#i also relate a lot to alice as well!!!

[threewaysdivided]

Jade could move like smoke, shape herself into whatever she needed to survive and leave people with nothing but a smile.  ‘Like a Cheshire Cat’.  Not Artemis.  Something in her refused to bend that way, refused to form a smooth mask over what she felt.  Too much like Alice - unable to believe impossible things.  She’d made herself a stone instead.

On this week's Work In Progress Wednesday Deathly Weapons excerpt: 3WD has read Lewis Carroll and is going to make it the Crock-Nguyen sisters' problem.

(Banner from @purpleyin's regency set)

[ladymorghul]

they made b&c a sequence centered on blood and cheese rather than helaena and added a dog for sympathy points and brought that dog back for half a season with ryan saying b&c was green / alicent propaganda and that you almost root for b&c to not get caught. lt's deranged.

they also turned b&c from being a hard task given to cheese because of how well he knew the most guarded part of the red keep to whoopsie daisy we just stumbled upon helaena and her children and guess what guys there's no guards around and the greens didn't give helaena a kingsguard so who's fault is it truly?

they also take focus away from how awful b&c was to a cheap shocking scene of alicole having sex + they made helaena and alicent brush off the death of jaehaerys SO EASILY and alicent spending half the scenes b&c related more worried about how helaena saw her fucking cole.

they had aemond figure he was the target of b&c, but didn't have aemond involved in b&c aftermath at all and instead had him talk about luke only.

they made otto and alicent to be dismissive of aegon (alicent of aemond too) and bring up how cool viserys was. in the season finale alicent is written to refer to her relationship with viserys as being fond of each other, with the directors saying it was a loving marriage. absolutely disturbing.

in an absolutely hilarious move, they had aemond targaryen refer to what the greens are doing as "usurping".

they made rhaenys killing countless people in the the dragonpit for no other reason than a "girlboss" moment to be the fault of the greens actually instead of rhaenys, but they yapped about 12 ratcatchers for half a season.

they made aemond betray aegon at rook's rest and gave a lot of plot armour in that scene to rhaenys with barely any scratches on her before meleys was killed.

they refused to give quality green siblings scenes but we spent a lot of time on irrelevant alicent and rhaenyra shots.

they had alicent be completely different from her book counterpart to the point where does nothing useful for the war effort, holds contempt for her sons and ends up selling them to rhaenyra.

they gave daemon a redemption arc but they barely spent any time doing proper build up to aemond and instead had him go from 0 to 100 with both of his siblings.

do i need to go on?

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @jdebbiel

Deb JJ Lee is a non-binary Korean artist based in Brooklyn, NY. They have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, NPR, Google, Radiolab, and more. Their award-winning graphic memoir, IN LIMBO, about mental illness and difficult relationships with trauma, released in March 2023 from First Second.

Below is our interview with Deb!

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

That implies I am over my art block, but I’m still in it! I think about Kiki’s Delivery Service a lot and how she had to stop doing a thing, and that you can’t really force it, and you have to let it come back to you. It’s a pretty humbling moment, realizing there is more to life than just drawing. I’ve been trying to consume other content like reading or watching movies—anything that is not drawing-related—and to trust that it will come back to me. I think not being afraid to do the small pieces before committing to the big pieces is helpful. Because big pieces are what I am known for, I dig myself into a deeper hole, thinking that each piece has to be bigger than the last one. So yeah! Relaxing and doing the small things before overcommitting to a big piece is the best way to go about it for me.

Which 3 famous artists (dead or alive) would you invite to your dinner party?

I feel like these are all artists that I have second-degree connections with! Jillian Tamaki, Victo Ngai, and Tillie Walden would be my picks!

What are your file name conventions?

…What file name conventions? I mean, I don’t have specific file name conventions, but I actually have a public Google Drive archive! But I usually put “djjl_whatever-the-title-is_final,” and I would always know it’s the final and legit version.

What is a recent creative project that you are proud of?

I did an illustration for the whiskey brand Johnnie Walker. It’s so wild because I only had four days to finish it, and it usually takes me a week and a half if I rush. And honestly, it’s probably one of my best pieces from this year, which is funny. It was for the Mid-Autumn festival, so I made it as Korean as possible.

How has technology changed the way you approach your work?

I only use my iPad to draw everything now, and if I want to pretend that I have a steady workstation, I’ll use my Cintiq. I still am not as comfortable on the Cintiq as I am on Procreate, but it’s still pretty solid and nice. That’s the good part about technology. The bad part about technology is how AI art has been messing things up for me. I’m currently in a lawsuit about AI art as a class rep. Some of my stuff got turned into AI art late last year, so I have to give a deposition at some point. 

What is a convention experience that has stuck with you?

Honestly, they’re all good! I feel like Lightbox Expo has been really nice because it’s truly been a convention for artists. I feel like that’s where most of my audience is, and they’re all around because their purpose is to be better at art. That’s where a lot of original artists do well because they’re getting art they’re inspired by, not so much fanart. I like the Lightbox Expo because it encompasses the pure love of art very well. 

Top tips on setting up an Artist Alley booth?

Use a Y axis, not just your X axis! Take advantage of it! Branding is also something to think about. It is definitely something I’m getting better at. Having an assistant is also very important. I’ve also heard that 8.5x11 to 12x18 inches is usually a good size for prints, but I also provide postcard-sized prints because sometimes people don’t want to commit to a larger size. 

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

You know this is so funny. I’ve been following @alicexz for over a decade on Tumblr and other platforms. I’ve followed her work since high school, and we’ve only recently become peers. I found her, and we met for the first time in real life, and she recognized me. And then I found all my drawings from when I was in my Alice phase, back in high school, and I was like, “Yo, this is when I was trying to be you so badly!” and she was cracking up and was like “Wow, this is so good!” It was such a sweet moment. I wanted to take a picture of her holding my drawing up. It’s really nice because now we’re peers.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Deb! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @jdebbiel.

[bleghxy]

More GL manga recs:

Summary: Aya is a high school student who is captivated by the mysterious "Onii-san" who works at a CD store. The real "Onii-san" is actually Mitsuki, a girl in her class with whom she had never spoken to before.

Review: This is a very cute read!!! The story doesn't drag out any drama. When I first started reading this, I was afraid it'd drag the secret of Mitsuki being the "Onii-san" but it doesn't. It's very well paced while also being a slow burn. They're both very well written.

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Bubbly, energetic first-year high school student Himari falls head over heels for her senpai Yori after hearing her band perform on the first day of school. Himari tells Yori she just loves her, and to Himari's surprise, Yori says she loves Himari back! But when Himari realizes that she and her senpai are feeling two different kinds of love, she begins to ask herself what "love" really means...

Summary: They're both so adorable!!! I love their relationship sm. There's a lot of other wlw relationships in this manga so that's a plus point. There's also some angst here and there. It also has an anime adaptation coming out next year!

Status: Ongoing

Summary: England, the early 1900s. Alice, a young noblewoman, has a Japanese maid named Hanako working in her household. The two have a fairly typical relationship…until the day Alice begs Hanako to kill her. As Hanako tries to figure out why her mistress would make such a terrible request, she and Alice grow closer until an entirely new feeling begins to blossom between them.

Review: The summary doesn't really do justice to the manga's plot but I don't want to say much because I'll mistakenly give out spoilers so I'll just say it's angsty so prepare yourself for that. Both of the characters and the relationship between them are very well written.

Status: Completed

Okay this isn't a manga, it's a manhua(chinese comic). I haven't read enough GL manhua to make a list about it so I'm putting it here. This manhua is called Tamen de Gushi. I think the English translation of the story name is called "Their Story"/ "SQ begin w/your name"

Summary: The funny romantic story of how Qiu Tong and Sun Jing met and fell in love.

Review: It was one of my first GLs so it has a very special place in my heart. I laughed a lot while reading this. It's mostly on the comedy side. Qiu Tong and Sun Jing's relationship is so so adorable. The side characters in this story are also lovable. The characters in this feel very relatable. Unfortunately due to censorship in China the author had been told to remove the confession scene of the main characters in the physical copies and the author rejected to do that. Because of this, the manhua doesn't have proper chapters anymore but the author still does post little snippets of their life together on weibo and twitter. However there's still 200+ chapters of wholesomeness so please do give it a read!

If you want more GL recs:

[danlous]

"Armand is Alice and Daniel's wife/s and kids aren't real" has become a popular fan theory (even Luke Brandon Field said he liked it!) but i'd be surprised if it was right. I think it's definitely possible that Devil's Minion will be adapted in the show (though probably not exactly like in the books), but i personally think this whole imaginary family thing would be a poor way to handle the storyline for a variety of reasons. I think a twist like that would probably come across convoluted and (as Daniel might say) like something from a telenovela.

We see children's toys in Daniel's house and he's public figure who many people know with an autobiography and everything. Creating decades worth of false memories for Daniel and somehow also maintaining that imaginary life story for decades wouldn't be enough, Armand or whoever did it would also realistically have to have an absurd level of control over the physical world, public records and many other people's minds to sustain an illusion like that. I also frankly think it would be difficult to avoid having some sexist and biphobic undertones to the idea that Daniel's relationships with women were unreal and meaningless and only his relationship with a man matters.

However, the most important reason why i think Daniel's wives and children should be real is that they make him a richer, more nuanced character and are actually central to understanding him and his motives. He has lived a full and complex life that has been influenced and to some extent defined by his encounters with vampires, but those vampires still weren't his whole life. I think it's more interesting to see Daniel's human life and his relationship with Armand and Louis as something connected and overlapping that both affect each other. We actually learn quite a lot about Daniel from what he says about his partners and children.

This scene - as well as how Alice in general is discussed - reminded many people of how Daniel in the books talks about Armand, such as this famous passage:

Parallels between Daniel's relationships with Alice and Armand in the books are obvious but i think they're just that, parallels. Both the sweet little scene where Daniel is talking about Alice's eyebrows and the book scene where he's talking about loving Armand not despite but because he's a monster reflect in different ways who Daniel is as a person; he feels drawn to unconventional and strange and sees beauty where others might not. He ended up in this situation with vampires too because he wanted to interview people who're rejected by the society.

If Daniel already had some sort of relationship with Armand in the past it makes sense that it would be associated with Alice in his mind. There may be an overlap between the timelines of those relationships. A memory of Armand rises when Daniel is reminded of Alice rejecting his marriage proposal, in the books Armand rejected his wish to be turn him into a vampire, which would've been something akin to marriage. I think Alice being real is much more compelling for Armand's character too, with Armand expressing surprising understanding and sympathy toward Daniel's wife rather than just speaking about his own experience through an imaginary woman.

Completely putting aside Devil's Minion and is it a thing in the show or not, i think Daniel's family is particularly important to Louis' and Daniel's relationship. Something that hasn't technically been explicitly said but to me seems obvious is that Louis and Daniel strongly relate to each other as fathers. Many scenes where we see Louis and Daniel show vulnerability in front of each other have something to do with their partners and children. In 1.02 as one of the earliest examples of this Louis replicates the dessert Daniel had with Alice, trying to connect with him and his humanity through it, Daniel shares personal memory and they eat together in companionable silence.

I would argue that Claudia, her memory, and Louis' relationship with her is the heart of the story in these first two seasons. Claudia entering the story in 1.04 marks the shift in the interview and Daniel's approach; he becomes both more combative and more emotionally invested. He has a strong reaction to reading Claudia's diaries, and it's not difficult for any parent to guess that he's also imagining her own daughters in similar circumstances to Claudia.

I think this conversation at the end of the episode (alongside Louis' speech to Daniel in San Francisco and them remembering it in 2.05) is the most important scene between Louis and Daniel. They share the understanding what it feels like to have children and love them so much you don't even have words for it, but still fail them. It's not a coincidence that in the original interview in San Francisco what leads to Louis attacking Daniel is Louis telling the story of Claudia leaving alone and Louis going back to Lestat, and Daniel acting dismissively and clearly not understanding why this is so painful memory to Louis. Daniel was young, stupid and high - and he didn't have children yet. Daniel now wouldn't act like that when hearing this story, and he doesn't in 1.06 when hearing it again. And notably when Louis says that he would now agree to turn Daniel, Daniel says he doesn't want it anymore and specifically mentions his daughters as one of the reasons. Having to watch your children die before you is the most horrifying thing in the world. It's something Louis had to go through and Daniel wishes he never has to, even if vampirism still intrigues him.

Daniel realizes quickly that it all comes down to Louis' feelings of guilt and shame about failing Claudia and his inability to protect her, because he has similar feelings about his own daughters. Louis' story unravels in s1 finale because Daniel recognizes that Louis' more palatable narrative around what happened with Claudia isn't fully true. Daniel carefully read through Claudia's diaries and tried to learn to understand her, and he positions himself as someone who's trying to defend her integrity and reveal the injustice that was done to her. This is again about Daniel's own children as much as it's about Claudia. He knows that he's a bad father, his daughters don't talk to him anymore and it's implied that he neglected them when focusing on other things that interested him more. When Daniel defends Claudia he's on some level trying to rectify his own mistakes and when he calls Louis out he's also voicing his own self-loathing.

Eric Bogosian remarked that the scene in 2.01 where Louis cries and thanks for Daniel for helping him to remember that Claudia could dream is another shift in their dynamic. Daniel looks at Louis with genuine concern, and after that he tones down his usual sarcasm and jabs significantly. Daniel, again, can sympathize with how important this is for Louis. There's a new sincerity and empathy in their interactions. Sometimes the audience forgets that this story is ultimately about Claudia, but Daniel hasn't forgotten it since he first realized it. They're trying to understand together what happened to Louis' child and everything that led to it. I think if Daniel wasn't a father he would've acted differently, and Louis wouldn't have trusted him in the same way either and been able to share his and Claudia's story. I think this shared sorrow, love and guilt they feel as fathers is one of the most crucial parts of their connection.

[ratboyvince]

I know we all think Luke is going to die, because something something Alice and Tim parallels something cool little brother something tragedy but

But Luke seem’s VERY deep/water aligned at the moment, what with “Penny For the Well” and “Dredgerman” being sort of similar to Draegerman, which is a team for underground rescue (assuming that’s related to “the deep”) The origin of the Doom Bar beer brand is also related to the sea and being lured *under* the sea.

A lot of the cases have had a theme of desire and “be careful what you wish for”. I think Luke is going to become an avatar after looking for means of success. Kinda like Griftors Bone but different.

Not to mention i think Luke going bad would hit Alice so hard - that’s her baby brother!!! she has seen him through everything!!! Supported him always!!! He can’t be gone, he wouldn’t turn on her!!!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi! Have you seen the new Mickey Mouse Rebrushed trailer??? Twitter is goin crazy over it and how it’s related to twst 😭 just wanted to hear your thoughts on it

I did spot quite a few parallels with TWST from the Rebrushed trailer! I'm not familiar with Epic Mickey at all, so I'll just be commenting on what I noticed right away. You'll have to excuse my limited knowledge.

Firstly!! This design of Mickey is the exact same as the one we see in TWST. Most noticeable is his white face, which is a fleshy peach color in most modern iterations.

Mickey is reading Alice in Wonderland’s sequel, Through the Looking Glass. Of course, Twisted Wonderland has Wonderland in its title, and even opens with an Alice in Wonderland inspired dorm. Yuu and Mickey also connect via their dreams and through the mirror shared in their rooms.

The theme of dreams is very present and upfront here; Mickey wakes up from sleeping and then creeps to his mirror, which appears to be a portal into another world. Hmm... dreams, mirrors, and traveling to other worlds, now what does that remind you of? You'll also notice that Mickey's room is the exact same as Yuu's room in Ramshackle, right down to the "inverted" room that appears when Mickey passes through the mirror. Everything up until this point is very similar to what is depicted in the 1936 short, Thru the Mirror.

Next, Mickey spies on a wizard carefully using a magic paintbrush over what seems to be a diorama of a bunch of buildings on a plot of land. When the wizard leaves, Mickey fiddles with the paintbrush, causes a mess, and calls forth some kind of black ink monster with green light coming from within it. This seems to be a very close parallel to Overblots, particularly since the most recent OB has a signature neon green color. If we really are to connect Epic Mickey to TWST, this scene also seems to allude that Yuu, Mickey, and/or the "wizard" have parts to play in bringing these Overblots to life. And who do we know that is a powerful wizard that is aware of the corrupting power of blot and runs a large chunk of land... say, a campus? Crowley. This goes hand-in-hand with the theory that Crowley is intentionally allowing these OBs to happen or is even puppeteering his students into OBing.

I find this visual in particular to be very ominous; again, we have the colors that match a certain OB dragon fae but also the map itself reminds me of Twisted Wonderland's and the eerie visual of Malleus's thorns digging into Sage's Island and aiming to go way beyond it.

Anyway, the ink monster is temporarily contained while Mickey returns to his own world. We then get a montage of various Mickey media passing by, as well as a lot of imagery that would imply the passage of time (clocks, the date on the calendar changing, etc.). So... what? Is that implying not only parallel worlds, but also a time skip? Or maybe a time... loop? Like time loop theory???

The ink monster somehow eventually escapes and makes it to Mickey's world, with the blot dripping from the ceiling waking Mickey up from his sleep. It drags Mickey away into a hole drenched in ink. Kind of foreboding when you realize Yuu has also had prophetic dreams... Not of OBs, but of the events leading up to them. And being dragged away into an inky... opening? Like an... abyss? Like book 7, Ruler of the ABYSS?

That's how the trailer concludes!! Gotta say, there's definitely a lot of shared elements between this and TWST. If I recall correctly, Epic Mickey was a game that existed on the Wii waaay before TWST. It even has largely the same cinematic trailer (just with older graphics), so to me it feels like TWST probably took inspiration from Epic Mickey rather than the other way around. There are definitely too many parallels for it to be a coincidence. If that's the case, then we can probably pull some hints for what awaits us in the rest of book 7 from these cinematics. (This is a video comparing the two side-by-side if you think that might be of use!)

[fangirlynjunk]

A list of my hatchetfield headcanons in no particular order

1. Richie is short, like barely taller then Ruth. I just feel like he should be a little guy. Like Jon was trying to convey small to me I can feel it

2. Max never bullied the Fosters, neither Lex nor Hannah. Lex obviously smokes but for Hannah I just like the idea he gives her a free pass because he can relate to their situation

3. Becky and Duke are well aquatinted thanks to their jobs overlap, but they also likely get along outside of that. Like they will have a good friendly conversation in the grocery store

4. Paul doesn’t like musical theater but he has a soft spot for Disney movies, hence him knowing Moana better than Ted or Bill. Maybe it’s because he was sort of the office babysitter and he just kept seeing them even after Pete and Alice ‘outgrew’ them

5. Alice told her dad she thought Paul was cool because she thought they were dating and she was trying to be supportive. Bill didn’t get the implication

6. If/when Charlotte leaves Sam I want to believe Ted would straighten up for her. Oh his humor is still crude and he is still Ted but he’d try dangit (I just want nice things for Charlotte and Ted)

7. Richie (i hc him as Paul’s nephew), Pete and Alice spent a lot of time at Paul’s house as kids. Paul used babysitting as an excuse to not do certain activities with coworkers. Alice also spent a lot of time being watched by Paul during her parents divorce (hence her assuming he was her dads new bf)

8. Richie and Trevor have both worked at the movie theater. Trevor is the one who had beef with Ethan, Richie just did not give a fuck about the job so he didn’t care if Ethan (who was banned) showed up and underpaid to see a movie or whatever.

9. Related to 8, Ethan didn’t know they were two different people until Richie dyed his hair blue. Ethan eventually realized the blue haired one was the ‘chill one’

10. Ruth and Richie are always friends in the timelines, it’s Pete who’s kind of a wildcard. Grace too, as per Working Boys showing us she was willingly hanging out with them.

[yuri-is-online]

I could have sworn I had a proper ask for this, but Tumblr seems to have eaten it. Anyway I'll do my best to give which ones I have and explain my reasoning. I will continue referring to Yutu as Yutu in my writing so if you don't like these names there is no need to stick to them.

notes: this is part of my fyuuture kid au, information about which can be found on my masterlist under the series section.

Heartslabyul

Riddle! Yutu's real name is March. This is a reference both to the march hare in Alice in Wonderland and the phrase "in like a lion out like a lamb" as it reminds me of Riddle's temper.

Trey! Yutu is a triplet, and I wanted to give them baking themed names? Yutu's real name is Bran, Yutres's is Clementine, and Yushi's is Hazel. I like to think Clementine goes by Clem and has that stereotypical hatred of her full name because it means she's in trouble.

Cater! Yutu... was really hard to come up with a good name for. I kind of like Rain though? It's *unique* but it's very pretty and I could see Cater wanting a name that was a bit more hippy and alt than normal.

Ace! Yutu had Elias submitted as his real name by a requestor and I don't hate it? It's a pretty normal name and does sound like something he'd come up with thinking it would remind Yuu of their world. The other name I would offer is Jack, because well. Jack of Hearts, but that might end up being Ace's brother's name and I cannot see him naming his son after his brother or that other Jack we know...

Similarly Deuce! Yutu had the name Johan submitted in the same ask and it actually has a very similar meaning to Elias (god is gracious v lord is my god) and again. I could see Deuce wanting to honor a name from Yuu's world with their first kid. The other name I would offer is Damien, as his name is Deuce and his mother is named Dilla, so the D names seem to be a theme.

Savanaclaw

Leona! Yutu... I wrote down the name Kutaka for him. Scar has two possible real names listed on his wiki page and I became attached to the headcannon this reddit user put forward I found while researching them. The name Kutaka comes from the phrase "to want" and if he was born than Leona wanted him. Simple as that.

Forgive me but I wrote down Akiba for Ruggie! Yutu's real name. Supposedly it means "savings" in Swahili and as... unromantic and practical of a meaning that might be I could see Ruggie naming his kid that in the hopes of promoting fiscal responsibility in his future.

Jack! Yutu's real name is Ashe. It's a type of tree, and a type of grey. Jack's name is believed to be taken from the author of "Call of the Wild" but I didn't find any names there or in related works I liked. So woodsy name it was.

Octavinelle

Azul! Yutu's real name is Archimedes. I took it from a minor character in the Little Mermaid tv show who is Ariel's friend who is also obsessed with the human world, but I like the idea of him having the same name as an important historical figure in our world. Also Yuu could call him Archie and he could hate it.

Jade! Yutu's real name is Merrin. Fannon has Jade call Yuu his pearl a lot, and Merrin can mean pearl of the sea. I like the imagery of Jade naming his child after his precious partner.

Floyd! Yutu's real name is Jasper. It's an orange red stone, and shrimps are also orange red. The octotrio all have names related to color in some way, but Jade and Floyd can also be referencing gemstones so I like the idea that they'd reach for similar names for their own kids.

Scarabia

Kalim! Yutu's real name is Mazin. The name means "rain clouds" but those are a blessing in the desert. Not to mention that rain is what Oasis Maker does!

Jamil! Yutu's real name is Sohail. The name seems to mean "star" or "trouble free." Najma also can mean "star" and Jamil wants for a life that is trouble free. It feels like a name he'd like.

Pomefiore

Vil! Yutu's real name is Laurie for no other reason that his unique magic deals with painting and I like Little Women. Also it feels like a fun name and I can see Vil cooing over it.

Rook! Yutu's real name is Oliver. If he were to have a sibling their name would be Roland. This is not foreshadowing for his post.

Epel! Yutu's real name is Jyri. It means farming man and I wanted a cute sounding name.

Ignihyde

I had a real hard time deciding Yutu Shroud's name. I sort of like Orpheus if we're being honest here... sure that's the name of a tragic hero and not how Idia would want his relationship to go, but it's a pretty name.

Diasomnia

The Draconia's have a clear naming pattern so Malleus! Yutu's real name is Malleyu because of course Malleus wishes to name his son after his beloved spouse. In the bad timeline, as part of forgetting who Mal is, Yuu gives Yutu a different name. I had written down Cadmus, the name means "from the east" and references a man who turns into a snake.

Lilia does not have a clear idea where his name comes from and he named his first kid Silver; I think he'd defer to Yuu for names. What is the point of having a kid with a vampire fae general if you can't name him Alucard?

Silver! Yutu's real name is Lance 1) because it is a type of weapon so Silver will approve 2) as a shortened form of Lancelot, who was a knight raised by fairies.

Sebek! Yutu's name is malleus I sort of like the idea of Yuu insisting he be named Thor. It fits in just well enough with the Zigvolt naming structure (both Sebek and Baur seem to be named after gods) and Yuu gets to use something from their world.

Extra

I think we said this already but Rollo! Yutu's real name is Jehan, after his brother. Jehan is the name of Frollo's brother in the book version of Hunchback.

[ploppythespaceship]

Please Watch My Adventures with Superman

This show is just so delightful and manages to capture the essence of Superman in a way a lot of adaptations just don't quite get. If you've ever been curious about Superman, if you've ever felt Superman is too boring for you, or you just enjoy a fun superhero story, I highly recommend checking this series out.

The first season has ten episodes, and the second season has just aired its third episode. In the US, it's available on Adult Swim and Max.

What It's About

If you aren't familiar with Superman, he's an alien -- the last survivor of planet Krypton, sent to Earth as an infant where he was found and raised as Clark Kent. Being an alien, he has extraordinary powers which he uses to lead a double life as a hero. This show focuses on a core trio of Clark, his girlfriend Lois, and their friend Jimmy, all of whom work at the Daily Planet newspaper.

Clark Kent / Superman

One of the main reasons this show works is it understands that Clark is Clark, first and foremost, and Superman is his disguise. Clark is a big friendly nerd. He's a huge sweetheart who cares so deeply about the people around him and the planet that adopted him.

This version of Clark is starting out very young (early 20s), so a lot of this story is about him just figuring things out. He's gradually learning the truth about his origins, the extent of his powers, and how best to be a hero -- all while grappling with the fact that he isn't human and his people of origin may in fact be a massive threat to Earth.

Clark is voiced by Jack Quaid, which you might not expect to work well, but he honestly nails it.

Lois Lane

Lois is loud. She's ambitious. She's intelligent and quick-witted. She doesn't take no for an answer. She has jumped off a building to prove her point -- twice. She is an unstoppable force of nature, and this show refuses to dumb any of those traits down.

But above all, she's kind. She wants to use everything she can do to help people. Her relationship with Clark is also everything you could ever want from a Clois dynamic.

This version of Lois is Korean-American, and voiced by Alice Lee, who does a phenomenal job.

Jimmy Olsen

Jimmy is Clark's best friend and roommate. This version portrays him as a supernatural/paranormal vlogger, running a web series called Flamebird. He's easily excitable, very passionate, as well as one of the most dedicated friends you could ask for.

Following in the footsteps of several previous iterations of the character, this version of Jimmy is African-America. He's voiced by Ishmael Sahid, who's just perfect in the part.

Why It's Great

The characters are all fun and interesting in their own right, while also having a great dynamic with each other -- as duos and as a full trio. And because the characters are shown as being very young and just starting out, they're very relatable. Additionally, every character feels very true to the spirit of their comics counterpart, despite taking a lot of liberties with the specifics.

There's a great cast of villains so far -- Livewire, Task Force X, Mxyzptlk, Parasite, Silver Banshee, and plenty of others that I don't want to spoil. They've also been teasing some really interesting stuff for the Kryptonians, which is noticeably different from any previous adaptations I'm familiar with.

The show is very anime-inspired, giving it a distinct flavor from other Superman adaptations. The creators are clearly having a ton of fun with it. Classic Superman villain Mxyzptlk, who's typically shown as an imp, now looks like he just walked out of a Dragon Ball episode, in an episode called "Kiss Kiss Fall In Portal."

It's also the same animation studio as The Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defender, who do excellent work. The character designs are unique while still fitting the characters perfectly. I particular love Clark and Superman's designs -- they've struck a balance between making sure he's big and muscular while also retaining a certain softness to his appearance. The fight scenes are fluid and dynamic. It all just works.

[lilac-rose-writes]

KINDERGARTEN 3: Questions + Crack Theories

(Some done with @charismabee in messages <3)

1. Where are the other kids?

THEORY 1: The correct one. Bob adopted them all. Grabbed as many kids as he could see and took off with them. Their home lives sucked before? That's okay! Now they have a Bob! Unfortunately, despite his large janitor arms, he could only carry six children at a time. And by the time he went back for the others, they had been signed up to a new school and carted off by their parents. How sad. :(

THEORY 2: The Kindergarten one. They've all been kidnapped. Uh oh! They're hanging out with the mysterious disappearing former principal somewhere. Jerome is crying. Lily is furiously looking for an escape. Billy is having a panic attack. Ted "Felix" is being "Felix". Buggs is hitting things. Ozzy is having a panic attack. Things are fun <3

THEORY 3: The silly one! They're in the library. Regis looked at the troublemakers who have killed/want to kill/look like they want to kill people and put them allll in study hall together. And then put Ozzy there too. For funsies! So now they're all being scolded for committing all the murders and/or being Ozzy. Carla finds out she wasn't invited to Murder Club and she is furious.

2. What's up with Felix/Ted??

THEORY 1: After going home on Tuesday, Ted somehow discovered Felix's plans to kill him. Maybe he found the contract, maybe Felix straight-up told him (he is such a terrible liar. The WORST. I will be going back to this point in theory 2). However it happened, Ted learnt Felix wanted to kill him, pulled a Cain's Not Able alt route, and got his own back. He's in his Theodore era now. No more silly expressions. He looks at the space Felix left behind, and slots into it seemingly perfectly.

THEORY 2: The better one. Felix is pretending to be Ted. Felix too was grouped into the intended Murder Club, but he wasn't going to spend all day in study hall. Ew. So, he does the logical thing, and has Teddy fill his place. Felix thinks he's completely inconspicuous- like a sneaky hawk, so to speak. The thing is, he keeps "teehee"-ing between words and doing a frankly terrible impersonation of Ted. Remember all of his smug gloating throughout Cain's Not Able (e.g. "heheh... you have the most important part", the stealing Monty's arm plot failing so badly that Monty somehow knew Felix wanted to steal something from him and that said something was an arm, etc)? Take that and multiply it tenfold. Even the kids he's never spoken to before can tell he's not "Teddy". Meanwhile, Ted is sitting in Murder Club and trying so hard to act like Felix, but the only preparation he's had is switching shirts and he keeps trying to kill Ozzy when no-one's looking.

THEORY 3: Cain's Not Able just carried over through loops. Stevie's bandaged up, we only have one twin. Once again, Theodore arc initiated.

3. Alice & Ms Lovelett are related

THEORY: This one is simply because they are both redheads & Alice is an amnesiac. It's probably not going to be canon considering the amount of staff members' (principals') kids we have so far, but it's interesting to think about! I think it could add a lot of depth & mystery towards Ms Lovelett as a character, as well as giving us something to unpick about Alice's lost memories.

4. What's up with Monty's legs?

THEORY 1: The popular "Monty has Penny's legs" idea- part I. He went down to the lab (bc hey! Secret Lab! That sounds AWESOME for science!) and he found a Penny. A very dead, very robotic Penny. With legs. So, fitting right in with the weird limb rules of this universe, he does what Nugget did with Stevie's arm and takes those legs for himself. After all, it's not like Penny needs 'em anymore. He's being eco-friendly and reducing, re-using & recycling. It sucks that the skirt was also robotic. He could potentially get it off if he tried hard enough but he really wants legs again now and if he did there would be nothing else covering his new legs.

THEORY 2: The popular "Monty has Penny's legs" idea- part II. He still has Penny's legs, but this time, it wasn't his idea. If Applegate can somehow rise from the dead, who's to say that the superior-minded Dr Danner can't? Wouldn't be surprised if he's made himself immortal or something. He sees legless alive specimen Monty and legful dead specimen Penny and goes "hey little boy, want to swap legs with this robot?". Doesn't really matter if Monty wants to or not. His own legs are chopped off & replaced with Penny legs. He's so embarrassed about it. This will 100% ruin his street cred and also he didn't want his one-day broken legs to be gotten rid of forever. Sigh.

5. Romeo & Juliet

THEORY: This one's more of a silly guess/prediction, really. Either "Ted"/Ted gets cast as Romeo or we as Kid do (I like to think Kid will be managing all the behind the scenes stuff instead though :]) and Cindy demands to be Juliet. Only problem is, they're horrendous at acting. Cindy is over-the-top and overdramatic (like the queen she is). "Ted" is and always has been the worst actor to ever act ever. Ted too is pretty terrible at it and completely unused to being in the spotlight for anything. At least one character has stage fright. I can see Ms Lovelett as one of those teachers who start out sweet and welcoming, reassuring them all that they'll have lots of fun and put on a great show. But this is, of course, Kindergarten, so things quickly take a turn for the worse. She quickly becomes overbearing towards the performance, trying to perfect every little thing and criticising everyone repeatedly. With each passing minute, she becomes more and more frazzled. Her love for theatre is "insatiable", and she can't be stopped. The performance ends with the actors of Romeo and Juliet actually dying. Someone is poisoned, someone is stabbed. Maybe Nugget stabs someone. Maybe Nugget poisons someone. He has before. Seriously WHO thought it was a good idea to give him a knife in this game-

6. Regis' Deal

THEORY: Piecing together what we have so far, I'd say it's almost definite that he's the one behind the former principal's disappearance. He's taken on the role of classic Evil Kindergarten Principal, making both drugs and goo, making not just children but adults disappear too (hey K1 principal, imagine only being able to kidnap one child. To be fair he's a pretty sneaky hawk child who likes to hide in places but still. Skill issue).

Nugget's playing in the green goo outside. At lunch, he claims that he's "feeling funny again!", and at the start of the day, he encourages Kid to eat it. Upon doing so, Kid seemingly goes to the principal's office, where he is then sent to the medical room, looking distinctly green himself with a goo globule implying his death inside his last apple. It's safe to presume that this goo is at least somewhat similar to that of the goo in Kindergarten 2. Agnes adores it and it significantly disoriented Bob, so we can infer that it could have addictive/drug-like properties. It can kill people, as shown by the janitor's closet in K2. We know that it mutated people, and sustained Penny. It's dangerous. And there's a great deal of it all over the place.

In fact, there are elements from both of the previous principals' research scattered throughout the trailer. We see:

Green goo in a pool the janitor is cleaning in the cafeteria, a little away from the taped-over "STAFF ONLY CLOSET" door. Who has closets? Janitors. Who's a powerful member of staff? Regis, the former janitor.

Green goo pouring out of some sort of pipe into a puddle right below three tinted windows

The nurse's green cigarette smoke. We can guess that she designed the nurse's office, and therefore the posters within it- including the one discouraging/banning smoking inside of the medical room. So why would she be smoking herself?

A darkened, red version of the door presumably leading to the classroom. Dark, greenish stains cover the entire wall, but especially by that door in particular

The hole Regis drops Kid into for some reason. It has blood streaked down it- has someone been crushed by the closing mechanism before? Was one of the bloodied bags deposited there? Or, of course, did someone before Kid just spray up blood with the same absurd propulsion as a particularly bouncy ball?

IN THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE-

A brown monster with some sort of sword through its head

A bloody bag, perhaps containing the rest of the monster. It's leaked onto the floor, and bears a lot of resemblance to those seen in K1

A sword in a glass case, similar to the guns the principal had encased in K1

What does this all say? Well, I'd take it to mean that we have yet another shady principal/ murderous janitor on our hands. There's something behind those windows, something inside the staff-only closet, a reason why there are goo stains everywhere. Something happened to the former principal. Something's happened to the other kids. And Regis is the one behind it.

But other than that? Atm I've got nothing lol

I'd love to hear your own theories and thoughts on the trailer!! Maybe I'll add more to this tomorrow; the KG3 reveal has thrown me straight into analysis mode. No detail shall escape my scrutiny <3

[spencerdaze]

'Labyrinth' and how trauma makes us search for escapism

Welcome to 'Mikaela please log off' where i talk and overanalyze movies because i'm unemployed. In today's hell of a post, i'm going to talk about probably my favourite movie and one that has shaped me for my entire life: 1986 'Labyrinth', with musical numbers written and performed by none other than Miss David Bowie himself! SPOILERS AHEAD.

Now i've seen this movie more times than i've seen my own face in the mirror. It's a movie i enjoyed in my childhood and certainly one that has shaped me, with how the puppets have a certain uncanny feel to them almost and how crazy and whimsical the whole movie is. It trully is an amazing movie that can be enjoyed by children, but also by adults as well, with many of the movie's themes and meanings being hidden or something you find with experience or relate to later in life. Because the movie is a very clear reference to fairytales like Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, is no surprise to know there are many, many different readings that can be done to it. The firts reading i made of the movie when i rewatched it as an adult was that the movie was a very clear allegory for growing up and maturing, having to leave behind your childhood but also keeping in mind your inner child so that you don't lose yourself in the labyrinth that is life.

While the allegory reading is correct, and i think it's one of the meanings behind the movie and certainly the most obvious theme, it's definetly not the only one. One thing kept me wondering after watching the movie this time: Why is the phrase 'You have no power over me' so important? It's used in the beginning of the film, with Sarah forgetting this line in her book, and by the end, when she's facing Jareth, Sarah remembers the phrase by herself, clearly showing us as viewers the inner power Sarah has over her life. It's obvious this line is meant to represent Sarah's ambition and power, but why is it this phrase? Whi is it You have no power over me and not something else like 'My power lies within me' which could tie to the end of the film, with Bowie's Within you playing? Well, after rewatching it recently, i figured it out: Sarah isn't just talking to Jareth, she's talking to her stepmother.

At the beginning of the film Sarah seems to be, on the surface, a spoiled 15 year old girl who doesn't want to do her chores and just wants to play around, not even wanting to date, something her stepmom wants her to do. Her stepmother wants her to mature and grow, to find love, etc. And Sarah and her obviously do not get along a lot. Two important details appear when Sarah goes back to her room at the beginning after fighting with her stepmother over having to take care of her little brother: her stepmother talks to her dad, telling him 'She treats me like the wicked stepmother of a fairytale', and when Sarah goes to talk to her to her room, he doesn't even bother to open the door or make sure she's okay after the fight. To some people these details seem just normal parent behaviour, but it was very clear to me after the film that Sarah is being emotionally neglected by her father, and possibly made by her stepmother to grow up to fast. Sarah is fifteen and an older sister, and unfortunately is common for older sisters to act as parents for their siblings while also not being taken care of themselves. We see Sarah clinging to her childhood as an escapism from the fact she feels completely neglected, since her dad won't even open the door to talk to her.

When Sarah tells Toby her fairytale, it's a clear depiction of how she feels like: There once was a princess who was basically a slave to her stepmother and she was forced to take her of her baby brother. Sarah takes her rage out on her brother and sends him away with the goblins, and inmediatly regrets it. She's repeating patterns of abuse. She's realizing sending her brother away is the submitting him to the same neglectful behaviour she has struggled with. So she makes a deal with Jareth to get him back.

Jareth poses an interesting character in Sarah's healing journey from her trauma. He's in love with her, in very possessive, clingy way that makes him do anything she asks him too to try to manipulate her to love him, which doesn't work on her, because she's probably used to it. The fact Sarah has a lot of toys and costumes, which makes us feel like she's spoiled, while being simultaneously emotionally neglected, is a very common way a manipulator convinces the victim there's no reason to feel that way. So seeing as she's used to being gifted things, being given 'her dreams', instead of actual emotional support and availability, Sarah is basically inmune to Jareth's advances. This could be read as Sarah's first experience with love outside of her family life, which is also a common thing in the experiences of older sisters: they date men who aren't good for them, repeating the patterns they're used to and being once again emotionally hurt. By the end of the movie, after meeting new friends Sarah loves deeply and grows to appreciate, and by being shown there are people who do care about her and who do love her and respect her, Sarah is able to fight Jareth alone, because she might be phisically alone, but she knows her friends have her back always. The found family trope is used here even until the end when we think Sarah has grown and the people she met in the Labyrinth are gone, and Sarah tells Jareth he has no power over her because she finally has healed, and she knows she deserves better.

By the end, Sarah has matured and learned, not just about herself, but about love and relationships of all kinds. She gives Toby her plushie as a way of showing she doesn't need to desperately cling to her childhood anymore, because she now has people in her life who care about her for real, and also she tucks him in as a way to show she's going to break the cycle, and show him finally the emotional support she didn't get from her parents. She keeps many things in her room, but puts others away, and when her friends from the Labyrinth appear to tell her they'll be there if she needs them, they don't simply say this and go away, but she makes them stay. 'I need you', she tells them, because even if she's healed, her life might still be filled with the remnants of her trauma, and an escapism might be needed. But most importantly, 'I need you', because they're her friends, her found family, the people who have shown her what she deserves in her life.

The movie definetly shows us the many highs and lows in life, particularely in adolescence, and how the journey to being mature can be difficult. But these subtle themes of emotional neglect, trauma, and the struggles of a young girl forced to grow up a little too soon trully give the movie another layer of depth that maybe not everyone might see, but some of us, specially those of us who relate to these struggles, do see and aknowledge, reminding us that we're not alone and that we deserve better, for our trauma has no power over us.

[flippinpancakes64]

Hi I found your blog today and it's great all around! Can you do HC's of the Cullen's with a couple who refuse the vegetarian lifestyle and consume human blood?

The Cullens with a Couple that consumes human blood

Thank you for the kind words!? Why is everyone in my inbox being so nice rn...

I interpreted this as meaning a romantic couple who are vampires who asked to join the Cullens but didn't have any relation to the Cullens before. I also didn't really make this romantic as far as with the other Cullens. I also tried my best to keep gender and details about the couple like nonexistent.

Thank you for requesting and I hope you like this!

Edward:

He's not very happy

When you two show up all he can think about is the possible dangers

And of course the fact that their cover could be blown

I feel like he would care a lot about staying in one place for a while

So he really likes blending in

But if you two promise to only hunt past state lines and far away from where they are, he might come around

In general, it's not the fact that you drink human blood that bothers him, it's just the possible risks

He would still be very wary

Reading your thoughts constantly to make sure you're not a risk

He would get used to you guys eventually, but he wouldn't let his guard down

Alice:

She saw you two coming and she warned the others

She couldn't see your intentions, all she could see were red eyes

And so when the two of you showed up, everybody was ready to stand guard

But after explaining your stories and that you simply wanted a family, she was more than happy

She could see that you guys would stick to your promises of blending in and respecting hunting ground

She is the quickest to warm up to either of you

Will be the one to invite you guys out to do things

She doesn't have a problem with either of you at all

She doesn't care that you two drink blood

She doesn't care that you guys won't change your ways

And she doesn't think you guys are a danger

Jasper:

The exact opposite of Alice

He actively hates you two

He does not trust you, he thinks you guys are liars, and he is constantly ready to attack if the time calls for it

He is convinced that you two must have an ulterior motive for joining their clan

Also resents you two for drinking human blood

That is something he hasn't had in so long and has been challenging himself to give up for the ability to stay with the Cullens and then you two waltz in and do it anyway?

He is beyond pissed

No matter how long you two stay there or how nice you are, as long as you drink human blood he will not warm up to you

And maybe even if you do conform he probably still wouldn't trust you

Sorry

Rosalie:

She'd be annoyed but just because there are more people

After the initial showdown after Alice's vision, she'd stop caring

She has a superiority complex because she's never tasted human blood, but she doesn't rub it in your faces

She doesn't care what you guys do

She's not really attached to any one place, after all

It would be no problem for her to pack up and move to a new city

She had to do it for years following Emmett's transformation

She mostly just gets annoyed at how crowded the house feels now

She says she has no "breathing" room

Honestly she might just take Emmett and pack up to live on their own for a little bit

But overall she's not mean and she doesn't care

She doesn't trust you guys but I feel like she doesn't trust a lot of people so

Emmett:

Another one who doesn't give a damn

When you two first show up, he's obviously ready for a fight

But after you prove that you pose no threat, he backs off

He gets along with you guys pretty well

He trusts you for the most part

Obviously a part of him is still ready if something were to happen

But other than that he's pretty chill

He gets a little bitter knowing that you two still drink human blood

But he gets over himself

Even though he doesn't mind you guys, he will follow Rosalie in a heartbeat

Esme:

She gets a little skeptical

She tries her best to be welcoming

But she is a little put off

She doesn't understand why you guys want to join them

But if you guys are nice then she's okay

Another one who is very hospitable

She'll invite you guys out to do things with the rest of them

She would be the one to invite you two to baseball

Will get over her mistrust of you guys eventually

And after she does she treats you like any of the other Cullens

Carlisle:

He is friends with many vampires who live the "natural" way and it's never stopped him before

He's on guard at first but he is definitely the first one to trust you guys

I mean he let like 30 vampires into his house

So he's chill

Questions you genuinely on why you wanted to be a part of his clan

And why you don't want to feed off of animals

But not in an accusatory way

More like an inquisitive way

He's a doctor first and foremost

And very interested in learning the specifics of vampirism

Treats you guys like old friends

Thumbs up

Vampire! Bella:

She'd get a bit angry

She feels like you two are entitled

And she doesn't want you to join them

Doesn't really trust you guys

Especially if they're still in Forks or somewhere nearby

All she can think about is Charlie and the potential danger you pose

She wants you gone

Like now

But if the other Cullens like you guys then she can't really make you do anything

Would come around eventually though

She just needs proof that you guys are following rules

And I feel like she'd be more okay with it if you guys only hunted criminals

[imthepunchlord]

Rewatching Timebreaker, in hindsight to knowing what the watch is, this intro to it makes it so weird.

Specifically the watch's ability to make a hologram.

Assuming this watch was always planned to be the Rabbit Miraculous, does that mean that all Miraculous can make holograms? Or have some unique minor ability they can do and this is what the Rabbit can do?

Which, for something related to time travel, it's kinda random.

Unless Rabbit wasn't planned to have time traveling powers, but potentially, originally was the illusionist instead of Fox.

Which wouldn't be too much of a stretch for Rabbit.

White rabbits are an iconic animal that's tied to magicians, who are expert illusionists.

To add to it, the rabbit is tied the trickster archetype. Europe has tied rabbits to other-worldliness and the fae. And there is an Indian fable of the Clever Rabbit and the Foolish/Hungry Lion. Where the Lion decreed all animals were to sacrifice themselves so he can eat, and when it was the Rabbit's turn, the Rabbit told the Lion that there was another lion nearby, and led the Lion to a well/watering hole and pointed to the reflection in the water. The Lion drowned trying to fight his reflection, saving the Rabbit and other animals from being devoured.

Which a reflection can count as another illusion.

This can even work off Alice in Wonderland as illusions can be tied to dreams, and they can be creative and surreal and strange.

As for the time motif, it can play off time is an illusion.

So IF that watch was always planned to be the Rabbit Miraculous, I wonder if it was originally the illusionist instead of the time traveler; as the ability for the watch to make a hologram is just so random.

As for Fox, given that Volpina "the False Fox" was an illusionist, there was a possibility that the actual Fox wasn't. And Thomas Astruc had confirmed that Pied Piper was a Fox (hence the flute).

Potentially, Fox originally had a power of hypnosis or subconscious manipulation through music, also working off how music can influence you.

Which this ability is what I associate Pied Piper with more than illusions, and it would work better off Fox playing the flute to use the power, as playing it to make illusions is a weird choice. Anyone hearing that music would know an illusion is coming, but not so if the music could enthrall you and influence how you perceive the world, what you register.

To add to it, this can work off the 9 tailed foxes too, I have read that some did have the ability to hypnotize; this can also work off that infamous ability to possess a target, taking over another.

A lot of this is just speculation though.

It's hard to say if the watch even was always planned to be a Miraculous, if the Zodiac were even always planned. Some things just feel like they rolled out and there were definite changes that had been made, some of which I'm sure were done to keep to the status quo easier and not drastically change up the story (like Mayura was built up to be a bigger bad and bigger threat, actually be HM's boss, but nah, that'd change up too much, can't have that).

[qqueenofhades]

Can I request a further rant on Alice Albinia's The Britannias please?

Anonymous asked: 'Further rant available upon request' here is my official request.

Aha. You are both prompt and accommodating. And it is my lunch break, so let's do this!

For context, this is the book in question:

This book was recently published, comes highly reviewed and (as I said) has apparently already been longlisted for some prestigious nonfiction writing/women's prizes. I got it from the library the other day and started reading it; I'm about 150 pages in. It has given me an increasing Itch to the point where lo, yes, here I am on Tumblr about to compose a Statement. This may be because of what the book blurb states upfront as its focus and goals:

Trespassing into the past to understand the present, The Britannias uncovers an enduring and subversive mythology of islands ruled by women. Albinia finds female independence woven through Roman colonial reports and Welsh medieval poetry, Restoration utopias and island folk songs. These neglected epics offer fierce feminist countercurrents to mainstream narratives of British identity and shed new light on women's status in the body politic today.

Okay... well. Basically, she wants to write a history of Britain as focused on its islands, which in itself is a perfectly valid thing to do. As she states in the introduction, focusing on the history of a place through its physically and geographically marginalized locations, its relation to the "mainland," the constructions of power and identity, how one resists and influences the other, is all a very interesting thing to do. It's just how she does it that gives me a twitch. Her clearly stated goal is to find a "hidden women's history" wherein these "fierce feminist countercurrents" are allowed to inform and eventually subvert a totally androcentric and oblivious mainstream British history that has apparently prevailed largely unchallenged ever since antiquity, and where the Male Process of History deliberately destroyed and excluded all female contributions. She is somehow, apparently, the first one to notice this and/or put it together.

Now I'll be honest, the Secret Magical Women trope also gives me a twitch wherever it appears, whether in saccharinely self-important historical or fantasy-historical fiction or in this case, attempted historical nonfiction. Albinia's thesis also seems, essentially, directly lifted from Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon fantasy series in the 1980s: the pagan Celtic/British tribes were egalitarian, proto-democratic, female-led and/or female-centric, and the conquering Romans/Christians/Saxons were all virulently misogynist, masculine, authoritarian, and determined to stamp out this wherever it appeared. I have only gotten up to about the year 1000 (it goes chronologically), so I can't speak to what rationales Albinia comes up with for the later centuries, but let me just say: Hmm. It says a lot about the overall style of this book that I read the first 10 pages and then immediately picked up my phone to check Wikipedia and see if she was a TERF. As far as I can tell, fortunately, she isn't, but it does give me the same binary gender-essentialist vibe (men are from Mars, women are from Venus), and yikes. Basically, there are a lot of things going on here, and all of them are Not Good when it comes to the actual practice and investigation of premodern women's history:

First, while Albinia cites a few research articles (via endnotes) and translations of primary sources (thus far, mostly Roman and early medieval) we know nothing about her qualifications for using these sources, how she is comparing and analyzing them, whether they should in fact be taken at face value, whether anyone else has written on these topics (spoiler alert: yes), or why we are supposed to buy her narrative of this Hidden Female History of Britain. For example: she includes several passages from Roman writers discussing (reported) actions or (reported) mythologies of British women or British female-associated places. These are presented as uncritical and general fact, or something which we should apparently assume was really happening as described, even when she (occasionally, and shallowly) points to the issue of using exterior and non-contemporary male writers from far away. Her analysis also does not touch at all on the potential metatextual or political impulses these Roman male writers might have for presenting a freshly conquered imperial territory as corruptly or unacceptably feminine, and whether this correlated at all to an overall real-world practice or belief. Yes, as far as we can tell, the ancient Celts were in some ways more "feminist" than the Romans, in that Roman public culture was deliberately and exclusively masculine and patriarchal and any civic participation by women in other societies would thus appear as more than usual. But that is a whole can of worms for many reasons, none of which are highlighted or dealt with here. (Like... are we even going to talk about how the "Roman standard" for society was itself re-created by the Renaissance and how that shapes Western historical views, or...?)

As I said above, the book completely brushes aside any of the previous existing scholarship on these topics (done, you know, by actual historians) and presents it as Albinia discovering these issues or formulating these arguments for the first time. She does mention a few other people whose work she relies on or who are informing her hypothesis, but several times thus far, this is from the 1920s or some other clearly outdated argument. Nobody in the field is still treating arguments made in the 1920s as au courant, and while I can't say for certain, it reads as her being more able to access older or public-domain work (since more up-to-date publications require institutional access or paying for copies) and doing the equivalent of the people on Wikipedia who cite the 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia for everything: they can get that text for free, so that's what they refer to. Now obviously, we all support uncovering feminist strands of history, doing feminist history, challenging heteronormative or patriarchal narratives, etc. But also, we support doing it well and making some reference to the complexity of it!!!!

Likewise, Albinia is a white British woman whose previous books are based on her time living and traveling in India and Pakistan (both of which are, uh, previously British colonies). I have not read them, so I can't speak to how she treats it, but there's certainly an element of exoticizing them here, and while she does make passing reference to the British Empire's effect on those places, she does a sort of weird inverse here. She obviously knows about the basic facts of empire and colonization, but there's a notable amount of time dedicated to portraying ancient/Celtic Britain as the helpless victim of constantly brutal Roman colonization (she makes a few very brief and offhand references to cultural miscegenation and how this process unfolded in ways apart from violence, but they are clearly secondary to her main thesis of this as a masculine rape analogy). She is very clear about mourning for this "sacred divine [female] Britain" which was then destroyed by the unrelentingly violent and misogynist forces of Roman (cultural/military) and Christian (religious) colonization, and as I said, that is straight up Marion Zimmer Bradley. I haven't gotten past said first 150 pages, but I'm not terribly confident that her historical analysis improves much in the centuries to follow.

The book does have some bright spots: it's well written, it's engaging, she includes some colorful and interesting sociological vignettes about life on the margins of modern Britain, and there are certainly some things she's mentioned that I would like to look into in more depth. But yet again, this is being presented as an Authoritative or Revelatory History deserving of recognition and prizes, when there are real historians who have done so much of this work and in so much better ways. There is very little nuance to her thesis, no context or analysis or critique provided for her sources (yet again: why are we supposed to take Roman men as an authority on British women and why is she presenting them as obvious empirical fact while critiquing all other elements of their system/society?) and some squicky assumptions around gender and empire that really would need to be drawn out and examined in more detail. The Secret Magical [Pagan] Women Erased In History By Brutal Men gimmick is one that got a lot of traction with Philippa Gregory (sidenote: bookstore websites really need to stop recommending me Philippa Gregory for Women's History Month before I do crimes), and has been exasperatingly hard to eradicate ever since. Just to name one, we need to talk a lot more about the gender politics of medieval Christianity, any of the work done on this topic already, or anything else that would complicate her argument beyond the simplistic black-and-white state in which it currently exists. There are plenty of historians who would like to do that! Why don't you give some of THEM a call?!?!

Anyway. There is probably more I could say (and might), but I will leave it here for now. Thank you for the indulgence, etc.

[fencecollapsed]

I love musical theater. I may not be a theater kid stereotype, but I always found it as an interesting way to tell a story. But despite the fact I personally don’t think it’s that big of a deal, a lot of my relatives seem to take me as “the musical girl”. My mother made my 17th birthday musical themed. A lot of my Christmas presents were musical related, I’m sure you’d get it. A couple of weeks back though, my cousin in Michigan, who I don’t really know, suddenly sent me a DVD with blue sharpie on it, simply reading “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals” in all capital letters due to how much of a mouthful that name is, I’m going to refer to it as TGWDLM for the rest of this. The DVD itself was rather normal looking. She didn’t send me the box it came in, which is probably the reason why it was labeled in sharpie, cause without it, god knows what it could be. It could be a musical or a gore video, so thanks to her for that.

As for the contents... Well, it was a Pro-shot of a musical! The story was about a man named Paul, a guy who... didn’t like musicals! The opening song seems to portray this as a huge deal but to be honest, it isn’t. One day, on the opening night of a Mamma Mia! production in the real-life ghost town of Hatchetfield, Michigan (but populated, obivously), a meteor hits, carrying alien spores of a musical hivemind. One interesting fact is that the zombies are the only ones who sing, and dear god, some of their songs are so camp, but I guess that’s the joke. Also, I can definitely see an influence from Invasion of The Body Snatchers, hell, they even reference it. The musical itself had more laughs than scares for me, but the curtain call gave me fucking chills. The unusual parts though, come from not the musical itself, but what comes after it. There’s a behind-the-scenes, with a lot of content. There were audition tapes, director's commentary, easter eggs... I personally found it as fascinating as the musical itself! There was some mentions of a earlier version of the script, with some interesting parts that weren’t in the original, for example; Paul, Ted, Bill, and Charlotte all worked at a review site similar to IGN or Buzzfeed, or that Alice, in a strange trance, spouts out a bible quote. I began to feel like these random people, from an obscure theater company, were people I knew. But as fun as the behind the scenes are, that is not why I’m here. After the behind-the-scenes, there was just... A black screen. For like, 4 or 3 minutes… Then a blue screen with white text, with a font that looks like those fonts in analog horror, with one word. “APOTHEOSIS”.

There’s more after this too. The following is a very different feeling compared to the behind-the-scenes. It appears to be the night the pro-shot was recorded. It shows footage of the curtain call, when Emma was dragged backstage. Then, it cuts to security footage backstage. Immediately Emma’s actress, who I think I’ll just call Lauren, since that’s her real name, goes out of character. The others don’t let go of her, instead ejecting her out of the crowd. She lands on her ass and says “Ow.” in a tone that says “What the fuck dude? Why’d you throw me?”. The others are silent. Lauren gets up and after a moment looking at the others, decides to take off her bandage, revealing a real scar underneath. Lauren seems unsettled by this, but it’s made worse when everyone else approaches her, talking to her as if she IS Emma Perkins, despite her insistence. They then got closer, and closer. Lauren tried to back away, but they got closer. Eventually, Lauren was completely surrounded, and they... I... I can’t say it. I just can’t. All I’ll say is that audience members found the room covered in blood and mysterious blue goo. The blue screen appears again, the text now saying “THEIR RETELLING SUCKED ANYWAYS.”

After whatever the fuck that was, I kinda had to dig deeper? I had this mix of morbid fascination, horror, and an urge to somehow bring all this to light. Well... That and how at first I assumed it was a performance act, only to find out via a google search that it was all real, Lauren Lopez was presumed dead, and the rest of the cast are missing to this day.

So I talked to people who were at the closing night show. When it was recorded. They reported being genuinely convinced in some segments, like when Emma quote unquote “Looked at Ted’s eyes in horror, like she saw nothing there” and praised the “practical effects”. They also said that the few who lingered after the curtain call heard screaming. Those who checked backstage saw... Well, you know.

I didn’t find much about it though. Only this weird cult website when searching for random tag words related to the musical. It was talking about “His singular voice” or whatever and was saying that, like, all voices needed to be eradicated, for His is the only one that should exist, or whatever. Weirdly enough, there was musical theming in there. And... A page about the musical. I can vaguely recall the contents but it’s really hard to. It had a synopsis of the musical kinda biased in the favor of the zombies, with the implications that He caused the musical apocalypse over there. Me and my friends looked at the site once in a discord call and laughed at it. But then I found the actors' faces and how they all were brought to an “apotheosis”. Like... Like in the fucking musical.

It was just a rabbit hole I found myself in at the end of the day though. I easily tucked it into the back of my brain and went on with my life. But then stuff started getting weird. With me, I think. I’ve been more scatterbrained than usual, prone to zoning out for long stretches of time, wandering off conversations to talk about something else entirely, and I’m beginning to hate the sound of other people’s voices and I don’t know why, I was never a social butterfly but I didn’t hate other people talking... Everyday when I brush my teeth I notice my eyes getting... Bluer? I don’t know how, but my eyes have gone to a dark brown, to a light brown, to a hazel, to green, and now it’s getting closer and closer to blue. My friends online have been safe at the time from my sudden hatred of other voices but I can’t really go on voice chats anymore. And my fixation on musicals has only grown as of late. I can’t help but fight the urge to spontaneously sing a show-tune. I hate it.

I’d try to see a psychiatrist or something but I can’t bear to hear another voice, it’s so grating. And I know I should just grin and bear it but the last time I tried that I yelled at them. Not many people like me much anymore. I see why, I must’ve become an asshole to them, but they don’t get it. My eyes have become blue by now, and I think it’s glowing too.

I can’t help but play the songs over and over. I called it camp but I think it’s growing on me. I like Let It Out the most. I relate to Paul a lot right now. And then I noticed a split second shot of... His actor... Being... I can’t say it. I had to vomit. Why wouldn’t I? That was so fucking disgusting. And when I puked, I froze pale at what I just pushed out of my body.

It was blue, viscous sludge. It felt disgusting looking at it, even worse when you hold it. It smelled like ammonia. I ran out of the bathroom. I couldn’t stand to look at it any longer. And that’s when I decided to write this. I’m scared, to be honest, who wouldn’t be? I’ll most likely either be dead and have my corpse puppeteered, or go missing, for another poor soul to inevitably find the DVD and end up like me. I can hear the chimes and hymns of The Singular Voice. I know He wants me to become one with Him. He says it’s inevitable for me. And what choice do I have in the matter anymore?

I’m sorry, I lost.