#...i did not check to see if any of these are real plausible chinese names before posting hm

[geeoharee]

And now in ‘DVDs someone got for Christmas so we watched it while we were round at their house’, ‘Cruella’ is a fucking weird film

Like OK, you think it’s starting out with “she’s a misunderstood misfit child!” and ripping off Wicked, which is justifiable cos Wicked is great. Then there are, I cannot stress this enough, killer CGI dalmatians. There are three of them. They are owned by an evil rich woman and they kill Cruella’s mother. Cruella runs off to be an orphan thief in London (source of ripoff material changes to Oliver Twist, bad child acting abounds) and is taken in by Jasper and Horace (I had to check: yes, these are the henchmen from the movie, guess that reads)

So then there’s like twenty minutes where it’s a fun heist film and they use a trained chihuahua called Wink to steal jewels from rich people and stuff. But Cruella’s dream is to be a fashion designer, so Jasper gets her a job working for the evil rich woman who is the best fashion designer. (Yes, we’re now doing Devil Wears Prada. Just watch Devil Wears Prada instead, it’s fucking great and this film is not even an adequate ripoff of it)

Theeen something ... I forget ... Oh yeah, she finds out the evil rich woman (played by Emma Thompson, incidentally, who is at least having fun) killed her mother with the killer CGI dalmatians and did I mention a little fluffy dog has been Cruella’s only friend this whole time? It’s one dog when she’s a kid and a different one when she’s Emma Stone, obviously.

So she decides to become a rival fashion designer but in secret (apparently this whole sequence with the punk stuff and the vandalism is ripping off Joker, which I’ve not seen, but also had the same plot about ‘...but actually he’s your real dad’. Oh did I not mention? We find out later that Emma Thompson is her mother.)

And there’s this whole thing with an amulet which contains the secret knowledge that Emma Thompson is her mother, and she tries to steal it, but the dalmatian eats it, so then she kidnaps the dalmatians for a bit, here are where the jokes about sifting through dogshit go. And Emma Thompson’s evil sidekick (Mark Strong) defects, for reasons I don’t really understand. And it ends up with a big confrontation where Emma Thompson is tricked into admitting she killed Cruella’s adoptive mother in front of a load of people, so then she goes to prison, and Cruella gets all her stuff (? not sure that’s how that works)

Oh also the killer CGI dalmatians defect at this point and apparently there’s a post-credits scene where one of them has puppies and Cruella sends puppies to Roger and Anita? (Anita is her childhood friend in this one and Roger works for the fashion house) Because Cruella is psychic and knows this will kick off the plot of the animated film? I guess?!

I dunno. I just feel that if you present a film as a prequel which sets up why Cruella de Vil wants to murder a load of puppies, she should, at some point, express the desire to murder a load of puppies. There’s a fake-out where you think she turned the killer dalmatians into a coat, but she didn’t. That’s exclusively to get a picture of her in the coat they could put on the poster. It’s just very unsatisfying.

Did they just have too many people on the team? Did the ‘she’s traumatised by a dalmatian attack’ guy not meet the ‘we’re doing Wicked now’ guy? Had any of them actually SEEN ‘101 Dalmatians’? Will Disney ever stop lying about the queer content of their films? (His name’s Artie, he runs a vintage shop and helps Cruella out a couple of times, he could plausibly be a very androgynous straight man and can be effortlessly cut for the Chinese market.)

We all KNEW what Cruella’s deal was. ‘See My Vest’ is a better explanation of her motives than this film. And now I want to rewatch Devil Wears Prada.

[tanoraqui]

[continuation of this] [read on AO3]

There was no practical way to hide the fact that the Sunshot Campaign’s dread Yiling Patriarch was a homicidal amnesiac (a mad dog, they said, a crime and danger to keep around; leashed only by the Jiang siblings and Hanguang-jun, and how secure was that leash, anyway? Jiang Cheng held his head high and kept walking, because he didn’t have the time to deal with every little thing and he didn’t have a cogent counterargument.) 

How could it stay silent? He was still Wei Wuxian; he didn’t have a subtle bone in his body. He bounced around each night’s camp greeting people like they were new and asking what they were doing like they hadn’t done the same thing yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. He flirted with Lan Wangji so outrageously that Jiang Cheng was starting to think the Second Jade really must love the idiot, to tolerate it all. He still remembered Jiang fighting forms, even though he couldn’t do them all without a golden core; he whined to be dragged out of bed and then helped Jiang Cheng train the new recruits every morning, even though not once did he remember their names. He didn’t remember Jiang Cheng’s name, or Jiang Yanli’s, or where they’d grown up or...anything. 

Sometimes he snapped in an instant from Wei Wuxian-typical smiling to something dark and cruel, and utterly heedless of political or other consequences. (So, exactly the same Wei Wuxian, a small, bitter part of Jiang Cheng muttered—no, that was what made it terrible. He so often kept smiling, too, almost the exact same smile.) Usually it was directed at the Wens, but more than one allied cultivator or mundane soldier died in cold blood because they said something rude—not so much to Wei Wuxian himself as to one of the people he “liked.” More to Jiang Yanli and Lan Wangji than Jiang Cheng himself, which was just fine by Jiang Cheng—the less, the better. Nie Mingjue tolerated the losses as part of war, which meant Wei Wuxian stayed, but the only reason LanlingJin didn’t pull out of the Sunshot Campaign entirely was that Jin Zixuan himself insisted he forgave the strangulation incident.

It was inevitable that the enemy tried to take advantage of it.

From the ground it was like this: 

Jiang Cheng was in the thick of battle, wielding Sandu with no room for a whip, but that was fine because he had his disciples (new, all still new) around him to act as his second weapon and more. The Wens weren’t stupid: they came at him several at a time, hoping numbers could overwhelm his skill. He slashed at a red-robed fighter on his left, dodged a blow from his right, and pierced Sandu like a scorpion’s stinger through a man in front of him. Another strike came from the right and as he turned and brought up Sandu to block it, he thought, oh god, it’s contagious.

Because the cultivator was wearing Jiang purple (just an armband, but few of them had more than that), and yet he didn’t recognize her.

Then she tried to take his head off and he just barely parried, on reflex more than anything; the blade bit into his shoulder and he managed a clumsy riposte that bounced off her armguard. At the same time, he realized that he didn’t recognize her because she wasn’t one of his disciples. 

The haunting dizi music that Jiang Cheng had come to accept as natural background to a fight, that couldn’t possibly suffuse all the area of a busy battlefield and yet always did, slid abruptly into a furious shriek. Before his foe could push her advantage, the man he’d just killed flung himself onto her sword, pushing forward up the blade so he could tear at her face, Around them the other Wen dead sprang up as well—as did the fallen of YunmengJiang, an awkwardness they’d all resigned themselves to. Sometimes Wei Wuxian thought to let their own dead lie, but most of the time he didn’t, and most of the time no one minded much—it was desecration, but in the name of fighting the Wen even beyond the very end. 

But this time, they didn’t just attack the Wen. This time, the corpse of Liu Qingbiao, who had run away from her merchant parents to be a rogue and then Jiang cultivator, leapt from behind onto Huang Lao, who had taken up battle with the fighter on Jiang Cheng’s unguarded left. The Wen Huang Lao fought was torn down by one of his dead fellows; behind him, an unknown corpse with a purple armband ripped into another fighter in red. Around then, Wen and Jiang and not-Jiang turned furiously, awash with the dark smoke of resentful energy, on Wen and Jiang and not-Jiang. 

A small corpse guard settled in around Jiang Cheng himself: three Wens, Huang Lao, and another man he didn’t recognize with a bloody purple sash around his waist. 

“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng bellowed. “What are you—”

He lunged out between two of his unwanted corpse guards to stop a live Wen soldier who would have struck Yu Shanmei, who fought with them because Yu Ziyuan had been her favorite aunt. A moment later, the soldier got back to its feet, black-eyed, and lunged for her again.

“Wei– fuck.” Jiang Cheng flung himself onto Sandu and took to the sky. Toward the ridge overlooking the battle. “STOP IT, YOU IDIOT! YOU’RE KILLING OUR PEOPLE!”

He waved his hands as he shouted, regardless of the dangerous silhouette he was presenting. He didn’t need to worry—one arrow flicked past him and the music changed again; deep and fast as an ocean current and shadows sprang up around him, half-substantial ghosts and tendrils of pure resentful energy. A sudden chorus of cries from the treeline was no doubt suddenly doomed archers.

The shadows only thickened as he approached the ridge, where the Yiling Patriarch stood alone. Wei Wuxian didn’t acknowledge him. His attention remained fixed on the nightmare of a battlefield, his terrible dizi at his lips.

Jiang Cheng landed directly in front of him and yanked the dizi down. “Wei Wuxian, stop!”

There was a moment (there was always a moment) in which he thought Wei Wuxian wouldn’t recognize him. His eyes were as dark as the dead’s and his face showed nothing but implacable cold. By a narrow margin, Jiang Cheng’s heartbreak beat out his awareness that he was likely about to die.

Then Wei Wuxian blinked, some of the darkness receding, at least enough to show the whites of his eyes. He lowered the dizi another inch of his own accord (Jiang Cheng had barely been able to drag it down to shoulder height, even though he was still pulling. Wei Wuxian was weak without his golden core, but the shadows that wreathed him lent him plenty of strength.)

“Are you alright?” he asked, worried like Jiang Cheng had just hit his head on the dock, and nothing worse. He raised one hand to Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. “You’re bleeding.”

Jiang Cheng batted it away. “Stop the corpses!” he shouted. “You’re killing YungmengJiang—” Wei Wuxian remained silent, watched him curiously; names, fuck, names. “The people in purple! You idiot, stop killing them!”

They had so few people to lose. Yu Shanmei was likely already down, unable to perform her best without room to snap a whip. Han Lingya was already recovering from a wound in her arm; Jiang Cheng should never have let him on the field today in the first place. He’d have to write to Liu Qingbiao’s parents, and Huang Lao’s, and Shen Chiwu and Wen Sichen (no relation) and Xi Yanji (they’d get him on the backstroke; he always left himself open—) Jiang Cheng couldn’t look down at them or he’d be lost; he just had to shake his death-eyed, half-gone brother until he stopped—

Wei Wuxian’s hand had come away with some of Jiang Cheng’s blood on it. He licked it off one finger, glancing away like a child who knew he’d done wrong. But when he looked back, his expression was familiarly mulish, save for all the dark and cold.

“They started attacking you. Someone lied to me. I know some of them are our fighters, but I can’t tell which ones, so it’s safer to just kill them all.” 

It was funny because less than a year ago, Jiang Cheng would’ve been quietly ecstatic to be the absolute center of one person’s devotion. Not, admittedly, that he had that dubious honor even now—Wei Wuxian remembered Jiang Yanli better than anyone else, since that terrible night with the sliced wrist, but she was safe at base camp (thank fuck), and even Lan Wangji was with the forces at the other end of the valley.

“I know which ones!” Jiang Cheng snapped (begged). “And so do the ones who are actually Jiang Sect! Just—” they might be equally lost if the corpses stopped completely; they were still wildly outnumbered—“focus on the people in red! A-jie– your shijie would want you to leave the people in purple to sort themselves out!”

Wei Wuxian pouted, with a edge of real disappointment (he only ever seemed truly content anymore when he was slaughtering whole battlefields). “All right.”

He raised his dizi again (Jiang Cheng let go), and after a shuddering moment, Jiang Cheng forced himself to turn around around and watch. There were half as many YunmengJiang cultivators standing as there had been when he’d left, and a quarter as many mundane troops—well, standing and alive. Almost all were upright. It was too far to pick out individuals, but he could tell from the fighting style—he’d been training them all himself for months.

Their dead turned their focus back to the Wen troops in red, as did the Wen corpses themselves, and Jiang Chang let out a breath for what felt like the first time in several minutes. He fought to steady it, to calm his fluttering qi and push it into his shoulder to heal, while beside him, the Yiling Patriarch finished the battle.

It didn’t take long. It had already been hitting the critical point of dead overwhelming the living, before this terrible interlude. Jiang Sect’s fighters knew each other, cultivator and mundane alike; they dealt easily with the few remaining imposters.

As the battle died down (ha), there was a cloth-on-rock scraping to their left. Jiang Cheng turned to see a trio of long-nailed female ghosts—some of Wei Wuxian’s favorites—dragging forward the bloody remains– no, the bloody body of a still-living man. Though from the ghost women’s giggles, he wouldn’t be alive for along. Certainly he must already wish he was dead.

He had a Jiang-purple cloth tied around his left bicep. Jiang Cheng squinted at him, as the ghost women dropped their prize at their master’s feet, and didn’t recognize his face. Ropes of shadow wrapped around the man, cutting more lines of blood into his skin.

Wei Wuxian didn’t stop playing until the last red-robed Wen on the battlefield was dead, his eyes dark and his expression cold. It didn’t change as he left a few notes lingering in the air and looked down at the shadow-bound prisoner. 

He bumped Jiang Cheng’s shoulder with his own like they were kids walking streets of Lotus Pier. “This is the one who came and told me there were reinforcements joining you from the rear, and to clear them a path. The ladies confirm it. Do you know him?”

“No,” said Jiang Cheng, just as cold.

“Well then.” Wei Wuxian nearly sang. The ropes that spread out from his shadow yanked their prisoner to his feet. The man’s mouth was gagged with twisting darkness; his eyes were bleeding but wide with fear. 

Wei Wuxian smiled brightly and tipped the man’s chin up with the end of his dizi. “I can be patient, you know. We can ask him questions before I tear him apart.”

[michelle4417]

PLEASE READ!! YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID...

Hello to everyone out there... I hope all of you are doing well, as always. I really want to reach out to you and talk to you from the heart. I posted about the President of Ghana and something major he had to say to the world yesterday morning and no one paid any attention to it. It is so frustrating!!

This is hard because there is a short video that lasts for 12 minutes that is on Telegram right now but I can't share it here at all due to tumble and their Communist censoring nonsense. I was absolutely insane to even try to share the actual video here but I always give everything a try at least once... Anyway, IT IS SOOO INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY HERE NOW... I AM GOING TO JUST TYPE OUT WHAT HE SAYS ON HERE FOR YOU... I went through and listened to every word and wrote it all down for you all almost verbatim. He is kind of hard to understand due to his accent but I did my best. It took me a couple of hours to transcribe this so PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!! IT IS THE HONEST TO GOD TRUTH!!! IF YOU WANT MORE CONFIRMATION OF THIS, YOU WILL HAVE TO GO AND LISTEN TO THE AUDIO YOURSELF THAT I TOLD YOU ABOUT ON THE LAST POST...

The President Ghana reveals the entire Rockefeller's Lockstep Plan and it explains everything about *OVID and the vaccine. First off, in case you don't know, *OVID stands for CERTIFICATION OF VACCINATION IDENTIFICATION. The actual true name of the vaccine is Luciphase (might be spelled wrong) after Lucifer). The pandemic was planned many years in advance.

They literally call it a Plandemic (accident according to plan) themselves. This virus was created and patented and we were purposely, globally infected. They started way back as early as 2008-2013 and had a weaponized version of the strain by 2015. They had the strain they planned on using to kick this off literally stolen on purpose from a lab in Winnepeg, Canada and then taken to a class 4 lab in Wuhan, China, for plausible deniability and to cement the "wanted" public script as something to fall back on, if needed. The Primary script was that China created it by accident. Release the virus at the Wuhan lab itself and then blame it on a natural scapegoat-the Wuhan wet market. Roll out on a global scale, then the global vaccination identification action plan-digital ID.

Mystery of iniquity and wickedness cast in secrecy.

Next, downplay the human to human transmission as long as possible to allow the strain to spread on a global scale before any country can lockdown to respond before any infection. Once a country has seen and experience infection and it is in place, lockdown incoming/outgoing travel but keep the transmission spreading within the country as long as possible. Once enough people in a country are infected, quarantine starts and slowly lockdown overtime and expand the region.

Overhype the mortality rate by tying the strain to deaths that have little or nothing to do with the actual virus - with fear and compliance at the maximum.

If anyone dies, whether it is *OVID or not - it is to be considered as *OVID. If they have any symptoms of *OVID - it is to be considered *OVID no matter what. This is why the Americans are challenging the Chinese. They were not wrong. They were quoting the right figures. But this thing was bred and brewed in the U.S. - as the personal agenda of Fauci, Gates and the Rockefeller Foundation. The deaths - in the U.S.-a lot have absolutely zero to do with *OVID-many have some of the symptoms but are not really *OVID at all. This is why Fauci speaks with such confidence and why he did when he said we would have 200,000 deaths and so on...

Next... Keep the public quarantined as long as possible to destroy the regions economy. Create unrest, break down the supply chain, create the start of mass food shortages as well as cause people's immune systems to weaken due to lack of interaction with others, bacteria, the outside world. Making us susceptible to diseases. Downplay and attack any potential treatments (HCQ) and continue to echo that only a CURE is the answer to this virus a/k/a: a vaccine.

Continue to drag out the quarantine over and over and over again over two week intervals, causing people to finally stand up and protest or defy them.

Eventually, end Phase 1 quarantine after is enough public push back (approx. June 2020) and publicly say it's too early to end isolation but are willing to do it anyways... Once they go back to normal, wait a few weeks, then over-hype the virus mortality rate (approx. Sept. 2020). Combine it with increase of people dying from standard illnesses at a higher rate than normal due to having highly weakened immune systems from weeks of being in isolation to further pad the virus mortality rate and have the Phase 2 Lockdown set in motion.

Oct.-Nov.-make it much more extreme level of lockdown/isolation/quarantine/restriction/masking, etc. - Blame the protesters - they are the ones who do not trust the government already-the cause of the even larger 2nd Wave. - We told you... It was too early but we let you anyway... see what happened now? You should have listened to the government who is here to help you and knows best... Now it is all your fault - now, all because you needed a haircut, your freedoms have consequences.

Now - Enforce official quarantine at much more extreme level - increasing penalty for defense. Deem all travels as non-essential. Increase check-points, including Military assistance. Increase tracking/tracing of the people. Takeover control of food, gas - cause large scale shortages so that people can only get access to essential products/services if they are 1st given permission. Keep the Phase 2 Lockdown in place much longer than the Phase 1 Lockdown.

Continue to destroy the global economy. Further degrade the supply chain. Amplify the food shortages and the like. Quell any public outrage using extreme force and make anyone who defies them as public enemy number one.

To those who are willing to submit after a long Phase 2 Lockdown for at least 6 months or longer, roll out the vaccination certification program and then make it mandatory for everyone - giving priority access to those who have submitted from the start and then have those that are fooled attack those that are against the program - saying they are a threat and the cause for all of the problems - The whole reason why we cannot go back normal and we can't until everyone takes the vaccine. People that defy are the enemy. They are hindering our way of life. The "New Normal". And all the while - limiting the people that defied the agenda... Their ability to work and travel. And for this minority of people left that are going against the agenda - there will be a release of a weaponized hybrid strain of the virus with at least a 30% real mortality rate as a final scare tactic to push them into finally becoming the majority - a final "I TOLD YOU SO"-for those that wouldn't listen.

Next, ignite the new economy model Microsoft Patent 060606 Crypto Currency System USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA BASED ON HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND WILLINGNESS TO SUMBIT. Black bureau's 15 Million Merits. This will use water, food, shelter and other essentials as a form of enforcement of the new economic system. Do what we want and then you will get rewarded and gain credit and access to the things to survive/go against what we want and you will get penalized.

Well, this is the end of the information that was given for now from this brave and amazing man, the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He is a strong Christian believer and at the end of giving the information to this diabolical plan, he prayed an amazing prayer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then declared and decreed that this plan will NOT succeed! This man is part of the Alliance with us. Trump is fighting against these deep state criminals and talking heads to keep this from coming to fruition. That is another reason they hate him so much and have done everything in their power to try and stop him. If you stayed with me and read all of this, I want to truly thank you so much. You are truly a Patriot if you did and you love this GREAT country and our world as much as I do. Please PRAY!!! God bless every one of you and your families!! Thank you. God bless America.

[fluffmugger]

introspectivenavelgazer said: I’m curious about your thoughts OH HOLD ON BB I GOT OPINIONS. ITS BAD. 

sabacc said: ah, the disturbing things bingo movie oh no. nononoo. Make no mistake. This was not a “nooope” situation.  There was precisely one moment in a teaser that actually triggered me, and that was so fucking poorly done in the end product I ACTUALLY ENDED UP LAUGHING. I’m  not exaggerating, check the post. First time I saw that it pulled a very hard visceral cord, and when the Kersh scene came up in the movie, I was huddled up in my chair, hoodie on, ear blocking ready to ride out that wave of programmed fear.   Instead, I fucking laughed because the whole thing was so fucking ridiculous. What was a deft, vicious piece of editing got completely fucking wrecked.  And that’s pretty much what happened to the story, that film was a hot mess of absolute bullshit.  It not only completely fucked up the overarching themes of the original story, it made no fcking narrative sense in and of itself as a movie verse Lo, there be spoilers...

While some parts I can understand for expediency - such as sidelining Audra and shifting Bill’s obsessive run to IT being based on a local child that he ultimately fails to save, why the fuck have Audra in it in the first place? A five second appearance so ...wha, you can make a running joke on Bill sucking at writing endings that’s just an endless sledge against King? What was the fucking point of that?     Likewise the inclusion of Silver, stripped down to a single cameo that only got vaguely saved because it put him in the place where he could meet aforementioned kid (now living in Bill’s old house in a most contrived of plot points but I will allow it because it works) and form an emotional connection. The whole reason for them standing to face IT is shifted from the pact they formed - the childhood vow they could never break - to Beverley instead somehow magically seeing the future while trapped in the deadlights, and realising that if they didn’t finish IT once and for all, even after the cycle they would all eventually take their own lives like Stan did, unable to live with the taint.  While this could be a interesting take in and of itself - if you do not face the demons of your childhood, they will destroy you one way or another - it completely shifts the core motivation to one of self interest.    Initially the Losers (especially Bill) did actually take on IT from a position of self interest (and young Bill actually has a moment of self agony over it, is he only leading  his friends into a deadly crusade because he wants vengeance for Georgie? Does he have that right? Is he nothing but a “selfish little shit waving a tin sword”), but it became so much more, and these children became monster slayers.   It’s the hero’s journey.   And shifting that makes it a corruption, not into a subversion.   It was also so damned messily handled - it could have been interesting , the idealism of childhood shifting to pragmatism of adulthood, but it was reduced to a handwave threat, and they didn’t need to be threatened.  The original story had a whole intertwined creep that was fucking beautiful, this veneer of adults in control of their own lives and destiny being stripped away in thin layers, with the Losers gradually beginning to dimly perceive they are simply parts  of some great cosmic machinery and their illusions of control and indeed  their entire lives are all just that - illusions. The undermining of reality and stripping of power were great Adult Fears that played fucking beautifully in the book.  The silent unspoken Imposter Syndrome, hinted at, but never directly addressed, that all their successes were simply due to being touched by IT.  In the movie? Oh man we’re all gonna kill ourselves if we don’t fix this and it means ...nothing to the characters. Seriously. They all still walk anyway.  And   way too much fucking time is wasted on characters abruptly deciding to leave only to Not At The Last Second.   It’s just a big fat clumsy mess.

They completely chunked out Bowers taking Mike out of the final battle, yet still included him in the film - Why? what was the fucking purpose?  They also intimated that IT was responsible for killing his father - ironically the one fucking murder Bowers did commit -   and adult Bowers was delightfully played, but he served  no fucking purpose whatsoever. Not to drop them to the lesser number of power (5 as opposed to 7), not to drive them into the sewers, what was the fucking purpose of having him there? He shows up, doesn’t even break Eddie’s arm (so there’s your other purpose of resetting the gameboard to the positions of the last confrontation) gets stabbed, gets killed, and they go on la de da.

Michael’s story is absolutely fucked into unrecognisability.  I’ve already ranted about killing off his parents - it’s a dumb fucking decision and I will never fucking excuse it. William Hanlon is a key player in the books, inadvertently preparing his son for his role of watchman.  This is completely lost to the most basic of fucking racial stereotypes.   Holy shit they actually refer to his parents as fucking crack heads  at one point (although this is later revealed to be a fake out by Pennywise), but what does it serve?   While you can argue that removing him is what destabilises Mikes character THERE IS NO FUCKING REASON TO HAVE AN UNSTABLE MIKE.   In the sequel, Mike is clinging to sanity by less than the skin of his teeth, drugging Bill against his will at one point, actively leading everyone into danger with a false promise of victory and generally acting like a desperate fucking madman. Why take a dignified black character and turn him into an unstable Kassandra?  You don’t need a fucking unstable Kassandra, the very nature of what IT is, and its horrific, aeons-long parasitic relationship with Derry is so fucking unbelievable in and of itself it does that for you.   

Likewise Eddie’s adult career  is suddenly changed to being a ...investment? insurance? boring person thing? what the shit? Why not have him own the goddamn largest fleet private chauffeurs? Why change? that one tied back into his navigation skills at least, and there’s serious coin in that shit.   And fucking hell do not get me started on fucking Myra fucking hell if you want to touch a complex and fucked up relationship like that, you don’t handwave it. His entire rampant hypochondria is shifted to  something closer to ...smart arse with some small neuroses?  Ok, but you’re telling me this..why? what is the purpose of this?

Completely out of left field, Richie is heavily intimated to be Queer. Ok.     But they then go on to jam in additional homophobia (and this is on top of Mellon’s death that to be fucking honest is shot way too fucking far on the side of “lookit the smartmouth gay get stomped”)  and Pennywise threatening to reveal Richies Great Secret to the point I literally leaned over and asked His Lordship “The script writer does know this is set in the fucking 21st century, right?”   It could have been a fascinating side story of a man whose trauma keeps himself in a cage even when he doesn’t have to, but it’s not. It’s a hot mess of what the fuck let’s throw a gay (but not too obviously gay we’ll do it so we can claim he’s not so it still sells in china and we have plausible deniability hide your queers, hide your queers!)  in just so we can kill the object of his affection.  YOU DON’T NEED TO AMP UP THE ANGST OVER EDDIES DEATH. WE ALL KNOW ITS COMING. AND IT HURTS.    You know what woulda been ground breaking? You’ve laid the groundwork with Beverley already, have Richie in the deadlights as he is, have Eddie do his Big Damn Hero Save, and then have richie see what’s coming and shove eddie out of the way.  Having Richie die instead of Eddie? Holy crap, no one would have seen that coming. It would have blown up fucking everyone, film, telemovie and book fans alike.   (Also holy shit adult richie, far from being the smart, funny man we all know is a wanker. His comments at the chinese dinner party have none of the genuine humour of the book or even the  Curry adaptation, he comes across as a mean spirited bullying dickhead that you’d all go to the toilet at the same time and climb out the window to avoid. In a kid it’s funny. Kids have no filters. From an adult, it’s fucking poison)  

We also have all these elements of childhood coming back, but there is no purpose to them in the film.  In the book, it’s the wheel turning, the gameboard sliding back to where it was last time they faced IT, a very real embodiment of unfinished business and an inability to escape your childhood - a fact the characters are very well aware of and in varying ways horrified by their own regressions -  but in the film it’s just leaving the audience wondering why are they doing that? why’s that there. what the fuck man. why have bill stutter? So you connect the adults to the kids by using the broadest fucking flanderised tropes possible?  It doesn’t even stand on its own two feet, it relies on way too much back knowledge from other sources. And it reeks as it they bolted on large chunks of some other horror movie script that was presented to the studio and changed the names.  There’s no psychological implications, there’s no deftness, hell there’s no fucking chemistry with any of the fucking actors.  It’s reduced to a jumpscare gore fest. It doesn't even compare to the first half.  It got so bad that by the second act I was literally pointing at the screen and BAM right on cue, there was the jumpscare. That’s how fucking predictable it is.   The CGI was shithouse (I actually burst out laughing during the Paul Bunyan scene as well as the Kersh one it was so fucking bad) the ending is..my god they literally prance around him screaming “fucking clown” until he shrinks, they pluck his heart and crush it. Fuck me, the Curry adaptation had its problems but the savage, ritualistic destruction of IT as they all fell to their knees around and tore it apart with their bare hands had fucking balls at least.  And BTW, it’s only the caverns and the house on neibolt street that get destroyed, the rest of the town is just fuckin’ dandy and it’s like DUDE THE TOWN WAS LITERALLY BUILT ON IT. DERRY CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT IT.  IT’S A PARALLEL FOR THE HORRIFIC CANKER  AT THE HEART OF EVERY “LOVELY” AMERICAN SMALL TOWN. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY SOMETHING TO PLAY WITH.  and then, THEN they end it with a letter from Stan. See, Stan didn’t kill himself because in one brief, horrific instant he remembered everything, and even as a child knew he couldn’t face it again and bailed, no... he knew he was going to buckle and killed himself so..he wouldn’t die they wouldn’t all die what. the fuck. was the purpose. of THAT.

In short, it was a phoned in, badly written, badly edited piece of shit, completely purposeless and not even worthy of its predecessor. 

[thegreymoon]

Sorry, You didn't really say or do anything to make me think that you are Asian. I thought that I read sth in your lj where u said that you were and just run with it. It was a long time ago and I must have misread. Also, you don't really post a lot political stuff, it is more like I notice it more because when I visit your page I skip all Merlin related stuff and am interested in the rest so again my fault. As for my ise of imaginary- yeah, it was passive agressive, altough not intentionally so

… my bad. I rarely engage in political conversations online because it never ends well, especially when my views clash with 90% of tumblr users so I am used to combative tone and it was unnecessary.. As for SJW I am not sure if that is dissmissive term as it discribes the “movement” well? I am not native speaker and am aware that it can be used as derogative term, but was also convinced that it is used by people on the left if political spectrum. I asked you why you are mainy interesetd in USA because I was working under the assumption that u are Asian it seemed to me weird that a person coming from China/Japan etc would be championing social justice in USA when it not that big of a problem(or at all IMO) whie ignoring very real problems in their own country. But since you are not Asian and you post political stuff rarely you are right it is a silly discussion. The fault is completely on my side. I am allergic to these kind of stuff and you are one of my favourite writers so I exaggerated. Once again sorry.

As for the rest of your response: I also come from relatively poor country that was screwed over by both Britain and USA and many other countries, and I don’t agree with many of their policies (or most) but I don’t hate them and believe that as much as people like to say they start wars for the oil etc it is not really true. There are many political and global players and everyone single country is motivated by greed it is only that not every country can exercise their power.  

Relatively they are not the worst, it is just that since USA tries to paint themselves as heroes they are held to different, much higher standards than other countries. To sum it up, I am not defending their foreign policies, they have done a lot of wrong and are shortseighted but I still think that are better than other superpowers that will soon take over like China or maybe India. Also, I don;t understand why would you include global warming in your answer?why do you believe it is their fault

I am trying to leave as “green” as I can, I am a vegetarian and I believe we should do everything to preserve environment, but I wouldnt want my country to sign any deals concerning CO2 emission as long as other countries do not do the same. Otherwise, they would just cripple their economy and not help the world? As for Trump(if you are still interested) I find him the epitome of self-important, conceited stereotypical american but still so much better than alternative and despite distaste. would still vote for him. Because he at least apppears to be anti globalist and has a much higher moral ground than Hillary. what are his SPECIFIC actions that you find so abhorrent? Anyway, what I alluded to in my message was not politics of USA but the social justcie issues, like support BLM or me to movement(I am not sure if you posted enything regarding that, so srry if I presume wrongly) which I find are absolutely not based on facts and despite that people still perpetuate that, and if u don’t agree you are racist and sexist. No arguments whatsoever. It is also silly to me when I see the posts about the West being this cesspool of sexism while honour killings or FGM is nearly a non issue on social media or racism when considering the West is still the least racist place in the world when you compare it to China/India/SA or any other place. So, I find the social media effort to be misdirected and controlled by emotions. Even the indigineous people issued you mentioned. Americans get so much shit for their history, while pretty much every single country that exist was created by conquering or displacement of the previous population(u just have to go far enough down the history). So, yeah wht happend to Indigenous people and dissappearance of their whole civilization is a great tragedy but not the first and unfortunately not the last in human history. Why are we hearing about it but not about Anuit people or Persian or Byzantians? it is so imbalanced. Ok, anyway, sorry for the rant it shouldn’t be directed at you and tumblr is definitely not the place for it. Sorry if I offended to you. As I said I love your writing, “DC” is my all time favourite fic, and because I creepely once read through all of your lj(including asks and responses) I(like an internet creep and stalker)liked you and thought you seemed smart, well balanced and knowledgeable so I guess I felt entitled to to make the ask. Wish you all the best in life. 

No worries, I’m sorry I came off so aggressive in my answer. I did actually live and work in China for a while during my LJ days and it’s entirely possible I may have tagged myself as being there on my fandom profiles at the time. It was a happy period for me and I talked about it a lot to anyone who had the patience to listen, so it’s very plausible that you have read something about it on my LJ! I’m very sorry if it was misleading, but I was only ever an expat there!

I used to be a lot more open about my real name and real-life dealings in fandom communities, but that almost backfired spectacularly, so I locked down a lot of stuff because it could do me quite a bit of damage. 

OK, I concede your point that if you remove the Merlin stuff, a lot of what is left on my Tumblr is going to be either me reblogging cats or raging about social injustices (oops) 😅

I’d just like to make it clear that I absolutely do not hate either the USA, the UK or any other country in the world. Like I said, people are people, and disgusting policies are disgusting policies and every single country is guilty of them. It’s just that some have a bigger impact and are more visible. My own country is a source of so much shame and anger for me, it far outweighs anything the UK and the USA could have ever done because it’s personal, but our nonsense is just not something that I come across when casually scrolling through Tumblr, so I don’t reblog it. It’s possible to love a nation and its people and still be critical of the evil they have done. 

Also, let me just clarify that I’m bothered by all injustices and human rights violations everywhere, but usually there isn’t a post about them when I’m scrolling at 2 am at night that I can reblog. The USA is just… low hanging fruit, and let’s face it, from where I stand, hating on their president, the white supremacists, the Nazis, fundamental Christians, racists and the Republicans in general after what they have turned into is not hating on the USA, but rather cheering on the sane part of the country to get rid of this toxic waste ASAP. The same goes for Brexiteers in the UK and I am so, so sad for all the people that are going to suffer because of it. 

Of course, I’m aware that China and Japan have issues and human rights violations that are mind-boggling, but again, they just don’t appear on my dash very often, or at least not in English or from a source I can easily fact-check. The Japanese and Chinese stuff I follow is mostly art, nature and pictures of pretty clothes. My knowledge of either of these countries is very superficial compared to Western countries, which impact me directly, so it really isn’t my place to appoint myself as a champion of human rights in the Far East when my own country and continent are a growing dumpster fire that cannot be contained.  

On the subject of global warming, I’m not blaming the USA (entirely, because they, of course, played their part, but so did the rest of humanity). I’m enraged by their governing body’s rhetoric as of late, the denial of climate change, every single action that Trump took since taking office (such as withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement), him making ignorant, snide remarks in the middle of the polar vortex just days ago while people were suffering, deliberately sabotaging scientists and spreading dangerous, false information when each and every single country should be all-hands-on-deck if we want to avert a disaster of global proportions (especially with all the signs pointing to us being too late already). Nobody is suggesting that the USA should unilaterally reduce carbon emissions, all countries in the world must do it and develop the technology to make it feasible to convert to clean energy. And yes, the USA, China and other giants have to lead the way because they are the ones with the power! My poor, tiny country is not the one that can impact anything, so yes, the USA is absolutely more responsible to lead the way forward, but instead of at least moving in the right direction, Trump is deliberately lying and sabotaging all effort because he likes the money he gets from Big Oil companies, and he’s giving a platform to religious nutcases for votes, who think that there won’t be a global disaster of epic proportions in the near future because God promised Noah he would never again flood the entire Earth in the Old Testament. It’s not even the outright evil that is bothering me the most right now, but the mind-numbing stupidity. 

I have nothing but loathing for both of the Clintons. They have caused so much destruction in my country and I do not want good things for either of them, ever. I will never pretend that Hillary Clinton is anything even resembling a good person because you do not reach that level of power by having a conscience, but at the very least, she is not a rapist and paedophile that the general public knows of (which is more than we can say for her husband, btw). Trump has no moral high ground whatsoever, IMO. He has done everything imaginable, from scamming charities (this was proven in court) to raping minors (see Epstein). He has no redeemable human characteristics and is not even intelligent enough to pretend that he does, which is at least one thing that Hillary has going for her. I’m not going to sit here and list all the reasons why Trump is abhorrent because a) it cannot fit in a Tumblr post b) I would be sitting here for years. 

I will also not engage in discussion about whether or not BLM is a valid movement, ever. I don’t understand what you mean when you say it isn’t based on ‘facts’. Which, facts are in doubt, exactly? It’s based on multigenerational, still ongoing trauma and persecution of an entire race of people! I’m neither black nor an American, but I believe African-American people when they talk about the terror they experience on a daily basis in their own country. I have eyes and I have ears, I know plenty of white people and have insight into how they think because I too am white and have been raised with similar bullshit. I have lived in Africa for years and seen things with my own eyes. I will never not take the side of black people when they protest racism anywhere and I will never not believe them when they talk about police brutality, race-based violence and systemic racism in countries built on slavery. 

Of course, I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist in other places and in other forms, but talking about one does not negate the other. 

Also, I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make about the West not being sexist because other places have it worse? I’m sure I misunderstood this, so forgive me if that is the case. FGM is terrible, yes, but that in no way invalidates other types of gender violence that still ruins the lives of countless women. Just because the women in, say, Saudi Arabia have it worse, that doesn’t mean that the women here or in the USA should not talk about issues that directly affect them (and, btw, I have absolutely been outraged about Saudi Arabia and FGM and shared posts about both). All are bad! This is not a competition. 

On the topic of you saying that America gets so much shit for its history, which you think is unjust, I have to mention that European settlers killed up to 95% of Native Americans in some areas in relatively recent history. Just days ago, I was reading an article about how they killed so many people, it actually changed the global climate! This is genocide on such a massive scale, my brain can’t even comprehend it, and yet here we are today, with Columbus Day and Thanksgiving as holidays while the surviving Native Americans suffer all kinds of indignity and discrimination, so no, I don’t think we are talking about it enough and I feel that America deserves all the shit it gets for its history. IMO, it is not getting enough shit! The fact that there are other issues out there that need to be talked about too and are being silenced does not in any way take away from any of this. 

Anyway, let’s not argue about which country is The Worst™ and which human rights issues are more worthwhile than others because that is pointless. We already agree that all governments are corrupt, that evil happened and is still happening all over the world and that all human rights issues are important. I firmly believe that if they were to be evaluated by a psychiatrist, 99% of all high-ranking politicians would be diagnosed with serious clusters of antisocial personality disorders. Most of them would do anything and the only thing stopping them is whether or not they can get away with it. The remaining 1% cannot really do much and keep both their conscience and political power intact. 

In any case, the last thing I want in life is to get into Tumblr discourse with LJ people, so how about we just put this behind us? Let’s agree to disagree on who is worse, Trump or Hillary, because that is a pointless disagreement, especially since neither of us is an American and this is getting out of hand. I feel like we are actually miscommunicating and talking about different things. We seem to be arguing different points, so all of it is coming off worse for both of us than it really should be. Also, I wish you hadn’t sent me this ask anonymously, because I now have no way of responding to you except publically, and Tumblr is seriously not a good place for this. 

On a happier note, I’m very glad that you enjoyed DC! I’m very sorry for the extremely long hiatus! Unfortunately, I’ve been going through things that stopped me from writing for a long time. I hope that one day I can still come back and finish that story, in spite of everything! Have a good day/night! :)

*hugs*

[anitaisola]

Dola

It must have been around 7 pm. I saw her standing at the door of Shibo-Avenue bound line 13, carrying a bunch of flowers in her right hand, cell phone in her left and a brown paper bag of wine bottle tucked in the crook of her elbow. Neck bent, looking down towards her cell phone, waiting impatiently for a message. Today could have been a start of something special if only her phone had buzzed. 

Dola was only a baby when her parents migrated from China to Europe, in the late eighties, to rebel against government’s one-child policy. She grew up in a beautiful but a very sparsely populated city with her sisters, after ten years of being the only child. Her grandmother would visit once every year acting as a window to an alternate and seemingly much more exciting life of Shanghai, which she thought could have been hers if only her parents had stayed. Eventually, things became more life-full and jolly with her siblings around but the thought of living in Shanghai had been gnawing at her consciousness ever since her grandmother passed away. This time she decided to make it real, find work and make the move. 

The hustle-bustle of Shanghai was an antidote to her reclusive childhood. Her uncle’s family was still living there. She took this opportunity to rekindle the relationship with her cousin, Eileen. 

One evening after work, Dola accompanied Eileen to a filmmaker’s meet-up at a rooftop café in Jing’An. Dola enjoyed the film screening but socialising wasn’t her scene. She stood comfortably in a corner holding a glass of red wine in one hand and a toothpick with cheese cube poked on, in another, moving inconspicuously to the ambient music, while her cousin was connecting with fellow filmmakers. Eileen, pleadingly gestured to her “10 more minutes” with her hands after she caught a glimpse of Dola standing in solitude. Dola nodded and moved her lips to reply an “Okay”. 

A gentleman from across the room was observing this communication between Dola and her cousin.

He crossed over and gently slid next to Dola, “This is one of my favourite Nina Simone songs” he whispered and continued to sing along - “But you just do what you gotta do My wild sweet love Though it may mean I'll never kiss your sweet lips again Pay that no mind Just find that dappled dream of yours Come on back and see me when you can...” “Nuff Said!!”, Dola recalled effortlessly, “Excuse me?” he exclaimed! “That’s the album, this song’s in, isn’t it?” said Dola.  “RIGHT!!” he declared. “Hi, I’m Jan” he said extending his arm. She smiled, and gently accepted the handshake, “Dola” she said. “Dola the explolel?” he said puckishly and regretted immediately. She thought it was a bit insensitive but tried to cover it up with a forced grin. “Dola - the protective spirits which embody human fate… in Slavic mythology” she added after a brief pause. Jan didn’t see that coming. She intrigued him, and his fervid gaze allured her. “Let me guess, you are a screenplay writer”,  said Jan. Dola chuckled and said, “Close enough, I’m a content writer... for a hydroponics company”. They had only begun to break the shell of awkwardness when her cousin interrupted to inform her that the taxi she called for had arrived and then she complimented Jan, “ Hey JR! Good work on the series!” He modestly accepted the compliment with a smile and a "xièxie!”. “Excuse us, Jan, we have to leave,” said Dola, wrapping up the talks. The three of them then exchanged a customary, “it was lovely meeting you!” except Jan meant it when he told Dola that and asked if it was ok to exchange WeChat contact. Dola handed out her cell phone, Jan scanned the QR code and just like that the connection was made.

Later that night, Jan sent her a text message, “Dola, the lady with a lovely name!” That marked the beginning of their friendship and plentiful conversations have had thereafter, but only over calls and texts. As a filmmaker, Jan often travelled making it difficult for them to be in the same place at the same time. They hadn’t met since the filmmakers’ meet-up. Meanwhile, Dola had watched all the episodes of Jan’s web series called ‘Culture Matters’ which was increasingly gaining popularity online. The nuanced narrative with sharp political undertone impressed her but she also thought that it was a bit gutsy. They often discussed it and to that Jan would say,  “Nuuf said!, do what you gotta do” and they’d laugh. 

They decided to meet, at last, this coming Friday, once he was back from a shoot in Beijing. On Friday afternoon, Dola received some texts from Jan, saying “8 hours to go!” “Dinner and chill?” “I make the most amazing pasta!” She had looked forward to an evening like that for the longest time— Dola: “Send me your address, Jan” Jan: “Line 13, Mid Huaihai station, exit 1. I will pick you up from there and we can head together?” Dola: “Sounds lovely!”  Jan: “I should be there by 7:30” Dola finished work as quickly as possible. She bought some flowers, a bottle of wine and hopped into the metro as swiftly as possible. She didn’t want to be late for what she thought was perhaps a date but wasn’t sure. Her confusion was reflected in how mellow she dressed for the occasion. She settled on a denim dungaree and striped T-shirt to keep it “caszh!”, even though she did spend a lot of time on this ‘very important’ sartorial decision. Her heart started beating faster as she heard the announcement from the speakers above, “Next stop is Huaihai Middle road”. There she was standing at the door, texting Jan that she was almost there and, where was he? He hadn’t replied since his last message sent earlier that day. Dola had assumed that Jan was on the flight and must have put his phone on flight mode. She was sending a string of messages and eagerly waiting for a response. Slowly the eagerness turned into impatience when none of them were answered. 

She tried calling him on WeChat. No response. She didn’t have his phone number. There was no communication except for a sinking feeling which told her something wasn’t quite right. It was her stop and she hurried towards Exit 1. She confirmed with a quick glance that it was Exit 1 as she stepped out of the metro and on to the street. She saw people racing up and down, cabs swooshing by, but couldn’t find Jan in any of them. She waited for some time and then more time after that. She waited for Jan’s text. She waited for Jan to tap on her shoulder from behind and surprise her. She yearningly looked at every cab that slowed down, hoping it was him. She waited in vain for hours. 

Not knowing what to do, she went back home, confused and rattled, she chucked the bag and flowers on the couch, vigorously woke her laptop up and and hit the play button; she wanted to hear his voice(over) which was overlayed by loud noises in her head — What must have happened? Did he lose his phone? But he knew when and where we were supposed to meet. She checked online for all the flights departing from Beijing that afternoon to see if they had met with an unfortunate fate. That didn’t seem to be the case, fortunately. All kinds of muddled thoughts crossed Dola’s mind. She called Eileen and explained what had happened. The call and Eileen’s hopeful tone pacified her to some extent. She said she could use her filmmakers' network to figure Jan’s whereabouts.—— After a couple of days of complete silence and cluelessness — Dola received a link and a message from Eileen, “He is in detention and is likely to be deported immediately. Call you soon!” She clicked on the link with her jittery fingers. The headline read— ‘China Bans A Filmmaker for Eluding Censorship: The Chinese authorities have banned filmmaker Jan Reeds from working in the country for shooting in rural China without official permission, violating Article 25 of the Film Regulations’. 

“Permission! Seriously!” she gasped indignantly aloud. The headline stunned and outraged her! As unbelievable as the whole situation seemed she knew this was very plausible. It was the political nature of the content that had irritated the government officials and that she was sure of. She was scared, worried and proud of him all at the same time. It was in this moment that she felt like she understood her parents much better and their decision to find life elsewhere, justifiable. She raised her cell phone closer to her mouth and recorded a melodious voice note: “Do what you gotta do, my wild sweet love... come on back, see me when you can” and waited patiently for him to respond. 

(3rd Dec 2018)

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Commuter’s project: Stories/ anecdotes inspired by fellow passengers on the Shanghai metro.