#the actor is great and all but why the fuck would cast someone so old

[far-beyond-saving]

I know everyone wants a Solitaire movie (and so do I) but I honestly think they'd fuck it up beyond anyone's imagination.

#heartstopper already make me... cringe #obviously i think it's still good queer (specifically gay) representation and that people are allowed to like it #i know many people defend both the show and the comics saying that it's realistic and not cringe #but i think they are cringe #and i also think that's 200% okay and even necessary #i mean #straight people have their over the top sickeningly sweet romances #and i think heartstopper fits that category but for queer kids #it's nice to have a broad variety of queer (in this case only gay but let's not get into how media hates sapphics/lesbians) representation #i am also not the target audience for the comics or the show #i read the comics a while ago and liked it then #probably because i was like 15 #but i've grown out of it #to be fair #solitaire is also a little cringe #but it's my cringe #anyway #enough rambling about my opinions on the comic and show #i think they would fuck up this hypothetical movie because they already fucked up her character in the show #the actor is great and all but why the fuck would cast someone so old #and 'take care of him or you die' #what?? #the script is beyond evil #but man do i want more solitaire content #tori spring #solitaire alice oseman #solitaire #cynic.txt

[sapphic-agent]

As a POC I could not handle any longer the way they excused Lea's actions on the Glee subreddit. I left permanently because of it. It angered me the day someone on the sub said that Lea apologised. Lea did not apologise. More than enough times, I've seen Lea be defended on that sub and people get upvoted for it and I couldn't stand it any longer.

The tipping point for me was that people started to say that Santana fans can't keep their feelings about Naya separate but at the same time they're known strong Rachel fans and Rachel defenders and have shown support to Lea multiples all the while being overly-critical about Santana. It was just brewing into hypocritical territory for me.

As a teen, Naya helped me in ways that's hard to explain. Her passing affected me deeply. To see that a few people, going off of the multiple upvotes, were agreeing with comments made accusing Santana fans of mixing their feelings about Naya with Santana in an unhealthy manner was hurtful. Lea fans also double down on putting Rachel on a pedstal to not talk about Lea's past actions on the glee sub but it's not spoken about.

So grateful that you spoke up about this major issue when it comes to Lea on the Glee sub. Your willingness to speak up about the issues on the Glee sub makes me feel less alone.

Omg thank you! That's so nice of you to say. I really do try to steer away from real people on this blog because I want to be primarily media-based. But the Glee sub makes me so fucking mad. They're the definition of performative activism and double standards. Supporting and/or forgiving Lea is just shitty, no matter how many times they try to justify it.

Naya- and Heather- helped me a lot too. They brought to life one of the healthiest, most important sapphic couple of the 2010s (my username was inspired by them lol, that's why they were my old pfp). They made me feel okay to be myself and comfortable in my sexuality. Her passing affected me for a long time too, it was like I couldn't process it.

I know exactly what you're talking about, when people would accuse Santana fans of conflating Santana because of Naya's passing. Like, right after it happened. It was really an awful thing to say because a woman was dead. Her life and memory were more important than their favorite character getting shit. They're vile.

If anyone can't separate the actor from the character it's Finn fans. Cory was a great guy- people always said him and Dianna were the nicest of the cast- and he also passed while the show was still running. A lot of Finn's "likability" came from Cory's charisma and comedic timing. If Cory was still alive I really don't think as many people would defend Finn.

(Tbh, I think Cory himself would shit on Finn. His mom once said that Santana slapping Finn was his favorite scene)

I also feel like people (including other POCs) don't actually understand why Lea was (is?) racist. Racism isn't just "I hate minorities and don't think they deserve rights." It's way more complicated than that. Lea might not have been throwing the n-word around (though, she was derogatory at least towards Samantha with that "shit in her wig" comment), but she absolutely viewed her being white as being superior to her WOC coworkers.

It's a pretty common thing for Black girls. Hell, I even experienced it from girls I called my friends. They're so "down✊🏾" but will be quick to remind you how more cultured and better than you they are.

If you haven't been taught about or experienced these things, you won't know that. But attempting to shut down WOC who have experienced it is shitty. Lea fans trip over themselves to defend someone who went out of her way to bully a younger Black coworker just because she could.

(Also, she was outwardly transphobic. Not letting anyone forget that either. If she was so willing to be transphobic, what makes you think she wasn't racist?)

Lea fans have no excuse. I liked and looked up to JKR too, but the people she hurt (and continues to hurt) are more important than how much I admired her or how much I enjoyed Harry Potter. I was disgusted by her and had no issues condemning her. Lea fans are hypocritical, self-righteous performative activists

#anti lea michele #naya rivera #heather morris #cory monteith #anti jkr #anti jk rowling #santana lopez #brittany pierce #brittana #anti finn hudson #anti glee subreddit #ask #tw racsim #tw transpobia

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

I have a really weird hyperfixation on The Mummy, but not the Boris Karloff or the Brendan Fraser versions, those would be completely acceptable movies to enjoy (and I do so enjoy them)

but I cannot stop thinking about The Mummy 2017 starring Tom Cruise and it's a problem

I love bad movies, I love them so much, I own so many b-grade horror flicks, old classic films with terrible acting and awful special effects, I love absolutely shit tier cgi, I love Ed Wood disasters, I love cult classic bad movies, I love really weird niche bad movies

but this one is like, such a special kind of bad movie, I can't really put my finger on exactly why though?? but I am damn well going to try, in this essay I will-

they fucked up from the get go by casting Tom Cruise, like this movie is sometimes deliberately goofy, but a lot of the time it takes itself very seriously, SO seriously, and I cannot physically take Tom Cruise seriously, he turns every single scene he is in into a joke by virtue of his mere presence

but when they have actual jokes, they are so not funny they cycle back around to being really fucking funny

I am watching this movie fucking whiff every god damn beat it tries to hit and it does it so beautifully it's a god damn marvel

Russel Crowe as Jekyll and Hyde??? I actually somehow missed the part where he introduced himself as Jekyll on my first watch, so the Hyde reveal was a true surprise to me and I was very genuinely disappointed on my second watch when I realised it was not supposed to be a surprise, because that was a really fun reveal

and Russel Crowe seemed to be having an absolute fucking whale of a time as Hyde, I loved every moment he was on screen with his stupid cockney accent, I would watch his movie, I know it would be bad, that's why I want it, because there is nothing quite like a bad movie with an actor still giving 110%

and the mummy character herself? she was supposed to be pharaoh and then her dad had a son with someone else and now this baby is jumping all up in her place like, okay baby murder might not be the coolest thing in the world but like, she's got ambition, she's getting shit done, she's hustlin' like go get it girl I'm rooting for you babe

also when she sucked the life out of some dude and turned him into a shrivelled husk my roommate said 'she could do that to me and I'd thank her' so she's got that going for her, like girl's a half rotten corpse wrapped in decaying bandages and she still slays

and then we have the completely ridiculous female rivalry??? like this mummy could kill this woman SO MANY TIMES and just doesn't???? for reasons?????? like she could literally kill her in an instant at any moment but no they gotta girl fight for a bit because Tom Cruise is at stake and why wouldn't two hot women fight over Tom Cruise right?? right????

nevermind the fact that he has been practically nothing but ✨The WooOOOOooorst✨ to her the WHOLE first act of the movie, oh and uh let's not forget the 'duh huh guy bad at sex' jokes that they just could not put down for a good chunk there (but wait! uh he's good at sex actually she's just being mean because he hurt her feewings)

like, this movie hits every fucking branch of the bad trope tree, this movie is playing bad trope bingo, it is collecting bad tropes like pokemon, it has to have them all

also a really bizarre ongoing American Werewolf in London reference?? it was not unwelcome, it was some of the best comedy in the movie (that is an easy bar to jump btw), the actor had some great wry line delivery, I enjoyed it

I think the biggest issue, and the reason I can't stop chewing on this magnum opus of garbage, is that it reminds me of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in several different ways

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen also happens to be another of my favourite bad movies, but it falls into the particular genre of bad movies, a fucking cool as shit concept, and some really cool as shit visuals, and some very cool as shit characters, but an absolute swing and a miss on the delivery

The Mummy 2017 starring Tom Cruise has That Vibe to me, there is some cool shit here, we know this because the previous version utilised that cool shit very very well, but this one was the only one who made the villain a woman pursuing a man, and not just any man, the ✨worst✨ man, you did not feel very sorry for this guy, honestly watching him go through the constant torment of being stalked by a bodacious supernatural babe who put a sexy little curse kiss on him was fun, he's a sopping wet little meow meow and I wanna see him thrown at a wall, and I get to see that several times, and it is a delight every time

in the previous movie the mummy went after really likeable characters, people who were just generally nice, a roguish scamp with a heart of gold, or just really hot, seriously that cast was beyond smoking what the fu

I did not like Tom Cruise as a character, and to be fair that was the point, he was supposed to have a redemption arc, the story and his sacrifice at the end were supposed to be about him becoming a better person

but he fucking doesn't??? it's like 'oh boo hoo I have made this great sacrifice and now I am a monster and I did it to save my lady love's life even though we had zero chemistry and I was just ✨The Worst✨ to her' and then he fucks off to go and do the exact same shit he was doing at the start of the movie, fucking around in the desert looking for boy adventures

it was a great ending and I loved it because it was so dumb and also he abandoned the woman he brought back to life to go fuck around with his bro who he also brought back to life, I love that for them, go have some boy adventures you madlads you sure didn't earn it but don't let that stop you, just heterosexually ride off into the sunset together it's fine, she is literally better off without you in every way you made the Correct Decision

and then there's these moments, moments that are treated like big moments, and could be really cool moments, but just don't fucking land

there's a part where Tom Cruise starts talking to the mummy in her own language (they got a psychic bond and shit which is it's own cool little thing we'll get back to that) and everyone is watching like 😮 oooh didn't know he could do that wow there really IS magic bond between them oooh, and it's like a Big Deal and Very Cool

but Tom Cruise just sounds like he's speaking gibberish with a mouth full of novocain???? it doesn't sound cool at all??? it sounds really goofy???? I half expected him to start drooling on himself

then there is the ending, leading lady dies, he completes the ritual to invite the god of death into his body (a fucking baller move honestly), he fights it for control as the mummy attempts to sway the beast inside him to her side, but when he sees his beloved laying dead he fights her off, using his newfound powers to defeat her, and then weeps over his lady love begging for her to wake up

and then as he lets the god inside him loose, a terrible monstrous visage takes him over as he bloodcurdlingly screams in her face WAKE UP!!! and the power within him that he doesn't understand and can barely control listens

she wakes, and sees him hiding in the shadows, unable to face her now that he has become something terrifying

at least that's what I think they thought the scene would be like, it was a little more like, some crappy flashback and speed up effects as he becomes the god of death, a really pathetic and uneventful 1 minute of him fighting for control, after which he has a really pathetic and uneventful 1 minute of fighting the mummy, and then as he screams for his lady love to wake up, we get a shot of some absolutely fucking god awful cgi and the most uninspired monster face I've ever seen

I mean, half seen, it was a very dark shot, in fact most of the movie is shot in the dark, a very blatant attempt to obscure the shithouse cgi

except in one scene where it kinda fucking slapped, where the mummy sucks the life out of some guys, and then reanimates their husky corpses as thralls, the way they stand like jerky unstable puppets being dragged to their feet by unseen strings was actually pretty fuckin' dope and the dark scene obscured the details in just the right amount to make their uncannily decrepit silhouettes appear super creepy

this is the only time that trick works, every other time I just want someone to turn on a fucking torch so I can actually see what the hell's going on

okay now let's get back to that psychic bond thing

our main character was chosen not because he was a descendant, or a reincarnation, or just Looked Real Pretty (although I think she did have the hots for him a leeetle bit which is like, girl raise your standards, it's Tom Cruise, he's about as sexually appealing as a wet potato, you can do better), he had absolutely zero in common with the mummy's original choice for this ritual, in fact that guy was not significant to the story at all, I think he was just some dude who was down for some ritual shenanigans 'cause a hot lady asked him (also he was hotter than Tom Cruise so this is a significant downgrade, I feel like if she had the opportunity to shop around a little she might have picked better)

so Tom Cruise wasn't chosen for any reason other than that he's the one who released her, and she sees this as her way of saying thank you, and I love that, it's real sweet, would love if I opened a door for someone and they repaid me by summoning a god of death into my body, that really shows they care you know?

she gives him a little hallucinatory kissy kiss and then manages to follow him everywhere, while also compelling him to follow her without him really knowing it, there is a very cool part where he's trying to drive away from her, but somehow ends up driving in a circle and falling right back into her clutches, that was cool, that had the potential to even be super fucking creepy, she can manipulate him without him even realising, it doesn't matter where he goes or what he does, he will always somehow find his way back to her, that's so good, I love that

and then back to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comparisons

The Mummy 2017 starring Tom Cruise established a concept of an organisation who hunt down, collect, and research supernatural phenomena, with a leader (Jekyll) who also has ulterior motives and is actually not really the good guy, this movie was also supposed to be part of a monster movie cinematic universe, so this really could have become like, the Universal Monster Movie equivalent of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and I would have watched the hell out of that, and I am crushed that this movie bombed so bad and ruined the whole plan

like could you imagine a whole series as bad as this movie? all culminating together as the most god awful Avengers style team up? fuuuck I want to live in that universe so bad

I think my fascination comes from this ungodly mix of real pure potential, those fleeting super fucking cool moments and concepts that, if given to literally any other actor, could have really been something, and the just pure insane failure to make literally anything in this plot successfully land a hit

somehow this movie felt like the completely dead and soulless corpse of a cheap party clown, while the ghost of something incredible flickered in its eyes

#the mummy 2017 #movie breakdown #I have Things To Say

[chirpsythismorning]

I haven't been active in the byler fandom, why would redditors be mad at the play being canon?

Most, not all, but most active reddit users on the ST sub have been bombarded with byler evidence for the last year. So to remain sane through it all, they have resorted to insisting that almost every detail fans come across and try to share on the sub, are just mere coincidences.

This is because they've realized that if they are considering other really minor details meaning something bigger, that means they might have to start considering the possibility that the details pointing to byler are also intentional. This is how they cope.

You would think after saying 'it's just a coincidence' for the hundredth time, they might be starting to rethink their position on things, but the reality of the situation just isn't setting in I guess (aka they don't want it to happen so they are refusing to let themselves truly consider it until they have no choice).

The reason I still partake in the reddit sub, despite losing braincells over half the takes on there, is bc there are still a handful of users that are really smart and do great analysis on the supernatural side of the show, in particular things I have no knowledge on at all and would greatly benefit from looking at to expand my understanding of things and different perspectives.

The really smart ones that exist are usually indifferent to the romantic arcs in the show, although they do have a milkvan bias bc the straight bait is straight baiting. And so these are the few posts theorizing, that consider the details meaning something more, that just so happen to get support from the hardcore milkvans on there. And it's bc as long as it's coming from someone who doesn't think byler is going to happen, they will listen.

I will say the one thing that is sort of obnoxious about all of this is that regular fans without any ship bias, will pop on there semi-regularly with a post, accompanied by basic common sense questions like, 'wait this makes no sense...' or 'why did they do this this way?' in many cases, with the confusion surrounding the build up of Mike and El and Will's role in all that. These people aren't milkvans or bylers, they are just fans picking up on obvious subtext and they are looking for insight about it from fans. And every time they get bombarded with condescending and bitter milkvans that are having to defend mike and el's honor, and s4 really made this a full time job for them lmao. That sort of resentment has manifested into hating anything and everything that considers deeper meaning in relation to Will and Mike, but especially in Will's case. Because that's the thing, they have to deny any importance of Will's role bc Will being important fucking terrifies them. It means that everything could be important basically. It's their worst nightmare and they will hound you for even speculating something. It's insufferable to watch unfold honestly.

I say all of this bc it's important in the context of the play, given that there are a lot of theories out there swirly around, theories that mostly reside on Tumblr. Many of those theories are viewed by redditors as being crack theories that have no evidence supporting them (bc they come from bylers), like the weirdness around Alice not being in the play (and potentially connecting to Karen), or the fact that they insisted the silhouette of Henry's actor right before the cast announcement couldn't be him bc he was too old to be Henry (umm time shenanigans, duh), or that the truth about Brenner's involvement runs a lot deeper than everyone assumes.

And so naturally, leading up to the play, a lot of active (very vocal) redditors in both the main sub and the Hawkins AV Club sub, have commented on posts related to the play, trying so hard to convince others (themselves) that this play is not canon and we shouldn't waste our time with it because it wont matter in the context of everything going on in the literal show. They go as far as to insist it's not canon, even though it already was said to be canon.

And now with this post, they are again having to face the reality this show is a lot deeper than they have had to insist it to is combat byler speculation. All byler evidence is seen as reaching to them. And they'll do everything they can to insist anything bylers are speculating is delusional, which includes theories surrounding the play. All of that denial has led us to this moment, which will only hurt their ego as time goes on and they are being hit with sign after sign after sign... that it might just be that deep.

#byler #stranger things #the first shadow #'it's not that deep you guys' #'ya'll are reaching' #what's your favorite milkvan argument? #mine is 'the duffer's aren't that smart guys' #truly never gets old #oh so you're saying endgame byler would be smart... you said it not me. #not trying to make this about byler but i did #bc full serious... before byler was even a thought in reddits head back in s1-2... they fucking loved theories #i can go find theories from 6 years ago about twelvegate and owlgate and birthdaygate and dozens more all bc they were open to everything!! #critical thinking is not encouraged on there anymore #anything considering possibilities based on literal evidence is going to be shot 9 times out of ten #bc all of those details have always been hinting at something they do not want to accept #the details are stacked against them #and their time is running out it seems #can't wait for this play to drop and it starts to set in that plenty of details they refuted tirelessly were actually hinting at something

[timemachineyeah]

Watching the latest hbomberguy video. And this Tom guy is making me think of so many people I have met, especially in the entertainment industry. They are a Type. There’s one in Toonmakers Sailor Moon pilot video too. Honestly sometimes Trump comes across this way. Not just men, though I do think it might be more common among cis men. Especially white privileged ones.

But you know them. The ones that lie about cool they are. That can’t help but lie about their own achievements even when the truth is staring them in the face. Like, I can think of half of a dozen I have met over the years in my life. A friend’s brother, an old boss, a teacher at my school who even the staff seemed exhausted of…

People go “that’s narcissism” or “compulsive lying” and listen, I’m not saying there’s not a neurodivergence underlying some of this behavior. Also potentially traumas or a need for introspection and therapy. I’m also not saying there is. This isn’t about that.

This also isn’t about the social/cultural/political environment that might foster the kinds of anxieties or expectations that contribute. I am not seeking to explain or diagnose this pattern of behavior. I don’t care if it’s psychological, sociological, or just being an asshole. That’s not the point.

The point is: it has always made me deeply uncomfortable. Not just angry or manipulated or whatever. But, like, secondhand embarrassment? Firsthand embarrassment? Unsettled in horror movie way? And I used to attribute that solely to, like, it’s desperate for approval, isn’t it? And I was willing to let that be the end of it. But that always felt incomplete.

No, I think the thing that makes me uncomfortable is, it feels like, to me, it feels like they’re daydreaming??? Like they are playing out their fantasy version of their life, the cooler one the rest of us (or, me at least) just privately pretend to have and never share with anyone.

Like who hasn’t listened to a song they love on repeat and pretended they were on stage singing it and pretended it was their song and they wrote it. Like, I do that. Maybe I’m weird. But I think lots of people do that. When I was a teenager I used to fantasize I had a double life when I was on school breaks, working in New Zealand for the Lord of the Rings movies. All the actors and writers were my best friends. And obviously I provided tremendous insight to the project and it really depended on me. But I didn’t tell anyone at school for convoluted daydream reasons.

But like, as much as I can vividly bring back the fine details of that fantasy (and how, while it had been a secret, it wouldn’t be secret any more when all the hottest members of the cast showed up to my school to take me to an awards show with them), this is the first time I’ve ever told anyone else about it, because why the fuck would I?

“I often pretend I am more interesting and important than I really am” is so common as to be dull. And also has a reputation for being childish. And also it’s not cool to want to be cool. And also if you say your wish out loud it can’t come true. But regardless of why, I don’t tell people about my daydreams. And I think that’s true of most people. Rich fantasy lives are common and largely never shared.

But when I watch the people with this particular quirk and feel kind of awful in this visceral way - I think that’s the thing that’s off-putting to me. It feels so private. I recognize myself in the behavior, in that, in my very silly daydreams, I too have done great things and made notable contributions that are far beyond the truth of my life. But to me those things are so secret. They are the most private of private thoughts.

When I watch these people talk, it feels like they are LARPing that same kind of self-indulgent fantasy world, in their real life. And simultaneously I feel like I’m invading someone’s privacy and like they’ve coerced me into something I didn’t agree to. They’ve cast us in their LARP, and they are gonna play out their fantasy version of their life, and made it awkward or dangerous for anyone to ruin it for them.

And so on top of all the many other very good reasons to not enjoy listening to that kind of self-serving lying, I get to hate it for secret bonus reasons of Immense Psychological Discomfort stemming from ???? associations my brain makes with the act of daydreaming ????

#timemachine wuz here

[sweaterkittensahoy]

I threatened a 40-minute video of annoyance with this, but I'm lazy, so here's a time-stamped dick pull instead:

It's the catchiest song in the whole fucking movie, and it does nothing to earn any love or devotion from any version of its audience.

0:36: "you got yourselves on the front page." accurate.

0:40: "So what, you get your picture in the pape, so what's that get you, huh?" -- A fair question from a kid who understands via selling papes how quickly headlines change. Which is established earlier in the film in a way that kids were meant to pick up on.

0:41: "What are you talkin' about, huh?" / (various newsies saying 'shut up you've been in a bad mood, etc.) / "You're glum and dumb. What's the matter with you? You're in the papes you're famous! You're famous, you get anything you want!" -- Previous scenes have set up that the Newsies understand the rules of Yellow Journalism, so to have Race get annoyed that another seasoned Newsie questions why it matters they're on the front page when they all know the front page will change basically instantly is to undercut what we've already been told the Newsies know themselves. Also, this has been made clear to the kids who are watching who undoubtedly picked it up.

0:58: "And that's what's so great about New York!" this is meant to show that New York is great because anyone can be famous for one edition. But we've seen the Newsies understand that this means nothing in the greater story. Having any Newsie in this scene claim front page status makes anyone famous doesn't work with the story that's already been set up. And, again, this has been made clear for THE KIDS IN THE AUDIENCE.

0:59: "A Pair of new shoes with matching laces" / "A permanent box at Cheapshead Races." / "A porcelin tub with boiling water" -- growing up in the early 90s, I'm sure I identified with the idea of new shoes with matching laces (it was a THING), but I sure as shit didn't have any sense of why having an easier time gambling would make a fellow kid happy (because I wasn't raised by OR a degenerate child gambler). And while I happened to grow up in a situation where I did NOT always have hot water on tap, the phrasing here didn't provide any explanation about why I should care about someone wanting a tub with BOILING WATER.

1:08: "A Saturday night with the Mayor's daughter!" This movie was aimed, at the oldest, towards 10-12 year olds. My best wishes to anyone who felt a tingle in their jeans at this moment and spent many years wondering why they wanted to fuck pirates.

1:13: "Look at me, I'm the King of New York." Vinnie from Dougie Howser MD was why I watched this movie the moment I could get my hands on it in my own home, and he delivers. Thank you, Max Casella. You did great.

1:22: "Nobbing with all the muckety-mucks…" I respect Christian Bale as an actor. He is SO BAD in this movie. He can't sing or dance for shit, and I wanna backhand whoever cast him in this role.

1:34: The Newsies fighting over the paper when the movie has etablished they know being on the front page doens't mean shit is a fucking problem.

1:38: "A courdrory suit with fitted knickers / a mezzanine seat to see the flickers / Havana cigars that cost a quarter" Are you just listing shit that no kid in the early 90s is going to be able to understand as important or were you all too high on coke to give a shit???

1:47: "An Editor's desk for the star reporter" See previous comment. No fucking child in any point knows what an editor is, why that desk is important, or what a star reporter is. Disney was just coked out at this point.

1:53: Bull Pullman put his whole cunt into this performance, and I love that for him. The script never could decide how much emphasis he should have, but he showed up in every scene as Cool Uncle Cunt and showed them. Good for him.

2:01: Calm down every spotlight-stealer we knew in high school.

2:10: "Proud yet humble, he's the king of New York." -- Max Casella proving why I loved this movie when young.

2:18: "Tomorrow they might wrap fishes in it / but I was a star for one whole minute!" Proving--AGAIN--that these kids know how fragile the news cycle is, yet we're supposed to think they're all excited about making the front page????

2:24: The dancing is in no way with the beat of the song, and I am pretty sure my molars no longer exist because I ground them to dust.

2:32: They are now in sync with the beat, but my molars are still fucking dust.

2:37: This is a kid power movie. Pullman shouldn't be jumping on a table to sing along.

2:45: No kid is going to appreciate a sit-down game of dance-and-slap, and Pullman joining in is further disconnection from the overall kid power theme of the movie. He's supposed to be their ally, not their equal. It's a mistake to have him be part of this moment.

2:49: "Once a piker" -- No fucking child in the early 90s is going to know that "Piker" is an insult about a "simplistic" person who thinks they have more impact on business than they actually hold.

#newsies #king of new york #max casella #Youtube

[gildedmuse]

So, most the One Piece fans in my life have been discussing the live action series, and, surprisingly, most with a hopeful tone. Which is great because, seriously, I'm too old and close to death to deal with either of the following preemptive attitudes:

"Look, I know trailer footage is not only often unfinished but not even always what gets included in the final project but based purely off the smallest of moments contained in this purely commercialized content, I can definitely state with absolutely no doubt that due to minor detail, the whole thing sucks"

"This will be just like I imagined it including all the changes I would make to canon that have never once been hinged at by those in charge, I just know it's going to be not just as awesome as I have created in my mind but even betyeyr and there is absolutely no way they'd ever make the slightest change that would somehow immediately ruin the entire property retroactively for me!"

The fact that most the people I interactive with are taking a positive but grounded attitude instead of determinedly antagonist or unhinged optimism is just... Nice. Really, really nice.

Most our discussions regard general aesthetic and what we think these creative choices indicate for the show, but there has been one area where 95% of all feedback has been glowly positive, and that is the actors. Seriously, every sneak peak trailer reveal brings about more fan-gushing from the bleachers (related note, this means that any characters we haven't seen gets more and more nails bitten short. Like, why haven't I seen the Benn Beckman? This is actually really important to me.)

This has lead to a lot of excitement for potential future cast members, including from the boys at my work. Which.... They are definitely fans, there is no denying that, but like... I don't think of as "those kinds of fans" .

But I'm always happy to be proven wrong.

AnimeDub Fan Coworker: I've never seen a more perfect live action adaptation than Mihawk in the trailer. The word. The eyes. The facial hair. Like damn.

Manga/Anime Fan Coworker: The cast looks so fucking on. I know this will never get a season 2, but if it did, the absolute dream would be for Jamie Lee Curtis to play Kureha.

Me: Yes, please. She's on my list of Characters I Have To See In Live Action. It's Law (obviously), Kid & Killer but particularly Killer, Ace of course, Robin because ROBIN, and Kureha who, yeah, is on the list cuz I want JLC or equivalent.

AD Fan: You just went off about how Garp was too hot but are cool with Jamie Lee Curtis as Kureha?

Me: Yeah, because unlike Garp, Kureha is canonically smoking.

AD Fan: Agree to disagree.

M/A Fan: They'll probably go for no names again like they did for this cast, but dream casting would be Alexandra Daddario as Robin. Boom.

M/A Fan: *With absolutely no further promoting from me* Ooooooh I got another fake casting. This one's for Kid. Cameron Monaghan.

M/A Fan: He's played crazy before too. And he's really good at it. He was pretty much "the Joker" in the show Gotham. AND he was the gay brother on Shameless. So he can totally be pirate married to Killer!

Me: *Desperately trying to remember when I mentioned in my work chat - that includes a few non-geeks, like not just not OP fans but just straight up not up with geek culture - that Kid and Killer were Pirate Married, a phrase which is very much so mine.*

Me: *Decides it doesn't matter and just gives self a point to converting yet another normal fan straight boy around to the correct view of Kid and Killer's relationship.* Now we just need someone who can pull off the perfect 80 glam rock star AND NHL defense player and we have two more Supernoves cast and ready to go.

I don't know how I keep convincing these straight boys who have probably never read a fanfic in their lives to get behind Kid/Killer as canonical Pirate Husbands, but when one of the major considerations for fan-casting is, "would Mina find him suitable gay with Killer?" you know you've won. I'm not sure what exactly, but it's definitely a win.

#this post is mostly for me #and for everyone out there who has ever had that sweet victory of convincing a nonshipper/nonfanfic inclined individual #that despite all realistic canon expectations #two characters are just super gay for each other #hey the Good Omens fandom did it; all hope is not lost #Kid x Killer #They're pirate husbands ya'll #pirate husbands #I clearly use that phrase too often if my coworkers have picked up on it #I did for a while wonder if when someone repeated it back if they truly understood that I didn't just mean that they're loyal and crewmates #'Oh you mean 'pirate husbands' like Shanks & Benn or Roger & Rayleigh?' #As a matter of fact yes that is exactly how I meant it #In that I am directly implying all those characters be fucking. Each other. #(not all at once obviously.... though Shanks would probably be down for that.... maybe not with Roger. Unless timetravel. Then yeah 100%) #one piece #one piece live action #one piece as as family activity! #/work activity #one piece casting #eustass kid #killer one piece #MurderChild #Still having trouble with a solid ship name for these two #when the normies join the fun #PS: yes everyone else in the work chat hated us #Don't care got coworkers to admit Kid and Killer be married #It's a good day when your friends accept the gay #amusing musings

[ocdhuacheng]

thoughts on 3 body so far (episode 5), as someone whos read the books and not yet watched the drama

to get the obvious out of the way its very unnecessary to set it in england :/ but we all know that so.

i love wenjie i think zine tseng is perfect for her i really love wenjies scenes (for the most part. whhyyyy did they make her get with evans. like i groaned so hard. and they completely skipped over her actual husband and how she well. murdered him.) but yeah in general i think her parts are done really well. few complaints there. also she is gorgeous. Rosalind chao is great as well but I think the writing for old!wenjie is not as good as for young! Wenjie. That’s not ms Rosalind’s fault tho obviously I think she did really well with what she got.

besides wenjie i really like jin cheng as well. i get shes filling part of wang miao's role from the books and she is partially based off of cheng xin from book three and i think jess hong is a really good choice for her. even just appearance-wise she is perfect for what i imagined cheng xin to look like. and her attachment to the follower character in the game is a great set up for how her story might go if she follows cheng xin's footsteps.

i think auggie should be older. it seems like they want to make everyone all like a group of school friends so thats why they made her younger but i dont really think that it works.

lemme elaborate....... i........ do not care about auggie at all lmfao. honestly i welcome more female characters but if she is to fill wang miao's place as the nanotech expert... wang miao.... who is a man in his fourties... why are they replacing him with a girl who barely looks out of grad school. and shes cso and developer of groundbreaking tech already? SHE SHOULD BE AT THE CLUB. not trying to be MARY SUE ALERT but its unrealistic, and it kind of ruins making him into a female character imo. she should be middle aged!! fucking cowards!! it seems like they just made wang miao into a woman just so they could have a pretty face to slap on as the main character (though she is SO not my type but whatever thats not important.) if they wanted to genderbend and actually be ~feminist~ or whatever, they would have cast a 40+ year old. again, i get they want it to be this friend group so maybe it would be strange that she would be older than the rest of them but also they could have just.. not done that. so anyway. yeah. she kind of annoys me. she is too young. too pretty but in like such a hollywood way that it turns me off. also shes boring. and annoying.

in general, other than wenjie and jin, im not particularly attached to any of the characters. not necessarily a bad thing bc the books themselves were much more plot driven over character driven, so yeah. kind of a neutral statement. i do like will (even though...... he should be chinese -_- though i guess i am grateful that they did seemingly make an effort to make the cast diverse, rather than just make them all white brits.) and i like uhhhh *checks notes* tatiana, mainly because i think shes extremely pretty lmao. i think the guy who plays old!evans is great, i do Not care for the guy who plays him when he is young. cringe. gigachad looking ass. wade is good too, when i saw his name show up i was like omg what are you doing here????? hes a bastard but hes fun. also like shi, i think the actor they chose is great and fits really well. i did prefer him in the books tho he was so much fun in the books. saul fits in well, if hes the luo ji character i can Definitely see him wasting government resources to do fuck all as a wallfacer lmao. godspeed king.

i think them making all these characters who are going to go on to be key players in the future all know eachother to begin with is funny. and not a great choice. unrealistic. in the books like most of these people had nothing to do with anyone else, either to begin with or at all. and now theyre all somehow friends? in the books the main characters were scattered all over the place (or.. well.. at least all over china) but now u gonna tell me 90% of the ppl doing important shit for the human species were all like buddies in college or smth instead of just some randos in the right place at the right time with the right (debatable) credentials? less believable to me. like for example the zhang beihai adjacent character being the cheng xin adjacent character's boyfriend before everything goes down. like girl did they even meet in the books? idr

sophon is gorgeous, so is her outfit, though i hope they keep the japanese aesthetic shes got going on from the books, i think it was a very telling and important, if not large part of the books for her to latch onto japanese culture specifically.

the sophons... in the book it was just miao who was given the universe blinking vision but now its basically everyone on the nightside of the planet? how did they do that with just 2 sophons. i mean. idk maybe. sure. they do travel close to the speed of light. i aint doing the calculations to know what is or is not plausible at those speeds. but damn these poor things are so overworked. they need to unionize. wish they kept the numbers on the photographs tho instead of just in their retinas. that could have been really cool.

the sequence of the sophons unfolding over earth was cool and all just kinda funny bc they had just established in a previous scene that they needed like a supercollider in orbit to unfold one and now they can just unfold willy nilly? ok.

uhhhhhhhhh. yeah thats all for now. i have more onions but im sleepy tired and thats all i can rememver i wanted to say. im enjoying it. just kind of bitter at them making it british but thats old news. i think if i were watching this blind without there being a book series to compare it to its very solid! some hollywood esque quippy humor and added annoying romance (particularly with wenjie) and stuff that im not thrilled with but over all its well done imo. definitely going to have to reread the books when im done and also watch the drama :)

#.txt #three body #3 body problem

[ghostiewriter]

Someone phrased it perfectly on a TikTok, and I'm sorry I don't have the link, but I'll see if I can find it, but people saying the reasons for Maddie and Rudy drifting apart is "the fans fault" is bull. Okay, but like I haven't heard people shipping Rudy and Madison since like 2020. Like Rudy, babe, of course people are gonna ship your characters, those two are literally one of the most beautiful parts of the damn show. There are so many actors who are happily married and still get shipped. They don't look like they're about commit triple homicide. They just play it off and Bon Voyage their way through life. People ship your characters dude, characters. I mean if not the fans, at least have a little bit of respect for your costars, who clearly love you and actually enjoy promoting the show everyone worked so hard to make. And yea, the fact that he's distanced himself from the WHOLE cast, the character and the show makes it pretty damn obvious that it isn't just an issue with the fans shipping. Not once, did I see Rudy have a genuine smile on his face throughout the whole press tour. Like boy, you're such a great person, I love you, marry me please (jk jk forgive me E****), but right now your behavior is exhausting. And I really don't wanna to say it, and I swear I mean no disrespect to anyone, but I'm sure she who must not be named has something to do with it. The way she had him on a lead during the whole press tour, watched him like the creepy old guy at the gas station while he was doing interviews, flashed the dirtiest looks at literal TEENAGERS. This is on top of being an entitled, racist, homophobic bitch. It's laughable how narcissistic and manipulative she is and I'm just waiting for our boy to open his eyes, take a breather and realize he's putting out his frustration on all the wrong people/things.

Sorry for my rant! LOVED the latest chapter of P&P! GTG my cousin's in labor 9 days early and her husband's out of state for a business trip and her parents live in Calgary so I'm gonna go chill with her until they get to the hospital why is everything so chaotic it's Sunday 😭 BYE

I genuinely couldn’t have said it better myself. Like even beyond the shipping and the characters and the show, just basic respect and acknowledgment to your coworkers would be really fucking nice??

ALSO BLESS THANK YOU AND CONGRATULATIONS/GOOD LUCK TO YOUR SISTER!!!! Hope everything goes well for the newest wee addition to your family!!🤍we love a bit of sunday chaos💀very on brand with f1 tbh

#ask

[iamanartichoke]

So I'm looking for Thor spoilers, as you do, and I ended up on the Marvel spoilers subreddit, where I found and read a few Christian Bale interviews. And, well, I'll take Takes I Wasn't Expecting From Christian Bale For $500, Alex.

Cut; I don't think this is spoilery, but idk what people are considering spoilers at this point, so just to be on the safe side. (Also for length, this got long. And mostly pointless.)

Article Link.

"There's an awful lot that I wish was in this film, which you can't have a four-hour long film because there's so much gold that's on the cutting room floor, hilarious stuff, and creepy as hell stuff, but that was perhaps pushing it to a realm where maybe it wouldn't have been able to be family friendly, which we always wanted it to be. But Taika's sensibility, the comedy, the tragedy, the ability to have the Taika-ness and the humor of that. But he's got great sincerity as well. He's a real artist. And so, man, it's moving. That is the bloody surprising thing with this film. It's a very moving film and then two seconds later, you're laughing your ass off."

Incidentally, Christian has nothing but complimentary things to say about the rest of the cast as well, and specifically made mention of how welcoming Chris was (which might be in a different interview than the one I linked).

But, yeah. I'm not really sure why this perfectly lovely take surprises me, except to say that maybe seeing someone of Christian's status, I guess? expressing such admiration and respect for Taika is unexpected to me? By "status," I don't mean to undermine anyone else's accomplishments, as I obviously recognize the credibility of the actors who've worked with and praised Taika in the past -

- but, for me, I just consider Christian to be on his own level. The types of projects he tends to choose, how absolutely talented he is, how clearly intellectual he is - I may be biased due to having been a fan for literally most of my life (since the early 90s! Fuck I'm old), but I just have a lot of respect for him and have (somewhat subconsciously) elevated him to a bit higher on the totem pole of admiration. Even higher than Tom.

This was going to be a sidenote, but it turned into its own paragraph: I love Tom. I do. I got on a plane for Tom. I didn't get on a bus when I lived in Boston and Christian was filming American Hustle two towns over. My regard for both of them is clearly very different, and I'm not really sure how to explain it. I don't think that either is better than the other, in terms of talent/skill, but I do think that Christian is the more accomplished, experienced actor. Which makes his compliments for Taika hold more weight for me than Tom's?

Which sounds bad, but all I mean is that Tom was, obviously, very much a part of the Thor universe, he was entrenched in the role by the time Ragnarok came around, he had relationships with all the cast, and I think being in that position would hinder one's objectivity not just for the role but for the movie/universe in general. And, while I appreciate very much that Tom never has a bad thing to say about anyone - well, at the same time, Tom never has a bad thing to say about anyone, so whether he truly enjoyed working with Taika, especially in that context, or if he was just being diplomatic when promoting the film is anyone's guess.

Contrastingly, Christian is brand new to the MCU, to Taika, Chris and the cast (mostly), and to the Thor universe in general. Coming in as a blank slate like that, again, combined with Christian's body of work and tendency to be straightforward with his feelings (he's always very polite and complimentary, but he's not nice the way Tom is? Again, I don't know how to explain the difference, except to say I've never felt like he gives "fluff" answers; he doesn't heap on the praise if it's unwarranted, either (in my observations, anyway) - would naturally, I imagine, give him a much more objective point of view about the experience, making his feedback feel more legit, in a "here's my unbiased yet professional opinion (and I know what I'm talking about)" kind of way.

(I don't think I'm words-ing very well but) the thing is, I've always been lukewarm about Taika, at best. I've said this ad nauseum, but despite being critical of it, I liked Ragnarok. But I liked it as its own separate film. I didn't like it as part of the Thor franchise; I didn't like it as an overall story bc I didn't think it was well-written, and there were a lot of "problematic" implications within said story. Others have criticized it more thoroughly, but I have certainly done my fair share. And I think I mostly still have those opinions.

But I was way, way more upset about Infinity War than I could have ever been about Ragnarok, so that softens it a bit, too. And, look, this doesn't apply to anyone I am currently still mutuals with, but it does apply to a lot of former mutuals - regarding Ragnarok, at the height of wankness there was a lot of meta being passed around and analyzed and whatnot that made it easy to sort of spiral down into an echo chamber, encouraged by people who, again, include former mutuals who seem to feed on the negativity, despite claiming otherwise ("we wanted to like it, honest; endlessly criticizing hurts us more than it hurts you," etc). And the way that this dynamic played out - and is still playing out - after the Loki series came out was extremely eye-opening (and disappointing) to me bc suddenly, people whose Ragnarok takes elicited "yasss" from me were suddenly (I felt) posting takes that not only did I (sometimes wildly) disagree with, but that were fueled by an element of vitriol that fed right into the negativity (and made me very uncomfortable).

That's neither here nor there at the moment, just context I guess, but my point is that while I mostly maintain that Ragnarok is fine/enjoyable as a standalone film but has issues (at best) as part of the Thor franchise, said opinion left me feeling very "meh" about Taika as a filmmaker. I never hated him as much as some other people did (I hate(d) the Russos and Infinity War a lot more, fuck those assholes) but I didn't really respect him, either. And despite being interested in Thor 4 and excited for Christian Bale, I'm not really approaching it with any expectations of being blown away by the film itself; I'm mostly assuming it's mediocre.

Which - all of this was just a really rambly way of saying, well shit, if Christian Bale's probably-objective opinion is such a glowing review, maybe I should re-assess how I view Taika as a filmmaker? Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss this movie as "probably mediocre but it's Thor with Christian Bale so sign me the fuck up." Actually give it a fair chance. I mean, shit, I could still walk away from it saying, "Nah, my opinion hasn't changed, definitely mediocre," but at least it'd be a more genuine take, I suppose.

There is literally no point to this post, sorry. It's 1:30am and I'm having all kinds of feelings and I'm just Like This, okay?

Also, I just realized I didn't actually find any fucking spoilers.

#thor 4 #thor 4 spoilers #<--spoiler tag #again i don't think there's spoilers here but just to be safe #christian bale #taika waititi #standom frank #ragnarok critical #mood gif

[seasurfacefullofclouds1]

I'm actually very annoyed to see all these directors talk about Harry auditioning when he's not landed the role. The last one that I found super strange is for Nosferatu. At the time the director talked about Harry, the movie was in PRODUCTION and only Anya Taylor Joy was announced on the casting. But they're going out of their way to talk about Harry auditioning when he's not even getting the part, telling how Harry is so good but still could not get the job (I think for schedule issues if I remember correctly, how convinient). I've never seen anyone talk like this before. After the movie is done, yeah maybe we get to know who tried to have a role and didn't get it but so early? And talking about how they don't audition "bad actors", whatever that means. I get talking about him during early stages for The Little Mermaid et Elvis bc it's very much fancasting for these big productions and he's a singer so it's relevant in the way that they could consider musicians before actors, I'll admit that but the rest? Who cares about this? The general public will judge in the cinema. Cinephiles as well, they might be effy about him trying out acting but still, they don't care if the director say he's good. They'll want to judge themselves. And fans will see his films no matter what, they're garranted good numbers so for WHO is it? The industry doesn't take recommendations from articles and they could literally ring someone to discuss Harry in projects if they really wanted to so what? I've never seen something like this before. Yeah I've seen articles when actors step down on a project they initially were on but had schedule issues bc they're BOOKED and BUSY. Seeing all these professionnals go out of their way to talk about how he's so good all the time but decided to hire someone else makes me instantly think he's not that good. I know casting is complex, you can be great but someone else will be perfect for the part but honestly ? He was fine in everything I saw so far and I believe it's bc his parts were so shorts you really have to be bad to mess it up, and with a lot of people in the casting it's almost easy to blend in. They need to stop talking about how good he is on such early stages, especially when they don't tell what makes him so good it's worth mentioning to the media. It's the strangest and most annoying thing ever. I don't see its purpose, it's not helping him. Even the Oscar thing for My Policeman was a little weird to me bc it was only for him when honestly I feel like the rest of the cast playing both young and old protagonists could lend nominations as well. But bc he's new to the thing and aparently "so good" they're pulling a Timothée Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name type of narrative? They need to let the projects come Out. Enough with the talking bc it's a little ridiculous at this point.

For a truly great actor, maybe it’s better to let the acting do the talking, and so far Harry has done nothing equal to what he’s been puffed up to represent. As you said, his role in Dunkirk was fine. He wasn’t terrible; Nolan wasn’t embarrassed in casting him. But to compare him to icons — people who were so spectacularly talented in their youth like Pacino, DiCaprio, Heath Ledger, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt— when Harry is clearly just famous? It’s a little strange.

Posting this from a mutual:

Harry is not a fucking icon. I wish people would stop kissing his mediocre ass. Or 101: His team started calling him a fucking icon in 2016 when he was 22 years old and fresh out of 1d. Why aren’t these people fucking embarrassed to blow smoke up this bland boardroom-created pop star?

Harry really is not remarkable. He’s fine. Good looking enough, good enough voice, polite enough, fame-hungry but not getting in to big trouble, attention-grabbing and ambitious, enough to do whatever the corporate big heads want. His acting so far is mediocre at best. Even Star Fox cameo was cringey as fuck. His latest album has word-salad lyrics that make him sound like a teenager embracing sex and drugs. He spews platitudes - love, peace, be kind, I love you - but has nothing of substance to say. He’s okay - a dreamy hero for 9th graders everywhere to idolize - but the furthest thing from an icon. It’s all about money and clout, selling concert and movie theater tickets, allowing the rich to get richer.

And that’s really the bottomline, isn’t it?

Harry sells movie tickets.

#harry styles

[ramblingdisaster73]

4x05 Thoughts

So we were right saying O’Brien’s nephew was the bomber – yay

Oh, murder – nice little head shot for the nice hiker dude.

There goes Owen with his celebrity references – he always talks about movies or celebrities – especially when trying to talk someone into something or when he is in a position he is actually inexperienced in – (ex: 3x12 Stakeout & whatever one he used this season already)

I love Mateo

Paul’s face at Owen’s “You would look smokin hot on my bobber” was priceless.

I love that they ALL think that the complaint is one – against Owen & two – from Pearce.

She has a beautiful voice

The interview montage was great

“Bam Bam” Nancy Gillian

I think Nancy and Mateo now share a brain cell – they were so similar to each other in the interviews

“Do we know each other” – pinged all the ‘this is Paul’s love interest’ bells – INSTANTLY

I like TK saying “He would never do something stupid like that again” – it was the again part – immediately followed by Paul’s “Did he do something stupid again?” in the most resigned voice.

I understand the whole it not being right to call the lady crazy – and an apology is a pretty reasonable request – the rest – NOT AT ALL

I love Captain Owen Strand – the man that backs his crew – supports their decisions – this is the Owen I can get behind – this is where he excels.

I didn’t think the mother appeared inebriated, but I wasn’t totally sure on what was going on – I have had similar things happen to me with my migraines – so I thought it would be something neurological.

The temporary relief that Cap wasn’t in trouble – followed by Marjan telling them she was – they all did that so damn well.

Marjan and Owen always kill their scenes together – they do truly have so many similarities (I think she is more like him than TK is, and I think that Owen sees that too)

So, the only one that knew that the dude came to the firehouse was Marj, who is now conveniently gone – hmmm

Fucking stalker Honor Dogs Bomber dude

This dude is already a better stalker than Sadie was

I do feel like he has some real hesitation on what he is doing – like he is being forced.

Or he is a pretty good actor and is selling the hesitation to me really well.

I love that they handled Grace getting personally involved in a case VERY differently than the OG one did with Maddie.

I like that a central theme in this show overall (intentional or not) is that we should follow or at least listen to our instincts & to look further into something that we question.

Was one of the tests for casting the main characters a wide range in facial expressions – no matter the situation? Because this cast kills them all.

Owen showed a lot of growth – he didn’t punch the bearded fuckwad in the HR office

Seriously though – how is he not in jail? Such an accurate representation of the United States judicial system.

I hate him – like more than I did Billy at the end of Season 2.

He is abusive right? Like the red flags could fill a football field.

His ‘wife’ looks so uncomfortable

I love Marjan

I hate fuckhead beard face & his wife

Fuuck their gofundme – you lost your shit because you quite literally lost your shit

I LOVE that Marj talks to Paul, Mateo, & Nancy about this

I love Nancy immediately supporting her

I also think it’s hilarious that they are at Owen & Mateo’s house

Grace being so distracted, but replying was so great

She almost got herself out of it

I love them so much

Charlie is adorable

Ever the supportive husband

“A big scary man”

“I thought you’d be old.”

The twins are great – nice to see them teaming up on Mom

Tommy saying what we all were “Why aren’t you calling 911?”

I love seeing Grace lose her shit – not be in control

Interesting – in 4x04 we saw Carlos “Control Freak” Reyes lose all control, now in 4x05 we see Grace “calm & cool” Ryder lose all control in the field instead of at her desk – and both played it so well

I am with Judd & the kid on coconut in candy bars

I love the Tommy & Grace relationship

It feels real, organic and relatable

I like that Tommy tells Grace how much she does help – how important her role is in the whole first responders world.

So as soon as I saw bomber stalker in the apartment, I knew it would burn or blow – just didn’t expect it to be in the very next scene.

It’s so fucking horrible that two greedy grifting douchebags made her doubt her instincts to much

So, did Owen see the bomber stalker or not? It looked like he did, but??

So punching is better than talking?

I love that Paul went to file a report against the department

I love that she knew Paul pre-transition

I enjoy how observant he is.

I hate it when you know someone from somewhere, but can’t figure out where the hell you know them from

I love the support that Paul and Marjan have for each other

The FD chief is a dick – also I am pretty sure any suit filed by those idiots would be thrown out due to their own actions.

“Please wish her luck with whatever she decides” Asha to Paul – Paul – ‘yeah, I already know what she will be doing”

I am so happy Marjan stuck to her personal morals.

Owen’s reactions while watching the video were great

I agree with Marjan

I can’t wait to see what her journey brings

Just wonder if it will be until 4x09 til we see her again?

He wanted to sell it so bad to Clarke, but tries to talk Marj out of it.

The goodbye for now scene is beautiful

TK looks amazing in that sweater

Mateo will be such a helicopter dad

I am happy that I was wrong with Marjan getting hurt due to Owen’s involvement with the Honor Dogs/FBI – they really had me wondering all the way til the end credits.

You do NOT need to buy another bike – unless it is a bicycle or maybe even a unicycle if you want to be challenged. Not too many criminal organizations in the unicycle community

#911 lone star season 4 #911 lone star spoilers #episode 4x05 #episode thoughts #marjan marwani #grace ryder #126 firefam

[navree]

This might be a jump that I’m only doing in my head, but so often a young girl not looking her age or not ‘acting’ her age is seen as enough of a reason to not treat them as their age. Like when pple say ‘ girls mature faster’ so some 20 year old guy can be ‘dating’ a 16 year old if she is posing on insta looking like a model in her 20s. Or like how a 13 year old black boy will get treated and seen as an adult while a white 13 yro still thought of as a kid.

So I just dunno if saying the show got it wrong from day one cause ‘if Elizabeth looked super young everyone would have understood it’s abuse’ is right. I don’t think Alicia looks her age, and I definitely get a young vibe from her performance. And the show states repeatedly her age and that she’s ‘a child’, if people still see it as a romance just cause they’re not automatically getting the ick watching it, I don’t think that’s really fair.

I get your point that with a younger actress the material would have been tamer, but the show obviously decided it was going to go there with the abuse which is why they didn’t cast someone super young, I don’t think that’s a fault of casting or Alicia, but a decision by the creators. But tbh even if the scenes had been much milder, I wouldn’t have liked to see the ’ ep 2 ‘rooster’ antics if Tom Cullen in his mid 30s was ripping the bed sheets off an 18 year old actress, never mind a younger one. I wouldn’t have been more tuned into Elizabeth’s age and abuse cause I’d be far too preoccupied seeing the actors behind the characters.

So I want to make it very clear since I guess that was opened to being misconstrued, I do not blame Alicia for taking the role and doing her job. It is not Alicia's job to manage the material, ask for rewrites, or do anything other than what she is paid to do, which she is doing. At no point am I blaming Alicia for choices made by the creators and nothing negative I say about the creative decision of the show is meant to be a negative about Alicia. Good? Clear? Great.

As I've said in my post, I haven't watched this show beyond clips. The information I'm getting is information from reviews and history/period drama reviewers I know across social media platforms that I've been engaging with on the subject (and also my mother who is watching the show, is as into the Tudors as I am, and is offering me her takes as she goes along). Take what I say with a grain of salt because I am currently not the audience watching the show (and probably won't be until the first season is finished).

But, all that being said: which is it? Is the show saying that Elizabeth's abuse is being excused by her abuser as her being "mature for her age", the way you mentioned, or is it repeatedly trying to let the audience know that she's "a child", the way you mentioned? And more importantly, my issue isn't about the show "going there" wrt to the abuse and my being upset it's not tame, my issue is that what the show is "going" towards is portraying a man in his forties fucking a fourteen year old in real time, that they're getting away with because they cast actors who have a more similar age gap to Elizabeth and Edward VI than Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour. My issue is that they are using Alicia being a grown woman, and thus not under the purview of things like child pornography laws, to make this as sexy and eroticized and graphic in the worst ways.

Like I said in my OG post, the problem is that the show's apparent mishandling of this abuse (particularly egregious, given how Anya Reiss was really hyping up that they were meant to be handling this sensitively and the end result is........This), combined with Alicia very much looking like an adult woman and not a girl who is meant to be starting this show who's been thirteen for less than half a year, offers ambiguity and thus cover for Seymour for people who aren't well versed in the history and are tuning into this show because they know who Elizabeth is and maybe saw Young Bess back in the day and were curious. They are presenting a scenario where, instead, of seeing someone barely into her teens being abused by a man practically the same age her own mother would have been, they're seeing two adults engaging in a tantalizing push and pull thanks not only to the apparent writing choices, but the choice to have Elizabeth be played by an adult.

On the subject of "I wouldn’t have liked to see the ’ ep 2 ‘rooster’ antics if Tom Cullen in his mid 30s was ripping the bed sheets off an 18 year old actress, never mind a younger one.", yeah, that's kind of my point. No one should be liking anything that's going on, nothing portrayed should be Open To Interpretation, considering how determined they were to hammer into everyone's head in pre-release material that they understood that the Seymour situation was abuse and they were going to sensitively handle it as such. Appropriate casting would have actually helped add to the story they were telling (assuming that's the story they wanted to to tell) by producing visceral shock and disgust and horror in the audience at Elizabeth's treatment at the hands of an adult man. Having it be two adults with the same age gap as my parents cheapens that.

Sorry to talk about GOT again cuz that's a shitshow if I ever saw one but the season 2 throne room scene with Sansa is legit awful to watch, meant to be awful to watch, and emphasizing the point of the scene, that Joffrey is awful and Sansa is in real danger and everyone is too scared of him to intervene save one of our core protagonists Tyrion, enhanced by the fact that Sophie was similar in age to her character (and it was still toned down from its source material due to the actress's age). And there's also things like cuts, filming tricks, editing, the use of body doubles in case things start running the risk, and obviously having appropriate counseling and anything else necessary available to the actress, so that they can avoid breaking the law and avoid causing undo harm to this hypothetical actress while still showcasing the abuse as abuse while having to deal with the fact that they don't get to add in ahistorical graphic sex scenes.

If you think I'm being unfair to Alicia, my apologies, none of these issues are with her and as I said, I think she's a good actress. If you think I'm being unfair to Anya, the rest of the writers, and their casting department (since casting is ultimately up to the creatives), then you are well within your rights to do so. But I am also well within my rights to feel that the casting choices made, compounded by the writing choices made, doesn't sit right with me, causes problems, and ultimately cheapens the tale they've told us they're telling, but failing to actually deliver on because of these factors.

#personal #answered #anonymous #becoming elizabeth #i genuinely do apologize if this is coming off as overly hostile #i'm honestly not trying to be rude i'm just covid addled and thus sleep deprived to all hell #and that tends to dull my abilities to not be super blunt #and also that means this answer is a bit all over the place #ultimately feel the way you want. enjoy it or don't. agree with it or don't. #mine is one opinion in a long list of them and if you're liking the show and what it's doing: great! happy for you! #but that doesn't mean i have to or that i'm somehow not 'getting' something with a critique #that i've had for a while and that i've seen become a problem in hollywood and that other people agree with me on

[pageadaytale]

NaNoWriMo "Week" 1: A Slow Start

Well I've made a start.

The problem is, I'm still about five days behind. A combination of brain fog, exhaustion, and depression as the nights close in have stymied my attempts to write. I wrote 1,000 words to begin, hated all of it, and started again. It's gone much better the second time - and I'm going to count those first words, because I've not deleted them yet. I'm going to put both attempts below the cut, and you can decide which one is better (spoilers: it's very obvious which is better).

If you want to check it out, read on below:

EXCERPT 1: THE FIRST VERSION

The first thing I sing about is the bridge. It’s where this all started, after all.

The bridge doesn’t exist anymore. It fell into disrepair, people forgot about it, the world moved on, as it does. No reason why it shouldn’t.

Only… I’ll never see her again now.

It starts with cold. Bitter cold. The song is about the chill in your bones that numbs your toes and travels up your legs, stinging your knees. But it’s also about loneliness. The loneliness that does the same to your tears and stings your heart. Maybe that’s why I heard it.

Maybe that’s why I ran.

There were a dozen of us in Camp F, but it was rarely the same dozen. Apart from me and chief, we were a rotating cast of the same characters: always an old-timer, an ox, a vulture, a quisling, and half a dozen shiftless layabouts. Never the same actor, not for long. I remember watching the faces change ever so slightly while the parts remained the same, the same lines spoken around the same table by different people.

We were in Camp F because we’d been captured, but they didn’t think any of us clever or strong or capable enough to try to escape, so they might as well work us until we dropped.

Camp F: Camp Fucked.

My first day it was myself and the ten I’d come to know so well through different people. Plus Chief; he was always sitting nearest the door, a great bear of a man with a long mane of red hair. But he was short-sighted and lame of leg, so they didn’t peg him worth a jot for running or fighting. They herded us into the back of a truck, the canvas doing little to keep the chill off our backs and the cold benches dampening our backsides. The sun wasn’t yet risen, but its light curved over to give the ground a blue hue. Black cabins on blue snow. Silhouettes breathing crystal breaths as we crunched through the barbed wire gates to the waiting vehicle. The camp guards formed a sort of honour guard, their rifles held to their chests as we were marched through – it was a lot of ceremony for us, all pageantry to break us further.

All the long drive to the bridge, I didn’t speak. Someone was complaining – one of the layabouts, I forget his name – but Chief let it run. So long as no one kicked off he didn’t thump anybody, and this guy wasn’t going to say anything about the soldiers. It was early, he was tired, he couldn’t nap on these damp seats with his back against freezing canvas, and he was going to let us know about it until one of the guards told him to shut up. And one of them did, with a pointed look and a slight, threatening raise of the butt of his gun which sent the layabout cringing into the shoulder of his neighbour.

The truck rumbled to a stop. The two guards at the back got off, motioning to Chief. He pointed to Ox, Vulture, and the Old-Timer, and between them they hauled a long crate from the floor of the truck down to the snow. After that we followed on, out into the lightening dawn.

Snow is heavy. When it piles up onto the ice too thick, it stops the icebreaker barges from clearing the river. They get damaged, and that wastes time and resources. Better to have prisoners of war clearing the snow so the boats can do their thing, and trade along the river can continue even in winter. It makes sense, from a certain point of view.

This was to become a routine for the next six weeks. The truck stopped before the bridge, and we would get off and step gingerly onto the river. Once we knew it would take our weight, we’d pass the shovels from the box down the line. Then, all twelve of us would begin to scrape up the snow from the ice, shovelling it onto a tarpaulin behind us. We’d clear a section, drag the tarp to the bank, and pile it up.

We would do this fourteen hours a day, every day, for six weeks.

We would’ve done it for longer, but for me.

-

But we’re not there yet. I haven’t told you about the bridge yet.

It was one of those old stone bridges, the kind with no mortar between the stones. It was just a well-constructed arch which went over a fairly small river – deep enough to drown in if you were careless, but you could practically walk along it if you were on tiptoes. I don’t know how they got barges up and down it, it twisted fiercely after the bridge. But maybe I was seeing things even at that point.

The bridge was old – I asked the Old-Timer about it, and he told me it’d been standing since before there was a village. People had needed to get over the river, and they’d built a bridge at this spot. They didn’t bother with mortar – they’d built a foundation of fill like any drystone wall, and they’d arched it over the river with carefully cut stones. The keystones still hung down, a little weathered, their longer tapers breaking the perfect semicircle formed by the bridge over the river. Every day, as we worked, the sun would rise through the arch, glaring off the snow and, if we were unlucky, blinding us. But if we were lucky, it would give us a glimpse of another world…

But I shouldn’t talk about that yet.

The only sound was the crunch of our shovels against the snow. Occasionally you could hear the guards in the distance, gathering around for a smoke break and chatting – their guns were always on their shoulders, so we still did not try anything. As a rule, we didn’t talk as we worked; it was a waste of energy.

That rule was broken twice. The first time was a few days into my stint as a digger.

Every night the snow piled up, and every night the river froze over anew. The icebreaker barges never got very far, and we were fighting a losing battle. This time I was between one of the layabouts and Chief, and I was enjoying the blessed silence as I dug. There was nothing like silence to mask the passage of time.

===

EXCERPT 2: THE REVISED VERSION

The only sounds were the crunch of our shovels in the snow, the click of the guards’ rifles as they swayed idly, and, if you believe the other diggers, my incessant humming.

Vulture liked to say I’d been shoved into Camp F because my constant noise-making would annoy anyone into leaving me behind if they tried to escape, but it was really a shrapnel mine. The same explosion that had got me caught had shredded my leg and left me deaf in my right ear, and since then I’d been twice as slow on my feet and half as quick with my wit. But I’d learned; I kept my songs close, try though they might to escape. In Camp F they called me Bard, because I always had a song or a joke on my lips – or, as Vulture liked to say, “because you never quit with the damn singing!”.

There were always twelve of us in Camp F, though most rotated through. The only ones who didn’t were Chief, a big man with long red hair that hung down in curls and lit up his face with a big beard; and myself, though I wasn’t to know that in the early days. The rest of them came and went, a series of sluggish layabouts who could barely hold the shovel mixed with a coterie of archetypes you always got in a work camp: Vulture, so called because he was always picking at the scraps (or needling the dead, and we all might as well have been dead); Ox, the tall and broad-shouldered labourer whose thoughts moved at glacial pace, and who was happier to serve than to lead; the Old-Timer, whichever ancient sage they passed onto the camp because they decided he could work the snow; and one we’ll call Quisling, the ever-present brown-noser who was never there for very long because there was no dissidence in Camp F to report. The closest we came to treason was joking that we were in Camp F because we were so thoroughly Fucked: Not dead enough to get out of hard labour, but too dead to think of escaping.

And so we were driven in the back of a rickety truck with four guards watching over us, with another truck for escort, to a bridge outside a village in a quiet part of the country, where we were given some not-very-good gloves and a shovel, and we shovelled snow from the icy surface of the river. We cleared the snow in the morning so that by the afternoon, the icebreaker barges could carve up the frozen surface to make way for the trade boats to head down to the sea.

It was useless work, because we were there every day. We shovelled the snow onto a tarp, and when we judged the tarp to be full we’d drag it to the bank and tip it onto the snow already piled high there. While the twelve of us did this, shivering and hating every minute of it, the guards watched us from the banks and from the bridge, hating it just as much.

The river, when not coated in a blanket of thick snow, was a glassy blue which shifted hues and danced with sunbeams as you watched, like looking through a kaleidoscope. It ran in a gentle, meandering path under a drystone bridge in rust-red and moss-green. I don’t know what kind of local clay they used, but it marked the whole town out like a blood clot. When I got out of the truck I’d always look over to see it, this wound jutting from the fresh white terrain. It was picture perfect – I wondered if the bombs would ever reach it, if the war would ever be something for them other than the greycoated guards on their bridge and the funny men in overalls shovelling snow from their river.

When the sun rose on the days we dug, it rose through the bridge. If we had been able to clear the snow fast enough for the barges to break the ice through to it, we might have seen a perfect circle – the arch of the bridge feeding into the slope of the bank beneath, which all curved into the river. We could’ve watched the sun rise from the bridge, and perhaps ridden it up and away from this place. But we could not – could never – be fast enough.

There was only one rule while we were digging, and it was a rule Chief enforced with violence. He enforced it to me on my first day.

I was listening to the shovel scraping against the ice. The wooden handle was old and damp and splintered, and it bit into my hand and raised welts which I wouldn’t feel until we returned to the prison camp and I warmed them up under my armpits. The gloves were thin and almost worn through, which made keeping a grip difficult, and meant I lost feeling in my hands within the first hour. The rest of our clothes weren’t much better – the overalls were not meant for outdoor work, and so the legs got soaked from the snow and the back got soaked from my sweat, and that moisture would freeze and making movement difficult, except in an awkward stiff-legged stoop; and the shoes were once good, solid leather with wool outers, but now the wood was threadbare and the leather had holes, and the rough, thick socks soaked up the moisture they let in with wild abandon, chilling the toes and leading to sores, if not outright frostbite. We’d been out there some three hours – I’d lost all feeling in my hands and feet, and the numbness was just starting to turn into a dull ache in my toes, and Vulture was muttering another jibe about my tuneless humming, when I heard the song.

I don’t usually hear things, not well. But this came through the heart. I paused in my digging, consumed by it, for the sound of it ached in my chest and I long to hear who was singing it.

The song went like this:

The last leaf has died

And the birds head for warmer climes.

But here I must remain

To reckon with my crimes.

To desire to feel

The wind and the sun on my skin;

For this solemn wish

The brambles grow thick and trap me within.

I am stuck with thorns,

How much must I bleed for you?

I am stuck with thorns,

My wings are staked wide for you.

I am stuck with thorns,

The brambles grow thick and trap me within.

I stood entranced to hear it. The others around me shook their head and groaned, all except a few; they tried to keep digging, but the few of us who had never heard this before did not know this ritual, we were drawn to the arch of the bridge, from beneath which the song came.

The voice was high and mournful. It seemed to carry from far away, and persisted even as the wind picked up. The guards looked around, rifles in hands – behind us, the barge trembled in the unstilled waters, rocking towards the bank.

I was utterly under the spell of the voice. I heard guns cocking around me as I dropped the shovel, walked towards the bridge. There was shouting behind me, my fellow prisoners, but in that moment I felt unable to do anything other than walk towards the bridge, towards the voice that dwelt within.

I made it two faltering steps before Chief’s shovel caught me at ankle height, and I tumbled head first into the snow. The cold shock burned my face and brought me back to reality; I came up gasping as a fist balled up the back of my jacket and dragged me to my knees. Chief laid a heavy hand on my shoulder and glowered into my eyes with a fearful intensity.

‘One rule, Bard!’ he barked. ‘Don’t listen to the music! Don’t let it in! Just dig your patch and block it out.’ I stared back into those eyes, so filled with fear, and I wondered what could have engendered such emotion in Chief.

As I made to stand, with his help, a sharp report made us both flinch and turn to look. One of the other new inmates, having been craftier than me or more reckless, or simply surrounded by less prudent prisoners, had used my fall as a distraction to run for the bridge himself. He’d made it halfway before the guard at the top of the bridge trained arms on him and fired. Now he lay spread-eagled in the snow, unmoving, unseeing, melting the snow and staining the ice a rich, dark red. I stared at the body, somehow jealous – he’d gotten so much farther than I had. Had we been hearing the same song? Had he been drawn to the bridge, as I had? I hoped that he heard it even as he lay dying – how beautiful, to hear such a sound as you die. As we returned to our digging, I thought I could die happy if only I heard that voice lit up in song once again.

The sun rose. Being a man down, our day ended up being longer than most; we finally got finished as the sun reached its feeble peak, our hands bloodied and our feet stinging with pins and needles. Breathlessly we dumped the spades into the crate and hauled ourselves aboard the truck. As I pulled myself onto the footplate, I paused to catch my breath, and my eyes lingered over the body which had been moved to the far bank. Vulture squatted in front of it, going through its pockets, until a guard barked an order at him raised the butt of his rifle. Cringing, Vulture made his awkward, hopping run back to our group. The remaining eleven of us sat in silence on the way back, most staring at the floor, though I kept my wary eyes on Vulture.

He returned my gaze levelly, as though he’d done nothing wrong.

===

So that's the two versions. Obviously I'm biased, but I can clearly see the difference. I find the first version so disjointed and muddled, it reflects my mental state when I was trying to write, disliking what I'd written because I knew it made no sense. I was trying to do everything at once, and I think it showed.

The second version is much more streamlined, I'd come in with an idea of what I was trying to say and how I was trying to show it. It takes a little longer, and it tells more of the story, but mainly it shows what's going on clearly.

Which I think is sorely needed for an opening.

#NaNoWriMo #Novel #Fiction #The Winter Spirit

[langernameohnebedeutung]

The annoying thing about the youth-fixiation in acting and everything else is that older actors are simply better. ///

I believe there is a lot of young talent ….unfortunately most don’t get big roles or opportunities due to lack of looks or marketing. You have to remember…..Hollywood is a business. If they actually cared about talent SO MANY things would be different. I’m glad many actors past 60 are still working just sucks that many of their roles are limited, but I don’t think it’s fully fair to compare someone in their 60s who’s been acting a long time to someone in their 20s/30s. At one point that 60 year old was a rookie. Some people sucked when they first started and eventually got better. Some folks have been trained and came out full force with greatness. It’s one thing to have talent to act it’s another thing to take that talent and be able to know the technical aspect and how to depict things on camera. Acting isn’t easy and we see that when many actors make things look so simple and easy because they are that good, but yes there are individuals who have no reason to be labeled an “actor” because they just suck. Lol

Oh, I definitely agree - there are many talented young actors (many of which are getting sidelined due to looks or discrimination or because they don't have the right contacts or networks in the industry) - and acting is a skill that takes time to perfect, just like any other skill. And the thing is, of course it's not fair to say 'wow older actors are so much better than younger ones!' and ignore the experience-gap and that really wasn't my intention. It's completely normal that someone who is younger and doesn't work in a certain field as long doesn't have that same experience - and there are still many brilliant younger actors. (And quite a few older actors that always make me wonder how long their 80s smash hit cult movie can possibly keep their expressionless concrete-mug in business)

But the weird thing with the film industry is ... that in most other industries, the most talented person is put at the centre and the younger people work their way up and support them and learn by doing. The movie industry, however, is an accumulation of time-sensitive singular projects and obviously doesn't quite work the same way. In a hospital, you probably don't give your most complicated surgery to the guy who just finished med school and have the guy who did that surgery for twenty years watch the ventilator. A lawyer's office isn't going to give defending the rich serial killer with his fingerprints all over the victims' bodies to the rookie and have the best senior attorney who won all her cases on a 'their dog is pooping into my yard' case. And that's not because they don't respect these young people or don't see their potential for growth - but simply because they want the best result.

But Hollywood operates differently because these actors are part of the product. In fact, it stands to notice that opera and theatre are also more flexible than films. I've seen Hamlets of all ages, ethnicities, and genders. They're definitely not casting Siegfrieds, Wotans, and Brünnhildes based on how visually convincing they are in these roles. There is a much bigger range from 'hey, if we casted X in that role, what would it say about the story?' to 'fucking suspend your disbelief, it just matters how good this guy sings.' - but portrayal in mainstream (!) Hollywood movies these days really doesn't do that. (unless it is asking you to imagine that a 27 year old is actually 14).

Most films are about younger people compared to the...range of human life expectancy. The reason why I edited my post from saying 'youthficiation' to 'youth-fixiation' actually was that...well, thinking about it, it's not even a recent problem. Especially for actresses compared to actors - because having an older male lead character is much more common than an older female lead character. And pairing a male lead (especially an already famous actor) with a much, much younger female lead is a lot more popular than pairing an older female lead with a much younger male protagonist. And I think one way to solve this would be to actually tell all kinds of stories with characters from all kinds of different age brackets (and not every story with characters that are 40+ need to be about mid-life-crises or aging and handing over the reigns to some rookie or something. They can get a dumb vampire flick same as everyone else.)

I see the problem with balance (or lack thereof). I think one 'problem' with famous, big name older actors is that they're expensive. So they're only cast for a small role but it's advertised all over because it might just be your only selling point. That's how you get Patrick Stewart playing the poop emoji in the Emoji Movie (although, from a place of love Patrick, 'no' is a word that is free to say). But putting famous older actors front and centre is also extremely expensive. So you might want a cheaper lead.

And this isn't bad - as long as the rest of your film holds up. If you have two talented leads (even if they're not famous and even if they're need a lot of cues and coaching etc), the difference between their acting and one or two scenes with really seasoned actors won't stand out nearly as much. (But also, coaching, lots and lots of takes etc. also costs time and money - and the authority and leverage for an actor to say 'no, I want to do it like this/no I want X, I want more takes, I want to change this line, this angle' - that also all has to do with experience and influence, I'd imagine.)

The real problem is if (on the one hand) the leads are...well, rather mediocre and (on the other hand) one or more side-character/s in a really minor role draws all the intention/audience emotion - that makes the film as a whole easily appear unbalanced for me and I will always be sitting there, hoping to see the 1 talented person again, doing their thing - even if it's not part of the major plot. At the point where I'm more interested by just a person doing their own thing in the living room and not the high-stakes mainplot, I feel like there is something off.

I think the most famous example for this problem would be child actors. There are brilliant child actors! Child actors that act beyond their years - especially if they get the right coaching and direction. Many of them don't deserve the bad rep child actors get. But even for those who do, directing, scene compositions, cues, timing, pacing, cuts etc can make a world of difference. Also, stuff like children's movies really call for child actors to be front and centre - but your average rom-com doesn't call for the leads to be 22. Children's movies are about children, that's the point. But when it comes to movies for an adult audience (...not the raunchy kind), I really think it would help if the ages and experience-levels of the actors involved were spread out more evenly over the cast. I think that would be the easiest way to smooth that problem over a little.

#sorry it took me a while to answer!

[therealvinelle]

You or The Muffin made a post on your dream cast(s), but I’m not really familiar with those references/actors (with the exception of Bowie and Jean Claude Van Damme and Clint Eastwood I think you mentioned). Is there anyone you would choose that’s a little more recent (80s-present)?

Our dream cast.

Our dream voice cast, for those interested.

Fun fact, both those posts were composed together, so yeah we share these opinions. We composed this one together as well.

Keep in mind that this list is... well it's for Twilight as I would make it. Which means that of course we’re casting a Didyme, nevermind that she’s been dead for thousands of years, but Denali who?

And once again we’re disrupting the time-space continuum and casting big name actors you’ve definitely heard about as they were ten, twenty, or thirty years ago.

Alright, so newer and shinier Twilight fancast, this time with a few alternatives because decisions are hard:

Alice: ... Audrey Hepburn.

I'm sorry. I tried. I tried to be modern, but I got to Alice and originally we thought Saoirse Ronan, appearances be damned because Ronan is a great actress, only to realize Ronan should be Renesmée.

So we're back to the dream cast. Audrey Hepburn was a tiny, pixie-like, yet ridiculously beautiful woman. Like Alice, her growth was stunted due to prolonged starvation during the War, so she's the perfect casting in a way no modern Western actress is going to be. She was also an amazing actress, just absolutely magnetic each time she graced the screen. She would be a fantastic Alice.

Aro: A young Tom Cruise.

Cruise is an absurdly beautiful man, and at 173 cm he is the right stature as I could never cast a tall actor for Aro. He's a very good actor, so I'm sure he'd be up for it. Also, he'd look great with chalky petrified vampire makeup on. He'd pull it off. I want to see this.

Optionally: Cate Blanchett

Yes, she's a woman. But that's what acting is all about, you play someone you're not. It's more a thing in theatre than in film that men can play women and women can play men, but I say fuck the rules, we're doing it theatre style. And Blanchett absolutely have that enigmatic, ethereal, otherworldly quality I'd want for Aro.

Bella: A young Sarah Michelle Gellar

Gellar is a petite beauty, she is spunky yet adorable, and very charming, the people of Forks and the Cullens would very believably gravitate towards her. Most importantly she has the acting chops to pull it off. She would portray an amazing Bella.

Caius: Daniel Craig

The man is the right age, he's someone you don't mess with. Craig has perhaps a touch too charismatic, but he's good enough that I'm hopeful he could tune it down.

Carlisle: A young Leonardo DiCaprio

DiCaprio is ridiculously attractive and has a bad case of The Babyface™. Watching him try to convince people that he’s 30 years old and has adult kids would be absolutely hilarious, and very faithful to the books. He’s a talented actor, too, very versatile.

Optionally: David Tennant

Tennant doesn't look the part, he is handsome but handsome in that particular way when flawed features come together handsomely. He does however have the perfect charm, gravitas, and energy for the character, so I think he could make a great Carlisle. 

This is where the magic of movie adaptions come in - you’re not going to be able to translate directly from text to screen, that’s impossible. If you embrace that and make some bold choices, you stand to make a truly spectacular adaption. One of the reasons why the Twilight films failed is that they were too faithful to the books while failing to understand the spirit of them, whereas the TV miniseries adaption of His Dark Materials switched a lot of things up and is absolutely amazing for it.

Demetri: Robert Downey Jr.

Ridiculously charismatic and talented actors cast in bit parts and making them shine is a passion of mine.

Didyme: Cate Blanchett

Look, Blanchett had to be in this somehow, and we could think of no one more appropriate. She has too much enigma for Esme, is too womanly for Alice, and once the idea for Didyme was had it was hard to weasel out of. 

Cate Blanchett would be convincing as Aro's sister, as a woman who haunts her lover and brother even thousands of years after her passing, an enigmatic and divine woman who can never be forgotten.

Also she's my fancast for her brother, so this works out quite nicely. Why cast someone who merely looks like Aro’s actor when you can just cast the same actor.

Edward: A young Johnny Depp

Very few men are otherworldly beautiful. There are countless handsome men, yes, and many beautiful ones, but Depp has extreme and symmetrical features that come together beautifully. Robert Pattinson does too, for the record, so what makes me prefer Depp is the fact that he is an incredible actor. Pattinson is good, but Depp is the kind of talent who can power through even the worst scripts, give him nothing and he will give you the world. He’s on Al Pacino’s level, this man can salvage anything.

Emmett: Terry Crews

Terry Crews is a mountain of a man, he's massive. He'd nail Emmett's infectious cheer, too. He has a very symmetrical and attractive face that follows the golden ratio beautifully, so I could buy him being a vampire.

Esme: Anne Hathaway ten years ago. Ref one, ref two.

She’s out of this world beautiful and has the perfect Esme aesthetic. Hands down best Esme. The fact that she’s a very good actress helps.

Felix: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

He’s got the physique for the part and would be absolutely menacing.

James: Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt is a character actor who tragically got lost in the blockbuster scene. He’s good, he deserves cool parts. So yeah, Pitt as James. I think he’d be absolutely amazing for the part, it’d be the kind of performance where you can tell the actor was enjoying every second on set.

Jane and Alec: Child Dakota Fanning

Fanning was a good choice for Jane, it's just that she was slightly too old when she was cast (and they made her look even older!) and the screenwriters had written a different character than the one in the books (and not for the better - I’m all for changing things in an adaption! But, well, she was Marvel levels of bad villain). And as Alec is a bit part and supposed to be nearly identical to her, I’d just have Fanning play him as well.

Jasper: Clint Eastwood, every time.

Optionally: feels like blasphemy to even have an “optionally”, but here we are. If you somehow haven’t heard of the guy, then… er. No, sorry, I’ve got nothing. Know that I tried, though.

Marcus: Tom Holland

The man has such babyface, which fits since Marcus is 19.

Just Tom Holland, sitting around, looking young and depressed.

Renata: A young Natalie Portman

Yes, yes, Renata is a bit part, I know that, but this is my Twilight we're casting for so I do what I want.

Portman fits the physical description for Renata, and I find that description to be relevant to her character. She's a teeny tiny woman charged with protecting the most important man in the world, and gifted with intouchability. Portman looks is beautiful enough to fit the bill for a Twilight vampire, and tiny enough to stress the absurdity of this 5′0″ woman being anybody’s bodyguard, nevermind Aro’s.

Renesmée: Child Saoirse Ronan (Though Adult Ronan works too, she’s my cast for the hybrid gremlin period.)

She was an extraordinarily talented child actress, and she’s beautiful while odd-looking. I could absolutely believe I was looking at an otherworldly hybrid when looking at her.

Mostly I think Renesmée is going to be a very hard part for anybody, as the given actor will be portraying one of the most ridiculed characters in recent pop culture. It’ll take major talent to get the audience to care about Renesmée, but I think Ronan, if anybody, could do it.

Rosalie: Margot Robbie ten years ago

She’s out of this world beautiful, and more importantly she’s an incredible actress. She would be incredible for the part.

#long post #alice cullen #aro #bella swan #caius #carlisle cullen #demetri #edward cullen #emmett cullen #esme cullen #felix #james #jane #alec #jasper hale #marcus #renata #renesmée cullen #rosalie hale #twilight #twilight fancast #twilight renaissance #twilight meta