk it off” line, the scene between Vision and Ultron, etc. I’m probably one of the very few people who likes the fact that they gave Clint a family too. And it has my favorite MCU Stan Lee cameo - “Excelsior!”

4. I consider Iron Man 3 to be the best of the Iron Man films and I absolutely love the twist involving the Mandarin. There’s no way you could have done that character in a 21st century context without it being awkward and racist so the fact they made him an actor was unexpected, brilliant, and hilarious. Plus I’m a sucker for Shane Black’s writing and directing. I really like that dude.

5. I saw Civil War in the theater 3 times. That was the first time I’ve ever done that with a film. I loved it so much. My favorite movie of 2016, easily. I like how confident, self-assured, and nuanced it was. I like how you can be sympathetic to both Rogers and Stark and understand where both of them are coming from. I like how the Russos can juggle so many characters and not make any of them feel underutilized. I like the fact that you can have a movie where you get the big, splashy airport scene (one of the best action sequences ever put to celluloid) AND the emotional final battle that makes me cry like a fucking baby every time I watch it. 

6. I was a bigger DC fan when I was a kid. Mainly Batman. I still maintain that Batman: The Animated Series and the Burton and Nolan films are classics. But Marvel Studios just does their films better and it’s been that way for a while (Green Lantern, Man Of Steel, Dawn Of Justice, and Suicide Squad are all atrocious, IMO, and I really hope they don’t fuck up Wonder Woman, who was the only good thing about BvS). 

7. I ship the shit out of Vision and Wanda. I think they’re just adorbs together. 

8. The Incredible Hulk is probably my least favorite MCU film and I think it’s the one time they miscast someone. Don’t get me wrong - Edward Norton is a fantastic actor, but I never bought him as Bruce Banner. Luckily that problem corrected itself. 

9. I’m a late bloomer in the Bucky Barnes/Sebastian Stan fandom. I always liked that character in the movies,  but I didn’t fall in love with him until Civil War (particularly the second time I watched it). I had the realization “I want to love and protect him more than anyone else in this movie!” and now here we are. The motorcycle stunt didn’t hurt either. Damn, that was hot. 

10. I’m sure this makes me problematic as fuck, but I loved Doctor Strange. So much that I saw it twice. The Tilda Swinton/Ancient One thing is awkward and I totally understand why Asian people were pissed off. But overall, I really dug it. It’s one of the most visually arresting films I’ve ever seen, Benedict Cumberbatch has a gift for playing assholes that you later find yourself rooting for, and the hero beats the villain with brains instead of brawn. 

[choirbattlerp]

QUINN FABRAY • Troubletones • 21 • Junior • Journalism Major

BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN…

Quinn Fabray was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her father was a well respected lawyer and her mother was a top socialite. Quinn was given any and everything she could’ve asked for growing up but it came with a price. She had to uphold a perfect image which wasn’t easy to do considering Quinn wasn’t as perfect looking as she liked to have been. Quinn or Lucy which is her Christian name wasn’t an ugly child but she sure wasn’t the beauty queen everyone was expecting when it came to the child of Judy and Russel Fabray. Still, Quinn did her best to keep up a perfect image. She got amazing grades in school and was part of several clubs but it still wasn’t enough. All the other kids around her with successful parents were better looking than her.

In seventh grade Lucy took up gymnastics and cheer and it started to give her the body she wanted. The summer before ninth grade her dad got a new job offer and they had to move to a new state. Before the move Lucy begged her parents to call her by her middle name and also begged for a nose job. They both gave in, giving their daughter what she desired, and soon Quinn Fabray was born.

Going to a new state would’ve been terrifying for most kids. Being unsure of the area and if they’d make new friends or not but not for Quinn. For her this was an opportunity to be someone new. She was finally beautiful and she was going to make the most of it. She soon joined her high schools cheerleading team and formed a new club called the Celibacy Club. Quinn was the perfect Christian girl and it made her parents proud of her but the pressure to be perfect became even worse. Quinn always had to outdo herself to stay on top. On top of the social ladder and on top in her parents minds. Quinn soon became the youngest head cheerleader in her schools history by gaining the title her sophomore year of high school. A title she held onto and used to help lead her team to National wins every year of her high school career. Quinn won Homecoming Queen every year as well as Prom Queen her junior and senior year of high school. She even dated the Quarterback who was her high school sweetheart.

When it came time to applying for colleges Quinn only applies to the best of the best. Yale, Harvard, and Densmore. Her parents had no idea she applies to Densmore at first. It wasn’t an awful school but it definitely wasn’t as prestigious or perfect as Yale and Harvard. To no surprise Quinn was accepted into all three schools. Her ACT/SAT scores were near perfect and her GPA was a solid 4.2, landing her Valedictorian when she graduated. But the pressure of being perfect weighed heavily on the blonde. It was hard being her and she was scared if she continued on to a school like Yale or Harvard she would burn out before her life could even begin.

Keeping two of the three acceptance letters from her parents she told her first lie to them. She admitted to applying to Densmore as a back up just in case, but she lied when she told them that was the only school to accept her. Her father offered to pull strings at the other schools but Quinn insisted Densmore was fine and she wanted to get into the college the right and honest way. Her parents were still happy she was accepted somewhere and happily agreed to pay for her tuition.

Quinn told them she was going to follow into her fathers footsteps and study law but that was another lie. Quinn took a journalism class as an elective in high school and she fell in love with the idea of being a journalist ever since. She went off the Densmore her freshman year and wasn’t too fond of her first year roommate but she made due with her situation. She mostly stayed to herself and focused on school work. One day Quinn overheard students talking about the New Directions and Quinn thought the idea was hilarious and couldn’t be real. She sat in on a rehearsal once and was instantly captivated. Quinn had no idea show choir existed and she had no idea she’d fall in love with that, too.

Quinn soon auditioned for the show choir and got in. She spent the next two years balancing school, her new job as a cocktail waitress, and show choir. She loved every moment though and then she met Finn Hudson. It was like being back in high school again. He was cute and definitely gave her butterflies. Soon after making the first move they were an item. Quinn felt like the queen bee she once was yet again. Their whole team admired them and every time they sang a duet it was like heaven. But this bliss only lasted for so long. As time went on Quinn noticed Finn looking at Rachel just a little too long, and he started to sing just a few more duets with her than Quinn. Every time Quinn would confront him he’d deny it but she knew better.

Quinn tried to save the relationship. She even went past her morals and offered to go all the way with him but that didn’t seem to work either. Quinn was back to being high school Quinn. Wanting, no, needing everything to be perfect. She had to be perfect and Finn was perfect for her image. Sadly, it didn’t work out and Finn’s obvious heart eyes towards Rachel was getting to be too much. Quinn broke things off with Finn and not even two seconds after dumping him, she quit the New Directions and joined the Troubletones. Quinn claims to be much happier with this show choir and she admits it is more fun to be a part of. Though Quinn mostly did it as revenge to add salt to the wound. If Finn couldn’t be upset over their break up Quinn was going to give him something to be upset about.

Quinn has no intentions of returning to the New Directions and is working hard to ensure another Nationals win for the Troubletones. Quinn will do anything to get revenge on Finn and Rachel, but most importantly, she’ll do anything to be perfect again.

CARRY ME HOME TONIGHT...

* @queenfabray: I’ll never understand why people feel the need to share every little detail on social media. Save some of your life for yourself. * @queenfabray: As much as I hate to say it I’m ready for Pumpkin Spiced Lattes to make their return. They make studying a bit easier for some reason. * @queenfabray: A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you’re fast asleep.

CONNECTIONS

➤ FINN HUDSON: Quinn and Finn used to date until a couple months ago. They were the big couple on campus, mostly because Quinn said so, until just recently. While they did appreciate each other in some ways, the chemistry just wasn’t there and Finn did, admittedly, seem to pay much more attention to Rachel than he did to his own girlfriend. So, Quinn dumped him and consequently quit the New Directions. She has since joined the Troubletones, partly as a sort of revenge for the way she was made to feel and partly because somewhere within her, she did enjoy show choir. Their breakup is still fresh and so things range from awkward to incredibly tense, but the physical separation of different choirs does help.

➤ RACHEL BERRY: To put it simply, Rachel infuriates Quinn. It had been obvious to her how much Rachel had been interested in Finn and Quinn wasn’t a fan of losing her boyfriend or his attention to some random girl from show choir. Ever since their breakup, this tension has only worsened, especially with Quinn having joined the Troubletones. Admittedly, she’d like nothing more than to continue to beat New Directions (and Rachel) at every competition and get some revenge.

➤ SEBASTIAN SMYTHE: Due to a similar family background and upbringing, Quinn and Sebastian quickly found plenty of similarities to base at least a casual friendship on. Popular and well-situated seeks its kind, it seems. After Quinn’s break-up with Finn, it was Sebastian who convinced her to join the Troubletones. After all, Quinn does have a pretty voice and, on top of that, stealing members away from their competitors is one of his favorite past-time activities.

#f #* #troubletones #t