#but juno was really one of the first characters i saw playing with gender in a really intersting way and i LOVED it so much

[dragqueenpentheus]

discuss: juno steel

my thoughts are. i love him. show stopping gender

and mommy issues on that lady

[subukunojess]

Karma- Beetlejuice (1/7/2020)

Hey guys. I’m trying to catch up with my writing and I’m still working on my thoughts about my experience watching Beetlejuice, but I wanted to share this since I’m writing some fanfiction at the moment and need to get his character down. 

I decided to design/personalize my interpretation of Beetlejuice based on what I saw since several people on here had different versions on him based on how the actor portrayed the character on that performance. I challenge others who’ve seen the musical to share their own versions as well if they wish!

If anyone had seen the show on January 7th or wants to add any unique thing in general, feel free to add in a reply or comment or whatever! Without further ado, here is my Beetlejuice that I will be writing about in my stories:

Name: Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth aka "Beetlejuice"

Nickname (Compared to Other BJ's): Karma

Gender: "Beetlejuice" (Non-binary/Genderfluid)

Pronouns: Currently He/Him. Does not mind They/Them

Orientation: Demiromantic/Pansexual

Physical Features: Gold eyes,  fangs, mood-changing hair, the green on his cheeks that is not his hair is in the shape of a diamond one for each cheek.  

Distinct Features: (Alternate Outfit) Black suit with white stripes, would sometimes wear a black fedora with a purple feather, green beetle emblem, and a 7 of Diamonds playing card on it. Still has his green tie.

Other Features: - With Autism and has Dyslexia

- Voracious (Can eat people dead or alive and almost anything really)

- Encourages creativity, confidence and strong emotions (despite not knowing how to process the latter exactly)

- Got his name based on his "luck"/karma.

-7 of diamonds symbolism (besides the fact I'm incorporating 7 deadly sins again):

 The seven of diamonds evokes everything related to negotiation. In cartomancy, this card is more or less neutral.

 an artistic flair, a love of nature and beauty and a certain social charm like no other.

firm boundaries and self-discipline. An interesting and unique blend of flow and constriction is experienced by this Seven in the cards of life

They are encouraged to focus on life’s abundance and acknowledge their innate ability to create on the material level. Challenged to view the glass as half-full, Seven of Diamonds♦ people must exercise non-attachment to money as it is their spiritual test of faith in a benign, abundant universe. Once they are in alignment, having released their famine mentality and poverty consciousness, there’s actually no limit to how much a Seven of Diamonds♦ can create.

People of this card and suit are here to experience life and themselves through values, acquiring worth, both material and immaterial, commerce, evaluation, financial matters and business.

 It is a card of power and accomplishment

changes are often violent, always sudden

Seven of Diamonds belong to the special family of Seven. It means that their life does not follow the traits of 46 cards of the deck. It may feel like being an alien with ideas and set of values no one understands. No one can ever experience how it is to be in your place

For their very open-minded and mentally sharp brain, creativeness and ambitions, any routine work can be more than they can handle. Seven Of Diamonds need new things to learn, new places to go and new projects to work on to keep themselves motivated and happy.

In love, they are more than anyone else willing to sacrifice and give anything they've got to beloved ones.

There is a great love of home for all 7 of Diamonds, but they may have to wait for it, as their early life is filled with many changes.

- Loves his found family and would kill for them. Seriously.

- Would sometimes take things literally (borrowing that from the cartoon)

- Cheers for the underdog most of the time

- Has a soft spot for kids

Now about "Karma" based on 1/7/2020 show:

Actor Who Played Him: Alex Brightman

Details (Feel free to add any!) - gets genuinely surprised at attention, but really craves it - stutters sometimes - has the audience at the palm of his hand - very excited about the Maitlands at first - excited to see kids - great with accents and impressions - wants to make friends, but doesn't know how - Optimistic/Hopeful at first - very emotional and over-dramatic - has comedic timing - he's very vocal on letting out noises and side effects - he waves his hands around a lot/stims - a touchy kind of being - chubby (thicc boy) - sarcastic - deadpan - he sometimes gets confused about the Maitlands - He hesitates when he admits his first name is Lawrence - He's a switch not going to lie (slight NSFW-ish) - dramatic whines - sad/exasperated that no one is like him. - gets distracted easily - mocks people perfectly - responds verbally whenever someone living says his name - desperate and raspy when playing charades with Lydia - Ironic but seems more "human" in act 1, then more "demon/monster" in Act 2 until the end - more demonic, wild, and growly when summoned - especially growls and snarls - big brother/best friend to Lydia - He likes his clones a lot - gets sadistic when he's angry and wants to see a reaction - unconsciously recognizes being manipulated/repeated behavior (Ex. Juno manipulation and his face falling when he sees her "act of love") - throws his voice around multiple times - wants to connect with others, plans to work on it when he leaves (ironically, he has connected with the audience)

[derekklenadaily]

Dani’s review/synopsis of the first preview of “Jagged Little Pill” on Broadway!

I had the privilege to go to New York City to see Derek’s first preview “Jagged Little Pill” this past Sunday. While growing up back in the early ‘90s, Alanis Morrisette was definitely one of the most known artists in that era, I do remember hearing her music on the radio all time and even sang along to her tunes with my mother in the car. So, when I saw the news that her music was going to be made into a musical, I was very excited. When I saw this musical last summer in Cambridge, MA during their out-of-town run, and my mind was pretty much blown. Before I go any further, sexual assault is mentioned in this review and very slight spoilers is also present.  

Despite the changes for the first preview for the Broadway run, I got to say this musical is more than I ever thought it would be. The opening number just takes the audience by surprise with their exhilarating dancing and them singing fiercely but so passionately. We could feel such a big electric/energy charge in between us audience and the people on stage. It was like being an awesome rock concert, really. Then the music goes softer as we see the family of four comes up to the stage.  

Elizabeth Stanley who plays Mary Jane Healy who plays the mother of Nick and Frankie and a wife of Steve Healy. In the show, Mary Jane is an all star-kind of mother who supports her kids at various things such as sports and school. But outside of that world, she currently is struggling with drug addiction due after having a car accident earlier that year. At the same time, she has difficult relationship with her husband Steve who has been away from the family most of the time and hasn’t had a great sexual relationship with him ever since the car accident incident. Elizabeth is absolutely beyond brilliant in this show. She has a great comedic timing especially the scenes with the family. Her acting and singing is definitely out of this world. I think the last scene (“Forgiven”) before intermission still got me shaking in the boots, because it was so incredibly beautiful, tragic and damn powerful at the same time, especially having numerous voices from the cast blending with hers as they stood behind. I’m definitely certain that the judges for any kind of theater awards will look into that scene and mark her as Best Actress in a Musical. She deserves to get it. I got to say her and Sean Allan Krill’s chemistry was absolutely perfect to form this tragic and destructive husband and wife relationship. They would start as tense - not wanting to touch each other and then lying behind each other back’s (her addiction with pills and him with pornography). Suddenly, Elizabeth and Sean went out of the box even more at one point - I thought they would end their characters’ marriage and slam it with divorce right there in the show. It was absolutely incredible.  

Sean Allan Krill who plays the father of Nick and Frankie, also a husband of Mary Jane. He’s business man who travels and works in his office most of the time. He doesn’t have a very good relationship with Mary Jane because they hadn’t had any sex over a year. So, to feed that sexual drive - he goes on porn sites and becomes addicted with it. Like what I said in the paragraph before, he and Elizabeth has an amazing chemistry. There’s one scene that Sean does it so amazing when he sings “Mary Jane” in Act Two. It’s absolutely heart-wrenching that we can’t help feeling sorry for him and seeing him trying to mend his relationship with her after all that mess they went through.

There are some hidden secrets and devastating moments that each character cannot escape from, whether it’s sexual assault, drug-addiction, and sex addiction. Especially comes to Derek’s character, Nick - who is the good and golden boy who gets all the accolades and praises for his schoolwork and his sportsmanship. But that bubble suddenly bursts when one of his best friends gets accused of sexual assault by Bella (a classmate that Nick has known since sixth grade). Nick faces such a tremendous difficult decision on what to do and how he get through it without getting a scratch off his record. The songs he sings, “Perfect” was jaw-dropping and absolutely heart-wrenching, really. It shows that he is being pressurized by his parents, after being accepted to Harvard and how he is treated like as a hometown hero. “Wake Up” in Act One was absolutely incredible because it shows the depth of his feelings and being pressurized to speak up about what happened that night.  As I watched Derek in the first preview, I found his character a bit more sympathetic than the Cambridge run. I definitely think that he has improved so much with his craft and his work after “Anastasia” and doing countless rehearsals with this show.  

Kathyrn Gallagher who plays Bella, she is absolutely amazing in this role. After her countless researching and watching documentaries of sexual assaults and hearing several survivors’ stories, she definitely put her feet in their shoes to tell their stories on stage. It may be a really difficult and enormous thing to do, but she does it with a tremendous job. There is this scene where Kathryn sings “Predator” is absolutely devastating and heartbreaking but at the same time, it’s so beautiful because there is a dancer named Annelise Baker who interprets Bella’s character on that night. As Kathryn sings this number, she watches herself to unfold to a beautiful human being from into a complete shattered person. I got to give major kudos to Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui who is the choreographer (you may know his work in Beyoncé's music video). Every single dancing movement in the show is absolutely thrilling and exciting all at once. Also, we see several scenes that relates and mirrors her and Elizabeth’s character especially “Uninvited”. Near at the end of the show, Kathryn’s brilliant and such a strong number “No” with Derek and Celia along with the ensembles, it spreads various but incredibly important messages to speak up.

Celia Gooding who plays Frankie - Nick’s sister and a daughter of Mary Jane and Steve Healy. Frankie goes through several difficult situations in this play; one - she was adopted by Mary Jane and Steve when she was an infant and is the only black member in the family. So, she feels bit out of place especially dealing with Mary Jane who doesn’t grasp the idea of Frankie’s identity. Two, she tries to explores with her relationship in between Jo and Phoenix throughout the show and sees where and which her status falls in place. Celia is definitely bold and so much fierce as heck! She brings it all down when she sings “All I Really Want” with Elizabeth Stanley, “Hand in My Pocket” with Lauren Patten and then her solo piece “Unprodigal Daughter”. Her chemistry with Lauren is awesome because you can see how much they complement each other, it’s all very fun and playful. Her chemistry with Antonio was very cute and flirtatious. Lastly, her chemistry with Elizabeth Stanley was incredible because it showed that they had a tough mother-daughter relationship like Elizabeth had this wall up, blocking everything out and Celia tries to take it down by doing such ferocious, daring and bold things. Towards at the end of the show, something tragically happens in the family - we see the wall in between them shift and eventually come down for good.  

Antonio Cipriano who plays Phoenix, who is Frankie’s classmate and befriends her. Throughout the show, we see how their relationship develops. Antonio who was the finalist for the Jimmy Award. He is extremely talented and absolutely brilliant in this production. He’s great comedic timing and has a wonderful chemistry with Celia Gooding. I absolutely love when they sing “Head Over Feet”. It was really cute! I’d love if he had a solo piece in this show because his singing voice is absolutely terrific. I’m so happy that he made his debut on Broadway which he deserves, along with this incredible cast.

Lauren Patten who plays Jo, who is Frankie’s best friend but also with benefits kind of relationship with Frankie. Like I said in Celia’s paragraph, Lauren has a wonderful chemistry with her. They bounce each other off so incredibly well that they have so much fun onstage and even off stage. And I must say holy crap, Lauren is awesome - I can’t decide which will they give a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress in A Musical? Celia or Kathryn? Can’t they call it a tie so they can give it to all three of them? In Act Two - she really gave her all and energy which brought the whole house down when singing “You Oughta Know” that we rose on our feet to give her a standing ovation as the song ended. It was so damn powerful. Holy sheeeetz!

Also, I cannot forget everyone in ensemble - they really bring this show alive and go way above the level of energy and perfection. Seriously, this show wouldn’t work without them - their amazing dance and outstanding singing performances, including even them doing the smallest things in the background in several scenes, they did stellar job to bring elevate the show to go where it needs to go. 

I want to say “Jagged Little Pill” is one amazing show. Much as I love RENT the Musical but I dare to say that it’s so much better than RENT. It is even more thrilling after watching back in Cambridge last summer. It involves with lot of diversity dealing with gender identity and the important messages that we see in the news almost every day such as sexual harassment and many other things that are happening in today’s world. It definitely needs to be heard. Diablo Cody’s (won Academy Award Winner for Best Screenplay for “Juno”) outstanding writing and Alanis Morrisette’s music just blends it together so beautifully to create this musical and put it onstage in front of us. From the choreography, the sets, the lights and costumes, and everything in this show - including the cast, I highly believe they will have major success on Broadway for sure. It’s a possible chance that they will make it to award season maybe next year. Seriously, this show is not to miss, please do go see it. It will be worth it!

[humboldtfog]

Years of depression has prepared me very well for the current state of affairs which is weird but whatever here’s a list of my faves on netflix, if I’m missing something let me know cause now’s the time, right?

I'm kinda embarrassed by how long this list is but also kinda like fuck that, there have been very long periods of time where it was either sit and watch shows all day or lie down and stare at the wall in silence all day so I chose the former and it adds up and there's nothing wrong with that.

Glow (Badass ladies learn to wrestle, great 80s aesthetics and grrrrl power.)

Our Planet (Netflix version of Planet Earth, beautiful, cute, terrifying that we aren’t doing more to save us all.)

Bojack Horseman (Hilarious and “deep” critique of LA and celebrity culture for people who don’t care about LA or celebrity culture. Also very funny visual jokes about how if animals were also kinda humans, and lots of great jokes about cliches and tropes, puns, and weirdly rhyming and alliteration? I don’t know how to explain it just watch it.)

Father Brown (BBC, based on mystery novels about a priest who always meddles in police business and solves murders in his small English countryside town.)

Pose (The Ball scene in NY in the 80s, poc queer and trans writers and actors bringing their people’s stories to life. So much joy, so much beauty, but also NYC in the 80s so you will cry.)

Paris is Burning (Documentary made during the Ball scene Pose is based on.)

Sex Education (Such empowering representations of all walks of gender and sexuality, and actually very educational, like I would straight up show this in schools because everyone would be very entertained and would learn a lot more than they teach in a lot of schools.)

What Happened Miss Simone (Documentary about Nina Simone’s life, music and the activism the establishment/ government worked to suppress and used to blacklist her.)

Night on Earth (Low light camera technology has gotten hella good and they’re starting to learn stuff about animals’ behaviors at night that they’ve never been able to study before.)

Call the Midwife (Follows stories from the midwives that worked in the East End of London after the war, based on memoirs. Interesting look at the kind of life of poverty people led before there were many large hospitals or birth control, right as the British were implementing their universal healthcare program.)

The Great British Baking Show (Everyone’s so nice and everything looks so good!)

Atypical (Dramady about a high schooler with autism and his family, very funny and great representations of autism and how to be a good dude.)

Parks and Recreation (Just very funny and everyone knows it. Amazing ensemble cast, and they still keeps in touch through a group chat awww doesn’t that say something!)

Kim’s Convenience (Canadian comedy about family of first and second gen Korean immigrants that’s just a really solid funny modern day sitcom.)

Queer Eye (I feel like if everyone in this world could get a life makeover from these guys we just wouldn’t be here right now.)

Obvious Child (Jenny Slate accidentally gets pregnant and gets an abortion. It’s funny and it’s realistic, we’re not all Juno.)

Maria Bamford: the Special Special Special (Rad lady comedian not afraid to talk about her mental health and lack thereof and very vocal about the stigma surrounding mental health problems and I very much relate to. My favorite standup probably ever. I could make a list just for standup so message me if you’d like more suggestions.)

Monty Python (Flying Circus, movies, doc, ect. “The Beatles of comedy” is the cliche but it's true.)

Easy (Very unconventional non-narrative structure and editing, following random people in Chicago in a very real life feeling way. Different story each episode, but sometimes characters show up briefly in each other’s lives or return for a second episode.)

Everything Sucks! (High school nerds and lesbians and theater geeks in the 90s! I’m so sad this only got one season I rewatched it recently and it’s just so solid.)

She’s Gotta Have It (Revival of Spike Lee’s first movie, black girl magic, art world, gentrified New York, lots of sex.)

The Office (Classic, holds up very well, totally solid throughout, worth a rewatch. Also if you're a fan Jenna Ficher and Angela Davis are doing a rewatch podcast jsyk.)

Billy on the Street (Mindless game show for laughs, amazing gay comedian runs around New York yelling questions at them. I watch this with my dad and he can’t help but snort even when it’s “inappropriate” or “juvenile” so you know it’s good.)

Good Girls (Some lower middle class family ladies that are all about to be broke decide to rob the grocery store one of them works at, but they accidentally cross a gang that stored their cash there, so they gotta pay it back, and of course can’t help but get deeper and deeper into it. Very suspenseful like your heart rate will go up and stay up. )

Arrested Development (It’s just funny, as you've probably heard, but I'm telling you it just really is.)

The Laundromat (Tells the stories of a few of the people involved in the panama papers in different ways, explains in an entertaining way how money laundering works in a way that made it mostly make sense even to me. The rich get richer, and Meryl Streep is here to tell them to fuck off and pay their taxes.)

Russian Doll (She keeps dying and coming back to the same moment over and over and can’t figure out how to stop the cycle or why so kinda sci fi, very suspenseful, big cliff hanger ending, or rather no ending, and just found out season two filming is delayed because virus which is very annoying!!)

Dear White People (Show picking up where the movie left off, after a frat hosts a black face party and the ivy league college is forced to deal with racism.)

Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (Stories based on Dolly songs. Very Hallmark channel, you will cry.)

Episodes (Show about two British writers making a version of their BBC show for American tv. Kind of meta, very funny, Matt LaBlanc plays himself and it's great.)

Dumplin’ (Fat girl grows up with a beauty pageant winning mom and enters one herself with the help of her late aunt’s Dolly Parton drag queen friends.)

Lunatics (Chris Lilley is the best character actor ever, all his shows are just him playing different parts and you seriously forget it’s all one actor, even when he’s playing teenage girls.)

Jane the Virgin (Prime time soap opera about a girl who is engaged and waiting until marrige and is accidentally inseminated with the only sperm sample of a man who’s had cancer so decides to keep the baby, very heavy on the soap opera cliches in a meta way but also that’s what it is. So good at first but after the first three or so seasons it gets too much tbh though.)

Zumbo’s Just Desserts (Australian Bake show but with just sweet stuff and pressure to be avant garde.)

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Jerry Sienfeld goes out with funny people to coffee and lunch in fancy cars and they have funny conversations.)

One Day at a Time (Very very cheesy laugh track sitcom, like the kind of thing my grandma would watch, but it makes me so happy it’s doing a great job eplaining really woke concepts like queer pronouns and ptsd and addiction and white privilege to people like my grandma!)

Orange is the New Black (Good stories about very diverse characters, I’d say by starting it off about a upper middle class white girl it tricks privileged white people into watching and then encountering the more realistic stories of women who go to prison and how the system treats prisoners. Ending of season two is super solid and you can stop it there, season three is a really great critique of the privatization of prisons. I admit it goes on and on to the point that it’s stressful and after watching it spread out over years I can’t remember/ keep up with all the different story lines, though they’re all good stories to tell.)

Space Jam (Just saw while scrolling for more ideas this was added! One of the greatest sports movies of all time obviously.)

Bonus amazon prime shows, I try to avoid Amazon in general but these are just too good if you know a prime member who you can't convince not to give their money to amazon so they might as well give you their login (like yer dad).

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (A 1950s New York upper class Jewish house wife gets dumped and starts doing stand up, so funny, great actors, and they seriously transform NY back into another era.)

Good Omens (Mini series based off Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s satirical novel about the biblical apocalypse, very funny, very smart, very British, does the book pretty solid justice.)

There are other decent things that aren’t included, I’d say these are solid recs for a general list of genres all over the map without letting it get to a ridiculously unhelpful length. I feel like I’d be good at the “if you like this then you’ll also like…” so let me know if some of these are your favorites too and want personal recs for what to watch next based on a brain instead of an algorithm.

If you want to have a remote date and watch things together on video chat or one of those watch party sites or just tell me what to watch next here’s some stuff on my list I’ve been curious about or not sure about or don’t want to watch alone or have been putting off, and now’s the time right?: Strangers Things, I Am Not Okay With This, Black Panther, The Betty White doc, John Mulaney Snack Lunch Bunch, Dead to Me, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, A Wrinkle in Time, The Little Prince, Maniac, Wet Hot American Summer reboots, and a bunch of different standup specials from comedians I like.

[zinecuntroll]

3 decades of Queer Women making Herstory through Music

Written for Pink Washed Zine issue #3

by Raquel Silva aka Raquel Smith-Cave

             I turned 30 this year, more precisely last August and it’s also been 12 years since I had my first girlfriend. When I started thinking about my queerness more seriously back in 2005/2006 I quickly realized how it wasn’t that usual for girls to be fascinated by Linda Perry in boxer shorts and combat boots like I was at 5 years old. My mom says 4 Non Blondes “What’s up” was my favorite song back then and she even bought the CD so I could listen to it on repeat and not just wait for the video to magically appear on the TV. Thanks Ma!

              Through my teenage years I had “Baby Can I Hold You” by Tracy Chapman constantly playing in my head. Mind you, I always have a song in my mind and I burst into singing at the most unexpected times, it’s mostly an unconscious act which can be embarrassing in front of people who don’t know me well. Honestly I  don’t care much, it’s just a part of my nature and if I’m not murmuring or humming some melody it usually means there’s something wrong. So at around 15/16 I remember starting to sing the chorus for “But you can say baby…” out of nowhere in school breaks or while walking home. This happened constantly and exactly why my brain was stuck with this melody was a complete mystery to me. Maybe I heard it in passing or on the radio…? I could never find the answer but I did buy Tracy’s self-titled vinyl this year during Record Store Day and discovered it was released exactly 30 years ago. It’s a precious record, her voice is warm and familiar and her guitar is so soothing to the soul. I think I finally answered my teenage self on all that musical haunting.

             Cássia Eller is a Brazilian artist who made the 90s a really wholesome, magical, golden time for every lesbian in love with husky voices. Her hit song “Malandragem” was part of this series called Malhação but I only found out she was the mystical singer behind that iconic childhood tune years after listening to it on the show. She tragically died in 2001 and even after that she still created major impact in society, when her longtime girlfriend won custody of their son, after battling against Cássia’s father who had never cared about his daughter until money was involved. Cássia was a shy person who became a complete lion on stage. Humble and almost too pure to handle the hype. She just wanted to sing to people and exorcise her demons while making others happy. Which she did and so much more. Her legacy is tremendous, as it still resonates with so many of us today and the world hasn’t really witnessed anyone quite as ingenious as her ever since.

               It’s 2007 and I’m watching a live concert in a Portuguese music festival on TV featuring a wild ass singer with the screaming voice of my wildest grrrl dreams. It’s The Gossip! And Beth Ditto is rolling around the stage, singing her lungs out in front of a pretty chill crowd. I wanted to BE THERE. I probably discovered Gossip’s music through CSS who I was obsessed with at the time or probably from watching The L Word. The truth is: the more intrigued I was by the words of this fat, dyke, goddess the more comfortable I felt about my own identity. I was fat for most of my childhood and got bullied for it on a regular basis, just part of being in an all-girls catholic school life I guess. At 13 someone called me “Fufa” which is basically “Dyke” in Portuguese and it was the most traumatic experience ever. Years later I wish I could have thanked the girl who bullied me out of a closet I wasn’t even aware I was in. I don’t believe I was ever in the closet though. Honestly, falling in love with a girl was just as natural as having crushes on boys. It was just another question I had finally found an answer for. Beth Ditto’s pride in her queerness and blatant attraction to butch people while being a proud femme, fat, dyke made me feel represented in a way I hadn’t seen myself before and ok with my own desires. Ditto!

                The first glance of The L Word I watched I didn’t really enjoyed. The image was dark and the plot seemed so tragic. It was Jenny somewhere in the first season. After one year I finally watched the whole 2 or 3 seasons that were out by then. Tegan and Sara play in one episode and are featured in the soundtrack, which I still go back to sometimes to remember really great tunes. What a blessing to have Tegan and Sara guide you through your first acid trip and “coming out of that closet” am I right Dana? (RIP) My love affair with Canadian people started right there with Tegan’s goofiness and Sara’s witty remarks. By 2007 “The Con” came out and became a staple to the LBGTQ+ community. So much so that the band released a special covers album last year, with many queer artists recreating those magnificent songs. In the records that followed their sound was purposefully re directed to more pop melodies which I couldn’t relate to anymore. They did make good use of their huge platform by launching the Tegan and Sara foundation, which fights for LGBTQ girls and women all over the world with the help of some amazing queer people.

                 The other tiny Canadian who owns my heart is Ellen Page. Ever since Juno, my gaydar was just screaming out loud in every direction possible and I’m so happy that she is now able to be herself freely. Just like Juno, my musical top 3 included Patti Smith and Iggy Pop… but not The Runaways. For me it’s actually Nick Cave. I never gave too much attention to The Runaways, though I knew about Joan Jett and her extremely queer badass persona from being a teenager obsessed with punk rock and riot grrrl herstory. Until Kristen Stewart got cast to play Joan for The Runaways movie and I finally listened to their 70s records. I fell in love with Kristen and Dakota’s version of “Dead End Justice” as well as the original. Gaystew was born to play that part. Just last week I saw Bad Reputation, a documentary about Joan’s life with lots of awesome people speaking about how incredible she is, as both a pioneer for women in rock’n roll and an advocate for human and animal rights. At 60 she’s still rocking the fuck out of leather pants, inspiring kids to start bands, making everyone smitten by her confidence and flipping the finger to the all the hypocritical social definitions of gender, sex and music.

                It’s really difficult to write about Janelle Monáe. Not because I don’t have words but mostly because I have too many. Janelle caught my eye and ears with “Tightrope” where she’s prancing around wearing her uniform, as she proudly used to talk about her suit, an homage to her working class parents and Kansas City upbringing. I saw her live at the end of 2010, at a winter festival, where all my other friends went on to watch Sting’s daughter I Blame Coco and I stood front row waiting for Janelle. It was life changing. She danced, jumped, screamed and even painted something into a blank canvas throughout the whole set. Her band was impeccably orchestrated and the show was extremely cinematic, since many of Janelle’s inspirations are from sci-fi movies. Her music is layered and complex just like her personality. Over the years she has been extremely mysterious, one of the things I appreciated the most about her. This year that changed. After much speculation in the media, she said in an interview she’s pansexual, as someone who has had relationships with men and women, that’s how she identifies more comfortably. Above all she’s an artist with a very specific vision and talent, carving the path for Afrofuturism; to create space for black people but especially queer POC to conquer over the systematic racism, lack of opportunities and prejudice in our society. Her new record “Dirty Computer” is the materialization of that evolution, the most “Janelle” album ever. Covering everything from sexual freedom to political issues while using a pop funky beat. Reminiscing one of her heroes, Prince, who became a friend and mentor before passing away in 2016. And all I want for 2019 is to be in the same room as Janelle and take on another voyage dans la lune with all the other androids.

                 Annie Clark has also played around with the idea of being an alien or a cyborg, especially on her self-titled album from 2014. That’s when I saw her live for the time and I had to give into my friend’s obsession with her music. Last year St. Vincent released “Masseduction”, an almost perfect record, in my opinion. The song with the same title is most definitely an anthem for our generation “I can’t turn off what turns me on…” and after a long relationship with model/actress Cara Delevingne or that summer fling with Kristen Stewart, it was clear, Annie is queer. (Pun so intended) While songs like “New York” or “Los Ageless” can be associated to both of those relationships, Annie’s talent as an exquisite guitar player, fearless innovative sounds and unique live shows, have made her the intergalactic rock Goddess of our queer dreams.

                 Widely inspired by Annie Clark is my next musical Queeroe. Mackenzie Scott aka Torres. There’s something about debut albums that I really love and Torres self-titled LP from 2013 is definitely in my top favorites list. It’s really fucking sad music with raw emotion, as you can hear in “Honey”, “Jealousy and I” or “When Winter’s over”. Her second album “Sprinter” showed a very exciting evolution in her sound but it’s “Three Futures” from 2017 that encapsulates Mackenzie’s desire towards experimenting with her sexuality in a more explicit way. As seen in the video for the first single where she takes on gender roles as both feminine and masculine characters who are living the dreadful “American Dream”. Plus the cover picture for that record is her staring at a semi naked woman on a pole, marking 2017 as very gay year for music.      

                Laura Jane Grace’s voice first made waves through my ears because of the collab Against Me! did with Tegan Quin back in 2007 for the single “Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart”. The song didn’t stick to me that long and although I had heard Against Me! was my kind of band I never took the time to really listen to them. Until 2014, when “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” was released and it rapidly became one of the most important records of my life. I started watching many interviews with Laura Jane about the struggles of coming out as a trans woman in this fucked up world, specifically while being part of the punk scene, where there’s not much space for anything other than toxic masculinity. I related to Laura’s journey and with every single lyrics on “True trans soul rebel” since it felt like the most authentic punk anthem I had heard in a while. I went to their first ever gig in Portugal in 2015 and screamed as much as I could surrounded by my family of misfits, all wearing black and their heart tattoos on their sleeves. I dug into Against Me! discography but other than the single “I was a teenage anarchist” which I already knew, nothing got me hooked as much as “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” did. Laura Jane’s name is very much appropriate, for her Grace is felt through her screams as much as her written words, something I found fascinating while reading her auto biography: “Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout”. I loved every page of it, with original diary pieces, she takes us on a wild precious ride from her childhood and family issues to all the drama in the music industry or the tribulations of managing a band in this time and age. There’s really nothing more punk rock than being yourself and Laura Jane does it with so much effortless coolness and Grace.

            I tried not to listen to Courtney Barnett for months. I had seen the hype around her but didn’t feel quite ready to embark in that journey and my queers did I regret it… She played at Primavera Sound Porto in 2015 and I started listening to her on loop only weeks after that. The heartbreaking part is that I was also at that festival. The good part is that she came back in 2016 to another festival in Lisbon and I was there just for her (and Father John Misty). Which felt like the stars had aligned with my musical desires. She’s unapologetically herself but not in the way that you would say so about Cardi B for example. She’s wickedly smart with her words and unexpectedly brutal with her chords, right before she opens her mouth she looks like the sweetest person you will ever meet and after you are transported to her own island, full of genius puns, sarcastic inputs about daily life or the state of the world. My favorite verse is from “Pedestrian at best” and I almost got it tattooed��� “Give me all your money and I’ll make some origami honey”. Which to me roughly translates to: Fuck Capitalism! She’s also very open about her long term relationship with her wife and fellow musician Jen Cloher, making them the ultimate indie rock’s queer power couple.

                 2016 was the darkest year of my life. I stopped listening to music for months, stopped sleeping and my panic attacks would strike me even if I was in the middle of a busy street. It was scary to lose myself in such dark thoughts but then one day I listened to Shura’s song “Too shy” and felt like a little bit of me was alive again. Her debut album “Nothing’s real” came out around that time and her lyrics for the title song were exactly what I felt through my depression. In this song she is writing about her own experience with a panic attack that makes you feel like dying. And they do. “Too Shy” is a beautiful tune about unrequited love because you are simply too fucking shy to ever go for it and ask your crush on a date. Being shy and anxious almost always go hand in hand, as an awkward, quiet, weird introvert myself, discovering Shura’s songs and story gave me hope and made me gather the lost pieces of my own identity, leaving all the pain, shame and constant anxiety behind. Music really is medicine for the soul.

                 Julien Baker also has one of the best debut albums I’ve ever heard. Personally, it’s very special because it marks the beginning of my current relationship, as my girlfriend surprised me with Julien’s “Sprained Ankle” vinyl just weeks after we started dating. That vinyl did not leave my record player for the last months of 2016 and whenever I listen to it now, I am instantly transported to that moment in time. I was finally getting back on my feet and everything was falling into place, Julien’s gigantic voice echoed my natural melancholy, embracing my demons with a new found strength.  I’ve seen her twice, both times a very out of body experience and had the pleasure to let her know how much her music has helped me. We hugged, talked and she even has the zine I make (CuntRoll) in her living room table because she likes it so much. She is someone I could definitely see myself hanging out in my group of friends and that’s what I love the most about this new generation of artists, who aren’t trying to be something they’re not for the sake of money or exposure. They embrace who they are and let the world decide if they wanna take it or leave it. And that’s exactly what we need right now, to accept and embrace people for who they are and the art they make. So we can all to the same in our own lives.

                 “Yeah I’ve got it I’m a man now…” are the verses that got stuck with me for weeks after listening to Christine and The Queens single “iT”. Yes, the capital T is on purpose as it represents testosterone, the hormone used by many Trans AFAB people to start the process of becoming more themselves. This androgynous handsome French creature original name is Heloise and since her worldwide success with her first record “Chaleur Humaine” she has shredded so many stereotypes through her music, her dancing and her style. I hate comparing artists but some people call her “ the French Michael Jackson” for a reason. My chin dropped while watching her cover for Beyonce’s “Sorry” which she transformed into her own song like it’s nobody’s business (please go watch it asap). This year she blessed as with her second LP just called “Chris” inviting the world to be a little bit closer to her. Chris is her nickname and presents us with a new image for Heloise, embracing her masculine vibe more than ever before, with short hair, loose clothing and talking proudly about queer issues in many interviews. The video for the single “5 dollars” is the epitome of gender fucking and the reason why I am even gayer now tbh.  (You should watch that also!) The future is genderqueer.

                 I stayed away from the hype of “Girls like Girls” back in 2015 because I’m mostly suspicious of pop artists using gay stories to go with the trend of pink washing, ie Katy Perry “I kissed a girl” is a fucking jam but also really fucking problematic, coming from a cis het white female who has no idea the struggles of being queer. Hayley Kiyoko is most definitely not one of those artists though, as she has slowly but certainly become the Lesbian Jesus we’ve all been praying for. With “Curious” she let us know there’s a new fucking boss in town and she’s so fucking gay. What a time to be alive, 20gayteen is real and we are here to witness it all. Hayley’s not the greatest singer in the world, but she uses the best of her skills to give voice to all the kids who struggled with feeling alienated because they couldn’t fit in anywhere. She creates videos which are more like short stories, where she not only acts, but also writes and directs with her own team, never compromising her vision to tell the stories she wants to tell. Stories that resonate with so many queer people and we all know how important representation is, especially coming from an authentic source. To have such a person in the mainstream is what Tegan and Sara were thriving for a few years ago but the result wasn’t very genuine, something that doesn’t happen with Hayley’s songs. Her album “Expectations” doesn’t have big hits, other than “Feelings and “Curious” but it’s the debut album of someone with a huge potential and vision to take up the space for ourselves to tell our own stories and no one else.

                Linn Da Quebrada is the musical Goddess of the moment. Eloquent, inspiring, caustic, no one is left indifferent after listening to her. And that's exactly what she wants, to leave us on our tiptoes waiting to be carried away by words of pleasure, empowerment, trans feminism and especially so much self-love. Each verse is a lyrical genius clapback in the face of this transphobic, sexist and racist society. Prejudices that kill so many queer people of color in Brazil every year. Her existence is transforming, rewriting the HERSTORY of the world and of her country, through the re-appropriation of funk, where SHE finally gets to be the protagonist of her own story and that courage surpasses linguistic or cultural barriers. In 2017 she released her first album “Pajubá” after a very successful crowdfunding campaign and also has her own documentary called “Bixa Travesty” which has gathered accolades through many film festivals around the world. The song “Bixa Preta” is a fucking iconic anthem for 20gayteen and for all of my maricones family out in the world fighting everyday for our existence to be respected.

We will NEVER be erased.

[sabsaccount]

heartstopper: the best show out of 2022 so far

posted: 4/26/22

this was supposed to be a post about the shows I've been watching recently but i ramble on a lot

starts playing lover by taylor swift...

a few spoliers for heartstopper!

a tv show that was adapted from a webcomic by alice oseman! i had actually never heard of this show until twitter blew up after it was released. i think it's one of the best shows I've seen in a while (and that's kinda saying a lot). i love all the characters and the representation in the show. one thing that i noticed while watching is that they rlly nailed how teenagers talk and interact with each other. through the texts and dialogue, i felt like i was talking with my friends. sometimes the dialogue was witty, sometimes it was just plain awkward and that's how me and my friends talk so i think it was great. there were a lot of emotional scenes throughout the show that pulled on my heartstrings :"). i never usually cry while watching shows bec i never get emotionally invested in the characters on my first watch so that was a new experience for me.

the things i usually look for in a tv show are the small details, especially if the show was adapted from somewhere else. idk why but it sort of gives me an insight into how much the production team sought to understand the characters and how much effort they were willing to put into the show. it also gives me a few details on the characters! one thing that i noticed were the little rainbows in the outside shots, an extremely small thing for me to notice but seeing the pops of color made me so happy.

another thing that i noticed were the books that Isaac was reading. i read a few articles on the show and the major thing that people were mad about was that they cut off a major character, aled. isaac was brought as a kind of replacement for him, from my understanding. the creator wanted to use isaac as a way of branching out into newer storylines. after finishing the show, isaac really caught my eye just because he never rlly talked that much, but when he did, it was comforting and kind of gave me insight to what his character is. i guess you can say that he's my favorite character because of how much he reminds me of myself in terms of being the introverted character that nothing ever rlly happens to (reminds me of the shrinking violet trope but not rlly?? don't get mad at me lol). the small details that i noticed were the books that isaac read throughout the series. if you want to know the full list of books you can check out this link. i loved the books that he read because it sort of followed the storyline. his range was kind of wide bec i like to think that as the characters were discovering their sexualities by experience, Isaac is learning through his books. one of the books he read was gender explorers by juno roche. this book is a collection of interviews from trans children, teens, and adults, talking about their everyday experiences. i read a snippet of it online and i thought it was extremely thought-provoking. i like to think that Isaac read it to better understand elle and how to support her. another book on the list was proud by gareth thomas. gareth, nicknamed alife, was the first openly gay rugby union player for wales. i think its a cute but subtle reference to the fact that his gay bestie was playing rugby! the last book that i noticed on the list was radio silence by alice oseman, the creator of the webcomic. i saw people saying that it was a continuity error and that it was breaking the timeline which i thought was pretty funny. i think the fact that he was reading alice's book was bec the book, radio silence, is about aled. aled wasn't in the show because the author thought that aled deserved his own story.

i think this show goes in line with a lot of other shows i've been watching. sex education, young royals, and yuri on ice are great shows that i highly recommend and are kinda in the mix with this show! one thing that i do want to see is a wlw show that, for the most part, resembles the themes of shows that i mentioned. a lot of lesbian series that i've watched are vv depressing and angsty tbh and i would loovee to see a super cute, fluffy but realistic show that makes me feel how i feel while watching heartstopper!

i finished the whole series in one day and i loved every single minute. i think i might actually start reading the webcomic since i like comparing the original to the shows (that's kinda what i do with mangas). i'm excited to see season 2 and what else heartstopper has in store!!

[argorpg-blog]

CONGRATULATIONS and welcome to the crew of the Argo II, LUA! The Gods have spoken: welcome aboard PACIS, known as VERA HAMMOND, with a faceclaim of HAYLEY LAW. Please take a look at our checklist, and send in your account in the next 24 hours.

ADMIN NOTES: There are so many things we love about this app. But most of all, we love the way you subverted our expectations for Pacis and made her something bigger than just ‘mother’ or ‘caretaker’. Vera is her own person, big and bright and set to do big things. The crew needs a maternal figure, and we felt that we could find one in Vera - but mostly, we also felt she could take care of herself, too. The tidbits of her feeling trapped thinking of her old life and feeling weak compared to the others aren’t what we exactly expected for Pacis, but we’re so impressed and excited to see where she goes! 

OUT OF CHARACTER

NAME/ALIAS: lua.

AGE, TIMEZONE, PRONOUNS: 20, cet, she/her.

ACTIVITY & EXTRAS: i’m a student so i’m pretty much busy during the week, but i will try to be online as often as possible! on the weekends i’m mostly free (for now), so i’ll be a lot more active.

IN CHARACTER

DESIRED SKELETON: pacis.

CHARACTER NAME: vera hammond.

AGE & GENDER: 25 (dob: april 29th, 1993), cis female (she/her pronouns).

FACECLAIM: hayley law, laura harrier, aisha dee.

BIOGRAPHY:

(i.) a baby girl, only a couple of weeks old, is left at a foster home in san francisco. she seems bubbly and doesn’t cry too much, her bright green eyes looking eagerly at the world around her. many workers in there would love to have a child like that, they think as the years pass, but no one claims her. they name her vera and they soon realize she is good with the little children, so they let her take care of them when she arrives from school.

(ii.) when she is 8, a family asks to adopt her. they already have another adopted child and, being unable to have children of their own, they want to expand the family, but they want their son to have a playmate as well as a sister. the foster home workers feel sad letting her go, they are all fond of the green-eyed girl, but they know she deserves a proper family. so they say goodbye, and ask her to visit often. she promises she will.

vera and her brother get along really well. despite not sharing blood or even looking alike, as they are from different ethnicities, they say they’re twins —they have the same age. everyone smiles and lets them continue their roleplay. it’s a bit hard for vera to adapt to her new home, her new school, and her new rules, but she tries hard until she feels like she fits in. then, a miracle happens: doctors manage to fertilize an egg, after years of trying different methods and medicating the woman like she’s their lab rat. that doesn’t matter now, because they can fulfill their dream of having multiple children. vera is thrilled, as she’s used to being surrounded by little kids. she wants to be a mother when she grows up.

four years later, the hammond household has grown by three: a pair of actual twin boys and a newborn baby girl. vera is absolutely mesmerized by her little sister, she insists on taking care of her. her mom appreciates the help and teaches her how to do it. while her brothers are playing video games or hanging out, vera is learning to cook and tend the house. she doesn’t feel like she’s missing out on anything, because she’s preparing for her own future. she’s ahead of everyone.

(iii.) at 15 years old, vera is told (by a strange voice that seems to speak from within, but also to everyone who wants to hear) that she’s not entirely human, but that her biological mother is ceres, the roman goddess, and means that she must go to camp jupiter to train and become worthy of her lineage. the girl is terrified of that idea, of fighting, of going away, but her mom convinces her that it’s a good idea. she’s actually worried that vera is too attached, and she thinks camp jupiter is just like a regular summer camp, and that the ceres thing is a made-up folly. she encourages vera to go and make friends. the girl with tears in her green eyes agrees and says goodbye once again.

the wolf goddess is ruder than her mom. she tells vera that she’s weak, not enough for the camp, a terrible fighter. vera falls and gets back up on her feet, determined to show that she’s worthy. a newfound rage pushes her from the inside while the goddess laughs at her, combat after combat, they all defeat her. after some time vera is finally admitted into the fifth cohort, not because of her improved skills, but because the camp needs more legionaries after the losses of the titan war. perhaps lupa was bored of her, or maybe she saw a spark of improvement; but the point is, vera makes it into the legion.

(iv.) after being shamed and beat up for so long, vera is now tougher. part of her wants to go home, but she won’t show any sign of weakness. at first, she keeps her new walls up, but her mind isn’t that strong. she can’t stop herself from caring. a demigod has lost all of his friends, another has lost a lover, and vera tries to heal their souls with sweet words and an open heart. they all soon realize vera is more of a peacemaker than a warrior, but they admire her guts. she’s a part of the legion, after all.

slowly though, vera notices things are changing. she still wants to take everyone under her wing and take care of them, but she also realizes that she loves this new freedom. she can’t imagine going back home and staying with her mom, taking care of the baby or making dinner for everyone. with anger, she realizes she’s been living her life for everyone else, and she doesn’t even know what she wants from life. she’s not a fighter, but she won’t be a housewife either. when she thinks of her previous life, she feels trapped and it’s suddenly hard to breathe. vera decides to make a home of the legion.

(v.) fast forward ten years, and vera is still living the same life. she officially told her family she won’t be coming back a few years ago, but she communicates with them often. she’s still a part of the fifth cohort, even though her skills have improved immensely, to the point where she was offered a promotion to the fourth but decided to decline it. she’s happy with her niche life, everyone knows her as the unofficial counselor for the new legionaries, or maybe as a shoulder to cry on or as someone you can tell your secrets to. vera will always protect you.

(vi.) now, they’re saying vera has to go on a quest, picked by juno herself. everyone on camp jupiter gasps and asks why —why the weakling, the useless flower child. “why not me? at least i can hold a sword longer than my forearm”, they all say, and mock her. deep down, some are worried about the sweet girl, certain of her death during the quest. some are just jealous, because vera doesn’t deserve the spotlight… not that she wants it, either. but there’s nothing they can do. juno’s words were final, and now vera must face her destiny.

well aware that she’ll be the weakest of the group, vera is having a hard time putting up a composed façade. she asks her mother for guidance, but the goddess doesn’t have time for that. if only she had been born from her greek form, it would be understandable that she’s sosoft, but it isn’t; and if vera dies, camp jupiter will not be losing a warrior —which is all that matters to the romans. alea iacta est. it’s all up to fate now.

FATAL FLAW/DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC:

PEACE is vera’s ultimate goal at life. she’s learned how to fight because she was obliged to, and she’d rather conform than create discordance. growing up, she’d share everything, give up everything, to keep her siblings from fighting. whenever there’s conflict, vera is there to try and fix it —many times getting harmed by it. she’s always forced herself to remain calm, even when life felt stressful. manage your emotions. keep composed. don’t let it get to you. this makes her look bland, unopinionated, accommodating to everyone. many people think that it gives them the right to abuse her good will, but vera spots these people immediately and calmly pushes them away. she wants everyone to feel accepted, equal, even if that means she has to be pushed to the background. what vera can’t understand is that she lives in a chaotic world, full or war and conflict, and that keeping peace is like driving a boat in the midst of a storm: unpredictable and hard. she will try anyway, turning a blind eye to all difficulties and being a firm believer that her aim is an achieveable one. the problem with being willfully blind is that vera won’t have time to fix it when disaster hits the demigods during this quest. she’ll just focus on keeping it quiet and nice between the two groups, unaware that there are things (most of them, actually) she cannot control.

EXTRAS

i made a pinterest board, which you can find here! it’s my first one ever so i hope i got it right.

[moviepasstor]

May 2018 Movies Reviewed from Just Their Trailers

If you haven't signed up for MoviePass yet, you may have missed your golden opportunity. Last summer, they dropped their price to $9.95 a month for one movie a day, with only premium formats like IMAX and 3-D excluded. But starting at some point in mid-April, the same $9.95/month gets new subscribers only four movies a month. While existing subscribers have not yet been moved over to such a limited plan, something like that might happen in the future, in which case I'll have to be more selective about which movies are worth of a MoviePass swipe, as the card's usefulness as "bad movie insurance" will be significantly reduced. Here, then, is a look at this month’s new releases, and which ones I’m most likely to MoivePass, based on their trailers, using the following rating scale:

@@@@ = I definitely plan to see this @@@    = I might be interested in seeing this @@        = I probably won’t see this @           = No intention of seeing this, ever.

BAD SAMARITAN @@@@ (definitely plan to see this)

Killers and robbers get caught up in a cat-and-mouse game when two would-be burglars break into a house that happens to belong to Killgrave. Okay, he's not really the Purple Man from Jessica Jones, but he's played by the same actor, David Tennant, and he has a woman tied up in his house, and that's a pretty cool complication. (Postponed from an April 27th release date, probably in hopes of debuting with a piece of the drop-off from Avengers: Infinity War.)

REVENGE @@@@ (definitely plan to see this)

Rape/revenge thriller in the vein of I Spit on Your Grave (2010), but this time they seem to be selling it as a #MeToo flick with review blurbs that call the heroine a “badass” and say the movie “gouges the male gaze out of your eye balls” (is there a reason the reviewer spelled eyeballs as two words?)

OVERBOARD (2018) @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

Eugenio Derbez is a wealthy Mexican snob who humiliates poor white working-class single mom (Anna Faris), then gets amnesia, so she convinces him he's her blue-collar husband and he bonds with her kids while struggling to do manual labor for the first time in his life, and wouldn't you know it, they fall in love! There, the trailer tells the whole story of this gender-swapped, culture-clash-infused remake of a 1987 Goldie Hawn comedy I never even saw. Now I don't have to see either, but I've enjoyed Derbez's last few outings, and this does look like it will be funny despite its formulaicness (formularity?).

ON CHESIL BEACH @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

Young love blossoms on the 1962 English countryside for upper crust Saiorse Ronan and commoner Billy Howle, but then the music gets more dramatic and the only hint we get is that it has something to do with the sexual revolution of the time. My first thought was I doubt I'll be able to stay awake long enough to learn the film's dark secrets, but a second viewing of the trailer made me a bit more curious. From a novel by the author of Atonement, the film that gave Ronan her first Oscar nod but which, for me, built up to a big nothing burger.

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

In the original Star Wars, Han Solo was a gunslinger straight out of a Western. Here, his earlier adventures are more in the mold of the sci-fi action-based fantasy that the rest of the franchise is built around. Since these Star Wars Stories are allowed to exist as one-offs outside the main continuity, I would have rather seen a Solo movie that was more true to the spirit of the original character the same way Logan was allowed to be a different kind of X-Men movie from the rest of its franchise. But I'll still see this one at some point before it leaves theaters.

SUMMER 1993 @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

A newly orphaned six-year-old girl is sent to the country to live with relatives. While this looks "touching" and is based on the filmmaker's own childhood, the trailer gives no hint that anything story-worthy actually happens. It's listed as a drama, but how can that be without conflict? From Spain.

HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

I love Elle Fanning, but I generally don't care for John Cameron Mitchell or Neil Gaiman. I can't tell what's going on from the trailer, which leads me to suspect the film will be narratively just as uninspiring to me as Shortbus and Hedwig. But Elle's moments in the trailer make this hard to pass up. This is where MoviePass earns its "bad movie insurance" reputation.

And the rest...

TULLY @@ (I probably won’t see this)

The first trailer tells us, in text and a wordless montage of vignettes, that Tully is about the drudgery of motherhood, then teases that someone named Tully enters the life of the put-upon mom. I literally have no clue what this movie is really about. I had to look up the plot description on IMDb, where I learned it's about a mother who is "gifted a night nanny" and they form "a unique bond." Great. I still have no idea even what kind of a movie it is. Is the nanny a psychopath, like the one in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle? Is she magical and practically perfect in every way, like Mary Poppins? Is she Tully's ex-husband in drag, like Mrs. Doubtfire? All I can tell, even from the longer trailers, is that it will show me how tough it is to be a mom. I don't need a uterus or a movie to tell me that. I already believe it. I need to know that something goes on in this movie other than diaper changing. The only other thing I have to go on here is that it's from the writer/director team that made Juno, which is promising, and Young Adult, which cancels out the Juno points (along with Ricki and the Flash and Labor Day).

LIFE OF THE PARTY @@ (I probably won’t see this)

While brushing her teeth one night, Melissa McCarthy decides to trash a bunch of her personal belongings, set them on fire, and go back to college where she joins her daughter's sorority and tries to be young again. It's hard to believe they actually put such a nonsensical setup in the trailer. Makes it look like no thought was put into the movie. From the writer-director team that failed to wow anyone with Tammy. On the other hand, I’ve twice seen a trailer for McCarthy’s next movie, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, due out in October, and it’s probably one of the movies I’m most looking forward to this year.

BREAKING IN @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Panic Room. The House at the End of the Street. The Strangers. The Strangers: Prey at Night. Straw Dogs (2011). The Purge. And so on. Somehow this one just doesn't seem to have that extra something that made me want to see, say, last month's Traffik.

BOOK CLUB @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Four of the most famous women in AARP navigate easy and obvious laughs trying to prove senior citizens can do raunchy Viagra comedy when their libidos are reignited by turning off The View and reading Fifty Shades of Grey. Not a match for the genuinely funny elderly raunch found in Dirty Grandpa.

DEADPOOL 2 @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Round two for the self-parodying superhero. I found the first one just as tiring as all the other Marvel movies, but with the occasional quip to break up the monotony. Never got wrapped up in the character's journey. (But I do love the Flashdance-inspired poster.)

FIRST REFORMED @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Ethan Hawke is a troubled preacher wallowing in the grief of losing his son until a parishioner (Amanda Seyfried) comes to him with a bigger problem. Apparently her husband might be some sort of terrorist, and at one point two people levitate. Writer/director Paul Schrader hasn't exactly been fulfilling the promise, in this century, of his early career, and here he's decided to shoot in 1.33:1 and cast Cedric the Entertainer in a supporting role. Normally I'd just wait to see this on TV, but I don't own a 4:3 television set anymore.

BEAST @@ (I probably won’t see this)

A slow cooker about a young woman who falls for a dangerous outsider. Looks impressive, but seems to be missing some key plot ingredient to hold it all together.

ANYTHING @ (no intention of seeing this, ever)

A widower falls in love with a transgender person, and if you dare not find this intensely heartwarming, you’re so not woke.

THE SEAGULL @ (no intention of seeing this, ever)

Based on the Chekhov play, looks like something that was pulled off a dusty shelf due to the recent rise in popularity of Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) and Elizabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale). Also features Billy Howle, who hooks up with Ronan again this month in On Chesil Beach (scroll up), which looks more promising.

SHOW DOGS @ (no intention of seeing this, ever)

I feel like time was stolen from me just from watching the trailer.