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cherrylng · 13 days

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ROCKIN’ON - MUSE (November 2009)

MATTHEW BELLAMY INTERVIEW

●"The Resistance" is an amazing piece of work. 「(Laughs) You liked it, thank goodness.」

●I think it must be a very well thought-out concept album, from the composition and arrangement of each song, to the fact that the last three songs are a suite, to the lyrics. How did you come up with the concept for this album? 「In a way, I think this work is a dramatic reflection of my real life. Because of the current situation in the UK— well, especially the political situation during the time we were making this album. Various protest actions, such as the G20 protest rally (an appeal to the world's 20 major financial conferences held in London in April 2009), the shock of the economic crisis, and the revelation that British parliamentarians were embezzling money (*the British media revealed that many members of parliament had unfairly requested additional benefits for private financial aid, housing allowances, etc. under the pretext of “public expenses”, which developed into a major scandal)… Well, it seems to have calmed down a bit now (September 2009), but at that time there was a very strong feeling among people demanding “change” - breaking down and denying the current system. It was flowing, wasn't it? That's partly because I’ve been away from England for a while now and have been living in Italy, so I guess I was absorbing information about England even more voraciously. I was probably missing England a little bit, so I watched British news on TV, read newspapers, and closely followed the coverage of various events at the time. By looking at the current situation in Britain from the outside, I was able to develop an objective perspective within myself.

At the same time, my relationship with my current lover (Gaia Polloni) is also very important to me. You could call it romance, but yeah, that’s why those two things, politics and love, were in a sense bisecting my daily life at the time. I think if you listen to the album, you can hear that there's a more dramatic, dramatized version of that happening in the album. They serve as a setting for this album. For example, the first song sings of ideas such as revolution, uprising, and a strong desire to overthrow the status quo and change, while the second song sings about an immersion into love that can almost be called a retreat. I want to feel free by being locked up in the world of two people. It is also a desire to be freed or to escape from the various problems faced in reality, such as the government, or from the many unpleasant people that one cannot trust at all. It's a feeling I've had for a while now. In this context - a romance in the midst of political unrest, upheaval, and change - each song on the album depicts a different emotional journey. This is the same thing with “1984,” and that's why I quoted a few things from that book. But the ending of the album is - what can I say, I'm not a particularly religious person, but I'm leaning towards a bit more of a spiritual direction.

In the first half of the album, I use love or romance as a means of escape, but at the conclusion of the album, I objectify the world and the people who live in it, and it becomes very objective. So, so to speak, I'm trying to objectively view the Earth and the people living on it over a longer period of time. In that sense, that last suite can almost be called science fiction, but in a sense, it's a song that starts from the perspective of the universe as evolution. Evolution is a process that progresses on a cosmic scale, and probably occurs all over the universe. Part 1 of that song has a character with a distant, bird's-eye view, looking at everything from a distance. It's almost as if the person is just gazing at various problems, problems for which there seems to be no way to solve them, from afar. So, in Part 2, the idea of escaping from that planet is depicted, and some of the inhabitants of that planet escape to outer space. So, well, we're stepping into a bit of a science fiction world (bitter smile). But then I realized that I really like that movie, Stanley Kubrick's "A.I." (*Kubrick's legacy project, adapted by Spielberg). The first half of the film depicts a typical everyday story, but towards the ending, it becomes very dramatic and reaches the level of a sci-fi drama. I really like that development. So I guess that movie may have partially influenced me. Although the majority of his (Kubrick’s) work depicts extremely mundane and “global” topics such as various problems faced by humans, love relationships, happiness, and the joy of love, in the end he depicts a completely different and spiritual place. I like the idea of making an album that goes somewhere far away from everything and is cut off from this world.」

● At the end, in the eleventh song, you sing, “Let's start over again.” This work, which opens with the order of the revolution and describes the path to its defeat, seems to contain an eternal cycle in which the revolution begins again, returning to the beginning at the end. 「Yeah, yeah. It is a kind of loop! (laugh). It's a kind of cycle of life, of things. I have also studied the work of Richard Dawkins (a Darwinist sociobiologist. He advocates memetics, which compares the spread of culture to genes. His representative works include The God Delusion). I was reading about evolution and Darwin's theory of evolution, and that influenced me a lot. Was it last year? The Darwin Memorial Festival (*Charles Darwin's 100th anniversary) was held.」

In the album's conclusion, I try to objectify the world, or rather, the earth and its inhabitants, in a longer term.

●I think it was this year. 「Yeah, yeah. That's one of the things that brought me into contact with Darwin's research and literature. I read it, and I got really into it. I read that the inside of a human being is almost like a computer program, that the inside of DNA is a storehouse of information from the past, and that the genes are basically spreading this information. In this way, some information survives, while some is eliminated. In a sense, genes are the main force controlling our lives. In this way, we are almost a shadow or reflection of something else. I think that is a very interesting way of thinking.」

●Do you think the human race is still evolving? Are we on the right track? 「Yes, of course! I think we are still in the process of evolution (laughs). But are we going in the right direction? If you ask me, I don't know. I mean, if you read books about evolution, you realize that some parts of the species are always surviving. So, for example, the way we are now, the framework within which we live, the way we live, all of these things may eventually disappear completely. There are even some people who think that the current human species does not have much longer to live! (laughs) Well, I personally sometimes feel that evolution is something very spiritual. The inner workings of evolution are actually very exciting, and through it we can gain a different perspective on time, and a different view of life. For me, it's much more rewarding to learn about it than religion, or, you know, it gives me a peace of mind.」

●As you mentioned earlier, Orwell's “1984” is the basis of the story of this work, but why has the motif of “1984” emerged in your mind now? Why did “1984” have an immediacy in your mind? 「The current British government (Labour) seems to be experimenting a lot with new technologies and things like that in their own country. For example, the newly developed technology of large CCTV surveillance cameras. Nowadays, when you go to the airport, your eyeballs are scanned (laughs).I don't know what to say. It's like the government is trying to be more sophisticated and control the people, using the excuse of "anti-terrorism" as a cover. I think we are moving towards a new period. At least in the UK. Many people (in the U.K.) have a sense that "someone is always watching" and a certain kind of Big Brother (*The dictatorial ruler/politician depicted in "1984". He is a symbolic figure who controls and suppresses people's lives and thoughts through television and wiretapping.). I think that motif is very contemporary, especially for the British. I think it is true that our freedom as human beings is slowly being taken away.」

●Is it a warning to the people? “Beware, our freedom is being taken away”? 「Yes, I think so, but hasn't it always been that way? In the past, the majority of people have always been optimistic, not worrying too much and not thinking too deeply about things. I think that's why it's important for artists to try to influence popular culture, to try to convey some of their ideas and perspectives. It might be an opportunity to make some people think about things that they have never thought about before. And, yes, I think that what I am expressing in this work is probably worth issuing a warning.」

●This is your first full-fledged self-produced album. Why did you decide to self-produce at this time? 「We have been using various studios in Europe as well as some studios in the U.S., and we got a little fed up with working in "rented" places. There are time constraints, you have to finish in a few weeks, and there are other people using the same studio, so it's very difficult in terms of time and freedom. I think it was during the recording process of the last album that the idea of "building a home studio" came to me. I learned a lot about recording technology in the process of building that studio. We bought and installed all the recording equipment ourselves. And through the process of setting up, I became aware of the recording and engineering side of the business. Until now, that part of my life has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I just watched the other people doing all this complicated stuff (laughs), and I thought, "This must be really hard work." But through the studio construction work, some of the mystery was taken away, and I was able to understand exactly what they (engineers) were doing.」

●What, if any, characteristics of the band Muse did you discover in this process of being left to make all the choices? 「Well… I don't know why we didn't do that before - it was pretty tough when we first started recording. But once we got through that phase, we realized that we were really enjoying the recording process. We laughed a lot, and I don't think we've ever had so much fun in all the albums we've made. Because with the previous albums, we were under a lot of pressure in terms of time, because we were only booked in the studio for two weeks or a few weeks, and we had to work really hard while we were there. So, yeah, I think if there's anything we've discovered about Muse, it's that we don't take ourselves too seriously (laughs).」

●Ha ha ha! 「(laughs) Especially while we are in that kind of production environment. Some of the songs are pretty heavy, and I think that's part of what made our creative environment so enjoyable. The three of us had a lot of laughs about the music we were doing, about ourselves, and about everything else. So in that sense, it was a much lighter and more relaxed experience than before. And if there's one more thing I've discovered, I think (with some emphasis) it's that this is the best way for us to record. It's probably the best creative environment for us, and it allows us to be more bold and not be afraid to try out ideas as they come to us. Because when everyone is happy and enjoying what they're doing, it sometimes gives you more courage to try something, even if it's a pretty crazy idea.」

●This album is a concept album, but at the same time, it is a work with an amazing variety of sounds, and is filled with various genres of music that are not all the same. What was the process of songwriting for the 11 songs? Did you compile songs that were born from different triggers and clues, or did you create them in order from the beginning, as if the lyrics depicted a universal story? 「Yeah… It's funny, but as far as the recording goes, we recorded the songs in the order they were recorded. We recorded "Uprising" first, and the symphony was the last song we recorded. But the songwriting process was pretty random, and there was no process. For example, I remember playing some of the piano parts in the final suite on a whim for three or four years, but I never thought they would become songs, or even something for Muse. On the other hand, songs like "Undisclosed Desires" were written almost entirely in the studio. "United States of Eurasia" was probably written a little before we started working on the album. I had a feeling that it was going to be one of the cornerstones of the album. It's a core song. That song was already ready before we recorded it, or rather, it was well-developed, and I had a clear idea of how I wanted the song to turn out. I knew exactly how I wanted the song to be recorded. But for the final suite, even though some of the piano parts were already there, the idea of making it a three-part suite, or adding bass and drums to make it a Muse song, came after I went into the studio and was not part of the plan. So "Uprising," "The Resistance," "United States," and "MK Ultra", which were already with us before we started recording, and most of the others came out of the studio as we continued working on them. Some of the songs had ideas from before, like the piano parts, and some of them were new versions of old ideas.」

●In terms of excitement, “United States of Eurasia” has a structure that has several “chapters” within one song. I think this song, which changes from an operatic melody to a Middle Eastern melody, and has an outro of Chopin's Nocturne, is a number that encapsulates the eclectic charm of this work, but where did the idea for this song come from? 「(laughs happily) That's right, maybe it's a Middle Eastern-ish “♪Dun dun dun dururu~♪” melody part, but didn't that already exist before the Wembley Stadium performance? How did it go? (Thinks for a moment) No! Around the time we performed at V Festival last year, we played a live show in Dubai, and we were able to experience a lot of cool music there. Shortly after that, I went back to England and performed at V Festival, and I remember playing a little bit of that melody during the break between songs, and Dom's mom came to see the show after the concert. But (bitter smile) she said to me, “What's that melody you were playing earlier? It was amazing.” So I thought, oh well, it might be a good idea to write some songs using that, and I thought I'd give it a try.」

●It's Dom's mom's favorite song (laughs). 「(Explosive laughter) Yeah, yeah! And, yeah, that Middle Eastern-style melody was the starting point for that song. And for some reason, I played it in the black key, the key of E flat. Because it is easy to play a melody like that (pressing the piano keys with fingers) like this. So that automatically led me to the key of E flat, which is a scale I don't normally use. My vocal range is usually D, E, C, or A, but I was not familiar with the E-flat, black key. So I had to work with a different chord arrangement than usual, and as a result, I had to build a song around that Middle Eastern groove to match it. And so the song gradually developed into a strange shape, a different type of chord shape, independent of the Middle Eastern melody that started the song in the first place. So, after I finished writing the main part of that song, I was listening to a piano piece. I think it was when I was looking at my iPod playlist, and that Chopin piece, “Nocturne/E Flat Major,” came up. It is one of my favorite pieces of Chopin's, along with the C-sharp pieces, and I thought, “Oh, this is an E-flat piece too, how interesting (laughs)!” I had never played it before, so I bought the sheet music, read it, and learned the notation so I could play it. Then I found that I could play it exactly the way it ended (laughs).」

●(laughs) I wonder if the meaning of the "song" as a unit, or the way you view it, has changed drastically since your last album. The amount of information contained in a song is completely different from your previous works. 「Yes, that's true for "United States" and especially for the symphony at the end. Of course, we try to incorporate new ideas and techniques into our music on every album, but one of the things that happened on this album was definitely a drastic change in the structure of the songs. I'm sure that will influence the next album as well.」

Dom's Interview

Translator's note: I actually finished translating Dom's interview first before tackling Matt's. The reason why? If you see the original interview itself as shown in the second image, his second answer alone took up almost the whole page of the magazine. And I had to split it into 3 text blocks simply because it exceeded the maximum of 4,096 characters that can be contained in a single text block.

It was no wonder Matt's interview took up 3 pages while Dom's only took up 2 pages.

At this point in time, I'm tempted to just set up a Ko-fi or something because this took up so much of my free time to get this scanned and translated, on top of wrangling with Tumblr itself to get this posted. Someone let me know if that's an idea to follow through or not.

#Matt Bellamy #Muse #The Resistance era #smol meerkat #interview #translation #Matt why do you have such a motor mouth #I had to procrastinate by doing Dom's interview first because of that long ass answer alone #don't give me that soft look on your face #look at what you made me do Matt

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perseabeth · 5 days

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Sun-Kissed Symphony: Ocean's Eternal Dance

I've been a little bit hesitant about posting this, but I'd really love to hear your opinion before I officially publish it. disclaimer: I don't own Riordanverse, I only own the original female character I've made, and some additional campers I might add in the future. + I give full credit for the picture used to their original creator this story is set years after HoA, therefore, ToA didn't happen.

Epilogue

Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood. If you are reading this because you think-

ha, I got you there!

Dear readers, for years, you’ve been reading my brother’s story, with its ups and downs, heavens and hells, and all happiness and sadness.

But that was his story, and the pen and notebook were passed down to me.

So, let’s start again.

Look, I didn’t really imagine myself being a half-blood. These stories and heroic battles were mere myths to me. They were stories my mom read to me before bedtime.

But, after all these years, it would be a lie if I said I can imagine myself being someone else. After everything I’ve gone through, I can’t imagine being able to fit somewhere else.

However, I’m not here to tell you my story from the very beginning. I don’t intend on retelling my brother’s tales. Retelling isn’t really my thing. It will consume time and space, and my dyslexia won’t really support me through it all.

But I can tell you that you’ve heard of my stories in my brother’s books. I was there between the lines, among the words you’ve read. Reread them again, and you will find out.

And I’ll always guide you through my story by mentioning details that my brother might’ve missed, or you might’ve misread.

However, let’s agree on something, dear readers: this book isn’t for children. I’m aware that you’ve grown up with my brother when he published his story in the form of a 'young adult' book, but we grew up. He grew, and I grew up. So, if you aren't categorized under the ‘adults’ section, which is something completely better - adulthood life isn’t that great, anyways - close the book and go read something else, something that can actually benefit you for school.

And I don’t want to repeat my brother’s words, but if you recognize yourself in these pages - if you feel something stirring inside - stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it’s only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they’ll come for you.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

My name is Andromeda Jackson.

I’m twenty-three years old. My life was pretty much normal, filled with chaos and troubles, but normal in the mortal’s sense of normalcy, until 11 years ago when I and my twin brother were boarding students at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.

And you know the rest...

I’m sure by now you are wondering, am I a troubled kid like Percy? Or are we like yin and yang, each one holding a different personality?

Well, I’d wish we were THAT cool, but unfortunately not, we are actually the same, inside and out.

If my brother was the fire spreading throughout the forests, I’m his gasoline. So, I’m sorry to disappoint you, you aren’t getting these cool polar opposite twin stories like Artemis and Apollo, but hey, we are cool too, and we make you laugh.

Speaking of Apollo, he is, unfortunately, the other main character of my tale.

But this isn’t something Percy needs to know, for now at least.

When he gave me the pen and the notebook, he told me that he was done with his story and that it was his time to find peace and stability with his girlfriend, soon-to-be fiancé, Annabeth.

Shh don’t tell her that, it’s supposed to be a surprise, and I hope she will already be his fiance when you would get your hand on this book.

Anyways, where was I?

Oh, this is the privilege of ADHD.

Back to Percy, he said it’s my turn to tell the tale, it’s my story now to keep his dear readers entertained. I believe that what Percy expected me to write was some quests here and there, life at camp, the building process of new Athens and a lighthearted atmosphere.

Well, I’m sorry Perce,

I’m sure that when you put your hand on this book, you would be expecting everything but the story of your sister with a certain sun god.

you know what? I'll make sure that you never get your hand on this book, sorry brother..

But hey, the sun doesn’t like to be far from attention, I mean, it’s a literal ball of gas bigger than planet Earth, but you didn’t hear that from me.

So, I hope you fasten your seatbelts, and put on your sunglasses and extra sunscreen because my story is the story of how the bright sun meets the untamed sea.

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becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys · 1 year

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Doctor Who, but Chronologically: 38

It is STILL 1941. I just want to point out that there are no episodes in 1940. None in 1942. But 1941? THIS IS OUR THIRD. It's a wonder the Doctor still goes, given the high chance of meeting a past or future self, frankly.

Anyway, we get a Christmas episode! The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. The Doctor starts on a big spaceship in space that looks very cool, which he possibly blows up. Eventually he sort of falls off it and falls through Earth's gravity well, trying to grab and don a spacesuit. He takes ages to do it. That's actually quite dangerous - the vacuum of space does dangerous things to living tissue, and yet he survives entirely unscathed. That's good information. It's good to know officially, for example, that if the Doctor is exposed to the vacuum of space, he will not, for example, go blind.

Anyway after landing he meets Madge, a woman who helps him back to the TARDIS. Three years later - in 1941, when "everything in the world happens" - the Doctor Who showrunners, apparently - Madge's husband dies in WW2 when his plane is damaged and a propella stops. She doesn't want to tell her children (a wet boy called Cyril and an annoying girl called Lily) until after Christmas, but they all go away to a... random manor house, IDK that part is weird. I think it's Stradey Castle.

The Doctor is the caretaker. He decides a suitable Christmas present is an interdimensional portal to Narnia Androzani Major aka the twin planet of the place with the caves that are haunted by the Phantom of the Opera in the English series. It's a big snowy wood. For the record, I am 100% on board with this present.

The wet boy opens it early and crawls inside, because of course he does. The Doctor and the annoying girl follow. This is the least fun bit of the whole episode, actually. She's annoying because every single one of her lines is her demanding answers while never working out a single thing for herself or doing anything useful, plus haranguing the Doctor at random points. In return, he's consistently a cunt to her ("GOD Lily weren't you LISTENING?" is a line he has a good four times, plus additional derivatives thereof.) After a while you start to wonder what the point of the episode is.

Madge also follows after them all. A trio of comedians (best scene of the episode) headed by Bill Bailey turn up, and explain that deforestation is about to happen via acid rain, which is literally the worst harvesting procedure I've ever heard of, and I would like you all to remember at this point that what I do for a living is lecture in environmental conservation and climate change with a specialism in trees and woodlands, so I have heard a great many terrible harvesting procedures, both hypothetical and real. Where's the Phantom of the Opera guy and his androids when you need them? This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Explain this business model to me, Androzani Major. Fucking idiots.

But it means the forest is trying to escape. They wish to do this by putting all their souls into a living human. It has to be a woman, because at this point Steven Moffat had read a book on gender theory and was trying to make up for past crimes, I assume, but it's patronising as fuck regardless (also there is a viscerally GROSS line about the Forest of Cheem "fancying him" which I know I'm furious about but as we technically haven't seen that episode yet I can't be but YOU JUST WATCH ME add it to the question list). Everyone ends up in a tower with some beautiful tree people and they all fly away in a spaceship - the tree souls just settle among the stars, which is... really not a resolution for trees, actually, but okay. Meanwhile by flying back home through the time vortex, Madge accidentally provides a light for her husband in his broken plane to navigate by. This does not make much sense, given that the issue with the plane is that it has visibly lost an engine and a bright light is hardly helpful to that problem, but okay. It means he lands outside the manor house on Christmas day when they do, though, so they're reunited? I mean there were two other men in that plane, neither of whom are seen or heard from again, fuck knows what happened to them, BUT OKAY

This would have been an okay episode, but regrettably, the actors are woefully not up to the task of the emotional weight and nuance it was built around. Also it bears repeating what the FUCK is that harvesting technique I mean

PLOT THREADS THOUGH

Almost none and then right at the end the Doctor reveals that his friends think he's dead??? So he goes off to visit Amy and Rory and tell them he's alive. Turns out they already knew because River told them. The scene is sterile and lacklustre because they have no chemistry, but Matt Smith does his best to save it.

So that's fun! Maybe next episode we'll get to move to 1943, as a treat

“She” (an unknown person) is returning (perhaps River returned as Missy. Maybe Me? Maybe Clara???!)

There is something on Donna’s back

An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest.)

Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)

The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)

River is possibly blown up (unless she’s Missy. Nope: she is definitely not blown up)

The TARDIS has blown up (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again)

The universe appears to have ended (the universe is back again)

The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole

(And Nardole was “reassembled???” Nardole had glass nipples and invisible hair?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HE)

There’s a vault in the TARDIS and it contains Missy but we don’t know why (sometimes she knocks for the bants)

There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons

Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?

What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?

Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window? (She’s with the Silents, but we don’t know why Amy saw her)

Why is Amy’s pregnancy inconclusive? (Maybe because the baby had Time Lord DNA?)

Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?

How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?

What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???

What happened with the Other Cyber War?

What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?

Why does Rose seem particularly important?

What order do these Doctors go in? (Eccleston, Tennant, uncertain, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker)

Which companion just… forgot the Doctor, and how?

Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri

There is a Lupari shield around Earth.

What’s a Time War?

What’s the Rift?

What’s Bad Wolf?

In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?

Who is the Master?

Why has Amy forgotten Rory? NEW INFO: how did she forget a Dalek invasion?

Is Rory plastic or not?

Why is the Doctor sulking on a cloud?

How exactly does the Doctor have a cloud?

What exactly happened with Strax to, uh, tame him?

Which friend killed Strax?

Which friend brought Strax back?

Where did this lesbian lizard and human couple come from?

What happened with Clara as Souffle Girl and the Daleks?

How does Clara actually join?

Why so many Claras?

Why is Missy apparently in robo-heaven?

Why is probably!Missy pushing Clara and the Doctor together?

What is Trensilor and what happened there?

Who is Handles?

The Doctor is about to be dissolved by a beautiful geode man

The universe is being crushed by the Flux

Will the Doctor open the fobwatch?

Sontarans are invading Earth again

Who is Kate?

Who is Osgood? Another name of Clara’s again?

The fuck is the deal with the Grand Serpent

Does Martha get to go to an ice cream planet with 12-fingered massage aliens?

How did the Doctor forget Clara?

Who is Bill’s puddle girlfriend Heather?

How did Nardole die?

When does Bill get Cyberman-ed and die?

When does the Doctor shrink and enter a Dalek called Rusty?

Whittaker is falling to her death rn

Was that ring relevant?

Does anyone know the Doctor’s name?

When did Yaz talk to Dan about fancying the Doctor?

When did Dan talk to the Doctor about fancying Yaz?

What’s happening with the bees?

What happened with Donna’s ex and a giant spider?

What war wiped out the Daleks, and is it one of the ones already mentioned?

What did the Doctor mean when he said “The (Daleks) always live, while I lose everything?”

If Dalek Caan is the last Dalek left why are there more now?

How did the rest of the Time Lords die?

How and why did Amy melt?

What’s the question that will make silence fall?

Why do the Silents… want silence to fall?

How and why are Silents at war with the Doctor when he… hasn’t even heard of them?

How does Hitler get out of the cupboard?

What’s the significance of fish fingers and custard?

Why does the Doctor feel guilt about Rose, Martha and Donna?

What happened with the space whale?

When does Rory defend Amy for 2000 years?

How does the Doctor survive River

How does he erase himself from history

Did Captain Jack lose his memories to the same people as the Doctor? What did he lose?

When did the Doctor send the Daleks into a void to save the universe?

What’s with the weird crack in the wall and is it affecting memories?

Why do Amy and Rory think the Doctor is dead?

Is Matt Smith's Doctor a tree racist?

#doctor whom #and yet we are continuing

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fayeandknight · 3 months

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I went to check out another house today and oh boy was it a doozy.

It was originally built in 1881 and I could see from the photos that it was not habitable. But it sits on a half acre in an area I'm interested in. Also I can see the charm in the bones, so to speak. Like a half circle window with built in seating, which to me shouts book nook.

I brought my dad because he's knowledgeable about construction and built our family home from scratch.

Got there and it was immediately obvious that this place is way worse than advertised. The second story all season room looks ready to fall off, there's foam patching along sections of the underside of the roof, porch looks like it'd drop you faster than you could curse, etc. It would be a massive undertaking to make it livable.

But the yard is fairly level and partially fenced in from the neighbors. It's set a decent distance from the road and has ample space from neighbors on all sides. This is big for me because I intend to board dogs (through my current job) and I don't want to piss off neighbors with barking dogs.

And while this isn't a basis to buy such a house on, something about it calls to me in a way I haven't experienced before. More on this under the cut because it's spiritual woo woo talk.

When I do a drive by, I literally drive by. I cruise through the neighborhood and take my time. But I don't go up to the house. However between this place clearly not being occupied and my dad having older white dude audacity, we got out and walked around the yard. We went all the way around the house, he pointed out a test patch where someone investigated the siding and it's layers, stomped on the dilapidated porch, and found a well with a hand crank.

At one point I was standing close to the road while he was on the porch reading orange town issued notices posted on the front door. A guy working for the house across the street stopped to stare at us. My dad gave a friendly wave, the contractor returned it, and despite my fears of the cops being called on us, nothing happened.

I thought initially this might be a place that I buy, spend a few months of heavy sweat equity on and hire a contractor or two for major things. But ultimately could make livable while continuing to fix up within three months or so. In addition to major interior work, it needs rewiring/electrical work, a plumbing overhaul, a new roof and gutters, new siding, a new porch, new windows, and most likely just tearing off the all season porch at minimum. So yeah just a fuck ton of work.

My dad and I agreed that this place was pretty far over our ability to renovate. But something makes me want to dig into it deeper anyway. While I highly doubt this place will turn into anything for me. I'm going to look into possible financing options. And I've set my dad to contacting the listing agent and the county office to see what's up.

My next step is digging into a renovation specific loan, the FHA 203k loan. Even though this place probably won't pan out I think it'll serve as a good test run of what I'd need. Cause let's be honest between the current economy and housing market, whatever I end up with will need work.

I don't typically talk about this, but I am pagan and consider myself a spiritual person. And while I don't see the mystical in the mundane everywhere, when I do I, I do.

When I hesitantly stepped onto the property I got a sense of the house. It's got a presence. Something quiet, mostly dormant, and not a little resigned to being torn down. But it's deep, having grown out from the house itself and into the ground around it. It felt like it cracked one eye half way open to regard me. It was very tired. But it also conveyed a feeling that if I restored it, it would be my house.

It would not only protect and shelter me like a good house should. But it would make sure I was happy there. It would pull on its deep connection to the land to make sure this was a place I thrived in. If I invested in it, it would invest in me with the shared goal of quiet, simple joy.

No bombastic promises of glory or great success. But a secure space to sing off tune while I bake bread. Sunny windows to dry herbs in. And love ingrained in the archways of architectures no longer in fashion.

It's not something I'm willing to use as a reason to immediately go all in on. But I'd be lying to myself if I didn't admit that it's part of the reason I'm investigating what it would take to make this place a home.

#house hunting #not dog related #it's not the most ideal lot in relation to the town it's in #and it would be so much work to make it habitable #much less restore it to being complete #but something about it makes me unwilling to just write it off and move on #as I dig into things I'll probably make a post about #fha 203k loans #and what they entail

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acourtofthought · 3 months

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You probably answered this a million times, but since it's pretty evident that Elain's book is next and it will be about koschei and the Queens, what would the last book be about? As much as I disagree that Elain will be getting the last book, defeating koschei does kind of sound like something that should happen in the last book.

Unless.... the last book is not happening for many books down the line. The one that officially closes out SJM writing about these characters.

I think everyone is holding fast to SJM mentioning how there would be a total of 3 spin-offs but what if that's not her plan anymore?

SJM knew who the first two would be about and was debating on the third, also considering a book set in the past for the third.

So:

1) Nesta

2) Elain

3) Book Set in the Past

Then later she talked about how while writing SF her initial plans for the spin-offs stayed the same but the world expanded.

She did another interview saying that she had been contracted for three ACOTAR books but "let's be real, we know I"m not stopping there". (that might not be the words verbatim but it's close to what she said).

Then a few months back she was contracted for additional books (unspecified), some that might set up for a new series.

It would be a little odd for them to have had a major war in ACOWAR only to have another major war 2 years after with Koschei being the evil mastermind this time.

I think the goal of these spin-offs was to round up the last of the evil within their world and enter into a new era of peace and that can be done in the next book with Elucien as it's leads.

But now SJM has introduced the possibility of time travel into her series with Merrill, the crossover and with Nesta having the harp. But again, why would she be building toward the ACOTAR world fighting another war right after the one they just fought but this time with threats from outside their world? Space travelers landing in Prythian and becoming an even bigger threat to them? The people are still rebuilding from the last, the lines of their new world are still being drawn. Back to back wars on the same lands will result in even bigger casualties because of their weakened state.

So to me, it seems more likely that all this crossover stuff, the formation of Valkyrie and them moving to their very own territory of the Prison lands, the portal there and future issues with the Illyrians (the possible portal in Ramiel), the hints at Bryce, Nesta and Ember meeting again someday, I think that's all a segue into a new series but one that is set in all the worlds and possibly has certain characters visiting worlds not yet explored.

I think Elucien's book will secure the peace inside the ACOTAR world and then the Illyrians, the Valkryie, and those in the NC will look beyond to eliminate threats. I think the new series would deal with Gwyn / Az / Emerie / Mor / Nesta / the Valkryie / interactions with Bryce / Ember / maybe Aelin and would go beyond a single remaining spin-off book.

#acotar theory #elucien #crossover acotar #acotar 5 #acotar 6

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sinigangsta-ao3 · 2 years

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Thursday Thoughts: On fandom and a sense of belonging, pt. 2

second part posted on a Friday lol

A few additions to yesterday's Thursday Thoughts, especially since that post seems to have resonated with a lot of people (btw, thanks @ao3commentoftheday for both your "overthinking" that inspired my original post and the signal boost!) — and a lot of people added some really important perspectives that I wanted to consolidate here.

---

On validation:

First things first, some clarification on my terminology: When I use the term "validation," I understand that word sometimes can be misconstrued as praise, fame, widespread recognition, etc. — especially on the Internet and in fandom. To clarify: when I say that people want to be validated, I specifically mean that they want to be affirmed and recognized as worthwhile. Sometimes, it's a matter of just being seen, full stop. Of being recognized that they exist (because sometimes people enter spaces, online or offline, and their existence isn't even acknowledged — and that is inherently a disheartening and dehumanizing experience. How can it not be?). On that note...

When I say that people seek validation, I definitely do not believe that means seeking validation or recognition at scale. I think, for most people in fandom (including me), validation through one or two readers/viewers who say, "I see that you did this work, and I think it's good and/or I appreciate that you did the work" is more than sufficient. I'm not saying that there aren't individuals in fandom who seek fandom fame or "cult status" — I have seen some and have observed them. I do, however, think those who seek fandom fame are the minority, rather than the majority. Basically, I do not think that, for the most part, artists/creators truly desire high volume of engagement — I just think that, psychologically and neurologically speaking, engagement metrics are the only things our brains can hinge on when we're trying to find authentic emotional and social connections via the zeroes and ones on the Internet. And volume feels like authenticity when we're looking at a screen.

---

On community:

In the tags, @rowenabean made a really great clarifying point about seeking community: "looking for connection is important and valid; needing it to come from one specific person or place is unhealthy." To which I say: YES ABSOLUTELY 100%. In my initial reflections, I'm definitely not saying that fandom is the only place where people seek connection — instead, I'm saying that people inherently seek connection ANYWHERE they go. This is also where my allusions to "individual responsibilities" come in...

We owe it to ourselves and are ultimately responsible for not only navigating online spaces based on our needs, but also honestly calibrating our expectations within ourselves when we navigate online communities. If we're seeking connection, we must constantly ask ourselves: "What am I actually looking for here?"; "Am I being clear with myself and with others on what I want and/or need?"; and — most importantly — "Am I being honest with myself with the fact that I cannot control others and if/how they have the capacity to connect with me?" Answers to that last question, in particular, get blurred because of the chaos of the Internet and the inability to effectively interpret others' intentions through a screen. I also think it's fair for us to get disappointed when misinterpretations happen in our attempts to build connection online — we're only human, after all. We can and should grieve loss, even if it's "just" a loss of a potential online friendship/connection.

Side note: this is all about healthy boundary setting, and I think that the work by Nedrata Glover Tawwab — including her book, "Set Boundaries, Find Peace" — has some really helpful tips on how to navigate this. She even provides some insights and advice on setting effective boundaries on social media and in online spaces, generally.

But, going back to diversifying the different containers in which you pour pieces of yourself: I fundamentally believe that fandom shouldn't be the only place you find a sense of belonging and that fandom can be one of a multitude of places in which you find authentic connection. I know there are some people who look down on individuals who try to seek authentic connection and a safe space in fandom — and I think that is both a problematic and privileged take. For some people, fandom can sometimes be the only place in which they feel safe enough to share certain parts of themselves. And that is a valid, understandable, and reasonable approach.

Finally, my good fandom + writing friend @onwriting-hrarby made a great point that, more often than not, we internalize the blame when we are unwelcomed because it is easier to see what's wrong within us instead of looking at the way in which the community/space we're entering is not set up for us to participate, let alone to belong (this is where my allusion to "systemic changes" comes in). In her own words:

Sometimes we blame ourselves for not having found the community, or still finding the way we feel ourselves comfortable with it, without giving full thought that we are not taught to navigate communities that don’t want us, or neglect us because it is easier not to rebel against them and just feel shame or guilt over it.

When Oedipus gets exiled by Creontes, the choir sings about the great “fall of man”, and we’re introduced a human that couldn’t navigate the community where he was shove in. But we hardly see the same amount of criticism to Creontes, the king, for whom is extremely convenient to have Oedipus exiled.

Forming part of a community implies vulnerability to let this community hurt you or welcome you. There is no sense of belonging without opening yourself to it, and pour your feelings onto it. That’s why it hurts when we are not welcome: it is not only that we feel like we don’t belong but that, ultimately, they are saying “no” to who we are, after bearing ourselves open.

---

On that note: I think that's enough for this week lol. I will inevitably revisit this topic at some point, either in a future Thursday Thoughts post or just generally. I can't help it: this is literally where my brain just goes, haha.

Sending everyone good vibes — and hoping that you're able to find connection and validation in whatever way that resonates for you! 💕

#on fandom #sense of belonging #online community #connection #validation #thursday thoughts #nina-bean writing

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kinocomix · 2 months

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devlog 17: things my therapist told me

the script for TSTW is still coming along. the first couple of scenes are the most sensitive ones because they effectively have to hook the reader when little has happened in the story, so I can confidently say that those 8 scenes have been polished enough that I don’t have to worry about them anymore. Now, the main plot begins.

here’s the soundtrack for the rest of this devlog:

youtube

I don’t think there could ever be a fully professional way to talk about the things that heavily affected you as a kid. As an adult, I had to wrestle with the fact that there’s never really a good time to talk about feelings and be happy. There’s always someone in the world suffering more than you, someone dying and something terrible happening to the children of a country being genocided by zionism (free palestine).

Today I’m going to talk about the themes at play in “The criminal mastermind’s pocket diary”, the project I’m working on while writing the script for my other comic, which is coming along well. While a lot of what I’m going to talk about will pale in comparison to the suffering of others in the world, I find it valuable to remember that in order to fight the dragons that plague the world we must confront and quell the evil within each and every one of us.

With that in mind, one thing I haven’t mentioned about the central point of killouette is that in more than one way, her experience is very much my own. Growing up in Beyrouth it seemed like there was one of three options: you’re either born with money in which case your safety can be bought via being in safer areas and schools, or you’re in a middle/lower class area where you’re stuck with the other two choices. One is to pass the time on the street and acquire the culture thereof, the other is to be an indoor kid. My parents, who had good intentions, decided that the best course of action to not have me become a thug was to never let me leave the house except to go to school or family outings. Combine that with a poor financial situation and a tiny house, it meant that growing up I didn’t have the internet, and could rarely take up the space required to do activities. Doing something as simple as reading a book was complicated because most of our books were stored in the sofas which were designed to maximize what we could do in our tiny house. It doesn’t end there, you see my mother has always been a clean freak, so she valued tidiness over most other things. Now imagine all that for a second. An understimulated child, often told they’re “gifted” who could never explore the world or do many things inside either. you can see how that’s a recipe for someone with the personality of a blank sheet of printer paper.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. I still had some fun because I, in addition to being cursed with the gifted label, had an overactive imagination. So the underside of beds became forts, and broken appliances became experiments. The few friends I had at school became a window into the outside… I eventually became a normal human being but there’s something about that entire period in my life that made me feel very bitter towards my parents. Why were you throwing your anxieties onto me? Why couldn’t I just join the scouts? Why couldn’t I stay over at a friend’s house for longer than two hours? Looking back at all of that having gone to therapy I’m thankful for it. I don’t think I would have fallen madly in love with the craft of comics had it not been for me overcompensating for all those missed years. Part of me really wants to heal that inner kid in my head who still wishes for some adventure though. That’s killouette.

Killouette’s parents are much like mine. Not evil, just a little overprotective. Projecting just enough that it’ll seep into killouette’s behavior as an adult. But now, as a kid, I’m giving her something that I wished I had when I was a child: privacy and space. Killouette has her own room and her parents don’t feel the need to constantly police her as long as she’s in there. That might not seem like much, but I think that would be enough for a smart kid to do some pretty amazing things.

you may have also noticed that Killouette doesn’t have any noteworthy character flaws, and it should be obvious at this point that the goal of me making this is in part to empower her. With that being said I am fully aware that while my experience is relatively common, it’s far from universal. This is why the cast is so varied: each child represents to some extent a different way of growing up. I can’t do them all sadly, but I think the grounds will be covered pretty well with what we have.

there’s also other kids to consider, so I have some things I want to explore with them as well. I don’t want to spoil too much but here’s a quick fire round: Talbas has anger issues because of neglect and video games. bata has well meaning parents but the constant taunting and threats of being sent to far away places cause anxiety in the way she acts. motsik has the most ass, dogshit parents. 0/10 not having a good time. abuse central, destination anywhere else. falefil is spoiled and his parents haven’t taught him certain things about respect and money. that tends to influence his behavior. zmik is the closest to killouette, except he is a version of her closer to me allowed to leave the house. he’s included in the cast partially as a way for me to extent empathy to a younger me, but also for anyone who might be going through something similar to what i did as a kid. lastly there’s claude. claude is for all intents and purposes, if we were to put her in a realistic framework, some weird mish mash of immigrant and orphan child genius. i imagine claude would experience some alienation from some people, but i’m not worried about the story getting sidetracked since her friends have her back and the adults in the story are losers anyways.

On a more general note, I’ve been noticing how my approach to writing has been evolving to suit whatever project I'm currently working on. It was weird at first cause I thought a writing technique is something that you’re just stuck with. With prior comics for example the main concern was always “how do I portray what’s happening in the most raw way possible” whereas with TSTW it’s more “let’s try to be more efficient with the framing of the ideas, as long as it feels right”. With Killouette, it’s not about showing things in the most realistic way possible because if that was the case, for starters this amount of genius kids would not be two buildings apart in some suburb in beyrouth and killouette would not be able to hide the amount of things she does. but that’s not the point. a bunch of what happens in the story could happen with real kids in real life, and the point of the book is to capture a young sense of ambition and wonder. the type of mischief that leaves you laughing and being impressed instead of wondering what’s happening in the world. I’m not here to tell you about kids committing actual awful actions, I'm here to show you kids having a good time despite it all. that nothing can stop life and the desire for it.

If the kids of Palestine can still find it in them to laugh and have fun, the least I can do is have some imaginary abused kids triumph over their circumstances.

next week, we’ll be improvising some doodads and seeing how we can recycle previous unused work.

devlog updates on Tuesdays.

#comic #webcomic #kinocomix #devlog #journal comic #Youtube

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bokettochild · 26 days

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Weekly check in with stardust

i have been creating a lot of stuff and im nearly done with my online science course and should be done by the end of this week!

the other week was eid and ur girlie made sweets, dressed up, visited a friend, and made Mario Lego B) I also got stickers for my laptop but that's unrelated lol

also we made bakhlawa and makrout they are literally my favorites lol, even the people at my friends party seemed to really like them too lol

apparently I look really good in olive green so that's like also a major win for me

the stickers are like vintage looking florals ones lol

btw I've been working so much on my four swords DND au, I'm not sure what to call It tho? I was thinking like "Four Keys" because the swords are literally keys to a secret realm or whatever

btw have u had any good recipes recently? Im fasting just because I can and rn I'm just thinking about food lol

i made a fajita tonight using colored peppers too lol

if u have any good recipes please tell me I love hoarding them

btw, I have one character left with enough space for an additional trauma/mental issue on my roster for the au so honestly just send me a few different ideas for them and I'll probably choose one lol

btw the dudes got the thickest Russian accent, is very brutally honest, soft and gruff, non nonsense and needs to adopt every small thing in sight or else he will die because this is how he's coping.

he was stuck in like an iceberg for like 200 years (there's a wholes Tory behind that) and then we he emerged (thats also a story) everyone he knew is kinda super dead because of the passage of time

*someone saying something stupid*

"Your voice, very ugly, please, do the shut up :] "

thats him in a nutshell^

also remember to do wrist and finger stretches for writers and artists

also I acquired a glass orb with glass art inside <3 o r b

also what's legend's irrational fear?

also I love legend being like, an actual good influence on wind in his own weird way

i want them to bond more, maybe do a whole stealing heist from some knights-

im not asking u t write it but I just wanted to share lol

i hope you've been doing well, u seem to be lol

also do u like wearing jewelry? and if so how often lol

Wow, that's a wall! (pos)

I'm glad you got to enjoy some nice food, time with friends, and dressing up! Also, it sounds like you're having a ton of fun creating recently! I am as well, but it's slow going as I'm working on a multi-chap that's very demanding about where and what is supposed to happen (I did this to myself but the results are fantastic!)

"Four Keys" sounds like it has great potential as a title! I like it! I also love the Russian accent. the character is giving slight Captain America vibes, but only for backstory, and I love the concept so much!

As for a irrational fear..... ma am I bad at those I rationalize anything so... maybe large empty spaces? Usually those are indicative of a boss fight in his mind, so just having one that isn't hiding some threat throws him way off. He's also insanely wary of any room with a tiled floor. Because >:)

I also love him and Wind! The fact that they're both on the younger side here but also both accustomed to being the person others look to gives great opportunities for them to bond and interact. Legend has a lot of experience to share but he's also not up on a pedestal like Time or Warriors is, so there's more opportunity for direct communication and less a need to impress. (I actually just finished writing something with them, as it happens!)

I'm honestly not the best baker in the world, or cook in general (I'm still building up my recipe book after leaving my parent's house) but I can share my mum's bread recipe! It's very good, for every day, or to make into rolls for the holidays and with nice meals!

Recipe makes 4 large loaves btw

Dissolve 2 packages of dried yeast into 4 cups of warm water.

In a separate bowl, mix 1/2 cup soft butter with 1/2 cup of honey (you can also add 1/4 cup of molasses for super dense rolls/loaves).

Once the honey-butter is combined, add the yeast water to the bowl

Scoop in 6 cups of whole wheat flour + 4 cups white flour.

Mix, knead, and set into greased bread-pans, or roll into balls on a cookie sheet.

Bake loaves for 35-40 min at 375 F, or rolls for 10-15 min at the same.

After you remove it from the oven, brush generously with butter before they cool, for extra flavor and to preserve moistness.

Hope this one makes you happy! It's great to use in sandwiches, serve with soup, or eat with jam, or alone!

#asks and answers #stardust my beloved

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cesium-sheep · 1 month

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I think the immunologist actually went really well?

the tech bringing me back and checking bp and stuff was like "you're not here for regular seasonal allergies you don't have to worry about these parts of the form" and also totally understanding when I said my baseline bp tends high due to one of my meds. (although once again it was not high today)

the doctor themself offered/ordered additional diagnostics but doesn't disagree with the diagnosis at all, just thinks it could be vindicating and/or open up new treatment possibilities. they were pleased to see I'd done so much reading (I brought both books just in case) and that I had my consolidated/abbreviated lab results with me.

they said there's still a lot we can do, if I hear of new things they don't mention they're happy to look into them, there are experts that we can try if we run out of ideas, and they're not giving up on me. they explicitly said they're not giving up on me.

they also seemed to completely understand after one glance at my sf-36 chart that I am Not Stable, and they also completely understood the first time that I am perfectly happy to taper off the prednisone but I cannot do that when I am Not Stable and no one has been giving me anything else. they agreed that mr grodesky's "taper" was highly ill-advised.

they even understood that it was bad when I said I was too sick to crochet ;n;

(they also seemed understanding when I was squishy on whether or not I've experienced anaphylaxis and said that a bp drop during a flare could be indicative of anaphylaxis just by itself, so, wheee)

they asked what hobbies I have and I mentioned the manga sale and they actually waited to listen to my lungs just to hear what I had to say about it, and asked a follow up question after they were done, not to fill time but just because. that's very kind.

we're gonna double down on the loratadine and add a different h2, and also run some cumbersome annoying labs. if neither of those are enough we'll add the ketotifen, which has to come from a compounding pharmacy, and I don't have to go in for a new appt for that I can just message them. they also said their number is listed in several places in my visit summary and stuff.

I did ask just like, in the whisper ramble tags, on the kirblog, for people to maybe include me in their prayers if they had space and were the praying type. I guess it worked. I'll be sure to thank them.

we don't know yet if any of these med changes will work, but after 2 years of T-posing in a cornfield someone (other than me) is doing something. not just wringing their hands and looking worried (or actively shooing me away). something is actually happening, that's meant to actually address my problems.

I made sure to tell them that I appreciate them being upfront with me, and being like, on board. they talked like they're joining the team, not just doing a quick consult.

so I've gotta deal with the cumbersome home lab, update pcp and hem, and decide whether or not to keep the other immunologist. but that can wait. it was very exhausting.

also arin let me listen to one of my cds in the car and sing along loud even though she's probably tired. (she's never actually complained about me singing too loud I don't think, it's just that other people have.)

#long post #ask to tag

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ri-writing · 9 months

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Adaptation, 2023, and the Vampire Boat Movie

Adapting classic literature is hard - at least, the classic literature that remained in the public consciousness such that in 2023, people have actually heard of the literary work. There's a lot that goes on in these stories, especially beneath the surface. And, unlike a book, a movie only has about two hours to do it's thing. That's not a lot of time.

There's also the issue of general cultural knowledge. This is not always accurate to the source material. I admit that I thought I knew Dracula, but then I did Dracula Daily and learned I was wrong.

All that to say - there's a lot of lift in adapting Dracula in 2023, and that's before we even get to the issues that arise naturally from the portion adapted.

Cut for spoilers for The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Also, trigger warnings for topics addressed in the film.

Adapting The Source Material

The Captain's Log in Dracula is short. Each entry is only a few sentences. This made for great reading suspense in Dracula Daily, because each day you'd get these little snippets and then you had to sit with them for at least 24 hours until the next little snippet dropped. Your imagination not only filled in the blanks with how horrifying you thought Dracula was being while hunting the crew, you also were given the time to do it. And, honestly, everyone's version of Dracula Hunts Crew is going to look a little different in their heads. We're going to think of what happens between the lines in the way that we would find most terrifying.

While this makes for great reading experiences, there's not much there for use in another media format. If you want to tell this story in a movie, you're going to need to figure out what goes in those gaps in order to make a cohesive visual story.

This movie was always going to need to add to what we have from the novel. How they did it feels mostly honest to the original work. There are characters we know a little bit about: Ship Captain, First Mate, and various Men who are mentioned by name usually only once when Ship Captain reports something specific he was told. We don't really get to know them as people in the novel, though. The movie keeps the characters and tries to build on what we saw, letting us know a little bit more about them.

We also get a few pieces of information as to what happens in the book. The specifics of how it happens, how the aftermath plays out, etc. is not fully described. Much of the sequence of events is preserved in the film.

As a result, the differences between the film and the novel feel mostly like additions as opposed to changes. There are great big empty spaces and something needs to go in there. Much of what did go in there tries to build on what we already had.

There are details added to the plot that come from other portions of the novel. Blood transfusions delay Lucy's death and return as a vampire in the book; this concept is used in the film as Clemens treats Anna using blood transfusions. Mina can be hypnotized and share what Dracula sees and hears via her psychic connection to him. There's a scene with a crewman tied to the mast where he alludes to what Dracula is hearing. Anna also mentions feeling a psychic connection with Dracula. By taking concepts from other parts of the novel and showing them in the Demeter sequence, the film feels as if it is part of the world of the novel.

There are changes. Of course there are. These mostly feel realistic to me and they make sense from an adaptation standpoint. In the film, Ship Captain's grandson is a cabin boy on the boat and is murdered by Dracula. Obviously, something that horrific would have been mentioned in the log had it occurred in the novel. The log, however, does not include this. That said, from an adaptational standpoint, it works. We like the grandson (Toby); he's a kind boy who takes his job on the ship very seriously. He treats Clemens with the same respect he treats the others. If there's one person everyone would vote to save, it's probably going to be this kid. There's also the fact that he's a child; he's an innocent. Dracula killing the adult crew is still awful, but Dracula killing a child is going to hit harder (and Dracula does kill kids in the novel; this is a major plot point at the castle and a call back to that). It works in the film for the same reason as the baby in the bag and the mother fed to the wolves works in the novel. It really brings home how awful Dracula is and how terrified we should be of him. He's not a monster because he happens to be a vampire. He's a monster because of what he does.

There are also changes made in order to address audience expectations. In 2023, people have a certain idea of what a vampire is. That understanding is different from late 19th century understandings of what a vampire is (compare, for example, the Rhode Island vampires with Anne Rice's vampires). Because of the popular cultural understanding of vampires today, some things that are very much not part of Dracula get brought in (mainly, that vampires burn up in the sun). While I'm not exactly thrilled by this, the movie doesn't have time to stop everything and explain why 2023 understandings of vampires, which largely did find their genesis in Dracula, include material that was not part of Dracula Canon. Instead, those understandings are worked in almost as a short hand so the audience can understand "this character is now a vampire."

Overall, the changes are either additions or modifications that feel necessitated by the change in storytelling medium. That said, the story felt as if it was part of the world of the novel.

Telling a Famous Vampire Story to a Modern Audience

In ye olde 2023, we know Vampires Aren't Real. People tend to find supernatural-monster movies less terrifying than movies about real life serial killers, because we know that one is a story and another is a thing that happened.

In the world of the late 19th Century, there were places that did truly believe in vampires. These people were, however, seen as backwater superstitious hicks. More "enlightened" people knew vampires were not real.

Stoker plays with this in Dracula. The villagers try to warn Jonathan about Dracula, but Jonathan sees their warnings as silly superstitions. Jonathan comes to regret that when he discovers that vampires are very much real. Dr. Van Helsing realizes Lucy has a Vampire Problem, but he does not immediately tell Jack that the problem is Vampires because he knows Jack, a young man of science and medicine, would think he is crazy.

Today, the belief in vampires feels even more silly. We all know the Undead do not stalk us and drain our blood. How do you get an audience to buy into the horror of Dracula (the character) as a vampire?

Enter Clemens.

Clemens' character is a really clever way to address this issue. Clemens is a doctor. He studied at one of the best universities. He's knowledgeable about medicine and science. He's up to date on the cutting edge medical treatments of his time (shown by his knowledge and tools for transfusions). Clemens tells us that his greatest desire is to understand why the world is the way it is. In many ways, Clemens feels very modern to us in 2023. He feels as if he is from our world. At the same time, he still fits in the 19th Century Dracula World. As noted above, Jonathan and Jack hold similar beliefs (and similarly learn they were wrong about the existence of vampires). Clemens easily aligns with them in addition to the audience.

Having Clemens as an audience avatar really works. We agree with him and then follow the story through his character. Clemens takes us on the journey. We get to feel the stakes and the terror as Clemens realizes that vampires are real.

Clemens is also the only character other than Dracula to reach shore alive from the Demeter. In order to not contradict the novel, Clemens has gone overboard and comes ashore elsewhere. This keeps the ghost ship intact while allowing our audience avatar to survive to fight another day. The movie concludes with Clemens realizing Dracula is real and intending to fight him.

To bring it back to 2023, while vampires are not real, there are monsters in our world. People who chose to do terrible things. With the conclusion of the film, we could be asked: what monsters can you no longer overlook? And will you now fight them?

Dracula stalking women is awful, actually

One thing that really gets lost in a lot of Dracula adaptations is that Dracula's stalking and eating women is meant to be horrifying. It's not romantic. It's not sexually liberating. It's predatory.

Lucy is a kind girl who worries about the happiness of others, even to her own detriment. Her anxiety at trying to be the sort of Perfect Daughter and Perfect Wife she believes her mother and fiance want drives her to sleepwalking. (I cannot ignore that she's suffering from a mental illness). She is attacked by Dracula in Whitby. Dracula then stalks her back to her home halfway across the country and continues to find ways to stalk and attack her there. She eventually dies.

Mina is Jonathan's wife. By the time Dracula's in London, he hates Jonathan and he attacks Mina. The aftermath of this attack is treated by the characters as the aftermath of sexual assault.

There is nothing romantic about Dracula's attacks on Lucy or Mina. These are violations. The attacks are metaphors for assault. It highlights that, it doesn't matter who you are, predatory men can hurt you. Dracula's stalking and attacking Lucy and Mina is terrifying.

Somehow, a lot of adaptations forget this (or ignore it). Last Voyage refuses to shy away from it. The film includes the character of Anna, a young woman who is essentially trafficked by Dracula so he can continue to feed off of her. Anna is very much portrayed as suffering. She is not in love with Dracula. She's his victim. The film reminds us that Dracula is not misunderstood. He is not a pining romantic antihero. He truly is a monster. (Again, not because he's a vampire, but because of the actions he chooses to take).

That Anna gets to name her monster, confront him, fight him, and escape the ship is liberating. And, while she in the end decides to enter death on her terms instead of being kept alive by science, it does not make her any less of a survivor.

Anna is an addition to the film. No stowaway is mentioned in the log. I find her inclusion a welcome addition, however, because her arc both reclaims the reality of Dracula's attacks and allows her to reclaim agency.

Concluding Thoughts

That's it for Ri Does Academic Thought for now. Future posts about the movie will likely not be this intelligent.

#Ri rambles about Last Voyage #team demeter

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williamafton2030 · 2 months

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Things I want to see in the Help Wanted 2 DLC (or in a future game or book)

I'm going to comment on all the things that I would love not to be left up in the air. I think these have a lot of potential and it would be a shame to waste it just like that.

Gregory as GGY: This is one of the ones I'm most looking forward to seeing since it's almost confirmed that Gregory is GGY. But why do I say that it is almost confirmed? Because it has not yet been clearly stated that it is him, although there are many clues that can confirm it.

These are: GGY story from Tales from the Pizaplex where Greg is described as Gregory and it is implied that he is GGY; Security Breach CDs that are related to the story since GGY is patient 46; the canon ending of Security Breach being that of Princess Quest since Gregory, having been GGY, was able to complete the minigames that were impossible for others to do; a discarded phrase of Freddy telling Gregory that he remembers him from… (it is unfinished so many said that this phrase was because Freddy had a soul but with the release of the GGY story this changes since Freddy is the companion of this); that in Freddy in Space 3 Gregory is a boss, is in Freddy and throws retro CD as a weapon; and that Vanessa at 6 a.m. Tell us that she has a gift for us, this being a retro CD.

For all these things I think it would be incredible if they confirmed it 100% and then we would also have more things about him. We might even know how he fell under Glitchtrap's control and how he broke free. In addition to having mentions of Tony and Ellis and knowing if they are alive or not.

Explanation of the VANNI network: I am a super fan of the concept of the VANNI network and how the mask that is given to us in Ruin and that we have again in Help Wanted 2 can create this reality or transport our body to this semi-digital world that is the AR (depending on how you think the mask works, it will be one or the other). I say that it is semi-digital as it is AR and it is not completely independent of reality since it is not as different from it as VR would be, which would create a scenario from scratch.

Other things I would like to know about this are: how it was created or if it has always been there, how the laws work in that reality, how is it possible that a simple mask allows us to pass through tangible objects such as doors, walls, how can we teleport from one place to another? place to another crossing portals that exist in this reality…

In addition to all this, I would like to know who created this mask since it is called "Security Mask" and according to Helpi it is a mask that Class V technical Fazbears can use, plus Helpi himself seems to be Fazbear's creation to help technicians. However, this is not that simple because if it is the work of Fazbear, why would it be in the form of Vanny's mask? Vanny created his costume and Help Wanted 1 mask based on this? But this couldn't be this since Help Wanted 1 is supposed to happen before Security Breach and not at the same time so Vanny's mask was already there before the Pizzaplex. What does all this mean? I don't know but I would love for it to be explained.

Another thing that reinforces that there is something wrong with Helpi and that Fazbear may not even have created it is the ending "Helptrap" of Help Wanted 2 where from what I understand Glitchtrap hides in Vanny's mask to avoid being eliminated from the game. all and this with the fact that Helpi changes his eyes… Although the latter can also be used in favor to say that Helpi is Fazbear's creation and that Glitchtrap is only present in him when his eyes change to orange. Either way, it's something I'd love to see addressed in the future.

Mimic: This is the new antagonist of the franchise and, although many of us hail him, many others hate him (in fact, I hated him at first). One of the reasons why he is not loved as much as others is that his existence is left quite up in the air. I'm not talking about the books since they describe very well the origin and evolution that led him to be what he is, but in the games we are barely given any information about him. I think it happens to him in a similar way to GGY, who is similarly criticized by many. Seeing a character change without even an explanation is a lot for people who don't like reading books (not my case but I know people who do).

And it's a shame because many say: "he is an extremely boring character who only imitates" when they themselves have not read the books. And be careful, I'm not saying that this way of thinking is wrong (everyone has their opinions and they are equally valid as others) but that if more information about Mimic was added to the games it would teach these people that he is one of the villains. most complex that we have in the saga.

In addition to all this, I would like it to be confirmed or denied if he is Glitchtrap and Burntrap. I sincerely think so but I respect all the people that these two characters are William Afton (as I said before, one opinion is equally valid as the other).

Cassie's Fate: Cassie is without a doubt one of my favorite characters: I love her personality, plus in Ruin she wears the VANNI rather called the "Security Mask". Truly she is very brave to enter the ruins of the Pizzaplex alone to save Gregory but it was of no use since she was deceived and fell under the clutches of Mimic. However, we don't really know what happened after what many people believe (myself included) to be the canon ending. Cassie went to the elevator, got on it and in the end it was pulled by Mimic or Gregory (personally I think it was Mimic and I'll explain why). Finally, after the credits we hear Roxy's voice saying Cassie's name.

This is why I have put her in this post and I would love for it to be explained what happened to her and what the canon ending she took is.

I take this opportunity here to point out again a theory that I share and that is that it was Mimic who threw the elevator to turn Cassie against Gregory and thus turn her into "the lying child" from Candy Cadet's story from Help Wanted 2. This would be incredible since it would open the door to, as I already said in the post that Gregory deserves to be the protagonist again, for Gregory to return and this time remembering his GGY stage so we would have several things. On the one hand we would know what Cassie's fate was after Ruin and on the other we would have more information about GGY.

Identity and fate of Cassie's dad: From the beginning of Ruin we are focused on this character, telling us that he was a technical Fazbear from the Pizzaplex, but it was not until we obtained several AR objects that we found out that this character's favorite character It was Bonnie, who knew what happened to Glamrock Bonnie and that it seems that he is no longer alive because Cassie speaks in the past tense about him.

Many people thought that it was not at all an unimportant fact that Bonnie was his favorite and that she had been in the Freddy and Friends on Tour era and they wanted to look for some character in the past that coincided with these characteristics. They searched and searched until they found the Bonnie Masked Bully from Fnaf 4 and from there the theory was born that Cassie is the daughter of this character (which I find very curious and interesting)

However, in the evidence that is given to say that this is the identity of this man, the Faz-wrench code is never mentioned since this is the purple code in reverse. I personally am not a big fan of the fact that she is the daughter of an Afton but I find it a very curious detail.

Finally, point out that it may be that in Help Wanted 2 we are him. I am 50% with this theory since being a GGY lover and wanting him to appear in a game I would love for us to be GGY but I don't rule out this theory either. In both ways Help Wanted 2 ends with its DLC, I will like it. Of course, if GGY does not appear in this DLC, I ask and pray that I do so in the future.

For all this is why I would love for the topic of Cassie's dad to be touched on in more depth and confirm or deny whether he is the protagonist of Help Wanted 2 and if, as many theorize, he is the Mask Bot that gives us gives the mask in Ruin.

MXES and its origin: This is without a doubt the character that surprised people the most when Ruin came out (including me) since when the trailer came out we all thought that he was Glitchtrap and that in Ruin we were going to face Glitchtrap using the Vanny Mask. However, this conception of the character changed at the end of the game when it is revealed to us that he was not Glitchtrap but a security program designed to keep Mimic trapped and that he was chasing us because he was doing his job of preventing him from escaping.

This is one of my favorite Ruin characters and I'm very curious how Gregory created this antivirus. We know it was Gregory since the mission of MXES according to Gregory is to keep him trapped and this was 100% said by Gregory since it was before the interference. So he knows about the functionality of this program and since in the story of Candy Cadet de Ruin it is made clear that Gregory trapped Mimic in the sinkhole so he created MXES.

Another thing I would like to know is what the letters that make up his name mean since it seems to have a meaning like VANNI does.

Finally, mention what makes me most curious about MXES and that is its appearance. Why would Gregory choose to make the security program look like a rabbit? Well, what many think (including me) is that after the end of Princess Quest Vanessa told Gregory about Mimic and together they went to the sinkhole to catch him. It is said that Vanessa used a part of what had been Glitchtrap to create it and that is why it has the same poses as Glitchtrap, it is a rabbit and the security nodes are in the shape of a rabbit.

More information about Fazbear Entertainment: After explaining why I consider Fazbear Entertainment as one of the villains of this saga, I think it's time to talk about what I would like to know. I would love to know how the company was born and why it became so corrupt; who is the CEO of the company currently; why the hell did they think it was a good idea to build the Pizzaplex on top of Fnaf 6 (we know it's for money since they wanted to make Fnaf 6 a museum but there might be something else); Whether or not they were the creators of the Security Mask…

All of these things are things I would love to see addressed in the Help Wanted 2 DLC and future games/books. Before I go, I should mention again that this is my personal opinion and that if you have a different one, that's fine and I respect it because all opinions are respectable.

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #fnaf security breach #fnaf ggy #fnaf gregory #fnaf VANNI Network #fnaf Vanny Mask #fnaf mimic #fnaf glitchtrap #fnaf cassie #fnaf cassie's dad #fnaf mxes #fnaf vanessa #fnaf fazbear entertainment

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flustered-victorian-gentleman · 5 months

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complaining about the state of modern book covers

In other news, I made a very sad personal discovery about a very niche and stupid topic and need to yell about it

(readmore because shit gets LONG)

I was a HUGE fan of Canadian sci fi trilogy The Quintaglio Ascension back in school. I remember specifically picking up the first book while browsing the school library and being immediately captivated by the cover art.

This shit goes fucking hard. In addition to going hard it's also a useful reference for what the sapient dinosaurs actually look like, since there's no illustrations of them within the book. Obviously the characters describe each other but like, they're all the same species so no one is walking around like "this is my friend Tim he looks like a T.rex with human hands and thumbs and has fingernails instead of claws," so this helps. Here's the other two covers just for our personal entertainment.

Anyway, about last week I remembered the series again out of the blue and wanted to pick it up again because I haven't read them in so long and the cover art is so fire. Enter the tragedy I discovered on my local library website:

What in the hot crispy kentucky fried FUCK is that. HUH????

I am by no means educated in marketing or design but this just seem like...anti-marketing?? This just looks like the most generic sci fi shit I've ever seen. Tells you jack shit about the extremely unique setting, which is kind of the whole fucking HOOK of the series. Is the publishing house EMBARRASSED that the book is about talking space dinosaurs?? Also very misleading considering nobody goes to space at all in this book. Everything is on the ground on one planet.

ALSO CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH BUT THIS COVER IS A FUCKING **SPOILER** FOR A VERY IMPORTANT TWIST LATE IN THE BOOK

So, understandably I was a little miffed. I thought to myself, why don't I just check Amazon instead. I could just purchase the full series with the good cover and keep it forever.

AND IT GOT WORSE ON AMAZON

ok, I'll admit this is better than the library cover. there is at least a Mesozoic reptile here, although we still seem to be coyly hiding the fact that all of our protagonists are dinosaurs for some stupid reason. So this gets a very small pass on account of it's not objectively bad but is still quite lazy and underwhelming compared to the original cover. But this cover in particular isn't why I made this post. Don't worry, the other two covers by this artist (I'm assuming it's the same person?) get steadily worse.

first of all, these silhouettes slapped onto this background looks like shit. on first glance they look decently well integrated into the background, but have a look at the bottom dinosaur. it's just kind of...floating...on the rocks. I would give it a little pass if it was obvious the dinosaurs weren't intended to be part of the environment, but the way they've just slapped silhouetted bargain bin Leaping Laelaps onto the bottom half of the cover makes it seem like they were just hoping you wouldn't look to hard and realize there was no effort made to make them look like they're part of the environment.

For reference, here is Leaping Laelaps, painted by Charles R Knight in 1897. If I were in a kinder mood I'd call the cover a callback or reference to famous paleoart. But the laziness, silhouetting, and weird proportions compared to the Quintaglios in the books makes me feel like they didn't want to come up with an interesting dinosaur pose and just a slapped together a worse-posed version of an existing famous panting with as little detail as possible so they could claim they were doing a reference. I would give them a lot more good faith benefit of the doubt if it was anything other than a silhouette. Don't get me wrong, silhouettes can look very good and add unique visuals to cover art, but it seems very clear to me that that's not what's happening here.

And now for possibly tonight's worst offender.

My first impression was that this shit was just goofy as shit. The clouds hurt to look at (no seriously, take a good look at those clouds) and the pose is so stiff.

Wait.

Hey.

That pose.

I've seen that somewhere before.

And so, like a normal and well-adjusted adult, I rushed to my extensive collection of dinosaur figurines.

Enter the 2005 Papo Tyrannosaurs Rex (Brown).

(taking these pictures off an ebay listing because my figure is waaaay at the back of the Virgin Loser Dinosaur Toys Display Case and moving him would require moving like 30 other figurines)

hey.

HEY.

H E Y WHAT THE FUCK

of course, I can't prove anything in court. i don't have any plans to *do anything* about this. It's just...sad, to me, that thirty years ago we were getting beautiful, detailed, original paintings for book covers. even for niche Canadian space dinosaurs sci fi. and now what. you can't tell me people don't make art anymore, that artists no longer need jobs. I guess we've just decided we don't give a shit anymore. Why not just trace an image of a fucking children's toy instead of drawing a fucking dinosaur. Who cares.

#quintaglio ascension #<- not that this series has an online fandom or anything but you never know #long post #pinning this because I want at least a few people to read this. it's important to me

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tymime · 1 year

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Lola Bunny in the comic books

I’ve discussed at length my views and opinions about Lola Bunny before (https://tymime.tumblr.com/post/174484746321/lola-bunny-is-one-of-animations-more), but something I’ve been wanting to really dive into was her sporadic appearances in DC’s Looney Tunes comic book series in the late ‘90s and early 2000s.

I think these are the most overlooked and underrated depictions of Lola ever, and actually very much key to understanding her personality, history, and potential. The trouble is, I’ve been waiting many years for someone to scan all the issues with her in it. But back in the day, I had issue #92, and when I read the Lola story within, I didn’t even blink. The basic premise of most of her stories is a weird one, but it somehow works. Her job is to deliver pizza. But she delivers pizza to gods, monsters, and other supernatural beings, traversing dangerous landscapes, fighting off viscious wild animals, and generally taking care of business. So like, when I was 13, it didn’t even occur to me that this was at all unusual. Of course she’s a kick-butt action girl. Why wouldn’t she be? What else would she be? I had seen Xena. I watched cartoons with strong female leads. I didn’t even have to think about it. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that Lola could be more than a sports-obsessed, one-dimensional teen fantasy. It actually baffles me when I see anyone suggest otherwise, like the director for Space Jam: A New Legacy did. As if she wasn’t always the tough, proactive, heroic type. Of course Lola is an Amazonian warrior.

But let’s actually look at her first appearance in the comics, after the Space Jam graphic novel, in issue #60, 1999 (why it took three years for this to happen I can’t guess).

Right off the bat, we see Lola fighting off a jaguar with a machete and a board with a nail in it. The narration implies that a woman would do a better job at exploring and surviving the South American rainforest than a man could. I’m all here for it. It’s also an obvious parody of Tomb Raider and Lara Croft- probably because of the similarity between their figures, which for some reason people wouldn’t stop talking about for about two decades. While I haven’t played those games myself, I’m sure there’s much more to it than that, and it’s kind of a relief that we’re finally over it.

Something that these comics do well is give Lola additional quirks and traits. This first story does it straight away:

Apparently Lola has no sympathy for panhandlers. I’m not sure how I feel about that, since that sort of attitude often extends into dismissing homeless people who can’t get jobs for one reason or another, but hopefully Lola isn’t as black-and-white about the issue as she seems here.

At first it seems like a straightforward parody of temple-raiding adventures, à la Indiana Jones and even Ray Harryhausen movies, but then comes the twist:

Nearly all these stories follow a similar format- Lola has to deal with nasty aggressive demons and beasts to deliver a pizza from Machu Pizza (get it?), and she doesn’t break a sweat. I’m not sure how the writers (kudos to Sean Carolan and Jennifer Moore) came up with the idea, but it’s incredibly original and inspired and I’m glad they ran away with it.

Her next appearance in issue #71 is unfortunately a bit of a step backward, seen here portraying a parody of Daphne from Scooby-Doo, but I suppose there wasn’t anybody else available.

Luckily she goes right back to pizza delivery soon afterward in issue #76 (albeit nearly two years after the first time).

Apparently Lola’s mother was a fan of a ‘70s soul/disco singer named Vicki Sue Robinson. It’s weird randomness like this that makes these comics special, I think.

Another aspect about this depiction of Lola is that she shows just as much sharp wit, quick thinking, and cleverness that any good trickster should have- just like Bugs. And yet, she’s not just a carbon copy of Bugs, as it should be.

We also get a glimpse of Lola’s past in issue #80:

Apparently she’s a Beatles fan, which is always cool.

As I said, I had issue #92, completely out of context, but I caught on to the premise immediately nonetheless.

Here we learn that Lola is actually part of some legendary lineage, which prevents the gods from starting a war with each other. Sounds like a pretty big deal. Lola is fed up with all this nonsense, so she quits her job and starts working at a clothing store. I think this exchange speaks for itself:

Eventually, however, she gets bored of nothing happening, and nobody else can deal with the mythical creatures like she can, so she returns to Machu Pizza with newfound confidence.

I think this is great stuff. She doesn’t put up with any guff.

Unfortunately, that’s the last of the pizza delivery stories, and it’s a shame there are so few of them, because it’s quite possibly the best material Lola ever had. I think more than anything it represents Lola at her fullest, and shows how much potential she has to be a regular character, instead of someone who just shows up every now and then, only to be reinterpreted once again.

Lola also wouldn’t make another proper appearance until 2011 in issue #203, only making background cameos in the meantime. This story- which is all about roller derby- is a bit underwhelming in comparison to her older comics. Sure, her sportiness comes into play for the first time since Space Jam (weirdly enough, considering that’s what she’s best known for), but she doesn’t get to do very much. There are good moments, though:

I’m into it. (The first panel implies Bugs and Lola knew each other in junior high/middle school, which is an interesting tidbit. It contradicts how they’ve never seen each other before in Space Jam, but Looney Tunes has never been much for continuity anyway.)

And that’s it for stories focused on Lola. From then on, her appearances are brief and insubstantial. In issue #220, she’s only in a few panels as an angry police chief.

In 2017, she appears in a Star Trek parody in issue #239, playing the Lt. Uhura part, and is essentially just as limited.

In 2019, she returns as a basketball player, and still doesn’t do much. They’re obviously trying to make her look more like she does in Space Jam, but no attempt is made to make her a main character.

Her most recent cameo is in 2023’s issue #269, which suggests that she won an award for journalism of all things.

And that’s it. Outside of Space Jam: A New Legacy and its graphic novel adaptation, there really hasn’t been very much OG Lola Bunny media at all.

In fact, the largest amount of screentime Lola ever gets is in Baby Looney Tunes of all things. That’ll be another blog for another time, when I finally finish watching that series, and it probably won’t be very long.

Other than that, Lola appears in three video games: Bugs Bunny & Lola Bunny: Operation Carrot Patch (the only time her name was in the title), Looney Tunes Racing (where they actually ramp up the whole “girl power” thing to Nth degree), and Looney Tunes: Space Race. She has minor roles in the webtoon Dating Do’s and Don’ts, and in Tweety's High-Flying Adventure. She has one cameo, and two featured episodes in New Looney Tunes- and only one of ‘em portrays her as smart trickster. She’s a main character in Bugs Bunny Builders, but her personality’s been reduced to a generic perky girl, although they at least refrain from making her stupid again. I actually like this show, though.

So why is this? Why do people struggle with writing for Lola anyway? It doesn’t seem so hard. The whole trouble is almost everybody seems to have a different perspective of the character, and I can’t figure out why. It seems pretty straightforward to me- she’s good at sports, she’s smart, she’s strong-willed, and doesn’t like being pushed around or not taken seriously. This is a personality type that’s been done before, in every genre. So what’s the deal with Lola? Why do people think she’s terrible or needs “fixing”? It doesn’t help that most of these comics are long out of print, hard to collect, and they’re not given much attention in the first place. They seem to be best known for starting Dave Alvarez’s career in Looney Tunes projects.

I suspect there’s not only a big wad of sexism involved, but also a general resentment towards Space Jam in general. The whole “how do you do fellow kids” aspect of that movie has dated it, I’ll admit, and I never took the whole hip-hop Looney Tunes thing that was going in the late ‘90s very seriously, even when I was a kid.

But that shouldn’t mean Lola should be dragged into it. Sure, the way they handle the character isn’t flawless- she literally comes out of nowhere, with hardly any proper introduction at all. We have no idea who she is or where she came from in the movie, and we probably never will. Her independent, self-reliant traits are a bit undermined when Bugs has to come to her rescue, briefly turning her into a damsel-in-distress. It’s not perfect, but then again, I’m not sure how else Bugs was going to become her boyfriend in the screen time available.

Why this makes people hate her or even see her as sexist, I can’t imagine.

She’s also one of the newest Looney Tunes characters. There hadn’t been a new character groomed for stardom since Cool Cat and his ilk, in the late ‘60s. I’m sure to some people she seemed like an intrusive wannabe. Why she gets picked on instead of even newer characters like Claudette Dupri from New Looney Tunes, or even the Nerdlucks from the same movie (who are even more underused), I can’t guess. So maybe it’s just sexism after all.

Opinions about Lola vary wildly. So what’s the deal? Well, let’s examine the most negative views of her: Is she a oversexualized pin-up? While there’s obviously some degree of sexualization in the way the artists designed her curvy, semi-hourglass figure, this is just falling into the “fictional women aren’t allowed to be sexy” trap that men who pretend to be feminists often do. On the other hand, it’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to make ALL female cartoon characters bombshells and eye candy. But hey, why not use Petunia Pig, Granny, Miss Prissy, or even the She-Devil to balance things out? Why not come up with solutions instead of complaining about it?

Is she a stereotypical “girl power” sporty type? Is this even a thing? Why would anyone want to undermine positive female role models? There’s a disturbing trend recently of people wanting to criticize the whole “action princess” thing, and I can’t understand why. Seems dangerous to me. Sounds like more fake feminism if you ask me. (I’m a guy though, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.)

Is the ditzy, dumb blonde version an improvement? Why is this even a question?? I don’t know how making her a complete airhead is supposed to be “less sexist”. It’s like opposite-day logic. And no, we shouldn’t mix in the “wackiness” of the LTS version with her original version. She doesn’t need it. God no.

So there you have it. If it were up to me, I’d be making cartoons starring Lola with this exact same premise. Hopefully this blog will spread some awareness of Lola’s best work. If you wanna track down these comics, here’s a list of all the best ones: #60, #76, #80, #84, #88, #92, #117, and #203.

#lola bunny #looney tunes #space jam #bugs bunny #space jam a new legacy #toon #cartoon #animation #unpopular opinion #apparently

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amethystblack · 2 years

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Why is there an ever increasing amount of people on internet demanding people refer to them by weird ass pronouns (like bun/bunself or wtv)? or children supposedly needing novel hormones and their perfectly fine genitalia chopped off or else they'll kill themselves? This has never been documented in history... am i the only 1 seeing this nonsense is clearly astroturfed? asking in good faith

oh boy there is so much to unpack here.... you say you're asking in good faith, so i'm going to choose to believe you, but let's come back to that.

i have a number of issues with the way you've phrased this, but i think what you're trying to ask, to put it another way is-- "Why is this happening now? Why are there more and more people with non-cis and divergent gender identities now, and, rather than being a genuine human problem, is it not being artificially pushed as an agenda?"

You're right in your implication that the answer to 'why now' is the internet, but not because of astroturfing or any kind of disingenuous plot. I believe the internet, and the distance, anonymity, and resources it provides, has finally given a large number of people the privacy, confidence and understanding they need to express who they are in ways that most rigid local societies simply would not have permitted before. In addition to that, there have been many in-person LGBT circles over the pre-internet decades and centuries, but the internet has also made all of those communities more visible than they were in the past.

Contrariwise to communication in the present giving people the space to be open to other possibilities, and making it more visible, there is already documented history of divergent gender identities having been actively excluded from history even when they are known to have existed for hundreds of years. History is written by the winners, and for years, the winners have been old christian white men who do not abide homosexuality, let alone practices outside the gender binary. Why would they write into history books for children to learn about?

Your recourse, as I take from the astroturfing comments, is to doubt the sources of those accounts as I doubt the intentions of your history book writers. There are plenty of articles about it all across the internet though-- could they all be lies? Neither of us can actually prove the accuracy of history, so I believe it is best to not waste our efforts with it. Let's focus on the present, and I will give you my personal experience.

I assume you've asked this question to me in particular because you already know I'm trans (which to be fair, is perhaps a mark in the 'good faith' column for you). When I was growing up, I met exactly one other trans person. As a twelve year old, I vaguely felt like, wow that's cool, i wish i could just be a girl too (lol), and to my memory we never talked about it in depth. I also recall, around the same age, having a chat with two other teenage friends who also knew her, where we all agreed in confidence, yeah, being born a girl would've been preferable. To my knowledge, both of them still identify as male today and are happily married to women. A few years later I would ask my first boyfriend to call me his girlfriend, but I had completely forgotten about everything related to being trans-- I just thought, if I were in a gay relationship anyway, that would feel better. Later I had difficulty with a girl I dated because I told her, again having forgotten trans people existed, that I wished to be a girl. My discomfort with my own body and my resulting disinterest in intimacy ultimately led to us breaking up. Three years after that something online finally reminded me that trans people exist, and I finally realized, wait, maybe I am trans??? And began looking into the matter seriously.

The point of me saying all this, is that nothing pushed transness on me in those seven years. I had fully forgotten that it existed even when I technically knew it was a thing, and I felt the way I did independently of it. When I started exploring transitioning, it was because I sought it out. I had those feelings, I wanted a solution, and turned out a solution existed. The increasing prevalence of non-cis gender identities in all directions is because these feelings are, to varying personal degrees, normal, and the means to act on them finally exists. And as society as a whole becomes more accepting, it is safer to make the leap too. Had I been born in a more transphobic time, I might not have decided to transition, opting instead to swallow the dysphoria and self-hatred and live miserably. Or not live at all. In this epoch, I had permission to transition, but I did not get an invitation, let alone have anyone pushing it on me. Hell, I would've liked an invitation.

So this is all to say, though it may not be your experience, dissatisfaction with one's gender and body are not new in the human condition; we can just finally act on them. Thanks to advances in medicine and culture, it is safer than ever, and sure, there are more trans people, but that also means that people have more agency, and are less miserable.

...Now let's talk about all the problems I have with your ask. Let's start with the questions themselves.

Why is there an ever increasing amount of people on internet demanding people refer to them by weird ass pronouns (like bun/bunself or wtv)?

So I read this as two separate questions -- why weird ass pronouns? -- why are they demanding it?

Okay, so neopronouns aren't everyone's cup of tea. I see their increased usage as a matter of-- 'as long as we on the internet here are exploring new ways to respect people and use language, why not have some fun with it?' It's not hurting anyone, so why not? Unfortunately, it gets strawmanned as a way to take trans and especially non-binary people less seriously, so that just sucks for everyone, but I really don't think it's that serious. In my experience, I've never actually met anyone who's been obtuse about them-- it's just "it would be nice" and they've always been reasonable about if people aren't up for that or don't remember it. There is a basic level of flexibility and understanding to assume from normal social conversation, and I assume that most people who use neopronouns aren't about to insist on them right off the street.

...But, shitty people exist in all demographics. And I'm sure there are some who use neopronouns and are very obnoxious about it out there. I really consider that to be a problem with the specific people rather than the concept of neopronouns... but for how often it gets brought up in these arguments vs my personal experience, it really seems blown out of proportion for the sake of delegitimizing trans people. Let me ask you anon, have you ever met someone like that, who asks for that and is combative when it isn't followed to the letter, or is that just a story you've heard secondhand?

or children supposedly needing novel hormones and their perfectly fine genitalia chopped off or else they'll kill themselves?

I think I've answered the why of this already, so I'm going to skip that and just talk about the phrasing-- the hormones are not novel. they are just the normal hormones that exist in people already, and they have the normal effects, but for the opposite gender. it's also pretty rare for children to go out and request that. teenagers, maybe. i would have loved to get on some blockers as a teenager though. as it is, i don't feel like i had much of a teenage life, and that's exactly because i was already so uncomfortable.

'perfectly fine genitilia' is also such a gross phrase. it might be 'perfectly fine' in your view, but it is not your body to make the call on, and you are not the soul living with the discomfort from it. that also is definitely not a thing that happens as much with children, and the reductionistic point of view where [this thing that some trans people choose to do] is now applied to children as a growing social problem sounds to me like some well-workshopped rhetoric. moreover, why are we making an argument over other people's genitals??? to whoever is spreading that one, gross, mind your business.

i imagine the last few paragraphs inspire some amount of defensiveness because i'm just ripping into your phrasing. and that's fine, but set that defensiveness aside and come back to the table with me. i said at the start that i am choosing to believe you're in good faith here, but for reasons apparent in the prior two paragraphs espeically, you really do not sound like you're in good faith here. like, just saying that does not make it so. i am hoping there are real intentions behind those words you've typed.

and if that is the case-- if you really mean that, then respect to you firstly, but i want you to know that, rather than you being in bad faith, wherever you're getting these talking points from, about 'novel hormones', 'bun/bunself', etc, they are not in good faith. you are concerned about disningenuous information in the internet environment, but the arguments you're representing in this ask are coming from people who are themselves disingenuous, taking only the most extreme parts of gender divergence, and needlessly applying them to children as a moralistic charge. i implore you to prioritize your own, personal, actual experiences with real trans people in the world when making judgments about them-- not just the talking points of others about them.

#tw: transphobia #ask ame #deep sigh

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