#people are posting videos to the audio of the TORTURE SCENE??

[the-cooler-newton]

ain't no way they've made an audio adaptation of George Orwell's 1984. there's no way they cast Andrew Garfield and Tom Hardy. there's no way ANDREW SCOTT is playing O'BRIEN. THERES NO WAY IM GETTING VIDEOS OF PEOPLE ON TIKTOK REACTING TO HOW HOT ANDREW SCOTT IS AS O'BRIEN FROM 1984.

[your-subby-creature]

Intro Post:

Hi! I finally remembered to make one of these, let me know if I missed anything :^)

Last updated: 09/02/24

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Basics

Names: Creature or Hal/Halogen

Age: 20

Pronouns: he/it/pet/they

Gender: Genderqueer Trans Man

Interested in: anyone of any gender, especially other queer and trans people <3

Relationship status: Relationship Anarchist, single

Role: Submissive Verse (leaning bottom)

DNI: Minors, Pedos (MAPS/NOMAPS/PEARS),bestiality/zeta, bigots of any kind or those who fetishize them, ED / weight blogs, self-harm (SH) blogs, no age in bio/pinned, anyone who doesn't believe that consent is always and forever the highest priority

Non-kinky interests: queer & trans community and history, art, crochet, baking, podcasts, nonfiction books, disability and neurodiversity, paganism, psychology, language/linguistics, history (I'll love you forever and also never shut up if you ask me about my research <3)

What I look like: Since I don't post or send pictures I should probably describe myself. I'm a white 5'0" (152.4 cm) fat and invisibly disabled guy. I'm entirely hairless due to an autoimmune condition (alopecia!), have grey eyes, and wear glasses.

DMs: Open

Asks: Open

Taken Emoji Anons: 🐑, 🍯🐾, ☆, ✨️,🎀, 🦴, 🐺🦊🐶, 🦊🕳, 📸

Tags: #Creature originals (original posts), #Creature responds (asks) #Creature scenes (based on scenes in dms or requested) #Creature rambles (misc thoughts), #Creature Studies (academia), #Creature polls (polls) #Creature denial (denial challenges) #puppy playtime saga continues (exactly what it sounds like)

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Kinks

Favorites: cnc, obedience, (cock)worship, control, praise, (loving) degradation, humiliation, objectification, hypnosis, free use, training, pet names, pain, impact, bruising/marking, cockwarming, discipline, sexual torture, ownership, oral fixation, dehumanization, boywife, petplay, orgasm control, body writing, domesticity, cages, corruption, experimentation/scientist kink, anal,

Soft limits: blood, detrans/misgendering, light choking or breathplay, heavy piss, light burning, kidnapping, rimming, needles, bratting, wet and messy, lactation, vomit, primal chasing, spitting in my mouth, heartbeat/cardiophilia

Hard limits: Raceplay, scat, abdl, bestiality/zeta, snuff/gore, pregnancy / birthing, sissification/feminization, hard breathplay, drowning, real incest, feederism, guns, fat fetishism, bald fetishism, SH fetishism, ED fetishism, farts/eprocto, abandonment, fuckpig, sub/sub competition, prolapse, ocular trauma

Presume anything not listed above is something I am neutral to / okay with. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

My body: I am on T but have not had any surgery. Acceptable terms include chest, tits, slit, cunt, pussy, hole, (t)cock, (t)dick, and ___parts (e.g. puppy parts or needy parts, etc.)

Terms: I love masculine, neutral, or objectifying terms! Anything that is not explicitly feminizing (eg good girl, princess) is fine; whore, slut, cunt, and bitch are alright. Do not call me slurs without asking. Never use the words annoying, worthless, useless, or pig(gy) in reference to me.

Safewords: For scenes and role-playing I tend to use the stoplight system (green/yellow/red), but if asked for a unique personal safeword, I use "Fluoride"

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Interacting

Pictures / Videos: DO NOT ASK ME FOR PICTURES OR VIDEOS. Presume that I will NEVER send them unless I initiate and explicitly ask your consent to send them. However, feel free to send me any pictures or videos of yourself or of things you find hot (as long as it's all legal and consensual and doesn't violate my limits.)

Audios: I MIGHT send audios with your consent during role-play through a Vocaroo link that I will delete once the scene ends. This is subject to my own judgement, but you are always welcome to ask. You are free to send any (legal, consensual, limit-abiding) audio whenever you'd like.

Calls: Presume that I WILL NOT call you (yes, even on platforms where I don't have to give out my number) unless I initiate and explicitly ask. This is due to privacy concerns and is non-negotiable.

Asks: Asks are open and I love them! I'll always try to answer them, unless they directly violate one of my limits or ask me to doxx myself in some way.

Messages: Anyone is free to message me! I will always try to respond unless it goes against one of my limits, and I reserve the right to stop messaging at any time. Feel free to role-play, scene with me, etc. You get one strike on misgendering me in messages (e.g. "good girl") before the scene immediately stops and you most likely get blocked.

Role-play, flirting, or scenes: Within the confines of my limits and the understanding that either of us can stop or revoke consent at ANY TIME, feel free to role-play, flirt, or scene with me. Please note: I am autistic and have a tendency to unmask during scenes where I'm being given orders to enact IRL. For me this means following certain patterns of typing, taking instructions literally, and requiring clear directions.

Meet-ups: I WILL NOT meet up with you. Non-negotiable.

[mediamonarchy]

https://mediamonarchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240516_MorningMonarchy.mp3 Download MP3 Tortured pig heart’s department, dead propaganda and single white females + this day in history w/the NXIVM sex cult exposed and our song of the day by Wolfgang Valbrun on your #MorningMonarchy for May 16, 2024. Notes/Links: Image: I heard you talking about animals eating or using what they need, we have a goat mineral selection and they only eat what they need https://mediamonarchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/goat_mineral_selection-scaled.jpg Rat remains found in bread sparks Japan recall and refunds https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c51n0p14y1lo ‘Imminent danger’: Emergency declaration issued due to spongy moth infestation in Washington; Spongy moths can defoliate an entire forest if the population is left unchecked. https://www.king5.com/article/tech/science/environment/gov-inslee-issues-emergency-declaration-spongy-month-infestation/281-2be3305f-990e-4bb3-8e62-0f26ab2b7f7a Video: Dr. Jones’s Flea Repellent Solution: 3 Simple Ingredients for an Effective and All-Natural Solution https://youtu.be/FBm58Y3vDic Bug Off Garlic Chewables for Dogs; Celebrating more than 26 years of natural bug protection! https://www.springtimeinc.com/product/bug-off-garlic-chewables-dogs-natural-flea-tick-prevention-supplements/Natural- Bird never seen in US, the blue rock thrush, reportedly spotted on Oregon coast https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/29/blue-rock-thrush-bird-sighting-oregon/73498637007/ Bear dragged Massachusetts car crash victim’s body from vehicle https://nypost.com/2024/05/07/us-news/bear-dragged-car-crash-victims-body-from-scene-cops/ First recipient of genetically modified pig kidney dies: hospital https://insiderpaper.com/first-recipient-of-genetically-modified-pig-kidney-dies-hospital/ Video: First-ever pig-to-human kidney transplant (Audio) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9ZyWUo36pc Apparition Factcheckers: Vatican to publish updated norms for investigating alleged apparitions https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/05/10/vatican-marian-apparitions-miracles-document-247902 Discharged US Marine Threatened to Target White People in Mass Shooting, Feds Say https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/discharged-us-marine-threatened-to-target-white-people-in-mass-shooting-feds-say-5649762 Neom: Saudi forces ‘told to kill’ to clear land for eco-city; An ex-intelligence officer tells the BBC he was permitted to shoot dead those resisting eviction https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68945445 New Mexico man shoots stepmom as she tried to give him hug during graduation ceremony: police; The woman was at a graduation ceremony for her son, when her stepson arrived and shot her in the neck https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-mexico-man-shoots-stepmom-tried-give-him-hug-during-graduation-ceremony-police-say Video: “As Prime Minister of Slovakia, I can tell you that we are going to look into these politicians and their meaningless purchases of medical devices and vacc*nes.” (Audio) https://vxtwitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1790747664247660767 Slovakia Shocks the World: New Prime Minister Rejects Signing the WHO Pandemic Treaty https://vigilantnews.com/post/slovakia-shocks-the-world-new-prime-minister-rejects-signing-the-who-pandemic-treaty/ Slovakia’s prime minister shot and gravely injured in ‘attempted assassination’ https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/slovakia-s-prime-minister-shot-and-gravely-injured-in-attempted-assassination/ar-BB1mr6V7 Mom Accused of Throwing 6-Year-Old Son with Disabilities into Canal to Be Eaten by Crocodiles; The child’s body was recovered the next day https://people.com/mom-accused-throwing-son-canal-eaten-crocodiles-8644765 On Camera, 11-Year-Old Pune Boy Dies After Cricket Ball Hits His Genitals https://www.ndtv.com/pune-news/on-camera-11-year-old-pune-boy-dies-after-cricket-ball-hits-his-genitals-5600231 Can you die from getting hit in the testicles? https://www.quora.com/Can-you-die-from-getting-hit-in-the-testicles Boy, 17, dies after bein...

[famouserialkillers]

Documentary Post

Have you ever wondered about the motivations behind the serial killer and the whole background story of the crimes they committed? Joe Berlinger's documentary is called Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy tapes. Let one of America's most heinous and vicious serial killers speak his own tale. The television show chronicles serial killer John Wayne Gacy's murderous rampage, during which he killed at least 33 adolescent boys and young men. Between 1972 and 1978, this took place in Chicago, Illinois. Unheard audio records from Gacy's early years and thoughts are presented in this documentary. Incorporates interviews with specialists, survivors, and other people who have some connection to the case. Gacy was one of several serial killers who emerged in the 1970s, but he is among the scariest due in part to the fact that he appeared to be an average man, if not a cornerstone of his community. 

The murders perpetrated by John Wayne Gacy are detailed in this documentary. explains in full his past, the disappearance of the young boys, and the killing techniques. Gacy explains his perspective on the events and his intentions in the videotapes. Gacy also gives graphic descriptions of the horrific torture he subjected these victims too. In an interview with his criminal defense lawyer, Bob Motta, Gacy said: "He was absolutely a sociopath, And  his inability to have any kind of empathy was chilling."

I found this documentary to be quite eye-opening. When it comes to comprehending John Wayne Gacy's entire backstory, documentaries are a big aid. I was able to hear the serial killer talking and see pictures of the crime scenes in person. I could understand a lot about him from the interviews just by how he spoke and how he explained his actions. By the time the video is over, I have a complete understanding of his reasons for doing what he did, how he tortured his victims, and how his mind worked while doing it. Also, I paid close attention to the videotapes so that I could study the strategies and questions that the attorneys and prosecutors used to confront him.

This documentary featured interviews with John Wayne Gacy as well as images of the crime scenes and graphic details of the murders. The audience may experience a wide range of emotions as a result of acquiring all this knowledge and seeing it visually. Also, because this documentary is based on real occurrences, viewers may experience emotions such as sadness, fear, disgust, hatred, and suspense. This film's mission is to educate the public about the crimes done by John Wayne Gacy. It is devastating to read that these boys' lives were taken while they were innocent. These graphic facts and images are included in the video to make the viewer more emotionally invested in the story. In addition, Gacy never expressed regret for his behavior in any of the interviews. You are learning how someone killed another individual, therefore feeling the emotions stated above feels very normal.

After watching this documentary and considering all the material, the information in this video is reliable and accurate. The reason is that it tells the killer's story through contemporary interviews and audio recordings of those discussions. The fact that this documentary is based on actual occurrences is another plus. Photos of the victims, crime scenes, and John Wayne Gacy's home were shown.

This documentary paid close attention to the specifics of the John Wayne Gacy case. Which worked well since it gave the audience a clearer comprehension of the entire back story. Now, the story is told through previously unheard archived audio recordings made while Gacy was in prison, interviews with those connected to the case, and testimony from one of the surviving victims. The director also shows some incredibly gruesome old footage of police removing bodies from the killer's buried them in the crawlspace at Gacy's suburban Chicago home. According to Berlinger, the excavation film is extremely terrible and has never been seen before. "We discussed how much of that excavation film should be used, but we believed it needed to be there in order to convey the tragedy of what was happening below." This documentary unequivocally demonstrates what a monster John Wayne Gacy is as a person. The creators achieved this by giving the public access to such gory facts and by demonstrating how Gacy would behave.

[travllingbunny]

Clarke Griffin’s memories and images in her mindspace

 In this post I will list all the drawings from Clarke's mindspace seen in season 6 of The 100 (in episodes 6x06, 6x07 and 6x10) that we have been able to spot - most of which (over 90 of them! Yes, this is gonna be a long post) we've been able to identify, with image comparisons to scenes from the show. 

First, credit where credit is due: this idea first came from @ofnailbatsandaxefives who identified many of the drawings and made a bunch of side to side comparisons last year after 6x07 aired in this post. 

I later tried to identify the rest of the drawings, with the help of a few people here and on Twitter (rewatching the show also helped), but this resulted in an endless number of reblogs. Episode 6x10 Matryoshka also had more drawings that weren't in 6x07 Nevermind, some images were misindentified, and I decided to redo all the images with better resolution screencaps. 

Big thanks to everyone who helped in identifying some of the trickier images (many of them are on Twitter and I don’t know if they have Tumblr profiles), especially (Twitter handles) SheiGarche (who identified several of these and corrected some of my mistakes), Lovestory813, BellarkeMood, taunadora, becki_travels, fabiana_vec, indreamswake, KindZouzou and my Tumblr mutual @jeanie205​ (I’m sorry if I forgot anyone).

See also my earlier post about Sets, props and costumes in 6x07 Nevermind.

As a BONUS in addition to the images on Clarke’s memory wall, I’ll also go over audio flashbacks heard at the end of 6x06, in 6x07 and 6x10 -  as a mix of voices representing Clarke’s jumbled memories. Many of them can be heard and identified in the episodes, but special thanks to (Twitter user) klarksbell for removing the background sounds from the scenes so some of the background voices could be heard clearer. 

(In a follow-up post. I’ll go over Clarke's drawings from her Shallow Valley home in season 5, which we also saw in the mindspace version of her Shallow Valley home in her happy place; and those we saw in season 5, many of which overlap as the set was re-used for 6x07. I’ve also noticed that the art department used many of these drawings for the drawings representing Clarke’s memories on her mindspace wall.)

Before I start listing the moments from Clarke’s memory wall - her mindspace version of the actual cell in Skybox she used to be locked in on the Ark - let’s compare the two different versions of this wall. The first one was seen in the very last scene of 6x06 Memento Mori - where we first learned Clarke was still alive (yeah, yeah, of course no one really bought it that she was dead ;) but it was still such a Hell yeah moment) and in 6x07 Nevermind.

But when we saw Clarke in her mindspace again in 6x10 Matryoshka, the walls were different: there were at least 3 new images that weren’t seen in 6x07, and many other images were moved around and placed in different ways. Which does make sense, as Clarke’s mindspace was reacting to her states of mind, so we should probably assume it was always changing, with different memories being more or less prominent at any given time. 

And finally here are the identified images with side-by-side comparisons. Some were obvious and taken straight from the scenes (I've been told there's a software for that), others are a bit less straightforward (and several of them were also seen as Clarke's drawings in season 5).

I'm going to do them chronologically, not by episode but by when those things happened in Clarke's life. 

Starting with the image of Clarke and Wells as children on the Ark (confirmed by Jason Rothenberg on Twitter). The closest thing in the show is the video of them Jaha watched in 1x12.

The next one was tricky as it's not a scene from the show either. It was first misidentified as Clarke watching what ALIE showed her in 3x16, nuclear plants melting on Earth, but that scene is shown in another drawing. It shows a young girl watching the Earth from the Ark.  We've decided that this is young Clarke on the Ark. I used the Octavia flashback scene from 1x06 for comparison to show this is a window on the Ark and a view from there (not because it's the same scene - which it can't be,as this wouldn’t be Clarke’s memory). But the girl looks younger and is touching the window as if yearning for Earth.

Flashbacks in 1x03, a year before the Pilot: Abby and Jake during the happy times; Jake when Clarke overheard him tell Abby that Ark was dying and he'd go public with it; Wells when Clarke told him about it.

1x01 - there are more images from the Pilot than from any other episode.

The first scene of the show - the image on the floor in the mindspace version of Clarke's cell in Skybox is the same image she drew on the floor of her actual cell.

This portrait of Abby seems to represent the next scene where Abby told Clarke she was being sent to Earth. When the camera zoomed on it in 6x06, we heard the dialogue from that scene over it ("Clarke, I love you so much!" -  "Mom?")

When the camera zoomed on this pic of Wells on the dropship in 6x07, we heard Wells' voice saying "Welcome back" as he did in that scene. 

I've been told that the inscription from the Ark we see below is a Chinese proverb that means, more or less, "A friend in need is a friend indeed".

"We're back bitches!" twice - the second is from Clarke's POV. The first one was one of the drawings Josephine touched and we (and Josephine) heard an audio flashback of it and this, uh, memorable line. 

Mount Weather - the first time Clarke saw it, after landing. 

 I spot the same image among Clarke's drawings we saw in her Shallow Valley home in season 5, though it was really tiny in the background.

More scenes from the Pilot:

1x03

It's a pity that the plan to have Eli Goree guest star in 6x07 didn't work out, but at least we had many Wells images and even in the voice memories - I clearly heard Clarke telling him "How can you forgive me?"/"I blamed you because my father's dead and it's my mother's fault."

1x04 Finn with one of the pencils from the shelter he found, trying to impress Clarke. 

1x05 Brief time of Clarke being happy and infatuated, right before Raven arrived and her heart got broken for the first time.

There was a bit of disagreement about this Bellamy image (or images). It shows up as a part of the drawing of him torturing Lincoln in the scene from 1x07 on one of the walls, but it also appears on its own on the ceiling:

@SheiGarche believes that, since this appears as a part of the Lincoln torture scene, the Bellamy image must be from that episode. However, while the rest of the scene 100% matches the 1x07 scene, Bellamy's image doesn't match - in posture or expression - anything from that episode.   On the other hand, especially when you look at the Bellamy image on its own, as it is on the ceiling, it looks most like a drawing based on the scene from 1x02 - "I heard you have a gun''...

I think that the ceiling drawing represents season 1 Bellamy in general, and was drawn based on the 1x02 scene. OTOH, the art department made the 1x07 image from the 1x07 scene but couldn't get a good Bellamy angle so they edited in that same Bellamy image in. You decide.

https://youtu.be/Cj37TWjBwvE?t=59

A Raven portrait, which is probably not about any particular scene (some images just represent certain characters), but it most closely matches this love-triangle moment from 1x08. 

The same portrait was seen as one of Clarke's drawings in season 5.

1x09 - negotiations with Anya and the Grounders on the bridge. Also the first time Clarke has ever seen horses in real life.

1x13 

Probably some of the Grounder warriors who got burned in the Ring of Fire, but this scene clearly indicated that Clarke was thinking about closing the door on Finn and Bellamy and that they may have been burned.

2x01

This image gave us so much trouble, until it turned out it was just a random woman from Mount Weather who yelled "CONTAINMENT BREACH!" when Clarke entered the mess hall dragging Maya and saw all the people sitting there.

Another one of character portraits that are probably not important for any particular scene or moment. But going by Miller's hair and facial hair, it can only be season 2 Miller at the time he and Clarke were both in MW (this is from 2x02).

Ending of 2x02:

2x03 - Escape from Mount Weather

2x04 Anya after Clarke beat the crap out of her and managed to win their fight. "You fought well".

Now a few more character portraits. This image of Raven with a brace doesn't 100% fit a scene from the show, but it looks a lot like this promo pic of her - except for her red jacket, which she wore in 2x05 when Clarke first saw her with a leg brace.

Since Jaha has a beard and hair, it can only be from season 2 or 3, which limits it to 2x07 or 3x16, the only times he and Clarke were in the same place. I used 2x07 image of non-chipped Jaha, when he came to Camp him and argued for Arkers leaving, pitting him against Clarke,as this would’ve meant abandoning her friends to their fate in MW.

Portrait of Indra - also probably not about any particular scene, but it looks like their first meeting in 2x07. It was also among Clarke's drawings in season 5.

2x08  This image is one of the few that were not seen on the memory wall in 6x07, but appeared in 6x10.  Maybe it's because the ALIE projection said in 6x07 her most painful memories were not on the wall - and the scene of Clarke killing Finn was only seen represented in her dark place by the pole and knife. Maybe she was able to process some of those memories better by 6x10?

2x09 Raven holding Finn’s dead body

This profile of Lexa is probably not from any particular scene, but a general image of the warrior leader/ally Lexa from S2. I used the scene of her making a speech in 2x15, but there were scenes in 2x09 (like when she told Clarke that Love is weakness) that looked similar.

2x10 Well, an attack by giant mutant gorilla would be pretty memorable to anyone.

2x11 I previously thought this image of people in radiation suits (also seen among Clarke's drawings in S5) was from 4x12/13, but looking more closely, now I think these are Mount Weather Ground unit guards - specifically, are Emerson and the other Mountain Man who tried to assassinate Clarke in 2x11. The outfits, helmets, guns are the closest match.

2x12 Clarke's guilt over letting the MW missile drop on the people in Tondc was referenced not just in 6x07 when her projection of Octavia called her out on writing her off there, but also in 6x10: 

Josephine: I wasn't always like this. 

Clarke: I know the feeling. I mean, look around you.

*Josephine looks at this big image on the wall*

2x15 - breaching the Mount Weather door

I'm about 95% sure that this picture of Lexa is her betrayal in 2x15.

2x16:

 "Together" - "Together"

3x01 The most important character in the show! LOL

...seriously though, this little bunny (? who looks more like a squirrel in the drawing?) that Clarke used as a bait to catch a panther, stands for the 3 months Clarke spent in wilderness.

The only image of Niylah on the wall. It's the scene when she lied to protect Clarke when Roan and a bounty hunter came looking for her.

Another character portrait not related to a specific scene, and another one that was seen as one of Clarke's drawings hanging in her Shallow Valley home in S5. Going by the hair and beard, it's seasons 3-4 Kane, so I used the scene of his and Abby's meeting with Clarke in 3x03.

3x04

3x07 - there are 3 images of Lexa from this episode

Lexa smiling during the talk in which she asked Clarke to stay - this is the most prominent of the images of Lexa (one of the images that appear multiple times on the wall + had a flashback). Seems these softer moments are larger in Clarke's mind than warrior/leader Lexa.

The second most prominent image of Lexa (one of the pictures the camera zoomed in on in 6x06, when we also heard the dialogue among the audio memories - "Can we talk about something else?" - "We don't have to talk at all").

and Lexa right after she was shot by Titus.

3x11 What turned out to be the most important of all Clarke's memories, as it contained info on the neural mesh and how Raven was freed from ALIE and that Clarke has to remove from the wall and hide from Josephine.

3x13  Luna, refusing the Flame

3x15 When Clarke didn't break and give ALIE the password and it almost cost her her mother's life. This drawing was previously misidentified as Murphy being hanged in S1 - some thought there were two hanging scenes, but there's just one and it's clearly indoors.

3x16 - there are several scenes from the City of Light. Including the image of the COL itself. You can see even see the tiny figures of Lexa and the people she's fighting.

What ALIE showed Clarke: the Earth, full of nuclear plants melting, telling her about the upcoming Praimfaya.

Clarke pulling the kill switch and destroying COL

One of the first things Clarke saw after returning from the City of Light was Murphy is one of his most heroic moments - pumping Ontari's heart so Clarke could take the Flame.

4x01 

 This one seems a bit random: it's a moment when Indra came and hugged Kane while Octavia, Clarke, Bellamy and Abby were already there in the Grounder shrine - but I think it's important as the scene when they all discussed what to do in the situation and Clarke told them all about Praimfaya.

Roan, after agreeing to an alliance because of Praimfaya, giving a public speech in Polis to say that 'an attack against the 13th clan is an attack on all of us'.

The drawing of Arkadia is another one that was hanging in Clarke's Shallow Valley home in season 5 - and was also seen in the mindspace version of that home in 6x07. I used a scene from 4x03.

4x04 There are 3 scenes from this episode, and all of them have to do with Jasper. The first two are two of Jasper's pranks: "floating" Jaha, and the prank Jasper pulled on Clarke. But the mood of the latter got ruined because he had already found the List before Clarke came in. (Josephine touched this drawing briefly in 6x07 and we heard the audio flashback: (Monty: "Clarke, wait..." - Clarke: "Really?" )

And what happened right after, in the same scene, when Jasper started telling everyone present about the List. (Jasper's angry comments can also be heard clearly among the mix of voices at the beginning of 6x07 - more about that later)

The portrait of Emori is probably from 4x07, when they had their first major interaction. It was also one of Clarke's drawings that could be glimpsed in the background in S5.

Skip the next one if you don't want to see an image of a person dying a gruesome and painful death in a radiation chamber.

4x08 The unfortunate Grounder thief from the Rock Line clan whose name we never learned, at the moment of his death.

4x10  Octavia in the Conclave - more of a symbolic representation (with the sigils around her). This was a very prominent drawing in Clarke's sketchbook that we saw a couple of times in season 5. 

4x11 Another one of the 3 images that weren't seen in 6x07 but were in the second version of the memory wall, in 6x10 - Clarke pointing a gun at Bellamy to stop him from opening the bunker door, before she broke down and cried. The drawing even shows Clarke’s hand with a gun.

4x12 the rocket in Becca's lab

4x13  Clarke being left behind in Praimfaya and watching her friends leave while she was aligning the satellite dish so they could get to the Ring and survive. 

This was also another prominent drawing from Clarke's sketchbook we saw in season 5.

There's another scene from 4x13, but that one happens 6 years later, so I'll come back to it later...

5x01 Post-Praimfaya

Polis was Clarke's destination after she left Becca's lab - trying and failing to open the door of the bunker after the temple had collapsed on it. Then realizing she'll be alone for at least 5 years.

Then she went to Arkadia, where she only found "ghosts" - the chest with Maya's music player, Jasper's goggles and his letter to Monty (as we saw in the flashback in Clarke's "dark place", where the chest played an important role).

The bird that kind of tried to eat Clarke (?), showed Clarke where Eden was, and then got thanked, shot and eaten by Clarke.

Shallow Valley

This image is both a memory of 6 year old Madi (not the moment they met, but when Clarke was drawing her while she was fishing), of Clarke drawing her and of the drawing she made and gave Madi to make friends with her.

Madi and Clarke, but some 6 years later.  This image was prominent of at the beginning of 6x07 when we saw a flashback of it when Clarke touched it ("I'm sorry they left without you" - "If I was with them, I never would've met you").

4x13 - 2199 days after Praimfaya: Gagarin transport ship, the moment when Clarke saw it clearly and realized it wasn't the ship she was hoping for ("Never mind, I see you"), but one to be afraid of.

5x03 - Makes snse that images of Diyoza, Shaw and McCreary are all from the episode where they captured and tortured Clarke.

5x04 

Bellamy reuniting with Clarke. 

Coming out of the bunker. 

 5x06  - Madi watching Octavia practice. 

5x09 - There were quite a few changes between the memory wall in 6x07 and 6x10, and the most obvious one was seen right after Clarke woke up in her mindspace - the big image of Bellamy when Octavia arrested him and right before Clarke left him at her mercy in Polis.

5x12 - This is one of the rare drawings that doesn’t fully represent a memory correctly as Clarke saw it. But it makes sense to me that Clarke remembers it this way - seeing Madi in pain when she zapped the shock collar to stop her from leaving and going to war. But in fact, the screenshot shows Madi shocked that Clarke put a shock collar on her. Clarke closed her eyes and had her back turned to Madi, because she couldn’t watch it when she actually zapped the shock collar,  and only heard her scream.

This was another drawing Josephine touched and had a flashback of (we  heard Madi screaming and Clarke saying “I won’t let you die in this war”), commenting "Child abuse dressed up as protection!"

5x13 - Clarke pulling the lever to close the door of the Gagarin ship, after waiting until the last moment for Bellamy to come in, closing the door after Bellamy, Monty, Emori and Murphy were inside and the missiles were already hitting the Earth.

One last image. It's clearly Madi, and with the horizontal placement of the drawing, I thought it was Clarke putting Madi in cryo. But it turns out the same image - only vertical - was one of her drawings she had in Shallow Valley in season 5... so, I don't know.

There are other images that we couldn't link to anything specific or weren't sure. Mostly locations, objects and nature images.   1) A forest? 2) Waterfall/rocky shore? 3) Rubble?) 

If anyone identifies any of them or notice other images or anything else, I’ll be editing and reblogging this post.

BONUS - audio memories

ending scene of 6x06

Lines I can hear:

over the image of Abby: Abby and Clarke in 1x01: "Clarke, I love you so much!" - "Mom?" 

 "I'm scared"? - this line can be heard clearly but I don’t know who it is. It sounds like a child, but I don’t thin Madi or Charlotte ever said it.

Finn in 1x01 when they see the deer: "No animals, eh?"

Madi in 5x11: "I love you, Clarke" (the entire line was “...but we’re on the wrong side of this war”

Clarke to Wells in 1x03, after learning the truth: "How can you forgive me?"

Madi to Clarke in 5x01, during the scene by the fire: "I'm sorry they left without you."

Bellamy trying to convince Clarke not to leave in 2x16 “You don’t have to do this alone”.

Clarke to Madi in 5x12, as she puts a shock collar on her: "I will not let you die in this war!" 

over the image of Lexa in bed with Clarke - Lexa and Clarke in 3x07: "Can we talk about something else?” - We don't have to talk at all." 

over the image of Bellamy: Bellamy to Lincoln in 1x07: "You're gonna give us the antidote or you're gonna wish you had". Other lines whispered in the background:

Bellamy in 2x16: "(If you want forgiveness) I'll give that to you" 

Bellamy during his reunion with Clarke in 5x04: "Clarke, you saved us all."

 "This is how we get to peace" (sounds like Bellamy but Clarke was the one who actually said it in 5x08)

Bellamy in 1x07: "Who we are and who we have to be to survive are two different things."

opening scene of 6x07

Clarke to Wells in 1x03: “I blamed you because my father’s dead and it’s my mother’s fault” (heard while Clarke is looking at the wall with the image of her parents, among others)

 (over the image of Wells) Bellamy: “Who else knows about this?” (in 1x04, when Clarke realized one of the Delinquents had killed Wells)

(also over the image of Wells) Wells: “Welcome back!” (1x01)

 (over the image of Roan & Lexa fighting in 3x04: “It’s always something with you!” – Roan to Clarke in 4x01 

we also hear Lexa’s and Roan’s grunts during their fight

(over the two images of Madi) Madi (5x11): “I love you, Clarke” 

Madi screaming when Clarke zaps the shock collar in 5x12

Two angry lines by Jasper are overlapping as the camera slides from Lexa to Bellamy:  

as we see Lexa in focus: “Truth hurts” - Jasper in 3x11, after ALIE!Raven blamed her for the deaths of Jake, Wells, Finn & Lexa

 as we see Bellamy in focus: “I found your list. I guess we know who really matters to you” (Jasper in 4x04)

Madi in 5x12: “I’m not a child anymore, Clarke. I’m the Commander, and my people are dying”

(ETA) Jasper yelling “We are Apogee!” and Clarke, Octavia, Monty and Finn yelling happily with him, just before he gets speared in the Pilot

Clarke in 3x11: “I let her get to me.”

the flashback to Madi and Clarke by the fire in 5x01 “I’m sorry they left without you” - “If I was with them, I never would have met you” 

more of Jasper’s ranting in 3x11: “I was going to save everyone!” (talking about his plans in 2x16 to kill Cage)

flashback to the Pilot, as we see the drawing on the floor: “Prisoner 319, face the wall!”  Some of the lower volume lines in the background, which can only be identified after the background noise was removed:

Bellamy to Clarke in 3x11, after ALIE!Raven had made her lost it: “I’ll let her beat me up for a while.” 

ALIE-controlled Raven yelling “Let me go!” in 3x11, when she’s trying to find out the location and help ALIE, and everyone grabs her and subdues her

Octavia in 2x16: “I know where my loyalties lie!” 

Bellamy in 5x09, when he brought Madi to see Clarke in her cell: “Clarke, this isn’t goodbye”.

I also hear someone yelling "Octavia!", and mentions of Jasper’s and Jaha’s names.

Josephine and Clarke  in 6x07 

Josephine touching images and we hear flashbacks of scenes from 1x01 (”We’re back, bitches!), 5x12 (Madi screaming when Clarke puts a shock collar and Clarke saying “I won’t let you die in this war”) and 4x04 (”Clarke, wait...” - “Really?” when Clarke got covered in foam as Jasper pranked her). There are many other whispered lines I don't recognize.

In 6x10, however, everything was mixed up -  Clarke's and Josephine's memories were all mashed up, because the boundaries between their minds were disappearing - so it’s pretty much impossible to make out anything. But Clarke’s memories are probably the same mix as in 6x07, because I can still hear Wells saying "Welcome back". 

If anyone notices something I did not, please tell - I will edit this post with any new info!

[animatedminds]

What If: Every Character In Dragonball FighterZ Had a Dramatic Finish? (Pt. 1)

Consider this a nerdy thought experiment. I’m a big Dragonball fan, and a big FighterZ fan, and anyone who is either probably knows well by know what Dramatic Finishers are: in one of the most amazing steps of fanservice in recent memory, Arcsys created intricate animated adaptations of some of Dragonball’s greatest moments, which can be triggered in special situations. Huge explosions, great comebacks, cool ends to some of the series hypest fights.

But it gets you thinking - and its something that a lot of fans have asked since the game started: which if X or Y character had a Dramatic Finish, instead of the select few who have some in the current build?

Well, over the next few days we’re going to figure that out. With DLC on the way bringing us a brand new and thoroughly expected Finish for Kefla, this seemed like a great time to do it. Now, let’s be clear: this isn’t an attempt to say that all of these characters should get a Dramatic Finish. Arcsys’ style of animation these days is very intricate and extremely time consuming, which makes any new animation something of a godsend in the first place. As a result, not only are most of the characters who don’t already have one probably not going to get one, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them weren’t ever considered at all. This is more as a hypothetical: if these characters were considered, what would their Finishes be? What references would be best for them, to give cool moments from Dragonball history? To give another note, for this the point is to ensure every character gets an appearance in a Dramatic Finish. Not necessarily a win (that’s simply not possible for everyone). Some of these characters are going to have losses listed. Some might even have to make due with Dramatic Openings instead. For the most part, we won’t be assuming the existence of any characters who aren’t currently in the game: it has to be within the current roster.

You can listen along to the entire list right now if you don’t want to read a wall of text over the course of several day: just check out the track on Soundcloud! It’s everyone from the beginning to the end of the roster, with dulcet tones and some neat Dragonball music.

But... if you don’t have the time to hear nerd talk for twenty minutes, go ahead: we’re skipping the ones who already have one - I mention them all on the audio even though I still skip them, just for completeness (and so people don’t ask me why I didn’t think of other ones for existing characters) and in order to make quips - but this is going to be shorter.

Part 1, we’ll go over the first three characters - mostly the Dragonball era with one addition - and so the first character to not to have a Dramatic Finish is...

Tien (or Tenshinhan, depending on your version)

Tien spends a lot of time away from the plot - unlike most of the cast, when he’s not there to do something significant he’s typically just absent, only appearing when he does. However, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have options for a Finish: far from it. I can think of at least two that would make decent choices.

The first is probably the one everyone thinks of when they think of Tien: the moment where stalls Cell with the Kikoho, blasting him into the dirt repeatedly to give 18 and 16 time to escape. It’s a classic epic scene with Tien, and one that a lot of people remember:

A couple caveats with this one: first being that this wasn’t actually a Finish - Cell gets ups just fine afterwards - but if Base Goku’s Finish against Freeza is any indication, that’s not necessarily a problem if the scene is a strong enough moment. The other is that the version of Cell that this happens to - Semi-Perfect Cell - is not strictly in the game: its Perfect Cell. But the game has cheated with this as well in the past. The stage this would happen, however, is already in the game - so no problems there.

It’s not hard to  see how this would work. The typical Dramatic Finish beginning, Cell  looks up and finds Tien already above him, ready to rain Kikohos down  upon him. The way I see this working best is similar to those infamous  Quan Chi and Chronika fatalities in the Mortal Kombat series - the ones  that don’t ever actually end, they just keep going over and over until  the players ends or (more likely for this game) the screen transitions  to the next on its own. Here, you could have Tien just keep Kikohoing  again and again until the Victory Marquee comes up on its own. Very funny, very epic.

The second idea, however, is one I think is  better reference for Tien himself - one of the classic moments from when  his character was more current: the time he narrowly defeated Kid Goku  at the Tenkaichi Budokai:

Albeit without the blowing up the stage on this one.

This fight involved Goku and Tien going at it in midair: Tien able to fly, while Goku couldn’t at the time - they end up plummeting to the ground, but only one is able to avoid a ring out. It’s another one with that same caveat: Kid Goku is technically not in the game, but GT Goku is basically the same character with  few additions, so he can easily be used as a stand-in. This one would also give the World Martial Arts Tournament stage something special, which it doesn’t have yet.

For this, have the fight continue into the scene - a la Super Broly’s - and end up in midair, where they both start to lose steam. Goku knocks Tien down, but Tien is able to knock Goku away. A fun extra they could do is - since the original version had Goku fall into a highway and get his by a car - do like the Jiren Finish and change stages in the middle of the scene, ending at the City. Goku crashes (complete with car, for fun), Tien doesn’t, and the latter enjoys a weary victory pose. Next up:

Piccolo (or if you know what moment I’m thinking of already, Piccolo Jr)

Piccolo, while he’s always around in roles of semi-importance, is another who was phased out of a major slot in favor of stronger rivals and later characters. But he’s always good for a least one awesome moment per arc, and there’s one major scene in particular that I think would be perfect for a Dramatic Finish:

The end of his fight against Goku at the World Martial Arts tournament.

This scene is actually - to me - a no brainer: it and the moment against Piccolo Daimao where the moments where the series really started getting into having villain defeats with built-up, dramatic physical conclusions, and the defeat of Piccolo Jr in particular was the culmination of everything that came before it. I was actually surprised that when Base Goku was released, and this moment wasn’t added in addition to the Saiyan Saga content: I was at least expecting moments from this fight to be represented in Base Goku’s moveset, as it features such identifiable things to draw from. Either way, there are two moments from this fight that would work in a Finish - the second, incidentally, happens immediately after the first, but either would work. The first being what the Budokai games eventually named the “Meteor Combination” - where Goku seems to defeat Piccolo once and for all after blocking his ultimate attack.

Not going to lie, this ranks pretty high one my personal list of the best action sequences in the entire franchise - it’s pictured above for a reason - and I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t find a video clip with the whole bit beforehand with Piccolo’s explosive attack as well.

It’s a triumphant turnaround, a very dramatic conclusion with a lot of flow and weight, and would be perfect animated in a Dramatic finish. Plus, it’s another that gives the Tournament stage some content. You could either have it begin like Cell’s Dramatic Finish - where Piccolo attempts an attack (the Destructive Wave, in this case), only for Goku to turn it around, or you could simply have Goku go straight into the attack, knocking Piccolo to the ground and finishing with a titanic Kamehameha from above.

As I said before, it’s a little surprising they didn’t add it in some way already. End it with a thumbs up to the camera, like in the original scene, and you’re gold. Or...

The moment right after, where it turns out Piccolo is just faking his defeat, and turns it around only to be defeated by Goku in the end anyway:

This is the infamous one where Piccolo tortures Goku, but that doesn’t have to fully be in the Finish. In this one, you would start the Dramatic Finish with Piccolo getting knocked down, and Goku giving that thumbs up I was telling you about... but then Piccolo hops up and blasts Goku through the shoulder - which is easily done bloodlessly. He then presses the attack, laying on the ground, broken, and is about to torture him, when... For this next part, you could either require Tien and Krillin (or Yamcha) on our team alongside Base Goku to perform, or you could do it with whatever teammates you have: they jump in to help Goku, but Piccolo blocks them with a ki attack. Then he looks down, and finds that Goku is gone! He looks about to find Goku rocketing at him to deliver a titanic headbutt that ends the fight for good. In the source, after getting healed Goku did a dramatic leap into the air to celebrate finally winning the tournament - without a healing segment, that can just happen automatically, and that would be a fine last image of the Finish.

With Piccolo out of the way, the next characters up for a Finish skip a whole saga, and go straight to...

The Ginyu Force

This one took a bit of thinking, as all the Ginyu members fought individually, and most against different characters, but I realized if I was going to pick one there was really only the one option: The moment where Ginyu tries to body change with Vegeta, and ends up in the form of a frog.

Forgive the lack of embedded video on this one - it’s potholed above, but I didn’t want the first post to just be two characters, and alas with the combination of Tumblr’s five vid limit, my coming up with two legit ideas each for the previous two (that won’t happen often for the rest), and needing two entire videos for just one of the Piccolo ideas, I ran out of embeds. Still, this one is a keeper.

This would be a Base Vegeta win, requiring Base Goku to be on his team. The original moment was all vertical: Ginyu flew up in the air and Vegeta flew up after him, but you could just finagle it and do it horizontally instead to cut back on extra animation. The set up for this is simple as anything: do the knockback, trigger the Finish, Ginyu gets furious - while Vegeta is too arrogant to notice - and starts the Body Change, catching Vegeta off guard. At the last second, Goku throws a frog in between them, and Ginyu is left stuck croaking. The last shot - like the Janemba Finish - could be the POV of Frog Ginyu as he runs away, while regular Ginyu hops around like a frog. This more funny that epic, but it is a very memorable part of the Freeza arc, and definitely the most memorable thing attached to Captain Ginyu himself, so in my opinion its the best bet for him.

And that’s the first three: 

There’ll be more than three in the next segment, trust me.

If you like the idea, happy to have you. Make sure to listen to the full track on Soundcloud if you just want the list right away without waiting a day for each installment, and let me know if you agree with the list or not - what you would pick instead, that sort of thing. Either way, stay Sparking!

[lyresnake]

Lethal Protector Audiobook: The Saga Continues (It Does In Fact Ramp Up)

In case anyone happens to be interested in my further thoughts on the Lethal Protector Audiobook, put out by Graphic Audio. I haven’t quite finished it yet, but I have uh, enough thoughts that they might warrant their own post.

Pleasant surprises abound: Eddie’s actor’s hushed and perhaps slightly awed tone when the symbiote tells him he’s strong enough to fight his way out of the sonic prison without their help is weirdly endearing.

Getting to that one cool part of the novel I’ve heard about where Donna Diego bonds to the Scream symbiote. I have heard it is quite romantic...

O///////O;;;

Oh, uh, well then.

That said, Donna’s actress does sound very lovely as Scream. She’s also, er, how to phrase this delicately, very enthusiastic when emoting nonverbally during the aforementioned scene.

Right, moving on.

I’m a little thrown that Peter seems to be completely unaware of the concept of a distraction, as he acts weirdly surprised that Scream would try and throw a kid through a plate glass window so she could run away while Peter is busy saving him.

On a side note, I wonder if that nameless teenager now has an adorable Spider-Man puppy crush. Godspeed, nameless teenager who nearly died for an Instagram video, I hope one day you find a cute boyfriend who enjoys cosplay.

I seriously have no idea what they’re using for the Foley for Spider-Man’s footsteps/wall crawling. Something scratchy, like sandpaper on concrete. Really, it sounds very weird.

Interesting that Peter automatically assumes that Donna has just completely forsaken clothing upon bonding with a symbiote. Isn’t that generalizing?

No seriously, she’s walking with a group of other people and he assumes that they’re all wearing normal uniforms but that her street clothes are made of symbiote? Why would you think this, Peter?? Are you imagining it, you weirdo???

Who am I kidding, she probably has forsaken clothes already.

There is still too much Peter in this.

Though the narrative does set him up for mockery by making him spectacularly blow his cover for the sake of a one-liner. I wonder if he realizes the symbiote actually does have pretty consistent taste in men?

Eddie’s actor sounds appropriately grief-stricken when they’re prying off the symbiote. Also of note, the desperate flailing noises the symbiote makes when they’re watching the sort-of-potentially-dead Eddie from the Evil Jar. Ah, l’amour. <3

Also on a bizarre side note, while fussing with a fanfic, I apparently managed to hit on what Tuck thinks it feels like to be forcibly separated from a symbiote. Namely that it feels like being flayed alive. The descriptions of this are weirdly decadent. Mr. Tuck, do you have something to share with the class?

On that topic, Local Man Continues to Scream While Being Tortured.

Huh, Eddie pulls off a “playing possum” gambit and a “pretending to be hurt to get close to your enemy before stabbing them with Chekov’s Scalpel” in succession. I’m actually impressed. He also managed to compliment the symbiote when it wasn’t even there. He sounded so affectionate despite the context. I may cry.

Also the Chekov’s Scalpel bit reads really well with the addition of the voice actor heroically gasping and pretending to struggle. “Oh no these horrible sonic guns are the one thing that can hurt my other--WHICH IN CASE YOU FORGOT YOU PEELED OUT OF ME 30 MINUTES AGO, GENIUSES”. Maybe the symbiote really did upgrade. Or they left Eddie with their one collective brain cell.

Another scene which is helped by the addition of sound effects: completely naked Eddie being simultaneously punched by the Life Foundation Quintuplets. It’s actually hilarious. It sounds like something out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

I am a tad disappointed we don’t live in a universe where the Quintuplets decide to bail back to papa and Eddie takes his spouse and kitten basket of good children and they move into an an apartment and spend their days eating rats in the walls and chewing on furniture. Peter would have an aneurysm.

Oh, it’s the reunion scene! Eddie’s actor really nails “rumbly but quietly emotional” with his “Did you miss me?” line. Be still my heart. The narrator is giving his all with regards to breathlessly describing their mutual, overpowering longing and the tube touching--

--and now there is softly swelling, strumming guitar music. Over descriptions of them pressing their hands/tentacles against the glass like they’re Kirk and Spock. You know, in case it wasn’t totally clear it was That Kind of Scene. I was not actually expecting that. Bless you, sound mixer, A+ a very enjoyable amount of Gay.

FYI Peter and MJ’s emotional gooey phone call scene from near the beginning of the novel does not appear to warrant the Prominent Strumming Guitars. Well played, Graphic Audio.

SDKFJKFJDKFJ DONNA REALLY WASN’T WEARING ANY CLOTHES

[horrorforemetophobes]

Human Centipede: Full Sequence (2011)

This movie, as its predecessor, is gross. It's difficult to sit through and it's brutal. As far as film history goes, it's an interesting one. It's a modern video nasty, something I've not come across in a long time. If you want to be a big horror buff, then this may be worth a watch. Fair warning though, as with the first installment it isn't for the faint of heart, and is not recommended for extreme emetophobes due to its content.

NOTE: There are several different cuts of this film depending on how and where you watch it. I believe I watched the uncut version (Running time: 1hr28mins approx.), so time codes may vary slightly in different versions. Also, please read the other content notes at the end of this post before viewing if you are at all unsure about this film.

The main character is asthmatic and c*s throughout the film.

0:23:20-0:23:30. Severity: 4/10. Audio of man g*ing from previous film. Can be watched muted.

0:55:55-0:56:15. Man c*s on blood. No v*, but sound may distress. Can be watched muted.

1:00:35-1:00:37. Severity: 2/10. Man g*gs.

1:02:27-1:02:29. Severity: 1/10. Man c*s.

1:07:03-1:08:12. Severity: 9/10. Woman is force-fed. Graphic sounds and some visuals that may distress. Can be watched muted but is probably safer to skip.

1:09:13-1:09:24. Severity: 4/10. Woman c*s blood. Prolonged sound, can be watched muted.

From 1:09:44-1:10:42, a character makes fart sounds while touching other people's stomachs. Nothing happens, but this can be watched muted if it is distressing.

1:12:40-1:14:47. Severity: 10/10. READ BELOW FOR SPOILERS The victims in the centipede defecate. Prolonged st* sounds and graphics. Man then c*s, g*s and v*s, with graphic sound and visuals.

1:15:25-1:15:27. Severity: 3/10. Man spits, he then wipes his mouth. Sudden visual, afermath and sound during already intense scene.

1:18:26-1:18:27. Severity: 5/10. Man c*s on what appears to be blood. Can be watched muted.

1:18:45-1:18:47. Severity: 3/10. Man g*s on blood.

Other Content: Blood, gore, violence, kidnap, torture, humiliation, prolonged human suffering, injury detail, poor portrayals of mental health, ableism, graphic retelling of child abuse, murder, sexual violence, sexual assault, rape, self-harm and suicidality, domestic abuse, coprophagia (Please google the definition if you are unsure what this means), abuse of a pregnant woman.

[guardiandae]

I’ve been binging horror movies lately, because it’s August September and that means we’re already in phase two of Halloween!!! So I wanted to share some of what I’ve watched, and my thoughts on the films! 

Below: (Event Horizon, Thirteen Ghosts, Pandorum, The Mangler, The Graveyard Shift, I Am Mother)

Event Horizon (1997) - A crew ventures into space to retrieve an abandoned ship, but quickly realize they need to try to save themselves. Wow. I thought the acting in this was amazing, especially since I eyeballed the 27% rotten score before watching and assumed it was going to be pure trash. First half is rock fucking solid. Sadly, they could’ve done better later on, but I saw an in-depth youtube video on it beforehand which explained that a ton of the gore and hell scenes had to be trimmed out, and a director’s cut never emerged. That’s exactly what would’ve made this movie better... and also, frankly, if they cut out the monster-of-the-week gimmick towards the end and instead just let hell itself slowly be unleashed... now I wish they’d do this movie justice with a proper remake. Anna oop-.  Stars Laurence Fishburne and he is wonderful. Warnings: some disturbing gore/mutilation, but I (a very squeamish person) was able to handle it and wish there was more tbh, not actually much for jumpscares

Thirteen Ghosts (2001) - A ghost-hunting collector dies and leaves his house to his remaining relatives, but they realize quickly................ IT’S A TRAP. Pretty cheesy, but I love the way the entire house is like a giant, elaborate puzzlebox, I’m actually curious how they did that kind of effect. Plus the ghosts are neat and don’t get enough screentime and I’m gay @ the Angry Princess. If you watch, take a moment to google the ghosts and read their backstories (or look in the DVD extras, I think) because the movie doesn’t expand on them. Stars Tony Shalhoub and I stan him. Warnings: a lot of blood and body mutilation, titties on display, probably jumpscares but it’s all old hat to me and cheesy imo, I just wanted to revisit it

Pandorum (2009) - A crew is in space but the sleep pods malfunction and when they wake up, some terrible shit has gone down and there are cannibal monsters now. This one fully fucking deserves the 28% rotten score. I saw a review that it was underrated and the plot sounded interesting, but once I started watching I couldn’t handle the awful fucking audio balance. The characters whisper a lot, meanwhile the monsters SCREECH non fucking stop. I got so fed up, tbh, I just watched it on fast forward and jumped ahead. I’m not convinced the plot was done as brilliantly as the reviewer I listened to wanted to believe. It was pretty stupid, but that’s just my opinion or whatever. Warnings: umm idk. probably blood and the usual death. Audio that is jarring - not frightening but really fucking jarring and obnoxious. Don’t waste your time. Watch Event Horizon instead tbh.

The Mangler (1995) - I didn’t know industrial laundry press machines were a Thing but apparently they were, also I’ll never feel like my boss is an asshole ever again after watching this. When I was little my family rented a couple movies regularly, and I only ever wanted to watch horror movies, especially every single Stephen King thing I could get my hands on. I’m not such a staunch fan anymore, but I randomly remembered this one and wanted to see it again. I didn’t remember 99% of the plot. It stars Ted Levine (Captain Leeland Stottlemeyer from Monk??? I was SHOOK) and also Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger, guys). Warnings: blood and detailed gore. People get pulped up in this big machine, and they show the aftermath. The last death is pretty fun and creative, though. Don’t take the movie too seriously.

The Graveyard Shift (1990) - A shitty boss hires people to clean up his shitty factory and then they all almost get eaten by rats. This movie is ditto to The Mangler. The two mentally go hand in hand for me. Both involves imagery of machines + blood, but this one has more focus on the rats in the mill. It’d probably be a dry watch for anyone else, but it personally OFFENDS ME, A MAINER, because the actor who plays Warwick (shitty boss and rapist in the film) attempted to do a Mainer accent but ended up sounding like a cross between German and a few heavily stereotyped New England words like “CAH”. I mainly watched for the imagery that still stuck in my mind since my childhood -- the blood in the cotton machine and the rats feeding on it, them falling into a massive pool of blood, the guy getting his arm bitten off, and the monster’s death at the end. Honestly felt like the best part of the movie was the proto-remix song at the end which is just a funky beat overlaid with snippets of dialogue from the movie. And that’s not saying much 😂 Warnings: blood and gore, and uhhh a main villain who is a total asshole and also mentioned to be a rapist :/  Don’t bother, just listen to the end credits.

I Am Mother (2019, Netflix!) - SUPER GOOD GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. This one is a sci-fi film, but I’d also consider it a thriller/psychological kind of horror film? The plot is about a robot (Mother) that was programmed to raise human children after the extinction of mankind. It’s one of those movies where, for a while, you’re really left wondering what is real and that’s why I’d rec it as a horror, plus I feel like the philosophical angle is unsettling in its own way. The actors, including the voice actor for Mother, are A+++ Warnings: post-apocalyptic setting, death, I cried at the end???

I know there are better movies but I kind of wanted to binge old shitty ones tbh. I didn’t expect Event Horizon to be so good! Well, half good, but that half was a diamond in the rough imo. Maybe it’s just the fanfic writer in me that lives for the potential of how it could’ve been. and I Am Mother isn’t in that “shitty old horror” category, it’s new and just super fucking good and doesn’t pull punches and it takes the plot thread all the way through to its conclusion, please go watch it.

If you guys have any recs I’d love to hear some! I prefer psychological horror when I really want to be scared, tbh. I loathe jumpscares, and as I mentioned above, genuine blood/gore is bad unfun time for me, so I will not be watching any torture-porn like Hostel. But I’m thinking of watching some of the classics I feel I never really got to enjoy, like Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, maybe Alien. I also wanna rewatch some stuff like Hellraiser, The Thing, and Annihilation. And at some point I’ll probably seek out really, truly, good & scary ones and maybe later I’ll torment myself with some  infamously gory films. We’ll see!

Have you seen any of the above? Lemme know what you think! 😋

[beautifullytorturedsouls]

welcome to my whump blog!

you can call me Lily!

i’ve been lurking around the whumpy side of tumblr for around a year now (a few of you may have known me as @notactuallyok), and decided to finally make a blog after getting lots of encouragement from a few of the amazing people in this community (;

in the year or so i’ve known about this group of people/blogs, my life has greatly improved. everyone has been SO incredibly sweet to me and i’m endlessly thankful to each of you ❤️

what this blog will be

• i will mostly do reblogs as i’ve never really made my own gifs before (i may try one day tho!)

this will include reblogging mostly gifs, but probably some audio clips/videos or fan fiction written by one of the extremely talented writers on this website(:

• i may occasionally (and this is a VERY slight chance) post one-shots if i’m feeling good about my writing ability that day

• you can also expect lots of random rants about a whumpy scene that i’m particularly in love with at any given point 😂😍

types of whump i enjoy!

• stab/gunshot wounds (fav😍)

• torture whump

• sick whump (especially from infection from the gunshot/stab wound !!)

• and a lot more that i can’t narrow down right now. 😂 those are my top ones tho!

a list of my fandoms and more specific tropes will come eventually ;)

feel free to ask me any questions if you’d like to get to know me better! i would LOVE to get to know you!

❤️

[mariabblackyr2]

Utopia Dystopia - Lecture + Seminar Notes & Set Task

Can be frightening similar – complex subject

Art Practice – The Spirit of Utopia: inequality, economic crisis, etc –  currently happening in Hong Kong

Look at these ideas with hope and despair

“Our current situation is one of stark inequality, political breakdown, economic crisis and ecological emergency. The Art Museum itself is a battleground where the anxiety and optimism of the present collide.”(Whitechapel exhibition : The Spirit of Utopia. 2013.)

Essay – The Principle of Hope – Ernst Bloch – believes that was a sense of social anxiety, project fear – ‘learning hope’  - a more modern, lighter take – two areas potentially are there to open up life or close up life – a sense of protest around hope

Own Perfect World – humorous but also desperately serious - IS IT POSSIBLE? is it about the people or way the world is? Group examples: Anarchy, tolerance, hope. ---- Perfection is unattainable

 Apoplectic version – Dismal Land – elusive quality - subverting Disney = a pocket of fantasy – rest of world not the same, controversy, humour

  Foucault ‘Of Other Spaces’ – a place where different things find It difficult to exists with one another

Utopia

Utopia – perfect place, impractical idealistic scheme, a non-place, society in its perfect form, an unreal space

  “A utopia is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens. The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia” (Wikipedia!) – one persona perfection isn’t someone else’s

Utopia - Broadly defined as ‘the desire for a better way of living expressed in the description of a different kind of society that makes possible an alternative way of life’. (‘Hollywood Utopia: Ecology in Contemporary American Cinema.)

 Example – the hand maiden tales

  Is utopia a movement in time - not bound in the here and now

 Does it matter what other people think, whose ideas are more important, are other people’s ideas more important than mine – should be informed about other ideas

Dreaming of Perfection: complex and self-contained world ( Utopia ) , Moore  - systems of punishment, hierarchy, agriculture, language, mode of discourse, working

Thomas Moore – utopia – can these worlds ever exists – is utopia to forever remain a fantasy – communism ( his own political actions )- revolution

Utopia – ‘no place’ – non cynical

Capitalism – time for a reset : acknowledging the downside of capitalism

Is this an impossible ideal – doe we discard it?

Janus-faced Ideology  - For and Against – utopia can contain error

Ernst Bloch – don’t give up – holds up for the idea of seeking out utopian moments – can find them in daydreams, pop culture, etc. Images of a better life – hold up hope makes us query the world that we live in

Two types of Utopia

The Concrete: transformative

The Abstract: escapism, wishful thinking, compensatory for not living our best life

Dystopia

 an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.

The illusion of the ‘non-place’ maintained through the corporate, control, worse case scenario ( Margot Atwood  - it is fair fetched but it could happen without protest ) - similar in black mirror tv series

“Art offers only a glimpse of utopia, and an unobtainable one.” (Adorno.T.)

or

Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to changing the consciences and drives of men and women who can change the world.” (Marcuse. The Aesthetic Dimension.)

Seminar Notes:

Turner Prize 2019

Originated from painter, Turner.

Started in 1984

Being judged now 

Announced on 3rd December 

Stuckism - founded by Billy Childish in 1999- confrontational towardsTurner Prize, anti-conceptual instead of promoting figurative painting 

Banksy - Mind the Crap - painted onto the steps of Tate Britain before the Turner Prize

Artists:

Lawrence Abu Hamdan - Received two prior awards - artists and audio investigator - explores politics of listening, the role of sound and voice within the law and human rights, he creates audio visual installations, audio archives, photography and text, translating in depth research into social experiences. Works with Amsty and defence international - - uses testimonies from law - ‘ear witness theatre’ in response to an acoustic investigation, worked with people inside of prison, translate to public - points raised in interviews relevant to society, explored prisoners whispering through video, uses objects to show how prisoners experienced sound in the prison - can’t separate noise from violent memory ( acoustic memory ) objects stood in for language. Their relation to the walls within the prison - ‘used as a torture devise’, art has the possibly to tell truth just like science, has its own way to tell the truth, push the boundaries of what produces speech.

Helen Cammock -  works across film, photography, print and performance, work stems from deep research into social histories, central to her practice of voices in history, ‘ who speaks on behalf of who’, her her own voice reflects on the stories heard, unfragmented, non linear narrative, different times and contexts. Interested in the way of thinking about power, how societies are structured, civil right movement in northern Ireland - activist - their experience of the process. Reading list placed alongside video piece - a way of engaging of what is around the film. Prints - the role we take in the moment of crisis - all there to ask questions about society. She uses texts from different mediums of writing - interested in all lives and voices and how we take responsibility. 

Oscar Murillo - multi faceted practice, live ents, drawing, sculpture, book making, collaborative projects - explores material, processes, migration, community exchange - pushes boundaries - uses recycled fragments - migrated to london when 11 - draws off biography - references to life, labour conditions reappear throughout his work  - develop awareness of idea - a threshold, aware of horrors in history - being aware of that is a tremendous tool, a physical anxiety, 

Tai Shani - practice performance, film, photography, installations, text. Taking inspiration from history, narrative and characters and mind from forgotten sources. Utopia , deeply affected works - rich monologues, manifesting dark images - a scene in a film or song - reconstructs in practice , interested in questions about feminism - adaptation of 1405 - book of the city of ladies - notable women, historical - bodies were material of city - taking something so far from the past into future thinking - 12 characters that inhabit city, each character have erotic, monologues - songs, installations, live performances - three characters drawn from more historical figures - a platform for woman to reach self realisation - backdoor and super natural - sciences oposed to sets, thought a lot what vison should be - didn’t-want to  use materials of patriarchy - ‘a city of women’ a city for anyone to find themselves - white supremacy - not interested in women but feminity - what can be salved from a history of feminity.

Set Task:

I choose to explore utopia as a personal emotion as well as in people and buildings through two photographers.

Ed Alcock - Hobbledehoy 

Personal Utopias - 

His personal utopia of his son at the young age 

The sons relationship with mother - things that will soon become unacceptable 

Documentary photography 

His personal utopia is his son at this age

Personal body of work

Themes of time, fleetingness of childhood, a nostalgia for times past

Childhood being a special time

A nostalgic utopia 

His work lies between documentary and fiction 

On The Other Hand

Laurent Kronental  - Souvenir d’un Futur 

Utopia as a place as well as person

Explores the forgotten elders of Paria through photographs

Captured the elederly residents of the Grand Ensembles Large housing project as well as the building itself 

A feeling of a post apocalyptic world - taken in early morning to reinforce that

Explores the connection between the aging residents and buildings as a whole

Its almost like the buildings were created as a utopia but weren't it so they got left behind like the residents 

Unreal images 

links: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/audioslideshow/2013/dec/30/photographer-ed-alcock-hobbledehoy-audio-slideshowhttps://www.bjp-online.com/2014/11/personal-utopias/http://www.edalcock.com/index.php?/project/hobbledehoy/2/https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/neglected-utopia-photographer-explores-the-forgotten-modernist-estates-of-paris/https://www.laurentkronental.com/Souvenir-d'un-Futur/16https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/laurent-kronental-photography-090816

[amonisis]

“>Observer_” is an intense survival horror experience through a cyberpunk version of Poland inspired by “Bladerunner” The Player will wonder “Am I really human?”

In the 2084 Krakow, Poland, Daniel Lazarski (Rutger Hauer, played Roy Batty in “Bladerunner”), an observer for the Krakow Police Department, receives a strange call from his son, Adam (Brandon Fague, played Miller from “Starfighter Origins”). Adam says he is in this run-down apartment complex, and Daniel needs to come there as quick as he can. Once Daniel arrives, he finds a murder scene of what might be his son, but he cannot tell for the head is missing and there is no way to identify him. He tries to get backup, but there is a lockdown, and people are fearing the spread of the Necrophage, a nanobot plague that can infect people that have cybernetic enhancements. Now, he must search for the murder suspect, and find out where his son is.

“>Observer_” was produced by Aspyr and developed by Blooper Team, a polish based company that made the popular “Layers of Fear”. The soundtrack was created by Arkadiusz Reikowski. “>Observer_” is a survival horror first person perspective game, and implements puzzle solving elements and exploration as the player controls Daniel through the hallways of a grungy apartments complex. Has a distinct cyberpunk visual style, reminiscent of “Bladerunner” meets “1984” as it feels like people from the 80s were asked to envision what technology would look like in a hundred years.

From the beginning of the game, Daniel is sitting in a car that has the markings of 80s in the large block letters of his computer monitors, the sharp angular design of his car, and outside is painted with neon signs that glisten in lots of blues and pinks. When Daniel gets to the apartment complex that he spends the rest of the game in, the lobby is literally all holographic décor, with pixelated vases, carpets, signs, all bordered by blue file borders, showing how the face of this hotel, as well as this universe, is just a façade of the bleak and dirty reality that the filthy hallways and trash riddled courtyard.

The game features many unique interface features, include the Bio Vision system and Electromagnetic scan system. They cause the screen to filter into a harsh scanner screen, and allow Daniel to investigate crime scenes to piece together clues. As as time goes on, Daniel experiences de-synchronization with his implants, causing visual tearing and glitching of his vision and odd movement patterns. He must take “Synchrozine” in order to reverse the effects of this substance.

Then there is Daniel’s ability to use a jack to connect into suspects Nuerochips, which store the identification of the individual, and are able to dive into their mind to see their sub-conscious thoughts to gather information. When inside the suspects mind, it falls into a surreal realm that reflects the brain of the person’s experiences, thoughts, and emotions. “>Observer_” uses this mechanic to distort the senses of the player, by playing with the visuals, audio, controls, as Daniel is thrust into tyrannical office buildings, sees through the eyes of a wolf-man, baby-sits a television monitor that cries like a child, and other weird and disturbing thoughts of invaded psyches.

We are reminded of 1984 by George Orwell, a novel that painted a dystopian world in the year of 1984, by the date, the casual discovery of the book in certain areas, and the constant surveillance by the cameras and propaganda posters. Daniel Lazarski, as a detective in this world, has the ultimate privacy invasion technology with his mind jacking device, which shows that not even the people’s thoughts are safe from surveillance.

“>Observer_” brilliantly explores the issues of Transhumanism, freedom, identity, government and individual control, and what really is life. What the game does so well is use the mechanics of the game and the nature of gaming to allow the player to decide for themselves what is right and wrong in the universe that is presented, as it cleverly shows the grey area of a post-war corporation driven world of cybernetics, woven into the narrative, the dialogue with various characters (most of whom are not even seen except by a tiny view screen on their door) and the strong clash of advanced technology versus old decrepit environments. While the cast is rather small, each character feels real, and the player learns about their personality, history, problematic viewpoints, and many times what is really happening between their eyes.

There is a struggle of reconciliation present in every part of “>Observer_”.  One scene halfway through the game shows this rather well. Daniel is in the bottom level of this apartment complex, where the poorest of the C-Class citizens and storage are held. Upon first entering, squealing and grunting fills the hallways. Daniel finds the storage unit that is hiding the noise, but he needs to visit the apartment of the person who owns that unit. So, he visits the apartment, only to find human organs in various places, livers on plates, hearts and lungs in the refrigerator, and human skins stretched on the wall, all precisely placed and documented. Daniel finds the computer that has the code for the storage unit, but also emails from various patients that ask for various organs and parts. One is from a parent of a young daughter who needs a heart transplant, and is willing to pay ten times the normal price to have it immediately to save her. Once Daniel gets the code, he goes back to the storage unit, and opens it to find a giant mutant pig, bulging on all sides with excess organs of various kinds. The pig is hooked up to a virtual reality system that kept it sedated and pain free, but the system has lost power. Daniel is then given the choice to either turn the power on to the virtual reality system, or to unplug the pig’s life support. The pig is growing the various organs and human skin that help many people throughout the complex, but it’s also a living creature that has been artificially mutated and tortured to serve needs of those who control it.  This question permeates the game, and asks the player if progress for the benefit of humanity is worth humanity sacrificing what makes it human.

“>Observer_” is a thrilling and gut-wrenching experience, and never did I feel bored playing it. I was excited at every single small lighted view window to hear about another person who suffered at the hands of this mangled dystopia, and it left me feeling haunted with the ramifications of my own actions. I wondered who truly was right or wrong? Is there a right or wrong answer to these questions? And would I be me stripped of the basic building blocks of my own being.

My score for “>Observer_” is a carrot cake with buttercream frosting made from the milk of an endangered species of cow. It’s rich and full of the flavor and atmosphere I crave from video games and movies alike, and there are healthy carrots of deep philosophical thinking that gives justification of calling it a health food. And while the buttercream frosting is decadent, it leaves one feeling the strange sense of guilt and uncertainty for enjoying yourself at the expense of a creature’s uncertain future, leading to a hallow angst to flavor the delicious treat.

“>Observer_” is available on Steam, Playstation store, and Xbox Live.

[theticklefox-blog]

Snatch the Series: My Review

Note: this will contain spoilers, so read no further if you haven’t watched the series yet. It will also contain negative opinions on some issues, so if the show was everything you ever wished for... this isn’t for you and I don’t want to upset you. Just enjoy the GIFs (which betray my biases) and skip the rest.

I really, really wanted to like Snatch.   Honest I did. I keenly anticipated it from the moment it was announced, despite my not being a huge fan of Guy Richie or the film version. The previews made the show look energetic and fun and most of the actors are consistently good, and playing types of characters they’re not necessarily known for, which I always appreciate.  Also, fans of the other actors, Luke Pasqualino and Rupert Grint in particular, were very kind and helpful in providing news, BTS video and rare photos as the series filmed, and were-- mostly-- good about not posting spoilers without a warning.

So it saddens me to report  I found the show more annoying than involving. A large part of that is due to the slipshod writing, underwritten characterization and reliance on jarring edits and often “WTF?!” character motivations and action that made it difficult for me to care about the protagonists (or even perceive them as protagonists, really... let’s say The Young Pretty People The Writers Clearly Wanted Us To Like.) 

Mostly I’m upset Marc Warren’s considerable talents were wasted on such a grand scale. So much could have been made of Bob Fink in the hands of a more creative writing staff... every week on Fargo and Better Call Saul, to name just two current examples, corrupt cops and wannabe gangsters (who are often the same characters) have rich, unpredictable storylines which give talented actors a broad canvas on which to showcase their talents and play off one another. But the Fink charter is merely insulted by everyone in his orbit from the beginning (which, frankly, just made me sympathize with him), marginalized in most of the plot and never given enough to do. 

I suspect Ed Westwick fans are also somewhat frustrated that Westwick, who was front and center in most of the promotion,  was too easily dispensed with in episode four, and that most of his colorful momements were actually given away the commercials. 

I'm still baffled by Marc’s treatment in that promotion. His name was literally never mentioned once by other actors or by the show’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds, though he’s the closest thing to a main antagonist the show has. (Photos of his character appeared, but Marc was never named.)  Did Marc want to avoid being part of the publicity? Was it some sort of misguided decision by the marketing staff because Marc is relatively unknown here, or even because a handful of people keep whining about how much they disliked his character on The Good Wife? I just don’t get it. I’d like some answers about this.

But the promotional absurdities wouldn’t  matter if Marc had been given a decent role to play, and he was shorted in that department too... Fink could have been a great villain or a great tragic character, but, despite some great acting moments from Marc, he wasn’t allowed to be either. The character is bullied, deceived and marginalized by both his gangster friends and corrupt police associates, yet  the writing kept implying he deserved this without ever providing proof. 

Then there was the Vic Hill character, who the writers clearly intended to be charming, but I saw only a thuggish man-child who continuously jeopardizes his family and bullies his perceived underlings. I hated him from the beginning and he only got worse. Dougray Scott’s hammily overdone performance didn’t help matters. I was on Bob’s side pretty much from the start... if only the writers had a clue about nuance and a willingness to challenge their audience or divide it, but... no. There was no character depth to speak of anywhere.

As for the young leads... the old kiddie ganster musical Bugsy Malone kept popping into my head. i couldn’t take them seriously as adults despite the fact these actors are in their late 20s-early 30s and more than capable of playing bona fide adults if they’d been given a decent script. Instead they were given hoary paint-by-numbers plot cliches cribbed from every gangster movie since the 1920s, padded out by clumsily-executed heist sequences and flashbacks that played like music videos.  

In some ways it seemed like the series had two or three episodes worth of material, and the rest was filler, leading to a number of pointless tangents and inexplicable actions. The backstory about the gold was goofy at best, and nice coincidence about it resurfacing exactly when and where Albert, Charlie et al were planning to hijack Sonny’s cash (in an identical truck, no less). The show is full of such cartoonish improbabilities, though none delivered with the verve of an actual cartoon.  

There are repetitive flashback’s of Vic’s original heist (yeah, let’s show Bob getting heaped with more abuse... ), loony side-stories filling in for character development (ie Billy’s whole backstory... what a wasted opportunity that was. Though Lucien Laviscount did a great job with the few subtle dialogue moments he got between having to beat people up and listen to crazy yarns about his parents), repetitive scenes of Charlie getting impaired in various ways, an out-of-nowhere love triangle that seems to be there just to divide the main group, female characters who have too little to do in general except be feisty and supportive (or, in the case of Dwyer, feisty and cuntish)... I get the sense the scripts were all written in the weekend before filming began, and that no one really scrutinized them closely. 

Yes, I’m a Marc Warren fan and am biased. And I knew going in that he was probably playing an antagonist and that he’d get iced in the final episode... I’m used to all of that. Pretty much every actor I’ve ever admired from Lon Chaney Sr onward got typecast as villains or outsiders and got killed onscreen more times than Steve Buscemi does throughout the Coen Brothers’ oeuvre. I don’t have a problem with that. Conventional heroes and the squarejaws who play them bore me. I love complicated characters and character actors who seek out such roles.   

But I don't appreciate youth-obsessed deck-stacking, treating bullies as heroes, and writing which both wants our protagonists to be “bad-ass” or at least risk-taking, yet continuously lets them off the hook, either through miraculous escapes or through having the older characters or one-note side characters take bullets for them or do the dirty work. Full disclosure: I haven’t bothered with the last two episodes because I was so disgusted with what went down in episode 8. I’m pretty sure the Young Pretty People prevailed and that Albert redeemed the sins of his father and finally said something nice to Charlie according to schedule. I can’t say I really care. 

As in The Musketeers, Marc played a bullied, mistreated character who I couldn’t help but care about, both because Marc is such an exquisite actor even in marginal roles, and because I tend to side with complicated or oppressed characters, not with self-described “heroes”.  In both shows, despite being the nominal villain, his character was shunted to the sidelines for too much of the duration, then suddenly given a lot of screentime just before being ganged up on and killed off.  So yeah, the worst kind of deja vu... in The Musketeers at least Rochefort had some fun or powerful moments, and I understood that the show’s episodic structure hindered a more nuanced character through-line. 

But Snatch has no such excuses. Also: couldn’t Bob and Charlie have had a sustained sequence or conversation without annoying cutaways to more trivial matters, like Vic torturing Charlie’s butler (which was played for laughs! God how I hated Vic...)? And why did Bob keep leaving the apartment? Apart from more plot-padding I mean? Why didn’t Bob shoot Vic when he had the chance? Because he really should have. Why was the whole tiresome side trip to America necessary, given how easily Billy got the diamonds back? Much of the plot strains on like that, making no sense. 

The Snatch showrunners keep comparing their efforts to Fargo, Noah Hawley’s brilliant offshoot of the Coens’ film (of all their films, really)... they need to stop doing this. It does them no favors and it makes me pine for Marc to get cast on Hawley’s show (or anything by Vince Gilligan) instead. Yes, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, because the writers on those shows know something about ambiguity, character development, unpredictable plotting, creative musical cues, and, most essentially, how to hire great character actors and write roles worthy of them, then give them room to breathe onscreen.   Hawley or Gilligan would’ve known what to do with Bob Fink. They could’ve done for Marc what they’ve done for Giancarlo Esposito, Bryan Cranston, Jonathan Banks, Bokeem Woodbine, Alison Tolman... even established stars like Ewen McGregor  and Billy Bob Thornton have shown new capabilities on Fargo. I would donate my left kidney to see Marc on one of those shows, whereas if the Snatch crew had created Breaking Bad... I'm sure Walter White would’ve been killed off in season one while the balance of the show went on to document the hijinks of Badger and Skinny Pete.   

I know I’ve gone on long enough, but I'm still bitter. ;) Marc Warren has really scaled back his acting commitments in recent years. I have no idea why, whether his priorities now lie elsewhere (and it’s none of my business to guess where), or whether he’s just not getting the calibre of role he’d like... if Snatch and Audible “Audio dramas” are the best he’s being offered, it must be very frustrating, but I don't want to judge his choices when I have no idea why they were made. Marc rarely gives interviews these days.  He has said in the past that Mad Dogs arose from the poor quality of roles offered him at that time. If he and his actor friends wanted to crowdfund something along those lines I would do everything in my power to promote that or help. If Marc simply wants to focus his attentions elsewhere and not act so often, that’s perfectly within his rights as well. Of course he owes me nothing. I hope that when he appears at Birmingham’s Collectormania fancon to do signings next month (June 3) he’ll give us a hint of some kind. (Don’t worry, Marc, I won’t be there... I only do the fangirl thing from a distance.) 

Anyhow... with Marc doing so few projects lately, it’s incredibly frustrating to wait months for something like Snatch, that so consistently fails to deliver. Marc does the best he can and has some great moments in spite of the limits he’s working under. As I’ve said, there was the potential for a great, messy, complicated character there. He deserved so much better.

[kittoforos]

A Beginner’s Guide to the Music of Aleksandr Bashlachev

By popular demand, here is a starter kit, in mostly English, to help anyone interested get into the work of my absolute favorite late-Soviet poet (/rock poet/singer-songwriter/guitarist of sorts) and one of my best beloved poets, as they say, всех времён и народов: Aleksandr Bashlachev (Александр Башлачев, or, if you’re feeling extra helpful, Александр Башлачёв— that last “e” is always pronounced “o”). 

Aleksandr Bashlachev was born May 27, 1960, died February 17, 1988 (by his own hand; sometimes people count him in the so-called “27 Club”), and left around 60 poems/song texts and various recordings (audio and some video), many of which are available on YouTube (a lot of his stuff is on Spotify, too, if that’s your thing). Despite the short length of his life/career, his body of work was/is a sort of massive hidden influence on Russian rock music/the associated culture from Perestroika forward; he’s not at all well-known among the general public in Russia today, but if you’re at all interested in any of that cultural history (or if you just like Russian rock), he’s worth at least a passing familiarity.

I’m making this post partially because I just love him and want to share his brilliant work,*** but also because his poetry (like, frankly, a lot of Russian poetry) is graceful and rewarding on its own, but also densely loaded with intertextual meaning, and his performance style (messy snarly vocals, messy acoustic guitar, just a bit of a mess really, albeit a through-composed one; also incredibly intense, somehow simultaneously explosive and hypnotic— one of his contemporaries, Yuri Naumov, used the term “thermodynamic”, which I like a lot) can be a rather “acquired taste” for a lot of people, especially for those who aren’t already familiar with the stylistics of Soviet bardic music or, like, garage folk-punk or something idk. I know it took me a long time to get into his stuff, at any rate (but once I did, I didn’t listen to anything else for months).

Themes and frequent images in his work include: Russia’s fate, politics (complicated ones, for which he got “shaken down” by various “security” organizations a couple of times— they only stopped doing that in 1987), spiritual freedom, spiritual honesty (”it’s impossible to sing one way and live another”), human contact, human nature (each unique individual as part of the whole), words, bells, birds, heights, Leningrad, love (unconditional and all-encompassing: “even those I hate, I love— they’re just not good enough people to realize it yet”), the sun, the role of the artist in society, the utopian future, suicide.

Also a key point here: SashBash (that was/is his nickname) wrote not so much songs, as fellow rock musician Boris Grebenshchikov put it, as entire emotional spectacles, so when you watch a video of him singing, there’s a helluva lot to take in on top of the words and music themselves, even though he was given to keeping the mis-en-scene pretty minimalistic (just a snarly Russian dude, his guitar, and his bell bracelets). It can be pretty intimidating stuff overall, (especially if your first language isn’t Russian! and/or you’re not used to listening to poetry in Russian, in which case I’ll tell you up front that this is gonna be really rough, but ultimately totally worth it— all the time I’ve spent listening to this stuff and frantically trying to decipher it has helped me a ton with my Russian!) and it can be hard to know where to start with him because his poetry is very complex and he wrote in a couple of different “genres” (to use the term loosely); hopefully this guide will help.

So with that, here are ten (10) songs (plus important musical/poetic background) to get you started— all listed, linked, and commented on under the cut!

(i love this pic there’s something magical and telling about the combo of rocker-style leather jacket and komsomol lapel pin)

***and because this man desperately wanted to be remembered (he believed that people are reincarnated as soon as they are forgotten, and absolutely did not want to ever come back), and I get so much out of the art he made, I feel like i should try at give back at least a little, if only now, and like this

I see you’re still with us! Excellent! Поехали!

Okay, so, the first thing to know with Russian rock music is, a lot of it is based on (at least) two traditions: Western rock music (and/or the contemporary Soviet perception of it) and the Soviet bardic song genre of the 1960s and 70s (e.g. Okudzhava, Vysotsky). Russian rock tends to be heavily text-based and very individual-driven (in the sense that the lead singer of a group is often pretty much synonymous with the band— it doesn’t really matter who’s playing backup to Boris Grebenshchikov, as long as he’s there, the band is “Akvarium”), and SashBash’s work is definitely no exception to those rules— if anything he takes them to even higher levels. He worked almost exclusively alone, and a lot of his singing uses a dramatized speech-like recitative timbre; his main concern was not so much with rock music as such as with the poetry, with the Word, with expression through the Russian language (великий, богатый и проч. и проч.). 

Although that artistic concern remains fairly constant throughout SashBash’s repertoire, his genre choices are less consistent. Roughly speaking, his work can be divided into short comic songs, short serious songs, and long-form epics or meditations. Texts for all the songs I’m about to list can be found at http://www.bards.ru/archives/author.php?id=1927.

Short Serious Songs: (i’m starting with these because because there’s a lot of them, because they include some of his best known songs, and also because they’re just a good place to start to get a feel for what he was about as an artist without buckling in for a twenty-minute Suffering Session— that comes later)

1. Время колокольчиков (The time of little bells) — SashBash’s most famous song, just generally a famous song, gave its name to the whole era in Soviet music culture. If you’re only going to listen to one of these, this is the one, and I highly recommend watching the linked video of him performing it (all of the videos I’ll link here are from a квартирник (apartment concert) at Boris Grebenshchikov’s place— there exist other videos of SashBash performing, but a lot of them are from large concerts which he was very uncomfortable playing, and a lot of the time it shows). Rock and roll, the role of the artist in a time of individualist upheaval, the fate of the Russian soul, and more. (3:20)

2. Лихо (Likha (Slavic mythological personification of Evil); Dashingly) — One of SashBash’s major influences on the Russian rock scene was an eye toward Ancient/Medieval Rus’ as both a source of contemporary Russia’s problems and model of possible futures, whether good or bad. These certainly weren’t new ideas in Russian literature (see: Westernizer vs. Slavophile debates of the 19th century), but SashBash’s deft, unforgettable phrasings (and passionate, agitated delivery) brought rock and roll into conversation with these classic Russian arguments, and imbued them with new urgency. (2:41) 

3. Влажный блеск наших глаз (The wet shine of our eyes) — This is a bit sexier. Actually it’s all about sex. And love? And misery. And sex. (3:08)

4. Поезд №193 (Train №193) — This is a straight-up suicidal ideation song, an attempt to catch at a working definition of love, a swift pile up of quick-fix definitions, desperations. A genuinely short song with a pointedly circular structure. (2:16)

5. Вишня — This is the last song Aleksandr Bashlachev wrote whose text and audio survive. It’s a relatively melodic, life-affirming song full of fairy-tale imagery and general generosity of spirit, and the advice the singer gives to the princess character is actually pretty solid imho, especially for the 1980s (be brave, be kind, rejoice in all the things that please your heart and especially in your own freedom/will). (4:17)

6. В чистом поле дожди косые (In the open field slanting rains) — A treatment of a lot of the same themes as Время колокольчиков, but more explicitly and imagistically Russian (as opposed to Soviet), with the theme of rock and roll expanded to art/literature in general, a lot more Orthodox Christian imagery and ideas (anticapitalist), a less ecstatic and more lachrymose ambiguous ending...  A lot of people claim this to be the best song he wrote. (4:57 (song starts around 30 seconds in))

Short Comic Songs: (We need a break...such as it is. Soviet humor. If you don’t know the drill, you will shortly. I’ll go ahead and put trigger warnings in for these.)

7. Подвиг разведчика (The feat of an intelligence agent (title of famous WWII movie)) An average late-Soviet asshole with a brutal hangover daydreams about going on Cold War spy adventures, is ridiculous. The linked video has a pretty solid translation in the drop-down. (4:55) TW: alcohol, food, domestic abuse, poison, homophobic slur, torture mention, guns, suicidal ideation, rape mention (casual use of term)

8. Верька, Надька, Любка (Faith, Hope, Love (girls’ names)). Sometimes subtitled Исповедь весеннего рака (Confessional of a spring crab). A very strange, ultimately sweet and oddly earnest song that starts fairly concretely and gets rapidly, cosmically out of hand. A giant confused metaphor for a single Leningrader’s personal ideological development, with metamorphoses. (5:20) TW: food, suicidal ideation, religion, alcohol/drugs, brief casual transphobia (? tbh i’ve been chewing on this line for two years now and in context i’m still not quite sure), unreality

Epics/Meditations: (ok here we go, от винта!)

9. Имя Имён (Name of Names) — A chant of shifting rhythms over a monotonous pair of guitar chords, an uncertain, lurching, demanding, overawed and underserved Credo. (8:19)

10. Ванюша (Vanyusha (boy’s name, affectionate)) — This is an arc-structured song, about trying to understand the loss of a loved one, of a child, to find or make meaning out of that suffering (Bashlachev, whose philosophy in total seems to me simultaneously very Soviet and very Orthodox Christian, believed that all personal development, and indeed all that, which is worthwhile in life, comes to us through suffering— “if your soul hurts, it means it’s working”). It uses a lot of Russian folk structures and motifs, both lyrical and musical. (11:53)

Please note that these are not my personal favorite songs of his, necessarily— just a good first set that I hope represents and can act as a starting point for his whole body of work. Thank you for reading!! Спасибо за внимание!!

BONUS SashBash singing Russian 19th and 20th century pop hits with some friends. Laughter, joy, and contextually inappropriate quotations of Lenin ensue

[kyeomhikz]

My #EXO’rDIUMinManila Experience

I wanted to write this because I can’t contain the feels and I have to let it out. This is a bit long so please bear with it. XD

So here goes the story. In my previous article in my blog entitled “Pains of a fan girl” (never mind the title), I stated there that I can no longer attend the EXO’rDIUM in Manila. It’s because I totally lost hope—as in TOTALLY—and I am already indulging myself in self-pity.

It was January 25th and I was like “Today’s the day,” but here I am (to think that I am from Bicol and the concert is in Manila) in my bed, re-watching their random videos because it’s only through those that I can see them. And then there’s my Facebook news feed that goes all about EXO’rDIUM in Manila—girl, it’s a torture.

At around 4:00 P.M. (of January 25), someone I know, my cousin, has offered me a ticket for Day 2. And me be like “…” because I don’t really know what to do. I am not even prepared and I don’t even have my mom’s permission. She isn’t against it really, me attending the concert. It’s just that we are not rich, and I am taking up my internship this summer and we’re going to need money for that. It’s about setting priorities.

Thing is, I promised that I have to attend their concert this time no matter what since I didn’t make it to EXO’luXion last year, so I saved up even just for a General Admission ticket. GenAd is far from the stage, so people are telling me to just watch videos or fancams instead of availing it. But you know, the feeling will still be different if you are actually there.

Though I saved enough money, I still didn’t get the permission. Instead, I was just told to reserve it for more important matters. I cannot do anything about it.

But I thought I had to be there—I want to be there—so I made one of the the toughest decisions I could ever make. It was a very last minute decision. I packed my things, got my savings, and prepared myself for everything that will happen after. For now, my decision is final and there is no turning back.

5:27 P.M. and I was on the bus. My mom didn’t know since she is currently in Bulacan. No one else knew about it except me that time. I’m aching, too, knowing that this is the biggest disobedience I’ve done to my mom. But like I said, there is no turning back. I will deal with the consequences later on.

You might be thinking bad about me right now but I promise you, you will understand me after reading this article.

I’m in the bus when I posted in facebook that I am travelling to Araneta Coliseum.  Geez. It’s too late when I realized that was a stupid move. I was too excited with the concert I forgot I’m not supposed to attend that. It was supposed to be a secret for now but, err.

(Don’t mind my photo. I look awkward there ‘cause my body looks so big. #VeryWrongAngling I sent it to my friends as evidence that I’m on the bus, but actually, that photo was taken last January when I came back from vacation in Bulacan. SML. :P)

And then my cousin (this is different from the one who has a ticket) left a comment on that post. That cousin is with my mom in Bulacan. I’m so dead. So I chat him not to tell mom yet. He told me I’ll get screwed when she finds out. I know that, too. Then few hours later, I decided to tell my sister about it, me going to EXOrDIUM. She said the same thing my cousin said, but she accepted it in the end. And she even actually told me why did I have to keep it from her. (She’s an EXO-L, too, so don’t wonder why she even sounded like she would still have supported me whatever my decision is. LOL. Actually, it might’ve been the two of us going to the concert if she isn’t in her work.)

I feel bad, yes. But I just think that this is only now and I’m never doing it again. Is it wrong if I choose to just cherish the moment?

At around three in the morning of January 26th (the Day 2 of EXOrDIUM), I arrived in Araneta Bus Station. I stayed there till the sun is up. I had nowhere to go, anyway. I can’t go to my auntie which is just near the Araneta Coliseum (the concert venue) because I’m afraid mom will find out.

I looked for a C.R. to change clothes. No bathing. I mean, it’s not like I have a choice so don’t judge. And besides, I don’t smell. LOL.

I just waited for my cousin (who has the ticket) outside the Coliseum. It was around lunchtime. We thought we should go there as early as we can to avoid any hassle. When she’s arrived, I finally got the ticket in my hand. I decided to forget what my problems are and just focus on the concert.

I met new EXO-L friends and had fun with them while waiting for the event venue to open. It really is nice talking to people who shares the same interest with you.

There were so many people around and seeing them gathered together for this one event makes me so happy. I was even happier that I was part of that crowd.

It’s really thrilling on my part the moment I’m only few steps away from the entrance. Geez. That’s the start of “THIS IS IT” moment. When I was on my seat, I looked at the stage. I did not have any regret for that last minute decision because I know I can still see my babies from GenAd row. I’m shocked to find out that it’s not that far the stage after all. Then I looked around. I smiled as I realized I will get to see the silver ocean that I missed last year.

The venue was so full of excited faces and auras. I felt so proud as we waited patiently. Of course, the venue was noisy due to thousands of EXO-Ls cheering and excitement. Then the event started. I can’t move first when the boys entered the stage. I can’t believe I’m seeing them and I’m in close proximity with them. Not the literal close proximity as in real close, what I mean is that we are in the same place at the same time. And right at that moment, my favourite place was the Araneta Coliseum.

When I’ve finally recovered from shock, I joined the crowd from screaming to the point that I thought I’m gonna lose my vocal cords. I was so touched by their messages, and their “I love you’s” and “Saranghae’s” made my decision more worth it.

I thought it’s only through music/audios that I’ll get to sing with them. Memorizing their songs by heart is not a waste of time—it never have been and never will be—especially now that they have acknowledged and appreciated it.

Seeing your idols sing, dance, and play around live? Believe me, that’s a scene that would really break your heart once you’ve missed. I am so thankful—so much thankful—that I am one of the thousand lucky fans to witness that.

To my friends (who’s also into EXO) who got shocked when they knew I’m on my way to Manila for EXO’rDIUM, hello. :) Just like what you’ve asked, I have sent your love to them together with mine. Anyway, I just wanna share that the Audio Visual Presentation (AVP) was amazing—the subtitles are swag. The concert was a a real, total blast!

Their voices? I still can’t believe I’m hearing it live. Their dancing? I still can’t believe I’m witnessing it live. Their figures? I still can’t believe I’m seeing it live. Their playfulness? Their jokes? Their speaking? Their messages? I still can’t believe everything is real.

How I wish I have Tao’s time control power so that I could stop the time, or even just slow it up, so that I could be with EXO longer. But of course, I don’t have that that ability. The concert has to end whether I like it or not.

The moment they’re bidding thank you’s and goodbye’s was saddening. But I am still glad that we, PH EXO-Ls, made them happy again like how they made us happy, too.

As soon as they exit the stage, I was ready to exit the coliseum, too, thinking that I will leave this place with memories that I will cherish forever. That three hours with them may be short, but I am contented.

And now, the concert was over and I’m going back home. And as I go back home, I’ll also go back to reality that ‘me going to EXOrDIUM’ is not real and I just did this as my defense mechanism so that ‘me not going to EXOrDIUM’ wouldn’t be that heartbreaking.

To my friends (Joana Emberga, Nica Joy Agripa, Claire Bregania, Makerz Sasota, Yodel Berdin, etc.) who really believed I attended the concert, I love you all. I have the ‘pasalubongs’ and souvenirs you were asking for. Just get it to me on Monday.

To my cousin, Jayson Malacad, who really didn’t tell my mom I’m attending the concert because I asked him not to, thank you. To my sister, Angie Altavano, thank you for understanding me when I told you I was currently on the way to Araneta and I didn’t tell our mom about it. Thank you also for really keeping it a secret. You guys have proven your loyalty. LOL. I love you both.

Sorry for fooling around, guys. Anyway, this is how I came up with this crazy idea (BTW, I did not plan it at first but you actually bought it so, yeah). I just posted in Facebook that I am travelling to Araneta Coliseum for Day 2 concert because I am upset and just so I can lessen the disappointment I am feeling. But you guys reacted to it and actually believed that I will go. And that thought somewhat made me feel better (you know, I was really upset when I found out GenAd is just near the stage) because somehow, I felt like I really am going to the concert even though I’m not. Right now, I am thinking that it made me feel better because it got me distracted. Your enthusiasm and excitement got me carried away that I almost forgot I am a #TeamBahay, too.

And just to clarify it, I don’t have that cousin who has a ticket. It’s just imaginary.

To my mom, I love you. Of course I’m sad you didn’t allow me to the concert but I understand it. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t disobey you even if I wanted so much to watch. Just please, will you already allow me if ever another EXO concert is still possible? #EXOplanet4 :)

That’s all. So, this is my EXO concert experience. What’s yours?

-Mhikz

(Concert photos grabbed from facebook. CTTO. Other photos are, of course, mine. LOL.)

P.S.: Hey, guys! I put your names because it’s not like this is a controversial article. Lol. Saranghaeyo~

[manoharis]

A Year in Review: Telugu Movies!

You can’t pay me to watch these (aka watch me roast them in 10 words or less)

Dictator - a Bala Krishna movie without animals in the title!

Krishnashtami - wyd Sunil.

Terror - the title aptly describes my feelings about this movie.

Guntur Talkies - lets just not. more like gun-to-ur head after watching this.

Attack - this wins for having a director and actor that Idc about!

Edo Raakam Ado Raakam - edho raakamaina torture.

Thikka - ee cinema choosaka vacchedi adhe

Jaguar -  just when you’ve thought twood’s exhausted the possible feline comparisions

I really really dont care:  Savitri, Raja Cheyyi Vesthe, Abbayitho Ammayi, Killing Veerappan, Express Raja, Naruda Donoruda, Hyper, Speedunodu, Garam, Nayaki

Nenu Sailaja -I had a lot of expectations for this movie because it was said to be “fresh” but there was really nothing new here. I loved Ram’s look, some of the comedy and most of the songs. Worth a watch but nothing ground-breaking. 

Nannaku Prematho -  A for effort? I just couldn’t connect to the film because I felt like the emotion was kind of artificial and didn’t really pull me in. I couldn’t get behind a lot of the “logic” in this film. Also there disruptive bgm in every scene which made it really hard to focus on the film. 

Soggade Chinni Nayana - I feel like this movie was targeted towards middle aged aunties lol. I love Nagarjuna and Ramya Krishna but there were one too many scenes where I was hiding my face from embarrassment. On the plus side, all the sarees in the movie were gorgeous !

Lacchimdeviki O Lekkundi - messy because of all the back and forth plot twists. Horror comedy is literally my least favorite genre so I didn’t like this.

Seethamma Andalu Ramaya Sutralu - below average; I don’t have much to say about this. If I hadn’t watched it, this would belong in the ‘I really don’t care’ list.

Krishnagadi Veera Prema Gaadha - I think I was drowsy when watching this (not because of the movie) so I honestly don’t remember anything but the beginning portion which was really funny. I need to rewatch this.

Malupu - I always love a good thriller but it could’ve been better. Aadhi Pinnisetty’s voice tho !!

Kshanam - FAVE !!! This was so good! again always down for a good thriller. Super gripping and just the right pace. I loved how in this the love story was relevant to the script. It was very well written, acted, and taken as well in terms of technicalities. I can definitely see it getting awards next year.

Kalyana Vaibhogame - The first half was loud and messy which made me almost stop watching it. With a premise like this, the story is extremely predictable, as in you knew the lead pair would fall in love eventually, it was just a matter of when. I thought the second half was pretty cute though.

Shourya – I know this is biased of me but I can’t remember the last movie of the Manchu brothers that I’ve seen because the kind of movies they make are just so not my type. However, when this movie came out I did hear some positive talk for it on twitter. But then it wasn’t talked about at all after like a week? So I’m not exactly sure how successful it was. I may watch it eventually but I’m not dying to see it lol

Run- This was the remake of Neram by Sundeep Kishan (side note: I really like Sundeep, so I was annoyed that he was doing a remake). I didn’t hear much about this either after the first week so I don’t think it did that well. However, I do want to watch it because I’ve been trying to watch Neram since forever but I could never find it with subtitles so I guess this is my chance to watch it, but a lesser version ofc. Although one of the main reasons I wanted to watch was for Nivin and Nazriya so this doesn’t really do much more me lmao

Oopiri – I haven’t seen the original so I really liked this! S/o to Nagarjuna for realizing fairly quickly that its time for him to more age appropriate roles (take notes @ chiranjeevi). This is why the Akkineni’s are my fave! (my bias is showing so much in this post but do I really care). anyways, I loved the chemistry between Karthi and Nagarjuna cause lbr their bromance was the real love story in this. Shriya’s appearance made the childhood shipper in me super happy. Overall, an enjoyable film with some great performances. 

Sardaar Gabbar Singh – The amount of hype this movie had, jfc. Tbh I don’t have anything major against Pawan Kalyan. He’s just not one of my favorites, and ngl I liked him in the early 2000s phase (i.e. before Gabbar Singh which is when his fans went to piccha peaks). His fan base is literally one of the worst. I just think they’re super extra and very disrespectful, esp at audio launches. So yes, I was happy that it flopped because one it put the pk fans in their place who were hyping this to no end. Also he wrote the story and screenplay for this and reading some reviews about that gave me life lmao. If you want to hear something good about this movie, Kajal looks stunning in all her princess-y clothes and a few of the songs are pretty good. 

Sarrainodu – I actually haven’t seen this yet but I do want to. Here I go being biased again lol. If this starred anyone I didn’t care for, I would have no interest in this movie but because it’s the fave, Allu Arjun, I have to watch it. I like a lot of the video songs and the music actually grew on me when I was forced to listen to it A LOT in India over the summer. Also he looks hella good, I’m sold, bye. 

Supreme – Ok this movie was huge in India over the summer. Everyone loved it and ngl I used the phrase “its amazing zing zing” about a thousand times among my cousins without even having seen it. I tried watching it once I got back and it was just too much loud comedy for me to handle and I never finished it. 

Brahmotsavam – oh lord. TOO SOON. Jk, I’m over it. Easily the biggest disappointment of 2016 in terms of what was promised and what was delivered. I literally followed this movie since it was even rumored to be happening because Mahesh and Sreekanth Addala. Then Mickey J Meyer was brought on and then Samantha and I was just so hyped. I think the fact that I was dying to watch this in theaters and then I didn’t even want to watch it once it was online, says a lot. I was just really shocked that everyone, fans and non-fans alike panned it especially when it involved sooo many people. The second hand embarrassment is too real. But I did eventually watch it and what the actual hell. There was literally no story, no coherence, and way too many irrelevant characters. Mahesh has a pattern of delivering blockbusters after massive flops so here’s hoping the best for his next!

A…Aa: I have so many feelings about this movie. Trivikram is one of my most favorite directors/writers and has been for a long time. With Attarintiki Daredi, I was pretty disappointed that he went full on commercial and I thought he lost some of his touch. That changed a bit with Son of Satyamurthy (but I feel like a majority of the reason that I liked that movie is bc of Allu Arjun lol). But yeah anyway, A…Aa is still a very commercial movie, its not in any way niche. However, I think Trivikram finally struck the balance of substance and commerciality which made it an entertaining movie while also leaving you with something to think about. The story was actually very simple and something that’s definitely been done before, but the screenplay had Trivikram’s name all over it. It was apparent in every single dialogue. He also pulled out some spectacular performances that were subdued but well done. I remember Samantha saying in an interview that because this is Trivikram’s third movie with her, he knows when she’s reusing an expression which forced her to improve her performance. When the movie was announced, I was kind of disappointed that Nithiin was in it because he’s never been a favorite of mine but I fell in love with him after this. I think in a lot of his movies he tries to do the typical commercial hero act and its obvious that he borrows heavily from Pawan Kalyan’s style. But in this his characterization was very subdued and painted him as  a common guy which made him a lot more likable. It was also easier to ship the lead pair because the star aura tends to overshadow the chemistry but here I was really able to see the characters instead of the actors behind them. I just wished the story was more unique but otherwise a really good movie!

Okka Ammayi Thappa - Sundeep really needs to promote his movies more because they always seem to go under the radar. I was actually really excited for this because Sundeep & Nithya as the lead pair. I’m pretty sure its one of those movies that takes place in the span of a single day which I love bc if you can stretch a day into a full film, its gotta be one hell of a day. Not sure if this was a hit or not but I definitely want to check it out once its online.

Gentleman – (Spoiler Free). This was pretty good! A nice balance of romance and suspense. The story was intriguing and the performances were well done. I didn’t like the comedy though. The situational humor was fine but I hated the comedy track and I felt like it made the movie so much slower than it needed to be.

Oka Manasu - I was so hyped for this cause I love Naga Shourya and Niharika but apparently this was very slow and boring. I hope this doesn’t discourage Niharika from doing more movies because tollywood really needs some actual telugu actresses. (Side Note: Allu Arjun’s speech at this movie’s audio launch !! He basically called out the PK fans in a long 10 mins lecture and it gave me lifeee)

Pelli Choopulu - FAVE!!! Truly a new age rom com. I watched this in a theater in India and I loved it! The story was fresh, engaging, and hilarious. I loved how the characters were very realistic and reflective of actual youth and not hero-like at all. Also s/o for the strong female characterization !! You go Chitra! I think it did an amazing job of combining comedy, romance, social issues, and emotion into a very believable and enjoyable film. And not to forget the music which is so so good. Also, I’m gonna quote this movie in my grave. 

Manamantha - I looove movies that have multiple inter-related stories. The four characters and their respective stories were written well with each character tackling a unique situation. Overall, I liked it, but it definitely could have been better.

Srirasthu Subhamastu - I watched this in India and it was nice to see it on the big screen because the best part of this movie was the grandeur of production. Starring in a movie produced by your father clearly has its perks. I don’t really care about Allu Sirish but he’s still pretty new so to be fair he was pretty good in this. The story is very very routine and predictable but I remember liking the dialogues

Babu Bangaram - I don’t think this was a hit? But fiiinally, Venky in a movie that’s not a remake, which ofc didn’t last long cause his next is a remake smh. 

Janatha Garage - This movie was apparently the biggest hit of 2016 in terms of box office and imo its not deserving. The trailer for this movie made it seem really good but it was a disappointment in the end. The thing with Koratala Siva’s movies is that he always has a good social message but then commercializes it way too much. I understand what he’s trying to do but I wish he’d cut down on the violence and focus on the actual issue. This couldve been a really amazing movie about environmentalism but it turned into something really routine. Im also annoyed that a stellar cast of NTR, Mohanlal, Samantha, and Nithya was wasted on such a mediocre movie.

Jo Achyutananda - This was pretty good. As per the director’s style, it was very simple with life-like characters. The story was very interesting but I thought it was pretty anti-climactic and definitely could have been taken to another level. S/o for Nani’s cameo towards the end which sadly was the only male eye candy (sorrynotsorry).

Majnu -  Even though this is Nani’s movie and I usually have high expectations for his movies, I didn’t expect much from this. The movie didn’t offer anything spectacular. The plot started off pretty interesting but then went the routine rom- com path. It gets a fair share of laughs and the music is fabulous but otherwise underwhelming.

Abhinetri - I haven’t seen this yet and I don’t really care tbh but I’ll probably watch it eventually.

Mana Oori Ramayanam - This seems really interesting from the trailer. Definitely a niche film and I don’t think it did well commercially but I want to see it.

Premam - What do I say about this that won’t get me hate lmao. I haven’t seen this yet but it received pretty good reviews as well as commercial success. I don’t support remakes ofc but I know I’ll end up watching this eventually. I’m glad that Naga Chaitanya is back on track again ?

Saahasam Swasaga Saagipo - I really want to watch this because romance + thriller is my faaave. I don’t think this was that big of a hit but Im still excited to see it. The album is amazing and I assume the bgm will be as well. Also s/o for Naga Chaitanya’s look in this movie which is his best yet imo. Is it just me or has he become so much more attractive now that he’s unavaible lol.

Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada - I haven’t seen this yet, but heard that it was really good! Seems like another Karthikeya-type movie? Who would’ve guessed that Nikhil would be most successful actor from the Happy Days gang (besides tamanna ofc).

Jayammbu Nishchayambu Raa - same as above ^, haven’t seen, heard it was good.Other than that, I’m glad a small film got acclaim.

Dhruva - How much credit can you give to a remake ? I haven’t seen this or the original but I know I’ll probably like it. 

Overall I think 2016 was a pretty good year for movies with many of the successes coming from small budget films which seems to be an increasing trend in Tollywood. The fact that Sardaar Gabbar Singh and Brahmotsavam were total box office disasters even though they starred arguably the two biggest stars in TFI shows that the majority of audiences crave content over star power which I’m all here for!