#it’s arguably a double whammy

[aesthetic-uni]

Oh. God.

[coldgpa]

The thing about vol 2 coming out later than vol 1 is that not only did I waste my time watching a show where my favorite character dies but almost every single fanfic written pre vol 2 is just slightly out of character for eddie

[lakesbian]

thots on blake's backstory? it may not be real but it still affects his characterization so its worth asking i think

insofar as it did not literally happen in real life it's not real but insofar as he remembers & is impacted by it + his friends remembered & were impacted by it up until he got eated, it's real to him and them. i would not have pegged "cult survivor" specifically but yeah that checks. it's so funny (terrible for him) that miss grandma thorburn was like. hmm i need to make sure he really doesn't like hugs. and then hit him with the double whammy of "survivor of cult where manipulation into sex was used to keep men satisfied enough to stay & entrap women, and also he gets sexually assaulted after he leaves said cult juuuuust in case the cult thing on its own wasn't enough." it's like customizing a picrew but with intense human suffering instead of fun outfits. anyway, yeah, it checks. paranoia wrt other ppls motives, intense discomfort towards touch, funnily enough still not great at noting when something is too good to be true or someone is a little happier than they should be about smth. love how existentially horrifying it is for him that he's really tenacious and vigilant but in a way that leads him to disastrous pyrrhic victories rather than long-term survival and that's Explicitly bc gramma custom-tweaked his brain to make him the ideal meatshield who draws fire and then explodes. i'm really really endeared to the character trait where he Admits to himself that as much as he responds like a cornered animal (one w/ the worlds lamest oneliners) when threatened, if those threats are actually followed through on, he Will immediately start freezing and crying and pissing himself. like he's haunted by the memory of begging carl to take him back so that carl will stop, and he very desperately wants to Never be that person ever again, so even when he runs into someone as big & terrifying as conquest, he refuses to give an inch--he can't stand feeling like he remembers feeling back then--but he very much knows that if conquest called his bluff & started dragging him off he'd instantly turn into that person he never wants to be. his life sucks! both in terms of apparent memories and in terms of the Sheer Existential Horror of why he has those memories! devastating for the guy who has an entire Complex about the sanctity of his body & identity that literally none of his body or identity is his, it was all cobbled together from other people for the sole purpose of using him as a tool. even his own rejection of touch isn't his, it was forced upon him.

which. hm. i will say i think that's why arc 9 is paradoxically a form of catharsis & freedom--despite it being a horrific low point, it's not so much corruption of his body as it is him realizing that the changes haven't been corruption but what his body has been all along being revealed. the form he takes on when he's filled in by spirits is arguably more His than his old body was, because it's something he's gained thru his own choices & life experiences rather than the simulated ones that were forced upon him. he literally described himself as a doll, he's experienced the ultimate violation of autonomy thru being custom-manipulated to serve a purpose--choosing to fuck his own hand up and grow branches in place of false flesh is more Him than the original flesh ever was. his life is going to be awful forever and he will be reduced to next to nothing but it will be His nothing, i think.

[starl1t-vo1d]

I am vibrating I am bouncing up and down because I have come into more information about botw and the thoughts and ideas that come with it.

I think this is actually pretty widespread information so I don't know how I missed it up until now??? but anyways

Each of the divine beasts dungeon music has an SOS signal in it and each of the signals come in at different times so people think this is when about each of the champions died

(I had a theory about the illusory fights being the fights they had but mipha actually squashed this theory because you take ceremonial tridents into the fight and those wouldn't have been made until after her passing I think)

(further side note how do people typically do that fight? because uh you definitely don't have enough weapons. I did it last night and you know what I did? I used urbosa's fury 6 times, I waited until it recharged I sat there and played a demented game of catch because waterblight got stuck throwing ice cubes How is I meant to be done?)

anyways so Mipha's signal comes through first almost immediately and as one of the younger champions I think that sorta tracks. I don't think she trained combat as often as the others even her trial with the gaurdians was (at least how I did it) more of a stealth mission almost all of them were airborn and there's no water nearby so... idk really what she would have done. It comes through almost immediately and rather panicked and you just know that she was thinking of others when she should have been focusing on herself.

(I think she would have tried so so hard to live because if she didn't it would mean the others don't have a someone to help them. And think for a moment she was the only one to die and the rest of of them go to find her because say Urbosa is gravely wounded and if she doesn't get healed quickly she will also die and they go because surely Mipha can help and everything will be fine only to find that Mipha is gone and with it their only chance to save Urbosa so its a double whammy)

Daruk's comes after Mipha's (not super far behind they are all relatively close together) and admittedly I have less thoughts about his but his message does seem less panicked so I think his protection probably held out for a while. I think maybe he was the most caught off gaurd by dying because one minute he had his protection and he was just sending a signal because woof this was harder than he though and he could use some back up and the next his protection fails and he's gone.

Urbosa's is third and her signal is a little panicked but it honestly seems more angry than anything. I think that she held out for so long because she is the best at combat (on the ground but thats beside the point) I think when she sent the signal she was angry at herself for not being able to do it alone but smart enough to know when it was time to ask for help. She was angry at gannon and the situation and herself and I think she probably got thunderblight really low in the time she had but just wasn't fast enough to kill it and instead it got her.

Revali's is last and I think people focus on the fact that it's probably because he was so stubborn to ask for help but also consider he's the best at evasive menuvers (unless mipha is in the water) Revali's fighting style is the one I prefer in video games (irl ive learned close quarter because uh long range isnt really necessary) he stays out of the combat by being in a hard to reach place and picking monsters off of course he has to dodge and stay alert because he's not the only one to have a bow but arguably his is the safest method. He probably held his own the longest because windblight couldnt get to him and the plan was to play the patience game and keep whittling down at its health. However enemies are adaptive and windblight (giving it far more personality here) probably realized when it did hit Revali it had to count. I think when Revali finally took that blow he panicked and instead of being on the offensive switch over to the defensive buying him just enough time to send out the SOS, to admit that he couldn't do and needed help. His is panicked and rushed and scared.

Now to take it a step further, I think that hearing the SOS calls (because I would assume he could) is what lead to Link's downfall. Because he got distracted and caught up by his friends getting taken out. (my memory is bad but i dont think we actually see links death right? theres nothing that disproves this?) Imagine hearing them one after the other thinking for a moment that okay Revali is still fighting and then hearing that no there goes him too, there goes everyone if they couldn't do how could he possibly? What, a sword is ment to better his odds? I think that Link faltered because of the calls and got hit.

[gayleviticus]

FMA 03 writers

i had an autism moment and decided to look into the writers of FMA 03 and am now going to vomit out my findings here (nothing very in-depth but it's interesting to see which niches they fall into)

Sho Aikawa: 1-3, 7-8, 13-16, 21-22, 25, 29-31, 32 (w Yamatoya), 36, 39-51, Shamballa.

He wrote the first three episodes, the Nina/Barry the Chopper double whammy, the Marcoh/Scar arc, the latter half of Lab 5, Hughes' death, a decent chunk of the Wrath arc, the Elrics learning Scar's backstory, and then everything from about when the Liore arc begins.

Clearly as head writer he takes charge of the most significant turning points in the series - interestingly, aside from E35, E37, and E38 ("Reunion of the Fallen", "The Flame Alchemist, The Bachelor Lieutenant & The Mystery of Warehouse 13", and "With the River's Flow" by Inoue, Takahashi, and Yamatoya respectively), Aikawa is the only writer to write anything after the series fully diverges from the manga (which I would place at Ed killing Greed in E34). Wikipedia tells me has a reputation for working on adaptations that diverge significantly from the source material, as opposed to original works.

Other writing credits include head writer for Martian Successor Nadesico, Kamen Rider Decade, and the second half of Kamen Raider Blade. At 29.5/51 episodes (he co-wrote a single episode) he was responsible for 57.8% of the series.

Natsuko Takahashi: 6, 11, 17, 23, 26, 37.

She wrote the first Nina episode, The Other Elric Brothers 1, the Elrics recuperating in Resembool, the Elrics recovering post Lab 5, the Paininya episode, and Warehouse 13.

Her forte here is almost entirely slow, character-focused stories without danger or high stakes, with a tendency to emphasise cooling down from big dramatic moments and exploring the implications of these events for the characters.

Other credits include Tokyo Mew Mew, Chrno Crusade, Bleach, and Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. At 6/51 episodes she wrote 11.8% of the series.

Akatsuki Yamatoya: 28, 32 (w Aikawa), 33-34, 38.

He wrote the Yock Island training episode, Greed arc, and the episode where Ed and Al get into an argument and meet by the river (while Winry and Sheska investigate conspiracies).

Interestingly he is the only writer aside from Aikawa involved in writing actual ongoing arcs after the anime begins to diverge significantly from the manga (I would consider this the introduction of Wrath in E29); the only other contributions past this point are Warehouse 13 (E37) by Takahashi, which a joke episode, and Inoue's Lust and Lujon episode (35), which is valuable characterisation wise but technically standalone. Essentially Yamatoya writes solely for the transition point where FMA 03 is moving from following the manga's blueprint (with significant elaborations, albeit) to its own path.

Other writing credits include Soul Eater, Ghost Stories, Naruto, Detective Conan. At 4.5/51 episodes he wrote 8.8% of the series.

Toshiki Inoue: 4, 10, 24, 35

He wrote Majhal, Psiren, Al defending the Ishbalans against Barry the Chopper with Scar, and Lust and Lujon.

His episodes are largely anime-original and standalone, without significantly shaping the course of the series, but arguably contain valuable characterisation. The Al episode is something of an exception here as it is tied into an ongoing arc (Al's existential crisis) which is also based off manga material, but the episode itself is not a direct adaptation of anything from the manga. Majhal and Psiren are arguably the only genuine cases of pure 'filler' in 03.

Other credits include main writer of Don Brothers and the Death Note anime. At 4/51 episodes he wrote 7.8% of the series.

Katsuhiko Takayama: 9, 19-20, 27.

He wrote the Yousewell episode, first two episodes of Lab 5 arc, and the one where Izumi catches the Elrics.

His work seems fairly solid but nothing very innovative: he adapts manga material well but it's hard to see any strong theme here I think. Notably his Lab 5 episodes mainly cover manga events; the Lab 5 arc does end up significantly diverging from the manga with elements like Scar, Greed, Kimblee, and the Homunculi trying to convince Ed to make the Stone, but not in his episodes.

Other credits include Star Ocean EX, Mirai Nikki, Magia Record S2. At 4/51 episodes he wrote 7.8% of the series.

Manabu Ishikawa: 12, 18.

He wrote The Other Elric Brothers Part 2 and Marcoh's Notes.

Not much to say here - an adaptation of a light novel and a manga chapter.

Other credits include production assistant on Neon Genesis Evangelion, and writing for the Arc the Lad anime and Kimi no koe o todoketai. At 2/51 episodes he wrote 3.9% of the series.

Aya Yoshinaga: 5.

Wrote only the train episode so hard to draw any strong conclusions.

Other credits include Golden Kamui, Natsume's Book of Friends, and Durara!! At 1/51 episodes they (unsure of their gender) wrote 1.9% of the series.

as a special bonus I have made a pie chart bc I like pie charts

[justforbooks]

The film director William Friedkin, who has died aged 87, was slightly older than the “movie brats” group (Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and so on) credited with revolutionising US cinema in the late 1960s and early 70s.

Like Robert Altman and Sidney Lumet, Friedkin had come to cinema through TV and documentary, but made a vital contribution to the American new wave. His double-whammy in the first half of the 1970s, The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist (1973), met with critical acclaim and a level of box-office success that elevated them into pop-culture phenomena. They also managed to overshadow everything else he did.

Nevertheless it would be wrong to characterise his career as a rise and fall. His finest hour was arguably the 1985 cop-and-counterfeiters thriller To Live and Die in LA, while he scored a modest triumph late in the day with his 2011 adaptation of Tracy Letts’s southern-fried noir play Killer Joe. But his steady hand, his timing and his commercial savvy were evident in those early hits. The French Connection, with its preference for hand-held, vérité-style camerawork and on-the-hoof sound recording, sometimes at the expense of intelligibility, took the American policier to a level of authenticity and grittiness to which the genre still aspires today.

Friedkin was never shy of owning up to his mistakes; his 2013 memoir, The Friedkin Connection, opens with an account of various regrettable errors, including passing up the chance to buy an ownership stake in Mike Tyson and throwing away some sketches by the then-unknown artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. To these can be added his reluctance to cast Gene Hackman as The French Connection’s dishevelled antihero, “Popeye” Doyle.

Actor and director fought regularly. “His outbursts [onscreen] were aimed directly at me … more than the drug smugglers.” Among the film’s five Academy Awards was a best actor prize for Hackman’s snarling performance, and one for Friedkin as best director.

The Exorcist followed Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968) in bestowing upon the modern horror movie a new sheen of class and respectability. Friedkin integrated serious themes with extreme gore and intense terror, but rejected the idea that The Exorcist belonged to the horror genre. “I think it deals with issues far more profound than what you find in the average horror film. To be frank with you, Bill [the writer William Peter Blatty] and I never set out to make a horror film. The idea never crossed our minds. To me, The Exorcist was a story about the mystery of faith, and I tried to depict that as realistically as possible.”

His parents and grandparents had fled Kiev (Kyiv) in the early 1900s, making the passage to the US by hiding on freighter ships. William was born and raised in Chicago, the son of Rachel (nee Green), who gave up her job as an operating-room nurse when he was born, and Louis, a former semi-professional softball player turned cigar maker and men’s clothing salesman. Friedkin characterised his own adolescence as one of frustration and thwarted dreams: “From an early age, my ambitions overwhelmed my abilities,” he wrote. “It’s a miracle I didn’t end up in jail or on the streets.”

He graduated from Senn high school in 1953 and got a job in the post-room of a local Chicago television station, WGN-TV. He worked his way up through various positions, acting as floor manager on several hundred shows before a vacancy opened for a director of live drama.

But it was a cinematic experience around the same time that proved formative. One afternoon in the early 60s, Friedkin went to see Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane for the first time, entering the cinema at noon and not leaving until late that evening, having watched the movie five times back-to-back: “No film I’ve seen before or since meant so much to me. I thought, ‘Whatever that is, that’s what I want to do…’ On that Saturday, just three years younger than Welles when he created Kane, I resolved to become a film-maker.”

In 1962, he made The People vs Paul Crump, an award-winning documentary about a man on death row, and also directed an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, before knocking out four features: Good Times (1965), a vehicle for the musical duo Sonny & Cher; the comedy The Night They Raided Minsky’s and an intermittently electrifying screen version of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party (both 1968); and another theatre adaptation, The Boys in the Band (1970), about a group of gay friends.

In his 1998 book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, the film historian Peter Biskind wrote that on the basis of those last two films, Friedkin had acquired a “reputation for being an art film director, the kiss of death. He was depressed, afraid he would never work again.”

Salvation came in the shape of a screenplay adapted from a factual bestseller about the NYPD’s campaign to smash a drug ring. Friedkin brought an unprecedented level of realism to The French Connection. A key sequence, thrillingly executed by Friedkin, features a seven-minute chase through Brooklyn, with Popeye (in a stolen car) trying to outrun and intercept his quarry, who has hijacked the train speeding along the elevated track above him.

Friedkin was not bashful about his Oscar win: Biskind reported that the director had his chair on the set of The Exorcist emblazoned with the words “An Oscar for The French Connection”. His behaviour had also become harsher and unrulier, even if there was usually a method to his madness (such as slapping a real priest, who had been hired to play an absolution scene, in order to produce the required nervous energy).

The Exorcist was a calculating combination of the portentous and the shrill, mixing highfalutin religious inquiry with brazenly shocking scenes showing Regan (played by the 13-year-old Linda Blair) masturbating with a crucifix, growling obscenities and projectile vomiting. Friedkin’s grasp of tone was sure, though the movie sometimes seemed to be in denial about its own carnivalesque tactics.

These two defining peaks of Friedkin’s career were followed in 1977 by his most conspicuous commercial flop: Sorcerer, a thriller about four men driving a combustible cargo of dynamite through the rainforest. It was based on the same source material as Henri-Georges Clouzot’s masterpiece The Wages of Fear, and while not in the same league it was nonetheless undeserving of its box-office fate.

Various factors were blamed, ranging from Friedkin’s hubris to a release date adjacent to Star Wars. It would not be until a remastered print of Sorcerer was screened at the Venice film festival in 2013 that it would begin to lose its unwarranted taint of failure. He insisted it was the work of his which remained closest to his original vision: “The way I saw the film in my mind’s eye, that is the one that’s pretty much there.”

His usual bluster was absent from his next film, the low-key comedy-thriller The Brink’s Job (1978), a dramatisation of the $3m Brink’s robbery in Boston, which Friedkin made when his proposed film of Born on the Fourth of July (later shot by Oliver Stone) fell through.

The mixture of sensational subject matter and po-faced tone that had served him so well on The Exorcist did not prove so successful with Cruising (1980), a lurid and occasionally objectionable thriller starring Al Pacino as a cop who goes undercover in the gay S&M subculture to catch a murderer.

An early draft of the script had been leaked, prompting an onslaught of objections from the gay press, and by the time the film emerged heavily trimmed by the censor’s scissors, it was something of a tarnished cause célèbre. Though Cruising is more complex and conflicted than some of its detractors would allow, it looks unlikely to undergo the same critical rehabilitation as Sorcerer.

To Live and Die in LA showed that not only had Friedkin’s French Connection-era knack for dynamic action sequences not deserted him, but he could combine it with a slicker, stylised aesthetic. The rest of the 80s, however, was not a fertile time for him. He made Deal of the Century (1983), a listless comedy about the arms race, the TV movie C.A.T. Squad (1986) and the thriller Rampage (1987), which he adapted himself from William P Wood’s book.

The Guardian (1990) returned him to the horror genre. Blue Chips (1994), a drama about the politics of college basketball, was subtle and powerful, with an uncompromising lead performance by Nick Nolte, but it foundered commercially (it went straight to video in the UK). The thriller Jade (1995) earned some notoriety when its extravagantly paid screenwriter Joe Eszterhas complained of the changes made to his script; Friedkin, who was responsible for the rewrites, later named it as his favourite of his own movies.

Rules of Engagement (2000) was a mediocre drama with reactionary overtones, about a court-martial following the massacre of civilians in Yemen. The star of that film, Tommy Lee Jones, was reunited with the director in another thriller, The Hunted (2003). But Friedkin found new momentum of sorts in two adaptations of claustrophobic thrillers by Letts – Bug (2006) and Killer Joe.

In 2013, he returned to Pinter’s The Birthday Party, directing the play for the stage in Los Angeles, with Tim Roth and Steven Berkoff among the cast. However, this was postponed at the 11th hour when Friedkin decided to replace Berkoff in the part of the intimidating inquisitor Goldberg (though Berkoff claimed to have resigned). The production did not find a replacement and was never staged.

In 2018, he was the subject of Friedkin Uncut, which combed through his career and featured interviews with collaborators, celebrity fans and the director himself, who is heard confirming that he only ever asks for one or two takes: “I’m not looking for perfection,” he says.

His final films were The Devil and Father Amorth (2017), a documentary about a real-life exorcist, and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023), an updated adaptation of the Herman Wouk novel first filmed in 1954, starring Kiefer Sutherland. It will premiere next month at the Venice film festival, where the director was honoured in 2013 with a lifetime achievement award.

Friedkin’s reputation as bullish extended to all areas of his life and work. As an interviewee he was comically blunt. Responding to an Independent journalist who complained that the prologue to The Exorcist was baffling, he said: “I don’t have to explain it. You’re free to think of it, or to dismiss it, in any way that you want. It’s called mystery … Jackie Collins writes crisp narrative. I suggest you read all of her books. You will never be in doubt about where the story is going.”

And he rebuffed a Guardian reporter’s suggestion that he subscribed to the auteur theory, which prizes the director as the ultimate author of a film: “Didn’t you hear what I said? Am I talking to deaf ears? No! No! ... The auteur theory is a load of bollocks!”

His first three marriages ended in divorce: that to the actor Jeanne Moreau lasted from 1977 to 1979; that to another actor, Lesley-Anne Down, from 1982 to 1985; and that to the journalist Kelly Lange from 1987 to 1990. The following year he married the former chief executive of Paramount, Sherry Lansing.

She survives him, along with a son, Cedric, from a relationship with Jennifer Nairn-Smith, and a son, Jack (Jackson), from his second marriage.

🔔 William Friedkin, film director, producer and screenwriter, born 29 August 1935; died 7 August 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[rocketturtle4]

Eclipse in progress part 2

Okay so I've only seen two more episodes and I kind of had in my head I'd watch till the end of 8 before writing anymore because I have the time but episode 7 just one two suckerpunched my feelings so I need to go regulate.

For the record while I'm a sucker for crying I get WAY MORE OVERWHELMED when things are bitter sweet and this episode is whoooooooaaaaaa

@wen-kexing-apologist @plantsarepeopletoo @grapejuicegay also @thegalwhorants I'm basically gonna @ you cause you interacted with my eclipse stuff, let me know if you'd rather I didn't

So some thoughts

I had forgotten about Namo he could also have stolen the diary and I think logistically this makes mroe sense because he is in a different year level so not expected to be in class BUT where did he get the key? Whereas Thua being class president potentially gives him key acces idk and I still feel like there's more layers

We still really haven't gotten background on anyone which is why I wasn't going to post yet so my theories havent changed much except

TURNS OUT AKK IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CAR

Did both Ayan and his uncle have a necklace? I'm really unsure about whether or not Ayan legit saw his suicide or has just vividally imagined it but n the dreams they're both wearing it whereas I had previously assumed Ayan was wearing his uncles necklace.

Namo also seems to genuinely believe in the curse so where did this rumour come from, I don't feel like it's NEW, did Akk hear it and just capitalise on it? or has someone else being doing this in the past? Is it passed down from the head prefect

also Khan and Wat are prefects were they indoctrinatinated by candelight??

1984 stuff was WAY LESS SUBTLE than I was expecting when Akk first found that book

Ayan convincing Akk he needs to 'tell the truth' and Akk being woried about his family and his reputation is obviously legit but also feels like a coming out metaphor ngl

Khan thinking Ayan is playing with Akk and Thua but gently confronting it rather than getting jealous made me appreciate him even more

ALSO THE POWER DYNAMICS in the framing of Ayan and Neo’s convo on the stairs, Neo is SO MUCH HIGHER and yet from the loew position Ayan managed to be confident and understanding.

IM SORRY ARE THESE CHILDREN EXPECTED TO WEAR THEIR BLAZERS REGARDLESS OF TEMPERATURE????

The three prefects convo was interesting when you consider the queer metaphor of the fact that Wat (so far) ISNT queer and is the one most openly empathetic to the protests, because he doesn't have the same personal stake as our gay boys

I want to know what wanna-be-prefect Nom and Aye think of the three prefects clearly non-prefect behaviour.

FUCK Firsts Goofy Smile is nearly as good as his doe eyes

Akk is way to relatable help me

god they're so proud this is gonna hurt

As a person who silently cries VERY SIMILARLY to Ayan (and just Khao in general because he cried like this on TC as well) I feel VERY SEEN by the way his tears just fall

HOW CAN I BE RELATING TO BOTH CHARACTERS HERE

I spent way to long examining the order of the boys and realising that Aye and Namo had swapped places

and that arguably you're more vulnerable when you're sleeping

THis ENTIRE SCENE

the interchanging eye opening

they both think each other was asleep

he's never really sleeping is one of my FAVOURITE tropes for forwarding a relationship and they doube whammied it but this one was CRAZY BECAUSE ITS NOT GOING TO FORWARD IT

Khan looked SO HAPPY TO HAVE KISSED HIM WAAAAAAAAH

DOUBLE WHAMMY

I have taken way to many screenshots and I can't believe episode 6 was a dream kiss and then episode 7 left us hanging but I'm still stopping for a bit. Have a few more moments that punched me in the gut

bye for now.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Animation Face-Offs

I find it amusing that the first real major animated movie box office show-off is occurring some 35 years after the one that arguably started it all...

November 18, 1988... Walt Disney Feature Animation's celebrity-loaded modern musical OLIVER & COMPANY from first-time director George Scribner, and Universal's release of the Steven Spielberg/George Lucas-produced ex-Disney director Don Bluth adventure THE LAND BEFORE TIME...

This wasn't the first time two animated pictures opened next to each other.

In fall 1982, Hanna-Barbera's HEIDI'S SONG opened opposite a Looney Tunes clipshow anthology movie called 1001 RABBIT TALES. Combined, they made $5m at the domestic box office... Not great times to open an animated feature that wasn't Disney, and not that their distributors probably even cared at the time anyways.

Sometimes, there are around two animated features a month. It's not uncommon for two studios to share. Off the top of my head, you had - in November 2010 - MEGAMIND at the beginning of the month, and TANGLED before Thanksgiving. In the early summer of 2013, MONSTERS UNIVERSITY only opened about a few weeks before DESPICABLE ME 2. TROLLS and MOANA shared November 2016. Again, just random examples off the top of my head.

But usually, they're spaced out... TROLLS BAND TOGETHER and WISH are five days apart...

TROLLS 3 is projected to take in around $20-25m this weekend, which is significantly less than what TROLLS took in back in 2016, but still alright for this kind of movie. WISH is set to out-open it, with over $50m for the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend stretch. For a $200m-costing movie, it's going to need all the legs in the world to get by. TROLLS 3 will need to pull some good weight too to more than double its much more modest $95m budget. (Wild to think that $95m seems *low*... There was a time when a DreamWorks/PDI movie cost $75m... And for a good while, roughly $135m!)

I'm curious to see how each film affects one another. Families aren't made of money, and there's gotta be a kind of adult pull to really make big bucks, and I'm not sure if either of these films have that. Plus you have stuff like WONKA right around the corner... Thankfully no Marvel, Star Wars, or Avatar movie to counter with. Although, PUSS IN BOOTS Dos last year, woooooow. That cat held his own against the blue cat aliens.

But yeah, if you think about it... This is a rare head-to-head race.

One could argue we saw this in late winter of 2021 when Warner Bros. released their live-action TOM & JERRY, and then Disney Animation had RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON out a week later. But that was before vaccines got out for all age groups (they were distributed to the elderly first, I - who was 28 at the time - couldn't get my first shot until April.), and the films had simultaneous streaming debuts, so I don't really count that. Plus, Cinemark theaters refused to show RAYA over a disagreement on who got most of the earnings. (That would've been my return trip to the movies after a year-long hiatus, my return ended up being A QUIET PLACE: PART II two months later.)

It's funny how TROLLS 3 is Universal and WISH is Disney... Just like how LAND BEFORE TIME was Universal, and OLIVER was Disney.

The Disney-Universal race was successful for both. OLIVER took home $53m domestically (the $71m figure you often see comes from the film's 1996 re-release), LAND BEFORE TIME took home $48m. Worldwide is up the air, because Disney never released OLIVER's numbers, Universal reported that LAND made around $84m. Winner is unknown, but it was always assumed to be LAND. Maybe because dinosaurs are more Universal than a modern-day New York comedy? Who knows!

Perhaps greatly inspired by that double-whammy of animated hits, MGM/United Artists wanted to try that for themselves. Don Bluth split with Spielberg and Lucas due to creative disagreements during production of both LAND BEFORE TIME and his other Spielberg collab AN AMERICAN TAIL, and set up ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN with the lion. MGM/UA released ALL DOGS the same day as THE LITTLE MERMAID...

Bluth's movie got left to sink by the Ron Clements and John Musker-directed musical sleeper hit... It wasn't even close. $27m domestic vs. $84m domestic, and in addition that, MERMAID's worldwide figures put it at roughly $183m. (Again, in 1989-90, without the 1997 re-release counted.) ALL DOG's worldwide total is unknown.

This didn't entirely scare distributors away from trying again.

The fall of 1990 was originally set to see another Bluth vs. Disney face-off. If plans had held, MGM-Pathe would've released Bluth's ROCK-A-DOODLE on the same day as Disney's sequel THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER. MGM-Pathe ran into financial and legal problems, putting Bluth's film in limbo for a bit...

Instead, Warner Bros. went toe to toe with Disney, releasing an animated feature that wasn't a Looney Tunes clipshow: THE NUTCRACKER PRINCE... Suffice to say, it barely scrounged up $1m domestically, and Disney's sequel had troubles of its own, stalling at $29m domestically, $47m worldwide.

Two films fled from the autumn of 1991, as BEAUTY AND THE BEAST looked to not be a repeat of RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, but a repeat of LITTLE MERMAID and OLIVER's successes... 20th Century Fox - who had FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST - and The Samuel Goldwyn Company - who picked up ROCK-A-DOODLE - chickened, literally in the latter's case...

Only Universal had the guts to take on the beast... By releasing AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST the same day. The Don Bluth-less sequel made only $22m domestically, while BEAUTY AND THE BEAST made... $145m in North America alone, and blew up with $331m around the world...

After FERNGULLY and ROCK-A-DOODLE wisely fled from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, they duked it out in April 1992. DOODLE opened the first weekend of the month, with FERNGULLY following. FERNGULLY won with $24m domestically, DOODLE struggled with $11m. (It's worth noting that DOODLE first came out in the UK in August of 1991.)

Universal initially thought they'd have WE'RE BACK! A DINOSAUR'S STORY ready to compete with ALADDIN, but they likely realized that that was not a great idea... WE'RE BACK! opened over a full year after ALADDIN and still flopped hard. It opened nearby BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM, which also made a paltry amount.

From there on out, things were typically spaced out. Sometimes the smaller efforts opened close to each other.

And now here we are, Thanksgiving week of 2023... We have trolls vs. wishing stars. Universal vs. Disney. It'll be fun to watch, but I hope the two film crews of both get to put food on their tables once more.

[fuckyeahvanhalen86-95]

The “tone is in the hands” debate will probably never be fully resolved, but if recent developments are to be believed, the side supporting the argument has been handed their best piece of high-profile anecdotal evidence in quite some time.

Not too long ago, Jared James Nichols revealed his allegiances lay firmly in the “tone is in the hands” camp, and recalled the time he played through Eddie Van Halen’s own guitar amp in support of his theory.

“Two weeks ago, we played this festival and the guy who brought the gear had worked for Eddie Van Halen,” Nichols told Total Guitar. “He brought me one of Eddie’s personal modded Marshalls from 1984. I plugged in and it was incredible, but I sounded like me.”

It’s not the first time that Jared James Nichols has crossed paths with Van Halen’s gear, nor is it even the best piece of evidence he’s contributed to the ‘tone hands’ argument.

Not only has Nichols also played Van Halen’s own ‘84 Marshall guitar amp, but he’s also played one of Van Halen’s electric guitars, footage of which helps double down on Nichols’ belief that tone truly is in the hands.

Back in 2020, Nichols took Van Halen’s hand-made 1986 Kramer Stryper – one of only five ever made in the Kramer factory – for an 11-minute spin, treating the double-cut’s fretboard to his own unique style of pick-less blues rock.

Unsurprisingly, it just sounds like Jared James Nichols playing Eddie Van Halen’s guitar, and though a few two-hand tapping sequences and whammy bar wiggles are thrown into the mix, there’s no denying that the magic of Nichols’ performance is all in his fingertips.

Sure, he tries on a few Van Halen riffs for size – such as You Really Got Me – but those Chuck Berry-esque pentatonic licks and the gain-drenched tone that comes from the Seymour Duncan Forza and ‘68 Marshall guitar amp is Nichols through-and-through.

And, when Nichols starts jamming a track from his own record, Old Glory and the Wild Revival, he may as well be playing one of his Gibson Les Pauls.

If ever there was a chance for the “tone is in the hands” argument to be irrefutably rebutted, this was probably it: aside from the Frankenstein, the Kramer Stryper wielded by Van Halen is arguably the closest anyone could get to harnessing Eddie’s sound through his gear.

Featuring a custom-profile mahogany neck, 26” scale length, 22 jumbo frets and a sole DiMarzio Double-Black Hot humbucker, the Kramer Stryper was made by Zeke Clark to Van Halen’s exacting specs back in 1986.

Does this put an end to the debate? Probably not, but there’s no denying it’s yet more evidence that tone truly is in the hands. The ball is in your court, gear hounds…

[distructodicks]

4, 6, 7 ,16 and 17

Who is your least favorite character?

Mai jkjk I actually really like her

Actually? Dr. Gero & A19 I find them both really annoying. Don't know why but I couldn't stand them, I also had a distaste for Guldo... thought he was kinda underwhelming

Which saga is your favorite? 

This is a bit of a controversial take but I think Buu Saga is the best Saga for DBZ (not OG DB — do nottt make me pick 🙏‼️) It sets up the next time skip, gives us a highschool arc and is honestly a return to form in terms of light heartedness in the show. So much up to that point is so tense ala Future Trunks' reality, Goku being killed off, the constant battles every few years...its a nice change in pace

A close contender for me is the first and last arc of GT! LOL I love Trunks space adventure and the shadow dragons

Which saga is your least favorite?

Tbh.............I don't like the 1st half of the Namek Saga, it may just be because next gen isn't there yet but I don't feel that engaged until Ginyu vs Goku

.. I don't think it's bad at all though, in fact It's hard to say what is a "bad" saga in db

Which anime opening is your favorite? Which anime ending is your favorite?

How about I give you a double whammy? Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku is THE best opening in my opinion. I think it is an amazing song and fits with the series at the point of when it was released

At the same time Don't You See! Is my other favorite ending. GT arguably had the best score.

https://youtu.be/tndKYpPz2RU

https://youtu.be/5D9Br_Byduc

[celticrune]

Very tempted to copypaste the entire ask list as revenge but I'll behave. 🌌✂️👑📎 for Temperance, 🚆☁️ for Tanwen and ☄️❇️🌈❤️ for Keiji! And maybe even 💚🎡🪤 for Val.

:3 reblog an ask meme with many questions, get punished with curiousity. and starting with temperance, smh, i see you like the evil ones

also yeah uh. long. good luck. plus the usual warnings that temperance is Not A Good Person

Temperance

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

I made Temperance in concert with Val, so you're going to get a double whammy on this one haha. Val came to be because I was talking with friends about evil DnD campaigns and we ended up making a trio of evil characters, who grew into their own setting with a main city where they do their evil. I really like characters who are living weapons of a sort and I love playing with identity, so I quickly settled on the idea of a conman with a thousand faces, who ends up disappearing behind the masks. Who has no name, is nobody noteworthy, someone you would never spare a second glance if you saw them on the street, but who because of that can steal any face and fit in anywhere. That's still a core part of Val and what makes them scary, though actually writing it and exploring it can be a bit of a pain. But! We're here to talk about the queen bitch herself. IIRC, what first gave me the idea of Temperance was a specific suggesting in the Player Handbook entry about the Conman background. Correction: It was the Charlatan background. "I owe everything to my mentor - A horrible person who's probably rotting in jail somewhere". A living weapon style conman who struggles with identity and an awful teacher who made them into what they are and who they equally resent and thank for that?? listen this is catnip to me. how could you expect me to resist. So this is where Temperance came into being. I quickly ditched the idea of the mentor being in jail, because I wanted the option of her being an active threat. Then as time went on and the other two characters in the evil trio got more fleshed out, I wanted someone more... "actively evil" to match those two. Val is a follower, and I needed a leader. Temperance, then, is everything I love to hate. She is all about facades and pretense, about fitting into society and using their prejudices against them to get ahead. She sees pawns, rather than people, and only truly respects two (2) total people. also she's a hot dangerous lady who doesn't usually do her dirty work herself, now that she is rich and established enough she doesn't have to, but she still would poison you and watch with a pleasant smile as you choke on your own vomit so. like. i'm gay i'm not blind. hope you're not regretting your questions yet as i am incapable of being concise and it will probably not get better :D

✂️ SCISSORS - what is the “last straw” for them to cut someone out of their life? how easily do they let go of people?

Haha. "How easily do they let go of people" extremely easily. Val was her most succesful project and arguably someone close to her and now that they've ran, she would still kill them without a second's thought for betraying her. If you want to be in Temperance's life on her terms, there are two rules: Adore her, and obey her. She tolerates no less, and she will not hesitate to drop you for a more willing toy if you don't have a secondary use for her. There are some rare exceptions, mainly Chal (one of the two OCs in the original evil campaign trio), but baseline? As much as lovebombing is a major facet of her emotional abuse, Temperance only cares about one person and it is herself. Anyone else is simply a means to an end and will be treated as such.

👑 CROWN - what does your oc want to be remembered as? why?

A queen. She is aware that will not happen and has settled for being a shadow queen, pulling her strings behind the scenes and watching everyone who thinks they're in control dance to her tune, but what she wants deep down is for everyone to know. To see her and see power, see influence, see control, see someone who will never ever be disrespected or fucked with.

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact.

I get to use a basic fact about her as a random fact cause you don't know her that well yet, score. Temperance is an albino (in her native setting, an albino tiefling), usually with a light pastel pink hair. She is also the reason Val still panics when they see someone with pink hair in a crowd or from a distance.

Tanwen

On a much nicer note! My darling ray of sunshine.

🚆 TRAIN - what is their answer to the trolley problem?

Pixel you are cruel. First answer and the aftermath: Cry, feel immensely guilty, panic, feel more guilty. She would choose to save more people but it would absolutely gut her and she would feel deeply personally responsible. Depending on the exact situation and the aftermath this is something that could break her as a character, or at least ruin her very very badly and take a long time and the right support to recover from In a philosophical classroom context: She honestly wouldn't be able to answer. Would be deeply uncomfortable with having to consider it too, and she would have to be very hard pressed to stop dodging it and actually pick one.

☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon

she fucking deserves one after that

As a child she made a lot of bead bracelets and she would gift them to anyone nice. The town she’s from isn’t that big, so at one point almost everyone walked around with a colourful, Tanwen-made bead bracelet.

Keiji

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

When he’s lucky: Exactly what he wants them to.  That he’s annoying, that he’s an idiot, that he’s a little shit and he knows it. That he’s down to fuck, when they’re hot. 

Keiji tries very hard to give off an air that he’s untouchable, and he does that by leaning hard into being a bit of an asshole. He likes riling people up, likes getting a rise out of them, loves making fun of people who actually have morals and ideals. So he comes off as all those things, and he comes off as a guy who’s fun to get drunk with but not much else.

If you have an experienced eye you might spot how easily he keeps his balance even when wasted, or how alert he is to exits and entrances and anyone close to him, or how his slight build doesn’t quite hide the lean muscle, but to most folks he looks like nothing more than a small guy with a big attitude and a bigger mouth. He’s very happy to keep it that way right up until he kicks out their kneecaps.

❇️ SPARKLE - what is their most prized possession? what do they value?

okay now, see. i hate you. Keiji doesn’t really have material attachments. He likes stuff, he likes nice things, when he has the time and space to stay in one place for longer he immediately fills his whole bed with pillows. But in terms of a prized possession? There’s one thing that I suppose does count, and that’s from his native DnD verse. It’s an amulet with a symbol of Pelor,  the sun god the monastery is devoted to. He claims he still carries it so he can scam believers into giving him free stuff, but a part of him can’t bear to toss it. It holds the weight of a home he loved, once, where he thought he belonged and where he thought he had value, and even though all that is now ruined and broken and he should know better and he should just fucking toss the thing, he can never bring himself to.

Oh! And bonus round for GW2, in the main verse where Tahir is the commander and Keiji is his right hand (and eventually husband): When they were newly dating Tahir gave him one of his own leaves, encased in amber. Keiji wears it as an amulet and was wearing it when he was killed by Balthazar. It came with him into the realm of the Lost, and it is what reminded him of his name and his memories. In the physical world it split down the middle when Balthazar stabbed him, but when he comes back the amulet heals over too, and it now glows a faint blue to match his scar.

In general: Keiji doesn’t really value possessions. He tends to live lives where he can pick up and move at any moment. When he gets attached it’s to people

🌈 RAINBOW - what advice would they give to their younger self?

“Don’t be a fucking idiot. Don’t believe a word they say.”

❤️ RED HEART - their love language(s)?

Words of affirmation and physical touch. The former to receive, the first to give. When Keiji falls he falls hard, but it’s hard for him to show it and harder to say it. It's easier to watch what he does. See where he stands in a room, see how he'll keep finding excuses to totally casually touch the person he likes, how he can't sit on a couch next to them without laying his feet in their lap or how he can't make a joke without looking to them first to see if they laughed.

Receiving physical touch is good for him too, but words are what makes him melt. Tell him what he means to you, tell him you care and he matters and he just fucking dies. It feels surreal and impossible and he can't bring himself to really believe it and that's what makes it all the more powerful to hear. Contrary to that, though, is that the immensity of it also makes him really likely to try and squirrel out of it. Deflecting compliments, sassing to distract attention away from the sweet thing they said, anything he can manage.

When it's deep enough in the relationship he can actually be made to sit down and listen and accept it without running, but that takes time. Before that, it takes some mild force or finagling. Am I talking about literally tying him up and distracting him with sex until he's soft and floaty enough to let his guard down and you can swoop in with the praise? Maybe. It's not an underhanded tactic if it works.

Val

💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?

The best thing you can do for Val is be there. Be close but don't crowd them, don't touch them unless they ask or initiate it, and always leave them an open room to escape. Talk, give them something to listen to and quietly chime in with when they start to feel better. Physical contact sometimes helps, but they'll ask for it if they want it and then it's usually sitting with their shoulder pressed against yours, or resting their head on you.

The one exception re: touch is their dog, Kaylie, who is very good at grounding them when they dissociate or start to. Do they sometimes also hug Kaylie pretending she's the human and wishing they could just be normal and hug the person they care about without feeling trapped? maybe.

If we're talking self-soothing, or things they do for comfort, there's baking. When they were still with Temperance, on very rare days where they had time off and there were ingredients to spare they would make cookies for the younger girls and those are some of the rare actually treasured memories they have. They still like baking cookies, and it's both a ritual and a comfort thing for them and what they tend to when someone they like is going through a tough time and they're not sure what they can do to help. When in doubt, make friend's favourite cookies and gift those.

🎡 FERRIS WHEEL - are they someone who wants to kiss at the top of the ferris wheel?

there may in fact be a fic about that wait shit no it's N that gets the kiss at the top of the ferris wheel and not F. also this means nothing to you because it's Wayhaven related and not gw2 but shhh.

Actual answer: Yes, they'd find it charming and romantic.

🪤 MOUSE TRAP - what will always lure them into certain danger? a loved one in danger? a promise of something they are always searching for?

A loved one in danger, absolutely. They try not to but they can have a bit of a self-sacrificial streak because, well, they can handle pain better than most people and if someone needs to suffer, it is better it's them than the people they love. Children being in danger or being mistreated too, there's no way they can stand by and watch that happen without trying to interfere.

[akindofmagictoo]

manuscript search tag game

another double whammy! this one comes from @rodentwrites and @diphthongsfordays :)

my words are ferry, fin, flutter, flight // cover, cuff, bone, heal, muscle

ferry

fin

flutter (Dragonsong) (Enya!!)

“You’re getting faster,” Isi observed, already climbing up into the wagon to investigate what she now realised was a chain holding Enya down. A heavy padlock held it shut.

“At this too,” said Robin. The lock sprang open.

Enya chirped for joy and fluttered over to Robin. Robin smiled, scooping her up in his arms.

Isi had never actually seen a mage do magic. Thin threads of purple, almost like filaments of light, danced under the skin of his hands, disappearing under his sleeves. The purple glow faded even as Isi watched, leaving just the blackened markings. Robin lifted Enya up to sit her on his shoulder, and turned to Isi. “We should go.”

“Absolutely.” 

flight (Dragonsong)

This was the same inn they’d stayed in on their way to the dragon’s cave, and the innkeeper recognised Isi from across the room. Likewise, Isi recognised her. Baya.

As Baya made her way across the room, her wrinkled brown face creased in a smile. “Same room again, tor?”

Isi nodded. “Yes please.” Most of this inn’s rooms were a flight or two of stairs away, but there was one on the ground floor. Stairs and Robin were not good friends.

“I can do that for you,” said Baya. “Same price as last time, but I assume you’ll put it on your tab.”

“Yes please.” The arrangement suited Isi just fine, as it did most knights. The Crown would compensate the inn later.

cover (Hurricane) (yay Theo-Tempest bonding!)

Tempest knocked on the cabin door. Though Theo was more or less better after a week to recover, she didn’t want to throw him out. It felt unkind, and she wasn’t bothered. A hammock in the bunk area with everyone else served her just fine, and this arrangement gave Theo some privacy.

“Come in.”

She stuck her head in. Theo smiled, but it didn’t cover the sadness in his eyes.

“Are you alright?” She shut the door behind her.

Theo hesitated. Then he said, “I’m missing my home, mostly.” He continued, the words spilling out of him in a rush, “At home I’m almost never alone; either my parents are nearby, or my cousins, or just—I’ve lived there my whole life. I know everyone there like family. And now I’m here and everything’s so different, I just got shot, and I don’t really know any of you that well. And Aella—” He faltered.

“You were getting to know Aella, and now she’s gone too?” Tempest guessed.

He looked away. “Yes. Something like that.”

cuff (Dragonsong)

But Neil’s family didn’t have an Isi. For whatever reason they, like Robin, couldn’t work. Otherwise, Neil wouldn’t be stealing. Imprisoning him and leaving his family to starve in the meantime didn’t seem right. Just like it didn’t seem right to turn in Robin and Enya. Really, even having them in her house was arguably illegal, but to turn them in would be wrong.

The prison building loomed ahead, just a few streets away. Neil stiffened in Isi’s grasp, and his steps faltered.

Isi came to a conclusion and stopped. “Go home.”

“Pardon me, tor?”

“I said go home.”

Neil looked up, sneaking a glance at her face. She didn’t explain; she wasn’t sure she could explain, so she settled for unlocking his cuffs to drive home her point. He opened his mouth to speak again but thought better of it, and darted away. He was gone down a side street in moments.

bone (Hurricane) (tw blood)

Her eyelids drifted shut. A thin line of fresh blood trickled from her eyebrow, snaking its way down past her eye and over her cheekbone. The pain in her ribs flared with each breath she took; she tried to keep her breathing shallow, letting it slow as she relaxed against the wall. Sleep was what she wanted. What she needed. Oblivion crept up on her, and she let it come. The fire inside her faded, its last sparks dwindling into nothing.

heal (Hurricane)

“Are you alright?” The determination of the fight disappeared from Tempest’s face in an instant.

Aella winced and rolled over. “Probably?”

“Careful,” said Aria from nearby. “I’ll not have you re-break your ribs when they’re almost healed.”

Clambering to her feet, Aella returned, “They’re practically healed already. And it’s not like I’m doing anything unusual… unlike the time I broke them.”

“Unusually stupid, you mean.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll take that. But—” She punctuated the word by gesturing with the sword.

“Sit this out,” said Tempest. “Aria’s right.”

muscle (Dragonsong)

By the time they reached the trees, they made a pretty pathetic lot. Every muscle in Isi’s body ached, and her side throbbed. Ebele and Cole staggered along arm in arm, looking like they both might collapse at any moment. Sierra was beginning to falter under Robin’s weight. Isi would have offered to help, but truthfully, SB’s grip on her arm was the only thing keeping her upright.

When they stopped, she didn’t so much sit as fall down. The impact sent a jolt of pain through her side, but it seemed far away and fuzzy. She’d found a tree to put her back against, at least.

passing this one onto @muddshadow @klywrites @josephinegerardywriter and anyone else who wants to play! your words are tell, turn, tear, try

[star-going-supernova]

so, you remeber that reverse strings AU wrookie01 posted a few months back? (links) https://star-going-supernova.tumblr.com/post/690051272740585472 and https://star-going-supernova.tumblr.com/post/694497461791866880

I thought of one worse: strings/siblings AU (with a bit of a "clarat) where they BOTH got infected/brainwashed by Afton and SpringBonnie. First Gregory gets infected at the summer camp (by Afton), and when Vanessa comes to find him she gets infected too before she finds him (at first by Afton but Clara overpowers him).

well i thought of a another variant (arguable worse and better at the same time). one where they BOTH got infected.

Double whammy, ouch!

clarat? Clara? Join us for today's round of "Is It A Typo Or Is Star Just Confused"!

[hiranandanihospitalpowai]

Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital — How Covid Impact Kidney Transplant

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 2 (ANI/NewsVoir): The Whole world has been engulfed by the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is the perfect pandemic. It has the capability to ruin health and it all its facets-physical, mental, social, spiritual, and economic health. The economic health is likely to create a recession in many countries.

At the initial times there was fear both amongst the professionals that COVID-19 was known to drastically reduce the immunity of a patient and then post operatively immune suppressants would have to be exhibited. Thus the ‘double whammy’ of a patient who gets infection would land into a serious situation that could jeopardize the life of the recipient. Thus, the numbers of transplant feel and correspondingly the number in the dialysis centers increased!!

At this moment the Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital that is approved for renal transplant by the Government of Maharashtra is also taking up the challenge to reassure patients that there will not be a challenge if they choose to go in for a transplant as the hospital has very strict protocols for Infection Control and also COVID as the areas are fully separate and even the staff attending are completely different. Yet the challenge is for the patient to overcome the inhibition and the mind set of getting transplant performed.

Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital was felicitated by the Hon’ble Governor of Maharashtra for its sterling role for the city of Mumbai during the COVID pandemic. Dr. Sujit Chatterjee, CEO — Hiranandani Hospital represented the hospital. He also mentioned that, “We are at the forefront in this war against the COVID-19 virus. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Government in this hour of crisis. We have treated a large number of cases, arguably the highest number amongst private hospitals in the city. The hospital was declared a dedicated COVID care hospital.”

[theregoesmylurkerstatus]

What’s absolutely DELIGHTING me about the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, more than anything else, is how it’s both vindicating and condemning Essek in equal measure.

Like, the whole “consecution can lead to insanity” thing? Are you kidding me? How unethical is THAT? Madness is a known consequence to the Dynasty of their religious rites -- but they ignore it, conceal it, and refuse to look into it, at least from what the book tells us. It seems like they neglected to inform even those being consecuted of the risk. Can anyone say fantasy medical malpractice?

Which means Essek was right to want to research the Beacons. He was RIGHT to be wary of the power they contained, uneasy with how his people were tapping into it without full knowledge of what they were doing. His concerns have been fully justified.

Essek was possibly one of the only drow who acted with responsibility when it comes to the powers they were messing with -- that is, pursuing what the Beacons actually did, what the power they contained actually means. He still acted irresponsibly in his strategy to research the Beacons, but researching them to prevent future catastrophe is an understandable motive.

Except that’s not why he did it.

While some have claimed that Essek handing the Beacons over to the Assembly was a desperate decision made for an ultimately good goal, I think the new information we have on him disputes that even more firmly than Essek’s own words did.

We now know for a fact that Essek is or was Neutral Evil. The cast themselves don’t love the alignment system, and how Matt defines “evil” in regards to Essek is up for debate, but at the very least an “evil” alignment indicates that Essek wasn’t researching the Beacons out of concern for his people. He’s literally said in-game “My intentions were never good,” and the given alignment is a great confirmation that he’s not just being self-recriminating or melodramatic in saying that.

The indications we’ve gotten from both Essek himself and his written description point to him enabling the Assembly to research the Beacons purely out of a desire for knowledge (and the power that knowledge might lead to). So, not maliciously evil, no, but not a tortured soul who tried his best, either. Selfish recklessness seems to have been the name of his game.

And YET, ultimately, despite his morally bankrupt internal logic and handling of the situation, it turns out that the research into the Beacons may very well serve a much greater good. While Essek’s actions and goals aren’t terribly defendable, his pursuit, his line of thought in regards to the Beacons, is literally more defendable than how the Dynasty itself is currently treating them.

He was wrong for what he did, but his general direction was actually right.

And it’s so hilarious. Little “Neutral Evil” bastard did his connivings, and then not only was he accidentally befriended by the protagonists (who have promptly infected him with the beginnings of morals), it turns out that his huge dastardly plot might incidentally lead to some good outcomes.

I feel like Essek’s best ending would be the Mighty Nein continuing to help him obtain, you know, actual morals, but also him realising that he genuinely needs to keep hammering away at the very problem that got him into this mess -- just, perhaps, with a different end goal in mind.

Because redemption coming through the same thing that put him in need of redemption in the first place? Now THAT would be poetic cinema, babey.

[hoshees]

me on my tl watching ppl like and retweet photos from stalker fansites that i refuse to interact with despite them being amazing photos that i rly wish i could post on the data blog or even just appreciate and yet i can’t because they are tainted with sasaeng problematic energy: