#the juxtaposition between these two characters has me reeling

[dramaticpandabear]

WHY DID NO BODY TELL ME THAT NOSHIR DALAL, WHO VOICES RAMPART IN THE BAD BATCH, ALSO VOICES THE LEGENDARY CHARLES SMITH FROM RDR2?!!

[eris-snow]

4. 𝐀 𝐂𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐲.

Tags:bakugou x fem!reader, juxtaposition, angst, fluff, swearing, more swearing (It's Katsuki what do you expect)

Living life like this is like watching a scene unfold from a background character’s eyes. You’re just seeing things happen from the sidelines, and no matter how hard you try, you’re helplessly held in place.

Katsuki has learnt which lines he can step over and which lines he should not when he’s with you. Some of them are blurry, but as long as he stays as far away from the cliff as possible, he won’t fall off the edge. When you don’t want to talk about something, you grow silent and ignore him completely.

He’s learned not to press for details.

He’s mostly hanging there for one or two hours while finishing assignments. Between homework and internships, it’s a miracle that he squeezes you into his schedule.

But he does, and he finds it the best decision of his life.

—

“Bakugou, can you help me with this question?”

“Tch, what's so hard about trigo? Just insert the damn formula, idiot.”

“Get off your high horse.”

“Get a better brain.”

“Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

“I don’t trust ya. Give me the pen.”

—

“Fuck!”

“Bad day?”

“I will punch your piano to dust and ash, and once there aren’t any more visible chunks, I will find someone to revert it to its original state and do it again.”

“Code red. Take a seat.”

__

“They moved Speech Day.”

“I don’t care.”

“Aren’t you in it?”

“It’s just two fucking weeks. You try doing paperwork and a literature essay and caring about unimportant shit simultaneously.”

“Okay, Mr I Saved The World, sorry if that was news to me.”

“Shut it, blabbermouth.”

—

“So you just laid in bed? The entire damn day?”

“I’ll have you know that I did homework and watered my desk plant. I’ve been plenty efficient.”

“Your plant?”

“Excuse you, it’s a very nice cactus.”

“We’re talking schedules, Green thumbs. What the hell? I barely have time to sleep, let alone water plants.”

“Maybe I should get you a plant.”

“That has literally nothing to do with this conversation.”

“Mine’s named Fluffy.”

“Oh, come on—”

—

“You’re kind of cool, you know.”

“I do know.”

“Like, you pulled a Harry Potter on the battlefield. Did you see Dumbledore?”

“Are you making light of my death?”

“No, I’m trying to get your mind off it ‘cause you’re being emo again.”

“I’m what?”

“And you’re back.”

—

“Bakugou, Fluffy died.”

“The cactus?”

“Yeah. I’m kinda sad actually.”

“I ain’t comforting you.”

“Well, damn, okay.”

“If it bothers you that much, I’ll buy you another stupid cactus. Will that appease you?”

“Fluffy 2.0?”

“What is with you and naming things—”

“Fluffy 2.0?”

“Yes, jeez! Put the pen down, you look ridiculous.”

“I will fight you.”

—

“You’re a glitch, you know?” Bakugou grouched, throwing his bag onto the stage. The blond has known you for about a month, and he’s managed to pick out a good handful of reactions from you. That’s why, even as you retort, “You’re unpleasant. Did you know that?” as you unplug the earbuds from your ears, he also notices you chew your lip and averts your eyes away from him.

Touchy subject.

“You said you were from Mind Fuck’s old class, right? He didn’t know jack shit about you. You’re practically invisible, but your name is somehow captured when they had to take class photos last year. I just find it strange that you’re there but not fuckin’ there at the same time.”

“I thought we agreed for you to drop this.”

“I thought we agreed not to lie to each other.”

That line seems to make you falter. Whatever the situation, you always seem so against lying straight to someone’s face. Deluding someone, however, didn’t seem to be a problem.

“I don’t wanna talk about it. You don’t see me pushing to know your sob backstory with Midoriya.”

Katsuki reels back so fast that he almost knocks down a stack of neatly arranged certificates on the desk. When he opens his mouth to reply, the words taste like bile on his tongue. “We’re not talking about that.”

You raise your eyebrow as if to say ‘See what I mean?’.

He wants to press for information because every time he gets close you go tight-lipped, but after getting a good look at you he hesitates. You have dark eyebags under your eyes, more prominent than usual, and the way you carry yourself screams how much you don’t want to be here.

It’s almost like your arms are weighed down by chains, and you’re fighting to keep awake.

Katsuki’s been there before. Katsuki knows that place like it was his old friend. He gets it, and that’s the only reason why he stops pushing you..

“You need to go soon,” You said, fixing the stack of credentials and realining the trophies. “Aren’t you one of the awardees? They’re having a briefing downstairs in 5. It’s not very hero-like to be late.”

“Left my pen here, dumbass,” Katsuki rolled his eyes, swiping it off the piano. “And you should leave too. Don’t think the teacher would appreciate stragglers lurking in the curtains like dust bunnies under a bed.”

“I’m part of the backstage crew,” you reply with an eyebrow raised. “Unlike you, I’m supposed to be here.”

You are?

It takes Katsuki to realise he’d said those words out loud, because, of course he did.

You huff, gaze cutting into his eyes. A wave of familiarity washes over him. He swore he’s never lived through this experience before, but it feels all too similar to…

“I don’t tell you everything going on in my life, Bakugou. Easy things flow out like water, and difficult things get stuck like glue. The daily stuff goes in between. It gets sticky along the way, so it never makes it out of my mouth.”

Huh. For some reason, he feels like he’s heard that somewhere before.

—

The teacher glances over you like you’re transparent, and it takes 3 tries to get her attention and 5 to hold onto it.

You watch as the students fly across the stage, each person with a different award. There’re familiar faces.

Studious Yaoyorozu had won Top In Academic Standing(to no one’s surprise), and Izuku had gotten an award for Longest Internship Hours, first runner-up of the Sports Festival, top in Rescue Training and Hero History.

Todoroki had tumbled into third place for the Sports Festival, and was happy to take home the trophy for Best Intern (Voted by their respective heroes-in-charge.)

Half of the hero course had said it was rigged, but Todoroki couldn’t care less and the blatant smugness in his smile said all of it.

You went down the list, taking less than 5 seconds to find the name you were looking for. Katsuki’s prizes were nothing to scoff at either.

Peeking out from behind the curtain, you were just in time to see the ash-blond step onto the stage confidently as the speaker stated his shiny, impressive achievements.

“….Katsuki Bakugou who is the Sports Festival Champion, Top in Combat and Top In Level!”

You watch Principal Nezu hand him all his trophies and certificates, and the way he smirks at the camera, relishing the spotlight on him. You can see the sheer joy on his face.

He deserves it, he really does. You know how hard he works, he’s told you and you’ve seen it.

Jealousy burns the back of your throat, thorns of ‘I wish’ suffocating your trachea.

Damn, I wish that was me.

You slam a hand against your mouth, but almost as quickly as you did, you ease it off. It’s still an instinct, even though you’re sure no one would hear you.

You watch Katsuki turn in your direction as he walks off the stage, which makes you recede into the darkness.

Coward.

Drape yourself in layers of shadows, hide yourself away because you can’t really remember the last time you’ve ever been under those searing lights.

How nice it must feel, to be seen and recognised.

[regrettablewritings]

My Bad Batch Season 1 Finale Thoughts That Nobody Asked For

Spoilers aside from the obvious alert: I actually didn’t mind it

Now, admittedly, this is probably because I’m not a Crosshair stan. If I’m being honest, I actually don’t mind Crosshair as much as I probably should. But my stance on him is more towards neutral-to-appreciating-him-as-a-character.

That being said, most of what I’m gonna blab about is gonna surround the ongoing Crosshair situation (in no particular order) because that’s what we’ve been left with and what most of the fandom is currently up in arms about.

Unrelated, but because I am a fake fan, I never knew Kamino could ever really be sunny and calm. In a weird way, it was a beautiful juxtaposition against something so . . . sad. Like, they finally reach the Marauder at daybreak and after everything they’ve gone through, the storm is gone. It’s calm. Which makes all they’re about to do all the more deafening in a sense.

As stated before, I actually didn’t mind the finale. Was it anything crazy? Not really. My heart rate definitely picked up constantly, but it was admittedly coming from how hyped up the feeling of “anyone could die” was. When I realized at the end that nobody was going to die (yet), I started calming down.

But in-between all that, my emotions were in constant combat with me understanding (or trying to reason out) everyone’s arguments going on.

I see people upset with Wrecker for victim-blaming Crosshair, and I get that -- to a point. Yes, Wrecker knows how the chip works and should be one of the ones most empathetic to Crosshair’s supposed lack of control. However, this only stands to a point. Remember, if Crosshair’s telling the truth (which . . . we’ll get to later), then that means that he was really not responsible for his actions at first. If the chip really had been removed a while back, then his actions up to that point were something he could be held accountable for. I think those parts were the actions Wrecker was referring to, not the whole damn thing.

In a way, I do like how Tech approaches the matter. It’s admittedly stiff and could easily come off as hurtful if used by the wrong person, but it suits how Tech’s mind works and frankly reminds me a lot of myself in how I approach certain, more emotional matters. Admittedly, this is because I read Tech as autism-coded, so maybe that’s why I’m more ready to accept his stance?

. . . Actually, you know what? No: I like Tech’s stance because it’s clear cut and just plain facts. Tech knows his brothers more than what he’s probably given credit for, and his point is correct: You needn’t agree with someone you care for just because you can understand their points. There’s a ton of scenarios that are ethically questionable at best that I can understand the reasoning behind while also recognizing them as potentially morally reprehensible. Black and white are only reached through a spectrum, and it’s not an easy spectrum to traverse. That being said . . .

The other common argument I’m seeing is about how the fighting amongst the original four Batchers (specifically Hunter and Crosshair) seems to go against their whole brotherhood thing. And I’m just gonna throw my two pennies into the ring and weakly say . . . not quite. I’m gonna admit that I may be splitting hairs and trying to make a bundle but I feel like in such a high-intensity situation, it makes sense for neither side to be yielding.

Both sides are hurt: Crosshair is dealing with abandonment and feeling like his brothers “just aren’t getting it”, and as far as his brothers are aware, he’s either been trying to kill them or has been trying to willingly go against what they thought they stood for. Is it the most sensible situation? Not really. But emotional things rarely ever are.

That being said, nobody in the Batch is really all that emotionally mature or aware, though. And I think it’s very easy to forget that sometimes. I don’t know if it’s got to do with the fact that they’re soldiers, that they were rapidly aged and thus didn’t have time nor the environment to healthily explore such issues, the social isolation they more or less experienced due to being different from reds, or what, but it ought to be remembered that Omega is the most emotionally stable of the bunch. Everyone else is sort of just stumbling and trying to reel in what they’re feeling and how to express it without necessarily having the proper tools or experience to do so.

Also, let’s be real: You’re not as pristine as you think. If you were in a similar situation where your loved one seemingly betrayed you, tried to kill you multiple times, then brought you back home to convince you to join the very people who tried to hurt you guys in the first place, only to reveal that they’ve been intentionally working for them for a good while, you’d be hurt at the very least. And when you’re hurt, emotions fly around like a bat stuck indoors: It’s lost, confused, afraid, and in unfamiliar territory so it flails around, aimlessly looking for a way out even when those around it are trying to help it.

Let’s talk about this chip before I forget what I wanna say. I’m disappointed they didn’t bring it up. I need answers just like every other bitch in this fandom because . . . I dunno, I just don’t believe what he says. Something doesn’t quite add up. Or maybe it’s just because deep down, I want to believe he’s good; just difficult. Most likely so wrapped up in his purpose that the thought of being without and having his life all been seemingly for nothing admittedly frightens him. That’s something actually pretty interesting for a guy like Crosshair, considering he wears whatever heart he has beneath at least three fishing cable knit sweaters.

I just would’ve liked some acknowledgement of it -- even if confirmation that the chip was really gone the entire time would’ve hurt me. Like, Omega couldn’t give a knowing glance when sitting in the dark of the Batch’s barracks and say something like, “You know, it’s not too late”. Or, if it was gone, Hunter outright telling him that he knows he’s lying. (Because, like, given Hunter’s abilities, he arguably could be like a human lie detector a la Matt Murdock.)

Granted, it could be something explored in season 2. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, though, in the event Filoni and crew decide once more to paint me up like a pretty clown and parade me through the square. But in all seriousness, if the chip’s presence or absence confirmation is meant to be an actual point of discussion, I don’t think it’d necessarily be a bad thing for it to come up later. I mean, people were theorizing for ages that Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond. And we still stayed watching SU and pretended to be surprised when it got confirmed.

I do think how the group parted ways could’ve been more, as it was emotional but in all the wrong ways. But my constant need to compensate and make excuses for things also flared up. Should the Batch have been more reluctant to leave Crosshair once more? Probably. But they were also probably just done with all this and really took that revelation about the chip to heart, realizing that all they can really do is let him choose. And since he chose the Empire, there’s really only so much energy they could keep exerting. Reminder, these guys are kinda like children and dealing with a very personal situation that they kinda just lack the emotional awareness for.

Am I disappointed in Crosshair’s decision? Of course I am. But I’m not surprised and I understand why he, as a character, would do it. I understand why everyone does what they do, and this just aligns with how stubborn Cross is and what he’s already made clear to his brothers: By serving the Empire, he could still have a purpose.

. . . Or can he?

Okay, maybe I do care about Crosshair more than I think I do. Because we know he’s going to get off Kamino somehow, and it’s most likely going to be through the Empire, yeah? Immediately, my thought was, “But . . . they might kill him. Or at least attempt to.” After all, he let the Batch go. Even if he lies about it for their sake, the Empire will eventually learn the truth. Hell, just the fact that he seemingly let things get out of control before the decimation of Tipoca City could get him a one-way ticket to an execution. Though . . . Crosshair, beyond his skill set, is still a profound soldier: He’s still a competent fighter. Who knows? Maybe this opens up a possible escape scene involving stealing a blaster? Who knows! I love a good fight scene regardless of my feelings on a character!

Though, given his expressions, there’s honestly a good chance that even though he’s willing to lay in the bed he’s made, it doesn’t mean he won’t miss the others. You can make a decision for yourself and stick with it while recognizing the accompanying sorrow.

Though who knows? You could even argue that he may feel in too deep and is just sticking to his guns (no pun intended) because of it. Like he’s clinging to the concept of purpose even at the cost of losing one thing he knows (his brothers) because he feels stuck on the other thing he knows (being of use to a higher power). There’s frankly a lot that could be discussed here but don’t get me started.

But I digress. I get why the Batch left. I get why Crosshair wanted to stay behind. Yes, it could’ve and probably should’ve been a bit more emotional regardless of how tired everyone probably was of everything because this is their brother. Whom they’re parting ways with once again, and there’s no telling when they’ll see him next and if that next time, they’ll be his targets once more.

(But I think that may be giving too much credit . . . One of the other complaints going around that I firmly agree with is how not enough characterization for Tech, Echo, and Wrecker was given for most of the season. They were more or less boiled down to their specialties for gimmicks than given much to say or do besides when thrust into action scenes. This is honestly probably why I really liked Tech voicing his own personal stance on Crosshair: It’s the closest thing we’ve gotten all season to how he feels. The closest we got from Wrecker was him admitting to missing Cross, and Echo never really says anything on the matter at all to my recollection. [Admittedly, Echo is the newest member and thus doesn’t have the years the other three do under his belt, but surely by now he’s formed some sort of opinion on the guy he’s done at least eleven missions with!])

It hurts regardless of how you feel or whose side you’re on because you know something about this isn’t right, whether it’s because you know they do care for one another but have to part ways, or because they both made decisions that you just didn’t want them to make. It sucks but things like this (and by “this”, I do mean something more along the lines of familial or even platonic conflict, not having your home blasted to kingdom come in a whole imperial plot your brother was somewhat tied to) are never cut and dry. If they were, things would be so much simpler. But if they weren’t, we wouldn’t have as many stories, painful as they are.

I’m not a big supporter at all of creators taking advice or story ideas and cues from their fans via Twitter and other social media. But what I do hope is that Filoni and crew do a bit of a stronger job at approaching these very emotionally-driven subjects next season, rather than just letting them fall to the wayside until it becomes convenient. Not saying that filler episodes or breathers are a bad thing, they just seemed to take up a lot of this season. Though who knows, maybe they’ll come back into play specifically because of what the Batch did. (You know, in this particular show. I already know some of these guys appeared in other SW shows . . .)

Overall, I think I’d rate this episode 6.5/10. Nothing crazy, but nothing terrible. I probably could’ve just waited until normal people hours to watch it instead of setting an alarm for 3am, but I’ve definitely spent my witching hours in worse ways. If anything, though, it left me melancholic. But, hey, there’s a season 2 on the way. I know the saying is that there are no happy endings in Star Wars but . . . hey, if people can believe in Crosshair, I’m allowed to believe in a happyish ending. I suppose, in a way, it’s kind of like a sunny, stormless day on Kamino: Never thought they existed, but they can eventually happen after much strife.

[ofthelabyrinth]

Instructions: Always repost with the rules, answer the 11 random questions left for you and leave 11 more for the people you tag!

TAGGED BY: @moonwoken​

TAGGING: be gay do crime

questions i am answering

1. how are things going?

They’re going, man! They’re...going. I have the next two weeks off work which I’m not thrilled about (I actually love my job) but like...my bestie and I keep trading silly little gifts back and forth, so that’s cool. I think I’m mostly still reeling from the blow-out of a breakup and like...feeling like I don’t belong anywhere? Maybe my depression’s just kicking into high gear again but I feel like I’m not wanting/don’t belong anywhere but maybe work. Like everyone and everywhere else just tolerates me. IDK man.

2. if you were someone else’s muse, how would your mun describe you?

Depressed, spontaneous, fickle, lacking in self-esteem but always available to build others up, loves too quickly and too easily, book smart but so fucking stupid otherwise. :/

3. if you could only recommend me three songs, movies or books to get to know you better, which would they be?

Ooooo, this one’s kinda tough! Well, for starters, my go-to movie is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I feel like knowing it’s my favorite movie (and having seen it at least once, lol) really explains a lot of my personality. What Rocky Horror can’t explain, my favorite novel probably can: Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. I really am haunted by this book. My recommendation for a “song” would actually be the whole Beetlejuice: The Musical album, but I think “No Reason” and/or “Say My Name” nicely encapsulates either my split opinions (former) or my energies (latter).

4. what was it that first inspired you to write? what inspires you today?

My sixth grade English teacher. He was very supportive of my writing and became a touchstone for inspiration in my life. I really started down that track after his class, and even though I’m not doing what either of us ever thought I would, his words still ring true. I don’t really know if I have any inspirations today, though, per se. Performers, I guess. Most of my strongest muses/writing have been born out of my fascination with the performer/s I’ve used for their FC’s.

5. if you had to put together a team of 5 fictional characters plus yourself to save the world, who would you choose and why?

Captain Katherine Janeway, Q, Commander Spock, Doctor McCoy, and Charles Xavier (PatStew). I’m going to be honest here: between Janeway and Q...we don’t need anyone else. Q’s powers and Janeway’s moral compass in combination with Janeway’s leadership and Q’s simp status will solve the problem on the then and there. I just happen to like both Spock and McCoy and think they would contribute a lot of flavor to the adventure, although we’d need Xavier to mellow shit out when all those hot heads start to collide--in particular, Patrick Stewart’s Xavier, since he fits the Star Trek vibe and would thereby have a little more sway with Q than otherwise.

6. what is your favorite fictional trope? least favorite?

My favorite...ever? Period? At all? In all of tropedom? Dark circus/carnival. The exact flavor of the circus/carnival/other travelling show as well as the degree of darkness doesn’t matter, I just always end up drawn in and stupefied by it. I think it’s a combination of the tonal juxtaposition (the light, bright, fun, easygoing, smoke-and-mirrors sensation of the show juxtaposed to the darkness and the horror) and my unending fascination with performance and performance spaces being used outside of their “traditional”/majority context. Backstage mysteries have the exact same effect on me, as do haunted theatres. My least favorite was formerly the misuse of the Persephone myth--twisted by modern, romantic minds into a love story where one isn’t existent in the original mythos--but it has since swung back to that of the unaware Mary Sue/Gary Stu. It’s a trope that can be fun when the writer is self-aware enough to perceive it, but it’s otherwise irritating beyond belief.

7. what unpopular opinion do you have toward the rpc or tumblr?

Soft-blocking is an exercise in pointlessness, as it rarely actually results in the blocked party staying away. This website is too glitchy to make that kind of thing work. Have conversations with the people you’d rather soft- than hard-block about the offense they’ve caused or just hard-black them, myself included.

8. if you could spend one day with your main muse (or your muse of choice), what would that be like?

Look, I’ll be real. My muse of choice? Very much not advertiser-friendly, as they say on YouTube. The things we would do would horrify people unaware of my sex drive and wild attraction to him. A night of debauchery on all levels--because we’d spend a night, not a day, that’s just the way his canon rolls--and if unreleased canon has anything to tell, it’s that I’d end up pregnant with his son and then probably die but it might have been worth it, especially if we can skip the reality TV show in the middle. So let’s just pretend I said I’d spend a day getting high with Jareth and wandering around the Escher room tripping the most balls ever.

9. if you found yourself in one fictional universe of your choosing, which would it be and why?

................. I’d either end up in space on Star Trek because I’m a lonely space gay or I’d end up in a creepy gothic castle singing and dancing--is it Rocky Horror or Labyrinth?--and perhaps legitimately feeling like the siren I long to be as people compliment my voice.

10. a character you’ve always wanted to write?

Mirror!Spock. I wrote him once and I loved it and I would love to write him again, but I don’t use AOS canon so finding people to write with is often difficult.

11. what are five things that spark joy for you?

Space, Rocky Horror, singing, my pets (did I tell you about my new dog?), Renaissance Festivals.

.

my questions for you

1. how have you been holding up lately?

2. what are three surefire ways to make you smile/happy?

3. who is your comfort character and what are they like?

4. explain your URL!

5. what is one article of clothing you love above all others and why?

6. what is your favorite kind of thing to write? what about your least favorite?

7. what is one belief you hold but do not often share?

8. if you could choose one person (alive, dead, or fictional) to spend the day with, who would it be and what would you do?

9. what is one piece of media that continues to hold your attention?

10. what drew you to writing on tumblr?

11. what is one thing you wish you got to talk about more often?

[sinterblackwell]

7, 10, 11 for the book asks? :)

thank you 🖤

2020 reading and book asks

7. what book(s) made you cry?

“history is all you left me” by adam silvera

“everything i never told you” by celeste ng :’)

there were more books that did make me cry, at least six in total, but the reason why i’m mentioning these two specifically is because of the juxtaposition behind why they made me cry.

both stories explore grief, one way or another—in “history is all you left me”, our mc griffin is reeling over the death of his ex-boyfriend, theo. in “everything i never told you”, this family saga explores the death of the middle child in the family, lydia lee.

what broke me reading the first one was that there was so much left unsaid between griffin and theo, and it’s partially because of all that that screwed up griffin even more as he was stuck in his grief. what broke me reading the second one was that we were not just witnessing all of the lee family’s perspectives post-lydia’s death, but we were witnessing the events leading up to it; which means we also witnessed lydia’s perspective before her death. that cloud of what-ifs and all the regrets the family had, it became too worse for wear when i, as the reader, became aware of the true details of her death.

it’s basically like,,,,i didn’t get to hear from theo at all in “history is all you left me”, and that same pain and confusion that griffin felt transferred over to me. just like him, i wanted so desperately to know what must have gone through theo’s mind on his last day alive. but in “everything i never told you”, i did get to hear from lydia, and it was all absolutely terrible. it made witnessing the moments up to her death too much for me and i find that parallel so laughably cruel.

10. what books were better than you expected it to be?

“cinderella is dead” by kalynn bayron

“verona comics” by jennifer dugan

with “cinderella is dead”, i didn’t really feel engaged with the story much in the beginning because i found the mc to be insufferable. as a fairytale retelling, though, i knew there had to be more to the story that the author had planned out so i kept going to see what could possibly happen. as the story continued to evolve, i found myself much more attentive the more the plot progressed and it became an enthralling read that went by quickly. i even came to understand why the mc seemed so “insufferable” in the beginning, and so i like that it all tied together in that aspect, almost as if the author did everything with that very intention.

it was kind of predictable, but the execution matters more to me than anything else and i liked how the author wrote it all out, especially nearing the end.

with “verona comics”, i was very much interested in the story based on how the synopsis sold the plot but i found how the characters were portrayed and the importance of that to have impacted me much more than i would have imagined. i really loved the climax and ending most of all; as triggering as it was, i appreciated all the thought that the author had put into it because as lighthearted as the cover seems, this story packs a punch too heavy to ignore.

11. what book didn’t live to the hype?

“with the fire on high” by elizabeth acevedo

note: i wouldn’t say this book has been really hyped up in the book community but i have seen a few booktubers rave about this and so this is the closest read i can think of.

this was my second time reading a work by the author, “clap when you land” being one of my top 2020 favorites, so i was genuinely excited to see how this story could affect me.

one of the things i appreciate in acevedo’s style of writing is in the themes she explores, which stay consistent in all her works. family plays a big part, but it’s how she portrays the fathers in her stories that impact me way more than i care to admit. having these characters be dominican, and be dominican herself, hits even closer to home because my ethnicity is one of the most important parts in me so having that connection guts me even further.

so while i loved how she portrayed all different aspects in “with the fire on high”, i found myself constantly checking how much longer i had until i was finally done with it. it was a really good story, hence my three-star rating on goodreads, but i wasn’t as attached to it as i was with “clap when you land”, and for that, i feel kinda ashamed because it explores such important topics. i think the reason why i wasn’t so engaged was because i felt,,,bored? it’s not the exact answer i would give but i think maybe it’s all just a matter of the timing of when i read this book. it could probably just be me having been more in the mood for something more gripping or action-heavy, i don’t know for sure.

despite all that, i implore you to check out this story as elizabeth acevedo is one of the few dominican writers i’ve discovered who writes with such love and passion in her storytelling. and not just with this story, but her other works as well—“clap when you land” and “the poet x”. there’s always something to take from an author, but with these books, i think it can hit you profoundly precisely because of the stories being told.

so just something.

[imreallyhereforplance]

Why No One Addressed Pidge’s Well-Being or Lance’s Outburst (+ S8 Plance Theory)

So I see that there are some posts where people are expressing an understandable amount of disappointment that the torture scene wasn’t expanded upon. That we didn’t see Pidge thank Lance or anyone ask Pidge if she was alright.

I was also confused, so I did some thinking, and came to a conclusion that’s actually pretty comforting to me: The writers did this to preserve atmosphere, and this scene will be addressed and/or paralleled in a future episode. Not just because we ship plance and we’re hoping for more scenes, but because it would help the writers reel the audience (or anyone who cares about Lance’s well-being) in during this future episode.

I COULD BE WRONG, but I’m actually pretty optimistic, and this post explains my thought process. It’s long, but if I can write it, then I believe that you have the strength to read it (if you want). Good luck.

@lancemccutie, this is dedicated to you ;)

As I mentioned, people have been disappointed at seeing NOBODY ask Pidge if she’s okay. And us plance shippers really wanted Pidge to thank Lance or something sweet like that.

But I feel like that’s just not the writers’ style. In a calmer situation where everyone is together, they might brush upon romantic subplots or, more commonly, illustrate the power of friendship/teamwork in general. In a more intense scene, though, they focus on events, like “Torture. Cut to Acxa. Hacking. Sentries.” That kind of thing. Because it’s all about ATMOSPHERE. So let’s talk about it. (I promise this is relevant.)

The torture scene. Wow, that was an emotional rollercoaster. Personally, I WAS surprised that no one said anything to Pidge, and I too was disappointed when we didn’t see her react to Lance. But remember that it was an intense portion of the episode, and an intense episode in general. There were multiple events going on, back-and-forthing between Coran, Acxa, the mice, the prisoners, and Ezor and Zethrid. The creators clearly outline this as an eventful episode, and they work hard to build up an atmosphere. This episode especially, since it’s the first time our heroes have actually been apprehended.

So in order to build this atmosphere, this dread, and make you really hope and really root for these characters, including Axca of all people, who might be their only hope, the writers cannot include anything that might subtract from what’s happening, even if it “makes sense.” (Like I get that there was some humor sprinkled in this episode, but it was mostly Coran giving away their location, which was a BAD thing.)

It makes sense that someone would ask Pidge if she’s okay. Which is why I am CERTAIN that someone did, we just didn’t see it because we had flashed to another character perspective. And why did we need to miss it? Because that would give us too big of a relief, we would have the subconscious feeling that it was over, things were better now. And of course we feel relief when they stop messing with Pidge, that’s unavoidable, but the creators realize that, and don’t want that. Or at least, too much of it. Because it’d be like spoiling their work.

Remember why the creators chose that she would be tortured in the first place – To BUILD atmosphere. To make you DREAD what’s happening. Like the popsicle post said, it “will make you gasp.” It tells the audience how bad the situation is. And it was remarkably effective. However, once she was released, they knew the audience was going to feel slightly better, and they didn’t want that. They wanted the audience to remain anxious. They wanted to minimize the feeling of relief so as not to take away too much from the dread that they’ve built up in their audience – the same dread they just created by including the scene.

So once Ezor stopped, the writers don’t bring any more attention to how Pidge is doing. Asking “Are you okay,” and Pidge saying “Yeah...I’m fine” would make us feel pity or concern at her particular well-being rather than concern at the situation as a whole. Instead, they want us to remember that the situation is still SUPER bad, so it’s treated like a “Nope, moving on. We gotta go – now!” kinda thing where they aren’t going to address this, and we the viewers are taken along for the ride. Having her tell us that she’s okay SUBSTRACTS from the atmosphere they’ve made from her being threatened, and instead draws our attention to Pidge particularly for a little too long for the writers’ liking. It would be a pause in what’s going on. Yes, it’d be a brief pause, but still there.

With this in mind, I guess you could say that Pidge is thereby used as a means to an end, but isn’t that true for everything that happens to these characters? Cuz the point is to tell a story, and you tell a story using those characters. You build an atmosphere using those characters. 

(Also, real quick, this logic potentially means that Pidge really could have thanked Lance as well and we missed it because the writers wanted the general audience to get the most excitement/emotionally out of this episode. Which I respect and, as you’ll soon see, doesn’t bother me, because the scene as a whole MAY STILL BE ADDRESSED LATER ON IN THE SERIES.)

So, THAT IS MY REASONING FOR WHY WE NEVER SEE THE TORTURE SCENE BEING ADDRESSED AGAIN. (For that episode at least.)

HOWEVER, even if we didn’t see it as the viewers, there is NO WAY IN CANON THAT THEY DIDN’T ASK HER IF SHE WAS ALRIGHT. It doesn’t fit their characters at ALL.

Moving on from that specific episode, we all know that Voltron is not just a bunch of events. There are lots of beautiful relationships and lots of character development. But there are certain times for that, and they work better than in such an intense, action-packed, back-and-forthing episode. (And sometimes a juxtaposition of emotion and action are intentionally put together, like when Keith fights Kuron. Intense, but also deliberately emotional.)

Usually when the story focus on relationships, whether platonic or romantic, it tends to have a particular atmosphere that’s different from “In the Way Forward”. When the Paladins built their trust in one another and talked things out when they were stranded in space, almost the ENTIRE EPISODE was dedicated to it. Because it was important to the story that they worked things out and built Hunk at this time in the season. (And the hallucinations and sense of the unknown alone built an atmosphere imo)

The creators work out when a good time to focus on these relationships is, such as the aforementioned episode, and in “The Feud!” Notice that at these times, the atmospheres are a bit calmer, everyone the story is focused on for that episode’s plot is together, there’s no back-and-forthing between characters.

So what about the A//urance scenes? The creators included it because they felt it was important for whatever direction their relationship was going to take, and they included it at a relatively appropriate time. Not in the heat of battle, but before the battle. They let the audience know where these two characters stand, and they do it briefly because it’s not the main focus of the episode, but apparently needs to be addressed. (Interesting….)

Now that all this ATMOSPHERE stuff has been established, let’s move on to PARALLELS. Particularly, between Pidge and Lance. This is when I start specifically talking about future plance goodness along with Pidge and the torture scene.

SO. You know what I think would be veeery appropriate?

A reverse “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER” scene.

Let me explain. If you think about it, Pidge and Lance have sooo many parallels. And sometimes these parallels occur over multiple seasons.

And because this particular scene stands out to all viewers, whether you ship plance or not, I feel that it’s likely, based on the pattern we keep seeing, that something reversed and similar will eventually occur.

Such as, someone ridiculing Lance, and Pidge saying “Back off.”

Or – and this is what I think will happen – an enemy approaching Lance and Pidge saying “Get away from him!” or “Get off him!”

At first glance, these scenarios seem a lot more subtle than “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER,” and the receiver of Pidge’s outbursts may very well not even acknowledge her if she tells them to get tf back, but I think these hypothetical scenes fit with what we’ve been seeing for a while now.

You know why these would work? Because like “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER,” it’s not lovey-dovey. It’s not superficial. It’s not OUT OF CHARACTER IN ANY WAY. No matter what happens in season 8, whether Pidge has a crush on Lance or not (I believe she does), whether she confesses or not, NO ONE can reasonably say that these lines are OOC. They’re not lovey-dovey, but they still speak volumes.

WHICH IS WHY IT WOULD MAKE THE PERFECT PARALLEL TO “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER”. 

It supports my rant on atmosphere because, in the case where Lance is about to be hurt by some enemy, Pidge screaming “Get away from him!” DOES NOT SUBTRACT from the atmosphere. It actually BUILDS the atmosphere. It makes you MORE scared for Lance. It makes you MORE desperate. Like, “oh shi-“ kinda desperate. A “Get away from him!” is more telling in the story than a “thank you, Lance.”

And this is why a parallel to “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER” is not only possible, but probable because it would accomplish a job that the creators want accomplished – atmosphere. (I told you atmosphere was important :D ) And for those of you who read my other post, Plance: A Ramble, (https://imreallyhereforplance.tumblr.com/post/177048118646/plance-a-ramble-im-just-going-to-warn-you-this) this could possibly fit in with the fight where the broadsword appears or the optional fight afterwards where Pidge expresses great emotion towards others.

I think that this can also be applied to @artemisarya‘s wonderful theories as well. I did say “no matter what happens in s8” this parallel would work, but I honestly do think that plance has a remarkably good chance anyways.  

Also, just for the fun of it:

Remember how in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which we’ve been comparing plance and “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER” to for a little while now (looking at @truegryffindorforever2), the dialogue was: 

Ron: GET OFF HER

Then there was some scuffling.

Hermione: No! Leave him alone!

So I feel like, while it’s not INEVITABLE and the creators could choose not to parallel this special scene, I think there’s a lot of potential for it in season 8, one that would even benefit the writers.

And, who knows? Maybe they will address the torture scene, but at a more suitable time plot-wise. Like, when Pidge and Lance are having a heart-to-heart? Pidge could thank Lance THEN, during an undistractedly emotional moment, filled with feels and nothing else demanding their attention. Instead of thanking Lance super quickly in front of all the other characters (including people like Krolia and Romelle) when the audience is supposed to be focusing on the direness of the situation. Personally, I think the former is an AWESOME time to have them discuss the torture scene.  

The purpose of this post is not to tell anyone that their disappointment is unjustified or invalid. Rather, the point is to share my personal thoughts and to give you hope that something that, to me, seems more like the writers’ style might come into play in S8. They might see a “thank you” during an intense scene as a SUBTRACTION from that episode’s suspenseful atmosphere, and will instead have a “Get AWAY from him!” moment to ADD to the atmosphere in a future episode. They’re saving it up to remold it in a way that’s noticeably beneficial to the story! (Again, it builds up atmosphere before something happens / almost happens to Lance.)

Also, despite how positive I might sound, I am obviously not a creator / writer / producer / anything-other-than-big-fan-of-Voltron. I could be completely wrong, I might make no sense, I might be overanalyzing, I may be missing the point. But this is what I think, and I hope it helps some of you <3 

Sorry it’s so long. If you have any patience left, tell me your thoughts!

Edit: I am aware that the "Lance! No!" scene can be interpreted as a parallel to "Don't you touch her!" and I agree with that perspective. To clarify, the parallel I am suggesting above does not only have similar energy, but a similar tone. The "Dont you touch her" scene was a much darker, slower, and more intense moment where Lance is not in a position where he can do much to help Pidge. This is what I envision for season 8 - where Pidge is prevented from coming to Lance's aid (whether it be because she is bound, hurt, or physically blocked) and the audience is aware that Lance is in grave danger. Hence the importance of atmosphere building as I've been discussing.

Once again, thank you for reading 💚💙

[berrysphase]

Nirvana in Fire rewatch liveblog part 13

Eps 30-32

snerk, I love the little incredulous stare Xia Jiang gives Prince Yu when Prince Yu orders Banruo to serve them wine

Xia Jiang also eats when he's feeling trollish, ha

Prince Yu is terrible at psychology, oh dear. -- this comes across like a huge interlude of “you are embarrassingly unsubtle” but entirely in keeping with the person who groused that Jingyan wasn't even skimming off the relief funds. And Banruo looks like she's being enormously cynical about the corroding impact of power, but it’s not entirely that simple; she's also using this as a delicate way to emphasize the need to consider also MCS (she's far and away the most advanced in this group at appreciating him as an opponent). I feel like this is another place where Prince Yu is being weirdly obtuse, but that almost certainly means I've failed to understand some aspect of his character.

Either the otherwise astounding direction of this show falls down when it comes large scale action sequences or my id is singularly uncooperative concerning extended takes of horses and men reeling from explosions. Quite possibly both.

So at this point a little bit of mournful flute and some snow, and the juxtaposition of Fei Liu playing gleefully with a large (fake) snowball and Zhen Ping looking angstily up into the snow is enough to invoke the specter of the massacre at Meiling, well done show

It's interesting that Prince Yu doesn't tell the empress why he wants her to help with this gambit (...this is actually something that I have trouble understanding from an in-character pov but which makes a lot of sense from an external plot tension standpoint) but it's enormously funny and plausible that her reason for embarking on this self-sacrificial gambit is “ugh sure she drives me NUTS”.

I really love how much Xia Qiu and Xia Chun believe in Xia Dong. The flip side of this is, Xia Chun's belief in Xia Jiang is heartbreaking.

The rescue team actually attacking on Xia Qiu's order is such a sinking feeling

Li Gang's face while Fei Liu comes home grumping about the ambush being no fun just as they’re trying to get MCS down for another nap is hilarious

“[Tong Lu] was our Chief's most trusted person” -- ah, now I am really sad that Tong Lu is never going to see MCS again :(

...and we open with a lingering shot on the incense while the emperor is talking about his dreams of Consort Chen. So Consort Jing is deliberately ensuring that the Emperor has troubled sleep.

It really is enormously effective watching Xia Jiang be gruffly grandfatherly at Xia Qiu while outlining their plan, and Xia Chun -- endearing music nerd, Xia Dong's friendly “big brother” -- looking almost smug about it; only Xia Qiu looks unsettled.

I love Fei Liu's little museum figurine dolls

Oh man I hadn't caught the implication that Prince Yu's idea to stir up mistrust between Jingyan and MCS is partially motivated by his fury in being misled about MCS himself, that is such a nice grace note

Huh, it's interesting how reluctant the emperor is to bring up Wei Zheng in front of Prince Jing. He is also tired of this can of worms...  And look, I love how Jingyan puts together Lie Zhanying's warning about Xuanjing Bureau with Xia Jiang's presence in the throne room and is already on guard when Meng shakes his head. He's quite smart! He's just...completely awful at keeping his emotions off his face.

Ok so this time when Xia Jiang talks about the unfound bodies he says “a few”. A few is definitely more than two!  I remain somewhat puzzled about why Xia Jiang doesn’t bring up Lin Shu’s missing armband later, but ok.

Xia Jiang constantly aheming at Prince Yu would be hilarious if it weren't so awful watching Xia Jiang bait Jingyan one halting step after another.

[kevinallenblog]

Don’t Call Me Shurley

Alright, I’m breaking the favorite-character-update format again. This season just gets better and better!

This episode is amazing. SPOILERS! Metatron has been my favorite character before, but I’m not gonna say that he is again. Still, he has some excellent moments in this episode. Props to Curtis Armstrong for grounding this character so hard that each speech and monologue reeled us in more than the last. Ya know what, and to Rob Benedict too. He was Chuck more often than not but there were some piercing moments where you could see old testament God in his performance. These two actors pulled off a pretty impressive assortment of scenes that really shouldn’t have worked. Still mad they didn’t Osric Chau a full scene. I finally got my closure for Kevin Tran, but not for the poor actor they wouldn’t let have a purpose. Anywho, I absolutely love that both Amara and Chuck are cast in shades of grey. It’s not pure evil versus obvious righteousness, they are both flawed, damaged individuals who each have fault and reason. I appreciate how they handled Chuck in this storyline, and Metatron’s relationship to him. Also the shade thrown at “Bugs.” It is all very good.

Meanwhile, I kept asking myself why we were cutting back to an adventure-of-the-week story with Sam and Dean that we had already done before. The juxtaposition between that plot and the exceptionally intimate bottle story in the bar was just weird. They really didn’t mesh well. But then it came together at the end! I was surprised and delighted. Yeah it was a deus ex machina to the fullest effect where even the guy who died at the top of the episode came back, and did so just around the corner from his lost love, but it was magic. This was the kind of ending that storytelling was made for.

Every character in this season is becoming my favorite.

[ahouseoflies]

The Best Films of 2019, Part III

Part I is here. Part II is here.

PRETTY GOOD MOVIES

80. Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (Martin Scorsese)- Can one put a star rating on Bob Dylan, with renewed purpose, belting out "Isis" in a head and shoulders close-up to New Hampshire teens? What about a naked moment when he and Joan Baez simultaneously realize they should have married each other, and he, for maybe the first time, has nothing to say? As a Dylanologist, I'm glad that this footage from an under-reported period saw the light of day. You can start to think about stars when Martin Scorsese, my other dad, does everything he can to complicate and ultimately undermine that footage with his contributions. I appreciate that he uses his documentaries to experiment and chart his passions, and I think that I get what he's doing with his present-day chicanery, but it does not work for me. Shout-out to when Bob Dylan claims, of one of Scorsese's fake people, "He seemed to need enemies. Even when there weren't any." I felt that. 

79. Serenity (Steven Knight) Djimon Honsou: Lawful Good Jeremy Strong as "The Rules": Lawful Neutral Anne Hathaway: Lawful Evil Diane Lane: Chaotic Good The Kid: Chaotic Neutral Jason Clarke: Chaotic Evil The Bartender: Lawful Neutral Matthew McConaughey: True Neutral Me, Believing Almost Sincerely That This Is a Good Movie: Chaotic Neutral

78. Atlantics (Mati Diop)- It's plenty effective as a window into a patriarchal society I wasn't familiar with, but Atlantics doesn't ever match the heights of its exquisite opening. At the risk of getting banned from this website--and I do realize what I'm implying here...not enough happens.

77. Birds of Passage (Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego)- After enjoying the formal invention of Embrace of the Serpent, I was interested to see Guerra and Gallego's spin on a well-worn genre like crime. So I was surprised to see how conventional Birds of Passage was. The indigenous Colombian rituals provide some color and grandeur, but otherwise this is a rise and fall that I've seen before, complete with a hothead character that threatens the whole operation. Perhaps my favorite part of crime movies, the alluring sinful fun that ropes the viewer in and makes him complicit, is nowhere to be found.

76. The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot)- I admire Joe Talbot's debut more than I like it. It's straightforward in its ideas of African-American and masculine performance, and it boils its essence down into a really effective scene near the end (on the bus). It does get tedious though. The protagonists' goals keep changing in a way that makes it seem like the film is overcompensating for how simple it actually is. 

75. Running with Beto (David Modigliani)- Beto O'Rourke is both inspiring and goofy, able to get me to look to the stars and roll my eyes within the same breath. This movie is pretty standard for its genre, but its greatest strength is getting us to see that all people present those contradictions on an individual level, while most people, if we're talking about blue and red states, are the same collectively. 

74. Gemini Man (Ang Lee)- Ang Lee treats Gemini Man like a test reel for 3D high-frame rate presentation, and I think I would have liked the film much less if I hadn't enjoyed the bells and whistles. (Find me in the club and ask me about the HDR--I can go deep.) You could read the film as a comment on Will Smith's Movie Stardom: We're the product of our experiences, and up-and-comers lack some of the character/baggage that Smith brings even if those imitators can approximate his bluster. (The fact that the film is a commercial failure adds another layer. Perhaps the cultural bridge that Smith created is no longer necessary.) 

But you'll notice that none of that stuff is dealing with the text, which rarely does the unexpected, especially when it comes to the mustache-twirling Clive Owen character. The film pointedly avoids a romance between Smith and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and that's another absence that I'm pretending is a plus.

73. The Hummingbird Project (Kim Nguyen)- At first, the film has trouble selling itself, almost underplaying how quixotic the characters' plan to beat the stock market is. Once it settles in after a few false starts, it expands into a story about how precious time is in general, an idea that Jesse Eisenberg sells in his sympathetic performance. The other characters don't fare as well. Skarsgard's foil is comparatively static and dull, and a dialed-up Salma Hayek makes this a more external, obvious picture than it should have been. But there are long stretches that I like. 72. Escape Room (Adam Robitel)- I was exhausted in a good way as the movie rocketed through its setup, showing us the backstory of half of its characters while bypassing the rest. I was exhausted in a bad way by its fourth ending. Basically though, this movie does its job. And I'm glad that some of these thrillers are still envelope-pushing PG-13's. 71. Late Night (Nisha Ganatra)- There's a preposterous scene swinging into the third act that I just cannot accept or get behind, and it introduces a wave of Serious Scenes of People Getting Real with Each Other. But I haven't seen such a distilled juxtaposition of second-wave feminism and third-wave feminism before, let alone in a comedy. Some solid jokes. And John Lithgow playing piano while feeling bad about himself! 70. Non-Fiction (Olivier Assayas)- Non-Fiction is a sign that Assayas, always prolific, is entering the Woody Allen Zone. That is, he, a filmmaker capable of great formal beauty, has left behind formal rigor for a moderately funny tale about pseudo-intellectuals having conversations that would have been provocative five or ten years ago. 90% of the film depicts infidelity, but it isn't really about infidelity. Just as every latter-day Allen picture has two or three immaculate jokes or inward moments, Non-Fiction, despite its lack of ambition, has some perfect Assayas inter-textual flourishes. The Selena character bemoans the disposable nature of the TV show she works on, but Assayas drops us into one of the show's wintry, over-exposed shoot-outs as if to capture a genre he'll never fully pursue. He also writes a joke in which Selena, played by Juliette Binoche, claims that she'll try to talk Juliette Binoche into recording an audio book.

69. Crawl (Alexandre Aja)- I guess you could say something negative about this movie, but you would also have to mention that ol' girl lets off a full clip from inside the gator while it is chomping her arm off. So it pretty much has that Academy Awards category sewn up. 68. Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Bi Gan)- as Chinese Jerry Seinfeld once said, "Why don't they make the whole movie out of the hour-long unbroken 3D take?"

67. The Art of Self-Defense (Riley Stearns)- The Art of Self-Defense is a film of two halves--in a way that, actually, Riley Stearns's previous film Faults was. For me, those two halves, one being slow and pre-ordained, the other being wild and unpredictable, are too extreme on either end. The vagueness of the setting is a weapon that goes a long way in unifying those parts though. Even if I couldn't get down with the silliness, The Art of Self-Defense is worth checking out for Alessandro Nivola's career-best performance. The movie is about performative masculinity, so he has the challenge of playing a sort of confident monolith while also being totally specific. He's everything you would imagine a karate instructor to be, but he also takes his glasses out of their case in a way I've never seen before.

66. Dolemite Is My Name (Craig Brewer)- Keep in mind that I couldn't make it all the way through Dolemite proper, so I'm not the intended audience for this film's "let's put on a show" awe. The structure is notable: It starts with Rudy Ray Moore as a failure who has tried everything, crests past the shooting of his movie, and uses that completion as a plot point, only to focus on the distribution for the third act. That is, the screenplay breathes new life into the plot right when it needs it. Eddie Murphy's best performances always seem like regretful commentaries on his own relationship with the audience, (I'm picturing the final speech of The Nutty Professor.) and he follows suit here. Even better is an effete Wesley Snipes as the too-cool-for-school D'Urville. Despite all of the talent involved, however, the thing just isn't funny, and it's least funny in the comedy club scenes that are supposed to sell us on Rudy Ray Moore's genius. If it's not supposed to be funny, then why populate the movie with five comedic supporting actors?

65. Harriet (Kasi Lemmons)- History classes could do a lot worse. Like a history class, the film has so much ground to cover that it has to make choices for pacing, and even then it still feels like a greatest hits. It does have a surprising, brazen edge though, and it's more spiritually curious than I was expecting. Kasi Lemmons leans in to the mystical side of the story, using Tubman's spells as conversations with God that give her the confidence that she needs. The device is a double-edged sword though: What distinguishes and others Tubman, what makes her the chosen one, is also kind of passive and out of her control. Speaking of out of control, Joe Alwyn plays the slaveholder who ain't gonna be as nice as his pappy was. "Seems to me things have gotten a little too easy 'round these parts." 64. Motherless Brooklyn (Edward Norton)- Like Edward Norton, Motherless Brooklyn is sincere and smart and shows its work. Also like Edward Norton, it sort of tires you out after a while with how hard it's trying. I respect the ambition--the film tangles itself in race and jazz and urban planning and makeshift families--but by the third or fourth time that the hero blacks out while getting roughed up, the film reveals that it can't quite thread the needle between noir pastiche and noir cliche. It's satisfying enough as a mystery in general.

63. The Two Popes (Fernando Meirelles)- I'm the target audience for 21st century papal fan-fic, and even I started to zone out during the flashbacks. Jonathan Pryce sort of disappears, but I think this is the first Netflix prestige project being judged on a curve.

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #164 - Twitches

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes, but I was young.

Do I remember it: Mostly.

Did I see it in theaters: It was a TV movie, so no.

Format: DVD

1) Don’t judge me.

2) Seriously, don’t judge me. Most of us have those movies that we bought as a kid and don’t really watch anymore. That doesn’t mean they’re bad or that we should feel ashamed for owning them, it just means we shouldn’t be judged.

3) Now that no one’s judging me, let’s see which fantasy movie clichés we can cross off in the first few minutes.

Dark vs light? Check.

A prophecy? Check.

Chosen ones? Check.

Questions about their birth? Check.

Magical mentors? Check.

4) I like the idea of the twins being of the sun and the moon and it ties into a surprisingly well done juxtaposition we achieve between the two.

Cam’s Mom: “As long as the sun’s up, she’s up.”

Alex: “If the moon’s up, then I’m up.”

It’s easy to have a twin-relationship feel cliché but the film works with it well. The whole ida of Cam is day and Alex is night. Cam still has her family, Alex is reeling from the loss of hers. The fact that Cam is a skilled artist while Alex is an author. The both have a sense of the future, but Cam feels the positive and Alex feels the negative. And this is just what we get from them BEFORe they meet. Once they do we have Cam’s initial excitement played against Alex’s sheer panic and an immediate bond between the pair which is surprisingly interesting. They compliment each other and complete each other, balance each other out. It’s a surprisingly nice relationship to see play out on screen.

5) Karsh can at times feel wooden to me but I like the pair of him and Illena, the mentors who watch over Cam & Alex. They’re best when they’re together, able to compliment each the other’s personality well and bring out fun sides to them.

(Screenshot taken of a GIF set originally posted by @xkaitiannex)

6) So to get a job Alex walks into a store, bugs the manager (I’m assuming it’s the manager) and starts right away without an interview or training or even submitting a resumé.

(GIF originally posted by @beigency)

7) Okay, I first saw this when I was nine. I immediately called the uncle who married his dead brother’s widow as the bad guy because 1) Lion King and 2) creepy. Also now that I have more knowledge about certain things, I recognize that the name Thantos (that of the evil creepy uncle) is remarkably similar to Thanatos which is the greek personification of death.

Wait a second...this guy was on an episode of “Friends” I found on TV last night. Literally just last night. He played a male nurse. And there is no way I would have noticed that if that episode hadn’t literally been on 13 hours before now. Huh.

8) There is this nice internal conflict with Alex. She has this feeling of guilt over finding a new family and her biological mom when her mother passed away just three months ago (which is remarkably soon, I mean damn). But in all honestly she’s the only one who feels that way. She even blurts out at one point, “I’m not trying to replace my mom!” to Cam when that literally wasn’t part of the conversation they were having at all. It’s a nice bit of a drama to see play out.

9) I was pleasantly surprised by how witty some of these lines were.

Alex: “I’m driving in a Porsche with my twin sister. Magic truly seems to be the logical explanation.”

10) The sisters go from “oh my god, we have magic!” to accepting that and trying to control it REALLY quickly. I guess we have to keep things moving fast in an 86 minute movie.

11) I find the visuals behind Cam’s art to be really strong.

I know they probably didn’t have this in the budget, but I can’t help imagining the scene where Alex gives Coventry’s backstory would hve ben pretty great if they had incorporated this art style into it. Like the Deathly Hallows scenes in the seventh Harry Potter film.

12) So like the next three notes or so are about lines which I think are strong.

Cam [after opening her closet door and entering into Coventry]: “This is not my closet.”

Alex: “In a weird way I’m kinda relieved to hear that.”

13) I love this line, if only for the world implication buildings it has. But mostly because of how it takes a classic sci-fi/fantasy trope and sort of makes fun of it.

Illena: “Oh, the world has infinite dimensions. Well nine. Maybe nine-and-a-half.”

14) I’m Karsh in this situation.

Illena: “I wonder if we should’ve mentioned they’re marked for death.”

[Karsh looks at Illena like he’s on “The Office”.]

Karsh: “Why would we tell them that?”

15) Hey, did I mention Thantos is kinda creep yet? Well, if I haven’t...

Thantos [to his dead brother’s widow, who he’s married to]: “Even though I’ve never laid eyes on your daughters, I already love them as if they were my own.”

(GIF originally posted by @centralperksource)

16) Hey look, another line which is in here purely because I think it’s clever!

Illena [to Karsh, after walking through walls]: “I went through some 70s wallpaper that’s gonna emotionally scar me for life.”

Gonna be honest, that line had me laughing for a good couple of minutes.

17) So apparently Cam lives in a place called Waverly. She is a witch/wizard who lives in a Waverly place...

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

18) This is a Disney Channel Original Movie. You gotta have some cheesy dorky moments that feed right into whatever “SNL” makes fun of about this channel.

Cam [after both she and Alex call themselves Twitches]: “Twin!”

Alex: “Witches!”

Both: “Twitches!”

Roll credits!

19) So far most of the character conflict has been focused on Alex and the guilt she feels over finding a new family. Now we get to see Cam freaking out when things get a little too real for her.

Cam [after The Darkness tries to kill them]: “This was supposed to be fun! You know! Magic and sparkles and castles and unicorns!”

She runs off the first time trouble comes her way, ditching Alex to do so, because she’s never dealt with conflict in her life. She’s never dealt with anything bad in her world before. And she knows this is kinda crappy for her to do and she deals with that, but it’s important for her to face that fear and cower a little first before picking herself up by the bootstraps and moving forward.

20) So for a brief part of the film the Aly & AJ song “Rush” plays. That was my freaking jam as a kid. I like the darkness it has to it and the mystery and the sense of foreboding. I got major nostalgia when I heard it. Next to “Like Whoa” it was my favorite song of the sister-group.

And yes, I am now listening to “Rush” because of this recap.

21) I didn’t mention it before but I like the relationships both Alex and Cam have with their loved ones. The relationship with Cam’s parents specifically are a nice healthy alternative to the “rich girl is forced to meet standards by her parents” (this Kate Winslet in Titanic), instead giving us a relationship of love and humor and warmth.

Cam’s Dad [after Alex gives him a big bear hug and says how much she loves him]: “I don’t know if I’ve just been played or if that was one of those moments which makes parenting all worth while.”

Cam’s Mom: “Oh honey. [She kisses him on the cheek. Beat.] You’ve just been played.”

22) Similarly, the relationship Alex has with her best friend Lucinda has been really strong throughout the film. But Lucinda is very clearly feeling under appreciated by her friend, as this exchange was earlier in the film.

Lucinda: “You’re like family.”

Alex: “Like being the operative word.”

And then after Cam ditches Alex, Lucinda gets this wonderful bit of appreciation.

Alex: “The only person I can ever count on in my life is me.”

Lucinda: “Wow. You know that’s kind of a sucker punch for someone who just made you a birthday cake.”

When I was a kid I was disappointed that Lucinda didn’t show up in Twitches Too (no, I don’t own Twitches Too; so I’m only doing a recap for this one).

23) This message was surprisingly powerful for me. Maybe it’s because of the way the world is or because I wasn’t expecting it, but I think I’m going to hold it close from now on.

Cam’s Mom: “If there’s anything I know it’s that love is infinite. You can always make more when you need it.”

24) I might care more that Thantos was really The Darkness if they’d taken the time to develop him more. But again: 86 minute Disney Channel Original Movie; if it comes down between developing Thantos or the titular witches I’m glad they went with the latter.

25) Man, this WAS released in 2005. I dig it.

26) I’m a sucker for A+ sass game. Except I can’t decide who has the better sass here.

Thantos [to the twins’ biological mother]: “Sadly, you have nothing left.”

Cam: “That’s not true. She has us.”

Thantos: “Thank you, I stand corrected. Sadly, they’re all you have left.”

Alex: “Is he just asking to get slapped?”

27) I like that the final lesson of the film was not that evil is snuffed out with light but with love. I have issues with the trope of darkness = evil and light = good in all media, so while this film does fall into the former of darkness = evil I’m glad they decided that it is love - not light - that beats darkness. I think that’s a good idea to hold onto in this world.

Can I be honest? This was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Yes, it’s a Disney Channel Original Movie from 2005 so it’s no Harry Potter. BUT I found myself compelled by the relationship between the titular Twitches. Some of the humor was strong, the lesson of love was effective, and it was just a solid film. If you’re looking for a nostalgia trip, you could do a lot worse than Twitches.

[simplyanecdoche]

In all honesty, I am a relatively new Disney fan. I’ve probably visited the Anaheim location a grand total of three times, thus far, in my lifetime. Recently, my rate of attendance has been picking up speed – with a total of two visits in the last 6 months. In that same amount of time, I’ve learned that I am a fan of the Max Pass – a perk Disney offers costumers for an extra ten dollars on top of the ticket price which allows you to connect your ticket with those of your party to make many tasks (like booking fast passes) easier.

However, on my last visit, my Disneyland experience started out rocky; my Disney app. was convinced that my ticket had not been scanned and I was not officially “in the park”. This meant that I could not book fast passes or ride any rides with my ticket. Fortunately, help was readily available, and the cheerful nature of the cast members at Town Hall made my group feel like we hadn’t lost any time as a result of technical difficulties.

Armed with two new fast-passes and renewed happiness, our next mission was to secure five “celebration” buttons for my party — any vendor or shop will supply free customizable pins for any life event that brought you to the park. In this case,  we wanted 4 graduation pins and 1 engagement pin, but the cast member was NOT happy with us when we made our request. She insisted that Disneyland didn’t offer marriage themed buttons (a fact that we later found out was a fib because our wishes were fulfilled by a different cast member).

Disneyland is the branded as the “happiest place on Earth”, and the Disney Company takes great pains to ensure that they create an artificially happy environment for each and every guest. There are relatively few hiccups in the system, too, unless you count minor frustrations like favorite rides being closed during your visit or a cast member’s attitude about responding to your question bordering on rude. Those minor upsets rarely impact the quality of your day as a whole, but in my case, they led me to consider what the “Disney experience” truly means. The juxtaposition of the friendly experience at Town Hall with the grouchy vendor in Fantasyland inspired me to think critically about Disneyland as a space, what makes a visit to Disneyland unique compared to other theme parks, and what inspired Disney to create such a park. What I found was interesting: the average guest experience at Disneyland hold striking similarities to Disney’s (Laugh-o-Gram’s) first major project, Alice’s Wonderland.

“What I found was interesting: the average guest experience at Disneyland hold striking similarities to Disney’s (Laugh-o-Gram’s) first major project, Alice’s Wonderland.”

Disney’s Take on Alice in Wonderland

Alice was one of Disney’s first characters that helped him gain fame. Most people think of Alice in Wonderland (1951) when they think of an iconic Disney Alice – or even the 2010 version – but Disney’s first interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland was actually Alice’s Wonderland (1923), a black and white cartoon reel featuring a live action girl immersed in a cartoon world.

Alice’s Wonderland 1923

Alice in Wonderland 1951

Alice in Wonderland 2010

Alice in Cartoonland

“In this article, I will walk you through the parallels between the images that 1923 Alice sees on her imaginative journey and images which the Disney Corporation has included throughout the park.”

The average guest’s experience at Disneyland is entirely akin to Alice’s expedition through cartoon land. Many of the images from the short film appear in the theme park. Disneyland Park was opened in July 1955. Disney’s hope for the park was that it would be an immersive experience for the guest and inspire people —young and old— to use their imaginations. In fact, he was once quoted saying, “laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever”(Walt Disney). As soon as you enter the gates you are dwarfed by a larger-than-life mickey-themed flower bed. When you take the slight left (or right) into the park, you are immediately swallowed up by the buildings of Main Street and Cinderella’s Castle – much like Alice was immersed in the cartoon world seen in the video. Even the artificially welcoming attitude of the Disney cast members mirrors the attitude of the animals which Alice meets in Cartoonland. 

It is also possible — since the 1951 Alice is a color transformation and expansion of Disney’s original shorts —  that guests can also be compared to the curious, technicolor darling we know and love. Besides the presence of the iconic teacups and themed rides in Fantasyland, the larger-than-life scale of rides like the Matterhorn and the fact that you can’t see the rest of Anaheim from the park grounds create a sense of immersion and awe that is similar to the experience Alice has when she falls down the rabbit hole.

Although both Alices are similar, in this article, I will walk you through the parallels between images that the 1923 Alice sees on her imaginative journey and images that Disney has incorporated in the park. 

The Train

One of the very first images that appears in the 1923 cartoon is a train – the train that transports Alice into to the fictional cartoon town.

Similarly, one of the first images that greets you on the other side of the Disneyland gates is the Disneyland train, which runs around the entirety of the park. Additionally — if you’re an early bird — you might get to see the park’s opening greeting, in which the conductor waves and greets you. Alice waves to the residents of Cartoonland with a similar disposition in the beginning of the reel.

  The Reception Committee

If the reception committee in the black and white short looks familiar, it’s probably because their costumes are reminiscent of the Dapper Dans – the singing quartet on Main Street.

Much like the animals’ friendly disposition towards Alice, each and every cast member is expected to have a friendly disposition with guests. When interacting with cast members you might hear phrases like, “I’m peachy! How are you today?”.  Everything in the park, including cast interaction, is designed for guest entertainment. In this way,

The Parade

In the cartoon, Alice is greeted by a parade, which runs through the town and is very similar to the parades hosted daily at the theme park.

Alice’s welcome parade from Alice’s Wonderland 1923

Disneyland Pixar Fest Parade 2018

The unique thing about Disneyland parades is that they are enjoyable for both children and adults alike.

Animal Enclosure

  On the Northern-most end of the park, you’ll find Mickey’s Toontown, which is where you find some of Disney’s most iconic characters – Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. You’ll also find Pluto’s Dog Pound, a picture destination for both children and adults alike. If you’ve ever taken a photo with this Disneyland icon, then you know that the bars give the illusion of a cage but can be twisted to your heart’s desire.

 Exercising Our Imaginations

“Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it” – Walt Disney

So, there are a few nods to Alice’s Wonderland hidden throughout the Disneyland park. Why is it important? It’s important because it reinforces the specific objective of the space: to immerse each and every guest in a child-like and happy experience completely separate from the challenges and upsets of everyday life.

“…imagination has no age” – Walt Disney

Sources:

“Alice In Wonderland.” Internet Archive, The Library Shelf, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/AliceInWonderland1951.

“Alice’s Wonderland : Laugh-O-Gram Films : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, The Library Shelf, archive.org/details/AlicesWonderland.

Disneyland is “Alice in Wonderland” in Real-Life and We are Alice. In all honesty, I am a relatively new Disney fan. I've probably visited the Anaheim location a grand total of three times, thus far, in my lifetime.

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Artists Sift Through Archives for Memories of Miami

MemoryLab installation view (all photos by Barron Sherer unless otherwise noted; all work sources courtesy the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami Dade College, HistoryMiami Museum, South Florida)

Juan Maristany’s “Untitled,” a two-channel video installation of archived home videos, is currently projected across a 32-foot-long wall on the second floor of the HistoryMiami Museum. The wall is curved, bending to match the gaze of the eye and the flow of a walk around its length. “Untitled” is part of MemoryLab, an exhibition curated by Kevin Arrow and Barron Sherer of Obsolete Media Miami. The 16 featured artists/collectives (all of whom have ties to Miami, but currently live scattered throughout the country) were invited to explore the archives of both HistoryMiami — dating back 10,000 years — and the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives. The artists searched through home videos, letters, documents, and images, finding physical ephemera and strange histories with which to create new work.

Each of Maristany’s found images or looped clips is visible only long enough to briefly imprint themselves the brain; then, they fade, dissipating into ocean waves or smooth blackness. In one shot, there’s an unmoving pistachio-colored house, single-storied, low-roofed, and blanketed with palms. It’s unclear when the video was taken, but it’s a familiar, timeless scene to anyone who’s grown up in South Florida: the intrinsically cozy quality of a subtropical landscape, homes ostensibly protected by the dense flora surrounding them.

Juan Maristany, “Untitled” (2017), two-channel video installation / projection mapped, 20 x 32 feet

What does memory look like? Don Arnold and Richard Roberts, two researchers at the University of Southern California, engineered small probes to light up the synapses of a living neuron in real time. They discovered that when new memories are formed, the synapses that appear as bright spots along the neuron’s branches (dendrites) change shape. Memory, then, looks like literal shifting patches of light, given the right conditions. And what of Florida’s memory? Does it, too, look like scattered patches of light?

Miami’s reputation — a long history of not caring much for its history — is unfair; consider efforts like the Florida Memory Project, or Obsolete Media Miami itself. The entirety of Florida has a complicated history, of diaspora and weird ecologies and “only in Florida” tales, and the future of South Florida specifically is equally complex, threatened with sea-level rise and the questionable ethics of its cities’ council members. All histories are multifaceted, contingent on who’s telling it, and that’s maddeningly clear here. In their examination of Miami’s history, the artists in MemoryLab are essentially communicating the city’s present and future, because life is too cyclical to keep it all separated.

Julie Kahn, “DEPOST (trading post)” (2017), Spanish-American war Cigarette trading cards, artist trading cards, Seminole trade objects, trade objects from Havana Biennial & Art Basel Miami Beach, audio, video, dimensions variable

Glowing like a bright synapse at the exhibition’s entrance is an installation by Domingo Castillo, who placed on a wall several maquettes depicting various developments throughout Miami. In the wall’s center are four videos displaying, in juxtaposition, the policing of Miami’s neighborhoods and Getty images of plastered shots of high-rises and birds soaring over an Atlantic Ocean intended for the rich. The piece has an accompanying reader titled “Yesterdays, Tomorrow, Today,” a 245-page document including the W.A.G.E. manifesto and essays like Paul S. George’s “Policing Miami’s Black Community” and Raymond A. Mohl’s “The Interstates and the Cities: Highways, Housing, and the Freeway Revolt.” Mohl writes, “In Miami, Florida, state highway planners and local officials deliberately routed Interstate-95 directly through the inner-city black community of Overtown…Even before the expressway was built…some in Miami’s white and black press asked: ‘What about the Negroes uprooted by the Expressway?’” Even without the dense reader — which you must ask for at the museum’s front desk — the dichotomy of the images provides enough unsettling context.

Racial exclusion and xenophobia are examined in “Passing Through,” an interactive piece by Elia Khalaf, who sourced home videos of a Cuban family in exile, letters from a mother to her immigrant child, and photographs of a tourist in Lebanon (Khalaf is Lebanese). These are placed along a wall designed to look like a television. The opposite side is grid-patterned, with each square left blank for museum visitors to write their own notes, working in collaboration with Khalaf to piece together a fragmented history. “We built Miami,” says one; “we were all immigrants once,” reads another. Khalaf’s accompanying text for the piece reads: “In fear of conflict between Christians and Muslims, the end of the Lebanese Civil War resulted in government-mandated censorship barring any mention of the atrocities that occurred within the country between 1970 and 1991. This state of forced amnesia leaves the writing of history to me.” All of us with diaspora in our blood understand what it means to occupy this space, of reimagining your own history, of writing yourself into a narrative that sometimes excludes you.

Elia Khalaf, “Passing Through” (2017), digital illustration, film, photography, 8 x 9 feet

In “Untitled (We will settle for a place among the pines and the palms; a city without walls),” Adler Guerrier touches on the idea of diaspora too, his images (both color and scanned black-and-white) of Florida’s plant life acting as backdrop to a small TV showcasing found footage. They’re mostly news reels from 1980 to 1984, showcasing local Floridian reactions to Cuban and Haitian immigrants — one segment features a doctor explaining that, despite a pervasive fear of Haitian refugees bringing AIDS to the US, it is not logical to designate a group of people as being a carrier of disease; another section discusses, pejoratively, the Miami-Dade public school system’s leniency in allowing teens who “can’t speak English” to graduate. But Guerrier, who was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, tells me he does not want to simply highlight the negative backlash with this work, which is also about “the magnetism Miami had to waves of refugees. These Haitians and Cubans, they knew, ‘This is a place we want to be.’”

Shahreyar Ataie, “Lipstick Aviators” (2017), mixed media, dimensions variable

The duo Archival Feedback (T. Wheeler Castillo and Emile Milgrim) captures this magnetism by exploring the peculiar aural landscape of Florida via fieldwork and research. Their three “Audiographs,” displayed in a vitrine with headphones for listening, are made of polycarbonate, a material resistant to humidity. “Star Factory” draws upon sounds from the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium, whereas “Sounding the Bay” traces Biscayne Bay through hydrophone recordings — you can hear the gurgling of fish and the sound of cars driving above — and, most fascinatingly, there is “Greater Miami 1934,” which translates an old map into electronic sounds — the map is played like music.

Alliance of the Southern Triangle A.S.T. (Diann Bauer, Felice Grodin, Patricia Margarita Hernandez and Elite Kedan), “Landscape (Test Patterns for Future Positions)” (2017), video projection and monitor installation; three-channel video (color, sound), MDF set

Willie Avendano’s Invitation Suites, two sets of videos comprised of dreamy archival footage — a baby’s birthday party, a carnival ride — use data sequencing to repeat and dissolve the images over and over, mimicking the way memories feel inherently chaotic. (Full disclosure: Avendano is a friend.) Only real memory recall is more faulty. MemoryLab restrings memories like Christmas lights and data, and we begin to process them like dreams. These realities are composites of so many others, and as such do not really exist, yet we feel, hear, and experience them.

In fact, some of the works seem premonitory, and if so, they might come to fruition and imprint themselves on our memories in a much more deliberate way. In “Landscape (Test Patterns for Future Positions),” a video by the Alliance of the Southern Triangle (Diann Bauer, Felice Grodin, Patricia Margarita Hernandez, and Elite Kedan), weather maps and hurricane-tracking agents become a composite model of everything we can only try to understand about climate change, or weather in general. Foretelling sea-level rise or a hurricane’s power are ultimately abstractions, not yet added to our history, though their exigencies feel real enough to reach.

Jamilah Sabur, “A point at zenith: Become a body with organs and smell the flowers” (2017), three-channel video with hyper-directional sound, dimensions variable

Jamilah Sabur’s installation, “A point at zenith: Become a body with organs and smell the Flowers,” was the last one I explored, and the only one in which I was able to experience in utmost silence. One enters into a room fully projected with a green grid, watching a video in which Sabur is dressed as a jockey wearing a gas mask, trapped in a jai alai court on an upper floor of an abandoned building. This building, explains the piece’s accompanying text, stands at the corner of NE 2nd Ave and 50th St in Little Haiti: a current point of contention due to its impending, expensive development. Here, we have both the fate of a problematic situation and a reference to something that feels decisively Floridian (jai alai originated in Basque, but remains popular in South Florida), a fictional character stuck between the two. As Sabur explained to me, “I imagine that the building is surrounded by toxic air.” This is possible, maybe probable, but we try to reimagine a better outcome for Florida, over and over and over.

MemoryLab continues at the HistoryMiami Museum (101 W Flagler St, Miami) through April 16.

The post Artists Sift Through Archives for Memories of Miami appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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