#its like very sitcom levels of comedy

[bluefuecoco]

i loked content warning so much that i bought copies of lethal company for me and my friends, and that shit was a blast oh ny god.

I think my favorite moment is when you're separated and you die, and you find out someone else has alread died and yall are just sitting there like "How did you die?!" and laughing over it

or when you die and you go to spectate and your friends who already got back to the ship are talking shit about you

[rruhlreviews]

Book Review - The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

I must preface this review with the fact I have a certificate in women and gender studies.

Some context is important when discussing the success of this book. This novel was a blockbuster on BookTok, so we need to examine what makes something a sensation for the BookTok audience. The basic elements of a BookTok success are a high concept, diverse representation, a heavy emphasis on tropes, and use of contemporary language and/or pop culture references. Strong plot or character arcs are a secondary focus of the BookTok audience.

A story about a baseball player sports-bro who has to read regency romance to be a better husband. This high concept is the selling point of this novel. What makes this appealing to BookTok? Toxic masculinity is a hot topic in society right now. Despite being parents, the characters are young, which appeals to the burgeoning new adult audience. We’ve got feminism and a strong female lead who loves art and activism. Sports romance is popular as well. I can see how an online audience who’s used to the jargon online would think the author was clever for using terms like “mansplaining.”

The premise was appealing and I was genuinely excited to read the book. I appreciate what the author was attempting to do! The part with Gavin doing the grand gesture and Thea playfully saying she wanted to was very sweet. Unfortunately, thepremise fell short of its potential for me. Contemporary romance isn't my typical read (though I have read and enjoyed it before), yet I went into this with an open mind. My reaction can best be summarized by: when I learned this was a BookTok fav, all of the criticisms I had made a lot more sense. BookTok is a site where trends change constantly and the media consumption cycle lasts a month if you’re lucky. How to market to this constantly shifting audience? Sell them bite-sized ideas. Emphasize tropes. A new take on the sports romance. Useless man fights for empowered wife. Unpacking toxic masculinity. Woke romance. Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, but it’s done in a feminist way this time, we promise.

Have I mentioned I don’t ascribe to the whole idea of gender?

I digress. My point is, the entire book seemed to be just these few tropes and premises. The narrative never got into the emotional depth I needed to make me care about the characters. Miscommunication as a plot device can be done well, but if you removed it from The Bromance Book Club, the entire narrative would fall apart. If the reader ever stops to wonder if men and women aren’t from two different planets, the narrative falls apart. I’m not making excuses for Gavin being oblivious to his wife’s happiness, but I must point out that Thea never communicated either. She told him to leave, so he did, then she was mad at him because he wasn’t supposed to actually leave.

The plot and characterization were weak. I was interested in Thea’s trauma, but it seemed to be glossed over to push a heavy-handed “strong woman” theme. It’s like a cake made out of all frosting. That’s the thing. BookTok wants easily consumed frosting, not a cake that requires a longer attention span or the contemplation of important concepts such as diversity and inclusion beyond a surface-level discussion. Being able to check off boxes on a representation clipboard doesn’t make a book a strong story, but that would be news to BookTok. I hate the term “woke” because it misses every single point of real social justice work, ergo it is the perfect term to describe the attempt at feminism in The Bromance Book Club, which didn't feel super feminist at all. Ultimately, the tension and comedy in the book rely on the belief that women and men are inherently different, and if you and your partner struggle to speak the same love language, it isn't a communication issue but a gender issue. Honestly, while reading, I kept thinking about the sitcom Home Improvement from the 90s which I know wasn't the intended effect. Mentally, I call this phenomenon "girlboss feminism," where the quest to create a strong female lead falls back on buzzwords and a couple tropes and ultimately has little new or interesting to say about gender.

The voice in The Bromance Book Club was a voice I recognized from other BookTok successes I’ve read. Its attempt to be witty was just edgy. The voice was self-aware, ironic, and almost felt to be poking fun at the genre as a whole, which made me wary of its sincerity. It's like when a musical has a character point out "why is everyone singing?" Personally, I'm a fan of just enjoying a genre without breaking the immersion. We’re all here to read it because we know and enjoy the general formula, and you don’t need to hit us over the head with anything. Additionally, there were sections where the author's voice bled through and it felt more like reading a rant about injustice than a story.

As a final nitpick, Courting the Countess used the phrase “male gaze” at one point and I was irked by the anachronistic language. It’s 1820, not 2020.

In conclusion, while the high concept and premise of The Bromance Book Club caught my attention, it fell short of its potential, trading a dynamic plot and characters for appealing buzzwords and a superficial attempt to discuss feminism. Because of the culture on BookTok which desires speed, surface-level representation, genre fiction that “isn’t like other genre fiction,” and easily consumed media, it was the perfect favorite for that audience. The book ultimately lacked sincerity to my eye. It felt to be showing off how not like other romances it was, and lost the heartfelt storytelling for me. TikTok as a site is all about flashy appearances with less depth.

Here I am, turning an unrelated piece of writing into a rant about society after criticizing The Bromance Book Club for doing the same thing. But this discussion is indeed part of a larger concern of mine. I worry about BookTok's potential to influence a trend of declining quality in the fiction market. I worry about the negative impact on the mental health of its userbase, afraid to show or feel things against the status quo.

Maybe I'm just not in the target audience, in which case these criticisms mean little. Maybe I read it as trying to be more than it actually was. In any case, it just wasn't for me, and that's okay, and I'm free to pick up another contemporary romance with different themes. This book certainly achieved what it meant to achieve, given its success, which I respect.

[mamanbou]

I've gotta be honest. I have seen the arguments against calling Nandermo "queerbaiting", and I agree with them, but just saying "it's not queerbaiting if they're queer as individuals" willfully ignores that the nandermo shipbait is very revealing of some sinister shit wrt the show's queer rep in general.

It would be one thing if the ship simply didn't happen, but isn't it strange that it's never even entertained textual? They've both dated men, Laszlo and Nandor fuck all the time, queerness isn't a sensitive topic amongst the main cast, so why is the hypothetical of Nandor and Guillermo dating/fucking avoided like the plague (except in the cloak of duplication, which is then never addressed again), despite their notable closeness? Why do they always specify "friend" during dramatic monologues about their relationship in the actual show, while the actors and PR team play mouth service to the ship elsewhere? Why can't we get a single canon explanation as to why these two are off limits to each other in the sexually depraved vampire show?

Did Paul Simms think he was being woke when he called them non-sexual soulmates, the same way every other showrunner does to aggrandize their refusal to portray gay relationships in explicit terms?

Think about how multiple official sources have called Nandermo a "will they-won't they", despite all hints of romantic feelings from either party being 100% subtextual to-date, not even a "you like him, don't you?" from a side character (duplication cloak doesn't count, that was guillermo talking about himself). That shit is unheard of in straight sitcom will they-won't theys. Think about how the Guide being in love with Guillermo was confirmed quite clearly, and how it's a bit that she falls for everyone, but the Guide then spent 2 seasons obsessed with Nadja and it was NEVER stated that it was a romantic thing, despite the show playing into the homoeroticism.

At times, it feels to me like gay relationships are good for sex-based punchlines in wwdits, but the showrunners struggle to consider them in nonsexual contexts. A majority queer cast is great for the show's reputation, great for variety in jokes in a raunchy FX comedy, but the prospect of two male main characters actually consummating their homoerotic dynamic is a carrot on a stick that they never intend to feed us.

I wouldn't have this complaint if official sources didn't wink and nod about nandermo so often. I wouldn't have this complaint if Paul Simms wasn't so wishy-washy on the subject in every interview he'd ever done. I wouldn't have this complaint if nandermo even had ONE scene on the level of laszlo trying to kiss sean, something explaining that Guillermo has tried to make a move on Nandor or vice versa, and here's why it didn't work. But at this point nandermo is genuinely a yuri of absence situation (the absence of the thing is more poignant than its hypothetical presence) and I feel fucking crazy dealing with this in a piece of media where nobody is straight.

[justforbooks]

The actor Ian Lavender, who has died aged 77, played the awkward, impulsive Private Frank Pike in the long-running BBC comedy Dad’s Army, and was the last surviving member of the cast who portrayed Captain Mainwaring’s Home Guard platoon.

Most of the part-time soldiers depicted in the series, which ran from 1968 to 1977, were exempted from call-up to the army during the second world war because of advanced age. Pike, their junior in most cases by several decades, had been excused because of his weak chest, and always wore the scarf insisted upon by his widowed mum, Mavis.

In spite of their foibles and foolishness, Mainwaring’s pomposity and the frequent slapstick sequences, the heroes of Dad’s Army were courageous men prepared to give their lives to protect their country, and it was this innate nobility that lifted the series, written by David Croft and Jimmy Perry, to greatness. At its peak it had more than 18 million weekly viewers, and is still regularly rerun.

There were many catchphrases – Lance Corporal Jones’s “Don’t panic!”, Private Frazer’s “We’re doomed!” and Sergeant Wilson’s languid “Do you think that’s wise, sir?” – and the best-remembered belongs to the gangster movie-fixated Pike, though he did not utter it himself: Mainwaring’s weary “You stupid boy!”

Pike was also involved in Dad’s Army’s most frequently quoted joke. “What is your name?” snarls the German U-boat commander who has been captured by the platoon. “Don’t tell him, Pike,” shouts Mainwaring. There was often great subtlety in the inter-platoon relationships, best exemplified by that of Pike and Wilson (John Le Mesurier). Wilson, whom Pike calls Uncle Arthur, is Mrs Pike’s lodger, and is forever fussing around the boy, making sure his scarf is on tight and gently steering him away from danger. It was not until the end of the final series that Lavender asked Croft if “Uncle Arthur” was actually Pike’s father. “Of course,” replied Croft.

Born in Birmingham, Ian was the son of Edward, a policeman, and Kathleen (nee Johnson), a housewife; his mother often took him to see pantomimes, variety shows and Saturday morning cinema, which gave him his first ambitions to become an actor. After performing in many school drama productions at Bournville boys’ technical school he was accepted, with the help of a grant from the city of Birmingham, by the Bristol Old Vic acting school. Clearly far from being a stupid boy, he passed 12 O-levels and four A-levels. “The only reason I don’t have a degree is because I went to drama school,” he said years later.

He made his first television appearance soon after he graduated from Bristol in 1968, playing an aspiring writer whose family want him to get a proper job, in Ted Allan’s play for the Half Hour Story series, Flowers at My Feet, with Angela Baddeley and Jane Hylton.

In the same year, he was cast as Pike, joining the seasoned veterans of comedy and the classics Le Mesurier, Arthur Lowe (Mainwaring), Clive Dunn (Jones), John Laurie (Frazer), James Beck (Private Walker), Arnold Ridley (Private Godfrey) and Bill Pertwee as Air Raid Warden Hodges. Janet Davies played Mrs Pike.

While Dad’s Army catapulted Lavender to national fame at the age of 22, the role of Pike haunted him for the rest of his long career. Not that he had any complaints.

Asked in 2014 if he got fed up with a lifetime of having “stupid boy” called out to him in the street, he replied: “I’m very proud of Dad’s Army. If you asked me ‘Would you like to be in a sitcom that was watched by 18 million people, was on screen for 10 years, and will create lots of work for you and provide not just for you but for your children for the next 40-odd years?’ – which is what happened – I’d be a fool to say ‘Bugger off.’ I’d be a fool to have regrets.”

After Dad’s Army, Lavender made further television appearances, including Mr Big (1977), with Peter Jones and Prunella Scales, and in 1983 he revived Pike for the BBC radio sitcom It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a sequel to Dad’s Army, but it was not a success and lasted only one series. In contrast, the original series, with most of the regular cast, had been rerecorded for radio from 1974 to 1976 and proved very popular.

He was also in the BBC TV series Come Back Mrs Noah (1977-78), co-written by Croft; and played Ron in a new version of The Glums (1979) for London Weekend Television, adapted from Frank Muir and Denis Norden’s original radio scripts of the 1950s. There were more smallish television parts in the 80s, such as two episodes of Yes, Minister, and bits in Keeping Up Appearances, Goodnight Sweetheart, Rising Damp and Casualty. He starred in the unsuccessful BBC series The Hello Goodbye Man in 1984 and provided the lead voice in the children’s cartoon series PC Pinkerton in 1988.

He was also in various quiz shows, including Cluedo (1990). On Celebrity Mastermind, broadcast on BBC1 on New Year’s Day 2009, when the presenter John Humphrys asked him to state his name, a fellow contestant, Rick Wakeman, shouted: “Don’t tell him, Pike!”

In addition to co-starring in the first film version of Dad’s Army (1971), he appeared in various low-level British sex farces of the 1970s, including Confessions of a Pop Performer (1975), Carry on Behind (1975), Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976) and Adventures of a Private Eye (1976). He also starred in the thriller 31 North 62 East (2009). “I was close to getting two very big movies in the 70s,” he said without rancour in 2014, “but in the end they said: ‘We can’t get past Private Pike.’”

Lavender’s second best-known role was his delicate and sympathetic portrayal of Derek Harkinson, Pauline Fowler’s gay friend, in the BBC soap EastEnders from 2001 to 2005, and again in 2016-17.

In addition to various live Dad’s Army productions, his stage work included the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Merchant of Venice, directed by Peter Hall and with Dustin Hoffman as Shylock in 1989, touring as the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show in 2005, Monsignor Howard in the London Palladium production of the musical Sister Act in 2009, The Shawshank Redemption at the Edinburgh fringe in 2013, and his own one-man show of reminiscences, Don’t Tell Him, Pike.

Lavender had a great admiration for Buster Keaton, and was an expert on the silent comedian’s career. In 2011 he introduced Keaton’s Sherlock Jr (1924) at the Slapstick silent comedy festival in Bristol, and commented that finding Keaton’s grave in the Fountain Lawns cemetery in Hollywood had been one of his life’s special moments.

In 2016 a new cinema version of Dad’s Army was released, with Toby Jones as Mainwaring and Bill Nighy as Wilson. Private Pike was played by Blake Harrison, and Lavender was promoted to play Brigadier Pritchard. In a touching in-joke, his younger face was also seen on an advertisement poster in a street scene.

Lavender is survived by his second wife, Miki Hardy, whom he married in 1993; by his sons, Sam and Daniel, from his first marriage, to the actor Suzanne Kershiss, which ended in divorce; and by two granddaughters.

🔔 Arthur Ian Lavender, actor, born 16 February 1946; died 2 February 2024

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

[ram-on]

whenyourbirdisbroken asked:

Hi ram-on! Thanks for your tags on that fic rec for Carry That Weight, I've never read that fic but your tags made it sound very interesting! What are other McLennon fics you like, if you don't mind sharing?

Hello there, @whenyourbirdisbroken! Thank you for my very first Beatles related ask and sorry for the late reply!! I discovered fanfiction through the Beatles fandom, I had never read fanfic before! But I'm still too bad at bookmarking things, so I'll certainly forget some I loved. Still, here's a list of those I can remember now:

Carry That Weight and its sequence Hello Goodbye by @waveofahand It's a massive work by a massive talent and it has a very special place in my heart. @idontwanttospoiltheparty described it very well in their recent post about it, and I added a bit of my commentary in the tags. Don't worry about the length, you don't have to read the two parts to enjoy it, but also if you start from the beginning and it's your cup of tea you may soon discover you never want it to end!

 Mums, Yur Boys are Crying by waveofahand. If you love hurt/comfort, this fic includes both John and Paul suffering - John's mom dying and Paul helping him go trhough the funeral, etc, and then Paul himself getting into another situation, and John worrying about him too. The boys are young but there's kindness, maturity and wisdom in it and the typical picturesque, novel-like features of waveofhand's prose. A special bonus are the very charming scenes between Mimi and Paul which may colour your perception of the interactions between those two forever (I always expect them to act like that in other fics). It's also a delightfully finished fic, it has a beautiful ending and conclusion.

Everything by merseydreams . As you may notice, I'm mostly a fan of drama and angst, but @merseydreams are my favorite exception. They're a comedy genius, their fics are romantic, charming, witty, very vivid and enjoyable both on story-buld level and micro-sentence level. I've often told them they should write scripts for sitcoms and romantic comedies/dramedies and other good things. Also good thoughtful characterization, relationship study-ing and dialogue too (so there's seriousness in them too! They're ultimately happy but not fluffy.). I love all their fics but I guess The Birthday Party is the best by being the longest, if you somehow missed it go read it ASAP! 

i was a younger man then (now) (post hoc)  by fingersfallingupwards.  This fic is so touching, that I don't know how to describe it. It's a very poetic, imaginative and unique story about John&Paul-forever and time travel. About the connection of their souls in a fantastical but poignant sense that somehow fits them so much. Might make you cry but it's worth it. Also, completely finished fic as well, with a thrilling emotional twist towards the end. Might be the most complete fic I've read. The fic also provide very good context for the flaming pie anecdote :-)

On our way back home by Kathleenishereagain. This one is also about time travel, but in a different way, basically about old Paul getting back to being young again and how he'd do things differently. I think it's quite popular so you probably all know it. (Funny thing is I never thought I'd care about time travel, but ultimately it's just a writing vessel and aren't we always time travelling when we fantasise about the Beatles?) 

Close The Door Lightly When You Go by RosalindBeatrice. Set in 1979 when Paul comes to visit John in the Dacota, who acts like he doesn't want him there. It's awesome, one of those fics, in which they have real tension and problems which makes it all more real. It's mostly inner-thoughs and dialogue-driven but very intense nontheless, great characterisation, great attention to detail, just fantastic for lovers of post break up relationship studies and excellent writing.

The Wild Horses trilogy, from which I especially love the last part, Son of a Shining Path. It's about young Paul and John and Paul being abused by his father, and the first part might be a bit too dark for some. But I love the writing, and especially in the third part (which has no abuse but other suffering) I just love how well being worried about someone you love and being unable to show it is written in the end there. It's subtle, very realistic in its details, I love it.

I'm Looking Through You by @idontwanttospoiltheparty That's the only fic in this list which is still a work in progress, still updated. If you follow the author on Tumblr you know how smart they are, and their fic is just as thoughtful and attentive to the Beatles history, the music and the psychology of it all. The story gets more exciting and rich whith each chapter, I fell in love with the last three. It also pays attention to all four of the Beatles and their human sides and motivations in a way that rarely happens. Last chapter included the best incorporation of the Manila adventures I've read in fic. Just many emotionally packed and thrilling scenes all around (also that thing I just wrote about being worried about someone and being frozen about how to help them which I love being written realistically in fics -- is here too.) Go read it if you haven't and let's read the next update soon together!!

Widow by abromeds on LJ. This story is more than a decade old, but it's no wonder it still appears in fic recs. It's about death and grief - not John but Paul dying like John did - so it's truly dark, not like fun angsty, but truly deeply dramatic and real. So you might think why read something sad, but maybe you should, because it's so good. It's also serious writing on meaningful topic and I think the fictional element (Paul dying and not John) somehow helps it being more bearable and at the same time makes you think about the actual reality and we kinda avoid doing it, don't we? And it's just very well written, there are also very plausible-sounding flashbacks of their history and relationship through the years (the one about why John actually climbed the fence in Cavendish is my favorite!), so it's not really all about death. And my absolutely favorite thing in ''Widow'' is the very ending, the last sentence even. It's the most perfect, most poignant ending this story could have had, an ending any good fuckin literature could have. Sometimes I walk on the streets and think about that ending. 

-------------------

This fic rec is got too wordy, so I'll end this here, although there are other fics I've enjoyed just as much, but I'll add them some other time!

Always feel free to recommend me some fics too (or to share your thoughts on the already mentioned!)

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I’ve just finished Cabin Pressure, and that was, to quote its character who also wrote the thing, brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. For the first few episodes, I thought it was quite a good sitcom, and would be gently amusing for thirteen hours. A few episodes in, I became attached enough to the show to not want to do anything except listen to it. From there I went through the rest of the 28 episodes (26 alphabet ones plus part 2 of Zurich plus a behind the scenes one at the end) quite quickly.

It usually annoys me when people describe any bit of comedy as being especially “British”, because I don’t think you can have a single category of humour to describe The Goon Show and The Thick of It and WILTY and Stewart Lee and Josie Long, to name a few things off the top of my head that are as different from each other as I can imagine. Last year I took my best friend to see Nish Kumar, and he didn’t like it, and I was surprised, and he said I shouldn’t be because I know he doesn’t like British comedy, and I said yes but he based that opinion entirely on seeing Monty Python’s Holy Grail as a kid, and he said well it’s all British comedy. And I said Nish Kumar hasn’t got anything in common with Monty Python (I say that not as a slight against Nish Kumar, if anything it’s a slight against Monty Python).

Having said that, Cabin Pressure immediately strikes me as the absolute epitome of British humour. I don’t like the idea of describing British humour as anything in particular, but if I had to describe it, I’d point to Cabin Pressure. Or maybe it’s just Radio Four humour. A radio show with a bunch of characters who are quite well drawn considering the small number of episodes, getting into sitcom trope-infused situations while being deadpan-ly sarcastic at each other and pronouncing everything perfectly and saying “brilliant” a lot. Peak British comedy. Peak Radio Four.

A lot of playing with class and status among the characters, not just two in opposition to each other but a bunch who are all at different levels, some cases of one person's class not matching up with their status, humour is mined from all these clashes. That's British as fuck. They all do that. Fawlty Towers and The Thick of It and Stewart Lee all do that.

It was so good. I liked how the plot got thicker as it went along, the characters better drawn out, they remembered and brought back little details rather than retconning anything inconvenient. I liked that the characters and relationships actually grew and changed. It had the perfect mix of comfortingly familiar sitcom tropes, with enough character complexity to feel original. Sharp dialogue that made sense for each character, so it didn't feel like the writers were just showing off their cleverness (obviously they were also doing that, but they justified it every time). I don’t watch/listen to fiction nearly as much as I used to, and it’s been some time since I’ve gotten this invested in fictional characters.

I think the alphabet theme might have been what kept any episode from feeling like filler, that there was a clear plan from the beginning for every episode to matter. They were all well written and well acted and if I were re-listening I could jump in to any part of any episode and enjoy it. The whole thing was a delight. Wonderful British humour that I'm definitely adding to the hard drive of comedy that I'm giving my dad for Christmas. I'm very glad I did that.

Having said that, for months now, Cabin Pressure has been sitting in the "comedy to listen to" folder on my phone, with the thought that I'd listen to it once I was done every other thing on my list, and when I finish that I'll start a new long-running thing. It's been months but I've finally finished all of it. What am I supposed to do with my life now?

[cinemaocd]

Jenny's ongoing list of films watched 2024

February

January list, here.

Inland Empire (2006)*** It took three attempts to get through this long, confusing film. Like Mulholland Drive or the Season Three of Twin Peaks, Lynch films improve on repeat viewings even if meaning remains elusive. That is part of the joy-- sometimes you just vibe with it.

Death of Stalin (2017)**** One of my favorite films of the last two decades. A harried farce with the bloody-mindedness of Macbeth. Like the Scottish Play, we know how its going to come out, but the fun is in watching the articulate villain, played with delicious malice by Simon Russell Beale being outdone by a team of bumbling, petty bureaucrats and one very bad ass soldier. The Boyfriend (1970)*** Ken Russell's surreal tribute to the burlesque musical genre makes the most of its setting in the 1920s by putting his star Twiggy in iconic psychadelic reiterations of the flapper dress. If you opine the fact that drop waist dresses come back into style every 15 years or so, then this movie is as much to blame as anything. Poor Things (2023)*** Emma Stone gives a wild and convincing physical performance as Bella, a baby's brain in the body of her dead mother and Mark Ruffalo as typical 19th Century Rake Getting His Comeupance iscasting I didn't know I needed. I loved the yearning Godwin (Willem Defoe in truly amazing Frankenstein's monster makeup) and though I haven't read the book, I was drawn into the grotesque, ai generated world of the film. The aesthetics of this movie are as engrossing as the story and characters. Adventures of a Dentist (1965)** The Soviet version of the live action Disney comedies of the 70s, where a humble person is given magical power. Here a dentist is given extraordinary, almost magical abilities to perform dentistry without pain. He becomes a celebrity and his fall from grace involves him giving in to the decadent trappings of being a popular dentist. The humor has a darker edge than Disney though I wouldn't go so far as to call it a black comedy. Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973)** This Spike Milligan film plays like a double episode of Dad's Army, not least because of the presence of Arthur Lowe who plays practically the same character here as he does on the tv show. That is not the end of the world however and this is easy to like farce with Milligan's ascerbic, anti-authoritarian bent that is grittier than anything on the sitcom. The Master (2012)** I had high hopes for this, one of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's final films and his last collaboration with director Paul Thomas Anderson is loosely based on the origin story of Scientology. Joaquin Phoenix plays a shell shocked veteran who drifts into the path of the cult leader played by Hoffman. Amy Adams gives a chilling performance as his much younger, controlling wife who is the real power behind the cult. I think I would have an easier time with this film if Anderson hadn't gone around giving interviews saying that Scientology and it's founder L. Ron Hubbard had "helped a lot of people." Of course, this is PTA and Phoenix's character isn't helped at all and he makes the cult worse by being a violent enforcer for the leader's enemies. The levels of whitewashing involved in making a deeply misogynistic cult into a secret matriarchy is just...ugh. However, the homoerotic tension between Hoffman and Phoenix makes the film worth looking out. Murder of Quality (1991)** Made for TV adaptation of John Le Carre's second novel. Denholm Elliott plays Smiley as more doddering and anti-social than Alec Guinness' iconic version of the character. This early Smiley story is more a traditional English village murder mystery, ala Miss Marple, with Glenda Jackson playing Ailsa, Smiley's war buddy that runs a women's magazine. Christian Bale plays one of the students at an elite prep school that forms the economic backbone of the town. Le Carre is merciless in his portrayal of the toxic, petty characters, the wealthy and wannabe wealthy swamp dwellers who run rings around the local constabulary until Smilley steps in and withstands their slings and arrows long enough to solve the case.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)*** Sometimes you sit down to watch a movie with such low expectations that you are pleasantly surprised that it doesn't totally suck. The excitement of things not being as bad as you feared can blot out some of a movie's excesses. At the end of the day this is Billy Wilder, physically incapable of creating a boring movie throwing the whole bag of tricks at this faux biography of Holmes starring Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely. There's farce and physical comedy, verbal gymnastics and exotic locations. Holmes' possible homosexuality is tastefully hinted at and attempts to create a sensationalist account of his drug use, amount to little before the mystery gets rolling. One of the big delights is Christopher Lee as Mycroft whose scenes with Robert Stephens are bitchy queen pissing contests. Genevieve Page does a turn as a would be damsel in distress who turns out to be a worthy opponent to Holmes similar to Irene Adler.

Irma La Duce (1963)*** For some reason between this and Poor Things I ended up watching two movies about Parisian brothels this month. Billy Wilder based this pastiche of 1950s travelogue adventure films like To Catch a Thief and Charade on a French stage play. A strange attempt to weld the success of the Apartment with Some Like it Hot, reconfiguring a Marilyn Monroe vehicle as a reunion of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Like the Apartment, Irma LaDuce is tinged with melancholy while avoiding a lot of the cliches about sex work that wind up dating so many films on this topic. The main complaint I have about Irma LaDuce s that it's about 45 minutes too long, a common complaint about many films of this period. (Damn Lawrence of Arabia and all who sail in her).

Witness for the Prosecution (1982)*** A made for tv adaptation of the classic courtroom drama, which credits Billy Wilder's screenplay of his film version. Ralph Richardson and Deborah Kerr star in this remake and honestly their chemistry is just off the charts and we're left to wonder how they never managed to make a film together before. Wendy Hiller, Diana Rigg and Beau Bridges round out the amazing cast. Lacks the tension and edge of Wilder's film but I'm having too much fun with Ralph to care.

The Major and the Minor (1942)**: Billy Wilder's first film as writer and director has some of the hallmarks of his later, greater works: farce, trains, mistaken identity, and queer themes in the form of a lesbian coded sister of Ginger Roger's romantic rival. That all the fuss is about fairly bland Ray Milland is easy enough to overlook as Wilder makes the film about toying with Rogers image as sophisticated, sexy, dancer. Typical Wilder inside jokes about the film industry abound, such as a craze for Veronica Lake hairdos among the tween set and swipes at Hollywood actors like Charles Boyer Rogers' childish masquerade to avoid paying full adult fare is preceded by a series of calamities where she's pursued and objectified by a lot of nasty older men. Hoping to escape their advances as well as the ignominity of turnstyle jumping, she maintains the charade through a long weekend with a lot of handsy tween boys until Milland's fiancee is discredited as a controlling social climber. There is a bizarre side track into her home town where Rogers also impersonates her mother before revealing her grown adult self to Milland. No one ever accused Billy Wilder of being restrained I guess.

The Children's Hour (1961)**** This classic of queer cinema was necessarily a scorched earth tragedy at the time of its release. William Wyler's dreamy, restless camera drags you into the warm, cozy life of this female partnership between Shirley Maclaine and Audrey Hepburn that seemingly has the potential to be a romantic partnership. When nasty gossips and spoiled children start a rumor that they are a couple, the scandal destroys their business and standing in the community. Terrorized by the homophobic townspeople, they are eventually "cleared" of the crime of being gay for each other, just when Maclaine's character comes to the brutal realization that she really is in love with Audrey Hepburn's character. It's hard to watch her grief and shame as she admits that the bullies have discovered a truth about her that she didn't know herself. A fact so many queer people can find relatable. The film is based on a play by Lilian Hellman which used the topic of homosexuality to expose the cruelty of female narcissists who bully their way into power. There is much in common with Hellman's The Little Foxes in that way, but the film, perhaps owing to Wyler's inherent romanticism has more of a Romeo and Juliet quality than the play. One feels that Audrey Hepburn has perhaps realized the truth in the lie, just a few moments too late.

Sweet Charity (1969)*** Directed by Bob Fosse, starring Shirley MacLaine and Sammy Davis Jr and Chita Rivera this classic musical combines the best of Fossee's signature choreography, sixties pop show tunes and the psychadelic aesthetics of the late 60s. This and the Boyfriend have a lot in common, though I think the music in Sweet Charity is more solid and the contemporary setting makes it a tad edgier. MacLaine plays yet another flavor of sex worker, a dancehall hostess and paid companion who seeks to be elevated out of her life into respectability through marriage. The fiancee here is uptight and lacking in appeal and when he finally just flakes out in the final reel it's no great loss to the film.

Thief (1981)** Atypical heist film starring James Caan and Jim Belushi, directed by Miama Vice creator Michael Mann. You can see the beginnings of that iconic 80s TV show, in this movie which favors long scenes of action being edited to music with sparse dialog. Caan squares off against Tom Signorelli a local mob boss who dares to threaten Caan's wife played by Tuesday Weld.

[lepoppeta]

Are there any role swaps or personality swaps in the hellaverse you think would be fun? Or even an improvement on each characters canon story

swaps in general have always been enjoyable from a storytelling perspective, at least for me. how much would the story change if this character was here instead? or if their job was different? their personality? its very fascinating.

that being said i dont think a swap is necessarily an improvement, especially when it comes to something as controversial as the hellaverse (im interpreting this as hazbin hotel and helluva boss combined). the characters as they are now are completely workable on their own, but their effectiveness relies solely on whos handling them. DISCLAIMER — im not saying im the best person to do that. a lot of the changes i think about for hazbin and helluva are just that, changes, rather that outright swaps.

starting at the basic level, i think one of the most approachable swaps is for hazbin hotel, and its simply imagining how the pilot/comic/beta personalities and occupations of the characters would affect the story as it is now. alastor is a great example of this — in the current series hes a narcissist whos pettier, more insecure, and less powerful that he lets on; in the pilot/comic he channels more of a hannibal lecter energy, where he doesnt actively go looking for fights and will leave you alone and even treat you nicely if you do the same to him; in his beta/zoophobia iteration, he comes across as much younger — a barely-there twenty-something (probably younger, honestly — he has the energy of a 13 year old with delusions of grandeur) whos content with being an edgy chaos-monger without giving a shit about coming off as palatable or gentlemanly. thats three very distinct personalities which would all react to the same situation in potentially vastly different ways.

helluva boss has less character iterations to draw from, but it still has the pilot episode. this would be more of a genre swap than an outright character one — outside of stolas, none of the main characters have changed drastically since the first couple of episodes. the pilot originally advertised an work sitcom a-la the office or brooklyn99, whereas the series now is comparable to a tele-nova. i think if the show had been planned and advertised as such it would have been less of a big deal, but i definitely think we were told one thing and then gradually given something else.

(i think hazbin hotel would have also worked as a workplace sitcom — ive definitely had an idea for that in the past. it negates the redemption storyline and becomes a story about charlie trying to save her favourite childhood vacation spot from dilapidation. in point of fact, that WAS kind of a swap, now that i think about it — hazbin became a workplace comedy, and helluva was a romantic-drama-comedy that was based off of what hazbin set up).

approaching the more drastic swaps, one of the ones ive seen for hazbin the most often and enjoy a lot in concept is where different characters are looking after the hotel, either with or without charlie. there are a fair few characters who have a foil — charlie has emily, alastor has vox, etc. — these are the ones i see the most. seeing how creators interpret different powers and personalities affecting the idea of redemption for sinners is very cool. id like to try my hand at this myself one day, but i havent found the inspiration yet.

similarly, a common swap ive seen for helluva boss is switching blitzo and stolas out for barbie wire and stella. unfortunately we dont know much about barbie or stella for me to have much of an opinion on this version. one swap i would like to try myself is swapping blitzo out for fizzarolli — off the top of my head, i think this would turn more characters into outright bad guys, or at least rivals, instead of simply being misunderstood, and im not sure how many people would actually like that.

as a general closer, genderswaps are also fun, because playing with societal expectations and seeing how that affects things like fashion and personality and relationships is always very interesting.

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

As promised - here's my final thoughts on The Golden Girls, my way of honouring this show that has kept me such good company in the past few months. Before I begin, I'd like to thank all the people who have liked/reblogged my rants about this series: I've appreciated each and every one of you, and while we might be few, it's been nice knowing I wasn't alone shouting into the void. I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Be advised: this is long and rather messy, but if you're interested, here you go - under the cut!

Let me preface by saying that I knew basically next to nothing about TGG before I started watching, last September. I had seen the couple of very famous posts about it circling around tumblr, which gave me the idea that it was an old but relatively progressive and very good show, and I knew that Betty White, beloved American actress, starred in it - so, in general, I had a favourable disposition, but being both non-American and born in the late 90s I had literally no idea what I might be getting into.

To be honest, I knew I wanted to watch it eventually, but I would have waited even more if not for a certain occurrence - that is, I read the Good Omens book. It is mentioned a couple times in there that Crowley considers TGG one of his favourite sitcoms (there's even a scene in which hell communicates with him via Rose). I was at the time (and still am...) completely obsessed with GO S2, and in need of something to distract myself: I took the bait, expecting it to be a good way to spend some time.

I did not expect to like it this much.

Some stuff you probably already know - it's really very progressive, especially for its time, and it's certainly got an original premise: how many shows do you know in which the main characters are all middle-aged and old women? And, of course, you probably know that it's a funny comedy show. Here's the thing, if you've never watched it: it is way, way funnier than you think. Yes, funnier than that. My God, is this show hilarious. I am, in general, an emotive person when watching stuff, but I've never watched a show that had me laughing so much, so loudly and so consistently during its whole airtime (B99 got close, but nowhere on this level). The writing is (almost always) great, the jokes and gags are delightful, the characters all have amazing chemistry, and the actresses are EXCEPTIONAL. Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur, Betty White and Estelle Getty deserved all the praise and awards they got for this series, and even more. It's almost miraculous how so much talent - in the cast and crew alike - managed to end up in the right place at the right time like this.

Let's delve into a little more detail, shall we? So - the writing. As I mentioned, the premise is already original in and of itself - a show about four ageing ladies living as roommates in Miami would be groundbreaking even now, let alone in 1985. Not only that: it's a show in which four ageing ladies live as roommates with very full, enjoyable lives, fulfilling hobbies and platonic relationships, romances and sexual relations; it's a show in which four ageing ladies deal with life, death, old age, health problems (especially "feminine" ones: that episode about menopause was scandalous!), family, love, sexuality and a plethora of other subjects, while at the same time embarking on shenanigans and incredible adventures.

I always say that, while the opposite is not always true, great comedy actors are also great dramatic actors, and this is true for the writing as well: the same actresses and writers that make you laugh until you wheeze one second will have you a sobbing mess in the next one. The girls face together a lot of heavy subjects and events (Blanche's relationship with her estranged children, Dorothy's first marriage and divorce, Phil's death, Rose's childhood in the orphanage and the identity of her parents, and so, so much more), which creates the space for some truly moving performances by all actresses. Hell, there's a scene in S7 that lasts less than a couple minutes, in which Rose talks to a dog, that still makes me tearful when I think about it.

Not only that: this show delves into a lot of themes that are still controversial today, and while a few jokes here and there might be outdated by today's standards (although there's much, much less of these than I expected), you can always tell they treated these issues with love, care, and genuine respect for all the people involved. The episode dealing with AIDS has already reached tumblr fame, but just off the top of my head I remember episodes about the life of immigrants, queer identities (both in terms of sexuality and gender identity), artificial insemination, racism, poverty, homelessness, ageism & the treatment of people in nursing homes, assisted suicide (yes, you read that right). Compare this with sitcoms aired years later (I'm looking at you, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and The Big Bang Theory), and then tell me this isn't a Very Special show.

Above all this, though, TGG is a show about four ageing women who become a family - who sometimes fight, sometimes keep secrets from each other, sometimes get involved in absurd circumstances, often bicker, but always, always, always have each other's backs and take care of each other. That's why, while the series finale was touching (once all the circumstances are taken into account: I wouldn't have forgiven such a hurried romance for Dorothy if not for the very strict constraints the writers had to work within), the actual, real finale to me was the next-to-last episode, Home Again, Rose: Part 1&2. Let me explain why.

There's an episode in S4, E22: Sophia's Choice, which deals with the condition of people in nursing homes, and how so many slip through the cracks of the system and live out their old age in horrible situations, alone and without any support. The three younger girls are understandably shaken by this thought: old age is growing closer for all of them - what if they end up slipping through the cracks too? What if they have to live out their days in solitude and abusive conditions? In the end, Rose (met with enthusiasm by her roommates) finds this solution:

I know, girls: let's make a pact that we'll always take care of each other. That we'll never desert each other, no matter what.

and in Home Again, Rose, Dorothy restates this same promise to Rose's daughter, Kirsten:

Honey, we made a pact a few years ago that if anything happened to any one of us, the other three would take care of her. Sort of an extra insurance policy.

She says this after an entire episode where the theme is that of family by blood vs chosen family: an episode in which the girls are barred from seeing Rose, who has to undergo an operation that might leave her dead or unable to take care of herself alone, because they're not her relatives; an episode in which they spend hours upon hours at the hospital anyway, waiting and hoping, and they are ready - they actually suggest the idea - to put themselves in horrible debt to cover Rose's medical expenses, because while they might not be related, they are family. It's just like Blanche states at the end of the very first episode, S1E1 The Engagement:

I was humming. And humming means I'm feeling good. And then I realized, I was feeling good because of you! You made the difference. You're my family, and you make me happy to be alive.

Do you see? They set the scene for how these characters interact in the very first episode, and then spend 7 seasons showing how true it is, up until the very last second. Sure - the girls argue, they bicker, they hurt each other at times, but you never doubt that they love each other deeply (except in the very, very rare occasions when the writing wasn't up to par - and even then, the doubt is very fleeting and quickly resolved). All of them have both blood relatives and romantic relationships (although not all of those are happy), and yet these other bonds are never portrayed as more important or more significant than what they share with each other. This is the very heart of the show, and it's a heart that beats thunderous and warm throughout all seven seasons of it - it's what makes TGG such a beloved, well-remembered sitcom.

(Since this is tumblr, aka the shipping old people site, and since you've all read my comments in the past few months, let me also spend a couple words on the queer romance reading of Blanche/Dorothy/Rose. For my own enjoyment, and because I needed some old woman yuri in my life, I decided in S1E1 that these three were in an open polycule and watched accordingly; can you blame me? They're always touching, they send each other some quite smitten Looks, they have great romantic chemistry, they're committed to each other, and quite a number of scenes are actually explicitly suggestive in that sense, although it's usually as part of a bigger comedic setup. I like to think that maybe, in a different and kinder world, this series would have ended with the three of them staying together as partners - if only for the fact that such a romance would have had incredible comedic potential. In any case, the point stands: these women love each other, whether there's some romance in there or it's all platonic, and that's the beating core of the show.)

Of course, even the best plots won't work if the characters involved fall flat; luckily, all the characters in TGG are spectacular. They're all very distinct, identifiable personalities without ever becoming stereotypes or growing stale; they have incredible chemistry in a comedic setting, but are so well-rounded that they work perfectly in a more somber setting too.

I've already commented in the past on how great a decision it was to keep Sophia a main character of the show, instead of just a recurring one: her special brand of caustic sarcasm is a crucial part of the dynamic between the main girls, and her one-liners are always iconic. Her bond with Dorothy is so sweet and realistic, and the way she gradually becomes Blanche's and Rose's mom too was delightful to watch. Dorothy herself, of course, is my very first love: the character that left the best impression on me in E1, and the one I resonate with the most. Her stares are iconic, her comebacks are legendary, and her regal poise and steadfast delivery make for a uniquely enjoyable kind of humour that I don't think I'll ever find anywhere else. And this is only her comedic side: her sweet and dramatic moments are equally memorable, and make her a favourite in no time. Rose is a testament to both the genius of the writers and Betty White's one-of-a-kind talent: her gimmicks and traits would have left me bored after a while in any other show, but in this one they just make her endearing. Giving her a heart of gold (on the good side) and an incredibly competitive streak (on the bad side) were clever choices, and they combined with her naivety and absurd anecdotes to make a character that is always, always funny, and always, always lovable. And finally, Blanche - oh, Blanche! I didn't expect to like her this much. I'm guessing this is equal parts due to the amazing character writing and to Rue McClanahan's exceptional ability - it might be because she's wonderfully charming in her usual, confident self, and even more compelling in her rare moments of vulnerability. What I can tell you with certainty is this: at some (early) point while watching I realized that I couldn't get enough of her character, and the feeling never went away, up until the very end.

You really can't help but love them all! The way they interact with each other, they grow with and thanks to each other, they support each other - it all makes for such compelling characters and dynamics that it's impossible not to enjoy. Betty White stated once, during an interview, that these four ladies are nice to visit for a half-hour every week, to see what they're doing, and I agree with the sentiment (although much more than 30 minutes a week would be wonderful!): they feel like real people, with real lives, and you just want to know what they're up to this time and how they're going to power and laugh through it. To misquote what Neil Gaiman once said about Aziraphale and Crowley in Good Omens: you could lock these four in a dark basement for a half hour and you'd have an entertaining show.

There's so much more I'd like to talk about (it's real hyperfixation hour, boys!) - from the amazing work of the costumes department to more character analysis to specific plotlines and themes, I could stay here rambling on for literal hours. However, this post is already long enough - I'll just keep this steam to fuel my creative endeavors.

Just briefly - so, what's next? Technically speaking, there's still The Golden Palace to watch, but I haven't made up my mind about it yet. According to the internet, Bea Arthur left TGG in part because she felt the writing was declining in quality, and I can see why she thought so; although the general level of the show always remained high, I also had my issues with some episodes in S7, and from the few reviews I've read about it it's a decline that's felt in Golden Palace as well. There's also the elephant in the room of Bea Arthur's departure: I think it was once again Betty White who said that Golden Palace felt like a table with a missing leg, without Dorothy there, although I'm sure Don Cheadle and the other actors did their best to compensate for her absence. This being said, I do love Sophia, Blanche and Rose, so I might decide to watch it eventually - although I'll probably opt for something else for a while, now.

If you've gotten this far, thank you so much. Watching this show and sharing my love for it with you all has been a delightful experience, and I'm truly grateful for it. I'll keep interacting with the fandom, of course (I have so many ideas for stories and vignettes!) - and I'll be sure to rewatch an episode here and there anytime I need to wrap myself in laughter and warmth. To you all, to Sophia, to Dorothy, to Rose, to Blanche: Thank you for being a friend!

[431989]

okay fuck it we ball im posting resident alien stuff here. hyperfixation time. spoilers below so be warned.

im sooo bummed over the recent ep. the gripe i have w every single piece of media happened agaiiinnnnn. can i have ONE thing that doesnt force relationship arcs. especially ones that dont fit the initial or continuing tone of the shoooow. <--- edit again to clarify. i loved the tone of s1. i want that back. its getting too comedyish.

like i rlly connected w harry esp the fact he wasnt really getting infatuated with anyone but this whole horned up episode was grating to watch. like i still think there were sweet moments but boooo 🍅💥🍅💥 im hoping its just for some sort of conflict and that itll get squashed come the next few eps. (ALSO EDIT: at least the thing with harry and isabelle was palatable. gahhh im just peeved….)

s1 was so baller too like it had good clever comedy and still had drama to it. like im hoping the very like… bland surface level humor gets dialed back. like its soooo forced to me. but i guess thats what the average viewer likes which is dog doodoo. dont make it a sitcom please im begging. it was soooo unique.

i will be rewatching season 1 for the 5th time tonight but another thing i noticed is the increased use of like… musical scores. its like one step removed from a laugh track. gahh.

anyways im a harry asta supporter also harry joseph supporter so this forced stuff hurts to watch esp bc it doesnt fit character to me. considering harrys whole thing so far has been about developing and realizing connections, the sudden shift to horniness just! isnt consistent. not to be autistic or anything haha.

speaking of! i think its boring and cheap to have this alien/alien thing going on. and also feels really like.. “nd people can never fit in so they have to be with other nd people.” i think i wouldnt be so turned away if it was more genuine. but this is a comedy ig, i just wish it was handled differently. its uninteresting to meeeee. like an alien/alien thing can work but not like this. gives very nd are forever seen as weird and are therefor ostracized. like it feels othering to me. ESP BC OF HOW FORCED UGHHHHHHH i hate forced romance shit so much. perhaps thats an unpopular take but i said what i said! sudden nonmeaningful stuff like this i feel will kill the show. i wouldnt be surprised if it fizzles out.

UM ALSO? tudyk bringing up shape of water on insta abt the newest ep????? i dont think so???????? i never watched that but i kind of know what it was about and it certainly wasnt fish on fish love. smdh. like i feel like the reason why it was so big when it came out was (albeit as someone who hasnt watched it and have surface level understanding) bc it was between a lady and fish guy. and it was heartfelt. not to be harry asta or anything but that was already developing so like. AGHHHUU. even a harry joseph dynamic i can get around in a way bc theres room for development. also itd be gay so thats a plus.

anyways i might check out the graphic novels. told myself i wouldnt bc my brain works weird but maybe itd be a good idea to get into that. unfortunately i will probably be begrudgingly keeping up bc im hyperfixated on it. GAHHHGG anyways ramble rant over.

edit ps: i will also clarify that if asta were to be written out to be nd i would be just as pleased if not more pleased. im just not liking how this is going so far. tomato tomato tomato

[thornheartcat]

Fiona's 2023 Anime Awards

Thoughts on anime this year!

Top 5:

Pluto (even has my mom's seal of approval!)

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Heavenly Delusion

Undead Girl Murder Farce

probably Scott Pilgrim Takes Off once I get around to it (I KNOW I'M GONNA I SWEAR)

Show that most came closest to making the top 5 but I think I'll still like Scott Pilgrim better: My Happy Marriage! I want what they have...

Most underrated show: BULLBUSTER. I know robots aren't very in right now or whatever but it's a robot workplace dramedy! Give it a chance!

Runner up: Synduality: Noir. Also robots. This one has such Eureka seveN vibes and I mean that as like one of the highest compliments I can give! I missed shows like this! Bring shows like this back! Also it's from the writer of Bunny Girl Senpai! If I say that will you watch it?

Most overrated show: Oshi no Ko. This shit was 60% monologues about how "the entertainment industry is bad, actually" by volume. Snore.

Runner up: JJK2. I mean it's like fine I guess but at this point JJK is like a vehicle that delivers cool fight scenes to my eyeballs. If you ask me to care about the characters or the mechanics behind the cool fights I will laugh at you.

Most niche show I enjoyed: 16bit Sensation: Another Layer. You have to be in so deep in the world of visual novels and eroge to really appreciate this show but I've been in too deep since I was like 14 so I love it!

Show that most should've been bigger: Undead Unluck. I know it's floundering here because it's a Hulu exclusive and Hulu has literally not even spent a single fucking tweet promoting their exclusive anime for some goddamn reason but give it a chance I am BEGGING YOU. Heavenly Delusion and Synduality: Noir had this same problem but Undead Unluck is based on a SJ property so you'd especially think it specifically would be bigger!

Show that most surprised me: Tearmoon Empire! I didn't know I wanted a show about Marie Antoinette getting sent back in time to prevent her own guillotining, or that I wanted that show to be primarily a comedy, but I got it and I love it! I hope it gets another season, I want to watch Mia bumble her way into becoming a better person and making the world a better place some more!

Runner up: Helck! I'd heard good stuff about the manga so I wasn't surprised it was good but I was surprised at just how well it shifted from comedy to drama and how emotionally invested it got me. Every week of that flashback arc had me yelling "NO!" at my computer when each episode ended because I wanted to know what happened next so badly!

Show that most was just sorta there but I had fun anyway: Mononogatari. It's such standard shounen fare and the art and animation rarely rises above the level of even "competent" but by the end of the second half I found myself genuinely invested in the characters? Also the second OP goes hard as hell

Runner up: Spy Classroom. It's not the best spy show out there, but if you've already watched Princess Principal and Spy x Family and you want more anime spy content it's there for you. I liked the girls and their unique abilities, and the narc episode is counterbalanced by the extremely hilarious and period accurate WcDonald's that is "White Fortress".

Worst anime: A Girl & Her Guard Dog. The premise is already not my cup of tea (not a huge age gap fan and especially not a huge fan of the girl falling for the guy who basically raised her, Bunny Drop style, though at least this series is up front about all that rather than luring unsuspecting people in with wholesomeness), but its execution is what really kills it. There's nothing more profoundly unsexy than the love interest behaving like an overprotective sitcom dad. Also doesn't help that the art and animation are straight DOGSHIT. I feel so bad for the animators, they must've been on an insane crunch, you can really feel that they kinda just shit this one out and you just know they're not proud of it and wish they could've done better work. I also feel bad for fans of the manga, the art there isn't terrible and while translating it to animation was always gonna be a little hard this is a particularly tragic attempt.

Most anticipated of 2024: Delicious in Dungeon and Dandadan!!!!!!! GET HYPE BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[aggressivelyarospec]

Anonymous submitted:

“Corner Gas” tv show (2004-2009)

A sitcom about a little town and its quirky residents.

The level of romance is incredibly low for a sitcom. In fact, the few episodes that deal with romance bring up pairings just to dismiss them, which is pretty fun to see.

For example, the first few episodes the writers seem to be teasing that Brent and Lacey will get together, but that ends with both of them making it clear to the other that this is platonic. What makes this hilarious is that each thought the other was romantically interested, and while relieved that this is the case are also a bit insulted.

The only married couple, Oscar and Emma, are Brents parents. While they’re in most of the episodes they rarely do anything romantic - if anything they come across as needing either a divorce or a long vacation from each other. Besides that there are a few episodes where a character (usually Wanda or Hank) is dealing with a dating subplot, but those don’t take up much of the episode and the ‘love interest’ character of the week isn’t seen again.

To sum up, very little romance and none within the main cast of Brent, Lacey, Hank, Karen, or Davis (in short, no romance shenanigans like in “Friends”).

Additional Information: TV-14 | Comedy Trailer:  

Added!

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #604

Top Ten Ghosts from Ghosts

This week sees the final series of the superlative Ghosts, and that’s a sentence with more alliteration than I’d expected when it began. It kind of got away from me a little bit there, but I shall attempt to wrangle the wrest of my writing into order.

Or something.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Ghosts. It’s pretty great. It’s a typical British comedy about people trapped in a situation they can’t escape and forced to share their lives with other people they would ordinarily avoid, and end up developing into a loving surrogate family over time, but without any of the wishy-washy stuff an American version of the sitcom would probably force onto the plot. Where Ghosts excels is in both its writing and its performances; it’s genuinely hilarious, which is nice, but the cast are also gifted actors capable of bringing out the warmth and humanity even in the dodgiest or flimsiest of characters. Plus it makes the most of its setting, giving us classic horror tropes and – emerging by degrees – its own brand of supernatural lore, with the ghosts all longing to be “sucked off”.

And now the end is near, and I can’t help but feel there’s going to be something really heartbreaking about it. I think it will feel like one last goodbye to old friends. Although I kinda thought that about Guardians 3 and James Gunn basically decided “everybody lives” and gave all the Guardians their own happy ending (which isn’t the same as being sucked off).

So to celebrate this momentous occasion – and because it’s a great way to kick off the spooky season – I’m now going to rank my favourite spooks in a sitcom; my favourite poltergeists in a programme; my favourite ghosts in Ghosts. Good, eh?

Julian (Simon Farnaby): it’d be very easy for Julian to be a one-note joke; a lecherous and corrupt Tory MP who died in a sex scandal and has to spend the afterlife with no trousers. But Julian is allowed all kinds of subtleties and nuances; despite his multiple vices, his care for his fellow ghosts (and living humans) frequently bubbles up, as does an occasional bubble of regret over his life choices. It’s a really slow-burn, empathetic development of character, as Julian is really still rather reprehensible; but we love him and want him to succeed. And that one-note joke is just persistently funny.

Robin (Laurence Rickard): a caveman whose guttural pidgin utterances can be the source of great amusement; as can the contrast between his prehistoric values (he appears to have married his sister) and the present day. But again it’s a character full of nuance; he’s much smarter and more sensitive than he first appears. And he’s really funny, with a terrific makeup job.

Pat (Jim Howlick): an over-earnest Scouts leader with an arrow through his neck, my love for Pat isn’t really based on nuanced empathy or slowly unpeeling layers of development; he’s pretty much all there day one. But he’s so damn funny, a tour-de-force from Howlick as this organisational nerd, a nice guy determined to keep everyone happy. Probably has the funniest death scene. “You don’t want to see this in your dreams.”

The Captain (Ben Willbond): an uptight, overwound British officer, all stiff upper lift and starched sheets, with an almost Melchett-level Tasche. There’s a lot of fun and nuance right there, but it’s the Captain’s closeted nature that elevates him even higher; the tragedy of his repressed life and the double tragedy that now, about eighty years after he died, he still can’t be honest about himself. Yes, it’s sad, but it’s an informed and beautiful sadness that has something to say. And sometimes it’s really funny too.

Kitty (Lolly Adefope): I could talk again about how Kitty has shades and subtleties that are slowly teased by the writing and performance as the show has developed, but really Kitty’s here because Adefope is damn funny. An almost stupidly naïve character, fantastically childlike, an innocent soul in search of a sister. She’s just great.

Fanny (Martha Howe-Douglas): from comically naïve to comically repressed, Fanny is a puritanical matriarch for whom nothing is good enough and everything is filthy. Of course, this is all mask and projection, and like most of the ghosts here she had a rather tragic life that shaped her death. It’s this juxtaposition between the passions that enflame her (she fancies Kiell Smith-Bynoe’s Mike) and her snotty demeanour that brings the funny. Plus it’s a simply transformative performance.

Mary (Katy Wix): Mary is far more down-to-earth, from her broken malapropism-riddled Black Country dialogue to her matter-of-fact allusions to the more red-blooded facts of medieval life. His sets her apart from a lot of the more repressed characters, and her misunderstandings and failures to grasp modern concepts are also really funny. She also has the terrific hook of having been burnt at the stake.

Thomas (Mathew Baynton): surprisingly low down really, for such a great character and performance. Vainglorious lovesick poet Thomas wanted to be Byron but was shot down (literally) in his prime. His flowery dialogue, his inappropriate pining for Charlotte Ritchie’s Alison, and the frequent gulfs between his ideals and aspirations and the harsh reality of his life and death are all sources of great humour.

Sir Humphrey (Laurence Rickard): a more minor character than others, but a great one. Again it’s basically one gag writ large, as Humphrey had his head cut off and so his ghost is likewise decapitated; his body frequently losing his noggin (or vice versa, I suppose). Humphrey’s head’s grumpy but resigned demeanour when faced with always getting misplaced or lost or put down in the wrong place is priceless. Also: props to Rickard for two great roles here.

The Plague Victims: pretty much all the cast return as the ghosts of an entire village laid low by the plague, destined to spend eternity stuck in a cellar together. That’s all nice and hilarious of course, but the way they’ve become experts on their tiny world (teaching Alison and Mike how to repair the boiler) and their various interactions with the ghosts on the floors above are doubly, triply terrific.

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

Charles & Hawkeye

Thank you anon! And thank you to @marley-manson @majorbaby and @charleshawk4077 who also all asked me about this same pairing. Feeling very beloved amongst the CharHawkers this week <3 My friends and allies from a neighboring land to which I venture gladly and often <3

Sidenote I wish that highlight color was blue but I couldn’t figure out how to get a colored highlight tool in any fucking program I know so I had to use the stupid yellow snipping tool highlighter. Life is so fucking hard when you have to have everything be Just Right but also you’re incompetent. But we’ve all seen The Light That Failed so moving on.

So these two are sooooooooooooooooooo

Listen. I’m just gonna say it. Hawkeye/Charles has about as much canonical evidence as Hawkeye/BJ to me. Like there’s more Hawkeye/BJ content/fodder/moments/whatever purely quantitatively because they have more scenes together but in terms of the level of homoeroticism and bonding and tenderness and all that, qualitatively Hawkeye/Charles is on equal footing. You know what I mean? Obviously the dynamic is super different but just in terms of the quality. I mean look at all these tropes. Enemies to friends to lovers. Rivals. Clown and straight man comedy duo. The Round One And The Pointy One. It’s almost too easy.

Sometimes I think that’s why it’s not a personal passion of mine, even though its fantastic potential is obvious to me. It’s kind of the same problem as Donna/Charles. It’s just too easy. It feels like Charles speedruns his character development in these two relationships a bit, compared to the rest of his character arc (as much as he has one lmao). I’ve talked before about how when it comes to fanfiction, I don’t require the whole slowburn play by play for these ships, but in canon the cute moments do sometimes feel, not unearned, but not earned quite enough. Especially since the constrictions of the episodic sitcom format means Charles’ development and Hawkeye’s treatment of him completely regresses whenever the plot necessitates.

In the end it also ties back to my main Charles grievance. Hawkeye (and everyone else by extension) is somehow always treating him both too kindly and too cruelly. It grates on me, you know? Like the yellow highlighter. 

But in spite of all that: excellent duo, obviously. The chemistry is fantastic, every episode centering on their relationship is a total classic, all their moments together are memorable. The fandom really DOES sleep on this one, and it genuinely puzzles me! CharHawk nation rise!! RISE!!!

[chainofclovers]

I completely agree with you about the press conference scene being by far the best, most complex one in the episode, as someone who had to get reacquainted with the tone of the show and the dialogue feeling too scripted at times -not a criticism, this is a sitcom after all, I've just been watching mostly dramas which are much more concerned with realness- this scene felt the most natural to me despite (due to)being the most uncomfortable, and the many layers it contains are delicious...sorry for the ramble, I just love all your insightful thoughts on this series

Thank you so much, and sorry for the delayed response! I could probably say this better if I gave it some more thought but I think the writing on Ted Lasso straddles a few different things in an interesting way: it's very enamored of word play (which works because the characters are believably enamored of word play), and there's a concern with handling things in natural/proportionate ways rather than playing things up for drama (like a lot of the quiet moments between characters feel very realistic), and they're unafraid of hamming things up to a really heightened level for fun reasons (it is after all a comedy, or at least one of its genres is comedy). I also think s1, s2, and s3 have each had really distinct tones even as they're telling a single long-form story, which I love but which does mean having to not only reacquaint myself with the show after the hiatus but also learn what it currently is.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I listened to Paul F. Tompkins' stand-up last week, a bandwagon-jumping move in anticipation of the fact that he might be doing Taskmaster. Listened to three of his albums and his TV special. I enjoyed them. They were a bit different than I'd expected, and I'm not sure why as I don't think I had any particular reason to expect anything in particular from his stand-up. I think I'd heard him compared to Mike Birbiglia before, so I may have been surprised when he didn't jump out any windows.

It was good though. I sort of stereotype American comedy as thinking it's all about sex and drugs, and Paul F. Tompkins... I mean, there were some drugs stories. More than I usually like. I don't object on puritan grounds or anything, I just find them fairly boring. But besides that, I liked his stories. The first couple of albums were fairly entertaining mostly unconnected routines, then I got to his 2012 album Labouring Under Delusions, which was a chronological autobiographical thing, and I thought that was fantastic. Takes you through from dropping out of college to hosting TV shows and acting in movies.

I did find it funny how his "showbiz stories" differed from what I'm used to, in terms of levels of glamour. British comedians tell name drop-y stories about "one time I was on a panel show and Jimmy Carr was there", Paul F. Tompkins' one was "One time I was reading for a movie and Tom Cruise showed up!"

To be honest, the main effect that stand-up had on me was reminding me how much I loved BoJack Horseman, which I tried to re-watch but somehow did not have it in my Non-British Sitcom sub-folder of my comedy hard drive, which is a massive oversight. That folder is meant to be for any show where I've seen every episode many times, at some point in the past 20 years, and have at times had in rotation as the go-to thing to put on when I'm eat a meal or staying up at night or something and would like televisual accompaniment. Preferably something I've already seen many times so it's an easy watch. I made that folder because it's nice to have those at my fingertips, so I don't have to mess around with the effort of increasingly sketchy streaming sites when I'm just trying to put on a show that I want to watch while being lazy.

So I downloaded BoJack Horseman, and while I was at it fixed a few other oversights, and I'm fairly sure this folder now covers most of my possible go-tos:

It's my non-British sitcoms folder, unable to be just named "American sitcoms" because the Australian show Utopia is in there. Which I liked a lot for its first few seasons, and then it went weird right-wing in the last couple.

I meant to only dip into a couple of episodes of BoJack Horseman, but then I accidentally re-watched the entire first two seasons in about three days. God, that show is impressive. The continuity, the attention to detail, the background jokes, the foreground jokes, the complexities of characters.

I forgot how much happened in seasons 1 and 2. I think it may have got a bit uneven after those first couple, which may be why the stuff I remember most was near the beginning (and from the last season, which I also remember well and liked a lot). But those first seasons were very good.

I was also reminded of conversations I used to have with my friend, years ago, who watched BoJack Horseman and told me no fictional character had ever reminded him as much of a real person as Diane Nguyen did of me. And that is definitely the fictional character I relate to the most, out of all the fictional characters I've ever encountered. I'd love to say that makes me special in some way, but I'm pretty sure they were just really good at writing disillusioned self-hating frustrated feminists, better than anyone else I've seen try to do a character like that. Pretty sure the world is full of people who would look at that one and say "Oh yeah, that's what it's like. It's not that dramatic, it just makes you not want to go to work anymore." If you don't have a part where she spends three months sitting on her friend's couch drinking beer and throwing cans at the wall because life is pointless and nothing would be accomplished by going to work anyway, you haven't written the disillusioned feminist right. I'd forgotten that the part where Diane gets into a public fight with a powerful sex pest, loses that fight and gets told by all her friends that it's not a big deal even though every person on every side of that fight agrees that he did do all that stuff, then she goes off to try to work for a charity and learns that that is also bullshit, then spends three months drinking beer on a couch and giving up on life - that's all in season 2. For some reason I'd remembered that as taking place across multiple seasons. They really fucked with her across 12 episodes.

I love the way that show would play with perspective, write the rom-com episode from the POV of the character who was being inconvenienced by all the protagonist's romantic epiphanies, the wacky sitcom plots from the perspective of the characters who had to get shit done. And for the first while it looks like BoJack Horseman gets to be the brooding depressed main character and maybe Diane is the One Girl Who Could Be Brooding Enough To Understand Him For All His Flaws, With Her Cynical Wit. Like a reverse manic pixie dream girl. But by the end of season 2, we've seen enough from her perspective to see that actually it's her who's too flawed for everyone else, and she's just decided everyone else can sort their own lives out while she sits in the living room explaining:

Anyway, sorry for starting a post about Paul F. Tompkins and finishing it about a fictional character (played very well but also rather problematically by Alison Brie, who is very white to be playing the Vietnamese-American character), I quite enjoyed his stand-up. I have also quite enjoyed suddenly and unexpectedly re-watching his sitcom all weekend. Though I might need a palette cleanser after being immersed in the levels of cynicism that show reached. Perhaps Community, for a far more hopeful tone and Alison Brie playing an excellent and more racially appropriate character.