#I need another Riz parallel

[clownjacket]

Okay my ‘why Kipperlily hates Riz’ theory: She handed out business cards first day, he handed out business cards first day, she’s tiny, he’s tiny, they’re both obviously overeager teacher’s pet type A rogues, they’re like male and female versions of each other and it’s obvious to everyone. What would most high schoolers do, in that situation, seeing another kid so similar to your friend on the first day that they somehow BOTH made business cards to hand out at school? AND they’re going to be taking classes together? You say “Omg, he’s literally the boy version of you, you’re SOULMATES, you’d be perfect together!” And what do you do when your type A tight-ass friend acts embarrassed by that? You tease her about it more obviously. You think it’s just good natured ribbing, and she KNOWS it’s just good natured ribbing, but for some reason she gets unreasonably angry any time she sees Riz after that. Maybe even uncomfortable? But she KNOWS she doesn’t have a crush on him, so why does it bother her so much?

[coldmail750]

In the continuing saga of me rambling about Beastars - having rambled at length now about four carnivore character arcs, I'd like to talk a bit about an herbivore character arc, one that is one of my favorite arcs in the series, and one that gets done incredibly dirty by how the series ends:

Louis's.

I'll Never Forgive Chapter 194

or, the Ignominious Death of One of Beastars's Best Character Arcs

So at the end of part two of the carnivore parallels essay, I summarized my thoughts on the deeply dysfunctional societal dynamic in Beastars:

...this carnivore-herbivore societal arrangement, as it stands, works for nobody. Herbivores live their lives in constant fear and regularly face either infantilization or objectification, carnivores live with constant self-loathing either for being carnivores or for not being carnivore enough, and hybrids get all the downsides of both with the upsides of neither.

In the same way that Paru uses Legoshi, Bill, Riz, and Ibuki to explore what it's like to live in the society of Beastars as a carnivore, Paru uses Louis to explore what it's like to live in this society as an herbivore - but, given Louis's backstory, he's also got a lot going on that's specific to him (in comparison to characters like Haru and Sebun, from whom we get a picture of slightly more standard herbivore life).

For the purposes of this essay, we're going to be focusing more on that Louis-specific stuff, but we will come back to the broader societal dynamics, because that is still an integral part.

So what is Louis's arc, then?

Louis's character progression, simply put, is him growing more confident with 1) not following the course laid out for him and 2) doing things that society does not approve of.

See, there's a fundamental clash going on between Louis's personality and Louis's situation. On the one hand, Louis is a very strong-willed character. He knows what he wants, is absolutely determined to get it, and has very little patience for anyone who would stand in his way. Indeed, Louis's insistence on living his life on his own terms is a hill he is literally willing to die on, which is part of why Oguma adopts him:

But Louis has never actually been able to live his life on his own terms. As a young child, he lived his life on the terms of the black market, as a piece of meat to be sold and consumed for profit. Adoption by Oguma meant salvation from the black market, but it didn't free Louis from living his life on someone else's terms; it simply changed the "someone else" from the black market to Oguma.

Oguma adopted Louis for a very explicit reason - he needed a respectable heir, another deer that he could pass off as his son who would make a respectable name for himself in school, graduate from a prestigious university, marry someone of the same species and the opposite gender, and inherit the Horns Conglomerate. That is the course that was laid out for Louis the moment Oguma adopted him, the terms by which he has lived ever since.

We can add to that the general Beastars societal pressures - that they will marry within their species, for example - and the societal pressures upon herbivores - that herbivores will hate and fear carnivores, for example - that Louis no doubt was exposed to regularly throughout childhood simply by virtue of living in the world that he did. These societal pressures are largely in line with - or, at the minimum, not in opposition to - the course laid out for him by Oguma, so we can group them together.

So what happens, then, if what Louis wants clashes with the course laid out for him by Oguma and by society? The way the answer to that question changes is how Louis's arc progresses.

At the beginning of the story... okay, to talk about where Louis stands at the beginning of the story, we have to talk about Adler.

Watching how Louis plays the character of Adler tells us how Louis approaches a role. When early manga Louis is playing the role of Adler, he gets really into it; he is constantly practicing, he drags Odie to an illicit nighttime practice to make sure that Odie's performance doesn't drag him down, he memorizes the lines so thoroughly that he can recall them months later, and - crucially - he insists on attempting to play the role even at the expense of his own health, as we see when he attempts to play the role of Adler even on a broken leg, only stopping when he is literally no longer able to due to his injury.

Louis, as it happens, is constantly playing a role - the role of the dutiful, obedient son who does what is expected of him by society and his father - and, at the start of the story, he is invested in playing that role just as much as he is invested in playing the role of Adler the Grim Reaper.

But that dutiful, obedient son is just as much a fictional character as Adler, and even at the very beginning of Beastars, the role is beginning to slip a little when what Louis wants contradicts what's expected of him.

The proof of this is his relationship with Haru. Given the choice between the expectation of his arranged same-species marriage with Azuki and pursuing an interspecies relationship with a rabbit, Louis chooses the latter - but he obsessively tries to cover this up, keep it on the down-low, to give the impression that he's chosen the former. He wants to make it look like he's playing the dutiful son... but he's already kind of unsure about it.

This is symbolically alluded to by the fact that, when Haru and Louis first met, Louis had shed his antlers. Antlers are symbol of a male deer's virility, it's shameful to be seen without them (which is why Louis is trying to hide in the gardening club to begin with), and Louis acts embarrassed when he realizes he's about to kiss Haru while without antlers. But it also works as a way of symbolizing that Louis is clandestinely rejecting the course laid out for him by his father, the course that has him marrying Azuki and taking over the Horns Conglomerate; Louis is literally hiding the fact that he is without Horns.

The next time he's confronted with this choice between what's expected of him and what he wants is when Haru is kidnapped by the Shishigumi. He can either leave Haru to die, which will lead to the mayor erasing the records linking him to the black market, and continue with the plan that he will become Cherryton's beastar, marry Azuki, and succeed his father at Horns; or he can try to save her, at risk to his own life.

Louis tries to force himself to pick the first option. As he tried to play Adler until it broke him physically, he tries to play the obedient son until it breaks him mentally. He snaps, and - like the character Adler - decides that he'll prove his love through death; he charges into the Shishigumi's headquarters, murders their boss, and tells the underlings to kill him, giving Legoshi and Haru the chance to escape.

Of course, the Shishigumi does not kill Louis here, and this marks a turning point for his character development. Before Haru's kidnapping, Louis consistently attempts to pick "what's expected of me", and if he picks "what I want", he does so as furtively as possible.

After Haru's kidnapping, but before the final climax of his arc, Louis consistently picks "what I want" over "what's expected of me", and does so in front of more and more people... but still tries to not draw too much attention to it, justifying his actions only when necessary, and sometimes still telling himself and those around him "I'm definitely doing what's expected of me still, you must be mistaken".

So throughout the bulk of the manga - everything between the fight with the Shishigumi and the fight with Melon - that's Louis's modus operandi. When given a choice between the expectation that he will seek to return to normal society and his preordained course as soon as possible, or staying on as the head of the Shishigumi, he picks the latter; but the only person he tells about this is Oguma, as part of a failed effort to break his familial ties with his father, with Legoshi discovering it by chance and Juno deducing it herself.

When given a choice between sticking to this prejudice against carnivores which herbivores are expected to have, and abandoning it, realizing that he's come to deeply care about and even love the carnivores in his life, Louis picks the latter; he allows Legoshi to eat his leg, a transgression of this world's ultimate societal taboo, to help Legoshi defeat Riz. This stands as a total rejection of Louis's previous bigotry, the overcoming of his childhood trauma, and an expression of just how close he and Legoshi have become - but he keeps it and his reasons for doing it relatively quiet, and, in the same vein, usually hides the fact that he has a prosthesis afterwards.

When given a choice between accepting the title of Cherryton beastar, the sort of high school honor that would look great on the resume of a future Horns CEO, the accolade everyone has been expecting him to win, and refusing it because Legoshi deserves just as much credit but definitely won't get it, Louis picks the latter, and only explains why to Cherryton's headmaster.

The example of this change in habit that is the easiest for comparison, however, is his relationship with Juno.

While Louis's relationship with Legoshi is one based in their having been forged in the same flames, that knowledge that they can rely on each other when they need it, trust the other with their secrets and their lives unconditionally, Louis's relationship with Juno is wrapped up in an... almost envy? for her willingness to pursue his own wants - as is his relationship with Haru.

Haru and Juno are both open about their own wants, as opposed to what society expects of them, in a way that Louis feels he cannot be. Haru knows that being promiscuous is societally vilified, will result in her being shunned and bullied, but she does it anyways, because sex is the only time she's treated like a person, not an object, and she wants to be treated like a person. Juno knows that her entering a different-species relationship with a deer would be societally frowned upon, openly wrestles with this in front of Louis, and ultimately ends up angrily shouting that she loves a deer live on national television.

Louis wants to be able to openly wrestle against societal expectation and do what he wants, consequences be damned, like Haru and Juno do - and he does a little, letting Haru see him without his horns and letting Juno see his prosthesis - but he feels like he can't truly do it because of the expectations imposed on him by Oguma.

The specific contrast between Louis's relationship with Haru and Louis's relationship with Juno that I want to talk about, however, is how and where Louis conducts his relationship with each. Louis's relationship with Haru was something he conducted almost entirely beyond closed doors - a furtive thing that they shared only in places where they thought no one could see them, the quiet dark of the gardening club shed or a space hidden between tents at the Meteor Festival.

Louis's relationship with Juno is something he has in bubble tea cafes, at bus stops, in school hallways, on the metro - in public.

Of course, he insists to himself and to her that it's nothing, he's just indulging her. But no matter how much he tries to convince Juno and himself that nothing is going on here, Louis has once again chosen his personal feelings over the course his father laid out for him, and he's getting increasingly comfortable with doing so openly.

So that's where Louis stands for the bulk of the manga; he's increasingly comfortable with openly doing what he wants rather than what is expected of him, but still feels bound enough by what is expected of him that he avoids calling attention to this fact and still attempts to pretend, at times, that nothing is happening and he's going to precisely follow the course his father laid out for him.

Louis's relationship with Juno (and his relationships with Haru and Legoshi) all stand in contrast to his "relationship" with Azuki, his preordained fiancée.

While Haru and Juno demonstrate a willingness to wrestle against and ignore societal pressures that Louis secretly admires, and Legoshi is overcoming his own internalization of societal messaging in part through his relationship with Louis, Azuki embodies the outside pressures upon Louis. She is same-species, opposite-sex, also of the upper crust, the person who Oguma has arranged Louis to marry.

But there is no relationship, really, between Louis and Azuki. They have met each other a handful of times. Their interactions are stilted and awkward; neither much cares about the other beyond the fact that they are obliged to marry, because their marriage represents a corporate merger between Horns and Azuki's father's corporation. When Louis tries to force himself to become intimate with her, he cannot stop thinking about all the carnivores he actually cares about, and, ultimately, vomits.

The contrast is clear. While Louis's relationships with Haru, Legoshi, and Juno aren't exactly smooth sailing - they're all working through a lot, after all - it's clear that they are actual relationships with people Louis actually cares about, as opposed to his hollow, artificial construct of an outside obligation with Azuki.

There's one more event before the Melon fight that I'd like to talk about, though, and that's Oguma's death.

See, Oguma knows that Louis's "dutiful son" role is an act. Louis gets angry at Oguma over the fact that Oguma never attended any of Louis's plays not over the literal plays themselves but because he is constantly performing a role for someone who is never there to watch the performance; Oguma outright tells Louis that the reason he never went to one of his shows is because he wants Louis's wedding to Azuki to be the first time he sees Louis putting on his best performance.

It seems reasonable to assume that Oguma knows that this is an act because he has spent his entire life putting on the same act. That, once upon a time, Oguma's father laid the same path for him - make a respectable name for himself in school, graduate from a prestigious university, marry someone of the same species and the opposite gender, and inherit the Horns Conglomerate - and that Oguma devoted himself to it, played the part exactly as he was told to.

Since then, as Oguma tells us, he has devoted every aspect of his life to the Horns Conglomerate. He has treated every choice he's made as a business decision, evaluated every relationship he has ever made based on whether or not it was profitable for Horns - and was good at it, the company reaping the profits of his diligence and his devotion.

But now, on his deathbed, he's realized something.

There's one relationship he can't quantify.

Oguma was not a good father to Louis. He was near-totally absent from his son's life, interacting with him once a week; he imposed heavy expectations on Louis, expectations which Louis has spent the entirety of the manga suffering because of. The only halfway-decent father figure Louis had in his life was a lion in the yakuza.

But Oguma did love Louis - felt unable to express it, because of the expectations that he inherited from his father and passed on to his son, but did love him. And now, on his deathbed, Oguma realizes that this is his last chance to tell Louis that a real, loving relationship is more valuable than any business relationship, to the point of being beyond quantification, to tell his son that he loves him.

And as his final act upon the earth, Oguma says "let me do the most unprofitable thing", and hugs Louis.

When Oguma adopted Louis, he freed him from the black market, but he didn't free Louis from having to live his life on someone else's terms. On his deathbed, Oguma rights that wrong by telling Louis that love is more precious than profit - that what Louis wants is more important than that path ending at Horns.

With that, we can finally arrive at the climax of Louis's arc - the press conference during the Melon fight.

When Louis gets behind the podium at that press conference, he has to choose between giving a normal boilerplate speech about how business will continue at the Horns Conglomerate with him as CEO, sliding into the role he was raised for from the moment Oguma adopted him; or, he can bring up the black market, breach every societal taboo about meat-eating and carnivore-herbivore relations, and proclaim openly that he cares about deeply about a wolf and that that wolf is in danger.

As with Haru's kidnapping, this is a choice where his previous strategy for dealing with the conflict between what's expected of him and what he wants no longer works. Where Haru's kidnapping put him in a position where he could no longer pretend to pick the former while clandestinely picking the latter, causing him to shift to picking the latter but not drawing attention to it, he now finds himself in a position where, if he's going to do what he wants, he has to draw attention to it. He has to defy his preordained path, explicitly, live on national TV.

And that's exactly what he does.

Louis has seen the harm the expectations imposed by the society of Beastars can do. He has seen how they hurt Haru, Legoshi, Juno, Bill, Ibuki, Riz, his father, himself. He has watched people bend and break under them, felt the pressure to do so himself, struggled against it his entire life.

But now he has stared down those societal norms that cause or perpetuate so much of the suffering the characters of Beastars face, and won. He is no longer ashamed and fearful like the fawn in the cage, nor embittered and hateful like the young stag we met when the series began, but confident and optimistic. He has gone from feeling the need to bend or break under the expectations upon him, expectations that forced him to choose between what was "acceptable" and the people he cared most about, to using his power and his influence to help change what society expects.

This - Louis's total rejection of the path laid out for him in favor of carving a new path, a better path, alongside the people he cares about - is his great triumph, the culmination of one of the best character arcs I have ever read.

And then comes chapter 194.

Louis, having completed his arc, is given one final choice. He can follow the course laid out for him by his father, have his loveless but societally-approved arranged marriage with Azuki and wholly submit to being the next CEO of the Horns Conglomerate; or he can reject that, "do the most unprofitable thing", and continue his relationships with the people he actually loves.

The manga has very clearly set up Louis and Juno as romantic partners. It's clear that there's a lot going on between Legoshi and Louis, who are incredibly close and whose relationship is a fan favorite. If I'd been writing the manga I would've just made Legoshi, Haru, Louis, and Juno a polycule. If he suddenly declared his love for some random other character he'd never even interacted with before it... would be unsatisfying for a lot of other reasons, but it would still technically kind of fit with his progression as a character, because it would still be him choosing his desires over societal & familial expectations.

The only clearly wrong choice here, the choice which it makes no sense for Louis to make and which cannot be reconciled with his growth as a person, is for him - having been freed from his father's expectations by Oguma on his deathbed, having totally rejected the societal pressures upon him on national television at the culmination of the manga's final battle - to suddenly, inexplicably, for no good reason, throw all of his character development out of the window and cave to marrying Azuki.

siiiiiiiiigggggghhhhhhhhhh

The bleakness of this ending is amplified even more by a detail in the following chapter, where Haru tells Legoshi that she got a very short call from Louis, and it becomes clear that Louis hasn't just broken up with Juno to marry Azuki, he's stopped talking with Legoshi and is barely contacting Haru. Louis, whose entire arc has been about him learning to choose his own wants and the people he cares about over the path demanded of him by society, is now inexplicably cutting every person he cares about out of his life in the name of caving to societal pressure.

Look, I have a lot of respect for Paru Itagaki. She wrote the entirety of the character arc that I've spent the past god-knows-how-many paragraphs raving about, this wonderful narrative of a character who gets introduced as an asshole rich kid but becomes incredibly complex, compelling, and sympathetic, and did it all while working under a grueling schedule. But her decision to end Louis's arc like this is baffling and terrible all at once, and it still drives me up the wall two years later.

This is not to say she doesn't try to make it make sense. Louis says that he needs to marry Azuki because he needs to stay on as Horns CEO, and he needs to stay on as Horns CEO so that he can buy the Shishigumi a way out of prison and into his employ.

But that justification doesn't work because of a big piece of foreshadowing that, because of what happens to Louis's arc, ends up going nowhere: the whole "beastars" thing.

Paru Itagaki does a lot to foreshadow the idea that Louis and Legoshi are going to become co-beastars. After Louis refuses to become Cherryton beastar because Legoshi won't get any credit, headmaster Gon turns to Cherryton's deputy headmaster and tells him that it's a real shame that those two won't be a model for society to look to.

Shortly after that, we're introduced to Yahya, the sublime beastar, and to Gosha, Legoshi's grandfather. Yahya and Gosha just so happen to deeply resemble who Louis and Legoshi were at the start of their arcs - an herbivore who deeply hates carnivores because of an incident in their past, and a carnivore who allows himself to be feared and hated by those around him - and just so happen to have once dreamed of becoming co-beastars, before they went their separate ways.

Not long after that, we're told that Yahya is beginning to get too old to be sublime beastar, that his body is declining and he will soon no longer have the physical acuity or resistance to do the job he does, and that even Yahya is beginning to have to admit this to himself - in short, that soon someone will need to replace him.

We get an entire chapter about how Yahya once used his sublime beastar powers to get the 500 Cornered Rats - a gang of criminals who were captured by the police - released from prison so that he could take them on as his subordinates, which is important inasmuch as it establishes that Yahya can pardon Legoshi's conviction for predation and thereby allow him to marry Haru, but also clearly establishes that there is precedent for a sublime beastar pardoning and then hiring a criminal gang - something that would be really useful for Louis if, hypothetically speaking, the Shishigumi were captured and imprisoned.

Then, in chapter 158, Legoshi and Louis go to the black market, to the tower where Louis was once imprisoned, to the balcony where Oguma once told Louis he would change the world, and Legoshi proposes to Louis that the two of them should work together to change the world, that the two of them could be the beastars.

Louis even responds to this by making a big show of saying that Legoshi is being ridiculous, he can't just make up the title of the manga we're reading!

All of this foreshadowing is pointing so clearly in one direction. Everything that Paru has set up is absolutely screaming that Yahya will wipe Legoshi's conviction and then name Louis and Legoshi as his successors, the beastars; that Louis and Legoshi will build on the previous generation and succeed where they failed, with each other - and Haru and Juno - by their sides, standing as a new, healthier example of how carnivores and herbivores can live, work, and love truthfully, honestly, in solidarity alongside each other.

Louis, then, can use his sublime beastar powers to free and hire the Shishigumi, and break his betrothal to Azuki while giving her Horns - the only part of Louis she was actually interested in - since he's too busy to run it anyways.

It works as a culmination of the character progressions involved; it fulfills all of this brilliant foreshadowing Paru has set up; it makes the name of the manga work, because it establishes Beastars as having been the story of how Louis and Legoshi became the beastars. Everything ties together so neatly, so perfectly, so brilliantly.

Instead, all of this foreshadowing goes... nowhere. Legoshi gets an ending that's perfectly adequate but unexceptional, Louis's arc gets thrown in the trash, Yahya resigns from being sublime beastar but then keeps doing the work even though it was age interfering with his ability to work that was the issue anyways, all the stuff about "beastars" leads to nothing, and the manga just kind of fizzles out.

Again, Itagaki tries to offer some justification for this decision, putting the words into Louis's mouth:

I don't find this argument, this claim that Louis remaining close to the people he cares about most and becoming co-beastar with Legoshi would be too much like the plot of an overly saccharine movie, to be convincing.

Firstly, Louis and Legoshi becoming beastars with Haru and Juno at their side would not be a magic fix to all of the societal issues that Paru Itagaki demonstrated through her characters throughout the course of Beastars. Systemic change is slow, difficult progress, and it is never guaranteed that gains made will be kept. While Louis and Legoshi becoming beastars would represent the potential emergence of a new paradigm and the hope that change is possible, it wouldn't represent the issues they struggled to overcome being magically resolved overnight; but I don't think anyone unsatisfied with how Beastars ended is pretending that it would.

Secondly, even if Louis and Legoshi becoming beastars did magically fix all of the societal issues in Beastars going forward (which, again, it wouldn't and shouldn't, but just for the sake of argument), it wouldn't preclude the ending being bittersweet, because for a lot of characters, it's too late. It's too late entirely for Tem, for Ibuki, for Toki and Leano. Melon, psychologically, has been broken beyond repair; Riz will spend years in prison for what he did; Gosha and Yahya, once fast friends, spent thirty years not speaking to each other that they can't get back; Louis lost his childhood and Oguma lost the chance to have a proper relationship with his son.

Even if everything was magically fixed, the people who were hurt would still bear the scars - and I think that's plenty of bitter to balance out the sweet.

So there we have it. Paru Itagaki gave Louis one of the best damn character arcs I'd ever read, one that is incredibly layered and compelling, executed it masterfully from its inception to the final climax of the work, and then fumbled it in the final chapters, throwing out her own foreshadowing and leaving us with an ending that was a mixed bag on the whole and that, for Louis specifically, was outright terrible.

I guess that's why I'm still not over it, two years later, even though Beastars isn't even my most recent furry fixation anymore. It's agonizing to see something that was so enthralling and compelling get obliterated at the last possible moment, to think about what could have been, and to have the knowledge of what it ended up being looming over you every time you come back to the work.

I still love Beastars. But the way that Louis's arc ends, and the way the entire ending of the series got weakened to make his arc end that way... that's something I think I'll always be at least a little bit bitter about.

[thespoonisvictory]

Okay, I need to know what your thoughts are on whether the Ratgrinders (and which members if it's not all of them) will be redeemed or not.

***** pre warning that brennan has bamboozled me thoroughly and I have few coherent thoughts on the mystery at hand other than looking at theories and going "well that's dumb" which I recognize is unhelpful.

I think the Ratgrinders have a large sympathetic element to them as a group that is yet to be revealed. That could be a lot of things, but starting first with the fact that we don't have a clear motivation for why exactly they were xp grinders rather than truly adventuring, what's up with that? To me, it doesn't read as a malicious act against rats, lol. To me, it reads as the 11 year olds afraid to play Minecraft off of peaceful mode, OR the people who think that highschoolers risking their lives to get grades is unfair and scary, OR maybe people who just want to game the system to prove it's unbalanced. Either way, that feels to me like a pretty big piece of the puzzle we're missing, and would give us a better idea of the group.

Additionally, I think the Rat Grinders are, or at least were, friends the way the Bad Kids are, which is another big sympathetic element. Kipperlily points out that they are a parallel to them in the way that they are/were six very different people who found their way to each other. I think their friendship is going to be revealed to be in many ways Exactly like the Bad Kids, closeness and loyalty and all. Maybe Kipperlily isn't a part of that, or she's deceiving them, but how far would the Bad Kids let Riz go down a crazy plan? How much trouble would they have put up with from Kristen if she kept going down the path she was at the start of the year? How much would they do for each other?

All this to say, I don't think we've seen a full view of what the Rat Grinders look like yet. If Lucy was friends with them for almost two years after all, surely there's something more there. That makes all of them to me, again with the arguable exception of Kipperlily, plausible to be redeemed, or revealed to have had decent intentions and turning out to be an ally.

As for more specific, kind of meta-gamey guesses (minimal evidence just vibes):

Oisin feels like a potential good guy or absolutely irredeemable, leaning towards the former. Either he's a Hans, or he doesn't know quite what's going on as exemplified by Kipperlily keeping him out of the loop on the materials smuggling w Aewlyn. I just doubt Brennan would dangle a love interest like that as a villain for Adaine, when her character has had very little romance thus far. It feels both like he knew Siobhan was too smart of a player to take that as bait, and wouldn't want to punish socially anxious Adaine opening up to someone outside of the group. OR he's evil idk this most recent ep was pretty damning.

We've barely seen any of Ivy, but she gives me big "pulling away emotionally from the disaster that is this friend group and bracing for impact" energy. wild shot is that I bet she was one of the closer people to Lucy, and is detached from everything after her death, maybe just going along with KL's plans for the hell of it. Will maybe slink away unscathed but unredeemed.

Ruben is interesting, and I think after KL one of the more involved people in the plot given his involvement in the festival. Could see him being redeemed, think it's more likely he'll go out in a Wanda Childa themed blaze of glory.

Mary Ann I think just loves her friends and is loyal to them. Whether that means she's being manipulated or doesn't even need to be, unclear.

Buddy o7

Kipperlily? No fucking clue. I think we're missing a big piece of her and doubt that Brennan would this simply villify a 16 year old girl with so many clear issues. What we're missing? Simply not a clue. She's crazy to me and I love her

[kennamirzayan]

Roundtable 2: We Are Lady Parts

We Are Lady Parts is a currently-running British sitcom following the formation of and development of a band named Lady Parts made up entirely of Muslim women. Upon its release, the series was met with a positive critical reception and lauded for its complex representations of Muslim women (it passed the Riz test with flying colors). 

For the Roundtable, I analyzed the first episode of the show, titled “Play Something,” which depicts the band’s formation as Amina, a shy PhD student and guitar teacher, meets the struggling band “Lady Parts” and must attempt to overcome her crippling stage fright in order to join. 

How does the series use dual-focus narrative as a strategic storytelling tool beyond heteronormative romantic pairings? 

Beyond heteronormative romantic pairings, this episode employs a dual-focus narrative as a strategy for storytelling in its depictions of Amina and Lady Parts as two disparate yet intrinsically-tied entities. The show “Lady Parts” is a representation and exploration of coming of age for five Muslim women in their twenty-somethings. To borrow from Raymond Knapp in the reading from Robyn Stilwell, the show is “really about” self-assured-ness and confidence that comes from embracing the complexities that contribute to our identities. As such, the show explores this dual-focus narrative by placing Amina’s storyline in conversation with that of Lady Parts. The members of Lady Parts are funny, confident, punk, messy while Amina is painfully shy and struggling to express herself. This dual-focus is introduced in the first episode and continues to be fleshed out throughout the rest of the series. Because of this, the parallelism of the serialized dual-focus narrative of Lady Parts centers the emotional development of its female characters rather than heteronormative romantic pairing. This provides the series with space to flesh out the members of Lady Parts as one body and as individuals alike. 

What are the “inevitable” couplings within the series and how are they accentuated through “cinematic” similarities and contrasts? 

This episode opens on a scene in which Amina and her parents are meeting a potential suitor. It is here that we first see the complexities of her characterization as her parents begin to spill to her suitor and his conservative parents about Amina’s guitar skills and her stage fright which, according to her mother, “induces diarrhea and vomiting”, embarrassing Amina. Over voiceover from Amina, we learn that she has been on a self-motivated quest to find a husband – a quest that, per her admission, has been going “fairly disastrously”; however, through this scene, we are also introduced to her musical ability and personal struggle with performing. The scene concludes with voiceover narration, in which Amina says to the audience, “Little did I know things were about to change”. 

This places Amina’s personal story within that of the preexisting body of Lady Parts and creates an “inevitable” coupling between the two storylines. Immediately following the scene introducing Amina, we are introduced to Lady Parts. The band is seen practicing one of their songs until one of the members, Saira, stops out of frustration, claiming, “We need a lead guitarist”. The group proceeds to discuss the merits of adding a fifth member to the band, eventually deciding to hold auditions for a lead guitarist. 

This recalls and parallels the scene before. Throughout this first episode, “We Are Lady Parts” uses pacing to place the storylines of Amina and Lady Parts in conversation with one another. A scene from one storyline will be followed by a similar scene within the other storyline. This creates a tempo of inevitability which the dual-focus narrative follows until the end of the episode – when Amina and Lady Parts collide. 

How does the series use musical numbers within and beyond the narrative world to replicate fairy tale, backstage, or folk musicals? 

We Are Lady Parts uses its musical numbers to embody the traditions of the backstage musical while subverting it. The music is primarily diegetic and as such it is typically performed by Lady Parts. Through the use of music and performance, the audience is able to become familiarized with Lady Parts’ post-punk “sound”. Additionally, through musical performance, the series further characterizes the dynamics and tensions within the band and the individuals which make it up. Lady Parts doesn’t just fit itself neatly within the catalogue of preexisting backstage musicals, rather it takes influence from the traditional backstage musical while subverting it through its music and characterization. The songs in the show are funny and pointed, and through their punk sentiment, they challenge stereotypes and Western depictions of Muslim women. 

[unsleepingtales]

Cursed out! What an ep!

Thinking about the Lucy/Gorgug parallels post and rotating them. In my head

Bakur art????

Aelwynnnnn

Ah they have leveled up!

Cottoncandy bitchfuck <3

Kipperlilly is independently wealthy ok

If Adaine could charge for her oracle duties that would be great

Adaine hates her SO much

I love the close up shot of Siobhan’s hand

I love Brennan glancing over at Ally to let them know that they need to pay attention to this next part before mentioning the divine stuff

The Abernant Sisters are everything to me <3

Even when you were being evil you were at least interesting and cool!

Aelwyn you gotta take care of yourself pls

HECTOR

And people are dying or something?

Loam Farm. Ok so the issue wasn’t with the faire, it was with the former venue?

Were they framed to get the faire to change venues?

Summoning a demon. Just another thing.

Riz is SO done

“You’re getting a+s and you’re killing all your extracurriculars so where is the stress coming from”???? Sklonda. Sklonda! Cmon. You had to have heard yourself say that.

Keep my name out of your mouth 💀💀💀 they are MARRIED

Sorry what

It’s called the moonar yulenear? That’s what the midwinter holiday in solace is called?

Ally ASCENDING

November (if that’s what month it is)

Brennan SO meant for Riz to be running

Lolaaaaa

Of course Riz is going to Loam Farm.

Maximum legend!

Ratgrinders group art!!

FIG HAS OFFICIALLY TAKEN TWO LEVELS OF PALADIN

Hallariel!!

Ally continues to be great at blending rp and mechanics

Hmmmm Kristen going to fallinel. Thoughts.

That’s so sad actually

Zac is SO smart

Your drama’s beautiful and I think it’s really gorgeous but I do think that Fig is fully cursed

God they’re insane I love them so much

Mazey!!

It’s just an orifice

I love that little hands moment with the friends <3 I could pick your hands out of a lineup they are calloused and freckled and I love you

I’m wearing a sports bra and a g string and I want to be closer to all of you!!

He really tried to figure out a way to politely decline a bardic and he couldn’t

Mazey are you okay??

Oh god

The vice principal can’t leave a certain distance from the school??

There’s gotta be a way to get Ayda in on this

Awwwww

Wild that student government only has one elected position?? How are all the other positions chosen??? I was on student gov for six years and I had to run every time?

Brennan is thrilled with them

Shoutout to Zac for using proper over-under cable coiling technique while miming

Tragic this is devastating

She doesn’t need to die she’s gonna pass on the position at the end of the year??

Jealousy surrounds me. (The most serious she’s been all day)

FABIANNNNN

Stop bringing him UP

“When you think about me why do you always bring up the ball?” Onesided fabriz truthers are having a field day rn

Mazeyyyyyy you care so so much

He wanted to live with his family I’m gonna cry

Hmm. Convincing.

From the man who dabbed at a school assembly we now bring you the revival of pwned

Bro she likes you

Paperweight boggy!

It’s a whole thing

Oh god

Summer god domain changed to more fire stuff regarding rage?

Not my circus not my monkeys 😭😭

Five from 2d10 😭

Whyyyyyy are you giving a speech to the middle schoolers. WHY

Sandra Lynn and Jawbone’s art makes me so happy

This little bitch ass cat >:(

Lydia Barkrock I love you forever and ever

D&D is so cool D&D IS SO COOL

Also science :)

Paladin Fig!

No that’s the curse babes

Yeah

Fig is super fucking cursed

They literally tagged their notebooks with the ratgrinder sticker !

It’s not his place to feel wrathful. Oh my god he’s. Something.

Oh GOD

Yolanda WAS neutral though that was the whole POINT she gave up any relationship to a deity in order to better teach clerics!! The token she gave Kristen was all about divine power and relationships despite lack of a god!!

Stay the fuck away from her brother

(Ally mumbling threateningly)

Step off buddy. Step Away.

Oooh why is that dc that way

Oh yeah but that has nothing to do with Fig

FUCK YEAH OATH OF ANCESTORS I love paladin mechanics so fucking much guys

Ey?? Zara and Porter?

Fig how many fucking parents are you gonna get

THANK YOUUUUUUU I love paladin mechanics I love devotion to a friend I love getting literal magic from love and devotion and a promise

This is sooooo leading towards Fig becoming a paladin of Bakur’s deity.

Ally and Lou’s reactions 😭

GIRLYPOP WHATTTT

Murph face

Ruben seems genuinely upset about Lucy

Why is that your email address

Do you want me to get you a phone????????

A card that says thinking of you but fig signs it from gorgug 😭 I’m gonna cry

ITS SHAPED LIKE A LITTLE METAL BRIEFCASE 😭😭😭

You absolute sweetie 🥰

What a choice!

Ohhh Fabian. Fabian misses his dad. Ouch.

Wild art imitating life moment bc we were just talking about getting hit in the tattoo

Oh goddddddd rage tokens

They would do anything for each other

The gleam in Brennan’s eye……..

Oh nooooo

(Emily laughing sadistically)

You made that so terrible for yourself and you did not have to.

Oh my GOD

Ok chill out man

Ok next week looks fun. The return of Baron. That’s chill.

[w2beastars]

Seven major flaws in “Beastars”

I fricking love Beastars. I realy do. But I’m not gonna pretend that it’s perfect.

So here are SEVEN major flaws about this pretty great manga.

Lack of murder mystery.

I’m a big fan of crime fiction mysteries. My favorite detective is Phryne Fisher. So I looked forward to a classic murder mystery.

But Legosi just kinda... solved it.

Sure, the way he solved it was fine. But I would have liked a little more buildup, I wanted Riz to be properly introduced and be allowed to guess who the culprit was. I think Riz as a murderer is great and he is a perverse mirroring of Legosi with a burdening guilt/lack of guilt parallel... But I wanted to be given the chance to guess and wonder.

Melon is all over the place.

The thing about Melon that makes him both a god villain and a BAD villain is the fact that he is all over the place. Sort of an animal Joker I guess.

I think of Melon as a perverse anarchist. He has an ideology similar to Louis at the start of the series, just times ten. He believes that civilization is a farce and that everyone is a bunch of drooling animals playing pretend, meaning he doesn’t have to feel any guilt at all about the horrible things he does since he is just another mad beast.

But it doesn’t feel like he has a specific goal as such. He cause pain to everything around him just because he can. Sure, there is the thing about him desperately wanting to know what tasting something is like, but it doesn’t feel like a dominating factor in his life.

Not enough romance.

When there IS romantic interaction between the characters then it is pretty darn good. But we need MORE of it. I get that Legosi and Haru has a long-distance relationship since they are different places in life, but it doesn’t have to be THAT long-distanced.

Character getting shoved away.

So you like Juno, eh? You enjoyed reading about Sebun, huh? You wanna know what’s up at Cherryton Academy?

TOO BAD!

The chimera thingy.

That went nowhere. Even Kyuu was all like “forget about that!” And it also seems a bit out of place in Beastars, it’s more of a Dragon Ball or One Piece thingy where superpowers are a thing.

Speaking of which...

Superpowers.

I actually like the way hybrids were handled in Beastars, how they walked the fine line of having “powers” and still be somewhat realistic-ish. Legosi is huge and broad-shouldered because of his lizard grandpa, but he is more or less a normal wolf with the exception of being immune to poison which is a neat little detail. And Melon’s whole deal is that his body is so bizarre that it is a problem for him as well.

... But to let Legosi gain temporarily regeneration because of komodo dragon poison activating a gene AND make Melon buff overnight is... yeah... I’m at a loss for words.

Haru should have a gun.

Or a knife or take self defense classes, ANYTHING!

[pechebeche]

hello peach i'm sorry to bother you i just wanted to say that i loved st judas and am glad that you were able to post even part of it. it has a special place in my heart. it's okay if you don't want to answer, but i'm curious about two things:

1. who killed riz?

and more importantly

2. when they kissed for the first time... who kissed who 😳

anyway. again sorry to bother you and you don't have to respond. i hope you have a good day/evening 💞

you arent a bother at all!! much as i am just not physically capable of actually Writing Out the rest of st judas, i. still love it. and i will eagerly take any opportunity to share what my plans for it were, in hopes that it will at least provide some closure for people. <3

1. so, the big question, and bear with me here: zayne darkshadow killed riz. and also, he didn’t.

st judas, you gotta remember, was originally written to tie up s1′s loose ends. at the end of s1, the god sol was knocked out. the balance of the celestial plane was completely upset. shit kind of went off the wire for a lil bit.

for a couple of interested parties, that provided a pretty strong opportunity.

the core plot of the villains didn’t center around killing riz - it centered around fucking up the afterlife. the characters who had been canonically killed at some point - kristen and gorgug - both, you will notice, started having major issues with their abilities not long before the start of the story (kristen losing her clerical abilities, gorgug’s berserker exhaustion ability catching up to him long-term in the form of a chronic illness). one of the reveals of the next few chapters was going to be that vine, the tiefling who was at the nightclub fight, had, in fact, been dead for 10 years prior to the start of the story.

(side note - this was also why riz didn’t see anything after his death! when pok got revealed as a spy in hell in s2 you may remember me very loudly shouting abt how Now My Ideas Look Stolen Damn You. riz not seeing an afterlife was a protective measure from his dad, who was trying to figure out what was goin on from the afterlife side, and the only reason t hat riz wasnt affected by the Resurrection Curse TM. dammit brennan. it’s also why bill and hallariel were ‘alive’ and kicking.)

the major villain - the Man Behind The Man - had kind of wrestled their way into the afterlife in the brief period where sol was unconscious & aguefort wasnt doing his job for him, and had, over the next decade, slowly expanded control over the undead and recently-resurrected. the first thing they could control was ghosts.

so it was zayne’s hand that did it, but zayne wasn’t in control of his actions. in reality:

penelope everpetal killed riz.

2. riz kissed fabian!! i never wrote out the scene but i had a very strong concept for it in my head.

after fighting with aelwen and turning her to the side of good (because i was stanning aelwen redemption a year before fantasy high even announced s2 and i may not have proof of that anymore because rip my old blog but i still refuse to let it be taken from me), there was going to be a big blow-out where aelwen laid out for fabian why it’s fucked up that he made decision based on what he thought was best for her without asking her.

for aelwen, who was used as a pawn for her entire life, it was an especially sore subject. it was meant, dually, to be an expansion of aelwen’s character from the s1/critique of the heavy comphet themes that went into fabian/aelwen at the end of the season - the idea of aelwen as a Thing That Fabian Needs To Save instead of as a person capable of making her own choices - and as a parallel to the way that fabian had abandoned riz for what he thought was his own good and ended up essentially ruining his life for a good while there.

the idea was that riz would go to fabian to comfort him after he and aelwen had that argument. st judas was always a lot of a story abt fabian overcoming those toxic ideas (another thing s2 ended up taking care of), and i do think he would listen to aelwen - and make the connection to how he had treated riz. and the idea is that he would be fumbling through understanding himself, and learning, and trying to apologize

and by the end of the conversation, riz, who has been (rightfully!) angry for so long, and still distant even now, and has been hurt and scarred by fabian and for fabian and unrelated to fabian - i think, when he sees fabian trying, in earnest, to do better for riz, when fabian says, “i did what i thought you wanted, but i didn’t know. so what do you want?” and what do you want, riz gukgak?

“this,” riz says, and kisses fabian on the mouth.

[sleepyskunk]

List of Movies / 2020 Movie Trailer Mashup

* * * PART I - LET’S ROCK * * *

0:10 - Wander

0:11 - The Wild Goose Lake (double shot)

“I don’t know who you are, but I’m coming for you.” - Aaron Eckhart, Wander

0:13 - I’m No Longer Here

0:14 - Freaky

0:15 - The Rental

0:16 - Deerskin (double shot)

“What do you want?” - Chris Messina, The Secrets We Keep

0:17 - 15 Years

“It’s not what I want, it’s what I need. And I need you to learn... what a bad day really is.” - Russell Crowe, Unhinged

0:19 - Unhinged

0:20 - Fatman (double shot)

0:22 - Alone (double shot)

“Whoa.” - Lesley Manville, Let Him Go

0:24 - Let Him Go

0:27 - Becky

“I did something... unexpected today.” - Haley Bennett, Swallow

0:28 - Shortcut (double shot)

0:29 - Promising Young Woman

0:30 - The Mortuary Collection

0:31 - The Craft: Legacy (double shot)

“Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.” - Clémence Poésy, Tenet

0:33 - Swallow (double shot)

0:35 - The Rhythm Section

0:36 - 1BR

0:37 - The Grudge

“Repent, and you will find salvation.” - Jarred Atkin, The Lodge

0:38 - The Lodge

0:39 - Saint Maud

0:40 - Behind

0:41 - The Call

0:42 - Come Play

0:43 - Saint Maud

“Repent.” - Jarred Atkin, The Lodge

0:44 - The Lie

0:45 - Freaky

“It wants to take over us.” - Elle Lorraine, Bad Hair

0:46 - Bad Hair (triple shot)

0:49 - Come Away

0:49 - Kindred

0:50 - Nocturne

“No one... loves their kid more than I do.” - Sarah Paulson, Run

0:51 - Run (double shot)

0:53 - Brahms: The Boy II

0:55 - Host

0:55 - Vivarium (double shot)

0:57 - Come to Daddy

“I don’t go in that part of the house.” - Brooklynn Prince, The Turning

0:58 - First Cow

0:59 - The Turning

1:00 - The Owners (double shot)

“If I don’t make it... the world needs to find out about this place.” - Tongayi Chirisa, Antebellum

1:02 - The Devil All the Time

1:03 - The Invisible Man

1:04 - The Wretched

1:05 - The Secrets We Keep

1:06 - The Platform (double shot)

1:08 - Fantasy Island

“It’s just the color.” - Nicolas Cage, Color Out of Space

1:09 - Gretel & Hansel

1:10 - Color Out of Space (double shot)

1:11 - Blood Machines

1:12 - Nocturne

“Who wants to party? Without smiling.” - Anna Kendrick, Trolls World Tour

1:13 - Trolls World Tour (double shot)

“Let’s rock!” - William Sadler, Bill & Ted Face the Music

1:18 - Bill & Ted Face the Music

1:19 - Trolls World Tour (double shot)

1:20 - Monster Hunter (double shot)

1:22 - Tenet (double shot)

1:23 - The Invisible Man

1:24 - The Empty Man

“Come out or I’ll do it!” - Christopher Abbott, Possessor

1:25 - Old Guard

1:26 - Sonic the Hedgehog

1:27 - Bad Boys For Life

1:28 - The New Mutants

1:29 - Parallel

1:29 - Spree

1:30 - The Wild Goose Lake

1:31 - Monster Hunter (double shot)

1:32 - Birds of Prey (triple shot)

1:35 - Echo Boomers

1:36 - Spontaneous

1:37 - Train to Busan 2: Peninsula (double shot)

1:38 - Guns Akimbo (double shot)

1:40 - Extraction (quadruple shot)

1:41 - Train to Busan 2: Peninsula

1:42 - Capone

1:43 - Underwater

1:44 - Greyhound (double shot)

1:45 - I’m Your Woman

1:46 - Greenland

1:46 - Bloodshot (double shot)

“I can’t hear anything.” - Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

1:48 - Sound of Metal (double shot)

“Hey Winnie, it’s me. Can you tell me if you’ve ever heard this sound before?” - Sierra McCormick, The Vast of Night

1:54 - The Vast of Night

* * * PART II - HOW MANY DAYS WHILE THE SUN SHINES * * * 

2:06 - On the Rocks

2:08 - The Invisible Man

2:09 - Earth and Blood

2:10 - Promising Young Woman

2:11 - The Rental

2:13 - The Burnt Orange Heresy

2:14 - Relic

“Hey Winnie, it’s me. Can you tell me if you’ve ever heard this sound before?” - Sierra McCormick, The Vast of Night

2:16 - The Assistant (double shot)

“I just want you to know that, I know that I failed you. And I hope that, one day, you can see in me, the man that you once hoped I would be.” - Ben Affleck, The Way Back

2:19 - Relic (double shot)

2:20 - The Roads Not Taken

2:23 - Downhill

2:25 - Another Round

2:26 - Nomadland

2:28 - Artemis Fowl (double shot)

2:30 - The Nest

2:31 - The Photograph

2:33 - The Way Back (double shot)

“I’m on the verge or forgiving you.” - Juliette Binoche, La Vérité

2:36 - Artemis Fowl

2:39 - La Vérité

2:40 - Love and Monsters (double shot)

“Now I understand... how much that means to you.” - Yifei Liu, Mulan

2:41 - To All the Boys PS: I Still Love You (double shot)

2:44 - Rebecca (double shot)

2:46 - The One and Only Ivan (double shot)

“It is my daughter... that means everything to me.” - Tzi Ma, Mulan

2:49 - Mulan (triple shot)

2:55 - Come Away

2:56 - Over the Moon (double shot)

“I need your help, I can’t do it alone.” - Ibrahima Gueye, The Life Ahead

2:59 - The Life Ahead (double shot)

3:02 - Looks That Kill

“What if I’m not supposed to be healed?” “Don’t say that. - Ibrahima Gueye, I Still Believe

3:03 - I Still Believe (double shot)

3:06 - Zombi Child

“I didn’t get to say goodbye.” - Marina Domingues, Vitalina Varela

3:07 - Papicha (double shot)

3:10 - Ordinary Love

3:11 - Minari

3:12 - Only

“You try harder than anyone I’ve ever met.” - Leah Lewis, The Half of It

3:14 - The Half of It (double shot)

3:16 - Wild Mountain Thyme

3:17 - Hillbilly Elegy

“I’m sorry but I can’t put you through that.” - Charlie Plummer, Words on Bathroom Walls

3:19 - Words on Bathroom Walls (double shot)

3:21 - All My Life

3:23 - Endless

3:24 - Ordinary Love

3:25 - Life in a Year

3:26 - A Perfectly Normal Family

“How many days do we have while the sun shines?” - Emily Blunt, Wild Mountain Thyme

3:28 - The Call 콜

3:29 - Weathering With You

“It’s not shining.” - Jamie Dornan, Wild Mountain Thyme

“I believe that it is.” - Emily Blunt, Wild Mountain Thyme

3:31 - Wild Mountain Thyme (double shot)

3:33 - Hala

3:34 - Kindred (double shot)

“Dad... told me to give you this.” - Chris Pratt, Onward

3:34 - Onward (quintuple shot)

“Do I have to keep listening to Beethoven or can we f*cking get on with it?” - Betty Gilpin, The Hunt

3:39 - The Hunt (double shot)

* * * PART III - YOUR LIFE IS ABOUT TO START * * *

3:52 - She Dies Tomorrow

3:53 - Hope Gap (double shot)

“Without really knowing, I wasn’t worried about what would happen if I lived. I was worried about what would happen if I wouldn’t. What I would miss. I worried about not remembering. Not remembering that there are bright places, even in dark times, and that if there isn’t... you can be that bright place.” - Elle Fanning, All The Bright Places

3:56 - Project Power

3:59 - The Photograph

4:02 - Yellow Rose

4:05 - Uncle Frank

4:06 - Yellow Rose

4:08 - She Dies Tomorrow (double shot)

4:11 - I’m Thinking of Ending Things

4:14 - Beans

4:17 - All the Bright Places

4:20 - The Broken Hearts Gallery

4:21 - The Midnight Sky

4:22 - The Burnt Orange Heresy

4:23 - Monsoon

4:25 - The Lie

4:27 - Wander Darkly

4:28 - Babyteeth

4:30 - Life in a Year

4:32 - Nocturne

4:34 - Come Away

4:35 - Love and Monsters

4:36 - Gagarine

4:37 - Ammonite (double shot)

4:39 - Kajillionaire

4:40 - Call of the Wild

4:41 - And Then We Danced (double shot)

4:43 - Dolittle

4:44 - Emma.

4:46 - Summerland (double shot)

“That place.. will never abandon you.” - Paul Raci, Sound of Metal

4:47 - Dolittle (double shot)

4:49 - On the Rocks

4:50 - Black Beauty

4:52 - Stargirl (double shot)

4:53 - Mank

“There’s so much in there that the world needs to hear.” - Lil Rel Howery, Clouds

4:55 - Clouds (double shot)

4:57 - Palm Springs (double shot)

“Get ready... Your life is about to start.” - Jamie Foxx, Soul

5:00 - Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (double shot)

5:02 - Soul (double shot)

5:04 - The Secret Garden

5:05 - All My Life (double shot)

5:07 - Undine

5:08 - Unpregnant

5:09 - Wonder Woman 1984 (triple shot)

5:11 - Over the Moon

5:12 - The Croods: A New Age

5:14 - The High Note (double shot)

5:15 - Prom

5:17 - Birds of Prey

5:18 - Eurovision

5:18 - Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

5:19 - The Witches

5:20 - Borat Subsequent Movie Film

5:20 - Valley Girl

5:21 - Life is Beautiful

5:22 - Wolfwalkers

5:23 - Bill & Ted Face the Music

5:24 - The Midnight Sky

5:25 - Jiang Ziya

[doomonfilm]

Predictions : 78th Golden Globes Nominees (2021)

This Sunday marks the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards, hosted by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey on NBC.  With the run-up to the show occurring a month later than usual, I found myself mostly focused on Black History Month films, but I did my best to attempt and catch up on what I’d not yet seen.  I didn’t cover as much ground as I wanted to, but that’s not going to stop me from attempting to predict the winners in each of the film-related categories.  All of you can play along at home, and we’ll come back to check our numbers on Monday!

Editor’s note : I will not be predicting the following categories, as I sadly did not do the research necessary to make an educated guess...  - Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language - Best Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture - Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Best Motion Picture – Drama The Father (Sony Pictures Classics) Mank (Netflix) Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures) Promising Young Woman (Focus Features) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)

Prediction :  Mank (Netflix)

This is a tough category to call... Nomadland and Promising Young Woman both made enough noise to possibly steal this category away, but Hollywood loves patting itself on the back, and Mank has just enough edge to it to make it a strong contender for taking the top award home.

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon Studios) Hamilton (Walt Disney Pictures) Palm Springs (Neon) Music (Vertical Entertainment) The Prom (Netflix)

Prediction :  Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon Studios)

In all honesty, I would not be surprised if Hamilton walked away with the top prize in this category, but if there was ever a year that  Borat Subsequent Moviefilm could win an award, it would be in the wake of 2020.   Borat Subsequent Moviefilm had some of the most poignant and timely things to say about the Trump presidency and COVID-19, and for that particular timely relevancy, I’m putting my money on Borat.

Best Motion Picture – Animated The Croods: A New Age (Universal Pictures) Onward (Walt Disney Pictures) Over the Moon (Netflix) Soul (Walt Disney Pictures) Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon)

Prediction :  Soul (Walt Disney Pictures)

Walt Disney and Pixar have made a habit of dropping award-winning films, and Soul might just be the most compelling one they’ve ever released.  The animation is pristine, and the attention to detail that remains in the midst of animating enough volume to sell New York City is an achievement in its own right.  Keep an eye out for Wolfwalkers to possibly steal the category away, but that’s not something I would count on to happen.

Best Director – Motion Picture Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman (Focus Features) David Fincher, Mank (Netflix) Regina King, One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios) Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix) Chloé Zhao, Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)

Prediction :  Chloé Zhao, Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)

Awards season is where future fixtures in the industry make their name, and despite stiff competition, this feels like  Chloé Zhao‘s category to lose.  David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin feel like they will cancel one another out, Promising Young Woman felt like it would garner more superficial awards than production-based ones, and as good as One Night in Miami was, Regina King may need at least one more film under her belt before she starts winning directing awards.   Chloé Zhao took a style she’s established over two previous films and applied it to a story that speaks on a version of the human condition that many people currently face, and she does so with the artistic mastery of a seasoned pro, and for that, I’m putting my money on her taking this award home.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) Kate Hudson (Music) Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit) Rosamund Pike (I Care a Lot) Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma)

Prediction :  Rosamund Pike (I Care a Lot)

Up until last week, I figured this one was headed to Anya Taylor-Joy, but then I saw I Care a Lot, and if Hollywood’s reaction to this film resembles that of popular opinion in any way, shape or form, then they may as well put Rosamund Pike’s name on that Golden Globe statue right now.  Personal fandom aside, Rosamund Pike turned in a powerful performance in the type of role that stereotypical goes to male actors, but did so without having to negotiate or sacrifice her femininity, and for this impressive balancing act, I believe she will be rewarded.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) James Corden (The Prom) Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) Dev Patel (The Personal History of David Copperfield) Andy Samberg (Palm Springs)

Prediction :  Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)

Whoever wins this award, it will be a surprise, as this category is full of relative newcomers when it comes to award nominations and success.  It is true that Sacha Baron Cohen has developed the Borat character over many, many years, but I believe it is that slight advantage that will edge him out over the competition.  That being said, my dark horse candidate has to be Lin-Manuel Miranda, because as much potential as there is for Hamilton to go home empty-handed, there may be an attempt to salvage that property by finding somewhere to give it award recognition, and this is the easiest category in which that could occur.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday) Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman) Frances McDormand (Nomadland) Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)

Prediction :  Frances McDormand (Nomadland)

This is going to be one of the tightest races for an award of the night, hands down.  Viola Davis and Carey Mulligan could easily take this category, but Frances McDormand has essentially become an award-winning machine, and her ability to be compelling in the midst of non-actors, while simultaneously not giving the impression that she is acting, makes her the smart money bet.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) Anthony Hopkins (The Father) Gary Oldman (Mank) Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian)

Prediction :  Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)

What a tough prediction to make... my head says Gary Oldman, and historically, logic has won out over emotion in situations like this.  Every once in a while, however, you have to go with your heart, and deep down in my heart, this is Chadwick Boseman’s award to lose.  While his untimely death may play a factor in this decision, it should not be considered as the primary factor, as Boseman left everything he had on the table with his powerful performance.  Prepare for this particular award to be a parallel experience of joy and sorrow.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7) Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) Jared Leto (The Little Things) Bill Murray (On the Rocks) Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night in Miami)

Prediction :  Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)

First and foremost, the fact that Lakeith Stanfield did not receive a nomination for  Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama is a major snub.  Based solely on this factor alone, I could see Daniel Kaluuya getting an award to rectify that oversight.  I do want to clarify, however, that if he does win, it will not be specifically because Stanfield was not even nominated... Kaluuya’s performance as Fred Hampton allowed the normally reserved actor to exhibit humanitarian compassion, wisdom beyond his years, and a focused revolutionary rage that proved his acting chops were deeper than most perceived.  Jared Leto or Sacha Baron Cohen may jump in and steal this award, but it feels like Kaluuya is the frontrunner here.

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Promising Young Woman (Focus Features) Mank (Netflix) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix) The Father (Sony Pictures Classics) Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)

Prediction :  Mank (Netflix)

I really need to see Promising Young Woman, but based solely on what I’ve heard, it doesn’t seem like it has what it takes in terms of writing to touch Mank.  Nomadland seems like it may have had more of a skeleton than an actual screenplay (but maybe I’m reading too much into the realism I feel from it), and The Trial of the Chicago 7 seems like Aaron Sorkin purposely restrained his voice that is normally found in his award-winning writing.  Mank feels appropriate to the period it emulates, but relevant enough to have a modern day impact, so I will not be surprised if it wins in this category.

Best Original Score – Motion Picture The Midnight Sky (Netflix) – Alexandre Desplat Tenet (Warner Bros.) – Ludwig Göransson News of the World (Universal Pictures) – James Newton Howard Mank (Netflix) – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross Soul (Pixar) – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste

Prediction :  Mank (Netflix) – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are taking this award home, period point-blank.  Personally, I loved the Tenet score, and having been a  Ludwig Göransson fan since his days of collaborating with Childish Gambino, I would love to see him win on this level, but right now nobody is nearly as prolific as the Reznor and Ross duo.  Not only are they nominated twice, but neither of the scores nominated sound similar to one another, and both are wholly distinct from their previous iconic work.  I believe that it will be their ability to mimic scores and popular music of the era in which Mank takes place that will edge it out over Soul, but I’d bet the farm that these two will not be beat.

Best Original Song – Motion Picture Fight for You from Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.) – H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas Hear My Voice from The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix) – Daniel Pemberton, Celeste Io Si (Seen) from The Life Ahead (Netflix) – Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolò Agliardi Speak Now from One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios) – Leslie Odom Jr, Sam Ashworth Tigress & Tweed from The United States vs. Billie Holliday (Hulu) – Andra Day, Raphael Saadiq

Prediction :  Fight for You from Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.) – H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas

2020 and 2021 have been odd in terms of popular music, with many high-level artists choosing to wait out the impact of the pandemic on the industry.  With this vacuum created on both sides, it is impressive that H.E.R. has been able to grow during this time, and a major component of this growth was the recently released single  Fight for You from Judas and the Black Messiah.  There are some big names nominated, but H.E.R. will more than likely ride her trajectory of success right up to the Golden Globe stage this Sunday, if not further.

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Normal People (Hulu/BBC) The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) Small Axe (Amazon Studios/BBC) The Undoing (HBO) Unorthodox (Netflix)

Prediction :  The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Netflix has been a giant in the streaming industry, and The Queen’s Gambit was the giant that conquered the previous records other properties had set.  After ages in development hell, winning a Golden Globe would bring this triumphant success story full circle, and we all know how Hollywood feels about those real life narratives.  Small Axe could be a dark horse contender based solely on its social relevancy, but usually, money talks, and The Queen’s Gambit spoke louder than most any series that stepped into the spotlight this year.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Cate Blanchett (Mrs. America) Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) Shira Haas (Unorthodox) Nicole Kidman (The Undoing) Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit)

Prediction :  Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit)

While we’re on the subject of awarding The Queen’s Gambit, let’s go ahead and point out that Anya Taylor-Joy feels like the clear cut winner for this award, beating out a couple of massive names in the process.  This has truly been a breakout year for Taylor-Joy, who has been carving a name for herself over the past half-decade or so, and a Golden Globe could do wonders for her already booming career.

[comingupforblair]

If Zack Snyder had created the MCU (Part 1)

Since I have in the past sees posts speculating about how the MCU would be different if Zack Snyder had been in charge, usually with some lazy sarcastic joke about it being ‘’edgier’’ because those jokes aren’t so worn They have holes in Them, I decided to speculate about how I think the early years of the MCU would have played out if the creative team of the DCEU and Charles Roven had been in charge of it. 

I’m not saying any of this would have been an improvement as, unlike a lot of other people, I don’t think you can apply what works in one franchise to another and hope for an arbitrary improvement. I’m just theorizing how I think it would have been different.

For the purpose of this post, I’ll only be looking at the first three films with a possible follow-up later.

- Iron Man 1 & 2

To make things easier, I’ll be putting the two Iron Man films under one banner for this.

If Zack Snyder had been in charge, I think there would have been a much greater emphasis on Tony’s alcoholism and his damaged relationship with his father. whom I also imagine would have been more overtly abusive like his comics counterpart. Parental relationships and Their effects on people have always been a big thing in Snyder’s films so I think it would have gotten more focus and They wouldn’t have held back from just how much damage an abusive childhood can do to a person, even well into adulthood, similar to how he portrayed Lex Luthor in BvS.

I also think the film wouldn’t have held back from showing Tony’s culpability in wars and how he has profited from human misery and his guilt in dealing with that. 

It’s difficult to imagine anyone but Robert Downey Jr in the role now but I’m going to suggest three names anyway, just in keeping with the vibe of an alternate universe.

The first is Oscar Isaac

I don’t think I need to justify this too much as he’s one of the best actors currently working. I think he would have been fantastic in the role and would have been able to bring the immense charm and charisma needed as well as being able to go to more serious places the story would have gone to. His character in Ex Machina even works as an example of how I think a more serious version of Tony would play out, albeit one without Tony’s redeeming features. His performance in Inside Llewyn Davies also showed he can play a character with glaring personality flaws and still make Them sympathetic.

He and Zack Snyder worked together on Sucker Punch (2011) so it fits in that regard and, as he wasn’t well-known in 2008, Snyder has a talent for seeing something in little-known actors as we have seen with Henry Cavill, Ray Fisher and Gal Gadot.

The second choice is Riz Ahmed

As with Oscar Isaac, he’s one of the best actors currently working and I would have loved to have seen what he could do with someone like Tony. I think he would have done a terrific job at showing Tony’s guilt and his psychological issues and I think his being a Muslim of Pakistani descent would have made for some interesting dilemmas as Tony struggles with the fact that he created weapons to be used in what is increasingly seen as an all-out war against his own race. Riz Ahmed being a lot younger would have also made Tony a nice parallel to modern tech geniuses like Mark Zuckerberg and he showed he can play roles like that in Jason Bourne.

The third choice is Jon Hamm

He’s an actor I’m keen to see in a comic book film in general and he’s perfectly suited to play Tony as a man whose outward projection of success, intelligence, wit and charisma hides some intense struggles and self-hatred. He has exactly the kind of dark intensity, the look and feel of a man who seemingly has everything and yet can hardly stand to look at himself that would have made him a fantastic Batman, that would be suited for a more serious take on the character and his role as Don Draper on Mad Men shows he can take on a character whose good intentions and genuine displays of altruism are often undermined by his selfishness.

He worked with Zack Snyder on Sucker Punch (2011) and his deleted scene with Emily Browning shows that Snyder knows how to play to his talents and utilize his charm. Though the more comedic tone of the MCU as it is would have also been a chance for Hamm to impeccable comedy skills.

For Pepper Potts, I’m going to say Lucy Liu

She’s someone I’ve seen suggested a few times, once in the same fancast as Riz Ahmed, and I can definitely see her working well in the role. She’s shown in Elementary that she can play a character who is kind and intelligent but doesn’t tolerate shit from people who are used to having Their flaws indulged by others. An aspect I loved which doesn’t get quite enough praise in Man Of Steel was having Lois played by an actress quite a bit older than Clark and it would be cool to see that repeated here with Oscar Isaac or Riz Ahmed.

I’ll admit that I haven’t given as much thought to Pepper so if anyone has any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear Them.

For Black Widow, I think a version done by Zack Snyder would have put more initial emphasis on the darker nature of her backstory, on being taken from her home and raised to be a weapon from such a young age and to not really know a life outside of violence and betrayal.

This is harder to fancast for but, as I’ve seen her used before, I think I’m going to suggest Freida Pinto

I think she’d be great at showing Natasha’s softer side and it would be great to see an Indian actress in such a major role.

- The Incredible Hulk

To be honest, I think a Hulk film made in the vein of the DCEU would look pretty identical to what Ang Lee did in 2003 and I say that as a compliment as his film is very underrated. 

I think a film made by Zack Snyder would have followed a similar path in showing the serious trauma of his childhood and how it has an effect on Bruce as an adult and plays a part in his issues and wouldn’t have held back from showing just how terrifying it would be to have a being like The Hulk inside of you and what it would be like to see someone transform like that.

Ideally I would like to see Eric Bane take the role again in this alternate MCU.

But, for the purpose of this casting, I’m going to first use Billy Crudup.

He’s worked well with Zack Snyder twice already and he has a strong sense of likability and laid-back friendliness that would work well for Bruce and serve as a striking contrast to the terrifying and monstrous nature of The Hulk. He was offered the role back in 2003 and I think he would have been perfect at showing Bruce as a good man who struggles with something awful inside of him.

My second choice is Adrien Brody

He’s one of my favorite actors and I think he would be amazing in a role like The Hulk. A version created by Zack Snyder would likely play up the turmoil and psychological horror of Bruce’s existence and Brody is an actor who excels at such roles. He’d be perfect for a version of Bruce who has the effects of past trauma and his self-hatred visible on his face and who keeps himself away from the world for fear of what could be unleashed at any moment while also showing moments of kindness and vulnerability to make him more sympathetic and I can only imagine how Bruce’s iconic trademark line ‘’Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry’’ would sound coming from Brody.

The third choice for Bruce is Hugh Dancy

This is a fancast I just saw but like so much I wanted to include it. Anyone has seen Hannibal can attest to how good Dancy is at playing someone who struggles daily with horrible memories and a fear of his own power and who keeps himself isolated from the rest of the world as a result, someone who lives in fear of Their own mind and how it can turn on Them at any moment, whose incredible intellect is burdened by something he hates himself for. I think he could do something amazing with The Hulk.

Those are my ideas as to how the MCU would look if done by Zack Snyder. Like I said, none of this is meant to be taken as an improvement or how it should have played out and I’m open to other ideas on the subject. This is just speculation as to how I think it would have been.

[incognitajones]

4, 21, 25?

4. what headcanon will you defend to the death? Probably Rey as a child of the First Order. The two main advantages of this theory are that it makes it easier to accept that her family were such assholes that they abandoned her, and it would create so many great thematic parallels and contrasts between her, Finn, and K/ylo.

21. if you could switch any character’s gender, who would it be and why? Luke. Yeah, it would have been a tough sell, but a farmgirl Jedi heroine would be so amazing. And it would make the contrast between the twins even more interesting.

Or maybe Bodhi? I would hate to give up Riz Ahmed’s performance, but R1 desperately needed more women.

25. which character do you have a love/hate relationship with? Ha, this is probably painfully obvious but K/ylo Ren. With so little canon to go on at the moment, there’s a wide-open field for speculation, but 90% of his fanon characterization gives me the full-body heebie-jeebies.

Ask another Star Wars question!

[briangroth27]

Venom (2018) Review

When this movie was announced, I was intrigued by the horror vibe they were talking about; something akin to a John Carpenter or David Cronenberg movie. I think they should’ve stuck with that approach. The trailers looked uninspired and bland (lots of talk about vague ‘things,’ particularly in the first teaser); that unfortunately describes the movie itself as well. I like the comics Venom a lot (both the Eddie Brock and Flash Thompson versions), but unfortunately this fell way short for me.

Full Spoilers…

Tom Hardy is one of two things I liked about this. Eddie Brock is easily the most animated I’ve ever seen Hardy and he seems to be having a genuinely great time in the role. That said, I felt like he was written as too much of a good guy to be Eddie Brock. Yes, he goes behind his fiancée Anne’s (Michelle Williams) back by invading sensitive documents on her laptop, which gets her fired, but otherwise he’s drawn as a legitimately good reporter who’s doing important work to expose corruption and exploitation of the environment and the poor. That’s what makes it so bizarre that everyone in his personal and professional life turns on him all of the sudden when he goes up against yet another rich businessman (Carlton Drake, Riz Ahmed). We’re supposed to think Eddie’s this massive loser who’s unable to get his life together, but honestly he has every right to be depressed after the way he’s ditched by everyone (minus Anne, who does have a legitimate gripe) for trying to uncover evil experiments. They do bring up a vague something that got Eddie ‘run out of New York,’ the film’s only hint at Brock’s comic book history (personally I would’ve also referenced Eddie’s hatred of ‘the Bug,’ but that was not to be), and I don’t know why they didn’t just specify that Brock ran with a story about the identity of the Sin-Eater serial killer without verifying his sources like in the original comics. That would’ve been enough to cast doubt on his claims and give him the more dubious and irresponsible layer comics-Eddie had. As it is, it reads like he was run out of New York for being too committed to the truth to quit, just like he loses everything in San Francisco for the same reason. Iconic Eddie Brock is just not that good a guy and if you’re going to write him this noble, there needed to be a much stronger arc about him becoming OK with the idea of killing/eating people (even bad ones). He doesn’t even get a moment to reconcile the fact that he’s a cannibal by the end of the movie and he’s just…cool with it.

The other high point was the look of the Venom symbiote; that CGI was pretty fantastic and I loved that they went full comic book with it (and that they stuck with an alien symbiote and not the Ultimate Comics version of Venom). The drawback was its personality, which I couldn’t take seriously at all. His lines were absurd and juvenile (particularly ‘I was something of a loser, like you’ and the infamous ‘turd in the wind’ speech); I wish he’d been more alien. I also would’ve preferred his name not being ‘Venom;’ that should be something the two of them name themselves after their bond is complete to celebrate the newly evolved persona they’d become. I’ll give the writers props for not getting Eddie and Anne back together by the movie’s end, but I wish they’d dug far deeper into the relationship/love story between Eddie and Venom than they did. They could’ve started with a Carpenter/Cronenberg-esque ‘alien takes over its host’ body horror vibe, but then twisted it into something potentially more horrifying as Eddie comes to like what they can do together. A constant toss-up between who was really driving Brock’s body, supported by the two of them falling for each other like a very messed-up Bonnie & Clyde, would’ve been so much more interesting than this. I’d normally hold out hope for something like that in a sequel, but this movie seemingly wraps up Eddie and Venom’s ‘living arrangement’ completely. I’m glad that both of them get some development out of their symbiosis: both get the courage to stand up to bullies and get out of their respective funks. I think Venom definitely changes more than Eddie does: aside from that confidence boost around guns (and moving on from pining over Anne to focusing on his new relationship), Brock doesn’t feel all that different from where he is at the beginning of the movie. Maybe building himself back up is enough, though (it still doesn’t feel very ‘Eddie Brock’ to me, however).

Drake wasn’t much different from any other billionaire bad guy, especially one in a comic book movie, but his ‘symbiosis is evolution’ theory was original enough. I just wish it had gone somewhere; that we could’ve seen how that evolution could push us forward or help humanity (beyond repairing injuries, like we see with Brock). Maybe his quest to unlock evolution (to save humanity, in his mind) that led to him experimenting on poor people could’ve also more explicitly involved torturing/mutating the symbiotes, creating a parallel to the kind of stories Eddie was chasing down. Something like Venom sees his people being horrifically mutilated by Drake and Eddie unwittingly rescues him/Venom chooses to go to him for help and becomes the same kind of whistleblower Brock was. Drake’s willingness to do anything to accomplish what he sees as an altruistic goal could’ve been contrasted with Eddie’s willingness to invade Anne’s privacy to bust Drake and Eddie’s increasing violence with the symbiote, but unfortunately that wasn’t in the script. Instead, Drake’s symbiote, Riot, totally takes over in an ‘eat all of humanity’ plot that’s not as complex as taking Drake’s dream to its completion could’ve been. The CGI became a mess when they had two gooey symbiotes wrestling, too.

Anne was fine as Eddie’s (initial) love interest and later something of a confidant. I liked that even after their break up, they were still willing to help each other and that it didn’t become a contest over her heart between Eddie and her new boyfriend (Reid Scott). I wish she would’ve had more to do, but I’m not sure what that would’ve entailed. 

The fights weren’t very inspired and the big mid-movie set piece—a chase through San Francisco—wasn’t exhilarating at all. And the villains use like two dozen drones to try and dive-bomb Brock on a motorcycle? Surely there were more efficient ways of killing him. I found myself bored through a lot of the movie and again, wish it had been a horror film instead of an action/adventure one.

Given the movie’s massive box office take I’m in the minority on this one, so while I’m glad people are finding things to love about this and having a good time, I can’t help but think it could’ve been much more interesting (and so much scarier!). Effects aside, I prefer Topher Grace’s “stalker Peter Parker” take on the character in Spider-man 3 and Ryan Kwanten’s darker take in the Truth in Journalism unofficial short film. At this point I don’t think I’d watch a Venom sequel, even if I thought Carnage (Woody Harrelson) was such a cool villain when I was a kid. That’s another thing: Carnage was invented as a way to keep an ultra-violent evil symbiote in the comics after Venom’s popularity propelled him into an anti-hero role. Here, Venom is already the good guy, so they’ve missed out on a potential arc where Venom goes from super-dark to some shade of gray. Maybe they could have Eddie reconsider some of the things he does as Venom to serve justice in the face of what Carnage does? (Not likely, considering the flippant reaction he has to eating people).

I wish I liked this more, but it just bored me. Oh well; some things just won’t land for everyone. Hopefully the next one will feel free to get weirder and scarier.

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!  

[sarahdraimanflowerpouch]

A Year in Review | 2016

This is one long blog post, but I promise it is filled with lots of pretty flower photographs!

1/9 Enjoying a beach moment in Santa Barbara – Florabundance Design Days is about to begin, always a great way to start a new year!

1/11 – At Florabundance Design Days designing an arrangement with David Austin Roses

1/11 – another arrangement that I designed while at Florabundance Design Days

1/29 – Visiting Angie of Posh Florals in Dallas, Texas

1/29 – Visting Avant Garden in Dallas, Texas

1/30 – Attending Create + Cultivate with my friend Alex of Exquisite Events (of Chicago)

2/21 – Go, Go Flower Power! Actually a snapshot from one of my floral design classes – Corsages & Boutonnieres

2/25 – have I mentioned my obsession with Hellebores?! Yes, I adore them! Here’s a selection of beauties from my own garden.

3/6 – All loaded up and ready to drive to Seattle – this is how my car looks on the morning of a design class!

3/6 – my friend Amanda of Alluring Blooms flew in from Wisconsin to attend my Hellebore Centerpiece class. (photo by Riz Reyes)

3/6 – one of the gorgeous arrangements that Amanda designed while visiting me

3/28 – The hellebores keep blooming! Another snapshot from my garden collection of this magnificent flower.

4/29 – The full crew who attended Florabundance Design Days – Holland Edition! Yes, the trip was SO amazing! We were blessed to experience so many wonderful flower sites with a super cool group of people!

4/24 – Fantastic display of Daffodils at Keukenhof in Holland

4/24 – Joost and Els at the Black Tulip Museum

4/25 – I find Aalsmeer flower auction in Holland to be absolutely mesmerizing, carts of flowers scooting off in all directions

4/25 – Spent the day in a greenhouse designing with Ariella, yes it was as special as it sounds!

4/26 – My friend Shawn of Flower Bar (Idaho) with an arrangement that she designed during our design session with Ariella

5/2 – Chad and I visited Schreiner’s Iris Gardens in Salem, Oregon as we drove south to California. We had great timing as all the Irises were in full bloom!

5/5 – Garden Valley Roses in Petaluma, California in full bloom.

5/8 – Rhododendron Show at Mendocino Botanical Gardens.

5/18 – I had the pleasure of presenting at the Tacoma Garden Club. I tried my hand at a parallel design.

5/23 – Ariella Chezar is in town to give a demonstration at Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. Prior to the workshop a small group of us went on tour of the flower farms in preparation for the workshop. Getting a photo of everyone was pretty much impossible as everyone moves in opposite directions! On tour were Steve Moore, Dawn of All My Thyme Roses, Molly of SWGM, Diane of Jello Mold, Ariella Chezar and myself. It sure was a fun day!

5/23 – Ariella Chezar with an arm load of roses from All My Thyme

5/23 – Diane was trying to make Dawn smell a rose and Dawn refused! The funny part is that it is Dawn’s Rose Farm! I was laughing so hard that I could barely take the photo!

5/23 – Steve getting a photo of one of the roses

5/23 – The beautiful spread of flowers at Seattle Wholesale Growers Market for the workshop with Ariella Chezar

5/23 – Ariella’s finished compote design

5/25 – After Ariella’s workshop I played around with the leftover flowers and came up with this design. Love the dancing columbines.

6/12 – Organized a photoshoot with Becca Jones Photography at Bella Luna Farms in Snohomish, Washington.

6/12 – the long table was set with an arrangement that rand down the center.

6/12 – The welcome table to the event.

6/12 – THIS bouquet was a dream come true. The Koko Lokos are from my cutting garden.

7/14 – Johann posing with all the dahlias at Seattle Wholesale Growers Market

7/16 – Chad & I visited Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada. *I highly recommend visiting here*

7/16 – Butchart Gardens is absolutely breathtaking.

7/18 – Farm tour day at Jello Mold farm organized by Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, I lead a floral design demonstration.

7/18 – Dennis making us all laugh!

7/18 – hanging out with Debra Prizing in the Cafe Au Lait Dahlia hoophouse

7/18 – my petite design from the demonstration

7/22 – Laura Dowling with Danielle at Seattle Wholesale Growers Market

7/25 – Laura Dowling and Georgianna Lane were working on a photoshoot. I can’t show what the design was, so I’ll show ya an undercover peek at them at work

7/25 – fantastic lunch with Dawn of All My Thyme, Debra Prinzing, myself, Laura Dowling, and Georgianna Lane

7/26 – my dahlia patch is in full bloom — it’s so beautiful and I spend most evenings here keeping the plants tidy.

7/27 – Amy of Gather came by to check out the dahlia patch

7/28 – all the varieties of dahlias that I’m growing, such a range in size!!

8/3 – Third annual Dahlia Wall at Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. Johann got his picture taken with it!

8/6 – Bridal bouquet for on of the sweet brides I worked with this season.

8/12 – Headed to Colorado! Working with Robyn of Bare Root Flora on the Field to Vase dinner in Boulder!

8/13 – Field to Vase Dinner in Boulder, Colorado

8/13 – The table that just keeps going and going! Robyn and I opted for an ombre look down the table.

8/16 – Treasure in the trunk! Headed to my Colorado workshop with all these beautiful roses from Alexandra Farms.

8/16 – the ladies who attended my workshop in Colorado

8/25 – total geek moment, one of my dahlias (peaches ‘n cream) was featured on Real Simple’s instagram feed!

9/1 – Amy of Gather and I experimented with making flower necklaces. It’s really rather fun to create them!

9/4 – my friend, Melanie, needed some extra hands for a large wedding setup. What got me was how unglamorous our glamours floral designer life can be some days! Step carefully in the alley…

9/10 – Arch and Chuppah Class at my home! Here’s three of the four designs we created.

9/10 – Katie flew up from Southern California for the Arch & Chuppah class. She enjoyed visiting the dahlia patch.

9/10 – Our autumn inspired floral chuppah from the flirty fleurs workshop.

9/11 – Fantastic display of Dahlia Barns’ dahlia varieties.

9/11 – My uncle and I went for a drive to North Bend, WA to visit the Dahlia Barn

9/13 – deadheading in the dahlia patch, the wild rabbits beg for some of the blooms

9/13 – The dahlias are blooming like crazy! I took my first load of dahlias to Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. After years of buying all flowers from markets, this was the first time I sold flowers TO the market!

9/14 – Taught a Floral Design Class at Ravenna Gardens in Seattle

9/19 – How cool is this?! Flirty Fleurs has its own flower collection with Longfield Gardens!! Shown here are some of my favorite tulips to design with!

10/13 – Visting Massachusetts – admiring all the mum plants for sale

10/17 – Visited Terrain in Westport, CT – this place is amazing! I highly recommend visiting here if you are ever in the area!!

10/18 – Attended a talk on “in the company of women” with a great group of girlfriends

10/20 – time to start digging up the dahlias and divide the tubers before storing for winter. Simply amazing how one tiny tuber turns into this cluster in the 6 months it is in the ground!

10/24 – Gordons Farm in Skagit Valley — getting in the fall spirit!

10/29 – one of my arrangements, almost all flowers from my garden. This arrangement was one of my most popular ones ever on instagram.

11/5 – Handful of Persimmons

11/8 – Chad and my dad harvesting more persimmons – they are so tasty and they look gorgeous in arrangements

11/9 – Harvest at my parents place in California – lemons, persimmons, and privet berries

11/11 – made this arrangement for my mom. autumn colors are her favorite.

12/8 – back home and trying to wrap my mind around it being December already!

12/18 – design time with Keita and Shannon, getting into the Christmas spirit.

12/24 – Looks like it’ll be a white Christmas in Washington.

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