#BAO Dome

[minionfan1024]

Happy birthday to Domee Shi.

[movies-to-add-to-your-tbw]

Title: Bao

Rating: G

Director: Domee Shi

Cast: Daniel Kailin, Sindy Lau, Sharmaine Yeoh, Tim Zhang

Release year: 2018

Genres: fantasy, family

Blurb: An ageing Chinese mom suffering from empty nest syndrome gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life as a lively, giggly dumpling boy.

[ggidolsmuts]

Panda Making - Dreamcatcher Dami

A/N: I apologize for the utterly terrible puns (if you get it), if not, nothing of value was lost, trust me.

"Oh my god, it's so cuteeeee!" You remind yourself that Dami is not the cute one in Dreamcatcher, that she isn't one to fawn over something as mundane as a four-legged creature that eats shoots and leaves, but here she is, squealing at a pitch higher than you've ever heard her sing. "Did you know its name is Fu Bao?"

"Yes it's on the sign."

"And that it's the first panda born in Korea?"

"Yes that's also on the sign."

"Ahh and it's so cute!"

"I can tell, I can tell," you reply, unimpressed. Seeing her good mood, you try earning brownie points with Dami. "But you're cuter."

"No no, it's the cutest!" It is time for the two of you to move on, for the next viewing group to enter the enclosure. As you leave though, Dami curls her arm tightly around your elbow, guiding you back to the viewing line.

"Let's go again!"

The panda is an invasive species, coming up in conversations even after you arrive back home with Dami.

"Can we make some bamboo-related dish?" "Let's get some fruit the pandas eat?" You are mentally prepared to put your foot down when Dami brings up pandas again.

Except it came at the most unexpected time.

"Oppa?" You're shaken awake by your girlfriend.

"Hmm?"

"I want to make a baby panda." Half-asleep you don't process her words properly.

"That's great, but we're not the zoo babe," you grumble into the pillow. You are significantly more awake once you feel Dami's hand dip beneath your shorts.

"We can make our own little Fu Bao right here..." Dami nibbles on your earlobe, rolling you on your back and climbing on top of you. Your eyes are widen open as you watch her slowly undo the buttons on her pajama top. "Maybe even call it Da Bao."

"God that's a terrible name," you chuckle as you pull Dami in for a kiss, slipping the silk shirt off her shoulders.

"Really? That's the takeaway here, that Da Bao's a bad name?" An outraged Dami is shushed by you slipping your hands under her pants, squeezing a tight cheek.

"You know what you're asking for right?" Dami's grinding on you slowly, her hips nodding up and down against you.

"Yeah, I know, maybe it's just me seeing cute stuff nowadays, gone a little bit stir crazy." You keep kissing her neck, letting her continue to grind on you, but not going further, not responding to her. "You're really going to make me say it hmm?" You kiss Dami's jawline, hands teasingly playing with the hem of her panties and struggling not to just rip it off her—her heat is palpable.

"I dunno what you're talking about, Da Bao's mom."

"God..." She shivers on top of you. "Fuck fine, I need you to get rid of all the condoms in the place."

"Now? Get off me then." Dami damn near dunks your dome on the bed and plants her derriere on you.

"Not right now!" she hisses, before shimmying and kicking off her pants. "I need you to knock me up." She pulls out your wide-awake cock and pulls her panties to the side, revealing that she truly "needs" you right now, pink flesh glistening even in the dim bedroom.

"Do you mean—" You hold Dami at whining distance, your cock twitching when you feel a drop of slick drip on your tip. "Do you mean a panda needs to be bred in Korea?" She growls as you bring her down on you, sheathing yourself in her.

"Yes god yes!" Dami's leaning against you heavily, reeling at feeling you raw inside her. "Fucking breed me."

"You feel so good, fuck!" Dami clenches around you, and you feel every texture and fold of her walls—it's so much more pleasurable with nothing wrapped around you, nothing stopping you from planting your seed inside her. "Ugh, not going to last long."

"It's fine, cum inside me, just cum inside me!" At your admission of poor stamina Dami rides you hard, her flat midriff moving sensuously. Her husky moans are right in your ear, begging you with "give me a baby panda" and "let me milk you". The whispers get more and more desperate until she sits down on you with a lewd squelch. The sudden increase in wetness gets to you, and you hold her down, making sure you're hilted in her before you explode. Dami sucks harshly on your neck, leaving a dark hickey as she creams all over you, purring contentedly as you fill her.

"Fuck, baby..."

"Are you talking to me or Da Bao?" You're shut up by your girlfriend, grinding down on you vengefully. Dami regrets it though, quivering on top of you.

"Shit, you're leaking, I can feel you leaking!"

"You're the one doing the leaking, all over our bed." You hold her close, feeling her clench around you, like she's still cumming or something. "Are you trying to milk me?"

"No, want to get you hard again."

"Hm, it's going to take more than that to make Da Bao."

"I know, I'll have to track my cycle, figure out when's the best time, and then make sure we're in our best condition, and—"

"You're overcomplicating things dear."

"What? Ah!" You hug Dami close as you put her on her back and get on top of her. "T-That's what I read, I did a lot of reading!" It makes you hard again, that Dami's not just having baby fever, but that she's actively doing research, really meaning to try for one. You enter her easily, and she arcs against you, body pressed flushed with yours.

"Maybe, but I have an easier solution." You start moving, pumping her full of cock while you lean down and whisper in her ear. "I fuck you before and after you finish work every day until it happens."

"D-Day and night?"

"Day and night, I'll fill you up properly, you'll have to hide from the members why you're walking funny, while you're still dripping my load, because you won't be able to get all of it out."

"That sounds good..." Dami gasps, wrapping her legs around your waist to lock you in. "And then?"

"And then when you come back home, I welcome you back and let you choose, do you want to ride me or should I bend you over the dining table before we eat dinner?" Dami's eyes roll as she imagines it happening, a small orgasm flowing through her.

"A-And then?"

"We do it one more time before we sleep, so you can get the best rest, maybe I fuck you in the shower so we can clean up quickly and go to sleep right after."

"What happens when I, when I—" Dami's a bit of a wreck, the thought of her doing her research combined with you actively trying to knock her up sending her into some kind of heat.

"When we succeed," you bring your hand down to her flat belly. "This little tummy won't be so flat any more, and it'll be fucking hot." You press down on her womb from above, and you drive into her powerfully, making sure she feels it all the way inside her.

"Yes yes yes yes yes..." Dami doesn't hear you groan and tell her you're cumming, she experiences it with you, your thick seed filling her up as the warmth flushes over her with her own peak. She clenches on you repeatedly, until you no longer throb inside of her.

As Dami cuddles against you, you remind yourself to throw out the condoms, and maybe you wouldn't mind taking her to see Fu Bao again before the panda is transferred back. After all...

Da Bao is part of the package.

A/N: So this came up randomly when I was listening to news about Fu Bao, one thing led to another and I had panda breeding in my head. I already had an idea for Seoyeon (Fromis App) so Dami was it. And once I got the name "Da Bao" in my head the pun is too terrible to not use it. Just a short little thing, thanks for reading!

[muffinwoozi]

hello i come to you with a request please 😌 ok so like size contrast seungcheol/woozi with woozi who is short and chubby (and getting chubbier) with his athletic boyfriend seungcheol who loves teasing him about their differences (both in weight and height) thank you!!

unfortunately my internet in my uni accommodation has been really unreliable lately so it's taken longer than expected to start posting all the requests i've been working on - if you've sent me a request, don't worry, i'm not ghosting you! i have most of them written and ready to go, i just have to wait until i can access the library to post them (yes i have to use the university's wifi to post kpop feedism fic. what even is my life atp)

anyway! i hope you enjoy this, it actually turned out a lot kinkier than i originally set out for it to be aksjdjsjs. there's no smut or anything but i did lean pretty heavily into the feeding/teasing aspect 😉

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Size Up

Jihoon used to wear the same thing every day to work. His cushy office job doesn’t require much more than a pair of black slacks and white button-down shirt, so for the last two years, choosing what to wear had been the least of his worries. If anything, Jihoon liked the lack of variation - having to pick out a new set of clothes each morning sounded needlessly stressful, and he’d preferred to not stray from his typical routine, thank you very much. 

There’s only one small problem, though. Since he began working as an accountant, Jihoon’s weight has almost doubled. Having a job that requires him to stay sitting for a majority of the day paired with a boyfriend who loves to spoil him by taking him out for dinner and feeding him every night has proved to be a terrible combination for Jihoon’s waistline, as evidenced by his jump from a solid 144 to a hefty 308 pounds. A consequence of gaining so much weight has resulted in stretch marks and shallow breaths and the occasional snarky remark from his grandmother, but perhaps the worst thing to come from getting bigger, way bigger, has been the fact he’s lost count of how many times he’s had to replace his simple work uniform.

The first replacement came when he had gained 20 pounds after he and his boyfriend had made a habit out of ordering takeout from their favourite Chinese restaurant down the block, and had come the second he felt his pants getting a bit snug.

Nowadays, however, there’s been some developments.                                                             

He adores the way the thin material clings to the soft fat around his waist, loves the feeling of peeling away the constricting cotton from his pale torso, examining the angry pink lines that decorate his skin from the tight squeeze. He gets a thrill deep in his spine, a hot, burning sensation buried deep until the chub of his stomach whenever he watches Seungcheol’s eyes light up as he feeds him more and more so that he grows out of them.

Nowadays, he waits until he can’t possibly go another day in his work clothes without becoming a threat to public decency. This time, it’s no different.

On Friday, he arrives home to the smell of bulgogi and bao buns and glazed donuts, all freshly prepared and ready for him to dig into. Jihoon knows their cupboards are almost as tightly packed as he is; barely struggling to contain all the high-calorie treats for tonight’s endeavours. He licks his lips excitedly as he closes the door behind him.

“Hyungie,” he calls as he toes off his shoes by the door.

Seungcheol emerges from the kitchen a second later, wiping his hands on a chocolate-stained tea towel. His face lights up when he sees Jihoon standing at the door, looks him up and down like a wolf admiring its prey before his eyes fasten on the huge belly that’s straining against his thinning shirt. Seungcheol sweeps his boyfriend into his arms, pressing his own washboard abs into the malleable dome that Jihoon sports. 

“That shirt isn’t lasting any longer, baby,” Seungcheol teases, digging his hands into Jihoon’s hips hungrily. “You must be starving after such a long day, hm? Don’t worry, Jihoonie. We’re popping you out of that thing tonight.”

Jihoon almost moans as Seungcheol trails his fingers along the crest of his belly, knowing exactly where to apply pressure and wear to stroke gently. Where he’s all large and round and soft, Seungcheol is lean and strong and sculpted; the contrast is alluring, sexy, makes Jihoon blush aggressively when he’s reminded of just how much Seungcheol has fattened him up. It’s exhilarating, knowing he’s given his boyfriend such control over him and his body and how Seungcheol never gets tired of pulling the same old tricks on him. After all this time, his low, husky voice and Herculean muscles still manage to work like a charm on Jihoon.

"Look at how big your belly is, baby. So big and soft and round for me. How does this work, hm? You're half my size and, like, triple my weight. How've you managed that, hm?" Seungcheol's voice dips down an octave. "You must have someone really strong and handsome who can handle all of you, am I right?"

Jihoon nods feverishly.

"And I bet you're looking forward to the food I've made you, right? You must've been holding back for hours."

“Barely eaten all day,” Jihoon lies. “I’m so hungry. Need filling, hyungie.” Seungcheol grins and lightly kisses Jihoon’s chubby cheek before he guides him into the kitchen, towering over Jihoon’s shoulders as he plunks him down into his seat.

The first dish is a huge bowl of three-meat bulgogi, much bigger than the portions served at their local bulgogi joint. Seungcheol loads up a forkful and presses it to Jihoon’s lips, his free hand massaging his belly, slowly rubbing up and down as Jihoon lets out a pleasant moan at the first bite.

“Oh my god, hyungie,” Jihoon mumbles through a mouthful of pork and lettuce as more and more forkfuls come his way. Seungcheol is not a slow feeder - instead, he likes to stuff Jihoon without hesitation, push him to his limits until he can’t physically consume any more food. He loves to see the glazing red of Jihoon’s cheeks as he puffs through each bite, the subtle signs of struggle and determination to not only impress him, but prove to himself that he can go above and beyond.

“Used three whole packets of meat just for you, Jihoonie. Only the best for the love of my life.” 

It’s when they’re coming to the end of the first dish that Jihoon’s stomach really starts protesting. It whines and gurgles as it tries to digest the meal suitable for a family of five. It’s itchy as the skin pulls, stretching to accommodate the swell, as Jihoon groans and drums his nails along the top of it, where it shelves his growing moobs. “Don’t think it-it’ll t-take much tonight,” he hiccups through his sentence, slowly soothing his doughy belly. Seungcheol puts down the fork and sinks both hands into Jihoon’s stomach. It’s still squishy, not quite full enough to harden yet, but the cotton shirt is getting tighter and tighter, the buttons straining and revealing strips of Jihoon’s pale skin underneath.

“You’re doing so well, Jihoonie, so well,” Seungcheol coos. “I can’t wait to see you burst out of this thing. I wonder what everyone at work thinks when they see you waddle into the office with your belly threatening to pop out of your shirt. They probably think it’s as hot as I do. But you know what? They don’t get to touch you like I do.” He squeezes Jihoon’s belly and pats it tenderly before handing Jihoon a bowl of bao buns.

“You’re going to eat all of that,” he tells him, slowly rising up from his chair. “You’ve got until I put the finishing touches on these donuts or I won’t give you a belly rub.”

“Whatever you say, hyungie,” Jihoon says submissively as he bites into the first bun. It’s practically bursting with flavour, the crispy duck filling causing him to moan quietly into the pastry. His belly is becoming heavy as he chews, so he strategically places one hand so that it’s resting underneath in, supporting its weight and rubbing his skin as he reaches for the second one. By the third bun, his breath is becoming laboured and his stomach feels constricted but he powers through like the machine he is, running his chubby hand up and down his underlayer of fat. It’s when he finally reaches his second to last bun that he feels his stomach begin to grow firm, finally hardening with all the food he’s managed to pack inside. Seungcheol’s adding toppings to the final row of donuts in the corner of the kitchen, so Jihoon sandwiches the last two buns together and shoves them into his mouth in two bites. He struggles to breathe through the large mouthfuls but with his hands now fully free, he can attend to his swollen belly that’s now pooled into his lap.

As he palms it, he can tell it’s gotten larger, knows he’s getting bloated with each bite he’s taken. His stomach gurgles and he moans, jabbing the heels of his palms into each area of the expanse in efforts to soothe it. The buttons strain as he takes deep, heavy breaths, and he’s counting his lucky stars that they haven’t popped yet. But as Seungcheol places the tray of donuts in front of him, he knows this is what will send his shirt to its grave.

Seungcheol bypasses the chair and instead drops to his knees in front of Jihoon, palming his stomach lovingly. It feels hot and heavy, even through the shirt. “Aw, does it hurt, baby?”

“My pants do,” Jihoon huffs, one hand wedging its way between the tight fabric and the fat that’s accumulated on his lower hips. “But it’s good. The kind of pain that turns me on. God, the stretch marks are going to be so angry tonight.” His heart leaps in his chest at the thought of how he’ll look in front of the mirror tonight.

“Let’s get you out of this shirt,” Seungcheol says eagerly, voice dripping with desire. He grabs the nearest donut off the tray and shoves it into Jihoon’s expecting mouth, and god, it’s to die for. A burning sensation tingles all over Jihoon’s body as he moans, throwing his head back in ecstasy.

“Oh, baby, you really like that,” Seungcheol whispers. It isn’t even a question; he knows Jihoon’s reached a tipping point. Jihoon locks eyes with him as he feeds him more, his stomach groaning and hardening with each bite. They start alternating between bites of donut and fizzing, sugary cola, the bubbles inflating his rock hard stomach and causing Jihoon to burp softly as Seungcheol continues to fondle his belly.

It’s when they’re halfway through the donuts and down an entire litre bottle that it happens.

Jihoon’s back begins to ache and as he chows down on what has to be the eighth or ninth donut. He’s too stuffed to stretch his arms back that far to attempt to soothe it, but luckily, he has a very strong boyfriend who’s more than qualified for the job kneeling right in front of him.

“Hyungie, I need you to help me-”

He’s cut off by a comically loud tear, the sound of the fabric ripping bouncing off their kitchen walls like an echo. All at once, Jihoon feels a cool breeze on his red-hot stomach as it surges forward like a tsunami, the last three buttons of his shirt no longer holding it back.

Seungcheol moans at the sight before him. Jihoon’s stomach is swollen and massive, covering half of his lap like a pet cat. Slightly dazed, Jihoon is groaning and running his hands over it in every direction possible, basking in the reality of just how big he’s gotten, just how much Seungcheol has fattened him up.

“Jihoonie, you look like a dream,” Seungcheol murmurs, gripping Jihoon’s fat into his hands possessively. “God, the things I want to do to you right now. I’ve fattened you up so well, haven’t I? So big for me, baby. You’ve done so well tonight.” Jihoon’s belly brushes against his abs as Seungcheol leans up to kiss him.

He’s definitely going to have to buy another replacement uniform.

[eternalnexuswarrior]

Most chaotic MFB Beyblade AU to pop up into my head. Part 3: Metal Fury

Part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/eternalnexuswarrior/745518197057404928/most-chaotic-mfb-beyblade-au-to-pop-up-into-my?source=share

Part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/eternalnexuswarrior/745524457497591808/most-chaotic-mfb-beyblade-au-to-pop-up-into-my?source=share

And then… Metal Fury. Ho boy, this is a wild ride.

Dynamis explains what happened with the star fragment, as his arcs’ episodes showed he was the one to split the star fragments, but didn't know where they went. So when Kyoya and Gingka revealed their beys evolved, he starts freaking out. And then when Ryuga and Yuki's beys are evolved, that's when he comes to the conclusion.

Dynamis: Did the star fragments literally go to every single one of us? Like is this the reason we are linked together?!

Gingka: Only one way to find out. Road Trip!

Thus starts the journey to find the other legendary bladers, except Ryutaro joins in with the group. Canon events happen, with some changes. The boys meet up with Aguma and Bao in the tournament (with Bao knowing the whole story, those two have a brotherly bond and you can't convince me otherwise). Johannes goes after them to recruit the beylin fist without knowing Aguma and Bao are already on the Legendary Bladers’ side, and the two decide heck it, let's spy on them, because it's gone well in the past. Next is to New York for Destroyer Dome, where we learn some new details about some of the boys. Dynamis wasn't too happy about the temple holding VariAres being destroyed.

Dynamis: “You destroyed your family's temple?”

Kyoya: “You're so screwed.”

Gingka (slightly terrified): “I don't think I've ever heard Dynamis this mad before.”

Yeah... don't destroy temples around the historian/lorekeeper/guardian. He's not a happy person when you do that.

Anyways!

The boys finally get to Mist Mountain, run into Ryuto, and scale the mountain. Via their spying, Aguma and Bao get into some battles, Johannes starts getting into Kyoya's head. Canon events continue up until the end, where instead after Kyoya leaves the temple, he just goes outside to take a breather. The other legendary bladers are there to pick up the pieces of Kyoya's emotions, and eventually Kyoya stays the night before parting to help find Tithi. Both Tithi and Chris’ searches fall around the same time frame, and everyone is happy. Except for one thing.

Pluto.

He barges in on the middle of this happy group and activates Dynamis’ curse like the smug little man he is. This puts all the legendary bladers on high alert to get to Nemesis’ revival site to save their friend. Some battles happen as Canon, although some interactions are adjusted for this AU. At some point it goes from the standard Chris VS Gingka, Yuki VS Cycnus, Dynamis VS Kyoya, and Aguma VS Tithi to Aguma, Kyoya, and Tithi teaming up to save Dynamis, and Gingka, Yuki, and Chris just wrecking Cycnus and causing mayhem.

Now where is Ryuga in all this?

Still training to get stronger and master L-Drago, and Kenta is determined to recruit Ryuga to help. The Sagitarrio blader took Ryuga's not willing to join in on the search as him not helping his friends (when it's really the opposite, Ryuga just isn't one for big groups). Eventually the misunderstanding is cleared up, and Kenta actually grows on the L-Drago blader. All the while he's just giving commentary on the whole thing.

Ryuga: Gingka your friend is not half bad as a blader as he thinks he is. He cracked L-Drago's face bolt this time.

Gingka: Oh wow! That's some strength!

The remaining events in the temple fall under Canon, Doji returns (and is the menace that he is except he throws his own bey in there to bait Ryuga to breaking formation). Ryuga actually stays with the group while they all heal, but still gets badly injured during the final battle and gives Kenta his star fragment (he's living though, screw the anime on that). The final battle happens and they all recover again together. Kenta ends up linked to their group during the final battle, and he's not expecting the chaos of it all in the days after that.Part 3 will probably cover personality differences and AU changes for our boys.

[masterofdemise]

MFB: Solar Swap AU Basic Character Information

Figured I don’t talk about the Solar Swap AU in detail enough, so I’m going to do that here and provide some brief descriptions on the different people and the ideas I have right now.

For those who don’t know, Solar Swap AU is an alternate universe where the Nemesis Bladers and the Solar System Bladers switch roles (ie: Nemesis Bladers are the good Legendary Bladers and Solar System Bladers are working for Nemesis). Metal Fusion and Metal Masters are basically follow the same events with maybe one or two very minor detail changes (Hades Inc. called Zeus Inc. instead)

The AU mainly revolves around Pluto and Dynamis, who have had a rivalry/feud for many years, both over who has the better company and over Nemesis. Solar Swap follows Pluto, Gingka, and his friends as they search for the legendary bladers to stop Dynamis and Nemesis.

 Now, onto the basic descriptions for the people that have been changed:

Pluto

CEO of Hades Incorporated. Pluto is the Legendary Blader of well, Pluto (he refers to himself as a Legendary Blader of Hades, not like it’s much better since that is his last name too). His second-in-command and best friend is Johannes. He has had his rivalry against Dynamis since he was a youth. Much like his canon counterpart, he is the direct descendant of King Hades and a strong advocate for Hades’ Law. He is the one that explains the whole situation to Gingka and the others, leading them to go on their search for the rest of the Legendary Bladers.

Dynamis

CEO of The Olympus Corporation. Dynamis may wield Jade Jupiter here, but his end goal is to revive and use Nemesis as a means of ending the world. There is no “I will take over and rule the world”, he just wants to get rid of everything. He employs the rest of the Solar System Bladers (Yuki, Tithi, King, Aguma) to do his bidding. He is responsible for orchestrating all the events of Fusion and Masters. Dynamis is a descendant of King Zeus in this alternate universe.

Johannes

Pluto’s best friend and bodyguard. He may not be a Legendary Blader, but his skill and battle mastery is not to be underestimated. He often accompanies Pluto to keep him safe from harm, but sometimes is tasked with quite mundane tasks every now and then. He is the older brother of Motti.

Yuki

The second-in-command of Dynamis, he wields Mercury Anubis and his magical abilities to take down anyone who gets in his way. He has his own rivalry with Johannes and the other members within Olympus Corporation. He often finds himself confronting Pluto, Gingka and company as they try to look for the star fragments.

King and Tithi

Both were hired by Dynamis to work for the Olympus Corporation. Thanks to their exceptional talent in Beyblade, they have quickly rose the ranks within the company. Despite that, because of their young age and kinder nature, they’ve been left in the dark when it comes to information about Nemesis’s revival. They get along and look up to Dynamis a lot, not realizing his true plans for the world.

Aguma and Bao

Being offered to make the Beylin Fist the top school in the blading world, they have been working for Olympus Corporation as leaders of the defense division. They are responsible for training new recruits as part of the agreement made between them and Olympus Corporation. They were promised to be a part of the world takeover, but are not aware of the complete destruction aspect. The two of them still participate in ToRyumon to search for the legendary bladers.

Herschel

A wandering vagrant and the Legendary Blader of Uranus. He goes where the winds take him, and that leads to him being the ToRyumon partner for Johannes after Gingka takes Pluto as his blading partner instead. Herschel joins the group until Destroyer Dome, where he departs with Keyser to continue the search. He eventually reconvenes with the group during Beyster Island.

Keyser

The Legendary Blader of Musca, he is a detective tasked with investigating the Olympus Corporation for suspicious activity due to their connection with Zeus Incorporated. He participates in Destroyer Dome to see if he can find more information, but is found by Pluto and the others. He ends up going along with Herschel to continue their investigation. He joins back with everyone else during the Beyster Island tournament.

Cycnus

The Legendary Blader of Cygnus. He is Dynamis’s top blader and the one he sends for the toughest and most grueling missions due to his aggressive and unforgiving nature. Cycnus is the one that fights against Pluto, Rago, and Kyoya during the Neptunis Island Incident (similar to Mist Mountain). Cygnus’s existence has been completely hidden from the public, much akin to a trump card. He ends up moving to the side of good after he is betrayed by Dynamis during the revival ceremony.

Rago

The Legendary Blader of Neptune, he is a lighthouse keeper in a small town. He spends a lot of his time preserving and researching information related to the old kingdom of Atlantis. With the arrival of the star fragments, Rago goes off to Neptunis Island, that still has remaining technology from the old kingdom of Atlantis. He uses the old magic canon to shatter the star fragment so that the pieces wouldn’t fall into Dynamis’s hand. He used to know Dynamis when he was a young child, but the friendship fell apart after Rago left with his family to live elsewhere. Rago is forced to work with Dynamis after getting cursed to do his bidding, but is eventually let go after the spell is broken by the Legendary Bladers.

-

That is all I have for just the character information. I won’t dump this in Metal Record because if I do write Solar Swap, I want it to be its own fic or separate entity. I have, SO MUCH more information, but I would need individual posts for that. If people are interested in this AU, please feel free to message me or send an ask because I’d love to answer questions that people have.

[translations-by-aiimee]

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun - Chapter 45

Original Title:  二哈和他的白猫师尊

Genres: Drama, Romance, Tragedy, Xianxia, Yaoi

This translation is the product of my limited knowledge of Chinese characters as I attempt to learn the language. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 45- This Venerable One Knew You Would Come

Xue Meng shouted angrily into the air: "Bullshit god! Are your dog eyes blind? Are we trespassing? You can clearly see that we were kidnapped!"

Shi Mei said: "It's useless. This is the voice he left behind. His real figure isn't here at all. I think it's a fake Gouchen that got confused because of Zhaixin Liu's judgement. It made him think that we're trespassers with bad intentions."

The voice continued:

"Those who are worthy of divine weapons in the world should understand what is benevolence and kindness. They should not sink into illusions, nor lose their minds. Since you are here, you will be tested by me. If you pass the test, you will be safe, and a divine weapon will be offered to you. But if you are selfish and indulgent, if you have a weak heart, then you are not worthy of being a divine weapons master!"

Chu Wanning's blood-stained lips opened and he said hoarsely: "Benevolence and kindness. . . Draining someone's blood is what you call benevolent?"

He knew that Gouchen couldn't hear him at all, but he was still angry. Even if he breathed heavily with every word he spoke, his wounds getting even more aggravated, he couldn't control his harsh words.

The voice continued to echo in the Divine Weapons Arsenal on its own: "To test the nature of your heart. You will fall under the illusion of Zhaixin Liu's Sweetest Dream. If you do not wake up from the illusion in time, your companion will bleed out and be buried here."

When the three of them heard the words, their faces drained of colour.

Shi Mei murmured: "What. . ."

That means that the three of them are about to fall into an illusion.

If they can't wake up in time, will the three of them really live forever in a beautiful dream and let Mo Ran bleed out and die in reality?

Xue Meng was dumbfounded for a moment and then shouted angrily: "What kind of immortal are you!!! If cultivation means cultivating into someone like you, I don't care to touch a sword again in my life!!!"

Chu Wanning also said angrily: "This is ridiculous!"

"Shizun!" Shi Mei panicked and advised him, "Don't get angry, be careful of your wounds."

And the offspring of Gouchen the Exalted surprisingly recited a poem at this time. He slowly said slowly: "If one pours water onto a level ground, it itself will run north, south, east, or west. Man's life is also bound to fate. And we should not lament at work and brood at rest. So I pour out some wine to soothe my anxiety, and raise my goblet to stop singing The Road of Adversity. How can my heart made of no stone or wood be indifferent? But silently I wander around and dare not to speak out.*"

*(T/N: Poem 4 of Bao Zhao's Road to Adversity)

Xue Meng was flush with rage: "What are you talking about!"

Shi Mei said: "Bao Zhao's poem is about the road to adversity, meaning that everyone has his own fate. How can he feel sorry for himself and relieve himself with wine? The poem is interrupted by wine. The human heart is not a solid stone, how can it be devoid of emotion? The desire to speak is still there but he doesn't say it. He wants to talk and not stop."

Gouchen let out a long sigh and said: "In this vast floating world, how many people can give up their lifelong dream to help someone else? The world will not stop killing and conquering. If a divine weapon falls into the hands of a traitor, it's all my fault. How could I forgive myself for the sins committed with a blade I forged. . ."

Suddenly, the Divine Weapons Arsenal went dark. The shards of casting metal flying in the air also stopped moving. A layer of shimmering light slowly lit up at the dome, as if there were starbursts of colour gradually trickling down and shining on the ground.

A voice whispered in the air: "Go to sleep. . ."

This soft and bright brilliance seemed to have some kind of confusing effect. Shi Mei and Xue Meng's cultivation was not very profound and they soon fell unconscious.

"Go to sleep. . ."

Chu Wanning gritted his teeth and forcibly resisted, but the power of the primal god was so vast that he couldn't get rid of the drowsiness that came over him and fell into a dream.

The Divine Weapons Arsenal.

As blood dripped out, Mo Ran was the only one who was awake. He coughed up blood, and across the weakened waterfall, he could vaguely see the three people who fell into an illusion behind it.

Chu Wanning, Shi Mei, and Xue Meng have all fallen asleep.

Mo Ran heard Gouchen's words and knew that if only one of them could wake up in time, the illusion could be broken and he would be saved.

However, as time passed, his mind became more and more dizzy, and his body gradually grew cold. But no one woke up from the dream.

This could only be described as retribution. In his previous life, he did this to Chu Wanning, and in this life, he also felt the taste of blood dripping out of him.

Real funny.

Who among them would give up the best dream in their lives, the thing they wanted most, to come and save him?

Xue Meng was out of the question.

Chu Wanning. . . ah, he didn't want him.

If it was going to be anyone, that person should be Shi Mei, right?

He pondered vaguely. But he had lost too much blood and he was barely able to stay conscious.

Mo Ran glanced down at his feet. The blood leaking to the bottom of the copper drip was diluted by the water in the funnel, flooded with light red waves.

He suddenly wanted to know, if he also fell under Gouchen's illusion, what kind of scene would he be able to see?

Will he dream of crystal clear pure wontons, Shi Mei's gentle smile, Chu Wanning's praise, the wind-blown begonias all over the mountain when he first came to Life-Death Peak. . .

"Mo Ran. . ."

Suddenly he heard someone calling him.

Mo Ran still hung his head. He must be so close to losing his sanity that he was hallucinating, he thought.

"Mo Ran."

"Mo Ran!"

This wasn't a hallucination!

He snapped his head up.

The scene in front of him caused his pupils to dilate-

He almost hissed: "Shi Mei!!!!"

It was Shi Mei!

The person who woke up, abandoned the beauty, gave up his happiness, and still remembered him in the midst of all the things he wished for the most.

It was Shi Mei. . .

Mo Ran looked at the slender boy through the waterfall. He walked towards him, and suddenly he felt a lump in his throat.

"Shi Mei. . . You. . ."

In the end, he didn't know what to say. Mo Ran closed his eyes and said hoarsely.

"Thank you. . . Even in a good dream. . . can still remember me. . ."

Shi Mei waded through the water. His clothes were soaked, and his eyes were dark. His appearance was as gentle as when he first saw him. The same tenderness that he had seen in his dreams many times in his previous life, the same tenderness that he talked about when he reminisced when his body had grown cold.

Shi Mei said: "Don't be silly, there's no need to thank anyone."

He came closer and Mo Ran realized that both of his feet were bleeding.

He didn't know when the ground became hot. Gouchen seemed to be determined to test how much a person would do for his companion, so the temptation of a beautiful dream was followed by callous torture.

Shi Mei's boots have been burned through. If he doesn't move, the ground will remain as usual, but if he insists on moving forward, every step he takes will give rise to a cluster of heavenly fire beneath his feet. The temperature wasn't high enough to burn a person enough to immobilize them, but it was still absolutely excruciatingly painful.

But this gentle person, even though he was already in so much pain, took a glance at him. His eyes became firmer and he walked toward him one step at a time.

"Mo Ran, bear with it a little longer."

He said.

"I'll get you down in a minute."

When their eyes met, Mo Ran didn't know how he could say "don't come over".

This man's gaze was too determined and too stoic.

This man's eyes are too determined and too stoic.

He had never seen such an expression on Shi Mei's face before.

If Mo Ran was a little more in his right mind, he would definitely find it strange.

Shi Mei always called him "A-Ran". When did he ever call him Mo Ran?

He only said that Shi Mei was good to him, but he didn't realize that the person standing in front of him at this time was not Shi Mei, but--

It was Chu Wanning.

Zhaixin Liu's last technique was called Heartpluck.

The so-called Heartpluck was the exchange of hearts and souls between people.

When Chu Wanning broke free from the dream and woke up, he found that he and Shi Mei had actually switched consciousnesses. Under the Heart Plucking Technique, his consciousness was transferred to Shi Mei's body and he thought it probably was the same for Shi Mei. It's just that Shi Mei didn't wake up, so this whole time, he didn't know that he had changed bodies.

Chu Wanning had no time to explain, and Mo Ran, who was blissfully unaware of the truth, really thought that the person in front of him was Shi Mei.

He felt that Shi Mei would definitely be strong enough to push through the pain. He could be experiencing death itself and yet he wouldn't forget his good nature. He was a very stubborn person.

But it was too cruel.

When Chu Wanning finally came to the copper hourglass and went to climb the towering vine willow, trying to save Mo Ran, the vine willow suddenly erupted with thin thorns that were burning with flames.

Chu Wanning hadn't been expecting that. His hand was suddenly scalded. He had to grab onto the vine to climb but Shi Mei's cultivation wasn't very strong. He slid down violently, and the flesh on his hands was instantly melted away by sharp spikes.

". . . !"

Chu Wanning cursed and cringed in pain.

Shi Mingjing, this broken shell!

Mo Ran: "Shi Mei!"

Chu Wanning fell to the ground. The flesh that touched the ground was instantly scalded by the high temperature. But his brow was furrowed while he habitually clenched his lips to prevent from shouting out.

Such a look would appear very stubborn and ruthless on his own face, but when it was replaced by Shi Mei's soft and beautiful face, it was a little pitiful.

Some humans really are incomparable.

"Shi Mei. . ."

Mo Ran opened his mouth, but tears were trickling down his face.

It felt like a knife was piercing his heart. Through his blurred vision, he saw the man's thin and weak body, such a frail person, little by little, grab the vine willow and slowly climb up.

The fine thorns pierced his hand, and the blazing fire burned his body.

They were dyed bright red, and everywhere they passed, there were mottled bloodstains.

Mo Ran closed his eyes. His voice was bloody, his words trembling, and he choked:

"Shi. . . Mei. . ."

The man was very close. Mo Ran saw a flash of bitter pain in his eyes. He seemed to be in real pain, and even the sound of Mo Ran's voice was torture for him.

Therefore, although the expression of the person in front of him was stubborn, his gaze could almost be called pleading.

"Don't call me that again."

". . ."

"Mo Ran, wait a little longer. I'll. . . get you. . . down. . . from there. . ."

Almost the moment the words fell out, the tough light in his eyes came out like a sheathed blade. On that gentle and accustomed face, it was indescribably beautiful.

Chu Wanning's robes surged around him and he jumped on the hourglass.

His face was like golden paper, and he was shaking. Other than the fact that he was still breathing, he looked no different from a dead person.

At that moment, Mo Ran felt that he might as well let his blood be drained and die. It would be better than letting him suffer like this.

His voice broke in his throat: "I'm sorry."

Chu Wanning knew that this sorry was not for him. He wanted to explain but he glanced at Gouchen's silver-blue sword, which was stabbing Mo Ran between his chest and ribs. The source of the spiritual power of the vines may be in this sword. He was worried that Mo Ran's surprise would cause further injury, so he asked, still acting as "Shi Mei":

"Mo Ran, do you believe me?"

"I believe you." There was no hesitation.

Chu Wanning raised his gaze through his eyelash curtain. He glanced at him and held the hilt of the sword. This sword was close to his heart. One wrong move and Mo Ran would die.

". . ." Chu Wanning's hand trembled a little. He held it but he didn't move.

Mo Ran's eyes were still red, but he suddenly smiled, "Shi Mei."

". . . Mmm."

Mo Ran said: ". . . Am I going to die?"

". . . No you won't."

"If I'm about to die, can. . . can I give you a hug?"

He was very careful when he said this, and his eyes were shining with a moist light. Chu Wanning's heart instantly softened.

Yet, at the thought of seeing another person in Mo Ran's eyes, this softness immediately froze into ice.

He suddenly felt as if he was an insignificant clown on stage, hidden behind the water-sleeved clouds of the green-clad flower girl, and no one noticed him.

He was superfluous in this touching piece.

Or maybe the only way forward was to wear this ugly face mask, a smile painted in ink, to match other people's emotions, happiness, sadness, love, hatred and sorrow.

How ridiculous.

Mo Ran didn't know this. He saw the flickering of Chu Wanning's eyes and thought that Shi Mei was reluctant. He quickly said, "Just a small hug. Just a moment."

A faint sigh.

"Actually, I. . ."

Mo Ran: "What?"

". . . Forget it." Chu Wanning said, "It's nothing."

He leaned over, not particularly close, fearing that it would move to the sword, and he reached out and gently gathered up Mo Ran's shoulders.

He heard Mo Ran whispering in his ear: "Shi Mei, thank you for waking up. Thank you for remembering me in your sweet dreams."

Chu Wanning lowered his eyes. his eyelashes were like the flickering of a butterfly's wings. He smiled faintly: "No need to thank me."

After a pause, he added: "Mo Ran."

"Mmm?"

As if he was still in a dream, Chu Wanning embraced him. He stroked his hair and sighed softly, "Do you know that if a dream is too good, it often isn't real?"

After he said that, his hug was like a dragonfly, gone in an instant.

Mo Ran raised his eyes. He didn't quite understand what Shi Mei meant, only that this little hug was a treat that Shi Mei was kind-hearted enough to bestow on him.

It was like a sweet and sour treat and, when rubbed against the base of his tongue, there was a hint of tartness.

At the moment when the sword was removed, blood flowers fluttered like begonia petals being torn off by the fierce wind.

Mo Ran only felt a sharp pain in his heart. For a moment, he thought he was going to die, and a thousand resentments mingled in his heart. He suddenly blurted out: "Shi Mei, I have always loved you very much. What about you. . ."

As the sword fell to the ground, the willow vines dispersed in an instant. The waterfall rushing down from the vault in the sky came to an abrupt halt, and the Divine Weapons Arsenal suddenly reverted to silence.

I have always loved you very much.

What about you. . .

His body had reached its limit, and Mo Ran felt a sudden darkness in front of him.

The moment he fell, he was caught by a pair of blood-stained hands. He fell into Shi Mei's arms. He didn't know if it was an illusion but Mo Ran saw Shi Mei frown softly. He slowly closed his eyes, and water seemed to smoothly escape the edge of his eyes.

It was as if he heard Shi Mei softly say: "Me too."

Mo Ran: "!"

It was an illusion. Otherwise, why was Shi Mei's expression so sad, yet he still promised him.

"I. . . love you too."

His consciousness finally escaped him and Mo Ran passed out.

[officialinuyasha]

Happy Birthday to Rumiko Takahashi Art by Pixar Bao Director Domee Shi for Women's History Month 2019

[lavidaanimada]

3 mujeres que inspiran en el mundo de la animación

Como herramienta que hace posible crear cualquier realidad, la animación parece magia cuando está bien hecha; pero al mirar lo que hay detrás, te das cuenta del reto que representa.

El desafío de lograr buenas animaciones lo han aceptado muchas mujeres geniales a través de la historia, aquí tienes 3 contemporáneas, ¡ellas nos inspiran con sus logros!

🐴 Lisa Hanawalt

Lisa es conocida por haber trabajado en la producción y diseño de producción de BoJack Horseman, también por ser creadora de Tuca y Bertie: una serie animada para adultos que es salvaje y 100% recomendada.

Animadora, ilustradora, productora y fan de los caballos, ella ha puesto de su parte para lograr series animadas que marcan esta generación y que ya se han llevado varios Annie Awards (premios a la animación).

🌿 Jennifer Yuh

Como artista de storyboard y directora, Jennifer es admirable por su éxito al dirigir sola una de las películas animadas de los grandes estudios en los últimos tiempos: Kung Fu Panda 2.

Este largometraje ha sido un éxito; fue nominado a los Oscar como mejor película animada y se llevó 2 Annie Awards, uno de ellos por la dirección.

Ella también codirigió Kung Fu Panda 3 con Alessandro Carloni, participó como artista de storyboard en Spirit y Madagascar. En la actualidad, Jennifer es directora de Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).

Nota: si disfrutas el trabajo de Jennifer Yuh, puede que también te guste lo que hace Domee Shi, directora del cortometraje Bao y la película Red.

🐱 Natasha Allegri

Como animadora, artista de storyboard y dibujante de cómics, es reconocida por su trabajo en Hora de Aventura, ¡gracias a ella existen los personajes Fionna y Cake!

Natasha es la creadora Bee and PuppyCat, una miniserie animada con algunas características de las historias tipo chica mágica, las cuales tienen su origen en el manga y anime; la diferencia es que Bee and Puppycat es animación estilo cartoon y está enfocada al público adulto.

La protagonista es Bee quien, después de ser despedida, vive aventuras con un toque surrealista gracias a un gato/perro llamado Puppycat.

Otra mujer poderosa que fue parte de Hora de Aventura es Niki Yang, ella fue artista de storyboard en esta y otras series, como Gravity Falls; también es reconocida por ser la actriz de voz en estos shows, interpretando a BMO, Arcoiris y Candy.

Lisa Hanawalt, Jennifer Yuh y Natasha Allegri, además de ser exitosas en el mundo de la animación, también tienen en común el hecho de que sus proyectos son en parte o del todo comedia; esto implica un nivel de dificultad muy alto.

[grigori77]

2022 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10.  TURNING RED – Disney/Pixar’s latest offering is also one of the most personal films they’ve ever produced, with writer-director Domee Shi (who made the spell-binding and evocative Pixar short Bao) making a hell of a splash as the first woman EVER to land a solo direction credit on a Pixar feature with what’s essentially a fictionalised account of her own experiences as a teenage girl growing up in Toronto, Canada.  The result is a film which feels far more emotionally truthful and infinitely resonant than ANYTHING I’ve ever seen EITHER studio deliver before, perfectly encapsulating what it must have felt like to be a 13-year-old girl in 2002 (while I am mostly of the other gender, I too was once 13 and VERY unsure of myself, so I remember only too well how unbearably hard, hectic and downright UNWIELDY that part of my life could feel at times).  The 13 year-old girl in question here is Mei Lee (a DEEPLY affecting performance from newcomer Rosalie Chiang), the only child of a Chinese couple in Toronto who run their family’s temple, which is dedicated to their ancestor Sun Yee, a powerful sorceress who once harnessed the spiritual power of the red panda in order to protect her daughters.  For much of her life Mei has put her own personal feelings on hold to be everything her overbearing mother Ming (Sandra Oh, once again putting in a palpable turn full of deep heart, soul and frequent observational comic GOLD) wants her to be, and she’s become a straight-A student because of it, but as she starts to grow up she’s discovering there’s more to life than just good grades.  Specifically 4*Town, a five-man boyband (yeah, I know) that Mei and her three best friends – confident tomboy Miriam (newcomer Ava Morse), stoic and deadpan Priya (Never Have I Ever’s Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and diminutively hyperactive bundle of barely-contained-malevolent-energy Abby (newcomer Hyein Park) are thoroughly obsessed with, who the quartet discover are coming to play a concert in Toronto … JUST as something awakens in Mei, and she suddenly finds herself stricken by a deeply strange supernatural affliction – specifically, whenever her emotions run out of control, she turns into a giant red panda.  She’s told that her family can perform a ritual to help her remove the panda spirit (which turns out to be on THE SAME NIGHT as 4*Town’s performance), but in the meantime she must learn to control and restrain the panda or it’ll be that much harder to exorcise.  But as the concert approaches, Mei and her friends hit upon a unique solution to help them earn the money for four tickets in time, which utilises the panda’s runaway cute factor and makes Mei realise that maybe she doesn’t actually WANT to get rid of this part of herself … there are definitely a lot of interpretations that can be derived from the phenomenon at the heart of the story, but whether it’s about teenage girls first learning to come to terms with a certain feminine bodily function or not, this is THE most powerful and, if I’m honest, downright ENTERTAINING film about growing up as a teenage girl I’ve EVER experienced, a GOOD DEAL better than all those sometimes genuinely vomit-worthy teen comedies and dramas I’ve found largely preferable to avoid over the years.  Of course it definitely helps that ALL the characters are SO well realised, beautifully derived from what are, clearly, Shi’s own friends, family and personal experiences when she was going through (most of) what we’re witnessing here – Mei and her friends are THOROUGHLY lovable (not least Abby, who became one of my VERY FAVOURITE characters of THE ENTIRE YEAR within a few minutes of our first meeting her), while Ming is the perfect embodiment of helicopter mums the world over, but in particular that specific kind of Asian mother who seems determined that their only child will grow up be something truly exceptional to the exclusion of ALL ELSE, and as a result she’s kind of the actual VILLAIN of the film, but at the same time has clear, strong redeeming features which make us feel very deeply for her.  Shi and her co-writer, playwright Julia Cho, have crafted a deeply affecting but also frequently riotously comical, thoroughly chaotic piece of work, injecting plenty of joyful mirth and madness into proceedings to compliment the massive amounts of heart and emotion on display, and the gloriously designed, beautifully realised early Noughties Toronto setting has been lovingly captured through Pixar’s typically rich and lively animation.  Sweet, spicy and perfectly evocative of its subject matter, this is WITHOUT A DOUBT one of the two studios’ finest collaborations to date.  Simply wonderful.

9.  AMSTERDAM – Writer-director David O. Russell is a complicated figure in Hollywood, there’s no getting around it – off set he’s got quite the reputation for trouble, from explosive altercations to some downright deplorable personal behaviour, and on set he can apparently be trouble too … but he’s also made some of the most interesting and impressive cinema of the last past thirty years, from early gems such as Spanking the Monkey and Three Kings to deservedly massive breakthrough hits such as Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, so despite his reputation he’s always been a director whose work I’ve enjoyed waiting around for.  His latest is not only no exception, but in my opinion it might actually be his very best film to date – an intriguing, darkly comic murder mystery set in 1930s New York which follows the unlikely amateur detective trio of Doctor Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale, one of Russell’s most regular collaborators), a preening, self-important down-at-heel doctor and First World War veteran who makes a living patching up his fellow vets and helping other unfortunate disenfranchised folk get affordable treatments and surgery, Harold Woodman (Tenet’s John David Washington), Berendsen’s lawyer, best friend and fellow veteran, and Valerie Bandenberg (Margot Robbie), a high society girl the pair met when she was slumming it in France as a nurse treating war victims, who met the pair in a field hospital prior to the three of them becoming inseparable for many years.  The trio are thrown together once again when a favour to an old friend leads to a gruesome murder which puts Berendsen and Woodman in the frame, leading them to investigate corporate corruption and Nazi-sympathisers in a bid to clear their names.  The starring trio are absolutely enchanting, Bale once again acting his socks off in another delightfully off-the-wall oddball role that seems to be his forte when working with Russell, while Washington brings a good deal more reserved, understated control to bear in his role, and Robbie is clearly having fun getting her teeth into a colourful and adventurous role that offers her plenty of opportunities to goof around; the rest of the cast, meanwhile, are similarly impressive, Russell wrangling another heavyweight ensemble of serious A-list talent to easily rival his previous productions, from another of his regulars, Robert De Niro, to Rami Malek, Zoe Saldana, Anya Taylor Joy, Matthias Schoenaerts and even an impressive cameo from Taylor Swift, and there’s a particularly enjoyable double-act bonus in the form of Mike Myers and Michael Shannon as a pair of kooky spies.  The plot is complicated in the best way, never so much of a mess that you don’t know what the hell’s going on but still complex enough that you have fun trying to unravel it, and there are some dark moments that perfectly reflect the sheer social upheavals that were going on in that place at that time, but ultimately this is definitely Russel’s most full-on COMEDIC film for a while now, frequently playing the story very much for laughs over drama and having an absolute ball just letting us revel in a carnival of thoroughly bizarre larger-than-life characters.  This really is the most fun I’ve had with one of his movies so far, I think it really might be the best thing he’s done to date and it’s gonna be a TOUGH ACT to follow, and whatever might be going on with him outside of cinema I hope he’ll continue to deliver work of this sheer quality for a good while yet …

8.  BONES & ALL – Luca Guadagnino is definitely one of the most eclectic filmmakers working today, having directed a vastly varied CV which includes the disparate likes of Call Me By Your Name, A Bigger Splash and the acclaimed miniseries We Are What We Are, although he recently made his first foray into horror cinema with the controversial and incredibly divisive remake of Dario Argento’s slasher masterpiece Suspiria.  It seems like that particular genre might have struck a chord with him, because he’s back with this, a deeply odd and thoroughly magnificent cinematic curiosity about a mysterious sub-species of human beings who seem to be born cannibals known as Eaters.  Maren (Escape Room’s Taylor Russell) discovers that she’s one just shy of her 18th birthday in early 90s Virginia, and her father goes on the run in a bid to draw attention away from her, forcing her to hit the road too in order to try and find her mother, who left not long after she was born, in search of answers.  Soon after she encounters two other Eaters – the first is Sully (Mark Rylance), a twitchy veteran who explains what she is and what she needs, who she quickly abandons because it’s pretty clear to her that he’s just too dangerous to her, then she meets Lee (Timothee Chalamet), an impulsive, punky delinquent with whom she forms a fast bond before the pair slowly start to fall in love too. Ultimately this is less of a straightforward horror story than a quirky road movie with a somewhat creepy homicidal twist as we follow Maren and Lee across America and learn to care about them as much as they come to for each other, making the various complications and disasters they encounter all the more fraught for viewers because we’re so deeply invested.  Russell and Chalamet are both AMAZING here, never needing to apologise for what they are because they’re such well-rounded and vital individuals with complex reasons for what they do, while Rylance is the epitome of TROUBLING as a bone-deep weirdo who’s just completely OFF, and there are interesting if short-lived supporting turns from Michael Stuhlbarg as Jake, a memorably unhinged Eater the pair encounter entirely by accident, and Andre Holland as Maren’s much put-upon dad, but in the end this film really does just BELONG to its leading pair. There are moments of subtle (and occasionally not so subtle) horror that genuinely make you squirm, but for the most part the film’s pace is understated and the atmosphere quietly filled with adventurous wonder as much as pregnant dread, Guadagnino and screenwriter David Kajganich (Blood Creek, The Terror, Suspiria) happy to let the story largely take a backseat to the development of these incredibly rich characters, while the score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is a hauntingly beautiful work of art in its own right.  The climax, when it comes, is devastating, but up until then there’s a surprising amount of hope on offer here too that makes it an even more compelling watch. Ultimately this one lost out on my 2022 horror top spot (for reasons that will become obvious), but it’s still one of the best and DEFINITELY one of the most INTERESTING we’ve had so far in this new cinematic decade …

7.  AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER – Wow, this one’s likely to stir up a whole lot of controversies, but I don’t care.  I loved James Cameron’s original 2009 movie (as you already know, of course), and like many of you I was waiting with increasingly strained patience all throughout the past decade+ for him to make good on his promise to deliver FOUR MORE movies in his intended franchise.  Gods know THIS ONE took long enough to arrive, and then with all the furore that’s been going on at Fox lately after the Disney takeover and stuff I was expecting EVEN MORE delays, but then, FINALLY, it arrived just in time for Christmas. Needless to say it was the best gift I got for 2022 … turns out it’s been almost as long on the alien world of Pandora as it’s been for us waiting here, but I’ll admit that once we took the plunge (literally, in this one’s case XD), it was like I’d never been away. Cameron’s clearly made every effort to not only equal his previous feature, but to surpass it, and he’s certainly had time on his side since there’s been over a decade of advancement in the CGI technology required to bring this to fruition, so the world and its intriguing inhabitants are no longer digital effects, they are genuinely REAL – the first film was already a game-changing tour-de-force, but this one is a genuinely exponential increase in magnificence from start to finish, every single entity in this film is now a living, breathing creature.  Of course, this is what we expected coming in, that was a given … the more important thing for us, the fans, is whether or not it’s actually also A GOOD MOVIE!!!  Thankfully, given that it’s Cameron, that was clearly the easier part of the job.  The story here is just as compelling as the first one, Cameron and his co-writers, the legendary double-act Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (the reboot Planet of the Apes trilogy) once again weaving a powerful topical tale of nativism versus colonialism and capitalism versus environmentalism, while still grounding the actual heavy lifting in a very personal story of a family forced to embrace a new, more uncertain future in the face of terrible odds, along with a good old-fashioned revenge plot. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana once again command the screen as Jake Sully and Neytiri (he’s fully adjusted to his new life and is now learning to be a father the only way he can really relate to as an ex-soldier, embracing his inner commanding officer, while she’s shed much of her gentle innocence to become a fierce mother lion), but this time Cameron and co are clearly keen on shifting the narrative focus as much as they can onto their children now, as the next generation of the Sully family are introduced and given the lion’s share of the narrative and screen time with an eye on moving into the future.  Sigourney Weaver’s franchise return in a new role as Kiri, their adopted daughter, mysteriously born from the late Dr Grace Augustine’s dormant avatar, is the undeniable standout here, and she’s a wonderful character, easily one of my absolute favourites of the cinematic year, a sweet, curious, feisty and self-sufficient child who nonetheless also clearly has a fierce desire to understand where she actually came from and why she has SUCH a strong personal connection to Eywa, the Pandoran lifeforce deity; that being said, the Sully’s younger son, Lo’ak (Goliath’s Britain Dalton) is a similarly compelling character, a tightly-wound bundle of adolescent awkwardness and teenage indignance, struggling to find his own way in the world while also desperate for his dad to see his worth.  Then there’s the new tribe of Na’vi that the Sullys find themselves having to seek asylum with after war comes calling again, the Metakayina clan of Sea People, who prefer Pandora’s oceans to its forests, styled much like the tribal peoples of the Polynesian Pacific islands – they’re an even more colourful bunch than their arboreal cousins, and the world they inhabit is beautiful, but they’re also a proud warrior race in their own right.  Cliff Curtis is brilliant as Tonowari, the gruff but fair clan chief who takes them in and quickly befriends Jake, while Kate Winslet is a more prickly prospect as his wife, Ronal, the clan’s wise woman, who takes a set against the Sullys as mixed-blood outsiders who are too alien to be trusted, and this only grows more difficult once their own daughter, Tsireya (Interview With the Vampire’s Bailey Bass), a kind and gentle girl, bonds with Lo’ak.  The film’s most interesting story thread, however, definitely belongs to Stephen Lang, sort-of returning to his role of Colonel Miles Quaritch as the first film’s dead Big Bad is resurrected as a Recombinant with his pre-downloaded consciousness plugged into a specially grown half-Na’vi avatar body much like Jake’s, alongside a special squad of his best and most brutal grunts, and ALL OF ‘EM are looking for payback … once again, this is a wondrous and fascinating adventure of discovery, but this one has as dark a heart as its predecessor, as the threat of ecological exploitation once more rears its head, this time in the form of a particularly disturbing analogue for whaling which leads to some really tough scenes and an inevitable outbreak of bloody retribution.  Whatever the internet naysayers might think, it's clear that Cameron has a lot to say about how we’re fucking up this planet and screwing over its indigenous peoples, and he’s clearly getting his teeth right into expanding on his already compelling allegorical platform to drive his points home.  As a result the action sequences, when they come, always have a strong emotional foundation that keep you deeply invested, bolstered by the fact that all of these characters are so beautifully fully-realised that they come to mean the world to you, and this time round even Quaritch is given an interesting new character arc which manages the surprising feat of making him a little more sympathetic this time round (no more details will be given, it’s too good to spoil the surprises with this part).  Most of all, though, this is once again an undeniable feast for the eyes, every single frame is a beautiful work of art, and if you thought the first film was exquisitely designed you ain’t seen nothing yet, folks.  The sensory mastery is completed by the stirring score from British composer Simon Franglen, an up-and-comer who learned his craft from working as an assistant to the first film’s late composer James Horner, before finally making a major splash when he completed and orchestrated Horner’s powerful score for the remake of The Magnificent Seven – he does an equally impressive job here, perfectly capturing the scale and wonder of Horner’s original to such a strong degree that it genuinely feels like the late master’s alive again for this one.  In the end it’s just the icing on the cake for an incredible achievement in cinema in a franchise that I am personally thoroughly looking forward to continuing when the next instalment arrives.  Thankfully we clearly won’t have to wait so long for THAT ONE …

6.  EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE – By far the strangest movie I saw this past year, this bizarre Multiverse-spanning fantasy-action-comedy is about as pure a brain-melting headfuck as it’s possible to achieve in cinema.  Thankfully, I happen to really enjoy this kind of thing when it’s done well, and I don’t think I’ve EVER seen it done better than it’s been done here. Following up their already bizarre cult comedy Swiss Army Man, co-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinart, collectively known as The Daniels, have crafted a veritable masterclass in existentialist weirdness, inventively wacky action and fascinating multi-layered character work.  It’s another movie where giving too much away spoils a lot of surprises, but the basics hopefully won’t do too much damage for those very few who ain’t already in on one of the most spectacular and thoroughly TALKED ABOUT movies out there … Evelyn Quan Wang (the legendary Michelle Yeoh) is a Chinese American immigrant running a crappy laundromat who’s been going through the motions for years as her marriage to Waymond (The Goonies’ Key Huy Quan) quietly circles the drain, while her relationship with her feckless, emotionally lost daughter Joy (The Marvellous Mrs Maisel’s Stephanie Hsu) has gone from bad to worse. Now she’s on the brink of a financial crisis as a dreaded tax review with IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis) comes around just as an alternate version of Waymond arrives to tell her she’s the last, best hope for the Multiverse in an interdimensional war with a terrifying entity known as Jobu Tupaki … that’s all I’m gonna give ya, aside from saying that Evelyn winds up going through one hell of a spiritual, existential wringer as she’s beset on all sides by interdimensional attackers under Jobu’s command, which forces her to reach her immense true potential (basically, she’s capable of anything because she’s so bad at EVERYTHING) by accessing the myriad abilities of the thousands of alternative Evelyns who exist across the entirety of the Multiverse, and BY THE GODS is it a fucking WEIRD all-encompassing EVERYTHING out there.  Michelle Yeoh is AMAZING, just like she ALWAYS is, delivering one of the best performances I’ve EVER seen from her as she’s allowed to FULLY unleash her incredible range while Evelyn’s THOROUGHLY put through it, as well as getting to stretch her admirably awesome action hero muscles once again in a series of spectacular and frequently BONKERS fight sequences that would put the great Yuen Woo-Ping to shame; Quan is similarly impressive throughout, effortlessly switching between gentle-but-timidly-lost as regular Waymond and assertive badass as far more capable Alpha Waymond, who kickstarts this whole crazy adventure, also easily matching Yeoh in the fight scenes, while Hsu is outstanding, bringing deeply nuanced complexity to a very challenging role indeed, and Curtis is clearly having fun in a somewhat unsympathetic role that nonetheless lets her stretch her own impressive range; meanwhile there are equally brilliant supporting turns from living legend James Hong as Evelyn’s crotchety-in-every-reality elderly father Gong Gong and Jules of Light & Dark’s Tallie Medel as Joy’s adorably sweet girlfriend Becky. This is one of those films that constantly defies expectations, barrelling along at an impressive breakneck pace even when it sometimes swerves off into some decidedly weird and existentially devastating tangents, and while it tends to err on the side of ironic absurdist humour there are certainly moments of immense emotional heft and pure, unbridled HEARTBREAK to be found throughout (whoever would’ve thought that a subtitled conversation between two rocks could be SO POWERFUL?!!), not to mention that it really is INCREDIBLY well designed and shot, some of the compositions creating imagery that’s downright GORGEOUS, and The Daniels frequently drop major soul-crushing or mind-blowing rug-pull twists to trip us up before the decidedly odd but deeply satisfying climax.  This is EASILY the most INTERESTING film I’ve seen this past year, and DEFINITELY one of the ones I’m most desperately vocal about saying to people OH MY GOD, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!  Nuff said …

5.  THE NORTHMAN – over the last few years, writer-director Robert Eggers has been getting under our skin to magnificently unpleasant effect through subtly unsettling arthouse horrors like The Witch and The Lighthouse.  When we heard he had another movie in the works we started preparing ourselves for another skin-crawling mind-troubler of a horror movie, but he’s taken an intriguing leftfield swerve and really surprised us with his third feature, a dark, edgy and subtly fantastical account of the legend of Amleth, the Viking prince who became the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  As a boy (played by impressive newcomer Oscar Novak), Amleth witnesses the murder of his father, King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke), at the hands of his uncle Fjölnir (The Square and Dracula’s Claes Bang), who then usurps the throne intended for Amleth and with it his mother, Queen Gudrun (Nicole Kidman). Amleth flees, swearing to avenge his father, kill his uncle and save his mother, but when we next encounter him many years later (now played by Alexander Skarsgaard), a berserker raiding the lands of the Rus, it’s an oath he seems to have largely forgotten, at least until a chance meeting with a mysterious seeress (Bjork) reminds him in Eggers’ typically unnerving fashion.  Suitably inspired, Amleth disguises himself as a slave and secretes himself amongst a party destined to be shipped to the Icelandic land of Fjolnir’s underwhelming exile, where he now rules over a far less impressive kingdom than he once intended.  Through canny strategy and subtle magical assistance, Amleth begins to torment his uncle as he tightens the screws in the build-up to his vengeance, but as he draws closer to his goal it begins to become clear to him that things may not actually be that simple … this is a singularly stunning feature which PERFECTLY encapsulates everything that’s so great about Eggers’ filmmaking style while also effectively repackaging it as something completely fresh and new to what he’s brought us before as he takes all the tricks he so keenly fashioned through his horror ventures and sets them loose to ruthlessly efficient and thoroughly fiendish effect in what is either destined to become known as the greatest Viking movie of all time, or at the very least the most interesting.  Skarsgaard is SPECTACULAR here, by turns understated and downright FEROCIOUS depending on the needs of the story and Amleth’s own personal plot, but he also crafts a character who’s far more complex that just a spiteful, vengeful killer out for blood; Anya Taylor-Joy, meanwhile, brings subtly fierce feistiness to proceedings as Olga of the Birch Forest, the enslaved Slavic witch that Amleth forms a conspiratorial bond (and eventually more) with in his quest, Bang and Kidman both skilfully subvert expectations of their characters as the story progresses, and both Hawke and The Lighthouse’s Willem Dafoe deliver brief but potent performances in their early scenes which sear great impressions into us that resonate throughout the rest of the film. As with Eggers’ previous films, this is as much about mood, atmosphere and some truly jaw-dropping visuals as it is about its dark and twisting labyrinthine plot, but this is still BY FAR his most refreshingly coherent and linear film, even if there are still times when it turns into some kind of strange (but admittedly deeply compelling) cinematic fever dream, and the characters are all impressively well-developed and three-dimensional, quickly making us root for or hate them according to requirements before the ingeniously crafty script sometimes turns things on their head to frame them in a new and startlingly different light.  This is as powerful, inventive and downright DOOM-LADEN as we would ever have expected from Eggers, but also definitely THE BEST film he’s brought us so far, and as he goes on this is going to be a really tough one to beat …

4.  PREY – Oh boy … it’s been another great year for streaming, even as the cinemas have finally been getting back into full swing now that COVID is (supposedly) finally on its way out, and this was the absolute undeniable ZENITH of on-demand Original Film entertainment in 2022. It’s SO GOOD it’s another one you can’t believe didn’t just get a cinematic release, but never mind … the Predator is BACK, baby!  It’s been a bit of a hit and miss road for Twentieth Century Fox’s SECOND most iconic alien monster franchise in more recent years, (personally, I think Predators was an underrated MASTERPIECE, but Shane Black’s The Predator, while certainly entertaining, was maybe a bit too WOKE for its own good given that the series has always been about monstrous thrills and escapism … and the less said about the Alien Vs Predator movies the better, although the second one was a lot better than it had any right to be), but this is EASILY the most impressive offering in the series since the original – in fact, if I’m brutally honest, it just might be THE BEST ONE YET … director Dan Trachtenberg already blew us away with his ASTONISHING feature debut 10 Cloverfield Lane, but he surpassed expectations here with a spectacular standalone prequel which transplants the action to Colonial era North America as one of the indomitable alien sport hunters touches down in the Great Plains and sets his sights on Comanche Naru (Legion’s Amber Midthunder), a talented young healer who’s determined to prove she can also be a badass hunter like her big brother Taabe (newcomer Dakota Beavers).  As she sets her own sights on this mysterious, unknowable monster as the lethal prey in her own warrior’s rite of passage, Naru slowly proves that she’s not going to be just another easy trophy … Midthunder deserves to absolutely BLOW UP into superstardom after this, Naru EASILY going down as one of my top female cinematic protagonist for this year, a wilful, determined badass whose unshakeable WILL effortlessly wins you over and makes you root for her to PROVE HERSELF no matter how insane the dangers she’s facing actually are; Beavers, meanwhile, makes an awesome debut, showing us he’s also meant for great things in the future, while the rest of the film’s largely full-blooded Native American cast acquit themselves admirably too, the few white faces here belonging to a largely despicable band of French trappers perfectly encapsulating the threat of Colonial capitalist greed encroaching on the Natives’ comparatively uncomplicated and relatively peaceful existence.  Trachtenberg continues to show us what an overwhelmingly impressive emerging filmmaking talent he is, expertly crafting a knuckle-whitening suspense thriller that rarely lets its foot up off the accelerator as we follow Naru through her increasingly desperate trials while she pits her wits against the most deadly and downright VICIOUS Predator we’ve encountered to date (this one could even give those seriously badass alphas in Predators a run for their money), with more of those wickedly awesome prosthetic and animatronic creature effects bringing life to the series’ most downright GNARLY character design so far, and an astounding physical performance from basketball player-turned-actor Dane DiLiegro (The Walking Dead, American Horror Stories).  The ample selection of robust set-pieces are all spectacular (the trappers’ doomed attempt to bait the Predator into a trap is the film’s undeniable highlight, although the climactic showdown comes damn close thanks to its almost unbearable levels of tension and cathartic potency), but the plot and character work are also impressively solid given that this is essentially a hundred-minute game of cat-and-mouse where you’re never quite sure who’s actually the cat.  The finished product is a sci-fi action-horror MASTERPIECE, Trechtenberg once again proving he’s gonna be a MAJOR talent to watch in the future, while also mastering what’s always been one of my favourite movie monster franchises – honestly, I can’t believe this went straight to streaming, somebody at Fox really should’ve pushed for this to at least get a limited cinematic release first (even just for a week), it would’ve CAUGHT FIRE.  As it is, it’s a pure joy in ANY format, and definitely shows the smart path for the franchise going forward.  Next time I say give us a standalone set in feudal Japan – Predators versus samurai? Sign me right up …

3.  THE BATMAN – another year, another Batman movie, it would seem.  But this one … somehow, this one feels a little different, a little special. Frankly, THAT is actually something of an understatement … yeah, basically, Dawn of/War For the Planet of the Apes writer-director Matt Reeves’ long-gestating (and certainly long-awaited) reboot of DC’s flagship superhero franchise (originally intended to be part of the increasingly problematic DCEU canon but now, thankfully, cut loose so it can be its own thing) has actually turned out to be THE VERY BEST Batman movie outside of 2008’s simply DEFINITIVE The Dark Knight.  Perhaps this take’s most notable (not to mention most controversial) choice was in the casting of its Bruce Wayne/Batman – Robert Pattinson, the admittedly precocious young wunderkind who’s been working VERY HARD INDEED to distance himself from the godawful memory of Edward Cullen but still hadn’t quite managed to fully evacuate the stink of his tenure on Twilight … until now, at least. Turns out, he’s PERFECT for the role, especially in THIS version – this incarnation is JUST starting out, still finding his way as he tries to become the Dark Knight Defender that the nightmarish, corrupt, deeply FUCKED UP city of Gotham desperately needs to rescue it from its inexorable slow descent into criminal hell.  This Batman is still very fallible, still learning his craft, and the police don’t trust him yet, they’re openly hostile and always right on the verge of turning on him as he tries to insert himself into investigations with only one man on his side – Gotham City Police lieutenant Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), perhaps the one good man in a genuinely rotten police force, who’s as determined as his mysterious vigilante “friend” to save his city.  Certainly they’re all Gotham’s got as a brutal murder kicks off a fiendishly Machiavellian game of homicidal cat-and-mouse as newly emerged villain The Riddler (Paul Dano) begins to dig up a twisted web of lies and conspiracies that’s long held the city in the grip of criminal purgatory, spurring the fledgling Batman into a desperate hunt which inexorably leads him to dark and troubling revelations which hit uncomfortably close to home as some terrible long-buried truths are finally uncovered. Matt Reeves and co-writer Peter Craig (The Town, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Top Gun: Maverick) have delivered a screenplay which not only makes this one of the best written superhero movies ever, but just a downright masterpiece of a film, PERIOD, but Reeves’ simply AWESOME direction deserves just as much praise here because every scene has been crafted to flawless precision and shot with an uncommonly artful eye too (certainly cinematographer Greg Fraser, known for the likes of Zero Dark Thirty, Rogue One and Dune, deserves a big dollop of the credit too). The cast are uniformly phenomenal too – there are FAR too many blazing bright star turns in this to name, but the standouts include Wright himself, noble, steadfast and forthright as the most honest cop in Gotham, John Turturro as a surprisingly seductive mobster kingpin in the role of Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham’s sleezy and hopelessly corrupt district attorney Gil Colson, Colin Farrell, COMPLETELY unrecognisable and therefore able to just ACT HIS SOCKS OFF as the very best and DEFINITELY most faithful take on Oswald Copplepot/the Penguin we’ve had to date, a low-down, brutal thug with delusions of grandeur, and of course Reeves-regular Andy Serkis, taking Bruce Wayne’s faithful manservant Alfred Pennyworth in an intriguing new direction as a former soldier and reserved man of action in his own right, while Paul Dano’s clearly having the time of his life as the Riddler (I also fully applaud the way they’ve fully embraced the alternative take on the character from the comics, which finally gives this villain REAL TEETH), playing things subtle and close to the chest in his earlier appearances before he’s finally unmasked and allowed to fully unleash in typical showstopping style.  The film truly belongs, however, to our new Batman and Catwoman – Pattinson largely plays the role in quite an understated way, but it’s a performance BRIMMING with deep nuance and subtle layers, perfectly pitched to highlight this Bruce Wayne’s somewhat isolated upbringing and deep-seated underlying trauma, which manifests in his suitably awkward public image, while when he’s in the suit (which is, of course, how he spends the majority of the film) he’s quietly menacing and thoroughly ODD in the best way possible; Zoe Kravitz, on the other hand, is PERFECTLY cast as Selina Kyle, investing my very favourite comic book antihero with just the right mix of sultry, sexy fire and sass and a ferocious determination to never be owned by ANYONE, and even LOOKS perfect with her spot-on short hair, sharp claw-like nails and genuinely preternatural feline grace (yeah, I thought Anne Hathaway was fantastic and pretty definitive in The Dark Knight Rises, but Zoe has entirely trumped her in this). Altogether this is an essentially perfect package that effortlessly brings the Dark Knight and his hellish Gotham City to life just as effectively as Christopher Nolan did in his seminal trilogy – the design-work is on-point throughout, the action sequences are phenomenal (that insanely awesome car chase in the rain was definitely the year’s best set-piece, although there’s also an incredible fight scene, lit ONLY with machine-gun muzzle flashes, which comes impressively close), the plot twists and turns like few others I’ve seen, dropping some genuinely AMAZING rug-pulls (once literally) that I TRULY did not see coming, and Michael Giacchino’s incendiary score is a MASTERCLASS in low-key dramatic brilliance.  Most importantly, though, this is the first Batman film that genuinely gets the psychology of its central character COMPLETELY RIGHT, and I really am looking forward to whatever Reeves, Pattinson and all the rest do with the sequel when it comes (hopefully it won’t take anywhere near as long as this one did to finally reach our screens).  If it’s anywhere NEAR as good as this it'll be GOLD …

2.  GLASS ONION – I’m with Rian Johnson, I refuse to give it it’s Netflix-affixed full title of A Knives Out Mystery, it doesn’t need it, this stands well enough on its own without needing to be constantly compared to Johnson’s previous blockbuster breakthrough feature.  That being said, we can’t just IGNORE the connection – the 2019 murder mystery comedy was a true masterpiece of the genre, thoroughly flawless and effortlessly game-changing in its unique brilliance.  So a follow-up was of course inevitable … but it was ALSO a very daunting prospect.  How could Johnson possibly live up to its sheer mastery?  Was it going to be a massive tanking flop in comparison? Personally, I never had any doubt that the director of Brick, The Brothers Bloom and Looper would once again blow us away with his genius, so I just sat back and waited, and I was not disappointed … Daniel Craig is back in his most interesting role ever, Benoit Blanc, the acclaimed gentleman sleuth with an improbable Southern accent who can crack most cases in five minutes (so long as it’s not a game of Clue or Among Us, that is), this time mysteriously invited to the island retreat of billionaire tycoon innovator Miles Bron (Edward Norton) to take part in a murder mystery party weekend in the middle of the COVID Pandemic, only to become embroiled in an impromptu investigation into the very real slaying of one of the guests.  That’s about all you’re getting out of me, plot wise – like the first film the true joy of the experience is to go in knowing as little as possible beforehand. Certainly Johnson has crafted a multi-layered mystery as addictively compulsive as the first this time round, albeit with a very different, far more warm and sunny setting, although the collection of colourful characters/suspects is just as interesting and marvellously well-written – Norton’s Bron is a fantastically timely, topical dig at many of the worst, most despicable would-be-influential billionaires we love to hate today (there’s a few different reference points, a stab at Trump here, a shade of Bezos there, but at the core it’s clear the main target is Musk), but there are plenty of other rich people tropes that Johnson’s poking his satirical finger at. For example, Kate Hudson’s Birdie Jay is a merciless critique of the worst kind of barely-talented glamourous starlet-turned faded icon who thinks she’s so much deeper than she really is and can’t stop putting her foot in her mouth on social media, while Dave Bautista’s Duke Cody is exactly the kind of toxic masculine blogger influencer that’s making the world such an abysmal place to live in right now.  Like in Knives Out, everyone in the cast is ON FIRE, Craig ruling the roost as he’s clearly just having a laugh as the most outrageous screen sleuth around, but a good deal of the praise this time has to go to Janelle Monae, who delivers a particularly fascinating and deeply complex turn as Andi Brand, Bron’s ex-business partner who’s gate-crashed the party in order to clear the air on his recent work-based betrayal, one way or another, while Jessica Henwick, who plays Birdie’s long-suffering assistant Peg, is also responsible for my one and only gripe about the movie, because she’s SO GREAT in her role it’s an almost criminal shame she’s not in this more. Once again Johnson has delivered astoundingly, crafting a blissfully anarchic slice of absurdist social satire dressed up as a jet black comedy that also just happens to be about a (seemingly) devious murder plot, and while this is an undeniable LAUGH RIOT from start to finish there’s also SO MUCH going on, both on the surface and in the peripherals and under the surface, that this is ultimately one of those wonderful movies that’s just TAILOR-MADE for repeated viewing because you WILL notice several new details every time you watch it – really, the plot is well-written enough that it keeps you guessing right to the end but at the same time it’s foreshadowed so well that you never have any trouble catching the twists once they’re revealed, and there’s so much brilliant nuance here that it’s as richly deep and multi-layered as a real onion, rather than the ultimately depthless, transparent glass folly that title so knowingly alludes to.  Watch, it, then watch it again.  Watch it a third time if you want, you won’t be disappointed. This is JUST as good as the original, and I’m DEFINITELY up for a whole boatload more Benoit Blanc adventures in the future …

1.  NOPE – So I hear you asking, what movie could POSSIBLY have beaten The Black Phone as my horror movie of the year?  Indeed, what else could possibly have ultimately conquered EVERYTHING ELSE ENTIRELY, especially when there’s a new batman AND a follow-up to Knives Out?  It’s none other than the latest from Jordan Peele, the immensely talented satirical genius behind genre-busting masterclasses like Get Up and Us, blessing us with another movie, and oh my gods the man sure has outdone himself this time … his first two features as both writer AND director were something truly special, but this is an undeniable horror GEM, eliciting perfect levels of profound terror and unrelenting DREAD in audiences as he unleashes another surprisingly fresh and unique cinematic nightmare upon us.  (Whoever said there were no new stories?  Clearly not Peele.)  Yet against I really shouldn’t give too much away for anyone desperate to avoid spoilers – there are so many ASTOUNDING twists on offer it takes MULTIPLE VIEWINGS to get your head around EVERYTHING that’s going on here, although it is nonetheless VERY EASY to follow the central story as its intriguing, intense and ultimately HORRIFYING events take their time to unfold with GREAT intelligence – some people might THINK the trailers gave away the true nature of the threat the characters are dealing with, but believe me, they’re wrong, Jordan having pulled off one hell of a red herring in the film’s fiendishly clever advertising campaign.  Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya once again effortlessly wins our hearts as stoic stunt-rider OJ Haywood, determined to find out what unknowable entity’s been riling up his Hollywood legacy family’s ranch-full of horses after inexplicably killing his father Otis Sr. (living legend Keith David), while his fraught but ultimately still loving sibling relationship with Keke Palmer as Emerald “Em” Haywood is the film’s unshakeably solid foundation and ultimate driving force, Palmer essentially stealing the film out from under Kaluuya in an effervescently extroverted turn which conceals a spine of solid steel which slowly reveals itself as the thumbscrews tighten in the latter half of the film; The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun, on the other hand, is a force unto himself as Jupe Park, the former child star who runs the neighbouring “Jupiter’s Claim” Wild West theme park, and whose tragic youthful psychological trauma, wrought in the infamous incident on the aborted 90s sitcom Gordy’s Home which forms an intriguing thematic backdrop for the film, first unleashes this bedlam on their remote corner of the Nevada desert; meanwhile there’s further capable support from The OA’s Brandon Perea as Angel Torres, the Fry’s Electronics sales tech the Haywoods rope in to help them discover what’s going on, and a well-deserved break from playing despicable villains for the great Michael Wincott, who plays Antlers Holst (great name!), the renowned cinematographer and driven documentarian they convince to help them get “the Oprah Shot” once they realise what the threat REALLY is.  As we’ve come to expect from Peele, there’s A LOT MORE going on here than just a whole bunch of scares – without giving anything away I can at least say that the film’s a fascinating and frequently scathing indictment of humanity’s ongoing fascination with tragedy and the need to turn catastrophic events into bankable spectacles they can exploit for their own ends, while also hitting on several other intriguing and fascinating deeper themes that, as I said, take multiple viewings to REALLY pick up on (gods know this movie got everybody talking A LOT about it, I’ve never talked about ANY other movie as much as I did about this, especially on here.  That’s not to say that there AREN’T any scares, mind – once again Peele’s crafted a slow-burn sense of impending doom that nonetheless draws you in right from the start, cranking up the tension with blazing expertise as he takes his sweet time unveiling the TRUE nature of the central threat in very crafty increments … and there’s no denying that when it’s FINALLY properly revealed, the monster at the heart of the story is genuine, unadulterated NIGHTMARE FUEL.  Of course, ALSO as we’ve come to expect with Peele, there’s a strong streak of dark humour run right through this film, and since the man’s a self-confessed super-geek and huge anime fan he’s littered the film with dozens of crafty little winks, nods, homages and easter eggs for the genre faithful to chuckle, hoot and fist-pump about (like a certain downright INGENIOUS climactic moment I’ve already cited more than once myself).  Altogether this was EASILY my top horror movie of the year, as well as just a downright amazing, awesome and proper astounding movie in its own right, and in the end it even finally beat a certain Dark Knight to my MOVIE OF THE YEAR spot too …

[anchanted-one]

Heroes of Both Sides 07. Field Day

Cadet Roban Queens was happy to be back on Iridonia. For all its dangers and hazards, it was still his home. Captain Tyre, bless his kind soul, had given him permission to take everyone to his hometown of Joharic. Which was why they were here, a hundred and twenty kilometers from their training zone, engaging in some questionably sanctioned downtime. Joharic had a lot to offer in terms of entertainment; it had three retired master chefs who had opened an affordable restaurant to cater only to the locals—and their friends. There was a museum of history, full of replicas and interactive programs on Zabraki history. There were many sprawling vineyards, including the one owned by the Queens family. There was a large ranch where race berogs were reared. There was a local hot spring, though it was dangerous to use it for longer than forty minutes at a time. There were also enough bars and cafes for those seeking hookups. All of his squad mates and trainers were perusing a different one of these attractions, but Roban decided to tour the spaceport. It wasn’t large, but it had some of the most elegant architecture he’d seen in such a facility. The whole place had bas reliefs carved on every one of the bricks and tiles that it was built up of. The pillars, the domes, the arches, the spires… they were all beautiful. A visiting Alderaanian had once remarked that it was all a little much, as if someone was trying to fit every known kind of architecture into one, amorphous mess. Which was why no one exported wines to that world anymore. And the master chefs, who held a banquet on Coruscant once every year, had implemented a no-Alderaanians-allowed rule. Today, Roban was admiring a statue of Bao Dur, the genius scientist who had helped end the Mandalorian Wars, three centuries prior. He stood beside the woman everyone believed he held as his one, true love: the Jedi Exile, Raya Kol. “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” a human beside him sighed. “Such artful craftsmanship!” “That, it is.” Roban turned to find a beautiful human woman standing by his side. She had long hair which was dyed electric blue at the ends, and pink above the roots. Her lovely eyes were the same blue as a jolly sea under a summer sky. She was a little on the plumper side, a far cry from the grizzled, sculpted men and women he was used to training with. Her lustrous hair was held in a ponytail by a pretty butterfly clasp.

[irisviel101]

The Issue With Team Lovushka

Out of all the teams that debuted in Metal Masters, Team Lovushka is the weakest. They doesn't have any significant or long term consequences for the plot or characters and could be cut out entirely without affecting the plot of Metal Masters and even Metal Fury.

One of my biggest issues with this team is that they hold no significance to the plot. We don't see Team Lovushka again in the entirety of Metal Masters aside from one small cameo. They don't even show up in the final arc with Wang Hu Zhong, Excalibur, Wild Fang and Team Garcia. Literally every team Gan Gan Galaxy has faced in the tournament reappears — some as allies and some as enemies — aside from Team Lovushka, and we're not even given a reason why they aren't here.

They do reappear in the Destroyer Dome arc, but their only contribution is Lera destroying Jigsaw's invisiblity technique and prompting him to one shot everything. It's mentioned that they have/are analyzing the trajectory of the Star Fragments to predict when they would fall, but it's never brought up again. This is a waste since the Star Fragment is a critical element in Metal Fury and Team Lovushka is pretty space oriented ib their theme.

Even the other teams that reappeared had a bigger role in the main plot.

Excalibur, a team that puts significant emphasis on mythology and history, tracked down VariAres and expanded on the mythology behind it, which ultimately helped Madoka and Yuki realize that King was the Legendary Bladder of Mars — what with the whole "Sword of the Gods" part of VariAres's mythology and King's special move being "Sword of Ares."

Wang Hu Zhong had their history with the Beylin Fist which not only was the reason why they Aguma and Bao entered the Tag Team Tournament but also ultimately drove them to side with Nemesis. Out of everyone, Wang Hu Zhong had the best return in my opinion since their history with the Beylin Fist caused Aguma and Bao to do everything they did, which led to Nemesis winning the first fight with the Legendary Bladers.

As for Team Wild Fang — ignoring Kyoya and Benkei for now since they we're promoted to main character status again which would make this analysis unfair if I included them — Nile and Demure located Dynamis, led Gingka and the others to the temple and helped them reach the top of the place.

Team Dungeon — mostly Masamune though — had a huge role in not just the Destroyer Dome arc but also the Beyster Island arc. They were involved in recruiting King to the good side and Masamune played a key role in Chris's awakening as a Legendary Blader, with Zeo and Toby's defeat serving as Masamune's main motivation in that fight. Not to mention, there was that whole speculation about Masamune being the Legendary Blader of Winter at first, and even if it was subverted, it had a huge effect the plot, Masamune's character arc and his dynamic with King.

In contrast, Team Lovushka's return is pretty lackluster since it doesn't contribute to the plot in any major way. They don't have to be involved in recruiting a Legendary Blader, but they need to do something equally big, which is why not expanding on them researching the Star Fragment was a huge waste.

Even in Metal Masters, the other teams get their own personal stories that spanned many arcs: Team Dungeon and Star Breaker get two arcs to themselves and are greatly involved in the Spiral Force crisis; Excalibur had the arc about Julian's fall from grace and him rebuilding his foundations, this time dedicating his efforts to his teammatea and friends instead of his family name; Wild Fang — especially Kyoya and Nile — developed a rivalry and even a genuine friendship with Gan Gan Galaxy which causes them to help in the crisis, no matter what Kyoya says; similarly, Wang Hu Zhong has repeated appearances which show their growing friendship with Gan Gan Galaxy and not to mention their own development — Dashan, Chi Yun and Chao Xin had excellent character arcs, and it's a good thing they didn't all happen during their fight with Gan Gan Galaxy; Team Garcia had their desperation to move out of their poverty and their negative arc led them to work for Ziggurat in the end.

In contrast, all Team Lovushka got was that they got rid of Anton and got the funding for their space project. It's not a bad arc by any means, just a bit lackluster compares to the rest. We get a cameo of them competing in the Wild Card Tournament, but it's never explained why. Their reason for wanting to win the World Championships was to get funds for their space project which they eventually got, so why continue with the tournament? The anime could have expanded on that because Team Lovushka doesn't need to compete anymore.

This problem could have been solved easily of we got to see them compete in the tournament, perhaps against Wang Hu Zhong. It could have expanded on their characters and motivations a bit more and given them some much needed screen time.

There's also the problem with how the Russian arc was handled. I won't discuss the way Team Gan Gan Galaxy was treated because that will take a whole post. However, the way Alexi, Lera and Nowaguma were handled was kind of messy.

Anton was shown to be the real threat instead of any pf the actual bladers. That in itself is a problem because it implies that the only reason Team Lovushka is here is because of Anton's schemes and cheating ways. This is especially irritating because it was implied in their first meeting that Team Lovushka was holding back a lot.

The Gingka vs Nowaguma fight could have been a huge whiplash and created a great shock for both Team Gan Gab Galaxy and the viewers — and Gingka could have lost a battle which he really needed, especially in Metal Masters. Masamune and Lera could have had a rematch which could have developed Lera as a character — and she could earn Masamune's respect the same way Chao Xin does earlier — and given Masamune another ego boost before his humblung defeat by Nile in the next arc. Finally, the Yuu vs Alexi battle could have been less about Yuu throwing a huge tantrum and more about him actually feeling the pressure of having to carry everyone's dreams and wishes as a representative member and made his a bit more mature.

Another problem I have is the way Anton's cheating wad handled. We get snippets of Team Lovushka questioning his methods and then... Masamune takes care of the problem by stumbling on it accidentally?

The way I would have handled it would have been to have their misgivings about Anton's methods more pronounced and for them to ultimately reject those methods on their own, with no external influence. It would ahve given them a more genuine development and some more character.

Anyway, the point is that Team Lovushka had a lot of potential but were handled extremely poorly.

[animaletras]

Turning Red está sendo indicado ao Oscar em 2023 e é uma produção inovadora para o estúdio: o primeiro longa da Disney Pixar a ser dirigido por uma mulher e a ter uma equipe majoritariamente feminina em sua produção. O filme é dirigido por Domee Shi (a mesma que ganhou um Oscar pelo curta “Bao”, em 2018), a roteirista é Julia Cho, e a produtora executiva é Lindsey Collins e Rona Liu é a Designer de Produção. Red é um “coming at age” protagonizado por Mei, uma adolescente sino-canadense passando pelo que a diretora chama carinhosamente de “puberdade mágica” com um clima bem nostálgico de 2002.

É um filme engraçado e muito sensível, que faz um excelente trabalho em retratar o que é ser uma menina adolescente por diversos ângulos: a relação com os pais, com as amigas, com a boyband favorita e com entender quem você é e qual o seu papel no mundo.

Seu lançamento foi seguido de várias críticas de conservadores e tudo no filme foi um alvo: desde o estilo mais fofo e caricato das personagens com muitas referências aos animes, até a personalidade da protagonista e seu embate com a sua mãe (a trama se desenvolve exatamente ao redor de criar coragem para confrontá-la e se entender como indivíduo). Mesmo críticos sérios afirmaram sentir dificuldade de se conectar com a experiência de Mei, por ser uma menina asiática passando por essa metáfora visual da puberdade (crescimento de pelos, mudanças de humor, se readaptar num corpo que cresceu rápido demais e diversos paralelos que o filme traça entre “virar um panda” e ter a primeira menstruação). A questão da menstruação e do vermelho é um ponto sensível bem específico, por ser um tema tabu, que quando é representado em mídia geralmente tem como pior efeito a vergonha por uma mancha na roupa, e não todo esse turbilhão que é passar por tantas mudanças corporais e emocionais de uma vez só.

É um ponto interessante pensar, que nenhum dos críticos se afastou da narrativa por se sentir muito longe de se identificar com a narrativa dos protagonistas quando eles eram brinquedos, insetos, carros ou emoções.

Domee Shi afirma no documentário da produção “Embrace The Panda” (disponível na Disney Plus) que, “tem muita comédia na adolescência feminina que raramente é retratada, eu quero muito mostrar pras pessoas quão estranhas as meninas podem ser (…) A luta de Mei no filme é sobre continuar sendo a filha perfeita para sua mãe ou abraçar a fera selvagem que tem por dentro.” Diretora e roteirista conversam sobre como esse é um conflito muito recorrente para elas, como filhas de imigrantes, e frisam: “esse não é um filme chinês, é um filme sobre amadurecimento que por acaso é sobre uma menina chinesa”.

É incrível ver o quanto as mulheres da equipe se conectam, e o clima de imenso respeito e admiração mútua que existe entre elas. Turning Red é o retrato mais fiel que eu já vi das dores e delícias da juventude feminina.

[ghostlightreviews]

FUN!

I had almost forgotten what it was like to watch an intentionally fun movie.

What stunning work here by the animation team at Pixar. Frantic, fast-paced, and lovingly rendered in every way. ‘Turning Red’ is so unique in its style and so well put together.

Domee Shi excelled with her short ‘Bao’ not too long ago and when I first saw it I desperately hoped in my heart that Pixar would hand her the reigns to a mainline project, and she did not underdeliver here. A love letter to her hometown and her culture, Turning Red is so bloody charming that it made me want to move to Toronto and also call my Yeye and my Dad and have dim sum.

Sandra Oh and Rosalie Chiang smashed their roles with ease. Every single one of Mei’s friendship group will stick with me for a long time. The Aunty brigade are powerful Queens and I will never forget their ending power-up scene. So fresh.

Another animated feature where generational familial trauma plays a key role, and whilst it is handled in a much more fantastical sense than…say…Encanto, it still doesn’t quite do enough to warrant exploring it in the first place. To the child viewer, it admonishes the adults in their lives of any growth or responsibility, and to adult viewers, it simply leaves a bitter taste when trying to reconcile their feelings towards the characters presented to us.

But hey, I literally don’t care. I laughed a lot, cried a bit, and would watch it many more times!

Addendum: Jin is a perfect manifestation of most of the Chinese fathers I know including my own. Such a wonderfully quiet and good man. Orion Lee is quickly becoming one of my favourite performers.

4.5/5

[aquamarinedelight]

Just watched Turning Red. To be honest, it triggered a lot of childhood truamas that you has to be an eastern-asian (or to be more specific, Chinsese) to understand. I gave it a 4.5/5.

I wasn’t expecting such a bomb when I watched it at first. The fangirling, braces, girl friends and young rebellion instantly brought me back to my puberty, in an enjoyable way. My smile disappeared as soon as Ming started to judge Mei’s friends, because it happened to me and it still does (and I’m an adult right now). Then tons of truamas fell on me like an avalanche. The ‘always get good grades/top of your class’, the ‘seeking approval from your mother to be happy’, the loop of ‘my mother did it, I did it, so now you should do it’, the mean and judging lady relatives, the ‘my mom has all her dream upon me’... I cried when I saw Mei had to deprive her panda the first time. (Still embarrassed for that. BTW it reminds me of how Lyra almost got separated from her daemon in His Dark Materials, and her mother saved her because she didn’t want her daughter to suffer the same pain like her.) I know many eastern-asian kids like me were taught to be tamed, loyal, even numb enough to obey your family, to restrict your ‘beast’ and be a lifeless pretty doll. I saw too many parents who seemed to love achievements over their children, it’s kinda sad because they were taught the same way when they were growing up - ‘if you achieve nothing, then you are dishonoring your whole family’. A ‘beast’ is the least thing they need. For Turning Red, I’m glad things worked out for Mei and her family. We don’t have to stick to the old rules in a new world. Even Sun Yee felt happy for her.

Many thanks to Director Domee Shi (石之予), and her clip Bao also tells a great story of Chinese family. Though she was born in Chongqing, in mid-China, while Turning Red is about the Cantonese people from south-China, and I’m from Jiangsu, the east coast of China, we share the same culture, the same sensation, and the same childhood truama that we are still trying to make peace with. I feel bad that most people in my country, who should’ve watched it, can’t watch this movie, because Disney gave up to release it in theaters, and Disney+ isn’t available in Mainland China. Pixel, Shi and her team did a great job on telling a fantastic exotic story to the world.

[maytinhnamthai]

Lắp hệ thống camera nhà xưởng cần chú ý các gì?

Nam Thái có kinh nghiệm đa dạng năm lắp đặt camera cho nhà xưởng, chúng tôi nhận thấy gần như nhà xưởng sở hữu hệ thống camera chưa đạt chuẩn. Để thi công camera cho văn phòng đúng công nghệ, dùng tốt và bền thì cần biết các lưu ý dưới đây. Quý khách hàng cộng tham khảo.

1. Các vị trí lắp đặt camera hiệu quả

Cổng bảo vệ: Đây là vị trí chẳng thể thiếu vì đây là nơi giám sát mọi việc ra vào của nhà xưởng.

Khu vực để xe, bãi giữ xe: Đây cũng là một khu vực quan trọng, cần lắp đặt camera để với thể giám sát hiệu quả, giảm thiểu mất cắp.

Khối văn phòng: Việc lắp đặt camera ở khu vực này giúp giảm sát các viên chức của đơn vị như: kế toán, thu sắm, viên chức bề ngoài, thủ quỹ,…..

Khu vực phân phối hoặc những băng truyền nhà xưởng: Khu vực này cần mang mật độ camera dày hơn, lặp đặt camera xen kẻ nhau đảm bảo bao phủ rất nhiều nhà xưởng, nhà kho của mình. Nên lắp đặt thêm một dòng camera Speed Dome (là dòng camera siêu phóng to) để với thể Nhìn vào được những chi tiết hàng hàng trăm mét rõ ràng.

2. Chọn mẫu camera

Việc chọn được chiếc camera chất lượng và thích hợp sẽ giúp hệ thống camera hoạt động ổn định và bền. Dựa vào vị trí thi công thì có hai dòng camera: Camera trong nhà, camera ngoài trời. Mỗi cái sẽ có các điểm hay và lợi thế khác nhau.

Camera trong nhà: dòng sản phẩm này thường là bán cầu tròn hay thuật ngữ khoa học gọi là Camera Dome. Dòng này thường ko được vật dụng các tính năng chống bụi, khói, nước và có tầm xa hồng ngoại rất ngắn. Cho nên mà cái camera ngoài trời thường với giá thành tốt hơn camera thân trụ (camera sử dụng ngoài trời). Cũng cho nên camera dome thường được chọn để lắp đặt cho văn phòng của nhà xưởng.

Camera ngoài trời: đây là loại camera với hình dài chữ nhật. Chiếc sản phẩm này được thiết kế với khả năng chống bụi bậm, khói, nước và thậm chí còn với các chiếc chống oxi hoá. Các mẫu camera ngoài trời thường mang tầm xa hồng ngoại lên tới trong khoảng 20 mét – 200 mét hơn nhiều so sở hữu các dòng camera Dome. Camera thân trụ phù hợp để ứng dụng cho các vị trí như: cổng kiểm soát an ninh, bên ngoài nhà xưởng, lắp đặt tại khu vực cung ứng.

3. Độ phân giải camera

Độ phân giải camera (độ nét) cũng là một trong những trắc trở cần quan tâm lúc chọn 1 loại camera để lắp đặt cho nhà xưởng. Độ phân giải của camera càng cao thì hình ảnh càng sắt nét. Các chiếc camera ngày nay sở hữu độ phân giải hơi cao, từ 1MP (Megapixel), 2MP, 3MP, 4MP, 5MP, 8MP. Chúng tôi khuyên bạn nên dùng các mẫu camera có độ phân giải từ hai.0 Megapixel trở lên để cho ra các hình ảnh chất lượng.

4. Khoa học của camera

khoa học của camera là 1 vấn đề đáng chú ý khi bạn chọn camera để lắp đặt vì sẽ tác động tới chất lượng hình ảnh và khả năng mở mang camera sau này. Hiện nay mang hai khoa học nổi bật đấy là Camera Analog và Camera IP.

Camera giám sát analog

Đây là dòng camera mã hóa dữ liệu hình ảnh thành dấu hiệu điện và là tính hiệu được truyền bằng chiếc dây dẫn điện. Loại camera này hơi hạng chế về khả năng chuyển tính hiệu về trọng điểm ghi hình. Vì khoảng cách hoạt động phải chăng của khoa học này chỉ là 200m. Vì khoản cách xa sẽ làm cho điện suy yếu, điện xuy yếu dần làm chất lượng của hình ảnh bị suy giảm đi tương đối phổ quát. Nên thường chỉ được sử dụng cho các nhà xưởng nhỏ.

Camera giám sát IP

cái camera này thì hoạt động theo phương thức TCP/IP. Phương thức này hoạt động bằng các chuyển hình ảnh thành 1 chuỗi 01001010101010 và truyền tín hiệu thông qua dây mạng chuẩn CAT5, CAT6 trở lên. Mỗi cái camera IP có một liên hệ nhất định vd: 192.168.1.15,… Camera IP được xem là lựa chọn số 1 cho những nhà xưởng. Bời vì camera IP giám sát sở hữu khoa học mã hóa nhị phân sẽ không bị giảm chất lượng hình ảnh và nhiễu (hình ảnh rợn sóng, chớp nháy,..).

Camera đêm với màu (Fullcolor)

Camera FullColor là 1 công nghệ mới và hiện đại nhất hiện tại. Giả dụ camera thường nhật từ trước tới bây giờ tự dưng với ánh sáng thì chỉ với thể là hình ảnh trắng đen. Ngày nay với khoa học camera rất nhiều màu về đêm thì đảm bảo camera sở hữu thể sản xuất hình ảnh màu 24/24. Camera full color đêm cũng được tương đối nhiều nhà xưởng chọn để vận dụng.

5. Tầm xa hồng ngoại

Chọn các chiếc camera mang hồng ngoại giúp bạn có thể giám sát nhà xưởng thấp hơn vào ban đêm. Những tham số về tầm xa hông ngoại thường được ghi trên camera thường chỉ có tính tương đối. Để chọn được chiếc camera có tầm xa hồng ngoại phù hợp thì còn phụ thuộc vào rộng rãi yếu tố như: diện tích của nhà xưởng, chiều rộng, chiều dài, các vị trí lắp đặt và kinh nghiệm của người kiểu dáng.

với phổ thông năm khiến việc trong ngành thì Chí Hào khuyên bạn nên tiêu dùng dòng sở hữu tầm xa hồng ngoại gấp đôi độ xa bạn muốn nhìn. Ví dụ: Nhà xưởng của mình với chiều rộng 30m và chiều dài là 70m thì chúng ta chọn 2 mẫu camera sở hữu tầm xa hồng ngoại trong khoảng 60 – 80 m. Một dòng đặt bí quyết đầu nhà xưởng 40m nhìn về phía đầu nhà xưởng và 1 dòng đặt cách cuối xưởng và nhìn về cuối nhà xưởng, hai Camera đặt với độ cao là 4.5m. Với những lắp đặt này giúp bạn sở hữu thể giám sát khái quát nhà xưởng của mình.

6. Chọn nhãn hiệu phân phối

hiện nay trên thị phần với đa số thương hiệu camera, không phải thương hiệu nào cũng chất lượng. Và các người ko hoạt động trong lĩnh vực camera giám sát thì rất khó chọn lọc được nhãn hàng nào rẻ. Sở hữu hơn 10 năm kinh nghiệm thi công lắp đặt camera nhà xưởng thì chúng tôi Tìm hiểu cao 1 số hãng sau đây: Hikvision, dahua, kbvision,…

7. Chọn thời kì lưu trữ và vật dụng lưu trữ

thời kì lưu trữ dữ liệu rất quan yếu đối có hệ thống camera. Thông thường thì camera dùng cho nhà xưởng thì mang thể lưu trữ dữ liệu ít nhất trong khoảng 15 đến 90 ngày. Vậy thì khiến sao biết thời lượng lưu trữ của camera?

Ví dụ:

– Camera 2MP thì lưu 12-18GB/ngày tuỳ vào số khuông hình/giây (fps).

– Camera 3MP thì lưu 18-26GB/ngày tùy vào số khung hình/giây (fps).

– Camera 4MP thì lưu 23-35GB/ngày tùy vào số khung hình/giây (fps).

– Camera 5MP thì lưu 26-39GB/ngày tùy vào số khuông hình/giây (fps).

– Camera 8MP thì lưu 46-69GB/ngày tùy vào số khuông hình/giây (fps).

Chúng ta sẽ dựa vào thời lượng lưu trữ mong muốn và số camera lắp đặt để mang thể tính ra dung lượng cần phải có. Ổ cứng lưu trữ (HDD) là 1 thiết được dùng để lưu trữ các hình ảnh camera bắt được. Nên chọn 1 chiếc sản phẩm chất lượng để đảm bảo thông báo được kiểm soát an ninh tốt, tránh những trường hợp hư hại gây mất dữ liệu quan trọng.

8. Dây cáp dấu hiệu camera

Dây cáp tín hiệu truyền dấu hiệu camera là thứ hơi quan trọng cho việc thi công lắp đặt camera nhà xưởng. Khác mang thi công hệ thống camera nhà ở thì hệ thống camera dành cho nhà xưởng dùng điện 3 pha. Ví như sử dụng các tuyến phố dây giả sẽ xuất hiện các hiện tượng nhiễu, hình ảnh camera bị gợn sóng, chớp chớp,…

sở hữu hai dòng được dùng phổ thông là dây đồng và dây hợp kim nhôm. Tuỳ vào khoảng cách thức từ camera tới trọng tâm lưu trữ hình ảnh mà chúng ta chọn được mẫu dây thích hợp.

Đối sở hữu các mẫu camera analog thì nên chọn dòng dây cáp đồng trục SINO hoặc TEASUNG ( cáu tạo đồng nguyên chất 95%, với đựng dầu chống nhiễu).

Đối sở hữu những dòng camera IP thì nên chọn cáp ENSOHO CAT 6 FTP ( cấu tạo từ hợp kim), VCOM CAT 5 ( cấu tạo từ đồng 95%) VCOM CAT5 FTP là một mẫu cáp đồng chống nhiễu.

lúc đảm bảo những nguyên tố trên cứng cáp bạn sẽ mang hệ thống camera nhà xưởng chất lượng.

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