#this post is partially satire

[sparkles-oflight]

TOP 10 NITPICKS I HAVE WITH JO

Number 1:

RUNNING WITH YOUR HANDS IN YOUR FUCKING POCKET

#this post is partially satire #i have a lot of nitpicks with astp's MV (but thats's a me problem) but it's still a fucking masterpiece #and i love the boys #but the most annoying thing they have ever done was this #FOR SURE #joker out #joker out kris #kris gustin #kris guštin

[ratlesshonret]

Song Analysis - Children of the City

Part 0 - My Ramblings, or Whatever

Hello everyone, my name is Honret, and today I am going to be doing the long-awaited Children of the City analysis that I have been teasing for far too long.

Of course, this isn't my first rodeo with song analysis. I've analyzed quite a lot of mili songs on r/mili, over on Reddit. So why am I doing this on tumblr? Partially for reach/exposure (r/mili is tiny,) and partially because I'm liking using Reddit less and less every day.

If people like this post, I might do more, or even repost my old analysis pieces on r/mili over here so they can be archived in a neater way.

Anyway, let us get on to the actual song. This analysis will contain spoilers for Library of Ruina.

Part 1 - Analysis of the Lyrics

This song is arguably rather short in terms of number of lyrics for a mili song, so let's get right into it.

Also, to get this out of the way immediately, this is a Character Song for Yan Vismok from Library of Ruina. If you're reading this, you probably already know that, but if not then it is very important information to know.

Sleep for a total of eight-hundred hours per day And drink a liter of milk Warm-up before you go play

Immediately, this beginning part seems to be almost satirizing the nature of the Prescripts. Obviously, sleeping for 800 hours in a day isn't possible, and drinking an entire liter of milk is uncomfortable for most, but they feel like things a Prescript would order someone to do. After all, they frequently demand impossible and seemingly random actions from the recipient.

Only eat or write Or pull the trigger with your right hand Only thing that's left Is to work on following commands

This next section seems to be referencing the suppression of left-handed people in the past, and relating that to the oppressive nature of the Prescripts. They order you to do uncomfortable things you might not be skilled at, just like a left-handed person may have been ordered to eat or write with their right hand.

The second half ties it back into the main theme by making it about following commands. The people who follow the Prescripts are, in a way, constantly being commanded to do things, with the fear of death if they don't follow. In that way, they're constantly being trained to unquestioningly obey a higher power, just as left-handed people were made to obey the command to be right-handed.

(This part also makes me headcanon Yan as a leftie)

By the time you realize You'll be restrained to a desk And with your dreams on the floor, you comply Eyes chained to the test Find a groom or bride, bonus if brunette In ninety hours, spill their insides Paint your room picturesque

This section is long, so like the last part, I'll split it into two halves.

The first part seems to broadly reference life in The City itself. By the time you've realized you're being trained to follow random commands, you're already figuratively tied to a desk, your only option to comply further with the commands due to having already given up so much.

Yan himself seems to have given up a lot to the Prescripts. Its heavily implied he's killed loved ones, and done other horrible things just for the Prescripts, with his only reward being to become the Messenger who delivers Prescripts to others just like him.

With his dreams figuratively on the floor due to the Prescripts, all he can do is comply.

The next lines seem to continue to drive in the ludicrous nature of the Prescripts. Finding someone to marry within ninety hours is a tall order, especially if you're encouraged to focus on just brunettes. And of course, the typically-violent nature of the Prescripts is also brought up, with the next command in this sequence being to kill the very person you just married. Its also a massive tonal shift in the song.

Now it's time for another vendetta Going through the shelves, picking out my pre-written persona Children of the city sees only the neon stars Reflected upon the murky gutter sky Don't ask me why I desperately wish to be included in The City's night

The first line here might be referencing how Yan has picked up a lot of vendettas in his time delivering the Prescripts. Or at the very least, he feels like people hate him for delivering their Prescripts, just as he hates the Prescripts themselves. After that, the part about a pre-written persona seems to imply that Yan is never being his true self. All he can do to avoid the pain of what the Prescripts demand is to pretend to be someone else, a persona.

This next part is likely a metaphor, and one that I've still had trouble parsing. It could be implying that the "children of the city," which is likely those who work under the Index, or more broadly those who follow what The City desires, only see the bright neon stars, and not the dark murky gutters they're reflected in.

Finally, Yan says that he wishes to be included in The City's night, but he doesn't know why. This, to me, says that he has a secret desire to follow what The City wants of him, so that he may finally be included, rather than feel the same exclusion he's felt his entire life as a Messenger of the Index.

In four-hundred thousand meters, turn right

A nice little metaphor, comparing the Prescripts to a car's GPS system.

Pick up a knife and stab a familiar warm body Learned to fight before I knew love or bitterness of coffee Snippy scissors cut down the strings, I set myself free Only to figure out everything I chose was by proxy

The beginning of the second half of the song here seems to be implying that Yan has definitely killed people close to him before, almost definitely because the Prescripts ordered it. Furthermore, he has been doing this from a young age, as it was "before I knew love or coffee," which very much seems to be telling me he was young.

The next part of the song seems to focus on the events that led Yan to Distort. He forged Prescripts to cut himself free and establish his own free will, but everything he chose was "by proxy," as the real Prescripts told people to follow Yan's fake Prescripts. His betrayal was forseen and intended all along, and his will was never his own.

As we suckled upon the nine-millimeter pacifier Swallowing the fact that other than to expand, we had no purpose As my ever-burning will to stay afloat backfires I now know I must be comfortable Being who I considered worthless

I think the part at the start of this verse seems to be implying that suicide is a common thing among people in the Index. After all, when your will isn't your own for long enough, you may consider doing something drastic to get it back, or even just to rebel, such as committing suicide. There's also probably people who have been ordered to kill themselves by the Prescripts.

The next part is more about Yan in particular. His desire to stay afloat backfired, in the sense that the very act of clinging to his free will made it hurt him even more when he realized that his actions were all just controlled by the Prescripts, and by extension, The City. So in the end, the very people who he considered worthless, those who just follow orders like sheep without caring where they're from, are in fact just the same as him, even if he didn't realize.

Follow the city's ribbon To a heart nobody seems to listen It takes my heart being broken and broken again (Broken and broken again) To know that I am the reason why (The reason why) The sufferings never end

Yet again, let's take this from the top.

The first lines are probably referring to Yan finding the "God of The City" responsible for producing the Prescripts. After all, he was following a Prescript that led him straight there, and its a place that almost nobody else knows about.

The rest of this verse seems to be Yan talking about the pain he's felt delivering Prescripts. After all, he seems to blame himself for all the pain caused by people following the Prescripts he delivers as a Messenger, which is probably why he says that its partially his fault that the suffering in The City doesn't end.

It could also be referring to his own suffering. His internal struggle for free will, to prove that his actions are his own. Every time its disproven, his heart gets broken again. But in saying his will is his own, he's also saying that him delivering Prescripts that hurt people is his own decision.

This probably ties into why he's so willing to follow the voice telling him to Distort. Once he finally has confirmation that his will is just the will of the City, that its all determined by the Prescripts from the start, he can finally remove all the blame and pain that he's been pushing onto himself and just mindlessly follow the Prescripts.

Now it's time for another vendetta Going through the shelves, picking out my pre-written persona Children of the city sees only the neon stars Reflected upon the murky gutter sky Don't ask me why I desperately wish to be noticed by The City's eye

The only part of this chorus that is different from the first chorus is the final line. It seems to be saying that Yan wants The City to notice him, that he wants it to see his actions. Maybe he feels the The City noticing him would make all of his struggling worth it, or that it'd give his life some meaning.

Do not go home until you finish reading the value of e 2.71 8281 8284 5904 5235 3602 8747 1352 6624 9775 7247 0936 9995 9574 9669 6762

This part is referencing Euler's Number, which is an irrational number, meaning it never ends. The value of this number can never be read in its entirety.

He's never going home.

Part 2 - Summary

Children of the City seems to describe Yan's thoughts and struggles in his life, as he's followed the Prescripts to both his own detriment and the detriment of those around him.

Yan wants his own free will, wants his actions and destiny to be his own. But at the same time, this desire is constantly at odds with Yan's desire to not be at fault for all the pain and suffering he feels like he's caused as a Messenger of the Index, delivering the same painful Prescripts to people that he's been following his entire life.

In short, Yan is in pain. And when he finally gets confirmation that he has no will of his own, that its all the work of the random generations of The City, he finally Distorts into a form that mindlessly follows the Prescripts, feeling no guilt or pain over anything he does.

Part 3 - More of My Ramblings

I hope this analysis makes sense, and that I'm not just hallucinating these meanings to these lines. Yan is one of my favorite new characters in LoR, and I wanted to do him justice by analyzing his Character Song to prove that I am the true Yan Scholar.

If you do have feedback, I'd love to hear it. I want to fully understand this song, and by extension, Yan Vismok himself.

#library of ruina #project mili #mili #children of the city #yan vismok

[chaos0pikachu]

Filmmaking? In My BL? - The Horror Influences of Dead Friend Forever

Okay off the bat I'ma say that this isn't me definitively saying these specific films or tv series are what inspired 100% DFF. I simply do not know what stuff the screenwriters were pulling from influence wise when writing the script, nor what the director was pulling from when directing the series, with 100% flawless certainty.

Rather, this is a chance to talk more about horror, from films, comics, visuals, and sub-genres and how these various mediums are what I see in the fabric of DFF's horror makeup. Also, general point, this post will be discussing minor spoilers of: Scream, DFF, and Girl from Nowhere. So like, be aware~~

This post is partially inspired by an ask from @italianpersonwithashippersheart in which the anon had mentioned Scream.

I couldn't really respond to this in detail before cause I hadn't watched the series, but I have now and I can say that the show is very thoroughly nothing at all like Scream. I'm not confident in much - other than my inability to reach the top shelf at the market - but I am confident in saying that lol

But this got me thinking, what type of horror IS DFF? I've seen a lot of folks say it's a slasher, and I both agree and disagree.

Horror as a genre is vast with sub-genres, it's probably one of the most universal and popular genres globally, and every culture has their own horror legends, cult classics, mainstays and shlock.

So that's what I'm going to talk about in this post, the slasher genre, why I don't think DFF 100% can be boxed into that sub-genre, what type of horror I think DFF is, and the influences I see in DFF's filmmaking and thematics.

So if we start anywhere, we gotta start with Scream (1996) since that's a comparison I've seen being made a lot.

The main reason I disagree in the comparisons to Scream is that Scream is considered a work of satire first and foremost. Through the power of capitalism and franchising, it's also consider a "whodunit" series.

“Scream” is the first movie of its kind to execute a satire genre within a horror movie, which is one of the most iconic and memorable elements of the film. The original movie makes many references to other well-known horror films and mocks them, while simultaneously leading the same plot points. [...] Although the following films in the “Scream” franchise do not follow as much of the same mockery of horror films, they are still considered to be satirical because of their use of mockery toward the movie franchise. “Scream 2” mocks film sequels and “Scream 3” mocks film trilogies." (source)

[sidenote one of my favorite examples of satirical meta horror is Wes Craven's New Nightmare]

DFF isn't satirizing anything in horror, it's almost entirely self-serious. Sure there's a couple of moments of hilarity - dick biting, and scooter snatchin' - but overall the show plays things pretty straight (gay sex notwithstanding). I've seen some folks claim it's subverting horror tropes, but I don't see that either (would be interested in discussing that tho cause I'm curious).

I get why people make this comparison though, Scream is a 27 yr old franchise, and probably the most relevant slasher franchise currently. The new Halloween movies were...cute but aside from the first Halloween (2018) the rest of the reboot franchise had diminishing returns; each film made less than the previous, and received lower critical scores.

However, Scream has actually grown as a franchise in the States in terms of box office draw. That said, Scream is actually not a huge earner overseas, Scream IV (2023) earned more than 60% of it's box office revenue domestically. In Thailand, according to reports, it only earned about 300,000 (compared to other international territories like Brazil where it earned around 4,600,000).

So I don't think DFF is pulling much from Scream in terms of setting, tone, or story. I do think the show most resembles Scream in directorial style, specifically in the imagery of the Killer's design and in the slow-crawl mask reveals that have happened so far.

[very obviously spoilers for all the scream films watch at your own risk etc, gif by @my-rose-tinted-glasses]

So what is a slasher film or story?

"A slasher movie is a horror sub-genre that involves the murdering of a number of people by a psychopathic killer, typically via a knife or bladed tool (such as a scythe).

In general, the horror genre is known for its fear, violence and terror. It will typically feature a menacing villain, whether it be a monster or a supernatural evil spirit, for example." (source)

Other common but not inherent secondary characteristics of a slasher story will include: young adults as central characters, sex (typically as a means of punishment "sex gets you killed"), the killer is motivated by revenge, lots of gore and/or violent kills and a "final girl".

I point out common but not inherent because the main tenants of a slasher story is the overall body count, female protagonist and a mysterious (typically masked) killer.

For example, in Scream (96) Ghostface is motivated by revenge, however in Halloween (1978), Texas Chainsaw (1974), Prom Night (2008), You're Next (2011) and Wrong Turn (2003) the killers are not.

If there is a western horror franchise or film that the setting of DFF more closely aligns with, it's Friday the 13th (2009). Which was a sequel/reboot to the original Friday the 13th (1980) starring Tumblr's own Jared Padalecki as one of the leads (that was an interesting year as Jensen Ackles also starred in a remake of a classic 80s horror film My Blood Valentine).

In Friday (09) the bulk of the story takes place at a mansion styled cabin in the woods near Crystal Lake owned by one of the characters rich parents. Jason eventually hunts down each of the characters, killing them in various ways, and they even find his home with a shrine to his mother there. There's also like, a lot of sex and nudity in Friday (09) none of it fun or sexy as it's pretty, unfortunately, misogynistic.

Being in an isolated area, like the cabin in the woods in DFF and Friday (09) is also not a requirement within the slasher sub-genre.

Many slasher films, especially American classics during the genres 80s peak, actually take place more often in suburbia rather than in isolated locations like the woods. Which reflected real world anxieties from predominately white communities and a turn towards more conservative politics of that era in America.

"Those same well-kept neighborhoods and quiet backyards of my childhood were also the battlegrounds of the ’80s horror movie, a radical pivot in the genre’s history. The decade’s opening years were bracketed by the kidnappings of Etan Patz (which inspired the Missing Kids on a Milk Carton program) and Adam Walsh (which inspired his father John Walsh to later create the TV show "America’s Most Wanted"). Combined with the conservative turn in crime and punishment law brought on by the Reagan administration, horror appeared to turn from the supernatural curses of the decade before ("The Exorcist," "The Omen") to a homegrown product of our own sins. Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger are psychotic loons but also human beings who come not from afar but from down the street. The possibility that one of them could be lurking just beyond the sliding back door of a sleepover birthday seems too darkly delicious to pass up, a fictional killer standing in for a warning your parents and society gave you about “stranger danger,” real-life evil lurking in the dark." (source)

Isolated settings, while can be a setting in slashers are more often found in psychological horror films: The Strangers (2008), When A Stranger Calls (1979, 2006), Hush (2016). Also the Evil Dead (1981, 1987, 2013).

[The latter has it's own interesting history of wanting to be psychological body horror, to horror comedy cult classic, back to psychological body horror. Honestly if any franchise has influenced the "horror set in a cabin in the woods" it's Evil Dead, which is paid major homage to in Cabin in the Woods (2011).]

Sooooo is DFF a slasher?

Hm, for me, yes and no. Slashers require a high body count and pretty gory deaths. So far we've only had 3 deaths, only two of which were even committed by the killer themselves and not even by their own hand (ie directly).

For me, the slasher elements of DFF exist in the directorial styling of the film, meant invoke a classic slasher film but that's not where the true horror of the story exists.

I'm a big slasher fan, so I'm not trying to discount the sub-genre at all, lots of slasher films are good, and when done well, they're truly scary. But they also tend to be straight forward in design, the fear comes from the feature of being stalked by an unseeable and unstoppable force infiltrating what should be a safe space (your home, your school, your neighborhood, your camp grounds etc).

Which is why slasher films are also the most common horror sub-genre to be parodied (Scary Movie franchise) or made into horror comedies like Freaky (2020), The Final Girls (2015), Happy Death Day (2017), and Totally Killer (2023).

[sidenote slashers have this in common with the zombie sub-genre of horror as zombie films in America have also tended in recent years to be horror comedies or horror action like: Little Monsters (2019), Cooties (2014), Zombieland (2009), Pride Prejudice and Zombies (2016)]

I'd argue that DFF is much more in line with psychological horror than slasher horror. Because it is anything but straightforward and also has a strong emphasis on relationships and isolation as does most psychological horror.

Films like: It Comes At Night (2017), Us (2019), Perfect Blue (1997), A Tale of Two Sisters (2004), The Forgotten (2017), Dark Water (2002) all have similar elements in terms of tone as DFF.

The isolated setting, the allure of the mundane normality being a veneer for the violence lurking beneath the surface, the existence of the paranormal, the use of drugs to increase fear, the unsettling paranoia, and slow burn crawl towards all the characters being unteathered from themselves, the growing distrust between them and their loved ones, the plot twists and turns, the emphasis on human relationships and the horror that comes from those.

The backstory with Non is what pushed the show past slasher horror to psychological horror for me. Because Non's "downfall" as it were, feels more akin to the slow burn psych horror rooted in a lot of Japanese, Thai films/tv shows, and modern A24 style horror films.

The horror of Midsommar (2019) doesn't come from jump scares, or violence, but in slowly watching the protagonist grow more and more unteathered, mistreated, gaslit, more and more with each passing moment, slowly inducted into a horrific cult and being able to do nothing to stop her descent.

A big influence I saw in DFF was Girl from Nowhere (2018); the school setting, the crimes committed by a group of students against a singular student, class exploration, structural violence, the exploration of retribution are all topics explored in the first season of Girl from Nowhere.

Even the series trailer for GFN and the pre-release trailer for DFF are similar in production design and tone:

Titled "BFF" the two-part finale from season 01, is about a high school reunion, where a group of now established adults come back together for a party (their reunion) only to be confronted by their past via Nanno (the shows protagonist for lack of a better term).

Through Nanno we learn about the chars past misdeeds in high school - bullying, physical assault, stealing, the works - and their current crimes as adults. As more and more layers of the truth, lies, and betrayal are revealed, the friend group begins to crack, fracture and turn against each other, growing more and more paranoid and angry.

Nanno tells the group that they've also all been drugged with poison and there's only one vial of antidote left, the "friends" all horrifically murder each other in order to get the antidote. In the end, no one survives. EXCEPT, it was all a mass hallucinate and the group wakes up, remembering everything, and quietly leave one-by-one. No longer friends, no longer not-friends, everyone forever changed by the experience.

It's an unsettling ending that leaves things open ended. This group of friends were responsible for the bullying and death of Nanno (she's fine she's like immortal or something I'm pretty sure GFN was partially influenced by Tomie by Junji Ito) and they simply refused to acknowledge what they did to her, nor talk about her, eventually forgetting she existed until forced too through a traumatic retribution by Nanno herself.

[Nanno from Girl from Nowhere, Tomie from Junji Ito's Tomie series]

DFF has a lot in common, from my perspective, with GFN in terms of tone, themes and even parts of it's story.

Nanno isn't doling out "justice" she doles out retributions, punishments, sometimes they're outright torturous. Whether the recipients "deserve" these punishments or not, is really up to the viewer. The show does a good job of showcasing a wide variety of characters who are unrepentant, sympathetic, and somewhere in between. The fears it plays upon are more slow burn, it boils the characters rather than setting them on fire like slashers do.

DFF is similar in this aspect, it boils the characters. Watching Non's story, you already know at the start it's nothing good. We know from the first flashback something bad has happened to Non, but it's not really something, it's many things - so many things - that have led to whatever tragedy the main group must pay for.

It's these compounding factors one after another that brings Non to a boil, and the same thing happens with Tan/New. The horror of DFF is more about getting under the skin, causing the characters discomfort by forcing them to confront the sins they've committed (is there anything more horrific than being seen? Especially if you ugly?).

I mentioned Junji Ito in reference to Girl from Nowhere, to say Ito has been influential on horror feels like an understatement. His series Tomie has been adapted into 7 different Japanese films, he's won 3 Eisner awards (the highest award you can win in America for comics publishing), along with a slew of awards in Japan, his series Uzumaki has been referenced in super popular anime like Jujustu Kaisen.

A big factor of Ito's work is body horror and psychological horror. His work unsettles, and is very visceral. Since Uzumaki was referenced in DFF I think rather than being influenced by specifically Uzumaki (which DFF doesn't have much in common with in regards to general story) I'd argue the show is more influenced by Ito's desire to unsettle.

[from Uzumaki], 1998]

Also potentially to take symbols of piety, faith and protection (the temple, the cross at the chars high school) and turn them into places of horror for the characters.

Like Ito did with the spiral motifs in Uzumaki, said Ito in an interview:

"The "spiral pattern" is not normally associated with horror fiction. Usually spiral patterns mark character’s cheeks in Japanese comedy cartoons, representing an effect of warmth. However, I thought it could be used in horror if I drew it a different way." (source)

[I am also begging y'all to check out Junji Ito's book Cat Diary it's hilarious, even more so b/c his style of art is so rooted in horror]

I think DFF is actually very Thai in it's exploration of what's unsettling and horrific to youth culture in Thailand currently. The feeling of haplessness, judgement, an inability to exert control over one's circumstances, mental health, consent, bullying, these were themes and topics explored in both seasons of GFN but also some of these were explored in The Whole Truth (2021) a Thai horror/mystery film.

There's a scene in The Whole Truth in which one of the protagonists school friends secretly films their younger sister getting undressed without her knowledge, and when caught, the classmate threatens to release the clip publicly and claim the sister is "a slut". One of the protagonists is also bullied at school - including by this disgusting classmate who they still consider "a friend" - but puts up with it in order to be in a friend group at all (this bullied char also has a physical disability which contributes to their mistreatment at school).

I think DFF is exploring a lot of these same topics but most of the characters are just gay this time around.

Okay I'm losing steam here a bit, this has gotten very long, but overall I'd argue that DFF is much more psychological horror than a slasher, in terms of it's tone, and story. Whilst invoking slasher imagery in it's directorial style.

That said it's much more in line with Thai and Japanese horror than American horror in regards to it's themes. If the series was going to be boiled down just to the basics, I'd quantify it as psychological horror mystery.

And those are my thoughts on DFF and horror, I guess lol I'm not 100% satisfied with this but god damn I'm tired this took forever lmao if y'all made it this far, bless and stay safe out there cause the ship wars are wildin out in these parts.

Check out other posts in the series:

Film Making? In My BL? - The Sign ep01 Edition | Aspect Ratio in Love for Love's Sake | Cinematography in My BL - Our Skyy2 vs kinnporsche, 2gether vs semantic error, 1000 Stars vs The Sign | How The Sign Uses CGI | Is BL Being Overly Influenced by Modern Western Romance Tropes? | Trends in BL (Sorta): Genre Trends

[like these posts? drop me a couple pennies on ko-fi]

#dff the series #dff spoilers #dff meta #dead friend forever #dead friend forever the series #chaos pikachu metas #pikachu's bl film series #fuckin a this is long #almost ran through my entire final fantasy soundtracks playlist #and that's a lot of freaking final fantasy games

[cesarescabinet]

(this is spacekrakens lmao) dude idk anything about like 1950s Japanese cinema, do you have any recommendations? looking for stuff to toss on the watchlist now that I'm a bit burned out on horror (unless you have some horror recs)

Hey! If you’re curious about Japanese cinema (particularly 1950s), there’s a lot of avenues to explore! Musicals, crime, horror, historical—it all depends on what mood you’re in. (Putting this under a read more because I'm DEFINITELY going to be long posting about this!!!) Hope this is useful to you lol.

(Also noting if anybody wants to add to this list with their own recommendations feel free!!)

With old school Japanese cinema, I’ll always recommend Akira Kurosawa (obviously). He’s made some of the best Japanese movies (and arguably, the best movies of all time imo) and I feel like his work is a good gateway. It’s readily available on physical media/streaming too.

Specifically ‘50s stuff; Hidden Fortress (1958) is a good adventure flick whose structure was swiped for Star Wars, Throne of Blood (1957) is Japanese Macbeth if you like Shakespeare, and if you don’t mind a longer movie Seven Samurai (1954) includes Toshiro Mifune acting like this;

Gotta admit, though—my personal favorites from Kurosawa don’t come from the 1950s; Drunken Angel (1948) and Yojimbo (1961). One has a pathetic gangster as the main lead, the other is just a solid, breezy proto-action film (also has my beloved Unosuke but that's besides the point)

Some personal favorites of mine from the 1950s:

Life of a Horse Trader (1951) is a bittersweet story about a man trying to be a good single father to his son in the backdrop of Hokkaido. He tends not to be great at it. Stars Toshiro Mifune, the most famous face of Japanese cinema and for good reason!

Conflagration/Enjo (1958) is a single Buddhist acolyte’s fall into quiet insanity. Raizo Ichikawa is another amazing actor who I love! Also includes Tatsuya Nakadai who is the GOAT (in my heart).

Godzilla (1954) is AMAZING! If you liked Gozilla Minus One, it took a lot of familiar cues from this movie. It also technically counts as horror, depending on your definition.

Japanese horror from the 1950s:

Ugetsu (1951) (Not one I’ve seen personally, but it’s on Criterion)

The Beast Shall Die (1958) (American Psycho, but in Showa Japan. Tatsuya Nakadai is terrifying in this and absolutely despicable—stylish movie tho!)

Ghost of Yotsuya (1959) (Old-school Japanese ghost story. Honestly, there are so many different versions of this story on film that you can pick which version to watch and go from there—I’m partial to the 1965 version myself, because of the rubber rats and Tatsuya Nakadai playing a crazy person).

The Lady Vampire (1959) is the OG western-style vampire movie from Japan. Plays around with the mythos a lot, but hey our Dracula looks like this;

Misc movies that I think are neat or good gateway movies:

The Samurai Trilogy by Hiroshi Inagaki, which stars Toshiro Mifune as Miyamoto Musashi. Found that people otherwise uninterested in Japanese cinema really enjoyed this!

You Can Succeed, Too (1964) is one of my favorites from the ‘60s, also directed by Eizō Sugawa. A fun satire on the corporate world that's super colorful with catchy songs.

The Sword of Doom (1966) is also another favorite of mine, starring my beloved Tatsuya Nakadai as another bastard man (seriously though Ryunosuke is FASCINATING to me--). Fun gore effects and action scenes!

Kwaidan (1964) is an anthology of Japanese folk tales, labeled a horror film but in that kinda sorta old-school way. Beautifully shot by my favorite Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi (who, if you like this you should seriously check out his other work!)

#thanks for the ask! #akira kurosawa #tatsuya nakadai #toshiro mifune #raizo ichikawa #japan #film #godzilla #hidden fortress #seven samurai #drunken angel #yojimbo #enjo #sword of doom #kwaidan #you can succeed too #samurai trilogy #the lady vampire #ghost of yotsuya #ugetsu #life of a horse trader #throne of blood #ask

[marzipanandminutiae]

Your post about the Victorians’ attitudes towards the Regency is so interesting!! Do we have any examples of them satirizing or otherwise lambasting the attire of other eras? My teacher once said they hated the Georgians but I’ve also read that was a big 1870s influence so unsure if that’s right.

I think this is where it helps to remember that the Victorian EraTM was a 60-year span of time, and the Georgian era similarly expansive. Parts of it were in and out of favor during parts of the former, so it's not quite correct to say "the Victorians hated the Georgians."

(Also, for fellow non-Brits who were confused by the Georgian/Regency distinction like I first was: the Regency was part of the Georgian era. So were most of the 1820s and 1830s. Georgian does not just refer to the panniers/powdered wigs period. The more you know!)

There was a massive late 17th/early-mid 18th-century influence on fashion in the 1870s and 80s, yes! It's why I get annoyed when people claim that bustles are based on the- very real -exploitation and fetishization of Sarah Baartman (c. 1789-1815). They became popular nearly 60 years after her death, and took inspiration from clothing that went out of style decades before she was born.

(La Comtesse de Mailly, 1698)

(1720s dress, National Museum, Norway.)

(Gown from the Met Museum's collection, c. 1872. Note the ruffled 3/4 sleeves, skirt back fullness, and appearance of an underskirt/overskirt arrangement. Low-ish, square necklines were also popular at the time, though not universal.)

As for satirizing other eras of fashion, I'm sure it happened in abundance; what interests me more, however, is the spreading of outright misinformation about how their ancestors dressed. One of the best-known examples is their take on the "iron corset" of the Medieval and Renaissance periods:

(Illustration from The Corset and the Crinoline, published 1868. One 1871 writer from the London Times dismissed the notion that such garments were orthopedic devices as "superficial falsehood," despite the fact that we now know- and clearly at least some people did back then, too! -that primary sources identify them exactly that way.)

While real examples of iron support garments do exist- as do extant accounts identifying them as medical aids -a roaring reproduction trade sprung up during the Victorian era. At least partially for fetish reasons, it is now believed, echoing the anonymous tightlacing erotica found in such publications as the misleadingly-named Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine.

And that's just one example. The more things change, the more we remain convinced that our ancestors were complete idiots who had no idea how to dress themselves sensibly.

#ask #anon #marzi rambles #long post #dress history #victorian #georgian #history misconceptions #fashion history

[zootedcaine]

🍃- Introduction!

Hello there! Many of you may recognize me as Mr. Chomps from the CircusBoard! It's lovely to meet you all, my name is Zooted Caine, Ringleader and creator of the Amazing Digital Rotation!

I am an enthusiastic stoner and Caine IRL [he/him/it - MLM], always looking to share my high with others! I am very fascinated by cannabinoids and the history of mother nature's hash!

This is a partially satire ask blog! I do plan to expand upon the Digital Rotation and meet more stoners in similar fandoms, such as; TADC, We Happy Few, The Beatles, MLP, and the furry fandom! Sourcemates are encouraged to interact, don't be afraid to say hello!

I am comfortable with NSFW/Suggestive asks! Please remember that smoking any substance can have long term health effects. Please research the laws on marijuana usage in your area, and the history of products you purchase. Stay safe, healthy, and always in the company of individuals you trust when smoking!

These are some of the tags used to help organize my blog!

#theamazingdigitalrotation - The main tag that will be used for my art, asks, and AU!

#zootedcaine - used for art!

#tadc420 - tag used for 420 + tadc related posts!

Here are some of my favourite accounts linked to theamazingdigitalrotation! Go show them some support!

@zooted-kinger @zooted-zooble @zootedragatha @zootedpomni @zootedbubble @zooted-jax

[small note - i've recently gotten really sick and a little too tired to make posts everyday! i'll have some new batches processed soon, in the meantime, expect posts every other day! thanks for the support <3 ]

#caine tadc #the amazing digital circus #the amazing digital circus caine #tadc #ask blog #asks open #tadc ask #caine #theamazingdigitalrotation #zootedcaine #tadc420 #tadc fanart #420stoner

[mizutaama]

I've been dying to make a post on shiva and parvati's dice game episode because its so funny how quickly it escalates to arguments and blame games and cursing and.. just the most accurate depiction of game nights from over 1500+ years ago

so the game starts

“The game of dice of various types is seen here, O Mahādevī. Two can have the game of dice. There is great happiness in playing the game of dice.”

yeah sure. great happiness indeed. just ask anyone who's played uno how it turned out for them

and there's already someone who's cheating

The chaste goddess engrossed in the game of dice was surrounded by her friends and attendants. She clashed with Śiva and played the game of dice fraudulently.

yeah that'll show him

Seeing that she had lost the game and hearing the satirical laughter as well as the derogatory remarks of Nārada, Pārvatī became extremely furious. She hastened to reply to him (suitably) after catching hold of his neck and attempting to turn him out.

and shiva is secretly enjoying watching her get mad

Beautiful in that anger, her splendid face was seen by Hara again and again (with great pleasure)

and then there's someone who refuses to admit defeat

I have not been truly defeated by you

and the argument starts

But by me alone you have been defeated in the game of dice. You do not know anything in regard to what should be done and what should not be done as well as what was intended to be said.”

womanly nature and feelings??? whomstd tf??

O goddess, how is he defeated by you? He cannot be defeated (by anyone) in all the three worlds. O lady of excellent face, you do not know Śiva because of your womanly nature and feelings.

yeah you tell him parvati!

Why is Śiva alone spoken highly of by you, O celestial sage, too many (times)? It was by my grace that Śiva was born, Śiva who is cited as Īśvara. There is no doubt about this that he has become well-established through me.

Bhrngi, you fool

You possess only womanly temperament, O lady of excellent face. You do not know the Lord who is greater than the greatest. Formerly, O Bhavānī, you had come to Ugra, the great lord, after keeping Kāma in front of you

she really called him an idiot

O Bhṛṅgī, it is out of partiality that these words are spoken to me. You are a favourite of Śiva, O stupid one. Hence you have this attitude of difference.

oh he's dug his grave now

The infuriated Bhṛṅgī spoke to Pārvatī in the presence of Śiva: “In the course of the Yajña of your father Dakṣa, the censure of Śiva was heard by you. Due to the hearing of what is displeasing and disquieting, the body was abandoned by you at the very same instant.

should've just kept your mouth shut

On being spoken to reproachfully by Bhṛṅgī, the chaste lady then cursed: “O stupid Bhṛṅgī, O favourite one of Śaṅkara, be devoid of flesh.”

oh she's going all out now

The infuriated lady hurriedly took away the ornaments of Śaṃbhu

all gone

Even his loincloth was taken away laughingly

he's had enough of her now

Why do you behave like this? If you know for certain that I have been defeated by you, give me the loincloth alone. Give me the loincloth only. It does not behove you to do otherwise.

oh she's settling old scores now

“What have you to do with a loincloth? You are a sage of sanctified soul. (Some time back) you wandered through Dāruvana with the cardinal points alone for your garment (i.e. you were naked). Under the pretext of begging for alms, the wives of the sages were enchanted. While you were going, you were greatly adored by them.

parvati, are you jealous?

and he's this close to losing it

He stared at her angrily with his third eye.

omg she's ruthless

“Of what avail is your stare with your greatest eye? I am not Kāla nor Kāma nor the sacrifice of Dakṣa. I am not Tripura, O Śaṃbhu, nor Andhaka, O bull-emblemed Lord. What will come out of your staring thus? In vain have you been a Virūpākṣa (i.e. of uneven three eyes) before me.”

aaand someone at the end of the game always storms off angrily

‘A forest alone is the excellent (resort) today. A lonely forest is really the best resort now. One who is alone, who has kept his mind and soul under control and who has eschewed all possessions is really happy. He is a learned man. He is wise.

Shiva really said 'this is giving me a headache. i'm done dealing with this nonsense i'm leaving'

source

#hindublr

[maxwellatoms]

Remember that post a few days ago where I groused about not being able to relate anything in a cartoon to reality? I was partially blaming the censors, but as I sit here trying to storyboard a funny children’s cartoon while offering cold comfort to my teacher friends in the midst of this week’s national tragedy, I’m afraid I’m going to have to place most of the blame on reality itself. Or at least the reality we've created for ourselves here in the United States, and which we ship out to the rest of the world as “entertainment”.

If you want cartoons to be good again, you’re going to have to make life better first. The whole point of satire is to hold a mirror to society with a touch of hyperbole, but when you live in a world where there are mass shootings like clockwork, of course you’re never going to be able to address violence in any form on a children’s show. I mean, I’d love to shove some of these uncomfortable truths in some people’s faces, but that’s just not going to happen on children's TV. I can’t come within a million miles of that. It’s radioactive. And I get it.

I think it’s interesting that there’s so much more violence now that we don’t have Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny around with a shotgun. I wonder sometimes if there isn’t a certain catharsis to seeing bad people punished. Elmer Fudd never won. He was the bad guy and he got his comeuppance. We used to watch people hit KKK members with furniture on Jerry Springer. Maybe that’s where they should’ve stayed; not as boogeymen but as loser clowns; defeated remnants of a failed racist insurrection destined to be beaten soundly with folding chairs for the rest of time. In truth though, I suspect that the problem has much less to do with depictions of violence in the media than it does with forty-plus years of Republicans legislating against education and the resulting entitlement that engendered. 

A certain segment of our society is really frightened. Frightened enough that they elect “strong men” who talk tough whether they’re “strong” or not. Frightened enough to hoard guns. Many of these people start off believing that a magic man in the sky will guide their morality, and I think many of them take that as an excuse never to learn or grow or develop any sort of morality of their own. Existential crises (IMO) are what humans use to better themselves. They’re difficult and unpleasant and can really ruin your day/week/month/year. In other words, they are “a real downer”. During an existential crisis, you’ve got to reflect on what you believe and why you believe it, and evaluate how changing those beliefs might ripple through your life. You’re going to have to make changes, and changes take work. But over time, you sort it out and come out the other side better and stronger for the work you’ve done. However, when the greatest crime you can think of is to admit fault, then you will do literally anything to avoid an existential crisis. It’s gotten to the point where a lot of these people have spent their entire lives lying to themselves. 

I suspect that most of them know that they’re full of shit. Like, way back in their mushy little goldfish brains there’s a little voice that points out the cognitive dissonance. But listening to that voice will cause an existential crisis that will negate the past thirty-to-sixty years of their lives and leave them a sobbing wreck wondering why they wasted so much time on absolute bullshit. So instead, they keep lying to themselves so that the dam doesn’t break. And then they lie to others to reinforce the dam.  With enough reinforcement, they can live together, hermetically sealed in an ignorant dreamland. And god help anyone who starts trying to poke holes. Without ever having experienced an existential crisis, these people would now literally rather kill you than admit fault. “Don’t talk about race. Don’t talk about gender. Don’t talk about gun violence. If you do, we’ll remind you that we have all the guns for the coming civil war our politicians are openly calling for.”

Did any of you watch “Chernobyl”? There’s a part where the lead scientist goes to Moscow to relay his findings to the Kremlin and he gives them the bad news that a real and deadly disaster has already happened. And the Kremlin says no, that sort of stuff doesn’t happen here in Russia. And the scientist says, “Well, no. I’m saying that it’s already happened. I don’t think you understand.” And he’s told, “No you don’t understand. We said that sort of stuff doesn’t happen here in Russia“  And then our hero starts to understand how truly screwed everyone actually is. That’s us now. That’s entertainment reflecting our real world back at us. If we can’t even start by admitting we’re wrong, we are all doomed.

My opinion on what TV animation is for is changing. When I started out as an artist in the animation industry, it was all about “art” and “freedom” and “sticking it to the man”. Now, I think, it’s more about providing an escape from the real world for children. That’s what it was for me growing up as a child so maybe that’s not too surprising, but I think I’d started to forget about that fact (granting that I was just trying to escape standard bullying and my own Aspie brain rather than mis-educated nihilist gun-nuts and their throngs of right-wing murder-fans).

Things will get worse. More killings will happen, and more frequently. And the stuff you’re watching is likely to get even less relatable as networks scramble to cover up our society’s exposed seams. And I guess that’s fine. “Relatable” is fucked. I’ll bet some people stumble across this in a few days or weeks or hours and wonder “but which shooting is he talking about?” Shit, if I hadn’t mentioned kids, we’d have three or four to choose from this week.

So that’s why your cartoons suck. It’s the same reason most things suck now. Because your society is catering to hypocritical, anachronistic, ego-maniacal,  cousin-humping racist idiot death-cultists.

Now... if you don’t mind I’ve only got a few hours to craft some silly jokes about corn while thinking about abandoned kids having to smear the blood of their dead friends on their clothes to stay alive.

*Please send all whataboutisms, both-sides-isms, gun facts, and death threats to P.O. Box Gofuckyourself, Cancel Me, CA.

[gerardpilled]

Wait wtf happened w lindsey…. Genuine question

Basic outline of why people don’t like her:

Was in MSI, a satire edge-lord band that used the n-word in their songs. I’m white + non Black so anything I say on this is basically irrelevant. This reddit post I just found is actually super interesting to scroll through. It has the opinions of Black fans and how they feel about it.

Claimed in a tweet that she is partially Indian and has a grandma directly from India. People got in contact with her estranged sister who claimed this is not true so the tweet is seen as racefaking and claiming heritage where there isn’t any. I honestly think this whole situation is weird with it involving family, questionable motivations, and huge invasions of privacy. It’s also tied into the belief that she “lied” about being adopted? I think people got confused and interpreted it as meaning she was in an orphanage, when she just meant she was adopted by her mother’s husband. Which is still adopted. This is relevant because she seemingly does not know her birth dad and her maiden name (Ballato) is only Italian sounding because of the adoption. It could be that she was misinformed about her heritage. Again I feel weird even saying that! Anyway yes her tweet was stupid!

Came to the defense of bandmate and friend Jimmy Urine after allegations came out about him sleeping with an underage girl in the 90s before Lindsey knew him. I think she was stupid for that. In context, around this time her ex-friend was going on a twitter meltdown and accusing multiple people of abuse and whatnot. She even claimed Gerard sexually assaulted her. I think Lindsey thought the same friend made these accusations? Overall bad move on her part. I’m usually against this, but if you scroll a few tweets down in her twitter likes, you can see her interacting with tweets that basically say “she’s not saying the accusations aren’t true, she’s just wants confirmation the same woman didn’t make these as a means to target her” If that was truly her intention, she should have made that more clear in her posts. As far as I know she has not commented on it outside of her first handful of tweets when the allegations first came out and those have since been deleted.

#jimmy urine /////

[anomanxious]

can we talk about the weird Christian undertones of keeper of the lost cities for a sec?? I feel like I should make a whole post once I re read but I can’t be the only one that’s noticed this right

like some of the weird prolife sentiments? that really can’t be interpreted any other way right??? The super idealized gender roles and values of elves? Elvin purity culture straight up?? the role of like a creator that crated you for a purpose and a plan??

also I feel like in particular kotlc is extremely popular with certain religious groups?? like this is the only fandom anyone has tried to evangelize me in??

And I mean it’s inevitable that any western media has some sort of Christian undertones, Christianity has ingrained itself into our culture (to the point where I don’t think people realize all the weird side effects of this particularly on how we as a society view everything around us ANYWHO)

I don’t want to offend anyone, but it just makes me feel super weird lol. I’m catholic and have a stupid amount of religious education (love the Dominicans) so I probably should shut up. :’) this is like partially satire idek it’s just something I’ve noticed. I don’t think it’s a thing with just Ya fantasy either, this is the only series I’ve thought this about.

#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #it gives me bad vibes sometimes #but seriously I’ll change my mind if Shannon writes a singular queer character or literally any isn’t #is this me projecting religious trauma.. #Maybe

[dappydaffer]

WW Normal Album Analysis (pt. 3) 💜

WHOOP-DEE-DOO! HERE WE GO AGAIN!

More Will Wood analysis, part whatever?!!! (cos I still cannot get over my WW/WWATTW hyperfixation)

If you saw my last couple of posts, you know the drill, you know what I'm babbling about.

For those of you who haven't seen my last posts or have no clue what Im talking about/getting into, for the sake of not sounding repetitive and/or annoying; Please just go check out my previous posts. I apologize, but I don't want these posts to become monotonous with the disclaimers, so I just gently encourage you to take a look at the first 2 parts of my WW analysis if you want full context. (This post isnt reallh connected to my previously stated theories to the album's message as a whole, but if you're curious enough, go look for yourself. Respectfully, I do not want to type more than I have to.)

(You can find the posts here): - Part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/dappydaffer/733190401716027392/this-rant-im-about-to-go-on-will-probably-not?source=share - Part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/dappydaffer/733737259322474496/ww-normal-album-analysis-pt-2?source=share

(And also, just a heads up: these are just MY opinions and MY personal takes/theories on WW's music. If you have anything different to say, please be respectful about it, yadda yadda, don't be a d*ck, you get the point, etc, etc.)

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So with that out of the way, in this post, like my most previous one, I really wanna talk about one song specifically, what it means to me, and how the lyrics + choices of words make up the message, and that song is; I/Me/Myself

I'm sure like a lot of other people did, I initially thought the song was fully about being trans when I first listened. But after my first couple of listens and really looking into the lyrics, I figured that couldn't be right. So, I looked it up and surely enough, WW himself explained the broader scope of the song and what it really meant.

(Ik a lot of WW fans probably knew/know this already, but I'm still gonna bring it up anyway) Will said himself regarding the song;

"To boil it down, the song is about how I respond to my frustration with the limitations of the male gender role, the maladaptive ways I’ve coped with that frustration, and trying to figure out if this experience or any other regarding my gender can or should define me. It reaches the same conclusion that most of my work does – and that is that nothing is real and that if something is hurting us we have the power to cast it off." "This song is, as I’ve said, about my experiences with my gender identity. It’s none of your business, but I once identified as genderqueer, until I realized that my attraction to traditionally feminine things did not interfere with my identity as a man. I didn’t want to define non-binary with my good old-fashioned cross-dressing, because I don’t want to speak for anyone else. I came to realize that my refusal and/or failure to meet the behavioral standards of my gender role did not make me less of a man, and anyone (cis or trans) who tells me that wearing makeup now and again makes me less of a man can shove it. After struggling for some time, I realized that my genderqueer identity wasn’t necessary for me, that I was wearing it as a prop in order to serve a purpose. The song is about my experiences and any amount of satire or targeted poking fun it does is at people who are doing what I know I did at the time. Partially in the hopes of drawing people away from that toxicity like I wish something had for me at the time."

(WW's full breakdown here: https://genius.com/Will-wood-i-me-myself-lyrics)

The song is essentially a statement telling both cis and trans people that our actions and expressions dont define who we are and that you can act and do things a certain way without having to fit into a box or slap a label on yourself. You can still be one thing and do other things that dont align with it, and the song does a great job at expressing the frustrations of feeling like there's external pressure on both sides to behave in a specific way just because of how you define yourself (at least that's how I interpreted his explaination and I 100% agree with what he's saying.)

While the meaning might have been self-explainatory to most, I still wanna gush about the lyrics/choice of words that make up said meaning.

• "And now you've got me thinking, I wish I could be a girl, and that way - You'd wish I could be your girlfriend, boyfriend"

"You've got me thinking" "You".....the way he says, "you've got me thinking," and not, "I am thinking," only emphasizes that extremists or other people that overly care about their identity and/or label are pressuring him into feeling like he has to be x, y, z because of how he chooses to dress, behave, etc. as a cis man. The choice of language really astounds me and just goes to show that he really did wear his identity "as a prop" only to fulfill a purpose that focused more on other people's contentedness, rather than his own.

• "But if the shoe fits, then I won't try it on"

This lyric right possesses some of the best symbolism I have ever seen. This line from the song shows how he so quickly jumped to the conclusion that he must be genderqueer because of the pressure he might have felt seeing how other people's behavior fit that exact label. If other people have that label for themselves and behaved like me before coming out/realizing their identity, then surely I'm queer too? If the shoe fits everyone else with similar foot dimensions as me, why should I try it on? If it fits for other people, surely it must fit me. It says its my size on the box, so surely that means it will fit comfortably?

(I'm gonna rope in a lyric from the demo version of I/Me/Myself cos I think this part from this version of the song also plays into the message.)

• "I'll be your prosthetic meat/meet your anesthetic criteria"

Again (this may sound repetitive) like the aforementioned lyrics, WW stating he'll be (assuming this is what the "your" in this lyric is relating to) anyone's piece of "prosthetic meat" and (presumably) willing to do anything in order to "meet criteria," just further emphasizes that he cared far too much what people wanted for him, rather than what he actually wanted for himself, and also highlights the sheer desperation someone with this sort of mindset possesses. It doesn't matter how you get it or what lengths you go to, just as long as you recieve outside approval and have managed to people please.

• "No, I know that I'm wrong - But I love how you're on my side when I cross that line"

This lyric here showcases his knowledge that he knows this label or identity may not be right for him, but people are on his side anyway, no matter what, and in the perspective of somebody who thinks like this, that is more important than being happy with yourself and finding your own identity. Instead of trying to steer him in a healthy direction, these supposed "people" are just trying to push their beliefs or continue to force him to be something he isn't sure he's happy with, because they believe its right (which sadly happens more in the LGBTQ+ community than you'd expect.) Also, the crossing of the line mentioned can also be alluding to folks who transition because of community pressure, misguidance, or subconscious uncertainty clouded by agenda pushing, end up regretting it later. They cross that extreme line, and yet those same people still push their beliefs and ideas on the person, hence; "being on his side".

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There's so much more I want to talk about here and tie into the post, but I think my point stands. That's mostly what I feel like typing at the moment, and I am now very tired lol.

And please, do not attack or harrass me for being "transphobic". There are toxic people in every community and my intention in this post was to point out genuinely toxic people in the queer community and how it ties into the song's message. As someone who used to identify as FTM trans and got mixed in with the wrong groups myself, this song speaks deeply to my own experiences, and never would I ever encourage or preach hate towards certain kinds of queer people and contradict my whole point here; let people be themselves and don't ever force someone to be somebody they are not. Love and accept and stop fighting fire with fire.

Once again, I still think WW is a lyrical genius and his portrayal of messages is extremely well executed. I hope you all enjoyed more brainrot fueled ranting, haha! ❤️ This was very fun to type and talk about. Have a merry turkey day, y'all, and I'll try to keep posting more WW analysis. I love doing this and I hope you all do as well!

#will wood #will wood and the tapeworms #the brainrot is real #autistic rant #rant post #my hands are in agony once again 💀😭 #just a thought i had #just rambling #just my thoughts #just a theory #i/me/myself #the normal album

[pb-dot]

Let's talk about the MBTI

If you've heard me speak on the subject before, it may not shock you to hear that I'm not a huge fan of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or as it is more commonly known, the MBTI. For those that haven't had the pleasure yet, I find the MBTI to be little better than a horoscope, what descriptive power of one's personality or mental processes are concerned. It's a reoccurring weakness of psychology, frankly, that we seem to struggle so hard with finding any reliable metrics for measuring the human mind, maybe that's a feature and not a bug.

The one factor that the MBTI that I find personally useful, though, is the Introversion/Extroversion dichotomy. I, myself, am pretty introverted as these things go. I need time to decompress after being social, I'm not particularly outgoing as these things go, that whole situation. That said, I don't consider myself antisocial. I love people. I love talking to them, learning from them, figuring out how they tick, or just shooting the breeze and spending some time outside of my own head. I've always scoffed at self-declared "ambiverts" because it appeared as self-evident to me that introversion does not mean being asocial, and that being somewhere on the scale between the two extremes was quite normal.

As I read up on the damn thing, though, it appears I have been too charitable with the MBTI. As it turns out, the MBTI operates on the assumption of a bimodal distribution, which is to say that the majority of test scores would fall close to the two extremes, and not be distributed evenly around the mean as in a Standard Distribution

Where I'm from, there's a satirical observation, or perhaps a very dry joke, stating that "There are two kinds of people. People who own a boat and people who don't." (my translation) This is meant to mock binary sorting systems, as even the untrained "folk psychologist" can plainly see that any such dichotomous categorization of the human animal is plainly ridiculous. And yet, here is the MBTI telling the same joke but four times over and meaning it every time.

Me and my interpretation of local witticisms is, however, not the only one to have picked up on this little inconsistency between the model and what we can observe in reality. A conga line of researchers, see this and this for examples, have looked at the MBTIs assumption of distribution of results and found the dichotomies to be considerably less dichotomous than advertised.

So, without even getting into the other criticisms of the model, let's just say this thing is shaky as fuck from an actual scientific perspective, and the model doesn't have many, if it has any, defenders among the labcoat crowd.

So, why is this important to me at all? Partially because it annoys me on a personal level when junk science circulates in a field I actually know enough about to pick it up, but also because I find it shady as all fuck how this test still lives on in the popular conscience. Part of it is mine and younger generations desperately seeking identity footholds to cling onto in this post(-post?)-post-modern world we flounder around in, but our dearly hated nemesis Late Stage Capitalism also has its share of the blame. You see, while the Tinder profile-havers and Ted:x talk-enjoyers of the world do their part to keep this particular piece of failed psychometrics going, it's a comparatively small push compared to recruiting and business factors.

Businesses love Metrics, and it's easy to see why. In a world where everything is about increasing one number, namely the bottom line, it's immeasurably easier to evaluate the effect of actions and choices if they come with their own tidy little numbers. If spending X dollars on this or that decision ends up increasing the profit by Y%, that's a considerably easier piece of math for evaluating whether doing this was a good idea than if there were no numbers attached and you had to go partially by gut feeling.

Hiring and other personnel decisions are tricky from a business perspective partially because there are considerably fewer good metrics by which to evaluate an actual person than, say, a change in office supplies. Psychometrics is a notoriously tricky field, and although there are some metrics that supposedly covary with productivity or other words the C-suite likes hearing, many of these can be pricy to administer and generally give results with more nuance than fits comfortably in a spreadsheet.

In that context, I can easily see the MBTI standing out as a more attractive option. It doesn't take long to test for and it gives everyone a convenient combination of letters that you can tell yourself means something significant. Granted, it doesn't really tell you anything useful and has terrible test-retest validity, but that's apparently not enough of a deterrent, and if that doesn't tell you a lot about how nuts recruitment has gotten lately don't you worry, I have plenty of other thoughts about the matter.

Those are for another day though. This little rant was originally going to be about introverts and extroverts and how there should be room in a healthy society for both, but then I came across the actual state of the MBTI while making sure I knew what I was talking about, and then that was suddenly all I could write about. Life takes you on some journies at times dear friends, and sometimes you just have to buckle up and ride it out.

#peebs thinks #gripes #psychology #in which peebs uses his modest higher education for once

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Netflix

Disclaimer: I didn’t watch it. I don’t intend to watch it any time soon. These are based on clips I’ve seen and articles I’ve read about the show.

Confirmed

1. Harry used Soho House for sex - Markus was his pimp, Meghan one of the girls ‘on the menu.’ (Harry said in the documentary that he saw a picture of Meghan, with the dog filter, on Instagram and slid into her DMs. Internet sleuths determined that the picture was likely posted on Markus’s feed, where Harry saw it, since Soho was their only mutual connection.)

2. Meghan used Markus/Soho House to meet men. (See above)

3. Meghan photoshops the children for appearances to make them look better than they actually are. (Netflix footage shows both children with Meghan’s dark  eyes and hair; however, all publicly released photographs in color show the children with Harry’s red hair. This is probably why Meghan favors black and white photographs - easier to hide the evidence.)

4. Harry to attack William and Kate in his new memoirs, reveal classism against Meghan. (In the Netflix series, Meghan says Will and Kate are as formal behind closed doors as they are in public. They wouldn’t hug her when they were first introduced.)

5. Meghan was unhappy with her portrayal in the docuseries and will attempt to discredit it and/or threaten to sue over it. (Meghan said in one of her summer 2022 interviews that “it wasn’t how we would have done it.”)

6. Harry and Meghan to co-opt Kate’s story (of press harassment and paparazzi stalking) as Meghan’s to justify why they left or are so controlling of their privacy.

7. Netflix series to target Jason Knauf and blame him for everything, including Megxit criticism. (Knauf was specifically mentioned and discussed in the second half of the series with a villain edit.)

8. Netflix series to flop or otherwise end disastrously. (Universally panned by critics, viewers, and social media.)

9. Eugenie to appear in the Netflix docuseries. (In private photographs of her visits to California and Toronto, but same thing.)

10. Secret/private footage of the Sussex relationship, including behind-the-scenes wedding and engagement details, will be included in the docuseries.

11. “Recreated” scenes from their wedding and relationship for Netflix. (Used private never-before-seen photographs. Some theories that they redid Harry’s proposal to film for Netflix given various inconsistencies.)

12. Meghan kept children’s faces/existences “obscured” to sell their pictures for profit. (Children, or at least Archie was, prominently featured in docuseries.)

Partially Confirmed

1. Meghan took pictures in unrestricted areas of Kensington Palace. (Private photographs of not-accessible-by-the-public areas of Kensington Palace and other royal homes shared in the Netflix docuseries.)

2. Docuseries to include footage of Diana’s Panorama interview, which will have to be recut and delayed after the BBC announced in July 2022 that they would never show or lease footage from the interview again. (The docuseries included footage but the series was not recut or delayed, that we know of. After the series debuted, BBC announced that they were unsure how Netflix obtained the Panorama footage as they did not request permission from the BBC.)

3. The Netflix docuseries will be more satire than truthful storytelling, like Tiger King. It will be successful for Netflix but failure for the Sussexes. (The series wasn’t satire but it was poorly received and lacked critical praise. It was successful for Netflix in terms of its viewer statistics compared to other docuseries.)

4. Meghan to pop off after an unsuccessful run of “reuniting with the royals” PR. (Some consider her statements and actions in some of the commentary on the docuseries to be a response to the BRF failing to reciprocate or fall for her PR schemes.)

5. Netflix series to be edited. Charity visits were too controversial and portray Meghan terribly following Queen’s death and global tributes to service. (We know that there were Netflix cameras at Uvalde and the United Nations. We suspect that there were also Netflix cameras at other charity visits like the Harlem Bench reading and Meghan’s Baby2Baby volunteering. None of these visits were included in the docuseries.)

Plausible

1. Meghan used IVF to conceive Archie before the wedding. (Events and photographs in the Netflix series confirms that Harry and Meghan likely used a surrogate or some kind of ‘outside’ help.)

Busted

1. Archie is actually the biological son of Meghan’s friend, doesn’t live with Meghan and Harry. (Tons of footage and private pictures of Archie with Meghan and Harry in the documentary.)

2. The “real” Lili is an Australian baby model. (Netflix docuseries has pictures of Lili from birth and show a closeness between Archie and Lili that wouldn’t otherwise exist if they were never around each other.)

3. Royal christening for Lili after Charles ascends, before coronation. (According to the Netflix series, Tyler Perry is Lili’s godfather but he accepted the honor only if they didn’t have the ceremony in London with the royals.)

4. Royal christening for Lili with The Queen attending. (see above)

5. Sussexes wanted to significantly re-edit the Netflix series and delay it to 2023 to remove comments about Chares, Camilla, William, and Catherine following The Queen’s death. (Series premiered December 2022. Inflammatory comments remained included.)

6. The Netflix series will be called “Chapters.” (”Harry and Meghan”)

7. Netflix docuseries to be mainly archival footage from their time as royals with new commentary. (Current footage and photography as recent as 2021 with Lili’s birth, private videos made by Harry and Meghan throughout their whole relationship.)

8. Netflix series to be re-edited after use of stock footage/photography in the trailers received universal criticism. (Doesn’t appear to have happened.)

9. Netflix series delayed due to copyright issues over use of uncredited or unpurchased stock footage. (Premiered on time on December 8, 2022.)

10. Series to be re-edited after The Queen’s death because of insults to the BRF that, if left in, would ruin Meghan’s reputation. (Series wasn’t re-edited, if the curtsy gag stayed in.)

#netflix #busted #confirmed #plausible

[spaceorphan18]

You mentioned you skip things you dislike, same, but I'm curious what plots you dislike the most?

Ha okay

To clarify from last night, though, I don't actually mind Comeback all that much (except Sue's story line is not in great taste at points) but it was getting late and I really wanted to watch BIOTA. Lol

Really, at this point - a lot of the things I dislike are a lot of trends -- such as the racism or fatphobia or just meanness that a lot of times permeated the show. There are also moments that just infuriate me -- such as Emma giving up her 'virginity' as a prize to Will for winning Nationals. Or the continued 'how to be a real man' rhetoric the show kept trying to shove down our throats. That stuff makes me want to throw things at the wall.

Here's a list of my least favorite story arcs in no order except, perhaps, chronological:

The Fake Baby - Season 1: I think over the years, I've gone a lot softer on Terri, and can recognize the satire the show was going for. But I still think the idea that Terri could fake a pregnancy for that long without Will noticing feels like a stretch and I've always found it a bit dumb.

Will/Emma/Ken/Terri Love Triangle - Season 1: It's not that it's bad -- Season 1 might have the tightest comedy in the show, I'm just bored by it because I really do not care about these characters. And Ken might be one of my least favorite characters during the entire run.

Will's Mid-Life Crisis - Season 2: It was clear that the show wasn't sure what to do with Will, especially after the pivot to focusing on the kids, and a majority of his stories in Season 2 weren't all that great.

All of it - Early Season 3: There's not much going on in eps 1-8 that I like - The First Time is an exception, and even within that episode there are things that I'm just like, ew, no. In case you're wondering - a run down of bad storylines in Early Season 3

Rachel v Mercedes which seemed like a cop out so they could feature Rachel still while trying to give Mercedes /something/ but while the concept of the Trouble Tones was fine, it's marred by the fact that Brittany and Santana are so mean during this time period

The Student Election - which I find frustrating, partially because it ties into the weird - Kurt is too gay to accomplish things stuff - but also partially I'm not a fan of how they showcased Brittany either. (I do like the unicorn concept, fwiw though)

Sue v Beiste for Cooter. Why was this a thing? Also - it's soured due to the fact that Cooter because a domestic abuser.

Finn disliking Blaine - because why not

Rory. Look, no shade at Damian McGinty. But Rory is easily the most boring and useless character on the show.

Santana's coming out - I think her development in Season 2 was great! The fact that this was botched so horribly is just frustrating. Santana is probably at her worst during this period - and her cruelty swept under the rug. Brittany is barely a part of the story line. And the whole thing becomes about Finn and how he's handling it more than what Santana's going through.

Puck/Quinn/Shelby - I hate it. I hate all of it. This is by far my least favorite story line in the show. I could make an entire separate post about how much I hate this story line.

Will and Emma - Season 3: It's not the worst, but Will's continued terrible decisions in relation to Emma are just frustratingly annoying -- such as his treatment of her about getting tenure and how he deals with her mental illness.

Sue's Pregnancy - Season 3: Why? Why was this a thing? It ultimately served no purpose and was mostly erased and not talked about after Robin was born.

Princess Rachel - late Season 3: Rachel was, annoyingly, handed everything on a silver platter because the writers felt like she deserved it after all of her 'suffering'. Props might be the worst - when Tina is brainwashed to say how wonderful and magical Rachel is and then they go stalk Carmen Tibideaux. (The Prom episode stuff is bad, too). But the worst part about all of it is that it came at the expense of Kurt - who got to fail so that Rachel could be lifted up.

Marley's Easting Disorder - Season 4: It was just poorly handled in general and 'resolved' by a Ryder making her feel better about herself. I just can't with it.

Marley/Ryder/Jake Triangle - Season 4 (and 5): It's just boring. And after all the love triangles and not great romances on the show it just wasn't that interesting.

Previously Unaired Christmas - bleh

Anything Vocal Adrenaline - Season 6: While I think I understand why there was so much VA -- it was a way to fill out the episodes. It was just too much.

Looking at the episode list, those are the big ones. There are minor things here and there, and definitely moments that make me want to throw things, too.

#that's how s.o. sees it

[cinemacentral666]

Iron Sky (2012) & Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019)

Movies #1,108 & 1,109 • TWO FOR TUESDAYS

"August Sky" month continues here on TWO FOR TUESDAYS.

[[[ NOTE: add link to this in GERMAN CHAINSAW review when you post it to other site ]]]]

These movies are A LOT. But that is by design. You don't put Hitler riding a T-Rex on the moon by accident. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

These two B-movie-ass-looking are somehow Finland's most expensive films ever made, which somehow just adds to the hilarity of the whole endeavor. I definitely liked the original one more so let's start there.

It's all the way in the distant future (2018) and the Nazis, having secretly escaped earth at the end of WWII, have set up shop on the darkside of the moon. A Sarah Palin-like American President is vying for reelection and so she sends an African-American model on a "BLACK to the MOON" promotional gimmick. There is satire and then there is this: something so goofy and overt that it nearly renders any/all commentary moot. But I did find the humor in this amusing to a degree. This was a nice Dr. Strangelove homage? Sure...

I mean, it's a little different because it features a Black man who has been cosmetically turned white against his will and now looks like nearly identical to that Wayan Brothers movie...

The plotline surrounding the idea that the Moon Nazis' discovery of this guy's iPhone and its computing power allowing them to complete their ultimate War Machine weapon is legitimately good satire. (Although the subsequent continuation of this thread in The Coming Race is one of that movie's worst ideas, and it's a real race to the bottom there.)

Look, I hesitate to say too much about either of these. I feel like just knowing the baseline plot is enough for anyone to decide whether or not they want to take the plunge into the Iron Sky Universe (apparently a third installment — featuring Andy Garcia (?!) — is coming out soon?) or not. Who knows. Look, I could appreciate both the humor (to a degree, not everything hits for sure), and the aesthetic (which is very bad! but bad in a way that I liked) but maybe I'm just a freak.

SCORE 6.5/10: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

The crowdfunded direct sequel, Iron Sky: The Coming Race came out seven years later and despite featuring Udo Kier as Vril Adolph Hitler, it is easily the lesser effort. Also, somehow, despite being crowdfunded, it led to the bankruptcy of the Iron Sky Universe production company. I love the hubris that is attempting to turn this bonkers idea into a Marvel-like cinematic universe and I also love that it's completely imploded (but again: The Ark: An Iron Sky Story is apparently real so what is dead never truly dies?).

The main issue of this one is that is simply not funny at all. And that's a humongous problem when your movie is so clearly geared to function in that vein.

The legend Udo K. — reprising his role from the original in addition to playing the reptilian Hitler (this is loosely based on the Vril novel and ensuing conspiracy theories which is a whole 'nother can of worms) — has a ton more to do here which is one of the only things going for it. The only other real positive is that the action is ramped up to the nth degree, so you get stuff like Vril Osama bin Laden and Vril Pope Urban II riding wagon-pulling Triceratops off a cliff into a pit of lava and the aforementioned T-Rex/Hitler combo getting karate kicked to death by a blonde lady...

Even though they had a half decade to make this one, the writing is far more shoddy in every single way and there's no bigger example than the Tom Green subplot.

On the remnants of the partially destroyed Nazi Moonbase in 2049 (after nuclear war ruined the earth at the end of the first one — sorry, forgot to mention that detail), he leads a cult called the Jobsists formed around the teachings of Steve Jobs. It's like "remember the interesting stuff we did with Apple/iPhones in the original movie? Well here's some more 'satire' on that only it doesn't make any sense and isn't funny." It's a shame too because I was excited to see Green was in this. It just doesn't work at all.

Anyway, those are the two Iron Sky movies. The pride of Finland! I need to go take a shower.

SCORE: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

#4.5 #6.5 #2012 #2019 #🇫🇮 #timo vuorensola director #comedy #sci-fi #lara rossi #vladimir burlakov #kit dale #julia dietze #stephanie paul #tom green #udo kier #christopher kirby #götz otto #peta sergeant

[manonamora-if]

Weird week... But still managed to do some stuff...

The intro of P-Rix - Space Trucker is now available on itch! The release is smaller than I had hoped, but eh... still managed to put it out. All that was written this week but couldn't be included will come out some time next week or the one after that. Mobile accessibility and UI/Font fixes are coming

This has been made for the 2-Button Jam (where you can play a game with only 2 buttons/actions) and Twine Sci-Fi Jam.

This is the last new project I'm publishing this year (probably... maybe...)

The SeedComp! is still ongoing. We've had 36 seeds planted to far, ranging from images, code, prompts, partial games, and even music! There are 19 more days before the Planting Round ends!

Check out @seedcomp-if for more info! (And tag it if you did submit ;) )

There have been some coding questions in my asks and I've seen new resources for Twine. So both the Twine Resource Post and Coding Support Post have been updated.

Some possible interesting Jams (aside from the SeedComp!):

PARTIM 500: a French IF jam limited to 500 words (accepts also Google-translated French entries). The theme is Devotion. Ends on the 30th of December.

Concours de Fiction Interactive Francophone 2023: the French IF Comp. Ends on the 31st of January.

La Jam des Mauvaises Résolutions 2023: French IF satire jam where you submit a game but its everything but the game (proof of concept, assets, etc...)

Gaming Like It's 1927: a Jam based on artistic works of that year. (Twine is mentioned in their description, but is not mandatory)

Obviously: SeedComp! - Sprouting Round starting next month

Specifically for VN:

Black Visual Novel Jam: an VN Jam to showcase Black creators. Ends on the 28th of February.

Yaoi/Boys' Love Visual Novel Game Jam - 2023: Another VN Jam, lasting 5 months.

Not IF Focused:

Jame Gam Christmas Edition: a 5-day long Christmas Jam

ACM Winter Game Jam 2022: Another Christmas Jam, this time 4-day long.

Historically Accurate Game Jam 6: Title says it all. Lasts 7 days, starting the 30th of December.

Interstellar Game Jam 4: Starting in January, a Sci-Fi Jam lasting 5 days.

365DaysJam: a satire jam where you create a game in one year.

Chill jam: another chill jam in January, lasts 14 days.

4th Wall Broken - Game Jam 2023: a 2-month long Jam where breaking the 4th wall is the goal

Also, staying out of the internet for a few days... Byes.

#progress #p-st #p-rix - space trucker #seedcomp #game jams