#he is a big nerd dc give him his graduate degree

[qcomicsy]

Batfamily time travel encounter but it's just a nice timeline.

Future!Damian: What are you reading?

Jason: Iliad. Gotta find a way to pass time until we figure it out how to send you back.

Future!Damian *taking the book*: In the original greek.

Jason: What? Surprised that I know how to read at all?

Future!Damian: Tt- Not even. That's a reason you're the one who finished college.

Bruce:

Alfred:

Future!Damian: Don't look at me like that I was busy.

Jason, tearing up: I did what.

[amplesalty]

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

If I can make it there, I’ll make it anyhwere...

We’ve just had another Friday the 13th so it’s time to dust off the old slasher franchise for my ongoing attempts to make it all the way through the series. Let’s see where we left off last time, 6? Well, that’s not strictly true. I did watch 7 last November but never bothered posting about it. Which, I probably should have done because for once it actually bucked the trend with these movies and I actually kinda liked it? Just try to imagine ‘Jason vs Carrie’ and that’s basically it. Kinda takes the whole thing in a slightly different direction which is a welcome change after so many chapters of ‘Jason stabs camp councilors...again’. Maybe I’ll revisit it in more detail some time.

This movie isn’t quite that far out with it’s gimmickry there’s definitely an element of that with swapping the shoes of Crystal Lake for the neon lights of Manhattan. At least, that’s what the title of the movie would have you believe.  It doesn’t exactly play out that way though.

The opening of the movie seems to be going that way as it takes you on a guided tour around the dark city streets, with steaming sewer vents, shady alleyways complete with muggings, subway rides, diner coffee orders and a shot of Times Square.  It’s all set to the stylings of Metropolis and ‘The Darkest Side of the Night’. I dig the song, has a very 80’s rock vibe to it, like something by Survivor that you’d get in a Rocky movie but it just seems a little out of place here.

Wait a minute, is that the Batman symbol?! Forget Jason vs Carrie, give us Jason vs Batman. Don’t tell me DC wouldn’t go for that, they seem more than happy to license out the Caped Crusader. I mean, we did just have crossover movies with Scooby Doo and the Ninja Turtles in recent years.

The requisite awakening of Jason takes place, this time jolted into life by the 1.2 gigawatts of electricity running through an underwater cable next to his watery grave. From there, we bumps off a couple of kids making whoopee in a house boat before stowing away on board as the boat slowly drifts into port where a high school pleasure cruise is about to set sail.

And it’s here that the bulk of the movie takes place which...isn’t the worst idea in the world? Would have that same sort of idea behind Alien where you’re trapped on board with this killer, not quite as extreme since there are some ways off a ship if need be. The movie touches on it to a degree, there’s a sense of paranoia and claustrophobia that develops but it doesn’t feel fleshed out.

You could throw in a sort of moral element to it, like the characters coming to terms with there being no escape and no way to eliminate Jason so they ponder whether to destroy the ship and sacrifice themselves so Jason doesn’t make it to land. Then you have the obvious sequel bait of him actually surviving and finding himself a whole host of new victims.

It just feels like a bait and switch. Just look at the poster, how awesome is that? You’ve got one of the most iconic skylines in the world and home to some of the tallest and most famous buildings but yet Jason looms over each and every one of them. And the subtitle ‘Jason Takes Manhattan’ conjures up all these images in your head of Jason rampaging through the streets like when the T-Rex gets loose in San Diego in The Lost World. I guess ‘Jason Goes Boating’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. Jason being in the big city is a novel concept which hasn’t really been explored in the series up to now. Sure it starts to move away from just being confined to the camp grounds but it’s still a pretty rural area so to go to this level of widespread panic would be interesting.

At first I thought the movie might be trying to be a ‘best of both’ worlds and the ship section was just to explain how he gets to the big city. It kinda gives that impression the way it starts rattling off all the people on board and starts killing them off quicker than it can introduce them. This one rock chick is in all of two scenes and the second one is her death. They’re characters done with very broad strokes so it feels they’re doing the bare minimum to give you some context before Jason kills them off, just to keep the pace up before we get to the real meat and potatoes of the action in the big city. It’s almost like The Breakfast Club with all the stereotypes we have on show; the jock, the nerd, the beauty queen...

We even get elements of the controlling father of EMILIOOOOOO’s character with young Sean Robertson who’s own father is the ships captain and seems quite keen on Sean taking up the family business. Are you not taking things a little too seriously to be in full naval uniform and ribbons for the sake of some exaggerated high school graduation party?

And don’t forget basket case Rennie who has visions of a young Jason drowning. Except, her dog spends this scene looking at the port hole in a very worried manner as well before getting freaked out and running away so apparently he has these visions too?!

Rennie clearly isn’t too popular amongst her peers as the bitchy, popular girl promptly hip checks her off the deck, sending her flying through the air and into the icy waters below. Have the people who made this ship not heard of a guard rail?

I’m not sure what the deal is with Rennie and all these weird visions she has, like blood coming out of a tap or young Jason bursting through the mirror and gooziling her. The movie never really explains what the link is between the two of them, at most it seems to be this mutated childhood trauma where she nearly drowned, mixed with warnings she had back then that she needed to learn to swim lest she end up drowning like that Jason Vorhees boy. It’s just like the puritan origins of those urban legends, clearly all along Jason Vorhees was just a means of scaring kids into taking water safety seriously.

Still, as unexplained as it is, it still adds some enjoyable moments to the movie and I’ll gladly take the writers throwing a bunch of weird shit at the wall to see what sticks over some of the earlier movies.

I love the moment when the core group of survivors eventually make it off the ship, taking refuge in the life boat, rowing day and night to try and find some sort of sanctuary before eventually seeing a torch on the horizon; that of Lady Liberty. One of the most iconic images in human history, a great symbol of hope to the tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free that made their way to her shores. Like those that came before them across the seas, finally their nightmare is over.

Or, at least it is for all of about five minutes before they get promptly mugged by two street urchins.  Not just muggers mind you, given that they usher Rennie away with disturbing plans in mind for her.

Which, say what you will about Jason, he does stop an attempted rape in this movie. Probably not going to tip the karmic scales in his favour after the hundreds of grizzly murders at his hands over the years but still, it’s a start. Plus, this is doubly puritan as this guy injected Rennie with heroin or something so Jason is taking a stand against drugs as well.

We also get one of the characters standing up to Jason on a rooftop and trying to use his boxing skills to good use by giving him a series of right hooks and body blows. Only, Jason has been following the Homer Simpson school of boxing as he just stands there and takes it before the other guy gets too fatigued to carry on. At which point Jason literally knocks his block off like a Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em robot and the guys head rolls away into a nearby dumpster which then slams shut in a very satisfying manner.

Rennie and Sean end up in the sewers but need to get out again as the sewer system is about to flood with toxic waste. Lucky that they just have buckets of that lying around that Rennie can just throw in Jason’s face. He then removes his mask in what I can only assume is a loving tribute to The Phantom of the Opera to reveal the mutated freak beneath. Maybe this is another Toxic Avenger origin movie?

Then lightning strikes The Statue of Liberty because...symbolism, I guess?

And Jason succumbs to his one weakness; drowning. Only this time in the aforementioned toxic waste so it’s nice to have a bit of variety. At which point he turns back into child Jason because...I have no idea. Maybe it’s another one of their visions, or they’ve somehow exorcised the demons of zombie ghost Jason and now the spirit of child Jason can rest in peace?

You know what the most amazing thing about this movie is? Other than the fact that Rennie’s dog shows up again at the end because it seems to have the homing skills of one of those animals you read about in the papers who travel across country to their old house, these characters have been through the innards of a manky old ship, been lost at sea for however long, trudged through the shift encrusted sewers and tussled with a decaying monster and still manage to come out without a speck of dirt on them.

Maybe I’ve just been going into these last couple with super low expectations but I’m actually beginning to enjoy them now? Like I said before, I found the old ones really boring so changing up the formula is refreshing and they’re tickling my ‘so bad it’s good’ senses with all the weird shit going on.

Like, amongst all those images in my head of what a Jason in New York movie would be, funny wasn’t one of them but it just seems to really ramp up in this finale. You have individual moments like when a bunch of thugs are listening to music from their boombox which Jason storms past and punts in the air. They don’t too kindly to this, pulling out chains and switchblades to threaten him, to which he calmly lifts up his mask and causes them to flee with their tails between their legs.

But there’s also this broader idea which serves as this sort of amazing anti climax that having Jason turn up in New York is not the cataclysmic event you think it would be. It’s like no one outside of Crystal Lake has even heard of him so no one bats an eyelid when some 7ft behemoth goes by in the street or on the subway at 1am. I mean, who’s going to notice another freak around here? When Sean and Rennie storm into a diner looking for help, their cries of a maniac being on the loose and trying to kill them is met with a rather quizzical look by the waitress who simply replies ‘Welcome to New York...’.

Then Jason bursts through the wall like the Kool Aid man and the cook just shakes his head and walks out to confront him. He does it so nonchalantly as if he’s had to deal with his a hundred times already, like it happens so often that it’s lost all meaning. This whole movie has a pretty damning outlook on this city, maybe the true horror in our lives isn’t playing out on TV or on the big screens of our local cinemas. It’s a call to arms that the true horror is the violence and crime taking place on our city streets every day and the systemic issues going unchecked that give rise to it.

[ofshilohs-blog]

heyho, hi ! i’m incredibly late jane ( pls just ignore that the accepted post says sylvia .. i was v insecure if u catch my drift ), twenty, she & her and from the glorious gmt+2 tz. along with being an avid dc & marvel fan, memes cause 90% of my laughs which .. is sad now that i think about it but Anyways ! you’re here for shiloh and not me ( mayhaps a little bit. here’s to hoping right. ) read below at ur own risk, you’ve been warned alright .. also if you want to plot just hmu or like this & i’ll im you later !

SHILOH HARTELL — wait, you mean the AMETHYST ? yeah, i’ve heard of HER before. they’re a TWENTY-ONE year old DANIELLE CAMPBELL lookalike and identify as DEMIGIRL. people often describe them as THE ARCANE of this island. i definitely agree, though. i mean, not to be rude or anything but shiloh can be kinda PEREMPTORY and PARADOXICAL, but everyone has their bad days. however, they’re also TRUSTWORTHY and DILIGENT, which makes people admire them so much. i guess what i’m trying to say is that they’re a true gem.

BACKGROUND ( TW: CAR ACCIDENT, COMA & ALCOHOL/SMOKING MENTION )

first things first .. you can click on each word to find shiloh’s bio & headcanons but i don’t want u to waste five mins of your life so i’ll try to cut it down to three. SKSKJ

besides that i’m actually kind of proud of this kind of social media page ?? so mayhaps look at it .. if u want.

really getting started now though

born april hartell in toronto in 1996, before her younger brother june was born one year later.

( for the sake of .. lbr everything i’ll just go on calling her shiloh bc otherwise it’ll be too confusing w/ april & shiloh ) in her early yrs shiloh used to envy june and the way their parents always preferred him, but fast forward to now and shiloh’s soo very glad they did. she taught herself numerous things she probably would have never considered if she wasn’t “ignored” a good few months and even after she brought up being left out to her parents it continued.

when shiloh was twelve, her brother was diagnosed with copd or more commonly known as smoker’s lung, an obstructive lung disease which only caused the family dynamic to spiral down.

after the news sunk in the hartell’s did everything for their brother/son and during those times shiloh and june actually grew close. shiloh mostly took care of her brother when their parents went out or simply had to recharge. ( the next few sentences are from her bio bc it’s 2am n i’m tired bear with me plS ) nonetheless graduating was just as important as taking care of june. shiloh has been known as some kind of a contradiction during her school years, always being excessively studious and getting straight a’s while being surrounded by other popular kids due to being the cheerleading co-captain. at the time her schoolmates didn’t know anything about shiloh’s home life as she preferred to keep it that way. hanging out with them gave her a few hours of calmness, despite most of them trashing other people’s property or trying to set her up with the most basic but popular guy, until they realized she apparently had no interest in any form of relationship. but what no one, except for her brother, knew was that shiloh in fact had a friends with benefits agreement with some messed up guy from a local university. shiloh always told june it wasn’t serious in the slightest and she probably wouldn’t even talk to him if he didn’t have his own demons to deal with.

shiloh always blamed her father for june’s disease as it was caused by him smoking every day and having june next to him almost all the time. while shiloh never wanted to become like her father, years later she believes she did despite trying truly everything not to.

at age eighteen shiloh changed her name legally, now using april as a middle name and nickname for her parents to use. ( once again copied from her bio rip ) ever since graduating shiloh started making videos to compensate for the lack of other distractions, as she wasn’t interested in meaningless hookups anymore either. being exposed to even more knowledge and terms than before, the brunette found herself more and more.

while spiralling down due to constant pressure at home and online shiloh had weak moments of consuming too much alcohol which only caused to cloud her judgement. it was june’s eighteenth birthday when shiloh made a fatal mistake, driving while intoxicated caused their car to hit a tree and damage its occupants.

it wasn’t until one month later that shiloh woke up from a coma, as disorientated and concerned as ever. when she caught the sight of her brother without any severe injuries shiloh was finally able to breathe normally again, not realizing her heart rate went up significantly just moments before.

even though june always claimed the crash didn’t worsen his condition, shiloh kept blaming herself just like she blamed their father for what he did to her younger brother. during that time shiloh started seeing similarities between herself and him that didn’t even exist.

once again distancing herself from her family shiloh put out more and more videos. as she gained subscribers rapidly, shiloh decided to talk about her private life for the first time publicly, hoping it’ll help people in similar situations.

getting mostly positive feedback and encouraging comments, shiloh approached her family again. she tried making peace with her own mind about everything that happened in the past, almost promising herself to not act the same way ever again.

as june’s condition got worse year after year, it hit its lowest point in 2016. no temporary treatment helped and the family’s former inherited fortune shrunk every year after trying one high-priced experimental endeavour prior to another. shiloh and her family got closer during that time once again, but her parents also insisted on her being able to have a life on her own. 

while applying to the closest car shop to become a mechanic, shiloh cut all ties to social media in the process after making one last youtube video explaining why. 

as her family heard of the gem theory they believed it’d be for a good cause to set shiloh up for it. being skeptical at first, shiloh put more thought into it. what if it meant the money she’d receive could be used for yet another attempt at finding a cure for her brother, or even the organization itself developing one ? after a few tests shiloh was all too familiar with, the result of being a perfect fit for the project surprised her to a degree. while hoping to partake in the experiment for the sake of her younger brother, shiloh simultaneously didn’t want to leave her hometown for the very same reason. having a long talk with june, however, convinced shiloh to be a part of the gem theory. still being skeptical, she hoped for some kind of silver lining.

PERSONALITY ( TW: ALCOHOL & SMOKING MENTION )

as mentioned above shiloh is very eager to learn about basically everything. she always needs something to keep her occupied. as megan abbott once wrote there's something dangerous about the boredom of teenage girls and while the quote is only semi-fitting it definitely can be used to describe shiloh’s high school years, always fooling around and screwing up while maintaining this picture perfect kind of image as co-captain of the cheer squad and a straight a student.

contradiction has always been a big part of shiloh, balancing between two stereotypes if you will: nerd vs. popular kid, first born vs. being the “lesser” child, being incredible romantic vs. meaningless hookups, keeping all feelings in vs. letting them all out at once, not believing in anything that can’t be touched/seen vs. believing in aliens.

absolutely despises cigarettes, blunts and everything else that can be smoked.

believes that wearing glitter as highlighter takes her closer to the stars and aliens.

the only alcoholic beverage she regularly consumes is any type of red wine.

for the first time in her life, shiloh’s been away from her family for more than a month. while appreciating being able to live her own life, homesickness hits her a lot.

shiloh’s a very structured person, disliking chaos and things that don’t seem to make any sense. suffering from ocd especially intensifies the former along with spending up to an hour with things such as rearranging belongings again and again, something others probably wouldn’t even notice. back when shiloh did youtube videos those had to have a certain length as well, sometimes even having to be re-filmed.

being on the island gives shiloh a bad taste in her mouth more often than not with everything that happened. as she’s a person who doesn’t necessarily likes being observed after her online presence, shiloh’s reminding herself of the promise she gave her family of not returning without anything more than ever.

this was all soo v serious omfg. but have this little fun ig tidbit that the only meme shiloh’s familiar with is that snl sketch dear sister bc she used to love the o.c. which inspired it so have that. keysmash

WANTED CONNECTIONS

alrigHT this is not to toot my own horn bc Yikes ! MXALDKS but i’m best at brainstorming and rambling when it comes to connections but will try to add some general ones to this part later or tomorrow as in monday bc it’s already past 3am n i’m [ madison beer vc ] dead.

[flourishedandsunkissed]

A Film for a Fool Who Dreams

Obviously La La Land has taken the world and awards season by storm. I’ve only gotten to see it once so far, but I smiled through nearly the whole film, even when I was crying. But this isn’t a review of La La Land, and it isn’t about Mia and Sebastian’s romantic relationship, this is an entry explaining what it means to me as a dreamer, an artist, and as a little suburban girl.

Quick thought that’s always on my mind: When we say “Hollywood” we’re usually using the synecdoche for the film industry. However, I see it as the film industry, the music industry, and television–reality and fiction. This is the system that either creates or manufactures celebrities. 

I appreciated Mia and Sebastian’s deep investment in their respective aspects of Hollywood. Firstly because they’re able to teach other about what matters to them. Upon getting lost in San Francisco, my friend and I were discussing just that, film and music. He was teaching me about the intricacies of various genres and I shared with him what I think makes a film work. Additionally my brother has been trying to teach me about music my whole life. Some things I grasped and others I didn’t, but I appreciated being the student in someone’s passion. My brother doesn’t watch movies very often, but when he does I’m happy to engage in an enthusiastic dialogue. So simply, I can appreciate the dynamic because I’ve been a part of it and I think it’s realistic.

Secondly, they weren’t in it for the money. They weren’t looking for fame and wealth, that just became a benefit/detriment of pursuing their passions (well, I’m actually not sure if Sebastian was rich or famous in the LA area, but Seb’s seemed pretty popular). They were in it for the actual artistic value of their focus and the joy that it brought them. This is the way it should be. For the most part, I’ve been adamantly against the remakes and years-late sequels, and prequels studios have been spewing at consumers because they know they’ll do just that–consume the familiar. I’m not shaming you if you enjoy them, watch what you like. I’m shaming the studios for shunning creators of any age and background with big ideas and great stories to tell and opting for the get rich quick scheme that is piggybacking off of a story that was told well the first time and not even doing it justice. If you do care to end it though, stop watching those movies just because they’re there. The films I’m excluding from that tangent are those that have built a universe (Star Wars, Marvel, even DC, etc)–I don’t see them as exempt, but at least they’re working toward something. Even if it is about consumerism and capitalism to a degree, they’re bringing people joy and uniting nerds all over the planet! So back to the passion: that’s what should get anybody into it in the first place. That’s how you make good work. And honestly that’s what makes any effort worth it.

Thirdly, this was it for them. This was all they wanted. Deciding if sacrificing true love for your dreams is a different discussion that I’m not even sure of my stance on so I won’t go there. And I’m not saying having a back up plan is a cop-out, it’s a good idea. What I’m saying it wasn’t a hobby or a side hustle and then what do you know they made it! They didn’t settle. And I find that tremendously inspiring. We know it wasn’t without compromise or deciding at one point to give up, that’s more than realistic. And what’s even better is the support. Mia didn’t even want to go back to LA at first but Sebastian didn’t let her give up. And that’s what what kept it alive. She drove off on him and he crossed states to keep someone else’s dream alive. She endlessly supported him through his jazz dream even though it was her least favorite genre. I hope to have and to be that kind of friend.

And now to get specific with some songs…

Another Day of Sun Wowza. If you didn’t know already, by now you know I’m Californian. To open on a painfully crowded freeway was immediately hilarious because, again, it’s realistic here. Let me just add that this opening sequence is the most fantastic long take I have ever seen. Definitely a favorite of all time. The music itself makes me want to cry tears of joy because they’re stuck in the worst traffic ever and it’s so exuberant. I want to feel that way in traffic. Even more importantly: the lyrics. I’ve been on countless auditions. From Hollywood to my own campus. They’re awful. I’ve never had an experience as bad as Mia’s, but I’m sure her story is far from an exaggeration. I hate how they say “thank you” with no expression and look at you like Death when you’re giving it all your life. But this song. It encourages you not to fear rejection or take it as defeat. From the beginning it’s about following your dreams, being optimistic despite expressionless executives and endless auditions with no callbacks. It’s about getting back on your feet because the only way you’ll truly be defeated is if you give up on yourself. This is one of the toughest industries to break into and no one (without the advantage of marvelous connections) makes it on their first try.

City of Stars “City of stars / Just one thing everybody wants” Half the people you meet in Southern California want something to do with Hollywood. People from all over the world want something to do with Hollywood. That’s not a bad thing. I hope we all take it over and build it up to be what it should’ve been from the beginning. I want it, my friends want it, my brother and cousins want it. And just looking at LA driving in from the suburbs fills me and my friends with excitement from the beauty of the skyline and who we might overhear or see that day. It’s an interesting place. All the kids from the suburbs want to live in the city whether they want a piece of Hollywood or not just because we’re so bored with everything home lacks. So for me this song isn’t just about love and opportunity, but my love affair with LA and cities in general. Even though I’ve come to terms with the fact that I could never live in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica, or probably even San Diego proper, their lights, their history, their food, their beauty still has me.

Audition (The Fools Who Dream) Where do I even start. I’m forever filled with overwhelming appreciation for this song. I felt the excitement with Mia when she started working on her one-woman show, the anxiety with her when she finally executed the show, her disappointment with the turn out and lack of Sebastian, her defeat upon returning home, her dejection with the statement, “maybe I’m not good enough,” and her nerves upon entering into this last audition. I’ll always remember how the guest speaker at my high school graduation unceasingly praised the STEM students and seemed to render the artistic students useless. That stupid, painful, insulting Wells Fargo campaign. And just the way America treats budding artists in general. I’m a film major right now and sometimes undermine myself by worrying about how “liberal” I’m being. A film major with a minor in Italian studies? And an unofficial emphasis in creative writing? All of my roommates are STEM majors and they lament how much easier school is for me and I joke saying, “It’s okay! Because you know what? You’ll get a job!” I am a bit afraid. I shouldn’t have to be. Freshman year the popular question is “What’s your major?” and I always winced a little before telling everyone else film. But they thought it was fantastic. People have been telling me for years, “Don’t forget me when you make it on the big screen” after seeing me perform or reading my writing and you’d be surprised at how afraid I am of letting them down. I unfortunately consider myself a bit of a fool because of the way the system treats my mind and how part of me has bought into it. But look at me, I’m still dreaming. And I love working with people who are too. We matter. I admire people in STEM and business, but that’s not all there is. If everyone went off to be a scientist, who would write the music that relieves your stress, motivates you, and brings you and your friends together? Who would create your endless hours of entertainment on the plethora of streaming services you spend your hard earned money subscribing to? We matter. Don’t treat us like fools then praise us years later for diverging. “She told me / A bit of madness is key / To give us new colors to sing / Who knows where it will lead us / And that’s why they need us / So bring on the rebels / The ripples from pebbles / The painters and poets and plays” I always remember that speech when I hear that part. It feels like a call to action. And I plan to mobilize. 

Thank you to everyone that supports me, I appreciate you more than I can articulate. More importantly than remembering you “when I get to the big screen,” I’ll remember you whenever I dare think, “maybe I’m not good enough.” 

To the public school system who tries to program us and the corporations who want us to be their robots and ignore our skills, to the studios that are running out of ideas on their own:

You need us. Don’t forget.