#and a colang takes so much time too | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

oosteven-universe · 3 years

Text

Becstar #5

Becstar #5 Mad Cave Studios 2021 Written by Joe Corallo Illustrated by Lorenzo Colangeli Lettered by Joamette Gil Becstar and crew's journey across the stars has led up to this moment. Becstar and Mordecai faceoff with the fate of the universe and the godlike power of the creation gauntlet at stake. Will Becstar succeed in spite of all of the setbacks or will Mordecai wield the gauntlet and become the most powerful being in the universe? The opening is cute and shows us how Bec and Sally meet for the first time. It’s a nice moment to see in the final issue of the arc as well as how it ties into the main story is even better still. Mordecai has arrived to take what he wants and believes he’s entitled to but can Becstar thwart his plans is the real question. Well for that answer and more you’ll have to read the book because I’m not giving it away. This certainly does not go any which way that I expected it to and yet it completely and utterly makes sense as it plays out and the only regret that I have is the effect it has on one of the girls. The way that we see this being told is well rendered. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really goes a long way in bringing us their personalities. The pacing is extremely well rendered and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more we see these events take us by surprise. How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen in some great ways. The avenues that the layers open up for exploration do such a nice job in bringing depth, dimension and complexity to the story. The sheer chutzpah that we see is wonderfully done and I have to admit that the surprises thrill me to no end. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is exceptionally well achieved. I’m still not wholly sold with these interiors, I mean while they do a decent job it just isn’t something I care for at the end of the day. Too simple, too cute and not nearly enough detail for me but personal feelings aside they do precisely what is needed of them. They bring expression and feeling to their faces. We could use better backgrounds but regardless we get to see some nice depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a great eye for how colour works. I really like the bright pops of bold colour that we see to give those moments some extra oomph. Bec has been holding onto to something for far too long and whether that’s out of love, comfort or whatnot isn’t quite clear but she’s really going to need to grow up and move forward if she’s going to become a healthy individual again. It is almost sad really to lose one's friends in this manner and not know how to cope so hopefully we’ll see her come away from this a much better person. This has certainly been a delightful story and shows the power of friendship with a fair amount of fighting and action.

#Comic Books #Comics Reviews #Mad Cave Studios

1 note · View note

dgarski · 4 years

Photo

This Journey

Perspective and the bigger picture

Most of this year (2020), has been about me trying to figure out how to get back to some sense of normalcy in my life. After collapsing last year and losing just about everything I owned, including my identity, my purpose and my direction, with the help of so many people, I somehow managed to climb out of the depths and start my life all over again from scratch. Finding an apartment was a serious challenge, but I did find a place, and I moved into a shoe box with no windows, as soon as I got back home to Orlando last January. I even managed to get my job back; and was offered my former full-time status, as soon as I finished retraining. I am so grateful to my bosses in the office for helping me get that part of my life back in order. Finding a place to live, purchasing the hundreds of things I would need for my new apartment, getting my old job back and slowly trying to reform some sort of a familiar life, hasn't been nearly the struggle that I've had to face, when dealing with all of the stuff going on inside of my head. I must have told my story to a hundred people, since I've been back. Unfortunately, just about everyone I talked with, wanted to make my story about "their gawd". They wanted me to know that their gawd saved me from dying. Their gawd has a purpose for me. Their gawd works in mysterious ways and I should be forever grateful that their gawd let me live. Needless to say, I stopped telling my story. I am well aware that these people were only trying to help. I don't know how much of it was help or just self-indulgence and self-righteousness on their parts. It wasn't the kind of help I, (an Atheist) needed. Yes, dealing with believers has always been a difficult challenge for me. When I tell these people that I am NOT a believer, I might as well be speaking a different language. They hear me, but they're not truly listening to my words. So, I stopped saying anything more about my collapse, and the ensuing mental struggles with everything I went through last year. I knew a year ago, that I would be facing a very long process of letting go of everything that I could, and that it would be a very slow and painful process.

You know how people sometimes jokingly say "The struggle is real"? Well, in my case, I believed that no truer words had ever been spoken. When I say "struggle", I mean the mental processing. Getting my physical well-being back on track, has been a struggle. I had to learn how to take my medication every day and get some kind of exercise, and try to change my diet so that I'm not always living on junk food. With the help of the doctors I've seen and maintaining a regular daily ritual of taking my medication, regulating my body has become far easier than anything else I've had to deal with. Mostly, I feel strong enough to do my job. However, a few times over this past summer, I felt really low and deep in despair. Much of this had to do with my medication and the side effects that sometimes come from putting harsh chemicals in my body everyday, just so I can live. It's true what some say about having to take medication...it does fuck with you both physically as well as mentally. There have been many nights where I simply didn't sleep because of the pain in my joints and in my muscles. Luckily, the pain does go away within a day or so. This is part of the mental processing that sometimes slows me down. The pain comes and goes, but sometimes, it really messes with my thoughts too. I absolutely understand depression now. I understand the stages of grieving and mourning. When something traumatic happens to you, it changes you forever. I don't care who you are, you do change. Sometimes, you might even start to feel sorry for yourself. I really try hard to never let that happen. Unfortunately, I'm not always as strong as I wish I could be. Like so many, we paste on that brave face and push ourselves to get through the day the best that we can. Feeling sorry for yourself, is fleeting. It's an illusion that takes up a lot of time and takes a lot of energy to maintain. So, I try to get past it. Some days are better than others. I do everything I can to try to remember just how far I've come in such a short amount of time. I try to be positive and practice gratitude. Again, it does remain a struggle sometimes. Lately, I have noticed changes in myself that I can't explain. I feel a strong sense that there really is this thing called "Having a clearer perspective and better understanding the bigger picture". It truly is all about perspective and what truly matters the most in life. I have always known about it, but since all of this happened to me, the significance of these understandings, is far greater now. I am slowly learning that there is indeed an element of relinquishing that needs to take place, when I feel I am struggling. Letting go is more than just trying to leave things in the past and moving forward. It is also about understanding that only I can be the one to find peace in my life. Nobody else is responsible for that. I have known all along that time was going to be the only healer of such mental wounds. I had to learn another form of patience and forgiveness. I told myself earlier this year that I would push through as best I could; and hopefully start to see the better changes come about, maybe by this Fall. Here we are, looking at the end of Fall and the beginnings of winter in Florida. I'm starting to see that I was right about my time frame estimates. When I was brought up to Wisconsin, we left Orlando on March 22, last year. Ten months later, almost to the day, I left Wisconsin and drove back to Florida. On November 24th, it will be ten months that I have been back in Florida. Somehow, I felt that the "ten month" thing was going to be a significant measurement in the way I felt about how far I've come and how far I still have to go. I felt like the equal amounts of time spent away from my home here in Orlando, and the time being back, might actually mean something in the mental healing process. I think it has actually become exactly that. A friend recently told me that with all that happened to me last year, it could be viewed or considered a "traumatic" experience. Well, yeah...it really was. However, I never really thought about the term P.T.S.D., "post traumatic stress disorder." That seemed lie kind of dramatic idea, but then again, who am I to dismiss the possibility of it actually being a thing I have? I don't know how much of what I am going through is something I can control or if it is a lasting thing that will be a part of the healing for me for a long time to come. I think that in many ways, my selective ignorance of the dramatic usage of big words to label a prognosis (like a disorder), as to my physical or mental well-being, has been a sort of blissful approach, keeping me clear of the drama. Me not knowing, might actually be a good thing.

Okay, back to the bigger picture. This thing, these changes that I have noticed about myself, have to do with seeing things for what they really are. Relinquishing the things I cannot control and trusting in the fact that certain things have a way balancing out and taking care of themselves, with little or no interference from me. It's actually very freeing to think this way. If I care less about the chaos, the more time I have to find my peace and quiet. Yes, some shit pisses me off, and I get angry or upset. We all do. Lately, I have been hearing that voice in my head telling me to let it go. I let it go and I feel better. You know how we all wish that we had better things, better outcomes, better ways in our life that could maybe make us feel a little happier? I'm like that too. I found myself dwelling far too long on the things I don't have and less on the things I do have. That is not a good version of me trying to let go. That's me living in the past again. I had to learn to stop doing that. Then one day last week, I saw a video on YouTube that changed those thoughts, in a matter of minutes.

This video was about the real, genuine struggles of a young girl (Emily Colang) in Seattle, who lost her ability to walk after being in a vehicle accident that nearly killed her, back in 2014.

Her stories can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyrG_goG7iyVqV9epEyE4eg

After watching several of her videos, I felt ashamed of myself for feeling the way I have about dwelling in (what I perceived as) my own struggles. I felt like I was supposed to find this girl online, and learn about her struggles...the kind of struggles that dwarf mine and yours. I don't have struggles now. I have challenges. The difference is the simple fact that I have choices to fix my challenges. Struggles come from not having as many (or any) choices to fix things. I have a place to sleep. I have a vehicle. I have a job. I have my health...and I can walk. Do you ever stop to think about how different your life would be if you couldn't walk? How different your life would be if you were stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of your life? I know one person who faces this reality every day of his life. He is a true inspiration, in every sense of the word. My buddy Scotty is in a chair after surviving a horrific vehicle crash many years ago.

After watching these videos of this girl, Emily, I immediately thought of Scotty. It made me feel humbled again. It made me feel like I needed to push harder to get past all of the chaos and try my damnedest to move forward. I needed to see those videos of Emily. I felt the changes in my soul. I felt like I was able to let go of so much pain. Who would have though that something as simple as watching a few videos, would make the difference in the big picture?

Things are slowly becoming clearer for me. I am seeing what truly matters and what truly doesn't. Ten months since being back in Orlando, has kind of fallen right into my anticipated calculations of healing. There is a phrase I live by (along with hundreds more). "The past and the future are asymmetrical. You can know the past, but you cannot influence it. You cannot know the future, but you can influence it". Allowing the healing to take on many forms, takes time. Time heals the wounds. We all have our scars and our wounds. Some of those scars and wounds never fully heal. Sometimes the only way for a wound to heal is to stop picking at it. Learning to let go and moving forward, also takes a very long time. I'm doing the best that I can with what I've got...and I've got a lot.

0 notes

hadarlaskey · 4 years

Text

Citizens of the World

The films of late-blooming Italian writer-director-actor Gianni de Gregorio are a little like sitting out on a sunny European piazza, the breeze blowing across your cheek while you slowly nurse a glass of cool Chablis. His films are gentle to a fault, and boast a quality that is rare in most other cinema: they are deeply relaxing, and seldom offer anything more than a sting of wistful comic episodes always opt for the humorously melancholic over the mournfully dramatic.

This delightful fourth feature sees de Gregorio playing the same lovable, wine-quaffing schlub as previous works (2008’s Mid-August Lunch and 2011’s The Salt of Life), only this time he’s a retired Latin professor whose quality of life is being hampered by his meagre pension. His old pal Giorgetto (Giorgio Colangeli) is in an even worse place, having been a layabout for most of his adult life and owing bar tabs all over town.

On the advice of a loosely connected friend of a friend, they head out into the suburbs of Rome and meet the garrulous and salty furniture restorer Attilio (Ennio Fantastichini), and a few shots of grappa later, and the three of them have reached the mutual decision to leave Rome and set up a hotel on an island in the Azores. A bottle of beet only costs €1.30 over there, so their money would take them a lot further.

The story ambles along as these three woefully unprepared brothers attempt and make some fast bucks for their trip as their initial certitude is constantly dampened by small realisations and epiphanies, such as when de Gregorio’s professor finally manages to talk to the blonde woman who drinks in his local bar, or when Attilio becomes sentimental over the prospect of giving his dog to his daughter.

A subplot involving a rough-sleeping Malian immigrant Abu (Salih Saadin Khalid) who the men take under their wing is a little trite, and his character is a little too lightly sketched and malleable for their acts of generosity to come across as much more than self-regarding wish fulfilment. Yet the film does float by gracefully on a wave of easy, lightly ironic charm, and de Gregorio himself is just an extremely warm and funny screen presence.

His films tend to be about elderly people attempting (and failing miserably) to rekindle the pleasures of a carefree youth, and frankly it’d be grand if he keeps making subtle variations of this very robust template for a few more years to come.

The post Citizens of the World appeared first on Little White Lies.

source https://lwlies.com/reviews/citizens-of-the-world/

#movie

0 notes