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arllenn · 3 years

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Staring down at Ruri- no Chime is his name, before you, you can help but feel tired. None of this is making any sense it’s all too much at once.

Bonderev, one of the dickheads behind what happened at black swan bay, had apparently been alive and living well enough to the point where he could give lessons on morality in his final moments. Imagine that! HIM a man who BLEW UP an ORPHANAGE and who had personally shot you and Renata, what he persumed to be, dead! And he had the nerve to ask you to, no- TELL you to protect his son, to not let his actions get in the way of YOU PROTECTING his SON! You’re so frustrated to the point where you’re not sure if you want to burst out into maniacal laughter, break down and cry or just destroy everything in your sight the same way that dickhead had done to you and your family all those years ago.

He had gotten everything and more. A family, a happy life, power and he was freed from all the consequences of his actions. So what about you what did you get? A permanent fear of trusting anyone because “hey I’ve already been used as a genetic experiment by the man I considered a father who then proceeded to blow me, everyone and everything I’ve ever loved to kingdom come! But sure thing nice stranger who I just met let’s be besties!” Makes so much sense. Oh, oh! What about stealing years away from your life! 20 to be exact, man you could’ve been married, had a family, gone to the capital and achieved everything you had wanted to! But no instead what you’re doing is standing here, the same 18 year old who couldn’t do anything to save your friends, your family, as you watched them die in front of you. You’re the person who even in her last moments Renata had to look after and protect. And wow doesn’t that smart, doesn’t it hurt to look down at Chime to see how weak he is, with a voice that trembles and eyes that seem one glare away from overflowing with tears, doesn’t it hurt to look at him and see the worst parts of yourself reflected back at you? The parts you wanted to bury so deep down inside that they’d be forgotten by even you. But here they are, loud and angry and demanding your attention.

Your throat closes in on itself, the hand on your hip tightens. It’s a painful squeeze that’s only purpose is to remind you that, no you can’t cry here, you can’t let anyone see you like that, you cant let yourself be like that, not here. Not in front of people who you should know, who you should trust but who you don't You've spent more time running around for them then with them. It's mean and the ugly cloying feeling that rises up from your chest makes you look back at your relationship with 'your' uperclassmen. Were you even close enough to be called comrades? friends? Most of the time it felt like you were just there. A living phone running to deliver messages from one of them to another. Running errands, throwing yourself into danger or just escaping death for what? People who, people who you- people who you... what even are they to you? Right now your upperclassmen feel miles away from you, both emotionally and physically.

Your nails were starting to dig into your skin in a way that was more then painful. You could feel the moment the skin on both your hip and the palm of your other hand broke. Pulling your lip in between your teeth you try and tune back into the conversation waiting for the right words, for your upperclassmen to throw another request at you so that you can leave, preferably go outside and beat the shit out of one of the trash cans out back before running off into danger once again to fulfill their orders like you always did. And wow, isn’t that something... even now, even now, you’re still just blindly following people’s orders, never asking questions, never saying no. What... what is wrong with you? Hadn’t you learned your lesson already? Hadn't you learned after Herzog that you don't, you can't, just do that. Last time you did that you grabbed onto a rotten rope, a horribly, disgustingly, rotten rope.

"Promsing to protect somebody so recklessly is a foolish thing... nevertheless... thank you." Chime's retelling of his life comes to an end at a convient time. It's perfect really, and so you take that moment, the lull after his thanks, to leave.

You walk out into the lobby of Takamagahara the slow calming jazz music a horrible contrast to the thoughts and feelings that are swirling inside you right now. You make it two-thirds of the way to the bar when you're met with an extremely unpleasnt sight that has you cringing for more reasons then one.

Crow and Yasha are sitting the bar, resting most of their belegirantlty drunk weight on the actual contertop instead of on their chairs. They're demanding extra achoul, Crow shouting about how he can't take something anymore who knows what. And yikes heres a thought, Chime Gen is in the VIP room right behind them, those two who, even if they are drunk out of their minds, are Chisei's aides. They find Chime or even gain the smallest inkling of an idea that he may be here and you'll have more to worry about then cleaning up the counters from their drunk cry fest. Normally you'd step in here, and take over for Quinton the poor bartender on duty who always seemed to get the worst of the costumers but you really aren't feeling up to it today.

Just as you're about to turn around to give the trashcans outside the beatings of their lives Crow says something that you can't help but stop at. "You know I like Sakura don't you?" It was a question directed at Yasha who was only able to groan out what he thought was a response. You debate staying for a second. This isn't something that you particularly care about, nor is it something that really concerns you. But it just, you just want to know a little bit more about what Sakura was like before she became another one of Herzog's victims. Its with that flimsy excuse and the puppy dog look that Quinton gives you once he notices you're there that has you stepping closer, leaning against one of the pillars that trap the bar in its own seprate space.

As Crow continues to slur his feelings out Yasha seems to sober up a bit, it's not by much but its to the point where you're no longer worried about him getting into a bar fight, more just what taxi service to call for him when he inevetably passes out and where to send him afterwards.

Yasha leans over the bar apparently ready to give Crow some type of advice when the following happens. 1) he trips and stumbles over his words "Don't.. Don't worry. We are brothers. I... will never... mock you." sweet right? It would've been if not for 2) The fact that he lurches over its a face you recgonize all too well.

"Quinton get out of the-" 3) Yasha hurls all over Quinton, your words left to hang just as Yasha's icky face goop is left to hang off of Quinton. And now you're royally pissed. Sure you were pissed before but this is the type of rage that can only be quelled by you being left alone to stew in it. Its not the emotional type of rage that you felt earlier when you wanted to smash every glass surface you came across no this is the cold type of rage that leaves nothing but apathy in its wake. because as much as you've been trying to ignore it theres so much more that you had been trying to ignore, so much more that had been pushed to the wayside that you're angry about. You look up at Quinton whose looking at you like a lost kid in a mall that had mistaken you for their mother. Running a rand through your hair you harshly scratch at your scalp. "Quinton," you let out a frustrated sigh, "Take the rest of the night off, you'll be paid regularly and you can take extra pay if you wake up sick tommorrow." You turn to him and start to walk behind the counter switching places with him.

“Right thanks a bunch, manager." He rushes out. Turing towards the staff area most likely to change into his extra uniform instead of going home covered in puke. Staring down at Yasha's mess which was covering most of his area of the counter as well as the floor under his chair your annoyance hit an all new peak. It's not the chunky kind of throw up that can be easily cleaned up, its a mush that resembles watery baby food. It's obvious that this wont be a quick clean and that both mops and floor wipes are just going to push this stuff around instead of soaking it up.

Today just can't get any worse can it? Pushing your hand back into your head you aggitatedly rubbed at your scalp, pushing and pulling at the skin there. You’re pissed off. To come back after fighting against Herzog, let’s not forget HERZOG WAS THERE TOO! HE WAS THERE, HE WAS THERE LIVING AND BREATHING, AFTER ALL THAT HE HAD DONE, HE HAD THE NERVE TO GET UP ON THE PEDESTAL THAT HE HAD CONSTRUCTED, DESIGNED AND BUILT HIMSELF THROUGH EXPLOITING THE INNOCENT TO TEST HIS FREAKY DRAGON DRUGS ON, HE HAD THE NERVE TO TALK DOWN TO YOU! ACT LIKE YOU WERE STUPID OR SOME KIND OF PREDETERMINED FAILURE! You get back from that battle exhausted , emotionally drained, and wanting to destroy yourself to find Finger leisurly drinking with Humpback! After you thought that he died you thought that you had lost another person, only for him to be there and fine. It was reliving yes, but just fucking horrible at the same time. So when you stare down at that mess and the first thing you see when you look up is the VIP room that the others are in you felt like you were justified in deciding that you would be acting on your tiredness and handing off this task to one of your upperclassmen like they do to you so often.

Actually you retract your earlier statement today can in fact get worst. Crow and Yasha have apparently had enough to drink both uncoordinatedly slamming down the money to pay for their drinks, you really don't care wether or not is correct you just want them gone, they BOTH step into Yasha's puke tracking it out the door with them. Yeah, no- you're not cleaning that up nope, nu uh, never. You blow out a heated breath and start to walk towards the VIP room careful to avoid all of the face mush on the floor. Pulling on the curtains that served as the door to enter you called out to the occupants.

"Right, sorry to ruin the fun but I just had two costumers who puked and tracked the throw-up everywhere so I need one of you to go out and clean it up preferably like," You looked down at your wrist as though you wore a watch. Truthfully it was just to hide the annoyed look on your face, "right now please." You glanced up at them Before clarifying "Chime I'm not asking you to clean it up, just focus on resting." Because as much as you wanted someone to clean that nonsense up right away you were also specially tuned into just how draining it could be to meet Herzog like that. "Cool thanks guys!" You clapped your hands together and prepared to leave the room when Luminous started complaining.

"Aw, come on no way newbie, I don't wanna clean something like that up!" He put his hand to the back of his head, a tick you had noticed he did when he was complaining, nervous or worried, "Come on can't you do it? You were already out there.." And there it was normally you would excuse that tone as just being something that made Luminous, well Luminous but today the whiny tone was grating on your ears and you were two steps away from man handling him like you used to with Anton when he was being uncooperative. The thought of him hurts. Witnessing his final moments, being there when they happened, it was both the same and different then the others. Sure you had watched all the others die but Anton's had always stuck with you in a way that was far too painful for someone who you really didn't like. And now the urge to cry was back, you felt your eyes burn with unshed tears that were a culmination of too many of your emotions to name.

Caesar brought a hand to rest on his chin tapping away at it, before he even got the chance to talk your anger had already started to peak "Luminous is right newbie, theres no reason for us to do it, you were already out there and knew the areas that needed to be cleaned. This just seems like a waste of both yours and our time." Yeah, yeah, you seriously contemplated grabbing Caesar by his ponytail and using him as a mop for a second.

"You just cleaning it up would've been more efficient." Johann unhelpfully chimed in. Yeah, maybe you would use Caesar as the mop and Johann as the counter rag.

"Yeah freshie! Everyone knows that newbies do all the grunt work, you can't expect us to do it can you?" Fingers nasally voice made you want to throttle him the more he continued to talk. Sure he may have meant it as a joke but you really weren't at the point of caring. In fact you couldn't care less about anything right now. The anger that had just been building had condensed into a vengeful apathy that demanded the souls of those around you.

Once again Caesar spoke this time however you decided to cut him off. "That's right newbie, using my authority as team leader I order you to-"

"Damn I kinda don't care," You said scratching at the back of your head in an obviously exaggerated way. "Yeah actually..." you started mimicking Caesar's earlier stance, "If you're invoking your team leader rights then I'm invoking my manager rights."

"Hey wait-" Luminous tried to interject.

"Yeah as your manager I order you all to have that throw-up cleaned within the next half an hour." A bit long of a time slot, sure, but really who cares as long as it gets done.

"No way newbie team leaders out rank managers, which means my order still stands." Caesar's stubbornness in this situation could be something to praise if not for the fact that a) you don't care and b) you're two steps away from bringing your thoughts of using him as a mop to fruition.

"Team leaders outrank managers when we're out on the field sure, but right now we're in Takamagahara not battling death servitors, which means your team leader status is moot." You made a slicing motion over your neck. "You may be the leader appointed by the college but right now that means nothing, were not fighting and this isn't reconnaissance, we're working."

"That doesn't change the fact that Caesar is team leader freshman." You can always count on Johann to speak up for what he believes in. Too bad you're not here to praise your upperclassmen but instead get them to work.

"Cool! And I'm still the manager. Right now you all are technically on the clock at Takamagahara which means what I say goes. Caesar may be the team leader and you may be my upperclassmen but that doesn't change the fact that right here right now what I say takes precedence in all matters that aren't dragon related because I'm the ma.ne.ger. " You smile your best costumer service smile and speak in the same tone that you do with costumers when you say this. Then you turn on your heel and walk out calling out behind you that "I expect to not wake up to puke covered floors in the morning! I'm going to bed good night."

And well if Finger chose not to comment on your behavior because he watched you break down in the elevator through the security cameras then that will remain with him. And if Caesar and Johann chose not to speak on it because they heard you sobbing from outside your room that night then thats something that stays between them. And if Luminous caught a glimpse of the empty look in your eyes that night when you left your room for water then he definitely held that as a close secret to his heart. Choosing not to comment on it. And if you noticed that your seniors were just a bit more gentle with you or asked for your input before sending you off on recon missions when they didn't before then you don't comment on it.

#author is tired #dragon raja mc #dragon raja #johann chu #caesar gattuso #luminous lu #fanfic #writing #finger von frings #chime gen #please send me asks

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hithisisleon · 3 years

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RESIDENT EVIL COMING TO DEAD BY DAYLIGHT POST

Hey I'm coming back from the dead as Leon The White to talk about the best part of the Resident Evil showcase : Resident Evil coming to Dead By Daylight !

Yes yes we all saw the trailer, we can't wait to attach that sweet Umbrella Corp charm to our survivors and our killer's hooks but I want to talk to you about the possibilites regarding Survivors, Killer and Map !

SURVIVORS :

Yes I know we all have our preferences as to who we would like to see introduced as survivors and since it's a special occasion, Resident Evil's 25th Anniversary, we'll probably get 2 survivors like the Stranger Things DLC ( which can also mean that we could get other characters skins on top of said characters like Heather Mason getting Alessa Gillespie, Cybil Bennett and Lisa Garland skins ).

Our number one pick is the most obvious, at the end of the showcase, Matthieu Côté delivers this line :

Look, you have two choices here : kill or be killed. It's your call !

Does it sounds familiar ? I hope it does because it's coming directly from this :

So it's safe to assume that our number one character is going to be Claire Redfield !

As for number two, they'll probably pick a male character and huh... Yeah yeah you know what I mean, it's going to be Leon Kennedy.

It makes perfect sense : he's the other part of the duo from Resident Evil 2, the most popular old school RE, and the main protagonist of Resident Evil 4, the game who revolutionized the gaming industry and which brought fresh air to the franchise.

Another reason why it makes perfect sense for this duo to be in this game is that around the same time we will get Infinite Darkness, which features Leon and Claire ! Perfect promotion.

Also don't lie, if they get alternate costumes, you're going to love to play as Leon in his RE4 outfit with the jacket and Claire in her Let Me Live outfit... And the Cleon shippers will be happy.

As for those who would have prefered others like Jill or Chris, or even Rebecca and Billy why not, I'm sure they will be available as Legendary Skins.

KILLER :

Now this one is a particuliar case, and I'm thinking the same thing regarding the map.

They can go the way they did with the Silent Hill chapter and pick something different from the best games : Midwich Elementary School from Silent Hill 1 for the map, Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2 as the killer and Heather Mason from Silent Hill 3 as the survivor.

If we go by popularity it would be either Mr.X or Nemesis ( No I'm not counting Lady Dumitrescu because the game isn't out yet and don't lie, her popularity is 100% due to how horny on main you freaks are )

Mr.X will have to be punching survivors as his main attack but as for his secondary I dunno... Maybe mutated Mr.X instead so he could do more damage ? And that way you could have the classic Tyrant from RE1 as a skin ?

As for his Mori it'll probably be a head grab and him crushing your head or he might impale you with his mutated hand/claw before tossing you aside.

( Also you know his chase music is going to be modded into "X gonna give it to ya" )

Nemesis will punch and/or use tentacles to whip you good or catch you, either way he's going to do some damage and you know you will shit your pants when you hear him scream "STAAAAAAAAAARS !" from a distance.

His mori will probably be an oldie but goldie and by that I mean he will grab survivors like Brad and tentacle-throat them to death.

BONUS :

The characters I want for killers here are just ideas I came up with and whom I know will probably not get picked but it's worth mentioning them because you'll agree that they would make great killers.

1/ Nosferatu ( Code Veronica X )

I don't think I have to remind you the fucking bone chilling screams he make when you see him for the first time as Claire in Code Veronica, nor how creepy is his theme during the boss fight ?

Now imagine that in a game where he chase you around with a new rendition of his theme and his tentacles swinging around and attacking you while the others hear him screaming at you in the distance.

Not to forget he could also poison you with the spores he just released so like The Plague he could make you go around the map to find a way to cleanse yourself and here we could see blue herbs being used !

His mori could be one of the death animations from his boss fight in Code Veronica where he brings Claire close to him and impale her with his big tentacle before giving her the "This bitch empty, YEET" treatment.

2/ Alexia Ashford ( Code Veronica X )

Oh boy look at that, another character from Code Veronica, who would have guessed ? ( It's in my TOP 3 RE games so my bad )

Alright Alexia has always been one of my favorites bosses from the Resident Evil series and I think she's honestly one of the best, her design is nasty, her mutations are disgusting and her orchestral theme is just GORGEOUS ( "Ironic" Palpatine said )

Imagine her normal attack being bitchslaps like she gives to Wesker in Code Veronica, nice right ? But for her secondary attack like in the game she throw her blood in a direction and trace a fire line with it, something that can work in DBD since Pyramid Head does something similar with his great knife.

Her mori will probably be her summoning those tentacles from the ground to impale you or grab your leg and smash you on the ground on repeat until you die, or if we stay classic, she can grab you by the throat and light you on fire, burning you alive.

MAP :

As I said earlier during the killer part, they might follow the Silent Hill chapter formula, picking one bit of each game so here are some neat locations to pick from.

1/ The Spencer Mansion

a) The Mansion

It's just too iconic.

b) The Arklay Lab

I will shit myself if I see a Tyrant coming at me while I'm on a gen.

2/ Raccoon City

a) The streets of Raccoon City

You think you can hide but he will find you.

b) The RPD

Nothing better than exploring the corridors of the RPD and seeing a licker passing by a window while trying to sneak around to avoid the killer right ?

3/Rockfort Island

a) Prison Camp

Perfect for the sadistic pleasures of the Entity !

b) Private Residence

I really want to hear another rendition of "The Suspended Doll" when I join the map 👉👈 ... Special mentions to other maps that I can't show because tumblr doesn't allow more than 10 pics :

RE1 Guardhouse, RE2 Lab, RE3 Clock tower, RE Outbreak Jack's Bar, RE Code Veronica Antartica Mansion, RE4 Village, RE4 Castle, RE4 Island

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davidcampiti · 3 years

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A SCREENPLAY IS NOT A COMIC BOOK SCRIPT

I'm frustrated by writers who hire a comicbook artist then send a screenplay as their script. My first question to them is, "Are you hiring one of our writers to adapt this into a comic book script?" Usually they'll respond, "No that's the script to work from."

But it's not.

Word balloons aren't broken out or numbered, SFX aren't identified, the pacing is wrong, and most panel descriptions are missing, causing the artist and the editor to do twice as much work without a corresponding increase in pay.

Here's a good article from Nick Macari about the differences --

I think you’d be hard pressed to find some work of fiction, some type of writing, that you could NOT turn into a comic. That is to say, you could create a comic from notes on bar napkins, a published novel, heck I bet you could even create a comic using nothing but a movie as the source material.

If you’re making a comic yourself, like literally by yourself, it doesn’t really matter how you do it… only the final product matters. If you have some crazy process that gets you a beautiful finished product, good on ya mate.

But for those writing spec scripts, trying to write for others, or trying to entice others to their project, it pays to create scripts that open doors instead of closing them.

In 2020, there are a million writers writing screenplays and pawning them off as comic scripts.

If you want to be one of those guys… as you were.

But if you actually want to write comics, if you want to be a comic book writer, you should learn how to write an actual comic book script, not how to sell some other script as one.

There are lot of useful technique comics can borrow from screenplays.

For the innocent novice writer, it’s understandable to see some technical execution confusion. But for working and professional writers, knowing what transfers over and what doesn’t separates the riff from the raff.

Before we get into it, let’s put to bed, once and for all, why a straight screenplay script is not a comic script. Here’s why;

Director Production Designer Art Director Costume Designer Cinematographer … Camera Assistant Director of Photography Scenic Artist Set Decorator Storyboard artist … Makeup artist Wardrobe stylist Assistant Director Production Assistant Production Coordinator Production Designer … Script Supervisor Sound Mixer Special Effects Coordinator

oh yeah, and actors.

These are a few of the people involved in a film.

Individual roles dedicated to a specific area of production. In essence, a screenplay can deliver fairly minimal information and it’s someone’s specific job to interpret that information, its context, and otherwise apply their knowledge, experience and skill, to turn that information into some tangible, successful element.

If you think it’s the artist’s job to fill all these roles, you’re crazy… and mean to artists.

Ok, you still here?

Good.

Let’s showcase some specific examples of why a screenplay doesn’t hold up for comics;

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Drug Dealer I don’t…

Doyle Ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?

Drug Dealer What?

Doyle Did you ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?

Drug Dealer I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.

Doyle Were you ever in Poughkeepsie?

Drug Dealer No… yeah…

Doyle Did you ever sit on the edge of a bed, take off your socks and stick your fingers between your toes?

Drug Dealer Man, I’m clean.

Doyle You made three sales to your roaches back there. We had to chase you though all this shit and you tell me you’re clean?

Russo Who stuck up the laundromat?

Doyle How about that time you were picking your feet in Pougheepsie?

The drug dealers’ eyes go to Russo in panic, looking for the relief from the pressure of the inquisition.

Russo (in pain) You better give me the guy who got the old Jew or you better give me something or you’re just a memory in this town.

Drug Dealer That’s a lot o’ shit. I didn’t do nothin’.

14 dialogue exchanges, with for all intents and purposes not a single visual description (one minor one toward the end about the dealer’s eyes.). This is likely at least one page of comic with this volume of exchanges and dialogue, and there is literally, nothing cuing the artist as to how this should go down.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Mutchie

That’s right, he couldn’t fight legit. One night at the Garden about 1950, ’51—he fought either Jake LaMotta or Gus Lesnevish, I think it was—he took one o’those cream puff punches in the sixth—the laziest left you ever seen—missed him entirely. Down goes Blackjack without even workin’ up a sweat and the whole Garden gets up on its feet and I swear to Christ, everybody starts singin’ “Dance with Me Henry.”

75 words. Way too much for a single panel.

How many ways can you break the dialogue into how many panels?

Is one way to break it up more effective than the others?

Because if it is, and that’s NOT the method you write up, you’re producing a less effective script.

But ultimately, what works in film as a 30 second monologue (doesn’t work in comics), would be far more effective as caption narration over flashback action.

THE EXORCIST

EXTERIOR – IRAQ- NINEVEH- DAY

The old man arrives back at that dig site in a small jeep. As he pulls up two armed guards rush out. When they see who it is the old man gives them a wave and they slowly walk back to there quarters. The old man walks up the rocky mound and sees a huge statue of the demon Pazuzu, which has the head of the small rock he earlier found. He climbs to a higher point to get a closer look. When he reaches the highest point he looks at the statue dead on. He then turns his head as we hear rocks falling and sees a guard standing behind him. He then turns again when he hears two dogs savagely attacking each other. The noise is something of an evil nature. He looks again at the statue and we are then presented with a classic stand off side view of the old man and the statue as the noises rage on. We then fade to the sun slowly setting as the noises lower in volume.

Hey! this has some nice direction, this screenplay stuff is perfect for a comic.

NO.

Let’s break it down;

This passage is 15 beats, give or take. One beat a panel, 3-5 panels per page, we’ve got 3-5 pages of comic in this passage alone.

Hang on we’re not done.

If you fill your page with this type of description (you shouldn’t, but let’s say you did), you could get almost double that amount of beats. So one page of screenplay delivering nearly 6-10 pages of comic content!

Tell me, when was the last time someone delivering a screenplay “comic script,” delivered a 2 page script for a complete issue? Never says I.

BONUS on this example:

Did y’all notice the soundtrack emphasis in this excerpt from the Exorcist script? Of course you can have sound effects in a comic, but no matter how you crack it, comics DO NOT have soundtracks. Relying on film soundtracks in a comic script is a sure fire way to deliver less effective scripts.

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

JACK Alright, where’s my truck, Wang? I’m outta here. And my money, too.

WANG Forget about your truck, Jack. You don’t wanna go back there. You’ll have to go through the Wing Kong to get it. It’s insured, right?

JACK Of course it is. But that’s not the point.

WANG The smart man comes back for it later…

JACK The smart man calls the cops!

WANG Cops have better things to do than get killed.

We showed the typical lack of visual description a screenplay gives in the first example. [Screenplays tend to focus on the scene setup, then briefly hit key actions of the scene.] Here we have another example of missing visual description, but I point it out for something more specific–LACK OF EMOTIONAL context.

As I point out in the Writer’s Guide, Emotional content is one of the essential elements of each and every comic panel. So not only do we not have visual cues to support the action in the screenplay, but how are the characters delivering these lines!?

JACK Alright, where’s my truck, Wang? I’m outta here. And my money, too.

How many ways can you say this line?

I can say it pissed. Irritated. Fearful. Sarcastically. Comically. Those are just a few that pop in my head… and I’m no actor.

Leaving emotional context open to interpretation undermines narrative control–in a big way.

A good, effective scene, could die a horrible misinterpreted death.

For the record, you can use parentheticals in a screenplay. This can give emotional context, like the one from Jack’s first line I omitted to make the example more effective

JACK (pissed off)

But where parentheticals do contain emotional context, you use them in a script sparingly. Just like you don’t tell the director how to do his job filling your screenplay with camera direction, you don’t try to tell the actors how to do theirs. (Remember, the answer to why Screenplays aren’t Comic Scripts, there’s a lot of people, hopefully professionals, bringing their expertise to the table.)

CASABLANCA

Ilsa Your secret will be safe with me. Ferrari is waiting for our answer.

At the bar Ferrari talks to a waiter.

Ferrari Not more than fifty francs though.

Ilsa and Laszlo walk up to him.

Laszlo We’ve decided, Signor Ferrari. For the president we’ll go on looking for two exit visas. Thank you very much.

Ferrari Well, good luck. But be careful. ( a flick of his eyes in the direction of the bazaar) You know you’re being shadowed.

Laszlo glances in the direction of the bazaar.

Screenplays live in movement. Unless you’ve got a static insert of a letter or photo or something, everything is in motion and there is constant change (even if subtle) from micro-second, to micro-second.

While comics work to capture movement (and there are some tricks), it is ultimately a static medium, locked into showcasing moments frozen in time.

What I explain in the “works in movies not in comics article” is that the constant movement and motion, supported (primarily) by actors, but by the lighting people, the art direction people, director, etc. all gives depth and purpose to every single second of a film.

With all these people doing their job, a screenplay can give super general stage direction, like what we see here in this Casablanca excerpt.

At the bar Ferrari talks to a waiter.

Ilsa and Laszlo walk up to him.

Laszlo glances in the direction of the bazaar.

These trivial actions carry no narrative. They work in film because of performance and motion, which steps in to create narrative.Without performance and motion, a single frame captured from core stage direction translates to ineffective comic panels.

By the way, all the examples I’m giving here, are from solid movies. The big pink elephant in the room when writers deliver “comic screenplay scripts,” is that they assume they know how to write a good screenplay in the first place. Trust me, novice writers rarely do.

There’s a lot of technique and skill in writing a solid screenplay. And if you think a good screenplay causes problems converting to a comic, wait till you try it from a shitty screenplay.

Still thinkin’ screenplay is synonymous with comic script? Well you’re wrong sunshine, but what do I know?

I’m just a non-famous full-time mercenary writer, writing almost exclusively in comics and games for a decade or so. :p

I’ve spent a few hours writing this article, but there are plenty of other examples I haven’t touched on.

I’ll come back and add some more as I think of them in my down time. Maybe eventually when the list is so long it takes you a couple hours to read this article, y’all get it through your noggins that comics are there own medium which demand the attention and respect of a unique format and writing approach. Something the comic book writers reading this, already know. #justsayin

About the Author — Nick Macari is a full-time freelance story consultant, developmental editor and writer, working primarily in the independent gaming and comic markets. His first published comic appeared on shelves via Diamond in the late 90’s. Today you can find his comic work on comixology, amazon and in select stores around the U.S. Visit NickMacari.com for social media contacts and news on his latest releases.

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bettsfic · 4 years

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Hi Betts, hoping for your guidance if you have the time. No pressure really. But my course will be focusing quite a bit on Shakespeare for the rest of this year. Do you have any advice for someone who isn’t really a writer on how to understand Shakespeare better? Have you read much of it? How did you tackle understanding the language? Is it just reading a lot more of it and looking up words? I struggle getting through one play, but is it just pushing through it? Resources you found helpful?

i feel like i’ve been waiting my whole life for this question.

i’m feral for shakespeare. i have a hamlet tattoo. i have an unfortunate number of monologues memorized on the off-chance someone at some point goes “hey does anyone know any good monologues?” and i can be all “TO BE OR FUCKING NOT TO BE, BITCHES” or “ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH DEAR FRIENDS, ONCE FUCKING MORE.” i have an actual literal lecture on how richard ii is a greedy glamazon bitch, and an outline for an article on how lady macbeth can teach us everything we need to know about sympathy in fiction.

like many people, high school made me despise shakespeare. i can’t tell if it was the simple coercion of being forced to read things, period, or that we were made to treat everything so seriously, and expected to understand the use of language as if it were like anything else we were reading.

then when i was 23ish, i got obsessed with doctor who, which led me to david tennant’s filmography, and david tennant happens to have done really a lot of shakespeare. when i geared up to watch his hamlet, however, i thought, i want to read this first, so i can see how different it is from my perception of it.

cue me surreptitiously scrolling through the wikisource version of hamlet while pretending to listen to conference calls at work. i think that helped, making it something i wasn’t allowed to do. it made reading feel like an indulgence.

free of the constraints of “i’m going to have to write a five-paragraph essay about this when i’m done,” i began to read very casually, only trying to understand what was going on and not trying to find any profound meaning in it.

in doing that, i realized i was actually doing it correctly. these are plays, meant to be performed on a stage, to entertain, immerse, and evoke feeling. you’re supposed to be sad at the end of tragedies and happy at the end of comedies. however, reading the plays is a far different experience than watching them, and in many ways more of a challenge.

you can’t read a play, especially a shakespeare play, like a book. prose and poetry both lend themselves to crafting intentional images. the entire thing exists to be and only be read. but plays and scripts are just one piece of a much larger puzzle, involving directors and actors and costume designers and set designers. bringing a play to life is a team effort. when you’re reading, you’re only seeing the skeleton of the story. it’s like reading a guidebook for a vacation destination. you can get the gist of it but only truly know a place by going there.

you can’t read shakespeare as a reader. you have to read as a director. you have to envision each actor, and after every line, decide where they are standing on stage, how they deliver their line, and what happens between each line. shakespeare gives almost no stage direction, so you have a lot of creative license in interpretation.

another thing to remember is that shakespeare is first and foremost a rhetorician. he wanted his words to be memorable and beautiful, to persuade and delight. if he wanted to be understood simply, he would have written simply. but instead, he uses 17 lines where 1 would have sufficed. it’s helpful, after every line, to consciously ask yourself, “what has just been said?” and very often the answer is simple. a yes or a no, i agree or disagree, or even sometimes banal statements.

consider hamlet’s “to be or not to be.” he goes on and on and on, but he’s really just being the “guess i’ll just die” meme. in the comedies, shakespeare often uses this effect as a joke. one character will go on and on, and another character gives a simple and curt and blunt reply, and depending on the delivery, it’s hilarious.

you’re not supposed to love hamlet, or richard ii, or macbeth, or any other character. the tragedies are train wrecks that make you go “i get why you’re doing this but you need to Stop.” the comedies are similar, in that the characters sometimes make you go “you are being so fucking stupid.” it’s the sense of irony, the “i know what’s right in this situation but you don’t” that creates a huge amount of engagement. we’re always bracing ourselves for what comes next.

so here’s how i recommend reading shakespeare:

pick a play, and pick a version or two to watch afterward. here’s a really great list of productions. personally, i’d stick to ones where you’re familiar with the actors, which heightens the engagement.

before you start reading, consciously cast each character, using actors you really like. or, instead of actors, you can cast your favorite characters as if they were in an AU version of your current fandom. reading shakespeare as fanfic is a speedy way of ensuring your emotional investment.

pull up the wikipedia plot summary of the play to have on hand while you read. every few pages or so, line your reading up with the summary to make sure you’ve caught onto what’s been happening.

as you read, direct the actors you’ve chosen. how do they deliver the line? sometimes this takes a few tries. you can’t let your eyes move left to right across the page and just expect to miraculously understand it as if it were prose. you have to puzzle it out.

if you’re really stuck on something, pull up the spark notes version. there’s no shame in that. if you compare with spark notes enough, you begin to get a sense of the language and begin to need it less and less.

when you’re done, order a pizza, pour a glass of wine, and watch your chosen production version. delight in already understanding what’s happening, figure out where you might have been wrong or confused, and revel in the places you were right.

watch another production and see how your version, the last version, and this version all differ.

if you get all the way to this point and you’re not utterly in love, i don’t know what to tell you. i think i watched wyndham theater’s much ado over a hundred times. rsc’s hamlet probably just as much. i have yet to watch or read a single play i didn’t at least appreciate. i’m one of the few people who even enjoys titus andronicus.

shakespeare takes a lot of energy, but it’s worth it. once you get a feel for the strings he pulls and how he pulls them, it’s like opening a door to a whole other world. you see clips of phrases from this play or that, understand subtle references, and see how his influence exists in nearly everything. you can use his characters and plots and dynamics in all your own work. you can reach backward to see his own influences in greek plays, and forward to see his influences throughout all of literature. it’s amazing, not just who he was, but how his plays are still both so beautiful and so human.

i’ve skipped over rhetoric, craft, the sonnets, and a few other things that i really enjoy about shakespeare, but those are probably topics for another time. if you’re looking for somewhere to start, i highly recommend much ado about nothing, particularly the wyndham 2009 production with david tennant and catherine tate which is genuinely one of the funniest things i’ve ever watched. it’s fun to compare it to the 1994 kenneth branaugh film and then rage against whedon’s 2013 travesty.

best of luck in your shakespearean pursuit!

#writing advice #shakes #hammy #much ado #wicked-conspicuous

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amyscascadingtabs · 6 years

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long as my heart is beating, this is it

or, happy halloween have some plotless peraltiago fluff on me

read on ao3

There is no tradition at the Nine-Nine more sacred than the Halloween Heist. There are no excuses, no exceptions, no forgetting the yearly spectacle that is a bunch of cops blatantly ignoring their assigned duties for a day to team up and go through the ordeal of attempting to steal a chosen object in order to be crowned an amazing detective or human slash genius; until there is.

Early in October, Holt announces he will be at an important conference in Washington during the day of the heist. A week before, Charles and Rosa are asked to go undercover for two weeks to get more evidence on the dealer they’ve been tailing for months. Then Terry’s kids bring home a nasty case of the flu, spreading through Terry to the rest of the precinct and resulting in the majority of remaining detectives coming down with a fever.

Calls are made. Cancellation fees for body doubles and ruse pizza delivery guys are paid. Sighs echo through the bullpen when Holt announces the heist will indeed be postponed until further notice.

No one won the Halloween heist last year, but this year there won’t even be one.

It’s lucky there are other things to celebrate. The day after Frans Bruggen’s birthday, National Knock Knock Jokes’ day or Caramel Apple day; the possibilities for festivities are endless, and yet Jake is focused only on one.

“You know what today is, babe?” He whispers it in her ear when the alarm rings at seven a.m sharp. The shrill noise is hurtful as always, but after a full night’s sleep curled up next to his wife for the first night after three night shifts in a row, it could practically be a new Taylor Swift hit.

“Yes”, she groans, voice croaky and eyes still closed. “It’s the first day in three years I’m calling in sick to work.”

“Are you sure? It just might bring about the end of the world, Ames.” She is warm - he feels the unnatural heat emanating from her skin as he presses soft kisses to the side of her forehead. “I’m honestly impressed they invented something you weren’t vaccinated against.”

“No one invented viruses, Jake. And yes, I’m sure. I feel like I’m doing that horrible winter bath with Holt and Rosa again, but I’m also burning up and my throat is sandpaper.”

“Miserable you is kind of cute”, he muses, handing her the cup of water on her nightstand. “But that might be because all you-s are cute.”

“Sure.” She empties the water cup in big gulps and launches straight into a coughing fit before slumping her head back down on the pillow. “Cute is definitely top ten of things I am feeling at this moment.”

He shakes his head, unable to stifle the smile creeping up on his lips when he sees her. She does look pitiable blinking at him with glossy eyes, but damn it if she’s not still the cutest sick person he’s ever seen. “Happy engagement day, babe.”

“Aww. Today’s Halloween, huh?”

“Sure is. And you look so much like a zombie you won’t even need a costume!” His grin is short-lasting, abruptly interrupted by a pillow to the face after only a second or two.

“Screw you”, she mumbles, but he can see the corners of her mouth twitch.

“While a tempting offer, you, m’lady, need to save your energy.”

“Very funny.”

“Constantly. In all seriousness, flu-friendly celebrations will be taking place tonight, so be there or be square.” He gives her one last brief kiss before reluctantly slipping out of bed. “Call if you need anything, okay? I will be checking my phone obsessively.”

“Jake, you’ve got work to do.” “Amy, my wife is sick.”

“Right, right. I forget my husband is a hopeless dork.” She rolls her eyes before coughing and pulling up the covers to her chin again. “See you tonight, babe.”

He’s heard her say it for three years, and it still makes every inch of his skin tingle.

He misses her at work. He successfully bargained with Terry to have the night off - the man loves love after all - and so he only needs to survive up until seven p.m before he’s allowed to leave, but today it’s an eternity. An Amy-less eternity, which is arguably the worst kind of all eternities.

She texts him hourly updates to assure him she’s not dying. He sends back cute bitmojis of the two of them, retellings of the most fascinating arrests of the day and encouraging compliments telling her she’ll kick this flu’s ass and be back in tip top shape in no time. It’s not quite waiting for the last minutes to pass while feeling the ring box burn inside his back pocket, heart fluttering like it’s threatening to jump out of his chest, but she sends him a Die Hard gif after one of the updates and he swears he falls a little bit more in love with her right then and there.

It never gets tiring.

“One Whole Foods chicken noodle soup and one Meat Supreme pizza served room temperature, delivered to your door.” He places the plastic bags on the kitchen island quick as he can when he gets home, eager to join her on the couch. “They made sure to send their most good-looking delivery guy too, so you better give them a good rating.”

She snorts, laughing at him from beneath the three blankets she’s buried herself under. “They did, huh? Can’t argue with that. I’ll leave him a tip.”

“Kisses are accepted as currency at this particular chain. Especially if the customers are hot.”

“Sexist”, she mutters. “And I don’t want to make you sick.” “My immune system has survived thus far, ergo, it’s unbeatable.” He leans over to press a chaste kiss to her forehead anyway. “How are you feeling?”

“Never better, thanks.” Amy gestures to the assortment of napkins, empty teacups, medicine and crossword magazines occupying the couch table. “Lucky there’s no heist this Halloween. I would never have been able to win in this condition.” “You would have figured out a way.”

“Oh, for sure.”

He hums something soft in agreement, moving one of the blankets to minimize the space in between them. Amy looks like she’s about to protest for a split second, but then he gestures for her to move over and soon she’s in his arms, the little spoon for once this time because she’s sick and Jake’s not a monster. She lets out a content sigh when he lets his fingers run through her hair, drawing circles and playing with it to design a strictly alternative hairstyle. A few strands of hair gets caught under his wedding ring somehow, making both of them laugh, and it’s not the electrifying suspense of a Halloween heist but it’s perfection still, this intimate moment of safety and satisfaction and the intangible definition of knowing things worked out in the end.

“I knew you were going to figure it out, you know”, he says when her breathing has grown so even he fears she might be falling asleep. “Last year. I designed my entire proposal after that assumption.”

“I know, Jake.” “Humble as always.”

She shakes her head before turning around to face him with a smug look, lips together in a confident smirk. “I am the last one in this relationship to have been crowned an amazing detective slash genius. If you recall.”

He grins, remembering this night three years ago. “Pretty hard to forget. That was epic.”

“Was kinda brilliant, wasn’t it?”

“It was a genius move.”

“Mm-hmm. And how is that word spelled again?”

“Sheesh, Ames, that was one time!” He punches her teasingly in the shoulder.

“Five, and I screenshotted them all because the fact that you were calling yourself a genius while spelling the word itself wrong was absolutely hilarious.”

“You never forget something, do you?”

“Nope. Congrats on marrying me.” She lights up at her last words, that infectious smile shining brighter than should be allowed, and kisses him. It lasts too short, and will probably cause him to wake up with a fever tomorrow, but he still considers it worth it. “Sorry I’m such boring Halloween company. I know take-out and binge-watching The Good Place maybe wasn’t how you’d planned on celebrating.”

This time, he’s the one to kiss her before answering. “Every day I get to -”

“Nope, nope, nope.” She places her hand over his lips without letting him finish the sentence. “You don’t get to repeat your wedding vows at any given occasion just because they were good. Come up with something new.”

“You’re asking too much of the man who complimented your butt twice in his proposal speech, Ames.” She sticks out her tongue at him in response and he laughs sweetly, linking their hands under the blankets to run his hands over the two rings. “But as long as it’s with you, it doesn’t matter whether it’s takeout and Netflix or crazy-ass heists. Honestly.”

“I love you.”

“Love you more. Dinner on the couch tonight?”

“You got it.” She curls up like a ball with the blankets in the corner of the couch after he untangles himself from her, watching him get to work on heating up her soup. “Oh, and Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for making me like Halloween.”

(Flu-friendly engagement celebrations end up being dinner and ice cream and Amy falling asleep halfway through the second episode, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.)

#oh look at that she actually wrote something #my writing #b99 fic #b99 fanfiction #brooklyn 99 fic #brooklyn nine-nine fic #jake x amy fic #jake x amy fanfiction #peraltiago fanfiction

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thedeaditeslayer · 6 years

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TDS Exclusive: Interview with Ash vs. Evil Dead actor Ray Santiago

Below is a transcribed interview done by phone with actor Ray Santiago. Other than playing Pablo in Ash vs. Evil Dead, Ray has an impressive array of films and TV appearances under his belt such as Suburban Gothic, Trash Fire, In Time, Girlfight, and Meet the Fockers.

Ray Santiago as Pablo Simon Bolivar with the Kandarian Dagger in a still from Ash vs. Evil Dead season 3. (Courtesy of Starz)

Q: First off, what sparked your desire to become an actor and what was your first big break to make it in the industry?

A: As a kid I was really uncomfortable with myself and I always wanted to be other people. In the pursuit of trying to become an actor and playing other people and studying acting I discovered facets of myself and my personality which ultimately lead me into being more comfortable with who I am today. Along with that I knew that as a young kid that grew up in the South Bronx that I was put in this universe to be something special, to be something more. Also, as a kid I didn’t find that any of the people in television that looks like me and I didn’t think consciously I but subconsciously that TV is identity building. I wanted more people out there to see me as an example. I wanted to help that in the future. That was sort of what I discovered in my journey. You have to be who you are and there’s power in that.

My first big break came when I was twelve. I was in a movie called Girlfight with Michelle Rodriguez. It went to Sundance and it won best picture and best director. After that I went to the High School for Performing Arts in New York City. When I was nineteen I played Ben Stiller’s illegitimate son in Meet the Fockers so that was probably the other big break. I then moved to L.A. and jumped from show to show and played different roles like different gang bangers and drug dealers in every interrogation room that existed in Los Angeles. Then I found my way onto Ash vs. Evil Dead.

Ray Santiago as Tiny Guzman (left) in Girlfight. (source)

Q: What learning experiences has working on Ash vs. Evil Dead taught you and how has it molded you as an actor over these three seasons on the show?

A: From Bruce I learned to hit my mark. I think that I was terrified of Bruce until the second episode just because I wanted to make him happy and not let him down. I was sort of all new to what we were doing on the show. He said to me that I was killing it but I need to hit my mark. I was like “Oh, I’m starting to get it now” and he was like “You’re doing all of this great stuff but you’re missing your mark by two inches so note the camera was not picking up on it.” So, I learned that. I think that I learned it in every sense of the word. Show up to your job and hit your mark. Show up prepared and show up ready to do it in one take because sometimes that’s all you might get.

I’ve learned to trust myself and to trust myself as an actor. I’ve learned that I’m better at stunts and co-ordination. I’ve learned to enjoy being alone. When you’re alone in Los Angeles trying to get a job then it’s not so great. When you’re alone in New Zealand and you’ve only had forty minutes or twenty minutes alone because people have been touching you all day because you’ve been having prosthetics all over your face since 4AM being alone can be a beautiful thing. I’ve learned to enjoy what both of those things have to offer. I’ve learned to enjoy the journey because really that’s the beautiful part. It’s not about the money, the accolades, the success or the fame. It’s about how much you work to get where you want to go to and how you enjoy it. It’s from everything in between from when you’re born and you die. You learn to enjoy it.

Ray Santiago as Pablo Simon Bolivar alongside Bruce Campbell as Ash in the episode The Killer of Killers from Ash vs. Evil Dead. (Courtesy of Starz)

Q: Throughout all three seasons of the show, you got to work with many different writers and directors. What is it like working with a diverse team and the diverse cast on each season?

A: TV and film are a collaborative art. We each put a piece of our soul in the pot and we make something together. You learn to appreciate what everyone has to bring to the table. Like I said, as a kid I was really inspired by television. It was my escape and it was my way of seeing the dream. All of those details like from a costume designer put into a show or a writer put into the show or a producer who decided to produce something that other people didn’t want to produce, it all goes into the pot and it all makes a beautiful canvas look beautiful. You learn to enjoy and trust everyone’s color. Everyone brings something to the table and it’s worth looking at and understanding. I love working with Kiwis. I love working with icons like Lucy who are just so sophisticated and so elegant and not a diva at all. She’s so driven by family and her thirst for knowledge of different languages. You learn that there is more to life out there outside of what we do and it ain’t the be all end all.

Q: What kind of trouble does Pablo find himself in season 3?

A: In season three we get to see Pablo sort of finally fulfill his destiny as his own hero. He goes from being just a loyal sidekick to embracing his lineage of a family of brujos. He becomes his own hero and also maybe his worst enemy. There’s an undeniable relationship with the Necronomicon that he has. He’s been tortured by it. It lives within him. In this season we get to see him teeter between both sides of good and evil and try to hone in on the good and evil within himself. Can he use it for the greater of the team or can he use it against the team? We’ve got something very particular this season going on with Pablo. We’d like to call it something very especiale. We’re calling him Brujo Especiale.

Ray Santiago poses as Pablo Simon Bolivar in this promo photo for Ash vs. Evil Dead season 3. (Courtesy of Starz)

Q: If you existed in the Evil Dead world as yourself, what kind of person would you be?

A: I would have probably just have…..ran. That being said, Pablo does get in some pretty good fight scenes this season. He may also lock lips with a certain female character….or maybe even two!

TDS: Oh, that’s like scandalous! *laughs*

A: Oh yeah.

Q: So, did you feel like you were passing the torch to the new cast members and did you give them any advice for season 3?

A: I don’t know if I’m passing the torch but I was definitely sharing it and it was nice to I guess feel alleviated from having so much pressure put on us work wise and schedule wise. I will say this. Arielle has really brought everything that she got to the table. I was really impressed with her. She never complained. She really has a difficult feat of taking on the role of Ash’s daughter but she really does deliver. She’s really beautiful. She’s really humble. We love having her around.

From left to right: Ray Santiago, Arielle Carver-O’Neill, Bruce Campbell, and Dana DeLorenzo as their Ash vs. Evil Dead characters in season 3. (Courtesy of Starz)

Q: In the season 3 trailer Pablo mentions the final test to Ash. Is this really the mettle of man to end all or is there more to it?

A: It might be the end of what we know in this universe but of course in this franchise there could be multiple universes and we can do whatever we want. One thing is for sure. I promise you a jaw dropping finale where everybody will be shocked. A lot of the cast members were really emotionally triggered and drained from shooting this. We didn’t even have to really act. It was so emotional to see what was happening and we were just all living through it truthfully. You never know what’s going to happen on this season. We may be passing torches onto a whole other level or maybe more people than you think may not survive. We’re all going to down with a good fight so you really all need to check it out and I really encourage the viewers to check it out because it’s one of the best seasons that we filmed so far.

TDS: Oh yes, the fans are all about that. I’m sure that you know about #BringBackBoomstick right?

A: Oh yeah, I know about #BringBackBoomstick and if it works then I’ll love you guys forever!

Q: Do you have any fun stories from behind the scenes for this season that you’d like to share with us?

A: I’m probably the one that runs around the most naked out of the group. I definitely like to flash Dana. I’m known for leaving weird body parts and prosthetics in people’s trailers. We just like to have a good time. We’re always dancing in the trailer.

One time we were shooting a scene where we were driving from one location to another in a car and I was covered in blood. I was ducking down in the back seat because I didn’t want anyone in the streets of New Zealand to see me but I peaked up to see where we were drenched in blood. There was a little Asian man in his car and I turned over to him and pulled down the window and was like “Help me!” and he just like drove off.

TDS: That story is very interesting because something very similar happened to Bruce Campbell during the shoot of The Evil Dead. There was a point where he was drenched in blood and he was on the back of a truck and people were horrified when they saw him! So that is very similar to something that has already happened in this franchise.

A: Yeah, it’s so surprising how people just look at you and react and then they go. Hey listen, I did say that if I was in the Evil Dead world and I wasn’t Pablo I would do the same thing!

Q: Thank you so much for taking your time to speak with us! Do you have anything that you would like to share with TDS followers?

A: Probably my social media handles? No, I’m kidding. *laughs* I think that I’ve pretty much shared it all. Pablo is a dreamer and he wants to be a hero and I think that you’ll get to see the full cycle of that this season. Also, just because I died once doesn’t mean that I won’t die again. If they want to see some more heroes being made or destroyed then they should tune in.

From left to right: Lindsay Farris, Dana DeLorenzo, Ray Santiago and Arielle Carver-O’Neill pose for a photo at the Hulu New York Comic Con After Party. (source)

Thank you greatly to Starz and Ray Santiago for the wonderful interview!

Visit the Starz Ash vs. Evil Dead official website here.

Visit Ray Santiago on IMDb I Twitter I Facebook I Instagram

#Ray Santiago #Ash vs. Evil Dead #Ash vs Evil Dead #Starz #Lionsgate

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drakorn · 6 years

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Top 10 GOOD Things about the Broadway Production of Tanz der Vampire

Recently, I have been thinking about the Broadway Production of Tanz der Vampire again and couldn’t help but imagine: What could have been? Well, we could have had Tanz be one of the most successful international musicals in the world, in the ranks of Phantom and Les Mis no less (which it already is in Europe), but what could have been if the Broadway production actually was good? I have thought about certain scenes and production designs again and well...some of the things present in the Broadway run actually still resemble the original intentions of keeping it faithful to the source material. So...there is two hands full of actually pretty decent things about the production in general.

Hear me out!

I am in no way defending the Broadway Production, I still think this is the worst thing that could ever happen to any musical adaptation. That doesn’t mean however that there aren’t some merits...right? To be fair, it’s getting increasingly depressing to write about the good stuff, because you keep thinking “What COULD have been?” So, without further ado, let’s dive into the Top 10 GOOD things about the Broadway Production of Tanz der Vampire, “Dance of the Vampires”.

10 - The Bombastic Orchestra

Ok, we all know that this goes without saying, but when something gets put on at a Broadway theatre, you can BET that one thing is and always will be delivered: The quality of the music. While Dance of the Vampires is a shitty show, it still has the perk that it includes a lot of the original Steinmann orchestration and compositions. When an actual Tanz song comes up in the Broadway production, the music actually sounds really decent. I would even dare to say it sounds on par with the Vienna orchestra. Stage Entertainment has had a MASSIVE problem with orchestras and it it really shows in the musical quality of the show. However, if Broadway can do one thing right, it’s definitely the orchestra.

9 - The Set Design

Set design is another massive key to a successful musical production. Yes, of course, sound is essential, but when someone only hears the CD, the set design is often a thing that convinces them to go and see it live. I respect the modern approach to theatre of minimalistic set, however, I think that this logic definitely does not apply to musical theatre. Musical theatre is an another plain altogether, it calls for visuals, it calls for big moments. While the costume department of the Broadway Tanz production was...uhh...very questionable

OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, WE DIDN’T NEED TO SEE THAT AGAIN! MY MEMORIES ARE STILL FRESH!

Hmpf, anyway, what I meant to say: While the costumes are not the greatest, the set design itself is speaking completely different languages. While there is certainly some VERY quriky choices in that matter too (The Garlic Festival poster, the castle gate that looks like it’s straight from a child’s playmobil game), there are also some very impressive things to behold. For every goofy garlic poster, we have this gloomy ruin in the middle of a forest, for every playmobil castle gate we have a blood red moon rising over a sea of mist. It is SUCH a shame that the set design is significantly better than anything story-related. If I had to sum up the Broadway Tanz experience in one gif, it would be this one:

“...but the effects were decent.”

8 - Choosing the Minskoff Theatre as the venue

Again, this is a very “What could have been?” topic. For all that it was worth, the Minskoff Theatre was an excellent choice to put on Tanz der Vampire. It’s a gigantic venue and, very importantly, allows for a lot of effects. There are tons of trapdoors and equipment that is just just MADE for a vampire show. How could would it have been to see Krolock and his vampires disappear from the stage (he does that at the end of the Vienna version, but just imagine how this effect could have been milked).

Just LOOK at this theatre. It even has the perfect opportunity for the characters to walk through the audience! Why this wasn’t taken advantage of during the Broadway Tanz production...I don’t know. The Lion King is also showing at this very theatre, so we know how incredibly impressive the shows there can be! If Tanz der Vampire would have been faithfully portrayed at the Minskoff Theatre, it would have truly been a sight to behold.

7 - Casting René Auberjonois as Professor Abronsius

Whoever saw the Broadway Tanz undoubtedly noticed that Abronsius was made significantly unfunnier. In fact, it seems like most of the funny stuff was absorbed by Krolock, which created a very not-well side-effect. However, the actor himself, René Auberjonois, was actually a very nice choice for Abronsius. Whenever he actually HAD a funny moment, he made full use of it. If Tanz der Vampire would have maintained its original spirit, he would have actually been ideal for the role! And just LOOK AT HIM

While it’s not the exact Einstein of the original production, I can still see Abronsius by just looking at this guy! He might have even been the oldest Professor at that time because he was born in 1940 and could still sing and act the part. Professor Abronsius would have therefore also been cast by a person actually closer to his age. Just imagine what could have been... I really wish he would have been doing more stage work in the past, he certainly has the talent.

6 - Angels Arise

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiit! Hear me out, guys! You must be thinking “WHAT? How can he SERIOUSLY talk about the scene where...well, THIS happens

and STILL say it’s good?!” Well, I’m not talking about the scene itself, I’m talking about the song that features in this scene. Angels Arise was a completely new addition to the other Tanz songs. And...well...what can I say? The song itself is actually really good! If it weren’t for that atrocious scene placement, this might have been one of the better scenes. How do I know this? Because there is a recording of this song, which doesn’t feature any of the goofy visuals:

youtube

When you listen to the song itself, it is actually pretty touching and melancholic, as well as beautiful at the same time. I would even go as far as encouraging this song to be included into the original Tanz production. If you take this song and place it into a fitting moment in the actual Tanz storyline, I’m certain it could fit in quite nicely!

5 - Casting Max von Essen as Alfred

Again, we are talking about incredibly wasted potential here. When choosing the actors, Max von Essen was actually a very solid choice for the role of the not-so-fearless protagonist. First of all, he can certainly look the part:

And also, he can certainly act the part! Unfortunately, the Broadway run completely butchered his role to such an extend that he wasn’t even the main character anymore. However, a funny side effect of this was that Alfred came across as MUCH more brave and responsible. But he still maintained that positive Alfred attitude. If the original version would have been performed, Max von Essen would have made a FANTASTIC Alfred. He has proven to be certainly capable for the part with what was given to him. Currently, he is performing in Anastasia as Cover Gleb, as far as I’m aware, and he deserves all the praise!

4 - Für Sarah

Thankfully, there is a couple of scenes in the Broadway production that isn’t straight up awful. Für Sarah is pretty much the only scene in all of Act 2 that was done right. It actually really captures the spirit of the original and truly gives Max von Essen his time to shine as Alfred. There is actually a pretty good clip of it on YouTube, which just shows how good this could have been if the original version was faithfully adapted:

youtube

Oh, Max von Essen, you deserve to perform Alfred as he was originally intended.

3 - Das Gebet

Of course, Act 1 also has this ONE scene that is actually done well, even excellent if I may say! Of course, I’m talking about Das Gebet. Oh, I’m not talking about Draußen ist Freiheit and Die Rote Stiefel, because they had some serious flaws within them, I’m just talking about Das Gebet. Once we get through this cringy transition between Die Roten Stiefel and Das Gebet, the song itself is actually done well, and I mean REALLY well! Rebecca, Alfred and Magda are outside and start the song, the entire stage goes dark and snow begins to fall from the sky, we see several small groups of people coming together, only aided with a few spotlights, gradually forming into a group and singing a song about light in the darkness. The orchestra really puts all of their skill into this song and the result is great!

youtube

Just skip forward to the 9:20 mark and see for yourself. It really makes you also feel melancholic because all of this talent is wasted in an otherwise awful show. And it also gives you the glimpse of an idea of how magical and beutiful Tanz der Vampire could have been if it were properly adapted.

2 - Casting Mandy Gonzalez as Sarah

Of course this had to be on the list. For me personally, the best possible casting decision for this show was Mandy Gonzalez as Sarah.

She definitely looks the part and SOUNDS the part. All of her songs she sang to the most, she was really the saving grace in many of the scenes. During Totale Finsternis for instance, you can really see how she is just TRYING to safe the song. You just have to feel sorry for her when she’s on stage with...whoever Michael Crawford portrays there, it’s definitely not Krolock. She gives it her all and makes the best out of the atrocious material she was given. If Tanz der Vampire would have been adapted faithfully, she might have very well be one of the best Sarahs ever. Talk about wasted potential here. She was so good in this show, but the show wasn’t good to her. She is currently playing Angelica Schulyer in Hamilton and boy, does she deserve the praise!

And the number one thing that was actually good about the Broadway production of Tanz der Vampire is...

1 - That one theory that makes the entire thing almost bearable

Ok, this needs a bit of explanation. So, there has been this theory circling around for a bit, I don’t really know who exactly started it, but that’s how it goes: So, what happened in the VERY first scene? Well, Sarah and her friends are strolling through the woods of course. BUT...WHAT exactly are they picking up and eating on the spot?

The weird things start happening RIGHT after they have consumed those shrooms. A group of hippie-like goth vampires storms out of the forest, Krolock’s coffin shoots out of the floor like a rocket, all of that...so, this theory suggests that the ENTIRE musical was just Sarah being high as fuck. That’s why she is the main character of the show, that’s why Krolock speaks in this weird Italian accent, that’s why all of those confusing things happen to her. Just imagine her walking through the forest, high on mushrooms, just IMAGINING all of the musical’s events. Or better, she experiences an encounter with Krolock, who is still the gothic malevolent being from the original musical, but she just keeps seeing him as this weird Italian dude. It’s the funniest joke of the entire thing and it’s not even intentional!

So, there we are! Those were my Top 10 GOOD things about the Broadway Production of Tanz der Vampire. It was NOT easy making this VERY controversial list. Now...who wants a Top 10 WORST things list?

#Tanz der Vampire #Dance of the Vampires #Musical #The only good parts #Mandy Gonzalez #Max von Essen #Broadway #What could have been...#René Auberjonois

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turbles · 7 years

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Thoughts On the Beauty of Katsuki Yuuri

apparently there’s been a debate going on about whether yuuri ought to be called beautiful or not? idk, here’s my thoughts on the issue I guess, for what it’s worth.

I’m just gonna start off by saying I think yuuri is a REALLY well-designed character. there’s a lot to talk about here! his design is not only appealing and charming (because tadashi hiramatsu is a goddamn professional) but I’d even go a step further and say that the finer points of yuuri’s character design are also a vehicle that communicates the show’s themes. this is a really impressive and unfortunately rare thing in anime these days!

When Hiramatsu has talked about his thought process for designing yuuri in the past, he’s said that yuuri is meant to look as plain as possible. this is pushed further by comparing him to the rest of the flashy-looking characters in the cast, but I’ll just use victor for now as a point of comparison.

Yuuri: he’s Japanese, obviously. He has many prototypical japanese features (black hair, brown eyes, shorter legs etc). His looks are virtually never commented on by anyone in the story, and when they are it is most often in a negative light, though it is mentioned his skating is beautiful. Victor: he’s russian. he has straight-up silver hair and really bright, somewhere-between-blue-and-turquoise eyes. uh... this is... normal for russians..? he is universally acknowledged in canon as, at the very least, distractingly good looking, causing heart attacks and fainting spells all around him with but one wink.

point is victor looks like an anime character, and yuuri looks like a real person, comparatively.

however, the MOST IMPORTANT feature of yuuri’s design is how dramatically he can change his look and still be recognizable as himself.

Like...??!?!

ok yeah this is obvious, I know it is, because I know every single one of us had A Reaction when yuuri turned on the eros for the first time. After inching closer and closer to a nervous breakdown for the first 3 episodes, we get nice and comfortable in our perception of what yuuri’s character type is; then the Onsen On Ice event comes and he suddenly does a 180 and becomes Sexy Confidence Personified for 2 minutes on the ice. I’m thinking woah, this is the fabled Gap Moe, where a character’s seemingly predominant personality traits are contradicted in certain situations. The gap moe only works because we love to be surprised, which just happens to be a recurring theme in YOI. :O

But yoi handled characterization really well and sidestepped a number of oft-tread tropey paths for most of the characters. Especially Yuuri. The series portrays him as having a wide range of feelings, motivations, and reactions to things. He is revealed more and more to be a really complex, real-feeling person. The expressiveness of his design, and his ability to transform visually in so many different ways (there are so many different variations of his design! his body goes through physical changes as well as his changes of attitude physically changing his design. is this why he has 3 different nendoroids already...?) reinforces the wide range of his personality as well. His well-written character and carefully-designed outward appearance work together to express a really believable person, who is capable of surprising us with his depth episode after episode.

So, think of yourself as Victor, for a moment. The first time he sees yuuri, he arguably doesn’t even recognize him as a skater, from looking at him. Nothing special, probably just a fan, of which he has and has-seen zillions. Victor, like the viewer, comes to appreciate yuuri by experiencing his depths over time, learns how he works and how to exist successfully alongside him, and eventually comes to really capital-L Love him. As the viewer, speaking for myself, I found myself developing my feelings for this character at much the same trajectory as victor: over time, and in response to his gradually-revealed depths. My first impression was indeed of a shy, plain, regular-ass guy. I was like “oh looks like Hiramatsu re-used Parasyte Guy again” (which, lol, joke’s on me: Parasyte Guy is also designed with versatility of his look in mind). That’s all you get when you see a person for the first time. Just an impression based entirely on how they look. It is completely purposeful that he looks pretty regular in the beginning, to the viewer and to victor. Because it makes uncovering all the beautiful details SO much more enchanting.

it’s necessary for yuuri to come off as plain in the beginning, because how else will we feel that sweet, sweet surprise when he brings the Eros all of a sudden?

I think, as viewers, we fall in love with yuuri just as victor does. As we accumulate knowledge of his personality, little things about him start to take on beauty you probably wouldn’t have noticed as keenly at first. It’s what can take you from:

“This is a pretty cute anime-smile”

to:

*PRINCE’S I WOULD DIE 4 U BLARING AT 100000000 DECIBELS*

I’d argue it’s appropriate to call yuuri “plain-looking”. He looks like a regular person (well, caveat: he looks like a regular figure skater. that’s the only explanation for his ass) His magnetism is not in blinding, fae-like beauty like Victor’s or Yuri P’s. The effect of his confidence is never as obvious on him as it is one someone like JJ, with his near-permanent smirk and half-lidded eyes. the appeal of his eros isn’t like Chris’ overt, exaggerated sexuality with full lips, bright eyes, and prominent eyelashes. He never even really fits into the Eros costume perfectly. it’s never skin-tight on him. It is even, technically, a borrowed costume. But while not really fitting his body, it grows more becoming on him as he brings more and more of his genuine feelings into his performance.

(as an aside: one of the only times a character outright calls yuuri himself beautiful, it’s Victor, and yuuri is wearing his free skate costume, designed for a routine that expresses yuuri’s own emotions and development of himself. a.k.a.: symbolizes everything I’m talking about here lol)

Yuuri’s beauty is never JUST about how he looks, because that’s not how his character was constructed in the first place. Our impression of him is crafted carefully over the course of the series, using his character design and character writing in tandem with eachother. It is through Yuuri that the show’s recurring theme of Surprise is delivered, as yuuri continuously surprises his audience, himself, Victor, and us as viewers. Just because he is indeed “plain-looking”, doesn’t mean he isn’t also so, so beautiful. Yuuri’s beauty flows out gently from within him and manifests in response to learned facets of his personality. His smiles are so beautiful because you’ve seen him in his worst panic. His eros is so mesmerizing because you’ve seen how hard he’d struggled to access it, because you know what honest feelings he tapped into to release it; alluring, because you realize the shy, plain dude from the beginning is just the top layer. Every Yuuri we see is an honest yuuri, it’s all recognizably him, and the variety and surprise as you watch him open up to you and you begin to piece all these visions of Yuuri together into a cohesive picture of his character... is what leads you to fall in love with him, and see him as beautiful. Much like what drew victor to fall in love with him, and see him as beautiful. Much like how a real person might fall in love with a real person, and come to find their beauty as well.

Very few of us are like Victor Nikiforov, Instantly Stunning With A Chin So Perfect It Could Fell A God. Most of us are Katsuki Yuuris, overlooked by 99.9999% of people on the street, but whose beauty waits to be seen by someone who wants to look close enough.

so anyway I guess this is why I’M not completely sold on fics and stuff where victor is immediately all hummina-hummina over him. I just feel like that skips over the most interesting angle of Yuuri himself, and imo it’s just plain less interesting to read about a relationship where BOTH sides are smoking hot in much the same way...? There’s something really interesting to me in acknowledging something is plain but finding it absolutely beautiful in its simplicity at the same time. Somehow reminded I heard of a fic where kissing was described as, instead of sweet or fiery or melting, “tastes like mouth”. That’s just... so memorable and wonderful to me, lol.

this sort of bleeds into a thing I’ve been thinking about writing on designing sets of characters anyway, ideas about contrasting the designs against eachother and using a character design to subvert expectations later on down the line. related, but eh. it’s why I latch so hard onto the idea that yuuri can be considered genuinely plain AND beautiful AND sexy all at the same time, just cause... that’s the kind of effect I’ve been trying to achieve in my characters for a long time XD

Anyway that was a ramble, ty for reading, yuri on ice saved my soul goodnight

#yuri on ice #yuuri katsuki #katsuki yuuri #long post #if anyone bothers to read this: thank you #if anyone agrees enough to want to reblog this: HOLY SHIT THANK YOU #yoi meta

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poppopopopopi · 7 years

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Settos Top 10 GOTY 2017

Hey guys it’s your mostly inactive friend Setto here. It’s that time again and I’m here to swarm you with my terrible taste in videogames for 2017. SO STRAP YOURSELF IN FOR A LIST THAT’S PROBABLY BETTER THAN WATCHING JUSTICE LEAGUE.

10: Cuphead

A game years in the making, Cuphead brings a fluid and visual masterpiece onto the scene. A fast paced action game based around Boss fights and platforming stages, Cuphead is challenging in all the right ways. The hand drawn art style is a marvel to look at and it plays like a dream. I saw this game all those E3′s ago and never in my life would I imagine it would turn out as such an incredible feat of game design and animation. If you like your games about Cartoon cup men fighting Satan then BOY is this for you!.

9: Sonic Mania

Hey are you tired of SEGA’s fruitless attempts at making Sonic games?. I mean Colors and Generations were good but STILL. Handing a project to Christian Whitehead is the best decision SEGA has ever made. The game is filled with nostalgia from all walks of Sonics life. It has brilliant gameplay that almost perfects the classic Sonic formula and will have anyone smiling all the way through. The physics, the music, the BLAST PROCESSING. This game is the biggest love letter to Sonic that’s ever been produced and I urge you to pick it up even if you have never played a Sonic game before.

8: Digimon World: Next Order

Did you guys ever play Digimon World 1 on the PS1 and think “Boy I wish they made a sequel to that game that improved on every aspect but kept the Digimon raising in real time”?. WELL GOOD NEWS, This game delivers on that front. It mixes in loads of new mechanics with the town building from the original. There’s a big world to explore with loads of side quests, loads of in depth mechanics for digivolving and LOADS of Digimon to collect. It has plenty of content to keep you playing even after you beat the game and is honestly some of the most fun I’ve had this year. If you want an engaging experience filled with plenty of cool as fuck monsters then get this game.

7: Nier: Automata

Nier and Drakengard are one of my favorite series ever made. I love Yoko Taros insanity and design that he works into the franchise, I love the deep and complex stories with great characters, deep background lore and plenty of comedic moments. Nier Automata is no different except now platinum are behind the combat which has improved MASSIVELY since the original Nier.

I can’t really go into depth on the game and besides everything that needs to be said has been said already. I’m just gonna say that the game is an incredibly well written and engaging marvel. If you like emotionally devastating storylines that will make you think about what it means to be human then you need to pick up Nier: Asstomata.

6: A Hat In Time

An ADORABLE platformer with perfect controls, great settings, cute as hell characters and loads of the things that have made classic Gamecube platformers a staple in history. This game is just pure joy to play and is the second best Hat based platformer of the year. I’m not gonna go into detail because I don’t want to spoil how great every single stage of this game is since each one changes up the formula to the point where it’s like playing a whole new story. If you like collectathons and great writing then you deserve to treat yourself with this creation of absolute happiness.

5: Yakuza 0

I’ve written about how good Yakuza is like a million times. Yakuza 0 is probably the best entry in the franchise alongside Yakuza 5. While Kiwami also came out this year, it was 0 that came out on top for me. It’s got so much side content that kept me coming back for weeks.

With entire side missions dedicated to real estate and being a hostess manager, the game drags you back in to its great mechanics, satisfying combat and gripping storyline. Seeing the backstory of Majima is heartbreaking and Kazuma getting tangled in this new web of insanity is just as engaging as always.

Yakuza 0 is probably one of the best games I’ve ever played and stands as a beacon of “THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A STORY, I’M LOOKING AT YOU HORIZON ZERO DAWN”.

4: Gravity Rush 2

The other cutest game of the year goes to Gravity Rush 2. One of the most creative and enjoyable franchises I’ve ever played.

As Kat you shift gravity around yourself to explore an incredible world made up of floating islands. You fight off horrible and mysterious creatures called the Nevi all while doing dumb things for townspeople who can’t do shit themselves clearly. These things include marketing ice cream, delivering fast food, stopping the inevitable destruction of your entire planet...wait what?.

There’s loads of costumes to get for Kat, loads of furniture for your tiny sewer house and plenty of fun gravity shifting to do.

There’s also some horrible abominations of mankind to fight against with an oppressive government.

Sony have basically sent this series to die and are shutting off the servers a year after launch, thanks sony. Guess it wasn’t as good as your terrible looking reboot of God of War.

3: Persona 5

A fucking visual masterpiece and a lesson in how to design something so good looking that it makes me look at myself in the mirror and consider why humans are capable of making such beauty.

Persona 5 is an engaging and incredible RPG that has great characters, great combat, Amazing music and the style of The Fonz if he ascended to godhood.

Everyone has already said how amazing this game is and it’s a fucking SMT game that’s up for the actual GOTY awards nomination.

What else is there to say?. other than Kawakami is best girl.

2. Super Mario Odyssey

I don’t want to spoil a single thing in this game for anybody. I don’t want to show a single screenshot, talk about a single world or even mention any music.

The game is one of the best games I have ever had the pure joy of even touching. I haven’t been this happy playing a videogame in almost all of my life. This game oozes charm and deserves every single bit of attention it is given.

There is nothing that can top this masterpiece of mechanically perfect happiness.....OR IS THERE?.

1: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Look I know people have issues with this game, I know people have loads of weird nitpicks and bad opinions. That’s fine. But you don’t get what this game means to me.

After Wind Waker I haven’t purely enjoyed a Zelda game on the same level.

This game defied all expectations I had of it and not only set a standard for Zelda games but set a standard for all open world games.

Every single thing in this game made me realise why I hadn’t been enjoying any open world games in almost a decade. It takes all conventional ideas and turns them into something magical. I never wanted to stop exploring this world.

Every corner has something new, everywhere you go you will see something else you want to go to and I guarantee you something will be there.

Being able to climb any surface takes away all busy work of navigating around small cliff faces just to get somewhere, being able to glide takes away all busywork of having to work your way down. There is so much freedom of choice in this game that you can just go straight to the final boss if you want.

Never have I played something so non linear, so open and so purely incredible.

You can tell they put effort and love into the world they built, you can tell every single inch of this game was thought out to insane lengths.

Horizon Zero Dawn came out the same week as this game and that game is the most by the numbers, basic ass open world games I’ve ever played. I have no goddamn idea why it’s so popular when it’s honestly a fucking wreck compared to this masterpiece.

You can go anywhere without being restricted, you can do anything in any order, you can see something in the distance and just climb the fuck out of it.

I love this game so much, it’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with games and something I will never forget.

That about does it for this year, I hope you guys tune in next year!.

#goty #me #settos goty 2017

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witchdoodle · 7 years

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random dalish headcanons

halla are not raised for slaughter like goats or sheep, but when they die of illness or age or accident, every part of their body is used, to honour their life. usually a funeral is performed first. things like halla leather and halla horns are very expensive because of this; it’s rare the dalish will sell either to non-dalish, but the high price those goods fetch when sold to shems is a pretty good source of income if they get really desperate.

halla milk is definitely a staple of their diet though. halla milk isn’t as sweet as cow or goat milk but it is HUGELY superiour in terms of fat and protein content and makes really tart, tasty cheeses. you milk a halla for the same reason you milk a cow, it’s good for them.

all dalish can understand halla, who do not talk but make themselves understood to elves. it’s not just reading their body language like you would a mabari or a cat, but neither is it verbal words nor telepathic thought. the process is impossible to explain to shems. “you just /know/ what they mean,” lavellan says to cullen after trying to explain it to him for like an hour.

dalish spirits are strong as fuck, but their wines are typically shit, and mostly used ceremonially. that varies by clan, location, year, and luck, though. sometimes you forage some good shit.

lavellan was BLOWN AWAY by the ABUNDANCE of readily available sugar in haven and skyhold. sugar would have been an expensive luxury to his clan. that and the idea that shem are used to food just being like… delivered to them is like ????????? to him. most shem have never even butchered a chicken in their lives????????

like city elves, dalish marriages (they dont call it marriage, but lbr it’s marriage) are mostly arranged. dalish clans that we’ve seen are mostly small, and after a while everyone in it would be related to everyone else in some way, and i hc that they’re you know, intelligent enough to recognise incest = bad. there’s no stigma against a love match, it’s just kinda rare bc most of the people in your clan who you spend 99.99% of your time with are like, your first cousin. so chances are once you’re an adult your keeper eventually arranges a match, and it’s not like YOU MUST MARRY THIS PERSON OR BE CAST OUT FOREVER it’s like hey i found this girl from another clan who i think would be perfect for you, you should spend some time together and see if you’re into it.

for them, it’s about tracking bloodlines for the purpose of knowing who everyone’s parents are; “pedigree” is a non-issue, unlike human nobility. you’re not matchmaking for pedigree kids, you’re matchmaking to create healthy, long-lasting, loving relationships that produce happy, healthy, supported children.

family lines are tracked through the mother. they have no word for “bastard”

the attitude about homosexuality varies wildly both by clan and individual, but nowhere is it forbidden, no one sees it as inherently wrong or sinful, it would be refusing to reproduce that would be the problem. at WORST, the attitude would be that it’s a selfish individual choice.

like the qunari, the dalish see transgender individuals as just being the gender they say they are, because surely they’d know best, right? nonbinary individuals are not unknown to them, and elvish has always had gender-neutral singular pronouns, and gender-neutral forms of gendered words, like lethallin (masculine), lethallan (feminine), lethallen (gender-neutral).

trans and nonbinary individuals are widely viewed as special and important. shem don’t understand but fuck ‘em.

kicking out mage children to die in the woods is stupid. if i HAVE to acknowledge it as canon because apparently it is now, i hc that was that an extreme minority view. one or two specific clans’ stupid decision is NOT a common, widespread practice. if a clan already has a lot of mages and is worried about templars, they make contact with another clan to harbour the mage child until a more permanent placement can be found. elves do not fear magic like humans do. magic is a precious commodity, and a USEFUL and RARE skill. it is a gift to them, not a curse.

dalish religious ceremonies involve a lot of song and dance, especially call-and-response type of songs. a lot of their song uses sounds that aren’t explicitly words, necessarily, but which are loaded with meaning anyway; this is a result of them substituting what they’ve lost of elvish.

they don’t really have the space to be hauling books around. they have an oral tradition, and most dalish are functionally illiterate in terms of the common tongue. they don’t really need to read. that said, some choose specifically to learn, and keepers/firsts usually make the effort to learn, since they’re usually the ones preserving and studying ancient elven artifacts which does include some books and scrolls.

their history being mostly oral, they also use song as a teaching tool. it’s much easier to teach a bunch of six-year-olds history lessons if it’s presented as catchy songs.

dalish dancing is way more expressive and interpretive than ballroom dancing. it’s meant to tell a story, not follow a set of rules, and how good you are at it is determined not by how well you follow predetermined steps but how good you are at getting your point across and how creative you are. your dance should make your audience *feel* something.

it’s also how the Youths flirt with each other, you gotta really practice ya moves for the next arlathvhen cuz what if neria from clan whatever thinks ur a scrub... ya gotta Bust A Move...

they craft elaborate costumes for their dances. everything on those costumes is symbolic in some way, meant to express something.

generally speaking storytelling is SUPER important to their culture. much of their values are taught by fables. elvish is an inherently metaphorical language, this has always been the case.

all dalish are taught to track and hunt with bow and arrow. obviously some are better at it than others, but everyone learns the basics just in case. everyone learns to provide for themselves just as everyone learns to defend themselves. children, men, women, elderly, everyone learns.

dalish courting involves a LOT of gift-giving on both sides. usually one party initiates it with a gift, and if the other party is interested, they return with a gift, and so on and so forth, the purpose being to show mutual commitment to providing for each other. it’s not regulated by gender roles.

the vallaslin ritual involves taking just enough lyrium and felandaris to trip balls and go into the woods and have a spiritual experience. used to be elves would take lyrium and meditate and receive a message from their chosen god, and that’s how you picked your patron, but the gods aren’t listening anymore, so you just kind of have to have your own epiphany about life and culture and yourself and stuff. it’s meant to purify your mind and clear any lingering fears or doubts away. then you purify your body and the keeper mixes your blood, their blood, and the keeper’s magic into an ink they embed under your skin.

vallaslin is applied when you are ready, not at a certain age. some get it as young as fourteen or fifteen, others have to wait until well into their twenties. it’s about maturity and being ready for adulthood.

nobody has ever failed the ritual. that is, sometimes people can’t do it on the first or second etc attempt, but nobody has ever PERMANENTLY failed to complete it. a keeper who senses that a young adult is sensitive and might not do well at it is likely to encourage them to get a small design. it’s a keeper’s job to see their whole clan safely through the ritual. if someone fails, it’s as much the keeper’s failure as theirs.

everyone in the clan has a “job,” but if you’re not up to speed or where you should be, the keeper intervenes, finds out why, and fixes it – whether that’s through counseling, or assigning extra training, or figuring the individual just isn’t suited to the task and finding them something else that brings them pride to do instead.

they bathe a LOT, cleanliness is super important to them. shem stereotype them as being stinky wood savages but nah, once or twice daily bathing is widespread practise, and they’re super careful about keeping their water sources clean.

nomadic life is hard as shit. most clans lose a couple members every year from age, illness, accident, starvation, or shem interference. some years are harder than others. babies and the elderly are especially at risk.

there’s a dalish saying of “two keepers, three opinions.” the arlathvhen can get… heated… with debate, but nobody takes being argued with personally, because if you can’t defend your position then it’s a bad position. debate is a bonding activity. it’s the keeper’s job, also, to make sure everyone’s opinion is heard.

you will pry shoeless elves from my cold dead fucking hands

#lizard time #my Opinions

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