#how about we all petition to get this movie the sequel it deserved

[author-morgan]

Title: Daylight Rating: M Pairing: Arthur x fem!Reader Summary: Arthur always knew you and he would make a fine match. ...hiding all of our sins from the daylight... I've now collected all(?) your husbands for my infinity gauntlets. a late merry christmas and an early valentines for you boo. @mrsragnarlodbrok.

“SORRY,” ARTHUR MUTTERS, “hands are rough.” He noticed how you pulled away from his calloused touch as he pressed the stained damp cloth against the bloody wound on the back of your shoulder—remnants of an arrow after Bedivere and the Mage helped him dig out the bodkin point. It’d likely been meant for him in the heat of the battle and he cursed himself seeing you fall nigh feet from him, pulled away to shelter by his kingsguard. Even with the power of Excalibur, he’d been unable to protect you—an age-old promise broken.

You lift your gaze from the charred stone floor, looking at your reflections in a fogged-over mirror on the opposite side of the room. Focus has his brows furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line. “You always say that,” you tell him, words slurred from the pain, exhaustion, and strongwine, and voice rougher than normal. This isn’t the first time Arthur Pendragon has tended your hurts and woes, and at this rate you doubt it’ll be the last.

Dried blood and sweat washed away, Arthur picks up the piece of tree bark with a salve prepared by the Mage to stave off the pain for a while and keep the wound from festering. Then, Arthur binds the wound with fresh linen and wipes his hands, kneeling in front of you—hands resting on your hips. You lay your hand on his cheek, thumb sweeping across his cheek, marred with dirt and soot. Leaning toward him, he meets you halfway, and you set your lips on his—a soft, fleeting kiss like the touch of butterfly wings.

“Thank you, Arthur,” you tell him, fingertips mindlessly combing through the scruff on his jaw. He straightens to full height but does so with a grimace. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?” You ask again.

“Just bruises,” he assures you, and this time, it seems like he’s being truthful, besides the few scratches on his hands and the slim, already scabbed-over, cut on his forehead. 

Arthur sits next to you on the edge of the bed, looking toward the open balcony. You both can hear the joyous shouts and chants. Bedivere and the others will only be able to satiate the men for so long. They will want to hear from the one who led them to victory. From the Born King. “They’ll be waiting for you to give a speech,” you tell him. 

“They’re waiting to go headfirst into the barrels of grog,” he amends, but if the out-of-tune songs are anything to go off of...  

“Sounds like they already have,” you laugh. Tonight, there will be revelries for the victory against Vortigern and his forces. In the following days, there’ll be feasts to honor the fallen and growing lists of preparations for a coronation. But right now, Arthur Pendragon doesn’t want to be a king just yet. Right now, he’s content just to be Arthur the street rat, especially when you lean your head against his shoulder and link your fingers through his—and then he’s certain there’s no one else in all of England for him except you.

“HIDING FROM ME? Or everyone else?” Your head quickly swivels to the side, only to relax at the sight of Arthur approaching. You cannot help but wonder how he isn’t cold. He's not dressed anywhere near as layered or warm as he should be for the winter evening, but somehow, he manages to look cozy even in just a scarlet linen-and-wool doublet. Stepping back, your eyes flit up to the scarlet-tinged leaves, still clinging to the branches of the white-bark birch, before looking beyond to the fresh falling snow. 

He stops at your side and looks up, too. “Was just thinking about what a bad influence you’ve been on my person,” you tell him, a small half-smirk creeping onto your features. Arthur tilts his head back in amused question, then stares up at the leaves and the silver sliver of the moon peeking through the winter clouds. “As I recall, I was an innocent girl before you came along and ruined all that.”

His blue eyes narrow, arms crossing over his chest. “You’ll have to refresh my memory on how I did that, darlin’.” He moves a little closer, and you sense his ploy, twisting and ducking when he moves to grab you. 

You face him with brows raised, smiling. “Such a brute,” you taunt, “grabbing at innocent girls in the castle courtyards at night. Is that any way for the King of England to behave?” 

Arthur only rolls his eyes, trying to smother another smirk, and this time, he catches your arm as you move around him. It takes little strength to move you how he wants—pressing you into the trunk of the great tree at the heart of the courtyard. His hands press against the smooth bark beside your head as he leans in enough to look down at you. The glint in his eyes is mirthful, but there’s something else shining in his gaze too—you’ve seen that look a dozen times now, and you’re almost afeared to think about what it can mean. “Maybe you have a point,” he drawls, wearing that crooked, boyish grin that makes your heart flutter.

Your laugh almost catches him off guard. His hand slips down to run gently along your waist, the other toys with the hair at the side of your head. You lean back into the tree more, relaxing as your hands find his waist to rest on. “My father sends his kind, innocent daughter to study in Londinium, and what does this strong, noble boy do?” Arthur raises his brow. “He shoves her against a wall in an alleyway because he has no reasonable way of expressing his feelings with words.” He was just a street rat orphan and you were the daughter of some fancy lord from far away—opposites in nigh every way but more alike than you ever could have imagined. “I was never the same after that.”

His head dips down into the crook of your neck, nose training across your throat and inhaling the scent of roses and lavender. “No,” he smiles, voice low—more of a muttering husk—lips twitching as he pulls back, glancing to your lips and up, “but you’re more fun now.” Your expression falls flat, and Arthur laughs. It’s nigh impossible not to grin or melt at the sound and how little it seems you’ve heard it of late—and by Merlin’s beard, he’s impossibly handsome with laugh lines crinkling the edges of his eyes and a lopsided smile. Leaning further into him, his breath dances across your cheek, the back of his fingers brushing along your neck. 

You exhale shakily, and Arthur teases you again with light presses of his lips along your jaw and neck—hands smoothing up and down your waist as he does. For a moment, your hands find their way to his chest before you remember how open the courtyard is and that anyone can happen upon the two of you like this. Glancing around, you breathe his name in a flustered whisper, hand pressing against his chest—the last thing a new king needs is rumors to turn into scandal. 

Arthur takes a step back, giving you both room, but then there’s a new glint in his eyes. The playful mirth disappears from his cornflower eyes, replaced by something more serious—kingly, even. It’s something he’s been thinking about for years. Maybe even since the two of you first met by happenstance in the streets of Londinium and struck up an odd friendship. But over the years, Arthur thinks he cannot just call you a friend, not anymore. What he feels runs deeper than that, and given his newfound title and responsibilities...“I’ve been thinking,” he starts.

“And does it pay well?” You quip in a poor attempt to lighten the now solemn mood.

He rolls his eyes, exasperated, unable to hide how his lips quirk upwards. “Would you let me finish?” And so you do, unsure what he must say or ask that warrants such a dramatic change in his usual demeanor. Arthur reaches for your hand, the rough pads of his fingers curling around and into your palm. He stoops forward, lips brushing against your knuckles—reverent. “I’d like you to stay,” he breathes, straightening back to full height. Your brows furrow. “Here,” he adds, “with me.”

You know what he is asking of you—marriage—and it should be an easy answer. Yes, of course. You’ve loved Arthur since before you knew what the word truly meant. But given the events of the last few months and the precipitousness of his proposal, you’re left speechless, heart beating in your throat until all you can do is run to the haven of your chambers with tears pricking your eyes.

A LOUD KNOCK on the great wooden door echoes in your bedchambers. You rouse from sleep, righting the oversized tunic hanging off one shoulder in an attempt to appear decent at the late hour. Part of you already knows who will be waiting on the other side, but when you crack open the door, it still surprises you to find him standing before you—wearing only a loose, nigh threadbare tunic and pair of dark britches. “Arthur,” you greet, rubbing the sleep from your eyes before motioning for him to come in.

There’s still an uneasy air between you after the earlier events and conversation in the courtyard—his proposal. “I shouldn’t’ve….” he starts as you do. “I should not...” You both fall silent, eyes searching the other’s face for an indication of who will be the first to speak, the first to act, but there’s only silence. 

“Yes,” you quickly tell him—the shock of his initial proposal has faded, and now you’ve never been more certain about something in your life. You still can’t say what it is that caused you to react in such a way—Arthur’s the only man you’ve ever loved, the only person you could have ever thought of having a life with, even before all this Born King shite. The answer is ‘yes.’ It had always been. 

“Yes?” He repeats with furrowed brows, not sure he’s heard you correctly.  “I’ll stay” —you reach to comb your fingers through his close-shorn beard, and he leans into the touch— “with you.” Forever.

He smiles, and it’s as though a great weight has been lifted from his shoulders. Arthur cradles your face in his hands, thumbs running over your cheekbones. You smile for him, and he leans toward you, closing the distance. His lips are on yours in an instant.

You answer his kiss, slowly at first, then with more fervor when you settle your hands on either side of his neck, drawing yourself closer. Parting, you press your forehead against his and meet his heated stare. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that?” Arthur asks, breathless.

Then he’s kissing you again and again—hands straying to your waist and backside, pulling you closer, tighter. And it fans the embers burning low in your belly to flames. Arthur breaks the kiss with an anguished groan—fighting a losing war with himself. He brushes back the hair falling in front of your face, the rough pad of his thumb running over your lips. “Tell me to stop,” he mutters—it’s almost a plea. And then he’s adrift in your soft and dark gaze, knowing if you do nothing to stop this, he’ll be acting on countless years of love and pent-up desire.

“No,” you breathe, catching his wrist and sliding his hand up from your neck—peppering his fingertips with gentle kisses. He watches you, lips parted and heart aching. Closing your eyes, you draw in a slow breath, and with a final kiss to his palm, you guide his hand to rest on one of your clothed breasts.

“Arthur.” You speak his name as though it is a quiet prayer. “I want you.” He pulls on the string at the neck of your nightshirt, loosening it until the gauzy material falls off your shoulders—puddling around your ankles, 

Though bare, you still hold his clear blue gaze. He goes silent as he draws in a sharp breath—eyes dart over the length of your body. His eyes darken, though, a mix of lust and adoration. “Think this is the longest you’ve been qui–” He cuts you off with a kiss, and one of his hands rises to cradle your cheek—the side of your neck again—and his lips coax yours open.

You sigh into his mouth, hands instinctively dipping under the hem of his roughspun tunic, fingertips trailing over the taut muscles of his abdomen and the scar on his ribs. Arthur breaks the kiss, quickly shrugging off his shirt, and lets the undyed piece of wool fall to the floor.  

Then, suddenly, he lifts you off your feet effortlessly. You hastily grip his shoulders for balance until he lays you on the bed—standing back to take off his trousers, and you watch him with a weird mixture of hunger and wistfulness as he strips. Arthur kicks aside his discarded clothes, then crawls onto the bed, making room for himself between your thighs—his clear and cold gaze burning with the warmth of the Sun and never once straying from yours.

You gaze tensely at his face as he studies you. His expression is greedy and appreciative, and the firelight glowing in his eyes just makes him look all the more ardent, and the longer he stares at you without doing anything, the more restless you are for him to act. You want his touch, his cock, his lips on yours, and all he’s giving you is this appreciative greedy stare, and it’s not enough.

Arthur kisses you again, and then he leans away from your lips and kisses the angle of your jaw. His mouth travels to the side of your neck, and your pulse flutters in your throat. His lips are surprisingly soft, and as his mouth trails from your neck to your collarbone, the delicacy of his kisses makes you feel lightheaded —a mix of pleasure and disbelief. 

He nuzzles your collarbone, then places a kiss just above the swell of your breast, and you arch helplessly toward his mouth. The heat of his breath wafting over your breast, making your nipples go taut with anticipation, and when the scruff of Arthur’s beard brushes over your nipple, you jolt and make a helpless little mewling sound. You twine your fingers into his golden hair, trying to hold him in place against you. But Arthur shoots you a quick smile, then shuffles lower on the bed still and kisses your breast —and you twist your hips, hands slipping from his hair to his shoulders.  

A sob leaves your throat—not a crying kind of sob, but an instinctive noise tore from your throat without your permission. He lifts his mouth from your breast and smiles at you, and you stare stupidly at his handsome face—the spark in his clear eyes and the boyish smirk twisting his lips.

Arthur palms your breast and squeezes gently. He shuffles lower still on the bed and places a sweet, open-mouthed kiss on your navel, and your sense of surreal disbelief ratchets to a nearly unbearable degree. His mouth drifts lower now, the scruff of his beard tickling your belly as he presses his lips to the skin below your navel and eases your thighs further apart.

Arthur places a kiss between your legs, and your mind goes blank with pleasure. 

“You alright, darlin’?” He smirks. You stare at him, too stunned by pleasure to find a clever response. Instead, riled by the teasing sparkle in his face, you spread your knees wide. His gaze drops between your legs, and his expression darkens with interest as he places his hands on your knees—stroking up to your thighs. He places another firm, wet kiss between your legs, and a helpless moan leaves your lips, and he hums with approval, a smug, half-growly little hum.  

You gasp in a breath, realizing you haven’t been breathing at all. Arthur lifts his head to look you in the eye. “Relax, love,” he croons, smoothing his palm over your belly as he laps at your cunt with slow hot sweeping strokes of his tongue. It’s not long before a finger presses into you, working you slowly open.

Your hips jerk softly along with his movements, and there’s unspoken interest in his gaze as he stares down at you, relentless in his efforts to see you come undone. His tongue and lips are at your clit, fingers stroking and curling deep within you. You jolt, and then he moves slower, dragging over the sensitive spots he’s discovered inside you and leaving your nerves tingling with every touch.

Pleasure washes over you in waves, making your calves twitch, your fingertips feel numb, and that high-pitched mewling noise leaves your throat. Overwhelmed—enraptured—you buck your hips toward his face and clench your fingers convulsively in his hair, and he keeps licking and kissing you until you can’t take it anymore. You pull on his hair to stop him, and he finally pulls away, lips glistening in the moonlight and fading glow of the firelight. “Enough,” you groan. “Need you.” It’s nigh a broken plea.

You shudder as he moves, situating himself between your thighs, calloused fingers dipping into your cunt to gather your slick and spread on his hard cock as he strokes himself. “Arthur, please,” you whimper, impatient, and he won’t keep you waiting.

He slides his cock through your folds before his angle changes just slightly, and on the next pass, your breath stutters as his cockhead presses just inside you—barely splitting you open. Arthur’s hand grabs your hip and angles you up just a bit so he can slide deeper inside you, and you cling onto his biceps—feeling his scars press into your palms and admiring the way his muscles flex under your touch. 

Arthur hisses through his teeth when he fully seats himself inside your warmth, then releases his breath slowly and smiles at you. “You’re lovely,” he murmurs, twining his fingers through yours, pressing the back of your hands into the mattress. From the moment Arthur first saw you in the Londinium streets, he knew your fates were intertwined—just as your bodies and hands were now. He trembles at this personal heaven, then draws his hips back, starting to move.

You laugh breathlessly, mindlessly. “Charmer,” you pant, hooking your legs around his waist. You roll into his thrusts, pulling him deeper. His ragged breaths and grunts mingle with your sighs of pleasure—panting scarcely keeping up with your racing heart. 

He huffs in amusement. “Can’t say that’s something I get called often,” Arthur says as he pumps his hips slowly, teasing you and pleasing you almost more than you can bear. Then he lowers his lips to yours in a kiss—there’s something sweet on his tongue, like honey wine. 

His whole body begins moving, surging, and writhing against yours. One of his hands releases yours and caresses your cheek before he slides it down your body. Without thought, your body arches into his hand as it moves, ripening under his touch—thoughts clouded by lust and love. His fingers find your clit at the same time his mouth latches to your neck.

Another guttural cry bursts from your lips. He’s pounding into you now, and he’s still holding your hand while his other grips your hip. Your breathing is loud, and so is his, and his hand is tightening on your fingers. He drags in a breath, then expels it in a strained groan.

He shudders, then pounds into you hard, twice, thrice, and then he pauses with his cock deep inside of you. His jaw clenches, and his grip on your hip is so tight that it’s almost painful, but you like it—just as much as you like the guttural sound he makes as he shudders in completion. A few long seconds later, he gasps in a breath, then sighs and releases your hand. “Fuck,” he groans, holding his weight above you on shaking arms. 

You beckon him to lie atop you, his golden head pillowed on your breasts as his breathing steadies, sighing when you kiss his hair and whisper a quiet, I love you, for him to relish. He stays sheathed inside your warmth, unwilling to part just yet. “I love you,” he murmurs in turn, never tiring of how you smile when he says the words. Sighing, he rolls to the side, and you whine at the loss of him and the empty feeling between your thighs.

He lays on his side, and you pillow your head on his outstretched arm, nuzzling close against his chest and threading one of your legs through his. Arthur presses his cheek to the crown of your head and strokes your hair as the first dregs of daylight break over the horizon, shining upon England, Camelot, and his future wife and queen.

[Forever taglist: @certifiedlittleshit / @erzsebetrosztoczy / @hereforreadandwrite / @mrsragnarlodbrok / @rigshak ] if your name is italicized, tumblr would not let me tag you. if you’d like to be added to my forever taglist, or any other character/fandom taglist, just let me know with this Google Form!

[moviepatcher]

The spider’s sense was right. We have a hit! – review of the movie “Spider-Man. No way home”

When the jaw is still on the floor, it's hard to write any review. Additionally, you still have to watch out for more extensive spoilers. The text below will be full of joy for a longtime fan of Pajączek and not even trying to hide his admiration for the film, but not without spoilers about the plot - I loyally warn you. I invite you to read it! Attention! The text contains spoilers about the field of the movie!

Parker is getting famous.

The plot of the newest part of Spider-Man begins precisely at the end of the predecessor, Far From Home. After a dramatic fight with Mysterio on the streets of European cities, the victorious Spider returns to New York. Everything changes, however, when a video recorded by his opponent just before his death is released on the network. It shows our hero as a murderer and criminal and reveals his true identity. Now everyone knows Spider-Man is Peter Parker!

Moreover, this secret comes from a man who dies a moment after its disclosure. As expected, public opinion is divided: one camp supports Parker as a hero, and the other craves his blood. The lives of Peter and his loved ones are turned upside down. The cup of bitterness is overflowing with the fact that neither they nor his best friends enter selected universities. What is left for us? It just so happens that an outstanding magician lives nearby. Can magic make everyone forget about the Spider's true identity? And is it a good solution? Aren't their villains in other dimensions looking to tear Peter Parker apart? You will find out the rest from the screen.

How many is Spider-Man there, after all?

It could be said that Without the Road, Home would not have been successful if it had not been for the previous Spider-Man movies. And no, I'm not talking about the two productions with Tom Holland in the lead role, but about the series with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. The villains, heroes, and fictional references to those films are the greatest strength of the latest screening. Combining these cycles and putting different incarnations of Spider-Man on your way is terrific. We've already seen him in the Spider-Man: Universe animation. Here, however, the concept takes on an entirely new dimension. Viewers feel a great bond with the former incarnations of the Spider. For example, Tobey Maguire is an inseparable part of my childhood. In my opinion, in the role of Parker, Tom Holland has always been the correct Spider-Man, but he did not match the character created in the Sam Raimi trilogy. However, I can see my favorite Peter alongside the other two here!

Fans can go crazy

I did not believe that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire would appear in this film for a long time. I avoided all spoilers on the web like fire and considered the leaked photos of the actors together as Photoshop. Of course, there were guesses, but guided by the philosophy of avoiding disappointment, I pushed it out of my mind. So when actors suddenly appeared on the screen … first Alfred Molina (Doc Ock), then Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin), Andrew Garfield, and then Maguire himself. I don't remember jumping that high in a movie chair since… no, I've never been so excited in a movie theater! Even though I'm already twenty-three, watching No Way, HomeI was like a preschooler. And I know every Spider-Man fan does precisely the same. The Internet has gone crazy, and Sony studio is already receiving petitions to shoot the sequels of the latest productions and the lost series with Garfield and Maguire!

Willem Dafoe steals the show.

In the film, we can watch performances that deserve an Oscar. Each of the actors looks good. Even the three main characters show a completely different side of Spider-Man. One is still young and carefree. The other is a dark man trying to overcome his demons. The third Spidey, in turn, is an adult, experienced superhero who immediately plays the role of a mentor of the other two. However, all actors are quickly eclipsed by the main villain.

There is no denying that the Green Goblin is stealing this show. Willem Dafoe is already 66 years old, and when signing the contract for this film, he made a condition – all fight scenes are to be played by him, no doubles. The actor returned to the role of Norman Osborn in 2002, and it was great! The terrifying facial expressions perfectly reflected the villain's split personality and mental illness. Here, the Green Goblin returns, even more, disturbing and angry. A mask no longer hides his face, and the viewers are scared by Dafoe's maddened, contorted face. The scene where Osborn is being mercilessly pounded in the front by Spider-Man, and we still hear him laugh? I haven't seen anything better for a long time.

Tobey mentored the Spider-Man

Are any Spider-Man better than the rest? First of all, each of them is entirely different. The creators managed to capture this, for which additional points are deserved. I will never stop adoring Tobey Maguire in this role, even though he is a different hero than we remember. He lacks that charming staring, innocence, and joy from swinging on cobwebs. He is now an adult man who has learned to reconcile his private life with the responsibilities of a superhero. As for the film's main character, played by Tom Holland, I finally started to like him. Before,

I thought it was too childish a version of Spider. In addition, it was powered only by gadgets from Tony Stark. In this movie, however, we can see that he is finally starting to grow up. He learned to live at a loss. He took his life into his own hands and even began to live and support himself. Work, study, rent – we probably know it from somewhere! In a way, Holland's Parker comes to a point in life that we associate with Maguire's version. He even creates his outfit, devoid of modern gadgets, similar to comic book prototypes. Could it be a continuation? May!

You must see this!

I could talk about this film for a long time, write about individual scenes, analyze connections, guest appearances of other characters, and so on. However, I would like each of you to experience it the hard way. Spider-Man, No Way Home is not so much screening as a pop culture event that must be experienced. I hope the production will give food for thought to the creators and show what the viewers expect. Fandom has gone mad, Garfield is back in favor, Maguire has to deal with the paparazzi again, and Dafoe has proven he deserves an Oscar.

For the movie Spider-Man: No Way Home, we invite you to the Rdxhd !

[notmuchofarolemodel]

music- sia’s movie

originally written on jan 24 2021

I can’t believe i’m writing about this. again.

So, if you didn’t already know, Sia directed a movie about an autistic girl, starring Maddie Ziegler. This is problematic for so many reasons, including the fact that Maddie is allistic (not autistic), Sia did next to no research on autism before directing the movie, and after announcing the movie, she took to twitter and attacked autistic people voicing their opinions. But she’s done so many more awful things since. So yay, article by me, the sequel. /s

Sia has done a few interviews over the last while about her movie and has responded to criticism about it. (very badly.)

Despite her claims, Sia was never going to cast an autistic actor in the first place. She said:

“I realized it wasn’t ableism [Casting Maddie]. I mean, it is ableism I guess as well, but it’s actually nepotism because I can’t do a project without her. I don’t want to. I wouldn’t make art if it didn’t include her.”

It was also found that Sia said had written a film for Maddie a long time ago- in 2015- which almost certainly means she never had any intentions of casting an autistic person.

The plot of the movie, and a clip have both been leaked since the release of the trailer in November.

‘Music’ falls back on harmful Hollywood sterotypes again, and again- but yet, after it was no longer fresh news, almost nobody but the autistic community was talking about it. It’s still set to be released soon this year, but stereotypes such as ‘autism = special/savant abilities’ as seen in Rain man, and ‘Autistic people don’t have feelings’ - are ones that lead to underdiagnosis, and biases in the professional world.

“We are particularly alarmed that Sia has said it would be ‘cruel’ to cast a nonspeaking autistic person as an actor. It suggests that she thinks that autistic people don’t understand our own lives and aren’t the people who should be telling our own stories. When people tell stories about autism that cut out an autistic point of view, when storytellers view us as objects to tell inspirational stories about, or when autism is treated as a narrative device rather than as a disability community full of real people, the stories that are told fall flat, don’t speak to our reality, and are often harmful to us.” -Zoe Gross, ASAN

Sia refused to refer to her main character as disabled, and only used the term ‘special abilities’ which just further proves how these sterotypes affect people’s view of autistic people. In today’s society, autism is a disability, and that’s not a bad thing. She also described the film as “Rainman, the musical- but with girls”

There are several meltdown scenes in the movie, and one of them has been leaked in a clip. In this, Music is having a meltdown in a park, and she is then held in prone restraint. Meaning she was jumped on top of and pinned to the ground. This was not only unnecessary, but potentially deadly. This film is going to be big, if it gets released, and it was very much made for a neurotypical audience’s enjoyment. People will likely see this movie, and think that restraining an autistic person is ok. It’s not. This is how people get killed. Recently a story came up about Eric Parsa, a 16 year old autistic boy who was killed at the hands of the police last year, after they used this ‘technique’ on him.

Regarding this scene Sia said, “If they [cinema-goers] watch the movie, it will allow them to touch into their compassion. That scene was so important to me, because of all the people staring. I felt compelled to put it in.”

This is why people need to listen and learn from actual autistic people. There’s so much dangerous misinformation out there, and it’s unacceptable. There is nothing ‘compassionate’ about harming people, and autistic people are people. i.e people who deserve the same rights and dignity as everyone else.

Sia continues to further dehumanize autistic people by constantly talking about ‘levels of functioning’. humans are impossibly complex, and there’s no one way to function. In an interview with Sia, nonspeaking autistic people are compared to ‘inanimate objects, like wigs’.

Sia also said “People functioning at Music’s level can’t get on Twitter and tell me I did a good job either.” This is untrue, firstly because, again- there’s no one way to function, and just because a person can’t speak, doen’t mean they don’t have a right to opinions, and feelings (and it definitely doesn’t mean they should be compared to ‘inanimate objects’), and secondly because many nonspeaking autistic people have taken to twitter and social media to tell her she’s done a bad job, she’s just chosen to ignore and insult them.

This whole thing is so infuriating, and it’s very obvious that Sia does not care about autistic people.

“Sia being ableist AF while claiming she meant well is some serious abled savior bullshit. I can’t believe so many people green-lit this project & the press team approved the ‘special abilities’ language. Disabled people clearly weren’t part of this production team.” -Kristen Parisi via twitter

She also claimed she decided to make the movie because she was inspired by a 16-year-old named Stevie that she met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. “Stevie used to sit next to me in the front row at my AA meetings. He was low-functioning and on the spectrum with echolalia; he’s the reason I wanted to make this movie,” she said. Autistic people don’t exist simply to be inspiring or make you feel good about yourself. We’re people, who just want to go about our lives, the same as anyone else- we don’t need a cure and we don’t need to fit people’s idea of what autism is, just let us be, please.

Finally, I’m just going to touch on the question ‘Why isn’t any criticism being directed at Maddie?’ This is because she likely didn’t have much say in the film at all. Keep in mind that she was only 13/14 at the start of this project. Sia also said Maddie was worried that people would think she was mocking autistic people. The film is a mockery of autistic people, but Sia is at fault.

“She had researched her role for two years, we watched movies together, and I taught her the nuances and ticks I had observed from [a] friend [with autism],” Sia said. “We did this in the most sensitive and respectful way.”

I can confirm that that is very much not sensitive and respectful- not to mention that Maddie also watched autism meltdowns as a part of her reseach too (filming a meltdown is incredibly dehumanizing) , but the fact that she learned how to ‘act autistic’ from sterotypes, taught to her by a person who just, doesn’t know anything about autism is awful, but also quite absurd. It makes no sense.

No, I do not wish to watch an abled-bodied actor wear my stims like itchy clothes. A caricature of my being.

No, I do not want to see her dance around in skin not her own, profiting from a life not her own.

No, I do not wish to support yet another film that will profit off the lives of disabled bodies without one disabled body involved. -tiffany hammond

I recieved quite a bit of backlash when I posted the first time about why casting a nondisabled actor for a disabled role is bad- from allistic people, so if any of you are reading this as nondisabled people- I literally do not care if you disagree, you don’t get to dictate how autistic people feel. Try a little harder to get out of your own head and see things from another person’s perspective xx

Now, for the love of God, please don’t watch this movie if it comes out in February, and listen to Autistic voices. : Here is a thread of positive autistic representation instead :)

click here for thread!

Sign the Petition

Filming & posting videos of children's autism meltdowns on YouTube is a clear violation of YouTube's community…www.change.org

link

Sign the Petition

Sia has announced she is directing a movie about an autistic woman, and claims she wants to represent the…www.change.org

all other relevant links are linked within the underlined text.

my original article - link

[strawberriestyles]

Chapter 10

(Banner made by sweet sunshine @harry-nofookingway-styles​)

Harry X OFC (AU)

Sequel to Brutality: In which Melody and Harry must relearn how to navigate one another among a flurry of changes.

Read previous parts here.

Author’s note: Hope y’all are doing well, taking care of yourselves, and continuing to fight the good fight. Here is a post containing links to petitions and donations regarding Yemen. Help out where you can. I love y’all so much. Xx

Harry made sure that Melody slept soundly the next few nights, but she moved as though she were still tired, haunted. He wondered if this was how she’d passed the months without him.

The bruise on her jaw yellowed quickly, but the split in her cheek took longer to begin knitting itself back together. She cleaned it twice a day and Harry dabbed ointment on it before bed. She no longer winced when he came into contact with the swollen skin at its edges.

Melody was staring out her bedroom window on Wednesday morning as she chewed toast, sitting wrapped back up in the sheets. Harry watched her eyes unfocus while he picked at one of Bea’s raspberry muffins—they weren’t half bad.

“Mel, yeh sure yeh’re all right?”

She glanced at him and took another bite of her food before she nodded.

“Yeah, I’m just trying to figure out if Vanessa has the morning shift today.”

“Why don’ yeh just ask her?”

“Right.” She reached for her phone and nearly flipped the plate holding the rest of her toast. Harry shook his head.

“Are yeh tired? Did yeh get enough sleep?”

“I slept fine.”

“Then wha’s wrong?”

Melody’s thumbs danced across her phone screen and she threw the device across the bed before shrugging. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Mel.” Harry placed the last few bites of his muffin on her plate and ran a hand down her spine. “C’mon now.” He watched as she began peeling apart the wedges of an orange and saw her fingers shake.

“I—” Melody cut herself off and bit into a piece of fruit, biding her time. She tugged restlessly at the edges of orange peel when she’d finished chewing. “I keep having these nightmares. And Colton’s in them.”

“I know, love.” Harry leaned in and pressed a kiss to her clothed shoulder. “What happened would give anyone nightmares. We’re okay, though. And—”

“No, it’s not just memories it’s—“ She drew in a long breath to prepare herself. She never talked about her nightmares. Not even with Bea, who had been the one to comfort her when Harry wasn’t here. But if anyone deserved an explanation, it was Harry. “There are two different dreams. The one I’ve been having ever since— Um, for months. It’s partly a memory. I’ve got your head in my lap and you’re bleeding, but I can’t move my hands, and I can’t scream, and the blood just keeps coming—“

“Melody,” Harry interrupted. Her voice was growing thicker, her words slurring together. He felt like there were pieces of him splintering in his chest the longer he listened, the more hysterical she became. “Stop it. Yeh’re freakin’ yourself out.”

She’d never talked to him about the day he was shot. He hadn’t known she’d been so close, had held him, thinking that he was dead or dying. His entire body ached when he thought about holding her like that, feeling helpless, void of hope. His eyes stung, and he hadn’t cried in years. He forced himself to blink away the pain.

“No, I need to tell you,” Melody insisted, choking on a sob. She didn’t pause before trundling on, afraid that she’d begin crying too hard to speak. "You keep bleeding and there’s so much that it starts to flood the room. I feel like I’m going to drown in it. And I still can’t move my hands, and I can’t get up, but somehow I can turn my head and the closet door is cracked open and Colton’s just standing there. Just watching.”

“He was still there?”

“No, not really. Just in the dream. He was gone by the time I found you.”

The space between them grew quiet. Melody’s lips were trembling, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

“The other one just started. In that dream, I wake up in the middle of the night and you’re fine. You’re right here and you’re sleeping, but I look up and he’s just standing there again. He’s here. And then I can’t move again. I’m stuck. I just have to lay there until I wake up."

Melody sounded winded, but relieved to have spilled her nightmares. Harry watched her gasp in a steadying breath, swiping the back of her hand over her wet cheeks, and then lift another orange slice to her mouth. He could feel the muscles in her lower back twitching, as if she were winding up for a fight, or remembering the adrenaline that accompanied a good hit.

“He wouldn’ come here, love.”

“How do you know that?” 

“Doubt he’s been within a hundred miles of us since April,” Harry assured her, “and he wouldn’ come back here just to find me. Or to find you. He doesn’ wanna go to prison, Mel, no matter how fucked up he is, and the cops have been looking for him for months. Yeh’re safe, okay? We’re both safe.”

Melody swallowed down her orange and the lump that had risen in her throat. She turned her head away from Harry so that he wouldn’t see the tears continuing to fill her eyes. She’d had enough vulnerability to last a lifetime just within the past few weeks.

“Nothin’s gonna happen to either of us,” Harry whispered, feathering kisses over the bared skin of her neck while he waited for her to respond. When she didn’t, he sighed against her hair. “Yeh haven’ been sleepin’? I didn’ think yeh were wakin’ up.”

“I have been sleeping,” Melody assured him, swiping viciously at a fallen tear before she turned to look out the window and let Harry see her face again. “I just feel like my sleep is more exhausting than actually being awake.”

“Maybe we should start druggin’ yeh.”

“Ha ha.”

Harry shifted until he had a clear view of her face, of her puffy eyes and gnawed lip. He tilted his head until he could touch his cheek to his shoulder. “‘M serious. Helped me sleep when I was younger. Could get rid o’ your dreams completely.”

Melody’s frown deepened. She shook her head and scooped up her plate, crawling over Harry’s outstretched legs. “No, I’m fine.”

“Mel, yeh’re tired.”

“I’m fine.”

He watched her shuffle out of the room and scratched at the prickly scruff that was beginning to shadow his jaw. He heard dishes clinking in the kitchen and cupboards being rifled through. Then there was a considerable silence before Melody reentered the room. She avoided his eyes as she chose clothes for the day.

“Hey.”

Melody paused and picked at her lower lip.

“Please, come here,” Harry murmured.

She stepped gingerly across the room until she stood beside the bed, and she looked reminiscent of a child about to be scolded. Harry’s fingers drew her closer by her thighs.

“Love, ‘s ridiculous for yeh to be embarrassed by somethin’ like a nightmare. Yeh think I’ve never had a fuckin’ nightmare?”

“I’m not embarrassed, Harry.”

“Then yeh would’ve told me already.”

She held her breath, formulating words that she didn’t make coherent enough to speak. Harry tugged her down to sit on the edge of the mattress. He thumbed the teeth marks in the corner of her lip and watched her eyes flutter closed.

“When,” he whispered, “did yeh start thinkin’ yeh couldn’ talk to me? Love it when yeh talk to me.” He felt Melody’s shaking fingertips graze his wrist as he kissed her. She drew in a staggered breath when he gave her another quick peck.

“Sorry.”

“Wish yeh were meaner.”

Melody laughed as she opened her eyes. Harry tugged on a lock of her hair and ran his tongue across his lips.

“All right, get dressed. ‘M not waitin’ around all day. Wheel myself all the way to the hospital if I have to.”

Melody sank her thumb into the space Harry’s dimple usually occupied. She leaned forward once more to plant a kiss of her own on his lips, to sigh against his chin.

“I love you,” she whispered. Then she set her feet back on the floor and went to get dressed.

***

“Is this a joke?” Aiden’s brow was furrowed, his hands frozen, outstretched. He was silent for a moment and then he let his arms fall back to his sides. “It’s gotta be a joke.”

“What?” Melody asked.

“What do you mean, what?” Aiden motioned incredulously toward Harry and then crossed his arms. “That.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Melody,” Aiden began, “I have never seen someone improve at this rate. This is how they make it look in movies. It’s not how it actually happens. Not in real life. Coma patients don’t just wake up after months and start walking this fast.”

“Yeah, well, he is an athlete.”

“And hard-headed.”

“Rock hard head, yes.”

Harry shuffled the last couple of steps to the end of the short track and then leaned his bodyweight into one of the sidebars. His nostrils flared with every breath, but his skin seemed to glow, sing. He was proud and Melody could tell. It radiated off of him like steam off of asphalt.

Aiden stepped forward to help Harry sit, but all he did was spin around and start walking back the way he had come. Melody watched his steps, so much more natural than they had been even a month ago. His toes no longer dragged across the floor, his knees bent at more extreme angles, his ankles rarely ever twisted. When he reached the beginning of the walkway, he paused for breath.

“Think you’re about ready for a cane, my man,” Aiden rewarded, stepping in front of him in case he was ready for a break.

“‘M not your man,” Harry corrected, “and yeh can keep your canes far away from me, yeh freak.”

Aiden snorted. Melody had never heard him make that noise before.

“Seriously, Aiden,” Harry continued. “‘M not walkin’ around with a cane. Who am I, Lucius Malfoy?”

Melody’s lips parted at his reference. “Harry Potter?”

“Yeah, yeh made me watch a few of ‘em.” Harry glanced at Melody and then looked quickly away. She seemed stunned. “Tha’s the one, right? Asshole with the elf?”

“Yeah.” Melody’s astonishment was cut short when she felt a sharp poke to her side. “Ow!”

“Oh, don’t be such a wimp. I thought you had to be tough for boxing.”

“Yeah, for boxing,” Melody snapped back, spinning on her heel to face Vanessa. “Not for nurses who can’t keep their hands to themselves.”

“Boohoo.”

The pair grinned peevishly at one another and then Vanessa lifted a finger to examine Melody’s cheek and her smile melted away. “Ouch,” she hissed. “I’d be surprised if that didn’t scar.”

“Don’t tell me that,” Melody bit back. “Tell me I’m pretty.”

“You are pretty. Especially with those designer bags under your eyes. What is going on?”

Melody glanced behind her to be sure Harry wasn’t eavesdropping. He was struggling to hold himself upright while Aiden stretched and rolled his ankles one at a time, and he didn’t seem aware that Vanessa was even in the room. Melody took a deep breath.

“It’s nightmares,” she blurted, spinning back around. “Horrible nightmares. And I wake up and it’s like I’m more tired than when I fell asleep. I’m an absolute mess.”

Vanessa’s lips screwed up into a grimace of pity. Her eyes softened. She glanced over Melody’s shoulder. “He doesn’t know?”

“No, he does. It’s just—he doesn’t know how bad. It’s almost every single time I close my eyes.”

“What brought these on?”

Melody had been trying to discern the answer to that question herself. And she still didn’t know. It wasn’t Harry—she’d slept like a rock for weeks after he’d left the hospital. And she couldn’t remember anything that might have triggered this. But she wanted it to stop.

“I don’t know.”

“Have you tried melatonin?”

Melody let out a quick lungful of air. Vanessa sounded just like Harry.

“No, and I’m not going to.”

“Okay, fair enough.”

Behind her, Melody could hear Harry’s weight settling into his wheelchair, could hear him rolling across the room to work on different exercises. She rubbed at the puffy, raw skin around her eyes.

“What about your art?” Vanessa asked after a brief lull. “Or writing?”

“What about it?”

“Well, do you think getting your nightmares out on paper would help?”

It was a good thought. But Melody hadn’t picked up a paintbrush or a pen in months. She’d barely even cracked open a book outside of the hospital. But if it might help her sleep, she would spill over a thousand pages, a thousand canvases. She would drown her darkest thoughts with ink.

“Maybe,” she said with a confident nod.

***

Melody scratched out an entire line and then clicked the end of her pen. The words felt scrambled in her head. Whether it was because she was tired, or because she hadn’t written in so long, or because she just couldn’t phrase her fears, she was unsure. Two abandoned canvases lay flat on the floor beside her. One was merely a shapeless, flesh-colored blob, the other was indiscernible beneath a splatter if frustrated black paint.

Harry appeared in the doorway, wobbling, trying to support his weight with the new cane he’d been gifted. He clung to the doorframe with his free hand as he examined the room. There seemed to be only one or two paintings that he didn’t recognize displayed on the walls, landscapes and empty rooms in muted blues and grays. The mysterious green eye that he’d seen when he first stepped foot in this apartment still hadn’t been hung up. It was leaned against the far wall where it had been on Melody’s birthday. A thin layer of dust coated her desk now, dulling the wood. The plant which sat on the desk’s shelf looked parched and withered. And Melody’s fingers twitched around her pen, her hair spilled into her face from the loose knot she’d tied it in, and her eyes blinked too slowly, as though each time she closed them they resisted opening.

“Mel,” Harry muttered. He could tell she heard him, but she didn’t turn her head. “Lay down an’ try to sleep.”

“It’s the middle of the day,” she protested.

“All the more reason. Maybe yeh’ll sleep better when ‘s light out.”

Melody was silent for a minute. Then she began to click her pen. “It’s too quiet.”

“I’ll turn a movie on. Yeh can sleep on the couch.” Her pen clicked twice more. “C’mon, love. My legs are gettin’ tired.”

Melody slid her things to the back of her desk and climbed out of her chair. Harry began the short trip to the couch, knuckles growing white around his cane. Melody was there to catch him when he stumbled over the edge of the rug.

“For fuck’s sake,” he muttered beneath his breath.

“It’s fine.” She lowered him onto one of the cushions and sat down beside him as he dropped his cane. “It’s a process, Harry, you can’t be perfect.”

He grunted and she settled her cheek on his shoulder. Harry pressed a gentle kiss to her scalp. “Why don’t yeh lay down, love?” he suggested, plucking the remote from the arm of the sofa and turning on the TV.

Melody slid across the cushions until her head rested in Harry’s lap. She watched the screen change as he flipped through channels until he found a movie that he didn’t recognize. And then she felt his fingertips in her hair, brushing her ear, sliding along her neck. Of all the times Harry had touched her, so gently, so forcefully, so methodically, she had never felt him like this. This touch was thoughtless and casual, almost subconscious, and it made her very skin ache because it felt like an unexplored side of him. He was always so in his own head, sort of confused by the way he wanted to act around her and the way he felt like he should be acting. She could usually see the wheels working in his mind, but he didn’t seem confused now.

“Christ, I can feel your pulse,” he muttered, his fingertips stilling at the side of her throat. “Wha’s wrong?”

Queenie hopped out of thin air, a flurry of snow that sent newfound adrenaline pumping through Harry and Melody. The cat settled into the space between Melody’s knees and the back of the couch. Harry gave her a withering look.

“Nothing,” Melody eventually said, pressing her cheek more firmly into Harry's thigh. Already, she could feel her eyelids growing heavy, curtains prepared to fall. But she didn’t want to miss this moment, this unguarded glimpse of Harry.

“Then go to sleep, love. I’ll stay with yeh.”

Harry watched the movie that was on, though Melody wasn’t sure if he was absorbing any of it. As it was, she couldn’t keep track of the plot or the characters, but she felt Harry’s eyes fall to her every other minute. His hands continued to slip through her hair and tickle at her shoulders. And she didn’t feel herself slipping out of consciousness, she just fell without warning.

Chapter 11

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

What Humans Are Doing To Pepe Le Pew, Is Added To My Semi-Misanthrope

okay I don’t think I wanted to believe it, but I’m still in the middle of watching the video this video --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUpm9M45O_s

I’m watching it on the Xbox In the living room, but I just had to pause it and sign on to tumblr to talk about my feelings. 

I was watching some movies before that,

that has a crossover of live action and animation.

I love movies that has crossovers of the real world and cartoon world.

even if Pepe comes on a bit strong to women, maybe both toon and non-toon.

he isn’t as bad as some humans in real life, who have done far worse.

and if it is true that Johnny Bravo will be next, then I will have another thing to add to my Semi-Misanthropy.

I still like humanity, just not when they do stupid and insensitive disgusting things like what they are trying to do to Pepe Le Pew.

lucky there are some humans that know better and those are the ones that I still don’t find disgusting and doing that disgusting act on Pepe.

who by the way is a TOON, not a human.

even if he and some toons like him are “human on the inside”

they are Anthropomorphic.

even if some years decades back, there were such offensive cartoons

that are known as the Banned Cartoons.

but you can’t just mix them in with toons like Pepe Le Pew or even Johnny Bravo.

if the cartoon Johnny Bravo gets hurt in anyway by those so called women,

who think they are helping women by cancelling Johnny Bravo,

their not, and Johnny Bravo might be many things, but at least he doesn’t try to “hurt” women like most attackers do in real life.

  yeah both Pepe and Bravo flirt, and kiss the toon females in their cartoons,

BUT they do not cross the line into what some disgusting humans do in real life.

so don’t go and blame those self proclaim gift to women/adorkable toon romeos, for how some humans act in real life.

  also please read this too -->  https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/pep-le-pew-scene-removed-space-jam-sequel-actor-says-n1260282

but make sure to watch the video link first.

I have it on pause right now, and I’m still watching it, and I plan to check out the other videos that talk about what is happening to Pepe Le Pew.

then after that, I might just play Bendy And The Ink Machine.

if they wanted to change Pepe, they could of had Pepe end up in some kind of scene where he sings about how he only has eyes for Penelope,

and him ending up not flirting with every pretty face after they started to meet up again, and Pepe gets the realization that he is truly in love with Penelope.

but instead of doing that, they just decide to cut him out.

my fighting for Pepe has nothing to do with my heritage,

like my 23rd Great-Grandfather Philip being from France,

and well he was a very important person back in his time.

but like I said, my fighting for Pepe has nothing to do with one of my heritages.

Pepe deserves better, he is a Toon that should have some rights,

even if he and other toons are fictional, he shouldn’t be cut out of the movie.

 and it seems Warner Bros wont have Pepe appear in anymore future projects  

even if Penelope got a restraining order on Pepe,

for him touching others without their consent, it doesn’t mean he did what most humans have done in real life.

touching, could imply the kissing and touching of the arm or hugging,

not the forbidden zone, he ain’t No Holli Would.

if we want toons to be modernize, don’t just kill them off.

in one of the Looney Tunes Shows, where that new character Tina appeared in,

who I happen to like has Daffy’s new love interest.

Speedy ran his own restaurant and even had a dance studio where he taught other people dancing, he did thought Bugs was a real lady when Bugs was in disguise.

and Pepe he was helping plan Lola and Bugs’s wedding, and he was apparently married many times himself.

yes I can agree that Pepe can be a bit forceful in his smitten affections,

as well as him not being able to take a no for a answer.

plus if you watched any re-run of his cartoons,

you will see that he gets his karma by the shoe being on the other foot,

and he becomes the scared and running away from the lovesick female cat.

so how come no one is fighting for Pepe when he ends up being the one who tries to get away from the lovesick female...?

he wasn’t the only one who locked the door so the one he was trying to chase after couldn’t escape.

if you watch one of the re-run cartoons that has that episode,

it is the female cat who locks the door so Pepe couldn’t escape.

so how come Pepe when he ends up in the shoes/place of the females he tries to win the love of (even if it is in the wrong way) he doesn’t get people who tell him it’s okay, and he isn’t the only guy who went through such a terrible thing?

I don’t believe that Looney Tunes would go so far in their show of aggressive affection.

Pepe and Johnny might be many things, like not being able to take a No,

and tend to hug or kiss gals without consent,

but they are not the “R” word.

if toons have to get modernize, they shouldn’t be hurt like how Pepe is being hurt right now.

some cartoons aren’t for kids, and it should be the parents or guardians responsibility to keep the kids from seeing mature cartoons, or some mature live action/cartoon crossover type movies with mature themes in them,

until they are the proper ages to watch them.

I also want to say that I hope that someday the Cartoon Network’s name

is changed to “Warnertoon Network” because technically the Cartoon Network is linked to Warner Bros.

there is a old short, that is even shown on Youtube,

that shows Johnny Bravo having some form of attraction to Samurai Jack.

even if it could show some form of proof that Johnny isn’t as hetero as he appears in his cartoons, and his interaction with Jack shows that he might be either bi or pan, but not realize it.

it might not truly stop Johnny being the next victim.

I am not a feminist or feminism, even if there are some positive groups that are still fighting for women and girls rights.

I rather be a part of a Androgyny side, it could still fight for Feminine.

but it can be a group for both Female, Male, Andro-Agender, Gyno-Agender, Agender, any form of Binary and Non-Binary.

yes there can still be jerk guys who still think girls are beneath them.

but a guy should only feel that way, if the said girls are being sexist jerks,

and the same goes for girls who are treated the same way, if a guy is being a sexist jerk, then try not to give them power to treat you that way.

even if I know there can be good people in this world,

like friends, family and others.

I can’t agree with what is happening with Pepe Le Pew,

I feel it is wrong and if they have to change Pepe for the modern times,

it should show in Space Jam 2 Movie, that after meeting with Penelope again,

and he finds himself not hitting on other females, because he comes to the realization that he is truly in love with her,

and doesn’t want anyone else but her.

characters do evolve and change over time,

some still stay the same but can still be a bit different.

if they did have a musical in Space Jam 2,

it would have Pepe Le Pew singing about how much he loves Penelope,

and how he no longer wants to chase any other girl

but her from now on.

even if it is still good to fight for rights for women, but Pepe isn’t a monster.

he might kiss and hug without consent, but he would NEVER cross the line.

even if some cartoon episodes might give the misinterpretation he would.

also even if I do have a Semi-Androphobia, I know that not all guys are bad or dangerous, and some can be safe to be around.

plus there can be some guys who have Gynophobia,

which could be caused by different reasons,

one of which could have to do with being a victim of unwanted forbidden zone advances.

and even Mr. Max Landis did do such a disgusting thing,

Pepe should not be some form of scapegoat, 

or be blamed for that disgusting human’s actions.

like I said, Pepe Le Pew and Johnny Bravo might be many things,

but they would NEVER cross the line,

and do what that Shisno Landis  did.

no matter what bio-sex or gender identity you are,

if you believe that Pepe is being wrong, that I hope you can agree that what is happening to him isn’t right.

Pepe might think he can flirt or hug and kiss other gals without their consent,

and think they will fall for him, but he would never do what that Shisno did.

Shisno is of course from Red Vs Blue, and is what A.I. and Robots

call Humans, or in other words, what Organics are called.

even if Tali from Mass Effect does have her positive side,

and she does end up forming some type of friendship with Legion in one of the game timelines.

when she doesn’t form a friendship with Legion or starts to finally realize

that her people did the geth wrong.

she stays a dirty dirty shisno.

at least some quarians didn’t try to destroy the geth,

and wanted to help them, those quarians that did try to help the geth,

aren’t dirty shisno. but those quarians in the past were met with a bad end when they did try to help and protect the geth.

even if I haven’t been able to beat the Mass Effect 3 yet,

I know the info from reading or watching clips about it.

I hope that someone makes a petition to save Pepe and put him back in the Space Jam 2 Movie, and maybe have Pepe realize he wants no other woman in his life but Penelope, maybe even have Penelope realize the same thing too.

I know that there is a possibility by the time the movie is fully finished,

Pepe might still be out of it, which isn’t fair and should be fixed.

Pepe is a bit aggressive in his flirting, but he isn’t a monster like some humans are in real life.

if ya want to change Pepe a bit, to make him less how he was in his older cartoons, then make it so that he at least gets a slap or takes one No for answer.

Pepe acting the way he does, could mirror how Johnny Bravo acts, but a big differently.

yes Pepe is suppose to be French, but who he is wouldn’t have to do with his heritage, he is flirty and can take his flirting in the wrong direction.

but he is not a monster who would hurt the females he tries to win the love of,

if someone says that in some non-canon work that has Pepe in it,

it would NOT be canon to the canon Pepe.

 Pepe being the way he is, would have to do with the person he is on the inside,

not because of where he comes from.

if we want to save Pepe Le Pew, then how he ends up chasing women,

can be changed a bit when he finally take the first or few signs of no,

as  sign that he needs to stop, or his flirting can be played down a bit,

so it doesn’t get misinterpreted as being something that would cross the line to the forbidden zone.

I know that not everyone will see reason or try to understand that Pepe Le Pew,

might be a bit aggressive when he falls in love, or becomes attracted to someone that he believes he is in love with, but really he might not of truly have fallen in love before.

Pepe could have have his character developed a bit more

so he doesn’t get misinterpreted as one of the dangerous men/women that are seen in real life.       

yes I am counting the women too, because there are some who are just as bad as men.

and yes as the title shows, what is happening with Pepe Le Pew,

is something that I have mentally added to my reasons to dislike humanity.

even if I still have some love for humanity,

it is what Pepe Le Pew that I just can’t stand.

if Pepe has to get rebooted to save him from the metaphorical dip,

which is because of the different reasons he is cut from the Space Jam 2 Movie, then I would be for Pepe’s character being rebooted if it saves him.

if they do reboot him a bit, but still have him be a flirt, they could make it so that he does take a No for answer, but would just do friendly flirts from time to time

but not cross the uncomfortable line.

they could even have his Nationally Changed a bit,

like him being American, but having French heritage.

I mean I am from America, but I do have French heritage,

sadly I can’t speak the language and might only know a few words.

I got a few other different heritages too...

but I strongly believe that Pepe Henri Le Pew, deserves better.

and if rebooting him saves him from being no longer used by a Warner Brothers and keeps humans from misinterpreting him, because of how he is as a person on the inside, then I am for him rebooting him if it means he can be back on the Space Jam 2 Movie.

how some people act wouldn’t have to do with where they come from,

it would have to do with the person they are on the inside.

and I hope some of you understand that and don’t misunderstand.

I want to believe there can be hope for Pepe Henri Le Pew,

that if he does end up back in the movie, those who work on the movie

will point out they will change Pepe a bit, and make it so that he doesn’t flirt the same way he had done in the past, and will fall in love in the movie and no longer have eyes on anyone but who he has fallen for.

once more Pepe should not be blamed for what some shisno guy did,

and if he is causing misunderstandings of any kind,

just reboot him and make it so he flirts but he does take a no, and even does friendly flirts without crossing the line of no touching like hugging or kisses without the consent.

consent is very important, and I still think Pepe’s old cartoon where in the end

he ends up being the one who becomes the runner while the female cat ends up chasing him, should be mention.

Pepe might be the type that is desperate for romantic love but never truly fell in love and only felt attraction.

and he just goes about it the wrong way, but if he never truly crossed the forbidden zone line, that would mean that Pepe would have some form of

Moral Compass where he knows there are some actions he would not take to try to win the heart of those he chases.

he might cross the line of hugging and kissing and unwanted cuddles,

but I don’t believe he would cross to the forbidden zone line, where it goes beyond hugs, kisses and cuddles.

Put Pepe Le Pew back in the Space Jam 2 Movie,

but make sure there is info saying that his character will be changed a bit,

to be less aggressive in his flirting, and he has learn to take No for answer,

and his flirting has transformed into friendly flirting, and he no longer kisses or hugs a woman without her consent.

I can only hope some other fans of Looney Tunes, feel the same and will speak out about it.

if they go after Fifi too, then that would be another line crossed,

yeah she can be a bit aggressive when chasing after boys,

but she does seem to have a love interest in Hampton, who likes her back.

but she wouldn’t cross the line either.

I need to grab something to eat, I’m still gonna finish watching that video.

once more even though I am Semi-Misanthrope,

I still have humans that I still care about and I know that not all humans

are the same and wouldn’t just place the blame solely on Pepe.

and I really do hope he lets back in the movie before it’s fully finished,

and his character gets changed a little bit, so he comes off as a friendly flirt

that has learn to take No for answer.

Pepe and Johnny might take their flirting over the line at times,

but they would never cross the gross and physically harmful line,

where it would cause the person to become scared of either a man or woman that did harm to them.

the sooner humans learn this, I think the better it will be for all toonkind in the cartoons we love, both in shows, movies, video games and comics.

even if they are just fictional, even those like Pepe Le Pew and Johnny Bravo,

should have some form of justice.

see ya later and stay safe everybody.

I’m gonna go grab something to eat now, and continue watching that video

that talks about Pepe Le Pew. 

[crystaljins]

When the ice melts | Drabble

Characters: Jimin x Reader

Word count: 3.1K

Synopsis:  At Jimin’s insistence, you have waited until you bring home that gold medal to tell him how you feel.

Can you finally say it?

Sequel drabble to When the Ice melts

Notes: I left this fic as an open ending originally because I wanted my readers to imagine how things worked out for Jimin and reader, but since you guys have been so sweet and showered my fic with so much love, I figured there was no harm in a tiny, mini sequel. It’s very half-assed and written quite carelessly but hopefull it gives you the closure you are all searching for, haha. 

Warnings: Jungkook calling people idiots. Kissing. Silly people lol.

The entire nation is holding its breath.

Every camera in the arena is trained on you. Your face is being broadcast across every major channel your country has to offer. You’re out of breath and some of your hair has dislodged slightly from its careful styling. But nothing can dim the brightness in your eyes as you beam, breath caught in your throat and heart on the verge of taking flight. Surely you will be taking home the Olympic gold medal after a performance like that.

Though technically the results won’t be announced until later, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind who the recipient of the gold medal should be. You didn’t just skate on that ice- you soared. You glided- you danced. One of the judges even raises his handkerchief to dab gently at his eyes, a movement he thinks is subtle enough to go undetected but is actually being caught by a lucky reporter. It will be broadcast as a viral video when the news over the next few days.

But you are oblivious to that, oblivious to way that you glow like something ethereal as you step off the ice. You catch the eye of your choreographer and she winks at you, proud of how you made her choreography come alive. In a few days, her phone will be ringing off the hook as people who are desperate to capture the magic of your performance want to hire the creative mastermind behind it. She will merely smile and accept the offers though she knows the truth- that while her choreography is good, only you can bring the soul and joy to it that will win you the gold medal.

So, if you are oblivious to the way your stunning performance will and has changed so many lives in that exact moment, what is it that you are thinking after having delivered a routine that will go down in the history books of the figure skating sport? You’ve always been a one-track mind kind of girl. It’s how you were able to focus solely on ice skating and nothing else throughout your youth, and no clearer does this personality trait show as in this moment: Your eyes scan the crowd and they go impossibly brighter when they find the target of their desperate search.

Jimin leans awkwardly against the wall in the kiss-and-cry area, obviously waiting for his athlete to wave off the crowd of people congratulating her and make her way towards him. His hands are shoved deep in his pockets and his hip is cocked- often he rests weight on only one leg, to take the pressure off his bad leg. Large amounts of reconstructive surgery means that he can walk normally, but sometimes in cold weather he still feels the ache. Though you are exhausted and sore after such a challenging and passionate performance, your body feels light, like you are floating on a cloud as you draw nearer. He’s always handsome but in this moment he is ethereal- light catches his cheek bones and you can’t help but admire the fine set of his figure. Though he is no longer a figure skater, he carries himself with grace even off the ice, even after so many years of retirement.

His eyes flicker up as he hears your approach. Perhaps he is aware of the many cameras trained on you, of the people still reeling from your performance, but for you, all you can see is him. His face, his smile, his eyes, the way his hair falls against his brow. You love him. You love him so much- he’s been your coach for over a year now and every moment has been precious. Even though he’s grumpy and bad at expressing himself, even though the only thing he can ever think about is figure-skating… You love him. And you can finally say it. You know that he’s been pushing you away for months now, afraid of interfering with your budding career, today is the day he will finally let you say the words.

“Jimin!” You call, and his smile is warm as you rush up to him, still in your skates. He doesn’t even hesitate as you throw your arms around him, pulling you into him and holding you tightly.

“That triple lutz landing was messy.” He mutters into the crook of your shoulder and you laugh. He pulls away and glares at you with a slight frown. “Is that a joke to you? We’ll be training twice as hard from now on! No more messy landings.”

“That’s fine.” You say, with a coy smile. “That just means more time with you, right?”

Jimin tries to look stern but he can’t keep the smile off his face despite his best efforts. What comes out is a strained but fond smile as he shakes his head.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” He says and despite the harshness of his words, there is no denying the adoration in his words. Because Jimin loves you too- not only has he said it before, but he’s shown it. In the way he buys you dinner after practice, or the way that he pulls you in close for a hug when the exhaustion and fatigue of training sets in. In the way that his eyes shine with love as he watches you skate across the ice or the way that he’ll rearrange everything for something as simple as taking you to a movie. And despite his insistence that the two of you have to wait until you win your first gold medal, he does not have the strength to stay away, and now he won’t have to.

“I know.” You say gleefully. He grins.

“Let’s go get that gold medal.” He tells you softly, taking your hand gently in his. He’s always affectionate with you- he likes to hold your hand and sit close enough so that your legs press together, and yet your heart still flutters at the warm sensation of his fingers interlaced with yours.

“Wait. First I want to say it. I lo-“ You begin eagerly. The words are always on the tip of your tongue, ready to burst forth but you’ve held them in at his insistence. You can’t wait any longer.

“Just a little longer.” He cuts you off. “I want to see that gold medal around your neck first. And then tomorrow we can go for dinner and we can talk, ok?”

You frown.

“Tomorrow is so far away.” You complain and he smiles and the look he gives you is tortured.

“Believe me, (Y/N), I know.” He says with a laugh. “Now let’s go get that medal.”

You sigh and follow obediently. They’re announcing the result in a couple of hours and you suppose if you’ve waited an entire year to be able to say those three words to Jimin, you can wait a little longer.

++

The press has a field day. The Olympics are sacred- the thought that there could be corruption amidst the judges is an outrageous claim and yet not a single person can deny that you deserved the gold medal. The only proof, however, is that the person who took home the gold came from the country where the Olympics were being hosted and the videos of your dazzling performance. Despite the petition that goes up to launch an audit into the score, the authorities come away with nothing. Perhaps you were marked harder than strictly necessary- highly specific technicalities that no one has brought up for years were subtracted from your final score, but they were all rules in the book. You even get a phone call from the distraught gold medallist, promising that she would never cheat and the results were as unexpected to her as they were to you. You reassure her with a smile on your face and you respond in all the interviews with that same easy smile. People can see the difference though- they had seen the way your smile normally reaches all the way to your eyes and how in interviews after the announcement they just seem dead.

You go back home with a silver medal.

A silver medal isn’t bad. In the past, you would have been thrilled with such a result. To even have the opportunity to skate in the Olympics is so beyond your wildest dreams and to do it with Jimin, your former idol-turned-coach is even more unbelievable. The experience was thrilling and when you rewatch videos your heart still races. A silver medal is a wonderful thing to receive.

The only problem is Jimin. His eyes had gone dark and foggy at the announcement of the results, like someone had flipped a switch. All the colour had drained from his face and he had actually had to leave the room. He hasn’t contacted you since and all your texts in the week that has passed have gone unread.

You know Jimin loves you, but you also know he loves you because he fell for your skating. And with his radio silence, you can’t help but feel the doubts start to creep him. Has he decided you aren’t good enough from him, because you were unable to take home the gold medal like he expected you too? Perhaps his refusal to allow you to confess your love hadn’t been a desire to wait. Maybe he wanted to see if you could prove yourself worthy of him and you failed the trial? Perhaps he never even loved you in the first place- maybe it was only the opportunity to go back to the Olympics that he loved.

All these thoughts swirl around until your heart is heavy and dark. You can’t even bear to go to the ice rink your father owns. Instead you linger around at home, sulking in your bed, refusing to see friends or go out. If it were just the silver medal, or it were just Jimin ignoring you, you would have been able to cope. But the two combined leaves you devastated until you can’t even bear to leave your room.

It’s Jungkook who finally drags you outside. Your parents let him in and he barges upstairs and storms into your room without knocking. He doesn’t even give you the chance to change out of your pyjamas- he just grabs your wrist and drags you. You aren’t weak- you’re an Olympic athlete, after all, but you find yourself powerful against Jungkook’s muscles and you are dragged pathetically after him like a ragdoll.

“Where are we going?” You complain, still in your cow-themed pyjamas and with unwashed hair.

“Out.” Jungkook snaps. He turns to glare at you. “You haven’t even washed your hair!” He notices with irritation. “The both of you are such a handful.”

You shouldn’t be surprised that it’s your father’s ice rink he pulls up at. He turns to you after parking and frowns.

“Now, this party was supposed to be a surprise to celebrate you winning your silver medal. Jin even baked you an entire cake. But you’ve ignored all my messages all week where I was trying to get you here for the surprise and Jimin has dropped off the frickin’ radar, so here’s what we are gonna do: You’re gonna go in there and have the time of your life. I don’t care that you’re in your pyjamas and that your hair isn’t washed. You are going to have fun. And then you’re gonna go home and speak to Jimin. I won’t be at the party because I’m going to find him and beat his ass and then drag him back to yours. Now go have fun. Jin will drop you home.” And with that, Jungkook is shoving you out of his car, still in your pyjamas, and speeding off, out of the car parking lot.

You blink a few times- the sunlight is bright and no doubt you look shabby in your ratty pyjamas and uncombed hair. But the sentiment is sweet, and you feel bad for dropping off the radar as you did. Taking a deep breath, you steel yourself. Jungkook is right- winning a silver medal at the Olympics is something to be celebrated and you can’t keep acting like the world has ended. Plastering a genuine smile on your face, you square your shoulders and step into the building.

What greets you first is the familiar, clear and misty smell of the ice. You only get a whiff of the familiar smell before it’s replaced with the smell of smoke- dozens of party poppers go off and confetti fires into the air as the few close friends you have managed to keep with your busy schedule leap out from hiding spots to scream congratulations. Someone has strung a huge banner across the far wall of the rink and someone else has turn on the disco lights.

“Nice outfit.” Jin snickers, and you gaze around at all the people who love you enough to throw such an event and you tear up.

The party ends up being a hit. There aren’t a huge number of people and the people who are there are the kind who don’t care that you’re in your pyjamas. They’re happy if your happy and it warms your heart.

You’re having such a good time that you don’t even notice when he steps into the building, dragged along by Jungkook. You’re laughing with some old school friends with a smile brighter than the sun and Jimin’s heart aches at the sight of you. It’s been a week and yet he feels like it’s been a year. He’s such an idiot.

Jungkook shares the sentiment.

“You’re such an idiot.” He admits with a shake of his head. “I’ve literally never seen someone so whipped in my life. Go talk to her, dummy.”

It takes a rough shove from Jungkook and a moment to gather his courage, but Jimin stumbles towards you like he’s gone a week in the desert and you’re a glass of ice water.

When you spot him, the cup in your hand slips to the ground and liquid spills everywhere.

“Oh!” You cry, and another friend rushes to try and help you mop up the mess. Jimin follows, crouching down to help you, but he just ends up bumping heads with you. You cry out in pain, stumbling back and rubbing the tender spot on your scalp.

“Are you ok?” He cries, diving forward and placing his hand on either side of your face, tilting your head around at different angles to examine the area he bumped. Your hands come up to grab his wrists and gently tug them away.

“I’m fine.” You say softly. And Jimin would honestly give his soul to make sure you never look at him like that again- with equal parts heart break and distance. He’s such a fool. And Jungkook obviously beat that knowledge into him, but he’s spent the past week knowing that to be true. He’s a coward who ran away because he couldn’t handle the fact that he had failed you.

Because for you to take home a silver medal means that he’s failed as your coach. And he knows you deserve the gold and that the judges got away with it by being sneaky, and he’s so frustrated that there’s nothing he can do. And it means he’s wasted the past year not showering you with love and affection because he wanted to wait until you took home the gold medal. So he ran away because he couldn’t handle the crippling guilt and misery, and as always, you pay the price for his own emotional incompetence. And the worst part is, despite the fact that you are probably devastated at being denied a gold medal that is rightfully yours, all he can think about is he can’t bear to weight another four years to properly date you and kiss you and hold you. He doesn’t even know how he’s lasted a year. Why did he decide you taking home a gold medal had to be the starting point of your relationship? He can’t wait that long.

“Can… can we talk?” He asks softly. The friend who is helping you clean up seem to sense the tension in the air and is quick to clear out. You bite your lip before nodding.

“I… Yeah. Yes we can.” You say softly, ducking your head shyly and he can’t help the warm smile that slides onto his face at the sight of you. He missed you so much in just the short space of a week.

It isn’t hard to find a private corner, but the second you do, the words spill out before he can help them.

“I love you.” He cries. You blink a few times in surprise. “I love you so much it hurts and I’m sorry for avoiding you. I was just ashamed and couldn’t bear to talk to you because I’d let you down. And I know that probably made everything worse and Jungkook told me that you probably think I hate you, but I don’t. I hate myself because I couldn’t give you what you deserve. But I can’t hold it back or push you away any longer. I love you.”

You’re silent for a few moment, staring at him incredulously and to his immense surprise you burst out in laughter.

“That’s why you’ve been avoiding me?” You cry in between peals of laughter. “Jungkook is right. We’re both idiots.” You say. Jimin blinks in half offence and confusion. Why are you laughing at his apology? “I’m sorry for only taking home the silver medal, but I’m not going to wait another four years to say it back.” You snap, and then before he can say anything, you’ve grabbed him by the collar and have pressed your lips firmly against his.

It’s like fireworks go off behind his eyes. Like he’s leapt into ice cold water. It’s everything he’s ever wanted and more- more thrilling than performing at the Olympics and more precious than the weight of the gold medal in his hands. And he’ll never win another gold medal in his life but he thinks he’ll spend the rest of his life happy if he can keep kissing you.

“I love you!” You cry, when you finally pull away. “And I can’t believe you made me wait that long to say it, but I won’t wait any longer.”

For a moment, he just stares at you, dumbstruck, but then a warm smile spreads widely across his face.

“Silver suits you better anyway.” He says, stepping forward to gently run his finger across the silver cat pendant resting against your collar bone. The one that you still wear even now, a year later that symbolises so much between you and him. “It matches this.” You shake your head with a laugh that is quickly cut off from him.

You’ll take home the gold medal next time. For now, the two of you have won something far better.

[therealawkwardstarfish]

Anyone else feeling like this?

So it’s been almost a week since the rise of skywalker and I’ve been a mess. Also, anti’s do not come at me. All of this is just my opinion. I’m allowed to have one.

Like don’t get me wrong, I thought the movie was okay but it didn’t really satisfy me. During half of the movie, I was literally asking myself if I was satisfied that this was going to be the last of the sequel trilogy and the ending for the skywalker saga. I really wasn’t and tbh. I actually felt more satisfied when I watched the last Jedi then when I was watching this movie. I even tried to avoid leaks about this movie, I even bought my tickets in advance to see it in theaters because I thought the theater would be packed, paid more to watch it in a bigger theater with surround sound. I avoided the reviews in case it would be negative. I basically wanted to judge the movie for myself before I hear anyone's opinion on it.

Which I why I saw it the Monday after the came out, so I can be able to fully avoid all social media in case if spoilers and because I was too excited to see it.

Boy I had my hopes up too high XD

Well for one there was barely anyone in the theater there was at least 20-25 people in a big theater, My friend I and were the only ones in our row. I was surprised cause usually for Star Wars, the movies are packed or have more than what I saw.

I came out of the theater kinda dazed. Both my friend and I were talking about the movie and how we were sad about Ben’s death but we were kinda happy that he at least got to save Rey in the end, but we were both confused and sad that we didn’t see him as a Force ghost in the end. We both understood the meaning of why Rey called herself a Skywalker was in honor of the people that cared for her regardless if she was a Palpatine and was in a way honoring Ben a little bit. At the time my only problem with the movie was the fact that Leia’s Cgi weirded me out XD. The rest was either meh, okay or  YESSSSSS. 

I was not expecting a Reylo kiss at all.

I heard about it before the movie came out but, it was confirmed that there wasn’t going to be a kiss. So I accepted it and kinda was okay with it cause I kinda like how subtle their interactions were but in a way it meant more. Also, they’ve been cannon through the novelizations, so I felt like I didn’t need a kissing scene. ( btw anti’s don’t come at me, this is just my opinion from what I know) I was happy for the kiss though, so much to where I didn't notice Ben smiling (i was happy dancing XD). I had a weird feeling though that he did so I asked my friend and she said yeah he did.

Then as the days went I realized I had some problems with this movie  The more I looked into this movie, read some opinions on Twitter, Instagram and on here, the more I realized that I agree with most of the negatives and that wasn’t really as good as I expected

Well for one the scene when Ben dies always felt like something was off about that scene but I couldn’t figure out what it was. After doing some digging I was happy I wasn’t the only one and was surprised by the explanation that people had about the scene was most likely done the last minute. It actually really made sense to me cause the editing to me looked a little off. It’s like one minute you see her with her hand around his face and her other hand somewhere on his upper body and then as he starts to drop to the floor, placement of one of her hands is already holding one of his. There’s even a theory that they reversed the scene to make it look like he died after reviving Rey and wasn’t revived by Leia.

 Leia disappearing right after he dies looked off. And Rey’s reaction to his death didn’t make any sense to me either, it felt as if she didn’t just watch her other half die before her eyes. I kinda understand that she might've been in shock or was trying to hold back tears, but it just felt off.

I didn't even know about them being dyads until I found out on twitter. When I did I ended up with more questions with answers.

Why build Rey and Ben’s bond as if they are stronger together and that their bond can go “through space and time”, basically make it seem like their bond as “powerful like life itself” and then kill off one half of the bond, in the end? 

Where is Ben?  cause he wasn’t a force ghost in the end and he became one with the force so that just somehow makes me wanna believe we're not done seeing him just yet story wise

What was the other ending for the movie? cause I am curious what the other endings were and what made them pick the one that’s in the movie

If Palpatine created Snoke, was he also controlling him? and if it was him this whole time does that mean he basically lied about creating the bond because he didn’t know about Ben and Rey being a dyad?

Anyone got Endgame vibes watching the battle with Palpatine?

I am all of the Jedi XD idk maybe since I grew up with Marvel and started watching star wars when I was 15, made me feel kinda off when I heard that and I didn't feel that the line was epic.

Also the more I think of it, the more I realize that I didn’t really like the fact that they killed Ben off

The dude’s redemption arc was a little too quick. I really think he should’ve lived to make amends, right the wrongs or better yet lived in exile or something. At first, I was okay with him dying like this cause it seemed okay to me. But after finding out that there was more to his backstory and read it, I realized that the whole entire Skywalker bloodline has been through pain and death. In a way, I kinda wished Ben was the one to put an end to that. I understand the counter-argument for Anakin’s death but the difference there from my understanding:

1) He knew was gonna die anyway. I rewatched the original scene and from my understanding, he said that nothing was going to stop him from dying regardless if Luke took his mask off.

2) At least Anakin got to say something. Ben had no lines

Not every redemption arc has to end up with the person dying.

The one agreement,  I can kinda get behind on is that at least he died saving the woman he loves, unlike his grandfather who tried but failed.

From a marketing standpoint though I don't understand why they would kill him off when they would’ve made a lot of money off of him with this movie. The fact alone that people are upset that he died and made a GoFundMe and petitions just for him to come back says something. Even on the Star Wars website for the poll, he’s #1 at 88%. I understand not everything is about money, but it’s like they sacrificed a chance to get a lot of money.

More importantly, I feel like they did Rey dirty

We first see her start her journey in a desert planet alone with a droid and it ends with her in a desert with a droid. Her other half is dead. Her parents are dead, Her grandfather is Palpatine. I honestly feel like she deserved better. The fact that they didn’t even give her a moment to mourn and how she's been through so much and for her to not really get a happy ending kinda sucked. Like I felt like I was mourning for her. That alone made me depressed.       

This whole movie just ended up making me feel like I didn’t really found any closer. Like I can’t So I’m just gonna wait till the novelization so I can understand it better and get answers about Ben’s death. 

Is he really dead?

 Is it true that if one dies the bond will still be there and the person that is living will feel empty like something is missing?

 Is it true that one person can’t fully die without the other in a dyad and they stay in the world between worlds until the other half dies?

 Are we going to have a comic or novel where Rey comes to get him back if that's the case? 

but for the time being, I’m going to just have hope and rely on fanfiction I know this the end for movie Ben and Rey unless Adam and Daisy say otherwise. But I will say this their scenes together and Ben Solo’s were the highlight of this movie for me.  

THIS LOOKS SO SICKKKKKKK AHHH

Overall I still think the movie was okay. I just think some things could've been explained more But that's how I feel.

[krawalito]

This post is not spoiler free. Its tagged but I don’t really give a shit anymore. I was spoiled and I am actually happy about it. my thoughts on Tros.

My fellow reylos. So here is my last post before I’ll come back tomorrow. I have another 6 hrs before I see the movie. But before I do I need to release some of my thoughts.

 I think I will find some scenes in this movie i am going to enjoy. I am not going to hate all of it. In general I am a very positive person so I think it wont kill me.

BUT here comes the big BUT. What the hell is wrong with American scripts/movies/shows? (this has nothing to do with American people but with the American film industry. Don’t get me wrong). What is this subvert expectations? What is this bittersweet shit NO ONE really wants to see? Did they not learn from their mistakes? I used to say you cannot compare SW with GOT but I was wrong. The premise yes is different, but the outcome of storytelling is still the same.

I loved GOT with all my heart. It was cruel at most times but still I had some hope that in the end everything will come to conclusion and it will not leave me totally frustrated. I didn’t expect an HEA at all but something better than the last season. I was about buying merch, I was about buying all the seasons, but I ended up buying NOTHING. This show literally doesn’t exist for me anymore. I erased it completely bc they screwed it up. Let’s face it they did. And I was not the only one boycotting everything post season 8. HBO lost revenue. Every company selling merch lost revenue. They did. And still we see the same storytelling style yet again.

What’s wrong with happy endings? Why do all of these big Hollywood companies think we want this cruelty? I don’t. and from what I read, listen and see the majority of people don’t. especially women. I am so sick that they use us, tease us but in the end, they don’t give us what we deserve. I am sick of it. The point of diving into fantasy is to forget about the world around you. The world alone is tough enough and I don’t want to be haunted by that when I watch fiction. That’s the whole point of fiction.

SW is about HOPE, always was, always should have been. JJ obviously missed the point. HE DID!

NO ONE wanted Rey to end up where she started. NO ONE. NO ONE wanted the most popular character to die like this. if you kill him then c’mon bring him at least back as a force ghost, bc that leaves a door open and it gives people hope. What the hell is wrong with JJ? Reys ending is the most ridiculous end of all times. And don’t get me started with Leia. Leia never had any luck in her entire life. And this is how it all ends for her? Not reuniting with her son? nope with whatever rey is to her. I have no words for that. this is bad storytelling. Period. There is nothing to debate about. It leaves me without any emotion.

I loved the idea of rey being nobody (if the leaks are true and she is a palpatine). That would have been the most beautiful message to all the young girls (and boys) out there that no matter where you come from you can become whomever you want to, and you can end up being strong and loved. But nope. She falls in love, she never finds her belonging bc ben is gone and ends up where she started with a fucking droid, on a dead planet. What message is that? Girl whatever you do in your life you end up unhappy and alone and some dudes who are not related to you say goodbye in a sunset. Praise the lord.

Ben Solo dies. For love. Which is a grand gesture right there and it makes his redemption arc for the GA plausible. BUT not for SW fans. And the fanbase is huge. He was the last skywalker. He was a victim. He was abused. He was the hero after all. And they fucking kill him. If you kill him JJ, make him a fucking force ghost so he can be with his family. What message do they deliver here? That no matter what you do, no matter what happens in your life.. if you are a victim and you do something bad you have to sacrifice yourself in order to get redemption. WTF how am I supposed to tell my kids that the story is just plain dumb? I am (I posted that on my blog) a teenager of abuse and I could see so much of myself in Ben Solo. Its breaking my heart.

And what about the rest? NOT important. Finn? Who? Rose? Who? Poe? Who?

So, what is the conclusion of this story? That the Dark side always wins. Palpatine wins again. That’s it that the story. Anything that came before the Sequels is pointless now. Sorry to say that but it is actually. And the only reason is because they leave us without any hope. That’s the key to SW.

 And please don’t tell me its fiction, calm down its not real. Yes, that is true, and my life goes on and I will survive it but its 42 years (for me a bit less) of a story that accompanied families and friends. Fiction has an impact on you whether you like it or not. I read books which I still think about because they touched me so deeply. Same applies to movies. MEDIA in general is important and has a huge impact on any of us. It influences young children and teenagers quite a lot actually.

So what do I learn from that disappointment? A lot. I will, and I am very serious about it, never invest so much energy on something that I do not know the end of ever again. I will not invest my money on anything SW unless its fan made. I want to know upfront if my expectations are met or not. I am 39, I grew up with Happy endings. I am not prepared for this new era of evil storytellers and I don’t want to ever get used to it.

 I want us Anti or not anti, reysky or reyfinn, reypoe, stormpilot (whatever the shipnames are.. I lost track lol) to express our feelings and let them know that we are not happy with it bc if we don’t nothing is ever going to change. We have a voice and we should use it. Use twitter, use insta, use FB, use change.org to start a petition if you feel the need to. Don’t be afraid we all feel it too.

 Last but not least… we Reylos were right all along. Reylo is canon. And that’s the tea. The last one until the movie comes out on dvd and I can see your beautiful gifs. This fandom brought so many talented people together like I have never seen before. Never forget without us there is no them. So use this power.

 Before I forget. Rian Johnson is a genius. The TLJ is a beautiful movie.

 This is my pre-watch Tros Post and I will make another afterwards but after all the spoilers now I am pretty much convinced that its all true. It won’t change my opinion on the story telling, that remains a shit show but it might change my view on the details.

[sketching-shark]

Absolutely Baffled By Many Current Takes on Star Wars

So question, but like...does anyone GENUINELY think that the Star Wars sequel as it currently stands is progressive?

 I know I’m just saying stuff here that a lot of other people have said before, but it seemed to have started off pretty strong (if unoriginal in terms of basic plot) with The Force Awakens in which we had the main characters of Rey, Finn, and Poe, who were, given everything else, pretty fresh. Rey was a young woman who was allowed her anger and her competence without being written as a sex object and who also seemed perfectly placed to be put into the role of inheriting the light side of the Skywalker legacy, Finn was the Black co-protagonist who was given a lot of good screen time and also written, as a defecting Stormtrooper kidnapped from his family and raised as a soldier, as genuinely brave, intelligent, and good (I say this while also being fully aware that there are a number of scenes that play more into the “funny black man” stereotype, which the movie does deserve criticism for), and Poe, a Latino man, was a caring and capable leader in the Resistance who had respect for ALL of his compatriots, women and men alike, and who was actually allowed to make it to the end of the film a hero without dying. Their identities as a white woman, a Black man, and a Latino man were subversions from who is usually allowed to be the heroes in big blockbusters (something that stirred a lot of anger, especially towards Finn to the point where there was a petition to have John Boyega removed from the role), but their statuses as such a subversion weren’t shoved in the audiences faces, which honestly managed to avoid the problem of tokenization. The relationships they formed felt genuine and meaningful, and at least I was really rooting to see how they would develop in the next part of their adventure. Not to mention the guy presented as the main villain, Kylo Ren, who was also the only young-ish white guy in the cast of new Star Wars characters, was clearly written as an entitled, creepy space fascist driven solely by the desire to get more power for himself at the cost of everyone else, including his own family. 

And then The Last Jedi shows up, and just considering everything it did and everything that followed, including now, I think it’s pretty hard to deny that in its obsession with undoing like literally everything that The Force Awakens set up, the grand result was just “subverting” everything back to an honestly pretty shitty status quo. Like...just think about the difference between how the personalities and the presentations of the characters initially set up as the new trio changed from one movie to the next!

Finn: Now bumbling black man caricature number 3,000,000,000,000 who can’t do anything right and who has to have a fierce woman tell him in the simplest terms possible why bad things are bad. 

Rey: Now all-forgiving woman of infinite patience and understanding type B version 5 billion whose main goal in the story is to try and save Broody McMurdersALot (the new version of Kylo Ren) from himself while she cries and looks pretty. 

Poe: Now hothead Latino stereotype version C subcategory iii who doesn’t care about those under his command and who is uncomfortable with FEMININITY and who needs to be slapped and shot by his superiors in the name of (white) feminism. 

And now, when it comes to Kylo Ren...it’s like, suddenly for some mysterious reason that we at Lucasfilms pinky promise has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he’s the only young-ish white dude among the new characters (lol), now he’s the character that deserves to be at the center of everyone’s sympathy and attention, now he’s the person who we will suggest is actually supposed to be the hero (despite him having committed a shit ton of war crimes literally one movie ago) , now he’s the person who we now need to focus on in a lot of our marketing and extra media and who we will constantly suggest may be definitely redeemable, despite the fact that he’s now LITERALLY the new leader of the space fascists, has rejected an easy redemption twice, and has never shown even the slightest hint of remorse for any one of his many atrocities! 

It’s like...on all fronts this “subversive,” supposedly “progressive” characterization just doesn’t add up at all to being actually subversive OR progressive, and the underlying goal just reads now as having been to return everything to the damaging yet familiar stereotypes that we all encounter every goddam day from a wide variety of sources both past and present. 

And I know a lot of people don’t like The Last Jedi for a variety of reasons, but all these things considered it was incredibly gross and honestly astonishingly hypocritical in how much Lucasfilms and Disney started to push this narrative that racist, sexist, manbabies are the only people who had problems with this film, when the film itself is chock full of racist and sexist tropes and stereotypes. Heck, I think you could easily argue that the film went out of its way to...ha...force a lot of racist and sexist tropes into the overarching story, even more so than past Star Wars movies did. Like...just for example, Lando and Mace Windu weren’t main characters, but as black men in Star Wars they weren’t treated with even HALF the disrespect by the narrative that Finn is suffering through. And now, instead of addressing any of this, we’re all just supposed to pretend that everything is okay and that the sequel trilogy as it currently exists is actually super duper progressive even while the story so far, the marketing, and the complementary material routinely treat Finn like shit, portray Rey as second fiddle to Kylo Ren, and puts attention on Poe only when they need a male character who has the lightest skin and who also isn’t morally reprehensible. So with all of this in mind,  I really have to ask one thing: WHY do so many people keep insisting that the Star Wars sequel is progressive? Because from what I’ve seen, there’s absolutely nothing that currently makes it so.  

[angelofberlin2000]

A wonderful article about the recent blossoming of the Keanu orchid ....

By Stephanie Zacharek                                                            

June 21, 2019          

One of the great things about living in the modern world is that everyone is finally hip to Keanu Reeves. Right now he’s everywhere: Not just in the superb sequel John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum, but on talk shows, as a character in the upcoming video game Cyberpunk 2077, and as a hotter-than-hell but also endearingly insecure Canadian daredevil doll in Toy Story 4. He’s on Buzzfeed answering the public’s questions as puppies scramble around him, and he has a cameo in a Netflix romantic comedy, Always Be My Maybe, playing a version of himself, if he were sort of a jerk, which, from all reports, he surely is not. Reeves has become the Internet boyfriend du jour, thanks in part to a series of photographs swirling around the web that show how respectful he is when posing with random fans—or even with Dolly Parton—taking care to avoid anything that could be construed as inappropriate touching. Keanu enthusiasts have even launched a change.org petition to make him TIME’s Person of the Year. That choice is made solely by TIME editors, but hey, you never know.   

Keanu here, Keanu there, Keanu, Keanu everywhere: This is a 54-year-old overnight sensation who has been making movies since 1986, the year he appeared in Tim Hunter’s teens-in-trouble thriller River’s Edge. At last, he’s getting the unqualified love he deserves, and those of us who have always loved him can rest easy. Now is not the time to gloat.

Who are we kidding? Of course it’s the time to gloat. There have always been people who love Reeves, ferociously and defensively, as a personality and as a vibe. How could you not like him as a time-traveling, mop-headed swain in the Bill and Ted movies, as a surfing cop in Point Break, as earnest, searching Neo, the One, in The Matrix movies? But historically, even people who like Reeves as a performer have often been quick to add that they’re not sure he’s a good actor. Before the Internet, there was a thing called dinner parties, and when the conversation turned to Keanu Reeves, you could be assured of hearing some variation of the following: He’s a bad actor. What he does is not really acting, he’s just playing himself. He’s good in action roles. He’s OK but he really shouldn’t attempt Shakespeare. He has no emotional range. He’s just bad.

The problem most likely lies not with Keanu’s gifts as a performer but with a general perception of what good acting is. People are often afraid to say anyone is a good actor, unless it’s Meryl Streep. They don’t want their judgment to be found wanting, and thus they make their own insecurities the actor’s problem. In 1993, it was almost impossible to defend Keanu’s performance as the resentful, conflicted villain Don John in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing without being laughed at. It’s true he’s not Shakespearean in, say, the Laurence Olivier mode—he hasn’t lived inside the words of Shakespeare for a lifetime, perpetually kicking away at the best and truest ways to push those words out into the world. His Shakespearean acting is a movie-star version, a kind of pop interpretation that speaks to us more through an understanding of movie images than through deep Shakespearean study.

At one point, the preternaturally miserable Don John lies on a massage table, his muscles being worked over by Richard Clifford’s Conrade, who seems to feel his friend’s unrest rippling through his skin and asks him about it. Don John springs from the table. Anger and envy have been coiled inside him like the instinctive energy of a snake—they snap out into the air, a visible force. This physical outburst sets us up for a flurry of bitter but self-aware words: “Though I cannot be said to be a flattering, honest man, it must not be denied that I am a plain-dealing villain.” The line spins out in a pinwheel of self-degradation. This Don John knows himself, and hates himself for it.

Is this good acting, merely effective acting, or neither? No matter where you stand, I don’t think you can watch Reeves’ Don John and claim he doesn’t understand the character—his intelligence works its way through muscle and bone as well as heart and head. It’s performance as vibration. This might be the key to all that Reeves does an actor, including his magnificent gifts as an action star. Movement is acting, speaking is acting, listening is acting, just being is acting: Reeves reminds us of all that, often silently. There’s thought behind everything he does, and reading those waves of thought is part of the process of watching him.

We often talk of movie stars in the old-Hollywood studio-system sense, charismatic and distinctive personalities—like Cary Grant or Barbara Stanwyck or Bette Davis—who always look like some version of themselves but who create memorable characters by layering multiple, complex veils over their own particular mysterious essence. Maybe Reeves is one of the few modern-day actors whose style fits that model. He doesn’t work elaborate origami folds to transform himself into a character; instead, he beams radio signals from within. With a trim crewcut or a lanky shag, with a stubbly mug or a clean-shaven one, with a scowl or a slow-burning smile, he’s always starting from the base camp of Keanu.

 None of this, though, answers the question of why Keanu, and why now? Other actors have passed through similar portals, seemingly expendable one minute and exalted the next. Before there was a Keanussance, there was a McConnaissance, the point at which Matthew McConaughey shifted from being an efficient actor in lame romantic comedies to being taken seriously in movies like Magic Mike and Dallas Buyers Club. The catchphrase became, “Wow, that guy can really act.”

But the recent blossoming of the Keanu orchid is different, maybe because, over the years, Reeves has proved that he doesn’t always need to be the center of attention. He launched a small art-book publishing house, X Artists’ Books, in 2018. He co-produced, and appeared in, the 2012 documentary Side By Side, an exploration of the differences between traditional photochemical filmmaking and digital processes. He has always been guarded about his private life, though we do know that in 1999 his then-partner, Jennifer Syme, gave birth to a daughter, who was stillborn. In 2001, after the couple had broken up, Syme died in a car accident.

We know this because it was reported at the time, and because it’s right there on Reeves’s IMDb page. But we don’t know about it because he’s talked about it a lot—he hasn’t. Reeves has erected some sturdy barriers against us, and yet somehow the membrane between his public life and what he truly thinks and feels seems fragile and permeable. What’s more, Reeves doesn’t seem to spend a lot of time on the Internet. Unlike most of us, he lives in the real world, and he makes it seem like a pretty good and grounded place to be. When People magazine, on the red carpet for the Toy Story 4 premiere, asked Reeves how he felt about the Internet-boyfriend stuff, he responded with a ripple of surprise: “I’ve been what?” When the interviewer elaborated, he smiled quietly, as if only to himself. “That’s wacky,” he said, clearly amused as he registered this new-to-him but not-to-us information, quickly adding, “But the positivity’s great.”

He also speaks candidly—on television, in the public eye—about things that would leave many of us speechless. In early June he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote John Wick 3, answering the usual questions about what it’s like to fight while you’re on the back of a horse, and so forth. And then Colbert almost stopped time itself by asking a strange, potent question, as if knowing that if anyone might have the answer, it would be this radiantly centered person sitting just a few feet away: “What do you think happens when we die, Keanu Reeves?”

Colbert presented the question jauntily, as at least a half-joke, both courting and getting a laugh from the audience. That audience may or may not have known about the personal losses Reeves has suffered; they may or may not have known that Colbert lost his father and two of his brothers in a plane crash when he was 10. But what they know or don’t know matters so much less than the way Reeves responds, with composure and generosity and grace: “I know that the ones who love us will miss us.” Keanu Reeves is the man of the moment. Keanu Reeves is trending. Keanu Reeves is hotter than hot. But when our attention turns elsewhere, as it inevitably will, Reeves will still be out there surfing, not worrying whether we’re watching him or not. Because surfing, not trending, is the way to keep going.                                                               

[postpunkpontypandyphantomthief]

7th Comedy Monologue

“Hey my Cheese bags I’m back from my adventure in 1985”

“No joke if you look it up

the timeframe of days for each month this year

are the exact same as they were in 1985”

So all this “80s revival stuff” with Duran Duran and Depeche Mode touring, Petshop Boys releasing a new album, a new generation falling in love with Queen and She-Ra while the world is being messed up by a tyrannical iron lady and a talking tangerine makes a bit of sense doesn’t it?”

Even though I was born in the 2000s I’ve always loved most of the media from that decade, the gothic and upbeat synthesizer music,the cheaply made but entertaining cartoons,the video games,the basic but stylish fashion,the musicals and John Hughes films,the mix of music genres in the charts,Goth,Synth,Punk,2 Tone,Post-Punk,New Wave,Glam Metal,Alternative,Shoegaze,Hip Hop,Electronica

I was watching Saved by the Bell  before Netflix even existed

Then again a lot of the shows from then were also being revived back in my day

Dal Winton was presenting game shows, Pingu replaced the scary walrus monsters with rap music, I watched or had VHS tapes of the Muppet show, Noddy, Postman Pat and Scooby Doo.

Scooby-Doo! Now that’s a show that never gets old because it never changes, anyone regardless of what generation they’re from would be able to tell you

“Oh Yeah, I remember Scooby Doo”

When you think about it Scooby Doo is quite philosophical

we are all just a gang going on our own adventures

that and the first few live-action movies are modern masterpieces

I was just browsing Twitter or Tumblr or literally anywhere on the internet only to see that screencaps were taken from the live action Scooby Doo interviews had turned into memes

*ahem*

Well,I was auditioning for the role of Velma, I could sense from the way Matthew Lillard just fully encompassed the role of Shaggy, it felt like he was Shaggy, he was our saviour as he felt his spiritual energy increase, that’s when I knew we were working with a legend

Something like that although Matthew isn’t too fond of the memes himself specifically the ones where his spiritual connections are described more like demon possession rituals

*ahem*

“Being Shaggy has led me down a path of death and destruction. I’ve killed many mortals in hope of replicating 1% of Shaggy’s being, by the end of filming I hope to become one with him”

In which Matthew responded with

*deadpan voice*

This is wrong

I mean I might also have inspirations where I feel like I can philosophically connect with them, in their performing style and personality but that’s where I draw the line

Personality?  That’s a tricky subject

You could say some people have consistent personalities

People said Freddie Mercury and David Bowie were party animals who were incredible on stage with their charisma, creativity and charm but other sources have said they were relaxed, laid back people who were shy when being interviewed.

That could just be the contrast between their onstage and offstage personas but not all of us have that, even if we are all  just actors in a play, hoping each day goes the right way

Some of us are punk, even if we don’t explicitly say that we are, or have the stereotypical style associated with it,a lot of us just try to be ourselves,some of us can enjoy reality shows and horror movies at the same time,some of us can enjoy One Direction and Gorillaz,some of us can love fashion but also love memes, Theatre, and 1980s aesthetics

I’d say I’m the same but sometimes my personality is all over the place

I can go from being cheerful, relaxed and happy to being dazed and clumsy or cynical or entranced and hyper-fixated to Pessimistic and Cold to Quiet and Timid to Mellow and Loud   what personality traits you associate with me, however, is up to your own conclusion

call me any internet subculture stereotype and I’d be able to tell you about how I either, unfortunately, was the stereotype or I hung around people who were those stereotypes

if you said I was someone who watched Cbbc and citv you’d be right

if you said I was a classic rock enthusiast years ago and now you’d be right

if you said I used to be a cringy anime enthusiast  you’d be right

if you said I was one of those theatre kids who watched Disney sitcoms you’d be right

if you said I was one of those meme posters who referenced movies like Shrek and bee movie you’d be right

Another thing punks did was and sometimes still do was creating fanzines, magazines related to their favourite band or tv show or their own opinions on what’s going in the world, nowadays you could say social media has replaced that, but publications like the Daily Mirror, The Sun and TMZ still have a presence on there,I’d say fanzines should have a revival.

The BAFTA’s also happened recently and I wasn’t impressed, then again when are awards shows anything other than beauty pageants for films anyway?

Some films deserved their awards, but some films barely got a mention, Paddington 2 wasn’t included in there or in any of the other film awards this year and Stan and Ollie got nothing…

A darn shame because that film was so well made, it felt authentic, while Stan and Ollie also have a bit of a universal following, there are still some people who probably don’t know who they are!

Before Walliams and Lucas, Before the Two Ronnies, Before Richie and Eddie

There was…Laurel and Hardy

Two moustached blokes, who in the 20s and 50s would just try to delight audiences the best way they could, through slapstick and laughter, without them, most of the world’s double acts wouldn’t exist and even Spongebob wouldn’t exist

Yep, you heard me right, all those misadventures Spongebob and Patrick would have, they were loosely based on the adventures of Laurel and Hardy, except instead of it being about a tall British man and a fat American it was about an anthropomorphic sponge and a dumb but caring starfish.

Speaking of Spongebob, there was some sad news involving Spongebob not too long ago

The creator of Spongebob, Stephen Hillenburg…had passed away from ALS

I know, it’s awful,stupid motor neuron diseases and stupid Adam Levine too,for those who don’t know there was an episode of Spongebob called Band Geeks where they ended the episode with the cast playing a song called Sweet Victory over a Superbowl type of event, for the actual super bowl Spongebob fans around the world petitioned for that song to be played in tribute for Stephen,however we got Adam Levine singing a different song instead….what a letdown

If it wasn’t for SpongeBob I and some of the rest of the new generation, wouldn’t know half the old music or old films we know now.

To let down millions of fans like that makes me sick

Honestly, I was a bit sick a few weeks ago, I’ve been sick before and hospitalized twice but this particular moment of sickness was odd

It was like any other night, I was trying to get some sleep and lucid dream, but then it happened, the shivers, the shakes the trembling aches,

Out of nowhere, I felt like an ice-cube stuck in a microwave, It was too cold but it was too warm, I eventually got to sleep but when I got up the next morning I felt sick again, sorry for disclosing those details but it was like the exorcist…

Usually, when I’m sick watching documentaries, Kitchen Nightmares or 90s films weirdly cheers me up

Speaking of films, Rocketman the Elton John movie is out and it actually looks good

It’s being directed by the guy who was the replacement director for Bo Rhap and if it ends up being brilliant I won’t be surprised, the trailer gave off Velvet Goldmine vibes, the style of composed cinematography and I’m sounding like Film Twitter, Isle of Dogs was a good film…oh wait it wasn’t acknowledged much by the award shows either.

Another amazing film I recently watched was Rocky Horror…I know I’ve mentioned it before but that was when I only knew the sequel and some of the soundtrack,

It was amazing, it was brilliant, it was fantastic, it was out of this world,

ah! Rocky Horror was splendid

I definitely now understand why it’s still going strong to this day

It’s that hybrid of rock and roll, optimistic nihilism and soft aesthetics

That just works for me, another thing I’ve remembered was that Richard O’ Brien played the dad in Phineas and Ferb, well that explains that part of me liked that cartoon for the music and some of the characters but other characters did my head in like that Isabel character

“Hey, Phineas what ya dooing?”

“How about you let me finish my invention and you mind your own business”

Oof that’s too harsh…but considering aspects of the marvel Phineas and Ferb crossover were surprisingly a bit sexist at times outdated for the show that is usually quite progressive in its representation and characters…it’s probably accurate

Another person who hasn’t changed but is also often harsh, Piers Morgan, a little tweety bird told me he had a mysterious illness, good riddance I’d say, he’s the new Noel Edmonds, the presenter who used to be ok but now is unbearable…because he never shuts up

Thankfully though he’s “taking a break” from GMB that will rest our eardrums

Russell Brand has also been in the tabloids again, even though he’s more focused on his Buddhist spiritual recovery enlightening, looking back he wasn’t as bad as people described him, yeah at times he was a bit too over the top,but he was and is quite an ok bloke, but I’d say temporarily banning tickling is a bit of a stretch,

when you think about the number of people who disrespect our literal and figurative personal space on a daily basis, it kinda makes a bit of sense,

whether your sensory sensitive or not, I’m sure you hate it, when people are too touchy at times

although years ago I would’ve been a bit of an ignorant hypocrite about that

Hating it when crowds of kids would chase me like how the paparazzi chase their next gossip target, yet often annoyingly running up to people to talk to or entertain them.

I really need to learn to enjoy loneliness more because I get some of my best ideas when alone, but emotionally I feel a lot better when around others, a bit of an Ambivert really,

I’m sorry I can be a bit all over the place, I’m trying to make my energy more manageable

as that lucid dreaming thing has been misused at times,

I shouldn’t let myself be controlled…

by anyone or anything..no overthinking, no overworking,

treat the world as your stage, start your first act, motivated and ready, take your recharging interval breaks and then move on for your second act

fancy that me an ex-drama student making that metaphor when my current course  involves digitally drawing art, editing audio and sitting at a computer for most of the day

But then again just because someone shows good charisma that doesn’t always mean their a good person.

Ted Bundy, one of America's most notorious serial killers used charisma and charm in his court cases, and with the amount of fangirls giving him fanmail it was like the Beatles fandom but for people with Stockholm syndrome,and now with Netflix’s documentary and Troy from High School Musical in an upcoming film about him, that seems to be repeating itself…

*Alien voice* Ted Bundy the 1960s called they want your fangirls back!

One show I know you probably haven’t heard of is The Boondocks, a south park esque cartoon with an anime esque art style, referencing the social commentary of African American culture and media, celebrating some aspects while critiquing others, through the lenses of a socialist boy named Huey Freeman, his rapper wannabe brother Riley and their activist grandad Robert.

This show was quite revolutionary,it referenced the issue of each episode quite well, even though it only lasted 4 seasons, however, because the show is quite American, apart from the animation which is done in Korea,The Boondocks is not well known in the UK, which is a shame because it is a really good show that still holds up…however, it does fall under one mousetrap that most other adult cartoons fall into….

Because of the references to violence,innuendo and other dark subject matter sometimes referenced in a satirically humorous way,some audiences  would just watch the show because it’s offensive thinking that the show was made just to be offensive..instead of what the show was actually made for..which was to give social commentary on the issues relevant to African American communities in America.

I had watched this show years ago, it only just came back on my radar, because the creator Aaron McGruder, who based the show off his webcomic of the same name, had recently made a new issue.

There’s a difference between being satirical and being offensive

Your either making fun of something bad that a system or people are doing to make people aware of how stupid and sad the world can be at times,subjectively making fun of a stereotype, or your an arse who thinks they’re a comedian when they waste their time on social media, thinking they’re amazing and funny when they’re holding up the line at Mcdonald’s and the only people laughing at their jokes are gammon and people who found Bernard Manning funny

“Oh Wait”

I know sometimes I have unpopular opinions such as how my views of someone dip depending on their views of Kanye West

and sometimes I can be a bit snarky, and I hate and love stuff in equal amounts, but we need a bit of that don’t we, if we bottle it all up we explode like volcanos, but if we overshare too much, we crash like out of control cars

It’s all about moderation, salt is a tasty condiment but eat too much of it and your arteries will get clogged,

A few days back it was the day Mark Ashton passed away, for those who don’t know,he was an LGBT activist in the 80s,he volunteered with organizations such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,he and the other activists helped to support the miners during the miner strike, creating the LGSM Alliance,Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners,there was a film made about them too, called Pride,but what some people don’t know is that….Mark Ashton was Northern Irish…he was one of us..he was the Marsha P Johnson of our time..if we were a bit like Mark Ashton this country would be a slightly more accepting place, why don’t we give love!

Let’s move on, plant more flowers in our garden..I know I sound like a hippie but it’s true, our Celtic Summerland is being used as a cesspool for Nuclear Waste

Oi! use your own bins, not the place we’re living in, pick up your rubbish and clean up your own mess…

The 80s were telling us something with all those protect and survive adverts, yes some of us were prepared as the older generation made us alert, others couldn’t recognize that a lot of innocent people were getting hurt.

When we say we want a 1980s comeback we want the music, clothes, games and  films,

but Nope

while we have some of that the 1980s revival we get is the one that involves Nuclear Danger and the ghost of Margaret Thatcher

All these TV and Film revivals, some are cool others are just unnecessary  Do we really need a Snow White sequel? No, we don’t but we did get one even if it was unofficial

Back in 2007 a French animation company made a sequel to Snow White which was also a bit like Shrek in how it satirised the fairy tale tropes, how Prince Charming feels like he is objectified while he ends up doing the same thing to the female characters, quite a tosser but that’s the point of the parody to point out the flaws with fairy tale logic, and to put the likes of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella in more realistic scenarios.

…it’s strange, weird but brilliant too

The English dub had quite a few familiar faces doing the character voices

Stephen Fry as the narrator, Morwenna Banks, Simon Greenall and another British actor

Rik someone...

Ah! I remember his name now, he was in many successful sitcoms in the 80s and 90s,he was a legend, he knew how to keep people laughing, whether they were children, adults, teenagers,

in television, theatre, film or music

quite an eclectic range of talent

Although

I’m a new fan, I might adore his work, but I had just learnt his name 2 years ago, whereas, with other fans, they have created their own work, such as Charlie Brooker and Simon Pegg… some were able to meet him…lucky...

Some encounters were quite interesting, I had heard someone’s nan got to meet him in the 90s but she got his name wrong so she ended up saying

“‘oh hello can I have your autograph please Mr mayo?’

Well that happened, she probably still got that autograph,...

And somewhere up there, Rik Mayall is thinking of us, he, Stephen Hillenburg and David Bowie are probably chatting away

Let’s make the lord of misrule proud

[sunflowercandie]

Rise of the Guardians is a beautifully animated and written story that time and time again has brought me to tears. I remember watching the trailer 6 years ago this September 30th, and a few days later I was so exited for the movie to come out. I was counting down the days till November 21st, and it seemed to take forever. During those two months, I became a part of the RotG community on Tumblr, Fanfiction, Facebook. I was so excited to see such a beautiful movie on theaters. The day November 21st arrived, I saw it the moment I could, and I remember the Dreamworks logo, with Jack Frost on the moon, and the snow falling on the screen, and I remember crying. Despite the fact that I have only waited two months, it felt like years. I saw it three times in the theaters, and after the last one I went to the mall with my big sister. As I was there I saw some friends from school, but when they saw me, they rushed away as fast as they could.

It broke my heart, and I was scared. I worried if I had any real friends at all. I felt alone and scared.

But I remembered the movie that had suddenly taken over my life. I wasn't going to let fear take over me. So I held myself high, and forgot about the incident at the mall till I read it in my journal 5 years later, and I only remembered how much fun I had at the movies.

A few days later, word in the Tumblr community that RotG wasn't doing so well began to spread. We were told Rise of the Guardians would not get a sequel if it didn't make enough money. People were told to keep going back. Tell your friends. Drag your family. Talk to strangers. See it over and over. A beautiful movie like this can't go down in history as a flop.

But we were not enough.

Once the movie was out on DVD, it became clear that it didn't do well, and Dreamworks was ready to forget. We made petions after petitions, wrote letters, called to everyone that we could reach. Pleased to give RotG another chance.

That was 6 years ago.

Since then, some of us have given up, and found new movies to love. Some of us, including myself, the creator of RotG, William Joyce, and the rest of the community have fought over the years. Since then I have found my love for animation, thanks to this one movie, and consider it as a future job for me. 6 years later, we are closer than ever before at getting the sequel, or even TV series that Rise of the Guardians deserves.

Rise of the Guardians is the most beautiful, thought provoking, heart changing movie I have ever seen. I feel honored to know that such a movie exists. It doesn't deserve to be pushed to the side for movies like boss baby 2 and shrek 4. It doesn't deserve to be forgotten. It deserves everything we can do and more, to show the world that this gorgeous movie exists and will never dissappear into the unknown.

We will not stop fighting. We will never stop pushing. We are going to keep trying, and try everything we can do, to give this movie the recognition and a sequel it deserves. This movie gave me my life back. It's only fair that I can do the same.

Please sign this petition. Please spread this around. We are close. So, so close. William Joyce himself have said that we have a real chance now. Keep fighting. Keep up your voice. We are still here, and we will never stop believing.

https://www.change.org/p/dreamworks-rise-of-the-guardians-sequel?recruiter=518897423&utm_source=share_sponsor_thank_you&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=undefined.6fVzS-qzRe6FUC6qYL-7AA.1

[poisonappletales]

What do you think it would be Ambrosia's and Pyro-kun (Blanket Guy)'s favorite character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Mine's are Dr Strange and Iron Man.

Ooh, nice choices! Let me see whatUnknown and (present-day) Ambrosia have to say. Well, I could have told youdirectly what their favorite characters were, but somebody insisted on getting what they wanted…

“Honey,we’re answering this one together.  ♥”

“It seems we are.” [She gives a bow in greeting.] “Iam called Ambrosia of the Phoenix, dear sir. I suppose I should call you…SirPyro or Sir Blanket?”

“Heh. You can call me Sir Mix-a-Lot.Just kidding -  Sexy will do. Even though, I will say…baby, you gotback.”

“Mm. Sir Joker it is.”

“Baby, why so serious?”

[She chuckles behind a slender, whitehand.] “It almost sounds like you’retrying to impersonate someone. I can’t say I’m all too familiar with thisMarvel Cinematic Universe…”

“Oh, let me fix that. I know where wecan watch all the movies.” [In asingle motion, he snatches her small wrist and begins to tug her afterhim.] “Come to my place. We can snuggle onthe couch. Do you like whipped cream and cherries? I have some treats you mightenjoy…kihihi!”

“W-Wait…! That - your hand…! Sir Joker…!”

[She can already tell that the strength of his grip is not one she canoverpower alone, even if she had intended to struggle. Instead, she allows himto lead her where he wishes, as docile as a lamb. After all, his intentionswere harmless, weren’t they? They needed to watch the movies, and he was just alittle bit of a joker.]

“Here we are!”

[He burst into his house with that announcement and whirls around toface her, his large fingers still laced warmly around her birdlike wrist.]

“Ah, yes.” [She is quick to retrieve her hand from his clutches, which he so generously allows. She thinks to talk to him like X and smiles -] “Itisn’t good to treat a lady so roughly. Please don’t touch me again.”

“Oh? I didn’t hurt you, did I, monpetit oiseau?” [He extends a hand, as if totuck a lock of hair behind her ear.] “IfI did, you should have said something. I would have been gentle.”

[Oh,he isn’t so bad, she thinks, and yet, shecan’t feel entirely at ease. Perhaps, it had to do with the fact that shecouldn’t see his eyes, shadowed entirely by that red hood. Perhaps, it wasbecause he was still reaching for her.]

“You’re being too rough right now.”

[Murmuring those words, she steps back before his seeking fingers cantouch her hair or any part of her.]

“My! What a lovely house you have.”

[She makes a point of casting her gaze about the spacious room, more asa way to change the subject than anything else. A simple digression to avoid anunnecessary confrontation or strange argument. Yet, now that she looks around,she realizes that it’s hard to see past the surrounding shadows.

Somehow, his house felt more dead than alive.]

[He draws back his rebuffed hand, hissmile unwavering.] “Hehe, make yourself at home, darling.”

[He begins to sidle over to the television, one of the newest models,and Ambrosia wonders what it is that makes him more unsettling than X. Thatcriminal wasn’t beyond calling her “babe” or a silly thing like “marshmallow,”and yet, she felt more comfortable dealing with him than Unknown. Some part ofher wished that he was there with her now.

Then again, perhaps he would just heckle her alongside the blanketedfellow.

Before she knows it, Unknown has one of the Marvel movies set up on thetelevision, its screen bright in the dark, and he has a seat on the couch,sealed up in beige damask. He pats the spot beside him.]

“Come sit next to me, honey.”

[with a smile:] “Perhaps I will, if you can remember myname.”

[He grins and crooks a finger at her. Sensing that he has something totell her, she ventures forward, taking careful, little steps as if navigating aswamp. When she stands before him, Unknown leans forward and whispers into herear:]

“Ambrosia…come sit next to me.”

[He smiles up at her from his seat in a way that’s almost a smirk. Somehow,she can’t shake the feeling that she’s being led in some kind of dance. Sheconsiders taking the seat farthest from him, but now, that would’ve been fartoo immature. Despite the futility of such an action, her cousins surely wouldhave done so, but as much as she wished for it, she wasn’t like them.

She settles down beside him. His smile broadens, like a satisfied catwith a bowl of cream.]

“Please tell me about the movie we’rewatching. I’ve never seen one before.”

[She sits with her hands foldedneatly on her lap, a serenely poised flower. 

Remembering how she bowedin greeting and how she followed without resisting, Unknown thinks: “…She’sreally rather meek, isn’t she?”

At the same time, he can see thelight in her eyes. Although she spoke with a gentle calmness (and a hintof something that wasn’t quite an accent), he caught a flicker of curiosity.She was looking forward to watching the movie. “Well,that’s one of her firsts I’ll be taking…”  he jokes inside his head.

He imagines there’s strength to go with that curiosity, an ember hidingwithin a cage of silk. He wonders how long she’ll continue to be meek and howfar she would let him go…]

“You haven’t, have you? I think you’lllike it.” [He pauses, re-considering.] “Well,you might prefer something like TheNotebook or Titanic…hmm…”

[Looking at her silk robe with itsred sash, the first two movies that went through his head was TheKarate Kid and then, more appropriately, Memoirsof a Geisha. He could see her enjoying thelatter, but he had a feeling that she would prefer something a little lessaction-oriented than the former.

On second thought, perhaps she would find amusement in the comedicscenes?]

“Either way, you’re sure to find something to enjoy. Don’t forget what our curiousMidnight Glade kitten wanted to know.”

“Oh, yes.”

“Which hero gets you hot.”

“Eh?” [She pauses, looking at him with widened eyes.] “Ah…you’re…reallyworking hard to earn your name, aren’t you, Sir Joker?”

[She laughs softly behind a handagain. Her voice doesn’t shake, but her initial hesitation strikes him as ateeny-bit nervous. Good.

As the movie begins, Unknown’s smile grows, and he unfurls an arm acrossthe top of the couch behind her. He isn’t touching her - not yet - but it’sclose enough for him to feel her body heat. If she notices, she doesn’t sayanything.]

[They spend the night watching as many Marvel movies as one canreasonably cram in the span of a few hours. Throughout that time, Unknownoffers her a snack of pretzels, popcorn, and candy, all of which she politelyrefuses. When he brings her a baby blue cup of hot chocolate with whippedcream, she accepts it with another courteous remark and, after waiting for itto cool, takes a sip from it occasionally.

It seemed like her well-mannered responses was her way of trying todistance him. However, it wasn’t an outright rejection, and those were theterms of his unofficial bet with Arsenik, wasn’t it?

She was cute - really cute. During some of the action scenes, she wouldgasp, her hand hovering by her pink lips as if genuinely worried about theactor. During any make-out scenes, she would flush and look away. Once, herpretty eyes inadvertently fell his way, and he had no doubt his leisure smirk made her toss her face to the other side.

When each film ends, he asks what she thinks, and they take the time toshare their thoughts and opinions. Sometimes, he sees her glance at the candyhe had brought as snacks, but she never takes one, even when he offers again.]

[By the time the credits are rolling for the umpteenth time, Ambrosiaalmost lets herself lean into the comforting pillow of the couch. Her headfeels heavy with a wave of drowsiness, but if she surrendered to it, she knowsshe would only fall back against Unknown’s arm, which remained on top of thecouch behind her.

That trivial threat alone was enough to keep her back straight and hereyes wide open.]

[She laughs:] “Oh,dear, I feel I’ll have the most vivid dreams tonight! All these movies are sointense and thrilling.”

“They are, aren’t they?” [Her cheery response isn’t unexpected. From his short time with her,Unknown could see that this little demure flower was chock full ofpositivity.] “We still haven’t seen all the sequelsyet, but this should give you a good enough taste of the Marvel CinematicUniverse. What’s your take on it?”

“It’s creative  - thoroughlycreative! A truly comprehensive universe of its own. I like that there’sgenerally a happy ending, too. The heroes and everyone in their city deservesthat much.”

“I’m sure they do. Defeat the bad guy,get the girl - that should be the proper course of order, no?”

“It’ll be difficult to pick afavorite!”

“Film or character?”

[She giggles.] “Both,I’d say! But for a favorite character…I’m leaning towards Sir Thor. He’s fun,fair-minded and open. And given where I am right now, I think I can relate towhat it’s like, being in a different place and culture.”

“Oh, so you like fun guys?”

[teasingly:] “Ah,do you mean to say if I like a man like you, Sir Joker?”

“You know I’m fun and open to doinganything with you. ♥”

“You know, I wasn’t thinking aboutromance when I answered.”

“Good. Less competition for me then.”

[Once again, he provokes a chuckleout of her.] “Tell me who your favorite characteris, if you can choose one.”

“My favorite…the one who’s most likeyou.”

[with a laugh:] “Oh,be serious for a moment, Sir Joker!”

“True, you are one of a kind.” [He grins.] “Iam Groot!”

“Ah! Hehe, Sir Groot really was cute. Ialmost feel like I could call that movie a favorite out of all the ones wewatched simply because of him!” 

“I was tempted to choose Mantis. I likehow she pointed out the Star-Lord’s…special feelings for his beloved. I alsofelt bad about what the Destroyer kept saying to her. I know what he is gettingat, but if you ask me…”

[The hand on the couch behind hermoves to run through her dark hair.]

“All women are beautiful.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t take to SirTony Stark, the witty playboy.”

“He had amusing comments to make, buthow can you beat Groot?”

[She chuckles.] “Yes,he is a difficult rival. Sir Tony Stark didn’t stand a chance.”

“Tell me your type.”

“My type? Hmm…”  [She playfully wags a finger at him.] “Someone who knows howto listen when I tell him to keep his hands off, for one.”  

[He throws his head back in alaugh.] “When you look like that, darling, howcan I resist?”

“In that case, allow me to take myleave.”  [Still smiling, she begins to risefrom her seat, her hands clasped together all the while.] “Itwas fun, Sir Joker. Thank you for accommodating me in your home and showing meall these exciting movies.”

“I can show you even more exciting movies…”  [With a cockeyed smile, he leans back, his arm perched uponthe couch like before.] “It’s dark out. You sure you don’t wantto spend the night? I have an extra room.”

“To ask a lady to spend the night at aman’s house…how scandalous!” [Shegiggles.] “Please understand that I must decline,but I truly appreciate the offer.”

“Well, if you ever change your mind,you know where to find me. We should do this again. It’s not every day I getcompany like yours. You make it just a little bit less lonely in this big house.”

“Ah, is that so?” [That surprised her. Confident and vivacious, he hadn’t struck her assomeone lacking in friends. However, far be it from her to judge byappearances.] “Mm…well, I still haven’t watchedsome of those Marvel sequels - or that Notebook or Titanic movie you mentioned earlier.”

“I still think you’ll like those. I’llbe sure to have them the next time you come over.”

“Oh, I don’t want you to go through anytrouble to fetch them…”

“Trust me. It won’t be, darling. I’mlooking forward to watching them with you.”

“Just make sure you’re better behavedthen!” [Laughing softly, she dips forward inone of her customary bows.] “Havea good evening, Sir Joker. I’ll see you next time.”

“It’s a date.”

[She turns to leave without a reply. Most likely, she had taken his lastwords as a joke. She seemed to think a lot of what he was saying were jokes -hence, her little nickname for him.

He didn’t dislike it. The name or her sweetly genteel acceptance of his “jokes.” Sometimes, they really were. Other times,there was more to it. His petitoiseau was clearly a woman who didn’t seeherself as beautiful or one deserving of adoration.

Even when she chose a favoritecharacter, romance wasn’t on the forefront of her mind. It was for that reasonhe wasn’t sure whether she would really prefer TheNotebook or Titanic.

In many ways, she had the modest air of someone who didn’t believe shehad a chance at finding love. At the same time, she knew how to tease him withall the charm of a confident seductress, one fully aware of the effect she had on men. What was really on her mind?

Fortunately, this wasn’t their last meeting. Yes, he couldn’t wait tomelt the ice in her heart and make her burn up for him. Would he find herawaiting him eagerly on his table then?]

Asyou might have seen, Ambrosia chose Thor and Unknown chose Groot! Surprised?

Other than that, Ambrosia’s secondfavorite was Groot, while Unknown’s second favorite was Mantis. (Wow, he justkeeps choosing people from that movie, doesn’t he?)

Anyway, this turned out a little longbecause…well, because of Unknown and his antics.

Also, according to thesurvey of what you want to read thatI posted about a while back,quite a few of you said you wanted to read more about Unknown! For the questionabout what pairings you wanted to see, somebody said they wanted to see thepairing of “Ambrosia and blanket dude” and another wrote “Ambrosia - Guy from Don’t take this risk.”  

So, I let myself have fun with this one, hopingy’all wouldn’t mind. I still want to write something more story-like (this isformatted half-visually, so I adapted my writing style to it!), but for now, Ihope you all enjoy what you see here.

On a side note, mon petit oiseau is French for “my little bird.” And just to avoidany misunderstandings…Ambrosia decides to call him “Joker” since he’s sucha joker.(Plus, she wasn’t about to call him Sexy.) I’m not saying whether or not that is hisname. You’ll have to find out yourself in the full version of Beauty and the War (X Playing Pieces)!

That said, I’m honestly lovingthese crossover-type asks of yours, midnightgladewall! Don’t ever beafraid to go outside the box with these. It’s fun to shove my characters out oftheir comfort zones. (Not that Unknown has a whole lot outside his comfortzone…)

Asalways, feel free to let me know what you think. What do you think of their choices? Did you expect them? Have an awesome rest of the day!

[trashartandmovies]

Berlinale Film Festival 2021, Industry Event, Day 3

I was hoping to start Day Three off with another shot of highly-caffeinated filmmaking, so I honed in on another genre picture in the Berlinale Special section: Soi Cheang’s LIMBO. Like many other movies before it, LIMBO pairs a veteran cop (Gordon Lam, in good form) with an all-star rookie (Mason Lee) and puts them on the hunt of a serial killer. What makes LIMBO stand out from the rest is that it is shot in beautifully oily, textured black and white.

You can see from the one frame above that the movie is putting in some serious effort on the art design. Every time the cops leave the station, chances are they’re headed someplace that will put them knee deep in garbage. And thanks to the photography and attention to detail, you can practically smell the rotting refuse.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t quite live up to the imagery. The script, written by Au Kin-Yee (whose previous work includes some co-writing credits on a few Johnnie To films), tries to put a socially conscious spin on the serial killer by making the victims marginalized, societal outcasts. But is this anything new? Aren’t the marginalized always the most vulnerable people? Isn’t an immigrant, junkie or prostitute always on a killer’s most wanted list? What makes it even less compelling is that there’s hardly an interesting motive to the madness. Unlike other grimy, big-city serial killer movies that feint toward social relevance (SEVEN), there’s no clever mastermind behind the killings. In fact, there’s any number of other cases that could have brought a pair of cops into these squalid environments and face-to-face with the city’s forgotten people. And maybe the plight of these people wouldn’t have felt so shoehorned into the story.

More interesting is the movie’s recurring theme of lost limbs. Yes, the title “Limbo” is a bit of wordplay, as many people in the movie are losing one appendage or another — sometimes by accident, sometimes through the use of a rusty, blunt tool. It’s a nice gory little motif that the movie makes hay out of, but again, it doesn’t go anywhere. As it turns out, this amputation fetish is the only interesting character detail that the movie bothers to give the killer. Otherwise, all we have is a standard, anonymous, non-speaking brute out of an 80s slasher movie. Perhaps most frustrating of all is that the film makes a step toward giving the killer a bit of sympathy early on, only to follow it up with some unnecessarily degrading action that stomps out that angle completely. What’s more interesting: watching police chasing after a faceless, voiceless, unsympathetic killer, or watching police being outwitted by a smart murderer who’s revealed to have some sort of messed up moral compass in place?

I wouldn’t go so far as to say LIMBO is a bad movie, just a frustrating one. There are some good intentions in here, and the movie looks fantastic, but if they’d put a bit more effort into creating a killer worthy of all the fuss, we’d be looking at a great addition to the genre. Oh, and the extremely hackneyed ending, which tries to pass itself off as tragic, doesn’t win it any points, either.

The second film of the day brings us back to the Competition section, and it was an extremely pleasant surprise. In fact, it was one of the best surprises of this year’s Berlinale (so far). With his second feature-length film, WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY?, Georgian writer/director/editor Alexandre Koberidze establishes himself as an auteur with a strong and poetic vision for cinema.

Early on, I couldn’t help but flash on AMÉLIE. The two films have a few things in common: a narrator who gives the proceedings a fairy tale aspect, inanimate objects imbued with special powers, a will-they/won’t-they love story that starts on a chance encounter, a story that is as much focused on a neighborhood community as it is the two central characters… and yet WHAT DO WE SEE is a much different film. For starters, it’s far less manic. This is a very leisurely-paced film. One that lingers on people in cafés and sidewalk kiosks. One that likes to make digressions, like getting into the heads of some local dogs as they make plans on where to meet up during the football match. It also goes to some more supernatural places that other “whimsical” movies only hint at.

Some people will surely find the pace, the two-and-a-half hour running time, and the many diversions to be a problem. But I loved every minute of it. Both the pace and the running time achieve a certain purpose in immersing you in the local rhythms of Kutaisi, Georgia. At one point, we’re treated to an extended slo-mo sequence of kids playing football set to an anthemic pop song. It’s perhaps the most magical moment of the festival (so far).

There are many smaller moments like this throughout the film. They don’t move any plot along, necessarily, but each one feels like an important part of this universe we’re exploring — and that’s more to the point of the film. Alexandre Koberidze achieves something that few movies are capable of, which is making you see the world around you in a different way. More than telling a romantic story about two strangers, this is a film that makes the everyday feel magical, without any special effects or flashy camerawork. With patience, and a masterful yet deceptively simple use of sound and imagery, it turns the commonplace into profound delight. In this way, it’s shares a certain sensibility with Day One’s INTRODUCTION.

I’m not an expert on Hungarian cinema, but it’s safe to say that it can sometimes be described as unrelenting in its bleakness. Certainly, Day Two’s NATURAL LIGHT fits this description, as does FOREST - I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE. In some cases (again, see NATURAL LIGHT, or the films of Bela Tarr), this bleakness can be well-balanced by the poetics of imagery and pacing. In other cases, like this film, the darkness can simply wear you down.

A sequel of sorts to his 2003 film FOREST, this is a collection of short stories dealing with death and despair in Budapest. It’s well-acted and shot in an interesting way. The camera is always on the move, eager to cut to a close-up of someone’s hand, a gesture, a nuance. But it’s all very intense and agitated. There’s very little in the imagery and pacing to balance out the never ending bleakness, and it left me exhausted (and not in a good way).

What bothered me most about the movie, is that I kept wondering why the film didn’t take advantage of its short story structure. Why is each story hitting the same note? Why isn’t it using this opportunity to explore its themes with different tones — to build and release tension — to change things up even just a little bit? (Tomorrow, we’ll get into this again when WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY does exactly this with its short story structure.)

Actress Lilla Kizlinger won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Actress, and it’s a deserved win. In the first story of the film, she gives what is essentially a harrowingly personal PowerPoint presentation to her father. It leads to an icy argument and a central point to the film: that life has a way of handing you situations where there are no easy answers or good outcomes, just different ways of coping. Without doubt, it’s a strong opening, but I can’t say the film builds or improves upon it during the 100 minutes that follow.

Day Three was put to rest with one of the strongest films in the Competition section, PETITE MAMAN, Céline Sciamma’s follow-up to PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE. Like MEMORY BOX, this is another film about a mother and her daughter, and the unusual manner in which they come closer together. Only this time, instead of a teenager looking at her mom’s old journals and photographs, we have an eight-year-old daughter getting a chance to talk and play with her mom when she was her age. That premise may sound touching and appealing, but the film is even more thoughtful and impactful than you’d expect.

PETITE MAMAN is also like SOCIAL HYGIENE in that it stems from an idea that emerged before lockdown, but is perfectly suited to the restrictions of a pandemic. It takes place in a remote location, there are approximately five actors in the film, two of them are children and the others mostly appear in scenes opposite those kids. But it hasn’t been limited by the restrictions. Sciamma has lovingly handcrafted the movie’s surroundings — the countryside cottages, a woodland hut, the scenery and costumes used when kids put on a show — and every detail feels perfectly right.

I won’t spoil much more about the movie. There is a time travel element to it, but it’s mostly a movie about a child coping with the loss of a family member, and getting a chance to visit the past, spend some more time with the loved one, as well as with her mom, who’s grown a bit elusive in the present day. In doing so, the child gets a better understanding of life and death, how and why people change over time, and the importance of the memories we carry with us. All this, despite being a movie that you could (and maybe should) watch with your own kids at some point. It is perhaps one of the most sophisticated family movies ever made.

None of this would work without Joséphine Sanz, who plays the time traveling kid Nelly, and Gabrielle Sanz who plays her mom as a child. This duo of sister actors are fascinating in their scenes together. They not only seem to have a genuine understanding of the meaning of the work their doing, they’re utterly believable in everything they do, which includes acting out improvised scenes from made-up detective stories. You could look at these play-acting scenes as just two kids having fun, but there are multiple layers going on there as these are the moments when Nelly is really getting closer to understanding who her mom is as an individual. It’s really some beautiful stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a classic family movie that future generations will grow up with and return to time and again. It’s a movie that has some things to teach us.

Ok for now. Tomorrow: a tragedy in Iran, a trifecta in Japan, and a psychedelic trip through Hawaii.

[twistednuns]

August 2020

My students all told me that they'd be watching Outer Banks over the holidays, a US teen drama. I got curious and now I'm hooked. Another excellent series I binge-watched is The Umbrella Academy. For me it was one of the greatest moments in TV history when Klaus shared a piece of wisdom as a guru and told his devotee: Don't go chasing waterfalls.  Stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to. (the divine TLC lyrics)

Finally finishing my macrame hanging planter. Cleaning up the balcony and my apartment. Listening to the rain from bed.

The Happy Medium winery has amazing branding. Two eyes to look - one eye to see.

A really nice, solitary summer evening after a very frustrating, infuriating afternoon (nobody wanted to go swimming with me and I felt all the feelings and was too stubborn and lazy to go alone - very mature). After a 4-hour-nap I made some roasted veggies with tsatsiki, lit some candles outside and enjoyed my meal in the dark.

Learning about malaphors.

I just found out that my favourite French summer comedy of all times, Les Petits Mouchoirs, has a sequel!!! I'm so excited. Need to organise a movie night asap. [edit: We watched it in Ibiza and it was perfect! Need to see it again asap.]

I made a crazy delicious pot of rice the other night. It was more like a risotto with lemon and white wine. Roasted vegetables with lemon oil. I wanted to add parmesan but frankly, that would have ruined it. And that says a lot about the quality of a dish in my opinion!

Getting out of bed in the morning. Starting to organise, declutter, throw stuff out. Very grateful for past me. I love it when I'm in the mood for tasks I usually put off.

My very own custom-made bottle rack. I couldn't find anything fitting so I just made one myself and it's perfect.

Finding out what okra plants actually look like. I'd always assumed they grow like green beans.

Drinking Aperol Spritz on Becky's balcony. Talking about boobs, embarrassing her kids, looking at a friendship book her colleagues had given her as a parting gift. Cake, a tour of Rosi's Playmobil empire, talking about the expression of psychological issues through art. Talking non-stop, in fact. We often don't even manage to finish a topic and jump from thought to thought.

A hardware store date with Manu on a Friday evening. At sunset. Flowers, soft hugs. Trying on hats, finding the right things. Him walking home, me on a bike, jousting with the wooden stick I had just bought, singing. Ending up outside an Italian restaurant, ordering truffle oil pizza. And the gorgonzola. Oh my.

A fantastic bi-anthem from the TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

An afternoon at Maria Einsiedel. With Diego, Lorena and Daniela. But I met Claudia on the subway and she also wanted to go swimming so we just went together. So we kinda reconnected? We all sat in one place, Manu L. and Frank as well. Floating down the Eiskanal was perfect. And in the end I spent the whole evening with Frank and Claudia. Interesting development. Somehow people keep coming back into my life this month.

Harvesting my very own sun-ripened tomatoes.

An afternoon at the lake in Feldmoching with Sash and Lena. Naked dancers, serious volleyball seniors, jelly shoes. The story about flesh-eating pineapple. Chocolate-orange muffins and leftover salad. An accidental wasp-murder (it was drenched in oil so I had to put it out of its misery). Talking about moaners (or: when men are really loud during sex). And about getting old and lazy. I really want a beach chair now. Posture, eh? And comfort. Yeah, comfort.

"We gain sustenance from nature’s regeneration." An article about the therapeutic power of gardening. I absolutely have to read Sue Stuart-Smith's book which they're discussing. Warm-colored kilims hung from ancient rafters above a seating area furnished with tapestry-upholstered couches, sculptures perched on tables, and tall bookcases. The space had the atmosphere of Freud’s famous analytic study, but on a giant scale. A huge picture window framed the countryside beyond. An enormous honeysuckle, which looked as if it had flourished as long as the Stuart-Smiths’ marriage, climbed a dark, shingled wall and crept over the roof.

Dreaming about being held tightly. A warm embrace. The perfect energy exchange. Feeling protected and loved.

An evening at the outdoor cinema in Munich's Westpark with my boys Frank and Manu. We watched a rather forgettable French comedy but I loved spending time with those two. I felt at ease, protected, special. Always a plus: Krupuk ASMR!

Spending time with my mum. Harvesting blackberries for breakfast. Going to the healthfood store together. Looking for an e-bike and swimming goggles for me. Talking about my brother, my dad. Issues. Dinner on the veranda. Picking some of her crystals to take home with me. Very lovely and peaceful.

An extremely lazy week in Ibiza. Getting up early (German programming, we can't help it), far too much breakfast food (fresh juice, fruit, lovely Spanish hazelnuts and my own personal chef to make me pancakes and omelettes). Snorkelling - playing with an octopus and hermit crabs, finding little treasures like a dead sea urchin and shiny sea shells. Diving through caverns. Nursing a bad sunburn. Reading the new Hank Green novel on the hotel veranda (it's such a good book again). A dip in the luke-warm pool once in a while. Cooling down in our room. Heading out for dinner. Drinking red wine. Falling asleep early.

Climbing up a hill. Watching the sunset on the cliffs with a bottle of rosé. Gorgeous.

Nightswimming (deserves a quiet night). Jumping into the pitch-black Mediterranean in our underwear after eating black paella (with squid ink). Humming the R.E.M. song accordingly.

Suddenly speaking Spanish. Well, broken Spanish, but they mostly get what I mean.

A huge glass of iced coffee after a long cycling tour. Lots of ice cubes and vanilla ice-cream. Lounging on the outside sofa. After having an outside shower. Nice.

Drinking red wine on a candlelit veranda. Playing my summer jam playlist.

Lots of animals. Watching the lizards fight each other. And the goats across the road. Cuddling with a needy cat in San Ferran. And Jaco the dog who belongs to the guitar workshop's owner.

Pizza night at the workshop. a) I love places that smell like wood and oil, places that are really lived in and you can see that people actually spend time and work there. Creative chaos. b) Damian, one of the teachers there, is man candy. Long, black hair and icy blue eyes.

The night sky over Formentera. You can actually see the Milky Way and shooting stars here.

Empty beaches. The dunes. Snorkelling. Spending time underwater has a very calming effect on me. It's like entering a different universe.

Creative projects. Flow. I was completely in my zone when I was building an octopus out of sand on the beach. Forgetting about time. Discomforts. The sun. Just digging in the sand with my bare hands. But I also played around with watercolour and chalk, made some pencil drawings, for example a still life with grapes and twigs from the garden. I developed some solar photographs, too. Experimenting is fun!

Alone time. I've been craving it so much lately. Being around 4 people all the time is incredibly exhausting for me. I'm not used to it at all.

Solving the New Yorker crossword puzzle one Friday morning.

Having Pomadas at Kiosko 62 during sunset. Really chill vibes. Getting drunk quickly. Taking selfies. The sea, the sun, some hippies. Nice.

Preparing dinner together. Singing along to the music. Feeling the effect of the sunset cocktails. It's interesting to see how much my usually so restrained friends change with a few sips of gin.

The availability of truffle products in Spain. Cheese, crisps, oil... I love it.

Talking about artists' muses with Flo - mostly Gala Dalí and Françoise Gilot.

[hgfstreamchats]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Hello! Hello there! Has it started?  I'm not getting a picture Kast, just once. Just. ONCE. Let me try leaving and coming back Kast, really... I despise Kast a little more every week. It is working hard to cement its place as the worst. Oh, there you are!  And there it is! Had to reload. Aha! Can't start streaming until we solve the Kast Sphynx's Weekly Riddle. Right? If it were easy, then surely it would not be worth the doing. They are preparing for rain. That's how we prepare for rain. Complete with song. I prefer to skip the song for obvious reasons. Wow, six whole dollars I prefer ours to their version. It has numerous allusions to optics being burned out. Oh dear. So--this takes place before the christmas one, right? Possibly? Is there a whole series of Grinch movies? Probably? A Grinch multiverse?

I hate him already. That poor dog. Is that dog's thoughts singing at us? ...Actually I think it is Dear Unicron. And the grinch can read his mind? Purely for the sake of emotionally abusing him. I feel sorrier for the dog than for all the Whos put together. Likewise. ...So THAT'S what that's from! That flower was probably sentient. We can only hope. Ha, ha. Well, he's very dead. I feel that the Grinch is not the problem with this night. This night is full of problems and he's the least severe of them. Oh, an idiot. Ha. Burn. Well, that...annoyed everyone for about 15 seconds? As haunted eyebrows do. Truly villainous. I guess the wind's died down at least ...Well, Euchariah, that's certainly one way to slow down the Grinch! Oh my god That sure did happen He saves the town but no one ever talks about how. As well they mightn't. Why does his cart thing do that So he slips the child a hallucinagen. The jump cuts imply there's some kind of a Jaunt situation going on and that's the most horrifying part. Mmmmaybe? In all credit I would have long since turned the ground into a euphemism. Then he destroys the town out of spite. Is there some reason he CAN'T? Or at the very least, stabs Euchariah. Good for him! All he wanted to do was torment the citizens. And now he has no dog. He should do it anyway. It'll pack more of a punch because they won't be expecting it. He was abusing that dog, he doesn't deserve him This is why it is imprudent to let wind decide when one comes to destroy town. Starting off on an ambitious note, aren't we? It's such frightening shuffling noises. Eugh Lovely. Yes, we get it, you're proud of your props Great, keep focusing on that. Soak it in. Hah! Whose call was it to bring him? What a delightful conversationalist. "Absolutely!" When has picking up a hitchhiker ever worked out for anyone? Did the sound just cut out? Oh, there it is "Spare no detail." Man, picking him up was a GREAT choice. These two are clearly meant for each other. I bet this isn't some kind of foreshadowing. . . . . Now he has a knife. "And THAT, kids, is how I met your father." Ha! What a great sign Do not have dinner with them. The dinner is people. The dinner can't be anything but people. Even if this wasn't a movie about murderers, it would be unwise to eat with him. Clearly Best case scenario, everyone comes down with hepatitis. Jesus. He is having a day. You're going to want to rinse that out with fire. They sell barbecue and tetanus shots, happily enough. How can it be made any clearer that this is a terrible place to be? Maybe abandon this one here too. See? Someone's smitten. Hah! "Do you think that hitchhiker ever sticks needles in himself?" Oh my Unicron, I was *kidding.* You should know better. Never kid. The Blair witch is in there somewhere. And even she's looking for places elsewhere. This is all just such a great idea This is one long sensible decision. What likable meat sacks. Now, how can this possibly end in any way other than well? what a great thing to find. Really, dude Let's not run from any of this. This was so avoidable The road to this was lined with red flags and you blew past every one of them. What house doesn't have a bone and chicken room? Y...yeah. More sitting and not running! Excellent plan! She has to show us all the lovely props. The Texas Chainsaw Props, Props, Props. The only thing massacred was the props budget. Hah! He should not be running that inside. That's how one asphixiates. Safety first! "D...Did you really?~" "and two of us have been murdered by a maniac already" To be fair, I think a chainsaw is the appropriate way to deal with tresspassers. It keeps happening. An actual meat cooler. That's more sanitary than I expected. That's the face of someone who really doesn't know how teenagers keep getting into his house. He's not even a serial killer, he just keeps panicking. Yes, run towards the light. Surely the person chasing you does not live in this remote location. And be sure to scream the whole way, just so he can't lose track of you over the roar of his chainsaw. It's not as if it's a dark night, and he has no flashlight to search the woods with. Ugh Whoops, almost slipped away quietly there! He's awfully sprightly for a hulking human wearing a mask and wielding a chainsaw. He's been working out. Oh, she's never going to be alright. Yyyyeah. ..... His claim is suspicious Oh, I'm a terrible mech for laughing. But it's hilarious. Smack smack smack. Gentle broom swatting, like she were an unruly cat. Smackity smack, get in the sack! The sack that doesn't even cover her properly. He just keeps poking her. And I keep laughing! Swat him with the broom! For the love of the Allspark, just take the broom to every character in this movie. It would make this a lot more interesting. They are also inviting her to escape, but not just killing her now. More pokes. Texas Broomhandle Pokings. They even show displeasure the same way. Truly ships passing in the night. "Take it easy, we're just going to force-feed you your friends, probably" "With more broomhandle poking to follow." It's so sloppy. And potentially a waste of meat. Oh god ...Oh, apparently they really cut her in that scene! Lovely! Euuuugh Grandpa is loving it. Good day for grandpa. What a lovely family. It's a comedy of failures. Every time he misses, this gets a little funnier. The screaming took all night long. They could have driven away. ...Why did they get out instead of driving away Excellent question. Think of all the expensive therapy she'll need. That... sure was a thing I hear it is a classic. It was certainly was something. I also hear that some of the sequels are ridiculously stupid. Any idea of which one is the stupidest? Ah, give me a moment. Texas chainsaw three. Three it is! Apparently so bad, the actors petitioned to keep it from ever being released. I like the sound of that! "Their friends. who have no names, or families." Ugh. Charming. Ah, I was mistaken. Texas Chainsaw 4 is even dumber. Onto 4, then! It involves the prom. Always with the prom. Can it be a bad horror franchise without the prom? Oh christ Pity he isn't going to be chainsawed. A tragedy. Does HE at least die? I hope so. I hope his organs end up on the ground. Who *Are* these people? Are we *supposed* to be invested in their survival? I don't think we are. We cannot be meant to care about them. Who needs a flashlight in the incredibly well lit woods? Probably just... the wind. Is she related to Boltgun Wheelsaround from the first movie? that sure was necessary . . . It's like a fever dream. Nothing makes much sense. ugh He could try not running directly down the road. Nothing about this makes any kind of sense. Is this even Texas? Does it make a difference? It would be one more wrong thing to add to the pile. Didn't these movies used to have chainsaws in them? Now it's just plastic bags. How ever will she see with those flood lights in the background? This couldn't have less to do with Texas, chainsaws, or massacres. They did remember to have the screaming though. Ugh "Now you stay put!" A freezer lock would not go amiss. What is the wager that there won't be a single chainsaw in this? Apparently they didn't feel the need for them. The dumbest humans who ever lived. She sounds vaguely annoyed. And that's it. There's one! Finally! When we've got a whole... one person left to possibly massacre with it. The fool, he cut their cable line. Now what will they watch in the evenings? Did he even stop to consider that? This is only half over? It just keeps happening. Oh joy. Also, it is going to get stupider. Less fun than the broom. Bring back the broom! Stick poking, 2.0 This is dreadful and not nearly enough chainsaws. You're not wrong. I don't think this has any redeemable qualities It's the Illuminati. How does this keep getting worse? There may have been a mountain of cocaine involved in the making of this. Also, one day you will learn not to ask me for terrible sequels. I'll learn nothing. Then this will keep happening. It's the way of things. I find myself missing the grandpa who couldn't hold a hammer. He at least was quiet. Ah, quiet. I remember quiet. Ah, but there will be no quiet. Never again. Grandpa is escaping. Ah good. It's those Illuminati they talked about. I feel like *I've* been struck several times in the head with a hammer. And yet it is note done yet. Getting closer Horror. The only sympathetic victim here is us. Why is a remote leg battle a plot relevant thing? Not that I subscribe or much care for human gender norms, but did they ever...explain why Leatherface is wearing a wig and a dress? He wanted to be pretty today. Ah! Well, that's one mystery solved! So many, many more to go. Oh. My. Unicron. I was hoping it would inexplicably explode. It *is* a rather nice dress on him. . . . . It is the only nice thing in the whole of this film. What. I would have rather watched Leatherface try on outfits for an hour and a half. Oh look. The girl from the first movie. What a lovely little nonsensical note to end on. Oh, thank the Core. Not before time, either Wrong link. Curious. No, this looks good ... Pay no mind to the song Breakdown and I may or may not have fragged to. Is this an SNL sketch "Foot" It isn't! I find it more repugnant than the chicken and bone room. What did we ever do to you Five long minutes listening to this song. What felt like five long years watching that sequel. Ha! True. Though you did not bail on it, like you did Book of Shadows. It's true. It didn't break me like Book of Shadows. I don't think bacon bits belong in a drink. I agree. Agreed. Well, unless someone's got something that begs to be shared, that about concludes it! I think we have suffered my suggestions enough. I've got nothing Are you planning on streaming on Halloween? The night before! Good to know! I've got something good lined up. Ah, excellent! I shall attempt to attend! Though another commitment may make me too late. Not to worry if it does! I'm looking at that "good" very suspiciously. In the meantime, good night and thank you for coming! Goodnight, and thanks for hosting! Good night, and thank you for streaming this nonsense once again! Always!