#Mad and may review it poorly

[sweet-dining-car]

As @bellesdomain so beautiful told me, this new production isn’t really ALWs work which makes sense as to why it feels like a bad fanfic from ppl that just have the power to make it come to life. If ALW isn’t actually working on it himself then idk how well it will turn out and since a lot of the OG creative team isn’t there I feel like it will be a spin off more likely

So seeing that the OGs aren’t really taking part in this production, I worry, fear and I actually think that this will be another Cats 2019 Movie type situation again 😭

[artsekey]

Procreate Dreams

I've been playing around in Procreate Dreams for about a week or so now, and I think I've got enough of a handle on the software to offer a fair review! If you're interested in hearing my thoughts, click the read-more below.

A little context before we get started; I have two degrees in animation, but they're both in 3D. My personal specialty is tech and articulation/rigging, but I think my background puts me in a unique position with Procreate Dreams; I know all of the theory behind animation, but I'm not going into Procreate Dreams and comparing it to a professional-grade software I generally prefer to use (like Toon Boom Harmony, for example).

So, let's get into it!

First Impressions

I hated it. I opened the software, it crashed. I couldn't figure out how to enable onion skins. I couldn't increase or decrease the exposure of my frames. I couldn't figure out how to swap to the eraser. I was confused, I was frustrated, and then I realized that I was expecting to jump in and animate without taking the time to learn the software first.

Once I stopped trying to strong-arm it and started looking up documentation, things got a little easier.

Re-Thinking My Approach

Procreate Dreams isn't comparable to any other animation software I've used before. The UI is different, there's a focus on gesture over buttons, and everything about it is meant to be minimalistic. None of this reflects poorly on the program, in my opinion. It's different. You can't go to Procreate Dreams and get mad at it for not being like the other software out there in terms of how it's used. In fact, I think one area of Dreams that should be applauded is the sheer ambition on display. It's a hybrid of traditional frame-by-frame animation and offers a slimmed down version of some of After Effects' most useful compositing & motion graphics tools. That's just plain cool.

The Good

For those of you who've used Procreate Dreams, you may find it's a little... difficult to see all the good it has to offer through the muddied waters it's launch-day bugs kicked up, but under all the grime, there's a little bit of gold.

Dreams is a one time, $20 USD purchase. That's huge in terms of affordability and accessibility in the software market right now.

The "Perform" option is great, and I think we'll see the longer that it's out, the more creative people are going to get in using it. I've already seen people create gorgeous parallax on their illustrations.

Simple compatibility with Procreate is a huge win. I'm finding my pipeline uses both software together.

The UI is a mixed bag overall, but I find the ability to move between flipnote mode and timeline mode to be great. It keeps the screen free, but I can still access the features I need while doing frame-by-frame.

The move/filters option is a great way to add a little compositing magic to your work.

The Bad

The "bad" here exclusively covers issues with the software as intended. Bugs will be covered under "The Ugly" below.

The lack of a lasso tool is a huge setback. I've seen people saying that it doesn't make sense not to have that feature at launch, especially when it's part of Procreate, but I understand why it may have been difficult to implement in conjunction with the move/perform/warp options. If you save a warp on top of an illustration, then cut and move part of the drawing, how is the warp/local translation data applied to that image? Does the pixel remember it's movement, or is it applied on top of the drawing? There's a lot to consider.

Similarly, the "reference" tool in Procreate would be an excellent tool to add color to layers beneath current layers. "Add Reference Track" would be great! That said, I think this conflicts with the move/warp tools like the above.

The timeline is a time sink. I should be able to adjust the exposure of my frames easily and consistently. As of right now, I have an 80-20 shot of selecting my layer or grabbing the handle for exposure. A small button on the edge of each frame (like a dot) would improve this considerably.

As far as I can tell, you can't mask a group onto another group.

No double-tap on the Apple Pencil 2 to swap to the eraser. This one I'm not sure about; it runs in Procreate, it seems simple to implement here... though it'd be great to see it customizable.

The Ugly

This includes bugs and other issues that are separate from the features (or lack thereof) of Procreate Dreams.

Crashes are frequent. I haven't used the software reliably during any of my sessions so far, but Dreams' autosave feature is extremely strong and very forgiving, so I have lost no work.

My pen pressure become erratic at times, necessitating a restart of the software.

Sometimes my pen will stop working, though other features in the app will continue to run.

The good news is, I think that Dreams is overall a huge win for artists and animators worldwide. Everything that's not working about Dreams will hopefully be resolved in future updates. I'd encourage anyone who wants to try animating for the first time to pick it up-- with the understanding it might take some time to get used to/master.

[alligatorjesie]

*glances at the raging cunt who keeps posting harassment to this fandom's tags every month or so*

You know the last time I checked you're not a fucking reylo so beats the fuck out of us why you're up in our goddamn shit so often @watchingtheearthrise

Cait Corrain isn't active in this fandom. She's hardly a reylo, and if she's gonna act like that she's not fuckin' welcome here.

I think they may have wrote a few reylo fics a long time ago but they're not a big name writer and the fandom as a whole don't really know who the fuck this person is.

I've seen a few people online mention Cait's book is published reylo fanfiction but I can't find anything from the writer confirming it so we’re all just assuming it started out as a reylo fic.

Looking at it, it seems more like lore olympus fanfiction than reylo but again, until the author says otherwise we’re just assuming.

Cait did however talk a gullible friend into helping her sabotage other people's book reviews and when the lacky she coerced did it wrong because she didn't really explain her dastardly plan very well and the moment she realized how badly the 'friend' fucked up she threw that kid under the bus.

But even that shit is kinda sus because these timestamps don't fucking line up. This conversation looks doctored to a lot of people meaning the only person responsible for being a cunt here is cait and you @watchingtheearthrise.

The friend is mentioned to be a reylo but you can't really put much of the blame on them since they were just doing what their cool(shitty) published writer friend asked them to do, assuming this friend is even real.

Cait didn't get mad she did a bad thing. She got mad she did it poorly and got caught. Which speaks volumes about Cait.

You being here assuming the worst out of this fandom every time someone so much as sneezes without saying 'god bless you' speaks volumes about you @watchingtheearthrise.

Please for the love of fuck would you find a fucking hobby to pour this endless passion into.

You know something really fun that I've spent a lot of mental energy on over the years and has brought me great pride and joy is this Star Wars Episode 9 rewrite comic I've been working on.

Legit!

I got character sheets and new alien designs.

Most of the script is wrote out, I'm currently working on storyboards and page framing.

I'm only as far as I am because I have a life outside the computer and can't dedicate endless hours a pet project but it's got 2 of my favorite things in it:

A narratively cohesive continuation of The Last Jedi-

And furries.

Because fuckit why not it's my fucking comic.

You're welcome to laugh, and I know you will because you're a huge pile of shit, but doing this has been incredibly cathartic.

we live in a world were we have increasingly little control over basic shit in it. Media can feel like it wants to make money more than it cares about the story and character development and if I want media I’ll actually enjoy well goddamnit I guess I’ll make it myself.

I want it to be good. I want the salt of the fact a random furry wrote and created a better Star Wars EP9 to burn. I think thats funny.

I personally didn't like EP9

(Notice how I dislike EP9 but don't go out of my way to harass people who like it @watchingtheearthrise?)

So I decided to just make my own. Instead of being asshole to people in a fandom who do like it.

(Notice what I'm doing there @watchingtheearthrise?)

I don't see you in here when the fandom does nice shit like donating a shit ton of money to Adam Driver's arts for the military foundation.

I didn't see you in here when Thea Guanzon, a southeast asian reylo's published book became a new york times bestseller.

I don't fucking see you pop in when the dedicated members of this fandom post art and stories and celebrate the thing they love.

Don't let a single person who is acting shitty color your entire opinion about a whole ass fandom man. God fucking knows if I took this approach with finnreys I would just assume all of them are huge pieces of shit because nine times out of ten the people posting anti hate to the reylo tag are finnreys.

But since I'm not a complete fucking dumbass Like Some People Here

I'm able to use some common fucking sense and see it's not the finnreys that are shit.

finnreys are fine.

It's just like... 4 unique people with a lot of extra accounts.

real fucking bold to comment on someone making extra accounts to do nefarious things online from someone who already does that.

I’m pretty fucking sure at least 6 of the antis I regularly come across in this tag Are Your Accounts @watchingtheearthrise. You admit to 2 extra ones you’ve used to harass people in this fandom in the past In Your Fucking Bio

( I love hate how you have reylos in your DNI but paradoxically will not stop posting to this fucking fandoms’s tag I swear to Jesus Fucking Chri-)

God fucking bless you @watchingtheearthrise I hope you find someone who helps you learn how to not be such a festering cunt.

I started out this post not even know who the fuck Cait Corrain is. I still don't give a fuck because shit people can go fuck off into oblivion for all the fucks I don't give but since some asshat antis can’t be fucked to do a goddamn second of research I guess much like that ep9 I'm rewriting I’ll just fucking do this too.

Cait's a reylo about as much as you @watchingtheearthrise and you’re both welcome to let the door hit y’all on the ass on the way out.

[soapskneebrace]

https://www.tumblr.com/soapskneebrace/741274527698436096/whats-the-point-of-fanfiction-if-we-monetize-it?source=share

You didn't actually answer the question. But, I'm still confused. Why did you start fanfiction? Was it to make money? Was that the point of building up your skills? Or was it because you enjoyed engaging in a community, were encouraged, and began to learn an incredible life skill?

Because if compensation is what you're looking for - why not have just gone into traditional publishing?

So back to the actual question; what is the point of fanfiction if we monetize it? The entire basis of fanfiction is community, and why do we have to monetize every goddamn thing that exists?

You can't even have a hobby anymore without being pushed towards capitalizing on it.

You are presupposing a whole fucking lot with this message and honestly it's so narrow minded I don't want to bother answering. However, in the spirit of discourse:

Motherfucker I already had this skill, first of all. I was writing long before cod and I will be writing long after.

This may shock you but no, community is not the basis of fandom, consumption is. We share a love of a media we consume. Community is the byproduct, not the foundation. No media consumption=no fandom community.

The reason anyone does anything does not need to be the reason anyone continues doing anything. Wanting to get paid for something you started doing for free does not represent a corruption of one's principles, it represents the fact that we all have bills to pay.

Why don't YOU go into traditional publishing, if it's that fucking easy

This whole "you can't have a hobby anymore" is a tired argument that falls flat. I have plenty of hobbies I have no intention of monetizing, and I can always find more. I crochet. I embroider. I do my own manicures. I hunt down foreign chocolate bars in tiny little Russian owned grocery stores and review them for my own, sole enjoyment. I do all of this poorly and joyfully and with zero desire to build a career off of them. You're just mad because I want to monetize the hobby that pertains to your entertainment.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

I feel this film needs absolutely no introduction.

Look, I get it. You’ve seen everyone and their mother talk trash about this movie since it dropped in 1999. You’ve seen every single show in the universe take cracks at this film, you’ve seen all the parodies and mockery of it in movies, you may have even seen that  movie Fanboys. Maybe you’ve even watched some massive YouTube review of the movie. The point is, this movie has been done to death.

But this series is about covering poorly received and infamous movies to see if their reputation is deserved, and I’d be remiss to ignore this film. And hey, these days the film has gotten something of a reappraisal by younger generations and older fans alike! After 20 years of scorn, a combination of the poorly received episodes VIII and IX, other works like The Clone Wars building off of and fleshing out the themes, Lego making really fun levels based off this movie for its Star Wars games, and Weird Al dropping one of the best songs of his career based entirely around recapping this film, a lot of people have come around to saying they unironically like this film. Even as early as 2008, the film made it on to Empire magazine’s list of the 500 greatest films of all time, scoring higher than Tim Burton’s Batman, Unbreakable, Full Metal Jacket, Halloween, The Crow, and Enter The Dragon (not by a huge margin though since it only got to 449). So there’s something there to love, right?

Well, let’s find out as I ask the question everyone else has already asked a million times before: Is The Phantom Menace really that bad?

THE GOOD

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way: The action and John Williams’ score.

The prequel trilogy really shines in how absolutely bonkers it makes lightsaber battles. Sure, one could argue the original trilogy made them more realistic, like actual swordfights… But I don’t want realism in this series about magical alien samurai monks using telekinesis and fighting armies of clones and robots. I want to see someone do a million backflips and then slice a dude in half with their laser sword. This film delivers heartily on that front, especially in the epic final duel between Maul, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan.

Speaking of which, Darth Maul is a highlight of this film despite barely doing or saying anything. A lot of it is his striking visual design, which is actually toned down from the original concepts. It makes him look cool, creepy, and mysterious, always a good look for any Star Wars character. Ray Park doesn’t get to show off Maul’s dialogue much, but he certainly shows off his battle prowess with a bunch of sick flips and the iconic dual-bladed lightsaber. This appearance here served as an excellent foundation for the guy, because The Clone Wars would take him from an iconic but underutilized character to perhaps one of the greatest villains in the series.

And then the score. Oh lord, the score! Has Williams ever missed, even once? This movie has some really fantastic music, stuff like the celebration music at the end of the film, but it’s quite obvious that the standout is “Duel of the Fates,” one of the best pieces of music in any Star Wars film.

A lot of the characters introduced here are pretty fun and great additions to the universe. Natalie Portman is actually pretty solid as Padme; Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon is just such an aggro dick it’s hard not to love him and his underhanded ways; Boss Nass is an amusing yet underutilized gungan played by BRIAN BLESSED of all people, once more adding his trademark ham to a campy sci-fi movie inspired by Flash Gordon; Mace Windu drops in for a brief appearance to set him up for better ones down the road; and that Chancellor Palpatine guy is really cool, I hope we get to see more of him!

Then we have the pod race which, while a bit overly long, is a lot of fun and features some crazy vehicular madness, and there’s the practical effects, the creative design of the aliens and monsters, and there’s the practical effects and costumes mixed together with the CGI.... When this movie is fun, it’s a lot of fun, and when this movie is putting in the effort by god is it putting in the effort.

Oh yeah, and E.T.’s species has a cameo. No wonder he seemed to recognize Yoda in his movie.

THE BAD

Have you guys ever wanted a cool laser sword sci-fi epic to be constantly interrupted by long, boring scenes of trade negotiations, council meetings, and bureaucracy? Well boy oh boy will you love this film! There are so many stupid, dull, tedious scenes where characters are just talking about this boring trade embargo plotline, one that can’t even be ignored because it’s driving the whole plot. And sure, it leads to some really cool action scenes, but you’ve gotta sit through boring galactic council political bullshit to get to them.

This film is also the one that establishes the Jedi as a bunch of out of touch assholes. Every scene with the Jedi council (and especially if you have to look at the weird ugly Yoda puppet this film gave us before it was mercifully replaced with CGI) has the Jedi acting as a bunch of obstructive assholes who seem to go out of their way to be dicks to a literal child. Add onto this that this film reveals the Jedi essentially train kids to be child soldiers, yeah, no, maybe these guys did deserve Order 66 after all.

There is the writing, but it’s really not too strange for Star Wars to have clunky writing. The issue here is said writing is in service to really banal plots, and when the movie is getting good dialogue is usually not the thing making the scenes good. These things here may not seem like a lot when it comes to problems especially when I was praising this film so much, but the few problems are spread far and wide across this two hour movie.

THE UGLY

As you may have noticed, I didn’t mention two of the film’s most hated aspects above: Jar Jar and Anakin. There is a good reason for that.

Literally every mean thing you can imagine has already been lobbed at Ahmed Best and Jake Lloyd, and quite frankly I’m not keen on contributing to that. Anything negative I could say has already been said, and at this point it doesn’t even matter. Jake Lloyd was bullied over his performance to the point where he hated the franchise for years, and Ahmed Best nearly killed himself over the sheer blistering hatred Jar Jar received. Do I think Jar Jar is funny? Do I think Lloyd was a good actor? Does it even fucking matter at all when people harassed them to such lengths that it traumatized them?

I’ll be honest: I’m not a huge fan of Jar Jar’s antics. But they really aren’t the worst thing in this movie, and he’s not even remotely the most annoying Star Wars character. We now have people like Hux, the Knights of Ren, Snoke, Clone Palpatine, Holdo… The sequel trilogy was a buffet of characters that are infinitely worse than Jar Jar. And as is often the case, The Clone Wars went a long way towards making him a good character.

As for Lloyd, he was an actual fucking child. He was being directed by an absolute dork who wrote the goofiest dialogue imaginable for him, was there ever even a chance? A “bad” child performance is never the fault of a child, I feel; it’s the fault of a director who doesn’t bother to guide them. I’m a George Lucas apologist most of the time, but he absolutely let Lloyd down here.

Oh, and I guess I should address the other element in the room: Watto.

This guy has often come under fire as a huge negative Jewish caricature. I… don’t necessarily see it. Upon rewatching I was expecting something on the lines of the goblins in Harry Potter, but I don’t know. I think a lot of it comes from mishearing his accent; if you listen to it, he actually has some sort of weird, vague Italian accent as opposed to that stereotypical old Jewish man voice. I guess if anything, Watto is a negative stereotype of Italians, though he is far less of a hate crime than casting Chris Pratt as Mario.

...Okay, and one more thing: Midichlorians. People have this weird idea that they cause the force. The movie literally states their presence is just an indication of a proclivity towards the force. It’s basically the Star Wars version of Pokerus. This was such a stupid thing for people to get mad about, but 90% of the hate for this film is just getting mad at stupid things anyway.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

The answer to this question was always going to be pretty obvious: No. Absolutely not. The sheer vitriolic backlash to this film was built off the bizarre emotional attachment adults in the 90s had to a campy sci-fi series from the 70s and 80s; the toxicity of the fandom meant there was never any doubt that upon revisiting this film I’d find the hatred overblown. And really, we’ve had over twenty years of other Star Wars stories now, a lot of them building off the foundation this laid to give us great stories in their own rights. As I mentioned above, Darth Maul, this film’s awesome yet underutilized villain, has gone on to become one of the franchise’s most iconic characters thanks to The Clone Wars. There are great ideas here in this film, but it took other people to polish them and make them shine.

The real question is, even if the backlash is overblown… is the film actually good at all? And that’s a complicated question. This film has a lot of serious, glaring flaws, but at its heart it’s still the fun, campy sci-fi series we all know and love. When this film gets good, it gets really good, but when it’s bad it’s downright boring and even a little cringey. But being a bit cringey is just an important building block of Star Wars, so in my eyes, it gets a pass in that regard.

For my part, I like it. It is far, far away from my favorite Star Wars film, but I like it more than two of the sequel trilogy at least. I think whether anyone else likes it really boils down to how much corny, campy dialogue and boring bureaucratic drama one is able to tolerate. Regardless, I think that 6.5 is a perfect score for this film. It definitely reflects the mellowing public opinion towards it, and shows that it’s not really that bad after all. It’s just not exactly great, either.

But hey… This song more than justifies this movie existing:

If nothing else, you can watch this instead of the movie for your Machete Order marathon and all you’ll miss is some great action and music mixed into boring bureaucracy. Whether that’s worth it or not is up to you!

[mediaevalmusereads]

Weyward. By Emilia Hart. St. Martin's, 2023.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: historical fiction, magical realism

Part of a Series? No

Summary: 2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

***Full review below.***

Content Warnings: domestic violence and abuse (physical, verbal, emotional, financial, and reproductive), blood, self-harm, racism, rape and impregnation of a teenager, suicidal ideation, abortion

Overview: I didn't know much about this book going in, but I do remember seeing it on display at my local bookstore, so I figured I'd give it a go. The premise itself seemed like something I'd be into: multiple generations of women, nature, magic, and the power of female resilience. Unfortunately, I didn't find the execution as inspiring as I'd hoped. In my opinion, this book struggles with a little bit of everything (plot, prose, and character), though as a whole, it wasn't so poorly done that I would say the author is dropping the ball. Rather, this book has a strong premise but struggles to engage with the reader, so for that reason, it gets 3 stars from me.

Writing: While I did like Hart's use of figurative language and the ease at which sentences flowed into one another, I had a hard time connecting with the prose because, in my opinion, it's just a tad overwritten. Hart doesn't leave much room for the reader to infer things, and both emotions and interpretations are told to us rather than shown. As a result, the pace of this book can feel rather slow, especially in the beginning when we're being instructed how to interpret things.

Moreover, I didn't quite enjoy the way the chapters were organized. This book is divided into 3 perspectives, with each chapter switching between protagonists Violet, Altha, and Kate. In my opinion, the chapters were a bit too short and were cut off prematurely; it felt like Hart was trying to create suspense, but rather than feeling intrigued, I felt frustrated. Perhaps this could have been alleviated if each chapter had a stronger point that led into the next POV; for example, there's one chapter that is dedicated entirely to Altha entering the city for her murder trial, and the whole chapter is devoted to describing the journey, only to be cut off awkwardly at the thought of an unknown character named Grace. To make the chapter stronger, I would have loved to read more about the rural/urban juxtaposition within Altha's POV, and have that relate to the rural/urban juxtaposition that Kate experiences when she flees to the Weyward cabin. Granted, there may be a little of that, but if it does exist, it doesn't feel intentional on Hart's part.

Plot: The plot of this book follows three women from the Weyward family line: Altha (a woman on trial for murder and witchcraft in 1629), Violet (a viscount's daughter coming of age in 1942), and Kate (a woman fleeing an abusive relationship in 2019). The three storylines explore female resilience as each character struggles to assert agency in the face of patriarchy.

Personally, I felt that each storyline was a little dull. Hart seemed to be trying to create suspense and unease by teasing that the women are somehow related and that their bloodline has some eerie natural power. I put things together faster than our protagonists, and the relationship between them wasn't necessarily new or presented in a way that made things feel fresh. On top of that, rather than exploring the character's emotions and inner lives, I felt like I was being asked to take them for granted and focus on the more mundane actions. For example, Kate leaves her abusive ex at the beginning of the book only to spend the rest of her arc doing mundane things. Altha is incredibly passive for the first half of her story, as we are stuck watching the trial rather than seeing her do much of her own will. Violet is a tad more interesting in that she spends a lot of time trying to learn more about her deceased mother while also trying to avoid the wrath of her abusive father, but even her arc felt a little slow at times.

I think what bothered me the most about the plot was that the book as a whole was supposed to be about "resilience," but most of what happens isn't particularly inspiring. It's not that I wanted big, overt displays of heroism, but I felt like the quiet moments of heroism were buried under the attempts at suspense.

Lastly, I felt like the magical realism was incredibly underutilized. Hart establishes that the Weyward women have a special connection to nature, but thematically, I didn't feel like there was a strong connection between nature and feminine agency. Ecofeminism is a popular topic in current critical discourse, and integrating it into this book would have elevated it immensely. Instead, it felt like nature was a background character, only popping up when convenient.

Characters: This book contains a number of characters, but for this review, I will focus on the three POV protagonists.

Altha, the healer/witch living in 1619, felt rather passive, especially during the trial. When we meet her, she has already been arrested, and I felt like we didn't get to know her until after the trial. As a result, I had a hard time being invested in her fate. Even when we learned more about her, there wasn't much that set her apart from other healers/witches I've read, so I found her arc to be hard to care about.

Violet, the viscount's daughter living in 1942, was a bit more interesting in that she was striving for things. Violet not only dreams of being an entomologist, but she also desperately wants to know more about her deceased mother. The most interesting parts of her arc were when she was actively trying to seek out information, and I liked that despite the hold her father has on her, she was always trying to assert herself and find her own power. There were times when her arc slowed down, so it wasn't perfect, but I found Violet to be the most interesting of the three women.

Kate, the woman living in 2019, had some quiet moments of agency, but overall, I felt like I was watching her going about her new life in a small village. Kate leaves her abusive boyfriend at the start of the novel and hides out at Weyward Cottage - the hovel that belonged to her great aunt. I enjoyed the moments when Kate did things like cut her hair and change her wardrobe; those felt powerful and meaningful, like she was finally freeing herself from her boyfriend's grasp. But most of her arc seemed to just be about her doing mundane things, and I wished more time was spent on exploring Kate's healing process.

TL;DR: Weyward is a novel with a good premise, but ultimately doesn't present readers with anything new or interesting. Between a prose style that relies too much on telling, a plot that forges "resilience" in favor of brutality, and characters without much agency or goals that they strive after, this book is a disappointing attempt to portray female power.

[vampkitty66]

Manga Review: Wolf Girl And Black Prince

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!

These are my opinions

Wolf Girl And Black Prince is a manga series with 16 volumes and even ended up getting its own anime. It is labeled as a shojo romance and has become one of those "classic shojo must reads" and thats exactly why I read it.

The actual plot is nothing special, it follows Erika (the wolf girl) and Kyouya (the black prince) and they strike up an interesting deal with one another. It all started with Erika lying to her friends about having a boyfriend, when in actuality, she didn't. They ask to see a photo of him one day and thats when they start to doubt her, so in order for her to keep her lie, she snaps a photo of a random guy which happens to be Kyouya. Turns out Kyouya and Erika attend the same school and she eventually asks him to be her fake boyfriend. Kyouya agrees but has one condition, that Erika be his "wolf girl" pretty much saying he wants her as his pet dog.

I really wanted to like this, and at a few points I did. Kyouya is the shittiest red flag I've seen in a shojo so far. I like some red flags but this was one I could not get behind. Due to this, i thought his development would be great, I've even been told that his development is good and he gets less icky. Ive been lied to, there was a point in the story where I actually thought he was almost redeeming himself, but then he went back to being a shitty manipulator/gaslighter again. Erika literally put up with emotional abuse and it made me frustrated. Whenever he was a huge dick she'd forgive him and run straight in his arms EVERY SINGLE TIME. There are so many scenes I could bring up that made me infuriated, like when they went on a date and Erika wanted to look at the cherry blossoms. Kyouya was being such an ass to her, it always seemed like he would never put in much of an effort to do want she wanted to do. Also when Erika worked at the cafe to help out Takeru and Kyouya got so mad but then proceeded to work there and do the exact same thing she was doing.... 😐FUCKING HYPOCRITE

The thing that irked me the most though, was when she had decided what she wanted to do after they graduate. The plan was to attend school near Kyouya, if im not mistaken, but that was until she found something she was passionate about, a future career. Kyouya being Kyouya made her feel guilty and awful for wanting to leave, saying things like he was going to break up with her if she did, forcing her to stay. It had to take Erikas friend to slap some sense into Kyouya and tell him he's a piece of shit for saying that to Erika, for him to actually go and apologize and tell her to go follow her dreams.

I still enjoyed reading some parts, but imo this is just too problematic for me to enjoy fully. I just can't stand Kyouya most of the time. I will definitely not be watching the anime either. I'm not sure if i'd ever suggest this to someone, I mean unless they like really toxic stories 🤷‍♀️

It just blows my mind that people actually like him or fan girl over him (no offensive if you're one of those people, you like who you like i guess) but I don't think its okay for any man to treat a women so poorly like that. I know this is fiction, but I know when I was younger, i would look at men like this and truly believe that i needed a man like that or thats how relationships are. I think reading this as adult is fine because we know better. I much prefer healthy relationships though and will most likely stick to that after reading this.

Final rating 6/10

[historianroo]

my review of the movie "the lost king" and a formal request for more historian friends.

RIGHT SO: basically the movie starts with this iconic woman named Phillipa Langley relates to the fact that Shakespeare's portrayal of Richard the Third says that because he was disabled he was the worst of people, and she decides that she is going to set out and do research, because she feels like if he had been disabled he wouldn't have felt that poorly about himself

(That's a bit of a sum up, but it still hits the highlights)

AND IN THE MOVIE: All of these big fancy professional historians have come to these conclusions, without piecing it all together, which is a bit mad.

and this ameutur historian (Langley) proves that Richard the Third was not the usurper that history called him, but instead a true king who did not have his nephews killed in the tower

and it's just this further proof that history is seen through a very specific point of view, and that if there isn't enough research done in the First Place people will get history incorrect

because the king following richard chose to spread lies about him, and then Shakespeare made it worse with his play and so on and so on, History decided that Richard the Third was a usurper

And that happens in history!

OFTEN!

People decide that there are parts in histroy that they don't agree with:

and then they write it out

And then the historians that follow look at it and say "Hey this historian has a degree from such and such, so im going to trust them and just quote them without looking into it myself"

And so, Phillipa Langley had nothing to prove and yet she still went out and did it. Because she didn't have a degree to protect, or people she was required to listen to as to not upset anyone, she had a truth she wanted to share and find out so she did

and i KNOW

That it a very debated statement about whether or not "history is decided by the victors" and i do think it's not in every case, but there are many examples that say that it is in fact that it is something people do:

Like, Richard the Third

Or, like the freaking trail of tears, the civil war, the potato famine, the disability rights movement, i could literally keep listing!!!

Like, I get it if history isn't that important to some people, i do!!!

But it is there.

And it is such an important aspect of humans.

Even if they don't realize.

BECAUSE!!!

History may not be the here and now, but it is how we got here

And sure, there are shit parts about it, there are elements of history that no one wants to talk about, or acknowlede, or deal with ever again but there is beauty in there too!!!

History is so beautiful when you know how to read the sources right, and understand that you cannot put you're 2023 mindset into an event that happened 200 years ago.

History is beautiful!

[comicbooknooktypeschtuffs]

I posted 3,734 times in 2022

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I tagged 1,306 of my posts in 2022

#comics - 205 posts

#dc comics - 193 posts

#marvel comics - 131 posts

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Longest Tag: 128 characters

#i imagine she can’t stand him. he disapproves of her lifestyle the way her father does. however. it would be funny if. they. 👀.

My Top Posts in 2022:

That last episode of picard ( s2 e10 ) was straight up bad fanfiction .

That last episode of picard was shite. Just... poorly written and poorly executed.

Promotions and happy endings for everyone.

All of it... felt ...really contrived and magicked.

Almost none of it felt earned .

That last episode was shit.

I 'm not mad at the characters or the actors.

The writers and the producers...mmmm.

Grumble grumble grumble.

That episode was just plaine ole shit.

14 notes - Posted May 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[theglitchywriterboi]

I hate when book reviews are just annoyingly pedantic. Like the whole "HE GROWLED ??? XDD" like ik they're joking but omg have y'all never heard of describing things ? Growled=His voice was lower than usual, rough, they're mad/angry &/or they're trying to intimate someone. They aren't going "GRR SHUT UP 😾😾"

This is one example of a lot of things. This is also especially true when they only point shit out cause they don't like the book/author [& I mean point shit out that they wouldn't point out if it happened in a different book]

& ik there's ways to do things & the reviewer may be going "They did this poorly" not "They did this & this is inherently bad" but a lot phrase it in a way that makes it seem inherently bad.

Like it just makes me like their review less cause I'm just like "You made valid points but now you're just being annoying omg"

[locklearfitzpatrick64]

How To Secure Your Corporation With A Pix Firewall

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[stefanieharitos]

Saving Our Dropouts By Saving Math - Math Grades May Predict Who Survives High School

Difficult classes don't like the traditional 'chalk and talk' lesson (teacher exposition). Make use of a wide associated with approaches to your personal lessons where you try to add in 'multiple intelligences'. Even use a variety each lesson. "Terrorized" by math through school, Max believed he could never have great results Algebra Homework in any math class. Therefore, he "just knew" he couldn't pass the statistics class and Max "just knew" he would never be admitted towards business program that was his desired. it's hard for me to understand what the letters mean enormously helped is this and that is that so I get comfused next, i fall behind and do poorly on the test. So when I recognize it I strive the problem if I can't do it I get mad and put the book away. Ask your teacher if she can set aside some a person to help you before or after school with any subjects several have a problem with. Many schools offer afterschool study groups to assistance with class and homework complaints. You exactly what it to be able to solve a puzzle in order to solve a complaint you are having making free throws in basketball; but what does it mean to unravel an equation? To find the answer, you let's say? How do you know when anyone might have an pickup? It works? What does that intend? Very few Algebra students can actually say in words--with any real understanding--that to solve an equation means in order to locate values for the variables Mathematics homework tutors that make the equation TRUE. It takes practice, but as 1 does your homework get your past habit of writing any kind of think when do each problem. In case you think a step, record it and add an explanation to you and your family. You are causeing this to be paper something you Calculus homework make use of for review many weeks later. Your luck in finding them again depends on how long it has been since you've seen them, and even their irrespective of whether. As time passes, people move around. This means their trail may be hard stick to. When it comes to female friends, you might have no idea if possess married, or have married more than once. Not every women change their names when they marry, but that is something that you do not know.

[stmaryslibraryios]

A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay

Paul Davis is a university lecturer but has been off work for 8 months.  He has memory lapses and panic attacks ever since he was nearly killed.

We go back 8 months ago when he saw a car being driven very erratically by his mentor & friend Kenneth, from work.  Paul followed him and watched as Kenneth jumped out of his car and dumped something in a trash skip then pulled over when later Kenneth stopped in a lay by.   He thought his friend may be poorly.  However what Paul found were 2 dead women in the back of Kenneth’s car.

Kenneth had tried to kill Paul but was foiled by the arrival of police.  Kenneth is in prison serving time.

Paul is seeing a doctor, for counselling, regularly, especially as his memory lapses are becoming worse. His nightmares of that night continue.  One good thing was Paul's wife Charlotte, an estate agent, had become a lot more attentive towards him since the incident.

Paul begins to write a book to help release his demons, a book about what happened. 

Charlotte's birthday present to Paul is an old typewriter which he puts in his study.  Bizarrely it was the same make used by Kenneth’s victims before their murder.  The typewriter seems to take on a life of its own, typing out messages in the middle of the night.  Paul believes he is going mad that the dead women are trying to speak to him through this typewriter – maybe it was the one they actually used which was never found by the police?  He wants to see Kenneth, wants to ask him why he did what he did.  Paul starts to lose his mind and eventually his life.

I guessed what was going on halfway through.  I don’t know if he was trying to emulate Stephen King (who I noticed praised the book on the back cover) but it didn’t work.  In fact, it was quite ridiculous.   Poor ending disappointing reasons for murder and didn't quite add up. One minute Annas dad is in bed & she bids him goodnight then we're told he slept in the car.  If you have never read LB before, don’t start with this one.

Review by Lindy

[lucidtrust]

The mad doctor of blood island

You may also like our review of Woman of Mud. It is clear that the intention was to emphasize these “climactic” scenes but the way in which the scenes were shot were poorly executedįor the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1969) one and one-half graves out of five graves.ĭo you agree with our review? Comment below. The camera work pertaining to these scenes is eye damaging and excessively shaky. In addition, every time someone is at risk of being attacked, the camera zooms in and out. As such, the story line was convoluted and did not present a clear plot. Willard is trying to reunite with her father. But the main story appears to be about the whereabouts of Carlos’ father. The beginning of the film presents a green liquid substance that essentially increases the person’s pheromones and causes physiological and mental effects. It is difficult to pinpoint what the true premise of Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1969) was about. However, the “gore” scenes are very dated and over dramatized as was the style in the 1960s. The Mad Doctor of Blood Island is a 1969 Filipino horror film, co-directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon, and starring John Ashley, Eddie Garcia and Ronald Remy. In addition, the film incorporates multiple scenes of nudity. Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1969) has some blood and gore. However, what they find out is that people are turning into green monsters only for the desire to kill. Bill Foster who also travels to the island for research purposes. Initially for the purpose of visiting her father, Ms. Written and Edited by Grave Reviews Staff

[aion-rsa]

Geek Moments of the Last 15 Years That Shook Pop Culture

https://ift.tt/VgHdvsr

Can you believe Den of Geek has been around since 2007? That’s practically the olden days. And a lot has happened in pop culture since we launched. Superheroes certainly weren’t as pervasive as they currently are, the Oscars has made some serious shifts, major trends in gaming appeared (and sometimes disappeared), Disney has taken over the universe, Game of Thrones was a thing and we had our first female Doctor. And that’s not all…

We’ve taken stock of the major geek events of the last 15 years to take stock of how far we have come.

The Birth of the MCU (2008) 

When Iron Man was released on May 2, 2008, few would have imagined that a movie about a (at the time) second-tier Marvel Comics character would become ground zero for the most successful multimedia franchise of all time. Over a decade later, what has come to be known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe now spans 28 feature films (so far), multiple TV shows, and a level of pop culture saturation and box-office dominance beyond most studio executives’ wildest dreams. But the formula for that success was clearly laid out in Iron Man: a likable, charismatic lead; blockbuster action; a self-aware, lightly comedic tone to break the tension; and the constant awareness that there’s an even bigger world to be explored if the audience wants to come along.

Iron Man spawned two direct sequels, and star Robert Downey Jr. went on to play Tony Stark in a total of 10 films, with each entry not only upping the stakes on screen, but also at the box office, with other studios now measuring their own blockbuster success against that of Marvel Studios. The story of the MCU that began with Iron Man has now become so sprawling that it can only be understood in “phases,” with each set of movies all building up to payoffs in ever-larger scale. It’s a completely new way of looking at serialized storytelling on the big screen, and a “shared universe” code that Disney and Marvel’s competitors have yet to crack. Iron Man may be gone, but his legacy is still going strong. 

The Dark Knight DOESN’T get a best picture nomination (2009) 

Rarely is a thing that did not happen worth recording in the annals of history, geeky or otherwise. And yet, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences omitted Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight from its short list of Best Picture nominees in 2009, the awards season world changed forever. Viewed in retrospect by the industry as the culmination of a decade-long shift away from populist entertainment (read: big earners at the box office), The Dark Knight snub was all the more remarkable since the brooding superhero epic had managed to be recognized by most of the industry guilds, whose members also spill over into the Academy.

But come nomination time, The Dark Knight’s presumed spot was taken by The Reader, a relatively poorly reviewed Holocaust drama produced by Harvey Weinstein. The fallout from the snubbing was immense. In the following year, the Academy returned to nominating 10 pictures for the top award for the first time since 1944. The Dark Knight’s cold reception arguably paved the way for movies such as District 9, Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road, Get Out, Black Panther, and Joker finding room on the Oscar stage.

Minecraft arrives (2009)

Minecraft started as a technical exercise/passion project that likely would have been lost to history if it wasn’t for its determined developer and a dedicated group of fans. In 2014, it became the best-selling PC game of all time. In 2019, it became the best-selling game ever. Sales aside, Minecraft changed how games are promoted, talked about, and played. Many people heard about it via YouTube, and many learned how to play it from one of the legion of digital influencers who can trace their careers back to Minecraft. Simply put, it’s the most socially impactful game of the last 15 years, and its current popularity suggests it isn’t going anywhere.

Prestige TV gives way to franchise TV (2010) 

October 31, 2010 is a date that holds special importance: it’s when AMC first premiered The Walking Dead. At first glance, the Frank Darabont-run series seemed like an attempt to bring the sensibility of “prestige TV” such as Mad Men and The Sopranos to the zombie drama format. Eleven seasons and several spin-offs later, however, it’s clear that what AMC wanted with the Robert Kirkman comic adaptation was its own Marvel-esque franchise. Though prestige-quality TV shows still live on, the prestige era has slowly given way to the franchise era. Whether it’s the Arrowverse, Star Trek, or even Marvel itself on Disney+, franchises are the way forward for TV.

Game of Thrones rocks the world (2011) 

“Winter is coming.” Just over a decade ago, these innocuous words became charged with dark foreboding—and unadulterated excitement. That’s because Game of Thrones came to HBO and changed television forever. The first long-form series with spectacle that could compete with cinemas, and arguably the last of the “watercooler shows” where everyone seemed to treat it as appointment viewing, Thrones defined the TV landscape for nearly a decade. Despite the toxicity of the “discourse” after its final season, for most of its run, this was an elegantly crafted ensemble that drew on George R.R. Martin’s even richer novels. The performances, the twists, the deaths, the one-liners, and even those damn dragons remain with us still, long after our watch has ended.

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Dark Souls ushers in a new era of game design (2011)

At the time of release, Dark Souls was best known as that “really hard game” that many assumed would only appeal to a relatively small audience. But over the next decade, it popularized a new genre and changed how games are discussed and designed. Dark Souls’ minimalist storytelling, bold difficulty, and methodical combat inspired gamers to change their expectations and made developers alter their tactics. Those who were impacted by Souls’ innovations sought out anything that reminded them of it; those who despise the game continue to debate its impact on the industry. Love it or hate it, anyone who hopes to understand this era of game design must first understand what made developer FromSoftware’s no-compromises triumph such an unlikely innovator.

Streaming services dominate the TV landscape (2012)

According to FX’s research staff, the year 2012 saw 288 original scripted programs air on television. By 2018, that number grew to 487. That, my friends, is television in the streaming era. No other technological innovation over the past 15 years has affected mass media more than streaming. Starting in 2013 with Netflix’s release of its first original series House of Cards (or 2012 with Lilyhammer if we want to get super technical), the ability to reliably stream original, high-quality TV shows as part of a subscription package completely revolutionized pop culture. 

Netflix led the charge in streaming originals, first with House of Cards, then with other bingeable titles like Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, The Witcher, and more. The streaming giant’s all-at-once release preference upended the traditional weekly viewing model. And its success in doing so also served as a clarion call for other major media conglomerates to get in on the action. From Amazon to Disney to Warner Bros. to Apple to even something called a “Quibi,” every major Hollywood player needed their own streaming service. 

This glut of streaming services has led to a truly overwhelming entertainment landscape but it’s also opened up opportunities for titles previously thought unadaptable. Beloved genre classics The Wheel of Time and Foundation each received their own streaming series in 2021. None other than The Lord of The Rings is next on the docket, set to spend half a billion of Amazon’s dollars to premiere in September.

The rise of “elevated horror” (2010s)

Let us be clear: intelligent horror has been around forever. But the last 15 years have seen, at best, an acknowledgment for a kind of credible horror that people who would otherwise balk at the genre can acclaim. “Elevated horror” has become a catch-all term for the kind of chiller that eschews gore for big themes—see The Witch, The Babadook, Raw, Hereditary, and Saint Maud. The term is divisive—at worst it’s a way for people to look down their noses at mainstream horror—but it has opened dialogue about why the genre is so frequently overlooked at awards season. It has started to break through, too: Jordan Peele won an Oscar for his screenplay for Get Out, and last year, Julia Ducournau’s Raw follow-up, Titane, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. It’s a great time to be a horror hound.

Disney buys Marvel, then Lucasfilm, then Fox (2012) 

In 2012, George Lucas sold his movie studio to Disney for $4 billion. Star Wars now belonged to the company that had just months before changed how we thought about superhero movies and cinematic universes with Marvel’s The Avengers. We knew Star Wars would never be the same again, and the franchise’s expansion didn’t stop at a sequel trilogy of movies—the new era of Star Wars embraced standalone films and live-action TV series for the first time. Disney has grown quite a bit since 2012, too. The success of Marvel and Star Wars has led to other landmark deals, like Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox and its partnership with Sony to bring Spider-Man to the MCU. These big moves will continue to change Hollywood for years to come.

The Pokémon Go phenomenon (2016) 

The Pokémon Go phenomenon of 2016 occasionally feels like a fever dream. Was there really a time when we were all outside hunting AR renditions of Pokémon with friends and strangers? Was there any value to that “Summer of Pokémon Go” beyond whatever memories remain of what now seems like a much simpler time? While there are times when it might feel like Pokémon Go was just a fad, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only is the mobile app still doing well, it ushered in an era of mobile AR games that all hoped to recapture that magic. Many have failed, but the success of Pokémon Go has been enough to inspire developers to seriously pursue AR and VR concepts that were once considered a sci-fi dream. If nothing else, those memories of Pokémon Go will always serve as a reminder of the power of gaming.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds makes battle royale games a phenomenon (2017) 

It might be hard to remember now but there was a time when Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite weren’t the biggest battle royale games in the world. The roots of the genre stretch further back to survival titles such as DayZ and H1Z1, but it’s really 2017’s PUBG that perfected the winning formula of throwing players onto a massive map and forcing them to eliminate each other until there’s one last survivor standing. PUBG’s winning combination of strategy and adrenaline quickly became popular among online gamers. Four months after its release, PUBG had already logged over 10 million matches played. It may not be the most popular battle royale game anymore, but it’s possible many of gaming’s other big innovations in the 2010s wouldn’t exist without it (or Fortnite, its early big competitor). It’s adoption of cross-platform play, including on mobile devices, was a major turning point for online gaming.

The First female Doctor (2017) 

Fifteen years. Three Doctors. (Three and a half if we count John Hurt. Three and two halves if we count Jo Martin. Potentially several more if… let’s stop counting for sanity’s sake.) In January 2009, during a special episode of Doctor Who Confidential, David Tennant’s successor was revealed to be relative unknown Matt Smith. He was too young! His face was too confusing! Doctor Who was ruined! Four years later, in August 2013, during a knuckle-bitingly awkward anniversary show featuring One Direction broadcasting live from a pocket universe, the next Doctor was revealed to be Peter Capaldi. He was too old! His face scared children! Doctor Who was definitely ruined! Four years after that, just after the July 2017 Wimbledon Men’s Finals on BBC One, Jodie Whittaker was revealed as the Thirteenth Doctor. She was too girl! Her face was all smooth! Doctor Who was one hundred percent, super-duper, no take backs, double triple ruined. That’s not forgetting the three different showrunners in those 15 years, each of whom ruined Doctor Who in their own special way (too populist/not populist enough/Chris Chibnall). Next up? The return of Russell T. Davies, the 60th anniversary, and Ncuti Gatwa as the brand new Doctor. Bring it on.

Korean culture booms (2020)

For some, the global dominance of Netflix’s Squid Game in 2021 was a huge surprise. For fans of K-culture, it was just the latest height of hallyu (a term literally meaning “Korean wave” in Chinese), part of a successful Korean economic strategy to become a global exporter of popular culture that began in the late 1990s following the Asian financial crisis and continues to this day. In 2012, PSY conquered the music world with the gloriously catchy dance track “Gangnam Style,” becoming the first Korean artist to break through into the American market; the music video would go on to become the first to hit one billion views on YouTube. In 2017, BTS won Top Social Artist at the Billboard Music Awards, becoming the first K-pop group to top the U.S. charts a year later. In 2020, Parasite became the first foreign-language film to win the Best Picture Oscar. And, in 2021, Squid Game was the most-Googled show of the year. As we head into the next 15 years of Den of Geek, look for K-culture to become an increasingly large part of the global pop culture conversation.

Black Panther DOES get a Best Picture nomination (2019) 

Black Panther continued breaking down barriers a year after its release, when it cracked the Academy’s Best Picture ceiling for superhero movies in 2019. While others had chipped away at industry cynicism, such as Heath Ledger winning a posthumous Oscar for The Dark Knight and James Mangold and Scott Frank’s nomination for their Logan script, Black Panther was the first superhero film to get a nod for the top prize. Then again, nothing was ever conventional about Black Panther, a movie that even Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter tried to block because his team didn’t think all-Black casts could carry a successful blockbuster. More than $1 billion at the box office and three Oscar wins later, all we can say is “Wakanda Forever.”

The rise and rise of comic books (ongoing)

There are two comics stories over the last 15 years that have made the medium what it is today. The first is the superhero story—cape comics, scrambling for relevance 

in the face of a multimedia juggernaut that first co-opted then eclipsed their cultural relevance. The audience for an Avengers comic is a rounding error next to the audience of a movie, forcing comics into increasingly shorter reboot/relaunch cycles to try to maintain relevance in their media conglomerates. While this was going on, though, the comics medium has actually become healthier than ever. There has been an explosion in webcomics in recent years, thanks in large part to the growth of social media. Webcomics invaded cape comics, and after 15 years of chasing the movies, comics finally might have figured out their identity.

The post Geek Moments of the Last 15 Years That Shook Pop Culture appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Character Study Angel Dust and Valentino Relationship

This will be a post will be a look on Vizepop’s newest music video for Hazbin Hotel “addict as well as a deep dive of Angel Dust and Valentino Relationship!

Alright full disclosure Hazbin Hotel is an adult cartoon meant for a mature audience and the subject matter is very dark despite it’s cheery outlook so  if you’re very sensitive to this type of subject or under age please think before you watch the video and also this post will contain dark subject matter on abuse as well. Okay with all that out of the way please enjoy it’s review time!

First of all this music video is incredible but what’s even more amazing is the character building for Angel Dust and for Valentino. It shows how toxic and abusive Val is to Angel but it showcase his friendship with Cherri. At the start of the dance Angel's face is not just looking towards the audience, he's clearly looking at someone specifically, in the audience making. Especially with that hair flip he does. He’s doing this for someone one... and then we get a fantastic cut away to Valentino and it is bone chilling.

He’s doing this for Val he wants to be special to him; the way Val’s sun glasses frame Angel silhouette shows how he’s trapped because wants to be loved by him. It should also be noted during this part of the song “I think I deserve some praise...” Also alludes how starved for affection Angel Dust is and wants that praise from Val specifically. But this is how Val keeps Angel Dust under his control in a sense of that he’ll receive it if he’s “good” and does what he says. We get more symbolism of this when Valentino blows smoke towards Angel Dust. And it’s in the shape of a heart that’s being blown towards Angel and is wrapped around him. 

In a sense he’s kind of blowing Angel a kiss...

Not only that but the fact that it’s smoke also shows how fickle Val’s love is for Angel Dust is. It can disappear and go away at any moment, and that’s why Angel so desperate and tries so hard to obtain it. And the way the smoke wraps around Angel shows Val’s love it’s more like a chain and leash. Though it makes us wonder “why does he love Val”, and how did he end up working for him. Though we actually get an answer during his song Angel Dust when starts he sings about his past and how he got to hell.

 This scene in the when Angel Dust sings “Despite having overdose and ending up coma-toasted...” giving backstory on how Angel dust died. From Vivziepop (and the Hazbin Hotel wiki) we know he has comes from a Mafia family and has a bad relationship with most of his family members (who are in hell). Which may have been the reason why he started doing drugs (so he had a rough life). Initial he looks distraught and saddened about mentioning but it’s only when the smoke wraps around him and point his towards Val he smiles continues to “...I don’t give a damn~”  locks eyes on to Val which cuts away to Val wickedly smiling being very pleased. 

What this sequence tells us is Angel while being very sad about his past he doesn’t care about it now because he has Val; he made him forgot about his sorrows!  Right there is where we have our answer, he views as his savior. It implies that Valentino maybe the one that found Angel Dust and “saved him” but in reality to take advantage of him in a weakened state. That’s why Val has an evil grin when he hears Angel sing that, he knows this and as long as he has that card to play he’ll always have a reason to have Angel stay. Which is a real thing an actually abuser does; they use things they’ve done for you as a trump card when there is an argument or guilt trip you into staying with them or forgiving them. Maybe the reason he has stayed with Val for so long...

Why does he seem unimpressed...

I don’t want to go over every piece of lyrics but he basically goes on singing he gives up on the idea of trying to be good and sober accepting that this is his the rest of his life. Ready and very willing live his live like this as he is now to gestures out to Valentino “your playing with now til the end of the night” as he looks confused to this (I’ll get to why I pointed this out). Willing to live on this “heaven and hell high” going on to sing “ he’s addicted to the madness...”and then it then flashes to him in a crying being comforted by Cherri in his room. I believe this is a flash forward after the show when Angel went home. It is clear he’s sad but also angry at himself... Not only that but Valentino may have done something awful to him... 

Earlier I pointed out he was gesturing to Valentino because he’s willing to give Val everything because Angel actually love Val during it... and that’s what angers him (Val doesn’t want to be an item with Angel). And during those moments flashing of with Cherri it shows that he’s going to regret that choice,  foreshadowing somethings going to happen leading up to this... Angel’s not addicted to his life style and I think deep down he doesn’t want it in reality he’s saying he’s addicted to Valentino. And he knows very well he’s not treating him right and he’s bad for him. That’s the scary thing about being in an abusive relationship despite being poorly treated you and wanting to leave you can’t. You can’t help but remember the good moments where they show you affection that makes you think its worth saying. And this next scene I think happened before Angel went home with Val (I assume that he’s the one driving Angel Dust home in this scene). This scene just show how much of a scumbag Val and how he really sees Angel.  

What he’s really cares about is the money that Angel Dust makes not Angel himself, he’s clearly an after thought not even giving him a second glance. Angel is obviously upset at waiting in the wing for Val to pay attention to him. The two girls making out (yes they’re important) Angel can’t even look at them and makes sure he’s looking the other way... Because Angel was hoping that Val would show him some love too but no the first thing he does is check how much he made. And he put in so much effort in the show just for Val and impress him too. You’d assume he’d thank and praise him the amazing show he put on and that performance was especially for Valentino. Though the way he’s just calmly containing his disappointment and anger shows that this is not the first time he’s done this to him just leaving him on the back burner. Just in a sighing slouch and in his head he’s probably thinking “what the hell was I to expect” or “why the hell am I not surprised... “

“Oh Angel didn’t see you there...”

And only when Val finishes counting all the money does he pull in Angel for a kiss, this pretty much saying “Oh Angel, you made me so much money I can reward you now...” making his love very conditional. And the way he snaps his neck up “oh sorry didn’t see you there...” as if he just remembered him now. He doesn’t love Angel he only loves that money that he brings in. I have think that Angel Dust only tries to be “the best” in porn studios so that he can stay on Val’s radar. But I think at this point in the relationship Angel just experience so much of the abuse and neglect from Val he just expects it. He is just unimpressed and he just drained from all of this. Which tells us two things one Angel Dust may have been under Vals thumb for years and Angel is at his wits end. The expression on Angel Dust face is practically saying “Oh you notice me now” when Val finally starts paying attention to him and Angel just wants to be special to him. And clearly wants to be something more to him than one of his hoes... he’s coming to the realization that may not never get that. He’s just a toy to him something that he can play with and toss out.

This scene just makes me so sad... when Val forces Angel into the kiss seconds before (if you look carefully) you can see Angel he really was leaning in for the kiss and closing his eyes so he can enjoy it. Showing apart of him really loved Valentino and he wanted this so badly; for his love & affection this just breaks my heart. Val managed to manipulate him to the point that where he thinks he truly loves him. The reason why Val wants to kiss Angel Dust because he thinks one kiss is all he needs to make Angel stay with him. You can see the gears slowly turning in his head, he’s catching on... aware of his mistreatment...this kiss is damage control. But you can see in Angel Dust’s eye he’s questioning “is it worth it...” now Angel starting to get the full picture, even if Val wants him he doesn’t care for him and tries to stop Val before he gets sucked in again. He’s had enough and this maybe the first time Angel rejected his advancements, that’s why Valentino is angry in a sense “you’ve never disobeyed me before”, and when an abuser loses control that’s when they start getting physically violent; this maybe the tipping point of when the abuse started to escalate. And we don’t know what happened after it just flashes them going to the Porn Studio. 

Which cuts to him throwing fit... after something happens and it’s so heartbreaking cause he clearly blames himself.  And just sinks down on to the floor and cries into his hands. We don’t know hat happened but we get our answer... near the end of the song we have Angel Dust at the Hazbin Hotel to now. Where he smoking just like Val he smokes a heart but it’s a broken one and it saying he’s addicted to the sorrow. Meaning he has given up on the idea of Valentino really loving him with him singing  “...when the buzz ends by tomorrow” and he’s singing about the love he had for Valentino is gone it was good for a while he had it  but now he has to deal with the price of being “addicted to that drug...or getting involved with Val in this case.”

Now he deal “with the poison in his vain” talking about the trauma he received from Valentino... That night he raped Angel Dust in the studio I had a screen shot of the shot of him with Valentino but I though it would be too dark. And he’s clearly dealing with aftermath of the pain and trauma of the relationship and dealing with the scars of it. Which is why there’s a flash of seeing Val in the mirror for a second. But “he’s dependent on Valentino” and has nothing but fear for him now; blames himself and his naivety believing that Val would love him. Before Val’s love was Angel’s drug, it made him feel happy and forget his troubles but eventually that high went down. Loving Valentino ended up hurting and damaging him even more.. and has a new pain that’s hurting him. It’s sad because this is what victims do sometimes they blame themselves. Angel did nothing wrong the poor guy he was manipulated and he’s to the point where Val had made him trapped now. 

Which shows the real reason why he wants to stay in the hotel so he won’t have to be so dependent of Val. Slowly but surely try to get better because in the Hazbin Hotel he still working for Val but it living in the hotel. Though the way he pushes of Charlie he’s clearly trying to hide the pain he suffer especially with how he cares himself. Pretending to be carefree and cheerful which makes it so painful to watch him force himself to be happy. I just love Angel Dust so much he’s just so precious! 

PLEASE SAVE HIM ALREADY!

Okay hope you all enjoy the post