#I think for a movie they should have shortened some things a bit

[zevranunderstander]

just watched ballad of songbirds and snakes and I really liked it, my only tea is that I don't think the narrative really is made for a good movie adaptation and it kind of shows, it probably would have been better as a short 1 season show or a double feature because the pacing from part 2 to part 3 is a bit awkward and just because there is so much content to get into, a lot of moments felt pretty rushed. loved seeing the main setpiece of the capitol street be a roundabout I used to work 1 street away from tho & a lot of buildings being slightly edited famous berlin buildings was a huge banger.

[rwrbmovie]

#RWRBMovie: deleted scenes

Matthew López:

The Cornetto scene. The breakfast scene at Kensington Palace. Everybody’s wondering what happened to the scene [at] the campfire. You know, in the course of making a movie and in the course of telling a story — runtime is less important in the streaming age than it is in theatrical distribution, but what was important to me is that the film be the right length. You cut things for pacing. You never want the audience to get ahead of you, you never want the audience to be bored. You know, there was originally a whole scene where Alex comes to the polo match. He meets Princess Bea. Henry and Alex have a little exchange after Henry gets off the horse. They go to the tack room together. What we found as we were watching the film was that Nick and Taylor were so good together in the scene prior, in Alex's bedroom. And actually when we did a version of that scene in Alex's bedroom, we got a note from the studio, from producers, asking if we could try and make that scene shorter. “It’s good, but it’s long.” So we did our first test screening and I did a shortened version of that scene in Alex's bedroom. I was really hesitant to cut it back. But I wanted to be a good collaborator and prove that I can take a note and I'm willing to try things. We actually got more than a few comments back literally saying, “We wish that scene were longer.” So that, of course, was great for me. That scene in Alex's bedroom is the entire scripted scene. There's not a single cut from the script to the final cut. As a consequence, though, of that being a rather lengthy scene, I needed to then regain momentum. We've spent it all on this scene and it's worth it because that scene between the two of them is so dynamic and wonderful. But now we gotta get things going again. So, I had a new editor come in halfway through because my first editor, Christina Heatherington, who's wonderful, had another project that she had committed to doing. And our post dates got extended a bit and she had to leave, so Nick, my new editor coming in, took a look and he says, “I wanna try something with that polo match.” He spent a weekend of his own time doing something, and then he was ready to show me. He sat me down and said, “I’ve done something crazy.” I’m like, “Great. We love crazy.” He showed me what was largely the version of the polo match that is in the film and with that music. I was laughing with glee the whole time I'm watching it. He was nervous, 'cause he is taking like six minutes of story and condensed it into two and a half minutes. But it has so much drive. It's sexy. It tells the story. It was a real lesson for me as a first time filmmaker: if you expand time, then you need to maybe also learn how to contract time. So that was a big lesson to me in pacing. With the Cornetto scene — that scene in Kensington Palace Gardens, it does everything I needed it to do. Weirdly, the Cornetto scene actually relieved some of the tension between them. I was like, look, if you take the Cornetto scene out, then the tension from that first scene remains when they go into the interview scene. I learned a lot of it is about taking the energy from one scene and using it to help you get into the next scene. One of the things I learned as a playwright, which I found was applicable to cutting a movie, is if a scene isn't working, it might not be the scene itself. It might be the scene before. “Why isn’t the interview scene playing as well as we think it should?” Look at what came before: the Cornetto scene … The Cornetto scene is charming. But we also understood, narratively speaking, it was unnecessary. And more to the point, it sapped the tension out.

(source)

[flareheart8]

My PrettyDolls Redesign

Took awhile, but I finally got these designs done. Similar to my Uglydolls redesign, I didn't change too much from their original designs. All I did was added some accessories, and change up their clothes. Most of the pretty girls have golden earrings, and different size skirts besides Lydia.

Kitty is the leader of the Spy Girls. She makes sure that the other spies, and Mandy look top tier as they are the lead examples of perfections in the Institute. Because of this, Kitty is very strict on how the girls should dress, look, and act as she doesn't want to disappoint Lou. For my redesign, I gave her long white stockings, shortened her skirt a bit, and a cat hairpin. Kitty wants to look professional and up to Lou's standards. She doesn't wear to any thing that's too distracting, and keeps things simple. The cat hairpin is something she added to give her outfit some flare, and to show her love for cats.

Tuesday is a big fan of Lou and wants his attention 24/7. Kitty makes sure to keep her in lane, but Tuesday can't help it. Besides her obsessions of Lou, Tuesday's job is to keep track what's trending and whatever gossips that goes around in Perfection. It's how the Spy Girls stay ahead of the game, and have a bunch of dirt on everyone. For her redesign, I gave a big red bow, and a cowlick. The red bow helps her gain attentions, and the cowlick is to show that she can be a bit of an airhead despite her perfections.

Lydia is the defense of the group. She makes sure the dolls keep their distances from Lou, and defends the Spy Girls name. Lydia is not some doll you should mess with, and willing to stuffed anyone that gets in her way. The reason why I gave her long, flowing pants, because I kept imagining her with them, and felt like they suit her better than a skirt. I also gave her a bunny pin since she does have a bit of the soft side, and she mentioned that she loves bunnies.

Mandy's redesign is very similar to how she's looks in the movie. The only differences is that she's allow to wear her glasses around Lou, and the Spy Girls since in my rewrite. Wearing glasses doesn't make you ugly. That doesn't mean she's completely perfect as she hides something messier underneath. Besides that, Mandy pretty much act that same like she did in the movie, and have a decent, but neutral relationship with the Spy Girls. Though, she is pretty close to Kitty as Kitty tends to trust her with certain tasks, and helps keep the group organize.

For Meghan and Michael, they are background characters that appear once in a while, but I wanted to redesign them as well. Meghan skirt isn't as twirly like some of the other pretty girls' skirts. She takes her role as a lawyer serious, and doesn't mess around. For Micheal, I shorten up his jacket vest and have his shirt stick out a bit. He likes to keep his himself clean, and really dislikes the idea of going into the washer (Though, that is pretty much how all of the institute feels.) Both Meghan and Michael try to live up to Lou's standards, but aren't on the same level like Mandy and the Spy Girls.

Now for the doll himself, Lou!! The only changes I made for his design is that I added a "L" initial on his jacket. Other than that, Lou is leader of the Institute of Perfection, and mentor to all pretty dolls. He seeks out the best of the best, and is very harsh and judgmental when doing so. He only wants what's best for the pretty dolls as he knows that they can do better. Though, he doesn't have much hope for Imperfects dolls as he sees them as mistakes and wouldn't hesitate to recycle them if they refuse to do labor work. All the pretty dolls look up to him, and see him as this flawless doll can do no wrong. Despite wanting to forget, he constantly thinks about that one friendship he had with a certain ugly doll as that was the only time he felt something more genuine than admiration.

Note: I notice that I made Mandy, Kitty, Tuesday, Meghan, and Micheal's skirt and pants a lot lighter than I intended to be, so that's going to get fix in the future.

[datesinredink]

Heyyy so maybe I'm insane but. Do NOT Take This Cat Home (which I'll shorten to Dnttch) yandere rottmnt au. Hmmm. I havent slept in 24 hours so I don't know how you would meet them but I do know that it would be very fun to think about how the weird eldritch horror/"OH NO THEY EAT PEOPLE" part would come into play.

Oh wait actually IDEA you could start off meeting one of the turtles (probably Mikey, he'd be most likely to stick around instead of eating you and convince you to take him home because he's so lost and hungry in this new place, couldn't you pleeaaase take pity on this poor turtle?) and then over time, since we know in the Dnttch universe, the cat multiplies in at least two ways (I, in fact have not seen all the endings yet), so the first turtle could gather the other three over time. One could be from a plushie in the pet shop or won at the carnival (prob Raph), the second could be from the movie theater (Leo, I think the hypnosis is weirdly fitting for him), and the final one... Wait. I'm not sure. THERES A LITTLE LIVE PETS TURTLE???? YEAH OK THATS FUNNY I'LL PUT IT IN.

Buuuuuuttttt after the four are all gathered and living in your house (despite your insistence that you couldn't possibly afford to support them. luckily, despite occasionally waking up and seeing one of them in the corner of your room drooling, they've never shown any need to eat) they've gotten a bit attached. They saw you as a possible meal, at first, then a convenient hiding place, but they seem to have found themselves getting attached. They decide that since you've helped them soo much, that they should at least return the favor before they decide to eat you(something you're frighteningly aware they've almost done- the still healing scar from the last time the red one visited your room) or leave.

Now, you feel constant eyes staring holes into your back, and your rude coworkers now either show up on the news with their bones picked almost clean or don't turn up at all. Now, sometimes they'll bring back one of their kills to share with you (after all, aren't you hungry? They've seen you eat, but surely it isn't filling enough to really sustain you- to them, that's why you seem so tired all the time). Since you always turn them down, maybe instead they'll just have you help them store the leftovers!

Raph, as they've taken to calling the biggest of them, eats more frequently than the others to sustain his growth, so there can sometimes be extras that the other three don't particularly want at the time. He even goes out of his way to help you with tearing and cutting apart the meat! It's almost sweet, if only for the weight of what exactly you're putting in Tupperware right now.

Leo gets more aggressive about your attention now, always begging you to play games or watch TV with him. Sometimes he's even fine with just reading comics in the same place, as long as he gets to hold onto you in some way. It's annoying at best in the morning when you have to go to work, but downright terrifying when his marks flare up late at night after you've just insisted for the 10th time that you're tired and don't want to deal with him. Usually, the threat of flickering blue light vaguely forming some kind of sword is enough to convince you otherwise.

Mikey tries his best to help you adjust to your new roommates! He knows how stressed out you are about work, you should tell him about it! He'll even take notes about how they can all brighten your day, so feel free to speak your mind about that horrible lady who yelled at you today. Was she your boss? A coworker? Maybe a customer who asked for the manager? He'll give you a warm hug and reassure you that everything will be ok, and that maybe you should teach him a new recipe from granny's cookbook tonight to take your mind off things! The scene you wake up to the next morning is Mikey humming to himself while the girl's flesh sizzles in the pan you let him borrow last night, Raph drooling over said slab of meat, as well as Donnie and Leo playing the most intense game of rock paper scissors (a game they're glad you taught them- how else would they make decisions) to decide who gets the first plate of food.

Donnie's always useful to have around, his fascination with human technology quickly being honed into electronic mastery. Despite his more reclusive nature, he's still gotten you out of many a pinch with malfunctioning devices, like when you sorrowfully cradled your old toaster in your arms on your way to trash it, only for him to take it from you and return it a couple days later fixed up like new. You appreciate his contributions, and though you're the beta tester for a multitude of his dangerous inventions, with the amount he does for you, it's hard to not feel like you owe him, especially when he himself openly agrees with that point. You just wish he'd give you a break from the explosions...

[mask131]

Alright, after all this time, here is my opinion (kind of review?) of Netflix's The Monkey King, aka The Monkey King 2023 (at least one of the Monkey King movies of this year). I haven't done movie talk in a long time, but here we go. Also, spoiler-free!

Let's begin with the question everybody wants to know about. Is this movie bad? Definitively not. You cannot say in good faith and honesty that it is a bad movie. If you really disliked the movie, the most you can say is that it is "average" and not average as in a "mediocre, okay, decent, basic" kind of way - average as in "the bad elements are balanced by great ones". But if you ask me, the movie is good. Or more precisely it is "Good, but not without its flaws". It does have some little flaws here and there that prevent it from being an excellent or perfect movie, but it is a good/great movie.

Let's talk already of the little flaws first. Many people have already pointed them out before, so I won't expand on them much. I will say that I watched all of the movie in one go, without stopping, without even realizing how time went by, I truly watched the movie with ease and in one go - I originally just wanted to watch the first part and then stop and take it back later, I ended up binging the whole thing, so you know, classic Netflix type of product where you just do it all in one go (which is a good sign!). There was just one moment I cringed a bit, and that forms the weakest segment of the movie for me, and it is the second part of the "fake orchard of immortality" scene. But this is tied to the way the Dragon King and his minions are handled.

The Dragon King is a very cool-looking character based on an excellent idea, but I have to admit that it is one of the most... surprising elements of the movie because while in some scenes he is written as a great character that works, in other scenes he dangerously borders the overdone cliche. Overall he is an enjoyable villain and a good character that fits in the whole created world, but I admit some of his jokes fall a bit dull for me (though the finale made hm even greater than before - in all the senses of the term). It is a bit in the image of his villain song, "Take the world by storm": when I first heard it I cringed at some lyrics and jokes in the beginning and wondered why this song was here, but then I re-listened to it, loved it and it can't get out of my head. It perfectly translates the Dragon King character as a cool concept and great idea that sometimes is pushed a little bit too much when things should have been a bit more subtle or shortened. Another thing that I would call ambiguous is the heavy influence and references to Disney movies, of which the Dragon King participates as he is the most Disney-villain villain a Netflix product ever created. I think all this Disney influence will split people in two - on one hand some people will dislike it because they will see as just copying what has already been done before, and perceive there a lack of true imagination ; on the other hand some people will love it because they will get back the feeling of the Disney renaissance movies and will appreciate the homage and having back traditional Disney villains and characters "as they used to make".

For me the biggest "flaw" if you can call it a flaw - which isn't really a flaw because it doesn't "hurt" the movie, it would be rather... the biggest "blend" of the movie is the way the new plot is handled. Because the writers of the movie took no real risk, took no chance when devising a new plot to convey the movie. I am not talking about the adapting part - because they did a wonderful job at adaptating in a simple and concise way the entire whole first part of Journey to the West, into a simple, easy to understand, one hour and a half movie mostly aimed at a young audience. And that is definitively one of the good points of this movie, because it isn't an easy feat at all! But as a result, to make sure they reached this state, they went with a plot that is absolutely "classic" in all the senses of the term. Everything was expected, nothing in terms of plot-twist or plot-advancement felt new, I could already guess what could happen and where things were going. Mind you, I am an adult who watched numerous Disney and Pixar movies and who knows Journey to the West and several of its adaptations, so of course I wasn't going to be surprised. Again, this movie clearly is aimed at a young audience - one without an extensive cinematographic knowledge, and one probably unaware of Journey to the West, so I guess for this target audience the "generic-ess" or "bland-ness" of the plot won't be much of a problem. Plus, I am forced to concede that the new plot to convey the events HAD to be as simple and classic as that, because this was the best way to again, simplify the original material to create an easily accessable, reachable and understandable movie for an audience unaware of the source material or not familiar with the culture it came from.

Some people have also pointed out that "the cultural mix sometimes work, sometimes doesn't". I agree with this too. Because one of the specificity of this movie is that it tries to truly be a modern piece (and thus goes with the Percy Jackson, Asterix and co treatment of having more modern elements in Ancient China), and it tries to truly be a Chinese-American movie, by mixing purely Chinese landscapes, material and characters with American references and influences (such as the Disney one). Sometimes it works in funny way (I can't stress ow hilarous it is to have Sun Wukong live in a Disney-like universe), other times it makes you wonder if this was a wise decision.

So anyway, that was the little flaws that prevented the movie from being perfect. As some reviewers said "It is great, fun, fast, hilarious and cool-looking, but a bit odd from time to time."

But what about the GREATNESS of the movie? Oh, the things I saw, the things to say!

If the creators of the movie did not take any risk plot-wise, on the contrary they took all the risks with the visuals. Can I just say first that the animation is absolutely gorgeous and wonderful? And I want to stress something that many cynical or worn-down reviewers tend to forget: today's technology, and today's animation, is something wonderful and majestic and a prowess of technology and technique. I remember when everybody bashed on "Elemental" for the plot or the characters, and nobody took the time to point out how GREAT and FRIGGIN AWESOME the visuals and the animations were. Hopefully I have a bit of an "anchor" here in the form of... my mother. Because my mother stopped watching animated movies around the 80s or so, and only started back looking at some from the late 2000s onward (and mostly because I watched them as a youth), and every time I share with her a new animated piece, she keeps pointing out how amazed and shocked she is at animation style or animation processes that, for me, as a kid who grew up with the wonders of the early 21st century, were just "normal". It really puts into perspective how far we got into the animation world and how exceptional these movies are today - even if the content is bland, the creation, the material and the effort put in them is wonderful.

And Netflix's The Monkey King is definitively one of those movies that benefitted from the recent boom in unusual and daring animation experiences these late years (Elemental, the last Puss in Boots movie, the recent Spiderverse animated pieces, this Disney movie which featured the first openly gay character and that was completely ignored by the press and whose name I forgot about...). They truly played all the cards, with fast-pace action combat, unusual designs, vibrant color palettes, a true work on camera angles, daring to shift animation from 3d to 2D for some sequences, gigantic landscape works, etc etc... Now, I noticed that some people were put-off by some design choices in this movie. It is true that due to their choice of more cartoony designs for the supernatural beings (to contrast them with the human beings), some of the Immortals in particular can come of as better-versions, but still a bit off putting, of some of the 3D animated Addams Family designs. I admit this might not win over everyone - but at least that is a risk and a dare the anmators chose to still go into the unusual and bizarre. Again, the uniqueness and work and daring risks with the visuals truly complete and "excuse" the "genericness" and "expectedness" of the plot.

The other great thing about this movie is the characters. It has been a long time since any children movie characters grew on me, but their handling of the Monkey King was a perfectly simplified and child-suited interpretation of the original Monkey King - not sweetened up, but without playing too much into the horror aspect either, and using perfect metaphors to convey in a simply way what the character is about (the metaphor of the teenager more irresponsible and unwise than an actual child, the concept of the wild child that was never raised or loved by anyone and so got on his own all throughout his life). There is no real subtlety in the characters, just like in the motifs (the HAND! THE HAND IS EVERYWHERE!), but at least they don't try to do overtly subtle or complicated stuff - they know they are doing a simple, down-to-the-point, let's-go-and-have-fun-and-not-think-too-much, type of cast and story, and they do ther best to do something simple but efficient, unbsubtle but fun without being overtly blunt or hitting you too much on the head either. And the character of Lin actually grew onto me a LOT, much more than I would have expected. I actually liked the character - and the fact that she is a child depicted as intelligent, mature and reasonable might be part of this.

People also heavily praised the music, which I agree, the soundtrack is really cool. The movie is very fast-paced - which did bother some reviewers who said they couldn't just pause and breathe - but personally I enjoyed it, because again it works with their simplification and heavy reliance on visuals and characters more than plot, the fastness of the action and the quickness of it all allows you to just take the whole movie whole, without anything dragging on too much. Again, simplicity is key - and for example the whole "end of the fake orchard sequence" felt somehow cringe, precisely because there they slowed down the action and took a bit too much time on something that truly wasn't worth as much.

When I talked about the risks they took with this movie, I shall include one risk that I had doubts about but actually kind of paid off - the stick. It is not a big spoiler, but Sun Wukong's magical staff is here a full character, a sentient being, and acts as the "make some weird noise mechanical companion" to the hero, which has been a character archetype ever since Star Wars, the original Clash of Titans, and other American movies of this era. I had BIG doubts at first, but ultimately it didn't felt very cringe or badly handled, and it worked quite fine. Ultimately, I also have to admire the team for going this route because I do not think this iea had been ever brought up in any adaptation or retelling of Journey to the West - I think this is the first time the magical staff is treated as a character rather than a prop, and this participates in the uniqueness of this movie.

Of course, let's also conclude by the big effort made by this movie to have a majority of Chinese-descending participants for this piece. In fact, I will conclude my review on this final thought: I am quite certain that there are lots of Chinese cultural references I, and others, missed in this movie, due to not being familiar with Chinese culture. Everybody saw the Disney influence ; but I had to dig up and research to find out the influence on this movie of other animated pieces of China. For example, I discovered that this depiction and incarnation of the Dragon King seems to have been heavily influenced by the famous Chinese animated movie of the 70s, "Nezha conquers the Dragon King", a movie I have to shamely admit I had no knowledge of the existence prior to a few days. So I am fairly certain there must be other easter eggs and references to Chinese movies, animated pieces or mythological adaptations out there.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Thoughts after finishing a re-watch of Taskmaster season 2:

- You can see this a lot throughout seasons 1 and 2, that in the early season they had a lot more time for the tasks. The average seemed to be an hour, while these days 20 minutes would be a long time. I can why there would be very good budgetary reasons to shorten the timeframe once they were doing 10 episodes instead of 5 or 6, if they gave them an hour for each task they’d be there forever. But still, an hour is enough time for the contestants to come up with some cool stuff that just can’t be done in 20 minutes. I enjoyed watching that.

- I still think Impress the Mayor is one of the best tasks in Taskmaster history. I see why they don’t do stuff with the general public anymore (like high fiving a 55-year-old in season 1, and season 2 had a bit of that with ordering a pizza), but I think they should bring on more authority figures and make Taskmaster people entertain them. I don’t think they’ve done that since with someone of that stature, and actually, it’s been a long time since they’ve brought in an outside person of any stature (ie. the woman they had find things in common with in season 6, the guy they cheered up in season 7, Rosalind the nightmare, even Fred). Those are fun.

- The was a very potato-heavy season, even by Taskmaster standards. The potato throw. The potato bridge. The cat named Patatas. The potato live task. The bandstand potato team task. The stop motion potato team task. That’s a lot of potatoes for a five-episode season.

- On the subject of the bandstand potato team task, it was jarring to see them bring in Josh, as they’ve now more firmly established the rules of Taskmaster and they don’t include just throwing in ex-contestants to make a team task fairer.

- I had it in my head, for some reason, that season 2 was slightly better than season 1. On a re-watch, I’d say it was the other way around. Season 2 was very good, but season 1 hit some highs it couldn’t quite match. Possibly due to the cast not seeming to get along quite as well.

- Every time I have to do one of those “prove you’re a human” things that ask me to click on every picture with a bridge, I mutter the Greg Davies quote “Sometimes you don’t see bridges” under my breath. It was fun to see that one in context again.

- I also have a kid at work who likes to name farm animals, so sometimes I sing Old McDonald to him. Every time I do, I picture Joe Wilkinson standing there in his suit looking blank, and I sing the song in his disinterested voice, and the kid giggles, it’s great.

- Jon Richardson is, as I’ve said before, absolutely right to be upset that he got robbed of a season victory by one live task in which it was possible to get fifteen actual points, especially when the scoring system wasn’t made particularly clear in the instructions. Having said that, I am please that Katherine Ryan has given us Canada’s 100% winning record on UK Taskmaster (with Mae Martin).

- The good old bandstand. I like the increasingly elaborate sets, but the bandstand was fun. Someone on Reddit posted a map recently that shows how you can walk from the Taskmaster house to the Taskmaster bandstand in about half an hour, I have saved that map and intend to do that walk when I go to London this summer. Along the Thames and see if I can catch sight of Tim Key’s ice block.

- The task where they threw groceries across the river, was also very strong. Richard Osman just fucking going for it with all his might to launch a shopping cart into the water is one of my favourite shots of Taskmaster, for similar reasons to Romesh Ranganathan throwing the watermelon on the floor. I like watching people really go for things. Richard Osman eating that egg with no hesitation whatsoever and then casually picking up his tea and walking away like a movie star was pretty fucking cool too. God Richard Osman is cool.

- I now think of Joe Wilkinson’s ass whenever I see a pineapple, so that’s a fun effect Taskmaster has had on my life.

- I don’t often think of Jon Richardson doing the four one-minute tasks when I think of tasks that have been set just for one person. But I should, because that was a lot of fun. I like how they upped the ante a bit from the previous season with Josh just doing it on his own, getting others involved in setting the tasks. That was very funny. Also, the makeup tutorial one reminded me of a particularly intense/harrowing bit from the Russell Howard/Jon Richardson BBC 6 Music Show, and Jon looked quite upset while doing it, I think Katherine Ryan may have inadvertently given Jon some flashbacks.

- I said after episode 1 that Katherine Ryan was really funny in that episode, I think she may have remained the most consistently funny contestant throughout the season. The perfect mix of confidence and ability to laugh at herself.

- The final live task was excellent.

- I see why they didn't keep making them buy gifts for Greg for 17 seasons straight, but I think they should bring that one back in some future season, just once, as a treat.

[quibbs126]

In that case, how about a fankid for Cream Unicorn Cookie and Whipped Cream Cookie? if that's alright. ^^

I don’t remember when I last talked about my struggles with her, but she’s finally here, this is Chantilly Cream Cookie

With her design, I kind of just went with what I already had instead of trying to come up with something new

Anyways, so chantilly cream is basically just whipped cream, but with sweetening and vanilla from what I can tell. I just liked the name of it, it’s pretty simple. Also “chantilly” sounds almost fairy tale like, which I think is fitting for them

Chantilly cream:

If I’m being honest, I’m not sure about the colors. In my head, she was supposed to be almost entirely purple, but I thought given her water thing, she should have some blue, so I made her cape and other things blue. I made the dress white because it kind of looked like a nightgown, and added the ribbon to it. It was originally longer, but I wanted to give her boots, so I had to shorten it a bit so you can see them. Also I made her horn like that because I was thinking of Suicune with her, and also sort of kirins, hence why I made the norm like that. Also it looks sort of like one of Millennial Tree’s branches, and I just sort of wanted to reference the possible connection Whipped Cream has to him

Anyways, so let’s get into her. So like I said, she has some influence from Suicune. The thing I’m most familiar with when it comes to Suicune is the Pokémon 4ever movie, specifically the thing about them being able to purify water when they touch it

So basically she can do that, only instead of jumping, it’s more like skating. She basically skates on top of the water and the water is purified wherever she touches, while she meanwhile does a performance on the water

With the nightgown, maybe she only shows up at night? Like how in Swan Lake (so I’m told), the dancers only appear at night, being swans during the day. Not sure if she turns into something during the day, I haven’t really decided, that idea literally only just came to me. But she also comes off as someone generally very spacey and quiet, as if she’s asleep. I imagine her having a very soft and high voice, though she doesn’t talk much. Also I’m not sure she’s capable of getting mad

Anyways yeah, I think that’s about it for her. The big thing is her water purifying skating thing. But regardless, I hope you like her!

[booasaur]

Did you finish Night Country? If so what did you think of it? I loved Navarro—Kali Reis absolutely sells that stately sense capability and strength and hotness lol—and think Jodie/Kali really sold their relationship being the core of the show I also mostly loved how things played out (didn’t see the ending coming at all) but I wish the show had been given more episodes to flesh certain plots and characters out because some things felt a little superficial (it’s interesting to me that so many people were lost because I thought the show made a lot really obvious and could’ve actually used some more mystique) and enhancing them would’ve made things that much better and cohesive. But trying to find balanced criticism or commentary about this show is hard because everyone defaults to racist, misogynistic, no nuance takes on how it’ll never compare to s1 and just refuses to even see a little bit of the good. Idk I feel like you can dislike it and want better and still recognize the good aspects of this season and the value of telling indigenous stories. At this point I almost wish the showrunner had been able to make a new series like she wanted to, instead of having to be tied to the true detective name because maybe people would approach this with more honestly and openness

Hey, sorry for the late reply. Well, I know I've replied a LOT later before and mostly decided to stop saying sorry because I'd have to say every time, but at the moment, I'm having more difficulty than I used to in remembering how I felt when I finished the ep, so I wish I'd just responded at the time.

Let me see... First, I did laugh like an idiot when they took turns falling down the ice caves like idiots, especially Danvers.

Other than that, I liked the ending but it felt a bit too neat... I think if they'd changed around some stuff, it might have offered a bit more tension because, well, at that point, it seemed they'd let more killers go than caught them. Honestly that and all the quibbles I had, where I wish we'd seen some stuff seeded better and elaborated on more at the end, like you said, that all could have been helped with just giving them the two extra eps they should have gotten. I was thinking that too, at the time, lol, I remember now, when I read your ask, I went on this whole rant (to myself, in my head) about those two eps could have done so much, how the streaming model had killed TV, how these shortened seasons were basically like individual movies with an occasional sequel. I know this is an anthology miniseries and the story finished, but still! Too much is suffering for the same reason. I haven't really been able to get into a single new Trek, it's just a different form of storytelling. What can you do in 10 eps every once in a long while, with a full ensemble cast.

I literally looked up how many eps Discovery ends at and it's 65. Compare that to my home Trek, Voyager, where it flourished with new life when Seven appears. Guess when that happens. Ep 68! I literally had to chart the two shows:

Look at those huuuuge Discovery breaks.. It's not just that shows used to be given so much screentime, we just got so much so quickly. I absolutely forget what's going on in between seasons of most shows now. In terms of actual amount of time, Discovery actually lasts longer! But I barely know the characters or their stories. I can't say much different for Picard or SNW (barring what I brought in from before). There's only so much character growth and relationship evolution. How am I supposed to love them? Know them?

Maybe that's why I'm gravitating so much to soaps lately...

Anyway, it's more capitalism than just streaming, of course, which also speaks to your other point; I didn't know Issa Lopez just wanted to make a new show and they put it under the True Detective name?? But isn't that just so typical of all these issues! Like, the fact that they're making an NCIS spin-off with Tony and Ziva? They're retreating to the safest, most conservative ideas they can think of. It's happening with everything, companies dropping DEI initiatives, politics returning to big money white guys. Sticking this female-led extremely Indigenous-sympathetic premise with this particular franchise with its defensive white dudebro fanbase.

I wonder how much that's related to the obligatory bigoted backlash to any media perceived as "woke" now. It's all feeding each other, right, bad actors in each space taking advantage and fanning the flames, but it's beyond annoying now to have watched a normal show and go online and see this rabid overreaction to stuff that isn't even on the screen.

The worst part is, as you said, there's no room for the middle ground. I myself don't want to go into detail about the issues I had because there's so much unfair criticism. Like, if I thought it was a little unsubtle in its messaging at times, how can I say that when these fiends are tearing it apart for daring to even have the message. I'm just glad that Foster and Reis were so good and the show so well received that the fanboys can keep crying to each other about s1.

I will say, a huge part of that ending landing was Diane E. Benson as the older Indigenous Alaskan lady being cool as hell. She was so nonchalant and mischievous and angry as hell underneath it all! That's why I wished there was just a bit more tension, a bit more to that scene in terms of its place in the ep, rather than just its place in the story where it provided a reveal.

The handling of the killer reveal was what I found a bit pat, just being like, well, that happened, okay, bye, but the reveal itself? Freaking loved it. Those men deserved what they got and more. :<

Some things I'm glad they didn't go into more, the accident in the past, and what exactly happened to Navarro. Let me imagine she and Danvers are off together in some liminal space. :P

Anyway...I guess I did remember a lot, lol. And now we have a season 5 ahead. :)

[future-boi]

So uh, I've been hearing a lot about that bttf fic your writing. I was wondering if you could share a bit of its plot? I just really wanna know what it's about :D

(And if you have shared its plot and my blind self missed it would you mind linking it?)

Oh 😳

Well it's still heavily under the works... I've only mentioned it here and there, but haven't taken the time to create it's own post for it...

But I guess I'll do that right now! The structure is still subject to change but here's what I have in mind so far:

It'll be split into 5ish parts. I haven't written them all, but I can say for a fact they will vary in length. Part 1 will follow the first movie EXCEPT for the ending where Doc shows up and says they need to go to the future. Part 2 will be exploring the Lone Pines timeline and Marty adjusting to his new family. Then, it will end with Doc going to Marty and taking him to the future to save his kids. Part 3 will be a side story or collection of stories of what happened since 1955 that led to the Hell Valley we see in the movie (should just be through George and Lorraine's POV) [It will be pretty short compared to Parts 1 and 2, I can already tell]. Part 4 will return to the main story with Marty accidentally creating Hell Valley and traveling there [meeting his alternate family and self] until he travels back to 1955 to fix it. Part 5 is him traveling back to 1955 to fix it lol.

As you can see theres so many details im leaving out but thats the general outline and you can follow it pretty easily with the knowledge of the movies. It's also subject to change. I might shorten it to 4 parts. It used to be 6 but I thought about it and decided to combine some things. Plot twist: we get 8 parts.

The gist is that its more focused on the McFly family so we're going to see more of Dave and Linda and how their lives changed throughout the 3 timelines, not just George and Lorraine. Marty also gets his own character arc too. From the beginning, not just from the second movie. So please bear with me as the characters might be a lil OOC... ima try to excuse it by saying its cuz I'm changing the rules of the franchise's universe a bit, but its up to your interpretation...

And I've never written anything before so a part of me is like bruh this is too ambitious what is goin on. But another part of me is like LESGOOOOO

Don't think I described the plot well AT ALL. Sorry. But... its basically just Back to the Future? Changes here and there. Some big, some smol. It really feels like fanfic in one of its most distilled states lmao. [A remake??? A re-imagining??? Zemeckis and Gale would hate me]

I just feel like itll take a while 😅 It's been about ~3 months since I've started working on it and I only have the first draft of part one and the rough draft of part two. But I'd say it's looking pretty good so far.

💝 Thank you for the ask! 💝 It gave me an opportunity to give a real update.

[kipscorner]

-- Anything in parentheses (abc) feel free to delete! -- Anything in square brackets [abc] feel free to change! -- This is a long post, so please remember to tag “long post tw” or some kind of varient of the sort so you don’t clog mobile users dashes/people who don’t have “shorten posts.” turned on! :D

“Doesn't this seem like a bit much?”

“This is what Christmas is all about! Can't you feel it?”

“You guys, where are we? I think we should go back.”

“Serves them right, those Yuletide-loving sickly-sweet, nog-sucking cheer mongers!”

“I really don't like them. No, I don't.”

“I've been much too tolerant of these (Whovenile) delinquents and their innocent, victimless pranks.”

“So, they want to get to know me, do they?”

“I guess I could use a little social interaction.”

“Yeah, you bet. Ho, ho, ho, and stuff…”

“You see, [name]? The city is a dangerous place.”

“Now, please, don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.”

“Well, it's just, I look around at you and [Mom] and everyone getting all kerbobbled. Doesn't this seem...superfluous?”

“I think they were up on the mountain playing with matches, or defacing public property, or....”

“Take a look at his mailbox, (sweetie). Not a single Christmas card, in or out… Ever!”

“And for the rest of you: Jury duty! Jury duty! Jury duty! Blackmail. Pink slip. Chain letter. Eviction notice. Jury duty!”

“Well, that worked out nicely.”

“[Max], let's go. Our work here is finished.”

“Don't you know you shouldn't take things that don't belong to you? What's your problem? Are you a wild animal?”

“Saving you? Is that what you think I was doing? Wrong-o.”

“You've been practicing your Christmas wrapping! I am so proud of you.”

“My, I've never seen so many beautiful Christmas lights, [Betty Lou!]”

“It's handcrafted and almost 100 years old.”

“Come on, hurry up, Slowpoke.”

“What's that stench? It's fantastic!”

“One man's toxic sludge is another man's potpourri.”

“Did Christmas change or just me?"

“First floor, factory rejects.”

“But we did our worst. And that's all that matters.”

“At least I scared the bejeebles out of that little [girl] at the post office. [She]'ll be scarred for life, if we're lucky.”

“Funny she didn't rat on us, though. Must be afraid of reprisals.”

“If you utter so much as one syllable I'll hunt you down and gut you like a fish!”

“I've got all the company I need right here.”

“I'm an idiot!”

“You're an idiot!”

“Am I just eating because I'm bored?”

“In your own words, please tell me everything you know about [the Grinch.]”

“Hey, honey, our baby is here! He looks just like your boss.”

“It was Christmas Eve, and a strange wind blew that night.”

“Do you want a Christmas cookie?”

“Don't forget, tomorrow is our big Christmas gift exchange.Everyone bring a special gift for a special someone.”

“You don't have a chance with [her].”

“It was a horrible day when they were so cruel to [him]. And I could hardly bear it.”

“And that was the last time we ever saw [him]. The very last time.”

“I hate you.Hate, hate, hate. Hate, hate, hate. Double hate. Loathe entirely!”

“Tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!”

“I may do something drastic.”

“You made that up! It doesn't say that.”

“But the book does say: The cheer-meister is the one who deserves a back slap or a toast. And it goes to the soul at Christmas who needs it most."

“Blast this Christmas music. It's joyful and triumphant.”

“The impudence! The audacity! The unmitigated gall!”

“You called down the thunder now, get ready for the boom!”

“Gaze into the face of fear!”

“You see? Even now the terror is welling up inside you.”

“Run for your life before I kill again!”

“Maybe you need a time-out.”

“Kids today. So desensitized by movies and television.”

“"Holiday Whobie-what-y"?”

“I know you hate Christmas, but what if it's all just a misunderstanding?”

“I myself am having some Yuletide doubts.”

“Award? You never mentioned an award!”

“Was anyone emotionally shattered?”

“Come on, a minute ago I couldn't shut you up! Details, details!”

“I don't know if it's that adorable twinkle in your eye or that nonconformist streak that reminds me of a younger, less hairy me.”

“Who knows? This Whobilation could change my entire outlook on life!”

“You can make snow angels later.”

“The nerve of those (Whos). Inviting me down there on such short notice. Even if I wanted to go, my schedule wouldn't allow it.”

“4:00, wallow in self-pity. 4:30, stare into the abyss. 5:00, solve world hunger tell no one. 5:30, jazzercise. 6:30, dinner with me… I can't cancel that again. 7:00, wrestle with my self-loathing… I'm booked! If I bumped the loathing to 9:00, I'd have time to lay in bed stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness.”

“It's not a dress, it's a kilt! Sicko!”

“This is ridiculous. If I can't find something nice to wear, I'm not going! That's it, I'm not going.”

“Ohh, ahh, mmm… That's it, I'm not going.”

“[He] isn't here. What? [He] didn't show? Who could have predicted this?

“All right. I'll swing by for a minute, allow them to envy me grab a handful of popcorn shrimp, and blow out of there.”

“But what if it's a cruel prank? What if it's a cash bar? How dare they!”

“All right, I'll go. But I'll be fashionably late.”

“All right. I've made my decision! I'm going, and that's that!”

“Come on, while I'm young!”

“But first, a little family reunion.”

“Are you two still living?”

“Sweater? What are you talkin' about? No, I can't! I can't do that!”

“No. I can't do it, honestly. I'm not ready. It's too much, too soon!”

“I've got a lawyer. There'll be hell to pay!”

“Look at the time. I really should be getting back.”

“Bring it on! Is that all you got? Is that all you got? Come on!”

“That's what it's all about, isn't it? That's what it's always been about!”

“Look, I don't want to make waves, but this whole Christmas season is stupid, stupid, stupid!”

“There is, however one teeny-tiny Christmas tradition I find quite meaningful. Mistletoe.”

“Burn, baby! Burn!”

“Evening, folks. Mind if I ride along? You might want to scooch over.”

“You fellas all right? How about a nice hat?”

“I'm hurt, [Lou]. I'm hurt, and I don't hurt easily.”

“But you and your family.... I'm so disappointed.”

“I just wanted everybody to be together for Christmas.”

“Suffering snorkelblatz! They're relentless!”

“Oh, no. I'm speaking in rhyme!”

“I must stop this whole thing. Why for year after year I've put up with it now.”

“Are you having a holly, jolly Christmas? Wrong-o!”

“If you're not going to help me then you might as well…”

“You're as cuddly as a cactus and as charming as an eel.”

“Just face the music, you're a monster.”

“Your heart's an empty hole.”

“I asked for three-quarters, not five-eighths. Stay focused!”

“Air bag is a little slow. But that's what these tests are for!”

“Talk about a recluse. He only comes out once a year, and he never catches any flak for it!”

“Probably lives up there to avoid the taxes.”

“No, forget that part. We'll improvise.”

“Saving Christmas was a lousy ending. Way too commercial.”

“We're gonna die! We're gonna die! I'm going to throw up, and then I'm gonna die!”

“[Mommy], tell it to stop!”

“Almost lost my cool there.”

“It's Santa! Go right back to sleep.”

“[He]'s planning a double-twisting interrupted forward-flying 2-and-a-half with a combo tuck and pike. High degree of difficulty.”

“Blasted water weight! Goes right to my hips.”

“Okay, fellas. Show time.”

“[Mr. Santa], what are you doing with our tree?”

“[Santa], what's Christmas really about?”

“I know [he]'s mean and hairy and smelly. [His] hands might be cold and clammy. But I think [he]'s actually kind of sweet.”

“Nice kid. Bad judge of character.”

“Clearance sale. Everything must go.”

“That wasn't so bad, was it, [Max]?”

“What an embarrassment! I've been robbed!”

“I wonder who could have done this.”

“But did anyone listen to me? No.”

“[Cindy], I hope you're very proud of what you've done.”

“You're glad. You're glad everything is gone. You're glad that [the Grinch] virtually wrecked.... No, not wrecked, pulverized Christmas. Is that what I'm hearing?”

“You can't hurt Christmas, [Mr. Mayor], because it isn't about the gifts or the contests or the fancy lights. That's what [Cindy]'s been trying to tell everyone! And me. [She]'s been trying to tell me.”

“What's wrong with you? This is a child!”

“[She]'s my child. And she happens to be right, by the way.”

“I don't need anything more for Christmas than this right here, my family!”

“Now for the final note in my symphony of downright nasty not-niceness! The crescendo of my odious opus! The wailing and the gnashing of teeth. The bellowing of the bitterly bummed out! It'll be like music to my ears!”

“Somehow or other, it came Just the same!”

“How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!”

“Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

“Help me! I'm feeling!”

“What's happening to me? I'm all toasty inside. And I'm leaking?”

“All right, that's enough! Knock it off! beat it! Get out of here! One step at a time!

“Wait! This can't happen! It shouldn't! It couldn't! It mustn't! It wouldn't! Not now, not then, not ever again!”

“What are you doing up there!?”

“I came to see you. No one should be alone on Christmas.”

“I got you, [Cindy Lou]!”

“Are you kiddin'? The sun is bright and the powder's bitchin'!”

“Now scoot over! It's my turn to drive!”

“Now you listen to me, [young] [lady]! Even if we're horribly mangled there'll be no sad faces on Christmas.”

“By the way, these lights match your outfit perfectly.”

“This could be more difficult to negotiate.”

“Out of the way! I have no insurance!”

“Run for your lives! Watch out, I can't stop!”

“Aren't you gonna cuff me? Put me in a choke hold? Blind me with pepper spray?”

“Sorry but my heart belongs to someone else.”

“Cheer up, dude. It's Christmas.”

“There's nothin' like the holidays.”

“Too late! That'll be mine.”

[glassprism]

It's been said that Webber Christine shows the most strength and fierceness, more than other any other versions. But when watching 2004 movie Webber Christine that same feel isn't there. Why did they insist to have her be a bit more weaker than the stage? Did that look better to do for movie purposes?

Oh, I don't know about being the strongest and fiercest, plus it really depends on the actress. (Meghan Picerno? Very fierce. Sarah Brightman? More dreamy than fierce.) Like, I think Leroux's Christine, who slams a door in Erik's face, wields a pair of scissors in case Erik should "stop acting like a gentleman", lies to Erik's face for two weeks, bashes her own head against a wall - that's pretty strong. Not to mention Claude Rains's Christine, who ditches both men in favor of her own career, or Robert Englund's Christine, who literally sets his lair on fire, both badass in different ways.

I think the best way to say it is that ALW's Christine experiences the most growth and change, since she starts off naive and passive but becomes independent over the course of the show, while others, like Leroux's Christine, are quite strong to begin with but do display less growth as a consequence. (And then there's Kay's Christine who just doesn't mature at all. Just a flat line of character development.)

But anyway, one thing about the movie is that they cut off scenes that show more of Christine's defiance. The big one for me is 'Notes II', a scene in the musical where Christine 1) yells at Carlotta, 2) yells at the managers, 3) yells at Raoul, and 4) yells at everyone before running off. The movie, however, removes most of the scene, leaving only Raoul's plan and 'Twisted Every Way'. This is part of the adaptation process, of course, where scenes get shortened or removed to bring the runtime down, and it makes some sense because 'Twisted Every Way' is moved to after the graveyard scene, not before as in the musical, but it does mean that a moment of Christine actually speaking out for herself is excised.

Another aspect is just the direction given to Emmy Rossum and her acting, such as in 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again'. In the musical, most actresses use this scene as Christine's big growth moment - Christine is finally moving on from her grief, she's ready to stand on her own feet, etc. In the 2004 movie, though, Emmy Rossum is just... sad. She's sad. It's honestly a bit funny because it seems like nobody actually listened to the lyrics of the song ("No more memories, no more silent tears, no more gazing across the wasted years!"), as if the director was just like, "Oh, 'Wishing'? It's the sad song, right? Just tell Emmy to play it sad, that's all we need."

And a third factor is the blocking of some scenes. 'Final Lair' is the big stand-out to me, because in the musical Christine is everywhere in that scene: she's trying to free Raoul, she blocks him from the Phantom, she is sometimes actively fighting the Phantom or making him back down or yelling at him, and it really shows how active and defiant Christine has become. But in the movie's 'Final Lair', Christine just stands there, again looking sad ("about as useful as a mannequin" went one review). Maybe she didn't want to get her dress wet, I don't know. The overall effect is that Christine comes off like an observer, not an active participant in the scene.

As for why they did this, there are some possible reasons. I think a big part of is that the movie was made to appeal to a younger, more mainstream crowd, teenagers to very young adults, and one way to do that is to strip the audience surrogate (the character that people will project themselves onto, in this case Christine for young women) of her personality traits. This is something that Stephenie Meyer did with her Twilight series, where Bella was written "so that the reader could more easily step into her shoes", to the point of leaving out even a description of her appearance.

That being said, this isn't necessarily confined to movies for teenagers; it's a fairly common thing to do in romances too, and one thing about the 2004 movie is that it really upped the romantic aesthetic, humanizing the Phantom, making him much more an object of sympathy, and so on.

And of course... maybe that's just how the filmmakers see Christine! Maybe that's just how they see the story overall, as a love triangle with a passive girl being fought over by two men; unfortunately, I think love triangles in pop culture in general come off that way. Heck, women in media are still being written that way, and Phantom is far from the first or the last to have that happen. After all, stripped of blocking and staging and actresses, the story can be seen in that sense. It wouldn't be the first time someone has misinterpreted the musical (ahem restaged tour).

So there you have it.

[tartrat]

Weird Mugshots Part 2, Ari! (Remake)

She looks somewhat normal now and doesn’t have an awkwardly elongated face! Going into more detail below. I'm just going to keep the old one up, just feels right for some reason. For context i remade this because i thought the other one looked weird.

So Firstly here’s the comparison between this new one and the last one. New is on the Left and Old is on the Right.

I made her face a bit rounder,

added volume to the hair as well as making it look somewhat natural and not like she's having a bad hair day,

added a glitter texture to her top (Even though its plain in game) to just added some form of texture and not have it not look flat

Made the gloves a bit redder. They appear to just be solid black in game, but i just wanted her hands to not look muddled

Gave her some black eyeliner and shortened the cat's eye liner(I don't know what its actually called)

Fixed the shadows and glow . The glow being changed to look like an actual light makes the drawing look less sickly.

Made her mouth smaller and not awkwardly positioned.

Her left arm (Right on screen) is a bit thinner.

This was honestly a good way to take my mind off of the internet as its seemingly going up in flames anytime i check the for you page on twitter. That and also how the other night when i was trying to sleep, i started to think about how Cher and Dolly Parton are getting older and will die and just how sad it will be. Also Airbud, Airbud had so much more life in him. The Ari and Grace Wedding map should be for Believe by Cher. Would it make sense? probably not. We also need 9 to 5 or Jolene in the game. That was a weird tangent i'm sorry. I just can't think about things for too long before i start to panic.

I also changed the Agent D drawing a bit but that one is just that her blouse is semi transparent and you can see her arms through it like in game. Not really going to post that because its not that different.

I've also started to work on testing out a simpler art style and my idea for Just Dance but as a platform fighter. If we ever get a Just Dance rep for smash bros, Ari should be one of the alternate costumes alongside brezziana. Their like the two coaches who could beat you up if they wanted to. I'm mainly doing this because its been floating around in my head for a month and thought it would be funny. I'm only saying that Ari would beat you up because of her rivalry with Moxie and for some reason i can see it being like one of the fights from glee.

Also here’s a work in progress screenshot that makes her look like some horror character whose mouth is covered by skin. Like Deadpool in that Xmen movie. Maybe thats a thing to do, have different coaches cosplay as marvel heroes.

[incomingalbatross]

Last week's listening! With the list shortened a bit by not having commute on Labor Day, but then lengthened again because I had to some driving yesterday and threw that onto the end of this.

Holst’s Planets: Very dramatic. Not to reverse cause and effect, but it gave me a lot of 60s movie soundtrack vibes (not a complaint). Also one Easter hymn snuck in there?? I have to go listen to the couple I think it might be and identify it.

Presidential: Yes, @fictionadventurer’s favorite. I listened to the first episode and am definitely interested enough to keep going (though I did go in knowing that Washington wasn’t going to be the most interesting episode, just because he’s not an unknown).

Memory Palace: Listened to an episode on Audubon. Content was interesting, but I don’t think the tone is for me... A little too much schmaltz.

Stuff You Should Know: This podcast has a LOT of episodes, so I picked one out at random on sleepwalking. Interesting! Not sure it’ll be a fave, but it was worth listening to.

Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique: Good but didn’t grab me—felt kind of fluffy compared to some of the earlier classical I’ve been listening to. HOWEVER, also worth noting that this was my public-transit day and I dozed through half the trip, so not a totally fair trial. It was certainly nice to have on.

Sacred and Profane Love: Catholic podcast on…well, I’m not quite sure of the scope, but the fist episode’s guest was a Dominican talking on grace and the optimism of Flannery O’Connor. So. I’m coming back to this one.

Snap Judgment: Another with lots and lots of episodes. Focus is on storytime, provided by guest speakers, I think. Very interesting stuff in the one I listened to, but I think the tone might be a little harder to predict than ome of these. Well done for sure, though.

Handel’s recorder sonatas: Good. I really like recorders :)

The Rest is History: I was specifically recommended their episode on Agatha Christie, so I listened to that. Good stuff! The hosts seem very intelligent and educated. AND they discussed the Christianity of the detective story without it even being a Christian podcast.

Born of Wonder: Christian podcast on things that spark wonder. Love the concept, not sure if it will be as substantive as I’m looking for. Will try it again though, probably.

[nogenderbee]

hi hii!! if you don't mind, may I request the project sekai event? :)

what nickname would you call your lover? - i like calling them their nickname, as in the shortened version of it ! i'm not a huge fan of pet names,,

what's your perfect date idea? - whatever my partner wants, i'll go for it :)

what are your hobbies? - writing, drawing, singing, editing videos, and gaming!! sewing and cooking sometimes :D

what's something you hate in others? - anyone who's rude to others just because they can :(

What are your main 3-5 personality traits? - I don't really know myself that well- other than the fact my friends see me as optimistic and give off "the happiest person in the world" vibe!!! :D i think i'm also naive and can be quite dumb at times- and I'm kind of an ambivert;;

what activities/hobbies you like? - i don't have a specific favorite activity, i just like whatever when my mind feels like it :)

what activities/hobbies you don't like? - anything scary or dangerous;;

i hope you're having the greatest birthday in your life, bee!!! :D

Hello! Thank you sm <3 and of course you can!!

So I pair you with...

🥁🥁🥁

Haruka Kiritani!

⊱ so I feel like "Haru" is the best option to shorten her name and she honestly probably also prefer short version of her name more than pet names

⊱ you most likely usually go for library dates or just chill dates in general like movie watching, sleepover and such as

⊱ she's definitely impressed that you can write and if you agree, she'd love to read some of your works as well! As for others, she also admires that you can sew and cook, and definitely has few plans herself

⊱ he's charmed by your happy nature but she is also worried about you because if how naive you are, so she's definitely a bit more protective and caring towards you

⊱ at first, she has hard time catching up that you're just randomly doing what you feel like but she gets used to your spontaneous nature eventually

⊱ and of course, you don't have to worry about scary or dangerous things with her as she won't try them herself since she's not a big fan of them either...

Today Haruka came up to you and gave you gentle hug, you were still in public so she didn't wanted to give too much affection as to not drag attention to you both.

"Hey YN, I thought we can maybe hangout today? My parents leave tonight for celebration so we can have a movie night."

"Ah really? That's great! Should we count it as a date?"

"Yes, I think we can. If you're free now, how about we grab our usual snacks?"

And of course both of you grabbed your comofort snacks and drinks, and spend some fun time watching movies you both enjoyed!

❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉

[rylliejay]

Okay, do not take this as a negative. I really really enjoyed the movie. THAT said, i feel it could have been better, it could have been great.

So. Here's how I'd have edited Rebel Moon, if Zack Snyder had asked.

1) id have opened en media rez. Played like ten seconds of the scene from kora's flashback when she's charging across the dusty battlefield. She plants the flag. Hard cut to the silence of her plowing the field.

2) when the old man is asking her why she can't settle down, "i can't take a lover (buzz word) it means something different to me. I'm not made like that. -" im a child of war etc....

3) instead of kora telling Gunnar unprompted her entire life story, she mostly stops after describing her planets demise, saying the only reason she survived is because they took her to be a soldier

4) everything's the same except when Gunnar says he knows when the bloodaxes are hiding makes the scene when noble tortures the informant redundant. Either Gunnar doesn't tell the audience or some lackey comes up to noble and tells him "we've found where the bloodaxes are" we already know he's willing to torture, we already know where they are, the only thing this scene tells us is how the nail guns work. But we can figure that out on our own. It's a nail gun .

5) tarak's introduction left a lot to desire. The way everyone came in and started asking about everything, i feel since everyone else is talking about their damage it would have followed the im world logic for him to say something about "my only crime to the motherland is to exist. But their crime against me is great and worthy of retribution. Except I'm stuck here." Or some such. Idk i feel it was muddy

6) having kora tell Gunnar about the princess being hope personified was redundant since Jimmy and sam already had the same conversation. Idk what else she'd say here, but i feel it could be distinguished a bit more. Maybe since the OTHER scene that it's copying (other flashback) is shortened then that would help this one stand on it's own?

7) kai standing around evil monologuing to the trapped heroes and then IMMEDIATELY noble standing around evil monologuing to the trapped heroes is extremely redundant. Also, this is now a big reveal that kora was adopted by what's his face. The regent. Everyone turns to look upon her in mixes of horror and wonder.

8) the line "i never really liked the pilot" should have been said while walking past his body and kicking it or something. He was a major character who was killed. He should be treated like a main character. It literally only takes showing his body when that line is said and holding off the pan out by 2 seconds.

9) I'd also have Kora slowly go from saying "we need to save Gunner's home" to "we need to save my home" because i spent most of them movie thinking she'd completed her whole arc in the first however many minutes before she slaughtered the soldiers things protect sam. But she DOES have an arc, as shown by the lines "sometime something i want to live" talking to the old man vs. " It is (a good place to die)" at the end. That she wants to spend her whole life here until she dies. That she found something worth dying for. But she never takes about it . She should talk about it more. We should see it

PLEASE don't take this as me not liking the movie, if I didn't like it i wouldn't have cared enough to write this out. It was a BEAUTIFUL movie with interesting characters who i am excited to see more of. My list is under 10 points, that's pretty good. Can't wait for part 2 to come out!!

[ailelie]

Okay. The Legend of the Five and character motivations.

Since the characters are all forced to face their deepest anxieties at one point in the film, we do have a good idea of part of what is driving them. The exception is Owen. Owen is a mystery (he is also the sequel teaser).

Javier is searching for his long-lost dad and refuses to accept his father doesn't love him.

Kaylee fears that she doesn't know how to engage with people and chooses to be an observer because she knows she'll never have real friends.

Caitlyn fears that she has nothing to contribute to world beyond being popular in high school, that she has peaked and there's nothing left for her.

Zoe is grieving her mother and feels guilty for missing her last moments to be with her.

Owen maybe fears that he isn't a smart or brilliant as he and others think he is and, without his brains, has nothing left to contribute. Again, this is a guess because we don't see Owen's fear. We also know that Owen is very curious, which could potentially lead to problems.

I would have loved for Javier's desire to find his father translate into a fear of losing people and for him to be the one protecting the group and watching out for everyone. (This also explains his behavior re: Owen. When Caitlyn shows interest in Owen, Javier brings Owen in rather than risk losing Caitlyn. In the movie, Owen is visibly baffled by Javier's behavior).

Caitlyn is the only one who bests her own mirror. She then touches and hugs the others, reminding them they're not alone (and giving them some fire energy), to help them best their own mirrors. I would have loved to see her insecurities earlier on (there's even a moment when Kaylee tells her she's peaked in HS; Caitlyn should have reacted more to that). With her insecurities built sooner, her defeat of the mirror would have felt like more of a triumph. Also, what she has to give is that she inspires the others. (At one point, when Owen is afraid, she talks to him and helps him be brave).

Kaylee is harder, but I would have loved for her drawings to have become a bridge to others rather than a barrier. Earlier she drew pictures to upset people, but what if she had had an opportunity to draw as a way of getting past an obstacle or helping the group find someone or something? Or if she drew a portrait to make someone feel braver rather than smaller? As 'Ether,' Kaylee is the force that connects everyone together. I would have loved to see that in her arc as well--the girl who fears she will always be alone being the girl who connects everyone together.

As for Zoe, I already talked about pushing the food thing a bit more to really manifest her grief. But! Zoe only touches the artifact in the early scene because she hears her mother. She first rejects the sorcerer and refuses to help her, but the later (off screen) agrees to help. This would have been so much better if the sorcerer had promised to use the power of the tree to bring back her mother. This would have (a) sharpened the betrayal when the sorcerer admits she was behind the cancer, and (b) would have increased Zoe's personal stakes when she decided to destroy the tree.

As for Owen, I would love to see his curiosity get him into trouble and for, at some point, to have someone tell him that his value isn't in having answers, but being the one to ask the questions no one else thinks to ask.

How could they have fit this in? Maybe they could have shortened the walking montage and removed the utterly pointless gnomes posturing at each other and farting on campfires to make fireballs that hurt nothing and no one.