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titanicfreija · 2 years

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Crashing

Thomas glanced up when Freija stepped in, gimmicky pirate helmet under a Citan's-clad arm. The guns were presumably dematted, but the warlock already knew it was Mida Multitool and a crafted Explosive Personality and whatever sword she was carrying at the time.

"Have you really been in the crucible literally all day?"

"Yes," she replied briefly, and she collapsed to the sofa. "My body isn't tired, but my brain is toast. I can't think that fast that long."

The warlock kept his remarks to himself and instead leaned away from his word processor. "Any good stories?"

"Uh. Had to starve out a Jotun. Clutch win twice. Bounced a grenade off a wall to get it going the way I wanted it to go almost every time I tried. Finally quit when my allies didn't notice that we only had to stop for a few seconds and we would have won. Pissed me off so bad I left without showering or anything, I probably reek of blood and gunpowder."

"And charcoal," Thomas agreed. "I like it."

"Hosted a comeback. Badass, managed to pop a barricade just in time to block off a Jotun shot, allies got the kill while I ran to recover, got a second one up as they were running back to me, all six of us opened fire down this hallway, I throw a grenade, my barricade went almost immediately but we still got the kills. Ended up in three two-on-threes, one guy quit two rounds in twice and one time the third one just didn't show at all. Won one, lost the other two."

Thomas nodded, but he was studying the Titan where she sat. Her face was slack and her eyes were fixed ahead, and her breathing was slowing and becoming more shallow.

"Status report?"

"Coming down," she replied. "I had to move very fast a lot, today. There were a couple of matches where that was all I could do while my allies took out the opponents. I'm sure I looked silly as hell, but I know I did good."

She grinned. "Literally, one time, was just running in a circle."

After several moments, the grin faded and the Awoken's eyes drooped. "Nah, what it is, is people start getting real fucking strategic, and. Uh, if I take the time, if I have time to take, I'm pretty good at heading them off and taking care of it, and if my allies are really good, they're either on their radar as hard as I am, or they follow my glances well. So we can usually keep them from getting around us. And my launcher is working out great.

"That's good."

"But yeah. I'm brain tired."

Sunny giggled as she 'matted. "We did great, today. Didn't earn as many points with Shaxx's ranking system as we would have liked, but we were facing some pretty tough opponents."

"Yeah, gods, fuck, uh, shit," Freija agreed distantly, and her eyes closed slowly and stayed that way. "Fuck," she repeated, and she put her hands over her face.

"You okay?"

"Coming down," she repeated. "I died a lot," she added. "Think that does some sort of long-term damage to our brains?"

"I think you're just stubborn and don't like thinking much," Thomas teased. "Any physical sensations going along with it?"

"You interviewing me for a book?"

"Uh. A little." He smiled toothlessly at his roommate. "Though?"

"Uh. Hands are. Tingly?" she said, and she held one up to show him some mild trembling. "Heart still. Doing the thing. Flutter. Brain feels. Like. A muscle you've worked really hard and are stretching out, I guess?"

Thomas nodded sagely and made the note, and he sat back again. "Good day?"

"Good day," she agreed. "Got a girl's number, butch Titan lady, cute as hell. If she swings your way and we don't work out, I'll direct her to you?"

"Maybe?" Thomas agreed.

#destiny 2 #ocs #drabble #crucible #writing #my writing

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nitrateglow · 4 years

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Favorite films discovered in 2020

Well, this year sucked. I did see some good movies though. Some even made after I was born!

Perfect Blue (dir. Satoshi Kon, 1997)

I watch a lot of thrillers and horror movies, but precious few actually unsettle me in any lasting way. This cannot be said of Perfect Blue, which gave me one of the most visceral cinematic experiences of my life. Beyond the brief flashes of bloodletting (you will never look at a screwdriver the same way again), the scariest thing about Perfect Blue might be how the protagonist has both her life and her sense of self threatened by the villains. The movie’s prescience regarding public persona is also incredibly eerie, especially in our age of social media. While anime is seen as a very niche interest (albeit one that has become more mainstream in recent years), I would highly recommend this movie to thriller fans, whether they typically watch anime or not. It’s right up there with the best of Hitchcock or De Palma.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (dir. Sergio Leone, 1966)

Nothing is better than when an iconic movie lives up to the hype. Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef play off of one another perfectly. I was impressed by Wallach as Tuco in particular: his character initially seems like a one-dimensional greedy criminal, but the performance is packed with wonderful moments of humanity. Do I really need to say anything about the direction? Or about the wonderful storyline, which takes on an almost mythic feel in its grandeur? Or that soundtrack?

Die Niebelungen (both movies) (dir. Fritz Lang, 1924)

I did NOT expect to love these movies as much as I did. That they would be dazzlingly gorgeous I never doubted: the medieval world of the story is brought to vivid life through the geometrical mise en scene and detailed costuming. However, the plot itself is so, so riveting, never losing steam over the course of the four hours it takes to watch both movies. The first half is heroic fantasy; the second half involves a revenge plot of almost Shakespearean proportions. This might actually be my favorite silent Fritz Lang movie now.

Muppet Treasure Island (dir. Brian Henson, 1996)

I understand that people have different tastes and all, but how does this movie have such a mixed reception? It’s absolutely hilarious. How could anybody get through the scene with “THA BLACK SPOT AGGHHHHHHH” and not declare this a masterpiece of comedy? And I risk being excommunicated from the Muppet fandom for saying it, but I like this one more than The Great Muppet Caper. It’s probably now my second favorite Muppet movie.

Belle de Jour (dir. Luis Bunuel, 1967)

I confess I’m not terribly fond of “but was it real???” movies. They tend to feel gimmicky more often than not. Belle de Jour is an exception. This is about more than a repressed housewife getting her kicks working as a daytime prostitute. The film delves into victim blaming, trauma, class, and identity-- sure, this sounds academic and dry when I put it that way, but what I’m trying to say is that these are very complicated characters and the blurring of fantasy and reality becomes thought-provoking rather than trite due to that complexity.

Secondhand Lions (dir. Tim McCanlies, 2003)

The term “family movie” is often used as a synonym for “children’s movie.” However, there is an important distinction: children’s movies only appeal to kids, while family movies retain their appeal as one grows up. Secondhand Lions is perhaps a perfect family movie, with a great deal more nuance than one might expect regarding the need for storytelling and its purpose in creating meaning for one’s life. It’s also amazingly cast: Haley Joel Osment is excellent as the juvenile lead, and Michael Caine and Robert Duvall steal the show as Osment’s eccentric uncles.

The Pawnbroker (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1964)

Controversial in its day for depicting frontal nudity, The Pawnbroker shocks today for different reasons. As the top review of the film on IMDB says, we’re used to victims of great atrocities being presented as sympathetic, good people in fiction. Here, Rod Steiger’s Sol Nazerman subverts such a trope: his suffering at the hands of the Nazis has made him a hard, closed-off person, dismissive of his second wife (herself also a survivor of the Holocaust), cold to his friendly assistant, and bitter towards himself. The movie follows Nazerman’s postwar life, vividly presenting his inner pain in a way that is almost too much to bear. Gotta say, Steiger gives one of the best performances I have ever seen in a movie here: he’s so three-dimensional and complex. The emotions on his face are registered with Falconetti-level brilliance.

The Apartment (dir. Billy Wilder, 1960)

While not the most depressing Christmas movie ever, The Apartment certainly puts a good injection of cynicism into the season. I have rarely seen a movie so adept at blending comedy, romance, and satire without feeling tone-deaf. There are a lot of things to praise about The Apartment, but I want to give a special shoutout to the dialogue. “Witty” dialogue that sounds natural is hard to come by-- so often, it just feels smart-assy and strained. Not here.

Anatomy of a Murder (dir. Otto Preminger, 1959)

I’m not big into courtroom dramas, but Anatomy of a Murder is a big exception. Its morally ambiguous characters elevate it from being a mere “whodunit” (or I guess in the case of this movie, “whydunit”), because if there’s something you’re not going to get with this movie, it’s a clear answer as to what happened on the night of the crime. Jimmy Stewart gives one of his least characteristic performances as the cynical lawyer, and is absolutely brilliant.

Oldboy (dir. Park Chan-Wook, 2003)

Oldboy reminded me a great deal of John Webster’s 17th century tragedy The Duchess of Malfi. Both are gruesome, frightening, and heartbreaking works of art, straddling the line between sensationalism and intelligence, proving the two are not mutually exclusive. It’s both entertaining and difficult to watch. The thought of revisiting it terrifies me but I feel there is so much more to appreciate about the sheer craft on display.

Family Plot (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1976)

Family Plot is an enjoyable comedy; you guys are just mean. I know in an ideal world, Hitchcock’s swan song would be a great thriller masterpiece in the vein of Vertigo or Psycho. Family Plot is instead a silly send-up of Hitchcock’s favorite tropes, lampooning everything from the dangerous blonde archetype (with not one but two characters) to complicated MacGuffin plots. You’ll probably demand my film buff card be revoked for my opinion, but to hell with it-- this is my favorite of Hitchcock’s post-Psycho movies.

My Best Girl (dir. Sam Taylor, 1927)

Mary Pickford’s farewell to silent film also happens to be among her best movies. It’s a simple, charming romantic comedy starring her future husband, Charles “Buddy” Rogers. Pickford also gets to play an adult character here, rather than the little girl parts her public demanded she essay even well into her thirties. She and Rogers are sweet together without being diabetes-inducing, and the comedy is often laugh out loud funny. It even mocks a few tropes that anyone who watches enough old movies will recognize and probably dislike-- such as “break his heart to save him!!” (my personal most loathed 1920s/1930s trope).

Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2019)

This feels like such a zeitgeist movie. It’s about the gap between the rich and the poor, it’s ironic, it’s depressing, it’s unpredictable as hell. I don’t like terms like “modern classic,” because by its very definition, a classic can only be deemed as such after a long passage of time, but I have a good feeling Parasite will be considered one of the definitive films of the 2010s in the years to come.

Indiscreet (dir. Stanley Donen, 1958)

Indiscreet often gets criticized for not being Notorious more or less, which is a shame. It’s not SUPPOSED to be-- it’s cinematic souffle and both Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant elevate that light material with their perfect chemistry and comedic timing. It’s also refreshing to see a rom-com with characters over 40 as the leads-- and the movie does not try to make them seem younger or less mature, making the zany moments all the more hilarious. It’s worth seeing for Cary Grant’s jig (picture above) alone.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (dir. Joseph Sargent, 1974)

This movie embodies so much of what I love about 70s cinema: it’s gritty, irreverent, and hard-hitting. It’s both hilarious and suspenseful-- I was tense all throughout the run time. I heard there was a remake and it just seems... so, so pointless when you already have this gem perfect as it is.

They All Laughed (dir. Peter Bogdonavich, 1981)

Bogdonavich’s lesser known homage to 1930s screwball comedy is also a weirdly autumnal movie. Among the last gasps of the New Hollywood movement, it is also marks the final time Audrey Hepburn would star in a theatrical release. The gentle comedy, excellent ensemble cast (John Ritter is the standout), and the mature but short-lived romance between Hepburn and Ben Gazarra’s characters make this a memorably bittersweet gem.

The Palm Beach Story (dir. Preston Sturges, 1942)

Absolutely hilarious. I was watching this with my parents in the room. My mom tends to like old movies while my dad doesn’t, but both of them were laughing aloud at this one. Not much else to say about it, other than I love Joel McCrea the more movies I see him in-- though it’s weird seeing him in comedies since I’m so used to him as a back-breaking man on the edge in The Most Dangerous Game!

Nothing Sacred (dir. William Wellman, 1937)

I tend to associate William Wellman with the pre-code era, so I’ve tried delving more into his post-code work. Nothing Sacred is easily my favorite of those films thus far, mainly for Carole Lombard but also because the story still feels pretty fresh due to the jabs it takes at celebrity worship and moral hypocrisy. For a satire, it’s still very warm towards its characters, even when they’re misbehaving or deluding themselves, so it’s oddly a feel-good film too.

Applause (dir. Rouben Mamoulian, 1929)

I love watching early sound movies, but my inner history nerd tends to enjoy them more than the part of me that, well, craves good, well-made movies. Most early sound films are pure awkward, but there’s always an exception and Applause is one of them. While the plot’s backstage melodrama is nothing special, the way the story is told is super sophisticated and expressive for this period of cinema history, and Helen Morgan makes the figure of the discarded burlesque queen seem truly human and tragic rather than merely sentimental.

Topaz (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1969)

Another late Hitchcock everyone but me seems to hate. After suffering through Torn Curtain, I expected Hitchcock’s other cold war thriller was going to be dull as dishwater, but instead I found an understated espionage movie standing in stark contrast to the more popular spy movies of the period. It’ll never be top Hitchcock, of course-- still it was stylish and enjoyable, with some truly haunting moments. I think it deserves more appreciation than it’s been given.

What were your favorite cinematic discoveries in 2020?

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obey-me-fics-n-shit · 4 years

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Satan X MC: “Cat Cafe?”

@gostbirds So the brothers don’t really interfere with them going, (because I couln’t think of any good reason lol) and I didn’t actually write them going to the cafe, AND its a bit longer than I meant it to be, but I had lots of fun writing it and I hope you like it!

Also this is my first time writing something that’s not headcannons, so if you have any criticisms, keep them constructive please and thank you!

Satan x mc “cat cafe?”

You sat down for a peaceful Saturday breakfast in the house of Lamentation, ready to scarf down as many of Satan’s delicious pancakes as you could before Beel came down and ate them all. Taking charge of who all was there you took stock of Asmo, who seemed busy drizzling on syrup just so in a way that made it look picture perfect. Turns out that was the plan, because a second later Asmo pulled out his DDD and was taking pictures for Devilgram. Moving further down the table you saw Mammon, who didn’t seem particularly interested in what was going on in terms of food, but he was eyeing up the new silverware in a way that told you that you probably wouldn’t see it again soon. Finally there was Satan, who was sat at the table with a book in hand. He already finished eating if you were to judge by his empty but dirty plate. It was cute, you thought, that everytime he made a meal he stayed in the dining room until everyone had eaten some. Satan never really said why he did this, but you figured that he like to gauge everyones reactions to the meal, to see whether or not he should make it again.

You decided to sit across from Satan, who acknowledged you (and your large stack of pancakes) as you sat down with a smile. You offered a smile back and dug in. You’d always liked Satan the best, and the two of you had gotten pretty close but sometimes he still made you nervous. You had honestly gotten pretty good at reading all of his little micro-expressions too, Satan is a quiet guy, you’d noticed that early on. So when the two of you started spending more time together, being able to know what he was saying without actually saying it was a must. But, for all of your hard work on getting to know him better you still couldn’t tell if he liked you back. You looked up at Satan and made sure to make a show out of pointing to the pancakes then giving a big thumbs up. You would’ve said something but it was kind of hard because A) mouthful of yummy pancakes and B) you didn’t want to rope him into a conversation when he was trying to read. Satan acknowledged you thumb up with his own thumb up, small smile and no, it couldn’t be was that a blush? Before you could look closer and verify his face was hidden by the book again.

It was then that Levi walked in and sat down next to you. You greeted him with a cheery “good morning” and Levi did the same. Looking back at the table you saw that Mammon (and his silverware) had done a little vanishing act and were gone, but Asmo was finally getting started on his pancakes. Levi started talking and you were really trying to pay attention, but you had already missed the first part of his conversation. You tuned in just in time to find out he was talking about some new gimmicky cafe he was interested in had just opened.

“-and they’ll join you at the table! Anyways MC all the waitress have little paw print aprons, which I’ve heard are pretty cute and they have a gift shop with a whole bunch of themed collectibles, I’ve got to get there soon before they run out of Ruri-Chan cat figurines!”

Now you really wish you had listened to the first part of Levi’s spiel because to say you were lost was an understatement. You couldn’t help but notice though that whatever Levi talked about must have been interesting. Satan was looking at his book but his eyes weren’t moving across the page, he was listening. If it had gotten Satan’s attention it was probably something you should’ve been listening to. Sooner or later you had to respond though you you decided to go with, “Yeah, that sounds really cool Levi!” Before taking another bite of pancake so you wouldn’t have to say anything more.

It was quiet for a little longer while you and Levi took some bites, “Anyway, MC, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me later today.” Levi got around to the point of his speech.

“Ooh! Like a date?,” Asmo piped in, “because if it’s a date that’s no fair! Do you have any idea how hard it is to convince MC on a date?” At this you noticed Satan stiffen a little a bit, eyes still fixed on his book but unmoving on the page.

“No that’s not it at all, Asmodeus!” Levi rebuttted a little red in the face. You decided if you didn’t chime in now things would only get heated from here.

“Oh that’s nice, Levi, but I think I have some more work I need to do on one of my assignments, maybe next time though!” You weren’t in the business of committing to plans if you didn’t know what they were (although you knew it was your fault for not paying attention.) and if the idea of you going to whatever this place was made Satan uneasy it probably wasn’t worth it.

“Oh that’s okay! It’ll be easier to get a table if there’s one person anyway.” Levi responded. With that you finished up your plate, thanked Satan for breakfast and made your way back to your room. You really did have some work to do, so at least that wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t as much work as you made it sound to Levi.

Around noon-thirty you had finished the work you needed to do and decided you’d head down to the kitchen to throw together some lunch. To no ones surprise Beel was stationed in front of the fridge, eating whatever was unfortunate enough to find its way into his hands, and thereby his mouth.

“Heya Beel!” You greeted reaching arounf him for some lunch meat, on the way down to the kitchen you’d decided a quick sandwich seemed like a good lunchtime option.

“Hi, mc,” Beel said through a muffled mouthful of food, “heard you turned down Levi’s offer to buy you lunch, what are ya, crazy?” Beel turned to you a goofy little grin on his face. You don’t remember that, when would you ever turn down a nice time out with your friends? Ohhhhhhh this morning is the time you’d turn that down. You remembered, as you began to assemble your sandwich.

“Oh haha,” you recovered with a quick chuckle, “did he offer to take you instead? I would’ve gone if I didn’t have to catch up on some homework” you asked, trying to retroactively figure out where exactly Levi had offered to take you to.

Beel gave you a friendly laugh over his shoulder, “he did offer, and I’m not one to turn down a free meal, but he said it was a cat cafe,” he paused to take another bite and swallow, you used the silence to throw together an extra sandwich, glad you at last knew the answer to this ‘Levi-lunchtime-mystery’. Beel continued, “-but after Satan’s cat fiasco a few years back I don’t really like dealing with cats anymore.”

Cat fiasco? Were you supposed to know what that was, the way Beel mentioned it so casually, you supposed so. You had no clue but you figured you’d save your questions for another time. “Oh, understandable,” you commented, so that you didn’t sound like a complete idiot. “Speaking of Satan, has he had lunch yet?” You asked, you figured you could take him some lunch if he hadn’t had any, it wasn’t that uncommon for him to get so wrapped up in whatever he was reading that time escaped him.

‘No, not yet. Or at least I haven’t seen him.” Beel said, more to the fridge than to you. Good, you thought, you could take Satan some lunch and spend some time with him.

“Okay, I’d better go make sure he gets something to eat then, see ya later Beel!” You said already halfway out of the kitchen with your two sandwiches.

Finding Satan wasn’t that hard, if he wasn’t in his room he was in the library. And that’s where you found him, he was reading the same book from this morning, and he was much farther along, judging by the way the pages near the back cover loooked a lot thinner than they had this morning. “Hey,” you spoke softly, as not to startle him, “I brought you some lunch.” You said extending the plate towards him.

Satan looked up from his book and took a sandwich off the plate, “thanks mc,” he murmured appreatively. You looked at the cover of his book, recognizing it as one of your old favorites, “any good?” You asked gesturing to the book.

“Yeah, I’m really liking it, you mentioned it a few weeks back and I finally got my hands on a copy.” He placed a book mark tenderly amongst the pages and gently shut the book. You hadn’t remembered mentioning that it was your favorite, wait now that you think about you may have made an off-handed remark, but the fact that he remembered made you heart swell a little. Not only did he remember, but he actively searched out the book and made a point of reading it. This man was going to be the death of you and he didn’t even know it

“Have you gotten to the part where-“ you were cut off by Satan, who shushed you with a ‘no spoilers!” And took a bite out of his sandwich, you did the same. Satan made a small sour look, and looked up at you from his spot on the couch.

“Mc, why is there only meat in this sandwich?” He asked you, quizzical. Oh shit, you realized you had been so wrapped up in talking to Beel that you completely forgot that sandwiches have other ingredients. How on earth did you forget something so simple?

“I- uhhh” you said, unsure of how to explain, you set the plate down beside him and let him set down his sandwich. “It’s kinda a silly reason,” you looked at Satan, who looked at you with a small smile, obviously amused.

“Explain it to me.” He demanded, so you did.

“Well you remember this morning when Levi was talking to me at breakfast?” You asked, Satan gave you a small nod in return. “Well I kinda zoned out and didn’t know where he was offering to take me so I gave him a half-baked excuse not to go”

“I recall,” Satan chimed in. You were a little offended that he seemed to agree your excuse was “half-baked” but you continued your story anyways.

“Well when I finished my work -I actually did have some to do-“ you justified, “I went down to get lunch and ended up talking with Beel, and he filled me in on what I missed.” You paused “I must have gotten so wrapped up in the conversation that I forgot to add anything else” you finished.

You and Satan sat in silence for a while then simultaneously broke out into laughter, what else could you do, ya know? After the giggles died down Satan looked at you, “can I ask you a question?”

“You already did,” you shot back, “but I’ll allow you another.”

“Okay then, smartass,” Satan said, still grinning. “Are you actually interested in going to that cat cafe? Because I was planning to ask you myself but Levi beat me to the punch and I wasn’t sure if you told him no because you just didn’t want to go.” He finished, watching your expressions carefully the whole time.

“Oh!” You were alarmed, Satan wanted to go out with you? At the very least he wanted to take you somewhere he seemed excited about going, and that’s something right? “Yeah of course I’d like to go with you! I mean, my lunch plans kinda fell through anyways.” You gave a good natured chuckle before adding “one condition though” this was kinda a risky move on your part, go big or go home right? You never know if you don’t try kinda thing?

“What is it?” Satan asked hesitantly.

“It’s a date?” You meant it to sound more confident than it did, but you also wanted him to know you wouldn’t force his hand if he wasn’t into you like that.

Satan broke out into a new, wider smile, one you hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing before. “Then it’s a date, mc” he said, glee shining through his voice. “We can discuss the book now the way there, but only up to where I am, okay?” He added, already getting up to go.

You didn’t know how you’d explain turning Levi down if you happened to see him there, but you figured that was a problem for later.

#obey me shall we date #obey me imagines #obey me satan x mc #obey me satan x reader #request #obey me #obey me!#obey me hc #obey me headcanons #@gostbrds #om satan #satan x reader #satan x mc

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lady-feste-pendragon · 4 years

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so we know there’s a bunch of arthurian adaptations out there. what elements (not from any particular source) do u *have to* keep/remove from ur perfect version?

oh lord, tbh nonnie i am not the person to ask this. I’m not a scholar or anything i just have a special interest. I started answering this originally just thinking about screen adaptations but then i realized you’re just talking about adaptations in general and i had to switch gears soooo

okay these are just my tastes/opinions/observations but non-screen adaptations: you can p much do whatever you want and it’ll be good. Personally i’m not too keen on adaptations where arthur is The Bad Guy (tm) somehow. It feels really inauthentic and gimmicky. make your arthur complicated by all means--the older i get the more i Obsess over Complicated Characters--but like, doing a full one eighty and saying ‘in my adaptation arthur is the Villain’ never goes over well. unless you’re seeing this happen later on in a series and it’s part of character development, in which case that’s fascinating as heck

-also for book adaptations, for my tastes, dig into the side stories and don’t be afraid to get absurd, bc the source material is comic books basically. you can still do sweeping serious romantic epics with v little Comedy but you can also do that while keeping and adapting the silliness that goes into some of the source material. and while you can keep the sort of ‘grumpy kay, rash gawain, tragic flawless lance, flighty gwen” -esque sort of stereotypes and execute them well and the story still be Good, there’s also both a Lot of difference source-stereotypes of behavior and motivation to pick from and it’s good to mix it up. also canon is fake and you can do whatever you want if you don’t find anything you like

-Personally i like stories with a good guinevere so My Ideal Story would have guinevere as an active agent in her own life but who is also a Good Queen, or if she’s not a good queen then with good Reasons as to why someone raised as a princess wouldn’t make a good queen in whatever sort of capacity that Good and Queen are defined by in your world. you don’t Have to do the love triangle (please plEASE by my little ace heart consider noT doing the love triangle) but if you do don’t make it shallow!!! also consider: they all have two hands. just sayin i may or may not have developed a taste for poly stories in the last couple of years

-beyond that like as far as books or audio formats or what have you i will literally read p much anything.

-for screen adaptations it gets.......tricky. because so many of them are bad for so many reasons. and caveat i have not seen a lot of them. I mean.....yeah i have seen a Lot of them. but i also follow..................a reasonable number of arthurian blogs and i am Aware that i’ve seen only a tiny fraction of what’s actually available and even Commonly Viewed for people who get reaaaally into the legends with the kind of energy i haven’t had since like. School. (man i wish; in literally everything else i’m happy with my life circumstances in ways i can’t possibly vocalize but as far as motivation goes Take Me Back)

-i’ve just noticed that it’s apparently Extremely Difficult to actually adapt The Arthurian Legends to screen

-so in my humble opinion Stop Trying

-adapt Adaptations. adapt self contained side stories. there’s so much stuff that gets overlooked that makes for An Incredible Story that won’t be made into a movie bc it’s not part of the generic public consciousness of a king arthur story. but don’t try to adapt Arthurian Mythology bc that’s going to blow you way over budget and you’re going to need A Series Of Movies and you won’t get them and it’ll be unsatisfying for everyone involved. So don’t make epics.

-stop trying to be historically accurate or historically ‘edgy’, make more movies about side characters with their own stories, get creative about setting and magic systems!! if you’re going to be original especially, but i can’t stress this enough, adapt adaptations. They’ve already done the work for you.

-i know you want to know about what specific ‘elements’ need to stay the same to be good For Me, but tbh my reading is so Wildly Variable that you can Everything differently and i’ll still give it a shot, but for screen adaptations i really only require three things.

make your cast of characters either small enough that you can really dig into their stories (for side stories) or make them broad enough that you can include side characters that don’t get much screen time often while concentrating on whatever larger story you’re trying to tell

show us that you did your research even if you don’t Use it. that’s why i liked the guy ritchie hot mess so dang much and Still love it and watch it today. there are so many little hidden references and easter eggs you can tell someone on board did Research and was in a high enough position to get those little tidbits in

your arthur Has to be On Point. your arthur has to be Perfect ok. You can slub a lot of stuff but if you’re making a king arthur movie your arthur has to be Flawless. you can get away with this if you’re not focusing on arthur himself but even as a side character he needs to Inspire Something in the viewer. He needs to be Recognizably Arthur via source stuff/adaptation material sure but he also needs to be someone the audience Instantly Likes to the point of almost reverence. You need to either start at the point or get to the point in the narrative where arthur says like three sentences and you Instantly Understand why people would pledge service and loyalty to him. You Need to See Him and you need to Love Him. everything else is adaptable.

#once and future tag #Anonymous

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mashitandsmashit · 4 years

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America’s Got Talent: Season 15 - Auditions 4

11: Christine Hurley. I will say, I wasn't a big fan of the stand-up for the most part anyway, as she basically came off as Bargain Bin Barbolak (with only 10% trailer nasty). I mean, I've seen this character plenty of times before...But I also felt bad for that little flub; She was doing fine up until that point, and it really threw her off by the end...I will admit that Howie gave some pretty good advice, and I hope she takes it to heart to improve for the future...Best wishes to her!

10: LILIAC. Shame we didn't see more of this act...I enjoyed what little of them I saw! But I guess the next entry had to be the focus of the segment...

9: Luca Di Stefano. Barry White he is not, but this amused me enough...I wouldn't say this guy is necessarily a talented singer OR a talented baritone, as I could hear his voice cracking up throughout...But I enjoyed the gimmick for now, knowing that he's very likely going to be cannon fodder in the next round. (And probably for the best...Doing that CAN'T be good on his throat!)

8: Ashley Marina. So we're combining the drama from the Ansley Burns, Lamont Landers and Daniel Emmet auditions now, huh...? This kid gets THREE tries, HUH!? Honestly, it's getting harder and harder to understand Simon's standards by now, because I thought she did really good with both of those other attempts...But this was an obvious set-up...I liked her precious little dad song enough, and her singing voice is legitimately good (though nothing particularly new for me), so I'd say she deserves a shot in this game...I'm just sick of all this manipulative drama...Simon, I'm coming for your dogs! (This is becoming a VERY disturbing running gag...)

7: Olox. And from here on out, it's nothing but overwhelming positivity! When these two Power Rangers villains walked out, I knew they were either gonna suck, or we were gonna get something truly entertainingly bizarre! I am beyond happy that it was the latter! As far as such an unappealing talent as throat singing may be, they really are talented in that department, and they found a way to make it fun! ...And yet strangely the lady still sounded less like a goose than Dolores O'Riordan...(I'm just teasing; I like the Cranberries AND that song...) A silly gimmick that's sure not to get very far, but I'll enjoy the ride as much as I can!

6: Brett Loudermilk. Markiplier called, he wants his hair back! Next to Cristina Rae, this is probably the act we saw the most of in the promos...On the surface, he seemed like just another sideshow act, and to be fair, he kinda was...But contrary to some opinions I've made before, this is one type of act where personality is everything, and this guy has it by the bucketloads! Honestly, he is probably one of the funniest comedians we've seen in recent seasons, without even doing stand-up! And Sofia was almost as funny working off of him! I've no doubt the extra segments of the performance were a set-up (and how interesting that we had two acts with midway cliffhangers in a row...and I still loved this audition as much as I did!) That being said, I look forward to seeing him again! ...Though I guarantee you his throat hurt like a motherf***er the next morning! (And that makes TWO dudes in one show abusing the hell out of their throats!)

5: Nolan Neal. Vying for the gold medal in the Sob Story Olympics, and yet I'm willing to look past that because this man is just THAT talented! It's like if Chris Klafford's voice (and beard) came together with Marcin Patrzalek's guitar skills, with the songwriting complexity of We Three! Interesting how his audition came right after the Golden Buzzer, since this guy looked fitting enough for it (especially from Simon), and I honestly wouldn't have complained (though I'll get to the REAL pick soon...) But as it is, this guy looks like a prime GB pick for the Judge Cuts, and I have no doubt that he will go far! Hands down my favorite singer so far this season!

4: Feng E. Speaking of the passing down of Marcin Patrzalek's skills, here's a mini Marcin right here! Grace VanderWaal is watching this kid and going “Why didn't I do THAT with my ukelele!?” From what little we saw of him (not so much the performance as the boy himself), I wouldn't doubt that he will probably be eliminated in the next round...Real shame...But we have another talented preteen to potentially step in for him...

3: Noah Epps. It was actually a close one between the two kids, but I ultimately picked Noah because we saw more of his dancing than Feng's electric ukelele playing...(It's actually a close one between all of the Top 7...) It looks like they finally built a more advanced model of the Merrick Hanna droid, now with more creepy Pinocchio schtick! (Ultron, eat your mechanical heart out!) I really hope this kid does well in this game; No reason to cut his strings so early...

2: The Spyros Bros. So THIS is what Mochi's act was missing! Well, where he failed, this may be the act to succeed in making diabolo a talent to be taken seriously on this show! What they have already displayed here was mindblowing, and from what they've said, it sounds like this is only the beginning! Between the awesomeness we are (possibly) about to witness, the bullying backstory, and the AGT fanboyism, this act does have the potential to go far! When I watched the preview video on Youtube a few days ago, I was expecting this to be another awesome act in an otherwise humdrum show, but not only were almost every act tonight top-notch, but one other act just barely edged them out from the top spot of this list...

1: W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew. In Season 13, we got the epically named Pancakes! And now this year we have met their superior brethren in the dancing breakfast pastry category! (Can't wait to see French Toast Crew in Season 17 and Da Crepez in Season 19!) Okay, onto the most important point...I never thought I'd say this...But I think I'll be rooting for Simon Cowell's Golden Buzzer to win this season! It's hard to compare them with the more gimmicky dance acts like V.Unbeatable, Light Balance and Zurcaroh, but as far as straight-up hip-hop dance goes, this is the cream of the crop! It's also hard to compare them with the other GBs; They probably won't get as many Youtube views as Roberta or Cristina (though we'll just see), but they definitely stand out more, and Simon is sure to push them as far as possible! So far none of the acts are safe bets for the win...But maybe it's time a dance crew finally got it (again, not counting V.Unbeatable at Champions earlier this year...) These guys have all of the necessary materials to go all the way: The skills, the style, the story, the Golden Buzzer, the fans' blessing, Simon's blessing...and MY blessing!

WHERE WERE ALL THESE ACTS BEFORE!? It's like they saved almost all of the really exciting ones for one show (though Malik and maybe a few others would have fit in quite well). This reminds me of that audition episode last year that had Marcin, Berywam and ADEM all in the same show (as well as that goofball who did the Andy Kaufman thing), but if almost the entire show was at their level! Hands down the best audition of the season so far, with several acts I could see making it all the way to the Finals!

So next week should be interesting...We already saw what it's like with a vacant judges' seat (giving the Spyros plenty of space to toss the diabolo over), but we'll see how Sofia's “Modern Family” co-star Eric Stonestreet handles filling in for Heidi...

I will probably expect the last Golden Buzzer of the round (Howie's) to be saved for the final audition the week after (I wonder if it will be that “at home” show I saw on Youtube, and they left out Howie's GB in those videos). Either way, we'll wait and see...

Until then...

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felicityb-reviews · 7 years

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Experimental SHINee - Feature Spotlight

Hello babies, and welcome to the next Feature Spotlight in the SHINee Spotlight series!! My name is Jace (aka Felicity B), and today we're gonna be taking a slow drive through SHINee's more experimental era. This era in SHINee's career actually features my first SHINee comeback (Dream Girl, dahlings), so I am The Most Excited™ for this FSL!! It feels like Dream Girl dropped ten years ago, rather than just five, but I guess that's what K-Pop does to you.

And in case anyone is wondering why I'm going in reverse chronological order, it's because 1of1 and Misconceptions of Me are my favorite SHINee albums.

Era Spotlight

So, I cheated. I really should have featured from DxDxD in this list instead of ones from FIVE, but I don't really like DxDxD!?!??! It's literally my least favorite SHINee album, sis. FIVE, to be frank with you all, fit more in line with the '90s 5HINee era, but it also fits in this experimental era pretty well.

The name of the game here is experimental, folks. SHINee must have gotten a little bored after they decided to go RnB again after LUCIFER. The bulk of the songs on this list were released in 2013, a year that SHINee really pushed the boundaries of who they were as a group, and I almost kind of miss it. Granted, I loved the maturity in sound they came back with on Odd and 1of1 (the former more than the latter, tbh), but this experimental phase was just a fun time to be a SHINee fan. This list includes songs from both Misconceptions albums, the Everybody mini album, and the previously mentioned Japanese album FIVE.

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Spoiler (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Gurl... SHINee was not fuckin' around with us with Spoiler.

Spoiler is a song that Jonghyun wrote incorporating all the song titles from the Misconceptions series in the lyrics. And sis, I was like, "This is cute, or whatevahs!!" when he spoiled the tracklisting for Misconceptions of You, but when Misconceptions of Me dropped and we found out he spoiled that too?!?!?! My wig wasn't just lopsided, she was free floating in space.

SHINee really fucking Did That™ with Spoiler, sis.

Spoiler sounds like someone took Sherlock, and turned her into a vampire. Spoiler is Sherlock's darker and more seductive older sister. It's kind of interesting how they kicked off the Misconceptions series with Spoiler, a song that starts out like their previous title track, but with a dark twist. It's almost like they were making a statement, sis. This SHINee is New and Improved™ SHINee. This SHINee is Upgraded™ SHINee. SHINee 2.0, if you will. We snatched you with RnB/Funk, we snatched you with EDM, and now we're gonna snatch you with both. Enjoy!!

Symptoms (Everybody)

I imagine sex feels like what listening to this song feels like.

Symptoms is an eletro-RnB song that sounds like it was snatched right from the Billboard Top 40. Which doesn't surprise me, because it was produced by the Underdogs (who also produced EXO's Overdose, another song that's dripping in that Top 40 sound from the time). Symptoms is a song that starts out loud and proud; it gives you Drama™, and it gives zero fucks about it. She looks at you without a care in the world and says, "My name is Symptoms, what did you expect!?!?! A cutesy pop track?!?!?! Boi, if you don't get!!"

And mind you, that's what I love about ha.

I fucking love a SHINee song that gives us all the bells and whistles, because they really don't have to. Look at Odd Eye - she's as stripped back as it gets for RnB midtempos, but SHINee still Shine Bright Like A Diamond!! But here's the thing - these dramatic ass niggas love songs like these. You can't tell me these SHINee boys don't love a beat with all the bells and whistles; the way they always come correct on songs like these says it all.

Become Undone (FIVE)

Speaking of songs that lack bells and whistles, Become Undone is not one of them. You'd have to be a Fool™ to think a song titled Become Undone on a Japanese record could be a toned down track.

These types of songs are usually the most dramatic.

Become Undone is an angsty song. She's a song I can see playing during a scene where an anime protagonist has to make an extremely hard decision. Like, intentionally stepping into a trap to save your friends, or deciding between saving your loved ones or the world (don't look at me like that, you guys have seen Sailor Moon).

The main star of the show here is the chorus. That's true of most pop songs, but especially so for Become Undone. She features The SHINee Specialty™ (their ridiculous ability to blend their harmonies together like fuckin' buttah), the trap beats presented in the verse kicked up 10,000 for Maximum Drama™, and orchestral stabs that tie everything together. Become Undone has one of the most emotionally satisfying choruses I've heard in a pop song. Sis, I'm literally the INTENSIFIES meme listening to this song, it's just so good.

I'm really glad that groups like SHINee have had the pleasure of working with a Japanese team to release music in Japan, because it allows them to play with their sound in a way that they can't in Korea. And that's not to say that SHINee haven't played with their sound in Korea (this FSL is literally on the era they experimented with their sound the most), but there's certain sounds and textures that are specifically J-Pop in feel, and it's really cool to see a group like SHINee tap into that.

Orgel (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

Okay sis, now we're actually bringing it down a notch. Not for long, but I figured y'all could use a break, even if it's short lived.

Orgel is a song that's quite similar to Odd Eye in the fact that it's SHINee driving the song with their vocal performance, and the beat is going along for the ride. Orgel also features a melody that sounds like a something you'd hear in a music box, and while that motif is quite overused in pop music, it doesn't make Orgel feel played out. It's just a really pretty song from five really pretty boys.

Orgel is a really neat song, because even though SHINee are driving the song with their voice, they're really not doing a whole lot on the beat. Their vocal performance on Orgel is subtle in the same way the beat is (or rather, as subtle as these boys get), but they still stand out. It's an interesting experience, sis.

Queen of New York (Everybody)

Now this is A Song™, sis.

Queen of New York feels very lounge cafe, sis; she's very "let me sip my expensive coffee drink while I read the latest copy of Cosmo or OK! Magazine". Queen of New York is also very much something the drag queens are voguing to at the local gay club. Miss Queen of New York is a woman of many moods, okay?!?!?!

Queen of New York was a very fun surprise, because I don't think anyone was expecting a song quite like this on the Everbody mini album. She's very edgy, but in a way that you don't expect songs described as "edgy" to sound. Queen of New York has a very polished feel to her, but there's a dirtiness to her that you can't tame. She's a proper Upper Middle Side woman, but she's not afraid to take a walk on the wild side. She's not afraid to show you how to get down, and I just love that so much.

One Minute Back (Everybody)

This is also A Song™, babes.

One Minute Back is grungy, sis. She's not a proper Upper Middle Side woman, she's a punk rock/biker girl with a flair for the dramatic. Ain't nothin' polished here, ladies!! Well, SHINee's vocals are pretty polished, but that's a given. I've never heard a SHINee song where the vocals weren't produced to a T.

But despite that, Ms One Minute Back and Ms Queen of New York are happily married!!

One Minute Back, like Queen of New York, was a song I was pleasantly surprised to hear on Everybody. One Minute back has such grungy verses, but then the chorus and the bridge are so Funky and so SHINee. BUT THE TWO DIFFERENT VIBES BLEND TOGETHER LIKE IT'S NOTHING!! It's such an aurally pleasing experience, you guys!! The reason I compared One Minute Back to Queen of New Year is that they're both marry these two moods to amazing results. I mean, Queen of New York doesn't fully commit to the grunginess, but there's enough of it lying below the surface that it's worth mentioning.

ABOAB (FIVE)

Ms ABOAB is a Bad Bitch™. She's a Boss Bitch™. She has no time for your games, boo. Ms ABOAB is a brazen ElectroFunk number that makes no apologizes.

If SHINee wanted to make a record like Everybody for the Japanese market, ABOAB would have been the title track/lead single. Miss ABOAB is spicy. She's seductive. Miss ABOAB is full on club bounce, and I McFucking L O V E when SHINee do those kinds of songs. There's just something so sexy about them working that club vibe, sis. I lowkey wasn't ready for ABOAB, but she really didn't care. She mesmerizes with the way she flits between emphasizing her Funk and Electro elements.

And that damn drop with the horn line... BITCH!! My wig has been compromised.

Runaway (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Runaway is another ElectroFunk track, but brighter and poppier in a way that contrasts ABOAB quite nicely. It's no less fun and club ready, tho.

Runaway is mainly driven by a punchy synth stab and SHINee's very fun usage of their vocal harmonies. While Miss ABOAB would whip ha weave in ya face if you ever tried to talk to her, Miss Runaway would make silly faces at you and coax you into doing silly dances. I, always and forever, wanna see SHINee in concert, but I especially wanna see Runaway and ABOAB performed live, because they always do these types of club ready tracks Just Right™.

Hitchhiker (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Because God Knows^™ these boys can't not give us a track that channels the very essence of MJ and his weave.

If Spoiler was too gimmicky of a sequel to Sherlock for you, then Hitchhiker is your song. Hitchhiker, to me, sounds like the perfect representation of this era in SHINee's discography - let's take what we already do well and marry it to a whole new palette of song styles/textures, and see what sticks.

And lemme tell you somethin' - Hitchhiker sticks like fucking glue. Remember what I said about SHINee loving the bells and whistles that comes with doing over the top songs?!?!?! That's in full effect here, sis. Hitchhiker is anthemic as all fuck, and these boys ride that beat like they were made for it. And to be completely, I have no doubt in my mind that they were.

Nothing to Lose (FIVE)

So who else was expecting to get something hella grungy like Natalia Kills' Break You Hard or Seventeen's Clap with how hard that guitar was filtered?!?!?! I can't be the only one here.

Nothing to Lose bait and switches us with that dark n grungy guitar riff, because the majority of the song is rather bright n poppy. But I really can't be mad, because I rather liked the way they transitioned the darker sections into the brighter ones. And Nothing to Lose is pure octane fun. It's kind of a hard song to hate, because it gives zero fucks about how cutesy and cheesy it is.

There's also a rather nice helping of Funk thrown into the mix, but I'm gonna pretend that that had nothing to do with much I like this song. Even though it's what makes me like it the most.

Punch Drunk Love (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Punch Drunk Love channels Love Like Oxygen like SHINee's producers were in the studio intentionally trying to produce a sequel to the song. And if you know anything about me, you know that Love Like Oxygen is literal auditory C R A C K for my black ass. Punch Drunk Love also sounds like SHINee's writers held a seance and channeled MJ's spirit when they were writing the song for the boys.

And y'all already K N O W I'm here for that shit.

Punch Drunk Love is the SHINee Five™ on autopilot, sis. SHINee will never not know how to come correct with a Funk song, and it warms my heart. The attitude, the harmonies (THE BUMBACLOT HARMONIES), the overall feel of the song; SHINee gets it right. If you ever needed a pickmeup, then put on SHINee's Punch Drunk Love, and thank me later. This is another song that is unabashedly cheesy, but gives absolutely zero fucks about it.

Isn't it beautiful!?!?!?

Evil (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

Evil can be summed by in two words - Drama and Killer Harmonies.

That's technically three, but you know what the fuck I meant.

Evil is SHINee at their most dramatic. I remember Shawols losing their collective minds at the fancams from the concert performances where they wore blindfolds.

Yes, you read that correctly. These dramatic ass motherfuckers were performing on stage with blindfolds on. They were, more than likely, see through blindfolds, but never doubt SHINee's collective love of the Drama™. They absolutely would dance completely blindfolded.

Evil starts out slow, but I very much doubt that many of us thought the song was gonna stay that way; SHINee were just building the atmosphere (read - creating the perfect environment to torch our weaves). Evil has an almost musical theater vibe to it, except not nearly as cheesy. Evil is honestly a one of a kind experience that we all need in our lives at some point.

Especially because SHINee were on their harmonic A game the day they recorded Evil. When the drums drop out and it's just the orchestral stabs with their voices?!?!? Fuckin' magic, ladies.

Like A Fire (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

We all Know™ Like A Fire, because of that one performance where Jonghyun, Kibum, and Jinki were having a contest to see whom tf could be the most extra (to be honest, I'd say Kibum won, based purely on the fact that I didn't even know he could wail like that). But Like A Fire stands firm on her own by being a wickedly good Funk song.

(Sidenote - I'm about 90% this list has more Funk tracks than my '90s 5HINee FSL, and I want you all know that that was not on purpose. I wont be changing it, but I swear it wasn't done purposefully!!)

Like A Fire, like Punch Drunk Love, is SHINee on autopilot. I don't know what else to say about this song. It's just so Classic SHINee™, sis!! The verses have a more somber, minor tone to them, but the choruses transition (maybe that's a modulation, I'm not Musically Advanced™ enough to make that call) into a killer major groove that is just so beautiful to listen to. I don't know anyone who doesn't like this song. Liking Like A Fire is a requirement for being a Shawol (especially a Shawol of color). If you don't like Like A Fire, you're invalid.

I need to say something about these harmonies and ad libs, tho. Did the producer of Like A Fire tell the SHINee Boys™ to go HAM the day they were laying down tracks for Like A Fire?!?!?! Did they mean for the harmonies and ad libs to get this over the top!?!?! I'm not complaining, I just wanna know. Because the harmonies and ad libs, especially, are so ridiculous!! I love every second of it, but sometimes it K I L L S how extra this song is!!

Diamond Sky (FIVE)

The first time I ever listened to this song, I cackled like a banshee at how extra that intro was, because it's so SHINee. It's so dramatic, and it suits SHINee to a T. I was expecting the verses to be some Final Dragon type shit, or somethin'!!!

Diamond Sky is pretty standard fare for a J-Pop song, imo. It doesn't stop me from loving SHINee's take on it (and it shouldn't stop you), but it's worth mentioning; SHINee + J-Pop = Love. Like I mentioned above, I'm glad that SHINee were able to continue releasing music in Japan, because this is a style of music that suits them well, but would not do well in Korea at all.

Diamond Sky feels like the theme song for a magical girl anime. The twinkly pianos, complemented by the strings and electric guitar give it an air of grandiosity that would have made it a perfect theme or insert song for Sailor Moon. If they had added a modulation at the end for Maximum Drama™, I'd have lost my shit.

Close the Door (Everybody)

Firstly, if you haven't watched the SHINee World IV performance where Jinki tap dances to Close the Door, I'm judging you. Our sweet dubu leader did not bless us with such beauty and grace for you to ignore it!!

Secondly, Close the Door is the cheesiest love song I've ever encountered in K-Pop. It's got the romantic sounding keys, the strings, it's in 6/8 time (perfect for a waltz, babies), the lyrics are so sugary sweet, and the chord progressions utilize mostly major chords. And you know what, I absolutely fucking love it. I'm a cheesy Romantic Gay™, and I fucking love this cheesy ass love song. It's just so aurally pleasing, especially since these SHINee boys all have voices that blend together amazingly when they harmonize. Sue me.

Sleepless Night (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

SHINee ballads are a wonderful, amazing thing, you know?!?!? Especially when they don't give us the typical classical ballad, but go a little left field into something jazzy or RnB. Which is what they do with Sleepless Night.

This week's playlist features a lot of songs that are extremely over the top, sis. And I mean, we've discussed this; these SHINee boys love the drama of it all. But they also love lowkey songs like Sleepless Night. You'd be able to tell if they didn't with a song this stripped back and bare. Sleepless Night is literally the SHINee boys (and their amazing harmonies), a piano, and some strings. And it's fucking amazing. There are quite a few songs from SHINee that I want to experience live, but I think Sleepless Night tops the list. Well, that and Wish Upon A Star, but I'm sure I'd cry my fucking eyes out listening to that. I mean, I might cry my eyes out to Sleepless Night, but there's less of a chance there.

I've accepted that I'm a boring bitch who lives for a good ballad (the amount of ballads I've had to listen to for my RRUs has definitely proven this), but there's nothing quite like a good SHINee ballad, sis. There ain't never been a SHINee ballad that I didn't like.

And that's all for this week's list, loves!! Please tune in next week for the next era in my SHINee Spotlight series, Contemporary SHINee ver.2!! And don't forget to tune in Wednesday for my next Review Roundup, featuring songs released this week!!

Love you, guys!!

#Feature Spotlight #SHINee #Felicity B

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unorthodoxchronicles · 6 years

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So, played Ea’s secret shooter

It’s this little known title called TITANFALL 2 that EA personally made sure would fly under the radar by releasing it at the same time as fucking Battlefield. Due to this a game that should have made GANGBUSTERS for both the dev team and EA themselves, wound up selling less than it should have and being forgotten.

This is bullshit, because titanfall 2 is genuinely amazing and i didn’t even fucking play the multiplayer.

Context: I haven’t liked very many shooters since i was like, 10 playing serious sam and tf2. I know singleplayer shooters CAN be good but all of the crysis games underwhelmed me, i haven’t replayed any of the half life games after my first completion, and I would rather DIE than ever play borderlands 1 or 2 again (I had fun once and then never again.) So, knowing this and also knowing i honestly despise sprint and regenerating health based shooters like COD and Battlefield, please understand that when I say the 3 hour singleplayer campaign for titanfall 2 was AMAZING that it means something.

(side note, i haven’t played much of doom 2016 but it is also great no shade there.)

Okay so campaign completed, bout 3ish hours maybe.

thoughts: really fucking fun. really good setpieces really good gameplay the titan bits feel big and potent and the runny shooty bits as the pilot feel really fast and great.

The platforming being based around keeping momentum up with the platforming (wall running being your fastest way to speed up and sliding into jumps keeping your momentum) leaves you feeling both weighty but also incredibly powerful. Guns pack a punch and you’ll hardly find one you hate using, every one having a good feel and impact.

On that note? The platforming is LITERALLY platforming. you’re sprinting around and making both mario and that one prince of that persia place feel like MORONS for not knowing your sick maneuvering skills.

The melee attacks rather than feeling gimmicky are INTENSELY satisfying. No doom styled brutalities here, you have maybe one or two scenarios where you can do an execute but usually you just run up and punch a guy so hard he goes flying, and since it doesn’t break your cloak when you do use it, you can grab a few cheeky kills while repositioning.

When you are in the titan you have a really fun sense of control, rather than being all grimdark and boring the game goes: right, you’re in a giant robot, you can punch other robots dash about with little jet boosts, sprint, and shoot your silly big gun... also there’s one with a giant sword that just. cleaves stuff up. You get these cool things called “Core” attacks, where you do enough damage to use some really powerful ultimate move. It’s really satisfying and fun and during the campagin you get to try a lot of different setups.

The setpieces are amazing by the way! you never feel like you’re somewhere generic. There’s no “bland desert” or “urban office” areas, and whenever you think things are gonna feel stale you go somewhere that is just mindblowingly fun to explore.

criticisms: you only got to use the stealth tactical tool (no grapple hook or anything else fancy) as a pilot, save one amazing level i won't spoil There are a lot of very well thought out characters... who appear at the very end, beyond that it's just you and BT and a bunch of nobodies you only see once. It's clear from this credits setup where you meet all the "main" characters that they had much more grandiose plans for a lot of these guys and hopefully if titanfall 3 ever happens they expand on them a lot. Despite being an amazing 3 hours i really wish we lived in a world where titanfall 3 was like doom 2016, where it was just one giant ass campaign.

Verdict: since i have no intent to play the multiplayer i feel comfortable saying that this is a great game to grab for 10-20$, or if you’re like me and ovelry frugal and know you won’t replay it for years? just get origin access (5$) and play all the EA singleplayer games you can in a month to satisfy your urges... then never play any of them again because you got your money’s worth and then some.

#secret bonus verdict: EA is a bunch of scumlord wankers and i really hope the studio #named RESPAWN by the by #gets more chances to make more games.#I want respawn working on titanfall 3

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kegisaroused · 7 years

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The Last Jedi

I have a lot of thoughts. A lot of them are not good. Thoughts are under the cut in no particular order. Probably a little rambling/incomplete maybe I’ll write something more put together later IDK

MAJOR HUGE SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY

Okay so first, stuff I actually liked:

-Luke seeing the two suns in his last moments. One of the few moments with Luke’s character that didn’t feel totally off.

-Luke handing Leia the bauble from the falcon and the old love theme stabbing me right through the goddamn heart.

-Finn and Poe having very few actual interactions and still managing to be gay as hell.

-I love the Porgs and the Crait foxes fuck all y’all.

-I also liked Rose a lot and would love to see her actually get better character development. Her tasering Finn was fantastic.

-Rose and Finn’s little side jaunt has me so torn because despite it being totally out of place and gimmicky it also had some of the better character interactions/development in the whole movie? Not that that’s saying much

-Luke basically trying to get Rey to leave by purposefully being as much of a creepy old weirdo as possible.

-R2 playing Leia’s original message. MY HEART.

-Laura Dern ramming the cruiser into the First Order at hyperspeed was really fucking cool.

-Yoda being Yoda (when he WAS Yoda, but that’s for the next section)

-Leia using the force FOR ONCE (though the how was real stupid, but again... next section)

-Rey being happy to see Finn having a bond with Rose and smiling at it rather than being jealous or something stupid like that.

-Rey NOT giving Kylo another chance at the end. Like... mmkay buddy I tried but you made the wrong choice I’m shutting the door in your face now BYE.

-That said, I was really afraid of the stuff between Rey and Kylo because the shippers with spoilers had been making it seem like the romance angle was REALLY played up but... it wasn’t? At all? Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t shut down that angle but the nature of their connection felt ambiguous. The music cues did not indicate a romance, and Snoke straight up SAYS that Kylo’s conflict and draw to Rey was something he was putting into his head so that he’d bring Rey to him. I also feel like Daisy and Adams acting choices were emphatically NOT hinting at a romantic dynamic. I was afraid the shirtless scene was gonna be some sort of awkward flustered Rey and instead it was her just being genuinely annoyed like STFU and put a fucking shirt on.

Now... on to THE BAD:

-The pacing. HOOOOLY HELL THE PACING. This movie was paced so badly. It felt simultaneously like it went on forever, but also moved so fast there was never breathing room. It felt manic and confused. Also the whole movie seems to take place over the course of like... a day.

-EVERYONE was out of character at least half the time. Everyone either pulled shit that didn’t make sense for them to drive the plot or they completely rolled back their character development to rehash shit. TFA already dealt with Finn needing to stop running from his problems, why is he immediately trying to run away again? His attempted heroic sacrifice at the end would have been a good character moment... if we hadn’t already HAD that moment in the last movie. Poe was reduced to the “reckless hothead” archetype and not only had to learn a lesson that not only didn’t make sense for him, but he had to learn it twice. In the same movie.

-The CGI gimmicks. It was treading pretty damn far into prequel territory with the unnecessary CGI animals where practical effects would have not only sufficed but felt much more organic.

-I’m so happy they finally let Leia use the force but her floating herself back into the ship was SO STUPID LOOKING. I wanted to laugh and I am 100% sure that was not the intent. Carrie Fisher did not die for this.

-Fake Luke at the end was stupid because it was immediately obvious. He was digitally edited to look younger, he was using a lightsaber that WE JUST SAW GET DESTROYED instead of the lightsaber he actually HAS, it was just... dumb.

-Speaking of dumb: Luke’s entire motivation was stupid and made absolutely zero sense if you know anything about Luke Skywalker. You’re talking about the only person in the galaxy who believed Darth Vader could be redeemed. Like... that’s literally the WHOLE POINT OF HIS STORY IN THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY. You’re gonna have me believe that Luke Fucking Skywalker was so easily scared by the dark side that he (even for a SECOND) contemplated killing a teenager? No, no, no fuck right off with that shit. If anything it should have been REY who thought Kylo was an irredeemable monster and Luke convincing her to give him a chance. Even if in the end he throws away that chance. You can still make the point of “maybe not everyone can be saved” without committing character assassination on Luke. Like what the hell even was that.

-The dialogue was so clunky a lot of the time. Yoda for example: there were moments where he was perfect (him smacking Luke in the face and being like YEP FUCK IT BURN THE TREE WHO NEEDS IT were very in character actions) but a lot of his dialogue felt like someone doing a bad Yoda impression (important note: I’m referring here to his actual written lines, not the voice acting). Also his puppet was really weird looking I don’t know why but it did not look right at all.

-Some of the jokes also felt very forced and unnecessary. Star Wars needs levity, but the tonal balance was just off and there were a lot of jokes that felt very shoved into scenes that did not need jokes.

-I didn’t buy the Finn/Rose romance. I don’t actually have a problem with that ship at all. Finn/Poe is obviously my preference but lets be real I’m not holding my breath and I’d be 100% fine if Finn/Rose is where they went. But it wasn’t developed at all? They had a couple bonding moments yeah and were definitely becoming good friends, but not nearly enough to make me believe THEY’RE IN LURVE. It was like they somehow thought her sacrifice couldn’t be meaningful if it was just about saving a friend instead of saving GUY I WANNA MACK ON which is kinda bullshit.

-There was a continuous trend of showing HEY LOOK WE HAVE FEMALE CHARACTERS. LOOK AT ALL THESE LADY PILOTS AND GUNNERS only to kill them off immediately. Paige’s death I didn’t overly have a problem with as there was at least a reason and a point to it with her being Rose’s sister, and she was given a moment to shine and a heroic sacrifice at least, but with all the background characters it felt like they were so determined to be all LOOK WE HAVE GIRLS that we saw more girls die than guys.

-Also are Poe’s whole squad from the last movie just supposed to be dead now? Like... they got their own comic and everything and are fairly popular side characters. Are you really going to just say they’re all dead?

-The fight choreography was really lacking. Luke fighting Kylo at the end could have been so cool but it was 90% stupid CGI and just felt silly. Especially comparing it to the Rey and Kylo (I refuse to type their names with a slash because seriously MISS ME WITH THAT SHIT) fight from the end of TFA which was so well done and just... ugh. Also Finn’s fight with Phasma was very anticlimactic and she was so underused.

-Finn and Rose’s side trip was completely pointless. Which is annoying because like I mentioned before it had some of the better character moments in a character-less movie, but it was literally pointless. I get that they wanted to set up some sort moral ambiguity or juxtaposition (OOOH THE ARMS DEALERS SELL TO BOTH SIDES SO IT’S A GREY AREA. OOOH THE POOR PEOPLE AND THE ANIMALS SUFFER FOR RICH PEOPLE’S ENTERTAINMENT. AM I DOING THIS RIGHT? IS THIS HEAVY HANDED ENOUGH?), but even if they had their hearts set on doing that (despite not needing to at all) there are a million other ways they could have done it without completely derailing the plot. Especially since in the end the plan didn’t even WORK an actually made things worse because if they never brought the stupid slicer on board the original plan would have worked and most of the resistance would have gotten away just fine. The slicer character himself was pointless and one dimensional.

-What is the First Order doing? They made sense in TFA because they were a fringe group who had been laying low and underselling their strength while they prepared to attack and overthrow the New Republic. But what are they doing now? Did they seize control and establish a new capital planet? Did they install a new governing body since they literally KILLED ALL OF THEM? What is their end goal? What is their motivation? There’s nothing there and there needs to be.

-Why on god’s green earth didn’t Laura Dern just TELL POE THE PLAN? Why was she being needlessly cryptic and withholding? She wasn’t protecting anyone by withholding information and was actually making herself look really bad and incompetant for no reason? She didn’t even say she HAD a plan. It was so stupid and made no sense.

-Which leads me to a larger overall problem: the characters were not driving the story, the story was driving the characters. The characters did things because they had to to make the plot happen, rather than the plot happening because the characters did what they would naturally do. As a result almost all the characters felt incredibly stiff and there was pretty much no meaningful character development.

-The movie wrote its self into a corner. I get that they wanted to push it into a more unsure ending ESB type situation but they went too far. The rebellion was in an unsteady place at the end of ESB but they still had, you know... a fleet? More than 10 people? They were also extremely inconsistent scene to scene with the number of resistance fighters left alive. They act like they’ve got almost nobody left, but then they have enough people to man the trenches on Crait? And a lot of those people clearly escaped back into the base but then when they’re escaping to the Falcon there’s like 5 of them? Am I supposed to believe that the 8 year old Rose gave a ring too is the savior of the resistance? None of it seemed to be done with any forethought to the future of the story.

-Where the hell is the rest of the Galaxy? I’ve never watched a Star Wars film that felt so isolated. Even with Rose and Finn’s B plot the galaxy felt empty and unpopulated.

Overall the whole thing felt like a bunch of unfinished thoughts slapped together into a story without a proper narrating structure. The whole movie seemed confused about where it was going and what it was doing.

I’m hoping JJ Abrams can reel it back in with Episode 9 because it’s really gonna upset me if TFA was a fluke and the rest of this is just gonna be Prequel Trilogy 2.0

#the last jedi #spoilers #tlj spoilers #star wars spoilers #rey #finn #poe #I'm really disappointed TBH #gonna go reread all the post-TFA fanfiction that was better than this movie

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bassfanimation · 7 years

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So I saw Spiderman: Homecoming. It’s alright, not bad, but not great. I think I’m A) burned out on Spiderman and B) just too old to care about overly-kiddy stuff. I wasn’t going to see the movie at all but our office went as a day thing. Far be it for me to turn down free movies. :)

Some complaints below. (spoiler warning)

It felt like this movie was desperately trying too hard with everything.

First off, everyone now goes to a super special school for science and math geniuses? EVERYONE? 9_9 This felt really pandery to the whole fetishization of STEM that’s currently going on. I just felt like Oprah was going to pop up and start screaming, “You’re a science! You’re a science!! EVERYONE’S A SCIENCE!” I’m fine with Peter Parker because he’s always been a geek...but suddenly now everyone’s a geek. Okay? I forgot it’s cool to be a geek now...except it’s not...geeks are still bullied but anyways, let’s move on. ¯\_ಠ_ಠ_/¯

Another thing I felt was weird was all the complete changing of canon characters. We don’t need to stick to every little thing when it comes to long-running characters, but I felt they changed things here simply for the sake of changing things. There was only one character who I didn’t find insanely grating, and that was Zendaya’s MJ. She bears little to no resemblance to Mary Jane Watson, personality wise or character wise, but I still liked her the most. I just wonder why they felt they had to change her (and everyone) so drastically. I get that they need to appeal to 2017 kids, but I felt they didn’t even make complete characters out of anyone. Everyone was two-dimensional and gimmicky, except for Peter of course, and he wasn’t that deep. Typical bouncy-but-sometimes-Sad™ high school dude.

The stuff with Tony and Happy felt like it fractured the movie. It’s almost like there were two movies going on: a good one that belongs in the MCU, and a Nickelodeon movie. I did like the tiny cameo at the end, in front of the reporter’s area... ^_~ It’s kind of sad that the only thing that really stuck out for me about this movie was something involving characters from a whole other franchise...

Michael Keaton’s whole part of the plot was very silly to me. Again, suddenly everyone’s a genius. “Hey, alien trash. I have an idea! Let’s make weapons!” What. Are you kidding. He was also incredibly two-dimensional. “But muh famleh!” And? Show us how loving you are with your wife and child? Show us your financial struggles and how it weighs heavily on your family’s precarious security? Nope. 1) Awkward small scene of everyone together inside incredibly expensive, posh house. 2) Dad has terse talk with Peter in the car in front of dance: “Be good to muh kid or else!”. This isn’t how you get your audience to care about your characters’ plights. (ﾉ￣д￣)ﾉ

On the whole, this is probably my least favorite Marvel movie. Everything about it just isn’t aimed at me. If you’re a teenager or in your early 20′s (or a guy) you’ll probably dig it. Anyone who likes summer popcorn fare with a ton of CG (the suit was overkill I’m sorry) will have a good time.

I think I’m just wearing really, really thin on superheroes Marvel overall. I think they have too much on their plate, and their writing is suffering as a result. Hopefully we will see a return to better writing for Black Panther and Infinity War. Heck I’m even looking forward to the next Ant-Man. I liked Doctor Strange, but they’re back-burnering him for Iron Man’s Son Spiderman, which has five more movies planned. Good lord.（；￣д￣）

After two big disappointments in a row, I can only hope Marvel finds it’s return to form next year.

#Spiderman: Homecoming #spoilers #this is mostly negative #so if you enjoyed the movie #or don't want to be influenced #then pass this on by #I'm either really hard to please #or Marvel has just fallen way short for me this year

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milemarkers · 7 years

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Silver Screens

Let’s talk movies. I’ve always loved them, but I would say it’s more recently when I really started to get into them. I grew up on martial arts and action movies, so the immediate glam (even if the story can be a bit silly and gimmicky) holds a special place in my heart for fostering this interest. Of all factors that could’ve cultivated my eye for this art form, I’d give the biggest credit to the surge of essayists who analyze movies and other entertainment medias. Some of my absolute favorites are long-time favorites are Nerdwriter1, kaptainkristian, and Lessons from the Screenplay with a few newcomers including Ryan Hollinger and Films&Stuff (I would highly highly recommend these guys if you’re interested, they’re wonderful!) It’s these folks really opened my eyes to the effort, imagination, and attention to detail that goes into these works. It can look easy from the outside, but believe me that when you attempt to film any kind of movie, it’s actually harder than you’d expect! Nowadays I pay more attention to the various departments that go together to create this little bit of entertainment, from the sound design to the choices to the director makes to the actor’s/actress’ performance to (my personal favorite) the cinematography of a film.

You’ll glue to hold all of these parts together, and that’s where I think the incredibly important story comes in. Can’t have a movie without telling a story (for the most part). If the behind-the-scenes is like the wand made of 10 and 3/4″ beech wood with unbending flexibility, then the story has to be the unicorn hair. Otherwise it just won’t work! I’ve had the pleasure of watching a few movies off of my bucket list (which I’ve made months ago, but I can share in another post) that have some amazing stories. I’m talking about Dunkirk and Arrival in particular. The best ones really immerse yourself in their world or begs a really important question for you to think about. Dunkirk’s sound design is phenomenal, for example. Hearing that terrifying shrill from the German fighter planes really puts you on the same beach as the British soldiers. There’s no patrotism and hero complexes in this battle, the game is here is survival. And it’ll take three fronts (land, air, and sea) to be able to get out alive. Panic and anxiety ensues for the next 2 hours. Arrival takes a different yet as intriguing approach by bringing aliens to the table and humanity’s believable reaction to first contact. I thought focusing on a linguist and pulling language of all compenents to the forefront really made this movie interesting. The entire structure is just awesome too as scenes come together in ways you didn’t expect. Plus the soundtrack is super unsettling and tense too (massive credits to Johann Johannson). I’m not one to spoil spoilers, but gah! if you haven’t seen these two movies yet, I’d highly recommend!

Even though film can seem like a relatively new medium, I believe it’s actually in line with a practice cultivated by humanity since our inception. We’re all born storytellers. It’s how we can update each other on life, learn from one another, or simply provide entertainment. Like the cave paintings of our ancient ancestors, films in their silver-screened glory provide people with stories where we can ultimately share a collective experience. Folks like being in the know, and in the end movies help connect people this way.

Plus they’re reel-ly cool too.

#movies #films #kaptainkristian #lessons from the screenplay #nerdwriter #arrival #dunkirk #cinematography

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erindatesla · 7 years

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We Planned Our Wedding Before We Met

October 07, 2015

Back in April I got the above message: "I'm sending out wedding invitations tomorrow." A couple things about this stand out.

For starters, it's so forward. Normally I'd write it off like EW. But this guy had long flowy hair and a sweet smile and pictures in the woods and in an old bookstore and I was like, you're lovely.

Secondly, I was leaving orientation for my wedding planner's assistant position which like, IRONY right?? (To clarify: sometime's I assist a lovely wedding planner on the weekends. If you're getting married, contact me, I'd love to refer you to her.)

Third. I wasn't really using OKCupid at the time. I was just like, existing on it because it's easier than deleting it and at times like this, amusing.

Well as you can see nearly a MONTH later I was like hey boy yes. And I replied. We continued our banter about this absolutely psycho wedding for a couple days until I didn't see one of his messages and just never replied by accident! A month later he said

RE: VIKING RAID, HE WANTED TO HAVE MINIATURES IN OUR BEER FOUNTAIN THAT RECREATED WHEN VIKINGS RAIDED LANDISFARNE. OBVS.

We reconnected and by June we were planning NOT our wedding, but some dates!

We first met in Fullerton for really complicated reasons and the idea was that we'd find some dessert: the real story is that we wanted to go to a diner and get milkshakes, but he suggested Denny's and I was APPALLED. Like, seriously? DENNY'S FOR A FIRST DATE? NEEEW LOOOW.

But then I found out he wanted to go to Denny's because they use real chocolate ice cream in their shakes instead of chocolate syrup, and it made my heart flutter than he knew that and cared about that.

So, we walked around Fullerton for TWO HOURS before we ended up at Denny's.

Our first moment together was, like his smile, sweet. He said "gah it's so cool to hear your voice. I wanted to call you but didn't want to ruin the surprise of what you sounded like." NO PRESSURE ON NOTHAVING A GROSS VOICE. Anyways, he cut to it with the who what where when why stuff and we got it out of the way pretty quick. Him: into black metal, in a band, works at a music store, went to community college and is 29 and not sure what he's doing with his life but wants to be happy and live a simple life. Me: Well, you know.

After all that jazz, we talked about ghosts and death and psychics and religion and Kubrick and anxiety and death again. We both have cars from the 1960s and a really big sweet tooth and most importantly, we both love the show Full House in a non-sarcastic, non-gimmicky way (family values, people).

We both wanted to go out again, and time and distance made it a challenge but one night I was working a wedding in Hollywood and shot him a little texty text. He was working down the street and we tip toed around the idea of meeting up; he joked we could drink beers in an alley and I sensed part of him was serious. He got off work a bit after my wedding shift was up so in true Erin form I browsed Target while I waited for him. We decided to meet at his work in Hollywood and go from there, plans TBD.

Upon arrival I suggested we swing by a bar I frequent, forgetting that it was Saturday night AKA LINES. After 10 minutes in line I was like, "Are you over this? I am!" And he suggested we get beers and drink them in an alley... JK! IN THE CAR. Much better? A little.

We sat and drank and talked for thirty minutes about the origins and purposes of dogs. It was riveting. I loved him. Well, I at least loved him in a way that someone who has been single for six years knows how to love someone she finally connects with on a second date.

He got silly on me all of a sudden and he said, practically giggling, "Erin. Hi, how are you, what are you doing?" And then he leaned in close AND THEN HE KISSED ME and that song rang true in my head. (Please note: that song, at it's core, is about kissing and then getting married.)

I don't want to sound dramatic or like I jump to conclusions easily, but I was pretty sure we were gonna get married.

And then, at one point,

He casually mentioned,

He was maybe, possibly,

Moving to Texas.

Just to start a new life.

Because he could.

Not that soon, but like, maybe,

In a few months.

This set the tone for our third date, where I went to his house to watch The Shining. It's his favorite movie and I'd never seen it. How cute to watch a scary movie with a cute boy! DREAMS COMING TRUE HERE. BOYFRIEND BELLS ARE RINGIN'.

When I arrived, his dad, who was his roommate, was asleep and we had to be quiet. We went to the store to pick up beers and pie and I was no longer myself, but rather a bottled up version of her - shy, reserved, cautious. I hate being out of my element, and I'd driven far to his house to watch a scary movie in an unfamiliar environment. I was off.

I don't know if it was this or the fact he was probably moving to Texas subconsciously causing me to lose interest, but everything I'd liked about this guy was suddenly a non-thing.

I was over it. It was probably self preservation.

He texted me a few times, referencing stuff from our dates to keep the conversation up, and last week he texted me to let me know he was moving to Texas in a month.

And that he had his house to himself for a week.

If I wanted to come over...

I decided any further heartbreak wasn't worth the drive.

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