#david 8 is the true protagonist

[ladyluscinia]

I think they were so worried about not getting a season 3 they ruined both the viewers expecting one and the viewers who would've liked it to end there. they've created an easily destroyable status quo because of course something needs to happen to get everyone back together for season 3. so it's not even a happy ending; it's so fragile, it's designed to fall apart the second that anyone learns that the show is back on. i get not wanting to bank on having a third season and wrapping it up but like. Galavant did that and did it better. WITH THE HEROES RETIRING AND THE TWO MINUTE MARRIAGE CEREMONY TO BOOT. But it gave an outline of where the plot might go from there and how the adventure will continue if it gets to. And it never got to, and season 2's ending is good because it's not /fragile/--it's not a cliffhanger, but you get the idea that they could keep going from there still. whereas this one didn't want to be a cliffhanger so much that they created the most breakable new status quo in history and if there is a season 3 it'll immediately be undone and I'll probably still watch it but like I'll /know/, y'know? They could fix everything in the first episode of season 3 and I'd still have to know that at one point, this was considered an acceptable outcome.

The thing that is driving me absolutely insane is they DID NOT HAVE TO DO THIS!

There's so many people looking at it like "well it's a shame that 2x08 clearly had to cram several episodes into one for budget reasons and it made the development weaker but that's the situation MAX put them in" and I cannot emphasize enough how much that is not true.

MAX did not break it to them after episodes 2x01 - 2x07 were written and half filmed that they would have to wrap up the whole plot in 30 minutes. Like absolute worst case scenario they had 10 eps mostly written and budget came back 20% over and they had to reduce to 8 total. More likely they knew they were getting 8 from the start.

It is absolutely nobody's fuck up except David Jenkins and his writers' room if they were unrealistic about what character beats were needed and would fit in the timeframe to reach a satisfying wrap up.

Worries about no S3 were on the table the moment it took until JUNE to get confirmation of S2. This wasn't sprung on them. If they wanted their story to have a "just in case" happy ending and then a "fully realized arc" happy ending, they should have fucking acted like it???

I was shocked when the first three episodes that dropped were so hardcore on destroying Edward's relationships and laying bare exactly how deep his issues went. It only made sense to me if they were going all in on getting a S3 and prepared to spend all of S2 focused on the implications of all that, and then the not-even two week in-universe timeline of the season reinforced my understanding that was happening.

"Shame we don't have time for our main couple to even start addressing their relationship or having moments of self-realization and sharing their issues," says guy who decided to make the first half of S2 about adding more problems on top of well established ones from S1 and the second half of S2 about throwing in a second breakup cycle instead of dealing with the fallout from the first.

Want Edward to end on a beat of feeling part of the found family? Well maybe adding a timeskip after 2x05 and then a crew chat in 2x06 where you make it clear he did an apology tour offscreen could help, but you also could have just not focused hard on him poisoning his relationship with every single one of them in the first place???

There's multiple different ways you can do Act 2 of a three act structure, and they did not have to choose one that ends on another dark cliffhanger beat or right at the open ended turning point toward growth? Like they didn't even do the one they picked in a way they could fit in their season. I feel like by the end of a struggles Act 2 both your protagonists need to have self-realized their issues and maybe had one conversation about it? Edward still wasn't talking about his guilt, and Stede wasn't talking about anything.

They aren't even at the turning point of growth and out of the backsliding / lessons learned era yet, that's why potential S3 will start on another backslide when status quo breaks and Stede starts "that's nice, dear"-ing Edward during the day and slipping out at night to vicariously listen to pirate stories or whatever (and they frame it like he's cheating).

We have two out of three seasons in a show that might only get two, and I feel like the characters have barely moved from their starting position.

Like idk maybe they are really good at coming up with character flaws - ex: Stede is repressed and bottles up his traumas until he mentally checks out / runs away - and just drawing blanks on how to believably "fix" them, but just going "well what if we just used this flaw to throw another miscommunication roadblock in their relationship?" is not getting them where they want to be.

The season was fundamentally designed against their stated goal and did not make what seem to be necessary writing concessions to the reduced screentime if they wanted their finale to land as an even plausibly happy ending. It's hollow.

And possibly not even salvageable in S3 since they aren't demonstrating the skills to salvage it.

[tyrantisterror]

Well gang, it's Walpurgisnacht, a time when the veil is thin and the supernatural powers are at their strongest. That also means it's the two-year anniversary of the publication of the first Wizard School Mysteries book. I had hoped to have a third out by now but life has been... well, it's been life, and things are progressing if at a slower pace than desired, that's how it goes.

ANYWAY! To keep with the faith and tide over the five or so of my followers who are actually looking forward to a third one of these (and five more after it at some point), I thought I'd share something special: the Wizard School Mysteries Freshmen Year soundtrack! Yes, like ATOM and No Sympathies before it, I've made a soundtrack for Wizard School Mysteries. It's not fully complete, mind you - this is the biggest writing project I've undertaken so far, and things are constantly developing, but the parts of it that cover the first three books are more or less done - and today, I'm sharing the first two with you, i.e. the songs that cover the freshmen year of my eight meddlesome youths.

As with the previous books, I've made a youtube playlist of the songs involved, and will post the tracklist below along with what each track corresponds to in the books. So if this kind of thing interests you, dive in after the cut!

Book 1: The Meddlesome Youths

Prologue: He's Leaving Home - She's Leaving Home by The Beatles, which is a song about a runaway teenager escaping a family that refused to acknowledge their pain. This is, obviously, a song for James Chaucer.

Chapter 1: The Treadscar Path - We Are Going to be Friends by The White Stripes. This song's about kids going to school for the first time and making friends, and while the protagonists of the song are much younger than our Meddlesome Youths, I still feel it captures the spirit of the first meeting of James, Ivan, and Gretchen.

Chapter 2: Elemental Orientation - Pursuing My True Self from Persona 4. The Persona games are the biggest influence on Wizard School Mysteries out of all its inspirations, and the opening theme for Persona 4 to this day screams "teenage sleuths diving into a mystery" to me when I hear it, which made it the perfect song for our introduction to the AAAM.

Chapter 3: Academics and Absences - Beneath the Mask -rain- from Persona 5. Second verse same as the first where Persona and WSM goes. I consider this another James Chaucer theme, both lyrically and in its general vibe, and the "rain" version's specifically moodier, more contemplative arrangement really suits where his head is at during this chapter of the book, as James is exposed to the faults in the AAAM and how it's failing some of its students.

Chapter 4: Of Chariots and Fire - She's Actual Size by They Might Be Giants. This is a Margot theme, and also kind of a James theme since it fits his view of her really well.

Chapter 5: What No Student Has Done Before - Rasputin by Bony M. This is an Oomlowt theme, which I struggled to find for a while when putting together the early versions of the WSM soundtrack, until one of my friends pointed out that, as an Aitvaras, Oomlowt could be considered Russian - and, well, as the first book's sole "cool" teacher, I think he's earned the right to claim one of the raddest fucking songs ever sung as his unofficial theme.

Chapter 6: The Hoard of Knowledge - Magic by The Mystery Skulls. I wanted a song that captures the feeling I got when entering my college's enormous, jaw-dropping library of books back in the day, which is a feeling this chapter also tried to catch. The fact that the song is full of language dealing with magic spells also helps it fit a wizard book.

Chapter 7: Tea With Mackers - The Nuckelavee Song from The Bard's Tale. Listen, this is the chapter where a nuckelavee plays a big role, and that's as good an excuse as any to use this song.

Chapter 8: The Matter of Manners - Changes by David Bowie. This is a Rodrigo theme, and I try to give him glam rock songs as much as possible to fit his vibe as the most fashionable of our wizard youths. I think the song also fits what Rodrigo is attempting to do in this chapter - namely, help his friends figure out how to fit in with a "higher" class of people.

Chapter 9: Hobgoblin Poetry - Magic Dance Underground / A Labyrinth Medley by Aurelio Voltaire. As I've opined before, I think Jim Henson's Labyrinth is one of the best illustrations of what folkloric fairies are like in terms of behavior/morality, and so for this chapter, when we get some characterization for a normal fairy underling for the big bad, I felt a Labyrinth song would be appropriate, and this medley is like half the soundtrack condensed into five minutes.

Chapter 10: The Samhain Celebration - Love Is All by Dio. Speaking of characterizing the Fae, there's a manic aspect to the cheery 70's positivity of this song that I find subtly sinister while still being playful and fun, which I think fits the dance-scene in this book quite well.

Chapter 11: Traps and Treasures - God's Away on Business by Tom Waits. This is a Fafgander theme - like Oomlowt, I kinda struggled finding a good song for him. I knew I wanted his theme to be something by Tom Waits, but I struggled to decided on one song in particular. I kept coming back to this one despite having already used it on the No Sympathies soundtrack - I generally try not to repeat myself on these to make sure each book's audio accompaniment is unique to it. But I couldn't stop picturing a big dragon slithering out of the clouds to the opening beats of this song, and the playful cynicism of the lyrics just felt very Fafgander.

Chapter 12: A Wild Hunt & Chapter 13: The Summer Prince - Tam Lin by The Fairport Convention. Yeah, I know, kinda cheating to lump two chapters under one song, but Tam Lin is a long-ass song, though short by Medieval Ballad standards. A song about a clever mortal finding a way to trick a high-ranking fairy noble into releasing a person she was intending to use as a sacrifice is, I think, a pretty fitting song for the climax of book 1.

Chapter 14: The End of the Beginning - This Must Be the Place by The Talking Heads. A song about finding comfort and solace despite the uncertain future that lies before you, because you have people around you to help lift your spirits, which is exactly where our heroes are emotionally by the end of book 1.

Book 2: Tournament of Death

Chapter 1: The Dragon Tithe - Don't Let's Start by They Might Be Giants. There's a fan-made Adventure Zone animatic to this song that kind of cemented it as a Fantasy song in my mind despite there being no inherent fantasy elements to the lyrics. I mean, I already loved this song, They Might Be Giants has been one of my favorite bands since I started actively considering what my favorite bands are, but this just added to that love. Like a lot of TMBG songs, it's got a very peppy, upbeat vibe while having pretty dark lyrics, which feels pretty appropriate to the tone of WSM as a whole and Tournament of Death in particular.

Chapter 2: The Dragon Trick - Just the Right Bullets by Annabelle Chvostek. This is a theme for Juno Panopte, and was chosen for a couple reasons. First, Annabelle performs this song with just the right sort of gritty, vaguely sleazy charm that I wanted Juno to ooze. She's a charismatic teacher who nonetheless puts you a little on edge - you're never sure if she's fucking with you or not. Second, it's a cover of a Tom Waits song by a lady, and Juno Panopte, the character who represents the Empress arcana in WSM's tarot motiff, is a sort of equivalent to Fafgander, the Emperor arcana - and another character with a Tom Waits song as his theme.

Chapter 3: Curios of Calampen - Marketland by Lemon Demon. This is a song about people trying to hock weird shit to you at a flea market, for a chapter about our heroes buying weird shit at a flea market.

Chapter 4: Herring Lordred - Chaos King (with lyrics) by ManontheInternet. A theme for Lord Dhenregirr, and specifically for his duel with James at the start of the titular deadly tournament.

Chapter 5: The Sundown's Shine - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) by White Denim. Yeah, it's the version from the Fargo TV show. Obviously this is a song for Geoffrey Travers, out Dude-inspired wizard.

Chapter 6: Chivalry Dies - The Impossible Dream (The Quest) from Man of La Mancha. If there is a song that more succinctly captures the ideals of chivalry and gallant knighthood, I have not heard it, and no other song could make for a better funeral dirge for poor Gabriev Zelgad.

Chapter 7: Grudge Match - Barracuda by Heart. I looked for so many other songs for this chapter because Barracuda seemed like to obvious a choice, but nothing fit as well and, hey, this is me we're talking about, and more than that, it's Midgaheim. I am not one to avoid obvious, one might even say cliche, story choices if they appeal to me. And, like, this is specifically a song about confronting and telling off your abuser, very few things would fit this chapter better. A second theme for Margot, obviously.

Chapter 8: A Needlessly Gendered Night Out - Sandstorm by Danude. Ok, so, in every high school dance, as well as every dance club I went to in college (which was, like... three? I think? I did not party nearly enough when I was young) played this song at some point, so it's cemented in my head as THE song for teenagers/young adults doing stupid shit and getting into ridiculous drama, so I included it despite it being even longer than fucking Tam Lin.

Chapter 9: Lightning Struck - Under Pressure by Queen. A song that perfectly captures the teenager/young adult condition of, like, complete and total anxiety that any moment now you could ruin your life forever without meaning to. A song for Polybeus, but also for all the Meddlesome Youths, and really for all young people everywhere.

Chapter 10: Well-Timed Pranks - The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. Once I remembered and accepted that being trite/cliche/obvious is very much my bag, I figured what the hell, let's use one of the most-overused songs about dealing with grief for the chapter that's about dealing with grief, because this song happens to be really fucking good at describing the process of dealing with grief.

Chapter 11: Wasp Under Glass - Woman!! Spirit of the Festival from Sakura Wars (2019). This song is a leitmotif for the most under-developed lady in the main cast of this game, which is a shame because the song itself is a fucking banger. Here it serves not just as a theme for Serena (hopefully more well-developed as a character) but specifically for her fight with Sadie Pineed. Can you hear the part where all the towers fall down? I can.

Chapter 12: Deadly Threads - General's Battle Song from Centaurworld. This is a song about a character who's seemed pretty affable and cool revealing his true colors as a total bastard, and on this unofficial soundtrack it serves as a theme for Richard Rainsford. If you read the second book, you know why.

Chapter 13: The Fury of Stars and Shards - Get Along from Slayers. This is specifically a theme for Margot and Serena's two-on-two fight with the saboteurs of the tournament. Can you hear the part where Serena gets the power up? Or when our two heroines, having dealt with the first saboteaur, bear down on the second and utterly curbstomp him? I can!

Chapter 14: Triumph of the Chariot - La Bete et la Belle by The Real Tuesday Weld. The Real Tuesday Weld is another of my favorite bands, and this song is actually a reprise of their song "The Ugly and the Beautiful" from their concept album I, Lucifer (which is in turn the official soundtrack for a novel of the same name by Glenn Duncan). The song itself is about a somewhat toxic relationship between two deeply unwell people, but this reprise differs from the first instance of it by being more sweet and mellow in how it's arranged which, combined with it being sung in French instead of English like its predecessor, softens a lot of its edges and brings the sweeter, more hopeful parts of the song to the forefront. I picked it as a song for James and Margot - two people who, while not toxic, are still a bit broken and unwell because of their life experiences - who are finding hope in each other and the people around them.

[gefdreamsofthesea]

Spot the lie: Shin Megami Tensei edition

Note: I'm including everything under the SMT label in English except the Persona games. No I don't care if they're technically part of another subseries in Japan. Also, these apply to the original releases. I know some have been updated but I haven't played them.

I especially want to hear from people who haven't played them because this feels too easy for a veteran.

Poll results are in and I'm very disappointed that only 3.7% of you got it right.

I will now reveal the correct answers:

1. TRUE - The first major boss in Devil Survivor, Beldr, can only be killed by mistletoe, a mistletoe-shaped cellphone strap is just as effective.

2. TRUE - Yggdrasil is sapient and steals time warping powers from the Disir. The protagonist has to go back in time to save themselves with the help of the Norns (who have evolved from the Disir who gave him the quest, you know like Pokemon)

3. TRUE - Dante made a guest appearance in the original release of SMT Nocturne. Later versions replaced him with Raidou Kuzunoha, the protagonist of two games in the Devil Summoner spinoff series

4. TRUE - It's ordinary literature, there's nothing wrong with it the citizens of the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado are just that brainwashed

5. TRUE - The entry is in Strange Journey. "Originally, he looked like an abominable snowman, but perhaps he changed form to more efficiently freeze people."

6. TRUE - The bondage angel design debuted in SMT 2. Here's a screenshot of SMT 1 showing its original design.

7. TRUE - A lot of people voted for this one but it's actually true. Cerberus' single head is a reference to the original novel the series is based on (Digital Devil Story). He is depicted with three heads in SMT: IMAGINE, Soul Hackers, and Digital Devil Saga.

8. TRUE - I did not know the origin of David's name myself so I looked it up. His design is possibly a reference to the poem Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens.

9. FALSE (ish) - It's actually the reverse: Astaroth wishes to become the goddess Ishtar (technically to return to being Ishtar but in game terms Ishtar is treated as his "evolution"). He is usually required in order to fuse her. In some games, the two don't appear to be connected at all.

10. TRUE - As the accuser, Satan is part of the Law alignment (and therefore on YHVH's side) against Lucifer, who (usually) represents the Chaos alignment. His role in SMT IV Apocalypse is more complicated.

Anyways good job everyone. Everyone gets a cookie.

[clandestinegardenias]

Stole this book ask thing I saw @ruinconstellation reblog (p.s. tag you're it!) cause I love talking about books.

1) Last book I read:

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. Stunningly lyrical prose, especially the descriptions of the early US landscape. Also a nuanced, complex, and difficult read about American immigrants, indigenous peoples, the way forces beyond their control pitted them against each other and the moments of love that shine through regardless. The main character is queer in a way that is very simple and natural, which I enjoyed as well. Definitely a hard read with no heroes and a lot of villains, but well worth it.

2) A book I recommend:

Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones.

Y'all. READ THIS BOOK. An intimate portrait of what it's like to live with a severe and very visible physical disability. Cooper Jones has a PhD in philosophy and is interested in how we conceive of beauty, and what that means for someone who's body will never be considered conventionally beautiful. However, it's written more like a memoir, and is super accessible and imminently readable.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

The Wager by David Grann. Great real life shipwreck story, including a bunch of excerpts from the diary of famous poet John Keats' uncle, who was one of the shipwrecked men. What really, really got to me in this one was the division into factions and the various reactions to offered help from the indigenous people.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more)

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy. Wanderlust, ecological grief, complicated romantic relationships, and a protagonist who can't stop leaving but loves so hard she's willing to die for it. Plus, boats! Scientific research, sort of! Found family! This book was like reading my own soul.

5) A book on my TBR

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I've been meaning to read it and just picked it up at an estate sale!

6) A book I’ve put down

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold. I read The Curse of Chalion and loved it, but this one just didn't grab me the same way. Maybe it wasn't the right time.

7) A book on my wish list

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I've wanted to read it for ages but just haven't gotten around to it.

8) A favourite book from childhood

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith. I read it so much my copy it's basically disintegrating. I really resonated with the complexity of Mel-- a young woman who is very practical and unimpressed by fanciness/politics but who comes to understand and value these things, and the people who use them, without losing herself.

9) A book you would give a friend

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Really interesting take on what a flu pandemic that wipes out 99% of the world's population would leave behind, with a focus on the importance of art. I'd have them read it and then FORCE them to watch the TV series of the same name, because I am DESPERATE to talk to someone about the changes they made (which I absolutely LOVVVVEEE)

10) The most books you own by a single author

Probably Tamora Pierce?

11) A nonfiction book you own

LOTS but I'm gonna say Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl. One of my very first true adventure books and so near and dear to my heart. Those guys really did float on a raft from Peru to Tahiti! For science!

12) what are you currently reading

Just started Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens. I'm a ho for queer westerns.

13) what are you planning on reading next?

I have a couple possibilities on deck, so it just depends on what grabs me (or what comes in from my library holds first). Wavewalker by Suzanne Heywood is by next hold on Libby--I'm fascinated by memoirs about what looked like a charmed life from the outside but was in reality anything but.

[wist-eri]

rapid analysis of what some of the descriptions/footnotes possibly mean

usually i wouldn’t put this on my main account, but since the other blog i would post it on is a little more in-detail on average, i decided why not (i think you know which blog i’m referring to)

so yep! i read some of the footnotes and added some personal analysis as to what some of them could mean. i’m positive the song used in the new DRDT MV will be “bungaku shoujo insane,” based on the similarity of the thumbnail as well as some specific footnotes, so a lot of my analysis will be based on that song and its lyrics

anyways

[1] In this situation, it is better to use full names over nicknames. Exclude our protagonist—he is not "that person." not sure what this means yet. we’ll have to see.

[2] Other examples include Drosophilia melanogaster and E. coli. don’t know if this is intentional, but drosophila is misspelled. (they wrote it as “drosophilia”) either way, both are often used in school experiments in order to develop a further understanding of genetics and genetic material (and how it’s transferred). 

[3] From Title 17 of the United States Code. referring to copyright laws in the United States. the reference may be more apparent in the released MV, similarly to some other footnotes—after all, the original “Bungaku Shoujo Insane” video has some moments where they simply show excerpts from famous texts. this may be one of them that’s featured specifically in the DRDT version of the MV

[4] The practice of avoiding the number four; it is most common in East Asia. This superstition arises from the fact that the number four can be read similar to the word "death" in multiple languages. self-explanatory.

[5] As the translation has been intentionally botched in many parts, it should not be considered accurate. this could be a separate author’s note to one of the texts referenced in the MV—we’ll have to see.

[6] (Prayer) no idea but i don’t feel like searching the bible for this one /hj (i think there might be a prayer written in text in the MV though)

[7] Seven is considered an auspicious number in many Western cultures. Let's just skip it. also self-explanatory.

[8] 'Tut, tut, child!' said the Duchess. 'Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it. excerpt from Alice in Wonderland. don’t know how important that’ll be in the future—could be referenced directly in the MV? 

[9] no respect for the classics smh hold on let me see if there’s a lyric mocking classic literature- 

[10] The Roman numeral for 10 is X. imagine there’s an X with a footnote and it’s just this

[11] I admit to lying. There is no one named OOOOO OOOOO. I am, and always have been, an only child. a lot of theories about this, but regardless of whether or not this statement is true, it could be a reference to diana chiem, arturo’s sister, david himself even (i’ll explain later), etc. either way, this footnote seems to be more about one of the characters in the DRDT cast than anything

[12] "Majority rule" is known to be the fairest method of making decisions for a group. That's why murderers never complained when we voted for them to die. just a random question, but you know what a majority vote is? /ref this may also be a reference to this lyric:

rough translation + wiki info: to be, or not to be—i have no idea! but let’s decide, with a democratic method!

[13] 正 character that’s often used to represent something that’s “correct,” “right,” or “just,” speaking from experience. additionally, it’s sometimes used as tally marks in a few eastern countries (china, japan, etc)

[14] Hint: word length of 256 Hamlet’s soliloquy, which starts with “to be, or not to be—that is the question,” is exactly 256 words (at least, according to this source). Additionally, this soliloquy is also referenced in one of the lyrics in this song (see [12]—the first line is actually one of the more well-known Japanese translations of “to be or not to be.” additionally, a few lines from the text are actually shown in the MV at that point), so that may be what it’s referring to

[15] “Ignorance is bliss" is an idiom used to say that it is better to remain ignorant about certain harsh truths, in order to avoid causing oneself stress. The expression comes from a 1742 Thomas Gray poem ("Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College": "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." might be a stretch, but possibly a reference to this lyric?

(rough translation: things like the meanings(?) behind art, you’d be happier not knowing)  (note: the word used for “art” here encompasses all types of media, which include dance, writing, etc.)

i feel like this is specifically referring to how it’s better to be ignorant of the meanings behind certain actions and words, than to be aware of the dark implications behind them. this is a stretch though. do what you will with it but i think this is referring to one of the characters and their actions + true meanings behind them *cough* david *cough*

[16] While it was originally intended to serve as a military march, today it is most commonly recognized for it's association with circuses and tomfoolery. the exact song that this footnote refers to is Julius Fučík’s “Entrance of the Gladiators.” This is a song that’s featured in Bungaku Shoujo Insane, and it can be heard in the interludes—in fact, this footnote is what pointed me to Bungaku in the first place

[17] Not a real word. Can't be found in any dictionary. this might be an actual translation footnote of the song, since it’s definitely not unheard of to have words in japanese that don’t have an english translation and/or words that don’t actually exist. whether that’s actually in the lyrics i don’t know but i’ll have to look into it

[18] A/N: soz not very good at drawing flowers lol!!! i find it weird how this one specifically has A/N (author’s note)

[19] A dialogue between two individuals that serves as a discussion of moral and philosophical issues. this is known as a socratic dialogue. not sure how this is important yet

[20] It is considered by many to be outdated, providing little-to-no insight on human nature. unfortunately i don’t know what this is referring to, but it will likely be made clear in the mv. my first thought was actually the enlightenment documents, since a lot of those discuss the inherent nature of humanity and how it’s “regulated” by society and government—but i’ve never heard it being called outdated, so that’s kind of a stretch.

someone said it could be an excerpt from one of Sigmund Freud’s works, which honestly, would make total sense-

[21] Deriving from the Latin phrase "Et cetera" : meaning "and other (similar) things", "and so forth", or "and the rest (of such things)" : abbreviated to etc., etc, et cet., &c. or &c

also pretty self explanatory. however, i have no idea how this fits in the MV

[22] The rest is silence.

no idea about this one.

anyways if you have suggestions please feel free to reblog with them 🫠 i have no idea what’s going on and tbh 90% of this is me trying to grasp at straws

[plasticine]

Top 9 moveys of 2023, tagged by @kaijyutheater! I didn't watch as many movies as I would have liked but I did watch a lot of good ones! Tagging @bloodgutshighschool @dughole @hauntinghouse @kvetchs @overgrownroot @loveshack @legoguy and anyone else that wants to :-) Thoughts and comments below the cut.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

One of Park Chan-wook's best. I really don't think (either) Sympathy should be compared with Oldboy because Oldboy pales in comparison. It's a gripping and anxiety-inducing in a way I've seen no other movie accomplish. My biggest complaint is that it does not have a good poster LOL.

2. True Stories

I have wanted to see this forever and hadn't really thought about it again until I was lucky enough to see it in a local theatre in 4k! I wish David Byrne had continued making movies but for this to be your first and only.. wow. No one loves the Texas jokes as much as Texans do. And I personally believe I can see Fort Worth from here.

3. Y.M.O Propaganda

Simply one of the best concert movies and musical performances. Rest easy Yuki and Ryuichi 🕊️

4. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion

I think exploitation is a very interesting genre that's not very explored because it is by design pretty hard to watch. This is an extremely beautiful movie cinematographically speaking and it's made me quite interested in this era of women in prison, pinky violence, and sukeban film.

5. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion

I finished Evangelion this year!!

I don't know if liking the original show finale is controversial or not I refuse to interact with the general People That Like Evangelion but this movie is everything that an alternate ending should be. I'm glad they were able to make it.

6. Joint Security Area

I think if this movie was made after the Vengeance trilogy and integrated what Park Chan-wook learned as a result of it, some of the plot beats would have been a little better. My main issue with the narrative is that I don't think the story needed to be framed as a mystery as there's a very clear doomed tragedy already expressed. That being said the story was strong enough that this is more of an annoyance than an actual issue.

7. Paprika

Great service to this to see it in theatres, the music melds with the movie melds with the music.

8. The Ascent

Devastating, not unlike a car crash you cannot pry your eyes from. This also made me realize how many of these top movies are unavoidable tragedies despite the great effort of the protagonists.

9. 1/2 Man (Halber Mensch)

Primal.

[realroykoopa]

My Zelda Timeline

My Zelda timeline inspired by lorulean historian, Brian David Gilbert, and Bird Keeper Toby: Includes fan creations:

keep in mind not everyone may agree on this timeline. This isn’t to discredit anyone else’s personal timeline it is simply the way I see the games as fitting together:

Majora’s Mask prequel manga 

Minish cap and split:

Timeline 1: Minish cap bad ending: Zelda is turned to stone and Vaati briefly rampages but Link seals Vaati in the four sword leading to the rest of the four swords trilogy.

Four Swords

Four Swords Bonus Manga Stories 

Four Swords Adventures 

Timeline 1A: link to the past and other classic Zelda games: A branch off from the four swords trilogy in which Ganon tries to steal the triforce and gets sealed in the sacred realm. 

A link to the past 

Nintendo Land: Zelda Battle Quest 

Oracle of ages and seasons 

Ancient Stone Tablets and Link’s awakening 

The Time Break and BS The Legend Of Zelda: Link goes into the multiverse after being stranded in the Mario universe, whilst he is gone the events of BS The Legend Of Zelda happen in which a different set of protagonists battle Ganon since link is absent:

Super Mario RPG

Donkey Kong Country 3

Captain Rainbow 

Super Mario Maker

Super Mario Maker 2

Mario Kart 8

Soulcalibur II 

Sonic Lost World Legend Of Zelda Zone

Scribblenauts Unlimited 

End of time break: Link returns to his own universe:

Oath of Riruto

A link between worlds 

Tri force heroes 

Zelda’s Adventure 

End

Timeline 1B: CDI Shenanigans: Instead of going to the sacred realm Ganon goes directly for Hyrule leading to the original Zelda games and media. 

Zelda Game watch

The legend of Zelda and the moblin’s magic spear book presumably takes place at some point during the original Zelda game. 

The Faces of Evil 

Zelda Game and Watch 

The wand of Gamelon 

Crystal Trap and Shadow Prince

Zelda Tv Show and Valiant Comics  

Captain N 

Zelda 2: Adventure of Link

Battle of Mirage Castle

End 

Timeline 2: Minish Cap good ending: the regular ending of Minish Cap leading to the prospering of Hyrule and a different origin for Ganon. 

Cadence Of Hyrule 

The Skull Kid And The Mask manga story 

Ocarina Of time 

Rouru Of The Watarara Manga story 

Link and the Portal of Doom 

Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland

Tingle's balloon trip of love 

Majora’s Mask 

Link’s Crossbow Training

Twilight Princess

Wind Waker 

Phantom Hourglass

Tingle’s Balloon Fight DS 

Spirit Tracks

Timeline 2A: Terrako doesn’t go back in time resulting in the breaking of Demise’s curse and Hyrule prospering for eternity:

Breathe Of The Wild 

Tears Of The Kingdom

Timeline 2C: Champions succeed: Terrako Travels back in time allowing the champions to succeed. However Ganon was meant to be destroyed for good to break the curse so unbeknownst to them they have doomed The Hero, Hylia, and Demise to reincarnate for eternity meaning there will never be true peace in Hyrule:

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity 

Hyrule Warriors 

Hang ‘Em Hyrule a Zelda western fan Film 

Modern Zelda Fan Film 

Demise’s curse is never broken leading to Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf reincarnating for the rest of time. 

Timeline 2D: Cadence doesn’t come to Hyrule:

Octavo’s Ode 

Ganon’s Fury 

Symphony Of The Mask 

Ocarina Of Time 

Wind Waker Arc (Hyrule Warriors)

Leads back to Phantom Hourglass in Timeline 2 and continues as normal from there 

I haven’t been able to figure out where the hell Skyward Sword fits on the timeline though. It clearly can’t be first since the first timeline cannot logically include Skyward Sword as part of its backstory due to the fact that Zelda 2 gives a different origin story for the very first Princess Zelda. Unless the Zelda from Zelda 2 is the same as the one from Skyward Sword this would not work. It could go after Minish Cap but it would be hard to explain how the humans go from living on the ground to in the sky. The easy solution would be to say that the timeline was never unified in the first place.

[mediamixs]

 10 Prequel Horror Movies That Expand on Classic Franchises

 Horror prequels can be a risky endeavor, but when done right, they can provide fascinating backstories and breathe new life into beloved franchises. Here are 10 prequel horror movies that successfully expanded on classic horror stories:

 1. **Pearl (2022)**

Ti West's prequel to his 2022 slasher film X takes us back to 1918, where we meet the young and repressed Pearl, played brilliantly by Mia Goth. Trapped on a farm with her abusive parents and dreaming of becoming a movie star, Pearl begins a murderous rampage. Goth's outstanding performance makes you empathize with the future killer, a remarkable feat in horror.

2. **Annabelle: Creation (2017)**

This prequel to 2014's Annabelle and part of The Conjuring universe, directed by David F. Sandberg, tells the story of how the demonic doll came to be. Set in 1955, it follows a dollmaker and his wife who welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, where the Annabelle doll resides. The film features great performances and the birth of a modern horror icon.

3. **Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)**

Mike Flanagan's prequel to 2014's Ouija is set in 1967 and follows a widow who incorporates a Ouija board into her séance scam, unknowingly opening the door for a demonic entity to possess her youngest daughter. Flanagan's visual style and young Lulu Wilson's chilli.

4. **Prometheus (2012)**

Ridley Scott's prequel to his 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien introduces the concept of humanity's origins while staying true to the franchise. A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. While divisive, Prometheus is a solid space horror film that expands the Alien mythos.

5. **Orphan: First Kill (2022)**

This prequel to 2009's Orphan follows the story of Esther, a dangerous psychiatric patient who escapes from an Estonian psychiatric facility and travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family. Madeleine Coghlan's performance as the young Esther is chilling, and the film is a risky but successful prequel.

6. **Hannibal Rising (2007)**

This prequel to the Hannibal Lecter series explores the origins of the iconic cannibal, played by Gaspard Ulliel. Set during World War II, it follows the young Hannibal as he seeks revenge for the murder of his sister. While not as acclaimed as the other films in the franchise, it provides an interesting look at the beginnings of one of cinema's most notorious villains.

7. **Carrie (2013)**

While not as well-received as the original 1976 film, this made-for-TV prequel explores the early life of Carrie White, the telekinetic protagonist of Stephen King's novel. Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, it delves into Carrie's troubled relationship with her abusive, religious fanatic mother, played by Julianne Moore, and the bullying she endures at school.

8. **Vampires: Los Muertos (2002)**

This direct-to-video prequel to John Carpenter's 1998 film Vampires follows a group of vampire hunters led by a new character, Derek Bliss, as they track down a centuries-old vampire in Mexico. While not as well-known as its predecessor, it provides an entertaining expansion of the vampire-hunting world established in the original film.

9. **Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)**

This prequel to The Exorcist follows a young Father Lankester Merrin in 1940s Kenya as he confronts the demon Pazuzu for the first time. While the film was heavily reshot and recut from an earlier version directed by Paul Schrader, it offers an intriguing look at the origins of the demon that would later possess Regan MacNeil in the original film.

10. **Wolves at the Door (2016)**

This low-budget prequel to the 1969 Manson murders follows a group of friends celebrating a birthday party in Los Angeles in 1969. While not directly related to the Manson Family, the film builds tension as the killers lurk in the shadows, waiting to strike. It provides a chilling glimpse of the real-life horror that would soon unfold.

These prequels demonstrate that when executed well, they can add depth and intrigue to classic horror stories, while also standing on their own as compelling films. They expand the mythos of beloved franchises and introduce new characters and storylines that keep fans engaged and eager for more.

[rohitgurumith]

SOURCES AND SIGNIFICANCE : BLOG POST #2

During the session that took place on 18th October, we discussed and analysed the several aspects of narrative.

We were asked to group up and pick few of those aspects and then analyse it relevant to the media object of our interest.

I ended up picking the JoJo's Bizarre Adventures Part 1 : Phantom Blood (2012) Anime

SYNOPSIS:

Dio Brando is adopted by George Joestar in order to pay back a debt to Dio's deceased father Dario. Dio tries to eliminate Jonathan Joestar, the son of George Joestar to become the only heir to the Joestar riches. but after failing time and time again, he turns to an ancient Stone Mask, which turns him into a vampire with an eye towards a much drastic goal, world domination.

TRADITIONAL NARRATIVE:

This anime pretty much fulfill's every criteria for it to qualify as a traditional narrative. it has a linear causation with no extra straws and a very clear narrative closure.

Beginning : Dio arrives to the Joestar mansion after George Joestar agrees to adopt him in order to repay a debt to Dio's dead father. Dio takes advantage of the privilege and starts bullying Jonathan Joestar and tries to take everything from him and replace him as the only hier to the Joestars. After a point, Jonathan fights back against Dio and ends up beating him to a pulp. Dio's blood spills on the stone mask, which activates it and ends up drawing itself towards Dio until he wears it and turns into a vampire

Middle: Dio tries to kill Jonathan but George ends up sacrificing himself in order to save his true son. Jonathan escapes the mansion with nothing but anger and sadness in his heart. Jonathan runs into Will.A.Zeppeli who heals Jonathan's wounds with a Supernatural ability called "Hamon". Jonathan asks Will to teach him the ability in order for him to defeat Dio for good.

End: After a good while of training, Jonathan goes back to the mansion and fights dio to death. Jonathan gets fatally wounded but he manages to defeat dio in the end and stops him from being a threat to the world and marries his girlfriend erina. although the next parts are about Jonathan's descendants, i would say that jonathan's story is fully explored and comes to an end in part 1.

VLADIMIR PROPP'S 8 CHARACTER TYPES :

The Hero : Jonathan Joestar

The False Villain : Robert.E.Speedwagon

The Villain : Dio Brando

The Princess : Erina

The Doner : George Joestar

The Helper: Will.E.Zeppeli

The Father: George Joestar

BINARY OPPOSITION:

The main conflict in this story is a classic "good vs evil" clash between Jonathan and Dio, and its made clear since the very first episode. It can also be considered as a battle between humble and arrogant, wise and greedy etc.

Despite the downfalls faced by the protagonist, he still emerges stronger and victorious, and saves the day.

CONCLUSION:

Despite being a simple and a cliche concept, this anime ended up impressing me alot in terms of the screenplay that kept me hooked throughout and left me wanting for more. it also had a very unique and simple style of art which i thought was an interesting approach. the characters were also written so well that i got attached to them and cared for them when the entire part itself was only for 8 episodes.

REFERENCES:

Araki, H (2012).JoJo's Bizzare Adventures Part 1 : Phantom Blood. David Production

[polhassets]

Shutterbug mag

SHUTTERBUG MAG MOVIE

SHUTTERBUG MAG DRIVER

these contacts are not there on cameras prior to the K10D. Well if the statment is true they use motors in the lens which are driven by contacts on the body. To bring out new lenses that wont function on older cameras has not been Pentax's way (well at least not in the past). it has been reported that a Pentax person has said that they will have both the USM and the inbody focusing systems in current AF cameras. The putatively sophisticated mythos of the narrative and various plot devices aside (Alex’s journey is clearly intended to be optimistically Orphic, with his camera hanging portentously around his neck like an albatross pendant), Shutterbug is little more than a childishly incoherent, urban fairy tale.Emphasis is mine. The script’s vacuity crescendos in the oneiric third act, where Alex’s ongoing hallucinations of curly-haired females intensify with both rear-projected and chroma-keyed Photoshop landscapes and unconvincingly mobilized toy station wagons, all of which provides the film with a unique look that’s strikingly both digital and handmade but also ultimately hollow beneath the surface.

SHUTTERBUG MAG DRIVER

The stale, didactic dialog is rendered all the more contrived by rigid edits that punctuate nearly every sentence in some scenes basic human gestures, such as hands gripping telephoto lens or clasping quivering wrists, are captured with nervously punched-in, obscene close-ups that fracture whatever natural rhythm may have been achieved and Alex’s various guides through the NYC underworld become unnecessarily antagonistic without warning or provocation (one particularly confusing exchange with a taxi driver ends brutally after Alex simply requests to be taken to an address with no questions asked). But Papas also shares his protagonist’s lack of depth and mind-numbingly flashy self-consciousness, and as a result his film is a lengthy exercise in professionally-executed vapidity. Papas is a gifted photographer, or has at least hired one: The precision of his color-coded yuppy palace, a loft apartment with piercing white window glare and charred yellow tank tops, is scathingly alluring, and a cunning environment against which the flat, crisp resolution of the movie’s digital video can expose the haughtiness of the film’s characters. Papas additionally peppers his pomo-urban microcosm with ghostly Gaussian smears that patrol the borders of Alex’s consciousness and compel him to search for meaning outside the 8×10 glossy-a subplot included mostly to prop the interpretative door just ajar enough for dream logic to squeeze through as an eye roll-inducing explanation for the benignly wacky antics Papas thinks up. After embarking on a hellishly ambulatory night trek through Manhattan’s underbelly, Alex encounters tetchy skaters, homeless sages, condescending cabbies, and other misappropriated Joseph Campbell tropes that evince a tenuous grasp of the mythic New York let alone the genuine one.

SHUTTERBUG MAG MOVIE

The movie follows a celebrated but archetypically cocky photographer named Alex (Nando Del Castillo), who attempts to win arguments with his girlfriend by flinging cheesy black and whites of local architecture and insisting for no apparent reason that his prints are at the core of his tortured identity. One-third lysergic plutonian tour, one-third attempted digital-art mindfuck, and one-third pointlessly phantasmagoric twist thriller, Minos Papas’s Shutterbug stylistically suggests the planate obtuseness of an aesthetically stunted man’s David Lynch and the emotive stiffness of the real M.

[chulip-blossoms]

alien duology: hmmm i wonder if the android will turn on the humans?

alien "prequels": oh boy, i sure hope the android turns on the humans

[nealcassatiel]

The Supernatural Finale’s Nullification of the Symbolism of the Road: Dean Winchester lived as a progressive hero and dies as a static shadow

During the emotional height of its grand finale, Supernatural’s Dean Winchester ensconces the show’s earlier themes as a road narrative by showing an elongated montage of him driving his classic car along an endless, American road. By returning to the original mythic and intertextual narratives from which Supernatural was born, the finale entrenched within its themes the grand myth of the freedom of the American road. However, this grand myth and symbol, representing the traveller’s metaphorical journey towards inner freedom and self-discovery whilst exulting their newly found connection to the beatific landscape on Earth, placed within the context of heaven - is rendered redundant.

Without canonical material to provide a true world-building of this new heaven, we must rely on the idea of heaven from previous seasons, as well as extratextual narratives of heavenly realms. The audience is told that in this new heaven, souls have freedom and new memories may be created. The vision we see of the finale’s heaven is glowing, sanitised, and idyllic. Coupled with the general Western audience’s presupposition that heavenly realms within texts will be devoid of true horror or suffering, we are to assume these new memories and freedoms will also be heavenly and devoid of suffering. This assumption is bolstered by the appearance of The Roadhouse, Bobby Singer, and Baby, all representative of ‘good times’ and shot with soft lighting (peaceful), then juxtaposed against Dean’s dark, gritty, violent, and horror-filed final moments on Earth. This entrenches the message that Supernatural is sending: Dean is at peace and saved from his suffering.

This disallowance of suffering in Dean’s heaven is antithetical to the myth of the road: the metaphorical journey towards inner-freedom, ‘self-display, and self-discovery’[1]. Conflict, suffering, and trials are essential towards self-discovery and character development, and this is truer for the ‘hero’ protagonist than others. Dean, our hero, in his sanitized heaven is now in stasis. His external goal of defeating god is destroyed, and his internal journey (created by reacting and responding to the trials and tribulations of a varied life) is curtailed. His symbolic drive through Americana heaven has been stripped of its meaning. Our hero is no longer a hero of the road and his journey of self-discovery is terminated.  Kris Lackey in RoadFrames: The Amerian Highway Narrative, writes that ‘Car voyaging remains a symbolic gesture, describing in spatial terms a character’s education in or flight from domesticity’[2]. Whilst Dean is spatially driving away from home/Earth, his character is deprived of the ability to progress or to be educated by his surroundings, and therefore Dean’s drive through this physical space has been stripped of its metaphorical meaning. The physical road of heaven is illusory: it’s symbolism only taking on meaning and worth when the traveller changes in tandem with the view from the car window. The view from ‘Baby’ may change, but Dean cannot.

American road narratives have long set themselves against the urban. Following in the footsteps of Transcendentalism, in particular Thoreau’s Walden, the road symbolises a rejection of materialistic and capitalist society and a return to the land. The urban and the road are set in comparison: the urban taking on meaning as a place where one lives as a shadow and lives a half-life in a modern hell, stripped of connection to the Self and to others. The road thus takes on the meaning of a place where one can live fully, where, as Thoreau writes, one can ‘live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.’ [3] The road is thus an allegory for living with heightened experiences, living life fully, and rediscovering a more meaningful human experience through a greater connection to the land. Dean’s heaven road is not in opposition to the urban. Heaven is not a place where one can live deliberately and learn from the joys and pains of human life. The land, a peculiarly Earthly notion, can only ever be absent in Heaven. The essential nature of Heaven and Earth is that they are wholly separate. Each of their meanings is derived from the fact that they are not the other. The myth of the road is so inherently connected to the land on Earth, that transmogrifying it into a realm which has always defined itself as ‘not of Earth’ yet again nullifies any symbolic meaning attributed to ‘the road’.

This inability for character development, an inability to learn from the land, and an inability to learn from the suffering of an Earthly road renders our hero stuck, with his life suspended. In On the Road, ‘Kerouac’s Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty… exemplify the surviving type - outsiders whose hardscrabble road-lives fit them for roles as satirists and enemies of settled bourgeois life.’[4] Dean, whose character is based on Dean Moriarty, whilst visually drives a car in heaven and is seen as always moving forwards, Dean himself is completely settled in his current reality – unable to move forward in any way other than physically. Whilst Sam and the people left behind on Earth are able to move on, Dean, as he ironically speeds through heaven’s roads is now stuck in the same place forever.

On the Road’s message is one of a rejection of a settled, domestic, and stultifying bourgeoisie life. The semi-autobiographical nature of the work allows us to interpret the text in connection to Kerouac and Cassady’s real life. Whilst this anti-domestic theme is ingrained in Kerouac’s text, Kerouac himself ended his years living with his mother, having stopped travelling. When comparing Kerouac’s later life with his protagonist’s youthful life in On the Road, we can make a case that youth is inherent to contextualising the book’s central themes, most importantly: the theme of freedom. With the characters and writer in their 20s, this novel resonates with the youth. Their youth calls for a rejection of the domestic and of the settled. Likewise, Sam and Dean’s earlier years before they move into the bunker are, and should be, seen as a rejection of the domestic and settled. Thoreau’s Walden, Krakauer’s Into The Wild, Ruess’ A Vagabond for Beauty, Kerouac’s On the Road, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, Ben Reitman’s Sister of the Road – these, along with the majority of road narratives (both literary and on-screen) are populated with protagonists in their 20s. Had these seminal road narratives had protagonists in their 40s, as Dean Winchester is in the finale, the message of a life on the road would be incalculably altered. Whilst the youthful Sal and Dean in On the Road choose to reject a settled life for a vagabond’s, the middle-aged Dean Winchester is forced from a settled life in the bunker (a home that he cherishes) into a vagabond’s life on the road. He is thrown into a road narrative which brings joy to younger protagonists as it did for him in his 20s, however since the age of 34 (roughly) when him and Sam find the bunker, he as a character no longer sought out this life of the road. Their father’s (John Winchester’s) nomadic life which moved him from one dark and dingy motel room to the next was portrayed as somewhat sad, a sacrifice, and a life he was forced into once his domestic life literally went up in flames. John Winchester’s nomadic life started when he was 29 years old and has never been representative of the careless freedom of the road. Like John, symbolising Dean as being back on the road is somewhat sad and reads as a form of hollow nostalgia for the freedom of youth. Dean’s drive on heaven’s road and its rejection of the domestic no longer reads as youthfully liberating and bold, but tragic that he is forced from his age-appropriate domestic home into an unsettled life that he wilfully moved on from in season 8. As viewers, we must ask ourselves if it is still freedom if one is forced to be free? Whilst I could delve into the writings of Isiah Berlin or Rousseau’s writings on the ‘social contract’, Supernatural in many ways answers this question itself. In the fight against an interventionist god, our characters (self-named as ‘Team Free Will 2.0’), believe that one’s ability to choose their path in life is the ultimate freedom. If god had forced their freedom, they would not consider that as true freedom. Therefore, the symbolism of the writers forcing Dean from the domestic and back onto the freedom of the road cannot be read as true freedom. He had no choice.

Supernatural’s finale aimed at recapturing the tone and themes of its pilot episode, and consistently mirrored shots, costume, locations, dialogue, and themes of the pilot. It used visual signifiers to play into the show’s earlier mythology. However, the unintended consequence of this visual and narrative symbolism forced the character of Dean into trying to recapture his youth. Dean had moved on from the open road since the pilot, however the resounding mythic image during Dean’s final screen-time is him on the road. In the end, ‘Carry On’ unintentionally satirises its own mythology. It is less like On the Road, and more like Easy Rider. David Laderman writes of Easy Rider, ‘At a certain point down the road, the road movie’s glorified mobility seems to yield a disillusioned attitude in the protagonists, who have been unable to truly escape, and who have internalized the pressures of conformist society.’[5] Easy Rider’s protagonists, maddened by consistently defining themselves by the road realise that the search for such a freedom from a violent and conservative nation is futile. The hippie dream, in the context of the Martin Luther King assassination as well as the other assassinations and the war in Vietnam, was dead by 1969. After the traumas faced on the road, the protagonists are confronted with the knowledge that ‘the initial promise and thrill of mobility gradually turns sour.’[6]So too is Dean now unable to escape his previous life on the road and his new life on heaven’s road.

As a character who canonically repressed emotions and played into hyper-masculine traits at the expense of the catharsis of emotional vulnerability, like Easy Rider’s protagonists, Dean never escaped his internalised ‘pressures of conformist society’ before his death. With no trauma or challenges to confront on heaven’s road, Dean can never go on the internal journey to free himself from his repression. Heaven’s road will never help him free his Self. On the Road’s protagonist, Dean Moriarty is based on Neal Cassady who was a bisexual man and his relationship with poet Allen Ginsberg was written about within Ginsberg’s work. Dean Winchester was also based on Neal Cassady, giving some credence to viewers of Supernatural who have long read Dean through a queer theory lens, and presented him as bisexual. Through this bisexual reading, Dean’s inability to find true freedom on heaven’s road becomes allegorical to his inability to free himself from his repressed sexual desires. Like On the Road’s omission of Dean’s bisexuality, Supernatural can be read as doing the same. Increasingly, freedom is stripped from the symbol of heaven’s road. Both Neal Cassady and Dean Winchester die at the same age of 41.

Road movies and their mythology combine both conservative and progressive ideologies, and many try to walk this line without politicization. The myth of the road can be read as inherently conservative and patriotic as it plays into the American ideology of frontierism and individualism. Yet the mythology of freedom from the suburban/urban and the incorporation of road narratives into progressive counterculture (such as the Beats and the Hippies) makes the genre appear liberating. By setting itself in juxtaposition against capitalist and urban life, road narratives appeal to the progressive, and many of the genre’s protagonists are indeed progressive.

As outlined earlier, Dean’s return to the road does not feel freeing or liberating. His journey on the road does not include a Merry Prankster-esque or Easy Rider LSD binge, nor a stop for a wine-heavy jazz night, nor a Neal Cassady-esque exploration of his sexual needs and desires. Like heaven itself, this road trip montage is sanitized, pure, and holy. This sanctity and purity of heaven’s road highlights the nationalistic mythology of America as a promised land, anointed by god himself, and above all others – the Pilgrim’s ‘city on a hill’. Whilst the audience can assume that heaven is supremely American because it is Dean’s heaven, it is difficult to intellectually separate your thoughts from what Supernatural is so powerfully visually telling us: heaven is America. By placing such strong (even if unintentional) nationalistic symbolism alongside the knowledge that John, Mary, and (soon) Sam will be central to Dean’s heaven, Supernatural marries two resolutely conservative American values: the heterosexual nuclear family, and god’s promised land of America – his heaven on Earth. This firmly aligns the mythology of the road closer to its conservative symbols, than its progressive ones. Perhaps such patriotic symbolism wouldn’t read as harshly when the pilot aired in 2005. Yet during the staunchly bipartisan Trump years where examples of white supremacy, violent jingoism, and xenophobia are rife, a departing message of an American heaven and the importance of a heterosexual nuclear family can be easily politicized and be seen as bolstering the patriotic symbolism which it draws upon.

A large majority of Supernatural’s fanbase (as oppose to general audience) is composed of young, progressive, and queer women. Supernatural’s narrative themes of found family and Castiel’s declaration of homosexual love engendered a sense within its audience that the series was narratively leading towards the progressive finale. Yet the patriotic road trip montage, the knowledge of Dean’s return to his nuclear family, and Sam’s montage of living out his life in an apple-pie, baseball throwing, middle-class house, heterosexual nuclear family lifestyle sans his deaf love interest (a montage more akin to the Raegan-era nostalgia films of the 1980s than anything made in 2020), tonally, visually, and symbolically reads as a finale steeped in conservative and Republican mythos. These are particularly tonally jarring for Supernatural’s progressive audience, especially after the promise of queer representation, disabled representation, and themes of a found family that were prevalent just two episodes previously.

In conclusion, Supernatural returned Dean Winchester to his road trip routes, yet divorced from his youth or an ability to progress as a character, the progressive symbolism of the road was nullified. By ripping him away from his desired domesticity and forcing him onto the freedom of the road, his deepest desires of a settled life and the freedom of choice were also destroyed, therein destroying his character arc. Supernatural, therefore, strips the progressive symbolism of freedom associated with the road and further sanitises and sanctifies it by placing ‘the road’ in heaven. We are left with a pure road, America as god’s land, the elevation of the importance of a nuclear family, and a nostalgic montage of Sam’s conservative life. Dean’s road is now imbued only with the conservative aspects of it the symbol’s mythology. For an audience in 2020 seeking progressive representation in the jingoistic years of Trump, to be confronted with staunchly conservative ideologies and symbols (which appear even more extreme than when first broadcast in the Bush years of 2005) there is no cathartic nostalgia to be had.

‘We laugh, at the [road trip] movies, at the frequency with which the hero goes ‘out there, away from all this’ to ‘find himself,’[7]but there is nothing for Dean to find at the end of heaven’s road. He is frozen forever in unchanging happiness – a hero deprived of a journey. And so Supernatural ends with Dean on the road, the camera portraying with powerful imagery a hollow and tragic myth, completely stripped of its progressive meaning. With socio-political and character context changed, Supernatural’s return to the pilot unintentionally satirises itself, and alienates a fan base who define themselves against the ultimate message of the finale: heterosexual nuclear family, and white national chauvinism.

I finish with Allen Ginsberg’s words in his poem Elegy for Neal Cassady, written after hearing news of Neals death at the age of 41.

OK Neal aethereal Spirit bright as moving air blue as city dawn happy as light released by the Day over the city's new buildings --

[...]

Sir spirit, forgive me my sins, Sir spirit give me your blessing again, Sir Spirit forgive my phantom body's demands, Sir Spirit thanks for your kindness past, Sir Spirit in Heaven, What difference was yr mortal form, What further this great show of Space? Speedy passions generations of Question? agonic Texas Nightrides? psychadelic bus hejira-jazz, Green auto poetries, inspired roads? Sad, Jack in Lowell saw the phantom most -- lonelier than all, except your noble Self. Sir Spirit, an' I drift alone: Oh deep sigh.

[1] Leed, Eric., The Mind of the Traveler, (1991), p. 13.

[2] Lackey, Kris., RoadFrames: The American Highway Narrative, p. xi.

[3] Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Writings, p. 172.

[4] Lackey, Kris., RoadFrames: The American Highway Narrative, p. 8.

[5] Laderman, David, Driving Visions; Exploring the Road Movie, (Austin, University of Texas Press, 2002), p. 76.

[6] Laderman, David, Driving Visions; Exploring the Road Movie, (Austin, University of Texas Press, 2002), p. 76.

[7] Lackey, Kris., RoadFrames: The American Highway Narrative, p. 92.

If you would like to read more about my writings on Beat literature and Supernatural, you can find them listed under my tag ‘Cas x Ginsberg x Buddhism’ . If you would prefer to have a PDF version of the above essay (is this an essay? i feel like it accidentally became one lol), then just let me know and I can send you that file. I wrote this this afternoon and feel like I have a lot more to say on this whole thing and barely touched upon lots of ideas that arose when I was writing this. I decided to stick firmly to the road symbolism stuff rather than bombard you with more than 3000 words in one go.

Thank you to @drsilverfish and this post of theirs which inspired me to revisit my Supernatural/The Beats tag, so thank you and you should all read that wonderful post. 

I started off rambling with this and then I decided to turn into into something of hopefully some worth and put effort into thinking over what I was trying to say. Do let me know if you want to to expand on anything I wrote here, and my asks are always open for questions. Let me know if more of this may be of interest. 

[benevolentbirdgal]

“Thirteen″ Tips for Writing About Synagogues / Jewish Writing Advice / Advice for Visiting Synagogues

So your story includes a Jew (or two) and you’ve a got a scene in a synagogue. Maybe there’s a bar mitzvah, maybe your gentile protagonist is visiting their partner’s synagogue. Maybe there’s a wedding or a community meeting being held there. For whatever reason, you want a scene in a shul. I’m here as your friendly (virtual) neighborhood Jewish professional to help you not sound like a gentile who thinks a synagogue is just a church with a Star of David instead of a cross. 

Quick note: The are lots of synagogues around the world, with different specific cultural, local, and denominational practices. The Jewish community is made up of roughly 14 million people worldwide with all sorts of backgrounds, practices, life circumstances, and beliefs. I’m just one American Jew, but I’ve had exposure to Jewishness in many forms after living in 3.5 states (at several different population densities/layouts), attending Jewish day school and youth groups, doing Jewish college stuff, and landing a job at a Jewish non-profit. I’m speaking specifically in an American or Americanish context, though some of this will apply elsewhere as well. I’m also writing from the view of Before Times when gatherings and food and human contact was okay.

Bear in mind as well, in this discussion, the sliding scale of traditional observance to secular/liberal observance in modern denominations: Ultraorthodox (strict tradition), Modern Orthodox (Jewish law matters but we live in a modern world), Conservative (no relation to conservative politics, brands itself middle ground Judaism), Reconstructionist (start with Jewish law and then drop/add bits to choose your own adventure), and Reform (true build your own adventure, start at basically zero and incorporate only as you actively choose).

Synagogue = shul = temple. Mikvah (ritual bath) is its own thing and usually not attached to the shul. Jewish cemeteries are also typically nowhere near the shul, because dead bodies are considered impure.   

A Bar/Bat/Bnai Mitzvah is the Jewish coming of age ceremony. Bar (“son”) for boys at 13+, Bat (“daughter”) at 12+, and Bnai (“children”) for multiples (i.e. twins/triplets/siblings) or non-binary kids (although the use of the phrase “Bnai Mitzvah” this way is pretty new). 12/13 is the minimum, 12-14 the norm but very Reform will sometimes allow 11 and anybody above 12/13 can have theirs. Probably a dedicated post for another time. Generally, however, the following will happen: the kid will lead some parts of services, read from and/or carry the Torah, and make a couple of speeches. 

Attire: think Sunday Best (in this case Saturday), not come as you are. Even at very liberal reconstructionist/reform synagogues you wouldn’t show up in jeans and a t-shirt or work overalls. Unless they are seriously disconnected from their culture, your Jewish character is not coming to Saturday morning services in sneakers and jeans (their gentile guest, however, might come too casual and that’d be awkward).  1a. The more traditional the denomination, the more modest the attire. Outside of orthodoxy woman may wear pants, but dresses/skirts are more common. Tights for anything above knee common for Conservative/Reform/Recon, common for even below knee for orthodox shuls. Men will typically be wearing suits or close to it, except in very Reform spaces.  1b. Really, think business casual or nice dinner is the level of dressiness here for regular services. Some minor holidays or smaller events more casual is fine. Social events and classes casual is fine too.  1c. Even in reform synagogues, modesty is a thing. Get to the knee or close to it. No shoulders (this an obsession in many Jewish religious spaces for whatever reason), midriffs, or excessive cleavage (as I imagine to be the norm in most houses of worship). 

Gendered clothing:  3a. Men and boys wear kippahs (alt kippot, yarmulkes) in synagogues, regardless of whether they’re Jewish or not out of respect to the space. Outside of Jewish spaces it’s saying “I’m a Jew” but inside of Jewish spaces it’s saying “I’m a Jew or a gentile dude who respects the Jewish space.”  Outside of very Reform shuls, it’s a major faux pass to be a dude not wearing one.  3b. There are little buckets of loaner kippahs if you don’t bring your own and commemorative kippahs are given away at events (bar mitzvah, weddings). Your Jewish dude character not bringing or grabbing one is basically shouting “I’m new here.”  3c. Women are permitted to wear kippahs, but the adoption of a the traditionally masculine accessory will likely be interpreted by other Jews as LGBTQ+ presentation, intense feminism, and/or intense but nontraditional devoutness. Nobody will clutch their pearls (outside of ultraorthodoxy) but your character is sending a message.  3d. Tefillin are leather boxes and wrappings with prayers inside them that some Jewish men wrap around their arms (no under bar mitzvah or gentiles). Like with the kippah, a woman doing this is sending a message of feminism and/or nontraditional religious fervor.  3e. Additionally, prayer shawls, known as tallit, are encouraged/lightly expected of Jewish males (over 13) but not as much as Kippahs are. It is more common to have a personal set of tallit than tefillin. Blue and white is traditional, but they come in all sorts of fun colors and patterns now. Mine is purple and pink. It is much more common for women to have tallit and carries much fewer implications about their relationship to Judaism than wearing a kippah does.  3f. Married woman usually cover their hair in synagogues. Orthodox women will have wigs or full hair covers, but most Jewish woman will put a token scarf or doily on their head in the synagogue that doesn’t actually cover their hair. The shul will also have a doily loaner bucket. 

Jewish services are long (like 3-4 hours on a Saturday morning), but most people don’t get there until about the 1-1.5 hour mark. Your disconnected Jewish character or their gentile partner might not know that though. 

Although an active and traditional synagogue will have brief prayers three times every day, Torah services thrice a week, holiday programming, and weekly Friday night and Saturday morning services, the latter is the thing your Jewish character is most likely attending on the reg. A typical Saturday morning service will start with Shacharit (morning prayers) at 8:30-9, your genre savvy not-rabbi not-Bnai mitzvah kid Jewish character will get there around 9:30-10:15. 10:15-10:30 is the Torah service, which is followed by additional prayers. Depending on the day of the Jewish year (holidays, first day of new month, special shabbats), they’ll be done by 12:30 or 1 p.m. Usually.  After that is the oneg, a communal meal. Onegs start with wine and challah, and commence with a full meal. No waiting 4-8 hours to have a covered-dish supper after services. The oneg, outside of very, very, very Reform spaces will be kosher meat or kosher dairy. 

To conduct certain prayers (including the mourner’s prayers and the Torah service) you need a Minyan, which at least 10 Jewish “adults” must be present, defined as post Bar/Bat/Bnai Mitzvah. In Conservative/Reform/Recon, men and women are counted equally. In Ultraorthodox women are not counted. In Modern Orthodox it depends on the congregation, and some congregations will hold women’s-only services as well with at least ten “adult” Jewish women present.

In Conservative and Orthodox shuls, very little English is used outside of speeches and sermons. Prayers are in Hebrew, which many Jews can read the script of but not understand. Transliterations are also a thing.  In Reform synagogues, there’s heavy reliance on the lingua franca (usually English in American congregations). Reconstructionist really varies, but is generally more Hebrew-based than Reform. 

We’re a very inquisitive people. If your character is new to the synagogue, there will be lots of questions at the post-services oneg (meal, typically brunch/lunch). Are you new in town? Have you been here before? Where did you come from? Are you related to my friend from there? How was parking? Do you know my cousin? Are you single? What is your mother’s name? What do you think of the oneg - was there enough cream cheese? What summer camp did you go to? Can you read Hebrew? Have you joined?  A disconnected Jew or gentile might find it overwhelming, but many connected Jews who are used to it would be like “home sweet chaos” because it’s OUR chaos. 

In Orthodox synagogues, men and women have separate seating sections. There may be a balcony or back section, or there may be a divider known as a mechitzah in the middle. Children under 12/13 are permitted on either side, but over 12/13 folks have to stay one section or the other. Yes, this is a problem/challenge for trans and nonbinary Jews.  Mechitzahs are not a thing outside of orthodoxy. Some older Conservative synagogues will have women’s sections, but no longer expect or enforce this arrangement.   

Money. Is. Not. Handled. On. Shabbat. Or. Holidays. Especially. Not. In. The. Synagogue. Seriously, nothing says “goy writing Jews” more than a collection plate in shul. No money plate, no checks being passed around, even over calls for money (as opposed to just talking about all the great stuff they do and upcoming projects) are tacky and forbidden on Shabbat. Synagogues rely on donations and dues, and will solicit from members, but don’t outright request money on holidays and Shabbat. 

Outside of Reform and very nontraditional Conservative spaces, no instruments on Shabbat or holidays. No clapping either. Same goes for phones, cameras, and other electronics outside of microphones (which aren’t permitted in Orthodox services either).  11a. In the now-times an increasing number of shuls have set up cameras ahead of time pre-programmed to record, so they don’t have to actively “make fire” which is “work” (this is the relevant commandment/mitzvah) on Shabbat, so services can be live-streamed. 11b. After someone has completed an honor (reading from the Torah, carrying the Torah, opening the ark, etc), the appropriate response is a handshake after and the words “Yasher Koach” (again, Before-Times).

Jewish services involve a lot of movement. Get up, sit down. Look behind you, look in front of you. Twist left, twist right. A disconnected Jew or gentile visitor would be best off just trying to follow along with what an exchange student we had once termed “Jewish choreography.” Some prayers are standing prayers (if able), some are sitting prayers. It’s just how it is, although a handful of prayers have variations on who stands. 

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 01

(Masterpost) (Next Episode)

Warning: This is **FULL **of spoilers, not just for this episode but for the entire series. If you haven’t finished all 50 episodes, please don’t read it! 

Intro: 2020 continues to be much much too much while also being incredibly boring, and Im done with Shen Wei’s Lewks, so now I’m doing a deep meta dive into the Untamed. Let’s roll! 

Prologue: The Battle of Mordor

The Demise of our Protagonist

Unlike some other shows I won’t name, The Untamed kills its suicidal queer protagonist immediately, rather than waiting four seasons, so we know what we're in for. 

This is Wei Wuxian, who is about to yeet himself off of a cliff. He is having a bad day. 

Note: if mouth blood bothers you...C-Drama might not be your thing. 

Reasons for mouth blood: a sampler

Anyway...cliff time

Note: if (fictional) suicide bothers you...C-Drama might not be your thing. 

To be fair there are hardly any suicides in The Untamed. No more than ...five? As long as you don’t count the entire population of the Wen Corporate Headquarters in Yiling or those wall bandits in Qinghe or Madame Yu or all those Wens who supposedly threw themselves into the mud puddle or that Mo guy who broke his own neck. Plus watching Wei Wuxian’s cliff drop several more times from multiple angles. So, you know. Hardly Any Suicides. 

This is Lan Wangji, who is about to have his first losing encounter with physics. He is having a bad day.

In fact, if it is possible to have a worse day than the guy who is currently falling to his death, Lan Wangji is having that.

This is Jiang Cheng, who is feeling extra stabby from this camera angle. He is having a bad day.

Camera operator: why you gotta take it out on me? 

(Much, much more after the cut!)

The Amulet Situation

This is the Stygian Tiger Amulet. Yes, by all means, (Netflix) subtitles, let's use a 12-dollar word, “Stygian,” that every English speaker who is not a Shelley/Byron shipper will have to look up. Let’s not use a normal word like "deathly" or "corrupt" or you know... "Yin" which is clearly what they are saying on screen.

Why does this tiger amulet look like a chameleon crossed with a remora? Wei Wuxian can paint photorealistic bunnies on a flimsy lantern while sitting in a field having distracting teenage lust, but two months of meditating with super magic gets him a tiger that looks like a chameleon. And don’t try telling me this is a traditional-Chinese-art vibe because this jade tiger from frickin 1000 BCE is way more tigerish than Wei Wuxian’s attempt. 

Try harder next time, Wei Wuxian.

This is thousands of cultivators having a battle.  What do you mean, it looks like about 40-60 dudes?

 Any time someone in The Untamed refers to a number of people, it is like when you do your high school play and look off into the wings at nothing and say “Hark, A Ship Approaches!” and everyone’s parents nod indulgently.

Jin Clan Mountain Hunt:

*viewership nods indulgently*

This is Captain Blowhard, over on the right, courtesy name Clan Leader Yao. His job is to talk smack about Wei Wuxian and stick up for whoever is the biggest asshole in any given scene.  

He represents mainstream cultivation-world values so here he is shanking one of his allies to take the deadly amulet of evilness.

The Present Day

Spilling All That Yiling Laozu Tea

Down at the Exposition Tea Shop, the Lan juniors are chilling and listening to Tea Dude tell the story of Yiling Laozu. 

How did they get permission to take this field trip? “Principal Qiran, we want to go downtown to hang out with the local rabble and learn about your favorite person, Wei Wuxian.”

Waiting in the wings is the man with a fan and a plan, Nie Huaisan(g), who is paying tall loot to get these stories told.  

...Why? Is Mo Xuanyu having tea here and listening? Or is Wei Wuxian being summoned back by hearing all this smack being talked about him? *Shrug.*

Gank Your Soul

Drunk flag guy out here talking about spirits. Wikipedia tells me that In one school of Daoist thought, a human being has a collection of physical souls (魄 pò) and ethereal souls (魂 hún). Drunk flag guy is saying “hún ” at the moment. 

The many types of souls don’t translate well into English, where spiritual vocabulary has always been shackled connected to Christian beliefs, and is too limited for this context. So when the subtitles have conversations like “Is it a soul eater? No, no, it’s a spirit taker!” just roll with it. (Speaking of hún, if you have any interest in linguistics, do yourself a favor and go read all the wonderful meta @hunxi-guilai​)

The spirit-carrying flag looks a lot like Raava and Vaatu from Korra which...probably doesn’t mean anything.

The Demise of our Trill Host

Suicide #2 happens about 8 minutes in. 

Mo Xuanyu is that hippie roommate with the annoying wind chimes and bead curtains and blood spatter.

He is super mad at his terrible family and also at Jin Guangyao, who sent him home to his terrible family. I wonder if Fan Man Nie Huaisang influenced Jiggy’s decision-making there. Mo Xuanyu’s choice to die for revenge might be excessive, given how easy it actually is to murder the Mo family.

Being Alive Is Fine I Guess As Long As I Get To Fuck WIth People

Wei Wuxian starts his new life by splashing a little water on his face, which instantly makes his hair go from this

to this. 

He looks at his reflection and wishes he was dead, which--mood--but he gets over it as soon as he finds someone whose day he can fuck up.

And he is ALL in on being crazy. 

OP wishes she had the Wei Wuxian kind of crazy instead of the kind she actually has. 

Meanwhile, this is the sane Mo cousin:

This asshole is wearing one of the best fabrics in the whole show, incidentally. Asshole.

My favorite bit of Wei-Mo craziness is when Wei Wuxian does a meaningless 360 all the way around this dude before ducking in the opposite direction, which is like when I make 4 right turns around a whole block to avoid making a single left across traffic.

Perhaps I Do Miss One Thing In This Life

Wei Wuxian has pining thoughts about Lan Wangji, so he plays WangXian on a fucking blade of grass well enough for Sizhui to recognize it from his dad's guqin jams. 

Wei Wuxian is a better flautist than even Inspector Gadget BeatBoxing Flute Guy (Google it).

Our Many Many Spirit Lure Flags have Lured A Spirit, Oh Shit

Lan Clan has a Plan and Wei Wuxian is a Fan

Having one single lure flag stuck in Wen Ning’s torso caused spirits to basically eat him alive, so to catch one evil spirit, 6 disciples holding flags on the roof plus 8 more flags on the ground seems like a good amount. Wei Wuxian is like “yep, a single one of these will lure every spirit for five miles, carry on, younglings.”

Baxia Does the Heavy Lifting

Wei Wuxian is supposed to kill four people because of this curse situation, and in the course of the series they all die, and he kills exactly zero of them. The curse on Wei Wuxian’s arm should be called the scorekeeper curse. 

Baxia’s spirit pinballs around the Mo clan, rapidly killing three people on Mo Xuanyu’s list plus a couple extras for good measure.  Who's a good blade? Baxia is! Yess you are! Yes you are!

This here is the exact point in the show where your friend, who has listened to you squee about The Untamed for three months and finally agreed to watch it with you, will say “what the fuck am I watching?” and try to get up off the couch. Tackle them! 

This also the point where we all realize that the prosthetic and practical effects in this show were probably not made by the people who made the clothing, because the quality is...variable. The white eyeballs are pretty good, but the glove of death is ridiculous.

Camera operator: why you gotta take it out on me?

While Baxia goes to town on the Mo clan, the Lan Clan babies...watch? And tie up the various victims after they are already goners. 

Narrator: Her son is dead.

Meanwhile, 

Wei Wuxian, you motherfucker. You’ve been alive for like 7 hours and you’re already building a new zombie army. No wonder you don’t want them to call Lan Wangji.

Hanguang-Jun Cut It Up One Time

Lan Wangji shows up and very slowly kicks zombie ass with his guqin. If you are used to Hong Kong action speeds, you will find The Untamed very peaceful.

 All of the baby Lans fan squee up at Lan Wangji like he's the cultivation world's David Bowie and...they're not wrong. Jesus Fuck, he’s charismatic.

Lan Wangji is soft boi when he discovers this murderous sword full of dead-bastard energy, because it reminds him of his true love.

Like the talk about souls, the conversations about the nature of the murderous entity really don’t survive translation into English.

Servant: it’s a ghost! 

WWX: it’s not a ghost, it’s a spirit

Babies: It’s a spirit

LWJ: it’s not a spirit, it’s a [...] ghost

Our Protagonist gets the FOH

Wei Wuxian is soft boi when he sees Lan Wangji, but not so soft that he considers actually, like, sticking around. 

Wei Wuxian is also clueless boi, noting Lan Wangji’s white clothing and thinking, as in the past, that he looks like he’s dressed in mourning. The term he uses is 戴孝, which google tells me means the type of outfit worn by Jiang Yanli after Wen Ning rips her husband’s heart out someone who is in mourning. 

Actually, Wei Wuxian, you dumbass, he is in actual mourning, actually, for you. Dumbass. He probably packed away all of his blue outer robes 16 years ago and only takes them out occasionally to reminisce about that nice date you had on your mountain of corpses. 

On his way out the door Wei Wuxian manages to find a red ribbon for his beautiful hair, so things are looking up. 

Where to go next...hey I know, how about that one haunted mountain with the killer statue, you know, the one that all my executed friends and child came from? That’ll be fun and a great way to put the past behind me!

Episode 02 Restless Rewatch is here!

[ifuckinglovestvincent]

NY TIMES: St. Vincent Is Trying to Understand People

As she releases her sixth album, “Daddy’s Home,” the musician expounds on the lengthy documentaries, Janet Jackson bust and Joni Mitchell album that feed her creativity.

By Olivia Horn

May 4, 2021, 10:00 a.m. ET

Despite the hardships of the past year, Annie Clark’s sixth studio album came together with remarkable ease. “Maybe I earned a fun one,” Clark, who records under the name St. Vincent, mused. “Usually there’s some kind of ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ moment. And there just wasn’t.”

Clark, 38, spent much of 2020 shuttling between her home in Los Angeles and her family’s in Texas. But the record (“Daddy’s Home,” due May 14) was born at Electric Lady Studios in Manhattan, where she and her repeat collaborator Jack Antonoff landed on 1970s New York as their lodestar. The resulting songs ease away from the angular art-pop of “Masseduction” from 2017, opting for gentler, slouchier rock. The relative softness corresponds to Clark’s effort to treat the troubled, complicated characters that populate her record with care. Among them are the broke and lovelorn protagonist of the lead single “Pay Your Way in Pain,” Nina Simone, Marilyn Monroe and her own father, whose release from prison in 2019 inspired the title track.

Clark confessed that she did not meet her quarantine goals of learning conversational Italian or writing a tour bus cookbook, but she did read some books about the gulag. Calling from her “utilitarian” Los Angeles studio, she detailed 10 of her favorite things to watch, read and hear — many of her picks reflecting a fascination with history and an eagerness to unpack social and aesthetic violence. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

1. William Scott Sculptures

I discovered William Scott’s work through David Byrne, at his place in New York. And when we were on tour with “Love This Giant,” we went to Creative Growth in Oakland [a nonprofit that supports artists with disabilities]. I had my eye on this bust of Janet Jackson. And then when I was back, I went and bought a bust of CeCe Winans. So I have these busts in my library.

A lot of the artists whose work I collect are people who are marginalized from society in one way or another. What I like about it is that the expression feels very pure. These are people who might not have all of the tools at their disposal or the education, or any of that, but they are compelled to make work. That kind of irrepressible urge in people — that I just find so inspiring and heartening and cool. And it’s completely divorced from any of the status of the quote, unquote, “art world.”

2. Adam Curtis’s Documentary Series “Century of the Self”

The way his work has been described is as emotional history or impressionistic history. The lines that he draws between events and trends are not exactly “A plus B equals C,” but the general thesis is like, “the collective consciousness is saying this.” As a writer, I’m always trying to understand systems and understand people.

3. Ric Burns’s “New York: A Documentary Film”

I used to live in a rent-controlled place in the East Village. But it was shady how I lived there, so I was never able to get utilities in my name. I lived there for 10 years and I didn’t have the internet, so I had DVDs. I used to go to Kim’s Video all the time and buy DVDs so when I would wake up hung over and be like, “Oh, just can’t quite make it out of bed today,” I would have something to put on. If I wanted to watch something it wasn’t like “Netflix and chill.” I associate that Ric Burns documentary with being either hung over or tired or both, and watching it in my bed.

4. Joni Mitchell’s “Hejira”

This is one of those Joni Mitchell records that I didn’t hear until I was in my early 20s. Everybody knows “Blue” and “Ladies of the Canyon,” but this is when I became a Joni Mitchell fan, with a capital F. This record’s just so deep. Her lyrics are … Cubist. I’m thinking of the one where she’s like, “In the mirrors of a modern bank/From the window of a hotel room.” And it’s all wiggles, you know? It’s like water, that record. And I don’t mean to make it about me, but I feel like I can understand some of the things that Joni talks about, like the refuge of the road, or watching the world from an airplane or being in a hotel room.

5. Maggie Nelson’s “The Art of Cruelty”

This is one of those books that I picked up six times and would get through a few pages and be like, “This is really brilliant,” but it felt impenetrable at first. Then I had this one weekend where the clouds parted, and I just could see it and plowed through it. It talks about the ethics of being an artist in a way that is so brilliant, and so not orthodox or finger wagging. I think it’s one of those books you can revisit at various points of your life.

6. Her Own STV Signature Series Guitar

Part of it was inspired by Klaus Nomi’s tuxedo. And I wanted it to hit my sternum in a particular way. I am cis female, so the way that it hits the sternum and then has a little bit of a cutaway, it makes room for my breast. But just one of them. There’s only room for one! I love it. It’s the only electric that I play, with very rare exception.

I saw people’s pictures of it from the Met [in the exhibition “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll”], because I never got a chance to go and see it in real life. Most of the time, I just kind of like quietly put my head down and work — and then every once in a while, I look up and see something that I’ve made, and it’s mysterious that it’s in the world.

7. Wim Wenders’s “Pina”

I love Pina Bausch’s work. I was really inspired by “The Rite of Spring,” where the virgin dances herself to death. There’s this one particular movement that was like, drawing your hand above your head, and then when you pull it down, your elbow goes into your stomach — sort of like you’re open and then you’re impaling yourself. It just moved me to tears. So when I worked with my friend Annie-B Parson to choreograph the Digital Witness Tour, I was like, “Can we please incorporate this?” Another big thing: I was obsessed with falling. That was another big part of the Bausch work. How do you fall and make it look violent but not hurt yourself? I’d get a rehearsal room with Annie-B and just practice falling.

8. Vintage RCA 77-D Microphone

It’s an old ribbon mic, and it just sounds so good and warm. I know these are words that might not mean that much — when people describe sound as warm, it’s reductive. But it makes things sound and feel true. I don’t mean that it has perfect fidelity. What I mean is that when you sing into this microphone, what comes back at you feels honest. My friend Cian Riordan, who mixed “Daddy’s Home,” hipped me to this mic.

9. “Hidden Brain” Podcast

There was one recently about the idea of honor culture. You know, if someone is insulting someone’s masculinity and masculinity is tied up with honor, you have to avenge that insult. A lot of these “honor societies” end up with more violence because you have to save face and there’s less ways to assimilate conflict. The premise of so much of “Hidden Brain” is that we live by the stories we tell ourselves. And as a storyteller, that idea is very liberating to me, because if we live by the stories we tell ourselves, it means that when we get new information, we can assimilate that information and tell ourselves new stories.

10. Piazza della Signoria in Florence

The first time I was there was with my mom and sisters. I remember just walking through this piazza and having a wonderful time and wonderful conversation, and really being awe-struck by the architecture and the history, and just that life was beautiful. Another time, a number of years later, I was on tour with David Byrne and we had our last show in Florence, and I remember walking through with band members and then having the best dinner of my life after. It’s one of those places where, at very pivotal points of my life, I’ve been there and only beautiful things have happened to me.

[thewatsonbeekeepers]

The Lost Special

Hello I’m a doofus who’s only just figured out why they’re keeping back so much footage for The Lost Special and why they haven’t aired it yet, so I thought I’d share my opinions here.

I talk a lot about Twin Peaks, so apologies for that, but Twin Peaks is important here. Essentially, the show was cancelled back in the 1990s and in the final episode, one of the protagonists declares “I’ll see you in twenty-five years”. People who thought there would be a 21st century comeback based off this line were thought of as deluded conspiracists, but they were proven right - 25 years later, Twin Peaks returned better than ever. Why is this relevant? Because although most of Twin Peaks: The Return was set 25 years after the original, the plot of the finale involved time travel back to the events of the original show, in which the protagonist changes the past. And for this, they needed footage. David Lynch and Mark Frost, the guys behind it, are brilliant, and although it seems they planned the 25 year thing it’s not clear of how much of s3 was planned in advance. What we do know, however, is that they deliberately took too much footage during the making of Twin Peaks and instead of getting rid of it, sat on it for 25 years, so that it could be used in The Return. They had to do this, because it couldn’t be reshot - all the actors would have aged, right? 

I don’t predict a 25 year situation for Sherlock - as a matter of fact, I don’t predict a series 5 at all. But I believe that Mark and Steven want one and have planned for one, and that all the signs pointing to extra footage (Rachel Talalay in Canada, for example) are not a secret fourth episode necessarily. If EMP theory is true - and I’ll bet my hat it is, I’ve invested enough time in it! - even in a series shot in 2022 when Sherlock wakes up Ben and Martin will have aged 8 years since Sherlock was shot. Even in series 4 they looked noticeably older than previous series, and I’m pretty sure Mofftiss realised at the time that with Ben and Martin’s schedules it would be a long old time before they could get them together again to finish the job. Hence - no matter what time period the majority of s5 is planned for, they need footage of Ben and Martin when they are still reasonably young, and that needed taking asap. It’s not a secret alternative ending to TFP at all - they’re sitting on footage for when they need it. We’ve had evidence of this before - remember the infamous Mycroft/Moriarty handshake filmed after the fall? They’re not fools. What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on that footage - the missing piece of the puzzle!!