#but i watched a plot synopsis on youtube

[diaospuppy]

Two Worlds - โลกสองใบ ใจดวงเดียว

Official Poster - Series coming 2023

[joocomics]

LOSER(S)

06. yes, sir — 18+

pairing: youtuber!theo x fem!reader

synopsis: the charming guy running the youtube channel you enjoy watching mostly because of him and not the games he’s playing, moves in the apartment across from yours, and turns out to be the biggest asshole you’ve encountered in years

genre: smut w/ sprinkle of plot wc: 1927

chapter contains: foreplay, edging, marking, choking

a/n: please, keep in mind english is not my first language, i apologise in advance for any mistakes i’ve might missed

!! this is pure fiction for entertainment purposes

📁 loser(s) masterlist

It was fun until Taeyang’s phone started ringing from the nightstand.

You keep your fingers laced through his hair as he moves his tongue up your neckline while holding you on his lap. He allows himself to suck on some skin while you grip on the strands of hair tighter from the thrill of his mouth turning more greedy with each bite. The effects his grazing teeth have on your sensitive body feel so nice, especially after you haven't been intimate in two weeks, but you quickly snap out of it after remembering that you can’t show up marked at work tomorrow.

“Tae, slow down,” you mewl, but he’s unable to detach himself from your neck and you have to use some force. “I can’t go to work with bruises.”

“You’ll cover them up with makeup.” He simply says before aiming for a new bite.

“Are you telling me what to do?” You grip his jaw, staring at him challengingly.

The corners of his eyes crease as they twinkle with playful sparks, and you cannot help but grin, because they're enough to show the mood he's in today. However, your laughter quickly turns into a gasp after he swiftly lays you on your back.

“I am,” he states and places a kiss below your bra, “and you’re going to listen.” He locks eyes with yours while lowering his lips. Kiss after kiss, he travels down your stomach, letting his wet tongue roam around your bellybutton before pressing his lips against your skin again. “Say yes, doll.”

With two hands he lifts your hips up from the mattress. His fingers tease your panties, ready to drag them down any second now.

“Make me.” You dare him.

The unexpected sound of Taeyang’s alarm completely shatters the moment, and you let out a deep sigh from the interruption.

He moves on his knees to take his phone from the nightstand, and just by the frustrated look that suddenly glooms his face, you know you’re not going to finish what you started.

“Shit.” He jumps from the bed looking around the room. “Shit, I completely forgot I have to go live in five minutes.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish.” He puts on the hoodie he drags out from his wardrobe and hurries to his desk. “I’m doing a stream with Keeho.”

“Keeho?” Your brows jump in surprise. “As in Keeho the…”

“Yeah, that guy.”

“Oh, I’m a big fan of him actually.” You stand up, wanting to take a peek at his computer screen. “He’s a hottie.”

Taeyang removes your hands the moment you hang them from his shoulders.

“Put on some clothes and move. You can’t just stand behind me like that.”

“You don’t think your viewers will enjoy what they see?”

You tease him by taking a seat on his desk. Your bare legs dangle next to him playfully meanwhile his hands click on the keyboard in a rush to get the stream started.

“I think they will enjoy it too much.” He shoots you a quick glance which was a mistake.

The small freshly made bruise on your neck is exposed by your hair and steals his attention right away. He didn’t even realise that he would end up leaving a mark; he didn’t kiss your neck with the plan to do so. The only thing he knows is that he didn’t wanted to stop. Not from a desire to be possessive over you, but because he’s come to love having your taste on his tongue.

Although, now that he thinks about it, letting you walk out knowing he left a trace on your body doesn’t sound so bad.

“I think so too.” You agree, disappearing from his gaze.

You weren’t planning on getting on his nerves.

It sounds untrue - your entire friendship is built on you picking fights with each other. Playing cat and mouse.

But he told you to wait for the stream to end so you can continue from where you left off, however, waiting ended up being more difficult to achieve than expected.

You can’t just sit wet in you underwear and do nothing when he’s on the other side of the room. So close to reach…

You move on your knees, slowly and discreetly, to avoid being caught by the camera. The fact you know this is a bad idea makes you even more excited to settle under Taeyang’s desk. Your heart races with adrenaline as you get closer.

He gives you a signal with his fingers to go away, but you only smile mischievously while getting more comfortable between his legs. You spread out his thighs a little more, roaming around his crotch area while he’s in the middle of the game. Your hands slow down to ghost over his cock which has softened, but not for long.

Taeyang tries his best not to look down as you rub your palm against him. The moment you grip his cock he starts regretting the decision not to wear sweatpants over his boxers. The material of his calvin klein pair is barely doing anything to prevent the delight from your touch. In fact, it doesn’t prevent any of it at all. It starts flooding his body in waves, one after another, as you make the first squeeze on the sides of his semi hard on.

He got hard all over again embarrassingly fast.

“Ah, shit.” He scowls with eyes scanning different directions of the computer screen.

Whatever is happening during the game is definitely helping him out in covering up his emotions.

With time you got to know bits of Taeyang’s personality, and you’re aware of his good self control, hence why you know you should take things a step further if you want a proper reaction.

You lean closer and stick out your flat tongue, running it against his inner thigh in a warm wet stripe; a gentle long licking which eventually turns into a soft kiss that sends a new, but even stronger wave through his body.

Although he keeps his full attention on the stream, Taeyang still notices the tenderness of your mouth. You’ve never kissed him like this before.

You hear his deep sigh of resignation as you guide your lips up - in the direction of his shaft. The clicking sounds in the room suddenly stop for a moment, but your kisses continue, spreading from his balls to his stiff clothed length meanwhile your nails leave scratching marks on his skin. You think he’s giving up; that he’s finally about to do something, but you’re wrong - he resumes the conversation with Keeho, and the game, without acknowledging you.

Your fearless hand palms his erection once again. It’s so vivid, all compressed inside the tight fabric, leaking under your thumb. Occasionally you feel it moving in need to break out of the restraints.

“I’m not going to put up with this.” He tilts his head soon enough while staring at the screen, but he believes you’re aware that in reality he’s actually speaking to you.

With slow motions you massage the prominent shape, frustrating Taeyang’s mind and body at the same time. One tug at a time.

It’s like a reward for you when you see him pull the hoodie over his head. You can’t see it well from down here, but his face must be burning up, and he’s doing everything he can to hide it. His voice remains calm and collected though which only arouses you further.

You’re so immersed in the moment that you don’t realise when exactly he tells everyone that he’ll return in a second.

You haven’t seen his facial features so tense in a long time.

When Taeyang slides backwards into his gamer chair, taking off his headset, it’s like you’re experiencing a deja vu moment from your first confrontation few nights after he moved in the building. He looks just as irritated as he was back then with gaze cold as the breeze that was blowing outside the windows; the way he tries to control his temper is the same as well.

“Having fun?” His palms land on his bare thighs in anticipation as he waits for you to come out under the desk. “Come here,” he insists. A sharp curl of his lip follows. “You’re not planning to stay there forever, are you, sweetheart?”

“I want to have fun too,” you confess with a perky smile. The innocent tone sounds far from your real one and it forces a chuckle out of his lips - one that show his disbelief.

Nevertheless, you notice the way his tongue presses against the inner side of his cheek, and the way his eyes keep peeking at the computer screen which tells you his frustrations are not fading away soon.

“You out of all people should know that there’s a time and place for that.”

You slowly crawl to him and remain on your knees. Obedient, pretty position that has Taeyang wanting to drop everything and switch his attention on you, and only you. He gulps, watching you stay still, half-naked, like you’re waiting for a command, if only you were able to take one.

“I can be really quiet.” You keep pushing his buttons. “Let me show you.”

You look him daringly in the eye, and he responds with the same intense expression. You can’t pinpoint what’s the reason, but the mean spark in his stare excites you even more when his cock is so obviously hard. It has you wondering about the things he would do just to cum.

His upper body leans forward, erasing the distance between his face and yours.

“If you don’t get your pretty ass up and hide in the other room you will not be able to walk for a week straight.”

“Is that a threat?” You raise a brow.

Every time you provoke him by using his own words, Taeyang feels the urge to tie you up and wipe off that confident glow on your face that turns him on like crazy.

Instead of acknowledging your question, he grabs your throat, firmly, but with a subtle gentleness that he often shows to the rest of your body too.

“Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” You mewl, looking with satisfaction the surprise that appears on his face once you speak out the words.

You’ve never called him that, not in a serious sexual manner, nor in a playful one. The seductive tone in addition to the unfamiliar nickname transforms his appearance from irritated and tense to purely thunderstruck.

“Go.” He says after clearing his throat.

He watches blown away how you walk towards the door in your erotic lingerie, and sighs once again. His brain feels fuzzy, almost empty and laggy every time he attempts to regain focus on what he’s supposed to be doing. Ignoring his erected cock that’s begging through the wet patch, he joins the stream and apologises for the minor inconvenience.

As he dives back into the game a ring from a notification distracts his gaze. He thought it’s coming from his phone, but turns out it’s from yours, because he doesn’t have anyone named Jiung in his contacts. He didn’t even notice that you left it on his desk right next to his keyboard.

It wasn’t his intention…

The message wasn’t meant for anyone else but you. However, his eyes were too quick; quicker than his rationality. He read it before he even got the chance to realise that wasn’t his own phone.

Want to grab dinner tonight?

I can pick you up at 8.

! please do not repost, copy or translate my works

↳ next chapter

[joyce-stick]

An Essay About Slash Review of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, A Video Game Which is Very Good

(and also: has prompted many quite wrong rather bad takes)

An essay by Audrey of the joystick system

The very bad discourse and drama around The Coffin of Andy and Leyley has served to obscure the simple fact that it is quite a very good video game and this video essay is here to tell you about that.

Video version:

Previous video essay: Lost Judgment's Lost Plot

If you enjoy this essay, please consider following us here or on any other platforms, and/or donating to support future works via our Patreon or Ko-fi.

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Transcript:

Hi everyone. So. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is really, really fucking good.

If you’ve heard of this game, you’ve probably heard of it in the context of memes, screenshots divorced from context, and/or capricious moral outrage. If you’ve not heard of this game, well, you’re hearing of it now! And good thing, too, because much of the coverage and discussion around this game that already exists has… been, let’s just say, not particularly earnest. I hope to remedy that at least somewhat with this video.

If you’ve heard about this game because of discourse, and come here expecting drama and hot takes, then, this may not be your video. Or your YouTube channel, even. Or maybe it is, if you’d like the delicious comments section. If you’re that sort of clicker, though— welcome! I’m Audrey of the joystick system, and this is the place where I (and my headmates) talk honestly about things we care about, and I hope you’ll hear me out a little and maybe consider staying and improving our viewer retention. Thanks, if you do.

So, to writ: My purpose today is to gush. I will be gushing here. For most of it. And as for what I will be gushing about, some of it will be gushing BLOOD, GUTS, AND DELICIOUS DEATH. I am entirely serious. The subject of today’s presentation contains mature content, including copious foul language and themes slash depictions of death, cannibalism, cultism, demon summoning rituals, parricide, dystopian social decay, and heterosexuality. Oh, and also a little bit of incest as a treat, I guess, but the incest is heterosexual, and that’s worse.

[long pause]

Excellent. You’re still here. So. This morbidly beautiful video game may not be for everyone, but that’s good, because it is instead for exactly me! A short plot synopsis of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley might go as follows:

if you're not watching the video listen to this for extra effect

Siblings Andrew and Ashley Graves are forcibly quarantined inside their apartment by the local authorities, with no food and even less hope for rescue. Their parents have abandoned them. Absolutely no one is coming to save them. In order to survive and escape this awful situation, they butcher and consume the fresh flesh of some guy who got himself soul vored by a demon that he summoned without a plan.

This conspicuously carnivorous crime, and their effort to cover their tracks, puts them in a fair bit of a deeper shithole than they are already in. So naturally they keep digging themselves deeper by committing even more crimes, AND in the process, also dig themselves deeper into their toxic codependent sibling relationship, which is going just great, thank you. Sure, Andrew almost killed his sister, but he didn’t, and that’s what matters! And she still loves him, so it’s all good!

This is of course a joke.

First thing I absolutely love about this game is the writing. It’s witty, intelligent, uncompromising, and just generally delicious. It holds nothing back in depicting the toxicity of the two leads and their relationship, resulting in two compelling characters whose flaws and few virtues perfectly complement slash exacerbate one another, resulting in a beautiful train wreck of a relationship dynamic that proves equal parts disturbing, mesmerizing, and hilarious.

The charming darkly comedic bite of the writing style also lends a lot of great character to the setting. This sardonically presented dystopian world is both richly detailed and fleetingly elaborated on, a commendable balance to have achieved, in my opinion. The first chapter of this game is hilarious not just because of the banter between Ashley and Andrew (which is terrific), but because it presents such a sharp satire of current year bullshit.

As just an example, I give you, one of my favorite jokes in the game:

I probably don’t need to explain the thing this is making fun of to you, but I will anyway.

The situation presented in The Coffin of Andy and Leyley’s first episode is very easily readable as an allegory for how disasters that are a direct result of ongoing 2020s late capitalist decay continuously fuck people over. In particular, this scenario feels like a direct commentary on both the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the Flint, Michigan water crisis. The former obviously has affected way more people but what both have in common is that they are crises created and exacerbated by malfeasance and/or negligence committed in the name of for-profit interests, and that the “response,” to them, such as there was one, has amounted to dehumanizing and marginalizing the victims while minimizing the issue, forcing the victims out of society’s wider view, and being reticent to punish the individuals responsible. 

Just as the authorities responded to the water crisis and the worst excesses of the pandemic in real life, the authorities in The Coffin of Andy and Leyley impose half-measures designed to further restrict the freedom of the dirty undesirables who bear the worst damages, while merely shielding the upper echelons of society from the disaster rather than actually addressing or attempting to solve the issue. Most of you who lived through 2020 in the United States probably have experienced the frustration of being on the receiving end of this kind of policy.

During the pandemic, the quarantine was supposed to protect us, but for a lot of people it ended up doing quite the opposite. A lot of folks didn’t have any savings, and couldn’t get any since the employment market wasn’t exactly on fire, and our representatives had to be bothered way too much just to put out a pithy economic stimulus just to save face. Not to say that this all has stopped, exactly, as all that’s changed now is that we’re just, living with this situation, but.

It wasn’t literally a cop outside everyone’s door preventing them from going outside to not die, but for a lot of people, it might as well have been that! Never mind those who, y’know, had no inside to retreat to. Or were imprisoned during the pandemic and left even more unprotected! Or thrown out by their landlords! And so on. And, y’know, the big chain grocery stores keep throwing out all the perfectly good unsold food, so they’re already sending this message in all but, well… these exact words.

So, that’s why I think this joke lands. It’s exaggerated, but familiarly rooted, and that’s just good satire! It’s a joke which feels lifted right out of Invader Zim, which, I would put The Coffin of Andy and Leyley right about on the level of as far as both the tone it’s going for and the quality of its execution. Which of course, brings us to the extremes that these circumstances push its characters, and its plot, to.

Okay, so, also like Invader Zim, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is hardly a polemic, nor is it a morality tale. Sure, there’s social commentary in it, but that’s just a nice side thing. It’s not a story about the otherwise innocent victims of an unjust society who are pushed to do terrible things by circumstances outside their control— it is, rather a story of terrible people, who, both because of their character failings, and the desperate situations they find themselves in, find themselves doing even worse things.

Andrew and Ashley commit the cannibalism the first time in large part because they kind of have to do it. No food! Cop outside their door actively deterring them from getting food! Out of options! So they do it. They could probably be excused, if only they were given a fair trial. Which they realize they’re not going to get. So yeah. It’s understandable that they do it. And that they kill this one cop, who very much has it coming.

But they do not have to keep doing it! And gosh grief, do they keep fucking doing it— so many its. They really do not stop digging that hole that they are in. Even the first time that they do the cannibalism, when they kind of really have to do the cannibalism, Ashley is just a little bit more excited about doing the cannibalism than she probably should be.

I love this kind of delicious edgy dark humor. I love stories that go for it, imagine the worst possible people they can, and also try to make that funny. I love this about Invader Zim, that it presents a character who is unquestionably a monster, but also has relatable human desires like wanting to fit in and being concerned about looking weird or abnormal, but has those feelings for very different reasons and acts on them by committing some very despicable crimes. It really gets at a deep-seated darkness that I and a lot of other fucked up traumatized queer people who were little kids when this show aired have, the catharsis of visualizing some of our worst intrusive thoughts while evoking the emotions that pushed us to imagine this kind of fucked up shit.

I’ve loved this kind of thing since we saw Heathers when we were 14. Heathers is an absolutely incredible film that you should check out, by the way, and about which we failed to properly or interestingly articulate our thoughts a few years back. Its lead protagonists, Jason “J.D.” Dean and Veronica Sawyer, are similarly relatable characters who have familiar feeling flaws and emotionally resonant trauma hangups, and also function as very toxic enablers of each other’s worst traits, leading them to work through those feelings by, y’know, murdering their classmates!

Heathers made us realize just how exactly mentally ill of a 14 year old we really were when we were 14, and I love it for that. So. So fucking much.

That was ten years and change ago.

We are still a mentally ill 24 year old.

And Andrew and Ashley Graves, if I had to sum them up, are basically J.D. and Veronica, if they were in their twenties, siblings, and also way, way, way worse.

And I love them.

So, obviously. Ashley and Andrew are hilarious. At least, I find them to be such. They’re terrible, and awful, and amazing, and Ashley is such a girlboss. She is one of the most God Forbid Women Do Anything characters ever.

Anyway! I’ve talked about the cannibalism, and the dystopia, and the characters, and why all of that’s good. I’ve also forgotten to talk about the part where they evade an assassin, and, also a host of other things.

I love that this game has so many fun little optional interactions with NPCs, objects, and items, that you can totally miss. I love how the narration hints at the solutions to puzzles by snarkily referring to things you can interact with as what their purpose is to the characters rather than what they are, this quip about the mop that you clean up a murder scene with, the interactions that Andrew has with these cultists who suck at demon summoning, the excellent in-game art and the brilliant visual duality of Andrew and Ashley’s character designs, this line where Andrew is upset that life is so hard for them as fugitives from the law because they can only find this one shitty motel that takes cash and doesn’t ask them for their ID, and also the music, which is royalty free music made by people unassociated with the developer but is nonetheless perfectly suited for the game.

So much about this game is stuff I find so completely brilliant, and I have so little to criticize, that I think we’d probably be here all day if I kept going. So.

Let’s spend a thousand ish more words talking about the parents.

When The Coffin of Andy and Leyley begins, the protagonists’ parents are absent. You can optionally find two early references to them early on— one, if you interact with the bed in their bedroom, and encounter the shocking revelation that “Your parents have FUCKED on this bed.”

The second, is if you interact with the phone, the game dutifully informs you that,

You’re probably less than five minutes into the game at this point, barely begun solving the first puzzle, which prompted you to “find nutrients to not die.” And of course, this says about all you need to know. These children have been abandoned. But if it needed to be any clearer, the game later delivers unto you a flashback to prior in the story, when Ashley desperately calls Mrs. Graves for help after they leave and go move to a hotel, and later a new house, to which the kids are of course not invited. And this specific scene, specific line, here, fucking hit me:

“And I don’t want to hear these lies about starving anymore.”

Emphasis mine.

Even as Ashley and Andrew escalate the severity of their crimes which gradually come to have less and less to do with their need to survive as the story goes on, I find it very hard to not be on their side at least a little bit, and this is easily the biggest reason why.

I have had this phone call.

Not this exact specific phone call, of course. Obviously, I’ve never been locked up in an apartment with an armed patrol outside my door whose job it was to gaslight me while ensuring that I starved to death. Obviously, my mom has never said those exact words.

But gosh grief and fuck me if it’s never felt like she has. She may as well have fucking told me that, with all the things she told me I was lying about. And who fucking knows, maybe she did say those exact words to us, and we repressed them. I don’t know. I am very not done working through all the bullshit that she gaslit us over.

*sighs, preparing to vent*

I have called our mother and had to beg her to pay for food. I have called her and had to beg to pay for our rent, while our parents were supposed to be supporting us studying abroad. I have called her and begged her to forgive me for daring to use just a few of the thirty dollars our parents used to send us to live with every month back then, to buy a drink or a movie ticket or something. I have had to concede to our parents financially holding us hostage, had to go the last week of the month on a shoestring diet while waiting for them to graciously deposit another thirty dollars into our bank account... so that we could continue eating. I used to relish February, the shortest month, for being the one part of the year in which I had to stretch out that thirty dollars the least. And once, I pleaded with our mother to pay for us to move to another apartment when the landlord suddenly kicked us out of the current one, abruptly and obligatorily switching gears from arguing with her to kissing her ass through our gritted teeth, under threat of our parents cutting off their financial support of us completely, abandoning us in a foreign country where we had no money, no job, and barely spoke the language.

And one day, after I stopped dancing to their tune, they just stopped listening, stopped even pretending to want to help. After nineteen years of escalating emotional and physical abuse and neglect, they abandoned us. And one day, after I spent months working 10 hour days every week Ubering food around for tips, sending my resume, filling applications, making calls, stopping into places to ask for work, all to no avail, for months, and desperately plugging the Patreon page of this very YouTube channel praying that some generous soul with money to burn would solve all our problems. All of this still wasn’t enough, and wasn’t going anywhere, and I’d run out of money and was short on rent on the one sublet room we could get that cost exactly three hundred dollars…

And I called her, and I asked her for help. I really didn’t want to. I wanted to hear nothing of her again. And she said to stop lying. To stop bullshitting her that I couldn’t get enough money, or find a job.

Not too long after, I swore off all contact with her, and eventually also with our father. And every time I have spoken to either of them since, I have made no secret of how I feel. Because if I get nothing out of kissing their ass, why fucking pretend.

My family is not poor. They own their house. They own, and leased out, a second house. Their house is full of fancy IKEA furniture and various other niceties, they’ve renovated the place at least twice, they live in a nice, safe neighborhood, they have an attic and a basement, they at one point paid for multiple plane tickets for us per year while still refusing to let us eat on any more than thirty five dollars, an extra five dollars we also had to beg them for. Our dad has a lucrative tech job. All of this, and they insisted, while refusing to answer questions about their finances in any detail, that they couldn’t afford to help us go to where we wanted to go for college, that they had no place for us in their house, that they couldn’t afford three hundred dollars of rent to help us have a roof over our head for one more month.

So when I read this delightful jaunt of a chapter of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, where Andrew and Ashley break into their parents’ new huge house to steal all their shit, and Ashley says “This is some rich people stuff!” about their fireplace,

And when their mom says, “there’s no room to keep housing you here indefinitely,” and the internal monologue says, “even though it’s way bigger than the old house.” It’s both an entertaining mockery of the attitude of the typical American family, how first you’re your parents’ property for eighteen years and then you’re turned out on your own to face the world without their support, and how the fuck are you supposed to live like that, to figure out how to live your life in the face of that, to meaningfully be a fulfilled person in that situation, especially in a time, when, no, mom, I can’t pay a college tuition on a waitress salary like you did back in the fucking nineties, you c--t,

Even though they have an extra bed in their basement and a perfectly good couch and plenty of space for another bed besides, and a vegetable garden, and a kitchen, and all these other middle-class petty bougie niceties, the Graves mom says, “sorry, we can’t keep helping you,” and. And. I read all this, and I think,

“I understand why Ashley wants to fucking flay these people. I understand why she wants to K1!L them.”

I cannot tell you how much catharsis the ending of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley episode 2 gave me. I cannot convey the weight of my gratitude that someone out there validated my anger and my specific fucked up power fantasy with their art. I didn’t even ask them to. I probably would’ve eventually done it on my own. But I’m so glad that someone did it for me.

If I ever hypothetically meet Nemlei, somehow, and have some cash, I will happily buy them a drink. Hopefully, by paying this excellent game’s ten dollar cover price, I already have!

I know you’re not watching this, but on the off chance this reaches your ears, I just wanna say thanks. For giving me a safe, legal, regret-free, socially acceptable, non-violent outlet for the rage I feel towards my parents.

Well.

Mostly socially acceptable.

Meow.

This game is not finished, as you may have noticed if you’ve gone to check it out on Steam. It ends on an ambiguous and open note, but in my opinion, a perfectly satisfying one. Nemlei could disappear absolutely, never release the proper ending of this game, and never make another game again, and I would not be mad. I've already got more than my money’s worth and then some. So. Yeah. I’m happy. Count me as happy!

I kinda wanna start talking a bit more about the branches of the second episode. I wanna say how it’s a brilliant idea to have two separate story arcs for the two variations of this episode’s ending, and how I hope that that’s executed on as beautifully as the rest of the game already is. I wanna talk about the ways in which Andrew and Ashley’s mom is ambiguously humanized despite being so obviously terrible. I wanna talk about the dialogue Andrew does when his parents offer him a chance to make amends, and he has doubts, if you choose to let him have them, and how I would probably also have doubts in his position, and not be able to follow through without my lovely evil cannibal sister pushing me towards… the thing. I wanna talk about this line, where Ashley talks about why she likes eating people, and how it’s so equal parts poetic and macabre and edgy bullshit and that that’s such a beautifully balanced cocktail of emotion to nail and Nemlei totally fucking nails it

I WANT TO GUSH FOREVER. ABOUT THIS GAME. AND I WANT NO ONE TO STOP ME.

Alas, I will stop myself.

And move on to the elephant in the room!

THE FUCKING.

Mom: “But that-.... That doesn’t make any sense.” Mom: “Why would you not-......” Mom: “Ah, I get it.” Andrew: “..........??” Mom: “You fuck her.” Andrew: “Wha— HUUUUH?!?!!?” Mom: “Oh that is disgusting! Andrew, she’s your sister for god’s sake!” Andrew: “I haven’t done anything!? What the hell, mom!?” Mom: “Then what does she give you that makes it worth all this?” Andrew: “W-well that’s none of your business, is it??” Mom: “I knew something was off… How did I fuck up so bad? I’m the worst mother ever..!” Andrew: “No! I mean yes you are, but I have never—!” Ashley: “I’m baaaa-ack!!!” Andrew: “Now of all times!?” Ashley: “I got the money! Did you miss me, handsome?? Did you? Did you??” Mom: “...........................” Andrew: “(I WANT TO DIE!!!!!!)”

Okay. So. I said I didn’t want to talk about this. But I’m talking about this game. I can’t not talk about it.

Yep, it’s hot takes and drama time!

So, not too long ago, Nemlei deleted their Twitter, their Itch.io, their everything, their entire online presence. The Steam page for The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, which used to list Nemlei as the developer and publisher, now lists “Kit9 Studio.” It is the only game to their name on the platform. A community forum post from said entity known as Kit9 announces that “the developer” (no name given) “has decided to permanently and completely terminate their activities online from here on.”

I don’t know exactly what happened, or why they did this. There’s a lot of people around who sure think they know. But in brief, as neutrally as possible: Nemlei, or someone close to them, was doxxed, or at least sought out as a doxxing target, by one or multiple users of an online forum. Their supposed crime? Making a video game “for degenerates.”

I don’t know who did the doxxing. I don’t know what their motive was, and for my own sanity, I am not going to look. I am choosing not to care. The most important and most obvious fact at hand here is that Nemlei’s creation has been met with controversy amongst social media users, and about one or two hack video game outrage journalists, who seem to have nothing better to do or say. And it seems clear that the doxxing wouldn’t have happened had they not been met with this negative attention. And all because of this.

Not the cannibalism, not the parricide, not the demon sacrifices. No, um, the one implied sex scene.

And it doesn’t even actually happen! It’s just a premonition of a possible future event that Ashley and Andrew supernaturally receive. It’s not particularly graphic, it doesn’t yet go anywhere, and it’s a short scene on an optional route that the game actively forewarns you about. You have to be trying to see it on purpose.

Well, that’s all true. It is indeed a minor and avoidable scene, and the discourse about it has absolutely poisoned the well when it comes to the conversation about the game. But also, “uhh, it’s optional and not a big thing,” is inadequate as a defense. This is still content in the game that Nemlei actively chose to put in the game, and even discounting this, the themes of incest are all over the game. Ashley speaks flirtatiously to Andrew at basically every turn. Even if you avoid this specific scene, the incest themes are not something you’re going to just not notice, if you’re paying attention to the text.

All that being said, it’s not like this content comes as a surprise. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley’s Steam store page accurately represents the product! A brother and sister. Codependency and cannibalism. It’s not as if you don’t know what you’re paying for and choosing to play. You came here for this! Most of the people playing this are here for this! You have to figure that if they are fine with killing and eating people, they’re probably fine with fucking each other, or, eventually possibly eventually going to be, at least.

So you’d think, except that many people seem to unironically believe that the cannibalism is more moral than the incest.

Oh, god, I’m doing this right now, aren’t I.

So, I get it. While I’m pretty skeptical of the notion that cannibalism is not as bad as incest, I do realize that incest is, at the very least, the more taboo of these things, and that a lot of people are more uncomfortable with it than they are with the cannibalism and the murder. To quote the one positive and in-depth review available in any media outlet at the time of this writing, from Destructoid:

“This aspect is undoubtedly the most controversial element about The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, and I understand why. While cannibalism is a taboo subject, it’s present in mainstream games like Fallout as an option for players. Having incestuous themes crosses over into Drakengard territory, and even then, no option allows Caim to reciprocate Furiae’s feelings for him.”

"The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is horrifying and I can’t get enough of it" Andrea Gonzalez, Destructoid, November 12 2023

So, yeah, I. y’know. Get it. I know why. However.

I can point to a lot of things that Andrew and Ashley do wrong in this game. They are, as per the game’s premise, very not okay, not as individuals, and not together. Andrew is way too attached to Ashley, and Ashley is generally an awful person who is way too attached herself, and also, all too quick on the draw to take advantage of Andrew’s attachment to her to make him do what she wants. This is not a healthy relationship. And we’re here for it! It’s compelling!

But, I think it’s worth asking why it’s such a toxic dynamic. Is it because they’re siblings? Well, not really. It’s a dynamic that’s specifically possible with them being siblings, but it’s not because of their sibling connection.

The actual reason why Andrew and Ashley’s relationship turns abusive isn’t because their relationship is abusive by necessity or nature, but because Ashley abuses their relationship. And she is doing this for basically the whole game. Like, it is abusive the whole time. It doesn’t become abusive when their relationship takes its romantic turn. Does it become more abusive? I mean. Maybe. Maybe the romance exacerbates the abuse. I dunno, we’ll have to wait and see what the next episode says.

So, then, why is the notion of them possibly in the future having sex the elephant in the room here, when before that, they do so many objectively worse things that cause much more harm both to themselves and others? Is that really so much more of a bigger deal than the murder and the people eating?

Or. To phrase it Ashley’s way. You played a game about mutilating and eating your parents’ corpses, and getting laid is what you’re freaking out about?

Is the incest really that much more extreme, or are you just more disgusted with it?

And even if you are more disgusted with it. Even if we grant that it is, actually, somehow, more harmful for siblings to have sex with each other, than to do murder and cannibalism. Is this the hill you’re dying on? What you’ve decided is of such utmost importance and injustice that you decide to go harass some random indie dev who just wants to make a silly video game about a couple of siblings eating people?

Does it truly make sense to let your kneejerk moral disgust guide you to the conclusion that the creator of this game deserves to be persecuted for merely writing about and drawing a thing you don’t like?

Well, to answer that, we have to get into the question of whether or not “immoral fiction” is harmful, or “normalizing” things that are wrong. Does fictionally depicting an immoral action actually cause harm?

I could dance around in circles for a little while about the edge cases, and certain writers who are publishing bad or hateful material in bad faith, or fascist propaganda, which is of course always bad, or whatever other example I could use to qualify my point or list out an exception to appease the people who disagree with me, but, I’ll just cut right to the chase, and tell you the answer

No!

The answer is NO!

The thing about taboos is that they don’t make us more safe. They don’t protect us from bad things. All they do is protect people’s comfort by silencing people they don’t want to understand, and enable bad actors by keeping their victims in the dark, and denying them the ability to talk about it.

The only thing we end up doing by censoring stories about these uncomfortable topics, and making it socially unacceptable to talk about them, is make it harder to know. We deny ourselves knowledge. We deny ourselves a conversation about these subjects, we deny ourselves the ability to meaningfully understand them. We deny ourselves power, what little we have, as readers, to understand, and to critique, to reason.

There’s a tumblr post I really like. Well, a number of them, I really like, on this topic, but I’m picking this one, because it’s got a quote I really like. It talks about Lolita. That Lolita. And, now, I’ve never read Lolita, at least not yet. Lolita is a novel about child sexual abuse, told from the perspective of an abuser. It’s an uncomfortable book with an uncomfortable topic, and it’s not wrong to be uncomfortable with it. The author of this post acknowledges that.

But they talk about it. They talk about how it shines a light on its subject matter. The why and the how of abusers and their actions. The ways in which their victims suffer. How it shows all of this in a way that it only could from the perspective it takes. And, I’m just going to quote them. I can’t do anything else. They said it better than I could, right now.

“Embrace disgusting fiction and then fucking talk about why it’s nasty. Now YOU have the power over reality.” - tumblr user legsdemandias

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley has been ridiculed, joked about, hot taked on, made a target, drama-ed over, and so on, but it’s hardly been criticized. No one I’ve seen admitting to not liking it talks critically about why it’s disgusting to them, or tries to understand why it exists, or what it’s for. And this is most people’s reaction to most media that deals seriously with anything taboo. “I don’t get it. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t exist. Get it away from me.”

I’m annoyed that the medium, the art form, of video games, is valued so little by so many that this is the wide reaction when something like this gets popular. That the mainstream games journalism media ridicules it, and the creator gets threatened by an internet mob, and it falls on the weirdos and the freaks and the no-name YouTube uwu girls, to give it the serious consideration and recognition it deserves.

To summarize, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is, in my opinion, a very good video game, and on its behalf, I am mad at video games.

Now, go on. You made it through this video. I told you the plot! You can probably stomach the plot! So go, go. Shoo. Go buy Nemlei a drink. If you want to.

Or, buy us, the joystick system, a drink! You can do that at patreon dot com slash joycestick, or, ko-fi dot com slash joycestick. You can buy us drinks in both of those places.

I’ve been Audrey. Thank you for listening.

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[secret-unburnt-guitars]

Hi i don't know much abt styx aside from general prog fandom osmosis but kwh has always intrigued me a little bit. Can you explain it in excruciating detail? (genuinely i'm not being sarcastic)

*cracks knuckles*

on february 22, 1983, styx released their eleventh studio album Kilroy Was Here. it was a concept album/rock opera though dennis deyoung likes to call it more of a "rock theatrical experience" in recent interviews. they even made a minifilm they played before the concert!!!! you can find it and the rest of caught in the act on youtube

it was made partially as a response to the rise of the satanic panic in the early-mid 1980s. people started to believe that rock music was evil and hiding satanic messages. the band was targeted by the public when they were accused in particular by the government of arkansas (i think?) of putting backwards messages (called backmasking) in their song Snowblind (the line "i try so hard to make it so" sounded like "satan moves through our voices" to some people. i own a copy of paradise theatre, that track in particular is damaged.).

and then dennis deyoung had a GREAT IDEA!!!!!!!!

imagine a big ol lightbulb flashing over him while the rest of the members of styx watch in mortal dread

so basically the album follows a sort of loose and vague backstory that's somehow still solid enough for people to follow some sort of a plot in their head (which is slightly backed up by Caught In The Act, the designated KWH "concert," which i'll get to in a second). the basic synopsis (paraphrased but still in excruciating detail) is as such:

set in a futuristic chicago(?) rock and roll has been made illegal under code 672 (prohibits the playing and purveying of rock music). Dr. Everett Righteous (played by JY), who was responsible for this, is the leader of the majority for musical morality or the MMM for short. the MMM is one of the strongest organizations in this universe since you know. they literally convinced congress to criminalize an entire genre of music for the entire country. righteous also hosts a television show where he encourages the public to burn guitars and records in a huge bonfire during “nightly rallies”. he also projects himself onto a big triangle over the skyline which i think is fucking hilarious i haven’t been able to get over it

Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (played by Dennis DeYoung, of course he's the title character), was a prolific rock musician at the time of the ban. he was thrown in prison for breaking the law and after being framed of murder. they accused him of bashing an MMM crusader's head in (which he obviously didn't do) after they raided one of his concerts at the paradise theatre. he then goes to rot in prison and is subjected to attempts of brainwashing by the dr. righteous show with the other “rock n’ roll misfits” they’ve arrested. it doesn’t work lol. i don't understand how it would work BECAUSE IT'S NEVER EXPLAINED

the prison kilroy is rotting in is maintained/monitored by japanese import, mass produced robots dubbed the "robotos," hence the title track. ignore how racist they look, it was 1983, this is not my fault

i mildly dislike them but it sucks how they’re essential to the plot ANYWAYS

here comes Jonathan Chance, (played by Tommy Shaw, albeit reluctantly) who is a rebel that is part of a underground resistance (that's only really mentioned once). with his friend, he breaks into some unknown area that is most likely a recording studio and hijacks the live television recording of the dr. righteous show. he proceeds to namedrop himself and then run off

credit to @mccoys-killer-queen for the gifs!!

kilroy sees this happen, which inspires him to attempt to escape the prison. kilroy incapacitates a roboto that visits his prison cell and disguises himself as it so he can escape without being noticed (i do not like the way he does this)

after kilroy escapes, he goes throughout the city and leaves messages for jonathan, leading him back to the paradise theater which is now the Dr. Righteous Museum for Rock Pathology

it's got a bunch of shitty animatronics that include people like jimi hendrix and elvis presley, but at the very back is an animatronic of kilroy repeatedly bashing in someone's head

this is my favorite part of the minifilm which i've basically explained sorry. you see like what you think is another roboto emerge from the shadows, and then it takes off its mask AND IT'S THE ACTUAL KILROY!!!

(this is taken from the live show, the transition is so goddamn dope)

and then dennis deyoung prances around and has his little pick me theater main character moment and sings mr. roboto and dances and stuff it looks so stupid. the live version of mr. roboto is way funnier than the official music video i don't know. i posted it about here before but i love this part in particular

so that's how kilroy and jonathan meet and that's basically the plot of one of styx's most popular songs!! sorry i gave kind of a play by play of the minifilm

now here's the fun part !!!! (unfinished lore/controversy)

unfortunately the reception of this album was less than satisfactory for most people back in '83, since KWH was way far away from the brand that styx had made for themselves in the 70s. they made art rock and prog, but this was just straight up synthpop. some people liked it though. i read somewhere in an article that it "alienated their male audience" and honestly if you're alienated by a little bit of gay pick me theater bs from your favorite band, that's a you problem

caught in the act was the designated "kilroy concert" that styx did sometime in 1983. the concert, however, doesn't give any. depth. to any additional explanations of multiple plot holes present in the story. as much as i love and cherish dennis deyoung he didn't do a very good job at writing this.

caught in the act felt more like a compromise than a show, seeing as the banter after the performance of mr. roboto was very bare? kilroy explains to jonathan that he was framed for murder, and then he goes in depth on the night it happened. "the crowd was totally psyched," he says, and then it goes to JY performing a guitar solo, which leads into the rest of the concert. the entire concert was portrayed as a flashback and gives no real backstory to any of the established characters. and then at the tail end of the concert they get "raided" by the MMM and you watch as an MMM officer murders one of righteous' own followers with kilroy's guitar. they cut back to kilroy and jonathan, they sing haven't we been before, and then kilroy hands jonathan this sick ass glowing guitar, then they perform the world's worst finale. the dance party ending of caught in the act. it sucks. it's horrible. i hate it. also there is no dennis deyoung in the kilroy was here universe lmfao

i'm still grateful for the concert though don't get me wrong!!! amazing concert

if the rest of styx didn't want to rip dennis deyoung apart for making them do this (i recently learned from a manager that DDY made them turn down an opportunity to perform at one of the largest concerts of the 80s, because he was like "but muh kilroy"), i believe songs off the album like High Time and Double Life would have been performed at Caught in the Act. both extremely lore-heavy songs, especially double life. i really wish they played double life. but c'est la vie, i guess.

literally everyone in the band hated dennis' guts so much while they were making this (justified, he was a stubborn asshole during production) but god was it worth it. for me at least. i imagine one of the conversations about production went like

JY: dennis have you considered that maybe this is a bad idea Dennis: i'm gonna make you the villain of the story if you don't shut the FUCK UP

i still think that JY had a little bit of fun though. he was hamming it tf up as dr. righteous i'm sorry you need to watch the mv's which you can find on youtube as well

but unfortunately tommy shaw wasn't having a good time at all, he literally quit on stage and stormed off and styx split for a while bc of this album i mean LOOK AT HIM HE'S SO PISSED OFF

overall this album is both cheese AND corn, worst album i've ever listened to, and yet it's given me a purpose in life. i've written 7,000+ words in one document about this album just to try and fill in the blanks the lore has, it's got so many. it's a running joke on this blog, i really hope you check out the album, because i think it's wonderful and it's endearing regardless of the controversy, it's too late for me. save yourself

[yurucamp]

do you have any movie/book recommendations? your taste is impecable

thank you for flattering me, i'm honored that you think so!!

i really just started watching movies (insofar as this is possible) so my recommendations are limited but i adore july rain, it's free on youtube in high definition. it's fantastically shot, i find it comforting and uplifting in a deeply sincere way. angel's egg is far and way the most stunning animated film i can imagine. mirror is visually and textually so dense it's remarkable. i watched the koker trilogy recently and they were just a joy to watch, really beautiful and so diligently made, at the same time incredibly simple and complex

i put links to the letterboxd pages so i can spare you me trying to describe the plot/synopsis of a film hehe

as far as books go... i really like platonov, i recommend reading one of his short stories (maybe among animals and plants) and if you connect with his writing style, read happy moscow, the foundation pit, or the collection of his short stories (usually published with the novella soul, which is not one of my favorites honestly)

i also love elizabeth bishop's poetry, my entire soul is located within the stanzas of at the fishhouses. i recommend one of her collected works

anyone, please send me any movies or books you've read and appreciated lately, i'm happy for anyone to share their recommendations!!

[loycspotting]

10. Ewan McGregor Movie Review: Nightwatch (1997)

New year, new movies! In 1997, Ewan starred in three movies and all of them had some pretty bizarre plots lol. Let's start at the beginning with "Nightwatch"!

Synopsis: "Nightwatch" is a Horror/Mystery starring Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte, and Josh Brolin. It follows Martin Bells, a college student, who takes a job as the new night watchman at a morgue at the same time a serial rapist/murderer is on the loose. As the police hunt for the criminal, and more evidence is brought to light, Martin comes to the terrifying realization that he is their prime suspect!

Ewan Review: Ewan plays the main character Martin Bells. Martin is in college as a law student and is best friends with a mean, sexist, and inconsiderate (the list could go on) prick. Ewan has a female love interest and they have a couple kissing scenes as well as a really tender moment early in the movie. He speaks with an American English accent which isn't too shabby except when he gets scared and then he pretty much drops it lol. Speaking of scared, he spends a lot of the movie screaming, crying, and throwing up (okay, not actually throwing up but I couldn't resist 😁). He has a bathing scene with no real nudity but if you pause at just the right time it's possible to see his package from afar. He also gets a public handjob, beat up, bit, and bound. In other words, you get a slew of very weak, vulnerable, and submissive Ewan content.

Screentime Percentage (numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number): Ewan is on screen for a grand total of 52/102 minutes making his SP 51%.

To Ewan or not to Ewan: Is the movie worth watching for Ewan content? Yes. Is the movie worth watching in general? Yes. Caveat: if you wish to be entertained then the movie will entertain you. But it espouses such harmful views of women that you might not be able to look past it and enjoy the story.

Warning before Watching: there is a violent murder within the first 3 minutes of the movie and another towards the end. There are close ups of mutilated, naked, dead bodies and lots and lots of blood. The movie is also incredibly sexist and revels in cruelty against women.

Where to Watch: You can stream the movie for free on Pluto TV or 🏴‍☠️ it on soap2day. It's available for rent on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies, and Fandango at Home.

Closing Thoughts: This movie is in the horror genre seemingly because of the gore and suspense. The true horror of this film is the misogyny and general treatment of women. I was more disturbed and disgusted by the way the male characters interacted with the female characters. Mind you, this movie is not a cautionary tale. It is not about the pitfalls of sexism. The male characters do not receive comeuppance for their behavior. It is treated as natural. It is celebrated. We are to understand and sympathize with these chauvinists. We are to find humor in their hatred and charm in their cruelty. The funny thing is, you could (and I did) read a homoerotic subtext within the relationship of the two male best friends because they truly only love each other while their female love interests are just an afterthought. This movie is gross for all the wrong reasons and I will not be watching it again.

[the-english-student-studyblr]

Book Recommendations (from a lit grad student)

So, as I have come to the end of my MA in world lit, I thought I should give you a list of some of the best books I've read, or learnt from. I ignore established canon and give to you recommendations from across the globe and across all genres. Books that defined their genre, or made an impact, or are just really cool and enjoyable to read. This list is not all dead white men.

I have split the list by era/year of publication primarily for easy reading. A lot of the sections are arbitrary. Some of them are not.

Note: This list is not conclusive! This is based on my own readings, and my own, personal, opinions. You have the right to your own opinions and preferences. If you have any suggestions, add them on below.

Classic lit (pre-1700)

Aristole - Poetics (c. 335 BCE)

As much as I hate it...this one is actually pretty important. I know I said 'contributions to literary canon don't matter', and here I am, immediately doing the opposite. But! Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest treatise on literary theory that has survived to the modern day. You want to know where our ideas of comedy and tragedy come from? Poetics. Three act structure? Poetics. Plot and character? Poetics. Key terms like catharsis, hubris, hamartia? Poetics. We had to read this for creative writing, and did I hate it? Yes. Am I a better writer for having read it? Also yes

Plato - The Republic (c. 375 BCE)

Plato is quite easy to read, of the classical philosophers. His works are mostly dialogues between characters, which makes them more engaging that some other dry philosophy texts. I wrote out a longer post with an explanation of Plato's Republic specifically here.

Genji Monogatari (pre-1021)

The first novel ever! Originally written in Japanese, be careful of your translations because most are of questionable quality. I've only read the first one by Suematsu and that's uhhhhh Bad™ but I think the current waterstones edition is decent?

The Völsunga saga OR The Vinland sagas (early 13th century)

Ah, how to choose just one Norse saga? These are both pretty solid examples of their style, and short (always a plus). The Völsunga saga was the inspiration behind Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (famous for the piece The Valkyrie), and most likely Tolkien's works. The Vinland sagas supposedly have an anime/manga series inspired by them, though looking at the synopsis I cannot see where the inspiration was other than time period. Norse sagas - especially the Icelandic ones such as Vinland - are actually pretty good guides to real historic events, which is very cool. I could go on for hours about this, but I'll spare you the rambling.

Thomas More - Utopia (1516)

Lovely little sarcastic book about tudor politics and human nature all wrapped up in the original 'utopian text'. Surprisingly funny for something written so long ago, and very easy to read. I wrote a longer post about it here

Aphra Behn - Oroonoko (1688)

Hated it, but the themes are interesting and wow did the author lead an interesting life. Widely considered to be the first novel written in English, deals with colonialism, slavery, and honour, and Aphra Behn was a spy? I'm sure some of you will eat that up. Be warned, very 'noble savage'-y book, but less racist than it could've been so cool, I guess?

Early Modern Drama

Christopher Marlowe - Edward II (1592)

Gay. So gay. We're not supposed to call it gay (because of a whole host of reasons that I can and will explain if anyone shows up in my askbox complaining about academics) but it is a very very queer play and Kit Marlowe was too which is even better. Also our one and only history play on this list. Anyone who already knows how Edward II died (thanks horrible histories) do not spoil the ending.

Shakespeare - Twelfth Night (1602)

As with any Shakespeare, watch a performance if you can. I highly recommend the National Theatre version that was up on youtube in 2020. Very gay, no one is cishet. Lots of singing and dancing. Prime example of Shakespeare's comedies with added gender shenanigans.

Shakespeare - Hamlet (1609)

Yes I'm basic. Yes I like Hamlet. In the same way that Twelfth Night is a great example of Shakespeare's comedies, Hamlet is a good example of his tragedies. Mostly, though, I'm recommending this because the castle it's set in in Denmark (Elsinore) a) actually exists and b) does an amazing educational programme, with live actors performing scenes all across the castle! Watching the 'to be or not to be' soliloquy in the banquet hall just adds a whole other level to the experience of reading the play.

Shakespeare - Measure for Measure OR The Tempest

Shakespeare's problem plays. I couldn't pick just one, because they're both fantastic in different ways. Measure for Measure features what can only be described as the early-modern version of an ace protagonist - Isabella - who I adore. The Tempest has a really interesting portrayal of early colonialism and slavery. The reason they are 'problem plays' is they check all the boxes for a comedy...but they're not funny. At all. And they also check some of the boxes for a tragedy. They're certainly interesting reading

Ben Jonson - The Alchemist (1610)

Just a really good, solid play. Very funny. Bunch of con artists set up an elaborate scheme to rob rich people. Also very good for showing class structures of the time. Shakespeare gets all the recognition for this era but Jonson is just as good really, and definitely as clever.

Regency and Victorian lit (1700-1900)

Jane Austen

Literally anything by Austen. She is just so funny, so witty, and I wholeheartedly believe she'd be a feminist today. Master of the female gaze in literature, but beyond that she is basically credited with the invention of free indirect discourse, which is super cool. I have only read Pride and Prejudice, but I have heard good things about most of her books, so I don't feel bad recommending all of them.

William Blake

There's one poem by Blake about a London street urchin that breaks my heart every time I read it and that is the sole reason behind this recommendation I hate Romantic poets.

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (1818)

You knew it was coming. First sci-fi, gothic horror, teenage girl writer. Gotta love Shelley.

Frederik Douglass - Narrative of the Life of Frederik Douglass (1845)

You know those books that are horrifying because they're real? That's this book. Doesn't shy away from the horrors of slavery and for a reason. This is an autobiography. It is not fiction.

Gowongo Mohawk - Wep-ton-no-mah (1890s)

My favourite play of all time. You will need to do a trip to either the British Library or the Library of Congress to read it because there are no other copies, but I did do a whole podcast episode about it because I'm apparently the expert? You can find it here.

Bram Stoker - Dracula (1894)

I know here on tumblr we adore Dracula, and for good reason. It's horrifying, it's got a blorbo, if you haven't read it already, go with a dracula daily read-through or @re-dracula for the best experience. (Re:Dracula also has episodes where they get scholars on to talk about things like racism and gender and queer theory surrounding the text which is SO COOL as an ex-lit student I love listening to those episodes.

Post-1900

Oscar Wilde - De Profundis (1905)

We had to read a snippet of this for A-Level and I wish it had been more because wow. Most lists like this will recommend Dorian Gray because it's a novel, but De Prof is so heartfelt and beautiful and sad and deserves to be read.

Baroness Orczy - The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905)

First masked vigilante/superhero! If you like comic books or superhero media, this is where it all started (funny how all the firsts so far have been written by women 🤔)

Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)

If you only read one book in your life about WW1 make it this one! It is heartbreaking and beautifully written and makes you feel so many things. It was banned in...a lot of places for being anti-war (especially as WW2 came closer) and also because it was written by a German who was anti-war which was apparently impossible to comprehend. The prose is truly something to behold.

Modern lit (Post-war era)

George Orwell - 1984 (1948) OR Animal Farm (1945)

Which one you should read depends a lot on how long your preferred book is and how metaphorical your tastes are. Both are very good explorations of corrupt governments. Animal Farm is an easier read and shorter and is much more allegorical. 1984 is very in-your-face about how much authoritarian governments suck. Do not discount 1984 just because Winston is a terrible person. Everyone knows he's terrible. That's the whole point. He is a normal terrible person, not a cartoonishly evil terrible person, or an angelically perfect revolutionary. All the characters are realistic for their situation.

Maya Angelou - I know why the caged bird sings (1969)

Another one with some beautiful prose. She's a poet and you can tell. It's an autobiography, plus there's a lot of clever stuff going on with how it's written. You could write an essay about this. I did.

Ghassan Khanafani - Return to Haifa (1969)

A short story by a Palestinian author - we were given this by our Palestinian lecturer as an intro to the conflict and the terrible things that colonialism has done to the region. Additionally, there are notes throughout that help explain the significance of things and background and all that jazz. There is a play version that is probably easier to find because it was published more recently but it's not as good.

Ben Okri - The Famished Road (1993)

I did not read this book for uni and I think that may have influenced my opinion of it slightly but I still credit it as one of the reasons I got interested in world lit and translation. It's a really beautiful exploration of Nigerian mythological tradition and its effect on family and politics in this kind of fascinatingly weird style that's both magical realism and modernist? I hate modernism but love magical realism more so.

Carmen Maria Machado - In the Dream House (2019)

What a book oh wow. It reads like poetry. I cannot think of anything coherent to say my brain is screaming. The novel explores abuse in queer relationships, which is something people don't normally talk about, through some very interesting motifs and I love it so much. It is hard to read, but very rewarding.

[bitter69uk]

Recently watched: compellingly bizarre 1977 made-for-TV psychodrama The Strange Possession of Mrs Oliver. Tagline: “She wanted to be someone else. But when she became “Sandy”, her new friends wanted her dead.” Wikipedia’s synopsis: “Its plot follows a bored housewife who takes on an alternate persona that starts wreaking havoc on her life. Karen Black plays the title role, a dowdy, downtrodden housewife plagued by recurring nightmares of funerals, black flowers, fires and a woman called Sandy. Seeking an escape from her stifling lifestyle and dull husband, who only wishes her to have a baby, Black dons a low-cut red blouse, blonde wig, garish makeup and a new identity. She is also compelled to buy a house in a beach community where it would appear a woman who looks just like her once resided - before her tragic demise. It turns out that the woman Black pretends to be may actually exist—and may have more than a passing knowledge of the occult.”

Told in a deliberately fragmented, jarring and nightmarish style, Mrs Oliver’s themes of shifting, merging and uncertain female identities recalls Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) and anticipates David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001) and Robert Altman’s 3 Women (1977). (I could easily imagine Lynch remaking this with his muse Laura Dern in Black’s roles). No one played “women on the verge of a nervous breakdown” quite like the reliably volatile Black, and the dual roles of Miriam / Sandy showcase her at her most alien and tormented. Sandy is associated with a disco-fied version of Frankie Avalon’s 1960 hit “Venus”. When she dances to it, we get copious cleavage and crotch shots – ah, the seventies! The men in Black’s life are portrayed by George Hamilton (as Miriam’s straightlaced husband) and Robert F Lyons (as a hunky ominous stranger whose mustache makes him look an escapee from a 1970s gay porn film). Watch for guest star appearances from two incredible veteran character actresses: Gloria LeRoy and Lucille Benson. Thanks to Sam Pancake for bringing this curio to my attention via his essential Monday Afternoon Movie podcast. The YouTube print is murky but watchable.

[world-cinema-research]

Week 1 - The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Short Essay

By Carly Leavitt-Hullana (THE 112-SP '24)

The film I saw was The Amazing Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, (see trailer below). This movie was released in July of 2012, 10 years after the original Spider-Man was released starring Tobey Maguire. I chose this movie as it was one of the first movies I remember fully and joyfully watching, as I was seven years old at the time. My mom bought us the Blu-ray DVD when it came out in November, and my sister, my two cousins and I would watch it all of the time; so another major impact of this movie was simply spending time with my family. However in this short essay, I will not focus on the significance of this film but speak about the box office performance, critical acclimation, general plot of the film, factors that could have persuaded or limited viewers from watching, the conventionality, and what new revelations I found after rewatching all these years later.

Official Trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man (Youtube)

In regards to the box office numbers, this film was commercially successful as the budget was about 220-230 million dollars and made $262,030,633 domestically and $495,895,604 internationally, or $757,890,267 worldwide. Although the opening weekend only raked in 23.7% of total gross, $62,002,688 respectively, it still performed well and the DVD and Blu-ray sales also performed admirably with a total of $113,789,781 domestically, (The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Box Office Numbers via THE NUMBERS). Staying a little below trend with the commercial aspects, the movie was still critically successful with ratings of 6.9/10 for IMDb, a 71% for Rotten Tomatoes, and 66% for Metacritic. Regardless, the film is considered successful in both aspects as it made 2x the budget just from the domestic box office sales and received highly related reviews. One review is from Roger Ebert, who claims The Amazing Spider-Man is "...probably the second best [out of the Spider-Man franchise]." In the same article, "A remake that's also a reboot," he gives the film a 4.5/5 star rating. He also touches on an aspect that many of those who have watched the film appreciate; the screen time given to show Parker's story as well as an explanation why he decides to step into his newfound role, (A remake that’s also a reboot via Roger Ebert).

The movie begins with Parker as a child when he still lived with his parents, who soon dropped him off to board at his aunt and uncle's house and then mysteriously disappeared. Leaving behind a bag with his father's work that Parker finds at the beginning of the film, which then sends him on a hunt for answers that leads him to the "Tower," also known as the headquarters of Oscorp where his father's former research partner currently works, (The Amazing Spider-Man Summaries/Synopsis via IMDb).

The background story of Peter Parker is rather tragic, however, the producers used it to their advantage to bring in a larger audience in addition to the action scenes. Along with the star actors including Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Rhys Ifans and even Stan Lee's cameo where he plays the librarian in a fight scene. With the rating of the film being PG-13, that the directors represented the film to the proper audience of young teenagers and family, which also contributed to the high viewing and ratings. Even watching the Peter Parker Wake Up Scene (see below), you can see that this is a high-action, suspenseful movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat, pretty spot on with what I remembered.

The Amazing Spider-Man Wake Up Scene (Youtube)

On the other hand, a restraining factor that might have prevented more viewers from seeing this film is how recent the film came out in consideration to the original Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire. As I mentioned earlier, The Amazing Spider-Man only came out 10 years after the first Spider-Man, and 5 years after Spider-Man 3, so potential viewers who do not follow the Marvel-verse have a subsidiary probability of viewing the movie. Even so, looking at current reviews The Amazing Spider-Man (see promotional flier below) with Andrew Garfield is still loved, however recent adaptations starring Tom Holland are more favored. 

The Amazing Spider-Man Promotional Movie Poster

Although this movie is categorized as conventional, there are some unconventional themes that can be observed throughout the movie. Such as the controversial dispute Parker exchanges with Captain Stacy, where he claims the police are not doing their jobs effectively enough and that the "amateur in a suit" is only trying to help and do what the police are failing to do. Seeing as I was only six at the time I watched this movie, I cannot attest to society's views on the police in 2012, however it is a very controversial topic that is talked about more and more today. Another controversial topic that stood out to me is how the police and government try to downplay Lizard's sighting on the bridge. Which reflects the lack of information from government officials and framing of news coverage we experienced then and especially now in America. An example can be said about the death of the French photographer Remi Ochlik and war reporter Marie Colvin, who died from a Syrian attack in 2012. It is believed that they were targeted by Assad for speaking out, however the media framed them as being accidentally caught in the crossfire as they were suspected of being "rebel forces," Journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik die in Homs via BBC News).

Overall, there are a lot of new affairs I gathered after re-watching this film. Especially since the last time I saw this film I was about six or seven years old. Now, I can relate with Peter Parker's more introverted and shy side. I have also learned and experienced a lot about society and rhetorical and ironic messages in the media. However, aside from social commentary, the biggest difference I noticed was the spider bite scene as my memory of this scene was that he got bit in an office-like setting (?) whereas he actually got bit in the lab/building where the spiders and genetic testing took place (go figure!).

[pigeonwit]

I pretty sure you’ve single-handedly unlocked a new hyperfixation within me

I’ve been vaguely following Billie the kid, watching their reels, enjoying bow pics, and of course the queerness of it all. This whole time I had very little clue what the plot was just that it was Queer and Ryan Kopel was involved (I mean what more could you need really) but after reading you brief synopsis of it I have the urge to absorb any and all information pertaining to this show so thank you for that /gen 🫡🫡

P.S. your art is lovely thank you for sharing it with us all <3

so help me god i will turn the venn diagram between daisies and fansies into a CIRCLE-

thanks so much maura, i'm glad i could give you some more information on the show nad allow you to connect to it in some way!! i have plenty of posts with a bunch of information about the show, including my rough notes, and i'd be happy to send you all the links i have if you'd like them! just shoot me a DM and i'll pass them along :)

PS i don't quiiiite know what you mean by art? none of those photographs were mine and i haven't made any art for it at all, only a themed battle jacket i made for the show. the only creative thing i do is writing, and i haven't really written anything for the show yet, besides this:

“So, like-” Christ, Jack can feel himself getting breathless with how excited he is, “-okay – rodeos. Are those actually, like… A thing? ‘Cause I’ve seen YouTube videos-”

Davey scoffs into his coffee.

“God, Jackie, the south isn’t all cowboys and rodeos. Sometimes places are just places.”

David shoots him a quizzical look, which makes Davey give him the same look right back, the two of them such a flawless mirror image that Jack’s brain is bending in half trying to comprehend it.

“What?” Davey tries to smile, but Jack’s known him long enough to recognize his nervous twinges.

“I mean…” David swivels his hawk-eyes across the table, peering from person to person as he judges what to say. “Yeah, you’re right an’ all, Winchester Creek ain’t nothin’ special, but – kinda rich comin’ from you, huh?”

Davey frowns.

“Coming from me?”

David blinks at him owlishly, and it’s such a Davey mannerism that Jack has to shake his head a little just to shift David back behind the line that separates the two.

“Dude.” He says flatly. “You came third in bronc ridin’ at our junior rodeo back when we were like, twelve.”

“What?!” Davey splutters, though Jack can barely hear him – the whole table’s yelling over each other at the sheer idea of Davey in a rodeo, and Jack’s too busy staring at him, mouth agape, his terrible mind filled with equally terrible images of Davey on a horse, Davey with a lasso, Davey shirtless on a horse with a lasso-

“C’mon, you know this!” David insists. “It was that summer your dad got hurt real bad an’ ya momma sent ya ‘round to us, remember? You were there for months and ya fuckin’ hated it, so my pop gotcha into our county’s Li’l Britches. I know,” he scoffs, tipping back a little in his seat, “because pop made us stay there the whole day before you went on. Think he thought I’d get jealous and wanna join in.” He tips his chin up curtly and takes what is quite possibly the bitchiest sip of his cold brew. “Didn’t fuckin’ work, though.”

“David.” Jack says gravely, and when two heads turn in synchrony to look at him, quickly adds, “uh, sorry, no – my David.”

“Well, I could be.” David shrugs with a sly grin, and Jack’s whole body feels like paper being punched into a little ball.

[joocomics]

LOSER(S)

03. not very friendly of you — 18+

pairing: youtuber!theo x fem!reader

synopsis: the charming guy running the youtube channel you enjoy watching mostly because of him and not the games he’s playing, moves in the apartment across from yours, and turns out to be the biggest asshole you’ve encountered in years

genre: smut w/ sprinkle of plot wc: 1845

chapter contains: dom!reader, masturbation (m), dirty talk, light degradation, humiliation kink, orgasm denial, phone sex, pet names

a/n: please, keep in mind english is not my first language, i apologise in advance for any mistakes i’ve might missed

!! this is pure fiction for entertainment purposes

📁 loser(s) masterlist

“Taeyang!” You turn the key to lock the door behind you after taking a heedful look around the empty corridor. There’s nobody else in the restroom too, but you still keep your voice low, wanting to be on the alert for any approaching footsteps. “You can’t send me nudes while I’m at work!”

“Oh…” Taeyang’s familiar voice draws out from the speaker of your cellphone. Of course, he sounds amused by the way you react. “I thought we’re fuck buddies.”

“We are, but what does that have to do with it?” You stare at your own confused expression in the mirror, fixing a few strands of your hair.

“Denying me what I want is not very friendly of you, don’t you think?”

“Don’t start acting like a brat right now.”

“I’m asking a simple question, Y/N.” He states with a dry laugh at the end of his sentence. “Why are you so rude?”

“I’m not rude, you’re just too sensitive, Tae.” You explain on the instant.

You feel your stomach flutter when the only thing you receive as a response is a deep sigh of relief. You recognise that sound. You know it too well; you’ve heard it before and at this point it’s engraved in your mind and you know what it means.

“You’re not…” You begin to say, but the rest of the words melt in your brain after a familiar airy moan creeps through your phone.

“Haven’t seen you in a while, sweetheart… Fuck, your voice is enough to get me hard.”

You roll your eyes frustrated with both of you at this moment. More in particular how every small thing he does always leaves an effect on you, and how that effect always has you running to fulfil his needs like they’re your own.

“Fine,” you sulk, “I can spare you five minutes of my time.”

You hear him cuss, but through a smile which smugness you can identify so clearly in his tone. His arousal rings from everywhere as you hold the phone pressed against your ear; from the way he suddenly takes extra time to form an answer, to the sounds of his figure shifting in his seat and his excited breathing.

“You gonna cum quick for me, right baby boy? They can’t catch me ditching work for a pervert who can’t cum by himself.”

“Yeah, fuck—“ Taeyang goes silent for a few seconds before creating another sound of pleasure. It comes out muffled like he has his lip tucked between his teeth. “I will, but I wanna see you first.”

“Is that the way to say it?” You utter firmly, but your hands are already preparing to turn on the camera.

“Please… now.” Taeyang whines. “Can I see you now, gorgeous? Please.”

“I don’t have time to teach you basic manners, Tae. Watch your mouth.”

Taeyang’s hooded eyes widen slightly at the sight of your silhouette appearing on his phone screen. His gaze becomes more focused now that he can see your seductive eyes and playful curled lips that he hasn’t bitten in a while, but their taste still lingers on his tongue.

“Hi,” he smirks.

“Hi,” you chuckle, as your fingers slowly start to undo the first buttons of your uniform shirt.

“Fuck, I love this.” He humms in bliss, tugging the base of his length slow and steady. “Take it off, c’mon, baby.”

The view of your cleavage revealing in such slow motion is torturous. He wishes he could just rip off the entire thing from your body.

“Shhh, you’re talking too much.” You put the clothing on the counter and bend over to give him a good view of your boobs that are held by your lacy bra.

“God, wanna fuck them so bad…”

Taeyang’s mind instantly paints the picture - you laying in his bed while he makes himself cum with your plush boobs squishing his cock perfectly.

“You only get to watch,” you tease him, propping up on the cold counter.

You close your lips around your index finger as you watch the pace of his fist move up and down quicker than seconds before. Heavy breaths leave his chest and you can hear them echo dangerously between the tiled walls of the restroom.

You pull out your finger slowly, and swipe it along your bottom lip in an even slower motion, because Taeyang’s eyes earnestly follow every movement of yours. You want him to really remember how your mouth feels around his dick; how your lips feel when they suck on his tongue.

“Wish I was there to play with your big cock, you’re doing a pathetic job.”

And he hears you make that laugh again - the one that for a moment makes him feel like an object of scorn. It pushes him a step closer to the edge, until…

“Stop.”

Taeyang's hand pulls back on the instant.

Forcing himself to fight back the pleasure that was seconds away from bursting was infuriating, but he didn't even hesitate. He leans back in his gaming chair, gripping the arms while waiting for his nerves to calm down.

The intense tormented groan that left his throat continues to play in your head. It wasn’t too loud, nor too desperate, because of his ability to always have control over his own emotions, but it was powerful enough to send a rush of delight from his body straight into yours.

You speak up with condescending sneer.

“Don’t tell me you were already about to cum.” You glance at his grips that don’t dare to make a move, then at his head that’s leaning back weakly. “You still have three more minutes.”

You notice his cock twitch at your words. The desire to wrap your lips around its oozing tip floods your core with warmth, making you cross your legs together.

“You must really miss me.”

And like that, his dick twitches again as a reaction to the sentence rolling off your tongue.

“You love playing with my cock like that, don’t you?” Taeyang finally peers at you from his phone. Despite his voice being low and lazier, he still sounds confident like always.

You watch with interest how his hand gets a hold of his stiff base once again. You can only imagine the way he throbs in his palm, it’s probably something close to the embarrassing clenching of your empty pussy right now.

You notice the transparent essence, a sign of pure desperation, and how it gets smeared all over his veiny skin, causing his cock to glisten on your screen.

“That’s why you’re so wet right now just from watching me. I don’t need to touch you to know.”

You find it hard to comprehend how his gaze can have the same impact through the small screen as it does when you look at him in person. It makes it harder to not pay special attention to his words, but you try your best.

To distract yourself from the heat you step back with hands behind your back.

“You’ll never learn, poor Taeyang…” You unclasp your bra and the moment Taeyang sees your bare boobs; the way your nipples perk up from the sudden cold air, he gradually revives the previous rapid speed after spiting in his palm. “Losers like you only know to run their greedy mouths and nothing else.”

“Come over tonight,” he manages to dismiss your comment.

The change in the conversation doesn't distract his busy hand though, it proceeds to tug his erection, mixing the spit with his arousal. You can hear it clearly.

“Awh, my panties don’t do it for you anymore?” You ask with a fake concern.

He's unable to come up with an answer to that. The only reaction you get is the knit of his brows and his eyes closing from the growing sensation.

You lean forward again.

“I can’t, I’ll be having dinner with my colleagues.”

Taeyang catches his lower lip between his teeth, bringing his attention back on your tits. You toy with them seductively in front of the camera, and he swears he can almost feel the softness under his own fingertips… your skin getting goosebumps like it always does when he runs his tongue on the sensitive part under your ear.

“Boring as fuck.” The pressure in his comment is clear. “You’ll have so much more fun here with me.”

It may be true, but you can’t let ‘here’ become a habit of yours. Someone would think that you and Taeyang see each other every night since it’s so convenient that you live on the same floor, but it’s not like that. Friends with benefits have boundaries too.

“I’m having enough fun watching your pathetic attempt to please yourself right now.” You smile at the camera. “Fist it faster, babe, c’mon… wanna see you make a mess on your tummy.”

Taeyang's head falls back while the speed of his fist grows more intense. You can sense that he’s close from the forceful sound echoing around you.

“Show me how bad you want me.”

Your mouth waters at the merciless dance of his hand along his length especially with the way it causes his voice to get thinner and his breaths hitched, slipping quickly as he exhales in a rush.

While you on the other hand, are speechless.

You would’ve never guessed that an image of a man jerking himself off would ever leave such an effect on you. But here you are, locked in the bathroom at work, eyes wide, eating up Taeyang’s body as he’s reaching for his climax, and he looks so madly attractive. The sight cannot compare to any pornographic content you’ve ever seen, and you're extremely picky.

His eyes are squeezed shut, covered from his messy dark hair; his lips tremble because of the continuous moans as his adam's apple moves vividly… and then there’s the exposed surface of pale skin that you cannot wait to see painted with cum - his abs that clench with desperation as he holds his shirt up with one hand, making you wish you were there to glide your nails all over them.

“You’re so hot, Tae…” You think out loud. You’re too immersed in his pleasure to hold onto any of your thoughts. “Cum for me.”

The relieved expression on Taeyang’s face after he releases all over his stomach is seductive and provoking more than ever before. There’s a hint of self satisfaction in his parted lips and the way he looks at you afterwards. It’s like he knows what he just did to you. He’s aware that this is all that you’ll think about for the rest of the day; then for the rest of the night too while you’re out with your coworkers instead of having your legs tangled in his bedsheets.

Your inability to say anything feeds his ego, resulting to him being content with the quick show he gave you. Especially with the ending when he dragged your name out through his moan seconds before he spilled his cum right where you wanted to see it.

! please do not repost, copy or translate my works

↳ next chapter

[zooophagous]

Hey...uh is Wendell and Wild on Netflix or should I check YouTube for it? Because you got me interested in watching. What's the synopsis of the show/movie?

Its currently streaming on Netflix. Synopsis:

Kat, our main character, has had a troubled life since her parents died. She is eventually placed in a Catholic school where she discovers she has the ability to summon demons when she encounters a demon hunters tool.

Enter our two demons, who are brothers who have a vision of creating their own amusement park. They promise to raise Kats parents from the dead in exchange for bringing them to the mortal realm and out of Hell, where they're currently in prison.

There's a lot of plot going on which makes it hard to summarize, but there's also a dead priest and a private prison and quite a bit of murder.

[wizardcurse]

Just watched "garden centre the musical" on youtube with my friend. a painfully bad amateur production set in a garden centre that apparently took 3 years to create. I cannot recommend it enough if you want an hour of pain and misery. here's the synopsis:

"Join us as we tell a story of deception and intrigue as we explore the life of a new hire thrust into a thriving Garden Centre filled with delightful colleagues. Little do they know, this unsuspecting employee has a secret agenda and is plotting to take down the store. Brace yourself for an emotional tale with teamwork, friendship and an unexpected twist"

[foxgloveinspace]

this is hella random but-

if you ever want to info dump about the call of duty guys (ghost and soap i think? are those call names? soap is weird lol) please do! that ship has started popping up more and more in my feeds and now i am thoroughly intrigued. mostly because yes give me more ships with everyone suffering ptsd, but also i had no idea call of duty had any sort of plot line or recognizable characters?

i’ve played it only a handful of times and it always just seemed to me like a “create a character then join a server and shoot people” kind of game i didn’t think it had any story lol

but yeah. pls fill me in if you so desire :) i am so curious

I’m the wrong person to ask, cause I haven’t played the games yet😔🤣.

I own a couple of them, but I haven’t played yet just cause… last year I was in a weird place with video games really, is the only explanation I have. The campaigns (the plot parts) are not too long if you wanna watch them on YouTube (I also haven’t done that,,,,,, I should do that if I’m not gonna play the 2020s games, just cause I know that people where Not Happy with the last game, but I should freaking play the ogs cause they are RIGHT up my alley oof).

There’s a couple things you gotta know, if you wanna get into to it: There’s two different series of Modern Warfare, the og, which came out 07, 09, and 11. And then the remakes (which is what got the fandom So Big), which is from 2019, 22, and 23. They are, the same story told differently, and they are Very Different. The characters have very different personalities depending on the series.

(This is why I tag things as ghostsoap, or 09 soapghost so I can keep track of the different characters lol).

Ghost and Soap are their callsigns, yeah. It makes the ship names fun though! (Ghosts first name is Simon, Soap’s is John (Ghost calls him Johnny, so the fandom runs with calling him that lmao)).

Ghost wears a mask, and doesn’t have a canonical face clam! Which is really cool to me, cause we get so many different versions of Simon from the fandom🖤 and also, masked characters make brain go brrrrrr.

I am mostly in it for the fic, and there’s tones of good fanart. Not to say I don’t know anything at all, cause I have read the fandom wikis/synopsis of the games (though I’m a little rusty on my knowledge,,,, again I do want to play the games, I just.. wasn’t in a video game mood all last year). I’m just… sometimes info dumping is hard.

But yeah. The fic is freaking good. Like, I was looking for military themed romance novels the other day and I legit couldn’t bring myself to start any cause I’m worried it won’t live up to ghostsoap🤣🤣🤣.

I was gonna give some recommendations, but I uhhh…. I have realized I mostly bookmark the good smut, and only have a couple fics that aren’t smut, but they are SO ANGSTY🤣🤣🤣. And then one long fic, but it’s ghostroachsoap (roach is a player character from the first mw2).

Gosh. What can I say about ghostsoap…… they are black and red coded characters??? (Not Actually, but in the fandom way. Ghost is black, Soap is red. I don’t know if that’s even still a fandom thing lmao).

I…. I don’t know what else to say, haha.

[fancoloredglasses]

Pac-Man (...and not ONE maze in the entire series!)

[All images are owned by Bandai Namco Entertainment and Hanna-Barbera. Please don’t sue or chomp me]

(Thanks to panbiscuit)

As I previously mentioned, Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s had a LOT of cartoons related to video games (and by “related to”, I mean they had characters that could vaguely be related to the games, but with plots that veered so far from the concept it was ludicrous. But then again, how many cartoons could you make about running around a maze eating…whatever those dots were supposed to be?)

This time around, I’m going to look at Pac-Man, a game, as I just mentioned, involved running around a maze and eating dots. The object was to clear the maze of dots while ghosts roamed the halls trying to eat you! Your only defense was four special dots that allowed you to turn the tables on the ghosts. The video below gives a synopsis for those who’ve never played the game before.

(Thanks to bobamaluma)

[FUN FACT: The creator of Pac-Man has stated he was inspired to make the game while eating a pizza]

Now, on to the show!

First, let’s meet the star of the show, Pac-Man! His job is to protect the Power Pellet Forest from…

…the evil Mezmeron (who’s the only human in all of Pac-Land)

…and his henchmen, the Ghost Monsters (from left to right: Sue (who replaced Clyde in the Ms. Pac-Man video game), Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde)

Since Sue’s in the cartoon, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Pac-Man (who is married to Pac-Man (wouldn’t that make her Mrs. Pac-Man?) and whose actual name is Pepper) is in the game.

What’s more, they have a kid (Pac-Baby, who also had her own video game (a hybrid of a video game and pinball machine called Baby Pac-Man) that, ironically enough, was released nine months after Ms. Pac-Man’s debut. Guess Pac Man works fast!)

But besides a wife and kid, Pac-Man also has pets!

…a dog named Chomp-Chomp

…and a cat named Sour Puss (who really doesn’t like Chomp-Chomp)

This being Saturday morning TV, you’d think we’d only see the show for one season, but in fact it got a second (and a holiday special that I may have to review one of these years), that introduced two new characters (based on their own games, naturally!) to try to keep things fresh.

First off is Super Pac (Pac-Land’s super hero, who’s more than a bit incompetent)

…and Pac-Man’s teenage cousin PJ (short for Pac-Man Jr.)

Season 2 also saw a reduction in the “chomping”, as it was deemed a bit too violent for kids (seriously?)

The plots were either Mezmeron and/or the Ghost Monsters trying to find the secret Power Forest (how secret could it be? Pretty much all of Pac-Land except the Bad Guys knows where it is!) or the Ghost Monsters trying to chomp Pac-Man just out of spite (considering all chomping does is weaken Pac-citizens or make the Ghost Monsters lost their sheets, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal)

If you would like to watch the series, random episodes can be found on YouTube or you can find it behind your favorite paywall)

Now, for sheer entertainment, here’s what happens when you play Pac-Man in real life! (WARNING: there is some salty language)

(Thanks to Rooster Teeth)

Let me know what other cartoons based on video games (or episodes) you would like to see reviewed in the comments!

[sunnys-library]

Secretariat

Rating: 10/10

Synopsis:

Housewife and mother Penny Chenery agrees to take over her ailing father's Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery -- with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin -- manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in twenty-five years.

source

Review:

I saw this movie when it came out in theaters (2010) and I remember being in complete awe. My mom and I were running late so we didn't have time to get popcorn or anything. We snuck in right during the opening credits and took the first seats we could find, which were only a couple of rows back from the movie screen. We basically had to look up the entire time which wasn't our ideal situation but in regard to this movie, I thought it was perfect and the best way to experience Secretariat.

I re-watched the movie today with my mom in honor of the Preakness Stakes and it was just as good as I remember, maybe even better in some ways. As I've gotten older, I've grown to appreciate the art of movies more. I've also taken a couple college/graduate courses in movies to fulfill elective credits which has expanded my knowledge and increased my interest in them.

This movie wasn't a huge award winner and it had mixed reviews from critics. Some claimed it was predictable, which makes sense considering it's based on a true story (do people not know that?). Some claimed it was cheesy and similar to Hallmark movies. Some thought it was full of cliches and lacked character development and a decent written plot. To each their own.

There also were comments about how the film wasn't entirely realistic, which is true. Some things were altered. Most films based on true stories are, though, as it makes for better plots or viewings.

There was a lot of ground covered in 2 hours, the plot spanning over about 6 years or so. There were times when I didn't know what year it was but I felt the script did as good a job as it could have to provide those details. I'm not sure how they could have made it more in-depth without dragging it out, to be honest. Anything past 2 hours seems to be extremely hit or miss. So given the circumstances I wasn't put off by how they went about this.

I felt the characters had enough depth to add to the storyline. Of course part of me wished they went into more detail, such as with Penny's kids or with Eddie/Hollies/Miss Ham etc. but again, I'm not sure how feasible that would have been with the 2-hour time stamp.

I thought the cinematography and camera direction were very well done (I'm not a professional though so this is just a personal opinion). I felt the lighting and camera angles contributed to a sense of power and intensity consistent throughout the film. It also added warmth, joy, and comfort.

I thought the music selection and scores were also well done. Nick Glennie-Smith provides a selection of original scores for the film I thought added to the intensity of it and conveyed certain emotions words couldn't. I wish the scores were available via Spotify but I can only find them on YouTube. And of course the selection of songs chosen for this film were well done. The scene of Big Red, or Secretariat, rounding the corner at the Belmont Stakes is one of my all-time favorite scenes in cinematic history. The low camera angle, the lighting, the sounds of the horse followed by the chorus of "Oh Happy Day" all contributed to this euphoria feeling that's hard to replicate just by thought. Anything that can provoke that kind of emotion, in my opinion, is worthy of some kind of recognition.

Overall, I thought the film was an exciting watch. It's one of my favorites and one of my comfort movies. I thought it did a decent job of sticking close to the actual story (with the real Penny making an appearance) and it was able to portray a certain intensity and excitement that can be hard to achieve properly. It's worth a watch in my opinion :)