#guess who rewatched this today now that she actually knows the characters lol

[reineyday]

shanks: my daughter uta

red-hair pirates:

[travellingwiththedead]

IwtV s2e3 rewatch notes

Because once again everything is happening so much and I need to take notes xD

(spoilers for show and books behind the read more)

So Daniel is allowed to leave the penthouse, didn't seem like it before. Is this a test to see what he'll do?

My man your handwriting is as bad as mine xD

"Where is the coven now(maybe)??? Today? Cell phone, Google, CCTV. SAN FRANCISCO, Polynesean Mary. Playboy Magazine. Alice. They'll come for Lenora and Kate next. nee (use??) Lestat as a doorstop/CLAUDIA!. MARA'S CAB. COKE BETTY GRABLE. THIS TIME I WONT SAVE YOUR LIFE"

so, "Raglan James". Why that character? If it is him. I guess can't have Mr. Superior General running around spying on vampires in Dubai but...this guy? So if it it's really Raglan my guess is he's not really Talamasca any longer and he's spying on vampires because he's looking for one recless enough to do the thing. And he thinks Daniel is his best bet on getting the intel.

"You're not the first to attempt this, Mr. Molloy. I could give you the names of four others who have and they're all dead. Or undead." Yeah, that tends to happen when you lot tangle with the vampires xD

"How many Rashids, Rahid?" I guess poor Real Rashid can be glad Daniel's not calling him Renfield LOL

"They are peaceful beings"....who eat people. My dear Real Rashid, I don't think that word means what you think it means xD

Armand stop making heart eyes at Daniel (actually don't xD)

Blenders mention (also they're not trying to sell them to you, you little gremlin, because you already bought so many xD)

Still very much "Sure, Jan" about Armand's story about how he met Lestat. I mean, he's clearly telling it with the agenda of making himself look better, understandable. But also he's making Nicki out to be some little fling Lestat didn't care about and he hates Gabrielle so much he's not even mentioning her. Sure, Jan xD

But dang every one is acting their hearts out and they're all so fabulously good at it.

You know the one thing really in character for Lestat in Armand's story? Dragging around a whole ass crucifix to make a point xD

Armand's definition of unharmed is as bad as Rashid's definition of peaceful LOL

"You led him there so he could destroy it." Hit the nail right on the head. Armand wants to get rid of the Children of Darkness? Oh look, a vampire who doesn't obey the rules and can help him with that. He wants to get rid of the Theatre de Vampires? Oh, look, a Louis.....

Still so amusing how Lestat's hair in Armand's story is always on point and how it's mostly terrible when Louis hallucinates him xD

I'm guessing these be their laws in Latin, my Latin is rusty and I never was much good at it but

looks like "III. Nullus lamia vampiris debet scibere historiam" for example and google translate says that's "No one should know the history of vampires" so....

I still think the whole sexual assault thing with Claudia is unnecessary. Bad choice to do that, imho.

It's so heart breaking to see how much Claudia wants to belong with the Theatre coven. Vampires are still arseholes and always will be.

When's a door not a door? xD sorry, but that's basically my only thought about Armand's entry there.

Not Louis taking a picture to see if Lestat's actually there or not.

I feel like it's a bad idea to open a chat conversation with Daniel when the vampires can read his mind. Seems like a sure way to be found out....

Louis getting philosophical and Daniel just hammering at buttons because his computer is being taken over is funny, ok? xD

Those Talamaska files are interesting. "PC Members Extinct 1556-1949", "Armand (Arun Amadeo)".

Hm, I feel like talking loud enough for Sartre to be annoyed by it about killing people seems like it's breaking your laws a lot, Armand LOL

Also Dream Lestat is being a right bitch, it's hilarious.

Louis, darling, you're losing it, you need therapy

How about telling Claudia they're all on to you? Would be a good idea before she joins their coven, one would think...

Why is Santiago's last name Windsor? xD like no, he does not look like a Windsor. I thought he was one of the one name gang, like Madonna LOL

And the Talamasca just spoiled Daniel about what will happen to the Theatre, rude xD

Of course Armand would make it out to have been Santiago who demanded he take out Louis. Sure, Jan.

So fucking dramatic to take Louis into the sewers and threaten him and then actually do nothing at all to him.

Louis, you really should not be turned on by people who just said they should kill you, dear xD

Yeah, casting Claudia as the baby is not fucked up, at all....

EDIT: also apparently this Theatre coven doesn't wall people up, they put them in the morgue fridges xD (which usually are one big fridge inside instead of many little ones but I guess they'll not do that here....)

over all, very fun episode, and stellar performances from the whole cast but especially Assad and Jacob.

[thelampisaflashlight]

Facts about me, that explain a bit why I'm the odd duck you all know today. Let's go.

-I saw the movie Junior on TV when I was in my second year of elementary school. I'd seen a commercial for it, and was like, "Oh, okay, sure, why not?" and I remember a girl in my class asking what I was doing after school and I was like, "I'm gonna watch this movie about a guy who has a baby." and she proclaimed she would do the same, to which I replied, "Okay??"

I had a CRTV in my room -the kind with the built in VHS player- and managed to watch the entire movie without anyone coming in and asking what I was up to.

And that's how I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger pregnant at age eight.

In addition to this, I also saw the movie Serial Mom on TV as a wee child as well.

-Some of the most rewatched movies in my house as a kid were Chicken Run, Robots (the 2005 animated film), and The Lord of The Rings trilogy.

I also routinely woke up at midnight to watch South Park, and I remember waking up and King of Queens still being on and being like, "Ugh."

-I still have a scar on my leg from when I was about nine or so years old and I fell off of a log, it runs from my knee up to my thigh, and while it's mostly faded now, when I get tan from working outside, it becomes a lot more obvious.

I don't remember the pain from it, so much as thinking, "Aw, I'm gonna get blood on my jeans."

-I had to be in reading classes up until around the second grade, but not because I couldn't read; I kept elaborating and describing the pictures instead of just reading the lines on the page, so they thought I couldn't read.

When I did finally prove I could read by actually doing what I was told, I never had to do reading classes again.

-For about two years, I slept in my closet. I'd stick my sleeping bag in there and I'd slide the door shut and watch movies or just listen to music in the dark.

I didn't have a bed at the time -I slept on the floor from around the age of eleven until I graduated high school-, so I guess it just felt cozy/comfortable.

And lastly;

-I used to get sick fairly often, I wouldn't say I was a sickly kid, but my health wasn't the best, and I would routinely have to leave after homeroom/first period in middle and high school.

As a result, I spent a lot of time alone, because my dad would have to go back to work and I'd basically be on my own until my brother came home from school.

I'm not at all used to people checking in on me when I'm sick, and for the most part, I prefer not to be noticed when I'm not feeling well, but I have found a fair bit of comfort in sickfics where a character is taken care of/has people around them that check in on them.

It's my sort of cathartic media lol

For what it's worth, I'm not sick nearly as often as I used to be -knock on wood- and I owe that in no small part to my friends for pushing me to take care of myself and be my own advocate.

I've still got problems, obviously, but I'm a lot more open/honest about what I'm going through.

[violivs]

NMTDaily: Q&A (Bea and Hero’s first Q&A video)

- Okay, I took a brief break from my rewatch liveblog, but I’m back. Let’s do this.

- “But first, tea!” Cute little teacup cheers animation and sound effect!

- Wait, also, this is another moment of Bea’s hypocrisy and the things she has in common with Ben being exposed! Miss No One Needs Tea actually IS a tea-drinker! (And Ben is still watching her videos at this point, I wonder if he noticed that…)

- Sigh. Content warning: Harry Potter. I continue to be aggressively furious with JKR. Ten years ago I would have never thought HP would become inextricable from a vitriolic hate group, and it breaks my heart every time I think about it. How trans people are suffering at the hands of that woman, most importantly. But also how she took away my ability to enjoy the series that got me through a bleak early adolescent onset of my anxiety disorders, AND she’s retroactively corrupting my comfort media by association now too. Boo. Hiss. Let’s move on.

- There IS some good character work in this Hogwarts House discussion section though. More foreshadowing of Pedro failing to live up to his brave, heroic image. Meg being a Slytherin. Bea thinking Ben would be a Muggle. It is interesting to think about what could replace this discussion today in terms of media references. I really don’t know.

- Hero being uncomfortable when Bea brings up Claudio and her being matching is interesting. I guess they aren’t officially official yet. And then she gets revenge by bringing up Benedick, lol. Perfect.

- Bea makes fun of her a bit again about the holidaying in the South of France, not really sure what to make of that.

- Bea catching that question and refusing to be tricked into saying Ben is her friend, and still refusing to watch his channel. Hilarious and plot-important.

- Arch-nemesis, what a strong word! Remember the fanart transforming Kate Beaton’s Nemesis comic to be about Ben having a photo of his nemesis Beatrice above his bed? I loved that, but now I think Beatrice should’ve been the star of her own version of that, lol.

- I love her making fun of Ben’s channel icon, because I still think that icon was a perfect character choice. Exactly the kind of deeply cringe nonsense that Benedick MuchAdo would and should do in a modern AU, I love it. And I love that Beatrice hates it. Perfect.

- “You have to pick a side, you pick my channel or you pick his!” “You do know you’re not the only two channels on YouTube?” Lol get her Hero!

- Just hollering again because Ben is definitely gonna watch this video and see Bea talking about their past I’m!!!!!

- I know what it’s like to be a kid and have a group of kids you only see during summer but who all see each other year-round, and you never feel as close to those people as they are to each other. So I understand why Bea might feel resentful that all her Auckland friends are still friends with Ben year-round, especially after she had such a falling out with him.

- “Like he does with his newest most bestest friend thing, he latched on to me as the other new kid in the group” MY HEART.

- Ben was clearly still struggling with being the new kid, and saw someone who related a bit to that and wanted to bond over it! Oh my GOD he is just the embodiment of the Puss-in-Boots-being-a-cute-kitten-with-huge-wet-eyes gif to me and I cannot help being absolutely in love. Protect this lonely baby!!!!!

- HE KNEW SHE WAS LEAVING AT THE END OF SUMMER. He was ripping off the band-aid early by pushing her away. We know he genuinely didn’t know his feelings for her were romantic at all at the time, so all Ben knew was Bea was trying to get closer to him right as he was about to lose her, and he was giving them both an out because it already hurt too much to lose her!!!!! (A HUGE parallel to his behavior of pushing her away ahead of losing her to travel in Lovely Little Losers by the way.)

- And poor Beatrice. She’s already used to maintaining friendships from eight hours away. She would have just taken for granted that she and Ben were going to stay in touch after she went home to Wellington, like she always did with Hero and Pedro. But she also knew she had a crush on Ben, and as soon as she tries to put herself out there in a messy 14-year-old way and create more situations where they’re alone together, Ben starts saying friendships die in three days. Because he doesn’t believe it’s possible to be friends from eight hours away, so why try? And Bea thinks he doesn’t care about her at all and she’s heartbroken.

- If Ben had only been able to communicate that he was scared because he liked her so much and insecure because he’d never had a friend who actually bothered to stay in touch before. If Bea had been able to listen without having her feelings hurt, and actually communicate her own feelings. If they both weren’t terminally fourteen years old about this, they could’ve been friends this entire time.

- Beatrice is SO heartbroken by Ben’s rejection that in the past 3 or 4 YEARS since this went down, she never talked to Hero about it before this video. Not once. And she tells Hero everything. That’s huge.

- “You know my life story now.” That’s how she phrases it. This friendship breakup is a defining event in Beatrice’s life so far. It’s the heartbreak of her life. No wonder she’s so adamant about hating him.

- “Traveling is going to be on the agenda in the next few years” and we already have the setup for Lolilo, not even halfway through NMTD.

- Like really, Lolilo is basically Ben and Bea having the same fight and making the same mistakes as they did when they were fourteen, and yet again finding their way back to each other, finally mature enough to never make the same mistakes a third time.

- Art Curator and Queen of the World. These precious girls.

- Beatrice wants to do something that challenges her and makes her think. She doesn’t want easy street. I love that. (Enjoying a challenge, enjoying learning and thinking, another thing that also applies to Ben.)

- Bea and Hero get along because they have the same sense of humor and they grew up together, they have history. Shows what they value in any kind of relationship, platonic or otherwise.

- I love Hero being sad at the idea of a world where she doesn’t know Bea, she’s so sweet. And Bea finding that emotional stuff gross is also perfect.

- “I think you have more in common with Ben that you do with me.” “Hero I’m going to kill you right now.” Perfect.

- Godddddd the pale blue dress I’m already in pain. Knowing what’s coming just ughhhhhh

- The beaded necklace! I love these two so much, we love sisterhood (cousinhood, you know what I mean)

- Ohhhhh St Miranda’s! I just got it, that’s a The Tempest reference and the magician principal is Prospero, or more likely Prospera a la the movie. I don’t think I had seen or read The Tempest yet when I first watched NMTD, so that went over my head. I knew it was a Shakespeare reference but it’s only now that I understand it.

- (About Pedro) “I can be myself around him, we just know each other really well” and again I’m in PAIN augh the foreshadowing

- Do we think Bea really doesn’t know that her name means Blessed? Interesting. Love that they worked that detail in.

- Saying goodbye in German? Well Hero is clearly a Sound of Music fan, lol. Well, that or Cabaret, but she strikes me as a Sound of Music girl.

- Reminding the audience that we don’t really know her outside of this channel, thanking everyone for their kindness and good questions, backhanding the ones who asked about Ben with “MOST of the questions were really good and not annoying at all”. Lol, way to model a mostly healthy relationship with your audience, Bea! I mean that genuinely. Boundaries are important. Even though you’re fictional.

- “Why are you watching us? We’re not that interesting.” This line will be paralleled somewhat in Bea and Hero’s final video.

- And all their favorite YouTubers in the description box! Mostly OG British YouTubers I haven’t thought about in years. That was a blast from the past!

- Thank you comment section for pointing out that Hero chose to include a question sent in by Benedick! She left out his name so Bea wouldn’t notice, but he’s the one who asked “how much of yourself do you put in your videos” and Bea said it was an interesting question. I love that.

- He wants to know how genuine the things she says in her videos are and he wants advice as a fellow YouTuber at the same time, and she lets him know that she’s for real. That has to hurt given the things she’s said about him, but he could also take from this video that he matters to her, or she wouldn’t still be so upset about their falling out. Whether he does understand that from this video is another question- probably not. Not yet.

- Someone in the comments, AlashiaTuol, is a genius, pointing out that Bea jokingly telling Hero to pick a side between herself and Ben is a direct parallel to a much more serious “pick a side” conversation Ben is going to have. I love that call.

- Another commenter said what I’m always thinking when I rewatch this series: “I’m so glad this exists!”

💖🥭🦩

[norellenilia]

Damn, I remember the first time I watched FMA 03, when I was 16 or 17, I stayed up until 1 am to finish it, and today, watching episodes 38 through 42 turned me into such an emotional mess that I have to take a break lmao what happened??? My own emotional traumas, that's what happened

I'm feeling so many things again

In episode 38, when Ed and Al are fighting, Al drenches Ed in water and he says "it's going to rain!!!" and I'm like haha no don't try to pull a Mustang on me I know this episode won't make me cry and GUESS WHAT the flashback with Trisha convincing Ed to go and find Al so they can talk things out and Al looking so happy that Ed isn't upset with him anymore it's so cute I CRIED

I need -- no, I DEMAND a spin-off series where Winry and Scziezka solve murder mysteries together (I'd love to write it myself but I know I'm not nearly good enough at coming up with mystery stories lol), they're adorable I'm so happy they totally get together post CoS

Martel's death hits SO MUCH HARDER than I remembered holy shit, she and Al actually got close, we see more of her, her death is so horrific and hearing sweet sweet baby boy Alphonse cry just BROKE MY HEART I never wanted to hug an armor so badly

Scar's brother's last moments, the way he looks so terrified and desperate to protect his little brother from Kimblee and Scar being so devastated when he dies I just-- *clenches fist*

Sloth using Ed's PTSD against him that's so UNFAIR; also I was thinking that I was a bit disappointed that this anime did not include the nightmare that Ed has at some point in the manga where he sees his mom saying "why didn't you make me right" etc but this is it, this is this scene, and it's worse because he's hearing it for real, he is very much awake, he has the real voice of his mom in his ears and she's saying this to him and I'm-- *clenches fist harder*

Rose's story, I'm still so mad, she deserves all the happiness in the world

Speaking of Rose, it's so funny how the moment Al is like "I wonder how Rose is doing" the show just full on goes "Ed/Rose shipper" mode lmao, with Ed blushing while pretending not to remember her, him being so awkward when he speaks to her just before they go on their separate ways and her son just smiling and giggling when he speaks (first time we see the baby laugh, he had only been crying up until then) :') To be honest it feels a bit out of the blue to me but idk

Dante sporting Lyra's white ass in the town of brown people and speaking as if she was part of them just because she's following Rose around to manipulate her is incredibly cringe, but then again, it's Dante, she's the villain and we're already supposed to know something is up with "Lyra". But still.

Very random but Al pulling objects from or putting objects inside his armor from behind the cloth always looks very awkward lol

I used to never really care about Scar but I have learned the errors of my way as I now realize he is actually one of the best characters in this goddamn series, even with the orb of knowledge and the three arm losses, and Mangahood!Scar being much more villainized and ending up working with the military will never come even CLOSE to 03!Scar using his last bit of strength to save Alphonse to honor his love for his lost brother and take his ultimate revenge on those who murdered his people in the goal of protecting oppressed people, all of this while an epic music is playing (honestly it even feels like Ed is made to be seen as an obstacle as he tries to prevent the soldiers from entering Liore lol)

Sorry but Wrath is annoying as hell, I know that I'll probably have a different opinion if I rewatch CoS after that, but for now I hate him

We're finally entering the "Rewrite" era of the show and I had forgotten how much it rocks (Ed's hair animation at the beginning fhjkfhkdhjk)

I only have 9 episodes left but between Lust and Sloth in the upcoming episodes I'm not even sure I'll be able to watch it all in one go lol. Still excited to see more of Winry and Scziezka and remembering how much Hohenheim is absolutely useless in this x)

[fluffypotatey]

watching Leverage: ep 4

GOOD MORNING!

i actually meant to watch this episode last night but my sleepy brain said otherwise lol

Pre-game Thoughts:

also thank you everyone in the Leverage fandom who has given me such a warm welcome! y'all are so sweet and i feel like i'm being mothered by older cousins lol. i didn't expect this to gain a lot of ppl's attention, just a couple mutuals but hello!!! welcome to the show that y'all are vicariously watching through me or rewatching!

ok so turns out last episode we delved more into character backstory AND the overarching plot

Eliot was a farm-boy before getting becoming a bruiser, and i don't know why that is so funny to me (yes i do). my only question is when did he decide to go into that kind of business. was he an underground boxer or something? did he move to the city to "make a name for himself" but instead got into the mafia or something?

out of all the characters, this man is the one i want to know more about just because he never explains himself. oh, he recognized the fighting style of that mercenary? how sir??? oh you've been in this business for some time? how long sir????

this big insurance company is definitely the big bad. if they are the ones that our crew faces in the season's finale, i wouldn't be shocked. i would a little disappointed because these guys seem more like a s3 type of big bad that you build and build for some more seasons.

the actor who plays sterling is so familiar to me. i feel like i've seen him but he looked older than now. was he in spn? i think he was. i don't watch spn, but i've seen enough gifs to know the cast.

i've talked long enough, on with the show!

spoilers incoming lol

fluffy's reactions!

i haven't even clicked play yet WHY IS ALEC WEARING YELLOW??? LMAO HE LOOKS LIKE THE BANANA HAT GUY FROM CURIOUS GEORGE

THE CLERGY???? oh wait no this is about city council corruption. a little disappointed, but this concept is still interesting

the children trying so hard to compliment sophie about her play. i think parker was genuine tho and she deserves a gold star

nathan trying his best to compliment the play lol "a beautiful rendition!" he keeps it vague enough to ensure there's nothing bad well done

OH??? THE EX WIFE IS COMING IN??? DON'T WORRY SOPHIE EVERYTHING WILL BE OK

"what are you doing?" asks the priest suspiciously. "just....uh, moving God's plan along...faster." nice save there nathan

awwww he didn't need to ask them this time to help out

when i say sophie and nathan are in love, i mean it because do you see how soft they are for each other????

alec already with the presentation board about which corporation they're hitting next before nathan needs to ask him my heart! he's already narrowed it down and even knew just what to say, my little prepared computer nerd

ok i know alec's the guy who has more of the comedic lines but don't think i haven't been noticing that his aversions to certain places or people are little holes into his backstory (or maybe not and i'm looking into this too hard but who would i be if i didn't)

"i don't do gangs" that is a short little line but has a a lot of untapped backstory in it i can FEEL IT

very sweet of eliot to just figuratively drag alec with him to get info on the gang who beat up the priest

his son was baptised there T^T ok ok we hitting at nathan's backstory today got it

sophie picking up nathan's distress immediately NOBODY TOUCH ME

well whata you know, i guess it can be that easy to find the gang you're looking for

"how's this for answer" *shows gun* i'm so sorry i chuckled. that's so corny i'm sorry. i would get shot by that man if he did that because i would not stop laughing

YEAH THAT'S MY BOY ALEC SHOVE THAT BITCH

i forgot about the dislocated shoulder lmao

"do you mind?" OOP LITTLE DUDE'S IN DEEP SHIT WITH HIS GANG so the corp enlisted just a lackey from the gang and not the whole....interesting (also their mistake it seems)

ah this grant dude has a stick up his ass

ALEC'S FACE AT PARKER DEAD

ooooooh his publicist?

Tomas talking about his old neighborhood and then grant slamming on it NOOOOOO you hurt my boy

omfg he got yelled at by a nun they're ruthless i tell you

alec my boy "you're catholic and you want to fake a miracle?" i'm DEAD i'll have you know that good intentions are very important

eliot immediately on board with shooting the statue with a paintball gun after saying he thought the idea of the statue bleeding was dumb

AH sophie and nathan heart to heart T^T "you were the good guy...that's what made it fun" "i was...tempted" SEE THIS IS WHAT I MEANT BY DON'T TELL ME BUT ALSO TELL ME

she gonna wait for him T^T "but not for too long" LIES SOPHIE

OOOOOOH TOURIST TRAP

GRANT IS DOING WHAT I THINK HE'S DOING

NO I WAS JOKING ABOUT THE TOURIST TRAP

TOMAS'S FACE

THE VATICAN?????

i love fr. paul. he's so mad lmao

wow we really getting into it

tomas i love you, i'm so glad

FUCKING SHIT I WAS FOLLOWING THE CONGREGATION

"a reading of the Gospel according to Luke" me: "glory to you oh lord---SHIT"

see, this is why i keep my thoughts to myself with a priest because they will use in in their homilies.

WHAT A TWIST

TOMAS MY BOY

ok but saint nick is santa claus tho

he is also the patron saint of prostitutes

general thoughts:

i really thought this episode would center on the clergy and all of that, but that's a too big topic to even cover for one episode. not to mention that that issue covers more than the US and i don't think the leverage crew will go international with their heisting yet.

and this did a great job covering how a lot of poorer communities get screwed over by bigger corporations seeking to expand their commercial empire. ALSO how most of their issues comes with underfunded infrastructure that local governments ignore, giving those corporations such a "great" reason to state their case on why those buildings/neighborhoods should be torn down.

AND it even touched on how quickly things that should be considered marvels are so easily commercialized in this day and age. grant was so ready to turn that church into the next disneyland which 1) is sacrilegious and 2) is such a shallow view on miracles. but hey, that's what US brands have done with Christmas soooooooo it wouldn't be surprising to see someone try to do that with a crying statue.

we even get the discussion of intention vs action because THAT is a hot topic in the Catholic community. do the ends justify the means? do the means justify the ends? and while they kind of leave that question in the air for the audience to decide for themselves, it kind of ends with the episode leaning more on the intention's side. Father Paul broke his vow and revealed what he knew when Nathan confessed because he felt that it was the right thing to do (intention: do right by his church and conscience; action: break the vow of silence a priest makes for confessionals). Our band of thieves framed Grant in order to keep the church's integrity and save the neighborhood. Both acts are considered bad, but both were done with the intention to do good.

so yeah, it was a fun episode, my ot3 trio are going strong. and i can't wait for more!

[thegeminisage]

ok, i feel i must make a wrap-up post to the jane eyre experience for those who were interested.

jane herself is one of my favorite female protagonists ever. she's so straightforward and blunt in a way even women today aren't always allowed to be and she's so true to herself even when she's homeless and starving or when she's being abused (except in the case of st john but i'm getting to that)

i liked most of the side characters who weren't being dicks to jane. rip helen burns i'll remember you forever.

actually, most of jane's relationships with women seemed more interesting than her relationship with men. im out here truthing for gay jane <3 say nothing about diana please that was NOT my fault

for all of her suffering, almost everyone who was ever horrible to jane got theirs in the end. so that was nice.

references to 🖖

the sections with the wife wandering the house at night were legitimately terrifying. like, to me, almost 200 years later, with all of my lights on. holy shit. context has been given to me also about the plot twist being that it's NOT a ghost but just a regular human person being pretty shocking at the time so i also think that's clever

some of the details don't quite click with um 2024 sensibilities. for example, "st john is such a good person going to india to be a missionary and even being willing to die over there" i think he should have died faster and i hope they dumped his body in a garbage heap. also, i was under the impression rochester was keeping a WHITE woman in his attic. like keeping any woman in your attic is bad but COME ON. and finally, there was this really pervasive belief throughout the book that you could glean someone's personality and intelligence etc through their physical features. it was talked about almost as if it was a science, but all it basically amounts to is "beautiful people are Better." ok.jpg

i don't. super feel like rochester was redeemed in the end? i guess i got spoiled by p&p but even though rochester SUFFERED and was PUNISHED he didn't CHANGE. i still don't think he's worthy of jane, and so the ending where she's just his caretaker forever now...i'm glad she's happy but i am a little baffled

i also felt a little baffled by jane letting st john walk all over her there near the end when she had Firmly established earlier she was not that kind of person. she was willing to starve to death rather than compromise her morals even though she really loved rochester, so why on earth did she almost let herself get bullied into a loveless marriage with her own cousin?

THAT SAID, i do like the reading of "well because of how it was she has to get married and rochester gives her the greatest degree of freedom because she has him well-tamed." that's very true.

i think everyone promised me too hard that the end of the book was gonna be good and make the rest of the book worth it because i had built it up in my head to...being a little More somehow. i thought the money was the big break and then it just made her more miserable until she went back to rochester because of ??? supernatural and/or religious reason. i don't think that ending magically fixes everything

i also think that if i go back and rewatch the movie, which i do plan on doing, it might sell me on the jane/rochester romance more, because actors are good at having charisma and making their characters enjoyable to watch on a screen. i think i never quite understood what jane saw in him, but if i could see it, i would be happier about their reunion

i'm still glad i read the book and got to know jane whether the movie fixes it for me or not. she's really one of the best female protags. i remember thinking a few times in the novel lizzy bennet would never have survived some of the stuff jane eyre did...on the other hand, darcy is ten times the man rochester is lol. crossover fic with darcy/jane..............?

anyway, i will make another post when i eventually get around to the movie. hope it fixes me 🤞🤞🤞

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Hiiii!!! 💫💕🌸🥳

Can I bother with a question... I was (re)watching that zhang qiling edit (not today) - 'cause it's so cool, btw- and I wondered if Reboot Xiaoge’s your favourite one...? And if you're up to answering, what do you think about the other adaptations? Especially (our small bean) xiao yuliang's interpretation of xiaoge?

🤗🌺💐🐰💕

Hey, my precious patootie hehe ILY it always makes me very happy knowing that you rewatch my vids <3

lol dang it, I was kinda hoping to avoid this question, just because I feel like I'd find it hella hard to explain some things, but I'll try my best and hopefully it'll make some sense xD

I'll start from afar bc I wanna try to explain my reasonings, since I don't want to go without arguments into such highly debated question lolz. I talked about this a bit in my previous asks somewhere, but not broadly as to why that one guy hit all the right spots.

So throughout the books Wu Xie always does this wonderful thing, where he very tangibly describes the feeling he gets when Xiaoge is near, I mean like the aura around him. And he always somehow does it so colorful, that this mix of safety, assurance, calmness, composure and some things I can't quite put into one noun, that he brings to him, I think everyone who've read the books can recognize as this almost magical "Xiaoge feeling". It's not just the way he acts in some dangerous situations or smth like that. It's just everything. You either have it or you don't. And here goes my first argument... to me none of them, except for Huang Junjie and Yuliang have it.

I mean it's not even the obvious stuff, it's like the way they move during the action scenes, the way they even stand and hold themselves, the way they touch Wu Xie, the tone of their voices (both of which are like soothing as fuck), little things you'd think wouldn't matter, but when you watch it and all the puzzle pieces are together, you're like... fuck yeah, thats him.

Also not really that weighty of a point, but to me there's always a joy to see that the actor who plays the character not only gets what's he's playing, but also loves it, bc it's always seen on screen. Usually when some asked about the character they play and what they have in common for example they answer with obvious things like if some character is introverted they're like "well I also don't talk very much" or smth like that, you know what I mean. When I was watching interviews of Yuliang and Huang Junjie I was just smiling so much, bc they've said such things that made me go "yeah, Qiling is safe in their hands".

In Reboot case working in such close proximity with the author definitely also played a huge role here. Bc it kinda gets complicated in some aspects since the books are written from Wu Xie's point of view and you can't only base your picture on his perspective, just bc it's coming from a person who after being basically told "you're my whole world" goes "I'm just a person he randomly passes by in his long life" in his thoughts. Not only he's utterly clueless and dumb when it comes to all this, that he wouldn't notice the way Qiling looks at him and other things, its also not that kind of book, that would go "I suddenly caught poker face looking at me like I'm his whole existence" (and I honestly don't want it to be that book lmao). So you have to take into the account here stuff like what author says to get the whole picture, bc if you look at that from the point of Qiling's view for example, this shit takes a whole wild turn. So I really loved that in UN and Reboot ways of showing Qiling's feelings were well thought out and fit the timeline.

Bc it also works both ways, when it comes to other adaptations. Like Qiling is very and I mean ETREMELY hard to win over. We all know that it was a very long process of gaining his trust and even longer for him to fall for Wu Xie to the point of him being his everything. So what I want in those interpretations is for them to get at which point of their relationships what Xiaoge's behavior makes sense. I do not need any fanservice if it ruins the character, I'll just hate it. The thing that their feelings didn't come out of nowhere is what I LOVE about this ship, bc I'm not the kind of person who believes in "we love for nothing" thing and love at first sight thing (only "got hots for each other" at first sight), bc thats bull. Wu Xie became his everything after a long LONG process of getting to know each other. At the beginning tho he was the same stranger to him as everyone else. So what Reboot Qiling feels for Wu Xie is not what UN's Qiling feels for Wu Xie yet and what UN's Qiling feels for Wu Xie is not what Lost Tomb's Qiling feels for Wu Xie (which at that point was nothing). And I feel like not everyone gets the fact that you can totally wreck the character if you make him behave not the way he behaved in that particular time. Like for example, if someone would make a MDZS adaptation where at the very beginning of their relationships LZ treats WWX the way he treated him after the reincarnation just because "who cares, it's still LZ", that would be dumb af, see what I mean. So Xiaoge having a weakness for Wu Xie in part one is automatically not a Xiaoge to me, bc a huge part of his character and the thing NPSS speaks a lot about is just how IMPOSSIBLE it is for someone to catch his attention and how long it took Wu Xie to get there. So let's just say to me UN and Reboot Qilings for the first time didn't feel like some mashup or character summary/parody, they were Qilings the way they are supposed to be in that part of the story, bc it was the only times someone actually bothered to coordinate it.

Now as to why I prefer one to another. Xiaoge has this thing... the way he holds himself with other people, that is sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally suppressing.

Like everyone knows that if you're a passerby, Qiling genuinely doesn't fucking care and would in fact be pretty harsh about it in terms of treating people like they do not deserve their attention. He won't be like "please, don't bother me", he simply ignored them like an empty space. He is also like that with acquaintances who in his opinion do not deserve his respect like that girl who went hysterical, bc she was upset that he was the only one who wasn't drooling on her like all other men on the crew, Chen Wenjin, Wu Xie's uncles and etc. He's not openly disrespectful unless they trigger him in some way (usually by trying to act superior or later on for not treating Wu Xie right), but if they do, he will in fact remind them their place in sometimes a very rude way, at times humiliating them in front of ppl bc he looks younger than them and talking starts.

He's always doing things on his own terms and hates being told what to do. Like he legit scared Chen Wenjin just with a look and the tone of his voice when he said "let go", when she tried to command him on the mission and grabbed him trying to lecture him about what he should or shouldn't do. That's why Wu Erbai didn't even try anything like this and let him do whatever he needed to do and equally lead the mission in Reboot. And why the scene where Wu Xie 'commands' "Xiaoge, come back" and he immediately listens holds another special place in my heart. Bc he NEVER and I mean NEVER allows such things to ANYONE.

So here I came to a point of why despite loving them both dearly, my favorite Xiaoge is Huang Junjie.

I have this dissonance with Yuliang's version when to me in many scenes it felt like he and Wu Xie are the same age. Like if he was Xiaoge, but in his 20s. In his interactions with Chen Wenjin the dynamics was turned upside down, with him being okay with her telling him what to do and just in general the way she behaved with him. Same as like I didn't always quite believe him to be on par with older generation or even Pangzi, it just felt like he was truly younger than them. Some scenes that I do find extremely cute just don't fit book Xiaoge at all, I'm talking about some moments like his face when Wu Xie gave him food, or him pouting and many things he's done, when you were going "uwu he's a baby". He just never gives me this feeling in the books ever, not just bc he's 100 years old, but sad fact here.. bc he's simply unable to behave that way. Like in the books you'll desperately want to shower him with love, but he's just... I can't quite explain, it's very sad.

I guess it's just you know these characters, who are like hundreds years old, but look like they're 18? I think you have to be very careful with how you write those, so you could deliver that. And in UN because of some changed dynamics and scenes I straight up forgot about it, until Wu Xie threw some joke like "he's an old man" in front of a restaurant.

In Reboot Xiaoge could make Wu Erbai stutter with one move, put Yuliang's version in the same scene, I just don't think it would've worked. Like I'm trying to imagine him telling UN's Wu Erbai what to do and having troubles already haha. Same as I don't think he's capable to be genuinely mad at Wu Xie, and HJJ nailed it esp in one of my fav when Wu Xie was laughing at Pangzi's joke about him catching cold. The look he gave him and how ZYL just retreated was priceless xD. And boy could Qiling get angry with him in the books!

Otherwise I didn't have any drastic fall outs there, like with Joseph's Wu Xie and Ah Ning's death, because that was just too much of a difference, but there were still moments where it was once again this the same scene completely different emotion thing. He was more tolerable to ppl in general here, more pliable. And 50% of the time he gave me the cute lost kitten type, which I just cannot connect with the feeling he gave me in the books. His personality is a cat type 100%, but like seriously "cute baby" is the last word combination I would ever apply to book Xiaoge, but with Yuliang's version it's easily applied. So small bean he is indeed. With Joseph and in UN it works incredibly perfect to me, but the way he is in UN is at times too gentle. And there are lots of scenes where Joseph himself looked at him in a way "you're too cute, let me pinch your cheeks" kind of way, or the way he like sat down next to him on the coast, he was a bit babying him at times. I can't imagine book pingxie doing that. It's just a whole different vibe, the way he takes care of him, the way he lets him take care of him... it's...uuuuuuuuu another vibe (see, I'm so good at explaining lmao).

It's also kinda funny to me, bc HJJ who's the smallest and who irl truly a kitten never once gave me that feeling on screen for some reason. The one babied and loved by every crew and old ppl, who was cutely hiding behind ZYL's back on set, who won't sue an ex who almost ruined his career bc of how stupid she is, bc he "didn't want to hurt her", who according to staff can't even step on a fly, whom CMH was petting for several minutes after he had to hit him with a prop brick bc he didn't wanna do it lmao. I was just like.. ok, this is hilarious, bc I in fact didn't expect him to be a small bean, so watching all the bts made me go LOOOOL. Probably ZYL acting like a 3 year old helped him transform and the age difference problem got lost lmao

As for other adaptations. You know I can't watch seriously "Lost Tomb", I think some ppl probably have some nostalgic feeling about it, but I'm sorry, to me it's fucking hilarious. Like I've already said it looks like some type of twilight parody thing or smth. Soft damselle Wu Xie esp killed me, bc 1st when he ever was that, 2nd in the first book he's salty af, I don't even know this dude in this interpretation, I was like who's this. YangYang I know him from other things, I really don't think it's his role. I know the script and everything is bad. I know the costume and hair are horrendously funny, but it's just I was watching him in those action scenes and was like no... just I'm sorry but I'm not feeling it. I simply just don't know what to say about the whole thing seriously, bc I don't even know where to start. 10 episodes of some salad finished with one mutilated scene from book 6 for no reason the fact that characters are weird themselves also I can't quite tell, did they really just meet or they imply smth else lmao.. I'm sorry, but I do not get it.

I've given LT2 another try after finishing all the books and I've dropped it half way through, Cheng Yi wasn't even close to how I pictured Xiaoge in any aspect. He in fact didn't do anything OOC or off the book or anything, I just was like "not my Qiling". Happens sometimes.

Explore with the note you already know how I feel about this lol let's just forget.

P.S. To be fair here also maybe we should take into account the fact that some got luckier than other with "at which point" Xiaoge they're playing. Like for example, "Wrath of the Sea" and "Qingling Tree" books which is LT2 is not exactly you can say much about Qiling there, he trolls them there in the beginning (in a brilliant way that was totally lost in the adaptation) and he is there in "Wrath of Sea", but it's not the part that can make his character shine in any way, there's not much things happening there that would make you fall for him or get to know him; Yuliang grabbed the fattest piece bc it's middle several books, when they're always together and his character shines the most in terms of clues about past, opening up to Wu Xie and Pangzi, and there are many many events where you can get the picture of what kind of man he is; Huang Junjie grabbed my fav piece of utter devotion, where he's already fully and wholeheartedly belongs to Wu Xie, that I'm just weak for. So like... there's also that I guess xD.

[sapphire-innit]

MD is a trip in SO many ways lmao

HI!! So it's been a while but I was feeling sad about some minecraft boys and it finally kickstarted me enough energy to do this again. For those who haven’t seen this before everything is tagged “dream smp liveblog” if you wanna look back.

I was thinking about rewatching some of the exile vods again to get back into the right headspace but honestly I’m gonna ride this wave while I can and jump right back into it. Maybe when I catch up fully I’ll go back and watch them all in a marathon and see how much I can make myself cry, who knows

Intro out of the way here we go! VOD: Tommy Speaks to Mexican Dream in Exile

(rp): oh man I forgot how fucked up his skin was…. And hes drowning again

He’s also lashing out at people in chat and then pulling back “Ranboo: are you alright man” ahhh buddy YOU KNOW HES NOT

….You know. Some of the Dread HAS faded but it STILL sucks when Dream logs in.

“And Tubbo hasnt spoke to me…” :(

But hes still trying!!! Hes gonna make a path!!

Lol what is this melon monstrosity lol the youtube praise Tommy just screamed lmaoo

….Dream YOU can get out of VC 2 fuck off

….just the casual “oh yeah sorry” while he blows up the armor….

“DId anyone come to see you while I was gone” I see you, you obsessive fucker

“Weve become better friends” :/

HI MEXICAN DREAM WHAT AN INTRO THEYRE JUST STARING AT HIM LMAO

Yes BULLY HIM MD BULLY HIM

“WHICH ONES HOTTER” cursed cursed cursed

Lol the tone is so absurd Im having a good time

cc!Dream taking the time to pinpoint the particular restaurant its from lmaoo this man is funny

Lol Mexican Dream just chasing Dream away with Spanish YEAH GET EM MD

Tommys so excited to have someone who might live with him omg

“Borderline my owner” ….

…,,,look I just needed a short hand ok Mexican Dream is too long to type lol

,,,,,I dont know how to process Mamacita asdfsdfsd

SOMEHOW GOT MORE CURSED

Cant believe this is canon lore because it gets. SAD?? What is happening right now

This must have been a great tension breaker for people watching live though. A Nice break. Honestly I have mixed feelings about this being my first stream back lol

…..what are those maps huh? Old Memories huh? Tommy seems actually a bit embarrassed lmao

TUBBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TUBBO!!!!!

Asfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdfds these fuckign pictures jesus omg

Somehow this would be more sad if Tommy wasn't blowing out his mic fake crying lmao

…..hey fuck girl Dream though

Is girl Dream canonically Dream or a different character?

“You two are the happiest couple I know” … F for the dream smp where no relationship survives lol Love is Dead

….my heart was racing while Tommy was hiding the rest of the Tubbo pictures…

“Not on my stream you better not!” afdsfdsfsdfsd

Rip Mexican Dream lol Quackity dies to mobs a lot doesn’t he

………..I just got the walls joke F F F

……hi Dream you fucker

HEY BITCH, HEY BITCH BOY!!! YEEEEE TOMMY GET HIM

….. This is why Dream kills MD isn’t it

OUCH DIRECTLY AFTER THAT

MEXICAN DREAM DID JUST JUMP IN FRONT OF TOMMY JEEZ

….. Welp this is turning serious, Tommy is literally trying to distract Dream from chasing MD

The fucking decapitation joke asdfsdfsdf

OH MD WITH THE REAL GEAR!!!

….well that was short lived. As was Mexican Dream, Rest in Pieces I guess

“That was my last friend on the server. And that was his last death” “.......” “WELL WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO TODAY ~ :D”

“I never thought I’d see the day where Mexican Dream is canonically dead”

….. The serious tone is back for sure ….. Its staring into lava and gaslighting time

Literally just killed his friend and Dream already getting Tommy to say they’re friends…

“He died of a drug overdose” “I watched you kill him” “Noo he died of natural causes” >:(

cc!Tommy really canonizing this just to twist the knife

...hes just standing in the fire :(

………begging him for company.. “I don’t think I have very long left” …….

At least Drista will be fun?

“Its fine, its really his rules now” “After tomorrow, then I think its over”.... This is the pillar isn’t it. The pillar is happening soon

“Tommy can you stop going insane please?” - FUNDY PLS LMAO

Strange interlude with Lazar… obviously Tommy is lashing out but I also feel like there is a bit of back-handedness to his interactions as well. Maybe the only one ACTUALLY only reaching out because of pity..?

Well that was a strange and oddly sad interlude. The middle was just the wildest of rides, but the end still managed to ground it back, mostly. 13 did NOT HURT in that regard honestly lol. I feel like I’ve definitely lost some momentum by splitting things up like this -- my recommendation to anyone watching is Definitely to shotgun it if you can do so safely. Its such a well written arc, even and up to including silly streams like this, and its a shame not to have watched it all at once.

STILL! Looking forward to seeing Drista, that little chaos godling has grown on me quite a bit, not least of all BECAUSE she’s a chas godling with creative mode lol. I’ve also heard thats the other “break” exile stream, so probably a bit more lighthearted (not least of all bc idk how much Drista the person actually knows and or cares about her brother’s block game role play canon lmao)

[kuiinncedes]

just the keys to paradise

jatp au - prologue - part 1/15? - 1834 words

relationships: blaine & sam & tina & artie

okkkk we're doing it 🤪 idk how regularly i will update this (omg ongoing fic??? who is she) but i do have like technically a ~few~ chapters i guess done,,, and i am working on the next so . we're gonna try this lol

anyway if it wasn't clear this is an au based on the most amazing tv show ever with only 9 episodes pls watch or rewatch it on netflix the emmy-award winning julie and the phantoms !!! 🤪

that being said if you haven't watched it what are you doing jk i think you can still read this and hopefully it makes sense 😂 feel free to ask me if there's anything that doesn't make sense lol :)

also fyi in case it influences your decision to read: this will be more focused on platonic relationships for a while but will almost certainly have main endgames klaine, quinntina, and samcedes 😋

prologue title and lyrics in this part from "now or never" from the jatp soundtrack

plot and some dialogue from julie and the phantoms so like credit to all those creators and writers 🤪

warnings for this part: car accident, major character deaths (both of these are not actually in writing/"on screen" just implied at the end (especially within the context of this being a jatp au) and nothing really described -- if you want/need more details feel free to ask me)

read on ao3 or under the cut :D

--

1995

“Dudes, we fucking killed that !” Sam cheers when the smoke has cleared, going around and giving each of them something that could be called a high-five, just not to their hands. Tina laughs and cheers too as Sam excitedly taps her feet after she gets out from behind her kit, still elevated on the drum stage. Some of the workers applaud them from the audience space.

“Too bad we wasted that on the soundcheck,” Artie jokes, putting his guitar down and grabbing his water bottle. “That was the tightest we’ve ever played, yo!”

Tina grins and hops down from the drum platform. Sam slings an arm around her shoulders and she grabs his wrist. They’re both sweaty and too warm but she doesn’t mind having Sam’s heat pressed against her right side.

God, she thinks… that really was something else, even though it was just the soundcheck. She looks around at her bandmates’ faces -- shiny with sweat, red with exhilaration and exertion, bright with elation, eyes wide with excitement and --

Wow. They’re playing the Orpheum.

Blaine pats Artie on the back, jostling him enough to spill the water he’s trying to drink down the front of his shirt, but Artie just laughs -- he’s soaked with sweat anyway. They have spare clothes backstage just for this reason.

“Just wait until tonight, guys, when this place is packed with record execs,” Blaine says, looking out wonderingly into the empty (for now) audience. His grin widens almost imperceptibly, which is impressive considering how huge it already is.

“We’re gonna be legends!” the other three of them chorus, before Blaine can, and they laugh when he turns to them, affronted. “That’s my line!”

“It’s what you get for saying it ten times a day for the last month!” Tina teases. Blaine pushes her shoulder playfully, putting his hand within reach for Sam to grab. It’s a strange position considering Sam’s arm is still around Tina’s shoulders, but Tina adds her hand to their hold as Sam beckons Artie over from his side of the stage, barking out his name with joking anger.

Artie puts his water down and walks over to complete the group, placing his hand on top of Tina’s. “Tina, you were smokin’,” he says.

She rolls her eyes a little and grins back. “Pretty sure you’re just talking about the pyro. You guys were the ones on fire,” she says, pointing her drumsticks around at them.

“T, can you just own your awesomeness for once?” Blaine exclaims.

“Queen T!” Sam calls, pulling her closer into his side. She stumbles into him, laughing as the guys all start cheering it after Sam.

“Okay, okay! Thanks, guys, I got it!” she squeals, trying to get them to quiet down although -- they are in the Orpheum, where they’re playing later, it’s not like they have to be quiet -- while Sam leans his weight on her, causing them to stagger into the drum riser. Tina catches herself on it and Sam finally detaches from her and they’re still being loud and raucous and probably somewhat annoying to the staff, but she’s just laughing too hard to care.

“We’ve got an hour ‘til the show; I say we go celebrate before we become legends!” Blaine proclaims, jumping off the stage. The other three follow.

Tina starts, “Celebrate our last night of being -- ”

“Losers?” Artie interjects.

They’ve caught the attention of one of the Orpheum workers -- a woman with brown hair who’s wiping down the tables, smiling at them as Tina catches her eye. “There’s some nice restaurants around here,” she says with a wink. “You guys really killed it, by the way. But it seems like you know that.”

Blaine laughs, a little sheepishly. “Thanks. Uh, I’m Blaine,” he says. “This is -- ”

“Sam, hi!”

“Tina, how’s it going -- ”

“Artie, hey.”

Tina raises her eyebrows and stifles a laugh at Artie as he leans his sweaty arms onto the table that the woman just cleaned.

“We’re Sunset Curve!” Blaine says to complete their introduction.

“Tell your friends!” Sam calls, raising his voice and drawing the other workers’ attention to them. Tina elbows him lightly in the side.

“Nice to meet you,” the stranger says. “I’m Elle. So… what were you guys thinking for this -- what was it -- ‘celebration of your last night as losers’?”

“Well, we really can’t afford any nice places -- ” Sam starts.

“Oh, you know what? We should just go to Tip Top!” Blaine says, clapping his hands together. The others are quick to agree -- it’s the small, cheap diner where they spent the evening after their first “real” gig, and they’ve spent countless hours there since, annoying the staff and depleting their supply of plastic silverware. The employees there have learned to let them take what they legally can (and sometimes what they couldn’t), and the band is friendly with most of them. They haven’t been there in too long, having been working hard to get the Orpheum gig, and then writing and rehearsing like crazy once they got it.

Elle smiles as they excitedly and loudly recount stories of Tip Top to each other -- sentimental memories and the ridiculousness they got up to -- talking over each other and having multiple conversations at once.

“I guess you don’t need my recommendations?” she says lightly.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry, we’re good, thanks so much for offering,” Blaine answers, polite as ever.

“Have fun! Looking forward to seeing you guys perform again tonight.”

“Thank you!” the four of them exclaim as they make their way back to the exit. Tina yanks on the back of Artie’s shirt as he lingers at the table, a dumb look on his face that tells her he’s trying to flirt, or at least, his version of it.

“Tina!” Artie yelps and she laughs at the annoyed look on his face.

“You are not exempt from this last night of loser-dom celebration. You’re telling me you’d rather flirt with a girl than this?”

“Yes,” Artie grumbles. There’s no heat behind it, and Tina playfully pushes him sideways.

“Plus, we need you to drive.”

“You can drive!”

“Technically we all can drive!” Tina laughs at Artie’s horrified expression, probably at the prospect -- and memory -- of the one time Blaine drove them to a gig. “Just not your car!” she calls, jogging to catch up with Blaine and Sam, Artie running after her. “Your car is the fucking worst.”

“Don’t talk about her like that!”

“Blaine and Sam agree!”

That gets their attention and the two guys turn, Blaine asking, “What are we agreeing with?”

“I agree with Tina,” Sam says immediately. Tina nods gratefully at him.

“You don’t even know what we’re talking about!” Artie complains.

They’re at his beat-up car now and they pile in, Tina in the passenger seat laughing as Sam all but tackles Blaine into the backseat when he starts for the driver’s side, jostling her and Artie in the front. They continue shuffling around while Artie attempts to start the car, to many concerning -- but normal for his car -- noises.

“This thing is gonna go down and take us with it, Artie,” Tina mumbles teasingly, absentmindedly twirling a drumstick in her right hand. (She realizes too late that she probably should’ve left them at the Orpheum, but it’s not a big deal -- they’re not her favorite pair which are safe in their studio and she has extras backstage in case something happens to this pair while they’re out.)

The car finally starts with a rumble and Artie lets out a cheer. “We’re fine, T. Let’s go, y’all!”

“Floor it, Artie!” Sam calls from the back. The car accelerates comically slowly even as Artie presumably “floors it,” but they’re going somewhere.

After a few minutes, Tina finds herself unconsciously humming her solo in the bridge of “Now or Never,” only noticing when Sam interjects suddenly with his “Tomorrow!” leaning between the front seats and slightly startling her. She laughs and continues with the words, “‘Cause we got all we need today! ”

“Today!” Artie echoes, miming his guitar playing with one hand on the steering wheel.

“Living on a feeling that’s been running through our veins!” Blaine sings loudly, joining Sam in crowding into the front of the car.

“We’re the revolution that’s been singing in the rain!” It’s Sam’s line, but they all belt it at the top of their lungs together.

“That’s my line!” Sam exclaims at the same time that Blaine cheers, “My favorite line!” Tina continues to clap the beat for the next part of the song, Artie hitting the steering wheel in rhythm with her. Her face hurts from smiling.

“Artie, dude, where’d you go?” Blaine asks suddenly. Tina looks around at their slowly darkening surroundings that are completely unfamiliar. Slight panic rises in her stomach but she swallows it down; she’s with her boys, they’re safe, just a little lost.

Sam bursts out in uproarious laughter as Artie complains, “You guys distracted me!”

“Told you I should’ve driven!” Blaine says. He leans forward again and Sam follows. Tina stays quiet, pressing herself against the door a little to make room; her boys aren’t that much better but she’s always been completely hopeless with navigation and directions.

“You would’ve gotten even more distracted from singing and veered us right into a fucking building,” Artie grumbles, but he obeys as Blaine directs him to turn left and chooses to ignore his comment.

“Safe driving, am I right, dudes?” Sam cackles as he returns to the backseat, and Tina can’t help but laugh with him. “We’re gonna miss our gig, that’s how we’ll be legends!”

“‘Sunset Curve Skips Orpheum Showcase For No Reason’?” Tina suggests, turning around in her seat to face Sam.

He points at her. “Exactly. Or, 'Sunset Curve Skips Orpheum Showcase Because They Don't Know How To Drive.' The end of a promising career,” he jokes somberly. “No one would ever book them again.”

They fall silent and only the mutters of Blaine and Artie fill the car, along with the loud engine.

“Still haven’t figured it out yet?” Sam groans loudly, laying on his back across the backseats as Blaine is leaning awkwardly out of his seat to help Artie navigate.

“Not like you’re helping!” Artie says.

“That’s the street!” Blaine exclaims, pointing ahead. “The next intersection.”

“Give it up for Mr. Blaine Anderson, everyone,” Artie drawls, speeding up the car a little bit. “Perhaps not able to drive, but navigator extraordinaire.”

“You chose the wrong career path, dude,” Sam says, propping himself up on one elbow to clap Blaine’s shoulder. “Like, songwriting?”

Blaine looks down at him, raising an eyebrow. “Songwriting?” He gestures for Sam to continue.

Sam shrugs, sitting up finally. “Just, you know, songwriting, bro…" His gaze suddenly shifts and fixes at a point beyond Tina. "What th-- that car Artie!”

Tina snaps her gaze away from Sam just in time to see him yank Blaine down into his seat and the set of blinding headlights through the car windows in her periphery.

---

as a final note, i'm not sure if it can be seen this way but i'm not trying to erase artie's disability or anything and i believe i'm not doing that; as you might be able to guess, the car accident at the end of this is what paralyzes him, like in glee canon but just several years later (in his life not in actual time). please let me know if any aspect of this is disrespectful or anything <3

[mittensmorgul]

Today on the TNT loop... 12.23 and 13.01 (so far, it’s early and we’re going through 13.04 today). So I’m deep in the Grief Arc feels.

But again, it all hits different now. Yes, I’ve rewatched these since 15.20 aired, this is my second pass through the loop since then. But with a bit of emotional distance from that mess, there’s interesting stuff here.

Looking at the finale, at what Jack would become, at how that ties in with themes of Faith versus Free Will... it’s like this was the point where Chuck finally weaponized free will against them, where their choices would play into his story rather than fight against it. No wonder Dean was so angry after this point.

No wonder Chuck abandoned them, refused to answer Dean’s prayer to bring Cas back. Cas wasn’t SUPPOSED to come back. Chuck finally got him out of the way, and it was literally Dean’s grief unwittingly channeled through Jack’s power that woke him up again and gave him the tools to fight his way back. The fact Cas never KNEW this is still one of those things that I will scream forever about.

(In every way that actually mattered, Dean was silenced)

But in today’s viewing, I’m mostly screaming about the “drunk angel” Miriam and her vendetta against Becky.

DRUNK WOMAN: Whoa. What happened to you hand?

DEAN: Nothin’.

DRUNK WOMAN: Doesn’t look like nothing. You punch a wall or something? I punched a wall once. Well, a poster on a wall, but same diff, right? Freshman year, I had this roommate, Becky. She had this giant poster of Elsa. You know, from “Frozen”? And I mean, first, who brings something like that to college? A cartoon? Really? Like, “hello homeschool,” right?

[As she is talking, Drunk Woman is writing something in the dust of the Impala’s passenger side window, and Dean removes a bottle of whisky from the trunk. He takes a swallow and then pours some over his bloody knuckles]

DEAN: You done?

DRUNK WOMAN: Anyway, Becky was - and I say this in the most feminist, screw the patriarchy way - a giant superbitch. She’d take things, and break things, and piss people off, and just do whatever she wanted, no matter who it hurt.

[Dean is making please stop talking faces at her but she is oblivious]

DRUNK WOMAN: It’s like the whole world was just Becky to her, you know?

DEAN: Mmm. So you punched her poster.

DRUNK WOMAN: And lit most of her stuff on fire.

[Dean gives her a look]

DRUNK WOMAN: I got issues.

[...]

[As the Impala pulls away, you can see Drunk Woman has written “BITCH” in the dust on the window.]

*

So, we have this invented story about a woman named Becky. But after s15, we KNOW how much control Chuck has over the story, and especially of certain characters-- like demons and angels. This is why he was so infuriated that he couldn’t just control Castiel. We saw him DIRECTLY insert Lilith back into the story in 15.05, limiting her power to ONLY follow his “script.” To the point she was entirely self-aware of this and her place in the story, and the fact that she was essentially just a character in the story without free will.

And I kinda wonder how much Miriam functions in the exact same way-- the way Chuck has implied that ALL angels are expected to function.

MIRIAM: Okay. If she shoots you. (Sheriff Barker looks to Dean in confusion) I don't know what he's told you. I mean, I can guess. Some line about how he and his brother... (deepens voice) save the world. Grr. So macho. (she sighs and speaks in her normal voice) But really, he's not a hero. He's Becky. DEAN: Becky? The roommate Becky? MIRIAM: You take things and break things and piss people off, and just do whatever you want, no matter who it hurts. Also, you're a giant super bitch. DEAN: Well, it takes one to know one. MIRIAM: So, yeah, you're Becky, and Becky needs to die. You're on, Barney Fife.

*

Yes... she says Dean is “Becky,” this Becky that breaks things and who saw the whole world as Becky... Though... her understanding of how free will works in this context really does sound twisted and tainted by Chuck’s perspective on his own “disobedient” characters. Because to Chuck, the story is the most important thing, it’s the only thing, and it’s entirely his own creation.

No wonder creating human souls made him feel a little queasy... and I’m still not sure that was something he actually did on purpose, especially with the free will bit included in the package. Because from the moment free will existed, Chuck began to lose control of the story of creation. People could choose to tell their OWN stories, better stories than the one Chuck created the universe to tell in the first place. Humanity makes things better, bigger than Chuck could imagine, through the power of love that Chuck could never invent for himself or understand for himself. Or even possibly FEEL for himself.

And who was his original human pawn in the story, way back in 5.01? Becky. Becky who took HIS story and “broke” it and pissed him off, doing whatever she wanted no matter who it hurt (even if it was only Him as the Original Author getting precious about his story). But as we saw in 15.04, Becky refused to just take his story as he dished it out. She went out and made her own life, reimagined the Story of Supernatural as something better than it was-- filed with life and humanity and love. She stopped idolizing HIM as the creator and saw it as HER story now too, the version she was passionate about, the version that brought HER joy.

And what did Chuck do to her? Like Miriam, he “punched her cartoon poster” and then burned most of her stuff. Because Becky had the audacity to take the story she’d been written into and make it her own. She refused to “obey” the story Chuck wanted to tell. And he saw her story as infantile and uninteresting. Because he couldn’t just let it go... like Elsa... lol.

And what Chuck can’t control, he tends to destroy, like Miriam did in this episode. Only... Miriam failed too. Sure, it was only one battle in the long war of Free Will versus The Story, but it was the opening note in this section of the story which was supposed to be about Humanity and Free Will finally triumphing over the story to free themselves from it.

The story itself was telling humanity to hold on, to keep telling OUR version of the story, because that was how to defeat the story itself. Human love and choice and will as something BETTER than the story Chuck wanted to tell. Not just handing it off to someone who has been built into the perfect vessel to carry on his story, but literally allowing humanity to be free from the narrative Chuck spent all of creation trying to build for them. And that freedom was literally built upon the very human love embodied in Dean Winchester (and learned by Castiel to the point it changed him and freed him from Chuck’s control). Cas deserved to come back. Jack deserved to be freed from his destiny. Billie deserved better than being manipulated and villainized by Chuck’s final chapter. Eileen deserved the freedom to choose her own happiness. Sam deserved a chance to do the same. Dean deserved to live, and to have a chance to tell Cas he feels exactly the same way about him. And that’s the tip of the iceberg of what everyone deserved.

(they deserved to not be “burned” for their audacity to want something more than what Chuck thought they deserved)

They deserved to hang up their Frozen posters without some self-righteous bitch judging them for it, and to live their lives how THEY wanted to, rather than how Chuck thought they should for his own egotistical self-justification.

Chuck said way back in s11 that he wanted to create the universe to make something better than just him and Amara, and everything after that point reads like he was pissed off at the fact that humanity went out and actually DID grow to be better than him, in every way possible. Sure, we fuck up, we make mistakes, and some of us are actively malicious and terrible people. But... overall? We try. We keep trying to be better, to love more, to choose the right thing... to do our best in a world where it’s far too easy to do our worst, to take a few words from Cas.

And it just hurts my heart to know what we COULD have had if Chuck didn’t actually win.

[intothewickedwood]

Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 6x15 A Wondrous Place

Just moved yesterday so bear with me. Lifted so many bags. If my arms aren’t like Emma’s after that I am suing! 

What episode do we have today?

A Wondrous Place. Okay, I don’t really remember that one. Do they go to Agrabah? Guess we’ll find out.

I wonder if Wonderland and Agrabah are right next to each other. It seemed to be the case in Ouat in Wonderland but maybe there’s a set portal between them or something. Either that or they’re in the same realm.

Agrabah is apparently across the desert from Eric’s Kingdom. So, in the same realm as the Enchanted Forest? 

Did you know, Snow’s nightmare prison realm in 7x22 was Agrabah? 

Let David be angry about what happened, dammit. I wish they would make it more about David’s feelings as opposed to being about trust in Emma and Hook’s relationship. What’s the point in adding this Storyline if there’s not going to be conflict between the people involved? 

Okay, I get that they wanted conflict in Emma and Hook’s relationship, but she’s not even upset about the actual murder. They could have made it about him not trusting her with the secret of him being a furry or something if that’s what they were going for. Basically, why write in the murder of David’s father if there is not going to be consequences for that or conflict about that specifically? Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea and potential of Hook killing David’s father. We get one scene of David pacing before making it all about CS trust issues and that’s it?? I just want David to be as upset as he was at George when he found out his dad was murdered. I want Emma to question her stance on forgiveness, even for a loved one, when those close to her are hurt irreparably right in front of her. Where is the internal and external conflict? I don’t want it to be about rehashed trust issues. I want it to be about how characters come to terms and move forward in an angst-ridden impossible situation.

Kraken’s blood allows you to travel between realms? Rumple is tearing out his hair right now. Oh! I guess that’s how it got shorter!

Chill, Killian. I’mma make you some camomile tea.

He’s so desperate to see his Kraken lover again. Get some of that tentacle, Hook! 

No one remembers Achmed. He f***ed a tiger!!

If you know that reference, you know xD.

Aladdin: “Jasmine, duck.” Jasmine (petrified): “Where?!” Jasmine has an intense phobia of ducks, confirmed. 

Don’t hit Kracky. He just wants his Killy.

Killian, how could you hurt your lover like that! The betrayal!

Hook, honey, I don’t know why you're so moody with everyone today but I'mma get you some cbd gummies. You’ll be fine. 

No one’s gonna help you if you talk to them like that, my dude. 

Jasmine “So forgive me for-” Me: “-doing what’s best for you! So forgive me for try-y-y-ying to make things easier.” Listen, I rewatched We Are the Tigers musical last week and I may suddenly be a little bit obsessed. Go watch/listen to it so we can geek out! 

Back to the rewatch.

Where’s Nemo and Liam? 

Jafar is quite handy at travelling between realms according to Killian. Maybe that’s how he went from Agrabah to Wonderland so easily in Ouatiw. But I’m sure we saw him use the white rabbit, so surely he can’t have another method. Unless... His magic carpet??

Emma is so blasé about Hook running off. She just seems like she wants to sleep. But she seems like she wants to sleep this whole damn season. Girl’s so done with everything. Completely checked out, bless her. Though it is sad to see a favourite character change so dramatically. Compare her to s1 or even s4 Emma and goodness gracious I just think s6 Emma might benefit from a heavy dose of sleeping curse or something. Let. Her. Sleep. Someone could just run Henry through in front of her and she’d take about 10 minutes to even realise and be like “Oh. Okay.” in slow motion when she finally notices and then she’d make out with Hook. Bonus points if Hook is the one to run Henry through.

Friends? That’s her mama. But hey, my mum’s my buddy too.

Lol. She stole a fork?

If you had to be a human hybrid, what would you be? Maybe I’d be a manticore or a womanticore.

Jasmine is being awfully nice to someone who just stole something. Some might say she has a thing for thieves. Wink. Wink.

Wow. This magical carpet ride is super gay. Love it.

Oh my God, she’s right. It is a rug!

Why is Hook being so rude today? 

Regina is just staring at Emma like “wtf happened to you?”

I just realised, Regina basically invited Emma on a date and invited her mother lol.

Snow lol.

Omg Emma needs a freaking lucozade. Someone get her a lucozade. Wake up Emma! *shakes her aggressively* Wake the hell up! Come back to us! 

Don’t the Jones brothers wanna hang out more?

That girl really loves her forks. 

Woah. She chased Eric all the way to Agrabah after one dance. 

Eric: “I have a great love for your people, especially poached with lemon and capers” lmao!!

“Son of a fish.”

What?! How’d he free himself?!

Ouat please explain. Are they suggesting the Well of Wonders Woman didn’t curse him to be a genie but just cursed him to stay in the bottle. They’ve gotta explain these things or they just look like inconsistencies.

Oh. Hang on. Ariel was supposed to have lost her voice. Okay but she had a necklace that allowed her to speak. I’m guessing Jafar destroyed it when he banished her to the sea.

Lol. He really hates being called bastard?

So, these events occur before present day events of Ouatiw. Agrabah was trapped in a ring all throughout Ouatiw? I feel like we saw it still standing in the present day in Ouatiw, no? I need to rewatch. 

Are the people of Agrabah still living their best lives inside that ring? Do they even know they’re trapped?

Ha! Turned into a staff. He freaking deserves that after doing exactly that to Amara. But then and again she probably deserved it. 

All they had to do was kiss to get Agrabah out of that ring. What?! Oh, and he’s free from the genie curse too. This is getting ridiculous. Can we please have some consistency with the limitations of magic? Genie curses cannot be flipping broken with true loves kiss. That would have saved Cyrus and Alice a hell of a lot of trouble!

“I’m an oyster head!” 

Emma, please, take a 10-hour nap. You’re making me tired. 

Ther will be no portals between Emma and Killian so long as Gideon has her tears. These rules make no sense!

It felt like ridiculous solutions were thrown into that episode. How do these tears of the saviour rules work? Could Cora have taken Emma’s tears to stop her taking a portal to Henry in 2a or does it just prevent her taking a portal to her romantic love and vice versa? What?!

[ahiddenpath]

Thanks for the Tri response, what do you think of Kizuna?

Well, I can only answer based on the novel. I bought the film, but I still haven't watched it! But I'll try to answer as best I can below the cut. Again, the novel had stuff I love and stuff I didn't, but I think my reaction to this one was a bit more true middle-of-the-road than Tri.

Spoilers for Kizuna.

I want to start by saying that I think my reception of the Kizuna plot was impacted by the state of the world when it was released, which is... continuing today, as I type this. I'm referring to the pandemic, of course. I pre-purchased my tickets for a March Kizuna screening in theaters; it was the first social event that fell through because of the pandemic for me. It's been a difficult period for everyone, and I was not- and still am not- really emotionally equipped to watch Taichi and Yamato lose their partners. I'd rather just leave it for now.

Kizuna is one of those stories where I didn't really enjoy the plot... But I find it inspiring in terms of what I would like to do with the ideas presented. It's amazing fic fodder, and you know I love that!

I do think that, coming off of Tri, where an adult Chosen who lost her partner ends up betraying the Chosen and involving them in her trauma stemming from that loss... Well, it was kind of like... Didn't we... Just... Do this? I have to mentally separate Kizuna from Tri to circumvent that tension, and that's not normally... how sequels work?

As you might know, I was also concerned about Kizuna sort of... demonizing adulthood by showing that the Chosen cannot have their partners as adults, because they've "lost their potential." In reality, adulthood is where your potential begins- you gain agency and go into the world to build your life.

On the surface, that demonization does seem to be what happened- but I don't think that's actually what went down. Taichi and Yamato fight so that the Chosen can experience adulthood and keep growing, instead of locking themselves in Menoa's world of endless childhood with the digimon. So, yay, our heroes think adulthood=good! But then, they lose their partners anyway; adulthood=bad??? But again, signs point to the epilogue still being applicable, so eventually, they will reunite with their partners. It's also directly stated at the end of the novel ("Wait for me! I promise to come for you!").

I think that the novelization didn't really explain the logic behind all of this. Did the kids actually lose their partners because adults cannot sustain a digimon partner? Or was Menoa mistaken? She clearly never figured out how to reverse the loss of her partner, so it's totally possible that she misunderstood the whole situation! And 02 makes the argument that digimon partners will come to everyone when they believe in themselves and follow their true path. We see some of the Chosen struggling with their paths during Kizuna, so maybe, when they find the courage to be true to their wants and dreams, their partners will return.

(For more on this, explained far better and with receipts, check out this wonderful post by Shihalyfie).

I love this interpretations of Kizuna ("be true to self=digimon partner")! But that... kind of... seems like an important thing to leave up to audience interpretation/nuance/reliance on the audience remembering those lines from a show that aired in 2002. Are we not going to talk about that stuff within Kizuna itself, if it's applicable? Obviously, I love Digimon Adventure and 02, but I don't do routine rewatches. It's easy to forget stuff. Or is the fact that "be true to self=digimon partner" isn't directly mentioned within the Kizuna novel enough evidence to suggest that it isn't applicable to the vanishing partner situation? I'm not saying that books have to explicitly explain everything to audiences, but... A little help, please? It's especially difficult to catch subtle nuances in translated works, so I think non-Japanese readers also have that hurdle to contend with.

I'm sure many folks felt upset, and maybe even betrayed, when Agumon and Gabumon vanished. And I get it, I do, even if we know they will return at some point. Like I said, it's something I frankly don't want to watch, but I'm fine with it intellectually (ie, in writing), mostly because it sets up a chance for fanfic writers to explore why they really vanished, and how the Chosen will reunite. Talk about an opportunity for character growth (gimme gimme gimme, lol!!!!).

And that's where I swing around to being happy again. Do you know what happens when canon content leaves stuff open to interpretation? YOU GUESSED IT, FANFIC FANFIC FANFIC! And you can still use canon setting without contradicting anything, awwwwwww yissssssssss. I'm planning a pre-and-post Kizuna fic that I think will really be amazing. I found some concepts of Kizuna really engaging/emotionally charged/exciting, even if I wasn't fully happy with/clear on the execution.

The novel also has this super wonderful scene with Koushiro telling Tentomon a story about candles that I really loved ;_; It was lovely. And seeing the 02 kids thriving and being so happy?! Wonderful. The overall characterization was solid, too, with lots of Chosen proactiveness (my fave!).

I think there was a lot to like in Kizuna, even if I'm not clear on a hugely important plot point (what exactly caused the partners to vanish).

Also, Yamato in glasses!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am dead. And also an impartial and level-headed reviewer of media, lol! Thanks for the ask! I hope this was a useful response, I feel like I blathered about nothing xD

Oh, as a final note, I did think it was annoying that Kizuna pushed the importance of growing and looking forward, not behind... And then Toei immediately rebooted Adventure. I understand that the reboot is likely meant to spread Adventure to the next generation, but... Hey, maybe you should take your own advice, Toei, and try something new???? No????? xD xD xD

[teamnick]

Thank you for the tag @eleincanti @lena-haloways 💕💕

Tag 9 people to learn more about their interests!

MUSIC

fav genre? rock

fav artist? Alanis Morissette, Tame Impala, M.I.A.

fav band? Depeche Mode, Muse, Queens of the Stone Age, Jamiroquai, Aerosmith, Placebo, Hurts...

fav song? Only happy when it rains by Garbage

most listened song recently? Work song by Hozier

song currently stuck in your head? Power over me by Dermot Kennedy (I return to this song every 2 months)

5 fav lyrics?

“I was doing fine without you  'Til I saw your face, now I can't erase”

“I'm only happy when it rains  You wanna hear about my new obsession?  I'm riding high upon a deep depression  I'm only happy when it rains”

“And if you’re under him, you ain’t gettin’ over him”

“It's like rain on your wedding day  It's a free ride when you've already paid  It's the good advice that you just didn't take  And who would've thought, it figures“

“I want to reconcile the violence in your heart  I want to recognize your beauty's not just a mask  I want to exorcise the demons from your past  I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart”

radio or your own playlist | solo artists or bands | pop or indie | loud or silent volume | slow or fast songs | music video or lyrics video | speakers or headset | riding a bus in silence or while listening to music | driving in silence or with radio on (I can't drive but as a passenger I’d prefer this lol)

BOOKS

fav book genre? Historical fiction, Crime

fav writer? Agatha Christie, Ken Follett, Gabriel García Márquez, Jane Austen

fav book? Cien años de soledad

fav book series? HP, Century Trilogy by Ken Follett

comfort book? A Pál utcai fiúk, Abigél (apparently I’m comforted the most while reading in hungarian...hmm)

perfect book to read on a rainy day? Jane Eyre

fav characters? Ron Weasley, Lizzie Bennet, and tho I’ve still not finished Six of Crows, I know that Matthias Helvar can do no wrong ever and imma fight anyone who disagrees. So yeah he’s a fav now I guess. ✌

5 quotes from your fav book that you know by heart? (I’m gonna cheat - I know exactly zero Márquez quotes by heart lmao and especially not in English)

“Madly in love after so many years of sterile complicity, they enjoyed the miracle of loving each other as much at the table as in bed, and they grew to be so happy that even when they were two worn-out old people they kept on blooming like little children and playing like dogs.”

“Pietro Crespi took the sewing basket from her lap and he told her, “We’ll get married next month.” Amaranta did not tremble at the contact with his icy hands. She withdrew hers like a timid little animal and went back to her work. “Don’t be simple, Crespi.” She smiled. “I wouldn’t marry you even if I were dead.”

“The only difference today between Liberals and Conservatives is that the Liberals go to mass at five o’clock and the Conservatives at eight.”

“He wasn’t only a fierce lover, with endless wisdom and imagination, but he was also, perhaps, the first man in the history of species who had made an emergency landing and had come close to killing himself and his sweetheart simply to make love in a field of violets.”

“Death really did not matter to him but life did, and therefore the sensation he felt when they gave their decision was not a feeling of fear but of nostalgia.”

hardcover or paperback | buy or rent | standalone novels or book series | ebook or physical copy | reading at night or during the day | reading at home or in the nature | listening to music while reading or reading in silence | reading in order or reading the ending first (I’m weak okay??) | reliable or unreliable narrator | realism or fantasy | one or multiple POVs | judging by the covers or by the summary | rereading or reading just once

TV AND MOVIES

fav tv/movie genre? drama (when can I think about this word without hearing P!Chris pls)

fav movie? Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

comfort movie? Much Ado About Nothing

movie you watch every year? Love Actually

fav tv show? Succession

comfort tv show? Road to Avonlea

most rewatched tv show? Road to Avonlea :)

ultimate otp? I’m full on my Helnik high right now 💙💙💙

5 fav characters? Matthias Helvar, Nick Blaine, JJ Maybank, Noora Sætre, Charlotte Ritter

tv shows or movies | short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) | one episode a week or binging | one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes | subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once | donwloads or watches online

Tagging @thescorpioracer (never gonna give you it up) @kachoobu @tidemakar @bittersweetglories @soon--soon if u wanna!

[uniarycode]

Remember when I said I might to a Xros Wars liveblog/rewatch becuase I don’t remember it all that well?  No? Well today is apparently the 8th anniversary of Digimon Fusion, and while I’m going to go off of the sub (Xros Qars), if I’m going to do this re-watch liveblog thing it’s as good a time as any to start.

Haven’t really tried anything of this style, so I’m experimenting a little bit.

(Have to turn off the beta for this because pic limit, lol tumblr)

Pic of the day: Common sense

We open with a menacing army full of Mookmon, sorry, Troopmon, Tankmon, and some bigger baddies. Like physically bigger, I don’t recall them being very important. (I see you Valvemon in the top left.)  

Then we get introduced to a human and a trio of Digimon that will in no way be important.

There’s also an army of good guys, you can tell they are good guys because they show up in previous seasons.  I uh, only actually remember two of them appearing in this show.

Anyway, Taiki says Digixros a bunch, and the three non-silhouettes merge together into….x4?  Poor Starmon I guess, no recognition.  

X4 then solos the army of Mookmon, which is probably why the rest of the ‘good’ army never appears again, clearly they are superfluous.  But X4 gets taken down by a lone off-color Greymon because nostalgia.

..and it was a dream.

(So Akari and Zenjirou don’t matter....that sounds about right.)

We are then introduced to Akari, who is trying to deduce exactly which ball-based team sport she got stood up for.

She stops midway to take a selfie, kids these days, amirite?  Also to grab a bag with Taiki’s name on it...literally.

Taiki manages to pull an MVP move on the basketball court, by pretending to be in a sports anime when really just passing to a teammate.  Thus securing the team the win that he’s been looking for for months… sorry, I mean four days.

Yeah, that’s a Taiki thing.  The kid is a prodigy at nearly anything he picks up.  The implication is that he throws himself into it completely, and then:

He does not necessarily pick the best time or place for a nap.

Akari being the best character (of this arc)

Taiki reveals that his need to throw himself headfirst is because of a desire to help those in need, not because he’s just showing off.

(I am reminded how much his gary-stu ness annoyed me the first time I watched this.)

Zenjirou shows up and I’m def going to spell that name wrong at some point.  He’s mostly here for comic relief, but also to reinforce that Taiki can pick up a sport (kendo) in a couple of days and beat people who have been training their entire lives.

While Akari and Zenjirou rehash the great 1998 case of Bros V. Hoes, Taiki hears the voice of a dying king, then suddenly: chaos.  Cars merge into walls, phones stop working, the sky turns green, dogs and cats, living together.

Turns out, cars superimposed into building are not stable.  The strange voice warns Taiki of the falling car, and after he saves his friends, he is now able to see the tortured outline of Shoutmon.

All well and good, Taiki, but how do you propose helping the disembodied light?

(We also get a flashback to baby Taiki between these)

Shoutmon soft-mocks Taiki for trying to help him, and Taiki points out Shoutmon did the same, just in case you didn’t believe they were destined partners.

Floating toy with another disembodied voice.  Offering to help if Taiki accepts, he does and the x loader turns from white to red.  The others reasonably do not think touching the floating mystical toy is a good idea.

They wake up in a strange world, normal Digimon stuff, turns out the X-loader doubles as a Pokecenter, very convinent.

Then, suddenly the army of mookmon appear, lead by a new Digimon:

(Look. if the writers determined you were going to die every season, you wouldn’t be very happy either.)

But then dream Digimon #2 shows up to save them, alongside a bunch of babies.  Shoutmon also comes out to fight.  .

We get a quick sequence of the allies using special attacks to wipe the floor with the mooks, normal debut episode things.  Then Madleomon gets mad that a human is involved and absorbs all his friends to…Digivolve?

(They missed a perfect opportunity for raving MadLeomon)

Uhh, good plan?

The mysterious voice tells Taiki to use the x-loader, which he does to form…the top half of a super-fighting robot.  Which lasts long enough to get off one punch before dissolving. He then xroses the Starmon and Pickmons into a sword, (will happen a bunch.) just in case you weren’t sure of the core mechanic.

Madleomon’s powerup breaks, and he gets forced back, namedropping a greater villain.  Tactimon, obsessed with perfection.  Which is a good thing, because if he’s like half the perfectionist I know he’ll be too busy sorting out all the details of his plan to actually execute it.

Coming on a little strong there bub.  Maybe take him out for a coffee first?

The name of the kids this time is generals, but that also gets extended to some Digimon.

If you are used to normal Digimon seasons, this is going to be a bit of a jump.  It isn’t the normal 1 human 1 partner here.  This is a battle of armies, (but mostly just jogress ++)

And yeah, they know nothing.

Keep being creepy Nene.

And also blond blue boy featuring off-color Greymon. 

And thus ends the first episode that was mostly about introducing Taiki, and the concept of Digixrosing. Also uses a lot of X4 for never showing every component. 

Final note: add break card

I think maaayyybe Vmon shows up in a limited capacity?  For a series that is perfectly willing to completely ignore levels and do something completely different in terms of evolution, there sure is a lot of nostalgia pandering. 

[panharmonium]

next round of in-progress naruto thoughts under the cut!  we started season 12 finally and we’re only like ten episodes into it but i have already experienced the most stressful moment of my life so.  lots to scream about.

[spoiler policy disclaimer first, as always: I am watching naruto for the first time and have only gotten a partway into season 12.  i am trying to avoid spoilers, so please don’t interact with this (tags included, because the notifications now show them to me automatically) with any spoilery commentary, including even general things like “oh i love this show but it gets less good after X point” or “X season is better than Y season” or any general assessments of quality/likability/etc re: future seasons.  Thank you! <3 ]

- the amount of information dumped on us in the first half of this season is SO MUCH!!!!  i don’t remember any of it!  i can’t keep it straight!  we met kushina and did the entire nine-tails attack backstory and all that stuff about the land of eddies and the previous nine-tails jinchuriki (which, UH....yikes), and then a bunch of very confusing information about the sage of the six paths (we still don’t even know what that title MEANS) and some kind of special/complementary creation powers inherent to the senju and uchiha clans that apparently were used to create the tailed beasts from the ten-tails, and then all these references to other things like....madara fighting the first hokage to acquire his powers?  madara giving nagato the rinnegan (...how?)  nagato being an uzumaki??  and then we get dumped into the actual formation of the allied shinobi forces and how they’re organized and that in itself it a lot for me to keep straight........so many characters...i still don’t know half their names....i feel like i need to rewatch the entire first half of this season just to try to absorb all of this information again

- i can’t believe this show actually gave one of the mothers a personality.  shocking.  

- re: above - i liked kushina a lot.  but can i just say, while we’re on the subject, how FUCKED UP her entire story is???????  the hidden leaf administration......imported a child........to make her the nine-tails jinchuriki......a fate in which she had no say.....that’s.........abhorrently fucked up.  i thought we’d reached the limit of “how evil is this administration actually” but i guess not

- relatedly, i still feel like.......weird about minato’s choices?  not really sure where i stand on that one yet.  like...they kind of make us assume up until these episodes that minato HAD to use the reaper death seal and sacrifice his own life in order to stop the nine-tails, but now we know that’s not even the case.  kushina was going to take the nine-tails down with her.  minato didn’t actually have to die, and kushina didn’t want him to.  she didn’t want to make naruto the jinchuriki, and she didn’t want him to grow up without any parents.  and it’s not like her original plan would have been a permanent solution for everyone; minato says the nine-tails will just reemerge someday if they don’t seal it inside someone now, but still.  i dunno.  

it’s not like an EVIL choice.  i get what he’s saying.  i just don’t know how i feel about it.  minato on the whole has just been a character that i haven’t quite figured out how to connect with - i don’t dislike him, and i WANT to like him more than i already do, but even back at the end of the kakashi chronicles his vibe just felt a little weird to me.  a little...detached.  i dunno if i’m just like...wanting him to be something other than what he is, because the show builds him up so much as the ideal?  but then he doesn’t quite match what i envision.  

he’s not BAD in any way.  i just keep wanting him to be...warmer, or something, and maybe that’s just not who he is.

- i was bizarrely fond of young!Killer Bee.  the way he was just such an optimistic kid who never let anything get him down...he’s kinda like naruto in that way.

- and i had a Very strong reaction to that moment where motoi apologizes for trying to kill Bee that one time and Bee’s smiling response is “you know, i don’t remember that happening.”  that was, uh.....you can definitely feel what they’re getting at with that.  

honestly, the second half of this show is doing a lot with radical forgiveness/compassion and that is one of my BIGGEST thematic weaknesses, so i’m prepared to continue getting punched with it.

- KISAME LMAOOOO.  man, i’m gonna miss him.  i guess if you’ve gotta go out, feeding yourself to your own sharks is one way to do it.  

- i loved that flashback to kisame meeting itachi lol.  they have a brief tense moment and then kisame literally is just ‘lets be friends and have some fun’ and he’s not SERIOUS obviously; it’s meant in a ‘let’s just not make waves here so we can get our work done,’ but then it’s hilarious because the two of them literally never argue again.  they’re the only two akatsuki members who actually get along XD

- KONAN OMG.  ;________;  

- how fucking badass do you have to be to pull off that move though.  six hundred billion paper bombs???  six hundred BILLION?????????

- i was EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED by the sudden jiraiya flashbacks and his little froggy tile system for keeping track of the children, oh my god.  that was...no.

- loved naruto telling the nine-tails “i’m sorry...i won’t do wrong by you...just hang in there for a while longer”.......i loved that.  (see again: radical compassion)

- how DARE they use the reanimation jutsu on asuma.  how DARE THEY.  

- i....really can’t imagine that sasuke is gonna be cool with them using itachi’s dead body like that.  like i know he can’t see that they’re doing it right now, but those bandages have gotta come off at some point, right? 

- definitely Did Not Like kabuto saying that he also reanimated “other shinobi of significance”...that really just leaves the door wiiiiide open and that is a stressful feeling

okay now the main event -

WHEN KABUTO SAID HE WANTED YAMATO FOR HIS EXPERIMENTS I STARTED FULL-ON SCREAMING THREATS AT THE TV (@PADMERRIE WAS THERE SHE CAN CONFIRM)

AND THEN THE VERY NEXT EPISODE KABUTO SWALLOWED HIM AND SLITHERED AWAY AND NOW YAMATO IS CAPTURED AND BEING EXPERIMENTED ON AND/OR USED LIKE A FUCKING...DNA BANK OR CHAKRA RESERVE FOR MADARA’S PLANT ARMY OR SOEMTHING AND IT’S HORRIBLE AND I WANTED TO CRY THE WHOLE TIME

you guys i cannot emphasize enough how upset i am about yamato being trapped in kabuto’s clutches i was clutching a blankie the whole time we were watching and i cannot stop thinking about it even into today; i am just sobbing on the inside

one of this show’s recurring themes is the whole “treating people as if they’re nothing more than weapons/tools to be exploited is bad actually; maybe we should stop doing that” (eg the cultural view of shinobi, the jinchuriki, the hyuga clan’s curse marks, all of orochimaru’s “projects” [kimimaro, taka, etc]), and yamato is another victim of that - we’ve barely gotten any details about his history yet but we do know that he was originally one of orochimaru’s experiments and i just cannot STAND the thought of him being back in the hands of those fucking people.  i cannot stand the thought of him being tortured and stripped down and experimented on.  the idea of him being trapped in this dehumanizing position again is KILLING ME INSIDE.  i need kakashi to break in there and rescue him YESTERDAY.