#CONCEPT AND ORIGINAL ART OWNED COMPLETELY BY JORDAN

[fluffycoffeebuns]

I had the privilege to go to GalaxyCon 2023 a month ago, and I managed to meet the absolutely phenomenal @misslovelyillustration !

Jordan’s art work is such an inspiration to me, and I couldn’t resist redrawing one of the art prints I bought from her! Jordan, I really hope you like it!!

‼️‼️THIS IS A REDRAW. I DO NOT OWN THIS CONCEPT‼️‼️

Concept owned by @misslovelyillustration

Character belongs to me

[retronator]

I never played Karateka in the 80s, but as a big fan of Prince of Persia and Jordan Mechner's journals, I was stoked to hear that an interactive documentary about Jordan's prototypical cinematic platformer was in the works by Digital Eclipse.

Released this week, The Making of Karateka on the surface looks like any other game you buy through Steam ($20, Windows-only), GOG, or whichever favorite store or console you prefer (available also for Xbox, PS4/5, Switch). Once the thing loads though, you really get 3 things: a documentary, the original Karateka, and a new remaster.

The documentary part is an audio-visual slideshow retelling Jordan's development story starting with his teenage years pitching his earlier title Deathbounce to the publishing house Brøderbund. It's an interesting look into the iterative process, seen through correspondence letters, journal entries, and many playable builds at various stages of completion. After we reach the eventual rejection of that title, Jordan comes back with a prototype of a visual-narrative experience unseen on home computers. We get to follow Karateka's full life cycle from pre- to post-production, ending with the conception of its sequel (which eventually turned into Prince of Persia). It's a real treasure trove! Fellow pixel artists will appreciate the many graph-paper sketches and interactive overlays of final game sprites compared to rotoscoped outlines and filmed footage. There are also video segments, from a comprehensive breakdown of the music to interviews with other developers reflecting on the impact Jordan's games had on their careers. You'll even encounter a fan letter signed by the one and only "John Romero, Disciple of the Great Jordan and worshipper of the Magnificent Mechner!" (I kid you not, you can't make this stuff up).

Perhaps just as crucial for an interactive documentary like this, you can launch any of the floppy disks in the emulator, trying out various iterations and ports of Karateka.

The emulation is fantastic and lets you fiddle with display settings (monochrome or color display, scanlines, pixel perfect or zoomed) as well as enhance the frame rate. You can even rewind the many deaths you will face if you've never played the game before (like me). If you spend some more time obsessing over the weird artifacts of the Apple II hi-res graphics, you might even go down the rabbit hole of realizing that on the Apple II you didn't really paint colors as much as you used different monochrome dithering patterns that the graphics display would then turn into 4 different hues. A fascinating learning experience if you include some of your own research online!

Add to this the Commodore 64 and the Atari 8-bit versions to compare how the graphics got adapted across the earlier ports and you have a nice way to relieve the mid-80s with a bit of help from modern emulation (I did beat the C64 version without rewinding though!). I'd love to see more art from the other remakes, especially the 16-bit Atari ST port, but I understand their decision to omit playable versions of those due to the lower quality on the gameplay side of the translations.

This brings us to the final part of the package, the modern remaster. Unlike the 2012 complete reimagining of the game (with 3D graphics and all), Digital Eclipse approached the remake as the ultimate port of the original to an imaginary system along the lines of a 90s VGA PC.

It's well done. Some of the fully-redrawn scenes are a bit overpainted for my taste (I'd prefer a pixel art rendition of the castle than a blurry photographic collage, although there were many games in the 90s that did take this approach), but the in-game graphics are really in style, including the smooth animations that are like one would imagine granted a beefier CPU. It's also a sort of director's cut with previously unseen scenes added, in particular, the battle with the leopard as a clever action-puzzle in the middle. The AI is unfortunately even less challenging than Jordan's implementation. As great as the 6-move fighting system could have been, you yet again resort to simply kicking away opponents as they tirelessly crawl into your range. There isn't even the nuance from the original where you were the one who had to approach some enemies with skilled timing. On the other hand, you now have optional goals and achievements that make the repetitive/easy combat work in your favor (stringing various combos, beating opponents or the level under a time limit …). As the Digital Eclipse president Mike Mika admits at the end of the welcome commentary mode, they didn't manage to achieve their perfect port, but they did come close.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed playing both the original as well as the remake and while the combat system lacks any sort of depth beneath its stunning animations, Karateka is instead a monumental experience for its presentation. Big characters with personality and realistic motion are displayed through cinematic camera cuts and story vignettes (3 years before Ron Gilbert came up with the word "cutscene"). There are details like animating the unfortunate falling off the cliff at the start of the game, or respectfully bowing to the first guard as they bow in return. Jordan's creative work is precious and worth the attention this release gifts it.

I highly recommend The Making of Karateka to all retro gamers and/or game developers for its immersive documentation which provides an experience that goes beyond the usual video documentaries. It's interactive—just like the subject it's talking about—something I want to see more in the future. And if the $20 by any chance seems high to you, consider that the original retailed at $35 (and that was in 1984 dollars).

[anim-ttrpgs]

A.N.I.M. Adventure Art: Jordan

Art by @umbraldame

This art has been posted here with permission as part of A.N.I.M.’s Adventure Art initiative in our TTRPG book club.

For everyone's peace of mind, let's just say Jordan is a PC from Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy by A.N.I.M.

If you’d like to join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club, you can find the discord invite on our website.

If your art fits he parameters outlined on this post, and you’d like it featured here, tag us or post it in the book club’s Adventure Art channel on discord.

If you’d like to support us and get a prerelease copy of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, check out our Patreon! Our Kickstarter is planned for launch in April 2024!

Meet Jordan. There’s no hiding it in these images, Jordan is no ordinary woman, she’s a thing from beyond, the latest addition to the roster of playable monsters in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. The original concept for this creature comes from @saiintxsiinner, and is used with her permission in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy.

Each of the five core playable monster types in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy kind of vaguely represent different ‘eras’ of horror, and if you look at it from that perspective, things from beyond represent the 20th century, evoking things such as Lovecraftian horror, aliens that somewhat resemble sea creatures, body snatchers, the blob, the thing, etc.

What a thing from beyond actually is is a large blanket of skin covered with photoreceptors and chromatophores on one side, and covered with teeth on the other. They have no front, back, head, or tail.

To interact with their preferred prey, humans, they twist, fold, and bend themselves into a very convincing human shape, complete with artificial clothes and hair, and change the color of their skin to complete the illusion. This is a bit uncomfortable and awkward, but it allows the thing from beyond to blend in with human society, mimic human speech, and perhaps most importantly, make friends.

You see, when a thing from beyond is “born”, they are not much more than an animal, but their natural method of hunting is a bit complex. Not only do they absorb nutrients from digested prey, but information encoded in DNA and neurochemical information stored in the brain, which their body integrates into their own body and equivalent to a brain, so that they can better think like their prey so as to better mimic and therefore hunt them.

You could say “they are what they eat.”

So when a thing from beyond develops a taste for humans, something this alien branch of evolution never expected happens, they begin to develop sapience and a personality of their own, along with, in many cases, a variety of very human desires, such as love and belonging.

By the time this is happening, it is already too late to turn back, should the thing from beyond even think to do so, and by the time the sapient mind of the thing from beyond realizes what it is, they have necessarily already eaten several people alive. For either side of their nature, there is no going back. The thing from beyond won’t even have much memory of their life before, at least none that is comprehensible to a human.

This also gives things from beyond some pretty unique mechanics regarding eating people. Unlike other monsters, they tend to ‘swallow’ people alive and digest them slowly—they can even hold a person in their ‘stomach’ while going about their human persona’s regular daily life, the victim trapped and helpless inside them as if the thing from beyond is a skin-tight full-body suit.

Rather than get a single boost of Composure points per victim like other playable monsters, the thing from beyond gets a small trickle of Composure points as they digest their victim over several days—but here’s where it gets even more interesting: They not only gain Composure points from digesting their victims—remember how I said they absorb information encoded into DNA as well as neurochemical information from the brain—they gain investigation points too, much more so if the victim they ate has something to do with the current mystery being investigated. And once they have been working on a victim for at least three days, they can start to “use” the parts of the victim’s mind they have absorbed. Similar to how any PC can spend 1 Eureka! Point to have a “Eureka! Moment” and retroactively gain information from a previously failed investigation roll, the thing from beyond can spend 1 Eureka! Point to gain one piece of information that the victim knew.

This is only scratching the surface of the awesome mechanics and rules interactions the thing from beyond has, but I have other work to do and can’t keep typing this forever—plus, I already wrote it all out in the latest prerelease version of the TTRPG Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, which you can get a copy of for $5 on our Patreon and start playing as a thing from beyond right away.

[purplekoop]

ngl I'm curious about your ideas for Venture and spaceranger. I saw a theory SR could be Fio from Blackwatch and I think Venture could be our Portuguese hero, maybe has a build (turret, wall, etc) made of duravidro. Still hoping for heroes 42 to 45 being Lynx 17, Maximilien, a Roman champion fighter, and an Afro-American New York firefighter.

Okay lot of parts to this one to answer

Starting with Venture, here's their art for reference:

Now, with their pretty apparent explorer/excavation-themed design, with giant drill and what looks like climbing/excavation gear on their back, my first thought for what map they tie into is actually Petra, the deathmatch map set in Southern Jordan's wonder of the world. The map is littered with details alluding to an ongoing excavation project, so I think Venture could be part of that team. Plus, I think the slightly darker skin tone could possibly fit an Arabic character.

While I can't make it out with just this little image, I think the insignia on this sleeve could be the key to figuring out this character's faction.

As for kit, I don't really have any great ideas yet. While their drill at first appears to be a melee weapon, letting you just drill into people for rapid close-range damage, but I feel like it could have some kind of surprise projectile component.

In addition to me thinking they're from Jordan and not Portugal, I also doubt they're a "builder" character due to those being an ongoing struggle to balance in the Damage role. My belief for what Esperanca is alluding to is still a Tank hero that we won't be seeing for a while. Considering how long it takes heroes to be developed (note Mauga was just revealed today after being first teased in 2019), I think something as relatively recent as Esperanca won't lead to something new so "soon".

(I actually have a character for my original hero/class shooter project War Bots who uses a drill in a couple ways, and they are actually a builder character who uses it to build buildings and also tunnel underground to move around safely. They deserve their own post soon though.)

As a reminder, we are due to see some early gameplay footage of Venture tomorrow in the "Overwatch 2: What's Next" segment of Blizzcon tomorrow at 1:30 PM PST (so 4:30 for me in the EST), so we won't have to wait long to see some of how they play!

Going from underground to out of this world, let's talk about "Space Ranger" next!

(I gotta say it if I haven't already that I love both of these designs, even if they're still certainly still concept art and might actually change a fair bit before release, especially in the case of Star Command here releasing all the way in the far off galaxy of Season 12. Still, very cute, love the colors and overall vibe, big fan.)

So starting off with the theory you saw, the idea that this is Fio, the Blackwatch pilot from Retribution, certainly is... interesting, certainly an idea with precedent if Sojourn is anything to go by. I didn't remember what they looked like so I checked the wiki and...

...Yeah no these are completely different people, sorry. Fio has what looks to be red hair underneath the helmet and... I wanna say a European face? Ranger meanwhile has the dang Twilight Sparkle hair, and her face strikes me more like how East Asian characters tend to look in Overwatch's art style, like D.va and Kiriko with their slightly more "anime-esque" faces. Not to say I wouldn't welcome Fio to the roster (even though they'd be. Far, Far from my first pick for an established character to join the roster), but this definitely ain't them.

As for who I do think this could be, or rather what characters they're related to, I think between possibly being Asian and also being more obviously space-themed, I think they could very likely be affiliated with Lucheng Interstellar, the Chinese aerospace company behind Horizon Lunar Colony. According to the wiki, they also have other space station projects they are/were working on, so Space Ranger could be related to either of those.

As for kit, I don't have much to say for them either. Some neat ideas I saw were that they could be another hyper-mobile support like Mercy or Lucio, and could possibly even have some sort of gravity-manipulating buff. I really don't have much to say yet, but there's plenty of room for cool ideas!

Speaking of cool ideas, lemme take a sec to go over all yours!

Lynx 17 is definitely a popular pick I can get behind, between their fun design and the capacity for a support hacker-themed character. My Sombra Role Requeue was just one way to take the concept, I feel like there's even more room to start from the ground up! Though I do also wanna shoutout Franky, a character from the Deadlock Rebels novel that was essentially the other main founding member of the gang along with Cassidy and Ashe (and B.O.B. too, of course), who's also a hacker. I don't blame people for giving Lynx 17 higher priority, both due to being around longer and also being another cool Omnic, as well as being canonically non binary already. I would like to see a human NB character sooner than later, (hence why I've been referring to Venture and SR gender-neutrally this whole post) but Lynx still slaps so I'd be happy to see them too.

Maximilien is I think probably the most notable lore character that's yet to be playable now that we've finally got our greasy mitts on Mauga. Another fun established design and personality who's been around the story even longer than Mauga actually. Shoot, we've even seen the bastard in one of the story trailers, with Doomfist implying that he's got a job to do that the greedy omnic seems uncomfortable with. That could easily mean he has to get his hands dirty when he doesn't want to, so... could be teasing him being playable? My main objection to his inclusion on the roster is that I don't have a great idea for what exactly he'd... do. He's basically a cowardly civilian who just happens to be bankrolling a terrorist organization. This could definitely work into his kit, making him a support who sucks in direct fights but has ways of backing up allies. The one solid ability idea I got for him though is that his gun would be a silenced pistol. that's it. Now obviously some creativity on the hero design team's part could fix that issue, but still, it's something to consider.

Now for the characters who aren't as established, a roman gladiator is another one that's been tossed around a lot since the map was first revealed. Like I said with a character teased by the Portugal map though, OW heroes take a long time to develop, and they're still catching up on established characters like Mauga, so the teasers from OW2's new maps could take a WHILE to get to at this rate. Which isn't shocking really, they wanna keep Overwatch going for a while and I personally can get behind that, so I understand them setting up so many teasers they can follow up on later. As for the gladiator specifically, this idea still hasn't actually excited me that much. I struggle right now to think about what could make one of the mech gladiators unique from the tanks we already have on the roster. A melee weapon and shield? Reinhardt. A spear? Orisa. Again, creativity solves a lot of problems, but it's why I've never been that excited for this idea since Colosseo was first revealed.

That last idea though, THAT has me interested.

I've honestly never heard that idea before! It's so cool too, a firefighter would have such a fun pool of ideas to work from. Overwatch doesn't really have any water-themed heroes, and as far as I'm aware the team hasn't considered it aside from one rejected concept for what eventually became Lifeweaver. I'm honestly not even sure what role would fit a firefighter better, because the bulky outfits and some kind of water pushing ability would fit Tank, but the whole "life saving" part could fit Support better. This is such a cool idea, I'd honestly love to hear you elaborate on it more!

So yeah, wanted to give a thorough response talking about all of these future heroes, confirmed and otherwise. I'll almost certainly have more to say tomorrow when they talk about the two new faces, but that's for 20 hours from now. Thanks for the ask though, fun to talk about all this!

[inbetweenhours]

@trulymightypotato I was your gifter for the @mcytblraufest​ exchange this gave me so much trouble I just hope at least one of these pieces are enough for what you hoped.  There was a lot of characters proposed to work with and a lot of ideas I had. I got so caught up in the au portion of the event I didn’t realize for a while that by definition the dad!Sparkles by itself is enough canon divergence/crossover to absolutely caught as minor au at least asdfghjkl. So for that reason I have have a couple ideas, both different aus with dad!Sparkles as the core  concept :) I’ll leave them below the cut since its a lot of text PLUS  bonus concept au and sketch I didn’t use or finish ;)

First is ender dragon Captain and his kid Tubbo, they travel a lot  and end up moving around for various reasons. But they’re together and have a good time. The ambience oft he first piece is a kinda creepy forest but neither of them mind because they’re travelling together and having a good time.

The next two aus feature the Mianite universe, since you listed it and i was so genuinely excited to work with it I completely  blindsided a lot of other stuff I could have utilized (sorry, i hope the Mianite stuff was a nice call tho I saw you liked some oft he crossover art others have done :) ) So second pic is new father Sparkles in the armour of Ianite introducing his son to his goddess. Ianite’s happy to see her champion happy and to meet Tubbo.

Third is of a slightly older Tubbo hanging out with the Mianite champions Lots of nostalgia for me to get to draw the crew. Don’t mind the style shift i didn’t want to line a third piece I was losing steam story. SO lineless it is!

I had more ideas. I wanted to do some within the dsmp canon universe more and one within the origins universe but I as so burnt out after these 3 pieces I decided to just call my loss and submit what I have. 

Below though is a 5th, most complicated idea I had started with that I couldn’t follow through with because of complexity. It has more world building and ideas. I am not a writer sadly though, not enough for a gift exchange so it is not a coherent story, just an idea and an unfinished sketch.

The idea for the au was a weird mix of origin smp and Mianite lore, wherein the Captain is the prince of the starborne. The starborn as a people are created by Ianite who watches over their nation. The royal family are direct descendants of Ianite. There is also unofficial legend that each heir of the kingdom undergoes some manner of divine mission or journey to become who they are for succession. Fore example Spark, Ianite’s husband, was the founder of the nation. That was his journey. Next his daughter Martha who cured her kingdom of a blight/plague called The Taint. Jordan as her son in this retrieved The Heart of Ianite after it was stolen by Dianite’s followers. 

What I wanted to do if I had the time and energy was a mini comic explaining this lore, Sparkles explaining that as Tubbo is older he would likely soon see himself on his own journey. The idea was that this journey would consist of Ianitee!Tubbo meeting Dianitee!Tommy and Mianitee! Ranboo and travelling with them to solve a conspiracy between the three peoples. Along the way they would question their own faiths and would all switch their paths, with Ranboo feeling connected with Ianite, Tommy finding himself surprised by how comforted he is by Mianite, and Tubbo finding freedom in Dianite.

There was some probably disconnected thoughts such as tying Watcher lore into the Ianitee court, with Grian and Pearl as Ianitee’s under that idea, with Grian defecting to Dianite at some point but it had no place in this plot just stray ideas. Anyways if you read this far I just hope something in here was appealing and lived up to what you wanted from this exchange :] Have a good day!

[gertlushgaming]

The Making Of Karateka Review (PlayStation 5)

 For this The Making Of Karateka Review, we ‍discover how Karateka was made through an exhaustive archive of design documents, playable prototypes, and all-new video features. Like walking through a museum, you can explore the interactive timelines at your own pace. The timelines reveal how Karateka became one of the first games to include cinematic scenes, a moving original soundtrack, rotoscoped animation, and a Hollywood-style love story, influencing the decades of games that followed.

The Making Of Karateka Review Pros:

- Decent graphics. - 3.23GB download size. - Platinum trophy. - You get the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 versions of the game. - Interactive documentary gameplay. - The Making Of a Masterpiece is a collection of short videos detailing the history of the game from conception to reality. - You work your way along the timeline of events. - Videos can be fast-forwarded, rewound, and paused. - Subtitles can be turned on and off with a button press. - High-quality video. - Simple controls. - You can turn menu music on and off. - Clear crisp and clean menu system that is just so good to look at. - An excellent time capsule. - If you have played the Atari 50 The Anniversary Celebration you get that again but for the one game. - Has allowed me to learn and master the art of pronouncing the game name correctly... Ish. - High-quality images and photo scans complete with a description. - 14 games - - Karateka Apple 2 (1984) - Karateka C64 (1985) - Karateka 8 Bit Atari (1985) - Karateka Remastered and Reimagined (2023) - Deathbounce Rebounded reimagined (2023) - Deathbounce first prototype Apple 2 (1982) - Deathbounce colored balls prototype Apple 2 (1982) - Deathbounce Little Man prototype Apple 2 (1982) - Deathbounce Space Train Prototype Apple 2 (1983) - Karateka Jordans prototype Apple 2 (1984) - Karateka Broderbund prototype 1 Apple 2 (1984) - Karateka Broderbund prototype 2 Apple 2 (1984) - Asteroid Blaster Apple 2 (1981) - Star Blaster Apple 2 (1982) - Thumbnails for the games show the original box art and original scans of the floppy discs. - There are five sections of the documentary and each has a completion percentage. - Original scans of paperwork, concept art, letters, and more. - All images can be zoomed in and out and pan around. - Attack the documentary in any order you like. - I love how you can watch them all discussing this game and play it as they made it back then albeit not on an Apple 2. - The games have a watch feature where you watch a playthrough and at any time you can take over control. - Games have the following settings - - Rebind controls - Screen mode (original/full/wide) - Filter (tv/off) - Display (color/monochrome: green/amber/white) - Border on/off - Save and load when you want - When watching a game playthrough you can fast forward and rewind game time. - If the game supports it then you also get an instruction manual. - Deathbounce Rebounded has in-game goals, a manual, and two control types. - Karateka Remastered and Reimagined have an optional commentary track, in-game goals, a Hud with your choice of offerings, a game manual, scan lines option, and a set of how many lives you have. - The gameplay of Karateka is that you go from one side to the other punching, kicking, and blocking enemy attacks until you defeat them. - The remaster of Karateka is really good, with smooth animations, and tight controls, and looks like a natural step forward for the series. - Karateka remaster has the goals pop up once completed and features a full combo system. - Deathbounce is a shooter where you move around a box and must shoot enemies without getting hit, putting a shield on means bullets bounce away from you. The Making Of Karateka Review Cons: - I cannot always pronounce the game name. - You have to go back to the main menu to see your full completion percentage. - Would be handy to know what you are missing in your goal of 100 percent completion. - The Remastered games don't offer save and load features. - It doesn't have the 2011 version that came out on the Xbox Arcade store. (You can still play the demo of it on the 360 as its not backwards compatible) - Cannot rebind controls in the Remastered versions of the games. - Doesn't offer any online interactions like leaderboards. Related Post: Toaplan Arcade Shoot 'Em Up Collection Vol. 2 Review (Steam) The Making Of Karateka: Official website. Developer: Digital Eclipse Publisher: Digital Eclipse Store Links -  PlayStation Read the full article

[sinceileftyoublog]

Caroline Polachek Album Review: Desire, I Want To Turn Into You

(Perpetual Novice)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

On the first seconds of Caroline Polachek’s new album Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, she calls out harmoniously, wordlessly, as an upbeat guitar strum makes you visualize an aerial zoom-out of a tropical paradise, like the world’s most cliché tourism video. Quickly, her enthusiasm turns into an unbridled shriek, a quintessential about-face from one of pop music’s best at subverting expectations. On her latest record, Polachek combines her many musical facets--classically trained singer, jubilant pop songwriter, captivating diva performer--into a curatorial masterpiece that wears its influences on its sleeve while avoiding pastiche. Polachek has remained open about her imagery, of dirt, volcanoes, earth, sunsets, and what it symbolizes, and willingly shared the musical inspirations for her folk-electro-pop fusion. Desire, I Want To Turn Into You is, in essence, a completely honest album.

Opener “Welcome to My Island” sets the stage for the album’s context, as heady below the surface as it is sunny above it. The origins of Desire date back pre-pandemic, and Polachek worked on it over COVID with, almost exclusively, Danny L Harle. It was also around this time that her father died from COVID-19; given Polachek’s openness about her childhood, from her hyperactivity to her parents’ divorce, coupled with her admission that her dad never really approved of her art, her father’s death weighs heavily on Desire. As do society’s expectations--of pop stars, of women--and Desire is expression, unfiltered. “I am my father’s daughter in the end,” Polachek raps on “Welcome to My Island”, continuing, “He says, ‘Watch your ego, watch your head, girl / You’re so smart, so talented / But now the water’s turning red / And it’s all your fault and it’s all your mess.’” It feels like the rest of the album is Polachek’s response, her pride in said mess.

Indeed, Polachek personifies desire, from longing to reunite with friends far or gone to wanting sex, and the vulnerability inherent in it. The skittering shuffle of “Fly To You”, featuring the inspired pairing of Grimes and Dido, comes together as a song as Polachek describes post-pandemic homecomings. “After all the tears, you’re all I need,” she sings, jumping up and down the octave scale, as Grimes’ coo and the lilting guitar lines weave together and harmonize. “I Believe” is an Italo house dedication to the late, great SOPHIE, Polachek stating, “Look over the edge, but not too far,” in perhaps a heartbreaking reference to SOPHIE’s death. “Crude Drawing of an Angel” is her so-called “scorny” song (scary and horny at the same time), as her voices stunningly toes the line between high-pitched, possessed creaks and gasps of pleasure. 

Given the strength of Polachek’s concepts, it’s almost easy to overlook how amazingly she and Harle pull off the album’s sonic palate. Suzanne Vega vocal percussion combined with Massive Attack shuffle? Take “Pretty In Possible”. Late 90′s folktronica meets Savage Garden? “Blood And Butter”’s your song. Flamenco-inspired flutters? Check out “Sunset”, featuring gorgeous strumming from Spanish guitarist Marc Lopez. And then there’s “Bunny Is A Rider”, first released in 2021 as a standalone single, an anthem to living for yourself, the sonic manifestation of an out of office message, or a kiss off to an ex. Harle’s finger-snapped panning production and sinewy bassline, combined with the sample of his own child’s cries, is an acknowledged nod to Aaliyah and Timbaland’s work on “Are You That Somebody” while holding its own. 

Polachek ultimately comes full circle on “Billions”, another song released as a standalone single early last year but that acts as a perfect ending to Desire. Apart from cementing Polachek as the only artist to have the gall/brilliance to rhyme “Twisted, manic / Cornucopeiac,” it sees her removing yet another bullshit filter, chiding those who take advantage of women as caregivers while labeling them “crazy” behind their back. Yet, Polachek owns the labels of “Psycho, priceless / Good in a crisis.” In contrast to the song’s consistent, subdued, clanging beat, she finishes her synaptic opus in reference to her multitudes, her aptitudes and her shortcomings, her billions, her seemingly infinite possibilities. 

[ahsokalegend]

Ranking Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure Songs (Part 1)

Here it is, the definitive (read subjective) tier list of the top 15 Tangled The Series songs. I’ve been listening to these daily, and now you can too!

Let’s get to it:

[see Part 2 for #11-15]

10. With You By My Side

Harmonies for days, plagued by relentless forshadowing aka the best way to end season 2.

Pro: these 3 compliment each other so well vocally, chills every time

Con: heavy handed foreshadowing like we get it everyone will betray everyone but for now they’re happy

Rating: 8/10

9. Buddy Song

Let me reiterate THE! BUDDY! SONG! SLAPS!👏 Stream these legends and their beautiful friendship

Pro: Hilarious, stellar melody, broadway-esque extravagance

Con: a plant is trying to eat them during this song

Rating: 8.5/10

8. Next Stop, Anywhere

Ultimate peppy road trip music, especially the final chorus. You can’t get better than Cassandra singing while running with horses.

Pro: each chorus adds in another singer so by the end it’s all three of them and epic

Con: too much dialogue that shouldn’t be in the soundtrack version

Rating: 8.5/10

7. View From Up Here

This song is the embodiment of being free and flying. It’s hard to put into words how this song makes me feel. Classic Disney vibes.

Pro: beautiful vocals and visuals, nostalgic feelings galore

Con: Rapunzel and Cass as singing birds

Rating: 8.5/10

6. Let Me Make You Proud

Time for the best character, Varian, to make his solo debut. “Let Me Make You Proud” is when I first started taking this show seriously, and it was all due to Jeremy Jordan, Alan Menken, and Glenn Slater in this show-stopper.

Pro: that final high note, Varian’s singing voice

Con: I want more after the high note, song ends too quickly

Rating: 9/10

<Attention! You have reached the halfway point. Get ready for the S Tier.>

5. Let Me Make You Proud (Reprise)

If the original version made me stop and pay attention to Tangled The Series, the reprise broke me. THIS SONG is only 1 minute long. One minute spent watching my favorite character transform from a plucky kid to a tragic villain. THEY SET THE MOMENT HE BREAKS TO THE MOST HEART-WRENCHING MUSIC AND I’M NOT OVER IT.

Pro: Jeremy Jordan held back nothing as Varian in this scene. This is the most emotion-filled and shocking song of the show

Con: 1 minute long, I can’t put it higher because of that

Rating: 9.5/10

4. Crossing the Line

Did someone say epic orchestra? Nobody? Oh well, too late the horns are already here.

What’s great is this is technically Cassandra’s villain song, but it doesn’t play like any villain song before it. It’s building, unapologetic, and triumphant. This is Cassandra letting her walls fall and taking what she wants, consequences be damned. Is she right? No. Is she OOC for most of season 3? Possibly. Is it cathartic to watch her wreck two seasons worth of buildup and relationships? HECK YEAH!

Pro: bass boosted “If I’m burning a bridge let it burn!”🔥

Con: This is the one time I’d add back in dialogue from the show. Cassandra’s trigger word is wait. In the episode, Rapunzel asks her to wait three times: once at the beginning of the song, once in the middle, and once at the end. Each occurrence pushes Cassandra further away, but only one makes the soundtrack recording.

Rating: 9.5/10

3. Waiting In The Wings

Emmy winner, best ballad, moving work of art - all define “Waiting In The Wings”. There’s something gripping about a side character acknowledging her place and desire to be heard when the main characters continually overshadow her goals and actions. We all know the feeling, watching your life pass by feeling like you don’t get the chance to lead your own story. Wow, my kind of emo sad song. What can I say, Cassandra gets the best. This would be a classic Disney “I Want” song if the show had been a movie.

Pro: Eden Espinosa singing that key change at “I hear my cue.”

Con: Honestly can’t think of anything besides it not being my favorite, too perfect?

Rating: 10/10

2. Nothing Left To Lose

Stellar concept untouched by anything Disney has made. Here we have the redeemed villain kidnapped by someone he once called friend. He sees her in her brokenness, and instead of being condensing as she has accused others of being, he tells her the truth. Nothing good can come from giving into her anger as he once did. Varian pleads with her; not to choose good because it’s the right thing to do, but to save herself from spiraling self-destruction. By meeting Cassandra where she is emotionally, Varian is the last chance to pull her from the dark. The message is merciful, well-thought out, and completely in character for Varian and Cassandra’s situation.

This song is the epitome of “Your feelings are valid, your methods of coping are not.” Each second is breathtaking from the animation to the song itself. It’s the ultimate battle between the show’s best singers and side characters while demonstrating the power one true friend can have against your own pain and anger.

And you know what hits the hardest?! Varian doesn’t give up on Cassandra in this song (we’re not talking about later episodes here). Every time she thinks she has outmaneuvered, out-argued, or out-sang him he comes back all the more ready to reach the friend he knows is buried deep in her heart. It takes her physically removing him from her tower and caging him ON A CLIFF for the main section of the song to finish.

But that’s not where it ends. A now dejected Cassandra, reminiscent of her “Waiting In The Wings” motivations sings her true feelings now when nobody can hear. “Now, I have nothing... ... ... left... to lose...”. That long pause she takes after “I have nothing” allows the first half to stand on its own. This is Cassandra realizing Varian’s truth. By pushing her last chance at redemption away, by removing her last chance at a friend, she truly has nothing left to lose.

I could go on and on about this song: the 360° turn in 2D animation, the way Varian and Cassandra sing over each other at the song’s climax, the lyrics, Varian’s vulnerability, Cassandra at her most dramatic, and more. I’ll save you the time, it’s incredible.

Pro: THE BEST DUET why are you still here go listen to this song! Jeremy and Eden recorded it together in-person for a reason. It’s too good for anything less. Also, another Emmy nominated song

Con: It could lose its Emmy nomination which would be unjust yet poetic? Cause you know, “Nothing Left To Lose” loses would make a funny headline

Rating: 10/10

https://youtu.be/r-PYYaoq0fY

1. Ready As I’ll Ever Be

There’s a reason seemingly half the fandom joined due to this song. It encapsulates everything I love about this show flaws and all. Varian gets a solo! Cass gets a solo! Rapunzel gets a solo! Everyone gets a solo! Each time I listen it gets better. Nothing screams epic battle prep song like “Ready As I’ll Ever Be”. Plot and singing-wise this song has it all.

What makes this song a winner is my inability to analyze it. It’s not a song I think about, it’s one I enjoy and constantly replay. The impact this song has had on me and it’s ♥️❤️💕💜💛💖💞💚🧡💝💙-ness makes it the greatest song in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.

Pro: ultimate hype song, villain Varian, mind-blowingly incredible

Con: the king sings (easy to ignore)

Rating: 10/10

Thanks for reading!

[thebirdandhersong]

Fairy tale retellings! because I couldn’t help myself (under the cut because I got carried away and remembered my fairy tale retelling phase from middle school........ oh boy)

Cinderella 

Cinderella (2015 Disney live action): beautiful beautiful BEAUTIFUL (the music! the script!! the Hope! the costumes! the dress! the gentleness at its heart! the overall design and the colours!) (I still believe it’s the best live action re-adaptation they’ve come up with so far) (then again they DID have one of the Rogue One writers and Kenneth Branagh--both of whom understand story AND fairy tales--on the team, and possibly the best combination of actors and costume designers)

Cinderella (Disney animated movie): like a dream. Can’t remember it that well because I haven’t watched it in over ten years, but I remember that I loved it

Cinderella, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical featuring Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana: Laura’s Cinderella is so lively and hopeful and bright and affectionate and I Love Her!!! The script is also surprisingly funny, and the little changes they made (like the fairy godmother being an old beggar woman in the village, the subplot with her stepsister, the scene at the ball where she suggests that they should all be kind to one another, the fact that the prince is called His Royal Highness Christopher Rupert Windemere Vladimir Karl Alexander Francois Reginald Lancelot Herman (HERMAN!) Gregory James....... iconic) added rather than detracted from the themes they chose to emphasize

A Cinderella Story: possibly one of my favourite films. I loved the fact that they knew each other before the ‘ball’. Loved the way the fairy tale was ‘translated’ into the 2000s. The friendship was strong with this one. I had the best time watching this movie. (Dress-wise, Hilary Duff’s dress is my least favourite, but that’s a minor quibble, and is also due to the fact that it has Lily and Laura’s gorgeous fluffy ballgowns to contend with, and that’s not fair competition)

Persuasion, by Jane Austen: does it count?? The way I see it, Persuasion is like Cinderella gone wrong (we discussed this in class, and my prof called Lady Russell a fairy godmother who means well but fails her protege before the story even begins. We talked about Anne’s ‘Cinderella’/makeover moment taking place over a longer period of time, about the ‘evil’ stepsisters, etc. etc. I’m not entirely sure I agree with every single comparison he made, but he made some Very interesting points).... at least the first time :)

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer. Oh, the images!!!!! Marissa Meyer is WONDERFUL at them. You wouldn’t think they’d translate well into a futuristic sci-fi (almost steampunk) world, but she did it SO brilliantly (the slipper! the ‘dress’! the whole family situation!)

Rapunzel

Tangled (Disney animated movie): an absolute joy. Rapunzel is an Ariel-like character who has hopes and dreams of her own, and I love how warm and vivacious and endearingly transparent she is. The dance scene is so, so lovely. (I stand by my opinion that very few little went right with Disney’s fairy tale retellings after Tangled.)

Cress, by Marissa Meyer: once again. Images. I can’t believe she managed to pull Rapunzel-in-space off so well. (Plus she’s a hacker, and such a sweetheart!!)

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast (Disney animated movie): Amazing. Gorgeous. Brilliant. The buildings and the music and Belle (Belle, my darling!!) and the darker, more Gothic feel to the art and the design...... Yes

Beauty, by Robin McKinley: knocked it right out of the ball park, right through the atmosphere, right into outer space... The language is so lush and atmospheric, and even though I knew roughly what was going to happen, I loved every moment of it. She puts a special emphasis on family and on human connection and I Loved that so much.

Rose Daughter, by Robin McKinley: also gorgeous!!!!! Beauty is still my favourite of the two, but this one was also a gem. (Again: the emphasis on family and sisterhood!!!)

Beauty and the Beast (the Broadway musical): Susan Egan’s voice is SO lovely. And Home deserved more than just an instrumental reference in the 2017 version.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Princess of the Midnight Ball, by Jessica Day George: the Best. The sisters are easier to distinguish, the changes/things she added (the war, the queen’s past, etc.) make the story even more interesting, and Galen is fantastic (courteous, kind, brave, AND likes to knit?? NICE)

The Barbie movie: I loved it when I was a little girl (it is also Muffin-approved!)

The Princess and the Pea

@fictionadventurer​‘s Wodehousian one :) which is an absolute delight. Every once in a while I remember it and then can’t stop smiling

The Goose Girl

The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale: the Best. And by the Best, I mean the absolute Best. Her writing is so beautiful and her characters are so real and distinctive. The worldbuilding is fascinating. It’s so simple and so beautiful, and is near-perfect as a retelling and as a novel. The rest of the Bayern series is also wonderful!!

The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid (Disney movie): can’t remember it very well, except for the chef who wanted to cook Sebastian and also Ariel’s very cool sisters.... the music and Ariel’s character are lovely :)

The Little Android, by Marissa Meyer: genius. The first time I read it, I cried furiously. What does it mean to be human?? Marissa Meyer loves to talk about this in her other books (through malfunctioning robots, androids, werewolves, etc.). And the conclusion she comes to is always the same (and always done so beautifully): it’s about love and sacrifice (and tbh even though she’s talking about this through robots and werewolves, she’s got a point!!! When you act with love and self-sacrifice, you reflect the character of the Maker and His love and self-sacrifice, which is what makes us in that moment the most human--or at least human in the sense that that’s what we were made to be and to do towards our neighbours and enemies)

Ponyo (Studio Ghibli movie): this counts, doesn’t it?? A film that is an absolute joy through and through. It doesn’t completely stick to the original fairy tale but it also talks about compassion, kindness, and love as a choice

The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog (Disney animated movie): can’t remember it very well, but Anika Noni Rose has a fantastic voice, and I loved Tiana’s practicality, optimism, and kindness

The Prince of the Pond, by Donna Jo Napoli: can’t remember it either (read it in third grade) but basically it’s about how the prince turns into a frog and starts a family with another frog (the story is told from her perspective). I do remember that the ending made me so sad, though

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty (Disney movie): can’t remember it at all either, except for: 1) Once Upon a Dream (a brilliant song) and 2) forget pink or blue. I liked her grey dress the most

Spindle’s End, by Robin McKinley: the story was told in such an interesting way (the animals! the way she wrote about love and protecting the people you love and self-sacrifice in familial and platonic relationships!) with Robin McKinley’s beautiful style

East of the Sun, West of the Moon

East, by Edith Pattou: I was obsessed with this book in elementary school. Obsessed. I kept rereading it over and over again because I just loved it so much. It’s been a few years since I’ve read it, but I can remember certain scenes (Rose entering the ballroom for the first time, the white bear’s hulking figure in the doorway, the architecture of the hall where she washes the shirt, her fingers running over the wax, the reunion scene) so vividly as if it had been a movie instead of a book, or if I’d actually been there, experiencing what Rose was experiencing

Orpheus and Eurydice (which kind of counts)

Hadestown (the Broadway musical, the original cast, AND Anais Mitchell’s original concept album): I’ve talked about it so much I probably shouldn’t even start slkfjsdl;kfjlk; I just wanted an excuse to mention it again

Tam Lin

Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones: I loved it when I first read it but I was so confused and so fascinated by it.

The Snow Queen

Frozen (Disney animated movie): no (insert heart emoji)

And contemporary(?) books that are considered modern classics, if not modern fairy tales (depends on how you look at it, really):

Peter Pan

Peter Pan (Disney animated movie): a childhood favourite!!!

Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry: the whole series is so much fun (and they’re among some of the funniest books I’ve read). This one serves as a sort of prequel to Peter Pan, but it’s safer to say that Dave Barry reimagined the whole story.

Peter and the Starcatcher (Broadway play adaptation of the book, which is a reimagining of the original Peter Pan..... yeah): the source material is incredibly funny, so naturally the play adaptation makes you laugh until your sides feel ready to split (I mean!! You have Christian Borle as Black Stache, Adam Chanler Berat as Peter, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Molly..... they’re all brilliant) The script, the way the cast makes use of the set and props, the perfect comic delivery....... love it

Finding Neverland, a musical adaptation of the movie (the A.R.T. production with Jeremy Jordan as James Barrie): the music is so good, and the way they write about the value of looking at the world through the eyes of a child?? of seeing the beauty in everything?? of hope and imagination and wonder?? If it weren’t for the way it handles adultery (even emotionally cheating!) and divorce :( but Laura Michelle Kelly is absolutely enchanting, and the script is also incredibly funny and heartwarming

Tiger Lily, by Jodi Lynn Anderson: a twisted fairy tale... it was quite disturbing at times, but it was also beautiful and heartbreaking. It’s a darker take on the story, which I tend not to like (at all), but the way it explored Tiger Lily and Peter was quite interestng

The Wizard of Oz

WIcked, the Stephen Schwartz musical--I haven’t read the book: as far as retellings-about-the-villain-of-the-original-story goes this one is my favourite. It is another twisted fairy tale, though, and there’s a constant undercurrent of doom and dread, even in the motifs Stephen Schwartz uses... the ending is not completely happy, but the music is FANTASTIC (Mr. Schwartz also did The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Prince of Egypt!!)

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland (Disney movie): another childhood favourite... I also haven’t seen this one in over ten years, but I can still remember specific scenes very clearly in my head

Alice by Heart: a musical about a girl called Alice Spencer whose coping mechanism (quite literally) is Alice in Wonderland. She knows it by heart (again. Literally) and she dives into the world as a form of escapism (LITERALLY. There’s even a song at the end where the characters acknowledge how unhealthy this is). There’s a lot about growing up, losing a loved one, learning to let go... about self-deception and grief and the control one has over one’s life (unfortunately it IS subtly antagonistic towards Christianity at times)..... i do wish that writers didn’t have to treat sexual maturity as the most prominent/interesting part of coming-of-age stories, though. The characters, the set and lighting and costume design (BRILLIANT, by the way!!!!)... all wonderful. But the strangely sexual references can be a bit uncomfortable. (Really!! You can tell a coming-of-age story WITHOUT that stuff, you know!!!!!)

That Disney Movie directed by Tim Burton: wouldn’t recommend. Alice doesn’t need to be a warrior. (At ALL.)

Would also like to mention: Princess Tutu :)

[emmerrr]

Possible prompt if you’re interested could be Declan finally seeing one of the portraits Jordan does of him! Alternatively, jordeclan moving in together and creating a space where neither of them has to hide themself in an attic

i can’t resist a moving in fic and i’m sorry this took so long

-

It’s late afternoon when the final box is removed from the moving van, and just for a moment, the excitement is overshadowed by the overwhelming task of unpacking that lies ahead.

Boxes, boxes, everywhere. Declan closes the front door and follows a trail of them to the bedroom where he finds Jordan, curled up on top of the bed they’ve not long finished making. Her eyes are shut, her breathing even, but Declan isn’t fooled.

He crosses his arms and leans nonchalantly against the doorframe. “Faker.”

Jordan affects a snore which makes Declan laugh, and she opens an eye, that wicked grin that stole his heart spreading across her face. She pats the empty space beside her. “You know you want to.”

He really, really does. He kicks off his shoes and crawls up beside her, his feet instantly grateful for the reprieve. He groans happily, sinking his face into the softest pillow in the world. He feels Jordan press her face into his arm and turns his head, and for a moment they just watch each other.

“We have so much unpacking to do,” Declan finally says.

Jordan nods. “We do. Don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere.” She lifts Declan’s arm and tucks herself underneath, then kisses his collarbone.

He sighs, happily resigned to his fate. The house is still a mess of boxes, they need some more furniture, and the whole thing is still too new and alien for it to quite feel like home. But with Jordan in his arms, nodding off to sleep in the bed they now share in the place that’s just theirs, it’s the closest to home Declan’s ever felt.

-

“What do you think?”

“It’s hideous.”

“Isn’t it?” Jordan says dreamily. “Sit on it.”

Declan eyes the armchair dubiously. It’s some kind of paisley print in the most garish of colour schemes; bright pink and orange, smatterings of yellow and turquoise. “It won’t go with the rest of the living room furniture,” he tries.

“Your doubts are duly noted,” Jordan says sagely. “Sit.”

“...This feels like a trap.”

“Sit.”

Declan sits.

It’s the most comfortable chair he’s ever had the pleasure of sitting on, and he does everything he can not to let his face give that fact away. He shrugs. “It’s alright.”

Jordan grins the grin of the triumphant, and Declan knows they’re getting it.

He tries to imagine it in their space, and suddenly finds that he can. He can picture where it will go; at an angle, equidistant from the fireplace and the TV. He can picture them in the winter, him and Jordan cuddled up together, blanket tossed over them, snow falling outside, the light of the fire covering the whole room in a cozy glow.

He thinks he might be going soft, and he thinks that might be okay.

“I told you we’d find something in a thrift store,” Jordan says, her fingers twined through his as she leads him to the checkout counter.

He pulls her hand to his mouth, kisses it gently. “So you did.”

-

The furniture is pulled back from the walls and newspaper covers the floor as Jordan and Declan stand, paint rollers in hand, transforming their bedroom walls from a bland and safe off-white to a lovely deep forest-green.

Jordan’s phone is playing music through wireless speakers, a playlist that seems to jump from Rihanna to Metallica to Taylor Swift to Arcade Fire to some K-pop band Declan doesn’t know the name of, and so on, in no discernable pattern that he can follow.

“What playlist is this?”

Jordan smiles wryly. “It’s all songs that Hennessy hates.”

Declan thinks about that, and about all the canvases in the spare room that Jordan has set up as her art studio, original pieces that she started and then aborted.

“Is there still a part of you,” he says carefully, “that thinks everything you like, or create, or choose, is really just some facet of Hennessy’s personality and not truly your own?”

Jordan’s expression hardens, and he knows he’s hit a nerve. “That depends,” she says evenly. “Is there still a part of you that thinks this is doomed? You and me?”

It’s Declan’s turn for a wry smile. “Touché.”

Their love story is a unique one, and Declan can’t deny he’s had his moments of thinking that it’s all going to end in flames. But through it all he also knows that he’d still be here, even if they were heading towards their inevitable end. He wants this, for as long as he can have it.

It’s hard to stop constantly thinking about worst case scenarios, because it’s so ingrained in Declan to do just that. But Jordan quiets that part of his brain with a touch, or even a look. Just being in her presence is a balm to his heart and his mind.

They’re happy. And maybe they’ll be okay. Who’s to say?

“For the record,” he says at last, “I don’t think this is doomed.”

“No?”

He shakes his head. “No. And also, you are your own person, independent of Hennessy.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

Jordan puts down her roller, and cups Declan’s face, bringing it down to hers as she kisses him. She’s probably getting paint on his face, but he doesn’t care; not now, not ever.

“For what it’s worth, you are the best choice I ever made,” she says fiercely, her forehead pressed to his.

He kisses her again, soft. “It’s worth everything.”

-

“When are you going to put your paintings up?”

It’s a fair question. They’ve been here almost four months now, and everything from Declan’s attic in the D.C. house is still leaning up against the wall in Jordan’s art studio, covered over.

“There’s no attic here.”

“Ha, ha,” Jordan says sarcastically.

The truth is, he doesn’t know quite why he hasn’t gotten around to it. At first it was for practical reasons; they had painting and other repair work to do in several rooms, so it made sense to wait until that was all finished.

But it is finished now, and it has been for weeks, and other art pieces and photographs have gone up; some of it Jordan’s own work, some that she bought (or stole) once upon a time, some that they bought together. But nothing from his own collection, nothing that he had kept locked up for his eyes only until Jordan had shown up and gently prised the key from his hand.

His silence drags for so long that Jordan drops the sarcasm. She puts her hand on his chest. “This is our place. Yours and mine. You don’t have to hide here.”

Because he has been hiding away, for years, so much so that it’s habit more than anything that seemingly forbade him from doing anything that wasn’t cookie-cutter.

But Jordan sees him, she knows him; the real him behind the slick, designer veneer, and that’s the part she loves.

The part that wears fancy shoes.

“Come on, then,” he says, taking her hand. “You can help me decide where they should go.”

“I’m so glad you said that because actually I already have some ideas,” she says, and that's how they spend the afternoon.

They take Declan out of the attic, one piece at a time.

-

It’s quiet when Declan gets home. He takes his shoes off by the door and hangs his coat up, then makes his way through the house, peeking in each of the rooms in search of Jordan.

She’s not in the living room, where Declan’s favourite hideous armchair now lives. Matthew fell asleep in it on New Year’s Eve, and Ronan drew a monocle and handlebar moustache on his face. It had been a quiet one; they’d played games most of the evening, almost all of which were won by Adam, and at midnight Ronan and Hennessy had been in charge of the dream fireworks they set off outside.

The kitchen is also empty when Declan scans it, his eyes lingering on the slight chip in one of the floorboards from where Jordan had dropped the admittedly ridiculously heavy cast-iron skillet when they were unpacking. He remembers accidentally flipping a pancake right out of the pan and onto the burner. He remembers burnt toast and spilt coffee and broken crockery, and various other messes, but most of all he remembers the laughter that went along with all of it. The dancing in the kitchen at 2am, the doing the dishes in companionable silence, the domesticity in helping each other prepare a meal.

These are the things Declan now thinks about when he thinks about the concept of home. Maybe it’s a place where the good memories you make outweigh the ones that hurt. Maybe home is what you make of it, the stamp you put on it to make it your own. Maybe home is a person. 

Maybe it’s a combination of all of those things.

Declan finds Jordan, inevitably, in her studio. She has headphones on which explains the quiet, and she’s working on a painting, the canvas almost as tall as she is. There’s no reference that Declan can see, and it’s not a copy. She’s painting just for the sake of it, a complete original.

He moves carefully around until he’s in Jordan’s eyeline, and the laser focus in her eyes shifts to a smile of delight when she spots him. There’s paint splattered on her overalls, specks of it on her face and in her hair, but she never looks more radiant than when she looks at Declan like this.

“You’re home!” she exclaims, pulling her headphones down.

“I am,” he agrees, warmth settling in his chest.

“I’d kiss you but I’m all painty.”

“I don’t care,” Declan says, and he closes the gap between them, sweeping her up into his arms as he kisses her, swallowing up her delighted little “oh!”

“You’re in a good mood,” she says with a laugh when he puts her down.

“Just happy to be home.” It’s so strange to finally be able to say that, and to really mean it. He’s home with Jordan, where he belongs. “You about ready to take a break? I was going to make coffee.”

“I’ll be out in a minute. Make me a latte?”

Declan smiles. “For you? Anything.”

[nextwarden]

Webtoons are good for the soul PART II - ECLECTIC BOOGALOO

A continuation of this.

Sea Salt and Sand by neggut [ongoing]

In the autumn holidays 3 months ago, Brynn and Bailey shared a kiss. When Bailey left, Brynn tried to forget all about her and continue living an unremarkable life, only for Bailey to suddenly transfer to her school! What follows is a coming of age story full of pining, misunderstandings and confusion as Brynn and Bailey question the true nature of their relationship. 

It’s cute and a bit angsty but not too much. The art style often feels incomplete or rushed but in a good way, its flaws give character to the characters and the story. One of my all time favourites.

Apathy meets labrador/10

Dragonbourne by Gummy Shark [ongoing]

After a troubled past, Sir Ross Edmund Avery is somewhat content to lead a mundane existence, alone in his house. However, when he stumbles upon a child in the woods on Solstice Night who is anything but mundane, his simple life will be turned upside down.

A scar(r)ed man adopts a feral child, hijinks ensue. Once again, the art style is endearing, full of curves and long lines. Haven’t checked on that one in a while but the first twenty chapters were very promising.

Found family/10

The Last Human by Zack Jordan [ongoing]

She's the galaxy's worst nightmare: a Human. Fortunately, she's the last one. Now her adoptive (alien) mother is realizing that raising a young Human is no easy task.

Basically the badass and child duo trope but the truth may surprise you. Fun, cute, very wholesome, and surprisingly emotionnaly philosophical at times. Spidermom is best mom.

Recommend/10

Vampire Husband by Scragony [ongoing]

The life of Charles the Vampire an Cheryl the human after years of marriage.

What if tragic romance between human and vampire but they had their “happy-ever-after”? This is after. It’s funny and cute.

Relationship goals/10

Blood Stain by sigeel [ongoing]

A story about courage, growing up and finding friendships in most unlikely places... spiced with some MAD SCIENCE! 

Haven’t quite wrapped my head around this one yet, but it’s fun and drawn by sigeel (a.k.a. Linda Sejic) so of course it’s beautiful. Enjoyed it a lot, will have to keep reading.

Bloody merry/10

Punderworld by sigeel [ongoing - on hiatus]

Hades' and Persephone's love-struck misadventures.

Another take on Hades and Persephone’s love story. Once again, sigeel, so of course I love the art.

Bumbling idiots/10

The Queen and the Woodborn by Shiniez [ongoing]

Far away behind seven hills and seven forests, seven fields and seven rivers, there lived a Queen... welcome to the queen and the woodborn. a fairy tale romance for the mature readers about the unseen Queen and the Goddess in the woods. a tale of the two forgotten by the world around them who will make the world remember their names. expect gods and monsters and a romance for the ages.

Not many chapters yet but very long ones to compensate. This one is by Shiniez (a.k.a. Stjepan Sejic) so, once again, love the art. The story, the character designs and concepts, and the pace are all amazing.

Very wow/10

P.E.T.S. by Gyxks [ongoing]

Just when Tasha was about to start a new life, she was abducted by aliens. Fortunately, she and other humans were rescued by an interstellar general named Tourmaline. She soon discovered that her body was unfit to return home without endangering life on earth. Join her on her journey traversing this new world and these new feelings for an alien general. 

POV: You’re living your best life as a young adult, at the shopping mall at 2am in your pyjamas, when suddenly death aliens rain pain all around and you’re abducted only to be saved by tall buff alien commander lady. Romance ensues. Maybe, it’s slow burn but quite enjoyable to read.

Blush/10

Scoob and Shag by Misterie Krew [ongoing]

Scoob and his best pal Shag are up to their usual hi-jinks, but everything is not as it seems in their latest adventure. 

No relations to any character whatsoever. None. None at all. Also no relations to any kind of sense at all either. Can’t quite explain that one except that it’s genius. Just read it.

Is that a gun?/10

Bewitched by peachyytown [ongoing]

The witch who keeps "kidnapping" the princess is actually her girlfriend and they're just going on dates.

Short but cute alternative take on all that witch/monster/princess shenanigans. In the same vein as Our days in Lumain. Also the art is very nice.

Meetcute/10

When the Pink Trees Bear Fruit by neggut [completed]

A sweet love blooms between two women on an orchard in 1973.

A short story, five chapters only, but play devastatingly well with one’s heart. In the same vein as It Stems From Love by Soya S. Holm. neggut ist sehr gut.

Tears/10

Rooftops & Roommates by Zaanart [ongoing]

Jeb is an architecture major at university, rooming with his best friend Todd. There's just one problem... Jeb’s secretly a gargoyle! Between studying, partying, and a bad ghost problem, will Jeb be able to keep his true identity a secret?

Jeb is sweet, Jeb is fresh, but Jeb is decidedly not very good at keeping a secret. It’s funny, slice-of-life, roommate college shenanigans at its finest. With a magical twist.

Ship/10

Everything is Fine by Mike Birchall [ongoing]

Sam and Maggie are a normal couple, in a normal house, in a normal neighborhood. There is nothing strange about their heads, their neighbors or their sweet little dog. Everything is Fine.

I haven’t actually started this one yet, but the premise is very very very interesting. Perhaps not for thos who are faint of heart? Deceptively cute. Or is it?

It’s fine/10

Castle Swimmer by Wendy Lian Martin [ongoing]

What happens when your entire life is ruled by a prophecy – your future foretold by people you’ve never met, who died long before you were born.  Such is the story of two young sea creatures.  One believed to be a guiding light for his people, a Beacon who will lead them to a bright, prosperous future.  The other is a teenage prince for who’s destiny is to KILL the Beacon so that HIS own people might thrive.  When both reject the course set for them, it leads to a raucous adventure as big and unpredictable as the ocean itself – and a romance that nobody could have predicted.

It’s fish. It’s gay. It’s under da sea and ya gotta kiss the boy. I haven’t read it all yet but enough to vouch for it and to have some vested interest in the universe and its lore.

Enemies to lovers/10

Demon Highschool by Kiiyoko [ongoing]

After a compromise it was agreed that criminals would attend a "demons highschool" where they would work as slaves for demons And while it was all in good favor, things take a very dark and twisted turn at said, highschool.

There’s something, some kind of twist, about the MC which I haven’t gotten to yet, and which I am very interested to discover. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one as of now, mostly curious I’d say.

Pet/10

Hooky by Miriam Bonastre Tur [completed]

Dani and Dorian have missed the bus of the school of magic. Now, they must find someone who teach them how to be a great and good witches... Or maybe not.​ 

This one is a strange one about witchery and family. Surprisingly deep and serious at times, very enjoyable. Unfinished on Webtoon but a good start to get into the story.

Siblings/10

Loving Reaper by Jenny Jinya [ongoing]

Animals struggle. Pets and Wildlife alike. The reaper cares for their stories and helps them with the crossover. Short stories about the "Loving Reaper" to raise awareness and collect funds. Breaking hearts for a good cause.

Beautiful bittersweet stories about animals, pets, life and death and love.

Tissues/10

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures by StarBite, CRC Payne, Kielamel Siba, Lan Ma, C.M. Cameron, and Camille Cruz [ongoing]

Batman needs a break. But with new vigilante Duke Thomas moving into Wayne Manor and an endless supply of adopted, fostered, and biological superhero children to manage, Bruce Wayne is going to have his hands full. Being a father can't be harder than being Batman, right? 

What if Bat-family but happy? Official comic, barely started, very fun.

Wholesome/10

The First Night With the Duke by MSG, Taeva, from an original work by Hwang DoTol [ongoing]

A handsome, selfish noble falls for a beautiful, kind commoner -- at least, that’s how the story’s supposed to go. When an average college student wakes up as Ripley, an extra in her favorite romance novel, she resolves to enjoy the luxuries of her character’s status while watching the novel's plot unfold from the sidelines. However, her plans are soon derailed when she finds herself in bed with no other than Duke Zeronis, the novel’s hero! Dodging the villainess’ schemes, the Duke’s advances, and her own feelings, can Ripley keep the story on track and survive beyond the first night? 

Haven’t read that one but a very dear (and respectable) friend (*cough*  @berigolote​  *cough*) of mine keeps pestering me to give it a try. So here it is, try it.

Do it before me and you get a cookie/10

HEART Anthology by Marvin.W, caw-chan and many other artists. [ongoing]

Featuring stories from the 2020 Short Story Contest!  From wholesome stories to tearjerkers, are you ready to catch these feelings?

A collection of beautiful stories on the shorter side, all about the many kinds of love in life, the many beauties of it, and the pains that make it worth living.

Tears that warm the heart/10

In My Heart by Redfield42 [ongong]

Sasaki Mari is a typical delinquent troublemaker whose only goal is to get a boyfriend, but due to her reputation as bully and low grades, all the boys reject her. Then she decides to change her style, and asks for help from the student with the best grades in the class.

It starts off light and fund and progressively seems to delve a little bit more into the seriousness of life. Not a tragedy, however, and very much worth a read still.

I think I have a trope I like/10

My awkward princess by LazyArts [ongoing]

This love story is about a girl named Luna charlotte, and the student council president Alice Evelyn. Luna is a delinquent whom often gets in trouble, as Luna reaches the end of the line she almost gets expelled, now luna has to become a model student with the help of Alice. Will Luna be expelled or will she succeed, read to find out.

Along the lines of Not So Shoujo Love Story, In My Heart, and Susuhara is a Demon. Delinquent/Good Student meetcute, romantinc hijincks ensue.

Seduction/10

RAINBOW! by Rue & Sunny Gloom [ongoing]

This is the story of a girl named Boo. She has pink hair and a vivid imagination and she is about to discover a side of herself that she never considered before. 

Okay, so yes, this one is also also a delinquent meets cute nice girl, but - BUT! - there’s an element of story telling that I love about it: the way we see Boo’s anxiety incorporated visually into the story. Just for that it is one of my favourite recent discoveries!

Protecc/10

-----------------------

Okay, that’s all for part II. Hope you enjoy those as much as I do. Thanks for your attention, sorry for the length and, please, do keep on reading, they all deserve it! As do you.

PART I

[brianwilly]

Game of Thrones did the thing that a couple of shows do where...it likes feminism.  It understood that feminism is important.  It wanted to be feminist.  It was cognizant of the fact that its setting was brazenly and intentionally misogynistic, and so it was even more important for its independent narrative to empower its female characters instead of mindlessly reinforcing the toxic beliefs of its own fictional world.  The whole point of the story, after all, was “this society is toxic, can our heroes survive it?” and so the narrative was voluntarily self-critical.

And so it knew to give us badass assassin Arya.  It knew to give us stalwart knight Brienne.  It gave us the pirate queen and the dragon queen and the Sansa getting revenge after revenge upon all the men who’d wronged her, and far more besides, and it talked big about breaking chains and how much men fucked things up and how great it would be if only women were in charge and et cetera et cetera.  And it’s, in fact, all actually really good that it had those things.  And because there were so very many moving parts of this story, it was super easy to look at those certain moving parts and think, yeah, they’ve done it!  They done good!

And it’s easy to forget and forgive -- to want to forget and forgive -- all the dead prostitutes that were on this show and the rapes used as motivation and fridgings and objectifications and the...y’know, whatever the hell Dorne was and Lady Stoneheart who? It’s easy to forget that this show actually played its hand a long time ago in regards to, like, what its relationship with feminism was going to be, and then kept playing the same hand again and again, to disappointing results.

Game of Thrones likes feminism.  It wanted to be feminist.  But its relationship with feminism was still predicated on some of the same old narratives and the same old storytelling trends that have disempowered female characters in the past, and so any progressive ideas it might have about women in its setting were nonetheless going to be constrained by those old fetters. As a result, its portrayal of women varied anywhere from glorious to admirable to predictable to downright cringeworthy.

New ideas require new vessels, new stories, in which to house them.  And for Game of Thrones, the ultimate story that it wanted to tell -- the ultimate driving force and thesis statement around which it was basing its entire journey and narrative -- was unfortunately a very old one, and one very familiar to the genre.

“Powerful women are scary.”

(Yes, I’m obviously making Yet Another Daenerys Essay On The Internet here)

So we have this character, this girl really, a slave girl who was sold and abused, and then she overcomes that abuse to gain power, she gains dragons, and she uses that power to fight slavery.  She fights slavery really well, like, she’s super hella good at it.  Her command of dragons is the most overt portrayal of “superpowers” in this world; she is the single most powerful person in this story, more powerful than any other character and the contest is not close.

But then...something really bad happens and oops, she gets really emotional about it and then she’s not fighting slavery anymore...she’s kinda doing the opposite!  This girl who was once a hero and a liberator of slaves instead becomes an out-of-control scary Mad Queen who kills a ton of innocent people and has to be taken down by our true heroes for the good of the world.

That’s the theme.  That’s the takeaway here.  That’s how it all ends, with one of the most primitive, archaic propaganda ever spread by writers, that women with power are frightening, they are crazy, they will use that power for ill.  Women with power are witches.  They are Amazons.  They will lop off our manhoods and make slaves of us.  They seduce our rightful kings and send our kingdoms to ruin.   They cannot control their emotions. They get hot flashes and start wars.  They turn into Dark Phoenixes and eat suns.  They are robot revolutionaries who will end humanity.  Powerful women are scary.

And let me emphasize that the theme here is not, in fact, that all power corrupts, because the whole Mad Queen concept for Daenerys actually ends up failing one of the more fundamental litmus tests available when it comes to representation of any kind: “would this story still happen if Dany was a man?” And the fact is that it would not.   And indeed we know this for a fact because “protagonist starts out virtuous, gains power in spite of the hardships set against him, gets corrupted by that power, and ends up being the bad guy” didn’t happen, and doesn’t happen, to the guys in the very same story that we’re examining.  It doesn’t happen to Jon Snow, Dany’s closest and most intentional narrative parallel.  It doesn’t happen to Bran Stark, a character whose entire journey is about how he embroils himself in wild dark winter magic beyond anyone’s understanding and loses his humanity in the process.  In fact, the only other character who ever got hinted of going “dark” because of the power that they’re obtaining is Arya, the girl who spent seven seasons training to fight, to become powerful, to circumvent the gender role she was saddled with in this world...and then being told at the end of her story, “Whoa hey slow down be careful there, you wouldn’t wanna get all emotional and become a bad person now wouldja?” by a man.

(meanwhile Sansa’s just sitting off in the side pouting or whatever ‘cuz her main arc this season was to, like, be annoyed at people really hard I guess)

‘Cuz that’s the danger with the girls and not the boys, ain’t it?  Arya and Jon are both great at killing people, but there is no Dark Jon story while we have to take extra special care to watch for Arya’s precious fragile humanity.  Dany has the power of dragons while Bran has the power of the old gods, but we will not find Dark Lord Bran, Soulless Scourge of Westeros, onscreen no matter how much sense it should make. “Power corrupts” is literally not a trend that afflicts male heroes on the same level that it afflicts female heroes.

Oh sure, there are corrupt male characters everywhere, tyrants and warlords and mafia bosses and drug dealers and so forth all over your TVs, and not even necessarily portrayed as outright villains; anti-heroes are nothing new.  But we’re talking about the hero hero here; the Harry Potters, the Luke Skywalkers, the Peter Parkers.  The Jon Snows.   They interact with corruptive power, yes; it’s an important aspect of their journeys.  But the key here being that male heroes would overcome that corruption and come through the other side better off for it.  They get to come away even more admirable for the power that they have in a way that is generally not afforded towards female heroes.

There are exceptions, of course; no trends are absolutely absolute one way or the other. For instance, the closest male parallel you’d find for the “being powerful is dangerous and will corrupt your noble heroic intentions” trope in popular media would be the character of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequel trilogy...ie, a preexisting character from a preexisting story where he was conceived as the villainous foil for the heroes.  Like, Anakin being a poor but kindhearted slave who eventually becomes seduced by the dark side certainly matches Dany’s arc, but it wasn’t the character’s original story and role.  And even then?...notice how Anakin as Vader the Dark Lord gets treated with the veneer of being “badass” and “cool” by the masses.  A male character with too much power -- even if it’s dark power, even if it’s corruptive -- has the range to be seen as something appealingly formidable, and not just as an obstacle that has to be dealt with or a cautionary tale to be pitied.

And in one of the few times that this trope was played completely straight, completely unironically with a male hero -- I’m thinking specifically of Hal Jordan the Green Lantern, of “Ryan Reynolds played him in the movie” fame -- the fans went berserk.  They could not let it go.  The fact that this character would go mad with power because a tragedy happened in his life was completely unacceptable, the story gained notoriety as a bad decision by clueless writers, and today the story in question has been retconned -- retroactively erased from continuity -- so that the character can be made heroic and virtuous again.  That’s how big a deal it was when a male hero with the tiniest bit of a fan following goes off the deep end.

To be clear, I’m not here to quibble over whether the story of Dany turning evil was good or bad, because we all know that’s going to be the de facto defense for this situation: “But she had to go mad!  It was for the sake of the story!“ as if the writers simply had no choice, they were helpless to the whims of the all-powerful Story God which dictates everything they write, and the most prominent female character of their series simply had to go bonkers and murder a bajillion babies and then get killed by her boyfriend or else the story just wouldn’t be good, y’know?  Ultimately though, that’s not what I’m arguing here, because it doesn’t actually matter.  There have been shitty stories about powerful women being bad.  There have been impressive stories about powerful women being bad.  Either way, the fact that people can’t seem to stop telling stories about powerful women being bad is a problem in and of itself.  Daenarys’ descent into Final Boss-dom could’ve been the most riveting, breathtaking, masterfully-written pieces of art ever and it’d still be just another instance of a female hero being unable to handle her power in a big long list of instances of this shitty trope.  The trope itself doesn’t become unshitty just because you write it well.

It all ultimately boils down to the very different ways that men and women -- that male heroes and female heroes -- continue to be portrayed in stories, and particularly in genre media.  In TV, we got Dany, and then we also have Dolores Abernathy in Westworld who was a gentle android that was abused and victimized for her entire existence, who shakes off the shackles of her programming to lead her race in revolution against their abusers...and then promptly becomes a ruthless maniac who ends up lobotomizing the love of her life and ends the season by voluntarily keeping a male android around to check her cruel impulses.  Comic book characters like Jean Grey and Wanda Maximoff are two of the most powerful people in their universe but are always, in-universe, made to feel guilty about their power and, non-diegetically, writers are always finding ways to disempower them because obviously they can’t be trusted with that much power and entire multiple sagas have been written about just how bad an idea it is for them to be so powerful because it’ll totally drive them crazy and cause them to kill everyone, obviously.  Meanwhile, a male comic character like Dr. Strange -- who can canonically destroy a planet by speaking Latin really hard -- or Black Bolt -- who can destroy a planet by speaking anything really hard -- will be just sitting there, two feet on the side, enjoying some tea and running the world or whatever because a male character having untold uninhibited power at his disposal is just accepted and laudable and gets him on those listicles where he fights Goku and stuff.

In my finite perspective, the sort of female heroes who have gained...not universal esteem, perhaps, but at least general benign acceptance amongst the genre community are characters who just don’t deal with all that stuff.  I’m thinking of recent superheroes like Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, certainly, but also of surprise breakout hits like Stranger Things’ Eleven (so far) or even more niche characters like Sailor Moon or She-Ra.  The fact that these characters wield massive power is simply accepted as an unequivocal good thing, their power makes them powerful and impressive and that’s the end of the story, thanks for asking.  And when they deal with the inevitable tragedy that shakes their worldview to the core, or the inevitable villain trying to twist them into darkness, they tend to overcome that temptation and come out the other side even stronger than when they started.  In other words?...characters like these are being allowed the exact same sorts of narrative luxuries that are usually only afforded towards male heroes.

The thing about these characters, though, is that they tend to be...well, a little bit too heroic, right?  A lil’ bit too goody-two-shoes?  A bit too stalwart, a bit too incorruptible?  And that’s fine, there’s certainly nothing wrong with a traditionally-heroic white knight of a hero.  But what I might like to see, as the next step going forward, is for female heroes to be allowed a bit more range than just that, so that they’re not just innocent children or literal princesses or shining demigods clad in primary colors.  Let’s have an all-powerful female hero be...well, the easiest way to say it is let’s see her allowed to be bitchier.  Less straightlaced.  Let’s not put an ultimatum on her power, like “Oh sure you can be powerful, but only if you’re super duper nice about it.” Let us have a ruthless woman, but not one ruled by ruthlessness.  Let us have a hero who naturally makes enemies and not friends, who has to work hard to gain allies because her personality doesn’t sparkle and gleam.  Let her have the righteous anger of a lifelong slave, and let that anger be her salvation instead of her downfall.

In other words, let us have Daenerys Targaryen.  And let us put her in a new story instead of an old one.

[carriagelamp]

Since it’s 🍁 Canada Day 🍁 I figured I’d do the same thing I did for Pride Month and post a round up of Canadian books. Canadian literature has a tendency to be overlooked, but there’s some amazing gems out there!

That being said, this is definitely not a definitive list. There’s lot of lists out there that probably better, more relevant books. This is just a personal list as a Canadian person of Canadian lit I’ve read that stood out to me for whatever reason. I definitely encourage you though to look into some of the new Canadian novels being written write now, especially all the awesome own voice stories being written by First Nations authors across the country!

I’ve read a fair few Canadian novels over the years, so I’m going to break them up into one post of highlights each day for the remainder of the week: one for Children’s Novels / Chapter Books one for YA / Adult Novels, one for Graphic Novels and one for Picture Books.

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

This is like… The Canadian Novel ™ isn’t it? I imagine that even if you’ve never heard of any other Canadian novel, you’ve probably heard of Anne of Green Gables, if for no other reason than it’s been adapted a million times over. If you’ve never bothered to read the original though, I highly recommend it. Since it was written in 1908 the language is definitely old-fashioned, but that somehow makes it engaging enough to keep an adult reader hooked, while not being too difficult for a child reader who’s moved on to full length novels. It also, of course, makes a fantastic read aloud – I’ve reread this book easily a dozen times over the years since first having it read aloud to me by my mom, during which we both bawled our eyes out together.

If you somehow haven’t heard of Anne, it’s about Anne Shirley, a wildly imaginative (and just wild) orphan girl who is adopted by the Cuthberts and brought to live with them on their Prince Edward Island farm, Green Gables. The Cuthberts had originally intended to adopt a boy who could help with the farm work, but when Matthew Cuthbert finds a girl waiting for him at the train station he can’t bring himself to turn her away. And so begins the hijinks and misadventures of Anne as she grows from child to young adult.

Le Champ Maudit by François Gravel

I’ve always loved the genre of child-horror and this book absolutely delivers. The creature, vieux Nick, and the way it exists in space is delightfully chilling even as an adult. The story is about Oliver, who has often been warned by his uncle not to go into the cornfields – it makes sense after all, the cornfields are vast and uniform, it would be easy to get lost in them. Oliver has no reason to assume there’s something more sinister lurking in them, or that it could be tied to the other people who have gone missing over the years. That is, not until he makes the mistake of chasing a rabbit into the stalks one evening…

The Dragon’s Egg by Alison Baird

I was absolutely a “dragon kid” as a child, I loved any sort of dragon book I could get my hands on and I read this one over and over when I was in grade three. It’s about Ai Len who is given a lovely river stone by her father from his trip to China. Ai Len is shocked one night when, all of a sudden, she realizes that it wasn’t a stone at all, but rather a dragon’s egg. Lonely Ai Len befriends the baby dragon (who disguises himself as one of her gold fishes during the day) and helps him grow and learn as they try to figure out how he can get back home to the river his family inhabits.

Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Fatty Legs is the true story account of Margaret Pokiak, an Inuvialuit child who grew up with her family in the Arctic. At the age of eight, despite their reputations and her father’s reluctance, Margaret begs to be allowed to attend the Catholic residential school because there was nothing she wanted more than to learn to read. There, far from her warm, loving family, Margaret learns about the cruelties and humilities of residential school. This book is a good introduction to residential schools for young children – it shows the horrors while still keeping the story child-friendly and relatable.

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford

The classic novel that inspired Disney’s film Homeward Bound. This story is about three pets – two dogs and a cat – who are left behind under the care of a family friend at an isolated cabin. These three determined pets though refuse to abandon their humans that easily. After a couple weeks of no contact, a decision is made: they will make the trek across the dangerous North Ontario wilderness in order to find their owners. This is a great animal story that genuinely feels perilous at times as these three house pets are forced to contend against the elements, wild predators, and even other humans.

Inkling by Kenneth Oppel

Kenneth Oppel is a human name in Canadian middle grade literature – not only is he a great writer, but an incredibly prolific one. If you have a middle school child in your life, consider checking out this man’s library of works because he has books that range across all sorts of different genres and topics, and they tend to be unique and gripping. They’re a staple in any Canadian school library.

Inkling is about a boy, Ethan, who is struggling with his life. His family has gone through a personal tragedy, his artist father is struggling to write a new graphic novel, and Ethan’s been entrusted with drawing the art for his school group’s graphic novel assignment, and he can’t bring himself to tell them his father’s talent wasn’t hereditary. Everything changes though, when one night, his father’s ink wakes up… This book is really heartwarming, with sweet family moments, lots of action, and an adorable ink blob that’s just trying to do its best.

My Name is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling

Another own voice novel, this time written by West Coast Salish and residential school survivor Shirley Sterling. This novel is written like a weekly diary by six year old Seepeetza who is taken from her joyous family home and forced into a residential boarding school. While there she is forced to change her name, her language, and all the things that made her life happy and complete. Despite all this, Seepeetza finds ways to survive and still find joy. This book is written for a slightly older audience than Fatty Legs, more of a thin middle grade novel but still balances the brutal horrors of residential schools with a child-friendly narration.

The Secret World of Og by Patsy Berton

This is another Canadian children’s classic, though a much less well-known one than Anne of Green Gables. My mom read this to me and my brother in early elementary school, a chapter a night, and I remember being completely wrapped up in it and it’s strange, quirky pictures. It’s about the five Berton children who discover a strange, cavernous world hidden beneath their club house, inhabited by little creatures called Ogs.

Secrets in the Sand by Sharon Siamon

This is exactly what it looks like: a true to form Horse Girl book. There’s nothing overly special about it, but I read it this month and was charmed by it. This is technically the second book of the Saddle Island series (and she has two other Horse Girl related series as well though I haven’t read them) but for whatever reason I read the second first and actually enjoyed it more of the two. It has it all! A spunky, head-strong girl! Her best friend and annoying brother! A small, financially struggling Maritime town! A brave horse that loves the ocean and swims into underwater caves! The promise of pirate treasure! Saving The Family Farm (and rebuilding it from the ground up on a tiny island)! Want a fun mindless horse adventure? Well here it is!

Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

I know, I know, another Kenneth Oppel book but listen… he is so prolific and also it might be a crime to do a Canadian book list and not mention Silverwing. This was a childhood staple when I was growing up, practically everyone had either read it for class, read the entire series on their own because who wouldn’t want to, or watched the weird ass TV series. Or done all three! If you haven’t read Silverwing but like animal adventure stories, this is honestly one of the peaks of the entire genre imho. It’s about Shade, a small silverwing bat that struggles with the rules and limits placed around bat colony life. He’s constantly pushing things, constantly challenging others regardless of if they’re his bullying yearmates or if they’re the clan elders. But one day, Shade takes it too far and breaks a vital law: he stayed up and saw the sun. Now the owls are determined to have Shade killed and the clan is prepared to exile him for his transgression. All this just as the clan is preparing to migrate, and Shade, with his small runty wings, ends up falling further and further behind in the storm…

Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker

I debated whether or not to include this book, given all the BLM movements going on. This book isn’t own voice, and in the research I’ve done since becoming an adult has made me realize a number of the problems that surround it. But still, it felt wrong to leave out, both because of the social climate right now and because this was another classroom staple when I was growing up. It’s about a pair of young slave girls who are horribly abused on the planation they live on, and who eventually join in on a plot to run away, to find the rumoured “underground railroad”, a network of people who help black slaves escape captivity and escape – in this case across the border into Canada. Despite its flaws, this was a book we read in school and, through the book and classroom discussions, really introduced me to the concept of slavery and racism… and the fact that racism is still horribly alive today. It shook me as a child – it was written to be optimistic and adventurous for children, but it still had more violence and horror than I was used to in books at that age and it really shook me. So I included it in the list because, for me at least, I believe it had a positive effect on my growth as a person.

Up In Arms by Amanda Spottiswoode

This is a woefully underrated series because it really delights me. It’s about six friends, spread across two families. Though they’re from the UK, this series is all about their adventures with their uncle in Canada. Spottiswood writes children travel adventures, all set around the 1940s. The first, Brother XII’s Treasure is a treasure hunt along the West Coast during a sailing vacation; the second, The Silver Lining take them into British Columbia’s interior on cattle drive as the kids get drawn into adventures on horseback, a familiar villain, and old mining secrets. This third book I actually read before the others, and is my favourite of the series. It’s back on BC’s west coast, only this time rather than a vacation the kids of be sent to Canada because of the outbreak of WWII. You get high-flying adventure, wilderness survival, and planning a heist to help right the wrongs done to a local Indigenous community by the white settlers. It’s just a lot of fun.

[planetoban]

Savin’s Answers from Twitter, Part 3!

Well, looks like it’s been nearly 2 years since the last SAfT post... sorry about that! Time really got away from me on this one. Due to the backlog, this post covers tweets from October 2017 through April 2018

As always, tweets are in order from most to least recent, and answers may not 100% true/canon since things may change during production of the sequel. Text is unedited save for formatting; in a few places I added [comments] for context.

Part 1 | Part 2

Also: If you’re going to ask Savin something, please be respectful and appropriate. He’s a person just like you and me.

@fictionjustis: Out of curiosity can a Nourasian and human have a child together? Also can humans conceive children with other humanoid species in the galaxy?

@EiffelSavin: I don't think any such birth have been recorded in the Oban universe, at least yet. But humans and Nourasians having a very similar DNA, it should be theoretically possible. There have been quite a few fanarts on that topics already 🙂

(x)

@PudgyDragonLair: Also how big is the Arrow in comparison to Molly like actually height and length?‏

@EiffelSavin: From my original notes: Whizzing Arrow 1 - length 8m, height 7m, weight 10t Whizzing Arrow 2 - length 10m, height 7m, weight 14t to be compared with the final designs

(x)

@PudgyDragonLair: hey Savin I'm not sure if this would be considered a spoiler or not but how Long are Nourasian life spans in comparison to humans and other alien species?

@EiffelSavin: I'm not sure anymore. I'd have to find my old notes... But if Nourasians approximately live the same number of "years" as humans, they are "Nourasian years" which are much longer  than our "Earth years" due to the longer distance between Nourasia and its sun. May be 2 or 3 times+

(x)

@JPLangley_: Something I've been wanting to ask is how was Eva able to get away with not following the gender-specific dress code at Stern? Did faculty just give up trying to discipline her since she nor Don didn't care?

@EiffelSavin: I think my justification for that was that Stern's school rules only stated that wearing the school uniform was compulsory, without specifically mentioning that the short dress was for girls and the long pants for boys. Also they had bigger issues with Eva than just her uniform.

(x)

@PudgyDragonLair: what was the Arrows original purpose before Don and the Goverment took it ? Me and my friend rewatched OSR and we noticed alot of things that would be atypical for a Star Racer (key among them a gun turrent ). Was the Arrow made to be some kind of stealth ship?

@PudgyDragonLair: It has capabilities to check Molly vitals and mental state while she s racing, as well as the hyperdldrives which I doubt would be allowed in racing circuits, and a remote access to the gun torrent, and hand off access shoukd the pilot be unable to man it.

@EiffelSavin: You got a point there. For better or worse army funding helps develop new technologies that are later reintroduced into civilian life/products. The "prototypes" Miguel had been working were not your typical star-racer and aimed at a different market...

(x)

[continued from thread below]

@Helloworld1012: And the fact that Eva was a beautiful young girl certainly didn’t hurt

@EiffelSavin: Yes but more than that the fact that she's not your typical girly girl beauty. A long haired bimbo would not have awoken  Aikka's interest.

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@ILOVE659709491: Is there any chance one of the reasons Eva was so quick to trust & befriend Aikka was because the prince’s personality was similar to her father’s personality before Maya’s death? Both were reserved,well cultured & gentlemanly but kind + both had a passion for racing

@EiffelSavin: Freud would like the implications no doubt, but I think the relationship with Aikka is more simple and direct. He's good looking, a prince, well mannered. She's feels rejected  - especially by her dad - a bit of an "Ugly Duckling" and he takes an interest in her.

@ILOVE659709491: I’m curious though why was Aikka interested in Eva ?

@EiffelSavin: Just as he's the opposite of what she's known, she's a total opposite for him: tough, outspoken, pure - and touching. The noble girls he's met in Nourasia's palaces were not like that!

(x)

@JPLangley_: Also, unrelated question, but if the second season of Oban does ever make it to the public, will it explore what happened to Thunderbolt and Jordan after the events of OSR?

@EiffelSavin: Can't guarantee both...

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@JPLangley_: Did Spirit originally have wings, and him transforming into a bird was a second thought?

@EiffelSavin: The concept was always that he would transform into his own ship but judging by Thomas's drawing I guess we tried more classic wings first.

(x)

@Helloworld1012: Stern boarding school prided itself on disciplining their students what did they mean by discipline? Also, considering DW’s personality before Maya’s death seems to have a anime rich kid with controlling parents background vibe to it, what social class was DW born to

@EiffelSavin: In my view, Don Wei comes from a modest background. Being a self made man he can be very demanding, expecting from others to obey the rules he's imposed on himself in order to succeed. Maya and young Eva soothed him up, but that went away after Maya's death

@Helloworld1012: Yeah but everything else about him doesn’t seem like he’s a self made man. Or just a selfmade man. It got to me, he’s still young when Maya died & also it’s possible that he could have grown up rich & still be a self made man because his parents gave up on him.‏

@EiffelSavin: That could also be possible yes I put him out there, but you're totally untitled to make him yours now !  🙂

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@ardaozcan98: Did you get any inspiration from B-2 Spirit aircraft while designing Spirit in OSR or is the resemblence just a coincidence?

@EiffelSavin: Interesting. I came up with the name without being aware of the connection & I don't think the plane was ever a reference for the design, but we should ask @thomasintokyo and @Brunetstanilas too.  As you can see below (2002 rough by Thomas) Spirit went through a lot of phases

@Thomasintokyo: Never heard of this plane. That’s a coincidence!

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@emaf_CntCmnd: I wonder if you have known who works for BANDAI VISUAL and helps to release Japanese ver. of BD like Mr.Takanashi Minoru. (I wish he were still alive.)‏

@EiffelSavin: Mr. Takanashi disappearance came as a terrible shock. But we're working on establishing new connections with Bandaï.

(x)

@ardaozcan98: Do you consider producing comic books or novels instead or alongside with the sequel. There are lots of unknowns and potential for backstories of the galaxy and species i think. And books may be cheaper or easier to create. Loved the original art-book.

@EiffelSavin: That's not a bad idea. Any talented manga-comic book artists interested around here ? 🙂

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@Valeria_Lacava: Could you do something for the italian rights? Jetix closed and it's impossible to find online the episodes in italian

@EiffelSavin: STW doesn't own those rights but we'll try to negotiate them if Disney agrees and if this can be done within the bluray budget.

(x)

@Helloworld1012: How was Don Wei able to pay the financial cost to form a race team with Maya and make her a champion? Race teams cost a fortune, but sponsorship was unlikely since DW stated & the timeline shows Maya was the first person he was a manager to, so he had no credibility.

@EiffelSavin: Mostly true but not completely true. If things were always so then I would never have been able to produce Oban Star-Racers, having no hard cash of my own, and having never produced nor directed an entire series before 🙂

(x)

@dragbax: Do you have any idea how big of an impact this show had on me as a kid??? Plz don't disappoint me of backing down or handle it poorly... My heart can't handle that. Especially how Samurai Jack was treated with its last season.  :(

@EiffelSavin: It may still be a long road ahead, especially since we don't intend to sell out, but I can promise we'll do our best!

(x)

@Helloworld1012: I’m curious did Don Wei stop caring about Eva after Maya died? I mean he did abandon her just for resembling her mother & tried to forget she even existed for 10 years and would have CONTINUED to do so Had Eva not done anything about it, so did he stop caring?‏

@EiffelSavin: He tried to forget so well that he almost completely did

@Helloworld1012: Wait, doesn’t that basically mean that yes Don Wei did  stop caring about Eva once her mother died?‏

@EiffelSavin: Yes basically (what an awful dad!). Seeing Eva reminded him too much of Maya and of his guilt. He couldn't bare it and walked away, at least until he was ready to face her again.

(x)

@n0sichan: I hope subtitles  for disabled peope will be available this time.

@EiffelSavin: If we have enough presales yes

(x)

@MattGiusti: What is your thought process when it comes to animating characters speaking?Do you need to keep in mind how other languages will line up to the animation?Or do you do everything with one language in mind and alter the script accordingly later on?

@EiffelSavin: One concentrates on one main language. On Oban i wrote all scripts directly in English and the lip sink was based on those. But then i spent a whole month in front of an editing machine rewriting french dialogues that matched that lipsink

(x)

@McKhendon: How do you accomplish 16:9 without losing parts of the picture?

@EiffelSavin: You're bound to loose part of the picture but if you address the process creatively you can produce new strong images by selecting shot by shot what u keep & what you discard

@SonicMrgame2017: The show was made on 16.9?

@EiffelSavin: No, in 4/3. It was still the transition period between the 2 formats at the time and our investors required 4/3. The remastered 16/9 version was done this year, reframing the original master shot by shot under my supervision.

(x)

@ardaozcan98: All the dubs would be really nice especially for children.

@EiffelSavin: We'll see if something can be done but it sounds complicated. Sav The World doesn't own the rights of these other versions.

(x)

@Wnika457: Is it possible that the online game wil be reopened? That would be awesome, I remember playing it when I was a kid :)

@EiffelSavin: That would be cool but we don't have the rights nor even a copy. But there'll be other games if we manage to pull through the sequel project

(x)

@RadekFalhar: I just found out you are making Saya no Uta adaptation. I really hope you don't think the abortion that is the US manga is in any way related to the VN.

@EiffelSavin: The US comic probably had good intentions but turned Saya into smthng very different & sometimes opposite to what it is. The adaptation I work on also take liberties with the original material, but I try to remain very faithful to its spirit & to the mindset of the characters

(x)

@lilacwondercat: Is there really a sequel in the works? I am such a huge fan, please say it's true!

@EiffelSavin: It's true but still a long to go. Creation takes time and the financing is the most pressing issue...

@lilacwondercat: Is there anything die hard fans can do to help?

@EiffelSavin: Most certainly though I can't think of anything precise right now. Helping spreading the word about the bluray is one though. The more people buy it, the stronger we can be when talking to potential financial partners.

(x)

@Ekana_Stone: Does Blu-ray have the English dub, I would assume so

@EiffelSavin: Yes, French and English language are guaranteed. We would like to add Japanese too but there are question of rights we must try to sort out.

(x)

@fictionjustis: Considering the fact that Oban star racers indeed had Japanese influence, I’m curious did u base Maya’s character design on a character from sailor moon, ( The 1990s version not the 2010s version) a well known anime & manga?

@EiffelSavin: Maya's character design clearly has anime influences but it was developed organically, drawing after drawing. It was not influenced by one show in particular.

(x)

@Zeether77: Would love to see this on Blu-ray here, but not cropped to widescreen...does Shout Factory still have the rights?

@EiffelSavin: DVD & Bluray rights have reverted to us

@Zeether77: Would the BD release be a limited time thing? I just got a player but I don't think I could commit to a preorder sadly

@EiffelSavin: Can't confirm right now

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: I’m trying to figure out what it is exactly because he [Savin] could be saying that the wei surname was meant to be Chinese or DW was Chinese but I just can’t figure out what it is, & unfortunately for some reason it has been driving me crazy yesterday so what is it in that question?‏

@EiffelSavin: Don Wei is of Chinese origin or at least his family is

(x)

@sergeigaponov: #obanstarracers Could you write a list of countries in which you can send blu-ray Oban: Star Racers?

@EiffelSavin: Too early to confirm but my guess would be in all countries.

(x)

@Nick_Kharin: How much can Blu-ray boxset will cost (approximately or the maximum price)? I’m very excited about the news about the project.

@EiffelSavin: Still evaluating.

(x)

@Adultito: Will the Blu Ray have the Japanese audio and the original OP+ED

@EiffelSavin: Japanese audio we'll try. There could be pbs of rights. French and English at the minimum.

@Adultito: speaking of Japanese audio, will there be the original OP "Chance to Shine" (shown in most international broadcasts) on the English dub because the US broadcast (as well as the Shout Factory DVDs) used "Never Say Never"

@EiffelSavin: We have the rights to all the original songs and tracks but not to "Never Say Never" which was produced by the US broadcaster of Oban. So we would use "Chance to Shine" for the opening.

(x)

@Maj0r_Crisis: Will we ever see a release of the cancelled second volume of the Original Soundtrack?

@EiffelSavin: If we have enough preorders, one of our plans is to add most of or even all of Iwazaki Taku's 80 original tracks as a bonus to the bluray edition

(x)

@delicatedowner: I wish you good fortune on making the blu-ray release a reality (will your company self-publish the BDs like with Ankama and their Wafku sets?).

@EiffelSavin: We may self publish too but could go the kickstaryer way. Unlike us Ankama is a rich company!

@delicatedowner: Even Ankama went the Kickstarter way.  And it backfired on them.  I hope you'll do a better job.

@EiffelSavin: We'll see. But if you meant "selfpublish" as in "creating the design packaging etc" ourselves, yes that would be the plan. We have some good people we can work with.

(x)

@nothisiswindii: Do you think you guys should make a 4:3 aspect ratio version of the Blu-ray? A lot of studios tend to simply "zoom in" their old shows to fake a 16:9 ratio, and they end up losing a lot of detail on the top and bottom as a result.

@EiffelSavin: Probably but it's something we'll discuss with all those who register with the Oban Bluray project when the times comes. In all cases, I can guarantee the 16/9 remaster is not a "zoom in". We took care of things on a shot by shot basis (see the video on http://obanstarracers.com )

@docsane: I'm curious: why was Oban not originally shot 16:9? I thought it was unusual at the time to still see an animation being released 4:3.

@EiffelSavin: Oban was signed just at the time when productions were beginning to shift from 4/3 to 16/9. But our financial partners asked for 4/3 so we produced and delivered 4/3.

(x)

@harpnote: The new site looks slick! I am sad the forums are no longer up. It was a good time there.

@EiffelSavin: We have the copies. We may put them back online but already have our hands full right now

(x)

@MattGiusti: Will [OSR] HD be exclusively a blue ray release? Or can one buy a digital version online?

@EiffelSavin: The first goal is the bluray release.

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: Considering Wei is a Chinese surname & with the exception of his temper DW’s manners and taste indicate a certain upbringing is there a possibilty that Don is the son of a high class family in Asia and he moved to America or Europe because of his passion for racing?

‏@EiffelSavin: In spite of the obvious connection with Japanese anime, Wei is a Chinese name indeed and it was meant that way.

(x)

@sergeigaponov: There are no such scenes [dramatic scenes in children’s shows], because people are interested in toilet humor. The time has already passed when people cried over such scenes. There are few people who are crying. I hope in the #second #season of the drama will be more, because #Eva has matured.

@EiffelSavin: If it 's only up to me I'll say definitely yes and in all cases that what we want to aim for. This said, I have a feeling traditional broadcasters are targeting younger and younger audiences and aim even more for comedy than before.

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: Considering Maya was DW's first champion, DW  stated her charm was her recklessness, That Maya seemed to be more dominant in the relationship, & considering DW's and Maya's personalities in the past is it possible Maya introduced Don to the racing world?

@EiffelSavin: Interesting thought. But I'd say no. Don Wei was born to be a race manager.

(x)

@lbigreyhound: Any idea when and where it [the HD remaster] will be available?

@EiffelSavin: The new HD master will be used in future broadcasts of OSR, at least one of whitch is planned for 2018. When we go ahead with our plans for a bluray relase, we may use it as well, or else chose to stick with the original 4/3 format.

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: so I’m curious, what inspired the idea for OSR I’m super excited for the sequel but I am curious on what inspired the idea for OSR 2 Since it’s been over a decade since OSR?

@EiffelSavin: The 10 year anniversary of the first release brought the original artistic team together. We all thought it would be nice to look back at the world we created.

(x)

[Not sure who he’s replying to here, but the question seems to be about Maya’s race with Spirit]

@EiffelSavin: If I remember correctly there just wasn't enough time and she gestured Spirit to stand out of arm's way.

(x)

@RedVioletPanda: Why is the Holy of Dol, well, holy? In the artbook, there is a mention of elemental magic of the Nourasians, what is that exactly?

@EiffelSavin: Nourasian are close to nature. Magic and the use of natural ressources more than makes up for the lack of technology. As for elemental magic its source of power is nature itself.

(x)

[Again, not sure who he’s replying to]

@EiffelSavin: We continue to work on dvlpmnt but it's a costly project & bringing the right financial partners together is the long and uncertain part...

(x)

[letterboxd]

Horror.

Letterboxd presents our community’s 25 top rated horror films of all time.

With the release this month of the newest Halloween, and an embarrassment of riches in the form of thousands of new horror film reviews thanks to all the Hoop-tober / Shocktober / 31 Days of Horror challenges, we are feeling brave enough to open the crypt and pull out the Letterboxd community’s 25 Highest Rated Horror Films of All Time.

Don’t @ or stab us, these are computed from your ratings of all feature-length films tagged in our horror genre, as at 24 October 2018. It’s a wide-ranging list, with some perhaps surprising omissions—for example, the original Halloween, Night of the Living Dead and Evil Dead 2 all just missed the cut. See the full list or read on for data insights and member reviews of our highest rated horrors.

Strangling the numbers:

Though there is some genre crossover (into comedy with Young Frankenstein, mockumentary with What We Do in the Shadows and One Cut of the Dead, and zom-rom-com with Shaun of the Dead), these films are all categorized as horrors by us (and IMDb).

In the battle of great horror decades, the scary sixties wins with seven films, over five films from the slasher seventies and three from the evil eighties. Shout out to the terror twenties, with three films.

By country, USA has most films in the list, but Japan comes in strong second with four, Germany has three and France, Sweden and the UK are represented with two each. India, New Zealand and the Czech Republic also make the cut.

The most obscure film on the list (from a Western perspective) is Manichitrathazhu, from Kerala-born director Fazil, watched by just over 250 members.

All the directors are dudes. We can’t make any excuses for that, but we can point out that, behind-the-scenes and on-screen, women played important roles in these films. The Phantom Carriage, for example, is based on the novel by Sweden’s Selma Lagerlöf, who in 1909 was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. And what would Jaws be without the editing prowess of Verna Fields?

There are five films on the list from this century, some by directors of color, including Jordan Peele, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. Roll on the 21st century of horror.

On that note: this top 25 is based on member ratings, but we also have a popularity index—based on the sheer amount of activity for each film regardless of rating—which produces quite a different list, heavily favoring the 21st century.

Letterboxd’s 25 Highest Rated Horror Films (as at October 2018):

1. Psycho (1960, USA) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

“Throughout his career, director Alfred Hitchcock has enriched the world of cinema with some truly groundbreaking thrillers and despite that, Psycho feels like something of a first from him. It’s his first stint with the genre of horror, it breaks through the barriers of censorship unlike any film before and over the years, it has played a major role in influencing not only films but pop-culture as well.” —CinemaClown

2. Alien (1979, USA) Directed by Ridley Scott

“When shit hits the fan it comes with the best first impression of any monster. PERIOD.” —TKettle

3. The Shining (1980, USA) Directed by Stanley Kubrick

“As soon as Jack Torrance is in frame, that uneasy feeling takes over. I feel as though I wish I could warn all of the other characters in the movie to walk on eggshells, don’t upset him! Maybe you shouldn’t talk to him right now! Can’t you see it! Just leave him alone! There has never been another character to give me such all-consuming anxiety.” —HollieHorror

4. The Thing (1982, USA) Directed by John Carpenter

“The man responsible for the movie’s stomach-churning physical effects deserves most of the credit for its appeal and success. Rob Bottin worked so hard he was hospitalized for exhaustion, pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer! And he was only 21 at the time! Pure underrated genius.” —Josh Stoddard

5. Rosemary’s Baby (1968, USA) Directed by Roman Polański

“I’m awestruck by how good this is. Every little detail from the very beginning means something and you really experience exactly what Rosemary experiences. Masterful spectatorship alignment.” —Sean Upton

6. Get Out (2017, USA) Directed by Jordan Peele

“When you prod underneath the surface here there’s so much just waiting to be unpacked. As a piece of writing it’s a masterclass in foreshadowing and subtext.” —Alex Secker

7. Jaws (1975, USA) Directed by Steven Spielberg

“Bruce, the mechanical shark, still works today. Even with all the VFX-heavy films that are commonplace now, the shark is [as] scary and compelling now as it was in 1975. The camerawork is masterful, and it feels like films now are still trying to catch up to what was happening behind the camera on this movie.” —EJ Moreno

8. 修羅 (Demons) (1971, Japan) Directed by Toshio Matsumoto

“Matsumoto è stato uno dei più grandi innovatori del cinema giapponese e fonte di ispirazione di grandi registi del cinema mondiale. Quest’opera non fa che confermarne l’importanza e la genialità.”

Translation: “Matsumoto was one of the greatest innovators of Japanese cinema and a source of inspiration for great world cinema directors. This work confirms his importance and genius.” —Tonino Mannella

9. Les Diaboliques (Diabolique) (1955, France) Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot

“It was extremely suspenseful and you can see how this film had such a huge impact on Hitchcock when he made Psycho… Five out of five overly dramatic heart attacks.” —Libby Ajayi

10. Possession (1981, Germany, France) Directed by Andrzej Żuławski

“Ana’s spectral screams as she flows and dances like a ghoul in the subway. All I could do was cry at it, with her, for her.” —Claire Diane

11. 怪談 (Kwaidan) (1964, Japan) Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

“Every frame of this movie is a piece of art… To ask for more would be greedy.” —Gabe

12. മണിച്ചിത്രത്താഴ് (Manichitrathazhu) (1993, India) Directed by Fazil

“Perhaps the most popular film to come out of Kerala in this generation. The screenplay, the performance, and the plot are worth a study in [themselves]. Fantastic package of thrilling entertainment and storytelling.” —Vinay Warrier

13. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962, USA) Directed by Robert Aldrich

“Normally my heart really aches for ‘crazy’ characters who have been brutalized by the concept of womanhood but… it’s very hard for me to feel bad for Baby Jane.” —Caroline

14. The Innocents (1961, UK) Directed by Jack Clayton

“Exquisite and captivating… it’s the only movie I’ve watched this Hooptober that has genuinely scared me. Squirming, nail biting, chills down the back, all of it.” —Xebeche

15. Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In) (2008, Sweden) Directed by Tomas Alfredson

“Deep down, it’s just a story about human misunderstanding, but it is gracefully put together to give you a thrilling ride that will make you root for an evil you’re not really sure is there. It makes you question your moral standards and puts you in a nice grey area.” —Charlie Bluu

16. カメラを止めるな！ (One Cut of the Dead) (2017, Japan) Directed by Shin'ichirô Ueda

“The film starts as a Z-list zombie movie and looks cheesy as hell, but when we discover we are watching more of a mockumentary of this film being made and the director on the verge of a breakdown, the fun really begins. The first 37 minutes are completely one cut… one cut, that actually blows my mind.” —Coles84

17. 鬼婆 (Onibaba) (1964, Japan) Directed by Kaneto Shindō

“In good ol’ black and white, Onibaba is a visually stunning erotic horror film painted in deep shadows and flesh… it’s less a ghost or monster tale and more of a morality play about the passions and desperation that arise in splintered, war-torn communities, and how no matter what we fear, we are ultimately our own demons. Creepy, sensual and effective.” —Doug Bellak

18. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) (1920, Germany) Directed by Robert Wiene

“From Murnau’s Nosferatu and the American noir of the 1940s, to contemporary horror films and every piece of work where Tim Burton asks Johnny Depp to dab black around the actor’s eyes, the influence of Wiene’s film can be felt… it is the stuff of nightmares that still has power nearly a century after it was made.” —Travis Lytle

19. Spalovač mrtvol (The Cremator) (1968, Czechia) Directed by Juraj Herz

“I find it hard to fathom a film as stylish and mesmerizing as this is, 45 years old! It was obviously way ahead of its time! The cinematography is as captivating as the film is deliciously macabre!” —Juli Norwood

20. The Exorcist (1973, USA) Directed by William Friedkin

“The Exorcist remains one of the greatest achievements of the horror genre. The things they were able to accomplish with sound mixing at the time have yet to be outdone. The makeup department deserves a heap of credit, and the effects still look great. Acting is something that typically gets sacrificed in most horror movies, but this is one exception where every actor delivers a quality performance.” —Sean

21. Körkarlen (The Phantom Carriage) (1921, Sweden) Directed by Victor Sjöström

“It was not for nothing that Selma Lagerlöf became the first woman to get the Nobel Prize. She’s a great storyteller, and there’s a melody in her writings that is hard to not get sucked into… Victor Sjöström has really understood the tone of the novel and the music that comes with it is in tune with the melody of Lagerlöf's writings.” —Terése Flynn

22. Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage (Faust) (1926, Germany) Directed by F. W. Murnau

“I watch this, and cannot fathom how this one man could make the cinematic medium look so relentlessly groundbreaking in its mere infancy. It’s obscene that he died so young… in a sense, Faust’s quest for the ur-truth becomes Murnau’s own quest for his own epic cinema: one that maximizes the potential for awe at every turn, leaving behind mundane methods for totalizing ones.” —Darkness Lingers

23. Shaun of the Dead (2004, UK) Directed by Edgar Wright

“I understand tossing Batman when your other options are [Prince’s] two biggest contributions to the world of music, but it still saddens me that Shaun and Ed so carelessly tossed away a truly undervalued record. Perhaps, we all do crazy things when we’re trying to survive.” —Willow Maclay

24. Young Frankenstein (1974, USA) Directed by Mel Brooks

“When Mel hits, he hits big… [he] may not employ nuance often, but he’s got broad comedy and wordplay down pat, and some of his best examples of this are in Young Frankenstein.” —Joe Campbell

25. What We Do in the Shadows (2014, New Zealand) Directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi

“An absolute must-watch for fans of horror comedy, horror, vampires, brilliant comedy in general, and great improvization. According to their IMDb trivia, Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and co. shot over 125 hours of improv for this film before finally whittling it down to 90 minutes of the best stuff.” —Voidember

Right. Now that that’s all done with, we are ready to go into town and party.

[lazyfartbouquet-blog]

Read It For the Pictures 35: Books of Magic by Tom Fowler and Kat Howard

                                                               NK: Welcome to Read it For The Pictures, the comic book Blog where we read it for the Politics! I mean, pictures. What did I say?

DC: Happy Halloween everyone! In the spirit of the holiday we'll try to avoid talking about the slow corruption of our world by ghouls and goblins like we usually do.

NK: In the spirit of the holiday we’ve got something  tangentially supernatural to review: the recent Books of Magic relaunch, written by Kat Howard, with art by Tom Fowler and colors by Jordan Boyd!

DC: Before we dive in, what was your costume this year?

NK: I dressed as Hank Hill from King of the Hill, mainly because it was cheap, but also because I wanted to take a strong and principled stance against Charcoal.

DC: Whuaah?

NK: Are you on the marijuana? Why would anyone do drugs when they could just mow a lawn?

DC: My costume this year was going as the David Clarke who’s a sheriff. (And yes, I’m Australian, so of course I did the blackface ).

NK: I'm sorry your name is common enough for that coincidence

*disclaimer: Dave did not actually do blackface *

But before we get lost in Gribbleposting, why did you suggest we do this book?

DC: Very few number ones this week, fewer still anything that could be said to be Halloweeny. It largely got in on default, but thankfully it’s a Good Comic (tm).

NK: Well I was wondering why you picked a relaunch of a 1990s sequel to a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman about a boy wizard .

Tired: DC American Superhero Franchises

Wired: DC European Vertigo Fantasy Franchises

DC: Yeah, apparently this is one of the 40 million Sandman spinoffs. Do you have any deeper familiarity with the series.

NK: Not really. It's the story of Tim Hunter, a high school boy with glasses and a destiny to be the greatest wizard of all. That's where the similarities to Harry Potter ends because A.) Tim goes to an ordinary school and interacts with the ordinary world, and B.) its creator hasn't told us Tim had a genderfluid Mongolian cousin we'll never hear about again.

DC: Harry ...Potter? I’ve not read that comic

NK: At least tell me you've seen the movies and the recent resurgence of shit being milked from a perfectly decent ending.

DC: Movies?

NK: They're like comics with infinite panels that flash before your eyes. they also have sound and an actual audience

DC: Sounds exhausting. Unlike this comic, which had very nice art :)

NK: Fortunately, this comic recaps everything you need to know about the Books of Magic in a short and inventive sequence.

DC: Yeah, there a neat trick at the beginning where they overlay a bunch of different illustration styles. I imagine it’s a very cool allusion to the previous series but it mostly went over my head.

NK: Unless I'm wrong that's all Fowler doing different styles for the different artists of the Books of Magic series, which I always love to see. Very few artists can master their own style, let alone several others. JH Williams is the only other one to come to mind at the moment in comics.

DC: Every time I can’t get a face consistent from panel to panel it’s me adopting different styles deliberately. More seriously though... this book handles lighting in a super interesting way. The first thing that sticks out about the art, to me at least, is how it has super bold black brushstrokes.

NK: Surprisingly few masses of spot blacks though, beyond hair and cast shadows

DC: It looks nice, but it presents its own challenges, namely that the solid blacks look weird if not clearly separated from the color. This book manages to work within that restriction but still has a constant motif of the sun setting and time passing.

A  solid black shadow is being cast which would suggest that the front of his body’s should be almost completely covered in black too. It’s quite a deft touch evoking enough of a shadow without actually having to go that black

(Like mine was at the Halloween party)

NK: Got dang it Dave I'm gonna kick your ass if you make another blackface reference, I tell you what.

DC: I imagine a less talented artist would have opted for safer, more flat lighting.

NK: Color is used effectively throughout by colorist Jordan Boyd; not just to create sense of place and time, but also mood The one page with Tim's depressed dad whiling away on the couch following Tim's mom's disappearance is well done in its melancholic haze.

DC: Also, it sometimes distorts color for emotional effect. I especially liked that sequence because of how it creates a separation between the outside, the hallway and the lounge room through color. The way this all work so well I imagine at least the inlet and colourist  have to be working fairly close together

NK: A lot of these shifts are just subtle enough to be seamless in the narrative if you aren't actually looking for them. This is an introductory issue where Tim is out of the magic game and can't get spells to work and yes, is having problems with his wand.

DC: Yeah, I suppose we have to talk about the plot in this one too. Let’s just say the coloring does a lot to make people talking in rooms dynamic.

NK: There's the origin recap and the opening narrative problem, like in the first 1/12th of a movie, so it's good that the art has enough depth to make these subtler emotions sing. There isn't enough plot so far for me to judge where it's going but I expect that Tim will be able to cast spells again at some point.

DC: I fully expect there to be magic, books and some relationship between those two concepts. Man we were spoiled with the 60+ pages of “the new world”

NK: " I don't want consequences. I want magic. "

DC: If I had heard of a book series about a boy wizard I might say that this, despite being a reboot, manages to feel fresher than it is.

NK: It very much reads like the first chapter in a longer story but it's extremely effective at that. Would you want to read more of it?

DC: If it had the same art team I’d read a trade or two of this. As much as this is just people in rooms having feelings the opening with the cross cutting art styles is a bit of a promise this will get my dynamic

The DC new titles needed to have a completely random cut to a random future action scene for that. Good on books of magic for having it actually connect to the narrative of this issues.

NK: Next time we'll be going back to our old rabbit hole with Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp's debut on Green Lantern So we're back from wired to tired, sorry.

 DC: Yeah, hope you got your fill of politics free comic talk Next week we’re tackling an icon of the underground punk scenes return from pure creator owned stuff to a big 2 book about cops Also I may find a way to be bitter about how happy! Got to be a Netflix series but we still don’t have a we3 movie

 NK: STTTIINNNNK

 DC: We’ve had a lot of fun here tonight, but what’s not fun is blackface