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rutilation · 5 months

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This opening is replete with symbolism.

Flower language has been a recent fascination of mine.

Do you want to make my new hyperfixation your problem? If so, then let's take a deep dive into the first opening before the new one airs tomorrow.

Before I start, here are a couple of things to keep in mind.

While the use of flower language in this show mostly lines up with Japanese hanakotoba, there are still a number of flowers here that hold particular significance within Chinese culture, and thus have additional meanings that don't line up with those from Japan. I’ll be mentioning them alongside the Japanese meanings where I deem it relevant.

The following will contain light spoilers of content from the novels/manga which has not been animated at the time of writing. I'll try to be vague and sparing with it, but there are a few flowers I can't discuss without them.

Past the title card, the opening begins with eight blooming flowers dancing through the frame in rapid succession. These represent the storylines covered by the first cour of the anime in order of appearance, and each can be found in the episode(s) they signify. From the top:

Rhododendron: This plant is all over the first two episodes, so I'm going to cover its appearances before delving into its meaning. In episode one, there are two shots of the buds of this plant, one as Lihua gives birth, and then again as the doctor examines her baby. They're finally shown in full bloom as one of her ladies disregards the branch Maomao used to warn of the toxic makeup. In the following episode, Gyokuyou has seemingly taken a liking to the flower that saved her daughter's life, and a few clusters can be seen in a vase during several shots before Maomao uses them as an example of a seemingly innocuous plant that could cause accidental poisoning, and indeed, if you look closely at the background during the scene with the soldiers, you can see what appear to be rhododendron shrubs. There are actually quite a few different possible meanings for the many granular varieties of Rhododendrons/azaleas. Luckily, the characters said the name of the plant out loud for me: shakunage. So, this is Rhododendron subg. Hymenanthes. In hanakotoba it means dignity and majesty, but also, on account of its poison, danger and caution. Those last two meanings clearly line up with its ominous usage in these first episodes, growing and maturing as the babies grew sicker. But in addition to their function as a warning of danger, I think there's a case to be made that they also represent Gyokuyou herself. As I stated earlier, she starts keeping them after the first episode, and Hongniang later starts growing the closely-related azaleas in the jade pavilion as well. As for how its meanings apply to her, Gyokuyou is regal, magnanimous, and never loses her composure (unless it's at Jinshi's expense lol,) but she's also described by Gaoshun as shrewd and cautious, being unwilling to hire any lady she doesn't absolutely trust, and constantly gleaning information to send back to her family. These all fit with the dual meanings of rhododendron. In Chinese culture, rhododendrons and azaleas represent womanhood and passion, as well as home and a desire for homecoming.

Cotton rose: A type of hibiscus, this represents Fuyou, decorating both her person and her chambers in episode 3. It means 'delicate beauty' and 'graceful lover.' I think these are referring to both her skill in dancing, as well as her affectation of frailty and neuroticism. As far as I could dig up, its unique tendency to change color based on the time of day doesn't have particular bearing on its meaning in either Chinese or Japanese culture, but the story itself uses it as a metaphor for Fuyou hiding her passion, will, and cunning behind a wallflower exterior.

Balloon flower: In hanakotoba, it represents undying love, sincerity, and grace. These grow in the crystal pavilion, adorn the iconography of Lihua's furniture, and likely inform her blue and violet color scheme. Its last two descriptors gesture towards Lihua's style and personality. She's elegant and staid, but she also takes everything quite seriously, and wears her heart on her sleeve. As for the undying love element, I see that as alluding to her love for her son, her agony at his passing, and her hopes of reclaiming that love again through having another child.

Violet: This one actually tripped me up for the longest time. The flowers in the opening looked like hostas to me, but no matter how closely I looked at the backgrounds in this show, I couldn’t find anything along those lines. Eventually though, I caught on that these must be the violets from episode five, even if they’re a different color from those shown in the episode. And also droopier. Anyway, violets mean humility, sincerity, and ‘a little bit of happiness.’ In the episode proper, they are crushed underfoot as Maomao narrates about the lengths she had to go to keep herself safe while growing up in the red-light district, illustrating how even the modest aspirations of an ordinary peasant are in perpetual danger in such a cutthroat environment.

Chinese aster: Daisies and asters are my least favorite flowers to identify. They all look the same. As such, I’m a little less confident about this one, but I think it’s a Chinese aster. The leaves and buds look similar, and the context in which it appears in episode six suits its meaning. As Lishu’s ladies disparage her so-called pickiness, a shot of this flower opens the episode. While the Chinese aster’s meaning changes based on color, white in particular means ‘please believe me.’ I think that speaks for itself

Toad lily: This appears twice during episode eight, where Maomao gets drawn into the mystery of an attempted murder during her vacation. Toad lilies symbolize hidden thoughts and intentions, alluding both to the possible conspiracy on the part of the women of the brothel, and to the fact that Maomao will never really know the truth of the incident, having to content herself with speculation.

Sacred bamboo: This one is easy to miss, because while the plant is in full bloom in the opening, it’s laden with berries in the show proper. This is Nandina, a.k.a. the sacred bamboo, a mainstay of autumn and winter floral arrangements in both China and Japan. It’s considered auspicious, symbolizing a reversal of ill fortune into prosperity--the precise opposite of how it’s presented in episode nine of the show. There, Maomao fiddles with the plant as she contemplates all the instances she’s seen of good fortune being struck down by tragedy, and the prospect of that same sword of Damocles falling upon her head as well, a harbinger of eucatasrophe being used to symbolize straight catastrophe. Also worth noting is the fact that the plant is very poisonous, so much so that it has a reputation for killing any birds which try to eat its berries; I think that bit of trivia might be the inspiration behind the decision to ironically invert its lucky image. In addition to its central appearance in episode nine, it can also be seen in Lishu’s chambers in episode ten, mixed in among the vases of white camellias.

Japanese azalea: These mean passion and steadfastness, alluding, in my view, to Fengming’s devotion towards Ah-duo. Fun fact: did you know that honey made from toxic azaleas, termed ‘mad honey,’ is sometimes manufactured on purpose? It’s not super legal in most of the world, but apparently it can be used as a psychedelic.

After this, we see a panning shot of seven flowers, with the top four representing the high-ranking concubines, and the bottom three representing the high-ranking courtesans. While the first set of flowers grew from buds and flew across the screen, this set consists of still images. If I were to hazard a guess as to why, I'd say that it's because those previous flowers were conveying the movement of emergent stories, while these upcoming flowers portray the relatively static personality traits of individual characters. I'm going to tackle these in reverse order, as the first three flowers to appear are somewhat tricky to talk about.

Peony: This flower represents Gyokuyou, and in addition to appearing in her non-diegetic floral backgrounds, it also decorates the tapestries of the jade pavilion. In Chinese culture, peonies are one of, if not the most, important flowers. They represent feminine beauty, pride, honor, renown, wealth, prosperity, high-status, opulence, and a nobility of spirit. They are considered to be the king of flowers, and were historically only permitted to be grown by nobility. All of these superlatives are likely alluding towards Gyokuyou's status as the emperor's favorite consort, with the best shot at becoming empress.

Balloon flower: See above.

Lily-of-the-valley: This means purity, chastity, humility, and 'happiness will come again.' While the first three all seem to fit Lishu on their face, I find myself curious about the fourth meaning. I'm only partway through the third novel, but if this indicates that, at some point in the future, Lishu finally catches a break, then I'll certainly be happy to see it.

Dendrobium: In China, orchids in general are associated with elegance, refinement, and good taste, which fits with Maomao's description of the garnet pavilion as being beautiful in a minimalist sort of way. They also represent the virtues of an ideal gentleman-scholar: integrity, humility, temperance, and nobility. Furthermore, they are considered emblematic of spring; it, along with bamboo, chrysanthemum, and plum blossom, represent the four seasons. Returning to Japanese symbolism, the flower associated with Ah-duo seems to specifically be Dendrobium nobile. Nobile in particular means 'honest and to-the-point' in hanakotoba, likely alluding to Ah-duo's candid personality, and the fact that she is on casual terms with the emperor.

Regarding the final three flowers, the show itself doesn't explicitly tie any one of them to a particular courtesan--their flowers only appear as a group in episode twelve. But, by contemplating their meanings, and with some help from the characters' wiki pages, we can make some educated guesses.

Yulan Magnolia: This one, I'm guessing, represents Joka. On one hand, I'm kind of dumping her with this because the other two flowers just seem to fit the other two courtesans better, but its attributes nonetheless seem to accord what we know of her character--which admittedly isn't very much. In hanakotoba the yulan magnolia means nobility, sublimity and a love of nature. In China, its pretty similar: purity, nobility, dignity. It's also worth noting that they're commonly planted around Buddhist temples in China, and have been for many centuries, granting them an air of spiritual profundity. Joka is said to be aloof and cold, which is part of her appeal as a courtesan. While chrysanthemums and plum blossoms have a warmer aspect to their meanings, the loftiness of magnolia hews more closely to her characterization. Then there's the matter of her name, which is apparently a stage name. It translates to 'Lady Ka' (or 'Hua,' if you want to go with the Mandarin pronunciation.) Now, the 'ka' in her name is written as 華, and in the story, that character is only permitted to be used by the emperor and his family. So, for her to use it, even as a stage name, is a pretty bold pretense to nobility.

Chrysanthemum: In Japan, chrysanthemums are associated with nobility and the imperial family. In China, they are associated with longevity, endurance, and vitality, on account of their long-lasting blooms that persist late into autumn. I think this is most likely to be Pairin's flower. She's one of the few courtesans who's in her line of work because she wants to be, and is flourishing in an environment where others are desperate and debt-ridden. That covers 'vitality,' and Lihaku can attest to her endurance, if you know what I mean... Moving on, its mentioned in the novels that she's actually in her thirties, but still looks quite young, again harkening to the chrysanthemum's persistence.

As far as symbolism is concerned, chrysanthemums do seem to fit her character better than magnolias. But, something that gives me pause is her name, which means 'white bell,' on account of yulan magnolias being white and having a bell-like shape. I still think it's most likely that the chrysanthemum, and not the magnolia, belongs to her, but it was too notable a coincidence to not at least mention.

Plum Blossom: We can safely assume this one refers to Meimei, as her name is written with the character for plum. As plum trees are among the earliest to bloom each year, and will even bloom while snow still covers their branches, both China and Japan associate them with resilience, hope, inner-strength, and renewal. We don't know much about Meimei either, but my impression of her is that she seems to be the nicest and most even-keeled of Maomao's sisters.

Following this parade of showy flowers, we finally glimpse the emblem of our protagonist, Oxalis corniculata, the creeping wood sorrel, downcast and huddled amidst the underbrush of a forest. Whereas the other flowers we've seen thus far are primarily ornamental (even if some are also edible/medicinal,) wood sorrel is herbaceous and weedy, and is unlikely to grace any vases, wreaths, or arrangements. If it were spotted in a noble's garden, it would likely be uprooted, but to the peasant who finds it growing in a ditch, it's a tasty snack.

In hanakotoba, wood sorrel means joy, 'shining heart,' and 'a mother's love.' All three descriptors, I believe, are relevant to Maomao's character. Despite her flat affect, Maomao has a strong passion and sense of joie de vivre driving her through life. Those further along in either the novels or the manga will recognize 'a mother's love' as (somewhat ironically) gesturing towards her complicated relationship with her mother. As for 'shining heart,' I think that will become apparent as we go further through the opening.

But, before we do that, I'd like to take a moment to examine the moments when wood sorrel appears in the show itself. Thus far, by my recollection, it has appeared in episodes one, three, and twelve. The opening shot of the first episode is of a wood sorrel, informing the viewer in no uncertain terms that this is Maomao's flower, (in case the opening was too subtle.) In the third episode, several wood sorrels dot the field where Fuyou sits with her lover, symbolizing how Maomao has aided and protected them. In episode twelve, a single wood sorrel is tucked inside a lavish bouquet of her sister's flowers, a visual gag paralleling them fussing and fawning over her.

Returning to the opening, Maomao is shown contemplating a subtle glow in her closed hands while a reflected, sunlit version of herself glances back at her. Then, as all the previous flowers fall away, as Maomao casts the light up into the air, its glow illuminating her face, the wood sorrel finally stands upright, and blooms in full.

Now is a good time to mention a relevant characteristic of creeping wood sorrel: it only blooms in direct sunlight. When crowded by other plants, it curls in on itself, closing both its flower and leaves. This serves as a clear metaphor for Maomao's personality; under most circumstances, she seeks to be invisible and unobtrusive, but when she's in her element, she commands attention and respect.

Following this, we have her magical girl-esque transformation sequence, with her outstretched hands forming the shape of a blooming flower as she dances through a whirl of yellow wood sorrel petals. She then bows down in imitation of the flower, taking the light back into her chest (there's that shining heart I mentioned earlier,) as she dissolves into the stoic, unassuming version of herself once more, closing out the opening. (Jinshi who?)

I'd like to end this analysis with an observation. While the real wood sorrel exists at the perpetual mercy of outside forces, Maomao is not merely reacting to a light source that exists beyond her control. The light exists within her, and she chooses when it will shine down for all to see, and when she will hide it away in the depths of her heart. To those who've gotten this far, thank you so much for reading.

#the apothecary diaries #i like being mean to a certain someone #but i will note that i'm familiar with the interpretation that the lyrics of the op are written from his perspective #and i would agree that that reading has merit

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rimbaud-fan-page · 8 months

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Rimbaud's death, anime vs light novel: Why the change matters.

Rimbaud's death from the anime compared to the Light Novel is frankly, pathetic. I hate to say it, but it makes him seem pretty weak, especially when you consider just how powerful he is supposed to be.

Rimbaud's anime death was pretty clean

Boom

Bam

Pow

And then so on and so forth

Blah blah, I killed my partner, blah blah, im so cold, blah blah blah, oh lol nvm *dies*

Aside from the entire erasure of Verlaine, this scene differs wildly just in the way that Rimbaud died.

The Light Novel was far more bloody;

Stabby stabby. And all.

The main issue I have with the way Rimbaud dies in the Anime is it's very boring, hardly fitted to his unique character and role in the story. Just...getting punched real hard? BOOOOOO, OVERUSED. Whilst is a testament to how much this fight pushed Chuuya that he had to bring his fists into it, Chuuya punching someone to death isn't anything special.

The reason Rimbaud's Death via Scythe is so important is that he gave the scythe to the Previous Boss. He ordered for the Previous Boss to stab Chuuya through the arm, relinquishing control over that weapon. He caused his own death.

This is a perfect thematic parallel to how Rimbaud's plan also inadvertently caused his own death, his desperation to find Verlaine and solitary way of working is what meant he ended up 6 feet under. Rimbaud was a very lonely person, his ability reflects that solitude, as he says, his ability is his kingdom, only those he allows in may enter, and only those he allows out may leave. He allowed Verlaine in, and Verlaine is still in there, in a way, but his unwillingness to, for example, approach Mori about this issue, is what meant he made the brash decision to simply kill Chuuya, which didn't end well for him.

Rimbaud's violent approach, spurred by the fear of his friend's death and the aching need to get him back, is what caused his death. His own hand is the one that brought the scythe to that situation, that meant it was there for it to be stabbed through his chest, and so on and so forth, blood and blood and death.

I'm also sad we lost the pathetic visual of Rimbaud lying in a pool of his own blood, desperately trying to say to Chuuya what he had never gotten to say to Verlaine (and then his hand falling in the blood, crying and sobbing and throwing up).

Overall; the anime fucked up (again) and I am grumpy and also autistic

#stOPPPPP FUCKING WITH FIFTEEN #GRHVEHGDVGFVD #arthur rimbaud #bsd arthur rimbaud #bsd rimbaud #bsd chuuya nakahara #bsd chuuya #chuuya nakahara #bsd dazai osamu #bsd dazai #dazai osamu #teen soukoku #soukoku #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd fifteen #bsd anime #bsd manga #bsd light novel

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melbatron5000 · 27 days

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More crap about story rules

I dunno if this is helpful, but I read somewhere that Tumblr is just talking to yourself until someone goes, "Oh, I like this," so here goes. It helps me to get this sort of stuff out and be able to reference back to it.

I'm a novelist. I write speculative fiction, primarily urban fantasy with a dollop of mythopoeia (wanting to lean more towards the mythopoeia, but anyway). Neil is definitely a role model of mine, and has been since I was 19. Terry came a little later for me, in my mid-twenties. I'd read Good Omens by then, but believed Neil had a heavier hand in it than Terry did (Ha!). Once I finally picked up some Discworld, I was hooked for life.

I also recently learned I have ADHD, so not only is traditional institutional academia not my thing, I also have trouble sussing out meaning and details from things unless I have specific instructions on where to look. Once I have that in hand, I often go on a tear and find things that I never imagined were there, and frequently surprise not only myself but others. But I absolutely have to have that first step laid out for me in order to make more of my own.

When I first started writing in the 80s (yes, I'm old), I started looking around for the elusive "story structure" I'd heard about vaguely from other writers. I really couldn't find anything written down about what constitutes the steps of a story, the journey a hero must take for a story to be told start to finish. The other writers I'd heard discuss it didn't have concrete ideas for me (lots of hand-waving and "oh, you know"s), so I figured I'd find it in a book somewhere.

I found a little something about structure from Greek philosophy, but that mainly boiled down to stories needing a "beginning, middle, and end," like, duh, and not a lot about what made those three parts up. As a very basic story-telling model, it is incredibly concrete and important, but it's something we've known for thousands of years by now so it doesn't exactly light up the night sky with insight anymore. It's become such common knowledge that it almost doesn't seem like knowledge. I found more from Joseph Campbell, but a lot of what I found written by him was very airy and sort of dream-like, and hard to follow. So I gave up and muddled along the best I could.

About ten years ago now, I decided to try again, and found a whole ton of stuff written about story structure, from Greek philosophy decoded to Shakespear's five-act structure to The Hero's Journey first talked about by Joseph Campbell to modern Hollywood 3-act structure. Around about 2010 there was an explosion of work done on story structure, and damn if it wasn't eye-opening.

My favorite book so far on structure is The Story Grid by Shawn Coyle, because he has broken down all the various types of structure into very concrete, easy-to-comprehend steps that make sense. He talks about exactly where there is wiggle room, exactly where there is not, the general shape of a story in comparison to the general shape of the five stages of grief, what precisely constitutes a scene and what the sequence of scenes has to be to tell a whole, complete story. (In case you're interested, my next favorite book on structure is Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. It fills in a few holes that The Story Grid misses, and together they make a beautifully complete map of how to tell a good story.)

My favorite, in particular, are the Five Commandments of Storytelling. Each scene, each act (however many you want, I like 4), and the story as a whole, all have to follow the Five Commandments. These are elements that have to be present for a scene to work, and for a story to reach its beginning, middle, and end satisfactorily.

Inciting incident. This is something that happens that forces the main character to change course, take action. It has to be either an Act of God, or another character acting on the main character.

Progressive complications. The main character forms a plan to put life back in order and tries it, but is blocked. They have to regroup and form a new plan. Threes in storytelling are always good, but the main character must be blocked until they reach the Turning Point Complication, where they realize that in order to move forward and have a hope of getting where they want, they must make a hard choice. Often the hard choice is that they must do The One Thing They Didn't Want to Do, though the introduction of new information will drive this decision as well. New information can come from another character, or be realized by the main character as a result of the action.

Crisis. They reach the decision point, where they must choose one thing over another. The decision must be between two irreconcilable good things, where they can't have both; or the lesser of two evils, where they can't escape both. The Crisis can also be boiled down to a "what will they do?" question. They're going to have to pick, but they're going to resist before they choose, and that creates tension which keeps the reader invested.

Climax. They make their choice. It's really that simple. They pick.

Resolution. The consequences of their choice are laid out. In a scene, this means the inciting incident of the next scene is introduced because of the character's choice; in an overall story, this leads to the end of the tale where our hero emerges, having learned whatever it was that the author deemed they needed to learn.

For example, Aziraphale is listening to music when a knock comes at the door. (Inciting incident) He forms and enacts a plan -- answer the door, probably hoping to get rid of whoever it is quickly. It's Gabriel. (Complication) He forms and enacts a new plan -- find out what Gabriel is doing here. Gabriel says he doesn't know. (Complication) Gabriel asks to come in. (Complication) Aziraphale forms and enacts a new plan -- tell Gabriel no. Gabriel says oh-kay and turns to the people on the street. (Turning point complication) Now Aziraphale has two bad choices -- bring Gabriel inside, or leave him to wander naked around Whickber street doing God only knows what. (Crisis) He chooses what he thinks is the lesser of two evils -- he tells Gabriel to get in. (Climax) Now Gabriel, possibly Aziraphale's worst enemy, is inside his home, the book shop. (Resolution) And because this is a scene, this Resolution is also the inciting incident of the next scene.

This can go different routes, as when the inciting incident rouses curiosity or creates a promise of something the character wants, instead of inflicting discomfort -- although if a character wants something bad enough, deciding to say no to pursuing it could inflict discomfort, so that counts, too. The inciting incident just means that something happens so that the main character can no longer keep living life as it was. Something has to change, and they have to change it. In the end, it all boils down to something outside the main character knocking them off course, them deciding how to try to get back on course and failing, and what happens as a result. (Beginning, middle, end!)

A good way to create a mystery is to hide the Inciting Incident from the readers/viewers. Or at least, the Inciting Incidents of certain character and scenes. In the above example, we see Aziraphale's Inciting Incident, but we don't see Gabriel's until episode six.

I believe we haven't seen the Inciting Incident of Crowley and Aziraphale's storyline for season 2. It seems like Gabriel showing up is the Inciting Incident for the entire season, but I believe his arrival is a Complication, not the Inciting Incident. As far as what the original Inciting Incident was, well, first and foremost, the Resolution of season 1 would naturally lead into the Inciting Incident of season 2, just as a scene would do for the scene following it. So there's one Clue. As for the answer -- we just have to keep looking where the furniture isn't.

I hope this story breakdown was interesting to someone. I find it completely fascinating, but I am a story nerd, so maybe what I like and find interesting isn't up everyone's alley.

Cheers!

#good omens #good omens 2 #story structure #scene breakdown #the five commandments of storytelling #the story grid #story nerd #looking where the furniture isn't

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bee-the-loser · 3 months

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₊ ⊹☼ THE GIG ☼⊹ ₊ ──────────────────── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ─────────────────── ₊ ⊹☼ Pairing: Jay x reader ₊ ⊹☼ Synopsis: Reader was invited by their friend to the gig, who just so happens to be the band's stylist, and manages to make eye contact with the electric guitar player. ₊ ⊹☼ Genre: Band au, basement gig, snarky characters ₊ ⊹☼ Word count: 1,023 ₊ ⊹☼ Warnings: None that I can think of ₊ ⊹☼ A/N: This is my first time writing fanfiction and honestly it's not amazing, but I'm here to learn and practice so oh well ╮(︶▽︶)╭ ──────────────────── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ─────────────────── Maybe it was the constant talk about relationships and the expectation that you were meant to fall in love someday that resulted in the overthinking you were doing right now or maybe it was the constant force feeding of romance that media shoves down everyone’s throats; either way it resulted in those words spewing out of your mouth before you could even stop yourself.

“They’re really hot,” you mentioned, “the one playing the electric guitar on stage. He’s got that effortlessly attractive look about them, like you know they don’t even need to try to achieve it.”

Leaning back against the sidewall you were standing against, you surveyed the crowded basement room that was lit up with red LEDs, almost like a warning sign trying to alert you to change your mind before it was too late. You didn’t pay much attention to them then, but reflecting back now on that night you wish you had taken it as a sign and ran away as you were now too far gone.

You hadn’t lied though and from the looks of the crowd surrounding the old makeshift stage you weren’t the only one who had noticed it as well. Both girls and boys alike were swarming and batting their eyes at each member of the band. Honestly it made you want to puke a little with how love sick everyone seemed. He was attractive though with his bleach blond hair and a simple yet somehow sophisticated look.

Even though he had managed to catch your eye, you definitely weren’t looking for anything, mainly mentioning it to have something in common with the girls you had been talking too. Love had never been your forte, never feeling much in relation to anybody, so sometimes you would lie. You would use pretty words spoken in a sweet tone as a way to weaponize love when moments like these came about. Making the topic into a double edged sword piercing both sides of the conversation equally. Pretending to have crushes on strangers allowed you the safety net that came as a result of never seeing them ever again. You can fake being upset until the girls successfully get off your back and then you’re free from romance and couples until the cycle inevitably has to start again another time. How no-one has noticed at all shocks you but hey, you weren’t going to attract attention to your little scheme for no reason.

The tipsy girls that were keeping you company started to giggle a little more than they would usually though, and that’s when you mentally clocked back into the scene and noticed those eyes on you. Honestly, fate seemed to be a little too cliché at that point as your eyes met. Unlike the stories though, there was no fireworks or tunnel vision, you weren’t the protagonist in some romance novel, where this would be the moment that you noticed one another for the first time. In your opinion, you suited the sidekick character a lot better, being able to provide the witty commentary and call out the others on their bullshit when things started to become too much.

You certainly weren’t here for love like any of the other potential hook ups waiting to happen in the crowd that were swooning up close, instead coming to support your younger friend who had managed to become a stylist for the band somehow. You had plans to hang out together after the night ended and he got the ticket free as a bonus. Niki had always been good at fashion, but you were happy he was finally being taken seriously after some past experiences. You weren’t looking to fight anymore pissed-off strangers who got upset after he commented on their outfits, although it was unlikely those would be the last times even with his new gig.

Finally, guitar boy as you had dubbed him in your head moved his eyes off you, and the set came to a close. While the others moved outside with the swarm, trying to catch the band members when they head out, you stayed put waiting for Niki to come find you.

You were never the most patient person in the world and when 20 minutes later he still hadn’t emerged from the backstage, you were tempted to storm in without a care. Before you could move and potentially get thrown out, guitar boy entered to pack up some of the sound equipment. He noticed you at the same time you did and again the two of you locked eyes.

“Fans were meant to have left 20 minutes ago,” he snarked as he made his way to you.

“Who said anything about being a fan,” you shot back, “I’m waiting for Niki actually.”

“Oh? And how do you know him?”

“Not that it’s any of your business but we grew up together, and we’re meant to have plans to hang out this evening so he better get a move on before I leave his ass here and just go home.”

Somehow the tension seemed to be rising between the two of you, and you hadn’t realised how close you both had gotten until the creak of the stage door alerted the two of you to the situation at hand. He took a sharp step back before anyone could potentially notice and finally, Niki stumbled through with his bags, running up to you in a daze ranting about whatever topic that his hyperactive mind was focusing on right then. “Ahh y/n sorry for the wait, we can go now.” As he almost skipped up towards the exit, he seemed to clock that you weren’t alone and casted a look over his shoulder shouting “Bye Jay, hope you didn’t give them too much of a hard time”.

You grabbed some of his stuff that he dumped for you to take and slowly made your own way up the dimly lit staircase, however, before leaving you turned around one final time to see guitar boy, now known to be Jay, watching you with a somewhat intense gaze and then the doors swung shut behind you.

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#bee's writing #enhypen scenarios #enhypen fanfiction #enhypen band au #enhypen x reader #jay x reader #enhypen fics #enhypen imagines #enhypen fluff #park jongseong #ni ki

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pharawee · 1 month

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I just finished watching Love Syndrome: The Beginning and... I actually really liked what they did with the source material. It's interesting that this and the series are by the same production company and director but other than the choice of skinny jeans (someone must have been a big fan lmao) and Tuss reprising his role as Neil, the movie has a very different vibe imo.

It's also unfinished, meaning it ends on a cliffhanger with a big 'to be continued' - which probably isn't intentional seeing as they were originally aiming for a cinematic release (not to mention the sudden passing of the producer/director). I can't blame them either because I think they made the deliberate decision to mostly leave this as is to honour the director's final work:

As it is, I think the movie is a very solid piece of entertainment with some really nice acting, especially by Bix Tagon as Itt.

I've read most of the novels in the Love Syndrome universe and they're actually very same-y with the same non-con kink repeated throughout pretty much every couple's story (and there's A LOT of couples). This is why Day and Itt were never my faves (especially since the tropes really be troping with these two) and tbh I wasn't really into Long and Frank's version of them either (which isn't their fault at all - I just don't think Frank was a good fit for Itt), but Nef and Bix really make them work for me this time.

For one, there's zero romanticisation. Day is positively unhinged and there's zero doubt that Itt is the victim here. The scenes between them are incredibly brutal to watch but at the same time there's this almost stageplay-like feeling to them - as if every little piece of dialogue and acting has its place and nothing is drawn out or glossed over. I really appreciated that (as difficult as their scenes were to watch). I don't think that's easy to accomplish. I saw in some of the bts that they worked closely with either an acting coach or an intimacy coordinator (or both) throughout the filming of Day and Itt's scenes and imo it really shows. As bad as it sounds because Day is such a horrible person and Itt is straightup going through hell, theirs really were the most interesting scenes in the movie for me.

According to MDL Nef and Bix are rookie actors too so kudos to them for doing an incredible job. I hope we get to see more of them especially since Day and Itt's story is far from finished and I'd really like to see if they can pull off the transition from toxic hate to toxic love (imo it didn't work at all in the series, mostly because it started with book 3).

As for Gear and Night, they chose to almost completely sanitise their story (except for the initial bet itself) which imo was a good choice because in the novel reading about the same trope over and over again got tired real fast. Night takes Gear back relatively quickly and then they just pick up where they left off (but with Night more or less in control now).

Plus, Tiger Tanawat (who btw is a Change 2561 artist) as Night is such a mood:

I already loved Rossi as Night but dang (also, I need that shirt). 🫠

There's also some cute Four and Gus moments that unfortunately (or fortunately - seeing as how the writer of the novel also seems to have an age gap kink that's better left unmentioned 😬) gloss over most of their story. Knot, Fu and Neil kind of appear but that's about it.

I wonder - providing we ever get to see the second part of this movie - if they'll scrap the horrible Neil as the villain side plot or not because I could totally do without that. 😬😬

That being said, if you thought The Effect was difficult to stomach then you probably shouldn't watch this. Love Syndrome never hides the fact what it is about but it unfortunately doesn't offer any content warnings. Its SA scenes are explicit and realistic so if that's upsetting to you please please don't watch this. 🙏

#love syndrome the beginning #jane watches stuff #spoilers #love syndrome spoilers #i might make some character gifs later #nothing spicy bc i'm uncomfy w that in this context #but bix is just too pretty not to gif #also still trying to figure out why ming scares me and day doesn't #maybe because ming is more nuanced #while day is way more unrealistic

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secretmellowblog · 1 year

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wth is red scare les mis

Have you ever wondered why all the nonmusical English-language Les Mis adaptations suck? Why they're so weirdly conservative? Why they all share the same dumb changes to the book like "Cops are fine but Javert is the One Bad Apple who's evil because he's obsessed with Valjean?" A lot of that can be traced back to one early influential American film adaptation of Les Mis-- Les Mis 1935, made during the height of the Red Scare, which my discord buddies and I have nicknamed "Red Scare Les Mis" or "Hays Code Les Mis."

Red Scare Les Mis was the first big-budget film adaptation of Les Mis in the English-speaking world. It was made during the height of the Red Scare in America, and also in the middle of the massive labor movements around the Great Depression. It is a very deliberate piece of conservative anti-rebellion propaganda. The film actively despises the message of the original novel and deliberately intentionally censors or destroys it whenever possible. It basically became a blueprint for the English-speaking film adaptations that came afterwards. Later adaptations are often influenced directly by Red Scare Les Mis OR by an adaptation that was influenced by it. There's a reason the only Good english-language adaptation is the stage musical, and the reason is because it was a translation of the French musical/concept album (which was more influenced by French adaptations like the French language Les Mis 1934, which are actually pretty good.) So what is so bad about Red Scare Les Mis? (that isn't obvious from the descriptions above alksdjflskdjf) The film is dedicated to painting any kind of rebellion or anti-authoritarianism as a dangerous evil conspiracy. Again, this is an America in the midst of massive labor movements and paranoia about communism-- so Red Scare Les Mis is all about how rebellion is dangerous, deranged, and evil. It doesn't help that this was also made during the time of the Hays Code, which essentially forbade portraying crime in a positive light or laws in a negative light. Enjolras in 1935 is a deranged extremist who Goes Too Far-- played by an actor who usually plays villains-- and all the students who agitate for revolution are framed as flat-out Satanic. I might be misremembering bc I don't have the strength to watch the movie all the way through in one sitting but I believe there's literally even a scene where Enjolras smiles evilly as his face is lit from below to convey that he is a horror movie villain. This in contrast to Marius, who is the leader of Les Amis in this version and a heroic peaceful protestor who doesn't want to overthrow the system and simply wants some minor prison reforms. "We are not revolutionaries," Marius assures the audience. He passes out pamphlets and that's basically the extent of his activism (because a Good Activist never breaks the law or makes people uncomfortable.) If you want a clear encapsulation of the way the film deliberately censors and destroys the point of the original work, you don't have to look any farther than the opening shot. The film opens on the famous quote from the preface to Les Mis..................but it radically changes it. See if you can spot the MAJOR ideological difference: Original preface: So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. 1935:

The original preface says that as long as the law damns people to be imprisoned in artificial hells on earth, the story is worth being told-- the message being that no one deserves to have their humanity ripped away from them by prison. People deserve empathy regardless of whether they're guilty under "law and custom," because "law and custom" are often nakedly unjust. But 1934 opens with an altered version of the line saying that the book will be relevant as long as people are persecuted "after they have paid the penalty of the law and expiated their offenses in full." Hugo argued people deserved empathy unconditionally, regardless of whether they broke the law-- 1935 believes people only deserve empathy IF they haven't broken any laws and have served full prison sentences for any laws they have broken. In 1935's view, the 'law and custom' Hugo condemns in the preface to Les Mis are innately good and just. The "decrees of damnation pronounced by society artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth" are fine actually. The only people who deserve empathy, in 1935's view, is people who have "already paid the full penalty." So in 1935's view book Valjean isn't worthy of empathy bc he never paid the legal penalty for stealing from Petit Gervais alkdsjfsdf, and he should've gone back to prison to serve his life sentence. AND THEN they had the gall to attribute their fake conservative quote to Victor Hugo.... Also: if you're wondering where "Javert is the one Bad Apple cop who is uniquely obsessed with Valjean and obsessively persecutes him in a way he doesn't do with any other criminal" comes from-- this film also had a huge impact on that! This film was a big influence on spreading that obnoxious dumb shallow take. IN SUMMARY: Les Mis 1935 was a deliberate piece of propaganda aiming to take a novel that championed left-wing socialist views..... and turn it into a deeply conservative right-wing story about the futility of rebellion and the importance of respecting law and order. The whole film is really encapsulated by the altered "preface" where they flat-out lie and attribute a conservative law-and-order view of the world to Victor Hugo, using a fake quote Hugo never said. It's a deliberate attempt to make an insidious worldview seem normal/justified by pretending it was supported by a famous author. It's saying a bad stupid thing then pretending some famous author said it.

But the adaptational choices it originated/popularized were imitated in later English-language adaptations. While 1935's influence is not the only reason why English Les Mis adaptations like 1998/BBC 2019/etc are often so disconnected from the novel in the same ways and weirdly conservative in the same ways, it definitely is one the reasons. (And that's why you gotta look to France or Japan if you want an actually decent nonmusical adaptation alskdfsdf.) And yeah it just sucks? It sucks that this piece of conservative propaganda that actively intentionally rejects the progressive messages of the original novel became so influential just because it was the First big English-language adaptation. But aint that just the way

#thats life #im not a red scare les mis expert though #ive actually finally seen the entire thing only recently #but never in one sitting bc . it is bad #les mis #les miserables #red scare les mis

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lloydfrontera · 8 months

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do you know how fucking mad i am at the fact that the webcomic gave us lloyd giving javier his own mana in an attempt to save his life and javier overcoming literal dimensional differences in order to be able to accept it into his body effectively foreshadowing how far he's willing to go just to be able to protect lloyd,,,, but they did it all with a fucking 'haha lloyd is ugly' joke. do you.

this could've been one of the best scenes in the entire thing. it could've been such a pivotal point for their character development. it could've been one of the most earnest moments in the story. but it's made into a joke because they just need to draw the ugliest faces possible to make a cheap joke that has been made a hundred times already. i'm not being funny i'm genuinely mad at the wasted potential lmao

the tone of the scene was changed from the webnovel so much it's almost unrecognizable. and not in a good way. like. why would you cheapen the emotional core of your own story like this. do you trust your own plot and characters so little to keep your readers engaged with the story that you feel the need to make everything in a joke. is that it. was the original story not funny enough to keep your attention so you think no one will care if you turn what's meant to be an earnest and heartwarming scene into a joke you've made hundreds of time before.

i'm not. mad. about the changes themselves (mostly). like i said this particular scene had so much potential to compliment the original story and foreshadow the ending that i'm actually upset that the tone and art made it so i can't in good faith say i like it.

they just. shot themselves in the foot by trying to make the scene funny. all the tension and emotional built up is wasted when the webcomic makes fun of itself. it cannot take itself seriously so i can't either.

like. it was going so well. i loved the built up with the scene where they talk about javier's parents and you see that they're still emotionally guarded with each other, they don't quite feel close enough to the other to call themselves friends even when we know that they care deeply for each other. i liked that they changed it so lloyd had the opportunity to save javier the way he wasn't able to in the novel. i even liked the development with lloyd's mana being so different from javier's that he struggles with accepting it, cause it was a chance to call forward to a very important event in the future.

the scene where they're reaching for each other as they realize that yes, they're friends and god help them they will save their friend no matter what?? gorgeous i loved it so much, it wasn't 'We'll be together forever, just like we've always been. Casually. As natural as breathing air.' yeah but it was perfectly okay on it's own too.

and then they do this.

like. what.

all that emotional built up, all that tension, all of it,,, for this?? this????

what's the point of making your audience feel emotionally engaged with the story if you're just gonna make the art equivalent of a fart noise. a well executed yet still completely out of place fart noise lmao

it doesn't feel funny, it just makes me feel like i wasted my time being emotionally invested in something that isn't interested in delivering. it's like watching someone setting up dominoes to topple them in a gorgeous pattern only for them to put on clown shoes and start kicking them all over the place without rhyme or reason. like yeah they're in their right but then what was the point of all that work in the first place.

and yeah maybe it's my fault for expecting something earnest and heartfelt from a webcomic that has shown multiples times that it's not interested on that but like. is it really too much to expect for an adaptation to, well, adapt the original source in a way that doesn't feel like it's making fun of it??

#i talk a lot <3 #tged #the greatest estate developer #lloyd frontera #javier asrahan #i'm just. so sad. and angry. and tired.#this is not fun anymore asjdhkjasa

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kitty-tea · 14 days

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The prettiest girl

Link to my masterlist here

Pairing: Cedric Diggory x reader

Word count: 1.3k

Summary: You’re at a Halloween party in the Hufflepuff common room when Cedric asks to dance with you.

A/N: I know it’s not Halloween but for some reason the idea to write this story hit me about a week ago. Also it’s low key inspired from that one scene at the party from season 2 episode 6 of Ghost Whisperer. And I’m still working on my other stories.

You self-consciously tugged your short skirt down your legs and adjusted your stockings as you twirled around in front of the full length mirror. Your angel costume was far sexier than anything you’ve ever worn in your life, so you weren’t used to showing this much skin in front of other people. You considered asking the other girls to check you for their opinions, but considering that you were one who was mostly known for keeping to yourself, you decided not to. Of course you wanted to look your absolute best for the last Halloween party you’d be attending at Hogwarts before you graduated.

You were also nervous. What if other people didn’t like your costume? You weren’t very resourceful, so it wasn’t like you made it yourself from scratch like how other students have done with their costumes. You had planned ahead and had taken a trip to a Muggle costume shop before school started, purchasing a corset, a halo, wings, a skirt, a pair of stockings, and high heels, all white. Since you were a witch, you had the advantage of being able to use magic to make the halo float above your head wherever you went, adding a layer of authenticity to your costume.

By the time you came out of your dorm, the party had already started in the common room. You weren’t the only student that had gone all out, just about everyone else was dressed up, like with every Halloween party you’ve been to, and the common room almost looked completely different than how it looked the rest of the school year. In contrast to the sunny warmth that your house colors provided, tonight it was a reflection of the starry dark skies casted with a chill that reminded you of those horror or mystery novels. Of course your costume stood out because of that. You were like a drop of pure white snow shining through a big shadow of darkness.

You sensed other people’s eyes on you, yet you felt more comforted by convincing yourself that no one else was paying attention to you, just as it always was.

Still keeping your head down, you turned to the punch bowl and poured yourself a drink. Taking small sips, you looked around at all the dancing couples or groups of friends. It’s not that you were jealous, you just couldn’t help wondering what your school days would’ve been like if you were a different type of person, one who was more outgoing and bold. Would you have been sorted into the house you were in now? Probably not, but it didn’t hurt you to wonder about different ways your life could have turned out.

Your ears perked up when you noticed the difference in the change of music. The slow, alluring melody had replaced the loud, wild beats. You saw the center of the room occupied by couples in their embrace, alone in each other’s arms. Seeing as you never had someone to share that moment with, you also wondered what it’d be like to be in someone else’s arms like that. Would you feel as if the world around you didn’t exist? Or would you feel self-conscious and too aware of the imaginary judging?

You took another sip of your punch, wondering if maybe you should have spiked your own drink with vodka.

You turned your back to the party and were about to get another drink when you felt a tap on your shoulder.

You didn’t expect to be face to face with Cedric Diggory, the captain of your house’s Quidditch team who also happened to be the most popular boy in school, at least from what you heard. For some reason he decided to dress up as a vampire. At least that’s what you assumed. Not that you were complaining. You adored reading stories about vampires and other supernatural creatures.

You didn’t know what to say to Cedric, not that you ever do. You remembered how he’d smile and wave at you in the corridors or say hello in between classes. There were also those times where he could have chosen any of the numerous vacant seats to study at in the library, but for some reason he’d always ask if the seat next to yours was taken, and instead of responding to him in words, you’d only manage to shake your head.

And now, here he was, with his hand reaching out towards you, calling your name. “Would you like to dance with me?”

He was smiling confidently, like someone who knew they reached their goal or was about to reach their goal.

You decided you didn’t care about distracting yourself with your drink anymore, so you ditched it for better company.

You took Cedric’s hand and watched as it engulfed yours. You tried not to trip in your heels as he led you to where the other people were dancing.

You didn’t think your heartbeat would ever calm down as he placed his hands on your waist and smiled at you in a way that always made you get butterflies in your stomach. With those same butterflies continuing to flutter, you took a deep breath as you reached your hands up onto his shoulders.

He must have sensed your unsureness, as he was the one to take the lead, guiding you slowly through the music with small steps.

You felt your cheeks burn the deepest shade of red. This was the closest you had ever been to Cedric. You could have sworn his eyes kept going down to your lips as he subtly licked his own bottom lip. You wondered just what he could be thinking.

You hadn’t noticed that the song had ended until you heard his voice. “You’re the prettiest girl here.” He said, as he stroked his thumb across your cheek before tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. You didn’t know a gesture so small could have such a big effect on you, making your heart skip a beat and melt at the same time.

“You’re always the prettiest girl everywhere you are.” He continued. You couldn’t believe he said that about you. You heard other students and even the teachers around the school talk about how amazing Cedric is, and you didn’t think in a million years he’d spare the time in his day to pay attention to you.

“Really? You think I’m pretty?” Those were the most words you’d ever spoken to him in one sentence.

“Yeah, most of the guys think so too. I didn’t think you noticed. Guess I was right.” You felt your cheeks flush as a not so subtle smirk made its way onto Cedric’s face.

You let the conversation die down as the next song came on. You almost gasped as you felt Cedric lightly digging his thumbs into your hips, rubbing them in circles as he pulled you against his chest, right where you could feel and hear his heartbeat against your cheek.

Letting one of his hands go from your hip, he switched to running his fingers through your hair, an action you quickly found to be comforting.

When the song ended, he held you at arm’s length, and you were once again reminded of how small you were compared to him both in physical size and notoriety. Since you couldn’t bring yourself to look him in the eyes, you were at eye-level with chest.

“Can I kiss you?” He asked as he put his fingers under your jaw and lifted your gaze to his eyes, searching for any sign of discomfort. His deep husky voice made your heart melt as well as the unexpected request.

You nodded, and you both leaned into each other. When his lips touched yours, you felt an electrifying sensation spread throughout your entire body.

Even though you weren’t expecting to share a kiss that night with the most popular boy in school, you were very pleased with the outcome.

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see-arcane · 7 months

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I don't think Mina is now but a mindless plaything being led to the castle by the guy who very much does *not* want her to reach him tbh. My read is that it is her Dracula-induced senses that help her know where to go in reaching her destination, his lair, the closer they get to it. Senses she has harnessed, because she's confident instead of freaked out about it. Of course, Jonathan has written about the sharp turn on that road too, so she explains it away that way, as telling Van Helsing "don't freak out but I can do that now" would have made him think she's now pretty much turned.

Honestly, this whole scene and the premise of the coming scenes in which [SPOILERS] we meet up with the Weird Sisters is a very mixed bag ability and intention-wise. The way I break it down is:

-Mina already had something like intuitive/psychic ability prior to Dracula chomping on her. She has little blips of more than ordinary Awareness throughout the novel--and one juicy line is yet to come regarding her awareness of Jonathan 👀--that don't really tie into the Count's whole shtick. Whatever was already there might have gotten spurred into greater action by the vampirism like waking up an underused muscle, but...

-...despite Dracula's consciousness/voice being present in hers with the hypnotic trance, I doubt he really needed to be the one to have Mina point out the path with 'stolen knowledge.' Jonathan did write about the way up to the Castle! But then he also wrote about how Dracula kept driving him in circles to waste time and disorient him. All of which was happening in the dark. Maybe she gleaned enough from that entry, maybe not. But I suspect she'd have put the route together regardless and her current creepiness was what threw Van Helsing off.

-That said, I think where a lot of folks are putting their foot down as far as 'this is removing her agency/power!' or 'Dracula wouldn't want her to know how to get up there, it's a secret stealth-girlboss move!' etc etc is that it kind of overlooks a few important points.

One, Re: Dracula almost certainly threw in Dracula's consciousness being present for the "My Jonathan" line alone. It adds more horror to the scene, an extra gut punch, and provides a way to sneak in a few more lines for Karim Kronfli. It made my skin crawl to think about that smug fucker making use of the temporary trance-connection to spit that unctuous claim out. Which is the point! It makes you want to punch the bastard's fangs in even more!

Two, it's not him robbing her of anything (much as he'd like to somehow take even more from her). Their minds are mingled soup whenever the hypnosis happens. That's how she's been able to get anything out of the Count's mind in the first place. Nothing has changed in the status quo apart from the fact that she's been growing harder to get any info from.

Three, I would bet good money Dracula would genuinely be super eager to see Van Helsing and Mina mosey on up to the territory where his three weed-smoking baby-eating girlfriends are lurking around. Not just because he's still a cocky fucker when it comes to his/his thralls' power, but because here, now, he has every reason to be that cocky.

Van Helsing has never killed a vampire at this point. Arthur and Jack took the Bloofer Lady apart. The guys are all closing in on Dracula with their numbers and strength and weapons.

But him? An openly terrified old man, traveling up into the mountains that are Dracula's admitted place of power, perhaps even a genius loci, with a companion who is quickly turning into his murderer-in-potentia, specifically to confront Three Whole Vampires to hopefully catch them unawares in their coffins if he doesn't get torn to shreds or eaten first? Even having read the book, I would still hesitate to bet on the professor. If I were Dracula, I'd be brain-texting the Weird Sisters to roll out a red carpet and paint arrows on the mountains.

THIS WAY TO YOUR BIG HEROIC SCENE, OLD MAN!

NEVER MIND THE UNMARKED GRAVES OF CENTURIES' WORTH OF TRANSYLVANIAN LOCALS WHO TRIED TO BE A HERO BEFORE YOU!

WE HAVE UTMOST CONFIDENCE THAT YOU!--YOU ALONE!--WILL DEFINITELY BE THE EXCEPTION!

PLEASE WASH YOUR NECK BEFORE PROCEEDING BEYOND THIS POINT!

In short, it would make sense that Dracula wants to let Van Helsing know the route to Exsanguination Station. He has zero reason to expect that events will align in any way that's not in his favor on his own territory with his bloodthirsty thralls on alert. Perish the thought!

(If you listen close, you can almost hear Bram Stoker rubbing his hands together and snickering behind the fourth wall.)

#anyway #had a lot to say I guess whoops #sorry Anon #mina harker #abraham van helsing #dracula #brides of dracula #re: dracula #dracula daily

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thepringlesofblood · 2 months

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bonus content for those who read the taz: the 11th hour graphic novel and haven’t listened to the podcast arc

disclaimer: so. I lost my book about 1/4 of the way into this post. so the rest of it is just from memory (I did finish reading it several times, I just no longer have it to refer to). I wanted to post this before the next one comes out though, so here we are. If I find my book, I will attempt to finish up the details for the rest of the book. I cover some basic big things from memory, but nowhere near as detailed as the stuff I wrote down when I had the book to refer to. but in the meantime...let’s go!

by god they’ve done it again. 11th hr is a Lot and definitely the most plot-heavy book so far, PLUS they had to include the first lunar interlude where the boys had individual scenes. the result is frankly beautiful. we’re really hitting critical mass now.

as a result a lot more stuff got compressed, cut, changed, or skipped. i’m going to try to at least point out each difference, though there’s no way I could summarize EVERYTHING that got cut in one post. I’m going to be linking relevant episodes (& transcripts thank u tazscripts) instead, for things that are Just Too Much to include.

as always, this post is intended to be Fun and Cool Bonus Content for people who haven’t listened to the podcast, not a manifesto of stuff they “should have” included or a list of flaws. they had 11+ hours of content to squish into one graphic novel, that happened over a period of months. of course stuff got cut. and it’s stuff that was recorded in 2016. that’s eight years ago. of course some things are going to change.

tl;dr - I liked the dang book. you can be sad something wasn’t in the novel while still understanding why it isn’t. here is a list of the stuff that was changed, skipped, compressed, or cut, presented as cool facts & extra info for gn fans who haven’t listened to the podcast.

spoilers ahoy for the 11th hour, but I’ll try to keep spoilers for the rest of the series to a minimum or at least mark them clearly. At the very end I’m going to put a section of series-spoiler theories and observations, very clearly marked

Before getting into the nitty-gritty, there are a few MAJOR changes from the podcast I want to get out of the way first. This list also includes “stuff I remember but don’t have the book to refer back to on”

Several characters and a whole section of the map were cut.

I think this is the first time that any named, plot-relevant characters have been completely cut. The closest we’ve come so far was the bugbears, but they at least had a cameo in the photo in Lucas’ quarters. Luca, Redmond, and Stonefruit Farms fully don’t exist in the GN series.

the boys meet Redmond in ep 46, pt 6 of the 11th hr arc, having met his brother Luca at the end of the previous episode.

long story short, Redmond was the leader of the purple-kerchiefed ruffians and the brains behind the bank robbery, which The Boys had to go through with so that Redmond would help his lowkey-estranged brother Luca raise the temple of Istus from its decrepit state, as they were both devout priests of Istus. The whole key being in the vault thing is GN-only.

Also, Luca is a skeleton bc he was in the temple when it got rapidly old-ified, but dw he’s fine he’s just a skeleton. he gets better.

Redmond’s motivation for robbing the bank is that as a priest of Istus, lady of fate, he follows his gut feelings and intuition, and he had a strong feeling that whatever was in the vault would be the key to taking down the bubble.

they basically took all of the plot-necessary elements from Luca & Redmond and gave them to Ren. In the podcast, Ren actually blasts some of the purple-kerchiefed ruffians out of her bar after they get too rowdy. She isn’t involved with the robbery in the slightest.

Merle’s Temporal Chalice scene

in the podcast, it’s his arm being chopped off. or more specifically, grabbing a crystal that exploded and made him have to get his arm chopped off.

Him running out on his kids is played kind of for laughs at first in the podcast. Merle is a heel for a lot longer there, bc the funniest improv is usually not the most ethical improv. They do talk about his life and the fact that he has a family, but the offer made by the chalice is for him to have his arm back

frankly, I think they made the right move in the GN. We get very little of Hecuba in the podcast, and I really liked seeing more of that conflict.

Roswell, my beloved

so, in 2016 when they did the podcast, the McElroys were at, let’s say a different place in their journey of learning about the queer community. which is to say that in the podcast Roswell’s pronouns were wildly inconsistent, in part due to them being a clay construct, in part due to them not being introduced with any pronoun in particular [though Griffin clarifies that he intends for Roswell to use they/them a little later on in the arc], and in part bc the boys just weren’t really familiar with the singular they. they tended vacillate between they/them, it/its, and he/him. we all learn and grow.

in the book, thankfully, Roswell is 100% they/them. fuck yeah. related. The Boys are significantly worse people to Roswell in the podcast. like, significantly. we’ll get into it as it comes up more, I just want to signpost it here.

e.g. Taako giving Roswell control of themselves and their command word is a GN original, in the podcast The Boys kind of “junebug” them around for large swaths of the last few episodes. also, a significant number of earlier loops involve them basically negging Roswell into believing that Isaak hired outside help (The Boys) with security bc they weren’t cutting it anymore (rude). I much prefer the geologists gambit they go with in the GN.

Diamonds

Paloma’s prophecies cost money in the podcast, so a lot of The Boys’ shenanigans (and a significant number of loops) are in pursuit of getting cash. which, in Refuge, is diamonds. Some examples:

Before figuring out that you can’t take objects with you, the boys do straight up take some diamonds from the bank post-robbery.

Taako gets Ren and a patron of her bar, Ash, to sign up and pay for a seminar/magic lesson he’ll be giving tomorrow (one of my all-time fav scenes). This leads to a touching scene at the end when the bubble finally comes down where Taako gives Ren a little certificate that says “first graduate of Taako’s Amazing School of Magic.”

Magnus tries to armwrestle a guy for cash (Merle’s idea), and though he rolls a 27 Strength check, the Goliath barbarian he’s rolling against gets a 28.

Paloma offers 1 diamond for a small prophecy, 10 for a big one. in the GN they aren’t differentiated, and one small prophecy just doesn’t show up as it’s not needed.

the taz fandom wiki has a handy list of all the prophecies she gives in the podcast

ok! let’s go!

Prologue (the bit before ch 1)

this isn’t in the 11th hour podcast.

the information we get about The Visitor in the 11th hour (from The Boys asking various Refuge residents) is that

Jack and June brought them to Refuge

or, they brought Jack and June to Refuge. We hear both things at different times.

they’re depicted in the statue as having a Red Robe and being kinda broad-shouldered.

Roswell never met them. At first they refer to The Visitor with he/him pronouns, but then mention “I say ‘he’, I didn’t know them”

they tended to keep their face hidden (maybe?)

that’s pretty much it

we learn about this interaction much much much much much later in the podcast, not as a scene that is played out, but abstractly as an event that happened, after we find out who The Visitor is.

that said, I LOVE this scene’s inclusion and expansion. it makes total sense to me.

Jack is never described as having a sketchbook or being an artist. this will come back later.

the final scene of the arc in the podcast is instead June giving Magnus some previous designs for the statue of Jack, June, & a Red Robe/The Visitor in the middle of town, with a version where the hood of the robe is down and the face of the Red Robe/The Visitor is visible.

Ch. 1

this is where the podcast starts at episode 1 of the 11th hr.

boyland’s funeral is very accurate. his comically large family of 400 sons (mentioned in CK podcast) is why the Voidfish lights up like that.

the only real differences I could find were:

in the podcast what is erased is basically boyland’s personnel file. like, a report or write-up of who he is and his work for the BoB. johann writing songs about boyland’s life is new.

the only pronouns ever used for the voidfish in the podcast are they/them, it/its, and occasionally he/him. past taz graphic novels have used they/them. on pg 13 of 11th hr, both Johann and Merle use she/her for the voidfish.

I do not like this, but I have a suspicion as to why, and I don’t like that either. see spoiler-y observations at the end for more.

they merged this scene with a scene from the skipped lunar interlude before CK, where The Boys take cpt. cpt. bane’s “file” to the voidfish to be eaten.

I described this in my other posts, but the two things relevant here are Magnus putting his hand up on the glass and vibing w the voidfish, and this exhange b/w Johann and The Boys:

Johann: When I, um, can I ask you guys a question?

Magnus: Sure.

Taako: Of course, Johann.

Johann: Are you guys really okay with, with this part of the deal?

Magnus: That we get forgot?

Taako: Which part?

Johann: Yeah, are you cool with like, if you beef it down there, the world just forgets about you?

Magnus: Well, I’m not planning on ever dying.

in the podcast, bc Avi isn’t there, Angus operates the cannons (Avi showed him how before he left). he is extremely nervous about it and about killing them on accident. once they’re in the orb taako casts stoneskin on himself “just in case”, but everything works out totally fine, though avi mentions when The Boys land that the stoneskin should’ve thrown off the trajectory.

the gn keeps the spirit of taako trusting no one without the angus psychological damage by having him just cast a better version of the spell angus cast, and I am a fan.

the leveling up stats aren’t right in the book, as I’m sure every dnd 5e nerd has already tweeted about.

they’re all level 10, so magnus should be a level 8 fighter and a level 2 rogue bc 2+8=10, while the other two boys are still just a level 10 cleric and a level 10 wizard bc they didn’t multiclass.

fantasy costco-wise: aside from the stuff they have in the book (all things they do own in the podcast, though hole-thrower and the feather-weight cuirass were from the fantasy gachapon), merle picks up matthias the living grimoire, magnus gets the magnetic charge and the tarantula bracelet, and taako gets the arcane trickster’s glove (no wiki page rip it just gives you some arcane trickster powers) and mockingbird gum.

they beat up the baby worms more before letting them go, it’s a full battle

Ch. 2

in the podcast, when they go through the barrier, they find themselves in an empty white space where they see an old woman holding the cup. she says “It’s you!” with recognition upon seeing them, and then says “find me” before they wake up.

important: every time the boys die in the podcast, they go back to this space briefly before waking up.

sometimes the woman gives a cryptic message, sometimes not, and in their later loops, the woman collapses, breathing heavily.

we find out in the end that this woman is June - she has a whole extended de-aging sequence later that they probably cut so poor Carey didn’t have to do a bajillion character models for June at different ages just for a few panels of dramatic effect.

pg 36 - to head off any dnd 5e nitpickers, Magnus does not have proficiency in rustic hospitality, since that’s not a skill. Magnus does have a character feat called “Rustic Hospitality” that he chose at level 1.

claiming to have proficiency in things you can’t possibly have proficiency in is a longstanding goof both in taz and among people who play dnd 5e in general, because it’s funny.

in the book, they intercut each loop with a scene from lunar interlude 3, and it works really really well. we’ll get to those scenes as they come up.

Is this the first time someone uses he/him for The Red Robe in the gn series? (Roswell says ‘his’)

in the podcast Roswell mentions having never met the visitor, and comments “I say “he”, but I don’t know.”

in the GN, when The Boys tell the director about The Red Robe in CK they use they/them pronouns and so does the director, but after this, even @ the end of the book after Taako guesses that The Red Robe they’ve been talking to isn’t the same Red Robe from Refuge, he and the other boys continue to use he/him for The Red Robe.

“Mystic Analysis”

he just did an arcana check in the podcast, I don’t think Taako had Identify as a spell, which is what the DND equivalent would be.

they also don’t figure out that Roswell has a command word until much later, during the Diary Of Sheriff Isaak scene.

Griffin basically says “[they’re] an earth elemental, with a bird on [them], and earth elementals don’t generally have birds on them, so maybe it was just nearby when the spell was cast and got caught up in it”

Cassidy

in the podcast, she’s in jail for blowing up the temple of Istus, which she didn’t do.

GN Ren mentions later on that the temple got “un-built” which references how in the podcast the temple suddenly aged a matter of centuries in seconds, so from the outside it looked kind of explode-y. and cassidy is known for blowing shit up, so she was blamed. she also theorizes that it might be racism due to her half-orc heritage.

in the GN, cassidy’s arrested for trespassing on the closed mines, which she absolutely has done. it makes more sense, and eliminates a major plot point they cut from the book

she is otherwise pretty much the same, I love her very much

Paloma pretty much stays in her cottage in the podcast rather than sneaking around.

the fantastic exchange of “you guys have been here 45 minutes, what the fuck did you bring with you?!” “you should see what we can do in an hour!” is 100% verbatim from the podcast.

in the podcast, Ren is dead the first bank fire (and in most subsequent bank fires). she also wasn’t one of the bandits, or involved with the bank robbery at all

in fact, in the loop where The Boys were doing the bank robbery, she unexpectedly came in, recognized Taako, and almost blew their cover.

With so little time left on the clock, Taako cast Banishment on her to keep her safe and out of the way, but she made her saving throw - so it didn’t work, but she knew Taako tried to cast some spell on her, and there was a somber moment of her falling backwards trying to get away from him, tears in her eyes.

look it’s a good lil character moment

I can’t emphasize enough how brutal the first description of the bank fire and subsequent world-ending is. Griffin pulled 0 punches.

Magnus rushes in and he describes the scene like “you see a guy, who looks like this. they’re dead. you see two guards. they’re dead. you see a woman holding a tray of diamonds. she’s dead. you see this person, also dead. you see a dwarven bank teller. she might be alive, but it’s hard to tell, and if she was she is on the brink of death”

I think the boys, brogden, and maybe one of the purple-kerchief ruffians (which is how they are described in the podcast) survived the first one, and everyone else died in that bank. it felt so brutal listening to it the first time because you (and the boys) didn’t know about the loop yet, so it was just. horrifying.

I love how they pulled in off in the GN!!! the clock hands are just *chef kiss*

just before Griffin describes the destruction of Refuge, Travis interjects, “Ditto, did you base this on Majora’s Mask?”

while Griffin does not respond in the moment, he later confirms that Travis is correct.

Griffin’s description of the fiery deaths of The Boys: “And you’re being crushed by the shattered earth as it compresses down into the ground. And you hear an anguished scream come from something massive and furious, and all three of you have died…And there’s something about the dying that feels familiar.”

“and then you wake up.” hardcut to end of episode music. v epic.

Ch. 3 (i s2g they’re not all going to be this detailed the major plot differences are mostly out of the way now)

as mentioned, the scenes between each loop in the gn happen in Lunar Interlude III (transcript) (episode) - each of The Boys got to choose a scene to have in between arcs and Justin chose to have Taako give Angus magic lessons.

they’re all more abstract in the eps (Taako establishes a recurring time and place to give Angus lessons, and we get scenes from earlier vs later lessons, various shenanigans, etc.) but the major points are actually pretty much the same, just condensed into one scene in the book.

also taako giving magic lessons in his quarters makes 100% sense, but in the podcast they did it in the cafeteria, and that’s where the LUP is burned into the wall. significant? potentially.

in the podcast angus had made some macarons for taako but forgot to flavor them (he nailed the texture though which is hard to do in a macaron) so he asked taako to prestidigitate them better and then scorching ray happened and blasted em to shreds.

LUP. dude. I thought it was an acronym when I first heard it, bc in the podcast, Griffin says “So your staff, you lost control of it and you blasted the letters “L-U-P” into the wall.” Seeing it in cursive, all gorgeous and capitalized like a proper noun? knocked me the fuck out.

another dnd 5e tiny detail: in the gn, the description for Angus’ first wand says “wonderful stocking stuffer for the young sorcerer in your life”

i could have a whole conspiracy board about this.

skip this if you’re not super into dnd 5e mechanics

the difference (in dnd 5e) b/w a wizard, a warlock, and a sorcerer is:

wizard: gets magic from study and practice - taako is a wizard bc he studied spellcraft and learned how to do it.

warlock: gets magic from making a deal with something/someone far more magical than themselves - garfield is a warlock, so his magic stems from a deal he made with something (the devil??)

sorcerer: has innate magic within them.

this could come from a myriad of places, but usually from heritage or bloodline - maybe your great-grandfather was a god or a dragon or a demon or a djinn or something, or maybe your mom touched a weird rock as a kid and got magic powers that she passed onto you when she had you.

in the podcast, angus is only ever referred to as a wizard. makes sense - regular boy + magic training from taako = wizard boy.

but if he’s a sorcerer, the magic really was in him all along. is taako teaching him to channel it? does he know?

this also fits with a weirdly popular headcanon the taz community had for a while about angus secretly being a silver dragon (in dnd, color = different abilities, diff personality, etc, and silver ones like to shapeshift and pretend to be humans sometimes).

“draconic bloodline” is one of the most common sorcerer backgrounds - it basically just means ‘a dragon got involved at some point in this family tree, so now you can cast ray of frost’.

hmmmmmmm

end conspiracy theory

It is at this point that I lost my damn book. so. I’m just gonna post this bc the next graphic novel is coming out soon and I want to post it before then. If i find my book I’ll finish it up. If you have post-chapter 3 differences you noticed that aren’t already covered, feel free to reply/reblog with them!

Spoiler-y Observations Below!

CAUTION: contains spoilers for the rest of taz balance!

*voidfish speculation: my suspicion is that they’re using ‘she’ for the voidfish to foreshadow that they have a baby, so that makes them a “mother”? i call bullshit, but i’ve heard it used before as a justification for misgendering an enby who gives birth. obvs the voidfish is not a human being, people can have multiple pronouns, it’s not a 1:1 comparison, but i for one (as an enby myself) really liked the voidfish using they/them and feel oddly betrayed at them suddenly changing the pronouns. fingers crossed that there’s a different reason.

"what am statue” is low-key foreshadowing since magnus says it

merle knowing what relativistic time dilation is

LUP was burnt into the wall in the cafeteria in the podcast - lucretia would’ve seen it for sure. so they put it in taako’s room this time...

aw no ‘sorry about the cookies little man’

In 5 or however many years when gn series ends, someone should do a poll of people who only read the graphic novels and see if any of them pronounce “Lup” weird since they’ve only ever seen it written down.

hero wreathed in flames 0.0 I hope Joaquin is still there in the finale but I like the duality here

BATTLEAXEPROFICIENCYEASTEREGG

SNEAK PEEK AT THE HUNGER SNEAK PEEK AT THE STARBLASTER AAAAAAAA

257 - ‘I know him better than you could ever imagine’ because he created you? Oof ouch ow my bones. also....the magnus that made the cup was a very different person from magnus now. it’s not what Julia would want - the cup never met julia, obvs, and does not know the ways she changed him for the better.

Bottom of 327 - sweet Angus boy are you drawing something on that orb?

Istus is like you’ve been serving me your whole lives without knowing it in the podcast - maybe a bit too much foreshadowing for the GN

#dnd #taz #taz gn #taz graphic novel #the adventure zone #taz b #taz balance #taz b spoilers #taz balance spoilers #original post #ongoing

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redgoldsparks · 5 months

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December 2023 Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Despite how much promise there is in the premise of this novel I was ultimately fairly disappointed by it. I'll start with the positives: it's set in a diverse and creative fantasy world with multiple different countries and cultures. It has several queer characters, including one of the four POV characters. It has dragons, even though I think they were severely under-utilized. It is also far too long, and astonishingly, nearly every scene in the book felt rushed. I think it actually had too much plot; if I had been editing this book I would have suggested the author cut one of the POV characters and use the freed-up space to flesh out the queer love story, which was the emotional heart of the book. This book is marketed as adult fantasy, yet whenever a character is in serious danger they are nearly always rescued by a talking animal with super-speed abilities. Choices like this book made the book read younger than I expected. It also suffered, perhaps unfairly, due to the fact I read a book with a much smarter and more interesting use of dragons, human/dragon cultural tensions, and dragon politics earlier this year: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, which I would recommend over Priory any day of the week.

Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe

Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is a Coast Salish poet and punk who digs deep into the lineage of women in her family searching for connection, strength, and healing. While writing a Master's thesis, LaPointe opened the door to memories of a childhood sexual assault, precarious runaway teen years, and the intergenerational trauma that affected all of her family after the colonization of the Pacific Northwest. The memories that surfaced shattered her life. The path to picking up the pieces was slow, and involved traditional healing ceremonies, friendship, writing, music, and multiple journeys to places where her female ancestors once lived. I found this book very quick and easy to read despite the often heavy subject matter (it also includes a divorce and a miscarriage). Some passages are quite beautiful, but the author was an emotional mess for most of the time period she recounts and behaved in some questionable ways towards many of those around her. It ends on a hopeful note, and I would recommend it, especially to people with connections to the PNW area, while keeping the content warnings in mind.

Golden Fool by Robin Hobb read by Nick Taylor

I hardly even know how to talk about this book because I loved it so much. It's a rich, nuanced, painfully human follow up to the earlier Farseer trilogy. I am amazed at how deftly Hobb wove the narratives of her characters across three decades of their lives and counting. There's Fitz, the royal bastard and reluctant assassin, who we first met at age six. Now in his mid-thirties, he is finally exploring his magical talents, teaching, learning, and taking more and more misfit young people under his wing. There's Chade, who we first met at a mysterious and wise teacher- now he's a royal advisor, and his hunger for power and influence might yet take him down a very dark path. There's Kettricken, who as a teenage princess was engaged to a stranger, now grown into a powerful queen bent on changing her kingdom for the better. There's the Fool, whose multiple identities are threatening to collapse as more and more of his prophesies come true. And Burrich, Fitz's adopted father figure, who in his anger and grief disowns a son who reminds him too much of his past. All of these characters feel so deeply rooted in their own histories, traumas, choices; I care so deeply about their lives and see so clearly how the twists of fate led them to where they are now. This is seriously one of the best fantasy series I have ever read, and I highly recommend anyone who loves long form fantasy to go back and pick up book one, Assassin's Apprentice.

The Well by Jacob Wyatt and Choo

Lizzy lives with her grandfather on one of many small islands in an world plagued by mist and monsters. Her mother, father, and grandmother all died fighting against the leviathan that used to threaten the seas between the islands; Lizzy has heard the stories, but never knew any of them. Her daily concerns are with goats, the market where she sells their cheese and milk, and her crush on a girl who works the island ferry. Magic doesn't regularly touch her life, except when she foolishly steals three coins from a wishing well, and is then tasked with completing the three wishes that are bound to them. This story has much the feel of a fairy tale with it's orphaned protagonist, three wishes, three tasks, and characters who are often more archetype than fleshed out people. But it manages a sweetly emotional ending and simple but lively and effective illustrations.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles read by Martyn Swain

Set in England during the reign of King George the third, this historical romance delivered a satisfying amount of plot along with the spice. Gareth is the son of a Baronet, but grew up with none of the privilege of that position having been send away from home after the death of his mother during his childhood. He works as a law clerk in London with few connections, no friends, and nothing much to recommend him. He seeks companionship at a tavern that turns a blind eye on the illicit sexual activities of men in the upper rooms. There he meets Kent, a working class man from Romney Marsh, with whom Gareth sparks an intense and intimate connection. Then it falls apart. Gareth is sacked from his job. He fights with Kent. His father dies unexpectedly, and Gareth is summoned to a manor house he hasn't seen in years to take on the responsibilities of a title, including the care of a teenage half-sister and his father's mistress. And by chance, the house Gareth inherits is in Romney Marsh, home of many waterways, pastures, smugglers, and also Kent, his former lover. I enjoyed the dynamic between the two romantic leads, and the crime plot which entangled both of them. If you are interested in R-rated M/M romance with action adventure and danger, I'd definitely recommend this series and also KJ Charles' Will Darling series.

Subtle Blood by KJ Charles read by read by Cornell Collins

A very satisfying installment in the Will Darling adventures! If this is the final book, I am happy with where it's left the characters, but it does also leave the door open for more. If you enjoy spicy M/M romance with a hefty side of action/adventure, this is a great series. It kept me company through a week of holiday cleaning, cooking, and baking, and I think it's my favorite yet from the series.

Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis by Dave Maass & Patrick Lay

This comic is grim, funny, gory, and darkly poetic. It's impossible to read it without an awareness of the history of the script, which is based on a suppressed opera written in 1943 two prisoners at the Terezín concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. The authors did not live to see their play performed. Maass and Lay have done an impressive job transferring a story meant for the stage into a comic. The stars of the show are the characters of Life and Death who narrative and frame the story of a paranoid dictator in the fictional nation of Atlantis and his reign of terror against his own citizens.

The Cliff by Manon Debaye

This was beautifully illustrated but too sad and violent for me to enjoy reading. It's the story of a dysfunctional middle school friendship between two unhappy girls who make a suicide pact. This story will really hit for some readers but it wasn't for me.

Walkaway by Cory Doctorow

I really enjoyed this book, even thought I think it's more interesting as a collection of ideas than as a novel. The characters in the first third felt somewhat flat, and the dialog is often delivered in hefty paragraphs with minimal dialog tags. But the story picks up in the second half and by the end I was reading it daily in big chunks. The concepts this book explores are what really shine, especially the idea of walking away from capitalist society and living in self-sustaining communities without formal governments or laws. This novel contains some future technology which we don't currently have today including 3D printers which can print food, clothing, and building pieces for vehicles and housing and also internet interfaces implanted into people's bodies which allow them global network access from anywhere almost all the time. The nation state of Canada also seems to have fallen before the start of this novel, as most of the characters end up walking away from the US into northern Canada to find these alternate communities. I liked seeing Doctorow play out the clash between on faction wanting to run a group house as a meritocracy versus another group committed to allowing all members to work as much or little as they want to or can, for example. The book does not shy away from showing the violent crack down of the existing governments on these alternate communities. There are major character deaths. But the other big theme of the book is exploring the digital scanning and uploading of human consciousnesses to the web allowed people to walk away from death.

#maia kobabe #reading #book reviews #reading reviews #queer books

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xbomboi · 2 months

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Hi, hello, you’re stuff is absolutely amazing and all the praises.

(Seriously everything eah you’ve made so far feels so canon plausible it’s hard to believe, are you planning to make a career out of these skills/have one? You’d do amazing)

Onto a very generic question I would not be surprised might already be sitting in your inbox.

I am aware that your current project is to continue on ever after high with all the cannon (mostly the cartoon I think, but I can assume the books count too? And maybe doll boxes/diaries? It’s a lot).

If there was one subject you would want to rewrite or remove from canon entirely, what would it be (challenge would be to not name the disaster that is epic winter).

And on a lighter note, favorite/stuck-on-repeat part of the series (I’m sorry this ask is so long, Idnk how to shorten things)?

omg no this isn’t too long at all i’m actually so thrilled to be given something this long to look at!

for starters, in terms of continuing ever after high, my thing is that i want to follow the show canon above all, but i do want to conclude a lot of the stuff touched on in external media such as books and dairies etc. though in doing so i’m not going to treat anything that doesn’t come straight from the show as something to abide by completely. because the show and the books and what not have inconsistencies in numerous ways, such as defining what a royal/rebel is, or characterization, or even the novelizations of the specials having alternate tellings of the stories. i don’t even want to really necessarily change anything mentioned in the books when adapting it so much as ADD to the information provided in ways that aid the story in which i aim to tell.

i.e. the evil queen turning raven’s puppy Prince into a bone rat. what about Nevermore? where was she? WHEN was she? well i think the evil queen could have perhaps, upon feeling remorse, secretly gone and sought out a dragon for raven, and brought Nevermore home without telling raven it was her doing, so that she would have a new pet companion.

anywho, as for your actual questions, for the first one, i’m probably gonna have to go with the whole sequence in Way Too Wonderland when they’re going from class to class. see, when i first watched it, i got this feeling they were going to go from class to class and in each one a different girl in the group would demonstrate their strong point in solving how to pass the class.

if not that, i think i’d change who got to go and do the whole storybook page thing in Thronecoming. i think it should have just been the core four + ashlynn there, really. and less of them could have opened the door for more time getting to see briar seeing what raven’s point of view is like when faced with the reality of her story.

on a more basic note i’d just go back and make sure everyone were not introduced to from the start is actually there. at least, there for Legacy Day. they don’t have to talk or do anything, it would just be nice to know they were THERE.

anywho, in regards to your other question, that’s a tough one. i mean, i have a few. basic answer is raven’s Legacy Day declaration. it’s just iconic and a real powerful moment that shapes the narrative. i love it. there’s also pretty much all of briar’s scenes in Thronecoming. (and obviously her snapping at apple moment. that shit’s too funny.)

BUT also when raven signs the real book in Way Too Wonderland and gets that dark magic power up. i’m a sucker for fight scenes and especially ones with extra narrative weight, so i always appreciated that one + the aftermath of it. and when apple declares raven as a hero. it’s great.

thanks for the ask!

#eah #ever after high #raven queen #apple white #briar beauty #ask #ramble #duncontent

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wen-kexing-apologist · 4 months

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Love in the Big City: Part Four- Regret, Rain, Love, and Loss

Well, it’s official. Love in the Big City, Part Four may have been short but it cemented itself as my favorite portion of the book. I asked @antonhur when he was so graciously answering questions what his favorite scene in the book was, and I can see why he said when they were lying in the rain in Bangkok; Late Rainy Season Vacation indeed. When I first started this book, I was talking with a few mutuals like @bengiyo and @lurkingshan wondering how I would feel about Young by the end of this book, because I was not a huge fan of his character in Part One. But I have very much enjoyed seeing his progress across these parts. I said already in my post about Part One that my biggest struggle with Young and the thing I think primarily contributes to the change in his friendship with Jaehee is that he cannot be serious, he cannot, does not allow himself to feel. And in Part Four, he’s finally admitting to it.

“I was too late to put things back the way they’d been” “That is how my memories of him are preserved under glass, safe and pristine, forever apart from me” “I’ve no choice but to stand at arm’s length”

Part Four is my favorite part of this novel because Part Four is full of ghosts. Not only the ghost of Gyu-ho, but the ghost of all that came before. The rooftop party with Gyu-ho where he got plastered on whatever alcohol he could, where now he sits and drinks champagne, a ghost of both his relationship and the way he spent his college years. Going through Habibi’s wallet, a ghost of when he snuck a look at Hyung’s secrets all those years before. The text messages Young saw on Habibi’s phone about a family member with cancer, a ghost of his mother’s own diagnosis. Habibi himself, getting unexpectedly deep for only a moment before forcing the conversation away from anything real, a ghost of Young himself, and all the times he just could not bring himself to be open and honest with the people around him.

Just like learning about the HIV diagnosis recontextualizes everything that came before it (see a wonderful essay about that by @twig-tea here) ending this book with the admission that his only wish a year ago was for Gyu-ho recontextualizes my understanding of how aware Young was about his own modus operandi. I operated under a much different assumption that Young didn’t know what he had until it was gone, that Young was not aware of how far his fears ran, of how distant he had made himself. I assumed Part Four was where Young starts to realize himself the way he’d behaved in the past and how that contributed to the downfall of his relationship to Gyu-ho. But now I think he knew it all along and he just didn’t trust us enough to say it until the end. Because I’m not quite sure even by the end of this book Young trusts us enough to be completely honest.

I talked in my post for Part Three about HIV treatments and prevention methods, and mentioned Truvada, (generic name: emtricitabine-tenofovir) which is a pre-exposure prophylaxis medication that can be taken to prevent someone without HIV from getting HIV should they have an exposure. I mentioned there that at the time of Young’s relationship with Gyu-ho, Truvada was not available on the market in South Korea. But as it turns out, Teno-Em (tenofovir-emtricitibine), a generic PrEP medication, was available in Bangkok by 2015. In Part Four, Young describes going to a pharmacy and getting a generic medication, and he writes the errand in such a way as to make the whole thing seem shady. And maybe it was. But maybe he was just afraid, and that fear colored his own perceptions of what was going down:

My expectation had been that the place would be hidden away in some seedy alley, but it was right there on the main street. The interior was almost the same as any other pharmacy. I showed the pharmacist a picture of the generic version of what I needed. The pharmacist, if he really was a pharmacist, took out a bottle of pills and explained to us, in English, how they worked. He said that taking just one a day at a set time was enough to perfectly prevent the disease. He really said the word “perfectly.” How could he be so confident? He added that taking two of the pills before risky intercourse and then a pill every twenty-four hours for two more doses was enough to prevent transmission.

The facts are these: the pharmacy was on a main street, the pharmacy looked like a pharmacy, the pharmacist was able to explain how the medication worked, and the pill regimen for prevention was accurate to the pill regimen for PrEP.

Could they have still been shady? Sure. But I think it is far more likely that Young and his historically terrible experiences with medicine have colored his perception of healthcare and placed doubt in his head over the legitimacy of this medication. Which, learning that Young and Gyu-ho have unprotected sex in Bangkok, makes me wonder if Young’s doubts about the pharmacy added another reason for him to let Gyu-ho go to Shanghai alone, if the meds they got in Bangkok weren’t real, if they didn’t work, then he likely gave Gyu-ho HV.

Young talked about stains in this part, about permanency- the soy sauce on the mattress, the crack in the toilet and he talked about fleeting things- immediately losing the shape of Habibi’s face when he stepped outside the door, the lantern burning up and turning to ash with all the dreams, all the wishes Young had, or just the one. Regret seems to hold a permanent place in Young’s spirit, as does loss. Love is something I think he thought did not exist, or if it did then it was fleeting. He loved Jaehee and lost her, his first boyfriend died, the obsession he had over Hyung could only be described as dickmatized. But when he gave away Gyu-ho’s love, when he let Gyu-ho go to Shanghai alone, it was one of the few times in the entire novel we saw Young grieve. He fully collapsed under the weight of it all, barely leaving bed, not having the energy to maintain his typical routines, trying to root out the memories of Gyu-ho in his head by writing him out, and killing him over and over and over again.

I find myself stuck, thinking about what is perhaps my favorite line in the book:

“Sometimes his very existence to me is the existence of love itself”

Gyu-ho’s existence is Young’s idea of love; to kill Gyu-ho, to remove him from existence is to kill Young’s idea of love. “The made-up Gyu-ho in my writing got hurt or died many times, and is always resurrected, as if love saves his life- whereas the real Gyu-ho lives and breathes and keeps moving on.” Young’s regret is a permanency in his life, just as his love for Gyu-ho is a permanency. All he wished for was Gyu-ho, but Young’s inability to be honest, deeply, emotionally honest, all the fear, all the emptiness, all the pain got in the way. I am not a person who minds a melancholy end, regret, remorse, grief, love. These are all a part of life. The only thing I hope is that one day Young can lay down in the pouring rain and feel peace the way Gyu-ho did that day in Bangkok.

#litbc #litbc book club #love in the big city #love in the big city book club #very much looking forward to seeing these television adaptations #thank you to shan and ben for the brilliant idea to have a book club #it has been so much fun participating in this event!

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