blue-myrmeca - Tumblr blog

[blue-myrmeca]

I have once again embarked on the epic quest of watching as many Bollywood movies as I can stomach and I keep wanting to annoy my friends with the reviews so now I'm going to come here to get my thoughts out of my silly little head.

If anyone also follows @romanceyourdemons please lower your expectations immediately I will not be as insightful and succinct and awesome and intelligent as they are I'm just gonna gush.

Anyway Here's Agneepath (2012). Massive Spoiler Alert.

I was not expecting to like this movie as much as I did. I'm a big fan of Hrithik Roshan so I have been aware of Agneepath for a long time, he was super stoked to be a part of it etc, but the story didn't seem like one that I would really vibe with. 'Boy watches father violently murdered, decides to devote rest of his life to revenge, more at six' isn't really my bread and butter but BOY howdy was I wrong!!

Assorted things I loved:

Hrithik Roshan's beautiful face. It has been too long, my love, I'm so sorry I've been obsessed with Aamir Khan recently.

Priyanka Chopra *not* playing a Mary Sue. When she plays a character, she does SUCH a good job and I love to see it. She's so freaking pretty and good at dancing come back to India plz maam.

Katrina Kaif was there for literally one dance number???? She went off, but lordy that's an expensive dance number. I kept thinking she was going to come back, but no.

This is a dark movie with dark themes, much violence and swearing. Hrithik and Priyanka are clearly living together as an unmarried couple in the slums where Priyanka's mom is a prostitute. Do they kiss? Don't be ridiculous, staring at each other intently is all we can do. Never change Bollywood ily.

Hrithik Roshan's Angry Head Shake. Viju (his character) is So Mad all the time and has to keep it in and I LOVE how tortured he can make his eyes while the rest of his face stays calm. It's incredible.

Okay actual story things. I thought it was so interesting the nuance this film managed. Viju is not a good guy. He kills a man-sorry-police officer (AS A CHILD) to cover up the fact that he didn't identify the local Big Crime Boss in a lineup for a murder that he witnessed. He does a lot of bad things, ends up as that crime boss's first lieutenant, etc, but gosh dang it you root for him bc everyone he's moving against is worse.

Like, you know from the beginning that he's doing all of this so that he can gain the power he needs to put himself on level footing with the man who killed his father. And that guy is Super Extremely Bad, so you want Viju to succeed. You know that he aligned himself with this other crime boss bc he witnessed him say that he hated the man who killed his father. And you know that, even though he supports Crime Boss's activities, he gives all his money to charity and still lives in the slum that took him in as a child when his mom abandoned him (after he murdered a cop).

ALSO, he is playing all of the ends against the middle. Informing on Crime Boss to the cops, informing Crime Boss about the cops movements, stopping Father Killer from encroaching on Crime Boss's territory, promising Father Killer a foothold in Crime Boss's territory--Viju is everywhere and in everything.

He is full of contradictions, and that's what makes the story work. He is a brutal man because he loves so deeply and radically. He has a heart of gold that cannot allow injustice to stand, so he kills and lies and helps move drugs bc he sees it all as a means to an inevitable and inescapable end. He will kill the man who killed his father, he will free his hometown from that man's influence and he will do whatever he needs to do to get him to that point.

The film doesn't ask you to agree with Viju. It's pretty clear about the fact that he has 'fallen from grace' and landed on a path that only brings more death and violence and hurts the people he loves. It doesn't ask you to think that Viju is correct. But it does ask you to understand how this man could find himself in this position. How he could decide that this was what needed to be done.

It shows how partially effective the police are, how he's willing to work with them, but doesn't trust them to accomplish what he needs to get done. It shows how he does what's necessary to gain respect and power in the underworld but when given the opportunity, he rejects the morals of it (he frees a bunch of girls that were going to be sold at auction). It shows his mother railing against who he's become for the whole film, but in the end, recognizing that he did manage to do a good thing.

Gosh it's so heartbreaking, he finally kills the man who killed his father (in the exact same way his father was killed, love that symmetry), frees his home from his reign of terror and is dying in his mother's arms-- and this scourge of the underworld looks up at his momma with the saddest sweetest eyes and asks her if he did the right thing. She has disagreed with his choices every step of the way, but the result was, in fact, the right thing. He finally gets his mothers' acceptance.

Anyway its a well done film that asks a lot of interesting questions and doesn't force answers to them down your throat, just lets you sit in the questions. And that's a quality I like in a movie. Action sequences were great, characters were consistent and built well. Fricken loved it.

Okay that's it. If you got to the end, thanks I guess? I told you this was going to be a mess so i have nothing to apologize for. The end.

[blue-myrmeca]

The last time we were on a long flight, my wife and I invented a game we call "Little Guy."

You start a game of Little Guy by saying, "I'm gonna hand you a little guy." The little guy is some kind of baby animal you are imagining. "Oh," she might say in response, "Okay," and hold out her hands for it. I will then mime handing her the animal. This provides some clues as to the little guy's size, weight, and general ungainliness.

She then gets to ask questions about what kind of little guy this is, BUT NO QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS ACTUAL APPEARANCE OR SPECIES ARE ALLOWED. Qualitative questions, or questions about his behavior, are the only ones permitted. She can ask "Is he soft?" or "Does he seem nervous about being held?" or "If I put him in the bathtub, does he seem okay with that?" or "Would he like a lil grape?" or "Is he the sort of little fellow who would wear a vest in a children's book?" but not "Does he have fur," "Is he a reptile," "Is he from Asia," etc. Some questions are in a grey area so you have to follow your heart, but the point is not to identify the animal as fast as possible: the point is to guess the animal purely based on vibes + how he would act if he were in your living room right now.

And I'm not limited to yes or no answers! If she asks, "Would it feel appropriate to see this little guy in a propeller hat?" I can reply, "Oh no, he has a gravity to him. A bowler hat would be a more appropriate hat." Or if she asks, "Does this little guy have protagonist energy?" I can say something like, "he probably wouldn't be the main character in a children's cartoon. He'd probably be the main character's ditzy best friend who's always eating sandwiches, or something."

We're big Twenty Questions to kill time in a waiting room people, but Little Guy is more about the journey than the destination. It's got a different kind of sauce that's nice if "killing time" and "lowering anxiety" need to happen hand in hand.

[blue-myrmeca]

based off of this post by @trek-tracks

[blue-myrmeca]

Not a sibgle fucking lemon lime or A&W root beer i guess. Ok. Fucking christttt

[blue-myrmeca]

medieval backstreet boys: you are… my friar

[blue-myrmeca]

Dutch artist, Redmer Hoekstra.

[blue-myrmeca]

Incorrect sayings that I use so often I’ve almost forgotten that they’re not the originals:

I have bigger fish to fight

We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it

You can lead a horse to water, but if you drown it you have to walk home

Opening a can of whales

You made your bed, now shit in it

Combining the latter two into the phrase “you opened this can of whales, now lie in it”

[blue-myrmeca]

spock’s room decor is actually fucking bonkers. The weapons??? the big red velvet curtain??? like ok phantom of the opera go crazy.

for reference jim’s room has some photos and a plant so we can surmise this is uniquely a spock being a dramatic weirdo thing

[blue-myrmeca]

Heads up to not use Duolingo or to cease using it

In December 2023 they laid off a huge percentage of their translation teams, replacing them with ai and having the remaining members review the ai translations to make sure the translations are “acceptable” (Note how they use the world acceptable and not accurate)

Link to the tweet that informed me of this:

https://x.com/rahll/status/1744234385891594380?s=46&t=a5vK0RLlkgqk-CTqc0Gvvw

If you’re a current user prepare for an uptick in translations errors as I’ve already seen people in the comments say they’ve noticed

[blue-myrmeca]

sorry i got scared by the passage of time. can yuo hold my hand

[blue-myrmeca]

[blue-myrmeca]

No I’m not attracted to you. Quit your evil putting your finger under my chin to make me look up at you. I know I’m your nemesis and all but we really need to set some boundaries when you’ve got me tied up like this.

[blue-myrmeca]

[blue-myrmeca]

ha?

every single person who reblogs this

every

single

person

will get “doot doot” in their ask box

[blue-myrmeca]

*in a fight* you’re just jealous that my blood gets to go wherever it wants and yours is stuck inside your stupid veins

[blue-myrmeca]

starfleet uniform suppliers HATE this man

[blue-myrmeca]

he's going through a hair dye phase (sleeping in a berry patch)