#GOD this movie rules and fucks and slays

[spooksier]

what’s a bad miracle?

[tarthole]

thoughts on bride of reanimator:

-they gave my boy a gun lets go

-giving a heart to someone is definitely not gay

-A DEAD HEAD A NO-BODY

-fucking hill why is he back

-WHY IS HERBERT SO BAD AT SNEAKING AROUND I BET THE WHOLE HOSPITAL KNOWS HE STEALS BODIES

-why is cain flirting with the patient (herb is so jealous)

-the lil eye finger thing was so cute

-also upgraded house nice

-DONT LET THE LITTLE HEAD RULE THE BIG HEAD EXCUSE ME HERBERT WHO TAUGHT YOU THIS LANGUAGE

-while franscesa or whatever her name is and cain were busy fucking ma boi herb made a hand and a foot connected wow thats called productivity

-why did he tickle the foot

-why did the foot arm thing attack him and why is he losing to it

-HES A WIFEBEATER DAN USE THE GUN

-dan gets conveniently naked during the fight scene hmmm

-first a cat now a dog can animals stop dying for gods sake

-THE DOG GOT AN ARM THATS AN UPGRADE

-there is nothing straight about saying your better off without her herbert im sorry

-herbert is so silly when sneaking around body parts

-yay they made a woman

-i love this movie series when herb loudly proclaims something like I MADE HER and BY GOD THEYRE USING TOOLS. i eat that shit up

-BLASHPHEMY? BEFORE WHAT GOD? that monologue was fire, love you herbie fr

-also hill upgraded from talking head to flying head

-THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING OVER DAN

-herbert is so proud of his creation its adorable also he talks about it like he and dan are the gay dads of the creation lol like our girl is superior ok

-i swear herbert curses every one of dans girlfriends

-my boy is quick with the glock slay

-my boy also has to "die" in the end of every movie this man cannot catch a break

[embraceyourdestiny]

HOLY FUCK (slay the princess spoilers!!)

The Narrator explains that the more you walk away from the cabin the more paths appear that lead to the cabin until its all laid out before you that everywhere you go leads to the cabin its impossible to not get to the cabin (at least as far as you know...) and this visual representation of the meta presence of every possible branching path in slay the princess drawn so clearly is BLOWING MY MIND!!!!

usually with meta it stays purely of the mind in video games its kind of hard to portray the eldritch horror of a consciousness of the "rules" of this universe, everything to do with being 'unchained' in kh, the matrix, the good place does this, cartoons like adventure time do this, a wrinkle in time does this, a game that i can think of that actually does do this is life is strange the ability to time travel and realm jump and if i remember correctly seeing the butterfly itself is showing tangible proof of the butterfly effect and it truly is almost some like deific being exacting these events and forming a connection with max (god that reminds me life is strange is so good i was OBSESSED with it) but with video games its not usually tangible its not a place you can go and see and live in because of modeling and this shows how much being 2d really helps slay the princess in portraying the multiverse the multiselves theuniverse shattering reality bending stuff that is going on and it is SO WELL DONE every piece of art is so beautiful and breathtaking god i love this GAME!!!! (kh has also done this with 2d they established it in khux and worked it out in kh3/the dlc!! 2d rules theres so many anime movies that are "trippy" but its this god i love meta so so much it makes my mind feel good mmm i love stp so much

[seeingivy]

after seeing catoru, I like to hc that Satoru played the Grinch (that man seems too comfy in that cat suit to not have prior suit experience🤨 slayed the house down with this role no doubt it won him an Oscar). Suguru was Martha May Who (basically their jjk roles reversed but if Suguru had come back to love his man😔🙄)

oh I LOVE THIS HC. actor!gojo is genuinely so unserious because first of all. he is like obviously a very phenomenal actor - this man is not a triple threat for no reason like he can do it all. but because he can he LOVES oddball movies like this where he just gets to play a fucking weird ass character. some examples:

the grinch, like you said

mrs. doubtfire. he plays mrs. doubtfire.

I already added to my canon that sukuna gets to play the prince in cinderella BUT gojo is playing the king but he makes the role SOOOOOOOO UNSERIOUS GOD

elf. he is the elf in elf. stupid ass fucking movie has his name written all over it

also like even tho he's an A lister he keeps ending up in hallmark movies, not cuz he can't get roles, but he just loves the plot. like oh he's a businessman going to a small town and falling in love with a baker yup

listen. i've thoguht about this long and hard. TWILIGHT in the method acting verse. here are my castings:

annie is bella. she eats that whole no emotion thing up so easily

yuuta is edward. he got that sickly pale thing going on too good. (jean hates his life when he doesn't get cast)

reiner is jacob 😭 he puts his whole reinussy into bella where the hell have you been loca

that being said. GETO IS LITERALLY CARLISLE SORRY LIKE THE WHOLE SEXY DOCTOR DADDY THING HE EATS IT UP SO FAST

levi is charlie. he got that whole angry daddy thing going on without even acting

that being said, who is satoru you may ask?

aro. that motherfucker from the volturi who just stays giggling for no reason. like that litearlly is him sorry I don't make the rules.

and the worst part? actor!gojo will do all this unserious stuff but once in a while do like a poster ad for calvin klein or like a shirtless vogue cover and everyone is foaming at the mouth. because at the end iof the day, he is just sexy.

[snixx]

heyyy so like a completely sane and hinged normal person i just watched all of 'in the heights' umm 😗

first of all i love stephanie beatriz and i love that shes in it and nina has absolute killer cheekbones omg, also i love watching shit in spanish and dont enough so thank u 🫶🫶

poor nina omg i instantly loved her and felt bad for her in the beginning :(( also i absolutely loved usnavi hes so charming and lovely and vanessa slays so hard oml, and sonny hdjdksjsj hes so silly i love him but at the same time hes such a good guy and has depth to him yk, i love it when all the characters have a story and not just one (that doesnt happen in the american shows i watch 👀👀 no hate to them tho i still love them)

the song u sent me which was already so beautiful was even more so in context and ur absolutely so right benny is such a sweetheart oh god i loved him but at the same time when he teases usnavi jdksjaj

and omg nooo nina theyre not LISTENING to her :((( my baby ahhhh its killing me and benny saying 'youre not hearing her' I LOVE HIM what a cutie omg

also can i just say abuela claudia slays and i LOVED her story, she kinda made me think of my mum ngl and also her death was so beautiful and bittersweet and the song after was so beautiful too

and unavis daughter was so cute omg she was adorable and i loved her

i felt a special connection to sonny too for some reason, new projection character?? 🤭

vanessa and usnavi were killing me too like omg just get together !!!!! >:(

i loved the ending tho and the bodega painting thing was so sweet aw oml

i usually dont like watching movies bcs they dont impact me the same as series bcs its just not long enough a time to get through all the characters and get to properly know them but this one was different, i loved everything about it, it was genuinely so beautiful and i spiring and like euphoric in a way if u get what i mean?

anyway now that i've watched it i can proudly say that i find myself equipped to be your benny 😤 (i hope you dont think im insane now)

omfg alex ily wtf

ITS SO GOOD LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAVOURITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME. like its the first movie that comes to mind when i try to think of a perfect movie (i have a mixed playlist for the movie and the broadway musical because it left out some songs but its so full of life and colour and i love it so much). and the funny thing is i normally am not a movie person too but this was so long and i still loved it

anyway you're insane and i love you

NINAAAA LITERALLY THE LOML SHE'S SUCH A MOOD AND SHE AND VANESSA ARE BOTH SO FUCKING PRETTY AND BADASS

you're so right about the american tv shows and you should say it. also YES SONNY LITERALLY THE MVP HE'S SO SO SO REAL AND EVERYTHING

every character is so beautiful and complex and i love them so much. also usnavi is a butch loser lesbian i don't make the rules <3

anywayy i was already deep in the obsession but youve made me want to watch the movie yet again brb kjfdhgkjfdh

[stannyramirez]

𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐞, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝

“I need some salves and shit for intense body beatings!” “Look, my husband got the living shit beat out of him and it’s all my fault!” “Help me take his pain away, pronto!” “You’re a fucking idiot. That’s what you are.” “This ain’t fucking Jurassic Park.” “I am so embarrassed for you because I am a professional martial artist.” “Come on. Let’s just you and me hang.” “Well, you know I love a sibs-free hang sesh.” “I’ll rip your asshole out and eat it and kill you!” “Get this pillowcase off my fucking face!” “These fucking animals snatched me straight out my whip!” “I figured out the part about the cousins being involved, maybe you can find some fucking clues, too.” “Let me guess, you were sitting there quitting, giving up.” “I am in no mind space to be teased right now.” “We have been kidnapped, you fucking bitches!” “Puke on yourself and eat it, please.” “Is that you in here screaming like a bitch?” “Well, we’re going to ransom you to your daddy for money.” “You deserve this life, dude!” “I can’t see you, but I can smell ya.” “Why don’t you laugh in my face, you motherfucker?” “It’s not funny to do jokes like that.” “And how can I help you on this blessed day?” “You ruined my life. You didn’t think I was gonna make you pay?” “Five million a head.” “You must think I’m fucking stupid.” “I sure do think you’re stupid, but what does that have to do with anything?” “Oh, no. You got your facts mixed up.” “You’re a self-righteous asshole.” “It’s filthy as fuck in here.” “Chicken doo-doo is getting all ground into my fuckin’ seduction dress!” “How can you eat in this dirty-ass heat?” “When that door opens and the little one walks in, I’m gonna slay him, cut his fuckin’ face off, and wear it as a mask.” “Sounds insane and not doable.”

“Serves you right, trying to argue with me.” “You know, literally, that is the thing that pisses me off the most about you. Every single time I suggest anything, you’re so eager to just jump down my throat, punch holes in my shit.” “Homeboy, like you’re not trying to always argue with me.” “You’re constantly acting like I’m gonna mess everything up.” “You do mess everything up.” “I will fucking kill you!” “I demand to be held captive in a private silo right now! ...Please!” “I wondered what that was, but I thought it rude to ask.” “Stop crying! Ain’t nobody gonna ransom you!” “That’s a good job with the voodoo dolls.” “Please, let me help. I’ll sacrifice my life and my body if need be.” “We’re gonna get more money than we know what to do with!” “I mean normally, yeah, I could, but you know, I am malnourished right now.” “Wanna see this? Freak athleticisms?” “Just do it. What’s wrong with you?” “Boy, your daddy didn’t leave you with much, did he?” “Your daddy threw money at you instead of raising you right.” “Fear of God is the best chance you got.” “If you don’t have the stomach for it, hell, I’ll do it.” “I don’t mind killin’. It ain’t nothin’ but a thing.” “Do your dumps, boy!” “He thinks that I don’t have it in me to hurt you.” “You don’t run nothing but your mouth.” “He chafes real bad, and a burnt rectal from cheap TP could make him very despondent.” “I bet no one’s gonna miss me.” “I don’t want my kids to be one of those kids that loses a parent like somebody in a fucking Disney movie.” “I don’t want my sons to be Bambis.” “I never want to be treated any differently than you guys just ‘cause I’m a lady.” “He ain’t following any sort of rules about ladies and mens.” “Kill the biggest one ‘cause he’s tough to handle.” “I know I get on your nerves, always riding you and shit. It’s just because I feel like somebody needs to make sure everything’s gonna turn out okay.” “You do get on my nerves, but if you get murdered, I promise to try and avenge you.” “Make sure that my wife and kids have a good life, watch after ‘em?” “Yeah, I feel like your kids are old enough to take care of themselves.” “I’m just gonna go into beast mode and start biting faces and dicks.” “If I die, please don’t remember me that way.” “Oh, god. Oh, shit. This is happening.” “I came all this way to bust you out of here.” “I’m sure that little dick would love to see me murdered.” “I mean, he might not mind you dead, but he wouldn’t want to see it happen.” “Did you call your mama and tattletale on us?” “Your brother there, he’s a big dope.” “You try stopping me, I’ll put another hole in your face.” “Kin don’t mean nothing.” “Family’ll turn on you on a dime. You gotta treat ‘em like you treat anybody else.” “Get the fuck out of the car.”

[gaykarstaagforever]

Wolfen (1981)

Based on this interaction, prompted by my review of Predator, I decided to seek out this movie I had never heard of before. It is available to rent for $4 on several streaming sites. But it is ALSO available via the Internet Archive to accidentally download the entire thing for free to my phone immediately, so I did that, and watched it.

And it fucking rules.

I have to spoil this shit to talk about it. It is a mystery story, so if you want to see it first without me having ruined it for you, go accidentally download it and watch it yourself.

Or DON'T, because that is stealing. And you shouldn't do that, even if Google makes it easy and simple to accidentally do that.

Ostensibly a werewolf movie, what Wolfen actually is is a slow-boil, hard-R police procedural set in the filthy ruins of 1980 NYC, where the murderer just happens to be a pack of immortal god-like wolves.

While that premise could immediately be B-movie territory, that isn't what happens here. This is more in the vein of The Exorcist or John Carpenter's The Thing, where average, messy people in the average, messy world get stuck dealing with some inexplicable nonsense they are utterly not prepared to deal with, but by gum, they have to anyway. Confusion and chaos ensue, and everyone who survives it comes out the other side physically scarred and mentally broken.

It's fantastic.

Albert Finney plays a "damn good" NYC police detective, forcibly retired due to an unexplored emotional breakdown, who is forced back into service because he is "the only one" who can hope to solve a brutal but inexplicable triple-homicide at Battery Park. He teams up with Diane Venora (Juliet's weird mother from the Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet), who works for the international private security company who was hired to protect the rich and well-connected murder victims, but failed to do so. As more brutal slayings start to pile up, they are further assisted by Gregory Hines as a forensic scientist, and Tom Noonan as a likeable but eccentric wolf-obsessed zoologist. The cast is as good as it could get in 1981, and that is very damn good indeed. The screenplay also employs them well, creating well-rounded human characters with engaging, fun interactions, at least until half of them are mauled to death by turbo ghost-wolves.

Edward James Olmos plays an ex-con Native American construction worker who knows exactly what is going on but won't admit to it until it after it doesn't matter, charismatically toying with Finney the entire time.

He has luxurious John Travolta hair, and gets naked and wet at one point. If you don't need to see that, I don't know how to talk to you.

He is part of another interesting (if ham-fisted and dated) aspect of this, a low-level commentary on race and class, including but not limited to how the US has treated and continues to treat Native Americans. It is done as well as a movie from 1981 made by white people was going to do that, and it does effectively tweak the emotional sympathies of the audience. Your personally milage will vary on how problematic you might think that is, but I thought it was at least a valiant effort, that sets the movie apart from standard fare.

Technically speaking, this is kind of a low-level masterpiece. It was shot on location in NYC, and everyone who worked on it was/is a filmmaker, so despite being mostly filmed in the drug-addled wasteland that was The Bronx at the time, it is beautiful and well-paced and scary when it needs to be and funny when it needs to be and even the saggy middle of the movie is not allowed to get boring. The James Horner score is mostly incidental, but hits hard when it needs to, just exactly suited to what this is and how it should work. This little movie is a masterclass in great filmmaking. Watch it solely for that, if nothing else.

No movie is perfect, and this is not. At nearly 2 hours, it is exactly a half-hour too long, with plenty of things that should have been cut as totally unnecessary. The production was troubled and the director was fired and replaced, specifically because he wanted it to be longer than the studio did. While it pains me to say it, the studio was absolutely right. Adapted from a novel or not, this is "exactly 90 minutes" material, and in no way benefits from another half-hour of visually impressive but plot-irrelevant guff.

The movie was recommended to me on the basis of it having way too many distorted "Monster Vision" POV shots. And it absolutely does. Now, compared to Predator, I think they are done better here, and actually serve something of a purpose, some of the time - we immediately notice the perspective means we're seeing things from a dog's view, it is playing a precise and gleeful hunting game with its victims, we see its presence impacting the behavior of other animals it comes across. All fine, but there is still twice as much of that as we need. Like, we get it. This is cheaper than showing the monster. Good job. Now stop.

There is also a continuous call-back to the security company's local base of operations, where they use magical NCIS computers to fill plot holes the screenwriter was clearly afraid we'd notice. I appreciate the effort, but I also hate this stupid magical-realism tech crap, essentially because it is always written by someone who has no idea how actual technology of the time works. I understand that in the early 80s, most people still thought of computers as mystical boxes that would just do everything in the next ten years. But they weren't, and they aren't, and tossing this nonsense in just raises distracting questions and overcomplicates everything in a rock-stupid way.

The plot-holes this is supposed to fill in could have been dealt with in better ways, or simply ignored, honestly. It was just an added expense that ended up being nearly entirely pointless.

The last problem may not necessarily be a problem, depending on who you are. The "monsters" here are magical wolves. But they are portrayed by...actual wolves. They're cool wolves and pretty wolves and good wolf actors, but if after an hour and 20 minutes you are expecting to see a gnarly werewolf puppet or guy in a costume or a stop-motion beast, you're shit out of luck. They're just wolves. I didn't mind because I'm a World of Darkness and wolf fan, but it does feel like they knew this was kind of a cop-out, so they waited until they absolutely had to to show them.

But if they're just wolves (physically), why not just show them earlier? All this build up for...kind of nothing. Certainly could feel a bit like "...That's it? Really?"

I mean they still snarl and there are all-black ones and an all-white one, and they still fly around and maul people, so it's okay. But it also is utterly that.

For a movie this good, which was also well-reviewed then and now, it being kind of lost is a real shame. I'm a huge fan of werewolves and werewolf movies, and I'd never even heard of it before. It apparently came out between The Howling and An American Werewolf in London, two movies that aren't as good but are certainly a lot more fun. That's a shame, because there should be room for all of them.

Solid A-. Go watch it. Just don't expect a shlocky action-horror movie. This one is trying to class up the joint, in its dark and grimy way.

[island-in-the-shadows]

The song from the summer montage has been in my head for way too long. Also it takes me back. Way to feel old.

Farleigh def read HP smut.

Venetia in that brownish orange outfit my beloved. Queen.

God his fuck me eyes. It's ok Venetia, he's an incubus girl.

Lol Pamela's red bull and cigarette, Elspeth falling asleep during the ring.

To be fair, Oliver seems the type to watch scary movies for fun so Ring was probably boring and if someone found something scary like that I'd laugh too. ^_^

Oh this mirror shot.

Oh look, sexual tennis.

The Venetia tennis outfit is such a goddamn slay.

It's ok Oliver we all wanna stare at a pretty idiot.

Duncan is def a vampire. I don't make the rules.

[madwitch7]

Thank you for the tag, love! @elgrandeavocados

rules: tag a few people you want to know better; make a new post, don’t reblog!

favourite colour: honestly I really like all colors, but I've been obsessed with dark green, yellow and dark red.

currently reading: a lot of fanfics and a lot of assignments for college 😂

last song: Wildside by Red Velvet

last movie: The Handmaiden

last series: Bulgasal (it was so fucking awesome)

sweet, spicy, or savory: sweet & savory! (I can't eat spicy)

coffee or tea: tea

three ships:

- Jang Man Wol x Goo Chan Sung (Hotel del Luna)

- Kara Denvers x Lena Luthor (Supergirl)

- Seulgi x Irene (Red Velvet members, I love watching their gay moments!)

first ever ship: Jean Grey x Scott Summers (I loved X-Men: Evolution so much)

currently working on: I'm working on a Bucky Barnes fic, I hope I get to share it soon.

comfort food: I really love food, lasagna, chicken stroganoff, pineapple and coconut cake and hot chocolate!

favorite fanfic: There's sooo much amazing fics here, so let's go:

- The Archer by @elgrandeavocados amazingly written, captivating characters, my bestie is so talented I can't-

- Dance with the Devil by @serzhantkris the grip this fic has around my neck is insane, Kris slay on every god damn line of it.

- Every God Damn Thing on @delaber masterlist, honorable mentions to "Snow" and "Saturday Mornings" I swear AK exhales poetry through her pores, plus she's the sweetest bean.

- Honey & Venom by @turningrednfakingsmiles I'm not over reader calling Matt "little devil" in russian.

- @fastlikealambo masterlist Girlie have amazing ideas 24/7, everything there is pure gold, "Burden of Proof" lives in my mind rent free.

- Just found Almost Had me Believing It by @tuiccim and it is deliciously amazing! Bucky Barnes and reader posing as a married couple, sign me up!

- Also @angrythingstarlight masterlist is filled with pearls.

Tagging all these amazing writers: @serzhantkris @delaber @turningrednfakingsmiles @fastlikealambo

[bambirex]

Random fic rec, just because I'm in a very appreciative mood and would like to give a shout-out to some frankly amazing writers:

The March of The Black Queen and Killer Queen by @borealis-strange

You like Queen? You like fantasy, magic and adventure? Some beautiful friendship moments, perhaps? Then you need to read this amazing series by this extremely talented, and unfairly underappreciated writer!!!

And you ask yourself, how did I get here by Sharonglitterbombjohn who sadly deactivated on here. A very raw, heartbreaking fem!queen fic that will make you cry like a damn waterfall.

Calling All Ladies by @nightoftheland. One of the first fem!queen fics I've read, which pretty much got me into this AU. It's hard to make me blush, but this super steamy story managed.

The Millionaire's Dinner by @stars-across-space. This one's for the more kinky crowd- quite delicious, if you ask me! And it's fem!queen, too!

Solitary Fame and Rhiannon by @emmaandorlando. The first one is a gorgeous piece written for the Freddie Mercury Weekend, which admittedly became one of my favorites. The second one is a fic that I would just call "THE fem!maylor fic".

The Spoiled Brat Universe by @feedermercury. This is once again for those with a specific kink, but this cool series offers more than that; there's plenty of fluff, too!

Always On My Own by @freesiafields. A beautiful fic written for the Freddie Mercury Weekend, that broke my heart and then put it back together by the end.

Like Tops, Like Gyroscopes and Va' Tu Sei Libero by @freddieofhearts. I'm not gonna lie: reading these fics will hurt. Like, a lot. But both of these are heartbreakingly beautiful and realistic.

So tell me (why my gods look like you) by @iamnotbrianmay. This is not a fic: this feels more like a beautiful poem, something that sticks with you after reading it. An utterly gorgeous fem!queen story.

Canon fluorescent!verse by @immistermercury. It was extremely hard to pick just a few fics from this certain author, who, I believe, is one of the (if not THE) best Jimercury writers in this fandom. This beautiful, often heartbreaking but more often uplifting series of Freddie, the young ballet dancer pushing through all the hardships that life is throwing at him, while finding the love of his life and having a family, is absolutely touching. I'd recommend it to everyone.

The Words Unsaid by @queensilveryrog. This story of model!brian and photographer!john just absolutely blew my mind. It's insane how much emotion this author managed to put into such a short story!

Death On Two Legs by JessiDWalton who I believe is not on tumblr (at least I couldn't find them). This is the hot Maylor demon!AU that I didn't know I needed.

When the monster is too big to slay by @jessahmewren. You can just tell I love breaking my own heart, right? Gosh, the emotions in this! And the dialogue is simply gorgeous all throughout.

I Will Tell You I Love You by lover_of_blue_roses (i think they are also not on tumblr). A sweet Jimercury fic featuring the famous bath video and some sexy times.

Dawn of Aquarius and Blacklight in Zero Gravity by @a-froger-epic. I keep saying that the first fic feels like watching an artsy indie movie - check it out for yourself, if you haven't yet! The ultimate Froger fic, which is painfully realistic and gives you a good glimpse at what life was like for a young gay man in the '60s. The second one is a thrilling Frian fic set in the future - I promise you, you will fall in love with it after the very first chapter.

Calling All Boys and The Way You Love Me Like You Do by @nothingelsematterswrites. The first one is a Deacury/Maylor Tinder AU- did I get you hooked yet? The second one is one of the hottest poly!queen one-shots I've ever read.

Loverboy by @his-majesty-king-mercury. A super sweet Froger story, with plenty of drama- and then a wonderful ending!

Let Your Heart Decide by @pumpkinlilyao3. Only three chapters in, and I'm already in love- another fantastic Froger fic! We love a good friends-to-lovers trope, don't we?

To Tell You When I Find You and Under The Elderberry Tree by @quirkysubject. The first fic is a Froger Titanic AU - do I need to say more? Go, and read it, everybody! Tbh, it's a thousand times better than the actual movie, with flawless characterization as well! The other mentioned fic is a cute Jimercury one-shot, that will make you cry and smile at the same time.

Safe And Sound by Stolentragedies. A fem!queen fic, in a Hunger Games setting? And also full of angst and insanely good characterization? Sign me the fuck up!

this time I know it's for real and Safeword by @freddie-mercurial. I only needed to read the summeries to these to know I will fall in love right away. One is a cute story with single parent!Brian falling for artist!Freddie, and the second is a super steamy, but also very lovely BDSM fic with healthy messages.

The entire I Lay My Life Before You series by @i-lay-my-life-before-queen. I wasn't even all that into a/b/o before I stumbled upon these fics - but these beautiful, compelling stories completely turned me around. We follow Freddie through his fight against Omega discrimination in different settings and versions- and let me tell you, every single story in this series is a touching masterpiece. I would also like to add I Reign With My Left Hand (I Rule With My Right), another fantastic a/b/o story, this time in a poly!queen setting!

hijack my heart; by @sweetestsight (I really hope it's them on tumblr too, if not, I'm sorry for the random tag). This fem!queen fic is just simply brilliant. Badass gangster ladies? Poly!Queen? Mindblowing dialogue? Girls supporting girls? If this was a movie, I would watch the shit out of it.

Don't Turn Around When You Hear Me Tread and Dim The Lights (and sing you songs) by @rhapsodicalfreddie. A secret agents, and a rockstar/groupie AU? And both of them are Frian!? *chef's kiss *

Children of The Land, Love Is Still The Answer by TheHeartOfTheStar AKA the fic that made me fall in love with the OT5 ship, complete with a beautifully written soulmate AU.

Four Men And A Rock And Roll Band and Princes of The Universe by @tikiniki. The mentioned series is what inspired me to write my very first fic. When people mention poly!queen, this writer is the one that immediately comes to my mind (i hope she's doing well!). I didn't realize I would like the second one as much as I did, but it simply blew my mind! Star Wars/Star Trek who?

These are just the ones I can list from the top of my head- but of course there are many more, and let's be real: I'm eternally grateful for all the writers in this fandom! 💕

[vole-mon-amour]

OTP tag game.

Tagged by @captainjowl. You know for sure than I'm struggling to pick only 10 & fit them in here. But hell, that’s fun, thank you <3

Rules: Choose 10 OTPs BEFORE reading the questions, and then get to answering

1) Harry James Potter & Sirius Orion Black

2) Daniel Le Domas & Grace (Ready or Not 2019)

3) Samuel & Nathan Drake (Uncharted 4)

4) Corvo Attano & The Outsider (+probably Emily Kaldwin; Dishonored series)

5) Steve Grant Rogers & Bucky Buchanan Barnes (Marvel)

6) Tony Edward Stark & Peter Benjamin Parker (Marvel)

7) Handsome Jack & Rhys (Borderlands video game series)

8) Damon Salvatore & Elena Gilbert (TVD Books & a tv show)

9) Batman & Joker (in every universe, really)

10) Adam Jensen x Francis Pritchard (Deus Ex video game series)

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

I believe it didn't hit me before Spider-Man: Homecoming. Civil War was about Steve & Bucky for me, but when I saw that growing up Peter with Tony, their dynamic, chemistry. Tom & Robert are really just like that.

2. Have you ever read a fanfic about 2?

Lmao. I've read like 50% of the tag on AO3, I wrote my own & started a few wips on them. They are amazing. Plus, with that shitty canon? We didn't get enough of them & they deserved better, so it's only logical to save yourself with fanfiction.

3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr screen saver?

I was living with The Outsider icon on my twitter & tumblr. That one is still my Google profile picture I believe. Don't remember about having an icon with the two of them. Also had The Outsider as my lockscreen on my smartphone for a while.

4. If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

Funny how it fits canon, lmao. Rhys literally tried to erase Jack's AI in TFTBL, so I guess another day on Pandora, nothing new. They torture each other, they kiss each other, they kill other people in the process. It'll be fiiine.

5. Why is 1 so important?

I love them since the first time I met them, which was much more than 10 years ago, I don't even remember when. At some point they were the reason I was waking up & forcing myself to eat just to read more fanfiction & feel something. Even if I was drowning in pain (I was extremely depressed), it was still something. I read every fic I could find at that time. The depression that Harry went through, all these feelings, his love for Sirius. I was living through it, I could relate.

I'm currently drowning in these two again, though in a much healthier & happier state. I see their flaws & I know as much as I can. I see them differently as an adult. They saved me, they keep being my number one, I still consider making a tattoo of Padfoot/Sirius or of both Harry & Sirius together. I have many headcanons, ideas, I write fics about them. They are everything, you see? They were my choice when there was nothing, no one. They are HOME.

6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship?

Both. There goes the dynamic of Jack & Rhys: torture, fighting, flirting, a lot of trauma. I'd definitely say that they are wild and comical sometimes, but they are definitely serious. With the Asylum, the mental health issues. There is so much more to it, the complexity of their relationship. The struggle of loving who you probably shouldn't (but hey, when does it work like that?) Thinking about Tettlate's Batman, about Batman: Europa & how Joker was: "You must be crazy, putting me in charge of the plan, letting me decide. Okay, well..."

Nah, they are entertaining, but this is a serious ship.

7. Out of all the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry?

Are you kidding me? They are all the definition of CHEMISTRY. I'd say 5, but then go 2, 6, 7, 8. Come on. I'm not choosing. Most of they are WILD.

9. How many times have you read/watched the 10’s fandom?

The fandom itself? Idk. I found one of my favourite artists through this fandom. If it's about the characters themselves, I played the first game with the DLC from start to beginning, looking around every corner. Spent more than 60 hours in there. Watched a second game (my laptop can't run the game) and the DLC (obviously), since Francis is in the DLC & not in the main game. I have a tag for them on tumblr, I read fanfiction, I tried to write my own. I still follow Elias & want a third game. Elias liked my tweets about Adam and Jensen being an actual couple a few times. I'd say I interacted with all of this a lot? Still do, actually.

10. Which ship has lasted the longest?

5. Best friends since childhood, fought & died for each other, still found their way back to each other. "It would break your Captain's heart, to see what they did to you." That only the MENTION of Steve can pull Bucky out of this brain washing(ed?) state, distract him in the middle of a fight. When Steve died in the comics because of Sharon & Tony sent Natasha to take Steve's shield from Bucky because even Tony knew how much Steve means to Bucky. And Bucky was like: "Oh, I see what he did. Not happening!" Fought Natasha (that is his ex in the comics) & kept going for Steve's sake.

Well, you see the point, I can go on and on.

11. How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up?

They're not actually canon so none? They had a few fights: In Civil war (the comics), in Homecoming (the movie).  That only means that they’ve got history & love each other.

12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8?

As fierce Grace is, they wouldn't stand a chance against Damon & Elena. Those two had to deal with worst thing than brainless stupid zombies. On the other hand, if there were no alive humans to drink their blood... It's either an animal diet that Damon hates so much or I don't know? Still, they're faster & more powerful. Their bodies have advantage of healing the wounds as well.

13. Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

From some people, yeah. Don't tell Athena, don't tell Vaughn, don't tell Fiona. Though Rhys wasn't very subtle about it & Jack just doesn't give a fuck. You will probably end up dead if you disagree or bore him, or if you're useless.

"I can take you to the top, but you gotta know where the top is" & Rhys doesn't tell anybody until Jack makes him the President for like whole 20 minutes lol.

Fiona & Sasha: "This can't be happening." Sure it can, darling.

14. Is 4 still together?

I have a headcanon about The Outsider finding Emily & Corvo after Billie frees him from the Void. He doesn't have anybody & they are his only friends aside from a potential friendship with Billie. And if we don't consider TOTO dlc, they definitely are! The Outsider visits them both when they sleep & takes them to the void sometimes. How could he not?

15. Is 10 canon?

Not really but also sort of? Let's say that they really care about each other in canon, despite Adam pushing Francis away because of his trauma & fear that Megan caused him. :/

16. If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

Can you imagine wizards fighting extremely powerful vampires? Superheroes with venom in their bodies that make them super strong with people that made a deal with the Devil himself (hi Le Bail)? 5000 y.o. God and his lover that share his powers and an augmented human protecting his tired IT guy? Combine mental health issues to that, Jack and Rhys with Batman and Joker. Corvo & The Outsider would probably slay them all as Corvo and Emily did in both games with entire islands, though it will still be a slaughter anyway.

17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 5’s ship?

All the fucking time, lmaooo. I’m not even talking about it.

18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond?

I feel like I already did with Steve & Bucky after many Marvel movies (we're not even mentioning Endg*me, I fucking died & was dead for full 4-5 months).

19. Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s tumblr page?

I used to do that a few years back, but not anymore. There is not much content since the trilogy is finished.

20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all forever, which ship would you sink?

1 already went through it & fandom lives, so I'd say maybe 7? Rhys will find a way to bring Jack back & they are both so wild. It’s what happened in canon anyway. Jack kidnapped Lilith & forced her to do Angel's job, so I'd like to see that witch try at first. Jack is an immortal bastard. <3

Now that I think about it, Corvo would also deal with her in seconds as she waits to curse them.

As a conclusion: no one breaks up forever, we're killing the witch.

I tag: @ianmillkovichgallagher​ & @aledbr​

Whoever else wants to join the game, please do.

[moonlightandlilacs]

A Little Puppet Dance - Ch. 1

A The Cabin in the Woods fanfiction.

Ch. 2 / AO3

Marty has some misgivings about splitting up, and Dana seems to be the one with the clearest head, so maybe they should stick together. He chooses to pull her into his room instead of letting her go into her own. This one small act throws off the Organizations plans in a major way and has the potential to change all of their futures.

“Everyone, get in your rooms!”  Curt ran for the breach, grabbing onto the zombie arm extending from it, and the others scrambled to obey him.  Panic was nearly overwhelming Marty, but something was still tickling at the back of his brain.

‘Splitting up is never a good idea.  It always gets people killed,’ he considered silently.   As Dana turned into her room and Holden kept moving, Marty made a rapid decision, grabbed Dana’s arm, and swung her into his own room instead.  He was somewhat vindicated a moment later as the door slammed shut of its own accord behind him, catching the back of the hem of his button-up in it.

Dana shrieked in fright at being grabbed and thrown into the room, and she cried out again at the sudden noise of the door crashing closed.  She whipped around to face him.

“Marty!  What are you doing?!  We were supposed to split up and secure our rooms!”  Marty grimaced, both at her shrill tone and the words.

“Dana, you’ve watched plenty of horror movies-” he almost said ‘with Jules’ but then remembered the disturbing sight of her bloody, decapitated head and swallowed down the words and the accompanying nausea.  “You know what happens when everyone splits up!”

The redhead glared at him.  “This is real life, Marty, not a movie!”  He stepped toward her, only to realize that his shirt was shut in the door.  Grumbling to himself, he tried to yank it out, but it wouldn’t budge.  The door proved to be locked, as well.

“There are - a little help here - zombies out there - seriously, Dana, please help - and our friend has been murdered.”  Dana, who had finally stepped in his direction, flinched, but she still made her way over to assist him.  “I think we can safely say that the normal rules don’t apply.”

She joined him in tugging at the hem of his shirt, but to no avail.  “That doesn’t mean - just take it off, Marty - doesn’t mean that the horror movie rules do,” the woman affirmed.  Marty gave in and shrugged off his outer shirt, leaving it hanging from the doorframe.  He then grabbed Dana by the arms and looked her in the eyes.

“Jules went outside to have sex with her boyfriend and was killed.  We’re a group of young people on vacation in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.  Doors here open and close for no fucking reason, including the trapdoor to a mysterious basement full of random creepy shit like torture diaries with Latin incantations in them.  And now there are zombies that throw our friend’s head at us, and Curt’s telling us to split up.  I think it’s an appropriate fucking comparison, Dana.”

Dana seemed to consider this for a moment, and then she was wrenching out of his grip, dropping to her knees in the corner, and vomiting on the floor.  Marty winced and knelt beside her, pulling her hair back with one hand and rubbing her shoulder with the other.

“Aww, geez, Dana, I’m sorry.”  Her only response was to heave again, but she didn’t pull away from his hand.  After a few moments, her shudders stilled, and she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“No, no, you’re right.  It makes no fucking sense, but you’re right.  God, what the hell?!”

Marty had no real response to this, so he merely released her hair and slid his hand under her elbow to help her to her feet.  Her freed curls swung into her face, and she flicked one away with a huff.  Noticing this, Marty held up a finger and went over to his bag.  After a moment of rummaging, he produced a black hair band, which he quickly handed over.

“Here.  Don’t want your hair getting in your eyes while you’re slaying zombies.”  Dana took the offered accessory with a small smile and tugged her hair back into a tight ponytail.  She paused  for a moment in thought, and before she could even ask, he was giving her a second tie, which she used to fashion the ponytail into a bun.

“Yeah, why do girls in horror movies just leave their hair down the whole time?  It gets in the way constantly,” she pondered as she worked; Marty merely shrugged.  “And why do you even have these?” The woman inquired as she let her hands fall.  He flashed her a grin.

“For one, they’re useful to have, especially for someone with my… horticultural habits.  For another, Jules was always in need of one, and she always forgot to supply them for herself.  I got rather accustomed to carrying them around.”  Only after he finished the statement did he remember the fate of said friend, and his smile disappeared in an instant.  For a moment, they had been interacting so much like normal that he had been able to forget about the grisly last several minutes.

Brought back to himself, he also realized that they had never barricaded the window as they had come in to do, and he threw himself at the opening.  In his haste, his hip bumped into his bedside table, and the lamp on it crashed to the ground in a smattering of ceramic.

“Do we have anything to block the opening?” He demanded as he pulled the glass pane shut.   Receiving no answer, he turned.  “Dana!  Do we-” the sight of her kneeling on the floor by the lamp stopped him.  “Are you okay?  I mean- stupid question- of course you’re not, but… what are you doing?”  He spotted blood on her hands, but he wasn’t sure if it was from catching Jules’s head earlier or if she had cut herself on the shards from the lamp.  And she still hadn’t responded to him.  “Dana, I think we have bigger things to worry about than a broken lamp on the floor; you can leave it.  Seriously, it’s okay.  ...Dana.  ...Dana?”

Marty swept away some ceramic with his foot to create a space and then knelt down beside her.  Wordlessly, she handed him something she had pulled from the mess.  He was momentarily confused before he recognized that it wasn’t just part of the wiring for the lamp.  Hoping that his next assessment was wrong, he began turning the thing over in his hands, but the more he did so, the more he became convinced that he was correct.  The implications of that were almost more than he could handle in the moment, and he instinctively reached for the drugs in his pocket before Dana interrupted him.

“Is that…”

“It’s a camera,” he confirmed.  She gripped his arm far too tightly as panic began flashing across her face.

“But why?”

“...I don’t know.”

Dana leapt to her feet, snatching the offending object from his hands, and began yanking on it frantically.  The wire stretched its way across the floor and up the corner of the wall as she pulled, and Marty realized that she was hyperventilating with tears streaming down her face.  He quickly got to his feet and reached for her, only to receive an errant elbow to the chest as her movements became more erratic.  Winded, he stumbled back a bit before stepping toward her more cautiously.

“Dana, stop.  Dana, you gotta calm down, please.”  She showed no sign of having heard him.  Hoping to distract her, he tried a different tact: “Dana, we have to cover the window!”  This got a flinch out of the redhead, and she stumbled away from said window, dropping the camera as she did.

“Oh, God, Marty, what the hell is going on?!” She cried as she fell against him.  He caught her carefully, feeling just how hard she was shaking in the process, and led her toward his bed.  She sat down hard without prompting, but when he tried to pull away to barricade the window, she grabbed onto his arm again.  “Marty, why is there a camera?!  Who- what- watching… I just don’t understand!”  She began trembling even harder, and the tears and hyperventilation showed no signs of stopping.  Abruptly, she pulled her knees in toward her chest without releasing him.  “Oh, God, I’m feeling sick again.  Marty, what do we do?!”

“Hey, Dana, breathe.”  She took a shuddering breath and let it out as he tugged her knees away with his free hand.  “Good.  Now, here.  I know you don’t usually smoke, but this will help, I promise.  It’ll make you less nauseous, and it’ll calm you down.”  When Dana gave no indication of arguing, Marty reached behind him toward his dresser and grabbed a small joint off of the top.  Lighting it and taking a short puff, both to get it going and because he wasn’t exactly serene himself,  he offered it to her.

She took a deep drag and let it out after a moment with a small cough.  Marty nodded encouragingly, and she took another few before handing it back.

“Thank you, Marty,” she murmured as she wiped her tears.  “I just…”

“Hey, no, I get it.  This is fucking terrifying, and I don’t blame you for freaking.  You’re just really smart, and I need your head in the game here.”  With this, Dana squared her shoulders, and her shakes slowed nearly to a stop.

“Alright.  So, camera.  Someone is watching.  Why?  Did they know this was going to happen?”  Her voice was almost businesslike now as she rose and headed back to the corner.

“Puppeteers,” Marty muttered as something clicked in his brain again.  Before he could explore it, though, he heard a small metallic creaking noise, followed by a hiss.  This also seemed vaguely familiar, and after a moment, he placed it with Curt’s sudden change of mind.

“Dana, do you hear that?”  As he looked around, a vent caught his eye.  “I swear that was closed before.”  Confused, he looked to Dana, only to see her swaying in place as her eyes glazed over.  “Dana, get away from the vent!” He shouted as understanding washed over him.  Thinking quickly, he yanked the neck of his long-sleeved shirt over his mouth and nose as he rushed to his friend.  She stuttered to meet him, and he pulled her cardigan up to cover hers as well.

“Marty, the window,” she slurred.  When he only stared at her in confusion, she tugged weakly at his sleeve.  “Open the window.  Air.”

“See?  Really smart.”  She smiled weakly at him as he threw the window back open, and they both breathed in the clean air through their impromptu masks.

A few moments later, Marty heard the hissing stop, but it was quickly followed by the disembodied voice he had heard a few times that night: “Get away from the window, Dana.”

“What the fuck?”  Marty whipped around, looking yet again for the source, but Dana didn’t appear to hear it.

“Get away from the window, Dana,” came the whisper again.  She still didn’t flinch, but she did go to step back.

“Dana, stop!” Marty barked, still looking around.  She stared at him strangely, but she obeyed.  “Do you not hear that?”

“Hear what, Marty?” She replied as he swung the window shut again.  He got the sense that if they hadn’t seen zombies and found an unexplained camera, she would have been telling him he was too high again.

“The voice.  I heard it before, in the basement, and again in here earlier.  I couldn’t understand it then.”

“Understand what?  What voice?  What’s it saying?”  That almost pitying look had vanished, and she was looking frightened again.

“How do they know our names?  Or at least yours...”  Now he was thinking out loud, but this was enough for Dana.  She broke out in a cold sweat and began surveying the room in a near panic.

“Get away from the window, Dana!” The whisper was more commanding this time, and Dana let out a small cry of alarm as she heard it.

“Marty, what’s happening?”  She staggered away from the window in terror, scuttling backward on her hands when she fell.

“I don’t know, but something is majorly wrong here,” he asserted as he turned to follow her.

As if to underline his point, a zombie smashed the glass of the unattended window, making both adults scream.  Putrid arms wrapped around Marty’s waist and began dragging him out of the room as Dana shrieked his name.

OooOooOooOooO (In the Control Room)

Hadley let out a sigh of relief as the Fool was pulled from the room, kicking and screaming, by Judah Buckner.

“Finally,” he groaned.

“That was too close,” Sitterson agreed as they watched Marty trip and fall to the ground outside the cabin, only to be dragged away by his zombified captor.

“Well, then why didn’t you let me gas them in the first place?  A little Cortisol and they’d have been out like a light, problem solved,” Hadley pointed out with a pout.

“He was giving her some of his weed, which was supposed to have a cognitive suppressant in it.  Should have made them both dumber; he is supposed to be the Fool, after all.  Then we could have just let them be for a bit and dealt with the Athlete and the Scholar first.  And besides, you gassed them afterward, and look how well that worked.”

“That’s what we get for trusting the chem department, huh, Lin?” Hadley grumbled.  “A girl vomits once and panics a little, and her system processes or removes most of the drugs?  What damn good does that do?”

“Oh, shit, speaking of which,” Sitterson interrupted.  “Look.”  He swung the small screen back toward Hadley, showcasing Dana taking a running leap out the window.

“Fuck, she can’t run around out there; the Virgin has to be protected until last, and there are three others left!”  Spotting a small fountain of blood on another camera that tracked with where Judah had been dragging Marty, he amended, “Well, two.”

“Alright, chem, you better get it right this time,” Sitterson growled into the mic as Hadley moved to the lever system.  His partner pulled the lever for the Fool with a bit more relish than was strictly professional and grinned as the resulting earthquake knocked Dana to the ground.  She got to her feet, though, and she moved to keep running.

“Chem, I need more Cortisol in sector 7 around the Virgin.  Knock her out,” Sitterson instructed as Hadley returned to his seat.  Unfortunately, the sprayers that were usually used for pheromone mists didn’t mask the drug the way the indoor ones did, and the gas rose in a visible cloud, but it did its job.  Dana stumbled to a halt after a few moments and then dropped to the moss in a heap.  With a small high five, the two men turned their attention back to the other two sacrifices.  The Virgin would be safe there for a while, and they had a job to do.

OooOooOooOooO

A.N. A big thank you to itslaurenmae for their help on this chapter and for being generally so supportive.

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2010s: 55 - 51

55. fusedmarc - “Rain of revolution” Lithuania 2017

[2017 Review here]

Who else? My love for Fusedmarc has become a BorisBubbles.tumblr calling card and come on, there’s no way I wouldn’t drag them this high. Two years later and I still cackle thoughout this song with the exact same vigor as I did two years back. 🤭 Now, I do understand that “Rain of revolution” is one of the worst 10 songs in this decade and... well, yeah, (yeah, yeahyeah NRG yeah yeah yeeeeaaah) that’s the entire point. If we lived in the universe where ESC entries can be compared to motion pictures, in which “Waterloo” is Citizen Kane and “A matter of time” is fucking Titanic, then “Rain of revolution” is The Room, for Viktorija and Denis posses the exact same endearing insanity, inscrutability and genius as Tommy Wiseau.  And honestly, this song should be shown in movie theatres because it turned inteptitude into an artform. Reminder that fusedmarc were the only 2017 act to refuse PBC:UA’s offer for stand-in rehearsals because they were afraid Ukraine would fail at getting their ~vision across~ 😂😍

Reminder that this resulted in technical errors DURING THEIR LIVE PERFORMANCE. 😍

Reminder that they song is punctuated by endless YEAH YEAH YEAHs 😍

Reminder that they only won Eurovizijos Atranka because a diehard vegan facebook group found out that fusedmarc were *also* vegan and urged their lithuanian members to vote for them, allowing them to beat Aiste 😍

Reminder that Victorija styles herself after Little My from the Moomins 😍

Reminder that her diction is equivalent or worse  to the English spoken in the Nekci Menij show. 😍

Reminder that Viktorija’s nail game is more on fleek than yours.😍

Remember that LIFE LIKE ROLLERCOASTEN, SPEENING MI ORAWND 😍

It’s all about MICKIN a start and let their light shine FRUUU U. So DANCE to the RIVEM of ur SOLE, chant ‘LIETUVA’ like that random woman does at the start of the performance (IS THIS THE SAME LITHUANIAN FRUMP who went all out during Belarus, because if so I may have found a soul sibling), end the reign of RevoLucian and look for the reason why hamster on the road. Life is like a rollercoaster and live it to the fullest.

________________________________________________________________

54. Tom Dice - “Me and my guitar” Belgium 2010

I’ll be honest: As a Belgian, Tom Dice has a lot of emotional value for me. The year was 2010: Belgium hadn’t qualified for a final for six straight contests, sending failure after failure. Neither VRT had, until that point, shown any idea behind what they were doing, consistently picking the wrong songs during the national selections. RTBF meanwhile, didn’t even try, sending novelty acts they knew would never qualify. So, imagine being Belgian and seeing Tom get announced, fedora perched askew on his head, with a tepid guitar ballad and you’re like “oh MORE of the same, well bye 😬", except SURPRISE Tom is naturally charismatic and has a great voice and turns his by all standards generic song into an experience. 

It’s the Todevska principle: Tom OUTSOLD. Is he the best entrant? No. Like many ESC alumni he entered the contest with his least good song. Is he the most exciting entrant? Far from it. 

However isn’t it fair to state that we, Eurovision fans from Europe, have always had at least one dark age in our history with the contest? Periods where our supposed “best” wasn’t good enough? Periods where we struggled being proud of whom we were and where we came from. For someone to come out of nowhere and put you country back on the map after years of adversity, be it an ABBA, or a Bobbysocks! or a Tamara Todevksa, that makes for a magical rebirthing experience. Tom Dice is Belgium’s and I am #Proud of it. 

oh and also the live owns dwi. 🤭

________________________________________________________________

53. Aram MP3 - “Not alone” Armenia 2014

WOD EEF EETS ONLE WAN KEES!

Long before ASMR became a popular thing, Armenia send an entry that is only enjoyable if the listeners plugs in their best airphones, clears their heads and lets the music sweep over them.

And I mean, “Not alone” may be a mere Build-Up-To-An-Epic-Climax Ballad, but dear gods is it effective. You see, “Not alone” starts off quiet and solemn, a gentle piano tapping, punctuated with small drums... and then the orchestra comes in and builds and builds and builds until

at long last

WOD EEF EETS ONLE WAN KEES

DAT TERNS AL SIEDS INTO TRIZZ

DE STRONGEIST VIND INTO BRIZZ

OHPEN ALL DORS WIDNO KEEZ

and fuck, take my lifetime supply of hairpieces because that shit is awesome? The only real downside Aram has for me is that he requires a lot of set up: you really NEED to be in The Proper Mood to enjoy “Not alone” in its fullest glory. But when you are willing to take that plunge and be swept away by its rawness, you’re in for three minutes of catharsis. PS: Aram performing it drunk at the finale 😍 

being awesome AND being incompetent in two different performances, what a kraljic <3

________________________________________________________________

52. Ott Lepland - “Kuula” Estonia 2012

There are two reasons why “Kuula” ranks this high and neither is Estonia bias :o

The first is, obviously, the context. I’ve spoken widely about how terrible Baku2012 sounded as a whole, and how disappointment everything was. Well, “Kuula” was not only acoustically sound, it is actually the ONLY song that I was pleasantly surprised me. I had no opinion whatsoever going into Baku and he roses to my #3 of the year.

Which brings me to the second reason why “Kuula” ranks this highly. It is just... really fucking good, lol?

With powerballads such as these it’s REALLY important to suck the listener/viewer in and the combination of Ott’s great voice, adorable personality, the magical language that is Estonian (which also, conveniently, allows me forget “Kuula” has Deep Meaning and Touching Lyrics 🤗), and a great organic build up captivate me immensely. Even though songs like “Kuula” are far from what I normally love, it never fails to sustain me, proving tho every great rule they’re always a greater exception. 🤗

________________________________________________________________

51. Anouk - “Birds” the Netherlands 2013

~She slayed it from the outside~

Oh my god Anouk was such a rollercoaster. From my end, I was OBSESSED with Anouk from the second she was announced (as the first participant of 2013!!!) because hell yeah I LOVED “Nobody’s wife” and “Girl” and this expected ~High Voltage Rock OWNAGE~

What we got instead was... something just as great, if completely different. “Birds” may not have been an in-your-face rock song, but it never-the-less was a beautiful, mesmerising, unpretentious avant garde ballad. “If being myself is what I do wrong, then I would rather not be right” sticks out as an absolutely brilliant line that I often use in my daily writing. 😍 I LOVE how Anouk performs btw, on the satellite stage, in a sea of f(l)ags:

While also delivering distinctly Dutch diction. 😍 Paraphrasing:

“Burds follin daun de roeftops, aut of de skai laik reendraups, no eir, no praad.” 

Like ^ pronounced that in dutch and you literally have Anouk’s diction nailed. 😍

“Birds” was basically the “Me and my guitar” of the Netherlands, but there’s also the added bonus of  Anouk herself. You see, in contrast to her song’s ethereal demeanor, Anouk is KNOWN to be a huuuuuge abrasive confrontal bitch with zero filter 😍 and fragments of her diva personality definitely oozed into Malmö as well, from nonchalantly recording a gritty webcam vid for official channel’s preview vid (😍) to  flippantly pulling a hood over her face each time a journalist wanted to interview her. It ended, how else, with Anouk writing “Walk along” for Trijntje, and then cussing her out for being frumpy / talentless / sucking at life when she NQ’d. When Trijntje tried pinning them blame Anouk for writing her a bad song on purpose (lmfao), Anouk retaliated by stealing Trijnje’s coach seat on The Voice NL. PETTY QUEEN <3 We truly aren’t worthy of this irl Cersei Lannister. 😍

Also um, I just realized I ranked those two on opposide ends of the Dutch chart:

The 2010s marked wonderful renaissance for the Netherlands. I’m never ~OBSESSED~ with their entries, but they are a very solid Eurovision country, reliably delivering good music. I think they’re also the country that has the lowest amount of godawful entries on average (literally 2. Fuck you, “Without you” and “Amsterdam”.). If anyone deserved to win based on track record alone it was definitely them. 

[agentaw]

Detroit: Become Human - Funny story...

Okay... so Story Time because my friends pointed this out and it’s been fucking with me ever since.

This is the story of how I kinda...sorta wrote/ predicted parts of DBH about...2 years ago. Just hear me out...okay?

So this all started similarly to how DBH started, with that dope-ass demo back in 2012. My 15 year old self became enthralled in it, much like I am now enthralled in the full game. I’ve always loved story telling and had a sort of soft spot for digital modelling. So that demo was a masterpiece to me, it had a great concept and beautiful design. It was a short obsession but it had an impact. 

And that was the last piece of news I’d ever hear about it until a month after they released the full game. I remember hearing some rumour that they weren’t gonna make it a full game or something and left it at that. I didn’t hear anything about it’s coverage at E3 because while I like video games, I become absorbed in different obsessions from time to time. 

And two years ago I was obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons, the thought of creating a whole world and having others enter it was fascinating. And while I tried to create worlds from scratch, I had a problem. 

I had never been too interested in Fantasy things, I liked fantasy characters but tended to focus on too much of the political aspect of fantasy worlds and not the fun stuff like slaying dragons and stuff. 

The return of an old obsession began to try and take my focus off of DnD but I wasn’t ready to let it go yet. 

So I merged them, DnD didn’t have to be fantasy, I didn’t have to invent a world from scratch and luckily my old obsession had a world pre-designed. Marvel, specifically MCU had a treasure trove of lore and I could take a number of rules from DnD 5e and tweak them to suit the change in genre. 

So I started off with a one shot campaign, set in a HYDRA base. My three player characters would be playing themselves and making decision based on how they’d react. They ‘woke up’ in a white plastic robot body. Singular, all three were in the same body, looking through the same eyes and rolling for control over said robot body. It was entertaining to watch them figure out what they hell was going on organically. They quickly met the first NPC an old doctor/sciencist who was a very nervous person. He explained that they’d all been loaded into the same body by accident and that he was just testing out that his creation (the body itself) was working correctly. So my players decided to answer the jumpy doctors questions and let one of them take control as the doctor got them to walk around while still connected to the computer around them by a bunch of wires connected to the back of their neck. The doctor left the room briefly (to report to his superiors) before returning and calmly explaining that he’d need to shut them down before making the rest of the bodies. Yes, this was heavily inspired by the demo but the players didn’t notice or didn’t comment on it at the time. And they genuinely really like the one-shot. So, I started writing more, growing the campaign and expanding my list of NPCs.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “wow...you ripped off the demo and think that counts as writing a whole game” but I never said I wrote the whole story, that would be mental. But as both me and my players have pointed out, there is a large number of similarities which is spooky because as i already stated I didn’t know anything about DBH until almost a month after it’s full release. 

The first and most profound is Amanda. Or my Amanda, who’s called Ruth LaRue. Dr. Ruth LaRue, the trio’s psychologist/co-creator who acts pleasant (too pleasant) towards them...unless they disobey or resist their training to become Hydra Assets. One of my players is rebellious and LaRue has tried to manipulate and coldly threatened him as a result. While another obeys and gets praise and rewards as a result. Also she looks like Amanda (a character i didn’t even know existed), I originally described her as the same race, hairstyle, though slightly younger. And then I drew her (poorly) for my players to get a better idea of how she looked and Jesus Christ they look the same. 

Another is the fact that I have three player characters. There was a possible fourth player but work and life made it difficult for her to be a part of the game. Also my players are two boys and one girl. And while that’s all freaky, their characters appearances/designs are extra weird. Originally, after all getting their own bodies, they all had white plastic robot bodies, all male design (which female player wasn’t happy about because she missed her boobs). The only way to tell them apart was voice and the nervous doctor had given them different coloured eyes. Creating robots came with the challenge of figuring out how their bodies worked (one player was particularly interested in this). Once again inspiration partly came from the Kara demo, the robots are a water (blue liquid) based system, a pump (heart) transports water, which is collect in bags (lungs) through the robots absorbing moisture in the air (through breathing), around the machine frame (body). The water has two purposes, to thinly coat the white plastic casing (skin), which allowed the robot to feel pressure but not texture and also to keep the pump valves going, which creates the energy the machines (players) are run on. After learning that the white plastic version could be easily broken during training, the nervous doctor created a second batch of models, this time made out of metal (female asked for a female body and therefore the doctor gave her a large dent in her chest plate, she was pleased). They then get a new model, ones that are designed to blend in with humans. And this is where this section gets super freaky. The player got no say in how they looked because in game they wouldn’t. 

The female is the shortest model as well as they palest model with loads of freckles, the similarities with Kara stop there but the female player has been gifted a female kitten (thankfully named Cookie, not Alice) as the reward and is quite paranoid about it being taken off her or harmed (calm down, I haven’t hurt the cat...yet). 

One of the males is only slightly more tanned than the female with considerably less freckles and markings. He’s the tallest and the player has been surprisingly obedient, only "failing” when he doesn’t understand what’s happen or doesn’t think something will benefit HYDRA. Because of this he’s been promoted to team leader by the powers that be. He’s logical and is usually thinking about training and what’s going on in the NPCs’ heads. 

Lastly we have the second male who looks southern European (Spain, Italy, Greece and could probably pass as Mexican but the story is set in central Europe) so a different ethnicity/race to the other two. This is the rebellious player who generally plays pranks, cracks jokes and says “fuck you” to authority. Like I said before as a result, he tends to be the one looked down on and oppressed by the powers that be. He generally has a very clear line which he won’t cross no matter what and is willing to stand up if he views something as drastically wrong (refused to hurt his friends or pick up a gun).

Also when asked what they wanted to be called (I.e What’s your name?) The players decided to to sick to what the nice nervous doctor had designated them, i.e the colours of their eyes. Rebellious is Red. Logical is Blue and Female is Purple (name later changed to Violet).

Next is three more NPCs, who have enough in common with the DBH characters to mess with me. 

The nervous doctor, Dr. Thomas Thornley, while having a completely different personality, has formed relationships like Hank. A number of the players refer to him as “Daddy Thornley”, not to his face but when talking to each other in game. And most disturbingly the rebellious player has implied on several occasions that he “ships” the logical male player with father-figure Thornley, jokingly of course. And while in the beginning Thornley may have viewed the robots as a project or experiment, he now appears quite protective and fond of them. Even displaying discomfort when one is broken or completely destroyed. 

Their combat and gun trainer, Agent Woodrow who is ex-military and treats the robots exactly like you’d expect he would, like machines. He could either be Gavin or Captain Allen but either way he’s a genuine aggressor and dislikes/hates the robots. 

The Head of Hydra, Director Malachi Storm who has an air of mystery around him and commands any room he enters. He’s considerable less creepy than Kamski but is an “all-knowing, all-powerful” character. Also I guess I’m technically also Elijah Kamski (a.k.a GOD) and my players pointed out that i have his sadistic, power hungry play style (thanks, guys).

Lastly is a few game mechanics and events i put in the game. The players have always been able to telepathically talk to one another, they can also transfer images to each other. If broken beyond repair (i.e Killed) they now get automatically rebuilt, similar to Connor. I made LaRue give them a morality test which was mostly the “Track dilemma” which is similar to both the driver-less car AIs and the Kamski test. I actually did the motherfucking Kamski test with one or two of my players (but with humans instead of androids lol). Also the players believe they’re alive (which technically they are). They’ve literally been give zero context as to how they are in robot bodies in the MCU, specifically they’re last memories before the start of the game are of going to sleep in their beds in the real world. They are literally three robots walking around stating that they’re alive. 

And yes, I realise that Cage took shit from other movies but it have seen any of those movies so...:P

If I looked hard I could probably find more scary comparisons but a) I don’t particularly want to show all my cards, in case my players read this post, and b) I appear to have written a fucking TED talk out of what was supposed to be a short funny story. 

[dustystarlite]

For @nique10me 

1. I came home to find you covered in blood and you’re seriously trying to convince me this is ketchup? FemShiro would buy it. Nope I can she her freaking out and checking Nagare over from head to toe. Before giving him the speech of “If you are ever hungry and I’m not here please don’t forget about rules # 1: One must wash up before a meal or after. 2# I refuse to help you hide the body.

2. You love the summer, you’re always outside and of course I fall for the one human you loves the fucking sun. I love the movie called “Vampire Effect 2003″ ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0351887/ ) If you never got a chance you watch please do. If vampire movie your thing.  I can see Nagare trying weird “sun cure” just to join FemShiro on their first date. 

3. You saw me watching Twilight and now you won’t speak to me, I swear it was on that channel when I turned the T.V. on! I can see them both being nerd for this fandom. Watching all the movie and complaining about how it does go with the books. (My sister a fan and when she made me watch them. That’s all I heard) 

4. You bought me a coffin shaped bed to sleep in, I hate you. I can see FemShiro freaking out over this. Not a fan of being close inside a box. “I love you but I refuse to sleep in that.” Nagare sitting on the lid smiling ear to ear. “But...” semi whining. 

5 You keep asking why I usually only visit late at night and why I always wear so many layers of clothes during the day. FemShiro thought it was odd but didn’t want to be rude and ask after the first few dates. Nagare was a ball of nerves trying to explain it to her.

6. You always do that stupid Transylvanian vampire accent when I’m mad at you, oh my god you’re doing it again, please shut up I don’t talk like that!  Nagare just stand there arm cross making the cuteness “I’m annoyed” face until FemShiro finally does stop. 

7. I would never use my mind control on you for anything serious, but I’m so making you clean out the pool this year. Nagare uses mind control like he some Darth Sith Lords from Star Wars.  He just doesn’t use on FemShiro unless she does the fake accent without stopping. I can see him using it to make her react “Swan lake”.

8. You keep levitating in your sleep and when I fell asleep on top of you I always roll over and end up falling back onto our bed. FemShiro had enough of free fall nightmare that she force to sleep in his own bed at night. 

9. We spend out weekends binge watching vampire shows and movies and calling out all the inaccuracies.  Nagare has his top five list of never happening vampire movie. FemShiro was joke if he happen to be the vampire from “Once Bitten” would he live a long life or die right here. Nagare could only shake his head at that.

10. You bought those glow in the dark vampire teeth and actually scared the shit out of me when I came home. FemShiro hanging upside down on their bed frame until Nagare woke up. What happen next was never speak of again. High pitch scream could be heard miles away.

1. We had to take the kids on a canoe trip and I jokingly tipped our canoe to scare you and oh shit we both just fell in the lake. I can see Femshiro doing this. 

2. There’s a bird in my cabin and you brought a broom and a nerf gun to get it out?! Nagare banned FemShiro from ever helping with that again. 

3. You were supposed to be helping me with the Arts and Crafts activity, and since you copped out to sleep I’m gonna cover you in glitter glue. I can see them both cover in glitter glue. Nagare many colors of green and orange. FemShiro pink and silver. 

4. We were on a hike and I lost a kid so please help me. How they first met. They were the kids who got away for their adventure time to slay the dragon in the forest. 

5. You and I are kitchen staff, and we’ve already done prep–did you just throw an egg at me? Oh you are so on! Nagare threw the first egg with some type of egg joke. 

6. Listen I know the ghost story was fake, but I’m gonna sleep in your cabin tonight so you aren’t scared. I can see them both holding on to each other with a flashlight and glow sticks. 

7. We just found some kids making out when were patrolling and why would tell them the place where we make out?! FemShiro was hoping it would gross them out. Nagare wanted to throw himself in the lake. 

8. I know this is just a game of Capture The Flag, but I’m on team red so don’t talk to me until this is over. Nagare is the Captain of Team Green and TG never fails. 

9. Everyone at camp gets nicknames, even the counsellors and ours happen to be a iconic duo and everyone wants to know why. <-- I don’t know how to answer this one. 

10. You were making friendship bracelets with the campers and one of them made ones for us…with beads in the shape of hearts… They wear those with pride to this day.  (Aw wouldn’t that be the cuteness thing ever)

11. You suggested singing songs around the campfire, since when can you sing–wait you have a guitar too?! Nagare has a lot of hidden talents. He always wanted to be a rockstar or Idol growing up.

12. You asked me to help you bring the Kayaks to the shore and I swear I didn’t mean to hit you with an ore…twice. Nagare has ninja move and she never touch him. 

13. I told you that I haven’t had a s'more before and you called me a fake counsellor before dragging me over to the bonfire. Nagare is the s’more master. 

14. I tried to scare the older kids on the hike, but you got scared too and sucker punched me. FemShiro has a nasty right hook. 

15. We forgot to lock the back door to the kitchen and oh my god that’s a lot of raccoons. First awww I love raccoons <3 FemShiro totally scream like a girl and leave poor Nagare to defend the kitchen by himself. 

[arkus-rhapsode]

In your opinion did Dragon Cry add anything to the series? While it gave some background info on Acnologia it made him seem kinda silly too. IIRC the girl wasn't even related to him or anything. I get being mad at death but like why just her and not everyone else.

This gets a little long…

Well lets see, I do think there is some to dragon cry and the biggest thing I will give it is, it takes out of Fiore to a country on the map that actually is named (unlike phoenix priestess which just made up a principality). Unfortunately it does squander this potential with Stella not being all that different from Fiore. Both have a European aesthetic with a similar monarchy, with the only thing going for it is the star concept (which really is used just for scenery) and the stellanium. But even the stellanium isn’t all that unique when it is basically just a blue version of lacrima. Which Edolas already did a decent job showing that it is capable of using in a variety of ways.

Another thing I do give this movie is the concept of another dragon using dragon soul and not being one of the first 5. The concept of the dragon using dragon soul to save itself regardless if it had a personal connection to who it is sealing itself inside of does work with the idea the western dragons were more greedy and power hungry. But there are just odd inconsistencies.

Animus is inside of SOnya and the King appearance is just coming from her mind that Animus is producing. Similar to Zera at first just being an illusion of tMavis, but How? How can the dragon use magic while inside Sonya’s body and still be king? What if Sony walked miles away from the kingdom (like in the opening) does the king just fade away? Or what if Igneel just decided to use his own Magic whenever Natsu was in a bind, gee that would be handy. Another thing I’m not sure about and this is minor, is Sonya’s magic. If she has Animus in her body does she get whatever dragon slayer magic he has? I guess not. But then why does SOnya look young? Acnologia and Irene are just enchancting their human guise and have the elongated aging of dragons, but Sonya isn’t a slayer so she shouldn’t have the elongated aging. An if she did, then why wasn’t she showing off dragon slaying magic? (I can accept her not having a dragon form because technically Animus is using Dragon Soul to stop that) But What about the ritual of Dragon Soul? Doesn’t it require they be a slayer? I mean then Dragons just can body jack you. Why does Animus even need the staff to release himself? Igneel and the others got out fine. I guess since they’re technically still damaged from the Acnologia fight they had 400 years prior and this would fully heal them but still. I guess you could say that Animus is an exception since this is the first time we’ve seen this kind of thing, but it’s not really explored, instead it’s just left out there.

Also side note: How did they become the ruling body of a kingdom? If their king isn’t real and his assistant has no idea that he’s just some thought projection? Why do you need to be the ruler, why not go into hiding, dragons just see humans as food anyway and being the ruling body of an entire nation probably is going to attract more attention an a homeless drifter. I guess maybe over the time Animus could’ve gotten more joy out of ruling humans, but if that is the case, wouldn’t it be better if, I don’t know, Sonya was the queen of Stella from the start and actually ruling the country with Dragon Slayer magic. I mean 400 years ago after the devastation by Acnologia I’m sure people would’ve wanted to look to a strong ruler. Rather than this wibble-wibble looking girl why not Animus have molded her into a queen to amass a group of followers and when he’s free just claim he’s sonya transcended to her highest magic level? I’m not saying it would’ve been great but at least it would be more interesting a conflict and actually add to the world. (No, we don’t have time to world build, Lucy tits jiggling take priority)

Speaking of a neglected world, wow. This is not a job that should be done by mages. A traitor to the government stole a super powerful weapon, this is the grounds for a national war. Sure a guild could be seen as a more covert operation, but there is no guarantee the mages have any stealth training. As much as I love Wendy in the ninja outfit, she isn’t a real stealth mage. Then there’s the idea if the mages get caught (which FT did get caught) know this has caused another international conflict. I know in movies you shouldn’t think that hard, but when OP film gold came out it at least bothered to care about the world it made. And don’t say “well they had Oda…” Hiro was working on this too, it still failed.

How about action? Well some was actually pretty decent. The fight with Wendy and Gapri probably being my favorite. Unfortunately the animation budget wasn’t going in there. I guss some people like that Lucy gets a moment to stand up forall the prisoners, but that is after she is defeated, degraded, and led to believe this is less blood sacrifice dungeon and more “pound you in the ass” dungeon. But hey, Capricorn kicked Zash…

Hell there is a lot of character. Gajeel and Juvia are literally there for no reason other than ship reasons. Natsu’s whole human or dragon thing is solved in literally 10 seconds, and while I do appreciate getting backstory for Acnologia, it’s painfully paper thin and makes him less a tragic character and more really lazy anikin skywalker.

Well in terms of technical I will say it is great for there to be braight and vibrant color in FT again and the original soundtrack. Though from a film making stand point it followed a horrible trend of 2014( mainly after Lucy summoned the celestial spirit king) which over-saturation of color, especially orange, in the second act of the film.

There are also some nice aspects in a meta sense. The voices they brought in, both dub and sub, were incredible. In the english you had Animus, Sonya, and Zash voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas, Erica Mendez, and Ray Chase. All phenomenal talents with a multitude of great roles and in the japanese you had Makoto Furukawa, Aoi Yuki, Jiro Saito. Yes Saitama and Tatsumaki were voicing Animus and Sonya and my god are they wasted. This is Saitama playing a fucking dragon, how does not work? Fairy Tail Dragon Cry found a way I guess.

So finally I will say that in an overall sense I do appreciate that this film tired to bring in more parts of the world, tried to capture what was great about the first anime, and at least give us some backstory to this world. But all of that I felt could’ve been done a whole hell of a lot better, hell Phoenix Priestess did it better. So the film really didn’t contribute that much. But hey, nice art is always appreciated.