#quain’s thoughts

[lovely-skyzzz]

✿˖˚ ༘𐙚 Fluffy flowers exchange for ʚ @tillichan ɞ

Authors note: This is my first time writing for other people (and in awhile in all honesty) so I hope you enjoy this Tilli! I tried my best 😞💔

𑁍 Rose - What makes them realize that they're in love with you?

It would take some time for Atsushi to realize that he has any sort of romantic feelings for you due to his mindset of thinking he’s undeserving of love, life, and other similar feelings. On top of that, I feel as if he’d have a large admiration for you and would think his strong desire to be around you is due to the fact he wants to learn from you. Not until later, when speaking to someone about his feelings, would he finally realize that this admiration for you is much different. He realized that his heart raced with you whenever you simply smiled his way, how kind you are to animals and humans alike, how nurturing to everyone you are, and how you manage to stay calm in almost any situation. Even when you tease him, he feels the heat rushing up to his ears and can feel his heart beating through them.

He loves everything about you, and it took him embarrassingly long for him to realize.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

𑁍 Lavender - What do they find attractive about you physically and mentally?

Mentally he’d like how patient and nurturing you are. As I’ve briefly mentioned, he admires your empathy for everyone and everything. It doesn’t matter if it’s a person, an animal, or a bug. You never fail to show kindness and he finds that to be beautiful.

Physically he'd like to compare hand sizes with you. It doesn’t matter if it’s his human hands or if it’s his tiger claws, he finds it sweet regardless. He’s gentle when he does so, holding his hands up as he waits for you to slowly press your palm and fingers just over his. With his tiger hands, he’s even softer, making sure he doesn’t hurt you at all. I think he’d also find your dimples to be adorable, often trying to make you smile just so he could see the small indents appear on your soft cheeks.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

𑁍 Aster - Courting/flirting headcanons. How would they act around their crush?

Atsushi would be very awkward when attempting to flirt with you. He’s essentially a nervous wreck whenever he tries to even perform any pickup line on you and he’d manage to fail miserably every time. He even tried asking advice from Dazai but would never use it considering… It's advice from Dazai. So he’d end up back in square one. Soon, when he does get out of the awkward era of flirting, he’d transition to cheesy flirting attempts. They’d be incredibly endearing but at the same time, you do cringe internally.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

𑁍 Hyacinths - Jealousy headcanons. Are they likely to get jealous? What do they do when they feel jealous?

Atsushi isn’t too likely to get easily jealous. That’s only because he wouldn’t necessarily realize someone was flirting with you or he wouldn’t think much of it. At first, that is.

When he does realize someone is flirting with you, instead of jealousy, he gets more insecure than anything. Again, this is due to how low his self-esteem is. While he trusts you and knows you wouldn't leave him, there’s always a nagging thought in the back of his head that darkens when someone is just a bit too close to you. Give him a bit of reassurance later, he needs that.

However, if he notices you getting uncomfortable that’s most definitely where he would step in. He’d grab a hold of your hand, squeezing it gently if someone was flirting with you aggressively. If the person didn’t take the hint and it worsened he’d glare at them, sass them, then finally pull you both out of that situation. Once you two managed to flee that conflict, he’d make sure you were alright and comfort you if needed.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

𑁍 Camellia - Love language headcanons. What's the type of love language they like to give and receive?

His love languages would most definitely be quality time and words of affirmation.

He seems the type to enjoy quaint dates, like taking a stroll through Yokohama and holding your hand gently as you both chat about everything and anything. He’d enjoy tending to your plants with you as he’d enjoy partaking in anything you find to be enjoyable. He doesn’t need big grand dates either. Something as simple as making dinner together, watching a show or movie together, buddy reading, or sitting in silence as you both work on something, makes him feel content.

He’d also appreciate receiving words of affirmation. As mentioned prior, he has an extremely low self-esteem. So even when he’s secure in the relationship, he will unfortunately still have a nagging thought in the back of his mind making him think he wasn’t good enough for you and why would someone like you love him? Some simple words that bring him back down to earth and that remind him that he is deserving of love, that you're his and he’s yours can help a lot.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

𑁍 Morning glory - Are they very affectionate? Are they touch starved? How do they ask you for affection?

Atsushi would be moderately affectionate along with being ever so slightly touch starved. At first, he was a bit hesitant to initiate anything due to not knowing what would be appropriate. He at first would attempt small things like, for example, holding your hand. You two could be taking a stroll down the park and suddenly you’d feel Atsushi's warm hand entangle with your hand. You could feel the anxiety radiating off of him due to his nervousness. However, as soon as you smile at him and give his hand a squeeze he’ll be melting on the spot.

Later on in your relationship, he’d get more comfortable asking for some sort of touch and wouldn’t feel as nervous asking for any sort of warmth from you. This is when you discover he is just a tad bit touch-starved as he is always asking to entangle your hands together or to link arms no matter where you two are.

[inkys-neos-n-names]

Could I maybe get some names based around Almond Cookie from the Cookie Run Series? Thank you in advance :)

Yet another request for names based on characters from media I know nothing about? Sure!

Almond Cookie:

Sadit - Muslim, 'hard-working'

Myly - German, 'hard-working'

Harding - English, 'brave, hardy'

Hugh - English from German, 'mind, intellect'

Ethan - Hebrew, 'strong, firm'

Conrad - German, 'brave counsel'

Raymond - German, 'wise protector'

Aakil - Hindi, 'intelligent, smart'

Quain - French, 'clever, quick'

Aatos - Finnish, 'thought, idea'

Boman - Persian, 'great mind'

Alger - English, 'clever warrior'

Brewer - English word name. As in brewing coffee

Kona - a type of coffee from Hawaii

Dark Cacao:

Keir - Irish, 'dark, black'

Cole - English word name

Onyx - English word name, a black gemstone

Duncan - Scottish, 'dark warrior'

Sable - English word name, a warm black

Lonan - Irish, 'blackbird'

Merle - French, 'blackbird'

Caliban - Romanian, 'black'

Tynan - Irish, 'dark, dusty'

Donahue - Irish, 'dark fighter'

Donnelly - Irish, 'dark, brave one'

Alaric - German, 'all-powerful ruler'

Eric - Old Norse, 'eternal ruler'

Rex - Latin, 'king'

Malik - Arabic, Greenlandic, 'king, owner, wave'

Benochi - Hebrew, 'son of my sorrow'

Donn - Celtic, Old English, 'ruler of the world, the dark one'

Melchior - Dutch from Hebrew, 'city of the king, city of light'

Aldrich - Germanic, 'old, wise ruler'

Arne - Dutch, Scandinavian, 'ruler, strong as an eagle'

Reyes - Spanish, 'kings, royalty'

Regis - French, 'kingly'

Ladomir - Croatian, 'famous ruler'

Rodion - Russian from Greek, 'song of the hero'

Conlan - Irish, 'hero'

Casworon - Cornish, 'battle hero'

Egon - German, 'strong with a sword'

Eise - Frisian, 'sword'

Tegh - Punjabi, 'wielder of the sword'

[the-forest-library]

July 2023 Reads

Will They or Won't They - Ava Wilder

Going Bicoastal - Dahlia Adler

Hello Stranger - Katherine Center

You, With a View - Jessica Joyce

The Seven Year Slip - Ashley Poston

Kit McBride Gets a Wife - Amy Barry

We Could Be So Good - Cat Sebastian

The Duchess Effect - Tracey Livesay

The Prince & the Apocalypse - Kara McDowell

Ghosted - Amanda Quain

End of Story - Kylie Scott

Their Vicious Games - Joelle Wellington

Four Three Two One - Courtney C. Stevens

The First Thing About You - Chaz Hayden

The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker

Mooncakes - Suzanne Walker

Sunshine - Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Lucy Maud Montgomery - Isabel Sanchez Vegara

100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli - David LaRochelle & Loan Cho

Beyond the Wand - Tom Felton

Wildflower - Aurora James

Lips Unsealed - Belinda Carlisle

Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge - Helen Ellis

Directions to Myself - Heidi Julavits

The Life Council - Laura Tremaine

Everybody's Favorite - Lillian Stone

Life on Delay - John Hendrickson

I Will Teach You to Be Rich - Ramit Sethi

Finance for the People - Paco de Leon

Unmasking Autism - Devon Price

Self-Care for People with ADHD - Sasha Hamdani

Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD - Susan Pinsky

You've Got This - Michaela Dunbar

Easy Crafts for the Insane - Kelly Williams Brown

Pottery for Beginners - Kara Leigh Ford

Conscious Crafts: Pottery - Lucy Davidson

Bold = Highly Recommend Italics = Worth It Crossed out = Nope

Thoughts: 

Lots of good reads this month, but no five stars reads, which I didn't realize until putting this together.

Goodreads Goal: 246/400 

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads| 

2022 Reads | 2023 Reads

[dima-lfc]

https://www.tumblr.com/judectrl/777388740788240384

I thought he was very sexy and handsome before but I read the iamquiantrelle story about him and I have this man on my mind all the time now

I mean he’s big sexy and cute at the same time and very good at his job plus he’s French I’m surprised there’s not more people finding him attractive

ngl he never moved me until a few moots started putting him on my dash more.. and yes quain's fic also helped!!

he's one of the underrated frenchies 👀🫦

[grigori77]

2023 in Movies, My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10.  NIMONA – we almost didn’t get 2023’s most socially important animated feature.  When Disney acquired Twentieth Century Fox and everything went tits up for its various affiliates, animation house Blue Sky Studios bit the dust just as this long-awaited adaptation of influential She-Ra & the Princesses of Power showrunner ND Stevenson’s beloved fantastical graphic novel from Spies In Disguise directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quaine was nearing completion, and it looked like it might never see the light of day … at least until Annapurna Pictures and Netflix swooped in to the rescue, snapping it up, funding its completion and getting it out on streaming to the delight of all of us who’d thought it was essentially LOST.  The end result is just about THE VERY BEST movie I’ve ever seen about the struggles of being non-binary and not conforming to any set gender norms in modern society, viewed through the fantasy prism of a shapeshifting “teenager” who effortlessly steals their own film.  Chloe Grace Moretz is perfectly cast as the voice of the titular misfit anarchist troublemaker supernatural being, who finds an opportunity for some fresh chaos by joining forces with Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a newly-knighted commoner who becomes public enemy number one after being viciously framed for the murder of the queen of a futuristic medieval society (really!) built around chivalry and the righteous smiting of monsters.  Ballister’s determined to prove his innocence, while Nimona just wants to create havoc, while they’re both being hunted by his former fellow knights, led by his ex-boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang of The Try Guys), a direct descendent of the Kingdom’s legendary original monster slaying heroine Gloreth.  It’s a gloriously original piece of work, the animation presented in a truly GORGEOUS brightly coloured 2-dimensional 3D graphic style that at once riffs on the ingenious visual inventiveness of the Spider-Verse movies while also creating something COMPLETELY NEW but simultaneously lovably reminiscent of the classic Blue Sky cartoony look, while the frequently chaotic action is just as infectiously anarchic as the lead character herself.  It’s also fiendishly brilliant in its subversive message and twisty logic, making the viewer question what being a monster REALLY means, and if what we SEE someone as REALLY IS their true identity.  Needless to say, Moretz runs away with the whole film, while the character of Nimona herself is a truly ENCHANTING and thoroughly inspiring creation who’s destined to become an iconic hero for non-binary and trans kids around the world, but Ahmed and Yang are clearly having a great time here too, as is Frances Conroy as the Director of the Kingdom’s knights, having a blast bringing icy menace to her deliciously duplicitous villainous turn.  It’s an incredibly FUN movie, shot through with a rich and rewardingly infectious sense of humour, taking classic fantasy tropes and turning them on their head in new and wonderfully inventive ways, but it knows JUST when to get serious too, and there are some powerful moments when it grabs hold of your heart and DESTROYS YOU emotionally, especially in the incredibly evocative climax.  Ultimately this ISN’T an overly faithful adaptation of Stevenson’s original graphic novel – he was in a darker place when he wrote and drew it, going through his own complicated struggle with his gender identity before finally making his personal transition in 2022 – but it certainly is rewardingly true to the book’s spirit and deep-down message of inclusion, positivity and being true to your core identity, which makes it one of the most important animated films to be made in a very long time.  I’m so happy it’s received the TRULY MASSIVE amount of attention and LOVE it’s garnered since its release, and I thank Netflix and everybody else who made the effort to get this movie out after all when Disney seemed so reluctant to take a chance on it.  This deserves to be seen, it NEEDS to be seen, and I urge you to check it out.

9.  RENFIELD – my horror movie of 2023 sits very comfortably in the genre’s sub-category that I’ve always loved best, a jet black comedy of particularly rare quality and gleeful abandon that made it one of the most entertaining viewing experiences I had this past year.  Yeah, like the best horror comedies it has enough genuine darkness that it CAN be genuinely scary when it wants to be, but given the sheer (literal) batshit craziness of its premise this is a BONKERS FILM, and so it wisely embraces its sheer lampoonery to full effect without reservation.  Not that it’s overly surprising – director Chris McKay cut his teeth helming The Lego Batman Movie before branching out into live action with Amazon’s criminally underrated time travelling alien invasion blockbuster The Tomorrow War, both of which were excellent vehicles for him to master the gloriously anarchic style that he finally unleashes fully formed for this brilliant alternative sequel to the classic Universal Dracula movie with Bela Lugosi.  That being said, the big box office draw here was always going to be Nicolas Cage, who pays loving tribute to Lugosi as the infamous Count, kicking into his typical “manic” setting to chew the scenery with ruthless abandon and, as a result, frequently steal the show right out from under Nicholas Hoult as his titular ghoul manservant, the long-suffering Robert Montague Renfield, who just wants the opportunity to finally find a real, simple life for himself and thinks he can pull it off in modern day New Orleans, only for his Master to himself become inspired by Renfield’s newfound ambition and set his sights on world domination with the help of the Lobos, a brutal local crime family.  Thankfully Hoult DOES manage to hold his own in his scenes with Cage, as always proving ADEPTLY talented enough to deliver another winningly endearing performance while playing perhaps the single most pathetic specimen of his career to date … meanwhile the thoroughly adorable Awkwafina once again proves she’s well on the way to becoming the PREMIER kooky goofball female comedic lead in Hollywood as Rebecca Quincy, the one truly honest cop in one of the most corrupt police forces in all of America, who winds up falling for Renfield’s hangdog charm and puppy-dog eyes as he inadvertently becomes the key to her quest to bring down the Lobos after they murdered her legendary detective father.  Shohreh Aghdashloo brings a much needed touch of class to proceedings as Bellafrancesca Lobo, the family’s seductively sly matriarch, while Space Force and Sonic the Hedgehog’s Ben Schwarz is a frequent non-PC laugh riot all on his own as her entitled constant disappointment of a son Teddy, and Ghosts’ Brandon Scott Jones is lovably flaky as the leader of Renfield’s endearingly pathetic support group for people trapped in toxic co-dependent relationships.  This genuinely is a DEEPLY FUNNY FILM, perfectly geared up for a maximum hit count with the one-liners, in-jokes and situations, but then there’s no surprise here since writer Ryan Ridley (adapting a pitch from The Walking Dead’s original creator Robert Kirkman) is a seasoned veteran of TV comedy, particularly well known as an alumnus of the similarly edgy and madcap Rick & Morty, and this carries a lot of the same twisted, anarchic charm as that rightly beloved series, just in a much more big budget live action form.  It’s also SPECTACULARLY bloodthirsty when it wants to be, the welcome reliance on what are clearly LARGELY physical effects meaning that this movie is another gore-hound’s wet dream, even if the film does mostly play the horror elements for laughs throughout, and it’s an impressively inventive and chaotic beast in THAT regard too, delivering some of the most gloriously OTT splatter-fuelled action sequences I’ve seen in a good while whenever Renfield eats a bug and gets an ultraviolent power boost.  Altogether this is definitely some of the most fun I had at the cinema this past year, and I’ll admit I wouldn’t mind a bit more of this if they DID fancy trying the sequel road after all …

8.  LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND – Mr Robot was one of THE all-time great TV revelations of the 2010s, creator/showrunner Sam Esmail becoming a genuinely challenging counter-culture voice responsible for hard-hitting, thought-provoking material which really shook up the status quo.  Shocking, then, that his only real notable foray onto the BIG screen was with the offbeat but ultimately overlooked romantic comedy fantasy Comet, but that balance has FINALLY been redressed almost a decade later with this powerhouse leftfield tour-de-force dystopian apocalyptic thriller from Netflix.  Adapting the already hard-hitting, critically acclaimed novel by Rumaan Alam, Esmail wastes no time in weaving a spell of subtly inexplicable unease as we follow a family of well-to-do New Yorkers who take the opportunity to get out of the city for a break on the coast after renting someone else’s house for a long weekend, only for the owners to suddenly return in the night with tales of a blackout and more bafflingly worrying events unfolding in the outside world, hoping they can stay too until they know more.  Feelings of distrust and paranoia immediately settle in and refuse to leave even as the two families warily get to know one another, but then things are getting WEIRD – the internet and TV are DOWN, drones are dropping indecipherable foreign propaganda from the skies and there are sudden bursts of head-splitting noise coming from SOMEWHERE … all too slowly it becomes clear that something truly terrible is happening, and that there’s more than just rumoured cyber-attacks at work here.  This really is CHILD’S PLAY for Esmail, who’s clearly having a wild old time crafting a twisting, unnervingly unsettling suspense thriller which sticks the knife in and keeps on twisting as things get more worryingly desperate, all while casting a deeply critical eye on the state of modern society, capitalism, pop culture and pervading racial and social divides.  Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke are both typically EXCELLENT as Amanda and Clay Sandford, the white liberal upper class couple who find their deep-seated preconceptions forming their perceptions as they’re forced to deal with the as always truly MAGNIFICENT Mahershala Ali’s cultured stockbroker G.H. Scott and his brash, opinionated daughter Ruth (Industry and Bodies Bodies Bodies’ Myha’la), while there’s a brief but unsurprisingly POTENT turn from Kevin Bacon as Danny, the exact kind of paranoid, doomsday prepping redneck who’s probably gonna survive this coming apocalypse JUST FINE.  There’s SO MUCH to unpack and explore in this film, it’s definitely one of those film’s that rewards repeat viewing with neat little twists, fascinatingly subtle hints and clues which lead to insidiously profound payoffs and more sneaky little easter eggs than you could EVER spot on a single viewing, leading to a truly HORRIFYING existential climax which will lead to many a sleepless night given the way this world seems to be heading.  Speculative science fiction or worryingly potent prophecy?  Only time will tell, I guess …

7.  SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE – the animated feature that completely CHANGED THE GAME at the end of the last DECADE getting a sequel was pretty much a no-brainer, but it didn’t make the wait any easier, and after COVID put a dent in so many of the big releases coming forward this was definitely one of the most painful delays for me.  Finally getting to see it was, therefore, ONE HELL of a cathartic release of tension, so much that even later discovering that not everything was exactly GOOD in the production studios at the time (namely the animators being crunched LIKE CRAZY by the ever-shifting nature of the vision they were being asked to realise, leading to a toxic working environment for many, which is NEVER cool) still didn’t dent my truly AWED appreciation for the finished film.  Seriously, this is THE BEST animated feature we saw this past year, and ALREADY a strong candidate for best animated feature of THIS DECADE (although that’s likely to change if the incoming sequel turns out to be as good, if not BETTER, which it probability WILL).  Honestly, I could end the review right here just with that recommendation, it’s GENUINELY THAT GOOD, people.  But I still got a job to do here, so … once again, Miles Morales (Dope’s Shameik Moore), the new Spider-Man in his world, is at the centre of a whirlwind of narrative chaos as a new arch-nemesis he never knew he had emerges to hold him to account for what he did when he destroyed the Kingpin’s interdimensionally destructive supercollider in the first film – the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a former scientist at Alchemax who got turned into a walking mass of unstable wormholes when he got hit with the full brunt of all that quantum energy.  As he embarks on his quest to take his misguided revenge on Miles, his interdimensional spree of carnage leads our Spider-Man to become connected with a Multiverse-spanning cadre of Spider-People, led by the spectacularly stern Spider-Man of Earth 2099, Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), who police the various Earths in order to combat and remove “anomalies” that arise to threaten them … and

the Spot is a BIG ONE of those.  Oh, and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), the Spider-Woman Miles most definitely fell for in the first film, has started working with them too after her own father, police Captain George Stacy (Shea Wigham), who’s had it in for their Spider-Woman after she was mistakenly framed for the death of their Earth’s Peter Parker, discovered her secret identity and made her run from her own dimension as a result …yeah, it sounds pretty complicated, but this whole twisted labyrinth is, nonetheless, unveiled in the exact same super-slick, viewer-friendly way the first film pulled off its own exposition, which just makes more room for all the FUN as we get to follow our old favourites and a whole host of fascinating NEW incarnations of our favourite arachnid-themed superhero on their various insane adventures.  This is JUST AS SPECTACULAR in terms of action, character work, pure invention and sheer, unrivalled SPECTACLE as its predecessor, in many places upping the wow factor SIGNIFICANTLY (particularly during a particularly colourful visit to the distinctly Indian-flavoured alternative version of New York called Mumbattan, which is the stomping ground of one of the film’s most memorable new Spider-folk, the irrepressibly chipper Pavitr Prabhakar, voiced by Deadpool’s thoroughly brilliant Karan Soni).  Indeed, the most fun we have throughout this movie is definitely getting to hang out not only with our old friends but all these newcomers too, with Pavitr being joined by the fascinating likes of the very coolest Spider-Woman after Gwen, Jess Drew (Awkward Black Girl’s Issa Rae), digital avatar Margo Kess/Spider-Byte (The Hunger Games’ Amandla Stenberg), overly-angsty living Todd McFarlane comic panel Ben Reily/Scarlet Spider (the incomparable Andy Samberg) and even Mayday Parker, the impossibly adorable new baby daughter of Jake Johnson’s welcome returning fan-favourite OG Peter Parker (and, of course, Miles’ original mentor from the first movie), who’s ALREADY got her spider-powers, while Miguel is a FANTASTIC character, brooding like a champ and sometimes proving to be as much of an EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE villain in the story as the Spot, especially once his beef

with Miles is revealed … but at the end of the day, ALL of these new arrivals thoroughly PALE in comparison to one of this film’s BEST secret weapons, Hobie Brown/Spider Punk (Daniel Kaluuya getting to use his normal accent for once), a misfit non-conformist anarchist JOY with one hell of a problem with authority (Miguel’s IN PARTICULAR) who effortlessly steals our hearts just as much as EVERY SINGLE SCENE he’s in.  That being said, it really is SO GREAT having our old crew back – Miles and Gwen are SO SWEET, their chemistry is just OFF THE BLOODY CHARTS without them even trying, and I adore every single scene of them together, never mind their own individual storylines (it’s PARTICULARLY great getting to see Gwen herself get a SIGNIFICANTLY enlarged narrative presence this time round, becoming JUST as important in this story as Miles himself), while any time we get to spend with Johnson’s Peter is pure gold, and we get to spend even more time with Miles’ wonderful, loving, hard-working parents Jeff and Rio Morales (Brian Tyree Henry and Lauren Velez), which is ALWAYS a plus.  Needless to say, this is a whole LOAD of fun, shot through with the same classic winning humour, wild invention, visionary experimentation, thematic resonance and pure geeky in-joke easter egg-packing FAN SERVICE that made the first film such a winner, but it also comes through BIG TIME with more of those wicked FEELS, this time ramping things up FAR MORE with the serious emotional HEFT as we’re presented with some truly DEVASTATING character arcs whose after effects are gonna be felt for A VERY LONG TIME after.  The fact that this is just the first half of a two-part SAGA, with Beyond the Spider-Verse currently in the works, means that we can look forward to PLENTY MORE, although here’s hoping that this time they give their animators a little more BREATHING ROOM to get it done right WITHOUT having to break their backs in the process, yeah?  Then again, with the writers’ AND actors’ strike barely over, the likelihood of THAT is pretty strong …

6.  OPPENHEIMER – really, is there ANY SURPRISE over this placing so high?  You know what a MASSIVE Christopher Nolan fan I am, and him making a proper EPIC historical biopic examining the career and achievements of the father of nuclear power was GUARANTEED to not only grab my attention but also thoroughly please the serious high-brow cinema appreciator buried inside me over all that action junkie, superhero fanboy and sci-fi-nut stuff … but yeah, this was ALWAYS gonna be a fucking amazing film, wasn’t it?  Nolan’s most regular acting collaborator (outside of Michael Caine, anyway), Cillian Murphy, stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who spearheaded the Manhattan Project which led to the creation of the very first viable nuclear weapons which were then used by the American military to destroy the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and end the Second World War.  On the surface he seems like a driven, visionary man with a real fascination for the science he’s pioneering, but also a cool pragmatism which makes him the ideal man to usher in this astounding technological achievement, but as the film unfolds in Nolan’s typical non-linear narrative fashion we discover a far more complex man than we first supposed, Murphy unveiling Oppenheimer’s deep-seeded fears about the frighteningly real dangers his Project could give birth to.  After all, he may have been the father of the Modern World, but this particular creation also gave rise to a century of technological horrors and a whole new, long lasting Cold War.   Anyway, this is UNDENIABLY the greatest performance of Murphy’s career, if he doesn’t at least get an Oscar nod for this there’s no justice in the world, while, in typical Nolan fashion, the rest of the rich ensemble cast is a genuine embarrassment of riches, from Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s long-suffering wife Kitty and Florence Pugh as his ill-fated Communist mistress Jean Tatlock to Matt Damon as his nominal “boss”, Gen. Leslie Groves, Kenneth Brannagh as his mentor and idol Niels Bohr, the mighty Tom Conti as the even MORE awesome Albert Einstein and even Robert Downey Jr. in a particularly KEY role as Oppenheimer’s one-time colleague and later rival, Atomic Energy commissioner Lewis Strauss, who dominates the parallel narrative throughline presented over the course of the film as his own efforts to discredit and destroy the great man ultimately end up coming back to bite his own political ambitions.  To a man, they’re all as MAGNIFICENT as the rest of the film, which is a fascinating journey into the dark heart of one of the greatest but also most historically and socially destructive scientific achievements in the history of the world, the man who ushered it in, and the hell he then went through afterwards when he then tried to make sure we didn’t make it SO MUCH WORSE once we had the power to destroy ourselves.  It’s a film that raises extremely tough questions, and what answers we ARE able to come to are every bit as terrifying as any of the consequences that are either seen or merely suggested here.  Nolan is, as always, A MASTER in the director’s chair as much as in the screenwriter’s corner, bringing his usual visionary flair and artistic brilliance to craft yet more of his trademark IMAX-rocking BEAUTY and opulence, while his sneaky, snaky narrative shenanigans once again frame things in ingenious, challenging and sometimes emotionally DEVASTATING ways before we’re brought to the bittersweet denouement.  Tenet composer Ludwig Goransson’s expansive, evocative score is, ultimately, just the icing on the cake, making an already amazing film even more noteworthy.  If this ain’t the toast of the Awards Season they really didn’t pay attention …

5.  THE CREATOR – if ever there could be a film that would decry the state of the modern blockbuster blueprint, it’s this one.  Seriously, that fact that something THIS fresh and original could flop in a market so saturated with cookie-cutter franchises and exhausted expanded-universe IPs just says it all, doesn’t it?  Writer-director Gareth Edwards (along with screenwriter Chris Weitz, who previously worked with him on Rogue One) has had a look at our encroaching terror at the pervading rise of AI, taken a step back and looked at what COULD potentially happen if we actually end up OVERREACTING and blaming it for something which is actually entirely our fault … cue a troubling delve into a dystopian future where, after the accidental nuking of Los Angeles due to defence-Ai programming human error, the West has uniformly turned again artificial intelligence and set about waging an uncompromising war against it and the sentient androids it’s spawned.  These survivors have fled to the more sympathetic nations of New Asia, but the oppressive machinations of the Western coalition and their obsessive hunt for the AI’s creator, Nimata, have given birth to a terrifying weapon, the deadly orbital weapons platform NOMAD.  John David Washington is Joshua Taylor, a US Army sergeant who lost an arm and a leg in the LA blast, and then what innocence he had left in a subsequent ill-fated infiltration mission in New Asia, who’s drawn back into the fight by his former commanders when evidence emerges that his supposedly dead wife, Maya (an enjoyably complex turn from Gemma Chan), the daughter of Nimata he met and fell in love with on that mission, is still alive and in possession of a devastating weapon which they need to get hold of before it can be used to destroy the West.  Going in with a special forces team, Joshua discovers that this so-called weapon is actually Alphie, an android child (newcomer Madeleine Yuna) with the power to control electronic devices, and he finds that the truth is nothing like what was led to believe … Edwards and Weitz have created a spellbinding science-fiction MASTERPIECE here, a breathlessly thrilling and expansively EPIC science fiction war saga which takes some challenging and thought-provoking ideas and heavy themes and takes a very interesting direction in their interpretation while posing profound questions about the nature of humanity, morality and love, all while delivering a truly intoxicating masterclass in peerless world-building, brought to astonishing living, breathing reality through some of the most seamlessly engineered visual effects I have EVER seen in a feature film (then again, Edwards DID start out as a visual effects artist, so he knows the game INSIDE AND OUT).  Washington is an unusually complex, multi-layered hero as Joshua, fallible and driven by selfish desires but ultimately finding something much bigger than himself to believe in, while Yuna is a revelation, a sweet and inspiring little light in the darkness, while mighty support from the likes of Alison Janney, Ken Watanabe, Marc Manchaca (Ozark, The Outsider, No One Gets Out Alive) and Ralph Ineson rounds things out nicely.  Powerful, inventive, affecting and endlessly thought-provoking, this deserves to be remembered not only as one of the most rewardingly original and genuinely brilliant movies of 2023, but of the entire decade, and I think it’s a genuine crime it wasn’t a massive hit like it deserved to be.  Audiences really did SLEEP on this one …

4.  MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE – really, there should be NO SURPRISE that this topped off my list for the summer.  I may have grown up with James Bond, and I LOVE the Jason Bourne movies too, but the Tom Cruise-starring cinematic adaptation of the classic TV spy show has been MY ABSOLUTELY FAVOURITE espionage-based film franchise since JJ Abrams established the tried-and-tested formula for the series with 2006’s seminal classic third entry.  That being said, the franchise didn’t find its strongest voice until Cruise brought Jack Reacher writer-director Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun) on board for the dynamite fifth instalment, Rogue Nation, which was so fucking brilliant and well received by both critics AND audiences that Paramount saw fit to retain his services on the EVEN BETTER follow-up, Fallout, which came DAMN CLOSE to equalling the heights of Sam Mendes’ Bond masterpiece Skyfall … so of course it was a NO-BRAINER for him to return once again for this two-part intended send-off for Cruise’s seemingly immortal superspy, Ethan Hunt, as he not only faces his deadliest foes to date, but also a very dark ghost from his own past.  As with its predecessor, this is another spy flick where knowing as little as possible going in works best for your enjoyment, suffice to say that this time Ethan and his loyal friends, master hacker Luther Stickel (the legendary Ving Rhames), tech wizard Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and former MI6 spook Ilsa Faust (Dune’s Rebecca Ferguson), really have their work cut out for them when they’re forced to go rogue yet again in order to track down and deactivate a supermassive AI program known as the Entity which has become fully self-aware, broken free of its constraints and is now wreaking havoc throughout the internet and beyond. 

Unfortunately this seemingly unstoppable digital force has enlisted the aid of a particularly dangerous “avatar” to represent its concerns in the real world, a mysterious terrorist known as Gabriel (Ozark’s Esai Morales) who seems to be following a dark agenda of his own.  The ensuing race against time takes in a grand tour of impressively picturesque locales, a collection of winningly well-written characters and a series of knuckle-whitening, visually arresting action sequences that have long since proven to be McQuarrie’s bread-and-butter just as much as his ingeniously twisty labyrinthine plots and sparky, sharp-witted quickfire dialogue, again showing that he really is THE VERY BEST filmmaker that Paramount could EVER have found for this franchise.  Needless to say, Cruise is as spectacular as ever in what really has become the very best role he’s EVER HAD, by this point basically just INHABITING Ethan’s easy charm, admirably solid, unswerving moral principles and truly INCREDIBLE physical prowess, delivering equally well in the truly insane stunt-work which WE KNOW FULL WELL IS ALL HIM as he does in the acting stakes; meanwhile Rhames, Pegg and Ferguson once again shine bright in their now comfortably well-established roles while still managing to bring fresh depths and interesting new arcs to their well-worn characters, we get a lot more of The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby’s intriguing notorious second-generation arms dealer Alanna Mitsopoulis/the White Widow, and it’s an IMMENSE pleasure to finally welcome back the first film’s prickly yet verbose antagonist Eugene Kitteridge (Henry Czerny), Ethan and Luther’s former boss in the IMF, in a far much expansive role this time round.  Meanwhile the franchise newcomers all impress as well, Morales easily proving to be the series’ VERY BEST VILLAIN to date as he menaces, seduces and murders his way through the story, brutally tearing our heroes’ lives apart as he pursues his mysterious master’s nefarious ends, while we get a brand new series heroine in the form of Grace (the MCU’s own Peggy Carter, Hayley Atwell), a sly and duplicitous professional thief who essentially stumbles into the thick of the action before becoming Ethan’s EXTREMELY unwilling accomplice; meanwhile there’s strong support from Shea Wigham and Greg Tarzan Davis (who previously worked with Cruise on Top Gun: Maverick) as Briggs and Degas, a pair of US Intelligence agents sent to chase down the rogue IMF crew, and Cary Elwes as Denlinger, a particularly duplicitous US Director of National Intelligence.  And then there’s Paris … ah Paris, my sweet, psychotic demon child.  Guardians of the Galaxy’s Pom Klementieff actually gets to be FRENCH again as Gabriel’s unpredictably lethal pet killer, and she’s an absolute JOY throughout, so delightfully unhinged that she makes every second of her screentime an undeniable pleasure, and as a result she’s BY FAR my favourite character in this.  Altogether, this is about as perfect as spy cinema gets, McQuarrie and his cast and crew working tirelessly to deliver not only the very best film in the series to date, but also the best film I saw all summer, very nearly my action cinema highlight of the whole year, and one of the VERY BEST spy movies I have EVER SEEN.  Given the shake-up from the Strikes it’s not clear if we’re REALLY gonna get to see Dead Reckoning Part Two in May 2025 like it’s been slated since getting pushed back from its summer ’24 release,but whenever it DOES finally arrive, I KNOW it’ll be worth the wait … it just has to be bloody INCREDIBLE to be better than THIS ONE …

3.  JOHN WICK CHAPTER 4 – and so, it has come to this … honestly, who’d have thunk it, back in 2014 when the first movie came out and (rightly) became a surprise sleeper hit that went a long way to revitalising Keanu Reeves’ career for a SECOND TIME as he found THE GREATEST ROLE HE’S EVER HAD, that almost a decade later it would’ve blown up into something THIS BIG?!!!  I mean sure, back then it definitely was The Little Movie That Could, but still … well, after two increasingly BIG sequels which each maintained a surprisingly impressive level of quality throughout, the fourth and final John Wick chapter is finally here, and GODS is it good.  I mean it’s FUCKING BRILLIANT.  It just might be THE BEST ONE YET.  Certainly it’s proving to be the most well received, landing BY FAR the best rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it genuinely seems like almost nobody has ANYTHING bad to say about this movie, even the CRITICS largely seem to LIKE this one.  And it deserves every lick of love it’s been getting, this is definitely both the pinnacle of the series AND a perfect swansong for the greatest assassin in cinema history.  I don’t wanna give too much away about the plot, even those who HAVE seen what’s come before shouldn’t be spoiled, even if these movies have never exactly been SHAKESPEARE in their construction they do still frequently leave you guessing in the best ways as to how they’ll turn out, and this one is definitely no exception.  I’ll just say that, after all the killing John’s done to get to this point, his one-man-war with the international criminal network’s High Table has finally reached its zenith as Winston (the great Ian McShane), the Manager of the newly-demolished Manhattan Continental Hotel, gives him the means to finally find a way to get out and find peace while he’s still alive – namely by challenging the Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard), a high-ranking Table member who’s taken it upon himself to rid the criminal underworld of the “cancer” that John and his constant disrespect have wrought, to single combat in a ritualistic duel in order to take his place at The Table should he win.  The

subsequent battle that ensues as John sets about facilitating this duel and the fallout that follows as he fights his way to that final, fateful meeting fuels the film in HIGH STYLE, so that even though this movie’s almost THREE HOURS LONG it never feels overlong or outstays its welcome.  Once again the cast are all ON FIRE, Reeves once again proving that he is just about THE BEST LOOKING and most interesting action star working in Hollywood today when he’s mowing down endless bad guys with a stoic expression and the odd deadpan response, the role once again VERY MUCH playing to his strengths, while McShane and Laurence Fishburne (returning once again as the dethroned Bowery King) are both on fine form throughout, and it’s both a pleasure and privilege but also a genuine heartbreaking SHAME to watch the late Lance Reddick deliver one of his very last performances as Charon, the noble and quietly charismatic Concierge of the Manhattan Continental (at least he also shot one more turn as the character for the upcoming Ana de Armas-starring spinoff feature Ballerina, so it’s not QUITE the end); meanwhile the newcomers all serve admirably as well, with Skarsgard particularly impressing as one of the franchise’s best villains to date, slimy, entitled and exquisitely arrogant, the kind of Big Bad you just LOVE to hate, Wynnona Earp’s Shamier Anderson is a delightful revelation as Mr Nobody, a precocious up-and-coming hitman talent who certainly has a whole lot of potential for a possible future spinoff franchise of his own within this larger universe, Donnie Yen excels as usual as Cain, a former friend of John’s that the Marquis brings out of forced retirement in order to take the unkillable Baba Yaga out (clearly the filmmakers saw his blind badass take in Rogue One and they were like yeah, let’s have a whole lot more of THAT), Hiroyuki Sanada once more delivers effortless class and cool gravitas as Koji, the honourable and principled Manager of the Osaka Continental, and Scott Adkins is viciously impressive but also thoroughly surprising in an almost unrecognisable prosthetic getup as Killa Harkan, the brutish Head of the High Table in Berlin.  In the end, though, we’re once again here primarily to MARVEL at all the action exploits on display while wallowing in some of the richest and most well-crafted world-building there’s EVER BEEN on the big screen – this is a thoroughly fascinating universe, realised with

exquisite precision with so many cool little winks and nods and in-jokes to make the geeks among us grin and chuckle with sheer joy over the immense bounty on display, while veteran stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski once again wrangles some of the VERY BEST cinematic action EVER COMMITTED TO FILM in a series of astonishing and punishing set-pieces bravely executed with nary a visual effect in sight.  There are almost TOO MANY cool action beats in this movie to count, although the final BIG sequence, in which John fights his way up the spectacular but infamously punishing Stairs of Montmartre in Paris against an endless onslaught of thugs all determined to not let him reach the top, which includes one of the BIGGEST belly laughs I have EVER HAD at the cinema in my life, as much just over the joke’s sheer, ingenious AUDACITY, has to be the film’s undeniable highlight (closely followed by a genuinely INSANE run/gun/drive chase/shootout/fight sequence through the sheer chaos of the traffic around the Arc de Triomphe – every single one of these sequences is thrilling, they’re adrenaline fuelled and each crafted with such precision but also brilliantly varied inventiveness that it NEVER leads to vicarious battle fatigue.  Best of all, though, as with the previous film’s there’s a surprising amount of soul and heart and heft to the film too, which ultimately leads to a climax which is both immensely satisfying but also pretty devastating in its emotional power.  Altogether then, this was EASILY my action movie of the year, a fitting climax to an franchise which has come to SET THE BENCHMARK for this entire genre, and, honestly, just a damn fine movie in its own right.

2.  NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU – the scariest movie I saw in 2023 is a very strange beast indeed, a genuinely original and very leftfield piece of work despite tackling one of the most classic movie plot tropes out there – the alien invasion of a small American town.  What makes this such a noteworthy piece of work is that this film plays almost ENTIRELY without dialogue … SERIOUSLY, throughout the entire film’s run there’s only a SINGLE line of actual spoken dialogue delivered by its lead, the rest of the film relies entirely on sound effects and Joseph Trapanese’s atmospheric score alongside visual storytelling cues to gets its narrative across.  It’s an incredibly brave prospect and one which I’ll admit I wasn’t even EXPECTING when I first sat down to watch Hulu’s most blindingly successful offering of the past year, it kind of snuck up on me realising that nobody was actually SAYING anything, but I still knew EXACTLY what was happening.  This is because there’s ONE HELL of a writer-director at the helm of this project – I’ve been a big fan of Brian Duffield for a while now, having really loved his screenplay work in The Babysitter, Underwater and Love & Monsters, so when he dropped his actual FEATURE DIRECTING DEBUT in the middle of the Pandemic with 2020’s ingenious jet black teen comedy horror Spontaneous I was already onboard and in the aftermath simply COULD NOT WAIT to see what he’d do once he got his hands on a budget decent enough to actually deliver the kind of films he’d already been WRITING.  But even so, this one STILL left me shocked by just HOW FUCKING AMAZING it actually is, seriously, this is almost certainly THE MOST IMPRESSIVE movie I’ve seen in the past year, and DEFINITELY its most important from a filmmaking standpoint.  The story itself revolves almost EXCLUSIVELY around a slightly odd young woman named Brynn (Booksmart and Dopesick’s Kaitlyn Dever) living a seemingly idyllic but ultimately lonely life in her isolated home on the outskirts of a small town which seems to have universally shunned her for some initially unknown past crime … which means that she knows full well that there will, indeed, be NO ONE coming to her rescue when, one night, an alien walks into her home and starts tearing the place up using devastating telekinetic powers.  She

manages to escape after accidentally killing the creature, but this simply makes things worse as, when morning comes, she discovers that the whole town is in the middle of a subtle but TERRIFYING alien invasion and that they seem to have marked her as a particular threat.  From this beautifully simple starting point, Duffield has crafted a simply PERFECT scary movie, exquisitely paced and relentlessly driven as we hit the ground running the moment night falls after that initial time taken to establish Brynn’s place in the story, and he never lets off the brakes again until we reach the end.  This is a genuinely TERRIFYING piece of sci-fi horror, with the varied creatures in particular presented in impressively near flawless standards of CGI which really should be used as a major benchmark moving forward with the artform, while the frequent and substantial knuckle-whitening set-pieces are executed with a precision that verges on the simply RUTHLESS throughout.  It all plays out with a surprising denouement which feels cathartically PERFECT for everything that came before once you think about it a little, and the whole endeavour is aided ENORMOUSLY by the MASSIVE contribution of the film’s star herself – this is essentially a one woman show, and Dever easily proves the equal of the task, delivering an immensely potent performance that makes the striking lack of dialogue an ultimate significant VIRTUE since she’s able to convey SO MUCH with just a look, no matter the scene, so you find yourself latching onto her in the first ten minutes, meaning that when it goes from bad to worse to truly NIGHTMARISH you’re thoroughly invested in her desperate fight for survival.  This really is a star-making role, and I don’t doubt she’s due for a MAJOR raise in her profile moving forward … altogether this is a genuine MASTERPIECE, easily one of the undeniable HIGHLIGHTS of the past cinematic year and a great sign of things to come, one would hope, should the rest of Hollywood take notice.  Only time will tell … in the meantime take my advice, check it out and experience something TRULY SPECIAL …

1.  DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOUR AMONG THIEVES – so what, then, could POSSIBLY have beaten such astounding fare to the top spot this time round?  If you’d asked me that at the year’s start I DEFINITELY wouldn’t have thought it could be THIS … I mean SURE, I love D&D as much as the next geek, but even so this felt like SUCH a shameless cinematic cash-grab from Wizards of the Coast and Disney (producing through Paramount) that I felt there was NO WAY it could REALLY be an actual GOOD FILM.  At best I was expecting to be mildly entertained by a serviceable guilty pleasure, something that’s good for a Saturday night-in with a pizza and a six pack, not a genuine MASTERPIECE of cinematic adaptation.  And yet, it turns out that’s EXACTLY what we got – this film has ONE HUNDRED PERCENT clearly been made with the utmost love and respect for the source material because the only possible interpretation for the way they wrote this was by taking Player’s and Dungeon Master’s handbooks, a Monster Manual, some character sheets and a few dice bags and just turning the mini-campaign that ensued into a two-hour screenplay.  It’s clear that they are heavily steeped in respect and knowledge of the game itself, or were at least CONSTANTLY advised by experts who are, because this movie is AT EVERY STEP a pretty much PERFECT representation of the Forgotten Realms setting, the bestiary and even the game mechanics themselves IN ACTION, and it EVEN colours the way that the plot is laid out, how the characters interact and how some of the action sequences go.  (Seriously – a perfectly executed knockout on a knife-wielding hostage taker with a hurled potato?  That’s the Barbarian’s player landing a Natural 20 Critical Hit on their Attack Roll.  It love it.)  Sure, the results are likely to INFURIATE some people who think a little too highly about how FORMALLY WRITTEN their cinema should be, but for most folk this actually makes for a refreshingly honest and pretty unique piece of cinematic storytelling that actually works DAMN NEAR PERFECTLY from start to finish.  It also helps that the writer-director duo in

charge here are a pair of stalwart comedy movie veterans, namely Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daly of Horrible Bosses, Vacation and Spider-Man: Homecoming fame, whose extremely enjoyable previous directorial collab Game Night actually likely provided a useful throughline for them to get into tackling this one.  The main cast of dysfunctional heroes we follow through the story are even put together like a typical motley band of player characters – Chris Pine once again proves that he’s at his best when he’s doing broad comedy, thoroughly delightful as self-centred, opportunistic roguish Bard Edgin Darvis who, along with his platonic partner, tough-but-fair and sweetly naïve Barbarian warrior Holga Kilgore (played to absolute PERFECTION by Michelle Rodriguez in what’s UNDOUBTEDLY the best role she’s ever had, and definitely my FAVOURITE character here), enlists the help of bumbling, neuroses-riddled half-elf Sorcerer Simon Aumar (Pokémon Detective Pikachu’s Justice Smith, twitchy, unsure of himself and UTTERLY adorable) and shape-shifting Tiefling Druid Doric (It’s Sophia Lillis, forthright, dependable and immediately done with all of Edgin’s shit) to help them knock over the accumulated fortune of their one-time colleague, Rogue-turned-nobleman Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant once again expertly bringing home the scheming sleaze persona he’s perfected in more recent years now he’s finally said goodbye to his earlier days as an upper class heartthrob) and foil the dastardly machinations of the monstrous undead Red Wizard Sofina (a genuinely chilling and unsettling turn from Shadow & Bone’s Daisy Head); meanwhile there’s a top-notch supporting cast of “DM-controlled NPCs” that help the story flow and breathe as effortlessly as the main stars, from Bridgerton’s Rege-Jean Page as deliciously dry Paladin Xenk Yendar, the obviously-overpowered PC from another campaign that the DM brings in to help the party out when things go COMPLETELY WRONG for them, and Chloe Coleman (Gunpowder Milkshake) as Edgin’s estranged young daughter Kira, to Bradley Cooper in a truly INSPIRED and genuinely hilarious cameo as Holga’s decidedly diminutive ex-husband Marlamin.  Every single one of these is a well-rounded, living-and-breathing vital person in their own right, and the writers have crafted them and their misadventures with proper precision throughout, while the world has been realised with genuine skill and clear loving attention to detail, as well as a welcome reliance on real sets and locations and good old fashioned physical make-up and animatronics over pure digital effects wherever possible.  There are some pretty spectacular action sequences on offer here (the Underdark sequence with a decidedly overweight dragon is a particular highlight, although my personal favourite has to be the scene in which Doric has to pull off an unexpected escape by Wildshaping between different animal forms, all unfolding in a spectacular unbroken “single” take), but in the end this film is, first and foremost, a COMEDY, and while there’s plenty of heart and pathos on offer, as well as more than a little genuine DARKNESS here and there, ultimately almost everything is VERY MUCH played for laughs, and the end result is definitely the funniest film I encountered this past year.  It’s also just about the most effortlessly ENDEARING film I’ve come across in a very long time, and I have to admit I am SO GLAD that it managed to defy my low expectations SO MUCH, I feel VERY HAPPILY HUMBLED that I was proved SO WRONG this time round.  I’m genuinely hopeful that we get LOADS MORE of this going forward, I’d love a whole campaign’s worth of movies to grow out of this humble one-shot.  Best get those D20s rolling again, guys!

[quaine-commits-war-crimes]

I remember a point in time that I thought I had a great friend. I started doubting myself and thinking they were fake, which is when I remembered what cowboys did to test gold. For those of you who don't know, it was biting it. So I walked up to my friend and said, "Hey (name), can I try something really quick?" To which they obliged. I fucking latched onto his shoulder. All I heard was "Quaine let go you useless frying pan." We are still friends.

[seeinganewlight]

top 5 books you’ve read this year? 🩵

oh boy this is hard mostly because while i've read a lot of books that i thought were great/have loved and given high ratings, i don't know if there are any that have REALLY stuck out to me so far this year. that being said, here are probably my top 5 that i've continued to think about!

happy place by emily henry (girlie called me out once again, thanks eh)

of human kindness: what shakespeare teaches us about empathy by paula marantz cohen

women of will: following the feminine in shakespeare's plays by tina packer

the sun down motel by simone st. james

ghosted by amanda quain

ask me my top 5 anything

[kyoupann]

Ryo wants to travel alone but has zero orientation skills so he’s worried he’s gonna get lost (again)

Jan 29 Ry☆ : Today I had the day off suddenly, I haven’t put a foot outside yet... even though I’m hungry, today rather than not going out at all, I wonder if I should enjoy being a hikikomori...!i (๑ ́ᄇ`๑) I’m excited Ry☆ : But... there are a lot of things to think about and a lot of work, eventually I’ll man up and go out, a day off is a day off!!!!!! Ugaa I want to go snowboarding ( ･ㅂ･)و ̑̑♪

K’suke: Let’s go snowboarding!❤️ Ry☆ : let’s go, let’s go!😆❤️

Ry☆ : Is there anyone who has gone on a trip alone?? what is it like?

Ry☆: ah, but my sense of direction is quite bad  a five-minutes-walk took me 30 minutes to get to this place for the first time. Tha too can be fun, I guess🤔

[blurglesmurfklaine]

huge shoutout to @forabeatofadrum who never fails to tag me even though I am TERRIBLY inconsistent with these lmao! Love u bb 💞💞

For today: a little quaine being besties from “State of Grace” coming at ya……. Sometime in 2023?? hopefully lmao

New Message:

From Quinn:

We have to talk about it

No, we don’t, actually

Blaine.

Quinn.

I’m scared.

Blaine’s phone begins to vibrate in his hand, Quinn’s contact photo filling up his screen in an incoming call. It’s a selfie back from senior year. In it, Blaine is trying to squeeze the two of them in frame while Quinn pushes him away. This results in a chaotic shot of blurry black, with the only color being the streaks of blue and pink in their hair.

Even with his rough exterior, Blaine supposed he’s always been a little sentimental.

He sighs and answers.

“Why are you scared?” Quinn instantly asks.

Well isn’t that just a loaded question.

“I… I don’t really know. I think there’s a part of me that believes it means I’m not who I thought I was.”

“Who did you think you were?”

Leave it to Quinn Fabray to pull out all the stops and ask the hard questions ten seconds into a phone call. “I’m… not sure. Not someone who would fall in love with…” The last word sticks in his throat, caught in his unwillingness to admit the truth even to himself.

Shit. He can’t even say it.

“Not someone who would fall in love with another equally kind and compassionate person? Hate to break it to you, Blaine, but that sounds exactly like you.”

Gonna go ahead and tag @esperantoauthor @byebyeblainey @special-bc-ur-part-of-it and anyone else who wants to give this a go!

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Friday 13 February 1835

7 10

11 5

No kiss rainy morning and F42° at 8 5 tho’ it had been fine before - Breakfast at 8 ¼ - then read from page 73 to 97 Philip on Indigestion - then moved my papers from the bureau drawers in the little dining room to the drawers (Marian let me have in exchange) in the Low kitchen chamber - then some while talking to Marian - then with A- and a minute or 2 with my aunt till 12 ¼ - then rain prevented my going out immediately after breakfast - Joseph Gill (whom Pickells went after yesterday) called to speak to me about 10 am but declined seeing him - had Throp’s son for a minute or 2 about whether the sycamores were right set out at the top of the bank - out at 12 25 - or rather Marian called me to consult me about her journey to Market Weghton about Mrs. Inman who it seems is now quite insane again and Sarah was miserable the last holidays at home but Mr. Inman cannot live long and then all may be right told Marian she had best console Sarah as well as she could and let things quietly take their course in talking and in one way or other all the morning frittered away - out at 1 ½ - the gardeners (Throp junior and 1 man) had planted the 5 more sycamores at the top of the bank - met Pickells the magistrates could not grant him a summons for the people on horseback who passed thro’ Whiskum bar on Wednesday without paying their penny a piece - it was a case at Common law - met Holt going to the drift - will come after dinner on Wednesday - sure I can stop the Spiggs colliery without hurting Walker pit - out with A- at 2 - down the old bank to Halifax - we went to Leylands to inquire about completing A-‘s set of Lodges’s portraits - then left A- at Whitely while I went to Mr. Parker’s office - saw him on the subject of the hunters - desired him to consult with Mr Adams and do what was best against the people who passed thro’ the bar without paying - to write to each whom Pickells’ wife could swear to viz. Mr. Jeremiah Dyson, John Clark the huntsman, ---- Dawson of Halley Hill, John Peel the butcher and Mr. John Carr, Innkeeper, to say an action would be commenced against them if they did not pay the bar and the expense of Mr. Parker’s letter - then read sentence from Mrs. Sutherland’s last letter to A- respecting Pattersons’ s bond - he not prepared to pay it off - mentioned A-‘s intention to have a division of the property and pushing it forward and hope of completing it in 6 months - and meaning to employ some law man at a distance for fear of being thought to be favoured by Mr. Parker – SW- now busy about the valuation – Mr. P- strongly for A-‘s getting the business done at home or there would be great expense and trouble in sending the deeds to a stranger - it might be done (the law part) for £150 - thought Pattersons’ bond had better stand over and be taken by whomsoever got the Baily hall estate - would divide the Halifax property - but not Golcar - liked the plan of dividing partly according to contiguity to the entailed estates and partly by lot - thought the division would be for the welfare of both sides - 40 minutes with Mr. P- then rejoined A- at Whitley’s - went to Miss Hebdens’ about mechlin lace to know if some  A-lately bought there was really mechlin - yes! bought by Miss Hebden in Paris for such - returned up the new bank home at 4 20 left A- in the house and from 4 ½ to 5 55 out with John Booth and Pickells setting out 4 more sycamores in John Oates’s field and 8 at the top of George R-‘s daisy bank - changed my dress - dinner at 6 20 - coffee - came upstairs at 8 5 and wrote all but the 1st 7 lines of today - Note from Mr Bradley to say he will be here at 10 am tomorrow - Marian’s young friend here so wished my father good night on our coming in from Halifax - got the first 18 fasciculi of Quains’ anatomy from Booths’ this morning - read the 1st fasciculus this evening then  ½ hour with my aunt till 10 10 at which hour F46 ½° damp day - highish wind towards night and wind more or less all the day -  

 SH:7/ML/E/17/0163

 then in 25 minutes wrote 2 pages to M- dated Saturday morning anxious about herself and poor Percy - taken with her - account of Easton and King’s Weston - her excursionizing admirable - A- much pleased with her (M-‘s) perspective will return the book with many thanks in 2 or 3 weeks - thanks to good Mrs Duff for the excellent short bread she put into my carriage on leaving Lawton - hope Martha has gone on well - ‘I write with considerable pain from a tight bandage and compress on my right wrist which I badly sprained about 10 days ago and was told I must not expect anything like a cure under a month - How are you yourself? I shall be very anxious for good tidings - Ever very affectionately and especially yours A.L.’ - had just written so far at 9 40 pm - 20 minutes with my aunt till 10 at which hour F45° - driving rain in the morning and haze and small rain from about 4 ½ for the rest of the afternoon and evening - pretty fair while A- and I were out.

[loserlikewe]

“gone from lima for several months, and i come home sensing some interesting energy exchange between you and sam.” quinn approaches blaine at his locker, one hand placed on her hip as she greets him with a gracious smile. thanksgiving and regionals is right around the corner, and in the midst of the alumni mentoring the newest members of the new directions, there’s still that high school showmance and drama that’s always kept the years throughout mckinley all the more interesting.

she wants to make the rounds, catch up with everyone she could, and while she had a lot more history with sam she thought she could take this time to chat a little more with blaine. she’s heard about the break-ups — she’d found out about brittany and santana from texts she received from a clearly drunk santana, and finn and rachel and blaine and kurt from rachel’s various emails. a lot’s definitely changed.

    “c’mere, you big cutie.” she opens her arms out to him as she begins to step forward, wrapping her arms around his neck in a welcoming hug. “how’re you doing?”

         i did say before that i’d try to throw all my muses at u so have some quaine          friendship // @wrblr​

[lol-jackles]

For me, Jensen's least favorite part (excluding notDean) was in early s11. Even Dean fans were speculating that he was soulless because his scenes with Amara were just weird at first. With Jared, the scenes with Amelia were awkward and lacked chemistry. My favorite Dean moment is the speach he gave Mary about his failings at protecting Sam and his bitterness towards her. Sam in the s8 finale was amazing as well. (Also liked M!Dean over D!Dean, maybe cause had more expectatives over the second)

Yeah Jensen’s performance in early season 11 was uninspiring and it led to, as you said, fans speculating that Amara ate his soul in their first meeting.  The good news is it looked Shakespearan compared to Kit Harington’s “SHE IZ MUH QUAIN” performance in Games of Thrones’s last season.  I can understand somewhat from Jensen’s pov after the dissappointing “rare Dean centric storyline” season 10 that bananna slipped on the puddle of hot mess and fell flat on it’s rating face.  Season 11 is one of the stronger SPN seasons once it returned to a more Sam-focused storyline so it may felt like rubbing salt in an open wound.

I didn’t have any problem with the Sam and Amelia scenes and thought they had just (barely) enough chemistry since they were never supposed to convince the audience that they were meant for eachother.  Sam and Amelia shacked up because they both lost their life partners to war and tried to rebuild their lives with rebound relationships, which never works outs and we see those failures happen all the time in real life.  I just like the idea that people like them keep trying to connect with people and rebuild their lives and not wallow in the indulgence of self pity so Sam and Amelia moved out of their nowhere motel and re-enter society together.  The general audience gets that, but the fandom, not so much, which is why Jared panders to the anti-Amelia temperature at conventions.

Dean’s speech to Mary in season 12 is a good one and enables me to forgive Dean’s inconsistent behavior towards Mary all season (“there’s the door, get out”  and then “why isn’t she calling me???”) because he had two conflicted opposing emotions regarding her.  From Jensen’s recent interview it took him about two years to understand why Amara bringing back Mary was what Dean really needed, instead of Jensen’s choice that John Winchester should have been the one brought back instead.  The interview reminded me of his other recent interview on how he had a hard time “digesting” the s15 finale and had to call Kripke and Singer to understand it.  

Jared’s season 8 finale performance was good but felt incomplete in part because Sam didn’t get to finish verbally vomiting his emotion onto Dean. It was probably on purpose because writers can’t burn through materials for Sam’s storylines just yet when ratings for season 8 is high and all signs were saying the show will continue for many years to come.

[lnicol1990]

The Dark Domain - Session 6

Well, haven’t posted one of these for a while. Simply put, December got a bit hectic for me and I could keep up with my session write ups. But, with the new year, hopefully I can get back on track

Also, isn’t it amazing how your players can interpret something so entirely different to how you’d intended it? Isn’t it amazing how they can completely derail a session by focusing on something they weren’t meant to?

Yes, but at the same time… no. Just, please no.

Anyway, onto the session!

We begin with Zolfor waking up from her sound thrashing from Kaieth and Irah. She finds herself in a small, cramped cell with several other people. A shifty looking rogue quickly explains the situation; that they are all prisoners waiting to be re-educated and turned into husks of their former selves, mindlessly following orders without a care or dissenting thought.

The rogue asks Zolfor if she has any hair clips, which she does and hands a couple over. The man quickly picks the lock and, after a little flourish, allows Zolfor through first. She promptly misjudges stepping over the bar at the threshold, catches her foot on it and falls flat on her face. She quickly gets up and moves out of the way.

The rogue and three others are quick to follow her, but one woman does not move. She can be heard muttering to herself that she’ll be spared if she is repentant, and no attempt to move her is successful. As such, the others leave her there and make their way out.

Zolfor and the rogue lead the way, slipping into the shadows easily. While two of the others are similarly stealthy, one fails miserably. The sound of their footsteps attracts the attention of the guard, and they are spotted and caught. Zolfor and the others use the distraction to make a break for freedom. Another is spotted as they run, and only Zolfor, the rogue and last other escapee make it upstairs.

Reaching the top of the stairs, they find themselves in a side room within the church. As they creep towards the main hall, the rogue spots another guard and quickly motions for Zolfor to back up. The last escapee trips and lands heavily, alerting the guard to their position. Leaving the clumsy fool to their fate, Zolfor and the rogue hide behind nearby statues.

Once the guard has taken the last escapee back down to the prison cells, Zolfor and the rogue make a break for it. They are able to sneak up on a guard and kill him, at which point, their exit is clear.

Outside, the rogue quickly leaves the city, and mentions that Zolfor should do the same. However, she explains that she has unfinished business and heads towards the docks. The rogue doesn’t try to dissuade her, and instead takes his chance for freedom.

Zolfor is so focused on getting her belongings back from the Old Town urchin that she doesn’t notice a guard on patrol until she all but walks into him. She is unable to see his face under his helmet, but flirts with him, hoping to distract him so she can make the first move. She seems to be successful as he leans towards her for a kiss, but she is caught off guard when he stabs her in the stomach with a dagger and then hits her away from him.

The fight is short. The guard has the upper hand from the start and Zolfor has nothing on her that she can use to defend herself. She is able to fire off an eldritch blast at the man, but causes limited damage. After only a couple of swings, the guard stabs her through, sending her to her knees as shock overwrites her thoughts.

It ends with a swift snap of her neck.

As the sun rises, Atlas, Kaieth, and Irah all receive a vision. They see Priestess Trill, a dagger close to the divine gem on her forehead. They hear her scream as it is forcefully pried off. The gem, bloodied, rests on cobblestone before being crushed and turning dark as its celestial light is extinguished.

Kaieth rises first, coming out of his meditative trance. He is disturbed by the vision, and after privately reviewing it, he waits outside Irah’s room, wanting to speak to the aasimar about it. The other man does not seem particularly worried about the vision, passing it off as a simple dream, which only heightens the elf’s concerns. He all but drags his teammate downstairs, wanting to see if Atlas also had the vision.

They find the goliath waiting for them in the dining room, and notice that he seems tense. While Kaieth assumes it to be about the vision, he is quickly corrected; Atlas just doesn’t like the expensive nature of the inn that they are staying at. It has even ruined the larger man’s appetite, simply asking the waiter for water, even after it is mentioned that breakfast was included in the room price.

As they are left alone, Kaieth brings up the vision. He distrubed with the fact that they all shared it, and believes it is a warning of some sort. When questioned, he explains that he often has visions when he is in his trances and that they all mean something; to see something so disconnected to what he is used to, it must be a warning. He theorises that it may mean that there is another group looking to harm Trill.

This assertion confuses Atlas, who asks why that would matter. Kaieth states that it would mean that another group might be trying to take Gorvick for themselves, which in turn would mean that they have more issues to contend with to accomplish their own mission. The elf shows mild relief when the goliath concedes his point, and Irah readily notes that he hadn’t thought of that possibility, and that maybe more consideration should be given to the vision.

Their discussion is brought to an abrupt halt when a man shuffles up to them. He doesn’t speak and they can tell by a quick glance that he has been re-educated. The man’s clothes are a little better kept than others they have seen, and the crest of a jumping fish is sewn onto the left of his tunic.

He wordlessly holds up an envelope to Irah, who takes it with a solemnly. Task complete, the man turns around and leaves,

Upon inspection, Irah sees that the envelope is wax sealed with the same crest as was on the man’s clothing. He carefully opens the seal and reads the letter within, speaking aloud for his companions.

It is from the mayor’s steward. Irah, under his cover name ‘Philamoris’, has been invited to dinner the next day at the mayor’s estate, after evening prayers. His ‘entourage’ is also welcome, but he reminded that weapons are not allowed in the estate and that formal attire is expected.

Both Atlas and Kaieth are unhappy about the idea of walking into an unfamiliar place without weapons, but both are confident that they could hold their own regardless. The topic of formal clothes is even more hotly disliked. Atlas brings up the practical reason that he is a goliath and nowhere will have something that can fit him, and also admits that he hates those kinds of clothes anyway. Kaieth is simply proud of his position within his temple and considers his uniform to be enough, stating that if the mayor disagreed then he would take it as a personal slight against him and his temple.

Irah is able to sway Atlas into considering giving formal wear a try, if only to woo Trill who will likely be in attendance. Kaieth, however, does not budge on his stance.

Either way, they all agree that attending the dinner is the next step in discovering the best way to take the city for the Domain. And the next step in preparing for that is buying formal attire.

As they make their way out of the inn, their attention is grabbed by Priestess Trill who is yelling at a guardsman. Upon making their approach, they can hear the man telling Trill that the investigation has come up empty, something she is not happy to hear. The party ask what has happened, and Trill indignantly tells them that some of the prisoners marked for re-education have escaped, and one has been killed.

The party are aghast at the announcement, both the murder and Trill’s brazen admission that they keep prisoners locked up below the church. However, when they learn that the murder victim was Zolfor, Kaieth’s concern immediately drops.

Irah, however, is still worried about the criminal and asks the guard captain more questions, which the man does not take very well. The man is snappish, but apologises once he notices that Irah is an aasimar, who can see that the captain is clearly exhausted and irritable from not having answers. After he calms down, the captain is more agreeable to Irah’s questions and agrees to Irah’s request to speak to the guard to found Zolfor’s body.

As the captain leaves, Irah asks Trill if she would allow him use of the church to conduct a private discussion with the guard in question. She happily agrees, though is less happy when he reiterates that it will be private and he doesn’t want her there.

As the captain returns with the witness, Kaieth notices the necklace in his pocket heating up. Remembering what Rolfor had said, he realises that one of his siblings is close and quietly mentions this to Irah. Once the pair arrive, Irah and Atlas walk the man into the church. Kaieth stays outside with the captain, both of whom watch Trill leave to the mayor’s estate.

Within the church, Irah interrogates the guard with Atlas watching from the side. He learns that the guard did kill Zolfor, who was his half-sister. The man explains that their father is a monster and that he has sworn to kill every child of the man, breaking the bloodline. Atlas speaks up at that, curious to know if that plan included the man himself. The guard goes quiet, possibly uncomfortable with either answer he could give.

Irah, however, decides that the man is dangerous to his teammate Rolfor, and prepares to cut him down. The man hurriedly calls out for him to stop and removes his helmet, revealing himself to be said teammate. Rolfor explains to a very confused Irah that he had followed them from Quain on another boat, being very careful not to get too close and warn Zolfor that he was there. He has been lying low, posing as a guard since he arrived, but has no useful information to add.

When Irah tries to press Atlas’s earlier question, Rolfor brushes it aside, saying that they will have time to talk later when they’re in a safe place. Irah agrees and they come up with a cover story for the previous night.

Meanwhile, Kaieth waits outside with the captain. Not as confident a speaker as Irah, he decides to let the captain speak first, knowing that many people are uncomfortable with silence and will try to fill the void. His patience pays off, and the captain speaks.

At first, it is simple curiosity as to why the elf isn’t grilling him like everyone else has that morning, but some careful manoeuvring on Kaieth’s part brings the topic onto the crime and the town guards. He quickly learns that the guard are understaffed and underfunded, with almost everyone having to use the standard armour and weaponry sold at the indoor market. As such, there’s no way for the captain to figure out if the murder was committed by one of his guards, or by someone else.

When Kaieth pushes for more information on why the state of affairs is so bad, the captain becomes uncomfortable speaking where someone could be listening in and takes the elf somewhere more private to continue speaking. Once alone in a quiet section of the city, the captain explains.

Shortly after the Domain was pushed out, there were many sympathisers left in the city. A few short months later, a plague swept across the city. The head priest of the city, a priest of Sannie, specialised in healing miracles and was the only one keeping the number or fatalities down. During this period, a portion of sympathisers rose up and killed the man. Trill, who had recently arrived, felt she had to take his place and wanted to purge the city of every sympathiser, whether they were part of the attacks or not.

In addition, Ilvan became mayor at the same time. Amidst the stress of his new position of power, the concerns of the plague, and the murder of the head priest, his wife went into labour early and birthed their daughter premature. And from the moment she was born, the daughter has been sickly all her life. All these factors made the mayor extremely paranoid and gave Trill permission to purge the city.

Since then, the mayor has prioritised Trill’s needs, rather the city guard, even pulling some of the captain’s men away from their duties to provide protection for the priestess.

Kaieth says nothing, letting the captain’s words paint him a vivid picture of the situation. He makes mental notes of everything that could give him and his allies an edge in the upcoming takeover.

The elf suggests that they return to the church and meet up with Irah, accidentally forgetting to use the aasimar’s false name. The captain picks up on this and asks who ‘Irah’ is. Kaieth freezes, horrified at himself at the blunder, and shakily bluffs his way out of the situation. He forces himself to say that he is a Blackleaf refugee, echoing what Trill had called his people the day before, and that Irah had been someone he knew in the camp he was from and that ‘Philamoris’ often reminded him of his old friend.

To his extreme relief, the captain simply nods in understanding and drops the subject, asking if they should make their way to the church.

The two return just as Irah, Atlas and Rolfor (once again disguised as a guard) leave the church. Moments later, Trill is also at their side, with the party feeling like she was waiting for them. Irah bluffs that ‘George’ had actually seen the attack last night, but had been hit around the head so events were only now coming back to him. The captain is dismayed that ‘George’ hadn’t reported the injury, and Trill offers to heal him that moment, forcing Irah to stop Trill by mentioning that his healing abilities were better than hers and so healing the man should be his task.

Kaieth and Atlas both notice the priestess looking exceptionally insulted by this, and Kaieth attempts to diffuse the situation by mentioning that Trill had more important uses for her miracles than healing a guard. While not as smooth a talker as Irah usually is, his words do calm her down slightly.

The priestess then turns to ‘George’ and asks who the murderer was, with Rolfor replying that it was a fellow guardsmen who he saw running for the gates before he blacked out. The captain voices his confusion as every guard is accounted for and that no one is missing. Trill verbally grills the captain for such incompetence and that he will have to recount his men again, and interrogate them.

Atlas, at this point, grabs the captain’s badge of office and, after a futile resistance from the man, pulls it off his uniform. He quietly mutters that a man who could screw up an investigation as simple as this was not worthy of the position and holds the badge far too high for the man to ever hope to retrieve it.

Defeated and outnumbered, the captain takes his leave and orders ‘George’ to join him. Irah counters the order, by mentioning that he wants to treat the guard first to ensure there are no further complications from his injuries. The captain backs down and slowly walks back to the guard station.

The party begin to make their way back to the inn when Trill catches their attention and she demands that Atlas give her the captain’s badge. The goliath, however, has gotten tired of her constant dismissal of anyone she didn’t consider important and refuses to hand it over. When she continues to demand for it, getting more and more rude as she does so, he finally lays a hand on her shoulder and asks her in a dangerously quiet voice if she really wants to do this.

This earns him a flash of sacred fire on his wrist, clearly an attempt by her to make him flinch, but his natural toughness absorbs all the damage and he doesn’t bat an eyelid. He explains to her that she got that shot for free, but anymore and he would retaliate.

The guards protecting her are frozen, one intimidated by the man and the other clearly aware that any move he made would likely get the priestess killed. In the end, Irah comes to rescue and is able to make the pair stand down from the posturing. Trill, however, refuses to move and loudly states that ‘the brute’ is in her way. Atlas remains motionless for another few seconds before finally taking a step back.

He smirks as Trill hurriedly makes her way into the church, followed closely by the guards.

Irah, Kaieth and Rolfor all let out a collectively held breath and everyone agrees that they should return to their rooms in the inn to discuss what they should do now.

And so ends the session.

[wordsandpeace2u-blog]

Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges: An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain

Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges: An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain

Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges, 1944 Magical realism/Short stories 576 pages Goodreads Buy the book on my Bookshop   📚 📚 📚   Click here to see my other posts on this book. Today, I’ll share my thoughts on two stories: An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain On the occasion of the death of the author Herbert Quain, the narrator talks about his works and compares him to other authors. Two of…

[blurglesmurfklaine]

quinn for the character ask

HOHIOHIOOOOOOOHIOHO THANK YOU FOR THIS!!

Sexuality headcanon: BUT IT AINT NO LIE, THAT GIRL’S BI BI BI (BI BI!!!!)

I think she had real feelings for Finn and Puck, but she was definitely had a crush on Mercedes and probably Rachel too lmao and I feel like she didn’t know what to do with that bc she would be like “okay but I can’t be gay bc FINN???” so she repressed that shit HARDDDDD and then we all know what happened with Santana later🤷🏽‍♀️

Favorite ship(s): Maybe I’m just a canon whore but Quick, (the idea of) Faberry, and Jeanne has made me come around on Quintina Lmao

Brotp: DID THEY INTERACT ONCE IN CANON?? NO! IS THAT GONNA STOP MY QUAINE LOVING ASS FROM MAKING THEM BEST FRIENDS IN ALMOSG EVERYTHING I WRITE?? ALSO NO!!!

PRETTY PEOPLE WITH DADDY ISSUES THAT IS ALL!!!

Notp: fuinn. Like the thought of them makes me PISSED OFF. They bring out the worst in each other and are so fucking ugly???? Ooof I love season two but the fuinn makes me SO IRRATIONALLY UPSET

A random headcanon:

General opinion: I wish her character development was a bit more linear, consistent, and clear, aND THAT SHE HAD ONE GODDAMN CONSISTENT FRIEND (bc like. When you ask anyone for ANY OTHER CHARACTER’S BEST FRIEND IS?? you get an immediate answer. Finn? Puck. Mercedes? Tina/Kurt. Blaine? Sam. Rachel? Kurt. BUT WITH QUINN ITS LIKE????? OS IT SANTANA?? THE GIRL WHO SLAPPED HER ACROSS THE FACE?? IS IT BRITTANY WHO CANNOT CARRY A CONVERSATION?? YA GIRL IS FUCKING LONELY!!!) to at least document all that growth and maybe keep her on the right track and holy hell where was I going with this???

Anyway. She gay. Me gay. She piss me off. I love. So pretty

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Friday 13 February 1835: SH:7/ML/E/17/0162

7 10

11 5

No kiss. rainy morning and F42° at 8 5 tho’ it had been fine before - Breakfast at 8 ¼ - then read from page 73 to 97 Philip on Indigestion - then moved my papers from the bureau drawers in the little dining room to the drawers (Marian let me have in exchange) in the Low kitchen chamber - then some while talking to Marian - then with A- and a minute or 2 with my aunt till 12 ¼ - then rain prevented my going out immediately after breakfast - Joseph Gill (whom Pickells went after yesterday) called to speak to me about 10 am but declined seeing him - had Throp’s son for a minute or 2 about whether the sycamores were right set out at the top of the bank - out at 12 25 - or rather Marian called me to consult me about her journey to Market Weghton. About Mrs Inman who it seems is now quite insane again and Sarah was miserable the last holidays at home but Mr Inman cannot live long and then all may be right told Marian she had best console Sarah as well as she could and let things quietly take their course. In talking and in one way or other all the morning frittered away - out at 1 ½ - the gardeners (Throp junior and 1 man) had planted the 5 more sycamores at the top of the bank - met Pickells the magistrates could not grant him a summons for the people on horseback who passed thro’ Whiskum bar on Wednesday without paying their penny a piece - it was a case at Common law - met Holt going to the drift - will come after dinner on Wednesday - sure I can stop the Spiggs colliery without hurting Walker pit - out with A- at 2 - down the old bank to Halifax - we went to Leylands to inquire about completing A-‘s set of Lodges’s portraits - then left A- at Whitely while I went to Mr Parker’s office - saw him on the subject of the hunters - desired him to consult with Mr Adams and do what was best against the people who passed thro’ the bar without paying - to write to each whom Pickells’ wife could swear to viz. Mr. Jeremiah Dyson, John Clark the huntsman, ---- Dawson of Halley Hill, John Peel the butcher and Mr. John Carr, Innkeeper, to say an action would be commenced against them if they did not pay the bar and the expense of Mr. Parker’s letter - then read sentence from Mrs. Sutherland’s last letter to A- respecting Pattersons’ s bond - he not prepared to pay it off - mentioned A-‘s intention to have a division of the property and pushing it forward and hope of completing it in 6 months - and meaning to employ some law man at a distance for fear of being thought to be favoured by Mr Parker - SW now busy about the valuation - Mr P- strongly for A-‘s getting the business done at home or there would be great expense and trouble in sending the deeds to a stranger - it might be done (the law part) for £150 - thought Pattersons’ bond had better stand over and be taken by whomsoever got the Baily hall estate - would divide the Halifax property - but not Golear - liked the plan of dividing partly according to contiguity to the entailed estates and partly by lot - thought the division would be for the welfare of both sides - 40 minutes with Mr P- then rejoined A- at Whitely’s - went to Miss Hebden’s about mechlin lace to know if some  A-lately bought there was really mechlin - yes! bought by Miss Hebden in Paris for such - returned up the new bank home at 4 20 left A- in the house and from 4 ½ to 5 55 out with John Booth and Pickells setting out 4 more sycamores in John Oates’s field and 8 at the top of George R-‘s daisy bank - changed my dress - dinner at 6 20 - coffee - came upstairs at 8 5 and wrote all but the 1st 7 lines of today - Note from Mr Bradley to say he will be here at 10 am tomorrow - Marian’s young friend here so wished my father good night on our coming in from Halifax - got the first 18 fasciculi of Quain’s anatomy from Booths’ this morning - read the 1st fasciculus this evening then  ½ hour with my aunt till 10 10 at which hour F46 ½° damp day - highish wind towards night and wind more or less all the day -  

 SH:7/ML/E/17/0163

 then in 25 minutes wrote 2 pages to M- dated Saturday morning anxious about herself and poor Percy - taken with her - account of Easton and King’s Weston - her excursionizing admirable - A- much pleased with her (M-‘s) perspective will return the book with many thanks in 2 or 3 weeks - thanks to good Mrs Duff for the excellent short bread she put into my carriage on leaving Lawton - hope Martha has gone on well - ‘I write with considerable pain from a tight bandage and compress on my right wrist which I badly sprained about 10 days ago and was told I must not expect anything like a cure under a month - How are you yourself? I shall be very anxious for good tidings - Ever very affectionately and especially yours A.L.’ - had just written so far at 9 40 pm - 20 minutes with my aunt till 10 at which hour F45° - driving rain in the morning and haze and small rain from about 4 ½ for the rest of the afternoon and evening - pretty fair while A- and I were out.