#stars it's thursday and i almost forgot

[gerbiloftriumph]

About ten minutes later, King Graham walked past the room. He froze mid step, then walked backward past the door again, staring at the bizarre tableau in the sitting room. No1 was standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed, looking like he was regretting every single decision he’d ever made in his life, while Rosella clung to his leg, pretending to bite it. No2 was running across the room holding onto a curtain rope as though he was swinging on it, and Alexander was supervising the whole thing from a pile of cushions in the corner, an audience of one.

“What are you doing?”

From The Silence Between Snowflakes, and a prompt request from @captmickey​

[natlacentral]

'I've got to pinch myself': Paul Sun-Hyung Lee on playing Iroh in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'

Presumably the people outside a local car dealership a couple of years ago who heard Paul Sun-Hyung Lee let out a “huge whoop” during a phone call with his agent didn't fully grasp the significance of that celebratory sound.

The Toronto actor beloved as the internet’s “Appa” thanks to “Kim’s Convenience” and a popular part of the “Star Wars” universe, too, was about to become the internet’s favourite uncle.

Lee had landed the role of Uncle Iroh in “Avatar: the Last Airbender,” Netflix’s much anticipated live-action reimagining of a well loved animated series (not to be confused with James Cameron’s “Avatar” films).

“Honestly, I have moments where I think I’ve got to pinch myself because, even as a youngster, I never would have believed that I could be a part of these things, because I never saw anybody who looked like me reflected in any of these shows,” the Korean Canadian actor said, reflecting on his roles in “Airbender” and the “Star Wars” spinoffs “The Mandalorian” and “Ahsoka,” in which he plays the popular Captain Carson Teva.

As Iroh in “Airbender,” Lee has stepped into the robes of another fan favourite character.

First, a bit of a primer: “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” which debuts Thursday, is about a 12-year-old boy, the “Avatar” of the title, on a quest to save the world from the rapacious Fire Nation, which has gone to war with the Earth, Water and Air peoples. Despite his youth, Avatar Aang (played by Vancouver actor Gordon Cormier) is a powerful “bender,” honing his ability to manipulate air, water, earth and fire.

Aang and his friends — Katara, a water bender (played by Indigenous Canadian Kiawentiio), and her brother, Sokka (American actor Ian Ousley) — are being hunted by fire bender Prince Zuko (American Dallas Liu), who’s accompanied by his wise and compassionate Uncle Iroh, himself a fire bender and a former Fire Nation general.

If that all sounds kind of geeky, well, that’s right up Lee’s alley.

The 51-year-old has well-established nerd bona fides as a fan of “Star Wars” and other science fiction (he shares his love of the genre on his Bitterasiandude Inc. YouTube channel). He caught up with the original “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (which aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008, then moved to Netflix) while he was still working on the CBC comedy “Kim’s Convenience” (2016-21), in which he played a South Korean immigrant who runs a convenience store in Toronto. 

In 2018, as new fans were discovering “Kim’s” worldwide after the series moved to Netflix, the streaming giant announced its remake of “Airbender,” setting in motion Lee's ascent into another dream role. 

“Almost immediately I got fan casted (as Iroh) by all these people on the internet,” Lee said in a Zoom interview. “I was very, very flattered, but I was doing ‘Kim’s.’”

A few years later, though, “Kim’s” had ended and Lee got an audition for what was billed as a basketball movie called “Blue Dawn,” as a coach who had come out of retirement to guide his nephew.

Although he’s “more of a baseball, hockey guy,” Lee taped the audition and then forgot about it, until a callback a couple of months later. Except now, the retired basketball coach Howard was named Iroh.

“There’s only one Iroh that I know of,” said Lee. “And so I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is for “Avatar”’ … right away I got super nervous. The stakes went up and I really wanted this part.”

But, after doing a chemistry read with Liu and not hearing anything for a couple of weeks, Lee assumed he had missed out on the role, which is part of the lot of an actor … until his agent called just as Lee and his wife were about to sign a lease on a new vehicle.

“So I excused myself, leaving the salesman completely befuddled. I went outside and that’s when I learned that I landed the role. And immediately let out this huge whoop. I had forgotten that I was in a public area and there were lots of people outside, and they all suddenly looked at me and I said, ‘It’s OK. It’s good news. It’s great news.’”

There was one more hurdle to overcome, though. 

“Airbender,” which shoots in Vancouver, overlapped Lee’s schedule for “The Mandalorian,” which films in Los Angeles. And playing Iroh meant shaving off the middle part of the moustache that Lee sports as Captain Teva.

“Luckily I was able to have my cake and eat it at the same time,” said Lee. “Lucasfilm was like, ‘Oh, we’ll just build him a little fake moustache to put on while he’s shooting (“The Mandalorian”).’”

Lee isn’t certain how familiar the producers of “Airbender” were with his work on “Kim’s Convenience” — it's an established fact that “Mandalorian” producer and director Dave Filoni was a “Kim’s” fan before he cast Lee — but he considers his latest job to be another of the many blessings accruing from the CBC series.

“‘Kim’s Convenience’ was such a wonderful launching pad for my career,” Lee said. “I mean, that show was kind of my coming out party in terms of the film and TV world.”

Lee, who was born in South Korea but immigrated to Canada with his parents when still an infant, struggled to find good film and TV roles as a young actor in the 1990s and early aughts. 

After graduating from drama school at the University of Toronto, he did a lot of theatre work, but onscreen “I played a lot of doctors, a lot of store clerks, a lot of window dressing-type caricatures, not characters.”

And yet, he persisted. 

Despite not seeing himself reflected in the television he devoured as a kid and from which he developed his love of storytelling, “I thought, well, heck, if there’s nobody (else Asian) out there, maybe there’s a shot for me to get in … that was kind of foolish thinking because maybe you’re the only one because a lot of people have tried and haven’t been able to get through. But I was just too stupid and too stubborn to quit, so just kept at it.”

Now Lee hopes to provide inspiration for the young Asian actors coming up behind him.

On the set of “Airbender,” which has many Asian actors in its cast, Lee became particularly close with Liu, the 22-year-old Chinese-Indonesian-American actor playing his beloved nephew. Just as Iroh is protective of Zuko, for whom he becomes a surrogate father, Lee said he wanted to nurture Liu.

“Every chance that I got to just sort of give him little pearls of wisdom based on my experiences … I couldn’t help but want to see him succeed,” Lee said. “This kid is a superstar,” he added.

Now that Lee himself is part of two much-loved pop culture franchises, “my cup runneth over,” but he still has entries on his acting bucket list.

“Not to sound greedy, but I’d love to do ‘Star Trek’ because that's filming right in our backyard. I’d love to do a ‘Ghostbusters.’ All those geeky playgrounds I never got a chance to play in. I want to be in a rom-com. I want to be in a Western, the genres that I grew up watching …

“But I’ll take it as it comes and I’m grateful for what I have. And if this is the only thing I ever do again I will be thankful for it because a lot of people don’t get these opportunities.”

[malum-forev]

Game On: Chapter Eight

Chapter Seven

She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands until she saw purple and yellow stars cover her already blurry vision. It seemed the stark contrast of the white chalk against the once emerald green board wasn’t enough of an eyesore for Mrs. Patterson, one of (Y/N)’s teachers, she was insistent on writing everything in her infamous script handwriting. Sometimes, when she closed her eyes, the red ink on last semester’s paper that read: ‘Your closing argument is not only structurally incorrect but factually inaccurate.’ Still haunted (Y/N).

Mrs. Patterson looked down at her polished silver watch, nine forty-five. “Judging by your empty eyes, I think now would be a good place to stop.”

Scattered chuckles could be heard around the room but what was most noticeable was the sighs of relief. The 7:30 pm double lecture was hard to handle but having one of the most decorated teachers in that time slot became almost unbearable. (Y/N) got up to stretch her back and pick up her things as people started shuffling out of the classroom. 

“Law students sure know how to enjoy a Friday night.” She instantly recognized his voice.

‘Deep breath, one, two, three.’ She counted in her head before turning around.

“What can I say, they don’t call us the life of the party for nothing.” She smiled. “I thought you had practice tonight, you know to get ready for the big game next week.”

Bucky clutched the left side of his chest. “You know my schedule? Don’t make me blush.”

(Y/N) hiked her tote bag up and walked past him towards the door and peeked her head out, looking both ways. Once she turned around, she bumped into his chest.

She pushed him away from her and from any potential witnesses. “What are you doing here?”

Bucky leaned on the wall closest to the door and started shuffling through his backpack. “You’ve been avoiding me.” 

“That statement didn’t answer my question.” She crossed her arms. “Someone could see you here.”

“Why?” Bucky asked, his furrowed eyebrows cast a dark shadow on his celeste eyes.

“Your eyes look like marbles when you make that face.” She stated.

His features softened and a deep dimple appeared next to his newly revealed pearly whites. “That statement didn’t answer my question.”

“Your argument becomes invalid once you’ve repeated my structure.” 

“The class that just ended was legal argumentation right?” He chuckled. 

It was her turn to mimic his act. “You know my schedule? Don’t make me blush.”

He rolled his eyes and threw his head back. “I came to give you this.”

Dangled in front of her eyes, (Y/N) immediately recognized the thin gold bracelet. She gasped and took it out of Bucky’s hands. “Where did you find it!”

“I do believe people usually say ‘thank you’.” Bucky chuckled. “That’s why I’d been calling.”

Although this made (Y/N) feel even more guilty about avoiding him, she could never tell him the truth. “This week has been kind of crazy.”

Bucky laced his hand in hers and brought (Y/N) into a hug. He said “Alright.” Without believing a word she spoke.

He placed a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re coming to the game next Thursday right?”

“I think won’t be able-“

“Please?” He interrupted, his voice barely above a whisper.

She looked up to meet his eyes, their noses touching. “Okay.”

Again, a smile creeped on to his lips and he turned his head to bring them closer to hers but (Y/N) turned and took a step back. 

Bucky sighed and closed his eyes. “Sorry, I forgot.”

(Y/N) cleared her throat and turned towards the door. “So, I’ll see you on Thursday?”

“I was actually thinking we could see each other on Sunday. Steve is leaving and I have the apartment to myself.” Bucky rubbed the back of his neck, a crimson tint adorning his cheeks.

“Sure, just text me.” She smiled.

“Promise you’ll answer?”

“I promise.” She nodded before leaving the classroom. The winter air of January helped her cool down. She brought her hand up to her lips, her heartbeat more present there than inside of her chest, but they only made her remember what had happened a week ago. 

The sound of glasses clinking and her friends’ laughter brought (Y/N) joy. It had been a few hours since they had all celebrated the new year. The scene before her eyes made her feel like she was a little kid again, no worries no deadlines just now.  

“Are you coming or not?!” Natasha laughed from the front door, kicking her shoes off on her way out. 

“I’ll keep your clothes safe.” (Y/N) smiled and headed out. 

The previous day had been unusually sunny, the deep ray of warmth cast over the snow had made some of the water at the lake in front of Steve’s cabin melt. So, the obvious conclusion the group had come to (during the final sips of the fourth champagne bottle and the start of the second tequila shot) was to skinny dip. 

“In some cultures, it brings luck into the new year.” Sam tried to justify as he unzipped his pants.

“Please!” (Y/N) let out a loud laugh. “There has to be at least one of us that doesn’t get pneumonia!”

“Anything bad that happens to you this semester, I’m blaming it on not jumping in!” Wanda yelled as she jumped in. One by one they all shrieked from the cold and erupted in laughter from the alcohol. 

(Y/N) was starting to pile all of her friends’ belongings when she felt someone throw her over their shoulder.

“Can’t let you have bad luck this year, doll.” Bucky laughed as he brought her closer to the edge of the dock. “You have two options: take off your clothes and jump with us or I’ll throw you in with everything you’ve got on.”

Wanda, Steve, Sam, and Natasha cheered from their position inside of the lake. 

“Okay, okay! I’ll jump in! Just turn around!” (Y/N) said through laughs. 

As everyone turned around, (Y/N) quickly discarded her clothes. Bucky peeked through his fingers, that covered his eyes. He double checked that no one was looking, although judging from his friends’ alcohol intake it was possible that even if someone saw them, none would remember. He brought her close to him, their chests touching. 

“Three.” He whispered.

“What are you doing?” She questioned, worried. 

“Two.” 

“James, let’s just jump.” (Y/N) turned to look at her friends but they weren’t even paying attention, the group was too preoccupied with the freezing water to even care.

“One.”

(Y/N) grabbed his hand and took him to the border of the dock, but Bucky brought her back to him.

“Happy New Year, doll.” He smiled before bringing his lips to hers. The passionate kiss took her by surprise. It wasn’t like before, it wasn’t filled with deep breaths and hunger, a desire. It was soft and deep, something (Y/N) had never experienced before. But suddenly the pleasure turned into warmth, a burning feeling that covered her skin. A feeling of all too much consumption. (Y/N) pulled away, breathless. Her widened eyes met his and in a moment of desperation and before she could even conceptualize what was happening, she jumped. 

The cheers of her friends, drowned her thoughts and as she rose back to the top the clattering of her teeth and the drop of her body temperature numbed anything and everything.

Sometime later, once they couldn’t feel their toes anymore, all of them started filing into the cabin. But before (Y/N) could enter, Bucky pulled her aside hidden from anyone’s view.

“What was that about?” His eyes spoke millions of words, those his lips couldn’t pronounce. “I don’t even get a ‘Happy New Year Buck?’.”

“Happy New Year Buck.” She repeated, her eyes focused on the ground. 

He took his index finger to her chin and lifted it up. “Tell me, tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

(Y/N) debated telling him, bearing her naked soul to him. Putting herself in an even more vulnerable position than she had been with him some night before. But Bucky noticed immediately, her eyes changed and it was as if the walls had built up again. 

“If we want this to work, we cannot kiss.” She stated sternly.

“What-“

“Friends with benefits, no kissing. Ever.” She interrupted. 

Bucky sighed and rolled his eyes. He took her hand and placed it on his, rubbing circles on her wrist. “One of these days, you’re going to wind yourself up a little bit too much. And you’re going to fall apart. Everything is more complicated whenever your head gets in front of your heart.”

“Those are the terms, take it or leave it.” Her blank stare challenged him, (Y/N) pulled her hand back and crossed her arms. “I’m going inside.”

In a matter of seconds, Bucky was left alone with the winter breeze and in his hand he held the snapped gold bracelet that was wrapped around (Y/N)’s wrist. 

Sunday rolled around faster than (Y/N) had anticipated. Before she knew it, she had already avoided her roommates’ questions, grabbed some coffee and was laying on Bucky’s bed with only a thin bedsheet covering her, his comforter had been long gone.

Bucky walked in with both of the coffees in his hand. “This kid Peter really has the hots for you.”

“Why are you talking like a transatlantic news broadcaster?” She smiled as he handed over the coffee.

“In case you lost my number.” Bucky read out loud the ten digits that Peter had written on the side of the cup.

“Oh god, I seriously don’t have time to let him down easy.” She closed her eyes and rested her head on Bucky’s headboard. 

“If you don’t watch out, you’ll get a heartbreaker reputation.” Bucky chuckled as he traced his fingers up and down her arm. 

(Y/N) opened her mouth but quickly closed it, she couldn’t think of anything to say. Anything that wouldn’t come out as a lie, and in this moment she could only lie.

“So, this friends with benefits thing. It comes with the ‘friends’ part right?” Bucky asked and (Y/N) nodded. “So, can I ask you something?”

She chuckled. “Sure.”

“No ox two.” Bucky looked at her as serious as ever.

(Y/N) couldn’t help but erupt in laughter. “What are you on about?”

“So when my sister and I were younger, my ma wanted to create like a secret phrase. Something with which we had to tell the truth but she promised that we wouldn’t be in trouble. And since we weren’t allowed to say ‘bullshit’ she came up with ox two. Ox as in similar to bull and Two as in number two, shit.” Bucky explained.

Her laughter did not seize but instead intensified. 

“When you promise no ox two, you have to tell the truth.”

“I promise, no ox two.” (Y/N) smiled. 

“Why are you insistent on not dating?” Bucky asked her.

(Y/N) took another deep breath. “Look, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Great way to start.” Bucky chuckled.

“All my life, I’ve had to work double at everything just to prove that I’m capable. I constantly have to jump through an insane amount of hoops to end up with a great result, even better than anyone around me, especially any of my male classmates. But even when I show that I can deliver better, they say I am just not enough.”

“I don’t doubt Peter is a great guy but, I am not willing to sacrifice everything I’ve done for someone. One single comment from Peter could ruin everything I’ve worked for. Now, instead of being hard working, I try too hard. Because I put my studies in front of my love life, I’m a prude. If I ever decide things don’t work out, I’m a bitch.”

“Instead of opening yourself up, you live in this shell. Only hyper focusing on your goal.” Bucky uttered. 

(Y/N) scoffed. “Of course you would judge me.”

Bucky turned to face her. “I’m not judging, I just think sometimes you should stop and enjoy the ride. I wouldn’t want you to get to where you want to be, only to realize the journey was part of the reward.”

(Y/N) let out a small smile. “This thing between you and me, that’s the most adventurous I’ve ever been.”

“Well, don’t worry about me. My lips are sealed, no one will ever know what goes on.” Bucky closed the gap between the two of them and started leaving a trail of kisses from her collarbone to the edge of her lips, but never once touching them. 

...---...

Tagged List

@charmedbysarge @rabbitrabbit12321

@crazy4seb-chris

[lonely-lighthouse-keeper]

JOURNAL OF THE LIGHTHOUSE STATION AT CACHALOT COVE

[[ log 52]]

~Partly Cloudy Conditions All Day, Rain From 1500-1745~

~Wind Speeds Up to 9 km/h~

Time of writing this log is 1730

Duties done at the station:

𓇼 Winding of the Clockworks

𓇼 Garden Care

𓇼 Fog Watch

𓇼 Mail Check

Dearest log, tonight is the full moon, which means I get to see my family again! With me getting to know my duties more and more, Mrs. Osslik has been around the station and keeper's home less and less. I truly am thankful for all her hard work, and I am now able to do my duties how it fits my non-land thinking. Unfortunatley, the night watch has not arrived yet, so I have been a little bit lonely, but the recent rain has brought comfort after the very warm summer season. I almost forgot! The autumn equinox, as humans call it, was last weekened! With the new season, I hope it brings joy and peace amd something new for me.

I didn't mention this, but not too long ago, Ms. Santos was able to drop off some extra yarn boxes that she did not need, and allowed me to go through them and choose what yarn I would like to use for my crocheting. I finally was able to stop by at her home and return said boxes, except I did keep one that I emptied for storage of all the rest of my yarn.

Goodness me, I almost forgot this too! I finally have enough trust in myself and knowledge of the history of the light station, to begin tours! This past week, I've been running it by Mrs. Osslik, and the next week, I begin tours on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. The other 4 days are to make sure I am keeping up with my other duties. I hope to write more logs, now that I am going to be more active, and

May the Seas and Stars Guide You~~

[not-so-rosyyy]

what i randomly think about on maundy thursday: i can't wait to sleep through the weekend oh god i forgot to buy pesto at the grocery wait is there a new abbott elementary episode today??

what antis randomly think about on maundy thursday: i wonder how soon can [redacted] cheat with her co-star who bought a house in LA hmm i think three years is the quota for her current relationship then boom affair boom they'll have babies with other people yeah i'm going with that no one should be happy as long as i'm not weeee this is so fulfilling right i almost feel like a true contributing member of society *sirens* wait SIRENS? why do i hear sirens?? someone's busting the door open honey, you know you're not allowed here stay calm let's get you to your room WAIT i'm innocent this voice told me to do it don't put me back there please doooon't—ooohh, a shiny object

[kakyoinscheryblush]

Something behind the glass surface [ Jotaro Kujo x reader ]

Masterlist << Previous chapter ｜Next chapter

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

Chapter three, Invisible force

Few days have passed and Y/n didn’t see any signs of Jotaro’s existence in school. Maybe he was skipping or was he sick?

Or was he just avoiding her…? She tried not to bother herself with that since it was distracting her from the classes she had.

On one fine Thursday, her mother, after binge watching the entire seventeen seasons of Under the Morozov royal court, decided that Y/n had to get some groceries from the convenience store not so far away from their house.

The girl compiled since she got the chance to buy some snacks for herself. She grabbed one bigger tote bag from the bottom pantry in the kitchen, and she took the money her mom left on the counter (along with the list of the items she had to buy).

*On the way to the convenience store, 1.st p.o.v*

The weather was sunny and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Perfect time to get sent out to get the groceries and go for a walk. I was greeted by a few eldery couples that lived in my street.

I inhaled the fresh air and sighed. There was no Aiko or Yamabitch in the two kilometre radius so I was good. Once I got to the convenience store I checked if I had my wallet in my jacket pocket and house keys.

I entered the almost empty store and greeted the cashier to which he greeted me back with a polite smile. “Alright let's see what mom wanted me to buy…” I murmured as I pulled out a small paper out of my jacket pocket.

Milk

Eggs

Chocolate for baking

Vanilla and baking powder

‘Mom’s gonna be baking a cake? Woohoo!’ I fist bumped the air silently as I collected the items around the store. Once I got all the items I needed, I stopped in the candy aisle.

There was so much candy here! I really couldn’t choose until I spotted Konpeito star candies! Those were my favourite! [I took a quick google search and I found these, you can check them out, they're really cute!]

I grabbed one package and headed to the cashier. While I was paying I saw a lady struggling to carry her two full bags out of the store. ‘Maybe I should help?’ I thought as I glanced at the lady one more time.

“Here you go ma’am, have a nice day!” the cashier said as he gave me the receipt and the change back. “You too!” I replied back as I stuffed the items carefully into the tote bag and put it over my shoulder.

I grabbed the candy and headed to the lady at the exit. Mom didn’t specify when I have to be home and besides, I don’t think she’ll mind if I’m not in my room all the time.

“Hello ma’am, do you need help with your bags?” I politely tapped her on the shoulder and she turned her head to me. “O-Oh, hi sweetie… Was I really that obvious?” she laughed as she turned to me.

She had shoulder length dirty blonde hair and green eyes that sparkled with joy. She was wearing a beige blouse with an white bow on the collar and a dark brown pencil skirt with simple black flats.

I panicked, “No no- I just saw that you were struggling with your bags and I didn’t want to just walk past you, because that would be so rude and I didn’t want to …” I stopped talking before I could embarrass myself any more.

‘I need to put ‘Stop embarrassing yourself to strangers’ on my to-do list A.S.A.P ’ I thought.

“Hahaha it’s okay darling! Thank you so much for helping me.” She showed me an okay sign and grinned widely.

“Again, no problem ma’am!” I said cheerfully. I grabbed the two full bags and grunted under my breath. Damn no wonder she was struggling to carry those bags.

We exited the store and she started to lead the way to her house. We talked, well, she was chatting her mouth off and I nodded at her.

She told me a few jokes but all of a sudden she stopped telling a story and turned to me. “Oh my God! How rude of me! I never asked for your name!” she gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Her green eyes flashed with panic.

I laughed, “Oh it’s no big deal ma’am. I’m Y/n.” I extended my hand but I forgot I was holding her bags in both of them. She noticed and giggled, “I’m Holy! But you can call me Seiko. You have a really beautiful name, Y/n!” she beamed at me.

“Gee, thank you ma’am! You too have a really pretty name.” I complimented her as I blushed. Getting compliments from strangers was something I’ll never get used to.

She glanced at my right hand that was holding the bag handless and a packaging of Konpeito star candies.

“Oh my! Those are my son’s favourite candy too! He doesn't admit it though, but I can see how his eyes light up when he sees them laying on the counter..." Holy gushed as she talked.

I chuckled, "I'm glad there is somebody else who appreciates those bad boys." I shook the bag gently. This was my favourite candy ever since I could remember. I always begged my mom to buy me a package when she took me with her to the store.

We walked for a few minutes until Holy came to a halt. I wasn’t even paying attention to where we were going but when I glanced back I noticed that this was the street I always pass on my way to school. Alright, good, I wasn’t lost…

She stopped in front of a huge traditional looking mansion and turned to me. “Thank you so much for carrying the bags for me, darling!” She thanked me as she smiled. “It’s no problem, Holy!” I replied back.

Okay so do I just place the bags here and-

"JOTARO, DEAR! COME HELP ME WITH MY BAGS!" Holy cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted.

Did she just say....

Jotaro!?

My heart stopped and I sucked in my breath. ‘What the hell!? Her son is Jotaro!? I- What-’ I panicked and my heart started to beat faster.

This is going to be so fucking akward, what will he think? How do I know his mom nad why am I helping her carry her groceries-

I continued to panic until I heard footsteps nearing us from the entrance of the huge house. I didn’t even dare to turn around to look at Jotaro as I felt him stop near us.

My eyes were glued to Holy since I didn’t want to make this more weirder than it already was.

"Jotaro, dear! Just grab those bags and carry them inside. This girl was nice enough to carry them all the way here…” Holy said as she motioned me with her finger to give the bags to Jotaro.

I slowly craned my body towards Jotaro who didn’t move a muscle. I gulped and smiled awkwardly at him.

I didn’t say anything and extended my arms to him, “H-Here you go…” I murmured. He sighed and walked towards me and grabbed the bags from my hands.

His fingers glided smoothly from my hand and I fought the urge not to fall unconscious from fear. His gaze fell on the candy package in my hands and I subconsciously gripped it harder.

What I didn’t notice was that he wasn’t wearing his usual school uniform. He was wearing a plain dark grey shirt and black pants along with…

Were those bunny slippers?

My eyes widened when I noticed he was wearing a pair of fluffy white bunny slippers. I totally forgot I almost shited my pants from how scared I was a few moments ago, because this was just much more amusing.

Holy just watched the painful interaction from the side and raised an eyebrow. She opened her mouth to comment something but Jotaro spoke faster,

"You can go in, I need to talk to her," he said gruffly. Holly smiled, "Oh? Do you two know each other?" she asked curiously as she gestured to both of us with her finger.

"Yes, now go inside." Jotaro snapped and Holly laughed. "Is that so? Why don’t you invite her inside? I can make you two some tea and snacks!'' She fully turned to Jotaro, completely ignoring his rather rude remark.

I just stood there, horrified. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I must've eaten something bad and I was just hallucinating this whole thing up.

I glanced at Jotaro who shrugged his shoulders, “Whatever…” he murmured as he went up to tip his hat, but he realised he wasn’t wearing one and he only stuffed his hand in the pocket of his pants.

Holy giggled at Jotaro who only glared at the floor, “Oh, come on in Y/n! I have so much tea to choose from!” she cheered as she grabbed my hand that was holding the candy package and rushed me in the huge yard.

We stopped at the house entrance and we took off our shoes. “Here, you can take these slippers!” Holy gave me a pair of plain fluffy slippers which I took and put on.

“Before Jotaro gets here, I just want to thank you for being his friend… I know he tries hard to make friends, but he always thinks that people can understand his emotions without him expressing them. So, I’m glad you stuck around!” Holy giggled as she got behind me and basically pushed me to the kitchen.

I didn’t even get to explain what was truly going on so I just shut up, I’m sure Jotaro will explain to her when he gets inside.

The candy was still in my hand and as I sat on the table I put the package on it. I laid the tote bag with stuff I bought next to me.

“Okay just sit here, sweetie. I’ll make us some tea and I’ll bring you two snacks!” Holy said as she dashed to the kitchen.

Awesome, great! What the fuck do I do now? My mom is probably worried sick for me right now….

*3.rd p.o.v P.o.v, Mom*

M/n checked the clock and noticed her daughter still wasn’t home. What could she be doing?

“Eh, she probably ran into one of her friends on the way home and they decided to grab something to eat.” she said as she un-paused Under the Morozov royal court.

It was time to find out if Constantin will accept being in the royal family after being their servant but newly discovered son!

*At the Kujo household, Y/n, 1.st p.o.v*

Holy was making the tea and I heard footsteps getting closer and closer. ‘Okay so Jotaro decided to come inside, for a second I thought he went to grab a semi-automatic gun…’ I thought as I exhaled.

He walked towards the table and sat in front of me. We didn’t utter a single word to each other.

“So… Uh… You want some…?” I asked as I gestured towards the Konpeito star candie package. Jotaro’s eyes gleamed with joy for a short second, and if I wasn’t looking at him already I would have missed it.

“Yeah.” he replied firmly. As I reached to grab the package…

It moved towards Jotaro!?

“The fuck-” I jumped out of my chair as my eyes widened in surprise. Was he some kind of magician in free time? I glanced at Jotaro who sat completely petrified. He coughed a few times and grabbed the package from across the table.

“Thanks…” Jotaro softly murmured as a few strands of hair fell over his eyes. I was still confused on what kind of supernatural activity just happened? Because I’m sure stuff around houses doesn’t have invisible legs-

Just in time I was about to question Jotaro about the whole thing, Holy entered with a tray with a tea pot and three cups. “Here you go!” she said as she poured us the steaming tea. It smelled like cinnamon and apple.

“Do say Y/n, do you go to the same class as Jotaro?” Holy questioned as she poured the tea in Jotaro’s cup, who was currently chewing the candy. “Oh no, we go to separate classes.” I answered to Holy who nodded at me.

“Hm, interesting… Do keep an eye out for my sweet JoJo, alright?” Holy cooed towards Jotaro who blushed from the embarrassment.

“Alright, that’s enough. Go watch that shit soap opera of yours and don’t bother me any more.” Jotaro sneered and Holy only laughed.

“Whatever you say, dear…” Holy grabbed her tea cup, placed it on a small plate and walked to the living room.

“Can’t believe she watches that shit show… She always fangirls over that one Dmitri guy… Can’t believe her…” Jotaro groaned and placed his face into his hands.

My eyes widened at the mention of a specific character. “Does your mom also watch Under the Morozov royal court!? My mom’s obsessed over it. But who’s mom isn't?” I laughed as I pictured my mom squealing as she watched the Russian soap opera.

Joaro uncovered his face and cracked a small smile, “Your mom too? I thought mine was the only one who watched that crap…”. Wow this guy even smiled, what won’t I find out about him?

I laughed as I reached for the package of the candy, but again it moved towards me!?

“Okay what the hell!?” I exclaimed as I looked at Jotaro who looked at me with a weirded out expression. “What do you mean, what the hell?” He questioned me as if I was crazy or something.

“T-The package just moved on itself!” I pointed to the candy pack which was lying motionlessly on the table. Jotaro looked at me like I was crazy, had foam coming from my mouth and I had just grown three heads.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He simply replied as he grabbed more candy from the pack. I looked at him in disbelief, “N-No you don’t get it I’m not making this shit up! The pack literally moved towards me!” I exclaimed but Jotaro didn’t even bat an eye.

Was I truly just seeing things?

I sighed as I composed my posture. I won’t forget this but maybe I was just seeing things. I glanced at the pack of candy and grabbed a few and popped them in my mouth. We stayed like this until the whole pack was empty.

We didn’t say a word to each other, only a few occasional glancess. And as if she was summoned, Holy appeared by the table and smiled.

“I still can’t believe my baby boy finlay has a friend over!” she gushed as she wiped an actual tear from the corner of her eye.

Jotaro groaned and I laughed. “Mom, don’t even start…” Jotaro gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Now that he wasn’t wearing his gakuran I could see his well defined muscles.

I mean… Now I see why Aiko and Yamabitch (and many more…) wanted to work with him in the first place. I slightly blushed and glanced away before he could catch me looking at him.

“You know sweetie, why don’t you ask Y/n to work with you on that biology project? As you told me, working in pairs isn’t forbidden…” Holy suggested as she side eyed Jotaro. His eyes widened and he coughed, “U-Um, whatever…” he looked away from us.

Holy turned to me, “I mean as long as it’s alright with you, dear.”. I nodded my head slightly, “Oh, it’s no problem Mrs. Kujo…” I replied as I glanced at Jotaro and he was probably having a mental battle with himself in his head.

“I’ll leave you two alone now…” Holy giggled as she walked away with her empty cup of tea.

“Erm- So… you know that one new aquarium that opened a few streets away-” Jotaro raised his head and fully looked at me, “The Sea Life Aquarium?”.

“Yes that one! My mom told me there will be a dolphin performance next week… And we can even pet the dolphins! I just need to find the poster so I can find the exact time and date…” I trailed off as I looked at him.

His eyes sparkled after hearing what I said and he looked like he wanted to say something but he just nodded and sighed.

“Alright, you know where you can find me at school.” he said as he got up and grabbed the empty candy package and crumbled it up.

I looked at the clock and I noticed that I was gone for one and half hours?! Mom is probably at the police station filing my missing report.

“Oh jeez, my mom is probably worried for me by now… I should be going now.” I said to Jotaro who hesitantly nodded. I grabbed my tote bag with stuff and sighed.

“Oh, you’re leaving Y/n? Jotaro dear, can you escort her to the entrance?” Holy appeared from the kitchen.

Jotaro nodded and walked towards me, “Let’s go…”. I walked to the doors and took off my fluffy slippers. I noticed Jotaro still wearing his bunny ones and I giggled, “Cute slippers you have, Jotaro…”.

Jotaro glared at me, but not that glare that meant ‘I will kill you in a matter of seconds’ but a much joking one warning me not to joke about his cute slippers anymore. I put on my shoes and we walked out.

It was still warm and the sun was beginning to set down, illuminating the sky and the clouds in a beautiful pink and orange hue.

We stayed quiet as we walked to the entrance of his yard. I turned to him to say something but I immediately closed my mouth.

He wasn’t looking at me, rather at the pink and orange clouds in the sky. His face was illuminated by the orange glow of the sun and his eyes sparkled from the shine.

I never really had the chance to see his features this close up. Not that it was in my interest even looking in his direction a few weeks ago…

He had striking aquamarine eyes that could be easily mistaken for a pair of gemstones.

‘Y/n what are you thinking!? You are supposed to be thinking of an excuse you are going to tell your mom as to why you were gone for so long! And not how pretty eyes Jotaro has!’ I scolded myself and I could feel my cheeks burn from my thoughts.

He turned his head to me and sighed, “Alright, when you find the poster you can bring it to me so we can figure out when the dolphin show will be…” he explained as a few hair strands fell over his eyes.

Hm, this look was a bit unusual since he always wore his signature hat. Jotaro could really let his hair free from that hat once in a while…

“Okay! I think I noticed a few on my way here so I'll just tear one down… Not like anybody is going to notice anyway.” I said as I re-adjusted my bag on my shoulder.

“See you at school then Jotaro.” I waved at him but as I tried to turn around a sudden force pushed me towards him.

I closed my eyes waiting for the impact of the stone pavement to meet my face… But it never came. Instead of rocks meeting my face, I was met with a pair of arms holding me tightly.

I opened my eyes and I was met with the cotton material of a dark grey shirt. I slowly craned my head up only to see Jotaro’s widened eyes and blushing cheeks. I myself probably looked the same, if not worse.

“Uh- Erm-” I sputtered out noncoherent words and Jotaro just stood there petrified. I couldn’t move my arms because he had his arms wrapped around them.

Jotaro came back to reality and quickly un-wrapped his arms from me. “Urm, yes, s-see you at school too-” he murmured and he speeded away back into his house without a second glance. I stood there for a few moments processing what in the fuck just happened.

I certainly didn’t trip on thin air, something pushed me towards him, but what? His house must be haunted or something…?

But what kind of ghost passes you candy? You know what, I have time to think about this when I get home.

I nodded in agreement with my thoughts and started to walk away from his house, but not before glancing at his house for one last time.

As I was walking on the way to my house I noticed a poster of the aquarium that I agreed to bring Jotaro the next day at school. I looked around and there weren’t any people so I just tore it down and folded it into a small square.

I quickly got home and walked inside my house. “Mom! I’m so sorry-” I entered the living room only to see mom fast asleep on the couch.

“Oh…” I whispered to myself. I grabbed a blanket and covered her with it. “I’ll explain myself in the morning…” I said as I turned off the TV and went to the kitchen.

I placed every item in its designated place and I put the tote bag back in the pantry. Once I was done I went to my room and changed into my pyjamas. The sun finally set and now my room was illuminated by my nightstand lamp.

I grabbed my favourite manga and started to read. This went on for half an hour but my thoughts went back to the incident with Jotaro in front of his house. I furiously blushed and slammed the manga in my face.

I remembered he smelled like a fresh fabric softener and a hint of cigarette (as expected).

The embrace, even if it was only to prevent me from falling, was surprisingly warm… For a second I felt like I didn’t want him to let go…

‘Wait, why was I even wanting him to not let go? Am I even hearing my own thoughts?’ I groaned as I removed the manga on the nightstand. I turned around and smothered my face against my pillow.

Surely I’m not going crazy… Right?

*At Kujo household, 3rd p.o.v*

Jotaro slammed the doors of his room and grabbed his hair. “Star Platinum what the fuck!? Why did you do that shit for?” Jotaro exclaimed as his stand appeared in front of him with an innocent confused face.

“Ora?” Star Platinum asked as he put a finger on his chin. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Why did you do that shit with the candy and don’t get me started on the crap you pulled outside.” Jotaro raged at his stand.

Star Platinum had enough of his users' bullshit and flicked his forehead. “Ow- What the fuck-” Jotaro began as Star Platinum shook his head.

“Ora ora.” Star Platinum said and Jotaro’s eyes widened, “What do you mean, ‘I’m doing you a favour’ ?! The only thing you’re doing here is making her more afraid of me than she already is!”.

Star Platinum shook his head and explained in more Ora oras. Jotaro blushed but quickly composed himself.

His own stand was making fun of him right now. How unbelievable! “I’ve had enough. You- Disappear-” Jotaro closed his eyes but Star Platinum didn’t manifest away.

Jotaro ignored the blabbering of his stand and laid on his bed. Jotaro closed his eyes and sighed.

The images of Y/n in his arms flashed in his head and a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. To be fair… He liked the colour of her cheeks when she blushed…

“Ora ora~” Star Platinum sang as he made kissing noises to mock Jotaro. He groaned and threw his pillow which Star Platinum caught and slammed it on Jotaro’s head. “Ow- You piece of shit-” Jotaro rose from his bed and once again threw his pillow on his stand.

Star Platinum laughed as he once again struck Jotaro with his own pillow. After a few minutes, they both stopped and collected themselves.

“Don’t you even dare to do that shit in front of mom or anybody, am I clear?” Jotaro threatened to his stand and Star Platinum shrugged his shoulders with a smirk.

“Whatever, I’m going to sleep. I don’t have energy to argue with you anymore…” Jotaro said as he went to brush his teeth and dressed in his pyjamas.

He went to his bed and laid on his back. But this time without rude interruptions of his annoying stand.

His mind once again wandered back to Y/n. Jotaro fought a small smile that was forming on his face as he thought of the upcoming aquarium visit with her.

That is, if she wasn’t scared to even approach him after today. But deep inside, he hoped she would agree to go with him to the aquarium…

Maybe, just maybe this project won’t be as bland as he thought it would be…

[justmybookthots]

Guild Codex: Demonized

4/5 stars

Hello to this series that has consumed my life the past couple of days. What is wild is that I almost did not read this series. I saw in the reviews that the demon was in a contract with the heroine in exchange for cookies, and I was like, that sounds overly comedic and I personally dislike it when comedy dominates fiction, so no.

But after reading the first two books in the Red Winter trilogy by the same author, I decided to give this one a try.

LUCKILY IT WASN’T ANYTHING LIKE THAT (the cookies were something the demon had no choice but to accept because they were both desperate for a contract at the time) AND THIS SERIES HAS ETCHED ITS PLACE AMONG MY FAVOURITE BOOKS. 

I just binged this entire series (all four books) from Sunday to Thursday, wtf. I started the first book on Sunday and finished it on Monday (I think??), then tried to take a break but ended up bingeing anyway. The first book was pretty much near perfection; there was almost nothing I could critique about it. Every scene with Zylas (ZYLAS!!!) hit the spot and while I feared their exchanges would become repetitive, each scene was chef’s kiss and had a purpose that led to a greater picture. The other three books weren’t as perfect, especially the last one, but they still had me in an iron-grip and had me zooming through all of them.

The last time I was this engrossed in a series, it was with Cruel Prince. I think it was my obsession with Zylas that really sucked me in. I haven’t loved a male lead like that in a while. At some point, I thought he even rivalled Cardan (now, maybe not? I don’t know). He was rude, cruel, even kind of sociopathic in the first book, which made sense because he was a demon. I was so worried he’d soften up right away and just end up behaving like a normal person (which so many books make the mistake of. Being arrogant but tortured does not make a male lead a demon, just a stereotypical hero, thank you very much) but he was always so unpredictable. I loved how he touched Robin’s hand - then grabbed her into the summoning circle and asked how her blood tasted. It was totally out of nowhere in an otherwise soft moment that had lulled me into a false sense of security. 

I also loved that he wasn't considered strong for a demon, and had to use his cunning to fight a lot of times. °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° My heart almost broke, though, when Robin forced him to fight the demon from the First House and nearly got him killed. Gahhhhhhhhhhhhh. I don't know why, but I found that plot point soooo good.

Also, in the second book, him harassing Socks (the cat) was EVERYTHING:

I also really liked Robin - she wasn’t the badass, snarky heroine that I’ve read in so many fantasy books. She was timid, and combat-wise really useless. She had to struggle to make herself useful during battle, and was more book smart than street smart. AND I LOVED IT. It was such a refreshing change from what I was used to, and what I’d been looking for. I’d even asked Reddit for recommendations… I wonder why they didn’t recommend this to me? Or maybe they did, and I forgot.

But I digress. 

I think Annette Marie is really talented, and while the language is very straightforward and not very pretty or flowery or anything like that, the story is extremely well-written. My eyes started glazing over when the action got too intense, though, and I ended up skimming the fight scenes. I’ve never really cared about action in fiction, if I’m being honest. I always skim that, including in thrillers. 

The last thing I’d like to add is that after Robin and Zylas consummated their relationship in the last book, their tension kind of ebbed for me, and I wasn’t as invested in them anymore. I’m not sure why - was I so invested in their slow burn that I didn’t care afterwards? I also think the sex scene was meh, and could have been done with better foreplay and all that shit to make it more intense, because it felt - no pun intended - kind of anticlimactic. If the romance is slow-burn, so should the. Fucking. Sex!!!!!

(Also I would have liked Zylas to be more... in pursuit, lmao, but that's neither here nor there.)

Overall, it was so FANTASTIC, and I just loved, loved, loved their little makeshift family with Amalia (GO AMALIA!!! Loved how Robin and her formed a friendship that lasted all the books) and Socks. I was terrified of finishing the series too fast because I’d have a massive book hangover, so… yikes. Thankfully, I think I’m okay, because the last book wasn’t hitting as hard.

I hope I'm okay...

Also, some of my favourite quotes:

❤️❤️ (Can I also say I'm obsessed with his tail? FIRST CARDAN, NOW ZYLAS. WHY DO I KEEP FALLING FOR MEN WITH TAILS?)

- 20 July 2023

[canmom]

Animation Night 129 - Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed...

thrice and once the hedge-pig whined, harpier cries; ‘tis time! ‘tis time!

It is once again halloween! Or as close as we can get to it on a Thursday this year. Which means it’s time to once again celebrate horror, in the field of animation...

In previous years, we’ve enjoyed the prog rock album cover spectacle of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, the devastating ruined-world masterpiece Birdboy: The Forgotten Children, the hilarious creepypasta jankiness of Yamishibai in one year...

...and the next, the exquisite Katsuya Terada design and impossibly slick animation of Blood: The Last Vampire, the tense Korean zombie film Seoul Station, the sublime ero-guro festival of Suehiro Maruo paraphilias in Shōjo Tsubaki, the viscerally upsetting abstract dive into a Chilean Nazi cult in The Wolf House... and of course plenty more Yamishibai.

Halloween animation nights are some of my absolute favourites, you guys.

This year, we’ve got our hands on the long-awaited Mad God, the thirty year(!) project of stop motion animator Phil Tippett to take all the techniques he learned doing movie special effects and put it towards a fully stop motion film...

Who’s that? Tippett started his career at the animation studio Cascade Pictures, inspired by the legendary stop motion of Ray Harryhausen. His break into in special effects cane in 1976, when he and Jon Berg were hired to create the miniature holographic chess sequence in the original Star Wars.

Working at Industrial Light and Magic, Tippett was on almost all the big 70s-80s special effects movies - e.g. Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Robocop - earning industry renown. One of his major achievements was a set of techniques termed “go motion” to simulate motion blur when photographing stop motion animations, by moving the camera or smearing a glass plate with petroleum jelly. He was also heavily involved in creating the creature props, so he and his team are behind all those inescapably replicated Star Wars aliens. It’s wild to think of how an idea created at a studio one time is now replicated so widely: how many people have spent time creating 3D models or illustrations of a ‘Rancor monster’?

Yet despite all that success in stop motion, Tippett also oversaw the transition to CG special effects, starting on Jurassic Park (where he’s credited as ‘dinosaur supervisor’) and then Starship Troopers (1977) - Verhoeven deemed him effectively a co-director of the elaborate battle scenes.

And that brings us to Mad God...

The way Tippett described it, Mad God is a form of ‘therapy’ in contrast to his increasingly constrained day job. It’s widely described as an exceptionally bleak film, depicting a figure known as the ‘Assassin’ descending into an increasingly grotesque body horror world. Tippett started it while working on Robocop in 1987, but shelved it for decades on the feeling that nobody was interested in stop motion anymore; he came back to it in the early 2010s, running a kickstarter which raised $124k, three times its goal; with this money Tippett brought on other people to assist him in finishing the film.

In an interview with Variety, he describes what went into it:

I had to archive it because it was just too big for me, the scope was too big, I didn’t have enough people, so I kind of canned it, but never forgot about it. Over the next 20 years, I studied a number of things like art history and literature, there’s a lot of Dante and Milton in the film, and then I really got into Freud and particularly “The Red Book” by Carl Jung. He wrote it over a period of 16 years, and it drove him insane. A similar thing happened to me. I went down this psychological path that took me into this bizarre world that ended up in the psych ward. It was that kind of experience where I guess I became a method filmmaker, I got lost in this unconscious vision.

As he alludes, in the last year Tippett suffered a mental breakdown - I can only imagine what it must feel like to reach the end of a thirty year project and just kick that 80 minute film out the door. I can’t wait to see what monsters emerge from Tippett’s subconscious from his almost improvisational process of animation.

Next on the docket is... do you remember ‘Ujicha’, the ingenious ‘gekimation’ animator whose The Burning Buddha Man we watched back on Animation Night 108?

Ujicha’s technique is termed ‘gekimation’, a portmanteau of animation with 劇画 gekiga, the darker, more adult comics movement which once contrasted itself to 漫画 manga. Gekiga, published in magazines like GARO, was eventually reabsorbed back into mainstream manga - its influence is a big part of the reason why manga doesn’t look like an early Osamu Tezuka or Go Nagai drawing anymore. However, Ujicha’s method draws even more on kamishibai street theatre; it’s a process of limited animation with complex painted cels, moved like puppets. To this he brings a fantastic eye for body horror imagery and some really fascinatingly strange stories.

So! Five years after The Burning Buddha Man (2013), which saw a girl investigating her parents’ deaths only to stumble into a bizarre conspiracy involving merging bodies with carved buddhas to gain superpowers, Ujicha came back with a film titled Violence Voyager. This one follows two young boys who stumble into a weird theme park where they participate in a ‘macabre game’. I can only imagine where it’s gonna go from that vague description.

Ujicha is something of a mystery to me - last time I could only find a scant couple of paragraphs, and searching today I only find similar information echoed on other sites. The Guardian article there mentions that he has the backing of production house Yoshimoto Kogyo, although I’m not sure when that began. Ujicha’s own words about his work are pretty brief, saying that they draw on his childhood:

It’s a mashup of all the things he enjoyed in his childhood, says the director, from trips to Universal Studios Japan to horror movies by Lucio Fulci, John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper, to the gory zombie violence of the Resident Evil video game. The amusement-park-gone-awry scenario is a perfect fit for the strange world of gekimation. “It’s like I’m making an attraction myself,” Ujicha says. “Using my own supplies, and my childhood experiences.”

To me it’s just extremely cool to have someone pulling off something so distinctly different from just about all contemporary animation as well as plain fun, almost entirely alone, and getting rewarded for it! I am really hype for this one, and whatever Ujicha does next.

Now, it wouldn’t be an Animation Night Halloween if we didn’t have an anime about vampires. We’ve done (one take on) Vampire Hunter D, and we’ve done Blood The Last Vampire... so this time let’s take a look at Hellsing, specifically the 2006-2008 OVA series Hellsing Ultimate, a joint production of Satelight (who animated the first half) and Madhouse (who animated the second). What’s it about? It’s about Alucard, a vampire in the service of a British aristocrat, who hunts Nazi vampires with a great deal of gleeful violence.

This one is memorable to me because I actually ended up with a DVD of it when I was a kid, and watched the dub, which is hilarious because it’s packed with British accents or absurd movie German in a really hammy way.

The full Hellsing Ultimate is very long, consisting of ten episodes that are each almost an hour, so there’s no way I can pack it into this format. (We still never got round to the second half of Alexander Senki!) Nevertheless, I think it would be really fun to give everyone a little sampling of it.

Meanwhile, continuing the stop motion theme, I have this fascinating little oddity courtesy of @mogsk​: The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993) directed by a British guy, Dave Borthwick, at his studio bolexbrothers in Bristol - the city where I was born funnily enough, and basically the home of UK animation. It’s a surreal story of a tiny guy who escapes from a lab and into a weird swamp.

Dave Borthwick sadly died in 2013, and so a lot of the information about his life comes from his obituary. From there, we know that he was - like me! - born in Bristol, and graduated the West of English College of Art (now UWE) in 1969, spending many years working in experimental theatre, where he used traditional animation techniques in light shows, and then as a cameraman in the film industry. He founded bolexbrothers in the mid 80s, at first creating mostly short films, ads and music videos such as Feel Free (1984), I Can Hear the Grass Grow (1986), Vikings Go Pumping (1987) and Igors Horn (1988).

The studio was known for their experimental animation, using not just the familiar claymation of studios like Aardman but also pixilation (stop motion animation using living human actors). Their short films tend to involve a lot of industrial settings and favour mood (set particularly by music) over a lot of dialogue or plot.

Tom Thumb is an evolution of that to a longer format, and I’m really curious to see how it plays out. Honestly I had no idea anyone was doing anything cool like this in the UK! It would have been really cool to have met Borthman. Alas...

Besides these main features? We have our usual sampling of shorter stuff - Yamishibai in particular! If you have any cool bits of horror animation, please throw em my way!

To finish up, let me point at some exciting incoming stuff! Alberto Vasquez, the director of the incredible Birdboy: The Forgotten Children and Decorado, has put a release date on his latest film, Unicorn Wars. The film is notable for being animated entirely in Blender Grease Pencil, with much of the same team as J’ai Perdu mon Corps (Animation Night 32). Much as with Birdboy, it’s an expansion of one of Vasquez’s earlier short films into a full length movie. Here’s the trailer...

We can look forward to that in December this year! So if I’m still running Animation Night in a year, maybe it will be our next halloween pick. If I can wait that long.

The other one I have my eye on with decidedly more mixed feelings is... Shintaro Kago, the legendary ero-guro mangaka and one of my favourite illustrators, is directing an anime film, putting his unique spin on Christian mythology. Fantastic, I should be over the moon right? Only, the thing is, to fund this anime film, Kago has been selling NFTs. Apparently very successful NFTs. From a purely mercenary perspective, it’s not a bad move to exploit the vast amount of money flowing through the NFT bubble - but proof-of-work cryptocurrency is massive gaping environmental wound, and it fucking sucks to see an artist I admire like Kago lending the weight of his reputation to this exhausting ponzi scheme.

Course, I’m still gonna watch a Shintaro Kago anime. No idea who’ll be hired to animate it or whether Kago’s style - one of incredibly precise finicky detail - will translate well to animation.

Which brings me to the adaptation of Junji Ito’s Uzumaki to anime by Drive, a young studio that also made Mamoru Oshii’s comedy series VladLove, for Adult Swim and Production I.G. USA (did you know they had a US branch? I didn’t!). The animation they’ve been able to accomplish is nothing short of extraordinary, using designs straight from the manga that are anything but animation-friendly, with subtle, slow motions and drawing counts that would be at home in an expensive film. You have to see this...

The project’s release has been moved back several times, and is currently indefinitely delayed, in part due to the pandemic - something which is frankly a much better state of affairs than animators and production staff working themselves to death trying to get this done on a deadline. I’m sure, whenever it arrives, it will be worth the wait.

And that’s what’s going on - at least to my knowledge - in horror animation at the moment. Hopefully a worthy introduction to these four films. So, without further ado...

Round about the cauldron go, In the poisoned entrails throw...

Animation Night 129 will be starting in about half an hour at https://twitch.tv/canmom - that’s about 9pm UK time!

[jumbomccluney]

omg i almost forgot feel big star thursday

[clarklovescarole]

July 1938: Carole Emulates Clark

July 3, 1938 – Richmond Times

Romances come and go as often as Thursday afternoons and all that glitters over a movieland luncheon table is not love. But paragraphs have to eb made, press agents must eat and lots of people like to see their names in print. So nobody minds much.

If a Hollywood romance lasts a year, you can be reasonably certain (but don’t bet too much on it) that it is real and not reel stuff. Few of them last that long. Carole Lombard and Clark Gable have been going around 18 months. There has been no indication that Clark will get a divorce so he can marry Carole.

July 4, 1938 – Philadelphia Inquirer

Recently Carole Lombard received a dozen trees for her new ranch. Among them were a Kentucky coffee tree, the gift of a Long Island City fan; a sack of black walnut tree seeds from Washington DC, and a Michigan pine from Abbotsford, Michigan.

July 4, 1938 – Cincinnati Enquirer

Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood

Carole Lombard, busy as a bee digging for angle worms, will go fishing with Clark Gable in his father’s new outboard motor boat, which Clark bought him for a birthday present.

July 4, 1938 – Des Moines Tribune

Carole Lombard is supposed to go to work Tuesday at Selznick International, but it probably will be a couple of weeks before she dons grease paint.

Carole hasn’t worked now in more than six months. That’s her own choice. She is one of the beauties most in demand here.

Her return to work will mean that she and Clark Gable will reverse positions. While Carole has been loafing Clark has been busy. Carole has visited him almost every day, sometimes sitting for hours on sets on the back lot. Clark finishes his present assignment just about the time Carole signs out at Selznick’s. 

So Clark will be the one to do the visiting. And you can bet he’ll be there to see Carole every day, too.

July 5, 1938 – Star Tribune

What was the matter with Carole Lombard the other Sunday? Carole was visiting Clark Gable. Outside his ranch she honked her horn very loudly, jumped out of the car, and, yelling some sort of gibberish, ran through the gate to his front door. She seemed in an awful hurry.

July 16, 1938 – Atlanta Constitution

Carole Lombard went to the fights last week with her special boyfriend, and the mob was so excited an entire sleeve was torn from her fur coat. “I’ll never go to a (public) fight again,” vowed Carole. 

July 16, 1938 – Star Tribune

A woman pedestrian gazes with unbelieving wonder at the man in the long shiny auto on Sunset Boulevard. “Clark Gable,” she whispers ecstatically. Mr. Gable frowns, grimaces, honks his admirer out of the way, and speeds on.

July 18, 1938 – Chattanooga Daily Times

Clark Gable pays half of his gigantic salary to Mrs. Rhea Gable, which is why it is taking him so long to collect the $400,000 he has agreed to settle on the second Mrs. Gable when they were divorced…

July 18, 1938 – The Record 

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard forgot their screen work long enough to participate in the first round-up on Leo Carrillo’s Rancho De Los Quiotes (Ranch of the Spanish Daggers) in Southern California. Gable looked less romantic than in this picture when he fell from a horse and sprained his fingers while calf roping.

July 19, 1938 – Evening Star

Clark Gable, I understand, has expressed disapproval of Carole Lombard’s new short coiffure, which makes her neck too long. So you may expect Carole to revert to the more becoming long bob. ‘Tis said that Carole wears Western clothes, and has become a complete country maid to please Mr. Gable. A girl who will do that for a man is surely capable of any sacrifice. 

July 21, 1938 – Honolulu Star

By Alexander Castro

The other night Stuart and I were in the Warner Brothers’ theater on the Boulevard when we noticed that we were sitting right next to Clark Gable and Carole Lombard! They had come in late, and, naturally enough, left early to avoid being gaped at and besieged by autograph hunters. 

July 30, 1938 – Wilkes Barre Record

A fashion magazine representative made a date with Carole Lombard to pose for a picture in the outfit she wears while skeet shooting with Clark Gable and she showed up in a blue denim shirt and khaki trousers. Startled, the fashion expert asked her who designed the outfit – Omar Kiam or Travis Banton. “Neither,” replied Miss Lombard. “It’s the Army and Navy store’s latest creation.” 

[teshaswriting]

January - 2nd Week

This week my hearing problem got so much worse and sadly I couldn’t find time to see the doctor. I remembered it was Wednesday when I felt really sick-not only because of the ear infection, but also because of feeling nausea the entire day and my body got freaking weak.

Thankfully I had family around me and Mom took care of me so well (crying). On Thursday, finally I woke up feeling a lot better and took a morning shower to start my final task in the company (as I’ll be leaving next month).

I picked up my siblings from school on Saturday and I had a very productive Sunday! There’s no better day to declutter home than Sunday, isn’t it? It improved my whole mood even I didn’t go outside at all on weekend lol.

📚 By the time I’m writing this, I almost finish reading Ayah by Andrea Hirata. I really admire his writing style and it’s cool to see modern-era-writer writes with Malay Indonesian. 

Self review:

Health ⭐(we know why) Spirituality ⭐(truthfully, the 1st week was much better) Creativity (I didn’t really do creative things this week hmm)  Productivity ⭐⭐⭐(1 star for the entire Monday-Saturday but I give 2 more for Sunday lol) Self-love ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (being sick and had to stay on bed for most of the day, I only have myself to talk to lol)

Self talks:

> Tentang know my worth. When I know my worth and choose not to settle for less, I work harder and don’t see myself less or feeling insecure.

> I have so much love for myself these days! People said when you're nice to yourself, you also being kind to people around. This is very true! Cintai diri sendiri, dengan begitu kamu bisa menyebar kasih sayang kepada orang lain pula!

> Setting the boundaries itu perlu. Tidak menaruh harapan kepada manusia itu langkah yang benar. Alhamdulillah I’ve been on this mindset sejak Agustus, sehingga ketika something bad happened last November, I could stand for myself, aku tahu mana yang perlu disudahi.

> Tentang memaafkan orang lain dan embrace the old memories, all of them, good or the painful ones.

> Tentang menjadi tegas kepada diri sendiri.

> I forgot where I got this: “Jatuh boleh, menyerah jangan.” It’s simply hits different when you’re facing new challenges.

[yarnreader]

Episode 7: "Projects, Not Progress" (5/12/15)

This week's episode is live on youtube! I hope you enjoy it and will keep an eye out for the movie review on Thursday. Here's the episode. :)

https://youtu.be/SdtqLqINdes  Links to everything mentioned is below. Books: The Cutting Edge by Ace CollinsSummery provided by Goodreads.com"Leslie Rhoads may have grown up in a small town but is on the verge of becoming a supermodel in the Big Apple, when the 24-year-old is chosen to grace the cover of Style magazine and star in the controversial Passion Nights perfume ads. But before she can step into the stoplight, Leslie is assaulted by a drug gang and disfigured with a broken scotch bottle. Without her perfect face, she is lost and no amount of surgery can ever make her what she once was. Now trying to hide her face from the world, Leslie encounters more trouble as she seeks to rebuild her life: unrequited love, thought of suicide, and her assailant out to finish the job. Little does she know that a young girl named Angel will turn it all around, showing Leslie the joy and potential in life and the fact that love truly is blind." Selected Fairy Tales by Hans Christian AndersonI'll have the summery for this book when I'm finished with the book. Spinning: 7yaks wool.It's almost done, hopefully it will be an FO by this Friday. Knitting: I forgot to metion what size needles I used for my projects so I'll be adding them here.English Rose Hat by Rena Varsakis I'm knitting this up in Plymouth Yarns DK Merino Superwash in Grey and Red, using US 7- 4.5mm.  Of the Moon by Caitlin Ffrench I'm knitting this for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup and the Disney Adventures groups on Raverly.I'm knitting this up in my Spun Right Round Bamboo handspun in the Egyptian Red color way, on US 6- 4.00mm. Family Tree Shawl by Erica Jackofsky I'm knitting this in Knit Picks Palette in Bark and Marine Heather, on US 4- 3.5mm. Knitted Patchwork Recipe by Martine EllisOne is in fingering/ light weight yarn, on  US 2- 2.75mm.And the other is in Worseted/heavy weight yarn, on US 7- 4.5mm. The movie review will be live on Thursday, May 14. Podcasts Recommendations:Stuff You Should KnowStuff Mom Never Told YouStuff You Missed in History ClassFuzzy Love KnotsPop Culture Happy Hour You can contact me:RavelryTwitterGoodreadsPinterest I hope you enjoyed this week's episode!Sam<3