#pyra speaks

[pyramidofmice]

thinking about autism and Herbert West and damn that man has a strong sense of justice. Disrupting class because he believes the teacher isn't respecting the principles of scientific study; How absolutely devastated he is when he sees Dr Hill stole his research (my woooork!! 😭); etc etc. This man can watch horrendous violence unfold right in front of him and not bat an eye, but if he read an article about an important research project getting cancelled because of underfunding he'd be screaming crying throwing up

[mercyking]

Hello I am . Autistic and so is Nicholas Angel and I want to talk about it (again)

First of all, Nicholas' relationship to social interaction: the way he clearly just Doesn't Care when he's being shown around town / introduced to people; he was bullied in his childhood for holding other kids accountable to the rules; he likes his peace lily because "its needs are simple." Nicholas' character arc is really concerned with his relationships, from the 1-on-1 level (Janine, Danny) to larger groups (the police team).

In my opinion, this arc also revolves around the struggles associated with having a Strong Sense of Justice. One of many examples: Nicholas' first scene in the pub, when he feels so angry and uncomfortable knowing there are underage drinkers. Compare his expression to how RELAXED he looks after kicking the teens out.

Before my rewatch, I'd forgotten how emotional the movie has Nicholas be about his desire for order. He really be YELLING in so many scenes!! I LOVE IT. In my experience, it can be almost physically painful when you feel there's something Wrong and your sense of justice won't let you be at peace until you address it. I love the way Hot Fuzz handles this, because it treats Angel's pain as legitimate. One of the plots in the movie is Angel moving from an unhappy life to a happier one. These scenes include his frustrations with the enforcement of rules (ie the small stuff like shoplifting and underage drinking). These moments are just as important to his emotional arc as the ones relating to his breakup!

I guess this is why Nicholas is so precious to me as a character. Some autistic people might relate to the experience of getting labeled as boring, rigid, etc for expressing feelings related to a strong sense of justice. For me, getting emotional about rules has been part of the struggle to socialize / "fit in." It's really awesome to see Angel show real distress and anger about these things, and for the movie to take his feelings seriously.

Not only is his sense of justice legitimate, but it's capable of being a positive force --- it's what makes him the person who finally saves the town. It's nothing new to have the idealistic hero save the day, of course. But for me, it hits different when the movie pays so much attention to Nicholas' struggle to balance his social life with his morality. Hot Fuzz doesn't resolve this by saying Nicholas' desire for justice and order is '''naive''' or problematic. He has to develop a healthy way to live with it, yes, and doing so takes effort. However, he doesn't need to erase this part of his personality in order to have good relationships. Instead, his sense of justice becomes part of the fulfilling life he builds for himself in Sanford.

[hrairroohain]

umm excuse me but the stars are sharp and you could prick your finger on them. They can also tell secrets but only ones that make a glittery noise when you shake them

[beaststhattalk]

Reepicheep & The Wave

I was inspired by this gifset, and I wanted to make my own post just in case the gifmaker (@scottmalloy) wouldn't appreciate a bunch of meta in their notifications 😅

Honestly I think the movie did really well in translating this moment to the screen. The scene in the book grounds you in the perspective of the human characters: Reepicheep disappears over the edge of the wave. This emphasizes that he's going to a beautiful place, but one that the kids aren't able to understand yet. However, the book has the advantage of 3rd person narration. When C.S. Lewis presents the image to his reader, he can give mood and the visuals as one: "[the wave] was a smooth green slope. The coracle went more and more quickly, and beautifully it rushed up the wave's side" (Voyage of the Dawn Treader [VotDT], chapter 16). Lewis can tell us the motion was 'beautiful,' but the movie has to convince us to find it beautiful.

However, the movie has the advantage of being able to take us along with Reepicheep without needing to describe what he's seeing. The water rushing under his boat & towards the screen (4th gif) gives that sense of "more and more quickly...it rushed up the wave," but our ability to empathize with his sweet little Mouse face facial expression (5th gif) is what really solidifies that poignant 'beauty' from the book.

That visual of the Pevensies and Caspian in the background (gifs 4 & 5) achieves the same effect of the book's final image of Reepicheep. There's a feeling of mounting adventure & happiness, and then a moment of quiet wonder when he disappears into a place the reader/viewer can't go. The movie gets this feeling by having the audience rise up the wave with Reep, then come to a slow stop as he passes us by. We see the humans through the spray and realize we're still in their shoes. Meanwhile, the book utilizes the power of 3rd person narration by having Reepicheep slip beyond the reach of the story: "For one split second they saw [the coracle's] shape and Reepicheep's on the very top. Then it vanished, and since that moment no one can truly claim to have seen Reepicheep the Mouse" (VotDT, ch. 16).

In the movie, the mist from the wave, the faint rainbow inside, the vibrant colors of the water, & the image of Reepicheep's smile give us that "moment of quiet wonder" that I mentioned before. Lewis, on the other hand, tells us: "...since that moment no one can truly claim to have seen Reepicheep the Mouse. But my belief is that he came safe to Aslan's country and is alive there to this day" (ch. 16).

PS. The thing that got me excited about this gifset in the first place is the sword in gif 1! This visual appears in the book: "Then [Reepicheep] took off his sword ('I shall need it no more,' he said) and flung it far...Where it fell it stood upright with the hilt above the surface" (ch. 16). The sword-in-the-ground symbol pops up across history and can have various meanings. However, one meaning is that the sword alludes to the Christian cross (✝️). I bet this sword/cross symbol is what Lewis (and the VotDT movie) were referencing. This symbol can be interpreted as a sign of peace, since a sword in the ground is a weapon with its dangerous side 'buried'/set aside.

Again, I like how the movie translates this image. The poignance of this moment in the book comes from the chapter's overall tone. For example, here's a line that precedes Reep throwing the sword: "everything now felt as if it had been fated or had happened before" (ch. 16). Meanwhile, the movie emphasizes the poignance by contrasting Reep's casual discarding of the weapon ("I won't be needing this," gif 1) with the hugeness of the scene overall.

[pyramidofmice]

top 5 cornetto trilogy scenes

The World's End argument between the five musketeers at The Crossed Hands. There's such a journey in tone from all of them genuinely getting along at the beginning of the scene to everything falling apart after Shane Hawkins walks in. Each member of the group gets the chance to show their stripes and I love it so much.

Opening sequence from The World's End. The flashback doesn't even feel like a "scene" to me, it feels like its own mini-movie. I really like the music, the editing, and the subtle character establishment. The same goes for the montage of the five musketeers starting their days after the title card. If you count all of this as one opening sequence, that's👌👌perfection for me.

Nicholas saying goodbye to Janine in Hot Fuzz. I find it so funny, and the dialogue is such a fun mix of genuine character development and great jokes. I think it's really great for introducing Nicholas as a character, so enjoy it a lot. I also think him pointing out the broken window is one of the best moments ever.

The party after Romeo and Juliet in Hot Fuzz. I really love the small town vibes clashing with the seriousness of Nicholas' investigation (and Nicholas himself😄).

The fight sequence in the bathroom from The World's End. The choreography and the sci-fi reveal are so fun. The conversation after the action is so hilarious while also being so good at building the mystery and tension. I also really really love how little moments of character and relationship development are so seamlessly sewn into the whole scene (Peter hiding in the stall, Gary saying "Andy, did you see that?", etc etc).

These are somewhat off the top of my head, but I'm going for it because this ask is over a year old. Thank you @andrewknightley this was very fun 🫶💫

[mercyking]

From Edgar Wright's Instagram (I posted the rest & his caption here)

[pyramidofmice]

On another note, humpbacks have been seen sharing herring with Orcas, even collaborating to some extent. A complicated relationship!

(Discusses orcas & humpbacks at 23:07)

[pyramidofmice]

Honestly I think the core of Achilles's character in The Song of Achilles is that he loves to learn ("He is surprising" 35/his eagerness to hear stories from Odysseus and Diomedes) and grow (pushing himself to beat his own records by having Patroclus count him on the beach, etc) and overall he thrives on the energy and movement of mortal life. This is in comparison to the godly life of eternally staying the same age. If he became immortal, he'd never grow anymore. He'd have challenges to rise up to and meet, but Miller's construction of the godly realm has it so a god's character is incredibly stagnant. Circe and Thetis grow as people, but only as a result of getting entangled with mortal lives.

When Achilles makes the decision to die at Troy, he sets his sights on immortality as payment for his forfeit future. He chooses to die young rather than age into obscurity. But in his desperate clawing for fame (and thus immortality), he casts off all the mortal parts of himself that made him happy. He stops wanting to learn about others ("It’s simpler if they just remember me" 247). He sees success in battle but doesn't push himself to progress the war: he avoids Hector, and thus avoids fate. He sticks himself in a repetitive cycle of killing and prizes that stretches on for 10 years.

He fell in love with the life he had on Pelion. He wants to keep it forever, to gain immortality so he never loses his youth or his most beloved. But on Pelion, he and Patroclus were learning from Chiron and growing into adulthood. Immortality is antithetical to the underlying nature of those things he seeks to keep: the striving involved with growing, the surprise of the unexpected, the ability to share these experiences with another.

The person he becomes at Troy is distanced from Patroclus even before losing him to death. Chapter Thirty, where Achilles sends Patroclus off in his armor, is riddled with parallels to things Achilles once said lovingly. Take this exchange from their time on Pelion: "They never let you be famous and happy...I’m going to be the first." He took my palm and held it to his. "Swear it...Because you’re the reason" (98). At Troy, it turns into this: He held up his hand. “Swear to me,” he said. “Swear to me that if you go, you will not fight them.” “...Yes.” I pressed my hand to his (309).

When Achilles is deciding between his two dooms, Patroclus thinks this: I had seen the joy he took in his own skill, the roaring vitality that was always just beneath the surface (158). Achilles thought that he would avoid losing this joy by choosing a young death. Instead, he loses his desire for both godly and mortal life, even while his body remains strong. Maybe if he'd acted differently at Troy, he could've brought the goodness of his mortal life into his godly one. But he gets so caught up in the fear of losing what he loves to his enemies that he doesn't realize he's robbed himself.

[mercyking]

From Edgar Wright's Instagram, July 19th 2023

[mewkwota]

I was imagining something like a Smash Reunion Party where everyone's families were also invited, but regardless of the scenario I can see Mario staying in touch with fellow Fighters and celebrating important moments with them. Such is the way of Mr. Nintendo. :>

[mysteryofvampires]

Heirs of the night girls as Taylor Swift albums (1/2)

[pyramidofmice]

Pearl (2022) and The Wizard of Oz (1939) parallels:

• Pearl talking to her barn animals about being a star / Dorothy's Over The Rainbow

• Ruth catching fire and Pearl throwing the bowl of water on her / The Wicked Witch catching fire and Dorothy throwing a pail of water on her, accidentally killing her

• Pearl taking the scarecrow down from the post and dancing with him / Dorothy freeing the Scarecrow from the post and dancing with him

• Pearl riding her bike past the cornfield / Dorothy, Miss Gulch (the Wicked Witch) riding a bike down the road

• Pearl's dress silhouettes and hair bows / Dorothy's dress silhouette and hair bow

[mercyking]

Hot Fuzz Danny & Nicholas autism vibes are out of control. i love it SOOO much!! Iconic Special Interest moment: when Nicholas mentions he's been stabbed (or, in Danny's terms, seen '''action''') and there's literally a ka-ching sound effect as Danny whips his head around. Also, the way Nicholas has been SO OBSESSED with policing his whole damn life??? And he so clearly sees it as an expression of his strong sense of justice. Like he literally says 'I pretended to be a police officer, arrested older kids on the playground, got bullied a lot for it but I never forgot the clear sense of right and wrong I felt' UHHH "STRONG SENSE OF JUSTICE" HELLO???? This movie is autism central

[pyramidofmice]

[niamhthefae]

you know what would've been really fun? if like how the dracas speak Norwegian, and the vamalia speak German, the Lycana had irish as their first language. I know it would've probably been "too much effort" or something to find native speakers either as the actors or to provide things for the script. but i would've loved to hear ivy and seymore speaking in gaeilge, even just turning up and saying "dia dhuit" instead of "hey" or muttering things others can't hear under their breath and them even implying that they were speaking irish would be been so fun.

especially since this is the late 1800s but it's been implied that they were around for a while so they would've been born to gaeilge speaking families,but probably forced to speak English while the english were over causing trouble in ireland. so we can still have them beleivably speaking english on the ship but speaking irish in private.

they probably won't do this if they make another season,but I really want them to

[pricelessemotion]

every time i feel off … maybe a little queasy or just the tiniest bit nauseous … i eat top ramen and it cures me