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lem-argentum · 2 months

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hi hi here’z a post of me rambling about some of the things in shadow.bringers, because i predicted i would be abnormal about it and i was right. 💛💛 <)

1. FIRST OF ALL. character writing. early into the game i remember reading someone say that shb improves a lot in giving you a lot of character moments. and i remember not entirely believing it because this game is usually so plot-driven that characters’ feelings are not the spotlight? and you especially don’t talk to them one-on-one in depth about emotions or anything. BUT AS IT TURNS OUT. THEY *WERE* TELLING THE TRUTH

from very early in..!! when you reunite with ali.saie and you have that talk with her on the tower overlooking the flood. VERY GOOD moment. just the two of you, her expanding on feelings that were introduced to you post-stb and prior, further establishing the relationship you have with her in a meaningful way. it sets up the fact that.!!! moments like this continue happening through the whole story forward…!!! lots of them…!!!! and it was so unanticipated on my side that when th.ancred just started talking to us about his struggles & insecurities in nuvy’s leavings i was like HUH!!!!!!??? AMND IT KEEPS HAPPENING. HELPS YOU CARE PROPERLY FOR THE CHARACTERS AND LETS YOU FEEL CLOSE WITH THEM. EMOTIONS FEEL LIKE THEY’RE GIVEN THE ATTENTION THAT THEY NEED, ITS GOOD. <3

2. tge setting. awesome. the premise is compelling all in itself. “world plagued by eternal light + essentially a zombie apocalypse with angelical beings” is a strong base especially in juxtaposition to earlier plots where the main threats are nothing like it. and the story leads you through different areas in such a smooth way, each introducing to you the effects of the flood on the people and auaug it’s got cool worldbuilding in it. <3 it’s not at all without its flaws (kholusia is super interesting in idea i’m a huge fan of “location has something deeply wrong with it but its residents are unaware” concepts, but, ya know. vau.thry’s whole deal could have been much better, hm……..!) but i’m in love with lots of it….. leadinf into:

3. emet-s.elch. making him a section is kind of funny HEKFK I THOUGHT HE WAS A GOOD VILLAIN. have not thought about him enough to super elaborate but the themes around him + amaurot are so oouuuououg. good. amaurot was such a change in atmosphere from places we’ve seen before and the ENERGY. was SO. AUGH. (its theme, the ticking clock, the the the….!!.!) having its destruction be a dungeon was also a great idea. having us go through the calamity ourselves to experience what it was like & the loss he’s been dealing with for eons. it’s cool. OH AND TALKING SPECIFIC CHARACTERS:

4. ARDBERTTTTTTTTTTT. MY FRIEND. MY BESTIE. I HAVENT MENTIONED HIM BEFORE. BUT HE’S EVERYTHING. you could argue he has one of the best narratives out of any character here ever. the scenes you share with him are so so special i understand why people like him so much. warriors of darkness my beloved your writing gives me So Much Feeling.

5. The Themes. in general. okay SO. you could really write an essay on how shb feels like it was written for suicidal people. truly. at the very beginning you are introduced to the premise of “your friends have figured out that you are destined to die. and they have spent their past years trying to stop it.” and that’s not the entire deal, you all still have a world to save, the focus is on that, but that theme is still there, in the background, and whenever it shows itself it is so potent. to me.

this game has a core of hope and survival and it’s a central point constantly. but in shb…. it feels most directed at you. the exarch tells you to survive at all costs, that it’s the one request he must impose on you. to “burn bright again, and live.” ali.saie has you promise against self-sacrifice (several times, actually!). and with the way everything is worded, it’s hard not to feel like the message is from real people, urging you to stay.

when the warrior of light is, well. consumed by the light. when emet tells you, in front of everyone, how much of a danger you will be, how you will inevitably hurt and ruin everyone around you — the only thing on their minds is curing you. not getting rid of you, even with all the world’s corruption inside of you. you wake up in a soft bed and are told of how busy everyone has been, desperately searching for any other route for you. (and, of course, that’s the obvious course of action for people who care about you, but to players who struggle to see that as at all reasonable, it means something…!!)

you see the light in the sky above you and KNOW it’s because of you that it’s there. that if you were gone the first would be free. and then you are told that there is hope, that you and everyone else will find another ending to this, and if they can’t, they will forge one. and everyone insists on being by your side even when who you are could bring about their doom at any moment. and ITS GOOD………!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all this to say: i understand why this is most players’ favorite expansion. um. game good, meant a lot to me. :’) THE END <3.

(AND TAKING A MOMENT TO PUT MY FAVORITE SHB TRACKS HERE, OK? OK <3. special shoutouts to to fire and sword (HELL YES.), sands of blood and the quick way (the night themes being so intentionally calm & elegant compared to their daytime counterparts really makes you think doesn’t it.), mortal instants (yeaahhhhhhhg. <3), who brings shadow (THE CROWD ERUPTS IN CHEER). OKAY THE END <333)

#lem text #lem ramblings #xivposting #suicide mention #<- discussion of themes. 💛#please pardon my passion nothing has given me this much consistent excitement in 7 months fkdnfjd <3333

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juniperhillpatient · 1 year

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The Blind Bandit Re-Watch

TOPH!!! This episode is so much fun. I just love an iconic character introduction, & Toph absolutely gets that. I'm also just a huge fan of the "tiny delicate-looking girl takes out big muscular men easily" trope so of course I always have a blast with this episode.

I've consistently said that earth-benders are terrifying & this episode leans into that. I loved the Earth Rumble fights, & the brief attempt Aang made to hang with the earth-bending kids at the earth-bending academy. Side note - are bending academies a common thing in the Avatar world? It seems like they are for earth bending, & probably for fire-bending too? Do the kids learn regular skills like math & language there too or just bending? Just something I was pondering with the world-building.

Katara scaring the crap out of the bully kids is hilarious, & I love the juxtaposition from *hair flip & smirk* "a girl has her ways" to *the boys trapped in ice.* That's just iconic to me. Also, I liked Sokka sliding out after Katara & saying "water tribe" in a mocking voice. So funny.

My biggest criticism of this episode is that while a lot of Sokka's comedy (obsessing over shopping & his new bag, getting too into the earth rumble) was funny by itself, it was leaned into in a way that prioritized comedy over accurate characterization. I just didn't like that Sokka didn't appear to care about finding Aang an earth-bending teacher, & didn't care when Aang & Toph were kidnapped. That doesn't feel true to the character. This critique was pointed out to me already & so I probably noticed it more haha - it's not like I was super mad about it, but it's something I noticed. Like I said, I overall enjoyed Sokka's antics, especially when it came to shopping.

I loved the dinner scene & Toph messing with Aang while acting totally innocent was hilarious. I also like that afterward, she apologizes, calls a truce, & explains a little more about herself. Something that I struggle with & don't always think I get right when writing Toph in fics is balancing her brashness with her emotional intelligence - which she does have. She didn't have to apologize & explain, but she did.

Another scene transition that I really loved in this episode was "Toph is probably terrified" *cut to Toph mocking her kidnappers.* Toph kicking the entire Earth Rumble's collective asses was iconic.

It's left a bit ambiguous whether the Gaang knows that Toph was lying about her father "having a change of heart" & I totally forget if they actually knew or not. So, I'm excited to see that play out. Sometimes having the memory of a goldfish is fun, like when you're re-watching a favorite show for the 500th time!

Speaking of bad memory, I forgot that I was doing a points thingy for Iconic Behavior™. Oh well, no one really earned any in 'Avatar Day' anyway. The points will be added for each season & for the show overall at the end of my re-watch.

Toph gets 500 for her introduction, another 500 for kicking ass in the fight at the end, & another 1 for her trickster behavior so that she could run away with the Gaang. Katara gets 500 for scaring those bullies.

Here are the rankings for Book 2 (not including anything earned in Book 1) so far:

Azula: 2000

Mai: 1000

Ty Lee: 1000

Iroh: 500

Zuko: 500

Toph: 1001

Katara: 500

#atla re watch #the blind bandit #atla book 2

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maxemilianverstappen · 2 years

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Look, I am a Seb fan since before most of his so called fans even knew he existed. And the way his fans suck upto Lewis and team l/h and the way team l/h fans say they only "like" Seb out of Lewis's rivals is so funny to me. And them calling this a "rivalry" that's worthy of being made into a movie like the Launt one... Is just absolutely baffling.

Sorry, but there is neither friendship between them in any form nor there was a rivalry that's comparible to the one he had with say, Max this year, due to many reasons that wasn't ONLY his fault as the horsey team and some of their fans tried to stick onto him.

The moment the guy fell off from the position to be able to challenge him, Seb suddenly became a darling, a super duper bro, a pretty ship material to be milked not only just by their respective teams but also F1 itself, which also shows the juxtaposition of his media image during the time he was a threat and after he stopped being one.

His fans are quite the forgetful bunch or they are downright uninformed. Being delusional yet running behind brownie woke points also helps, I guess.

#eri.exe

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under-sedationnn · 3 years

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asra week 2021: celebration

me? writing and posting the day one prompt for asra week on day three? more likely than you think haha work has been keeping me super duper busy, but i really want to be able to participate in something so cool and genuine :) harnessing creativity takes time and effort, but it is so worth and it! i am so so proud of all of the work that has been posted for asra week so far and am honored to be a part of it, even if i am a little late on posts :) hope you enjoy!!

Word Count: 1465

@sweetalnazar

"Asra, not to whine or anything, but how much longer until we reach where we're going?"

Chuckling, he turned to me, his face mischievous and bright in the warm sun of the afternoon. He grabbed my hand, and laid a small kiss on my knuckles.

"Not too much longer, Y/n, I promise."

After traveling on foot for hours at this point, my mind reeled with the question: Where is he taking me? He had avoided the question with relative ease all day, only indulging me in the detail that I would love it, and that it would be worth the journey. My calves burned and sweat trickled down my back. I yearned for the cool breeze that set in after sundown; luckily, night was near.

Steeling myself for another taxing hour of aching feet, I suddenly noticed a bright gathering of lights up ahead. Although sunset drowned out the glory of candles and lanterns on the horizon, it was clear that upon nightfall, the place would be alive with heat and fire.

Stopping in my tracks, I asked, "Is this where you're taking me?"

He only smiled, and in our excitement we nearly ran the rest of the way. Arriving, I noticed booths, tents, and a small stage. Foreign spices tickled at my nose and my mouth watered at the thought of what kinds of food I would find here.

Although, there was a presence of something else, as well. Something familiar, ghosting past me. Seeping into my skin, gliding across my arms and legs and filling my clothes with fever and chill and adventure.

Gesturing widely to the array of people and small shops in front of us, Asra said, "Welcome to the Celebration of the Magician."

Understanding, I asked, "So you feel it too? It's magic in the air?"

"Quite literally."

Walking through one of the small aisles, he explained, "We'll run into many drifters here. Many that are not actual magicians, like the fortune tellers in Vesuvia. However," he stopped in front of a sealed tent, smoke drifting slowly out of the cracked seam, "there are some like us."

"There's another magician in there?"

He simply nodded, asking, "Would you like to meet her?"

Nodding vigorously, I took his hand and led us into the large space. Despite the presence of the tent outside, the inside seemed to stretch out into a grand entrance. The walls made out of black fabric, the floor smoothly shifted from patchy grass and sand into ebony marble. Smoke laced the roof of the tent, swirling down to trace our skin.

The smell of ash and tobacco grew stronger as we approached a door at the end of the long, wide hall. Sealed shut, there was no handle. Foreign symbols were etched around the door frame, and I assumed they were protective charms.

"Asra, what are these?" I asked, tracing my fingers over the carved lines.

Leaning closer to the door, he mimicked my actions, “They keep the door sealed to unwanted visitors, non-magicians.”

“Okay, but there’s not even a handle, how do we get in?”

Backing away, he said, “We need to figure out what the symbols say. If I know anything about Aislinn, it’s that she loves riddles.”

Rooting through his satchel, he pulled out a small book of symbols and incantations, searching for matching words or characters that could aid us. As the minutes passed, I began to grow slightly frustrated at the seemingly impossible riddle, though Asra kept a calm demeanor.

Turn around. A voice whispered, the words floating around my head for moments after.

Turn around. It repeated, and this time I obliged.

A mirror had appeared, embellished with fiery jewels set into bright gold. Quite the juxtaposition against the cold and murky decor of the room.

Peering into the reflection, I began to read the symbols along the door. The once foreign words had transformed into a language I could not only understand with ease, but ones that felt completely familiar to me.

Translating, I carefully said, “You may enter when the waves crash and the seas part, when two bodies become one.”

Turning around abruptly, Asra made his way over to the mirror, only noticing its appearance after hearing me speak. “You can read it?”

“Yeah, if you look in the mirror, it shows you what it says, look!” I pointed to all of the words along the doorframe within the reflection, and still found Asra dumbfounded at the symbols across the door.

“Y/n, they just look like backwards symbols to me,” he chuckled, looking proudly at my face. “I suppose your magic has connected to Aislinn’s somehow, she must like you.”

Though feeling proud, I still found myself confused at the riddle that was presented to us.

“That’s great, but that still doesn’t take care of this riddle. You know I have never been very good at them.”

“Which must be why you love visiting the Magician’s realm so much, hm?” he teased, earning a poke in the side from me.

“Ha ha, very funny,” I said, chuckling all the while, “but seriously, what does it mean oh great riddle solver?”

“Well let’s see,” he began, “we know that it’s not literal, so she’s not actually talking about the sea or two bodies of water crashing into each other.”

“Oh,” I said, “I think I understand.”

He gave me a small smirk, leaning closer, “Me too, should we test the theory?”

Giving him a small nod, he pulled me close and placed a small kiss on my lips. Though not lasting long, after we pulled away, the feeling of his lips on mine lingered. His eyes shined and a blush faded across the bridge of his nose. I remembered then how much I care about him, and everything he has done to help me.

As I dared to pull him in again, the door swung open with a small creek, and we were pulled in with an imaginary force. Colors swirled around us until everything faded to a muggy hue of red and black and gold.

I found myself sitting on a plush couch, next to Asra, while surrounded by other magicians. Some were sitting in the same area as we were, sipping on drinks and telling each others’ fortune, while others danced slowly and sultry. Their bodies moved in synced rhythm to low drums, cellos, violas. The smoke was thick within this room as well, and it had a dreamlike quality to it.

Looking at Asra, I felt relaxed, at ease, and as though I could take a long nap. He obviously felt similarly, the same sleepy expression playing across his face, as well.

“I thought you two would never make it.” I deep, slow voice drawled, “Honestly, Asra, you’ve lost your touch.”

Moving my gaze upwards, I found a tall and aged woman towering over us. Although she showed her age, her aura was timeless and she seemed to radiate youth, passion, and a sense of risk. A large, black panther roamed aimlessly around the room, eventually finding a seat at her feet.

“It’s nice to see you again, Aislinn,” standing, he took one of her ringed hands and placed a small kiss on the back of it, “you look fantastic.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself, young magician.”

Turning to meet my eyes, she gestured for me to stand. I stood to meet her gaze, and found myself having to look up at her statuesque figure.

“And this one, where did you find them?” She ran her nails along my jaw, seemingly scrutinizing the intricacies of my face.

“They found me, Aislinn, and I am lucky for it.”

“Well they’re just beautiful aren’t they, and so very powerful.”

She smiled at me, and placed kisses across my cheeks. Stepping back, she spoke to the both of us.

“Please do enjoy yourselves, and don’t be strangers.”

Gliding away, her familiar followed after her, vanishing into the misty crowd ahead.

“Would you like to dance?” Asra asked, bringing my attention back to him.

Blushing, I answered, “With you, always.”

Walking over toward the other dancers, he found my hips and brought them to his own. Wrapping my hands around his neck, he buried his face into my shoulder and began to sway. A slow pace, soft, with small kisses along my shoulder blades and neck. Our hips moved into synchronicity, and mouths followed the beat of the drums, and rhythm of the strings, the heat of the room.

The Celebration of the Magician was meant to represent the honoring of magic itself, as well as all of the people who harness its powers. However, in this moment, Asra and I celebrated one another, the power we possessed, as well as what we meant to each other.

#asra #asra the magician #asra the arcana #the arcana imagines #asra week 2021

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speremint · 4 years

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Look, the fact that someone can look at a brilliant, free comic with interesting characters & plot along with frankly stunning art and think “Hmm... I think I will go and complain about the fact they are not working on the other free thing, the one they are being paid for,” and go ahead and post it is... wild. Tumblr is... bad to artists, shockingly. Anyway you’re an amazing person and I hope you have a great day/whatever anyway! Nobody can dictate the kind of content create except yourself.

LOL I want you to know that this is the ask that’s directly below yours in my askbox; I wasn’t gonna answer because I don’t... care, but the juxtaposition is so funny to me because you articulated it better than I could (albeit I really appreciate the compliments)

To those of y’all who still seem to be super obtuse as to why this is annoying, it’s because they went out of their way to go on a separate platform entirely, on my webcomic itself, to ask for more free content.

And again, my webcomic has weekly full-color, 40+ panel updates, so to just go past all of that to ask for ANOTHER comic is just... super wild!

I don’t know why this is so appalling to some of y’all in regards to why it’s irritating, but....

#mei responds #Anonymous #drama cw

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0poole · 3 years

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Humor in Writing

Most of the time I feel like dismissing what might seem like “faults” in writing because I haven’t actually made anything myself, and especially haven’t gotten any attention to what I make, but every once in a while something really ticks me off. Of course, I still try to take it with a grain of salt because of my lack of true experience in writing, but considering I’m hoping to actually become some degree of a writer I feel like it’s worth actually trying to explain what I think is a fault with things and why.

There always seems to be one specific thing that bothers me a lot when reading/watching stuff, and it’s the hard switching of tone from comedy to sincerity, or something similar to that, or vice versa.

Honestly, even though it sounds like the motive of a cartoon villain, I kinda think there’s too much humor in the world. It’s probably just entirely driven by opinion and preferences, but I feel like so many people are striving and looking for comedy that it hinders so many other things. I feel like, both in real life and in writing, having so much humor everywhere creates a pretty big gap between that tone and sincerity, which is pretty much always needed at some point. The big line between comedy and sincerity makes it so much harder, emotionally speaking, to feel good about the switch. I’ll try to explain…

First of all, this whole line of thought, even though I’ve been thinking it forever, was spawned by me watching Epithet Erased. Took me long enough, because I’ve seen some of the characters around and really loved their designs, but I finally watched it all, and I gotta say… It was interesting. Also, this is probably just going to be very ranty and opinionated but I will (hopefully) have something more valuable to say after. But, anyways, for one, it felt just barely too close to some of the premises for the stories I’ve thought of in various ways, but I guess that’s just bad luck on my part. Second, I feel like its humor really brought it down for me. Some episodes felt so long winded (although not necessarily “boring” I guess) because I felt like I got the joke they were trying to tell relatively quickly after they started it, but carried it so far. It didn’t help that, at least for a few of them, some of the characters felt like archetypes that I’ve seen a lot around the internet, or at least were simple enough that I understood what they were instantly, and when they are carried out through long character-focused moments it felt like nothing was happening. I feel like some of the characters are fine enough, even if I may not like them, but Giovanni and Indus were the two big ones that I thought had a little too much time given to them…

But more relevant to what I’m trying to say, sometimes the writing jumps way too far from the very comedic tone it’s trying to put out and into it trying to be sincere. The worst case of this was when Sylvie met Mera in the museum storage, and Sylvester tried to out Mera’s nightmares, only to see that her nightmare was the reality she was already in. With the scene change, and Indus becoming more serious with Molly, it felt like a good enough departure from the usual comedic tone to warrant the deeper motive of the character. But, then, of course, they had to trash the whole tone by adding the line about her also being afraid of ducks. There was absolutely no good reason to warrant that line and I will die on that hill. Not only was it just humor, but it was spontaneous “random” humor, and so on… I honestly hope people could just understand where I’m coming from there by how out of place it seems. I feel like the only defense they could use, apart from “just liking it,” would be that it’s comedic relief, but I genuinely feel like since practically the whole thing up until this point was comedy there was absolutely no need for comedic relief. The scene itself is like the opposite of comedic relief, like “Sit down and pay attention” or “Turn your brain back on” or whatever. The climactic point of the scenes before it were reached, meaning the sincere conflict there should be focused on, and apart from that one tiny little line it worked well enough. The fact that it was so tiny and insignificant is basically why I hated it so much. They literally could’ve just scratched it off of the script and only good things would have happened.

Something a bit similar happened before when Molly revealed her backstory to Giovanni. It wasn’t quite as bad, but when a scene goes from comedy to “my mom’s dead and my life sucks” you do feel the shift a little too quickly. I feel like it’s not as bad because it could just be Molly’s character, seeing the tragedy of her life as just sort of normal and not really that remarkable, meaning she’s more likely to just randomly bring it up.

But I definitely wouldn’t be going off this much about it if there wasn’t at least a little bit more. Zora was literally the reason I wanted to watch the show, because I saw a drawing of her a while back and thought she was just some random OC, but when I heard she was from this show I instantly wanted to watch it a lot more. I think the same thing happened with Molly, but I think I knew she was from the show to begin with. Anyway, Zora was the main character who I loved from the get-go and loved even more the more I learned about her. She’s such a perfect amount of diversion from being a generic cowboy in the little design details, while still being 100% cowboy material. Then, when I saw that her power was “Sundial,” or more generally just time powers, I loved it. The big thing that seems little conceptually is making her key term “sundial” instead of just “time” or whatever, because of how much it relates to her cowboy-ness, with it being associated with the “sun” people often associate with Death Valley and the Wild West and whatnot. Not to mention, it’s just a cool power.

But that’s kinda the thing, though. She’s so insanely strong. She could literally kill anyone on a whim. I don’t see how anyone could be cracking jokes in her presence. It’s kinda more general of a gripe, but when she aged up Howie it was borderline terrifying, and yet… right after, they’re cracking jokes again. It’s just so jarring. She could have literally reduced him to dust, and they’re so casual about it. I know Percy is supposed to be kinda blind to some obvious things, but I feel like even she could see the horror. That said, though, Percy is also one of my favorites. Her powers feel so natural yet interesting for what she is for some reason.

Frankly, the visual character designs alone for this show are all really good. Whether or not I’m into the writing, I can’t deny that the show kept me coming back just because it feels so good to just look at it, you know? The minimal animation, vocalized stage directions, and top-down scene view was really interesting to watch, since I’ve never seen it before, and seems like a perfect way to produce more content with less budget. It made everything feel super crisp and tidy, despite being animated so simply. Not to mention that the general lack of animation meant the few scenes where there was traditional-level animation felt really good. The voice acting was also amazing, (again not directly tied to the writing) especially when the voice actors carried their character and emotion from the scene into the stage directions, instead of just reading them out plainly. And, at the very least, the premise of the show is also really interesting (at least to me, mainly because I created 2 stories with a similar idea without even knowing anything about it. Simplified, specific superpowers are just perfect for character designing, you know?)

But I am kinda acting like the writing was bad, but it really wasn’t all things considered… I’m just not really into comedy, and when the comedy I don’t like is paired with writing and practically everything else I do like it doesn’t sit right with me. Considering this idea and some of the story beats were adopted from a DnD(-esque?) campaign, I feel like it’s much more fine. Frankly, I’m surprised I didn’t realize it sooner. Once I read about that, everything just fell into place. I’m not really into DnD either, though…

So, I feel like there are things to gain from thinking about this. While Epithet Erased is still on the mind, I feel like I’ve realized something about the juxtaposition of comedy and sincerity, that being that comedic characters can exist in sincere surroundings, and vice versa. Zora specifically could be one of these characters, because she’s so powerful that she probably sees everything around her as trivial, while the other characters have more sincere reactions to her obscene power. She could easily crack a sick joke that no one laughs at because she’s the only one who can find humor in whatever’s going on. By contrast, the thing about Mera’s fear of ducks was a product of the scene and not of the character, so it just ruined things. Nothing about it was made to be funny to the characters, it was made to be funny to the audience, even though the audience should be in sincere mode then.

Another character that I think works like this is Charlie from Hazbin Hotel, who is the sincere personality in a world of complete and total insincerity. She’s basically a more unique kind of straight man (despite being neither straight nor a man), who are always the grounding in comedic casts, like Squidward in Spongebob. I guess in sincere stories there are comedic relief characters, and in comedies there are straight men. You know, these are probably all things other people have figured out already… at least I can feel good knowing I sort of reached them on my own…

I think a good solution for stuff that’s primarily meant to be a comedy is to make it almost entirely comedic, at least with the inclusion of a straight man if needed. The big name that comes to mind is good ol Monty Python, the backbone of 14 year old boys’ humor style. At some point I realized why I like the humor of The Holy Grail, at least above other comedic movies, is that they don’t hold back at all. At no point whatsoever do they pull back the veil and put in a sincere moment. And, of course, since I can basically recite the entire movie from memory I think it did wonders. I think when it comes to comedies like this, trying to be too sincere at certain points makes it feel even less sincere than if it didn’t have the sincere moment at all. This might be a product of the 00s American family-rated live action comedies who all feel like they fall into that same boat, where the entire movie is hijinks, but then at the very end they pull that all back and have something really impactful happen, with the idea being having some shoehorned message about “family” or whatever. I can group so many movies into that category that it feels almost corporate how many there are like that, and because it’s both overdone and geared towards too generalized of an audience, trying to capture the comedy-lovers and sincere-lovers, it really just fails in both ways. Or, maybe people love them because they’re just barely bad enough to enjoy it in a so-bad-it’s-good sort of way. I dunno. If I wasn’t a little nostalgic for the time those types of movies might be my all-time least favorite.

But I’m a stick in the mud who hates comedy so I’m not really equipped to tell anyone how to do it right. Instead, I feel like there’s some seriously untapped potential in other forms of “feel-good” tones, like casual lightheartedness and just plain fun. I feel like those two things really work towards creating sincere stories that are still enjoyable, and not just one shot of sadness after another, while still having a dash of impactful emotion in them.

I feel like this is where Pixar really shines. People say “It’s not a true Pixar movie if you don’t cry at the end” because I think Pixar movies are great at making the audience lower their guard, and when the moment is right, hitting you right in your heart to make you feel the right emotions. For example, what I’d call my favorite movie of all time (for intents and purposes, if not for real), Inside Out, is all about emotional sincerity, where it’s trying to get across how it’s okay to feel sad, even though the world around you tends to say happiness is always what you want. For most of the movie, it’s a pretty casual romp around the inner workings of Riley’s mind, with some jokes thrown in (because it doesn’t have to be completely without jokes). I’m not really sure how to explain it, but the various jokes in Inside out feel like they’re sort of blended with the interesting workings of this fantasy mind-world, like the fact that earworms are just the little blobby workers in our minds sending the memory of the song back up to the control panel for the hell of it, or that our dreams are a product of a Hollywood-like place in our minds. These things definitely are there for humor, but something about them feels much more fun than just any kind of generic comedy.

Then, I feel like the most important thing about fun and lightheartedness is that they feel like they blend so much better with the sincere moments. Obviously if it’s too quick it’ll still be bad, but I think it’ll be much less bad than with comedy. Maybe you could think of it like a spectrum with pure comedy at one end and pure tragedy at the other, with fun and lightheartedness just barely crossing the midpoint towards the comedy side. Since there’s less of a gap between it and tragedy compared to pure comedy, it feels less jarring. Plus, it just feels more reasonable logically speaking, since comedy sort of puts up this insincere barrier to sort of suspend the disbelief that the events in question are supposed to be taken seriously, which makes breaking that barrier harder once it’s established. With fun and lightheartedness, there may be an expectation of it sort of maintaining itself but there isn’t as much to say there isn’t something hiding in the background. In Inside Out at least, throughout Joy and Sadness’ journey they are pretty determined to get back to the control panel to save Riley, but they’re for the most part confident they can do it (or, you know, just Joy’s confident), so they sort of interpret the world around them in a more casual light, but with that lower-level need still there. But when Joy falls into the abyss of forgotten memories and the hopelessness sets in, you feel it much more, because it was sort of already there to begin with, and it was just made perfectly clear at that moment. I think Bing Bong’s emotions during the scene also make it pretty emotional, since he’s being casual about his death while also being sincere about his sacrifice for Riley’s sake. Not to mention his inner sadness was outed while talking with Sadness.

I feel like if I were trying to write an actual essay I could probably phrase all this a lot better. I just think there’s a ton of value to lightheartedness in stories, as opposed to comedy, for the sake of “feeling good.” Pretty much all of my favorite things have that tone to them to some degree, like Wander Over Yonder, my for sure favorite TV show. It definitely feels fun in a way that can elicit laughs, but it’s not a lot like “This is a joke and you should laugh” most of the time (Disregarding the Evil Sandwich, my least favorite character in the show). I also think Steven Universe succeeds very well with that tone, creating an extremely comfy atmosphere when it comes to the less climactic episodes.

I also vastly prefer the lighthearted resolutions to the conflicts in lighthearted stories. Frankly, I am infinitely more likely to cry to a comfy and happy resolution than I am to the actual sad parts. I’m not really sure what it is about them, but I guess the characters finally being happy again after emotional turmoil warrants a happy-cry. I swear, if I think too hard about the scene where Riley finally admits her sadness to her parents and just sits in their warm embrace, I tear up. It feels so much better than hijinks-danger-hijink resolution.

But yeah, the stories I want to write the most will all inevitably have that sort of lighthearted flair to them, unless of course I choose to go more inherently serious with a story. There’s nothing wrong with that either.

With regard to the really big claim I made before about there being too much humor in the world, the themes of Inside Out, and what I said about comedy’s insincere barrier, I really think the world as a whole would benefit from valuing humor a little less. It feels like there are so many situations where people sort of want to maintain their good feelings with humor instead of more directly dealing with issues in a sincere mindset. For example, if people say something disagreeable (but not insane), It feels like too many people resort to making jokes at that person’s expense and not dealing with the issues directly. Obviously if someones saying some insane bullshit it’s fine, but when the more reasonable takes that are just barely put under the same umbrella as the insane shit are made fun of, it really deepens the trench between the people of different opinions. Of course, humor isn’t the only thing deepening that trench, but it really feels like one of them a lot of the time.

Apart from that, I feel like using humor as a way to distract from general negativity and negative emotions like what Inside Out sort of warns against can be pretty detrimental too. Obviously happiness can still be around, but putting up that kind of barrier between you and the necessary sincerity for emotion with comedy just makes the unpleasantness of the unpleasant stuff that much more unpleasant. I’m saying this one at least out of personal experience, since I have sort of developed to be too subconsciously against super sad and sincere real world scenarios. I haven’t personally felt too many of them myself, but I definitely feel myself blocking off some of my own emotional vulnerability, especially around other people. I can consciously talk against it, like I’m doing now, but I feel like it’s going to take a long time for that barrier to really break. Is humor to blame for that sort of thing? Maybe, with a dash of toxic masculinity and other buzzwords people often avoid for reasons I mentioned in the last paragraph.

Even though this one is much more unreasonably generalizable than the last two things, I feel like the popularity of self-deprecating humor across the internet also (probably?) takes a toll on some people. Obviously some people might just use it to their genuine benefit, but since it seems so common surely some people are putting on a self-deprecating face to get along, and eventually maybe even believing what they used to joke about themselves. Either way, it might be a product of an extreme departure from any kind of narcissism, making being self-confident and self-loving just that little bit harder for people.

But, while I’m not the most equipped to judge writing, I’m even less equipped to actually debate for the existence of all those things, so just know I’m kinda speaking with my heart and not my brain here. People obviously want and need different things, and I’m probably just projecting. Hell, maybe that’s me self-deprecating to not make me seem weird to everyone else. I dunno.

No matter what, all this reliance on humor really just shows who is and isn’t funny. Sometimes, people really need to get a grip. Frankly, I don’t think I’m that funny either, which is why I’ve kind of had the humor beaten out of me by one too many awkward silences after a weird joke in my elementary/middle school days. I guess that’s my cartoon villain origin story.

#rant #rambling #opinions #writing #humor #comedy #epithet erased #poole #etc

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thetypedwriter · 4 years

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The Ruin of Kings Book Review

The Ruin of Kings Book Review by Jenn Lyons

Boy, oh, boy, was this a wild ride.

Those of you who have been following me for a while know that I occasionally delve into adult fiction here and there. I mainly stick to my vegetarian course of YA novels, but every once in a while I can’t help but pick up a slice of bacon, or in this case, an adult fiction book.

Or, even more specifically, I suppose it would be more accurate to say that it’s adult fantasy instead of fiction. High fantasy at that, which is characterized by a whole new world with fantastical elements and not just a novel in the known primary world with fantasy elements.

With that literary lesson out of the way, let me get started.

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons came recommended by one of my favorite book bloggers, Paperfury. She counted this as one of her most recent book obsessions she couldn’t stop thinking about and in general I trust her judgement (although she was way way off on The Queen of Nothing, yikes).

This massive installment is definitely not the short and sweet page length I’m used to with YA, and neither does it have the comforting and large font that makes me feel like an accomplished reader after just an hour of skimming.

No, this installment is large and beefy and could probably give someone a concussion if you threw it at them, so just keep that in mind.

The whole fantasy revolves around a boy named Khirin. Khirin is your typical fantasy hero, equipped with the luscious blonde hair and the sparkling blue eyes and most importantly, the wickedly sharp tongue reminiscent of a male character from the Cassandra Clare universe.

He’s sharp, he’s witty, he’s charming, and he also has terrible, terrible luck.

Or does he?

When you first meet Khirin he is being sold as a slave to the highest bidder. He’s cold, he’s injured, he’s starving, and he’s broken. You, as a reader at this point, are completely and irrevocably confused.

You’re thinking: Who is this boy? What is happening to him? Why are people betting so much money for him? What’s with this necklace around his neck? Where did he come from? Where are we? What world is this? Where is he going? What the hell is going on???

To say that Lyons starts out strong would be underhanded hyperbole. You are forcibly drop-kicked into the fantasy world of Qurr and its many raging empires and states, and putting them all together is frankly daunting and largely impossible until a good chunk of the book is devoured.

Frankly, I still have trouble figuring out all the locations and gods and god-kings and factions and lore and people and how they’re all related, Game of Thrones style. But that’s part of the fun.

One of my biggest complaints with YA is that the reader is generally treated like they’re pretty stupid.

Often a YA author feels the need to explain every single iteration and modicum of interaction between their characters or spend too much time describing things, and it leaves very little for interpretation or inference on the side of the reader. Lyons is almost the complete opposite, which is as refreshing as it is frustrating.

As you are introduced to Khirin and this gargantuan universe that Lyons has created, you will feel stupid. To be fair, I enjoyed it most of the time. I relished the challenge of learning to differentiate all the different families of the Court of Gems, of distinguishing the Goddess Thaena from the Goddess Tya.

I liked when I was finally able to smugly look at the map at the beginning and recognize all of the city states like Doltar or Kirpis or Manol. I liked when I understood the different races like the Thriss or the vané and the implications of what that meant.

If that was a whole load of word vomit for you, that’s okay.

Again, it’s part of the fun.

What I do want you to get out of this, however, is the knowledge that Lyons has created an expansive universe with multiple creatures, including dragons and witches, rivaling royal families, gods reminiscent of the Greek Gods and their interference with human affairs, a rivaling world split with so many seams that you’re not even sure who to root for, an emperor, magical jewelry, demons and even a dose of piracy and musical competition.

This book honestly has a little of everything — which, to be fair, it should, considering how damn long it takes to get through it’s never-ending pages.

To make this as simplified as possible, the plot goes like this:

Khirin is sold into slavery and finds himself in the hands of a group called the Black Brotherhood. Over time, Khirin learns about this group and their intentions, learns more about himself and the Stone of Shackles (the necklace he wears around his neck), divulges his past and how he got sold into slavery in the first place-his upbringing, his musical talent, his stay at the Blue Palace, his eventual betrayal at the hands of someone he loves.

You learn over the course of each chapter what brought Khirin to his current fate and more of what he is trying to do now,: which is to return home and save the world from the likes of the two main antagonists (although not all of them by any means), Gadrith and Darzin.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that is the most bare- bones summary I have ever written. But honestly, this book is about a hero named Khirin and his adventure to rid the world of evil as he learns about himself and his past.

Like many, many, other books before it, this book explores what it means to be a hero, what it means to be a god, what it means to be involved with the fight of good vs. evil. This book is not special in that sense regarding these themes.

However, there are some really cool aspects of this novel that I thoroughly enjoyed that I’ll relay now that the summary (as condensed as it is, sorry) is out of the way.

The two things I enjoyed most about this book were the writing itself and the POV. Most high fantasy novels that I’ve attempted to read have this ridiculous notion that every character must speak in some dead medieval language rife with historical inaccuracies and banal, clipped speech. Lyons does nothing of the sort.

Her characters are creative and crass and downright funny. The dialogue is immersive and natural and oftentimes, other than the backdrop of a dragon or lizard-people, it felt like two modern-day people were having a conversation, which I greatly appreciated.

Lyons is also a very big fan of building up her writing and then smacking you down at the pinnacle. For example:

“Before us lay the Mother of Trees.

I didn’t understand what I was seeing. I couldn’t comprehend. It just seemed like a humongous wall at first, one that had been built up with palaces and verandas, graceful pavilions, and stained-glass windows glittering like jewels. Only when I looked up could I perceive the sweep of branches, the distance velvet of green leaves. This was a tree to hold up the whole world, the sort of place where Galava must live, if any place were consecrated to her. It seemed ageless and immortal, a tree that had always and would always exist.

Naturally, we were setting it on fire.”

I personally found this style of writing hilarious. Lyons often built up the tension, beauty, or conflict, and then would deliver these one-liners that would leave me gasping with laughter. This creative juxtaposition was super enjoyable and one that made the book a big success for me.

Secondly, while this book is told almost entirely (keyword almost -there are some outlier chapters) from Khirin’s perspective, it technically oscillates between present Khirin and past Khirin.

The whole book switches from one timeline to another every other chapter, with the chapter starting with Khirin being sold into slavery being the “present” and told from Khirin’s first-person POV and then switching the next chapter to his “past” and being told from Khirin’s third-person POV.

I loved this. I thought this was so creative, and up to this point, I have never seen this done in another book. The subtle shift from first to third person every chapter, but still from the perspective of the same character, was so interesting and complex.

I loved that we were simultaneously getting current-day Khirin, but also Khirin from two years ago telling us the events that led up to the present. It was imaginative and intriguing, and I loved trying to fill in the holes before the book presented me with it (which even then was difficult).

In addition, throughout the whole book are also footnotes from another crucial character that offer information, clarification, and also humor. While I’ve primarily read footnotes in academic papers to cite sources or offer commentary, these footnotes were just as fictional as the rest of the story, but offered insight outside of Khirin that was often dripping in sarcasm, irony, or humor.

I thought it was another really creative way for Lyons to get across information without boring everyone half to death or releasing a 100- page guidebook to help you along.

Bottom line, people,: This book isn’t for everyone. High fantasy in general is not for everyone. That’s okay. It’s not usually my taste either, at least not the adult fictional kind, but something about this book really intrigued me.

Moreso than the actual plot, which is confusing, I enjoyed the writing, the suspense, and the act of playing detective. It’s been so long since I’ve read a book that’s made me think this hard, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That being said, the same praise is a double-edged sword.

If you don’t want to have to think and draw out charts and make graphs on Excel, then perhaps this is not the book for you.

If you don’t like high fantasy or made-up worlds, or very interconnected family dynamics, then this is not the book for you. This book also contains elements that can be triggering to some, like rape, drugs, character death, violence, imprisonment, slavery, etc.

When I say this book has everything, I mean it has everything. And that can be good or bad depending on the person. For me, I liked it. However, I did get frustrated at certain points at the lack of clarification more than once, just for full disclosure.

Recommendation: If you’ve been bereft ever since the Game of Thrones disaster-of-a-finale, then you are not alone. The Ruin of Kings has everything you’ve ever wanted in a high fantasy book: action, kings, queens, palaces, war, dragons, magic and so much more.

This book was creative and funny and complex, and if you’re willing to sink your teeth and time into a universe that demands attention then you’ll find yourself rewarded with a brand-new world to fall in love with and characters that you can’t seem to forget.

Score: 8/10

#the ruin of kings #jenn lyons #popular fiction #books #book blog #book review #fiction #Book Recommendations #booknerd #writing #fantasy #high fantasy

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reccklessromanticrogue · 4 years

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Aight so, hope it's okay if I send this to you via ask. But I've always headcanoned Toba as being super big, like... almost mountain sized big! Since there's this huge hill called Tura Peak in India, and whenever I hear/read "tura" I just think of Tura Peak. Also, these guys are angels so what's stopping me from going absolutely bonkers, ya know? It's also kinda funny imo, since Toba kinda has a soft voice in the musical itself, so imagine that coming from an actual mountain lmao

I can get behind this 100000% that’s so cool!!!!

The juxtaposition of a soft voice coming from an imposing force like a mountain is just *chef’s kiss* 🥺🥺

I was telling my sister about it in a full rant Charlie Day-style and told her that the angels are just allegory for satan and god and she looked at me like I was insane. I’m just... passionate 😅

#razias shadow #forgive durden #ask

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ais-n · 4 years

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Why do Boyd/Hsin work? (anon ask)

I moved this ask over from a different place where the person sent a number of questions, as they were unable to get it to fit in tumblr’s space restrictions. In case they didn’t want their name known, I’m referring to them as an anon. But I thought they had good questions others may be curious about as well so I’ll be putting them (and the answers) over here.

ANON ASKED:

I think you mentioned somewhere that at some point during the writing process you guys thought that Boyd and Sin would fall for each other, and that’s how the idea was born. Why do you think, personally, that they fit so well as a couple, and what made you decide that they would fall for each other?

Yep, you remember correctly :) So basically we started ICoS just to fuck around, honestly, because we were bored. Because we didn’t figure it would become a thing, we thought that rather than wasting all our energy/motivation/excitement on character creation and some in depth setting on another world or something, we’d be best off doing something in our world, kind of our times, kind of dystopian, and then to pull in characters we had created for roleplaying games elsewhere that we didn’t get to play as fully as we wanted, or we thought would be fun to play more here.

Sin came from one game, Boyd from another. We knew Sin was going to be "Sonny’s” main character pretty early into it, if I recall correctly, but I didn’t know which of my characters I wanted to bring over. I initially threw out Boyd as an option because I thought the juxtaposition would be really funny, and because I liked him as a character but he barely got anywhere in the other rpg. (Lou came from that RPG too, btw, as did Vivienne and Cedrick of course)

The point at which we realized they would fall for each other was practically right away - we wrote like, I don’t even remember, 4 scenes or something? And already they were seeming like they had great chemistry and wanted to flirt and just somehow, bizarrely, felt like they would gravitate toward each other.

I don’t know how to explain how we knew without probably sounding like a lunatic, but to me characters are people - and most of the time, I kind of take my cues from them as to what they think, what they would do, how they feel, etc. I know they aren’t real, I know they don’t exist in our world, but maybe I just get interested in the psychology of characters and because I’m an empathetic person, maybe I just naturally start thinking of them in terms of what they want and how that affects what I had thought I had planned for the story.

It was just one of those things where we realized as soon as we had those two characters in the same room as each other, as soon as we tried writing a scene that we had intended to establish them as partners who didn’t get along and who didn’t trust each other and who would never be particularly close, we realized both of them kept somehow responding to the other character in a way that showed they had chemistry and they would like each other. Maybe even love each other, given the chance.

So we started writing the story over again, reworking it this time with the knowledge that they wanted to be a thing, so now it would be a story with a romance, instead of just a story. But being that they were both super messed up, of course that whole journey to love in any way that’s even remotely healthy was a process in and of itself.

(Sorry for rehashing all that since you remember that - but wanted to say all that for anyone who hadn’t seen the context on the previous posts where I talked about that)

As for why they fit so well, honestly I think it’s because of their base characteristics and their default tendencies, and a lot of it too is their backgrounds. It seems like their backgrounds were made to create characters that fit each other so well as a result but that was totally a coincidence that they each already had backgrounds we’d individually decided which ended in life experiences forming the characteristics that drew each other to them.

So, for example, Sin doesn’t trust almost anyone in the beginning of the series; he’s used to being used, he’s cynical, he kind of hates people, and he just doesn’t have much faith in humanity or humans because people have shown him time and time again that they will turn on him if given the chance, or they don’t really see him as a person, or they do but he can’t help feeling like they have an ulterior motive in it all. Then Boyd comes along, and he doesn’t have an ulterior motive whatsoever; he just genuinely does not have any preconceived judgment of Hsin, he doesn’t care either way about him at first, he doesn’t treat him like shit like so many other people have Hsin’s whole life. He just kind of treats him like a person, for good and for bad. Which means they have arguments and they have good moments. They find they have similarities in some things and are way different in other.

I think it’s the fact that Boyd was willing to judge Sin on Sin’s actual actions and actual words instead of basing things on fears, rumors, or the like, that over time made Sin realize Boyd was different. Similarly, how Boyd stood up for Sin even at his own personal detriment, when no one else had in quite the same way. The fact that Boyd cared so little for himself he was even perfectly comfortable sacrificing himself for Sin’s benefit even when they weren’t friends. I think that the fact that Boyd didn’t give a shit about anything, that he only was interested in seeing Sin for who Sin was and not what everyone thought him to be, was something that really spoke to Sin and helped him slowly come out of his shell. And made him feel comfortable starting to trust others on his own terms, and even fall in love, and feel safe doing so in the long run.

As for Boyd, he also was used to a certain treatment in his life, which was at times indifferent, at other times even cruel. He was used to people judging him by his looks, his family, all sorts of things. He was used to people hurting him. And he was used to losing the only people who had cared about him. He was, in short, used to suffering. He just wanted to die and be done with it all.

Similar to how Boyd didn’t judge Sin for what others judged him as, Sin didn’t seem to treat Boyd the way he was used to - or at least, not for the same reasons. Over time, it let him feel like it was okay to be himself; that he wasn’t inherently wrong for being born, or for how he was born, or for being alive until now. I think for Boyd the fact that Sin was so ridiculously strong and powerful was a relief; it made him feel, on some level, that he wouldn’t break and destroy and kill Sin just by being in his life, the way he felt he had for his dad and Lou.

In the end, I think they both just happened to be the right kind of person to make the other person feel like it was safe to slowly grow into who they were at the core of themselves without all the trauma of the past being the only thing that dictated their present. They each ended up being the right collection of characteristics to let the other person feel loved, and feel safe loving in return.

Of course, because of all that trauma and everything else contextually in their lives, the process of coming to that realization was a long one, and had a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of unhealthy behavior along the way. They aren’t always the healthiest for each other as they grow, but I do think they were what each other needed to, in the very long run, trust in the world to some extent, and through that learn to trust in themselves.

#ask ais #icos #icosbooks #in the company of shadows

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monotonous-minutia · 4 years

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Third question: pick an opera you’ve seen several productions of and compare/contrast those productions in as many or few ways as you wish

So, Zauberflöte is one of my favorite operas, but I don’t talk about it too much. I think it might be because it’s honestly hard to find a decent production of this one. Like, yes, the opera itself is super whack, but I don’t understand the need to make it even more ridiculous with bizarre sets/costumes/staging/etc. So most of the time I don’t even finish them. My method is usually this: 1) See if the overture is staged and how. 2) Check out the set and costumes and see how bizarre/distracting they are. 3) Watch Papageno’s first aria to see how they handle him. 4) Watch Monostatos’s first scene to see how they handle him. 5) If the first Monostatos scene is questionable watch his aria. If all of this is passable, I’ll start over and watch the whole thing. A lot of times, productions don’t pass the test. However, there are four that I have seen that I really enjoyed.

Drottingholm Court Theater, 1989

The first Zauberflote I ever saw was also the first opera I ever saw, so it’s very special to me. The production is glorious; lush sets and costumes set in the time it was written; intricate staging that really brings out the character’s personalities and motivations; an excellent cast with an especially expressive Pamina who most of the time isn’t there for Sarastro’s BS. Papageno is adorable and hilarious and the production does NOT make fun of him, which is refreshing. This is my favorite Sarastro; the actor (Lazlo Polgar) is so phenomenal that I can actually see Sarastro as the kind, wise, loving figure he’s supposed to be (but the misogyny is still there because it’s unavoidable). The Queen of the Night is regal, majestic, and terrifying. During her second aria she spends a lot of the coloratura staring manically into the audience. Two of my favorite bits of staging: At the end of Act I, when the villagers start to arrive to greet Sarastro, Papageno notices a cute girl in the crowd and starts flirting with her. Later we find out that she’s Papagena, and it’s simply adorable and makes their reunion all the more genuine. The other is at the very end during the Act II finale. They stage it as if Sarastro is performing a wedding ceremony for Pamina and Tamino and in the last moment Papageno and Papagena run in holding hands and go stand next to them so it becomes a double wedding and Sarastro gives them this huge smile and my heart just melts. An interesting choice they make is that the Pamina-Tamino duet where they’re saying their “final farewell” (“Soll ich dich teurer nicht mehr sehn?”) is at the beginning of Act II before Tamino leaves for his trials, which makes more sense because he is talking to Pamina and if it happens after Pamina’s aria it doesn’t make sense because he just listened to her say she was going to kill herself without responding and now all of a sudden he’s talking to her. So I like that they put it here because it makes their conversation more believable. The only thing I don’t like about it is the way they handle Monostatos; it’s not unique to this production, but that obviously doesn’t excuse it. A sad mark on an otherwise impeccable production. Unfortunately I can’t find this anywhere online; I just own the DVD, so while I’d recommend it highly, I doubt people will be able to find it.

Convent Garden, 2003

The second one I ever saw. Delightful in so many ways. I LOVE this Papageno and Pamina and the production really highlights the fact that they’re a team in the second part of Act I and it’s so stinking cute. The costumes don’t have a specific theme going on as far as I can tell, but I’m also not great with recognizing stuff like that. The set is relatively simple and doesn’t go out of its way to be flashy or outstanding. We get the cutest Pamina in existence, Dorothea Röschmann, who also isn’t there for Sarastro’s BS and frankly not Tamino’s either but there’s not a lot she can do about any of that. Damrau is the Queen of the Night and she is a QUEEN. Eek. This Tamino is VERY annoyed with Papageno to the point of being almost mean but Papageno eventually starts fighting back which is heartening. His line about being able to be a man too by not saying anything during Pamina’s suicidal aria is clearly a burn and after that he takes his stuff and goes offstage, instead of following Tamino like he does in every other production I’ve seen, as if he’s just done with him. They actually don’t interact again after that so I can imagine they just go their separate ways, which is kind of sad, but this production really doesn’t portray the bromance between them that others do. I do hope he gets to see Pamina again though. Papageno’s duet with Papagena is the cutest thing in the world and Papagena herself is illegally adorable. Also Pamina deserves much more than what these men give her. I hope either Tamino shapes up or she leaves him eventually. This one also remedies some of the racism by having Monostatos and his minions be zombies, which looks odd compared to the rest of the set and costumes but is appreciated. They also fix some of the wording in his aria (which I caught with my limited German skills) which also helps. This Sarastro is pretty nice too but not as expressive as Polgar and his staging isn’t as intricate. Overall though I love this one primarily for Keenlyside’s Papageno, Damrau’s Queen, and Röschmann’s Pamina.

Bronx (can’t find a date)

This one is in English and the translation is really good and best of all gets rid of some of the racism/misogyny so yay! The cast is really good at portraying the characters, and they embrace the comic and dramatic elements with equal weight, and there’s more diversity than is often seen. This Queen freaking SLAYS. And Pamina makes me cry. A lot. We get a lot of the missing dialogue here which helps flesh out the story and which I really appreciate because I’m kind of tired of people bashing the libretto when a lot of the confusion comes from bad translations and the fact that huge chunks of the dialogue are taken out because conductors want to get to the music faster. Like there is SO MUCH banter between Tamino and Papageno that’s freaking hilarious but we hardly ever get to hear it. And there’s a lot more exposition in the Papageno-Pamina conversation at the top of Act I Scene II that clarifies a lot of what people complain is so confusing, as well as a longer conversation between Pamina and her mother in Act II that explains more of her backstory and the significance of the flute. So I love that this production keeps a lot of it in. The set and costumes are detailed and very pretty. Papageno’s feathers and green wig are kind of Extra but he’s so funny I can forgive it. Papagena is TINY and adorable. We actually get some genuine chemistry between Tamino and Pamina which is a rare treat. At the very end Papageno and Papagena run onstage and Papageno goes to hug Tamino which is very sweet, and Papagena goes to Pamina, which makes me wonder if maybe they knew each other before. After all, they’ve both been hanging out at Sarastro’s place for some time waiting for their men to get it together.

Loyola University New Orleans, 2014

This one also gets rid of a lot of the racism/misogyny through another great English translation and taking out the entire duet with the Two Priests where they’re basically just saying women are terrible and making changes to the portrayal of Monostatos and his lines. The cast is more diverse too which helps. It’s set in what looks like maybe Egypt, which kind of makes sense given the whole Isis/Osiris thing. However, Sarastro is obviously imitating Zeus with a huge white beard, white robe, and he carries a giant lightning bolt in some scenes, which makes for an odd juxtaposition. This Tamino is less Stand There and Look Handsome and more Let’s Get This Over With which is refreshing. Monostatos is hilarious and I kind of feel sorry for him. We get an extra sassy Papagena and it’s a joy. The Three Spirits are actually portrayed as women in this one instead of boys which also helps with diversity and lessening misogyny. It also keeps a lot of the missing dialogue which is appreciated. The interactions between the characters are detailed and genuine and make for a heartfelt production overall.

so there’s that. Thanks for the ask; I especially love ranting/rambling about opera productions!!

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letterboxd · 3 years

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Kid Detectives, Adult Problems.

As The Kid Detective becomes “a surprising darling” of a hit with our members, Jack Moulton talks to its Canadian writer-director Evan Morgan about broken projectors, the pressure of proving yourself, and what happens when precocious kids grow up.

“The premise felt immediately funny but it also felt immediately sad and painful.” —Evan Morgan

A growing number of indie films over the past decade recognize that ‘coming-of-age’ is not a teen-exclusive life event—indeed, that it often takes decades to work out who we are, versus who people perceive us to be. The Kid Detective takes that premise and steals off into the night with it, blending noir with indie slacker in an offbeat, genre-flipping tale of a washed-up, thirty-something private eye who was once a star solver of local mysteries.

Adam Brody (Ready or Not) stars as Abe Applebaum, the detective in question, who seizes a chance to step back into the small-town limelight when a young woman (Sophie Nélisse) asks him to help find her boyfriend’s murderer. Veep’s Sarah Sutherland also stars as Abe’s secretary, taking calls about lost cats and other inane mysteries.

Reviews on Letterboxd praise the “delicious premise” that explores “the darkness lurking beneath the surface of small-town America”. They also appreciate Brody’s “phenomenally pathetic” performance, and the unexpected swerve in the final twenty, noting that “sometimes movies don’t recover from a shift in tone in the third act… but here it all [falls] into place”.

The Kid Detective is the directing debut of Toronto filmmaker (and Letterboxd member) Evan Morgan, who first received attention for The Dirties (2013), an alternately funny and upsetting micro-budget dark comedy in found-footage style, which he produced, co-wrote and co-edited. Morgan’s work is drenched in pop culture: Abe’s talent for deduction is demonstrated by how he digests movie narratives; The Dirties, too, has endless movie references. So we were chuffed to quiz Morgan about the films that have played an important role in his life.

What was premiering The Kid Detective at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival like for you, under the current conditions? Evan Morgan: We were in quite a rush to get the film finished for the online platform that they had made—I signed off on the final cut on Thursday and then I was reading a review of the movie by Saturday. I was still in that mode of trying to scrutinize everything and implement my final notes, and then all of a sudden the movie was done and I could never touch it again. It certainly was a surreal transition to make that quickly.

It was also extremely gratifying to see people respond to it for the first time. We knew that we weren’t making a movie that was for all tastes but when you’re reading the first response from the first person who’s ever reviewed it and they’re picking up on stuff you intended, you start to let your spine unclench a little bit. You can sort of finally say goodbye to the process of making something and enjoy the process of people interacting with it.

Have you been reading the Letterboxd reviews? Obsessively. I’ve been refreshing Letterboxd all the time. I’ve been joking with my editor and composer a lot about how people posting their reviews on Letterboxd, on their YouTube channel, or other little outlets would never expect the filmmakers to be instantly reading their reviews.

You’re also a member! How do you use Letterboxd? I’ve always been a big film nerd. Ever since I was a teenager I was making lists at the end of the year and obsessing over an order that would always change. A friend of mine, Matthew Miller, who produced The Dirties, recommended that I hop on Letterboxd and instantly I was going through the library rating and organizing everything, and it became a real slippery slope. I remember spending hours on it in the first week.

Now, after actually having made a movie that’s on a larger scale, I’ve found that my sensitivity has changed a lot in the last year. I’m less inclined to give a star rating. I’m happy just to catalog the film so I can reflect on it and just use the ‘like’ button. That’s been an interesting shift in my relationship with how I see movies after having finally completed this project.

I know this idea had been gestating a while for you, what was the seed of the story? I’d written a short film in film school, which I never shot, that was about a child detective who was still a child and was solving grisly murders. I was obsessed with the first season of The OC and I thought Adam Brody was so funny. I was impressed with how he broke out of the formula of that show. I knew he was someone I really wanted to work with and we happened to cross paths at Sundance because The Dirties was premiering at Slamdance. It was clear to us that we shared a similar sense of humor and taste.

I was looking back on my old ideas and I saw an opportunity to re-conceive this one for him because I immediately identified with the protagonist. I’ve always known I wanted to be a filmmaker and thus had that sense of expectation where people would joke: “he’ll grow up to be the next Spielberg!” It’s incredible encouragement when you’re young but it also creates this unfortunate sense of pressure where you’re beholden to a future that you actually haven’t achieved or lived.

When I graduated film school, I was suddenly left in the space of my own apartment where now it was up to me to actually make this happen, to write and direct a feature film. The process acquires this unfortunate pressure because it’s not just about watching ideas unfold in front of me, I also have something to prove. I was at a point in my life where I was doing a lot of writing and not having great success in terms of actually finishing a script so this premise resonated with me and I saw an opportunity for people to connect to this character in their own way.

I revisited The Dirties after watching The Kid Detective and I finally understood why there were those huge The OC posters in Matt and Owen’s edit suite. I assume that was your idea? Yeah, it was. We were all big fans of that show. The cultural references they made were things that were important to us at that particular moment and we loved Seth Cohen [Brody’s character]. When I ran into Adam at Sundance, I shared a link to The Dirties, forgetting that his face was in the background of about twenty minutes of our movie. We were back in our hotel that night and it suddenly just occurred to us—“wait a minute, shit. We should probably warn him that his face is a big character!”

How did you conduct your research into detective work? What excited me about this premise was the character and not so much the genre. I think the genre is alluring in a sense that it’s so hallowed. The set pieces are so familiar in terms of the PI office, the receptionist and the glass of scotch. That stuff was all super cool and enticing, but I was never a big mystery person. I was intimidated by the process of writing because it felt very much outside of my wheelhouse.

The first thing I did was buy a bunch of Raymond Chandler books from the Philip Marlowe series. I read those super quickly and thought they were super funny. I also read a bunch of Encyclopedia Brown books. So, the world of The Kid Detective exists between these two realms. I started watching bad TV procedurals where the detectives try and find the victim within the span of 42-minutes just to absorb as much as I possibly could.

Here you have a whimsical directorial approach while the film reflects upon a cynical, changing world. In comparison, The Dirties also deals with young adult trauma but couldn’t be further from this in style. Can you talk about your use of juxtaposition this time around? There was no more fun experience than shooting The Dirties. It really was a film made by four best friends having an endless sleepover in their parents’ basement. That’s where the energy, the life, and the humor of the film comes from. We were always relying on the darker component of the dramatic payoff to provide us with a structure so that we could goof around as much as we wanted knowing that it wasn’t all for nothing. Those dramatic stakes would provide it with a different kind of technical legitimacy. We didn’t have any money to make it but it didn’t have to look like a big Hollywood film because it was made by the characters.

It wasn’t a conscious decision to recreate the same dynamic with The Kid Detective in terms of dealing with dramatic issues in a very light way. The premise felt immediately funny but it also felt immediately sad and painful. I wanted to find a way to wrap them together without forfeiting the humor or the reality of the characters. It’s interesting how a lot of people are responding to the way the movie reveals itself to be dark because, for me, this was always inevitable. If you’re going to tell a story about a stunted adult, like a kid detective who never really grows up, the only way for the character to grow up is to confront something that is so sinister that it would break them from their selfishness.

Which detective movies most influenced The Kid Detective? The biggest films that were in my head when I was writing this movie—and also in terms of our aesthetic—were Chinatown and Blue Velvet. Chinatown was a movie that I had more of a relationship with as a teenager than I did the older Humphrey Bogart movies like The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon. Blue Velvet also has a suburban setting that reveals this darker underbelly—two characters driving around in a convertible, interviewing people, and putting themselves in greater and greater risk. Those were the movies that we wanted you to be able to put the film on the shelf with.

Jim Carrey in ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’ (1994).

Which film made you want to become a filmmaker? This is an easy one for me. I was a very big fan of Jim Carrey when I was eleven and I remember seeing Ace Ventura: Pet Detective for the first time and having my mind blown. I didn’t even know what some of those jokes were referring to, but I was so delighted by his energy and the absurdity of that movie. It invited this ferocious interest in acting and consequentially, the world of film. I got really excited when I heard he was working on his first dramatic feature and that it was going to be directed by Peter Weir since I was already a fan of Dead Poets Society.

I remember going to see The Truman Show with my family on the first night that it played and the projector broke about an hour into the movie. I was broken—I knew that was I watching my favorite movie that I’d ever seen. I was absolutely blown away by the world and the story. After about 30 minutes, the theater staff came out and started offering vouchers to see it again but I wouldn’t let my parents leave—I said “no, we have to stay and finish it!”—and then I was rewarded with what remains my favorite movie ending ever.

That was the point when my interest shifted from wanting to be in front of the camera and the center of attention. I was kind of the class clown as a child. If you’d asked at the time, I’d say I wanted to be a comedian. This was the moment where I decided I wanted to tell stories and start writing scripts.

Which coming-of-age protagonist did you relate to the most as a teenager? Not super original, but I was obsessed with The Catcher in the Rye as a teenager. I don’t know if I necessarily saw my experience reflected in a movie—I’m sure it’s out there. Rushmore was another film that Adam and I used as a reference when we were pitching this movie, in how The Kid Detective exists between that and Chinatown. It’s also about a character dealing with his own expectations of himself and ultimately having to evolve out of his selfishness.

I think that there’s something about the coming-of-age genre that is very special to me and I continue to really appreciate and recognize it. I really enjoyed Adventureland, which came out about eleven years ago and it’s sort of underrated. I guess in its own way, Blue Velvet is a coming-of-age story too. Those are the ones that are the top of my list.

What are your favorite Canadian films that really could not be made anywhere else but Canada? It seems I should have an immediate answer to that question. It just proves how bad Canadians are at celebrating themselves. There was a movie called Monsieur Lazhar that stars Sophie Nélisse, who’s the leading actress in our film. It was her first film role at eleven and it’s an incredibly sensitive and quiet movie that was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars that year. That’s a really amazing example of Canadian filmmaking at its best.

If you’ve had time to watch any films this year, what is your favorite film of 2020 so far? This is another tough one for me because I was honestly so immersed in trying to complete The Kid Detective—we were editing intensely from the very beginning of the year and throughout the lockdown. I was so exhausted by that process that I lost track of what was happening in terms of new releases, so I watched quite a few old movies and there were a few movies I revisited.

The movie that probably had the biggest impact on me was Midsommar, from last year. I couldn’t believe the precision and how unshakable it was in terms of those images. It got me excited again in the way that sometimes you feel when you have to see a movie more than once in order to truly see it, because the first time you’re dispensing your expectations. Maybe you wanted to like it or maybe you didn’t want to like it, but the second time you don’t have the same anticipation, and as a result you notice things that you didn’t notice previously.

Related content

Melissa’s list of films about Detectives, Private Eyes, Mysteries, Film Noir, Neo Noir, Thrillers, Erotic Thrillers, Cat and Mouse, Chasing, Crush, Obsession, Stalking, Escaping

Phillip Marlowe, Private Eye: RetroHound’s ranked list of films featuring Raymond Chandler’s famous detective

MovieMaestro’s Teenage Wasteland list of coming-of-age movies

Follow Jack on Letterboxd

‘The Kid Detective’ is in select US theaters now.

#evan morgan #adam brody #the oc #film noir #noir #kid detective #the kid detective #sony #crime thriller #murder mystery #sarah sutherland #letterboxd

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theantisocialcritic · 4 years

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Archive Project - February 27, 2014 - Power Puff Girls

CLEVER WITTY INTRO!! I love the PowerPuff Girls! I'm not ashamed of this, largely because I don't have a lot of shame in regards to the dumb things I like (btw, if you haven't watched Battleship yet, check it out!). So the last holiday I spent at my mother's house, I entertained my little cousins with a marathon of PPG on Netflix which succeeded in subduing their hyper active tendencies. There I made the not so shocking discovery that PowerPuff Girls wasn't just good, it was genuinely great! Much better than I remember it being as a little kid watching marathons of early 2000s Cartoon Network specials. Of course my mom rolled her eyes, after all what self respecting male my age would like PowerPuff Girls, at which point I should have pointed to the box of Model Trains in my basement to remind her how shameless my existence is. Even as a critic now I still watch episodes from time to time on Netflix and I still think its great stuff! Main reason being that the show is a perfect example of style and substance working together in tandem and enhancing one another. Time for a brief history lesson (complements of The Big Picture). In the late 1980s, a series of ultra dark Graphic Novels were released. These were Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Both portrayed Silver Age comic book superheroes in gritty, dark stories that overnight caught the attention of the mainstream media who figured out that Comic Books weren't just a medium for kids anymore. Overnight, Comic Books became much more accepting for adults, and publishers like DC and Marvel began to endless pander to this demographic as they had more expendable income than children. What resulted was a decade of stupidly UBER DARK interpretations of famous characters like Superman, Batman and Spiderman. If you don't see the problem for this, let me spell it out. COMIC BOOKS AS SUPPOSED TO BE A FUN CEREALIZED MEDIUM FOR KIDS. BY PANDERING TO THE ADULTS, NOT ONLY WERE THEY BETRAYING THEIR FANBASE, BUT THEY WERE MAKING THE MEDIUM A MORE SUPERFICIALLY DUMB ONE. There is a place for dark gritty adaptions of superheroes and that place is NOT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY AT ONCE. I imagine for PowerPuff Girls creator Craig McCracken, the superficially dark state of the Comic Book Industry was a sort of inspiration for making this. Take the Superhero genre and turn it on it's head. Instead of a dark, brooding anti-hero with a washed out, black visual aesthetic, PowerPuff Girls was a fun kids cartoon superficially aimed at young girls. Of course, just being an antidote to the UBER DARK Comic wasn't enough to make it a good show, (though it does help!) PowerPuff girls also through in great action and humor. The contrast between tone and content is a good example of juxtaposition. The dialog and colorful visuals strike as an extremely girly show, with the three main characters Blossum, Bubbles and Buttercup spending most of their times doing the sorts of things little girls do: goto school, play, etc. When the action starts… oh my.. The level of sheer action in an average episode of PowerPuff Girls could put and episode of Dragonball Z to shame… Also, you know that dialog I mentioned a moment ago? Its pretty dang funny! The show is surprisingly self aware of what it is and isn't afraid to poke fun at itself or it's genre, characters and internal logic. Its witty, intelligent humor like the best you'd find in any great comedic cartoon! So a great super-cutsy visual aesthetic with amazing action beats and humor! Great in my book! If i'm not convincing you, I do realize that this might be something difficult to sell to somebody who's never been interested in something like this before. Do you need reasons to see it? Ok here are three: Dexter's Lab, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Chowder Just see it for yourself! PS. My favorite episode is S3E7: Monkey See, Doggy Two! ————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————— Next time on the AntiSocial Life:… I'll get to my Inuyasha Article Eventually!!! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

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achingforthestars · 4 years

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some things i liked and did not like about the rise of skywalker ***spoilers***

now having seen it and having had the time to sit and talk and collect my thoughts, i have a list of the things i didn’t enjoy and, amongst all this negativity, the things i did.

contains spoilers of course!

things i did not enjoy:

finding out about palpatine off-screen

so stupid! this was one of the things i disliked the most because of what a cheap, lazy writing choice it was. i wanted to see the characters have to put it together, have to work for it and then when facing palpatine, have it be on their terms instead of his? instead we get him announcing his presence and kylo meeting him in the first 3 minutes.

treatment of characters

i made a post about this. just so much wrong, so many deserved better, most of all rose, rey and ben. a lot of the characters were treated as afterthoughts.

implied finn having feelings for rey

dumb. overdone. tired.

knights of ren

felt cheap and underused. learned nothing about them, it was something i was waiting 3 movies for and the final chance to show them was wasted.

the resistance is back to perfect!

i understand that this was due to the timeskip, which i guess was necessary, but i felt that it was kind of cheap to not show any sort of struggle. a year has passed and BAM they’re right where they were in TFA. the losses faced in TLJ very much felt erased.

the pacing

awful. just awful. things felt too rushed or too slow pretty much through the entire movie.

the visuals

much less well-done than TLJ. the use of colour and light was much weaker in my opinion, the locations more generic, and the imagery lacking. that said, palpatine’s lair was so fittingly creepy, and the reylo moment on kijimi/kylo’s ship with the black and white juxtaposition - those were nice.

irrelevant or convenient plot elements

zorii bliss was not a necessary character. chewie was conveniently on another transport. d-0, while super cute and funny, was also just a deus ex machina. hux being a spy - could have been entirely removed but oh, finn and poe need to get off the ship somehow. rey’s return to ahch-to was rushed, her interactions with luke could have been on any other planet. she did not need to pilot luke’s x-wing specifically but they forced it. lando - lando was basically a consolation prize for chewie with little relevance. pryde literally could have been replaced with hux and made for a more interesting narrative.

snoke clones

what the fuck was that?

the fleet

somehow the entirety of the fleet was magically stored, 100% operational and with fully functioning crew, under the crust of some random planet? and every single one of those ships has planet-destroying capabilities?

the other “fleet”

where the fuck were these allies in TLJ, huh? i get that it’s the last stand and maybe more people showed up because of that but damn.

leia’s absence was felt

i understand this was not in the control of the creators but truly, i felt like there was a gaping hole where leia should have been.

the Trio

i enjoyed their banter but it felt inconsistent through the movie. rey and poe didn’t get along one minute, the next they’re fine. if this had been introduced and pushed in previous films, it would have made more sense and felt less hollow. as it stands, it felt like a forced attempt to call back the OT vibes that just fell flat.

rey palpatine

ugh. let’s reduce strength to a bloodline and in the process ignore what was set up in the last movie. yay! also, palpatine fucked someone at some point and that is utterly disgusting.

rey skywalker

felt forced. she did not need to take the skywalker name.

kylo’s transition to ben.

before anyone jumps on me, i want to clarify that specifically i am referring to the speed of his transition from ruthless supreme leader to full on ben. i loved his redemption, i just wish i could have seen him do it more gradually and with a bit more struggle? he just goes from “i will find you rey and turn you dark like me” to “i am ben solo” so quickly that i found it a bit jarring?

palpatine’s constantly changing plans.

kill rey, no wait, take the throne rey, no wait, let me kill you both and take the throne myself. pick one you crusty fuck.

force dyad

honestly why establish it if you’re going to ignore it in about 2 seconds?

inadequate expression of star wars main themes

the ideas of hope, of redemption, of love and of family - all central to star wars, and none properly delivered on.

ben’s death.

heartbreaking. he deserved love and happiness and a life. that’s all i can say about that. however, in a transition to things i liked: if he had to die, i’m really pleased that it was with an act of love. he chose to make a sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, for his soulmate. i don’t like that he had to die, but i can find peace in the way it happened - on his terms, on the light side, in the arms of the woman he loved.

things i did enjoy (a lot actually):

babu frik

was so fucking funny. that is all.

c-3po.

also surprisingly funny for a droid i’m usually annoyed by?

jannah

i surprisingly really loved her character. i thought she might be an addition like zorii bliss, but i enjoyed naomi ackie’s acting a lot. she felt much more genuine. however i do think there was a missed opportunity in working on her and finn’s shared background as ex-stromtroopers.

force healing abilities

i thought were super cool! i really liked healing the serpent, it was a nice subversion of the expectation to be trapped and outrunning a monster through a labyrinth of corridors. loved how when rey healed kylo, she healed his scar too. just also it’s always nice to see new things being done with the force.

force fighting.

it was lovely to see force techniques being used in the lightsaber battles (as compared, for instance, to the throne room fight of TLJ); and also to see force-aided physical feats like jumps that don’t look like naruto-style ninja backflips. definitely felt more real.

poe’s moment in the x-wing

taking in the damage and destruction all around him. i felt the weight he was feeling in that moment.

rey picking herself off the ground

after palpatine drains her and kylo’s life force. i loved her moment of peace and centering, gathering the strength to do what comes next. while i didn’t love the voices of the previous jedi, it made for a lovely sequence of “i’m not done with you yet” and showcases her strength.

the moment with ben and han

gorgeous scene echoing han and ben’s last interaction in TFA. just an amazing callback with such different emotion and the final turning of ben back to the light. i really loved this bit.

adam driver’s acting performance in general.

absolutely the best, the most amazing, performance of the film. if nothing else, the switch from kylo to ben, despite having zero dialogue, should speak for itself. he managed to convey a completely different personality through his mannerisms, physicality and visuals alone. oh, and the death/ressurrection scene! the absolute desperation with which he crawls to the woman he loves. the infinite depth of emotion adam manages to transmit through only his eyes and his facial expressiveness. he deserves an oscar nomination for this in my opinion.

reylo kiss

i don’t even need to explain this. the smile. the pure happiness, the tender touch, the moment of just love and joy and letting themselves be together, finally. i could not have asked for more of a beautiful first kiss. we’re ignoring what comes after.

overall impression

tros fell flat. i lived for ben’s redemption and reylo, but this was not enough to make up for the mistreatment of most of the characters, the poorly coordinated and frankly rushed structure, and most importantly, the failure to deliver on its themes of family and hope. i felt like it tried to do too much and achieved too little.

#tros #tros spoilers #tros review #reylo #sw spoilers #the rise of skywalker #episode ix #episode 9

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blackcatmanor · 4 years

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RWBY Vol. 7 Ep 8 Photo Review (Repost)

Tumblr decided to delete the actual post or something. I don’t know. I’m old man yelling at cloud right now. SPOILERS below

Characters done right.

Winter is QUEEN this episode. Winter’s line about “You’d have to pay me” to smile was great, and I liked her losing her cool and explaining to Penny it’s because of the bad memories in her house. I wish they explored this more, like in a flashback to Winter and Weiss’ childhood. That would have been great, and given a lot of set up into the toxic pool of despair they were both about to go back into. It was interesting her scene with Penny because it created a good juxtaposition from a human who WANTS to be less emotional and robotic, and a Robot that wants to be a human. *cute and tragic vibes intensifies*. It made me weirdly hope for more interactions between Winter and Penny- in which they help each other find a balance between humanity and a sense of duty.

Willow- I am so glad we got to see her. Though it started odd, like she was a total delirious, foggy drunk who forgot her daughter left, and suddenly she becomes super lucid but morose. The tone shift was weird but besides the first few seconds it was great. A lot was conveyed about her- that she’s fearful for her safety, she’s morose, but still cares greatly for her children. The deeper explanation of her putting cameras around could have again been serviced by a Schnee family flashback. Jacques was an authoritarian and awful parent, but not abusive. You can tell this because when Weiss was slapped in volume 4 she was surprised, like it was something that never happened before. However maybe in the past, Willow bore the brunt of Jacques’ authoritarianism, interfering when he was getting too angry towards the kids but causing the physical abuse to be directed towards her instead of her kids. This would explain why she seems concerned for her safety and why she would put cameras around- in case something happened to her there could be a way to bring Jacques to justice.

Nevertheless, the scene was good. You can really tell Willow cares about her kids and her exposition about Whitley was decent as well. But I have a huge death flag vibe about her….if Jacques finds out she’s been spying on him her greatest fears may come true. #ProtectWillow.

Qrow: I like seeing tidbits about Qrow’s struggle as a recovering alcoholic, though I wish they would talk about it more directly. We haven’t seen him a lot, and maybe he could mention that he’s attending AA type meetings or something. I also desperately wish that Yang and Ruby would address it! They have not directly interacted with Qrow much this volume, especially Yang who hasn’t talked to him since like one line in Vol. 6. I wish they would have a nice family moment where the girls talk about how proud they are to see Qrow overcoming his alcohol issues, and give him a good reason to keep on the path!

Speaking of Qrow:

SS Gayship: The trashship vibes are intensifying. Qrow is totally gay for Clover and I am here for it! Okay maybe it’s just friendly and not romantic, but it’s nice to see Qrow have friends. However, seeing how much they playfully interact means that I am going to be PISSED if they just make Clover some sort of double agent and shatter Qrow even more. With Ozpin’s betrayal, his estrangement from his family, his bad luck semblance, I think we have seen Qrow beaten down enough- can we not continually punch this poor character?

Robyn’s smirk at Winter when she says Jacques can’t buy trust like everything else is great. I am also here for shameless RobynXWinter vibes.

Characters done wrong:

Klein- RIP. I’m annoyed that they got rid of Klein. Was the voice actor not available? It would have been better to see him being abused by Whitley and Jacques, or maybe relegated to menial work rather than head butler. Seeing the fallout of his actions is more meaningful than just hearing it. Furthermore, it would also pack more of an emotional punch to see Klein being punished for his involvement in Weiss’ breakout, but Klein needs the work so he has to continue working for them in a more menial capacity.

Whitley- I’ve known for a while they are probably going to have a “rescue Whitley” arc but they’re going about it all wrong. Every discussion with him sucks and is stupid. He’s smarmy and flat as a character, with his only development coming from Willow later. The “revelation” that his façade of arrogance is really because he’s hurt Weiss left him behind in Volume 4 doesn’t make sense, because Whitley was like that before she even left. His façade should come more from fear of his authoritarian, abusive father. Willow should have said something like “he was always trying to be on your dad’s good side, to avoid….well you know. But after you left, I am afraid he may actually be starting to EMBRACE your father’s perspective on life. So please don’t forget about your brother!” Or something like that. The writers and animators continually miss the chance to convey Whitley’s secret desperation as well. They showed one flash of fear in volume 4 and one in volume 7, but when he’s talking to Weiss he should be trying to talk to her in code, or having pain on his face!

Whitley is also the words worst Gmod player. The only person who can get away with the nonprop T-pose is Jeremy MonsterTruckin’ Dooley

Story stuff done right:

The little distraction bit to get Weiss away from Whitley was cute and funny. And it was nice to see comedy in a situation that lent itself to comedy. Last week I thought this “dinner” might have been an ambush in disguise, with Jacques luring Ironwood into Watt’s trap, but seeing how it was actually a huge party with News cameras, tons of guests, and the crew without weapons it immediately became clear this dinner was never going to be outright hostile, but instead served as a backdrop for exposition and plot development. To that vein, using it to give a bit of comedy is totally acceptable and breaks up the emotional scenes as well as the politically tense scenes.

I will say, though, I HATE the fat lady character. What’s with the voice? Is it supposed to sound like Ms. Piggy? This was kinda lame but at least Jaune’s slow mo “YESSS” and then their grimace was kinda funny. And it was a nice twist to have her covered in the food, making it seem like the plan failed, only to have the lady throw her drink on Whitley in a fit.

Faunus discrimination- This volume has been better about building a world that has Faunus discrimination, and the introduction of Marrow has been a big part of that. In this episode, they had one small tidbit with a Faunus guy working as a waiter, literally serving the Humans, but I wish they would have teased out the Faunus discrimination a little more. In this kind of wide setting, with TWO Faunus main characters and a Faunus waiter it would have been a great chance for a few scenes building the culture around Faunus hate.

These are snooty elites so maybe they don’t outright berate the Faunus people, but maybe they try to quickly grab a drink and shoo the Faunus waiter away, or they don’t make eye contact and awkwardly talk AROUND them. Maybe they gawk at Marrow’s tail or Blake’s cat ears before having to be turned away by their friends. Think of how people treat people they are uncomfortable around- homeless, mentally ill, etc. Often people aren’t outright rude to them but reactions can run the gamut from gawking, to awkwardly minimizing interactions, to trying to pretend like they don’t exist. Some of that would be nice, but at least they are taking steps to correct the lack of Faunus hate in previous volumes.

Misery in Mantle.

There is 1 homeless person shown in the episode, which is a 100% increase than prior episodes.

Story stuff done wrong:

So the council is only 3 members? That seems kind of small for a huge kingdom like Atlas. I wish there was at least 5 members, and we could see them speaking for different regions. Instead it seems like there are three members of the upper crust elite and that’s it.

The insertion of Robyn at the dinner was odd, but it seems like Jacques is trying to butter her up. He commends her “vigor” and when she said the people of Atlas are suffering he says “Quite right.” It seems like he’s trying to use Robyn’s frustration as a way to get her on the Anti-Ironwood team. This would at least make sense of why she is here other than to have her scream in between the conversation.

What was with the ending? I don’t get it. Watts disables the entire heating grid, which causes the rain to turn to snow in Mantle. Is this bad? Does this mean they are going to freeze to death? Probably? It wasn’t clear. People looked confused about the snow, and the kid seemed excited which makes me think it hasn’t happened before, but they didn’t seemed scared or really concerned.

#rwby vol7 #rwby spoilers #weiss schnee #Winter schnee #qrow #rwby #atlas #rwby v7 #rwby ruby

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