soriginal-or-something - Tumblr blog

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Doodle Bob

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‘The Day After Judgment Day’

(CW Blood)

I really like what ifs, so I made this drawing of if Tina actually destroyed the screen in “Some Like It Bot”

Here’s a song I felt fit the vibe of this piece:

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Soldier, Poet, King belcher children stained glass inspired murals for @jae-is-drawing ‘s DTIYS!! I had a lot of fun with this one :D

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PART FOUR (14-17) 🍔✨

Slow buildup for some Zeke and Tina ✨ love em

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Death Rattle Dazzle: An Original New Musical by Oliver Putnam

Only Murders in the Building (2021-), 3x10 - "Opening Night"

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I finished this season of Only Murders in the Building and I think my feelings on it have improved? the last two episodes of the season were, imo, the best.

but I also have some "ehhhh" feelings about a certain trope that features prominently in the conclusion so. spoilers/thoughts under the cut

specifically, the "gay men with unhealthy attachments to their mothers" trope. I don't like it. and I don't like it specifically in OMITB because of two things: 1) the way it centers around something that's portrayed as borderline sexual (not that kissing on the lips is inherently sexual, but it sure feels like the writers were trying to lean into that), and 2) the contrast with how much healthier Dickie and Loretta's relationship is.

and I get it, the running theme of the series is "mothers would do anything for their kids" so it does make sense to have a "good" and a "too far" version. but Dickie has personality traits and a role in the plot that goes beyond "mommy issues" and Cliff doesn't for most of the series.

which he really should! and honestly I thought Wesley Taylor was really good in the finale, especially in that pivotal scene with Ben. if he had gotten a flashback, or a backstory of any kind--if we got any idea of how he felt about his mother's relationship and being pulled along into her career--I think that would have been genuinely beneficial in terms of making it less squicky and also improving the series in general.

they could have also just. turned the obnoxious lip kiss into an obnoxious cheek kiss. lean into the comedy of Cliff walking around have the time with a lipstick smudge, or make him rub it away in embarrassment, or have a Significant Clue be the fact that we see him rub it off with a handkerchief several times throughout the series, which plays into the handkerchief clue.

and I think some of this comes back to my problem with last series, too, which is that the show really really doesn't want people to guess the murderer in advance, to the point that they're only willing to give them significant plot space in the season finale. I get it, it's hard to keep a mystery suspenseful, but like. a really good mystery should let you get to know the suspect beforehand and give you enough clues to figure out whodunnit. that's part of the rules. generally speaking I still enjoy the show as a comedy, but as a mystery I still don't think they've got it.

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i needed to read this today so im sharing it to all of you!!

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💯🙏💛🟨👍

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my one superpower is that i can instantly tell when someone who doesn’t use the word “ya’ll” in their day-to-day speech starts using it to be sanctimonious and folksy on the internet

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The scarest thing about Nandor being actually smart in all things Guillermo is that this is the reason why he'll never make the move to be with him:

Nandor already knows how he feels about Guillermo.

He's not even repressing it. He's just made piece with it. Because Guillermo was never an option.

Guillermo is human. He'll choose to stay human. He's fleeting. He'll always leave in some form or fashion. Nandor doesn’t choose to act on his feelings for Guillermo for the same reason why he never turned him. It would just be a curse.

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I lost control somewhere in the middle

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we’re all boring to someone, annoying to someone, ugly to someone, but it’s not that deep

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dark academia is when you have to read the crustiest pdf known to man

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We're going to scream about Nandermo all week, but right now I need to talk about Baron Afanas. Because the Baron's arc, so to speak, always felt like a big part of the series DNA for me - and oh fuck did this episode deliver on why.

I think we can agree: in the show, vampire society is fucked up, right?

Vampires on their own have plenty to deal with that can make them crazy. They have to live by killing. They lose everyone from their old lives. They have to find new reasons to keep going on, forever, so shit can get decadent really fast.

But holy shit, what that's turned into in vampire society? Where you actively put cruelty over mercy, and violence over solving your problems? Death cults and scam artists roam free, but if someone has depression the best thing to do is ignore them. Someone can get their mind wiped or be locked up for centuries, and that's just what you do to your species.

--

So: the Baron's arrival is the first conflict of the whole show. The joke is about an ancient powerful creature of pants-shitting terror, vs three lesser vampires who just want to live their lives and not get murdered for being too lazy to conquer humanity. There's a lot of talk about how to please him: do you keep to the old ways, or pick up some new traditions? Decorate with flayed skin, or with glitter? And the Baron says: who cares, you're all soft and useless. All that matters is getting more control over this world, until people are cattle and we have no reason to hide anymore.

But later he confesses: that shit stopped mattering ages ago. He's not even real nobility, he's literally impotent, and he talks about doing horrible things because he doesn't know what else to say. He's angry and half-crazy from boredom. And admitting that, owning those feelings, means he suddenly he has three new friends and a whole new world of things to enjoy.

There's the Baron the rest of the vampire world knows, but for one night we see the ancient, unknowable terror was just a guy. Maybe he's always been just some guy.

That fun puts him in a vulnerable position, and he's killed by the most unwitting vampire slayer in fiction. But Baron Afanas is changed. He sucks dirt for a year and still comes out of it with a new lightness and joy to him. He saves the Sire, another ancient terrifying monster everyone was eager to kill or send away. They adopt the hellhound. They get cozy and give advice. They make popsicle stick houses and go on walks. They live.

And that seemed like the end of the story until last night - when the Baron suddenly felt like the butt of a joke everyone knew but him. Spurred on by someone else who feels lonely and ignored, the Baron felt vulnerable. And he snapped back to how he lived for centuries.

'What the hell are you all doing, enjoying yourselves? We're supposed to be unhappy. We're supposed to live centuries of unhappiness, bringing pain to everyone in our path, and we're definitely not supposed to cheer up our friend who's sad.'

--

Nobody liked the Baron before Guillermo killed him, not even other powerful vampires we meet; they saw the Baron as a crazy far beyond their own crazy. But this is also how vampire society values you. It's how they measure Nandor's worth when they think he's dead, too: how old and powerful you are, how much you've been able to conquer and kill.

Vampire pods are both cliquish and aren't expected to last in the first place. If someone dies, you literally paint them out of your lives and forget. Everything we see discourages feelings, sincerity, or even basic companionship. The only way to earn respect is to be cruel. The more cruel you are, the more powerful you are. The more powerful you are, the more feared you are - the lonelier you are, the crazier you are. It's practically designed to create the Baron, or worse.

But new vampires don't behave that way. And the vampires we follow in the show don't behave that way - because they have each other, because they've been encouraged to have each other, often by Guillermo. (Holy shit, Nadja saying maybe she'd be fine dying, and Nandor immediately asking if she's okay? Nothing changes in this house, except everything does. They're not going to almost lose one of their own ever again.)

The vampires in the heart of vampire culture never seem happy to be like this. It doesn't have to be like this.

--

The Baron doesn't become a tyrannical monster for long. Because he never actually was one - and because he spends two evenings and a fireball to the face, watching Nandor and Nadja fight for Guillermo. Watching them plead and cling and defy, seeing Guillermo's earnest feelings in spite of his bloodline and the mistakes he's made. Seeing Nandor's perfect trust, and then his grief, the way he insists that Guillermo was never 'just' anything. The Baron can't find real fulfillment in hurting someone (because that ship sailed ages ago). He can't deride them for caring, because he's cared for a long time now.

And when the Baron admits that's who he is, when he says it out loud, he only gains more in his life. He finds new depth in the happiness he'd felt for a while now, because he's admitted and allowed himself to be happy. And now he has the children he's always wanted. Living together, the Baron and the Sire are still ancient and powerful - and they're also family, finding real joy together in a world that was ready to dispose of them.

"I suppose with the right company, it can be beautiful, this eternal existence."

--

There's an inherent selfishness to being a vampire, taking from someone else in order to live. But there doesn't have to be inherent cruelty, or lack of love.

They're all ready to admit they care. The Staten vampires have all cared for Guillermo or each other in their own ways this season. And Guillermo doesn't lack for flaws, but loving his monster family has never been one of them. (When he and Nandor work their shit out, they're gonna be insufferable.)

Now they just have to let the Guide in. Because she's absolutely starved for love, and vampires get pretty fucked up when they're on their own.

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the world is dogshit and finding beauty in it is stupid

one day the world will be more than 8th grade nihilism & you will have a fresh peach so good, the feeling of its furred skin in yr palm will bring u to tears