#the way it was originally written was such an important highlight of this scene too!!

[beif0ngs]

alright look, i just wanna know who is the writer that came up with the dumbass idea of replacing the line “Ever since I lost my son, I think of you as my own” with “Lu Ten would have been proud to have you as his father” in this scene for the Netflix live action series???

#atla #Avatar the Last Airbender #atlaedit #animationedit #Zuko #Uncle Iroh #*mine #GIVE ME THE NAME!!!!! #and it's funny how they chose to keep most of the lines almost verbatim in this scene but then replaced the MOST important line... #seriously who in their right f*cking mind thought that was the better line to say in this context HUH??? #the way it was originally written was such an important highlight of this scene too!! #IT LITERALLY SUMS UP IROH AND ZUKO'S ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP IN ONE SENTENCE #like i know certain dialogues can't be translated well into live action and some changes are necessary #but there was absolutely NO reason to change this particular line whatsoever in this specific scene

[authorhjk1]

Just wanted to drop some of my personal thoughts on probably why the 3 fics worked so well or even just for fics in general to gain more attention

First of all i think what's really important would be the idols/pairings, like it or not, some idols are obviously much more "preferable" or even "readable" compared to others, so choosing the right idol while might not a guarantee for success, it can definetly help people to be interested in reading the fic at all in the first place based entirely on who are the idols involved. Of course this will create a new problem where a certain idols would just be written for too often and from there it will come down entirely on how each writer play out the story...

Which lead to the second point which is how you describe the characters if it matches the somewhat general idea of what people think an idol attitude would be, whether calm, naughty, bratty, subby, dom etc., and sometimes even down to what particular part of the idol can become the highlight, say if it's a busty idol then some additional focus towards her breasts will always be nice, or if the idol have nice lower body, playing more around the thighs/ass or even foot will also be plus especially for certain readers but in general highlighting their particular body could really add a plus in how you describe the idols and how the scenes are going between them.

Last but obviously just as, if not the most important would be the overall plot and flow, how you build things up, playing with the pacing in between the scenes and finally creating either an amazing climax or even if you want maybe give it some twist just for the sake of it, either way a good buildup and pacing can really help people to stay interested in the overall plot and on top of that, attention to detail, how you describe some stuff or scene in a much more detailed way can also make the whole experience become more fun to read.

On top of that, what i realized also is that some writers usually excels in particular length of story. Some are really good in short fics 1k-2k words ish fics, some excels in medium ones ranged from 3k-6k ish, some even better when it comes to a really long stories be 10k+ to 20k+ ish, so it might also help if you as a writer can find where is your strength, because at the end of the day, lenghty fics may not always equals a quality fic and a short sprinter does not always mean it is lack in quality too.

Anyways i must say this is all entirely based on my personal preferences on how i see things and how a certain fic can be much more interesting than others, but of course everyone have their own taste in story, pacing, fav idols, etc., so i guess take it with a pinch of doubt if that's the right expression

To close it all, just wanted to say again, thank you for working hard on your fics, and can't wait to see what you got in store in the future.

Stay healthy and take care

Thank you for such an explicit answer!

I would say that I agree with you pretty much on everything.

There are specific idols that are presented more often than others, which would mean one could write more of those. Wonyoung for example. Although I do have to say that it does kinda become a little repetitive. Because, just like you mentioned, the idol's personality plays a big role as well. I have read so many Wonyoung stories in the last months, and while all have different settings and plots, all do seem somewhat similar. Which is just rooted in Wonyoung's personality. The pretty, confident princess vibe.

I do like diversity though, when it comes to whom I'm reading about. That's why I'm also writing about so many different idols. I originally started writing, because I wasn't always able to find what I wanted to read. Take Dreamcatcher or Fromis_9 for example. Sure, there are a lot of fics about them too, but compared to Twice or Blackpink it's just a handful.

Although I've also realized that, although someone is highly appreciated, there isn't much to read about them. IU comes to mind. I was so surprised when so many readers liked it. Mainly because there wasn't much IU out there. So I would say it does depend a lot on the idol, at least when you talk about single fics.

With stories though, I think the "success" is more linked to the writer and the plot. How many people like what's going on? What kinks? And also how long is it? I honestly have a hard time to read a 30k words fic, but that's just me.

Adding to that, the writer's style is just as important. From what I have noticed, correct me if I'm wrong, is that I myself tend to describe actions and the scenes more than feelings. Just because I think, once you know exactly what's going on, you know what the person, or you, would feel in this situation. I've read differently oriented fics too, but I sometimes feel like the feelings disrupt the flow a little. And feelings are personal too, so readers sometimes have a hard time to emphasize.

I will stop for now though, because I think I've rambled on long enough. Thank you very much for this detailed explanation.

The next stuff I've planned is probably gonna be a little more experimental. For any IU fans: the next interlude is reserved for you after many requests for the stay in Italy.

The small series I have in mind is a request, and a great idea, from someone on Wattpad. It's quite kinky, but I hope you guys will enjoy it.

Stay healthy!

#ask #anon

[tiredspacedragon]

BIONICLE Retrospective

2002: The Bohrok Swarms

Part 1.3: Into the Nest

Y'all ready for some original content?

So this is Into the Nest. Not to be confused with Into the Nest, a mini promotional comic covering the fight between the Toa and the Bahrag. Totally different.

All things considered, this issue is kind of a big deal. To Trap a Tahnok was a fun little side adventure, but now we're getting back into the main plot. The Krana are collected, Lewa is freed, and the Toa begin their descent into the Bohrok nest to end this conflict once and for all.

That said, last time I read this comic, I found it kind of a slog to get through. A side effect of much of 2002's media being somewhat repetitive is that it can make you lose appreciation for certain story beats you've seen a few too many times. Like okay, for example, this issue contains the Krana!Lewa vs. Onua fight, also known as "Onua Saves Lewa's Ass 3: There Will Be Trauma This Time." And this is a very important scene, it's the Lewa mind control episode everyone remembers and the only one that has lasting consequences throughout the story. But because I know this part so well, it was a little hard to appreciate it upon revisiting. I am here now to say my younger self has no idea what he was on about. This is the original version of this scene, the first way most people experienced it, and it's a banger. I do think the extended version in Beware the Bohrok does improve it by allowing the exchange to play out more slowly, but I don't think the comic version feels rushed at all. Maybe a little too easy, given how Krana!Lewa has been built up for two issues by now, but it's still a good moment, and seeing Lewa tear that little parasite off his own face is deeply satisfying.

The pacing in this issue, since I'm apparently focusing on that today, is pretty good overall, actually. Though if I have on complaint, it's the scene of Gali and Pohatu in what I believe are supposed to be the ruins of Po-Koro.

Not that this scene is bad by any means, Pohatu's line here about his people wanting their homes back is actually quite poignant. But it is rather brief, and it interrupts what I think would be a natural flow from the scene of Onua saving Lewa to the scene of the Toa entering the Bohrok nest. I think the point is to show the devastation the Bohrok have caused, and showcase the emotional component as well. This isn't just the destruction of wilderness, which is bad enough already, people have lost their homes. Locations the audience knows and may have grown attached to have been utterly destroyed. But if that was the point, I do think it misses the mark. Maybe if the scene was more obviously set in what used to be Po-Koro, or if there was some smaller detail to show how devastating this event has been to many people's lives. As is, I'm afraid it feels much more like waxing poetic about the horrors of war than showing a burnt child's toy, if you know what I mean.

But to get back to the good parts, the Toa's interactions as they descend into the tunnels are pretty interesting, as they continue to highlight relationships between the Toa that are less focused on down the line. Pohatu and Gali are again paired up here, showing a depth to their friendship seldom acknowledged elsewhere. The Lewa and Kopaka friendship I only noticed through this retrospective continues to shine. And at this point Tahu and Onua seem to be closest to each other. Or at least Tahu views Onua as his closest confidant, expressing to him both his doubts about Lewa and his plan to scout the Bohrok nest. Makes me think that Onua probably would have been Tahu's choice for his deputy at this point, had he been the official team leader at the time. Appropriate given how they were paired up on the cover of Triumph of the Toa and how Onua would go on to be written as Tahu's earliest supporter in Tale of the Toa. But yeah, lesser seen relationships, always nice to find.

And I do also have to give this issue points for its meme-worthy faces. This stuff is excellent. Oh, and also for the inclusion of the first look at the Exo-Toa armour and the Bahrag, of course, that's kind of important I guess. But mostly for the meme faces.

The Bahrag's introduction is actually really cool. They look very fearsome and menacing, and finally seeing the faces of the true power behind the Bohrok is very cool. Makuta in 2001 was an eldritch horror and now the Bahrag in 2002 are very dragonesque, it's a good progression. 'Kay thanks byeee~

Next up: What Lurks Below

#bionicle retrospective #into the nest #third in a row with an irrelevant cover #this one's probably the last thing that'll make it up on 810 proper #but i'm having fun so i'll keep these going #so no worries to the people enjoying them #and apologies to the people whose dashes i'm flooding

[arthurslesbian]

anyway, as someone coming at this movie from not having read the book but being an avid rom com fan, i kind of don't like how rwrb is being called not original or not creative or not inventive or silly or basically not good

i mean. i get if you don't like rom coms. i do, they're truly not for everyone. but like. this movie was really fucking good. maybe rom coms just don't get credit for how hard they are to do well?

like idk actors repeatedly say how comedy is harder to do than dramatic, serious scenes, which is probably why there's a whole group of actors who are known for doing comedy, because it's really hard and a specialized skill set. getting those comedic beats right, the expressions that have just the right amount of irony and im in on it is hard!

and with romance, you need to have that chemistry, that rhythm it's really hard to do well because there's nothing external to the characters to distract from their performances there's no cool effects or world at stake plot or menacing villian

and rom coms?? really hard to get right. the whole genre has been in a decline for like the past ten years if I've been honest. so many recent rom coms have not been good at all! horribly written, terribly edited with really bad pacing, the flattest acting with no chemistry and not to mention uninteresting sets and costumes and stagnant camera work

meanwhile. rwrb is brilliant. it's written so well, with hilarious one liners (thank you zahra) and so much humour and comedy from the couple, the actors went all out with phenomenal performances, the shots showed so much care and attention to each scene, and the pacing was perfect for what it is - a rom com.

like so many recent rom coms take 4k way too far and it looks so bad, but rwrb looks so beautiful in every still. every single background was gorgeous every set, every detail with costuming. and this is important in rom coms! the two leads look so incredible!! taylor looks like a greek god with his long legs and his abs and his eyelashes to his nose while nick looks like a beautiful angel. (sorry it had to be said)

and the thing is, this is really hard to do. I believe rom coms have been in decline as the industry grapples with how much technology has pervaded dating recently, from dating apps to communicating constantly through things like texting and facetime, which it's really struggled to show convincingly on screen. the last good rom coms were before things like smartphones really took off

and rwrb did that so well!! romance as a genre in books recently has kind of been leaning into the tropes we're nostalgic about while incorporating those more recent aspects of relationships, and rwrb translates that so well on screen. the way they did the text messages was honestly innovative!!

the way it kind of led up to having henry physically in the room was an amazing way to capture growing closeness and how we now perceive text conversations to be just like real conversations, while still highlighting the kind of difference of actually being there which is actually really hard to portray and not really something the industry has figured out how to show well imo.

i loved the chemistry in that scene, and i loved how they did the emails as well because those are two different things!! and how it was able to show their togetherness while they were apart. even the way that ghosting works and alex literally storming a castle was shown so well!! that's not easy or done before!!

all this to say, i for one really appreciate matthew lopez's vision and will be rewatching this movie just as much as movies like 27 dresses, bridget jones' diary, and the proposal and i can't wait for a new wave of (queer!) rom coms

#rwrb #Im js #really loved this move #haven't read the book yet!! #i also really loved how many different sets there were like that makes it feel so lived in #like it may not be something you notice right away but it adds so much to the production value and the overall feel of the movie #it feels so real and expansive and it does such a good job of capturing the amount of time that it covered #and the lives of the characters!! #again different from recent rom coms which can again be really flat and have like two sets

[groove-on-boogie-down]

This episode of Andor depicted so many real life occurrences and did it so well that it almost hurts to watch. Pointing out just how real this type of oppressive action is to the point where it’s so frustrating that this stuff has happened in the first place and still happens every day.

This episode we learn that Cassian’s adoptive father’s name was Clem, explaining why Luthen gave him that code name. But this episode goes into more about the way his father was unjustly murdered.

Hanging is a recurring theme in this show, directed at the characters of color like Cassian and Lieutenant Gorn, and I do not think it’s on accident. Especially in the context of oppressive forces taking over. Cassian’s father was hanged. And truthfully, it was a lynching.

But for a black man to be (almost) shown being hanged, the implications of that with the history that black people have had, hit so close to home. It’s so pertinent. I don’t know if it was written that way with an black actor in mind. But to me, it’s important that they did that. Because it happened. Black people were lynched in America and left for days and weeks to serve as an example. And in some places, it’s still happening. There is heavy trauma in that.

And Cassian’s traumatic past haunts him the whole time he makes plans to leave Ferrix. Here he has his adoptive mother telling him that she was proud to hear about the rebel heist on Aldhani, that she doesn’t know he helped carry out using his father’s name. So proud that after avoiding it for years, she walked down the path to the square where Clem was hanged.

Cassian hears this and leaves. The flashback spurred on by his nearly crossing paths with stormtroopers. But the whole time he’s away on this warm beach planet, he’s on reasonably on edge. Then another familiar scene happens which often ends in death. He’s profiled again for looking “suspicious” and accused of several crimes he did not commit.

So many trips to the store have been cut short by instances like this. And he nearly loses his life due to the recklessness and carelessness of the shore trooper that stops him.

But it doesn’t even end there. Because of the empire retaliating against rebel action, he’s sentenced to prison for 6 YEARS when it would’ve originally been 6 months.

BOTH are too long for a crime you didn’t commit.

Just watching the trooper talk to him in circles made me angry. And that’s the point. We’ve seen it all too often. It’s very familiar and realistic and painful and overwhelming. But it needs to be highlighted. I’m glad that it’s being highlighted.

#even after writing all this I do not have the words #it’s heavy but I applaud the writing #andor #Cassian andor #andor series #andor show #Star Wars andor #andor spoilers #lieutenant gorn #tw: death #tw death mention #tw lynching #tw: death mention #tw murder #tw: murder #tw racial violence

[merrikat-e]

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe film review!

Here I am, 10 years after I first read Aristotle and Dante, having just watched Aitch Alberto’s adaptation of the beloved book. I’m not one for writing reviews, but this story means a lot to me personally, and I know many others feel the same, so I want to share my thoughts on the film. I wont share too many specifics, but dm me if you want to know more. The reviews I’m seeing thus far are obviously written by film critics who are unfamiliar with the book. As someone very familiar with the book, here’s my two cents:

First of all, the casting is perfect. The two young actors who play Ari and Dante are wonderful and absolutely embody the characters and they have great chemistry with each other. I was especially moved by Max Pelayo, who plays Ari beautifully. Despite the lack of his internal monologue that is provided in the book, Ari remains just as nuanced and thoughtful in the film. Their relationship is so sweet, especially in the beginning as they become best friends and are unconsciously falling in love with each other.

Everyone is perfectly cast, the parents, especially Ari’s parents, Gina and Suzie (who could’ve had more screen time tbh), and Aunt Ophelia, who is a more prominent character in the film. Beautiful and sincere performances all around.

A surprising highlight for me was the music. Isabel Summers, AKA the Machine of Florence + the Machine, composed the original soundtrack. It definitely adds to the poetic nature of the story, and really sucks you into Ari’s world and emotions.

The film is also just beautiful to watch. I know there will be a thousand gif-sets of every scene once they can be made.

The critiques I have are mainly inevitable side-effects of book-to-film adaptation, such as pacing and scenes not included. Especially in the latter half of the film, where Ari is at his most conflicted internally. Scenes that happen over days or weeks in the book are filmed to seem like they are in the same day, giving some emotional whiplash that I suppose is expected from turning a whole novel into an hour and a half long film. (The director did mention that the uncut version is 2.5 hours and baby, I wanna see it all! Fuck Hollywood and it’s arbitrary marketability standards…)

I think the film, and definitely the reviews that I’ve seen if the film, are a little boxed in by Hollywood representation/identity politics. I mean, it is an undeniably beautiful and important representation of young latino, specifically mexicano queerness and masculinity. Ari having only his repressed father and estranged lost brother in prison as his male role models, expecting that he too will inevitably become just as lost and violent someday. This is more contemplative in the book than in the film, and Ari acts out in more toxic ways in the film than he does in the book. I understand this as a way to translate text to film, but I was a little off put at times, expecting the more tender yet repressed reactions of Ari in the book. I worry, though, that the film might get held back by leaning into toxic masculinity as a main theme, not that it isn’t an interesting or important topic in the book or the real world. Ari is inherently so masculinized because of his race and class, and so presenting toxic masculinity as a main conflict for him, his quieter issues of depression, loneliness, anxiety, shame get slightly overlooked. Well, it’s all connected, really, but does mainstream Hollywood get that? Probably not…good thing it’s an indie film. Not sure if any of this makes sense anyways but would love to discuss once others have seen it! Besides, when the film gets tender, it is very tender indeed, don’t worry.

Despite some of the odd pacing and omitted scenes that I maybe would have liked to see, this film is truly a loving homage to the book by queer latinx creators who made an indie film relatively quick knowing the pressure of Hollywood and modern identity politics. It leans into the symbolic and poetic nature of the book, and the translation isn’t always perfect, but it’s definitely powerful and beautiful to watch. I cried a lot lol. And you will too.

Again, dm me if you want to know about more specific things in the movie, but I think we as fans should really be proud of this project.

Finally, here’s me with Ari and Dante and the director before the screening! Crying about it!!!

#aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe #ari and dante

[jamiesfootball]

i literally broke out the pen and paper (made a list and checked it twice) trying to find numbers for the ask game you hadn't been sent yet!

as many or as little as you feel like answering!

4, 17, 19, 30, 35, 56, 74

💚💚💚

Thank you thank you! Sorry for the delay, but I had to set these aside so that I could give them the proper time and focus they deserve!

4. what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

It's got to be my original work space thing A Robot Named Future. Specifically there is A Scene in it that I first came up with back in...2014? It's loosely based off the robot interrogation scene in the Will Smith movie I, Robot. Except in my book it doesn't involve a robot, its actually about [redacted].

Then later the robot shows up.

It doesn't fill me with existential dread though- it fills me with excitement. Of all the original works I have spinning around in my brain, this one is 1 out of 2 that are the predominant ones I spin around and I've written a few scenes. One of my goals for this year is to actually sit down and outline both of these stories. I'm quite looking forward to it.

17. what is your favorite line you’ve ever written?

Oooooooof. Uh. Honestly I feel I bang on about this line too much, but of the published stuff it's still:

He wondered if maybe he wasn't Sisyphus but the goddamn boulder that kept pushing everyone down the hill.

Bonus runner up because it always makes me laugh is this entire exchange:

“Hold on, now, Rocky didn’t go around tying dicks together, bruv.” “That we know of,” Moe retorted. "Yeah, I haven't seen any of the new ones," said Colin. “Creed was dope,” said Declan. “Michael B. Jordan pulled a plane in that one.” Jan scoffed. “You mean his stuntman pulled it.” “I don’t like Rocky,” Richard added, though no one had asked. “Guys, we do not have time to argue,” Sam implored. He worried the spool between his hands, turning it about like a puzzle. “We have to be on the pitch soon.” “Sam’s right. We’ve got to make a decision,” Isaac said authoritatively. “What do we think? And it has to be unanimous, it can’t just be a few of us out there with strings tied to our willies.”

19. what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

Ooooh, there's more than a few. Different authors taught me different things.

First, I think I would be remiss if I didn't mention all the art history courses I've taken in the past. Poetry may have given me the vocabulary to describe a scene, but writing about artwork I think is where I learned how to paint an image of a scene. Where to put the highlights and shadows, what objects get brought into focus. One of my old art teachers would remind us that 'all lines are not equally important', and when I'm describing, say, a room or a setting, I try to keep that thought in mind. I don't need to describe everything, I just need to emphasize the important and leave the obvious vague (another one from an art teacher.)

I have to give a special shout out to Terry Pratchett, specifically in regards to how he brings focal depth into consideration when writing very emotionally wrought scenes. It is the instinct of most writers to push inwards when describing horrible things, to focus on the effect they have on the individual. But after being blistered by T-Prat time and time again, I saw a post that pointed out how at some of his most emotional scenes he actually pulls backwards, leaving the audience to bare witness and fill in the blanks with a purposefully distanced grief we couldn't possible understand. This definitely shaped how I approach emotional scenes; I try to be intentional and weigh where that depth of focus should land.

Not to bang on this gong forever, but I have a deep and abiding love for Kurt Vonnegut. His prose style is so interesting to me in a sort of 'you can write things however you want, actually' sort of way. He'll be halfway through showing you a deep examination on the human psyche and then he'll leap into omniscience to make a joke about how aliens would find this part of the human experience very stupid and needlessly complicated.

So it goes.

30. most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

Not sure if it counts as inspirational, but there are two quotes from completely different series that sort of twined together in live on in my head:

One is from Discworld, where the dwarves have a saying: All things strive.

The other is from the manga Saiyuki: Even a one-inch worm has a half-inch soul.

35. tell us about a character who’s very different than you who you love a whole lot

A lot of characters are very different from me. In terms of characters, I would be Higgins. So any character who you would say is not at all like Higgins is very different from me.

Though in the spirit of answering I'll say Keeley. When I was watching Ted Lasso casually, there would just be times when I would blurt out 'I love her.' She's so wildly endearing to me.

56. five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

Hopefully at a point where I am still writing and where some of the longer things I'm working on have been finished!

74. are you a planner, pantser, or planster?

All of them. Whichever the story calls for.

#writers ask game #ask box is always open

[belle-keys]

I'm the Letty anon that other anon @'ed. Sorry for writing this if it's annoying, this'll be the last time I'll speak on this.

Again, my problem with Letty is that Babel is a weird 21st century-19th century hybrid insofar as Kuang nitpicks what aspects of the story she wants to keep historically accurate or not so that her book can have most of the racism a POC would experience in the 1830s and largely none of the misogyny that suit that same time period. This, I feel, is a slight at both Letty and Victoire, and it may sound a petty complaint, but Kuang wrote a book with fucking footnotes every other page so I feel like I can be a bit petty.

The thing is, women weren't allowed at Oxford until the 1920s, POC men weren't allowed to study at Oxford until the 1870s. The first Black man to get a degree in British soil did so in the 1850s, when the Edinburgh Seven weren't allowed to get their medicine diploma in the 1870s because their faculty decided admitting them had been 'a mistake', even when one of them would've graduated suma cum laude (and that was only the cherry on top, because they weren't allowed to take classes in the same rooms as their peers, they were routinely the target of violent abuse, they had to pay higher fees, etc).

I'm not saying POC wouldn't be treated horribly, because that would be the same ahistorical perspective I'm criticising Kuang for. I'm just a bit mad that Babel is so shallow sometimes when it's promoted as dark academia, has fucking footnotes and Kuang spent pages arguing against claims of historical inaccuracies (she even explained why she'd used xyz treat common among poor folks as a delicacy the rich enjoy ffs).

Also, I'm not trying to be mean, but the white women/feminists/suffragettes who helped maintain imperialism would likely not be friends with POC to begin with, never mind attempt at protecting them (ball scene, Letty is ready to punch Pandennis for wanting to compare her and Victoire's nipples), hence why I say that Letty is strange and I daresay badly written, too, because stuff like her falling for Ramy and getting into contact with the father that has disowned her doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Anyways, sorry for the spam. Anon, I'm not angry at you or whatever, just kinda frustrated by Babel because I waited a year for a book that ended up kinda disappointing me :)

So, there’s a lot going on here, but I think I expressed my own opinion about Letty as a caricature when I asnwered a few previous asks on the matter. I do agree the book is quite one-dimensional and shallow at times, but it’s set up so politically that highlighting the way it’s shallow actively goes against the central thesis of how white supremacy and British imperialism hurt people of colour and colonized nations. Letty is a rather unrealistic villainess, I agree, but regardless, Letty was a tool used to make a point about how white women and white feminism were actively hurting people of colour and colonized nations too. The original white feminists wanted equal power with white men and the ability to oppress POC the way rich white men did. And guess, what? That’s very much Letty. Letty is a tool to portray the worst parts of white feminism and upper class white womanhood. She’s really not a character at all.

Letty bides her time with the “colored folk” until she gets a chance to really choose where her loyalties lie aka not with them. Letty herself is a bit of a cartoonish character, but her actions ultimately seem quite realistic to me (aka the betrayal). You’re absolutely right that for a book that prides itself on research, it reads like the characters are millenials who were magically transported to the year 1830. It’s 2022 discourse transplanted to an 1830 setting. But Letty’s poor characterization doesn’t change what Kuang was trying to say or the point she was trying to make. And sometimes the message is more important than the execution in political novels. Kuang just went about it in a very unsubtle and Twitterish way, which is mostly okay in a politically-charged book like Babel. Once you, like me, don’t see the book as art or as a means of truly expanding consciousness, then these gimmicky tactics don’t bother you all that much.

But a word of unsolicited advice: I’d also redact that whole comparative paragraph about women and Black men at Oxford in this ask. It’s pretty irrelevant to compare the two when we’re talking about a novel where white women actively oppress MOC. It’s kinda giving “I missed the point”.

#babel #babel an arcane history #letitia price #rf kuang #colonization #victoire desgraves #ask #anon ask #dark academia #dark academia blog

[exposingtheidiocy]

This Scene Sucks: Sora's Breakdown (KH3)

"Sora Gives Up & Everyone Dies"

"Sora Gives Up"

You can probably already tell from the title of the video that it sucks. Context makes it even worse.

Much has been said about the scene of everyone facing off against Terranort and the Demon Tide, and I agree with all of the criticisms: everyone stood there and let themselves get fucked over, the scene was badly paced, cinematography was horrible, etc.

But the part I'm highlighting is after that, from around 6:17 and onwards, after the Demon Tide takes out the rest of the cast except Sora and Riku and he breaks down in tears. This moment got so much hype from the trailer showcasing it, and even today, many praise it as an amazing scene, but not me.

Listen to this garbage:

"They're gone. Kairi, Donald... Goofy, the King... Gone forever. What do we do? Without them...I... All my strength came from them. They gave me all of it. Alone, I'm worthless."

What the fuck.

First of all, Riku said a few minutes earlier that they still have their hearts, which means it was not too late, but they have to protect them. Despite this, Sora just stands there and spouts this garbage instead of fighting. I could see him breaking down after the fact, or even for a little bit before he starts fighting, but this is how he acts throughout the whole scene before darkness wins. Riku isn't much better, he doesn't pick up the slack for Sora, he doesn't try all that hard to get him to pull it together, he just says a platitude. Riku comes off as an uncaring dickhead, he couldn't care less that Sora is having a meltdown over people dying, or that said people just died.

The quoted line above is supposed to be this huge callback to the moment in Hollow Bastion from the original KH where Riku takes everything from him, but it fails. Sora lost everything: his weapon, his friends, and he eventually got his act together. Seeing Beast fight that hard for the one he loved was more than enough motivation, but in this scene, he still has a weapon, and Riku is still there (I guess he's just not that important to him anymore).

He also says his strength came from his friends (again, I guess Riku doesn't count), but who was doing almost everything throughout the game? Who was the one saving everybody? Him. It's not this clever deconstruction of the "my friends are my power line" that everyone says it is, it's just stupid. This sort of scene was also done better in the previous world, The Caribbean, in the same game - the scene where he pounces on Davy Jones wass good.

Another thing I see people say is that it's a culmination of his self-doubt in 3 (an arc that I think was so poorly executed as it required him to be ooc to tell this story), and that it was buildup from DDD. Yes, people, this COMPELLING character arc hinges on context from A FUCKING SPINOFF TITLE. I think that says enough.

The scene is also hilarious considering when he sees Chirithy, he's back to being the "sunshine boy"!

In summary, the scene was way too overdramatized in context, didn't live up to trailer hype, compromised Sora's character (and Riku's to an extent, as well as the others who just stood there and died), and the lines were badly written.

#bad storytelling #bad characterization #bad dialogue #anti kingdom hearts iii #Youtube #bad cutscenes #this scene sucks

[kingfisherprince]

⭐ since I saw the post you reblogged about the fanfic director's cut

i wish i knew which fics you would want to hear about, anon! but we're gonna go with this one because it's been a while since i wrote it and i want to relive those days,,, fair warning, this is *long* so it's gone under the cut.

i. intro

fair warning: this is 50% because there’s a lot i want to say about the series, 50% because i’m procrastinating, and 100% unnecessary. if you don’t want to stick around for way too much rambling on characters, choices, and chaos, you won't be missing anything.

ii. Afterwards, when he looks at Rafa, all he sees is the ghost of a hundred flashlights against the dark London sky.

what else could this be referring to but wimbledon ‘08? i liked the idea of setting it very clearly in a time period without ever mentioning the time period - this is something i continued throughout the series, making a point never to mention the year by number. this line is the very first thing that came to me, and established the style of the story, followed shortly by the title. after that there was no looking back.

iii. The part that stings the most is…[]

weirdly enough, i remember exactly where i was and what i was doing when i wrote this section. it was written entirely on my phone while i was charging it in a hotel room at 7am. i remember this so specifically because it was one of the more difficult scenes, because i didn’t know what i wanted from it - it’s very transitionary, and that made it hard. i do love the way it ends, though, which is why i brought it back in the final part.

iv. The reason he loves grass…[]

oddly enough, this was mostly what this series was about when i first conceptualised it. character studies of the big 3 as related to their best surfaces, with some elements of fedal. obviously, that is not at all what it became, but this scene is a glimpse of the original intentions.

v. When they first meet…[]

the fic says it better than i can - it’s nothing special. i don’t like love at first sight, or the feeling that two characters are destined to be together, especially not in something canon-adjacent like this. that just feels too idealistic, even for fanfiction.

at the same time, i think there’s something undeniably magnetic about rafa’s energy, especially when he was younger, and i tried to spend time highlighting that here - adjectives and the vibe they give is especially important to me, and i focused on using clay imagery and warm-toned words for this section.

vi. Here is a lie: Roger Federer cannot lose.

ah, here it is. the very first “here is a lie” of the entire series. when i first wrote this, i didn’t think i would even use it more than once, let alone that it would become - along with “afterwards” - one of the primary motifs throughout the series.

i was thinking about layers of lies, and public perception. that roger can’t lose is very obviously a lie, but also we like to think of him - at least during this period - as untouchable, beyond everything. there’s the idea that he perpetuates this lie just by winning so much.

then the second lie, which i imagine to be more of a justification. he’s a sore loser, of course. this is sort of my take on how he justifies that to himself - he needs to win all the time, no matter what. and that’s obviously not true, monetarily or in terms of his legacy. so why does he tell this particular lie? very simply, it’s his excuse.

then the truth, because i was modelling this section off like, a backwards version of two truths and a lie. so it’s two lies, now here’s the truth - he does lose. of course, we know this. he doesn’t only lose tennis, he also loses at other things, and sometimes he loses at other things even when he wins at tennis. 

this is a not-very-veiled reference to rafa, and it becomes even more obvious later, when he discusses the last lie, and his fear of losing everything. and of course, there’s that word: fear. it returns a lot, more than even i expected.

vii. Afterwards, time begins to flow again, surging forward and forward and forward.

i would of course be amiss if i didn’t talk about the endless repetition of the word “afterwards” because, well, that’s really the defining characteristic of this series. anaphora is my favourite literary device - “excessive use of anaphora” is my tag - and i knew i was going to use the hell out of it in this fic. and that is exactly what happened.

not only does it help tie together the huge number of disparate, motif-heavy, metaphorical sections in this fic, but it’s also a great cop-out which helps me avoid writing about actual tennis matches. and it makes me sound all ~poetic and fancy~ so. there’s really no downside to this.

viii. If things were different, he catches himself thinking sometimes - but he stops there because he's scared of how it might end.

now this is something that came back twice, arguably in the two most important sections of this fic. i wrote this much later than a lot of things, and by the time i did, it was becoming clear that fear was really the defining characteristic of this roger - something that makes him more sympathetic and yet worse, and something that he overcomes near the end. 

this was also around the time i gave up on grass being an important motif, and started letting this fic go in whatever direction it wanted. never let it be said i have any control over my writing.

ix. There is a fairy tale…[]

another of the scenes that was part of my initial concept for this fic, and one of the few that didn’t change very much. looking back, this bit is definitely why the fear theme took over instead of grass: you can characterise someone by fear, but not by the lawn. i should maybe have figured this out a bit sooner, but hey. all’s well that ends well.

the strikethrough text portions happened by accident, when i  was summarising the fairy tale and realised how much of it was vaguely akin to training and becoming a tennis player. accordingly, a large focus of the ‘fear’ theme is the fear of losing, and rafa teaching roger fear is synonymous with him teaching roger how to lose.

later i added a couple of pinocchio callbacks to the australian open section, so i guess the idea of fairy tales was a strong one for this fic. 

x. Afterwards, he tries to speak, to say something, but his English is breaking in his throat is closing his eyes as tears sting their corners and he can't, he just -

of all the “afterwards” in this fic, i really like this one. this is something i do a lot on the rare occasions that i write poetry - fracturing sentences, and using each fractured portion as the beginning of a new sentence with a different meaning. his throat is closing, and so are his eyes, and that’s normal as a descriptor of upsetness. but combining them like this makes it a lot more memorable. 

really it’s just an extension of my love for things like puns and dad jokes, but it also helps with giving the moment that overwhelming, everything is happening toofastidon’tknowhowtodeal kind of feeling.

xi. Here's the truth, once again: Roger Federer loses all the time. Even when he doesn’t.

i first used the “two truths and a lie” structure while writing a short story; it was absolutely the opposite of this series in terms of subject matter, tone, and style, but that structure - especially “here is the truth once again” and “one last time” - stuck with me. i feel guilty about blatantly repurposing things like this, but honestly, some lines are too good to let languish in the stories i originally wrote them into.

the reason i brought this motif back at this point was to contradict the idea in the previous section. we’re talking about how much roger likes winning, how he would give everything, almost, in order to win. fine. great. but what if he’s giving everything, and losing? i wanted to remind the reader that winning and losing for roger is not necessarily that simple.

xii. The thing about fear is this: it feels a lot like love, sometimes.

i remember coming up with this, too. it was when i finished up the fairy tale section, and i was just describing fear in a variety of ways, most of them using dark adjectives and similes - and all of a sudden, i realised that these things sort of apply to being in love or being nervous as well. 

so i wrote this line, and then i went back and edited that section to be less miserable; usually i do this by changing which adjectives and imagery i use, because deliberate word choice really does matter when you’re trying to create a mood. hummingbirds? cute, elegant, they work for this. my older sentences, with shockwaves and shaking out of your bones from nightmares? not so much.

xiii. the cafe scene

this is the absolute last scene that i wrote, and it was unbelievably difficult - this fic would have taken at least a week less if i hadn’t had quite so much trouble with this part. originally it was intended to be more important, longer, but i had trouble reconciling myself with the idea that a scene which is pretty much their developing relationship would happen entirely in public.

i characterise rafa here in very broad strokes - he’s grinning, happy, laughing, fondly annoyed at worst. it’s a pretty common thing, when focusing primarily on one dynamic character, to make the other person more static, simpler, without too much depth in their actions. especially when it’s from the deep, introspective pov of one character, you’re unlikely to be able to flesh out the other one.

the results of this are mixed; on the one hand, you get a version of rafa who is instantly endearing and loveable. on the other, he’s not written with much depth or character motivation in mind in either this scene or the next, so it was much more difficult to get a handle on his character when i was working on part 3.

xiv. video games

as soon as i realised the cafe was Not It, though, i wrote the video games scene, and this was very easy to do. i am a casual gamer, and lots of this - tangled wires, snacks - was taken from personal experience. a lot of people told me they liked this scene, which is nice to hear.

as i mentioned, rafa isn’t characterised with much depth here, as opposed to roger, whose fear & losing theme is playing throughout. when i began work on part 3, one of the first things i had to do was come back to this scene, and figure out what rafa, a more complex and dynamic version than we see, would be thinking here. 

in the end i came up with the idea that what seems like carelessness to roger (rafa having no regard for personal space, the hand-holding, all of that) is much more deliberate than we think. at this point, rafa is well aware that roger is attracted to him, and vice versa, so he knows he can get away with physical contact - and maybe it’ll even speed up the process of getting together; at this point, rafa still thinks they can make it work.

because we’re still playing strongly with fear, it ends with another moment of hesitation from roger, but at least there’s something there to hesitate over.

xv. The thing about love is this: it feels a lot like fear, sometimes.

immediately after i wrote the first fear-love line, i knew that i had to write the flip side. arguably this is the more important of the two, and more central to the fic’s themes. it’s placed after one of roger’s hesitations for… well, i think the reasons are fairly self evident, to be honest. overall i like this one a lot.

xvi. Afterwards, he lifts the Wimbledon trophy over his head, the grass steady and worn and alive beneath his feet, and it’s a familiar feeling, this, a familiar weight in his hands and lightness in his laugh.

this is my absolute last-ditch effort at bringing the focus back to grass courts, where it all began. in the end, i think i did a decent job of this simply by having it set mostly during grass season, and especially the pivotal moments and final scenes literally on court, but it’s the final piece of evidence as to how much this fic changed between what it was in my head (a 3k character study with grass courts as metaphor) and what it became.

also - the sheer importance of doing research! if i could just have remembered that rafa didn’t play wimbledon in 2009, i would probably have tagged the fic “canon compliant” instead of “canon divergent” which is only a minor difference, but it Bothers me.

xvii. final scene

one of the very few scenes i can confidently say i knew what i was doing while writing; the goal from the very start was to write a bunch of anaphora-based motif sections and tie them all into the final scene via parentheses (this was my goal even before i knew what the final scene was going to contain) and it turned out exactly as i’d hoped.

i wrote this scene in bits and pieces, filling it in as i wrote the rest of the fic around it, which is something all of the final scenes have in common in this series. believe it or not, this wasn’t intended to have a sad ending - that just kind of happened as i was writing, and it fit, so i took it that direction. 

or, well, it took me in that direction. quite often, especially in dialogue based scenes, this is what happens to my writing, but it usually turns out better than before, so i can’t complain. a lot of people have said they were genuinely emotional about the way it ended, and i’m proud of that - i really wanted to give this scene the gravity needed for it to tie everything together, all those motif threads and metaphors.

xviii. Afterwards, everything changes, and still everything stays the same.

initially, i had this line in the first set of “afterwards” as well as the final, but i preferred it to be just here. it really ties the… circularity, almost, of this fic back together. things have changed - they’ve talked and kissed and confessed and all that - but now in the end, it’s exactly the same as it was when they started. they’re friends, nothing more, and quite possibly less. 

looking back, i feel sorry for the people who read this when it was first posted. that ending is depressing as hell, and it was posted as a oneshot, so it could have just been a standalone. 

i am exactly the kind of person to leave an ending like this, but the desire to do a three-surface series took over. all of you should thank tennis for being played on multiple surfaces, otherwise this would have been the end.

xix. random facts

well, i said this in the notes, but usually i title fics by songs, and i didn’t do that here - but for this one i had ‘the scientist’ on repeat while editing. overall it’s a very coldplay sort of fic, i think.

this fic has, in my humble opinion, the single ugliest mixture of british and american spelling you will ever find. i pretty much wrote the entire thing in a cross between oxford conventions and the texas-canada border. and if that sounds awful, that’s because it is awful.

large parts of this were written in the midst of family reunions, while horribly jetlagged, on planes and trains and in hotels, and between long stretches of wifi loss. let’s just say it was an Experience.

xx. final thoughts

gosh, this has been fun! i really enjoyed going back through the entirety of this fic, especially since it’s been so long since i thought about it that i forgot how much it changed through the course of writing it, from a character study about grass - horrible idea, past self - to what it is now.

and that ends the dvd commentary for grass stains!

#actually i wrote this director's cut a while ago #posted it and then took it down because i was embarrassed lol #but it's back now! #fisherkings fic #tennis #tennis rpf #fedal #series: stained in your colours #fic: grass stains when you kneel #the right questions #anon as percival

[seerofmike]

ask meme: 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 20

5. Share one of your strengths.

everyone has always told me that i write invidiual character voices very well. i try to make narration and dialogue distinct and i think i do a great job!

my vantage is completely different from my crypto who is completely different from my octane, and on the surface octane may look like he'd share the same narrative voice as leo from rise but my leo rise voice is different from octane's and ohg i just love writing how different characters would describe things or percieve situations.

i do want to give a special shout out to my vantage from my mad science fic. i don't care for her character that much but writing her was so fun and judging by the reception i got from it when posted people really enjoyed her character voice too.

6. Share one of your weaknesses.

scene-setting, environmental description, action. god this problem plagues me when reading, writing, AND drawing. i simply cannot picture where characters are or what they're doing or how they're having this conversation, sitting down or standing up. in my brain, everything takes place with characters standing around in a white void until something happens in the environment. visually it looks like that one scene in coraline. you know the one

here's how my fic writing process goes. dialogue, emotion and feelings and shit, basic plot action like going to the next necessary location, or maybe a super important event, or the set-up and punchline to a non-verbal joke. then i go back and add like 1k-2k words of just...setting. description. action. response. reaction. physical action. THEN i go over it again for like actual editing and proofreading

i can give you an example right now of what i mean

everything highlighted here was not what was originally written and was added later so the scene would be more than just "he said/he said" and maybe it's because i'm the one who wrote it but like...you can tell it was tacked on.

i'm trying to get better at this and started drawing a storyboard for my current rottmnt fic because that one relies on action more than introspection and dialogue, but if u ever ask me to describe a location...girl i would need 30 minutes to think about it

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

umm...this one is kind of hard actually i don't really remember specific pieces of prose i write outside of dialogue!! if i had to pick it would be maybe this specific bit from chapter five of my simulacrum Crypto AU, Four Oh Three:

this is way more than a snippet lmao but writing this entire chapter was super satisfying with everything i'd set up so far. crypto not knowing if he actually felt attraction to octane or if his feelings were just the lingering result of his programming, trying to figure out what he could feel, IF he could feel, octane touching him and inviting him to touch him in turn, all the conflicting emotions that came with that.

i really felt at the time that it all really came together in a very drawn-out but deserved scene of intimacy (nearly the whole chapter?) after the result of like uhhh 30,000+ words of tension that i don't think i've ever really written before or since. i usually like to get straight into the dick in hole action lmfao but i was very satisfied and proud of myself for this one

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

so this isn't even writing advice it's programming advice LOL but several years ago i heard of rubber duck debugging in which programmers tell a rubber duck their code line by line until they realize what's causing them a problem. and ever since, for lengthy fics or things outside my comfort zone, i've described overarching plot details and invidiual chapters to either stuffed animals or my cat and if it sounds stupid being said out-loud then i usually decide it'd be stupid and nonsensical in a fic too and i change it up LOL

14. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?

controversial opinion maybe but i think telling people that every scene in a book should only serve the narrative/plot is STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!! books aren't movies, you don't have a runtime limit!!! i think you lose out on so much character and introspection and world-building by forcing every scene in your book to only be plot-relevant stuff. sometimes characters interacting with each other and doimg stuff in their world is just fun or interesting and that's all it has to be

20.) Describe your perfect writing conditions.

i have my headphones plugged in and am listening to my music. the chair is comfy and i can lean back but my laptop is on a solid surface. i am supplied endlessly with coffee and fizzy drinks. all is well

[squidkidnerd]

Operation Atlantis Notes - “Squid for Hire” (chapter 4)

Hey! So, if you’re here from Chapter 4, you get the gist. These notes are gonna be a place for updates, rambling (lots of rambling), and maaybe the occasional insight into my writing process. I hope you enjoy reading them as I much as I did writing them lol (rest under the cut!).

Anyways, this chapter was pretty hard to write.

Much like chapter 1 actually, I knew exactly where I wanted “Squid for Hire” to end. Three getting hired at Calamari Coffee is, of course, a major plot point that affects basically everything going forward, and it’s been in the works since the very beginning. However, getting there... getting there was more of a struggle. Funzone, Mihoto Records, and Grateful Grocers all had to be built practically from the ground up for this chapter because before that they straight up didn’t exist. It was daunting, at first, figuring out all the locations and making up a reason as to why Three wasn’t hired there. This gave me some writer’s block that slowed down my progress. But hey, here we are. I made it.

Of course, the chapter itself wasn’t the only problem I encountered. A good chunk of my already-sparse free time was dedicated to another fic, “Valentine’s Day Blues.” During January I suffered a tired spell that made it infinitely harder to write at all. AND, apparently I can’t catch a break because of course my left ear had to act up right before February break. So, yeah. Life got in the way. But hey, I’m here now. On with the notes.

Opening poem: Hoo boy, I think this one is one of the favorites I’ve written so far. I took a lot of inspiration from the Mr. Grizz mem cake poem for this one, which I think has some similar ideas to what I delve into this chapter. Specifically, I wanted to highlight the sense of personal duty and “looking the other way,” that comes with having a job of Atlantis.This is something we’ve only really scratched the surface of so far and is sort of a larger theme within Operation Atlantis. If there’s one thing Kamabo likes to do, it’s putting people into boxes. What happens to them in those boxes? Who knows.

Small character interactions: Yay, more Calamari Coffee gang banter! I missed writing that in chapter 3. Anyways, Miyo, Gregory, and Madame Katrina all get a little time to shine here. With Miyo, I’m trying to be careful that “teasing Eight about Three all time” isn’t her whole personality... can’t say she doesn’t do that during this chapter, but hey. Don’t worry, her character will eventually be explored in more depth. Same with Gregory. The small scene with the wipes was a little bit of a spontaneous addition I put in because, why not? Writing their language barrier was interesting here. And then, Madame Katrina. Her tidbit actually went to Miyo initially, but I changed it because it felt more in-character for her to do that rather than Miyo. She doesn’t know much about the octarians’ *ahem* situation, but hey, she knows enough. Certainly more than Eight at this point.

The diner scene, the Octarian Society, and Eight’s memories: More Iso Padre! The man is incredibly hard to write, but I tried my best. Anyways, Eight’s original plot for this chapter was actually the Octarian Society meeting Iso Padre mentions here, but it seemed like too much for now (and too much it would’ve been—this chapter is the longest yet!), so I moved it later on. Anyways, Eight has a lot of feelings regarding her past, and I wanted to show them here. It’s hard, and certainly confusing, to lose all your memories and thusly, your entire sense of self. It’s even harder because your memories often give you a sense of belonging, a belonging especially important to the octarians given their circumstances. So yeah, Eight hasn’t even gone there and she already feels left out :(. We’ll see how that meeting goes...

Job hunting with Cap’n Cuttlefish: And here, we get to the bulk of the chapter! Yeah, Cuttlefish is... one of my favorite characters to write, honestly. It’s a shame he doesn’t get used more often, because I think he’s a really great foil for Three in a lot of ways. The paragraph of reflection I wrote after his lines about Calamari Coffee is probably my favorite passage of this entire chapter, and I tried my best to fit in logically. Anyways... Funzone. And Merriweather’s. They don’t show up for very long, but I still wanted to give them distinct character and flavor. Atlantis is a city after all, just like Inkopolis. And if there’s one thing cities have a lot of, it’s distinct places. So, that’s why I included them.

Eight’s eavesdropping: This was a more recent addition, actually. Anyways, Teo, and to a lesser extent, his grandma, are both characters that appear later on, so I thought why not and decided to drop hints here. Yeah, there’s a lot of hints here. I am quite proud, in fact, that I revealed what DOHU stands for in Teo’s dialogue as fluidly as I did. Trust me, they are... relevant later. They’re not antagonists, per se, just perhaps a little misguided.

Six: Six!!! Another little hint. I’ve always found it very strange that the ramifications of the Deepsea Metro (aka: at least hundreds of people getting blended into a smoothie) are never really explored in fanfics. I mean, they must’ve had no idea! They thought they were going to the surface, for God’s sake! And of course, their loved ones wouldn’t even know! The angst potential is off the charts! And yet, I’ve only seen it explored like once. Once. And I've read a lot of Splatoon fanfiction. So yeah, Six is my attempt to rectify that. Trust me, we’ll be hearing a lot more about him later 😏

Mihoto Records: Remember that records shop I mentioned very briefly in chapter 2? I do, because surprise! It was Mihoto Records! Yeah, this was a fun setting because it’s so different to Funzone and Merriweather’s. Definitely more octarian roots. I liked writing Nikko, even though I didn’t really get to write him because Three couldn’t understand most of his dialogue anyways. Oh, and because Three’s in an octarian-dominated space, I of course had to bring up her whole (very understandable) anxiety about that. Poor Three. It will get better eventually, I promise. Eventually.

Calamari Inkantation: Hoo boy, I WAS WAITING TO MENTION THIS ONE. If you couldn’t very obviously tell, I’ve been using the Inkantation as a sort-of motif (hehe, ‘cause it’s a song) for Eight’s memory loss and resulting lack of direction. Unlike Three, who has very clear and well-defined motivations, Eight at this point has no idea who she is or what she wants. Given that the Inkantation plays in the very beginning of Octo Expansion (and Cuttlefish mentions hearing Eight hum it before they wake up), it makes sense to assume it’s the only thing she can remember. And she doesn’t even remember the whole song! It’s like getting one part of a really annoying song stuck in your head, except you can’t even remember where it’s from! Thusly, I think the Inkantation represents how Eight currently feels about her memories in general: she can’t remember them and it frustrates her beyond belief. She can only hope that Iso Padre is right in that it will all come together in time.

Grateful Grocers: Oh, would you look at that! The belonging theme is back again! Yeah, this scene was initially intended to be more along the length of Mihoto Records’s, but hey. More characterization to the denizens! Given how isolated everything in Octo Expansion is from the outside world, it only felt reasonable that the native residents themselves held isolationist views. It’s something we’ll see more of, of course, with the DOHU and even Tazo’s character.

Biscuit Baking: Yay, my favorite part of this chapter! I got the idea for biscuits specifically because it's mentioned somewhere that Cuttlefish likes eating them (and crab cakes as well), so I figured it'd be something Three has made a lot. So much she knows it by heart. So, I used a biscuit recipe online as reference for this lol. I come from a family of avid bakers, so I had to used some of that knowledge in this fic. And by knowledge I mean learning what a pastry cutter is because the recipe I looked up mentioning it. Anyways, the Eight and Three interaction.The Eight and Three interaction. Aka my favorite part of pretty much any chapter. By this point Eight’s feelings are supposed to come off more as “this person is so cool I want to be friends with them” then “gay,” but hey. Gayness is the direction we’re heading, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

“You’re hired”: What a way to end the chapter, huh? Yeah, Three getting hired at Calamari Coffee was the plan since the beginning. The very beginning. Fun fact: very early on Three and Eight actually worked at a weapons shop instead before I realized 1) COFFEE SHOP AU and 2) I would have to headcanon how weapons work. So, yeah. Three can’t escape from her destiny now >:)

So, that’s a wrap! As mentioned in my note on the fic itself, I am unbelievably excited for chapter 5. I’ve been looking forward to writing it since I first started. I already banged out a (quite detailed actually) outline the other day (if chapter 5 ends up being the longest so far I wouldn’t be surprised), so... hopefully I can get it by the end of March? Beginning of April? We’ll see.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this. Have a good rest of your day/week/month/whatever!

#ari's updates #writing notes #operation atlantis writing notes #(thats the tag for these now on) #chapter 4

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)”

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was not JUST the best-animated movie of 2018 or the best movie of 2018, it was the best Spider-Man film period! I was thrilled at it getting a sequel but was slightly worried it won't live up to the first one. Is Across the Spider-Verse a worthy sequel or one universe that should've been closed?

Firstly, let's get the obvious out of the way. The animation is SPECTACULAR! The animation and art style changing depending on what universe the characters are in or even what universe the characters are from was a great creative choice. The way the characters move, the vibrancy and the colours of the world are so gorgeous and beautifully crafted. The action scenes are thrilling and exciting while also being well-choreographed. The soundtrack is still phenomenal here as well, with a special mention of Spider-Gwen's theme.

In terms of story, Spider-Gwen has a bigger focus this time. We get more exploration of her backstory and her struggles, such as loneliness and guilt. Her character arc is one of the great highlights of this film. Miles Morales is still of course the main focus as well and has his struggles too. He is starting to experience the "Spider-Man" problem of balancing his own life with the responsibility of Spider-man. The sequel continues his arc of trying to become his own hero and it is still very compelling. The chemistry between both Miles and Gwen is strong with their relationship being one of the things I enjoyed. Spider-Man 2099 returns from the post-credit of the previous film to a major role in this entry. I like that he is the one Spider-Man who doesn't joke like the others as it furthers the contrast between him and Miles. The way he is animated feels more inhuman as well which makes him significantly frightening.

He isn't the main villain though, that comes to a character called The Spot. He is a very interesting villain as he comes off as very goofy and silly. His origin is also a bit ridiculous. Despite all that, the directors managed to make him come off as very threatening with how they used his abilities. It is impressive that made a lame-looking character be that menacing. The returning voice cast such as Shameik Moore as Miles, Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen, Brian Tyree Henry as Jeff, Luna Lauren Vélez as Rio Morales, and Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker is still great here.  Oscar Isaac also returns as Spider-Man 2099 and he is awesome. In terms of the new voice cast, Jason Schwartzman is terrific as The Spot with how he portrays both the silly and serious side of the antagonist. Karan Soni is funny as Spider-Man India and Daniel Kaluuya is quite cool as Spider-Punk. Despite the multiverse theme, the information dumps never become too much. They are written in an understandable way that the audience can still digest. The humour is still genuinely funny and there wasn't a joke that didn't land.

In terms of issues, I do find the second act a little bit too long. The second act is mostly about the family drama of Miles Morales and it does go on for quite a while. It doesn't help that the importance of this drama doesn't come into play in this film but most likely the next one, so it doesn't even have a proper payoff. Additionally, the sound mixing can be a bit off. It is sometimes a little difficult to hear dialogue during scenes with loud music or action. This is especially noticeable in the beginning with the drums feeling way more loud than the dialogue. This is also very clearly a part 1 film. It ends at a point where it feels like it is about to enter the final act but it just ends before it does. If the aim was to make me desperate for the next movie then it succeeded!

Overall, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a very worthy sequel that builds upon everything that made the first great. The multiverse is such an overdone thing but this film still somehow makes it feel fresh! If the final movie in this trilogy is as good in quality as both this and the first movie, we might have one of the best trilogies in cinema history! The 3rd film can't come soon enough because I am dying to watch it!

For more reviews like this visit:

https://moviewarfarereviews.blogspot.com/

#movies #films #Movie Reviews #Film Review #spider-man #spider-man into the spider-verse #spider-man across the spider-verse #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #MCU #sony #sony spiderman #Miles Morales #gwen stacy #spider woman #spider gwen

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Wizard of Speed and Time (1989)

There will never be another film like The Wizard of Speed and Time. Even if Mike Jittlov hopped in a time machine, reassembled the original cast, used the same equipment, the same locations and shot the film using the same techniques on the same budget, it could never be duplicated. Difficult to track down unless you know where to find it - at which point it becomes ridiculously easy to view - it’s got that “lightning in a bottle” quality.

Based on his original short film, writer, cinematographer, animator, composer Mike Jittlov plays himself as he attempts to create a short film highlighting his DIY special effects techniques for a TV network special. He’s a complete unknown and more than a little odd, prompting the executives to place a bet on whether Jittlov will meet the deadline.

A childlike sense of enthusiasm, giddiness and pleasant naivete radiates from every frame of The Wizard of Speed and Time. As you might’ve guessed, Mike Jittlov is essentially playing himself. He creates and then sells the film he made in 1979 to a system which has stomped all potential for off-the-wall thinkers and radicals with its unions, business models and rules. He’s ambitious and gullible. Of course making a movie isn’t as easy as he expects it to be. Although the obstacles standing in his way are recognizable to us onlookers as completely necessary - although perhaps a little restrictive - he nonetheless brings you to his side. You want nothing more than for him to overcome the odds and show the world what wild abandon can do.

You know the movie is going to get made because you’re watching the movie the real-life Mike Jittlov made. This makes his triumphs feel like your own. The meta aspect turns The Wizard of Speed and Time into an experience rather than a story you simply watch. If he can make his dream come true, so can you. You can “see the strings” in all of the special effects sequences - that’s to say you know how they were done - but it doesn’t matter. Your jaw drops seeing them because you know this man did it all on his own. More than that; he invented the techniques. Particularly striking is the stop-motion animation - the best of which features Jittlov himself as the titular Wizard.

This picture is inspirational and hilarious. It’s big and wild and colourful and cheerful and clever. Watch it a half-dozen times and I bet you’ll still discover previously unseen jokes tucked away in the corners of the screen. Rather than self-congratulating and self-important, it’s a humble little picture that never takes itself too seriously and takes every opportunity to make fun of how crazy it is.

The number of successful gags makes the film’s lack of a proper DVD release even more disappointing. You want to be able to pause and take a look at what’s written on those sheets of paper on the wall in the background, or turn on subtitles to make sure you don’t miss a thing while the room is filled with laughter. Be honest; you’d never heard of this movie before and it’s largely faded away… except to the die-hard fans who, frustrated with the studio’s utter lack of enthusiasm when it came to a new home release, created a version you can find online - all with Jitlov's approval.

The Wizard of Speed and Time isn’t just a movie. It’s has romance, humour, likeable characters, crowd scenes, chase scenes, special effects, etc. but they're used in wholly original ways. To watch it is to open up an old cardboard box in your attic and rediscover your favourite toy all over again. (On VHS, May 10, 2019)

#The Wizard of Speed and Time #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Mike Jittlov #Paige Moore #Richard Kaye #Deven Chierighino #Steve Brodie #john massari #gary schwartz #Frank LaLoggia #Philip Michael Thomas #Paulette Breen #Will Ryan #Stephen Stucker #1989 movies #1989 films

[treesap-blogs]

Sorry about being gone for an extra week! Finally putting up my TRR Reviews, starting off with “Hell Followed a with Us” by Andrew Joseph White!

Hello, Tumblrians! As some of you may know, I participated in Sim Kern’s Trans Rights Readathon this year! I only posted about it on my Instagram, since I don’t use Tumblr that often, but I read 5 books within the original deadline. The first of which was Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White.

Mandatory summary time! Hell Followed With Us follows Benji, a teenage trans boy turned into a bioweapon called The Seraph by the religious cult he grew up with (and is now on the run from). He’s found by a group of ragtag queer folks from the Alcheson Youth Center(affectionately called the ALC), but must keep a secret: the bioweapon virus’s been mutating him into a new entity altogether, and if he loses his humanity to it, he runs the risk of the group’s leader, the mysterious Nick, killing him. (Body horror ensues.) But Nick’s got secrets of his own, too. Can Benji trust him, as the cult and background he’s just left behind starts to catch up with him?

This is definitely a book that you can only read if you’re a) in the right headspace for it, and b) have a strong stomach. The (frequent) body horror and gore is both beautifully and vividly described, throughout the story our protagonist, Benji, is fighting to survive, and a multitude of tough subject matter is covered relating to toxic relationships and religious trauma/bigotry. But, I found myself so engrossed in the pages, and finished this in such a short period of time(this was something I read in under a day, started in the backseat of my drive to school and ended by my bedside lamplight). 

The premise itself was so interesting, and I just loved all of the horror elements, the parallels to the current day in how religion is used to oppress, how current events and the censorship of trans individuals and their creative works make this book an incredibly, disturbingly relevant read right now. Seraph was also written interestingly: oddly, it tied into Benji’s gender identity, as he began to embrace his transformation and view it as a way of separating himself from the female body he’d been born with. This was demonstrated in the final fight scene, with him being a little disoriented by his brief transformation back to his original human body, and how he got to eventually tell the rest of the youth center teens about being turned into a bioweapon (and choosing not to use those abilities to benefit the cult that raised him). Depending on how you view or analyze that, it can be a bit muddy, but I personally liked that approach; there’s something so fascinating about queerness being reclaimed in horror, after years of queer-coded villains and queerphobic archetypes within the genre. I enjoyed that in some of the subtext for The Honeys’ ending, and I liked it here. (Yes, before you ask, It Came From The Closet is on my TBR, lol.) 

I do wish, though, that the other queer kids within the youth center were fleshed out a little more. Found Family was such an important part of this book, as both of our main characters (Benji and Nick) came from unaccepting backgrounds(although the latter’s backstory isn’t revealed until much later), and both queer joy and survival is an essential part of this story. If we had a little bit more time, if the book was a little longer, we could have more time to really become deeply invested in all of these characters (well…except for that one asshole who I couldn’t wonder if he had an infamous truscum commentary YouTuber as his namesake). A bit of a side note, though, I think that this was the first book I’d read that featured a character that used neopronouns?!?! I use ze/zir along with he/they, so it meant so much to see that representation! And xe was also one of the highlights of the youth club, imo, xe had a talk-no-shit attitude that is useful in an environment like this.

I don’t know what else to comment about this, except for that I loved it a lot! I don’t know if “enjoyed” is the right term considering its heavy subject matter, but it had a satisfying ending.

(And here are some pictures I made of Benji, as I was making fanart for TRR.)

Book Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars! 

(Book content/trigger warnings: Graphic body horror and gore, violence; murder and mass murder including children, arson, warfare, and terrorism, transphobia; deadnaming and forced de-transition, return to abusive relationship and victim self-blame, ableism, religious abuse/Christian terrorism combined with elements of eco-fascism, emetophobia warning throughout, some instances of racism.) 

(Andrew Joseph-White has a comprehensive list of trigger warnings in his Goodreads “review”, with more general warnings included at the start of the book.)

~Paz, signing off!

Trans Rights Readathon Reviews: 1/5

[druidx]

6,9,15,17 for the writing asks. You don't have to answer them all if you don't want to :)

Ray, cariad, of course that's not too many 🧡

6. Favorite sentence you wrote this year?

My dude - I have written over 85,000 words this year, and you expect me to pick some faves? 😆 Excuse me while I go re-read everything.

This is from the end of Rowan Hunts. I've highlighted the sentences in bold, but included the whole passage because otherwise it doesn't make sense:

The air aches. The silence begs to be shattered, for something to be said. Yet Rowan's voice clots in xir throat, and language vanishes from xir tongue. Maybe Jauffre feels the tension too, bowed like a branch overloaded by snow, because he says: "It was an ambush." He sounds tired and old and frail. He has lain back all the way now, eyes closed, and speaks as if already a spectre. "They put something in my drink. Some poison that made me lose my senses." Xe wants to say, I'm sorry, and, I shouldn't have let you go alone. Xe wants to say, I shouldn't have let you go at all, and, Right now, you're more important than the Emperor. Instead, xe says: "There'll be time for this later. You need to rest." Jauffre cracks an eye, and xe feels as transparent as xir blade. But he hesitates, as though his voice has also clotted in his throat. Then, as prim and delicate as a high-society housewife, he says, "I appreciate you coming." Xe clasps xir hands together, and, just as prim: "Of course."

9. Most important writing lesson you learned this year?

It's worth revisiting ideas and drafts. You might not have been ready to complete the work then, but with time and learning, it might be something you can do now in a doddle.

Tales of the Starbound: The Barkeep's Tale is the perfect example of this for me. I wrote it in 2015. It's languished in my "I'm not abandoned, honest!" drawer until this year, when I rewrote it and was pleasantly surprised at how easy, and better than the original, it was. But I know the reason it languished, is because I wasn't ready until this year to complete and publish it. It was only easy because I'd had space to learn and could apply that learning.

15. How would you summarize the themes of your work this year in one sentence?

Allowing oneself to rest, allowing others to take some of your burdens, but doing what is necessary when the time comes.

16. What song(s) did you listen to while writing?

I listen to a very eclectic mix, depending on the scene I'm trying to write (mostly movie and game Soundtracks, but also Electronica, R&B, Country, Pop, & Rock). But as an example, the top 5 tracks from the first week in Nov are:

1 - The Architects of Cronos by Jo Blankenburg (5 scrobbles) 2 - Hymn of the High Seas by Antti Martikainen (4 scrobbles) 3 - Formula 1 Theme by Brian Tyler (4 scrobbles) 4 - Constellation 1 by Curtis Schweitzer (4 scrobbles) 5 - Debate Scrum X Battle! Gym Leader - Remix (4 scrobbles)

(admittedly those are all "gotta type fast" tunes 😆)

Ah, I have waffled 😅 Thanks for the questions, and I hope you found the answers interesting! 🫖🌿

#answered ask #spiteswallow #meta wandering words #Writing Wrapped ask game #meta writing