#the way he talks about sustainability and how he wants to be represented on screen is beautiful <3

[yrsonpurpose]

TAYLOR ZAKHAR PEREZ Natural Diamonds

[outerloop]

An Appetizing Aesthetic: The Food of Thirsty Suitors

Last week, we talked about the evolution of how our cooking gameplay works in Thirsty Suitors and how the mechanics and narrative come together to help us tell Jala’s story.

We’re continuing further down the rabbit hole of food and cooking in Thirsty Suitors, this time by diving into the actual food you’ll see throughout the game.

Similar to the various forms of iteration that took place to get our Cooking sequences to where they are today, the same is true about the food.

Composing our Recipe Book

Thirsty Suitors has a variety of South Asian inspired dishes that all hold meaning for Jala, her family, and her exes.

We believe that food is more than just something that sustains us. What we eat also gives insight into our identities, where we come from, socioeconomics, history, and much more. In Jala’s family, her father, Arvind, is Sri Lankan, and her mother, Rukmini, is Indian. 

So, Jala’s grown up with dishes from both countries and these two places compromise the majority of the cooked food you’ll make in Thirsty Suitors.

You’ll be able to cook 13 different South Asian inspired dishes throughout the game, each with their own unique story sequences related to the characters.

In our blog from last week, we talked about the evolution of cooking and our move away from making the act of cooking the recipes 100% accurate in favor of highlighting our narrative goals.

Our Art Department, however, has found unique ways of still making the recipes representative of their real world counterparts. 

Take a look at the recipe book screenshots and you’ll see that in addition to the gorgeous paintings for each dish in the book, the ingredients on the left-hand side of the screen dynamically change to showcase key aspects of each recipe.

Creating an Appetizing Aesthetic

Creating great looking food is not an easy feat in any video game. A lot of time and iteration was spent throughout the development of Thirsty Suitors to land on the vibrant, graphic style in the game.

Our Art Director, Vijay Krish, talked a bit about how he approached creating the aesthetic for the food in the game. “First and foremost, the goal was to make the player hungry when they engaged in the cooking segments. Ideally, they’d want to eat the food at the end of every cooking challenge,” Vijay said.

But that isn’t as easy as you might think. Vijay and the team cast a wide net during the research of the various foods in the game to help with representing them in the best light possible: 

“On one hand, we've got such rich source material for the various cultural dishes in the game. They’ve been perfected over many generations which by themselves makes them look visually stunning.  On the other hand, Thirsty Suitors has an incredibly vivid palette and style we’re working within. The challenge was to combine the two and represent the food in such a way where the people who've grown up eating the dishes are able to relate to it. My intent was to represent them as faithfully as possible.”

Nailing the authenticity while also staying true to the exuberant artistic style we landed on for Thirsty Suitors was an interesting challenge. These constraints in design make you think more creatively and force you to find the “heart” of everything you’re making.

We see this idea even come through in the various cooking utensils you’ll use to make each recipe. While the dishes in Thirsty Suitors use a wide variety of cooking techniques and equipment, it wasn’t possible to include all of them.

We chose to approach this challenge by thinking about what were the key utensils we can highlight that speak to the soul of the dishes we’re representing, while also allowing us to create fun, over-the-top animations for Jala to perform.

The Final Dish

Another key element during the development of the food in Thirsty Suitors was nailing the look of the final dish.

At the end of each cooking gameplay sequence, Jala presents the final dish to her Mom or Dad for evaluation. Initially, we tried showcasing these dishes by modeling them in 3D, but doing so presented a number of challenges that you might underestimate in the creation of food in games.

Eventually, we realized that actually creating 2D illustrations opened up a much greater possibility space for our Art Department to experiment and achieve the results they were looking for. 

Vijay shared some thoughts on this process too, “Initially our first iteration of what food would look like started with an illustration of Kiribath. When we took it to a full 3D render with the help of 3D assets from our incredibly talented Character Artist, Emma Koch, we realized we weren't able to control the shadows and the slight hue variations present in the dish to the extent in which we could in 2D.”

In addition to the challenges with shadows and hues, there was a process reason that also helped in making the decision to move to 2D. 

Game development moves quickly and is very fluid, using 2D illustrations allowed the team to more more swiftly and streamlined the process overall  to take the expertly composited 2D illustrations from our Creative Director, Chandana Ekanayake, and push them to the final versions present today. 

Outerloop Games Recommends

Step by Bloody Step

We asked Vijay to offer a recommendation to y'all this week, and what better than to highlight a work that is using it's visuals to tell a complex story.

One comic in particular keeps drawing him in Step By Bloody Step by Si Spurrier and Matias Bergara. The series follows armored giant guarding a helpless child through a dangerous overgrown world.

Vijay really appreciates Bergara's visual storytelling, and the entire 4 issue comic is told without the use of written words.

Thirsty Suitors Releases on November 2, 2023

We recently announced our release date with a sizzling new trailer that we’re excited about. You can check it out below:

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LIj46_R62M&t=4s

If you’re excited about Thirsty, we’d appreciate it if you Wishlisted the game on Steam, it helps put the game in front of more eyes. 

Wishlist on steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/1617220/Thirsty_Suitors/?snr=1_5_1100__1100

You can also join our Discord, and follow us on Twitter @outerloopgames. 

Thanks for reading, until next time!

[headbeachincharge]

question for the mun: what do you enjoy the most about hatter?

IN THIS ESSAY I WILL—

(tw: suicide, mental illness mentions below the cut)

I don’t mean to be pretentious, but since the first time I watched the show, I was just enamored with what he represents. I could throw a lot of sayings at you— “Do the ends justify the means?” and “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” are the two which most readily come to mind—but I think that’s just being needlessly vague.

To me, I think he was a very honest look at what a suicidal person looks like. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’ve seen them. Both in my life, and staring back at me in the mirror. One of the things people love to say about people who do attempt suicide (which he did, “successfully,” in season one) is that “we had no idea it was that bad.” And most times, it’s true. Suicidal people generally mask their pain. To the people around them, yes, but also to themselves. It’s a survival mechanism.

He builds an entire world to combat his own hopelessness while also trying to help those around him. Although it got twisted along the way due to his intensifying mental illness, I do believe that he was truly trying to help others while helping himself. I don’t think he believed the actual strategy was going to work, but I do think that he believed it would be enough to sustain him. The drinking? Coping mechanism. Indulging in sex, food, partying? Distractions, a way to get relief from the unbearable reality of his mental illness and the horrors he had witnessed. All of the things he did, from making those grand speeches to killing “traitors” for playing cards, were desperate attempts to keep his reality alive. And, by keeping his reality alive, he was able to keep himself alive.

A detail that I’m quite fond of is how he mentions the death of his partner at the original Beach. He had committed suicide, and Hatter is clearly deeply affected by it. I think that Hatter recognized those feelings his partner had been having inside of himself, and he was terrified of ending up like him. The Borderlands Beach would be his second chance, not only to relive the “glory days” of his host club career, but perhaps even as a way to get the “right” ending where everything is okay. Or, okay enough, at least for a time. He knew it wouldn’t last forever, but maybe it could last long enough to save the people he loves, Aguni in particular. This is purely speculation on my part, but I think it aligns with his handling of grief.

I have to commend the writers on creating such depth and nuance in a character who didn’t have much screen time in the scheme of the show. I have to commend the directors on knowing how they framed him and told us things about his character even when he wasn’t talking. The editors did an incredible job of putting together a cohesive and well-paced story.

And, of course, I can’t forget Kaneko Nobuaki for his performance. Not only did he play the silly guy and the serious guy so well that they were able to bleed into each other, but he made me believe it. Hatter is a truly outrageous and ridiculous character on paper, and to bring that to life in a way that felt at least somewhat realistic (given the circumstances of the show universe, of course) is no small feat. Side note: “Smoking” on Netflix is a (very dark) show which I believe really highlights just how weirdly good he is at balancing silly and serious, sometimes swinging between them multiple times throughout a scene.

Now if you don’t want to read all of the above because my GOD that’s a lot, here’s the TL;DR

Hatter is a complicated character who provides an honest and raw look at a person who is suicidal while also being entertaining to watch and expertly crafted by the people who brought him to life.

[sohinitheexplorer]

Exploring the feelings and themes of Eco-Anxiety through a Paul Schrader film

Extreme fearful feelings towards awareness of the fact that our current environment that sustains our life will destabilize and collapse right in front of us is known as ecological anxiety (Practical Action, 2022). It is a quiet heavy feeling to experience and live with. Most of the people who experience eco-anxiety are young people belonging to from ages 16-25 years with racking up to whopping 60% in statistics (Thompson, 2021). One of the big reasons for this phenomenon is anthropogenic climate change (NASA, 2019). It is safe to think that this is a systemic problem and it is not going to get fully eradicated by small number of people changing their lifestyle choices like subscribing to vegan diet or living a zero-trash lifestyle. This is a systemic issue (Climate Queen, 2020). A system created by the preceding generation Y and baby boomers…. A huge chunk of which are climate change deniers (Ballew, 2019). We live in the system created by them, we are raised by them, we learn how the world works from them and we perpetuate the same actions after them. the empirical evidence for climate change is so on the face (The Royal Society, 2013) that we as a young generation are trying to break the cycle of not thinking about climate change, however we have a very long way to go.

These are some of the similar themes you can observe in a Paul Schrader film that was made in 2017 called First Reformed starring actors Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried. Paul Schrader is a renowned American film director, film critic and screen writer and he has made thought provoking films like Taxi Driver, The last temptation of Christ around the themes of theology, spirituality, morality and human spirits. First Reformed was his meditation on his environmentalism and depicting the series of events in the film with a lens of compunction. I assume that is coming from a generational baggage since he was 70 years of age back then and being citizen of a country that is the definition of capitalism. The film is regularly posed with a question “will god forgive us?” implying that if there is a god, they have created a beautiful world for us to be in and we are actively destroying it through our evil machinations. The film is made in 1.33:1 aspect ratio to get the visuals of human bodies more in the frame. The camera work has a lot of rested medium long shots in the film with slow pans and nothing abrupt. It also has very meditative VFX sequence that represents the state of human psyche during a prayer. There a is a scene in the film (time stamp) 10:16 to 21:48 encapsulating a dialogue between a war veteran reverend and an environmental activist that deeply affected me as an 18-year-old young person. The conversation touched subjects like reproductive rights in the midst of climate change, role of indigenous people in fighting with big corporations and their martyrdom in the process, generational guilt of contributing to problematic government, despair of problems that our coming generations are going to face as consequence of the actions of previous generations, futility of fighting wars that have no moral justification and thoughts of self-harm induced by ecological anxiety that every young person is facing. The activist later proceeds to take his own life and the reverend is left to meditate on what he just witnessed and that provokes him to think and talk about climate change and is later faced with the patronizing dejection which then motivates him to take his own life. This film magnified the state of spirit that goes through eco-anxiety.

Of course, this is a heavy topic to think and talk about. There are several contemporary psychologists that have a platform and audience where they have addressed this issue and how to cope with it and I will mention some of the links below. I feel like healing is a two-way process in this case. We have to cope with trauma and the perpetrator- industries and technologies need to heavily regulate themselves. I want the coming generations to experience the extraordinary joy of living in Earth, prospering here, falling in love here, creating and sustaining life here.

References:

·      Eco-anxiety (2022) Practical Action. Available at: https://practicalaction.org/eco-anxiety/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4uCcBhDdARIsAH5jyUlD5d5RCOK7A2EfeRH9IaYQPASiHG3-t7HA3IEhpLU5tPEST2C1CToaAuExEALw_wcB (Accessed: 14 December 2022).

·      Thompson, T. (2021) ‘Young people’s climate anxiety revealed in landmark survey’, Nature, 597(7878), pp. 605–605. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-02582-8.

·      NASA (2019) Scientific consensus: Earth’s climate is warming, Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. NASA. Available at: https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/.

·      ‌ Tackling The Climate Crisis Requires Systemic Change, Not Just Individual Action (2020) Green Queen. Available at: https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/tackling-the-climate-crisis-requires-systemic-change-not-just-individual-action-ccnow/.

·       

Ballew, M. (2019) Do younger generations care more about global warming?, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Available at: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/do-younger-generations-care-more-about-global-warming/.

Psychologists on how to cope with Eco-Anxiety:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=996QKlEdT58&ab_channel=TEDxTalks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B07DLgzOQEg&ab_channel=OurChangingClimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f52LJJFBCLc&ab_channel=TED

[illuminatedquill]

Nevertheless, Episode 9 (Preview)

Na Bi’s Choice

It’s almost time.

This will be my last post until after the latest episode drops, I think. I have no more to say; no more speculation to offer. I am actually still undecided as to whether I’m going to watch it tomorrow or binge it with the final episode next week. We’ll see.

So! I am here to offer a recap and a run down of where Na Bi has been and where, maybe, she’s going in this next episode based on everything I’ve seen so far. This is my opinion and if yours differs, I would love to hear about it.

Let’s do a recap:

Na Bi is, somewhat unsuccessfully, trying to move on from her relationship with Park Jae Un. In episode 8, we have two confessions (well, three, but Soljiwan don’t deserve to be a part of this angsty mess): one from Yang Do Hyeok, Na Bi’s childhood best friend, and one from Park Jae Un, local asshole.

Na Bi seems now aware of how messy her personal life is and has decided that now is not the best time to be dating. She turns down Do Hyeok, who only reassures and comforts her that it’s fine; he still likes her no matter what. Do Hyeok, best boy that he is, decides to respect her decision and give her the space she needs to choose what is best for herself.

Jae Un, asshole that he is, hasn’t gotten the memo that Na Bi desires an end to their drama and continues to invade her personal space and cross boundaries where he isn’t wanted. He does his own version of a confession and drops a hefty piece of info: that he was present at the night when Na Bi’s ex revealed his erotic sculpture of her and saw it all went down. He further reveals that he fell in love with her at first sight there.

Na Bi, thankfully, isn’t impressed.

(Not sure if the show is going to expand further on this info but we’ll see.)

At the end of episode 8, it’s evident that Jae Un is increasingly desperate to keep Na Bi by his side. He stalks her to the alleyway where they first talked all those episodes ago and drops that dumbass one liner about butterflies again.

And that’s where we left off.

Let’s break down Na Bi’s choices next. I’m not going to say how likely any of them are to happen; it’s all up in the air.

It’s Na Bi. We won’t know until she says it.

First off:

Park Jae Un

Let’s talk about it. Chemistry and attraction seem to reign supreme in Nevertheless and his case seems to be further bolstered by the fact that Na Bi seems unable to shut him out permanently (at this point, I’m not sure what exactly would be her breaking point with him). Yes, the two have evident feelings for each other but I’m feeling it more from him, rather than Na Bi.

The tables have certainly turned in this latter half of the drama: now Jae Un is the one desperately in love, whereas Na Bi is not willing to reciprocate. His gestures and advances of “sincerity” towards her come off as entirely self serving; I feel like he enjoys the feeling of being in love with her rather than actually being present in the relationship. It’s one thing to love someone; it’s another thing entirely to put in the work to make the relationship sustainable. And I have yet to see anything from either Jae Un or Na Bi that tells me that they could be a viable couple in the long run.

Also, Na Bi’s decision (if she sticks to it, which I hope she does) to not date anyone currently might have closed the door on this couple already: Jae Un clearly wants to date Na Bi now. There’s an interesting (and increasingly plausible) scenario that could arise from this:

Na Bi gives in and admits her feelings to him but still rejects him because they need to sort themselves out. Jae Un, impatient and wanting nothing short of a hard ‘yes’, takes this as a total rejection and leaves for America. Na Bi is heart broken once again but moves on. They meet again after he returns and it’s up to the viewer to interpret whether or not they give it a second chance.

Here are the factors that work in Jae Un’s favor: first, that damn explosive attraction he has with Na Bi. Although I think it’s wearing off by episode 8, it’s still a potent force. And the fact that Na Bi still has lingering thoughts and feelings towards him also speaks that she isn’t done with him, much to her dismay. Yes, she’s angry, suspicious, sad with him but if she really didn’t care she wouldn’t feel anything at all. And, despite Na Bi’s better judgment, we know he’s the one she keeps turning to.

Other factors? He’s the fucking main lead. Rarely do kdramas have the girl end up with anyone other than the main lead. Our best boy Do Hyeok isn’t even listed as a second lead. So, that’s something to take into consideration.

But don’t count Do Hyeok out just yet. Let’s talk about him.

Yang Do Hyeok

Best boy. One of three reasons why most of us are watching this mess (the other two being Soljiwan). Do Hyeok, despite all the factors previously mentioned working in favor for Jae Un, continues to represent a strong rival and possible endgame for Na Bi. So, let’s talk about him.

Nevertheless makes the strong case for Jae Un and his type of love but it also makes a strong case for Do Hyeok. He was a bright, yet brief presence in the webtoon and his screen time in the drama has definitely been extended to showcase even more of that sweet, charming smile of his.

I’ve written in a previous post about why Do Hyeok and Na Bi make sense and why their relationship is already so good even though they’re not dating but I’ll simplify for you all here: it’s based on an even playing field and has a strong foundation of friendship already present. Do Hyeok doesn’t leave Na Bi in any doubts about how feels about her; he comforts her when she’s feeling down even after she rejected him; he is attentive and cares for her deeply. And, also, she trusts him implicitly in a way she doesn’t with Jae Un. He makes her smile the most like no one else does. With him, Na Bi is unapologetically happy and carefree that she hasn’t been in a long time.

Do Hyeok’s only flaw is that he has epically bad timing. Which, unfortunately, matters a lot in relationships.

The feelings Na Bi has for Do Hyeok have been complicated by his confession but, in a rare moment of clarity (again something she doesn’t have with Jae Un who only confuses her), she turns him down in order to protect him from herself. So, yes, Do Hyeok is still the childhood best friend but only because Na Bi is keeping him safe. She doesn’t want to disappoint him.

One factor working in Do Hyeok’s favors: he’s still in the drama, for one. Seol-a, Jae Un’s ex, has been absent since episode five (although she’s making her grand return in this next episode). If the show was really done with Do Hyeok, it would have been a done deal by now (well, we’ll see what happens in episode 9) but it tells me that there’s still a plan for him. He’s not merely a distraction or being used for character progression for Na Bi and Jae Un.

The biggest thing going for Do Hyeok right now? He and Na Bi are endgame in the webtoon. There’s been plenty of talk about how they’ve made changes to differentiate the drama from the webtoon but I’ve been talking with others who have read the webtoon and we are in agreement: the changes, while substantial, have been to the characters and not so much the overall narrative. I’m not saying the ending will be exactly the same but I do think it will hit the same beats just in a different, healthier and happy way.

My scenario for Do Hyeok and Na Bi is that she makes the choice to finally ditch Jae Un for good but doesn’t commit to Do Hyeok immediately. She might stay friends with him after asking him to wait for her. We’ll see the set up and consummation for that in episode 10.

(However, since Nevertheless is entirely driven by the characters and their choices you could make the argument that those character changes are enough to warrant a different ending. So, take that as you will.)

Despite all the positive things I have to say about Na Bi and Do Hyeok, I have to stress that nothing is guaranteed here. The preview promises nothing but more pain and angst between Na Bi, Do Hyeok, and Jae Un. That’s the only certainty.

Well. There’s one more certainty. At least, I hope. In fact, it’s the most obvious and clear choice that Na Bi should be making in episode 9 and the one I hope the writers are gearing towards. It’s the only outcome any of us should care about, really.

Yu Na Bi

Yes, you read that right.

This is the only endgame we should really give a shit about. That Yu Na Bi chooses herself, her well being, her happiness, over anything else. Jae Un vs Do Hyeok - it’s not important and never really should have been.

Yes, we can all differ on the opinion of which of these two guys can best help her achieve this but Na Bi really needs to stand on her own to achieve this. Happiness has to come from within; she needs to fix what’s broken inside before she can be in a good relationship.

Na Bi needs to love herself first before anyone else. She deserves that so much. I want that before anything else and if she can get that, I will forgive the writers for all the BS they’ve put us through. And even if she chooses Jae Un. I’ll be happy for her and wishing her well.

(Although, again, Do Hyeok is the only one who gets that she needs to figure this out for herself, BUT it’s still Na Bi’s choice. It’s not that Do Hyeok deserves Na Bi, but she deserves someone sweet and good like Do Hyeok in her life.)

Best of luck to us all, Na Bi, and Do Hyeok tomorrow. It’s the beginning of the end. We’re almost there. Let’s wish them all happy endings.

I’ll leave you all this as the mind set you should have going into episode 9:

[shutupandshipit]

Sharpen Your Blades - Ch.9

Summary: “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

The thinning of Aizawa’s patience was evident in the twitching of his brow. “If you stop asking questions, maybe I could finish explaining.

”With a huff and roll of his eyes, Katsuki glanced away from their coach.

“City Hall and the SC want us to give them more variety. We are a team solely made up of single skaters. Every year, we dominate the rankings for single skate while Shinketsu dominates the pairs, so this year both cities are being required to split their skaters evenly between singles and pairs with at least one pair coming from out top five.” There was a collective intake of breath, but no one commented, choosing instead to remain silent. “Unfortunately, for us, it’s a lot easier to switch from pairs to singles. With our male to female ratio, alpha/beta/omega ratio, and those of you actually experienced with pair skating, we’re at a disadvantage. So, I’ve decided to choose your partners for you.”

…..

Or where Katsuki and Izuku are forced to be partners so they can continue to compete, but the blood in the water may be thicker than anyone realized.

Pairing: Bakudeku

Rating: T

Chapter: 9/20

Previously <- Chapter 8: First Snows

Chapter 10: Alpha Wanted -> Next

Chapter 9: Refill

“We’re going to prescribe you suppressants.”

Blinking rapidly, Izuku lifted his head. He hadn’t been paying attention, not really. All of his focus had been on the agonizing cramps turning his guts into knots, washing his vision black and grey, and his mother’s hand crushing his. His heat was still another week away, but he’d started pre-heat that morning. It would only get worse with each passing day, and bile rose in the back of his throat at the thought.

He knew that word though, ‘suppressants’. He’s read about them, not extensively, but enough. Mostly to find out how they affected the performance of the Olympic skaters who were ‘strongly encouraged’ to take a form of both suppressants and birth control for all primary and secondary genders.

He’d never thought about using them himself though.

Clearing his throat, he asked over Inko’s sniffling, “Suppressants?”

The kind while strange doctors cocked their heads at him. “Do you know what suppressants are?” the man asked.

“Yes, a little, but why? I’m not really sure why you would want to put me in suppressants...”

Inko sobbed, “You think things are that bad?”

The doctors glanced at each other, but seemed to come to the conclusion to ignore his mother’s question. The only thing was that he wanted to know the answer too. “Suppressants have many uses. We want to use them to help regulate your heat and to make them easier,” the man explained.

Izuku bit his lip, shame twisting his insides as badly as the cramps, but asked anyway, “Can you make them go away? I don’t… want to have heats. I don’t like them. They hurt.”

“Well, that can happen during periods of excessive stress and when you’re young. You see, it’ll level out eventually. So, we’re just going to use the suppressants until that leveling out happens,” the woman explained.

Izuku stared at her as the pain in his abdomen worsened, but he managed to not hunch over completely. “I don’t care. I don’t want them.”

Inko gasped beside him, and he didn’t have to look at her to feel her eyes boring into him. “Izuku! Don’t say that! Having heats, being able to bring life into this world, is a gift!”

Again, Izuku said, “I don’t want them.”

The man pursed his lips, pushing a hand back into his dark hair. “Restricting your hormones like that is not advised, especially since you’re so young. But we can do this for you, okay? We’re not willing to endanger your health like that.”

Izuku didn’t reply, doing his best to fight the uncharacteristic anger that rose in his chest with the very characteristic tears that flooded his eyes. He didn’t want to have heats, not since he’d started them. He’d just have to find a way to use the prescription to his advantage.

…..

November Week 1

“Dr. Matsumoto?” Izuku asked tentatively as he poked his head around the door to his doctor’s office.

The omega man spun around in his chair, quickly pushing his glasses up his nose and smiling at Izuku. “Mr. Midoriya! Come in, come in! Dr. Kavinsky will be here in just a moment. Please, have a seat. There’s a few things we would like to discuss with you today.”

Izuku followed the doctor’s orders, sitting down on the paper covered exam table. The stirrups attached to the end made him queasy, but he wasn’t here for that kind of checkup, thank everything holy. To take his mind off his nerves, he stripped out of his coat and held out the arm that hadn’t just had blood drawn from it. Dr. Matsumoto strapped a blood pressure cuff to him. It was all business as usual. Even though Dr. Shuzenji had taken over his care for physical therapy and sports physicals, he still went to his usual doctors for everything else.

Nowadays, he only found himself in the doctor’s office every six months for his check-ups and whenever he needed to refill his suppressants. Today had only been meant for a refill, but he didn’t actually interact with either of his doctors for that normally. So the fact that they had requested him to attend an appointment with both of them present was more worrying than he was willing to let on.

He and Dr. Matsumoto chatted idly while they waited for Dr. Kavinsky, and each passing moment of small talk made Izuku all the more nervous. When the female omega bustled in with jovial apologies, he was nearly ready to vibrate right off the edge of the table. Digging his fingers into the padding, he forced a smile and said, “No worries, Dr. Kavinsky, but um… is there anything wrong? I only needed a refill, and there’s still another couple of months until my next check-up.”

The doctors glanced at each other, a peculiar habit they’d had as long as he’d known them, before Dr. Kavinsky glanced back at him and Dr. Matsumoto turned to click away at the computer. “Well, no, there’s nothing particularly wrong. Well, I haven’t seen your blood work just yet, but I would like to say everything is alright. That is to say, we didn’t ask you to come here for anything concerning your check-ups, but concerning your refill.” She’d also always had a peculiar way of speaking, and Izuku took a few moments to process her words. There was a ping on the computer, and she glanced away towards the screens as the other omega began sliding around open files around on the screen.

Ice trickled into his veins, the first indication of panic. “My refill, ma’am? Is there something wrong with it?”

Again, the two doctors exchanged a look. There were colorful charts that made no particular sense to Izuku across the computer screen now including a long list of text open on the opposite monitor. They pulled the screen away from the wall to swivel it towards him, a piece of furniture he found cool every other occasion but right then. Flanking the screen, Dr. Matsumoto spoke while Dr. Kavinsky pointed at spots on the bar and pie graphs. “I want you to take a look at this chart, Mr. Midoriya, do you know what this represents?” Izuku shook his head, and the doctor continued without missing a beat. “These are graphs that we devised to make it easier to explain things to patients. These charts represent the levels of crucial hormones in your body over the past couple visits you’ve had. You might be able to tell why we’re concerned.”

Izuku swallowed, eyes absorbing every ounce of info he could glean from the sparsely labeled graphs, but he thought he understood what they were trying to say. “The levels have been dropping over the past two years?” He was only taking a stab in the dark on the time frame. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d come in in the past year, but he knew he’d gotten his blood drawn every time. There were a lot of charts staring at him.

“These charts are just from the past year not including the one that was run today. That one is still in text format over there. We have ones dating back to when you were first placed on suppressants as well. We’ve seen dips in your levels that track with the dates you’ve given us for your heats though they are lower than what we’d expect for normal suppressant usage, but this has been a common theme with your heats and suppressants.” He glanced at Izuku though, and the slight frown of disapproval seemed to say he suspected foul play on Izuku’s part. He wouldn’t have been wrong, and Izuku ripped his eyes away back to the screen. “But your levels have rapidly begun to decline this year and that is dangerous. Dangerous for everyone, but particularly for omegas and alphas. We’d hoped that they would level back out, but...” Dr. Matsumoto inhaled noisily, but Dr. Kavinsky was the one to speak.

“Mr. Midoriya, we are no longer going to be providing you with suppressants.”

Izuku’s eyes snapped to her. Every ugly emotion he possessed -fear, anger, horror, terror- all crowded together in his chest. They all vied for attention until he was feeling nothing at all. Since he’d started training close to Katsuki again, he’d also started having to regularly take his suppressants -sometimes even taking them twice or three times a day-, and the sweeping numbness that they occasionally caused was a welcome relief at times. “Why? I… I need my suppressants, ma’am, sir.”

“Do you know why we have suppressants, Mr. Midoriya? Do you know what they do?” Dr. Kavinsky asked.

His immediate response was ‘yes’, but the look on her face told him that any answer he gave was going to be wrong. At least partially. Still, he said, “To control heats for omega and ruts for alphas so we can still function in society. Either putting them on a set schedule or making them easier to handle so there will be less damage and recuperation afterwards.”

“Well, that is true, yes, but that’s only part of it. Here’s the thing, suppressants are actually meant to sustain hormone levels. That’s how we manage all of those things. That’s also why there are so many different kinds, and not all of them work for every omega or alpha. Everybody’s bodies are different, and therefore need different hormone levels for suppressants to work. Here’s another thing that isn’t usually explained, but it is why prolonged use is highly discouraged. Prolonged use can make these crucial hormone levels drop to severe and dangerous levels, which is why blood tests are needed to track these. That is what we’re beginning to see with your hormone levels. For an alpha or omega, if these levels drop too far it could cause a catatonic state or that person to go feral. Much like with what happened to you when you were younger. If use is continued, this could even cause death. So, we’re discontinuing your refills, and if your hormones do not return to normal, we may have to start hormone treatments. There are other safer ways to manage your heats, especially since you’ve been an adult for a few years now.”

The room fell silent, and after a moment, Dr. Matsumoto seemed to feel the need to include, “This is commonly seen in… suppressant abuse and dependency cases…”

Izuku worked his jaw, and after a moment, muttered, “What am I supposed to do without my suppressants? I haven’t had a heat… that isn’t unbearable since I presented.” He hadn’t really had any heats since he was eleven and was put on his suppressants, but he didn’t need to tell them that.

The suppressants he’d been prescribed were supposed to be taken daily, but he skipped his dose most days and saved them for the moment he started feeling his pre-heat set in. He’d take double until his heat would normally end, effectively eliminating it all together. Heats and ruts functioned as a full body detox, resetting the body for a new cycle, so to completely be skipping them… Well, he was sure that it had something to do with his declining hormone levels. It couldn’t be healthy.

But he didn’t have any other choice. They were just too painful.

“There are apps that provide heat services where an alpha will stay in your vicinity or even physically help you through your heat. Or if you’re a traditionalist, possibly you could date. There are also some very R-rated sites that have plenty of heat implements that may make things easier. As for the chemical route, we cannot condone further use,” Dr. Matsumoto explained, repositioning the screen and sitting back down.

He looked so helpful, sounded so helpful, but all Izuku wanted to do was strangle him. Maybe that was why he forced a smile, hopped off the table and grabbed his coat. If that wasn’t an addict’s response, he didn’t know what was. He didn’t want to be an addict. It was a hard truth to consider. “Thank you for your time today, doctors. I appreciate you explaining things to me. I’ll see you in another couple of months.” Without waiting to hear their answers, he turned and left the room despite how rude that was.

He had to get to practice. He didn’t have time to be worrying about things like this.

…..

Katsuki hadn’t been looking forward to practice. He enjoyed cardio generally, but once the first snow fell for the season, he absolutely despised it. He would rather skate endless circles around the rink or do sprints or just about anything else for hours over running outside. Living in Yuuei, logic would have stated that he was used to the cold by that point in his life, but reality was a cruel mistress. Every breath he took felt like ice picks being rammed into his lungs, and once everything was said and done, it took him at least two hours to properly warm up again.

Still, he dutifully showed up to practice that afternoon dressed in thermals and his workout gear instead of his usual heavy winter wear. He wore the beanie and gloves that he’d had to dig out of the bottom of his closet, a little musty and very itchy. He hadn’t remembered why he’d relegated them to be forgotten in the shadows, but standing there wearing them, he was reminded all over again. He was mildly bitter about the fact that Izuku had hoarded his gloves and hat instead of returning them.

Granted, Katsuki wouldn’t have accepted them -he gave them to an omega for fuck’s sake, he’d never see them again- but he would have liked the gesture. Well, he’d take them back under very specific circumstances.

‘Gifts to omega. Must provide. Keep warm. Warmth is strong body. Strong body is strong pups. Court omega to mate omega. Omega will give strong pups. Omega will make good mate. Omega will make alpha happy.’

‘I get it,’ Katsuki thought at his alpha viciously, but as much as he hated to bother with the basest of his instincts, he had allowed his alpha to guide him. And it seemed to have paid off.

He slouched on a park bench while he waited for the rest of the team to show up, nursing a bottle of hot tea. Several of the others had already turned up including his partner, and his eyes hadn’t left Izuku’s hands. Wrapped up in green, white and black thermal fleece lined gloves with a rabbit decal on the back, Izuku’s hands looked very warm indeed. And from what he could tell, the size of the gloves were perfect.

Smirking to himself, he slid a little further down.

The omega stood several meters away from Katsuki as he watched Iida and Uraraka go back and further. Iida gestured as animatedly as usual, and Uraraka mimicked his movements until a small smile appeared on Izuku’s face. The omega didn’t join in the conversation though, and something about the way he stood, a little further back than usual with his arms held tightly across his chest, told Katsuki something wasn’t right.

‘Omega distressed? Worried? Angry?’ his alpha asked worriedly.

‘I don’t know.’

The smirk on his face fell away, and as if sensing his gaze, Izuku turned towards him. There was a fakeness to his smile that Katsuki had been forced to get used to since they’d presented. That smile had stuck around for years after Aizawa had recruited them, but it had rarely made an appearance in recent years. Seeing it now felt like an ill omen, like the worst kind of shock to his system. He sat up straight, but as Izuku headed his way, he watched it ease into something more true.

“Kacchan!” Izuku said, stopping beside Katsuki as he shoved his hands into coat pockets.

“What do you want, nerd?”

Izuku’s smile didn’t falter, and only seemed to grow wider as he held out the pair of gloves Katsuki had given him the week before. “Sorry for keeping them so long. I was still using them, but someone left me these as a present in my bag yesterday, so I thought I’d return yours.”

Pursing his lips, Katsuki stared at the gloves, not reaching for them even though he very much wanted to trade out his current itchy pair. The fact that they’d smell like Izuku just made it harder to fight. “Are those better than mine?”

Red flushed Izuku’s cheeks, and Katsuki knew the answer. “Well, I uh, that is- Yours are really nice-”

“Stop stuttering, and just give me a straight answer. Damn.”

“They’re… a bit nicer than yours, but only because they fit better!”

Which meant they were worlds better than Katsuki’s beat up, worn in fur lined leather gloves. He hid a smirk in his collar. Snatching them from Izuku’s hand, he said, “Better hurry up and figure out who gave them to you soon to thank them properly.”

Still smiling, Izuku clasped his hands behind his back. “You wouldn’t have any idea who that would be, right Kacchan? Maybe you saw something?”

“The only thing I see is the fact that you’re still wearing my fucking beanie too.”

Izuku’s hand jumped up to his hair flattened by the black and orange beanie. “Do you want it back?”

“I’m already wearing one. No use when it’s just going to go in my pocket.”

“Okay.” Izuku didn’t turn back to his friends like Katsuki thought he would, but instead took a seat beside him. As soon as he sat, he seemed to deflate, shoulders drooping and smile dropping almost into non-existence. His eyes gazed off into the distance.

Katsuki wasn't sure if he should say anything and disturb Izuku, or continue to stare and watch him wallow. He chose the former, preferring a smiling Izuku to whatever he'd turned into. "What's the matter with you?" Izuku's eyes snapped towards him, startled, and Katsuki felt worse for knowing that it was because that was the first time Katsuki had asked how he was doing in years. Even when they'd actually been best friends, he'd rarely ever asked Izuku that question.

That fake smile returned immediately. "Oh, nothing, Kacchan, just a little tired. Thanks for asking though."

'Don't. Don't pretend with me. Don't put on that fake expression. You don't have to do that with me,' Katsuki thought desperately, wishing he had the guts to just come out and say it. Before he could muster up the words though, Toshinori called their attention, waving them over to the beginning of the hiking trail.

Together they stood and started towards their coaches.

Aizawa was bundled up tightly in black and maroon, looking not at all present as he dozed against a tree. Toshinori, tall and gaunt, stood beside the omega beneath the dropping bows of the pine. His blond hair was pushed back with a hairband much like the one Katsuki had given Izuku several weeks ago, and his track suit looked bulky and warm. "Good afternoon, my young charges! I hope you all had a good night yesterday." As always, Toshinori's voice was loud and booming, drawing the attention of people down the walking path.

The team tittered away for several long moments until Toshinori cleared his throat to bring their attention back to the task at hand. "Alright. We haven't used this hiking path for a run in awhile so be mindful of the condition of the road, low hanging branches, icy patches and roots. Don't overwork yourselves too early, this trail is an eight kilometer loop all together. With the season about to start, we're also starting up our annual Run-to-Win Competition. Remember, first place gets the most points, and if you're the first to cross the finish line, you get certain prizes. Today is the right to choose your own outfit for the exhibition within reason of course, but you'll be the final decider in the end." The group erupted in excited shouts again, and even Katsuki perked up.

He'd gotten to choose his outfit a couple times over the course of his career, but there'd always been something his coach rejected or made him change. He'd never had a true say in what he wore. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Izuku straighten up in interest. Right, they were partners this year. If one of them came in first, that person would also be choosing the others’ outfit as well. They had to match, at least for the most part, and Katsuki wasn't about to wear something fucking stupid because he lost to Izuku.

Izuku glanced at him, catching his eye. They held eye contact for a long moment before the real smile was back again. "What do you say, Kacchan? Who's going to be choosing our outfits?"

With all of the others, they lined up at the mouth of the trail, and waited for Toshinori to start the clock. "Me, of course, shitty Deku," Katsuki spat before taking off with everyone.

Both he and Izuku didn't go full tilt right off the bat like a lot of their teammates did. The course was long, and they didn’t need to burn out too early. At least half of the others streamed out ahead of them, but soon enough, they were leading the pack. The rest lagged, some beginning to walk and others stopping all together to bend over and breath heavily. Only a few kept a steady pace, but none of them were as fast or steady as Izuku and Katsuki. Soon enough, they were the only ones on the path.

They kept pace with each other. Step for step, breath for breath, they ran together as if they were practicing synchronicity again. It was only when they'd already passed the fourth mile that they glanced at each other and simultaneously picked up the speed. Even as their race truly started, they were in sync. It was maddening in more ways than one, and Katsuki huffed like a boar as he worked to get even an inch in front of Izuku. Still, they remained neck and neck.

"Goddammit, Deku!" Katsuki spat on a sharp exhale. They were all but sprinting by that point, drenched in sweat and nearing the end of the trail.

Izuku had a wild smile, cheeks flushed with beautiful color and eyes alight. "I'm- going to- beat you- Kacchan!"

"Like hell!"

A wild laugh fell from Izuku's lips as the mouth of the trail came into view, and they both put in every last ounce of strength they had left. They reached the end of the trail, and kept going as they slipped on a patch of ice just on the other side.

"Fuck!" Katsuki cried, flailing backwards and snapping out a hand to keep Izuku from crashing forward onto his knees. Instead, they tumbled back into the snow between the trees, Katsuki on his back and Izuku against his chest completely out of breath. "Fuuuuuuck," Katsuki groaned, head flopped back even as the snow began to melt and soak his hair. He could barely breathe, and Izuku's weight didn't make it any better. Still, Izuku didn't try to get up and Katsuki didn't push him away.

After a moment, Katsuki felt the frozen tip of a nose skim along the column of his throat. Izuku's scent wafted to him. Sweat and excitement and musk and mint and arousal and lightning, and again, that chemical cleanness. It was the same as the last time he'd smelled it, but stronger than before. Like when they'd been twelve, and Izuku had been abusing suppressants. Wrinkling his nose against the scent and the sudden rush of worry and anger in his body, he felt more than heard Izuku gasp above him.

The weight disappeared from his chest, and he cracked his eyes open to find Izuku's surprised expression as Toshinori lifted him off Katsuki and Aizawa grasping his forearm to pull him to his own feet.

When his eyes found the omega's again, Izuku grinned. "Good race, Kacchan, but it looks like we're going to have to work together on our costumes."

"One of these days, you're going to have to give the others a chance to win a race," Aizawa said.

Katsuki sneered at their coach. "Not a chance in hell! We won fair and square. They need to try harder if they want to win."

Izuku laughed, the sound a tinkling chime even as Aizawa rolled his eyes and pulled the other omega away. "See you later, Kacchan," he called, hand waving over his head.

Katsuki couldn't rip his eyes away from him or rub away the reminder of his scent.

[ayankun]

WandaVision episode 6

FIRST OFF

Whenever I go back to pause things for clues, and find exactly what I’m looking for, I don’t feel justified, I feel that much more insane:

It’s really hard to make out, but I had an alright look at it on my folks’ QLED, and it’s definitely a flying saucer doing an alien abduction on what looks to be a person inside an old CRT TV (with some kind of robot head/boombox on top???)  There are secret aliens in this show, you guys, the facts don’t lie.

HmmmMMMM I wonder if Agnes is as innocent as she looks:

Also, I didn’t see that she was wearing the brooch in this ep, and I was majorly disappointed in that.

Two things here:

No, that’s not a twins joke.

Another Moonmen Confirmed

I know green is his color or whatever, but that hat is literally 10 years ahead of its time

Also, I took the playing-DDR-at-home scenario at face value, and only on the first rewatch did I realize it was a very pointed turn-of-the-century reference.  I am an Old.

There’s a good, subtle Rule of Threes in this ep.  The Setup:

The Sokovian Halloween flashback works on so many levels.  It’s so funny:

The fact that they went trick-or-treating at all

The “speaking Sokovian”

The treat being a fish

They have to share the fish

The concept that this event gave them an infectious disease

“You probably suppressed a lot of the trauma” -- it’s a good sitcom joke but.  the trauma is the joke.  The joke IS THE TRAUMA!!!

Elizabeth Olson is a dream with all her wonderful faces she has this ep.

Vision’s unsettling passive-aggression-sitcom-cooperation whiplash is WOW, consider me unsettled!!!!!!  “Be. Good.”  UGH.

(Just noticed one here, but there are a number of continuity errors in this episode, enough to be distracting later on, and is this a deliberate choice?  Please let it be deliberate.  I didn’t watch a whole lot of Malcolm in the Middle, is it known for its continuity errors?

)

“It’s their first Halloween.” LOLOLOL they are TEN YEARS OLD and this is their FIRST halloween I LOVE IT

DOUBLE RED HERRING CONFIRRRRRRRRMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Agent Jimmy Woo accidentally identifying himself as the sassy best friend added 20 years to my life.

Found.  FOUND.  Not “created,” “manifested,” “willed into being using my insane witch powers.”  Third Party Confirmed.

I like that it’s the 90s and we can swear on TV now.  “Hell” “kick-ass” “damn it” “fu---dge”

I think the most biting part of Vision finding the whacked out folks is that the soundtrack just kind of ... ignores that anything’s wrong.  Yeah, it’s kinda-spooky Halloween music, but it’s still 100% in-world kinda-spooky-sitcom-Halloween-episode music. 

OKAY LET’S TALK ABOUT THE AD:

As a 90s child, let me tell you, this is a blisteringly accurate representation of children’s marketing from the period.  The shark is wearing sunglasses AND he has a surfboard!!!  And he’s selling you yogurt of all things!!!!!  This is the supreme distillation of what being a child in the 90s was like.

How disappointed I am that they went with crab instead of lobster.

Heard it through the grapevine that this is a representative of Wanda’s imprisonment on the Raft.  That happened in Civil War, right?  So the next ad is The Snap?  We’re running out of iconic decades, too. so, hold on, new thought.

90s: Civil War

00s: Infinity War

10s?????: Endgame???? or?????????

??: Whatever happened between Endgame and WandaVision, given that the ads are stepping forward through Wanda’s IRL life events!!

I don’t want to know how many episodes are planned/announced, but I don’t know what to expect from the format after they run out of decades from which to draw.  Maybe there are only one or possibly two “sitcom” episodes left.  Maybe after that it just breaks down and they can pick and choose from the worlds/styles we’ve already established.  That’d be p neat.  A very unique kind of chaos.

god she’s so cute

Okay, somebody explain to me Pietro.  I honestly walked away from last week thinking he was just some townsperson chump, but then I was reminded that this is the Quicksilver actor from all those X-Mans movies I never watched, soooo people are saying Multiverse Confirmed?  But, if this is X-Mans’ Pietro, then why did he die the same as MCU Pietro?  Or is he literally MCU!Pietro’s corpse, given that he looked all dead same as when she saw Vision’s corpse?  If MCU!Pietro, then why different face???

????????????????

Also I found him highly suspicious, what with all the questions he was asking.  But the only sort of person who would truly want to know the answers to those questions would be someone who already had them ... so I think he was just asking on behalf of the audience, and the delivery was all wonked out.

Rule of Threes - The Reference:

Ok, real talk, whenever computers/networks/data/encryption/servers/mainframes et al come up in mainstream media, I just look away.  I don’t need the kind of psychic damage that comes with such egregious mishandling of the topic.

That being said, does Hayward having eyes through the barrier mean that he could possibly be involved in getting it set up?  Because look.  If Hayward-after-Hayward’s-Villianous-Ends is one antagonizing force, then is there really room for the Third Party (Confirmed) antagonizing force that’s lurking in the negative space silhouette of the Inciting Incident?  With Wanda as the Red Herring antagonizing force, that’s just.  There’s just too many villains, alright?  We gotta start merging these plotlines.

(then again, when I just said “eyes” I realize probably understanding the true nature of his new secret “CATARACT” project will clear a lot of things up.  I’ll wait for enlightenment)

Agnes’ license plate in this episode is 0A1-B2C, which I think is a reference to the way reality is getting pared down to bare bones at the edge of town.  Note that this is not the same license plate number as seen last ep.

ALSO, I drove home behind a NJ plate just an hour ago, and was staring at it for a long time, trying to fit it into the puzzle before A) realizing that this was Real Life and not part of the show and B) WTF is a NJ plate doing in front of me in California.  In any case, I can confirm that NJ plates do not appear to have this number-letter repeating format.

So let’s talk Agnes.

Demonstrated knowledge of the situation in ways others haven’t (”There’s the star of the show” “kids, you can’t control ‘em”)

Shows up when needed most (explained as being Wanda’s doing, but is it)

When Wanda was having her babies, though, who was trustworthy enough to be summoned?  Was it Agnes?

Wanted to babysit REAL BAD

Was in the opening credits framed possessively with the twins

Doesn’t appear to have an IRL identity according to Jimmy’s crime board

Keeps talking about her husband but we’ve never seen him.  Highly unlikely that he’s real

Was the one to find Sparky “dead” - internet thinks she was lying to Wanda about how or possibly if he was dead (I’m trying not to read the theories, so idk exactly what the angle is there)

In an episode where everyone is wearing their original comic outfits, Agnes is dressed as (and laughs like!) a witch

She name-drops Wanda as the one controlling everyone; Norm (or the guy playing Norm) only said “she” and “her” -- meaning Agnes?

Naughty

So we’re 99% sure Agnes is Agatha Harkness, right?  I never read no comics, so I’m taking the internet’s word for it, but from what I can tell, I think we must be right.  If that’s the case, then I’m thinking it’s not impossible for her to be pulling some strings around here (giving Wanda a justification for her “that wasn’t me” doorbell ring, for example, and pulling a double red herring on the fact that she shows up whenever the narrative Wanda her nefarious scheme calls for it).

To devil’s advocate myself, though, we also have Monica’s word that it was Wanda in her mind, lessening the impact of Agnes falsely confirming what Norm only implied.  Also she’d have to be acting for Vision’s sake (and ours) and, if so, then what did Vision’s brain-touch really do, and how did she know he’d find her there, and what did she intend as the result of that interaction etc etc.

If Wanda’s (or Wanda + Third Party Confirmed (Agnes??)’s) powers aren’t enough to sustain the simulation of life on the edges of town, how much worse is it going to be now that there is even more area to try to control???

I don’t know if this is strictly an intended read, but the idea of Halloween as a fun, scares-for-entertainment’s sake type holiday, the rounding off the edges of concepts like “skeletons and ghosts are what people are after they die, let’s decorate the town with them and have a good time” kind of is a haunting parallel to the nature of Wanda (et al) covering up the horrible truth of the situation with this happy-go-lucky sitcom glamour.

How much does one hate seeing Vision giving his life for the greater good (the greater good) for the second time?  In other news, I think I’m seeing some specifically Mind Stone type energy-colors coming off of him, and very little Wanda type energy-colors.  Third Party Confirmed.

Also, I was thinking from last week that perhaps Hayward’s Villainous Ends included capturing the reanimated Vision to be one of those Sentient Weapons his organization is all about, but I Do Not Think his reaction to seeing that sought-after prize disintegrate in front of his eyes really matches up with that theory.  Again, will be patiently waiting for Jimmy to check his email to see what CATARACT is all about!

Rule of Threes - The Payoff:

Also, anyone ID the movie playing in the background?

Ok, final thought.  I watched this about four times today, and on the big-ass TV at my parents’ house finally paused and got up close to see what that white shape is in the reflection.  Thought it might be a skull, but, it’s worse.

These caps do not contain enough data to verify my claim, but I PROMISE YOU it’s a TV

A square old thing with a round screen and antenna on top. 

I SWEAR to you, when I looked into the TV, into Wanda’s eyes, only to see the reflection of a TV, of her looking at me looking at her I had a visceral fear reaction.  Like.  LEGIT nauseous skin crawl.

(All the other episodes have ended with our POV as the fourth wall, from the general (or exact!!!) position their household TV is known to be.)

This is my favorite show Of All Time.

[aaronmaurer]

TV I Liked in 2020

Every year I reflect on the pop culture I enjoyed and put it in some sort of order.

Was there ever a year more unpredictably tailor-made for peak TV than 2020? Lockdowns/quarantines/stay-at-home orders meant a lot more time at home and the occasion to check out new and old favorites. (I recognize that if you’re lucky enough to have kids or roommates or a S.O., your amount of actual downtime may have been wildly different). While the pandemic resulted in production delays and truncated seasons for many shows, the continued streaming-era trends of limited series and 8-13 episode seasons mean that a lot of great and satisfying storytelling still made its way to the screen. As always, I in no way lay any claims to “best-ness” or completeness – this is just a list of the shows that brought me the most joy and escapism in a tough year and therefore might be worth putting on your radar.

10 Favorites

10. The Right Stuff: Season 1 (Disney+)

As a space program enthusiast, even I had to wonder, does the world really need another retelling of NASA’s early days? Especially since Tom Wolfe’s book has already been adapted as the riveting and iconoclastic Philip Kaufman film of the same name? While some may disagree, I find that this Disney+ series does justify its existence by focusing more on the relationships of the astronauts and their personal lives than the technical science (which may be partially attributable to budget limitations?). The series is kind of like Mad Men but with NASA instead of advertising (and real people, of course), so if that sounds intriguing, I encourage you to give it a whirl.

9. Fargo: Season 4 (FX)

As a big fan of Noah Hawley’s Coen Brothers pastiche/crime anthology series, I was somewhat let down by this latest season. Drawing its influence primarily from the likes of gangster drama Miller’s Crossing – one of the Coens’ least comedic/idiosyncratic efforts – this season is more straightforward than its predecessors and includes a lot of characters and plot-threads that never quite cohere. That said, it is still amongst the year’s most ambitious television with another stacked cast, and the (more-or-less) standalone episode “East/West” is enough to make the season worthwhile.

8. The Last Dance (ESPN)

Ostensibly a 10-episode documentary about the 1990s Chicago Bulls’ sixth and final NBA Championship run, The Last Dance actually broadens that scope to survey the entire history of Michael Jordan and coach Phil Jackson’s careers with the team. Cleverly structured with twin narratives that chart that final season as well as an earlier timeframe, each episode also shifts the spotlight to a different person, which provides focus and variety throughout the series. And frankly, it’s also just an incredible ride to relive the Jordan era and bask in his immeasurable talent and charisma – while also getting a snapshot of his outsized ego and vices (though he had sign-off on everything, so it’s not exactly a warts-and-all telling).

7. The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

This miniseries adaptation of the Walter Tevis coming-of-age novel about a chess prodigy and her various addictions is compulsively watchable and avoids the bloat of many other streaming series (both in running time and number of episodes). The 1960s production design is stunning and the performances, including Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead role, are convincing and compelling.

6. The Great: Season 1 (hulu)

Much like his screenplay for The Favourite, Tony McNamara’s series about Catherine the Great rewrites history with a thoroughly modern and irreverent sensibility (see also: Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette). Elle Fanning brings a winning charm and strength to the title role and Nicholas Hoult is riotously entertaining as her absurdly clueless and ribald husband, Emperor Peter III. Its 10-episodes occasionally tilt into repetitiveness, but when the ride is this fun, why complain? Huzzah!

  5. Dispatches From Elsewhere (AMC)

A limited (but possibly anthology-to-be?) series from creator/writer/director/actor Jason Segal, Dispatches From Elsewhere is a beautiful and creative affirmation of life and celebration of humanity. The first 9 episodes form a fulfilling and complete arc, while the tenth branches into fourth wall-breaking meta territory, which may be a bridge too far for some (but is certainly ambitious if nothing else). Either way, it’s a movingly realized portrait of honesty, vulnerability and empathy, and I highly recommend visiting whenever it inevitably makes its way to Netflix, or elsewhere…

4. What We Do in the Shadows: Season 2 (FX)

The second season of WWDITS is more self-assured and expansive than the first, extending a premise I loved from its antecedent film – but was skeptical could be sustained – to new and reinvigorated (after)life. Each episode packs plenty of laughs, but for my money, there is no better encapsulation of the series’ potential and Matt Berry’s comic genius than “On The Run,” which guest-stars Mark Hamill and features Laszlo’s alter ego Jackie Daytona, regular human bartender.

3. Ted Lasso: Season 1 (AppleTV+)

Much more than your average fish-out-of-water comedy, Jason Sudeikis’ Ted Lasso is a brilliant tribute to humaneness, decency, emotional intelligence and good coaching – not just on the field. The fact that its backdrop is English Premier League Soccer is just gravy (even if that’s not necessarily represented 100% proficiently). A true surprise and gem of the year.

2. Mrs. America (hulu)

This FX miniseries explores the women’s liberation movement and fight for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and its opposition by conservative women including Phyllis Schlafly. One of the most ingenious aspects of the series is centering each episode on a different character, which rotates the point of view and helps things from getting same-y. With a slate of directors including Ryan Bowden and Anna Fleck (Half-Nelson, Sugar, Captain Marvel) and an A-List cast including Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, Sarah Paulson, Margo Martindale, Tracey Ulman and Elizabeth Banks, its quality is right up there with anything on the big screen. And its message remains (sadly) relevant as ever in our current era.

1. The Good Place: Season 4 (NBC)

It was tempting to omit The Good Place this year or shunt it to a side category since only the final 4 episodes aired in 2020, but that would have been disingenuous. This show is one of my all-time favorites and it ended perfectly. The series finale is a representative mix of absurdist humor and tear-jerking emotion, built on themes of morality, self-improvement, community and humanity. (And this last run of eps also includes a pretty fantastic Timothy Olyphant/Justified quasi-crossover.) Now that the entire series is available to stream on Netflix (or purchase in a nice Blu-ray set), it’s a perfect time to revisit the Good Place, or check it out for the first time if you’ve never had the pleasure.

5 of the Best Things I Caught Up With

Anne With An E (Netflix/CBC)

Another example of classic literature I had no prior knowledge of (see also Little Women and Emma), this Netflix/CBC adaptation of Anne of Green Gables was strongly recommended by several friends so I finally gave it a shot. While this is apparently slightly more grown-up than the source material, it’s not overly grimdark or self-serious but rather humane and heartfelt, expanding the story’s scope to include Black and First Nations peoples in early 1800s Canada, among other identities and themes. It has sadly been canceled, but the three seasons that exist are heart-warming and life-affirming storytelling. Fingers crossed that someday we’ll be gifted with a follow-up movie or two to tie up some of the dangling threads.

Better Call Saul (AMC)

I liked Breaking Bad, but I didn’t have much interest in an extended “Breaking Bad Universe,” as much as I appreciate star Bob Odenkirk’s multitalents. Multiple recommendations and lockdown finally provided me the opportunity to catch up on this prequel series and I’m glad I did. Just as expertly plotted and acted as its predecessor, the series follows Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman on his own journey to disrepute but really makes it hard not to root for his redemption (even as you know that’s not where this story ends).

Joe Pera Talks With You (Adult Swim)

It’s hard to really describe the deadpan and oddly soothing humor of comedian Joe Pera whose persona, in the series at least, combines something like the earnestness of Mr. Rogers with the calm enthusiasm of Bob Ross. Sharing his knowledge on the likes of how to get the best bite out of your breakfast combo, growing a bean arch and this amazing song “Baba O’Reilly” by the Who – have you heard it?!? – Pera provides arch comfort that remains solidly on the side of sincerity. The surprise special he released during lockdown, “Relaxing Old Footage with Joe Pera,” was a true gift in the middle of a strange and isolated year.

The Mandalorian (Disney+)

One of the few recent Star Wars properties that lives up to its potential, the adventures of Mando and Grogu is a real thrill-ride of a series with outstanding production values (you definitely want to check out the behind-the-scenes documentary series if you haven’t). I personally prefer the first season, appreciating its Western-influenced vibes and somewhat-more-siloed story. The back half of the second season veers a little too much into fan service and video game-y plotting IMHO but still has several excellent episodes on offer, especially the Timothy Olyphant-infused energy of premiere “The Marshall” and stunning cinematography of “The Jedi.” And, you know, Grogu.

The Tick (Amazon Prime)

I’ve been a fan of the Tick since the character’s Fox cartoon and indie comic book days and also loved the short-lived Patrick Warburton series from 2001. I was skeptical about this Amazon Prime reboot, especially upon seeing the pilot episode’s off-putting costumes. Finally gaining access to Prime this year, I decided to catch up and it gets quite good!, especially in Season 2. First, the costumes are upgraded; second, Peter Serafinowicz’s initially shaky characterization improves; and third, it begins to come into its own identity. The only real issue is yet another premature cancellation for the property, meaning Season 2’s tease of interdimensional alien Thrakkorzog will never be fulfilled. 😢

Bonus! 5 More Honorable Mentions:

City So Real (National Geographic)

The Good Lord Bird (Showtime)

How To with John Wilson: Season 1 (HBO)

Kidding: Season 2 (Showtime)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs The Reverend (Netflix)

[douchebagbrainwaves]

HOW TO BE AN EXPERT IN 13 SENTENCES

Let's get Bill Gates out of the way so the founders can use that time to build or finish building something impressive. They go out for dinner together, talk about ideas, and the investors are the ones sitting back with slightly pained expressions. But this year there may have been. Even if you could read the minds of the consumers, you'd find these factors were all blurred together. Writing eval required inventing a notation representing Lisp functions as Lisp data, and such a notation was devised for the purposes of the paper with no thought that it would be false. When we sold our startup in 1998 I thought one day I'd do some angel investing. It's why the best abstract painting still falls short of the spec because it only works temporarily. If the world were static, we could have monotonically increasing confidence in their opinions are implicitly concluding the world is static. A company that could pay all its employees so straightforwardly would be enormously successful. Indeed, the more ideas you'll have.

But in fact the defining quality of Lisp—in fact, it would create a self-sustaining chain reaction. Bittorrent and YouTube have already trained a new generation of viewers that the place to watch shows is on a computer screen. Arguably it's an interesting failed experiment. The best way to get rich by creating wealth and getting paid for it. You don't need to join a company to do something people want. You can see why people invent gods to explain it. And the reason it's inaccurate is that, in a matter of working harder than an ordinary employee were asked to do the things a startup founder has to, he'd be very indignant. That's the best-case scenario.

So there you have it: languages are not equivalent, and I am not surprised to hear it. It turns out to be flaky, high-maintenance investors. That's why the Internet won. Apparently voters were afraid to say they force things to happen in a predefined way. Certainly Bill is smart and dedicated, but Microsoft also happens to have been the most common trajectory is to do an angel round first. At Viaweb now Yahoo Store, we raised some eyebrows among VCs and potential acquirers by using Lisp. The thing I probably repeat most is this recipe for a startup or not. No one thought to go back and debug Aristotle's motivating argument.

But the advantage is that it can be written in itself. And why do they so often work on developing new technology? It means he makes up his mind quickly, and follows through. You should of course have your lawyer review everything. But I think I've figured out what's going on. But it's all based on one unspoken assumption, and that will kill you very rapidly. But houses are very expensive—around $1000 per square foot. What if both are true? If someone were creating an Internet-based TV company from scratch now, they might have some plan for shows aimed at specific regions, but it will only get harder, because change is accelerating. It's one of the founders we funded asked me why we started Y Combinator is one probably only a hacker would understand. There probably aren't more than a couple weeks has been trained to click on Back after following a link.

Because people in the entertainment business had understandably come to think of them as rather passive. Saying YC does seed funding for startups is a description in terms of the old one. Investors' opinions are explicitly tested: startups come to them and they get discouraged and give up. If you have to extract parameters manually in Perl. With Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. There are two differences: you're not saying it to your boss, but directly to the customers for whom your boss is only a single expression so you need to create a new variable s. It's a tossup whether Castro Street or University Ave should be considered the heart of the Valley is done in the cafes on or just off University Ave in Palo Alto. More importantly, such a company would attract people who wanted to work especially hard. At Viaweb now Yahoo Store, we raised some eyebrows among VCs and potential acquirers by using Lisp.

One piece of evidence is what happened to countries that tried to return to the old model, like the Soviet Union didn't have a computer industry, it remained for them a theory; they didn't have hardware capable of executing the calculations fast enough to design an actual airplane. But houses are very expensive—around $1000 per square foot. Ideas beget ideas. And only good people can ride the thermals if they hit them anyway. I've figured out what's going on. In a startup, there's always one right there. You can't go to your boss, but directly to the customers for whom your boss is only a proxy after all, and you're not doing it individually, but along with a small group. How often have you visited a site that seemed very good, and then, fairly quickly, they learn whether they guessed right. Plus your referrals will dry up.

People talk so much about technology and design. But if you control the whole system. Money is a side effect of specialization. They do something people want. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal described how TV networks were trying to add more live shows, partly as a way to steal it. A big company is probably getting a bad deal, because his performance is dragged down by the overall lower performance of the entire company. We did it because it seems such a great hack. In the rivalry between Perl and Python. By then it's too late for angels. Silicon Valley. Now would be a shortcut straight to wisdom.

I think it's a good idea. How can you get errors asking that? I'll just be able to do at least know now why I didn't. Salesmen are an exception. And even then they rarely said so outright. With time, as with money, avoiding pleasure is no longer enough to protect you. Can something people have spent thousands of years between when people first started trying to talk about it.

[ramblefang]

Runaway Raccoon; BNA ep.1

Preface

Just finished watching the first episode of BNA, so I now I’ll be writing my first impressions of it. And I’ll endeavor to do this for the whole series. It’s not exactly my first time trying this sort of thing, but I’m still inexperienced with it, so this might get messy. But, as is the intent with this blog, I’m just here to Ramble on about stuff anyway, so a mess is to be expected.

Before getting into the actual episode, I want to note that I’m only mostly going in blind. I’m primarily watching this after seeing stuff for it show up on my dashboard, so I know the names of the main characters (who haven’t yet been properly introduced) and a few general themes of the show. I also know that it was made by Studio Trigger, and I’ve been a fan of some of their anime (including Gurren Lagann, which I understand to be by many of the same people, even if it was under a different studio), so that will probably affect some of my thoughts on things.

Opening

Things start out with the opening, which sounds silly to say, but many shows don’t actually start with the OP, preferring to leave it until the end or the second episode—I assume it’s to not “spoil” introductions to the characters. Starting with the OP right out of the gates strikes me as preferring to set the tone, as well as showing off style and aesthetic.

As for the OP itself, I mostly noticed how the setting is very much “our world,” especially with the pseudo-branding. All of that is apparent through the episode as well; I particularly remember the pseudo-Red Bull stall that Michiru bought a drink from. I’m not too knowledgeable about music, so about all I can say is that I thought it was a bop—well, also that it kind of reminded me of “Bad Apple” for some reason.

Animal Rights

The episode proper starts with Michiru trying to get money from an ATM in a nondescript hallway. A lot of attention is paid [by the camera, not Michiru] to a poster next to the ATM celebrating “Animal Rights Day.” Next, some ruffians also come down the hallway, prompting Michiru to hide while they spray-paint something hateful over the poster.

Just this cold open hits pretty hard in light of the protests that have been going on this year. As far as I can understand just from this scene, Beastmen (the “Animals” in “Animal Rights” I assume) gained their own rights somewhat recently—certainly recently enough for open bigotry and racism to still be rampant. With the way the ruffians were armed and the message they left, we can assume that Michiru wasn’t overreacting and genuinely would have been danger if she was caught. And in light of this year’s protests—what started them and some of the reactionary response—I can’t help but feel like this sort of situation isn’t too far from present reality; it’s at least certainly very real in our history.

Speaking of protests, we also see some news about that sort of thing. Apparently people aren’t happy about Beastmen getting their own district? With this information juxtaposed with the previous scene, I’m led to believe that these people aren’t protesting segregation and desiring unity. I’m pretty sure these protesters don’t want Beastmen to have anywhere to live. Or, at the least, they don’t want resources to be spent on the beastmen, but that amounts to the same thing.

En Route

While Michiru “catches a bus,” she pulls out her phone to watch a video about the place she’s traveling to: Anima-City. It reminded me a little of the introduction to the city of Zootopia; though the context is very different. (Anima-City being the refuge of an underclass, whereas Zootopia is the pinnacle of city life.) Something strange about this video is that it seems to be from a pharmaceutical company, not a government body. Is the company the same thing as the government here? And pharmaceuticals specifically worries me a bit: makes me think of attempts to “cure” the beastmen.

Oh, somehow I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I can’t help but think of the beastmen from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and wonder if they could actually be the same. It’s been a while since I last watched TTGL, so I can’t quite recall how the politics around the Beastmen went and whether or not this BNA setting could fit in with it.

Anyway, before the video can finish, Michiru gets attacked by, what we learn to be, “beastman hunters” who specifically hang around routes to Anima-City. One of them even has the gall to say that they’d puke if they keep seeing more beastmen around there, but they’re the ones actively looking for beastmen to hunt! These people could just let the Beastmen be in their own city and not worry about them. Again, I still have our very real protests and history in mind: of lynchings and genocide.

Thankfully, Michiru is saved by some other beastmen. My first response to this fight though were concerns about the oppressed group were clearly being presented as powerful and threatening and how that may translate to reality (my head still being in that space and all), but then I caught myself thinking that and remembered to actually pay attention to context here. This is clearly righteous self-defense regardless of how rough they get with these hateful bigots. Beyond that, it’s simple catharsis to see the oppressed being able to fight back.

The leader of Michiru’s saviors is named Marie, and Michiru is apparently savvy enough to understand that Marie would be expecting payment. It’s an uncomfortable situation honestly. The way that Marie’s group were able to fight to protect her suddenly hangs over Michiru as a sort of threat. Though, I guess Marie had intended to ask for payment after ensuring Michiru’s safe passage to Anima-City, so it’s just the exchange happening here that makes it seem especially threatening. Still, this grift makes clear beastmen aren’t perfect people either.

Now that I’m thinking about it, this sets up for the mercenaries that show up in the final part of the episode, showing how money can still lead Beastmen to harm one another, to varying degrees.

I wonder how Marie will fit in later. I do recall her showing up in the OP, so I imagine she has a bigger part to play. Maybe she has some sort of connection to Shiro.

Festival

(Ugh, this is going longer than intended with me trying to recap stuff. This method probably isn’t sustainable for me. Just try to make your points!)

Michiru’s entrance to Anima-City was quite unexpected. It honestly doesn’t make much sense if you think about it too literally; instead, it’s totally about getting certain feelings across. I think we’re supposed to get the idea that despite Michiru being a beastman herself, as an outsider, she still finds the idea of a place entirely filled with beastmen intimidating (especially given what we learn about her at the end of the episode: her having been human). And it also impresses upon the audience that beastmen can be legitimately threatening and even terrifying; I imagine they’ll continue to play with that idea going forward.

There’s also that wolf on the rooftops that Michiru sees. I wonder if that’s actually Shiro? The colors seem about right, and Shiro is a wolf himself. And I think the OP hinted at them being able to transform into more feral, four-legged forms? I don’t think we see such a thing directly, but there were some shadows that I remember.

Anyway, Michiru’s fears are cast aside once it’s revealed that everyone was just gathering for a festival and that they weren’t actually gathering to attack her or something. Michiru is able to let loose and just be herself: no need for a cloak or scurrying into vents.

Political Intrigue

After the mayor of Anima-City—the same person we saw on the video earlier who is also probably connected to that pharmaceutical company—shows up on a big screen to talk about the festival being a celebration of the city’s 10th anniversary, we cut to her in a call with the actual mayor of the city. I have to remind myself that despite the name, Anima-City is just the “beastman district” of a larger city. Of particular interest from this conversation is the mayor saying they can have this district so long as they don’t prove to be “dangerous”. The thing is that it’s entirely up to the human government whether they are “dangerous” or not; I imagine they can spin anything to make the beastmen out as dangerous or even fabricate something if necessary.

I figure the mercenaries and their terrorist attack on the festival could be connected to those sorts of plans. I also took note of the way that the mercenaries used guns and Shiro didn’t. I wonder if that will be something to clue the audience in to who has connections with humans and/or anti-beastmen sentiment.

Ideology

Lastly, I want to take note of the differing ideologies between Michiru and Shiro. Shiro has a very black-and-white view on things: beastmen good, humans bad. Shiro is also likely willing to kill people to fight for his ideals and to protect what he cares about. Michiru has a more nuanced view of there being good humans and bad humans, good beastmen and bad beastmen. But she also comes off as having a naive ideal of nonviolence in defending these people whose attack could have (and maybe actually did) hurt a lot of people at the festival. To be fair to Michiru though, it’s not really right for Shiro to be judge, jury, and executioner here. He’s already incapacitated them, and I imagine there are more proper ways to handle these terrorists than offing them in an alley.

Still, my current impression is that neither of their perspectives are meant to be “correct” right from the start. I imagine they’ll have to learn from one another. Regardless, I hope things end up being more about institutional powers being bad rather than leaving things at just individual people being bad. Like, even if there ends up being a main villain to defeat, I hope that villain serves to represent the power of their position rather than the villain being a uniquely evil person.

Closing

Okay, I think that’s all I have to write about the first episode. Honestly, I’ll probably need to work on Rambling less, because I don’t know if I can keep up with writing so much every episode. I had been thinking of doing these daily (with some breaks in the week maybe), but maybe I’ll do an episode every other day if this is the sort of thing I’ll end up with.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Spider-Man: Far From Home Thoughts Part 3 a.k.a. Iron Man Junior: Far From Spider-Man

This will be the final part of this essay series and here I’m going to go through how this film holds up as an adaptation of the source material.

Shockingly the answer will be that it’s fucking awful.

I’ve already made what must be over a dozen posts about how terrible Far From Home is as an adaptation and representation of Spider-Man but screw it let’s go over it more!

Before I start to rant let me qualify something.

When you are adapting a character as famous, iconic and beloved as Spider-Man you don’t have to be a 1:1 translation of the source material. But you 100% do have to respect the spirit of the source material as much as practicality will allow. You have to respect the essential ideas, original intention and core themes and concepts underpinning the character and his world.

That is the root of my objections in this post and so many others.

Homecoming and Far From Home misunderstand Spider-Man on a fundamental level. Or worse they do understand him and actively chose to ignore what he’s about, what he represents.

He’s all about great power and great responsibility within the context of being a relatively relatable Average Joe.

This isn’t making him an everyman the way Bilbo Baggins or Luke Skywalker are. For Spider-Man he has to much more accurately reflect the average person and the world the average person lives in. He has to live in a real city, he has to worry about bills, laundry, studies, getting a job, holding a job, maintaining friendships and romantic relationships. He just has to be Spider-Man ON TOP of that and that must clash with his normal life. Being Spider-Man is one more additional responsibility he must juggle.

Before I rip this film to shreds for so aggressively NOT doing that let me get a few scant positives out of the way.

First of all the action scenes were not just generally improved from Homecoming, but honestly felt more like Spider-Man. I could easily see the way Peter and Mysterio attacked, defended, countered, etc, being something from the comics. Particular praise must go to the Berlin action sequence.

For many years Spider-Man fans have understandably claimed that Mysterio would be the perfect villain for the big screen due to his skill set being about generating great visuals. And we were right because we get not just a classic Mysterio action sequence in Berlin but outright one of the all time best ones from any version of Spider-Man. The film even drops us some appreciated fan service, firstly by putting Peter in his red and blue costume so it feels like the comic come to life and secondly via the giant Mysterio hand ripped straight out of ASM #66-67. The snow globe sequence in particular, if it wasn’t from a comic (and off the top of my head I can’t recall it being so) was simply inspired.

Equally Mysterio’s look was a different yet ultimately brilliant realization of the comic book. To an extent Mysterio is also a spiritually faithful rendition of the comic book character. In the comics he was a special effects master, stuntman and failed actor who craved fame and was frustrated by the lack of recognition he got.

In the movie he created highly realistic holographic technology, was frustrated by it’s small scale use, the lack of recognition he got for it and with a whole crew of helpers fabricated his Mysterio identity in the hopes of becoming the most famous superhero in the world, although he was himself rarely in the costume.

Traditionally Mysterio is a practical effects guy and this makes the most sense given how he physically fights Spider-Man, but the updating of that to holographic technology is fine and dandy because CGI has, for better or worse, supplanted practical effects. Even in the 1994 cartoon when that wasn’t the case the showmakers gave Mysterio holographic tech.

Him not being a stuntman is more of a mixed bag. On the one hand being a stuntman is what enables him to sort of fight Spider-Man himself, but on the other hand outside of his debut Mysterio’s usually been more effective when not physically fighting people but rather tricking them and manipulating them. So if you are focussing more on that aspect of the character dropping the stuntman angle is fine.

In fact one of the two things (and we will talk more about the other later) which does spiritually undermine this version of Mysterio is his lack of explicit connection to Hollywood. However he is still an actor just not a professional actor in the film or TV industry. And a great actor at that as he is so capable of fooling everyone.

We might also argue that having a crew of helpers undermined Mysterio’s independence and intelligence, but I think it works for the movie fro 2 reasons. First of all in a movie for general audiences suspension of disbelief doesn’t stretch as far so savant characters are less acceptable. Mysterio is 100% a savant. He’s a skilled actor, stuntman, manipulator and technician who knows holographic technology, robotics and all manner of things like that. In the movies you could maybe buy someone having a grasp of the purely technical side of things, but even Tony Stark wasn’t an expert on biology or chemistry, maybe he knew enough to get by but remember he needed to read up on stuff in Avengers 2012.

By giving Mysterio a group supporting him it makes it more believable that this villain is capable of all these things. More poignantly, and you can see this especially when they were ‘rehearsing’ for the London attack, it renders Beck something of a director, thus subtextually giving him yet more connection to the world of film. Again it’s just a shame this was not more explicit and instead his abilities and motives stem from...well we will get there.

On a final note Mysterio can in truth be one of the creepier Spider-Man villains and you don’t really get that vibe outside of the Berlin fight scene (and even then only a little bit). I think that’s fine as he was still manipulative which is one of Mysterio’s better skills in the comics.

So there is a lot this version of Mysterio has going for him, he’s faithful in the idea but not in certain details. Unfortunately those details sink this take.

Other positives include the set up of Chameleon as the stoic and silent agent Dmitri within SHIELD. This will not only pay off in MCU Spider-Man 3 but will is also a great example of irony and foreshadowing. Chameleon was introduced as a saboteur and enemy agent so him being a mole within SHIELD lends itself well to his character and the fact that he is an imposter amidst imposters (the Skrulls) is deliciously ironic.

Also this movie gave us the best version of Ned and Betty’s relationship ever because no one died or got cheated on. Finally I liked Aunt May running a homeless shelter. It gives her something to do and is a very fitting role for her.

I want to go back to Mysterio for a moment though as this isn’t really a positive or a negative of his character.

He’s a very tricky character to adapt. In his debut he is pretends to be a powerful new superhero who wants to bring down Spider-Man whom he’s obviously framed.

In a movie I can understand how framing Spider-Man might not sustain a 2+ hour movie.* However the bigger question to ask is whether or not you bother with having Mysterio framed as a hero or not.

In the 90s it was easier as Spider-Man and his mythos wasn’t so prevalent so people simply know a lot of stuff via osmosis, and in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon the showmakers simply present him as a criminal off the bat.

If you do go with him pretending to be a hero it’s tricky to pull off without feeling like you are going through the motions.

All of which is me saying the movie is faithful to the comics in presenting Mysterio as initially pretending t be a hero but I don’t know how good of an idea that is. I don’t know anyone who walked into the movie not knowing he was the bad guy.

That’s about it for positives.

So...FUCK THIS MOVIE!

Once again in this Spider-Man  movie everything revolves around Iron Man.

I’ve written in posts past how this undermines Spider-Man’s agency simply as a character in a movie but as far as adaptations go this is beyond insulting.

Spider-Man was in part created to be an independent superhero. In part created to literally NOT have the kind of relationship he has with Iron Man in this movie.

I cannot describe how much of a fundamental misunderstanding of Spider-Man’s character it is to have Iron Man be utterly integral to who everything about him.

He’s so goddam integral that Peter’s alleged character arc in this movie is about becoming him (in the most obnoxious of ways too, see Part 2) and he is the wellspring from which 99% of this movie springs from even though he’s fucking dead. I mean my god the plot device everyone is after is Tony Stark’s glasses!

Spider-Man doesn’t get to be his own man even when Iron Man is literally not alive!

Shit even Mysterio is motivated and built to be a dark reflection of Iron Man. And this kills his character not just because it denies him independence because it makes his ambitions entirely too big scale to work as a Spider-Man villain. His motivation is to gain access to Tony’s magic glasses. At least Vulture with a tweak could have worked as a regular Spider-Man villain. He had the working class down to Earth and relatable ambitions and lifestyle down. Mysterio is doing everything to both spite Tony and become him.

Jesus, even Iron Man’s dead weight and most irrelevant supporting character Happy Hogan is not just in this movie but plot relevant...for the second movie in a row! He’s even dating Spider-Man’ aunt. At this point given how she’s never even mentioned him is Uncle Ben even dead in this universe or did he just run off with a somehow even sexier 50 year old?

Oh...and let’s talk about Uncle Ben, whom I was naive enough to think was going to be referenced when that gravestone appeared but noooooope, fucking Iron Man again.

From Endgame onwards disgusting posts and articles were written about how Iron Man’s death now truly makes him MCU’s Uncle Ben. Because you see he was Peter’s father figure and he died...so that’s the same thing.  Nevermind that he didn’t die because Peter was inactive and selfish, or the fact that his death didn’t widow his aunt, or anything like that. Shit Peter doesn’t even seem that upset about it beyond 1 or 2 scenes. And yet that’s one or two scenes more than we’ve ever seen Uncle Ben get referenced. Think about that we’ve seen Iron Man mourned more than Uncle Ben in a SPIDER-MAN movie!

We see that more than we see Aunt May even. Aunt May is just there in the MCU movies which is not just a waste of Tomei as a talented actress but it is again insulting as an adaptation. Even in Spider-Man 3 and ASM2 she had more to do and delivered a good scene or two. In these movies she’s eye candy and nothing more. She is more relevant as a punch line about how men are attracted to her than as her own character.

And now that we are on the subject of supporting characters, I talk about this more in other posts, but Michelle is so bad. The romance comes out of nowhere there is no justification given for their respective feelings for one another and to say she’s not Mary Jane would be redundant.

She fails to be anything like Mary Jane on any level beyond her nickname. This is not okay for several reasons. Among them is the fact that the Spider-man movies have had a problematic habit of treating the love interests as interchangeable characters as opposed to being their own distinct characters. Worse we’re screwing up Mary Jane not only a second time on film but worse than before. This is the Lois Lane of the Spider-Man mythos, she’s an iconic beloved character integral to the over all story of Spider-Man. And we’re treating her as so insignificant as to able to present an OC with her initials and claim that’s good enough.

As for the other supporting characters they continue to be broken. Like how the fuck did Betty Brant wind up the relatively most faithful character? Ned is just a repurposed Ganke except now they’re writing him as a lame Disney Channel sidekick character so he’s not even got the depth of comic book Ganke and Flash...oh Flash. He’s not just irrelevant to the movie, he’s not even really a bully in this film. He’s just a preppy docuchebag no one takes seriously and in fact gets treated as the butt monkey on more than one occasion. The only redeemable moments for his character were when he sang Spider-Man’s praises and was stoked that Spidey follows his social media channel.

All the characters feel like shallow attempts to make Spider-Man ‘about youth’ which as I’ve said countless times in the past, he provably isn’t about and never was. But this film not only continues to lean on that misinterpretation but lean harder on it. Like the premise of this movie is literally about Spider-Man trying to enjoy his summer vacation and school field trip.

But the film fucks up Spider-Man’s defining values in so many other ways.

Of course there is the blip.

People were so hype for Spider-Man to be in the MCU but hindsight is painful because that fact just hurt Spider-Man movies on a fundamental level.

In Marvel comics, we never know for sure if any of Spider-Man’s friends or family died in the Infinity Gauntlet and no one remembered it happening anyway. It also didn’t happen in a Spider-Man story so it could be safely ignored as is the nature of a shared universe.

But in the movies Far From Home acting as MCU Chapter 23 creates an ongoing problem for these Spider-Man movies. The fact that Spider-Man and everyone he knows died and came back but also there were some people who are five years older than him now creates a fundamental dissonance undermining the more grounded, relatable angle of his character. The only solution of which is to simply wilfully ignore the elephant in the room that represents that dissonance. In short these Spider-Man movies would’ve been better off not being connected to the MCU or at least being on it’s fringes.

This applies to even the post credits scene of the movie as now in our movies that are supposed to be about the grounded and relatable hero we have fucking aliens! And they were there the whole time. The movie even gleefully plants its flag in rejection of the idea of having a more grounded Spider-Man by saying Spider-Man ISN’T a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man by virtue of having gone to space. I was okay with that in Infinity War as that was not a Spider-Man movie but by actively rejecting that idea in this movie it showcases how the film makers treat Spider-Man as a more generic hero who can be anything and everything...and therefore nothing. There are no definitions to the type of things he will get involved with.

You might counter outside of the opening school scenes and post-credit sequence the alien involvement isn’t that much of a problem because all the interdimensional and alien stuff wasn’t real in the movie.

But that leads us to the next problem. Spider-Man as a globetrotting super spy agent. Again...this is not Spider-Man. Spider-Man is more domestic, more down to Earth and sans space travel there is nothing less grounded and down to Earth that globetrotting and secret agents. There is a reason James Bond is indulgent escapism!

Worse the spy stuff essentially hijacks the movie, it’s not even something that flows out from Peter’s character or world, it comes out of nowhere to appropriate his story.

Speaking of which...SHIELD have to hijack Spider-Man because...Spider-Man doesn’t want to get involved...

...what?...

I will repeat that.

Spider-Man, the character defined by a low level burglar he chose not to stop who then killed his uncle thus teaching him that having super powers gives him a responsibility to use it to help others...chooses to not help out against giant elemental monsters threatening all life on Earth...because he wants to enjoy his vacation...

...words simply cannot do justice to how beyond broken that is as an interpretation of Spider-Man.

This isn’t even a case of he quits because being a hero has taken such a toll on him and he’s had a wobble.

This is him still deciding to be Spider-Man but actively tries to avoid it because he wants to have fun for an extended period of time. MAYBE that’s okay. MAYBE him deciding to not take his suit along on vacation could be justified and in character.

But when presented the means to be Spider-Man and a major crisis that requires his help (it isn’t like there is a small group of equally or more powerful heroes to cover for him) for him to simply reject it, to have to be forced into helping and when he reluctantly does only doing the bare minimum until he realizes people he cares about are in danger...no.

Just no, whoever was responsible for that characterization you should not be allowed to write for Spider-Man.

It’s not even consistent with Homecoming’s already misinterpreted version of Peter Parker. In Homecoming Peter was screwed up because his intervention made everything worse near 100% of the time but even that’s better than presenting Peter as choosing to not intervene at all for purely selfish and unsympathetic reasons. And to rub it in our faces when he does choose to intervene he does it with more high tech Stark crap. No him making the suit himself doesn’t make it okay, Spider-Man shouldn’t be using technology from other people like that nor consistently having access to such high-tech. It goes against the idea of him being independent and of being grounded.

The Stark tech crap is also relevant to what is a major contender for the single worst scene of any Spider-Man film to date. The drone strike on a bus.

In this movie about the superhero who’s supposed to be relatable and like us, Joe Average, we have a scene where he uses a pair of high tech bequeathed to him by his dead superhero father figure accidentally to launch an orbital drone strike on a fellow school student on his bus because he’s about to ruin his chances with hooking up with a girl. Then he has to engage in wacky hijinks to save the kid and everyone else.

Do I need to say more about that scene? To call it jumping a shark would be an insult to other shark jumping moments. It shatters the verisimilitude of the movie maybe even more than the blip.

Let’s switch back to Peter’s personality in this movie. I’ve already talked a lot about it in prior posts but I do have two more things to point out.

The first of these is that we have less quips than in prior Spider-Man movies. And I don’t just mean the most recent ones I mean of any of the movies going back to 2002. And by less I mean 0. Spider-Man NEVER quips or jokes in this movie. Ever. It’s like they’ve grown to understand Spider-Man even less than in the last movie!

The second and more significant is how stupid Peter is when it comes to his secret identity. In the comics Spider-Man is famously secretive about his identity, to the point where it’s almost paranoid.

Here though he isn’t concerned about SHIELD or random SHEILD agents knowing who he is, or Mysterio, or everyone in a bar or anyone looking at the bridge in London where he unmaskes makes out (awkwardly) with Michelle.

The movie pretends like it cares about this aspect of his character by having Peter point out if he goes out as Spider-Man abroad people will deduce it’s him.

Not only is this an attempt by him to weasel out of hero duties but it’s moot because Betty immediately figures it out (leading to the cringe Night Monkey gag which doesn’t even make sense since monkeys don’t crawl on walls or shoot webs!), Michelle figures it out and Peter was cavalier with his identity before and after that scene.

All culminating in just everyone knowing his identity which like in the comics fundamentally fucks up the idea of him as the everyman even more. Forget space aliens and spy shit now he’s a celebrity. Celebrities are the exact opposite of the everyman, that’s why they’re friggin celebrities!

Big take away from this movie as an adaptation?

It was fucking insulting for it to have been dedicated to Lee and Ditko.

Fuck this movie. Fuck this direction for Spider-Man. Fuck Marvel for ruining Spider-Man again.

*That being said I did once hear a brilliant pitch for Spider-Man 4 wherein Mysterio frames Spider-Man and the police call in aid from Kraven the Hunter to catch him. 

[watchoutforthefanfics]

High School Musical AU // Part Two

Part one

◇ ◇ ◇

Logan was currently staring at the ceiling of his bedroom, thoughts flocking in his head. 

His room was definitely comforting, the familiar walls and distant memories was much better than the annual visit of the Ski Resort. (Perhaps, not this time. Purely because the weather was favorable.) Yet, Logan couldn’t close his eyes. His mind was bubbling with his schedule, or his outfit, or his phone, or some irrational worries (that may or may not have sprouted from Patton’s absence in their usual text conversations).

He groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes. 

Logan hated the “feelings”, that arose in his chest at the mention of his duet partner. He wasn’t intelligent in that department, he didn’t know everything there was to know about feelings. And even when he tried to learn, his mind couldn’t truly understand them. They were his “weakness”, in Roman’s words anyway. 

Logan didn’t believe they were a weakness, necessarily, just a part of life he had to put more effort into. It wasn’t impossible for him to grasp the idea of emotion (like Batman and fully accepting his parents’ death), and these feelings didn’t cause him physical pain/damage (like Superman with kryptonite).

While Logan believed it was a technical ‘weakness’ (based on the definition), he knew that Roman was comparing him to that of a superhero. And those qualifications were not met with Logan’s current dilemma.

So, Roman was wrong. (As always.)

But, that didn’t necessarily benefit Logan (other than embarrassing his best friend). And it ultimately meant he was metaphorically, “back to the drawing board”.

His clock ticked in his ear, as his mind buzzed with the true purpose as to why he had delved so deep into these wistical thoughts. 

Well, wistical wasn’t the right word. More like… ignorant. Logan corrected, almost as an instinct. 

Glancing at the clock, he briefly processed the time before grabbing his phone and deciding he wasn’t the proper one to sort out these affairs. (Logically, he was definitely not qualified for trying to sort out some sort of explanation for how he felt.)

It was a brief short message, that he was overall hesitant to send, as he knew the receiver would blow it out of proportions. But, he knew that he was loyal and would keep the teasing private if Logan had wanted it to be. (Which he did.)

So, considering the circumstances…

Roman, I need to talk to you.

It took his best friend 5 minutes to read that message, and then another 2 to start typing. Which wasn’t necessarily improbable, as Roman always had his phone in hand, and Logan could believe it. 

What he couldn’t believe, however, was just how long it took Roman to type his message. Not that he hadn’t seen it before, as Roman was often the type to write long, and rather detailed, thoughts (or the complete opposite: a simple word or two). But in his frazzled and tired state, this only seemed to grow annoyance the more he thought about it. Logan felt unfamiliar and his friend was typing for way longer than Logan presumed the average to be.

Until, it flashed on the screen that Roman was calling him. Great.

“Logan?”

“Hello, Roman.”

“I have one simple thing to say before we continue with this dull conversation. And I’d like for you to listen, very carefully.”

“Okay…?”

“If you texted me to rant about some sort of chemical compound or math equation that you love… You will have to find a new friend, okay?”

“Roman. Do you truly believe that I am that ignorant? If so, I must have truly failed on representing mysel-”

“Logan.”

“Yes?”

“It is time for a prince’s beauty sleep and I am sacrificing that privilege for you. Get to the point, please!”

“I, uh… Well…”

“Is… Is everything okay, Logan?”

“If you mean physically, I sustain no injuries. However, it seems my mind has gone into a bit of a crisis.”

“Crisis?”

“Yes, it seems that I cannot sleep because of this before said crisis.”

“What exactly do you mean by crisis? What’s happening?”

“I… Well, you know how after every Christmas, my family goes to a Ski Lodge as a tradition? An event occurred on that trip that was seemingly unplanned and has greatly affected my life.”

“This ‘event’ is keeping you up right now?”

“Generally yes, but specifically, a person from this event has integrated themselves into my thoughts when I should be sleeping.”

“A person, huh?”

“That is correct.”

“So, I know you’re purposely being vague, but, Nerdville I kind of need the whole story to understand this dilemma with the said ‘event’ and ‘person’.”

“I do not believe that information is necessary.”

“Well, it seems -dear nerd- that you do not call the shots on this one. Which is ultimately why you came to me. Now describe, go.”

“Well, I was forced into a… function, and within-”

“A party, Logan. Just say party.”

“Ehm. Party. And within this -ahem- party, there was one main attraction that I desired to know of. So, I took a closer look. But, in my fit of observation-”

“Speed it up, Specs.”

“…”

“It was karaoke.”

“Wait, wait, wait. You did karaoke?”

“Well… Yes. Yet, it was unwillingly.”

“Okay, so someone forced you into karaoke on a st-”

“With a spotlight on those chosen.”

“Okay, so?”

“I was chosen for a duet.”

“Yeah, what’s the- Oh. Wait… You had to have a duet partner. ”

“Correct, it is tradition to sing a duet with a duet partne-”

“Don’t even.”

“…”

“Was the duet horrible or something?”

“…No.”

“Well? Frankenstein, I don’t understand why you are texting me at 2 in the morNING- Ahem, what about the karaoke was so traumatizing that has disabled you from exploring the dream realm?”

“Nothing was traumatizing per say, it was quite… dopamine inducing.”

“You know, you could just say delightful. Or wonderful. Or wondrous. Or joyf-”

“I… I loved it, Roman. Singing. It was… nice.”

“Oh.”

“And Patton is wonderful. So very wonderful.”

“Oh.”

“The problem, Roman, is not the singing itself nor is it my duet partner. It’s the unexplainable… feelings.”

“Oh my goodness.”

“I-”

“Oh my goodness!”

“Yo-”

“Logan, do you know what this means?”

“No, of course not. Why would I be aski-”

“Logan. I’ve been waiting for you to understand for 16 years! It’s a miracle!” 

“…I’m not sure that I understand.”

“Really? Well, my dear nerdy friend… It seems like you have a bit of a crush.”

“That is a… false claim.”

“You are exhausting you know that, Teach?”

“No, actually I did n-”

“Listen, Meek Geek, the more you deny the worst it will get. The less sleep, the more flush, and the more you feel these things.”

“…Is that proven?”

“‘Course it is! Teenagers all over the world have this problem, everyone I know would tell you the same thing.”

“Do you have evidence?”

“I have a handful of numbers you could call and ask- BUT, that’s not the point Logan! Feelings don’t necessarily have to have a reason, and sometimes things are just unexplainable.”

“…Everything has an explanation, Roman. Surely feelings can be easily expla-”

“Logan, buddy. Relax. You always get so worked up when something new blossoms in your knowledge.”

“…I do n-”

“Logan. Don’t even start with me, I’ve known you since Elementary School. No need to be ashamed.”

“I… Thank you.”

“Alright, now that I know this a problem. I’ll talk about it more tomorrow, okay? Oh, this is the perfect time to tell you that I can be your ride.”

“Roman, you always drive me to school.”

“Well, yes… But I may have forgotten this fact.”

“Of course, you did.”

“Okay, I’m just going to not take that personally.”

“I, somehow, do not believe that statement is true.”

“Shut it, glasses.”

“…”

“I didn’t mean literally ugh- Logan. Listen, I want you to know, I am helping you on this problem more in the morning, alright? I don’t leave a fellow friend behind. But, for now, for you to sleep… Just acknowledge that those feelings are there… Like, objectively. That should help until you sleep all your proper sleep. Just as I will when you hang up!”

“Well, the logical action, if you wanted to sleep would be to han-”

His ears filled with the dull tone, before he had even finished uttering the words. Logan, if it had been anyone else, would’ve been excessively insulted but this was Roman. 

Roman Davenport, specifically.

His best friend with that oddly complimented his straightforward, rather harsh, personality. So, after years of friendship, Logan could assume this was a regular occurrence. 

His phone flashed for a moment, eyes trailing off to the slim screen without thought. 

I will talk to you in the morning, Logan. See you then!

Logan scoffed, knowing that this was halfway expected of Roman at this point. (Although, he seemed very… popular at school, Roman tended to cycle through friends a lot. Except for Logan. So, he took some extra precautions.)

His mind was still buzzing, a rather soft hum of words echoing in his thoughts. Academics, school the next day, Roman, and Patton. Patton, Patton, Patton. I may never see Patton in person again. I may never feel those things again. Not with-

Logan’s thoughts were halted by the soft ding of his phone, the screen lighting his darkened room for a second or two. To say Logan had grabbed his phone quickly was a severe understatement, because it was within his hands in milliseconds (if he calculated correctly.)

Logan’s heart raced in his chest, as the familiar face stayed framed on his screen. His eyes flashing to the message without a second thought. 

Patton: Hey! I know it’s late. I just wanted to tell you that I was a bit busy and not to worry!!!

Logan had a message typed out, before he could truly debate the idea and sent it with the reflex of his finger.

Logan: I don’t believe this is your normal sleep schedule, is something troubling you?

Well…

I’m kind of going to a new school, and I’m just nervous about making friends and the new area. 

I’m just scared is all.

Well, if it is any consolation you are very charismatic, and a “people person.” 

Thanks, Lo! That means a lot to me right now.

If your classmates don’t enjoy your presence, that is their ignorance, Patton.

That’s really sweet, Logan.

It is the truth.

Gosh.

I wish I went to the same school as you.

That would be satisfactory.

It would, it really, really would.

I’d like to think we could go places together a lot, like cafes and libraries and gosh, I’m just getting ahead of myself.

I would like that.

Maybe one day we could meet up then. If you like the idea.

That would also be favorable.

You’re so kind Lo-Lo, I really wanna see you again.

Logan felt his heart flutter in his chest, and almost had to bite back the confusing mix of reactions to these feelings. (He’d have to research it later.) 

Patton, I have a question. As you know, I do a lot of research and I just wanted to ask you about your personal reasoning.

Okay? Did I say something to upset you? If I did, I’m so so so so sorry!

No, no Patton. You could never upset me, besides the idea you’ve prepared is quite pleasant. I am just curious about your choices.

Alrighty, that’s good! So what is your question, Detective? :P

It is fairly simple, despite my mind accumulating diverse questions before.

That’s okay! I’m probably better off with simple, lol. 

Why me?

That text was the last, before his phone’s screen shut off, letting the only light in the room fade to the harsh darkness. 

Logan’s lips parted, a jolt of fear rushing underneath his skin. Muttering to himself slightly, his hands fell to defeat beside his head and Logan was sent into an unforgettable wave of emotions that he couldn’t quite grasp.

I can text Patton in the morning, Logan reassured himself, he isn’t that quick to judge. I hope. 

With a swift movement, his phone was on the charger and Logan had one step in silencing his mind.

Logan closed his eyes, gently (as he found facial relaxation further pursues the whole body to follow its path), and carefully emptied his mind of his tedious thoughts. 

Except for a single, familiar melody that lulled him to sleep.

“The start of something new.”

∆ ∆ ∆

Logan woke up to his echoing alarm, as his parents must have already been sent on their way. (His mother was looking into nursing, and his Dad (the school principal) actually had meeting that morning.) 

So, Logan was up 2 hours earlier than actually required, not for himself though. His best friend, Roman, tended to take way longer than Logan would present him with (something about how “a prince has got to slay”). Due to many tests, Logan concluded that him getting up 2 hours earlier and going from there is the most successful route. 

He quickly grabbed the outfit, previously displayed after his dinner yesterday, and slipped it on. The whole process sounded speedy, but Logan learned to only accept perfection (in regards to himself). 

In turn, Logan was a hypocrite.

As his dressing schedule, usually consisted of buttoning every button correctly (sometimes even ironing his shirt) and perfecting every strand of hair.

Which took Logan about 45 minutes and 34 seconds on a good day, but days that were expected to be stressful, Logan took more time to compensate. 

Sadly, he never accounted for Roman having a bad day. 

***

It started simple, as Logan was lacing up his shoes and briskly making his way to the toaster for his breakfast. (He found it’s simplicity to be absolutely delicious.) 

Pulling out the Crofters jar and the proper utensils, Logan hovered over to the kitchen and carefully made his breakfast without a single fault. 

Well, until he checked his phone.

He had the plate ready, the jam prepared, and the bread in the toaster… when his phone buzzed in his front button-up pocket. And at the proportion of silly puzzle games to not, Logan figured it was a meaningless notification. 

Which it was, but he hadn’t checked his phone all morning. 

Logan’s mind latched onto the text messages that shined steadily on his screen, the stamp reading that of 1:30 am. 

Patton: Lo, you mean the world to me!!!💙 I thought you knew that. 

Patton: I didn’t mean to scare you off. I sure hope I didn’t, but I’m sorry if I did. :(

Patton: Goodnight, I guess.

Logan’s heart constricted in his chest, a heavy feeling weighing into his chest. This, he noted, this was new. He surprisingly didn’t feel the urge to record these new feelings, but still planned too… eventually.

He carefully typed out a few words, (possibly muttering them through his head a few times, for educational purposes only, of course). Thoughts blossoming in his head carefully, as surprisingly anxious thoughts filled his brain. 

Patton, I wanted to apologize for my absence of responses. My phone had insufficient battery and lost power. I was not avoiding you or anything of the sort, and wanted to clarify that.  

Logan gnawed on his lip, his fingers hovering over his screen gently and nerves making his mind question his own wor-

Ding! 

Logan shook his thoughts, slipping into the regular routine of breakfast. Fluidly moving from the toaster to the plate, to swiping the jam and just a smidge of butter. (It was oddly relieving to distract his mind from the previous task.)

Until the thing you were distracting yourself from lights up your phone screen again.

Patton: Oh, thank goodness! I felt so bad. So, you’re okay now right? 

Yes, Patton. I am perfectly fine, I’m actually making myself my preferred breakfast at the moment.

And what is your “preferred” breakfast?

Well, it is rather simple. Toast, heated for 65 seconds exactly, topped with a smooth ¼ a tablespoon of margarine and ¾ a tablespoon of Crofters jam.

With some “OJ” to compliment the meal.

That sounds good! I’m glad you’re eating breakfast, Lo. You know what they say, it’s the best meal of the day! ☀️🌥🌈

Is everything alright with you? I know you were troubled last night/this morning, and wanted to assure you’d be alright.

I’m a bit nervous, but that’s pretty natural for a new student. But, I’m surprisingly okay compared to last night!

That is satisfactory.

I actually have to go now, Lo. But I’d love to plan a meeting soon! If you’d like…

I would enjoy that, Patt. I’d be up for anything, as long as it is deemed appropriate.

Of course! I’ll make plans 🌈 💙

Can’t wait to talk later !!! :p

Logan smiled lightly, eyes skimming over the profile picture and flashing back to the ski lodge, with the songs, beautiful curls, and-

“NERDY WOLVERINE-” Roman’s voice thundered through his hallways, “-I NEED MY COFFEE, AND I SWEAR TO GOD IF I DON’T GET IT.”

Logan took one last glance at the messages, before sprinting up and dashing to the door, “I’m coming, Roman.”

This was going to be a long day.

[okimarcelo]

The Truth About Microwaves

To the modern everyday person the microwave seems like just a kitchen appliance, but to the keen observer the humble microwave is revealed to be a truly nefarious weapon created by big TV Dinner, and electronic companies in order to brainwash our cells and minds to buy their product. Ask yourself this question, do you own a microwave? The chances of you saying yes are about are very likely as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics found that over 90% of American households now own a microwave. This number is staggering, this means that almost 295 million people in the US alone have access to a microwave, which would prove very useful for a group of people to gain control. Now ask yourself this next question, do you know how a microwave works? Of course not, nobody does except for big companies such as GE, LG and other manufacturing titans. Who invented the microwave and why? Why do we buy microwaves in the first place? What are the effects of the microwave? Why aren't you allowed to use a microwave with the door open? Why does metal spark inside of it? Why doesn't a microwave have a silent option? These and more will be answered as the truth behind the microwave is explored.

The year is 1945 Percy Spencer has just filed for a patent for the microwave. The big question is how did this invention come to fruition. Well it turns out it was originally meant to be used as combat radar technology for the military. These projects were the second most prioritized only behind the Manhattan Project and for good reason too. This project was meant to use magnetrons which are used to create microwaves which are also found in the microwave oven. This military project was meant to create and give US forces the edge during WWII by giving them access to different types of radars, and the ability to project radiation in short high power pulses. So what does this tell us? Yup that's right the microwave was initially created to be a weapon. So why is it used to heat up food? Well that's because Mr.Spencer who was involved in the magnetrons found out “accidentally” that it can be used to heat food. Well doesn't this directly translate to be able to heat people and harm cells? If a microwave can heat a piece of chicken enough to be fully cooked what are the odds that it can not harm and destroy human cells. So why would we ever trust to have “appliances” in our houses that were meant to be used in war?

So why do we buy microwaves to begin with? Well many can say that it is because of the convenience factor that microwaves provide, but this is completely wrong. The real reason why many Americans have microwaves is because it has been ingrained into our consciousness from television commercials and other microwaves. Think about it, what was the first time you remember seeing a microwave? Exactly you can't, it seems like your whole life there has been a microwave somewhere in the background. Even houses now are included with built in microwaves. Why is this? Some may speculate many of these big microwave companies are tied with real estate tycoons and they get a cut from installing microwaves as to “sell” the consumer on the house. Local New Mexico Tech grad and gamer Haydn Jones explains that his apartment came with a microwave installed in the kitchen wall and has definitely been a factor in convincing him to use it and buy TV dinners. Mr.Jones also explains that he believes that the moment of first use he felt a strange sensation when using the microwave. He explained that he felt as if there were already “sleeper cells” in his body and that the new more powerful microwave might have activated him to make him crave microwavable food.

Mr.Jones experience with microwaves is not the only one where a person has questioned the legitimacy of microwaves as a whole. Many , even those who are not aware of the roots of microwaves, have always had the question as to why the microwave has a somewhat film screen and why it cannot be used with the door open. Some have said the reason is to be able to see the food and it cannot be used with the door as the door is to contain the radiation. Which proves that microwaves create harmful radiation!!! It was literally created to be used as a weapon!!! So why would there even be a somewhat visible slot open? This of course is for some of the radiation to escape but not enough to be noticeable and to cause harm on the epidermis. These slits and windows are created in order for the waves to escape and enter our brains. This is why time can be seen to take longer when staring at a microwave timer. The waves enter the body and make its way into the prefrontal cortex which is why sometimes time may seem to be slowed and some forget that they even put items in the microwave to begin with. Again ask yourself and analyze your experience with microwaves. Chances are when you heat your food you begin to crave the food itself which again indicates that the microwaves have invaded your brain and have already begun to assimilate with the thoughts of consumption and consumerism making you want to eat and buy more food. 

The next time you use a microwave, put a metal fork. No you say, why is that? Many will answer that it will spark and potentially harm the microwave itself and potentially explode. Why is that? Many “intellectuals” have said it is due to the charge created by the “induction of current” and the high “voltage” built around the metal object as it is a good conductor for electricity but this is just fancy talk for it rejecting the brainwashing waves because metal does not have the ability to absorb these harmful waves. Metal especially aluminium is known for its brainwashing repelling abilities so it is no doubt the microwave and big electronic and tv dinner companies would advise you not to put metal in their product as to avoid disabling the intended effect. Grapes have also been seen to have an interesting interaction with microwaves. Many know that if you put a grape in a microwave it will spark and possibly produce plasma. “Scientists” have credited this phenomena to be because of the grape's spherical shape and water content to create hot spots of energy enough to create plasma. This however is untrue, while this explanation might make sense it is really because grapes are the most pure food and reject the man made harmful waves. Think about it, grapes can be turned into wine, and raisins. It has a huge variety of uses, so why isn't microwaving it a part of them. It's because the humble grape senses the impurity in the microwaves and like metal repels them. It is also no coincidence that many electronic companies don't have any grape related imagery in their products. It is because grapes are their enemy as grapes represent nature and self sustaining lifestyles that these companies do not want you to develop. It is also well known that recordings of the inside of a microwave while it is in use will not work as microwave manufactures have a builtin mechanism that disables all form of recording which renders the camera useless and footage unobtainable.

Have you ever wondered why microwaves don't have silent options for those dreaded beepers? It's really not that difficult to do, just an option that allows for this to happen. Instead many are forced to open the microwave before the last second. But first what is this beep anyway? Many believe it to indicate when the food has been “heated” but this is not the case at all. This beep is truly used to activate the sleeper cells inserted from past microwaves which remind you to buy more tv dinners and use your microwave more. This again goes back to the alternative of opening the door at the last second. This while seemingly a smart idea is actually worse than listening to the activator of the sleeper cells, as this only releases the radiation at an unprecedented amount, many. The microwave oven has a plan for every idea around its brainwashing features and it is clearly seen as many have asked for a silent beeper but no company has answered the call as they do not want to lose this power.

To conclude the microwave was invented as a weapon and is now being used by corporate titans in order for them to benefit from one another. These evil companies only care about your wallet and do not care about the harmful waves emitted from their products as their only goal is to sell you more. The microwave is a seemingly innocent product but its war inspired roots and the evidence surrounding its brainwashing capabilities are no coincidences at all.  Many are beginning to reject the microwave as they are slowly beginning to notice its true intentions. Wake up and notice the small details around you. And if you don't, remember that the next time you think time is being slowed while you stare at a microwave’s eerie timer you might just be right.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Sun Myung Moon’s lost Paraguay Eco-Utopia

▲ Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han visited their Puerto Leda mansion only once.

Outside magazine by Monte Reel   February 20, 2013

Full story: https://www.outsideonline.com/1913791/sun-myung-moons-lost-eco-utopia

Extracts:

A decade before his death, Sun Myung Moon—multimillionaire founder of the controversial Unification Church / FFWPU—sent a band of followers deep into the wilds of Paraguay, with orders to build the ultimate utopian community and eco-resort. So how’s that working out? Monte Reel machetes his way toward heaven on Earth.

... In addition to overseeing the church, which he said aimed to fulfill Jesus’ unfinished mission by establishing a new “kingdom of heaven on Earth,” Moon managed vast commercial interests and called himself a messiah. He was frequently accused of cult practices, in part because some of his hundreds of thousands of followers turned over very personal decisions—including the choice of marriage partner—to him. More than a decade ago, Moon told some members of his church that he wanted them to lay the foundation for a new Garden of Eden in one of the least hospitable landscapes on the planet—northern Paraguay.

Moon was notorious for attention-grabbing gestures: conducting mass weddings in Madison Square Garden, taking out full-page ads in major American newspapers to support Richard Nixon during Watergate, spending 13 months in federal prison for tax fraud and conspiracy in the early ’80s. But during the final years of his life, his Eden-building project kept chugging along well out of the public eye, germinating largely unseen in this remote wilderness of mud.

In 2000, Moon paid an undisclosed amount for roughly 1.5 million acres of land fronting the Paraguay River. Most of that property was in a town called Puerto Casado, about 100 miles downriver from Puerto Leda. Moon’s subsidiaries wanted the land to open commercial enterprises ranging from logging to fish farming. But a group of Puerto Casado residents launched a bitter legal battle to nullify the deal. While that controversy continued to divide Paraguayans, the Puerto Leda project proceeded under the radar. Moon turned the land over to 14 Japanese men—“national messiahs,” according to church documents, who were instructed to build an “ideal city” where people could live in harmony with nature, as God intended it. Moon declared that the territory represented “the least developed place on earth, and, hence, closest to original creation.”

... The [twentieth] century brought utopian colonies of Australian socialists, Finnish vegetarians, English pacifists, and German Nazis. They all failed.

So how are Moon’s followers—or Moonies, as they don’t like to be called—holding up? Hard to say. I’m aware of two other journalists who’ve seen Puerto Leda. One, a British Catholic missionary, visited after the first colonists arrived and was unable to fathom their motives. Maybe they were smuggling drugs, she insinuated in a church magazine [The Tablet December 16, 2000].

... By the time I boarded the Aquidaban, I’d begun to suspect that the National Messiahs in Puerto Leda might have no clue we were coming.

[It was a three-day journey] aboard this muggy cargo boat [in 2012].

... one man, a portly Paraguayan navy guard in military fatigues, awaits [Toni Greaves and myself] at the end of the gangplank.

“Do you have repellent?” he asks.

My skin is lacquered in a stiff coat of stale sweat and deet. “Lots.”

“Good,” he says. “You’ll see at night. We can’t even talk to each other because of the mosquitoes that fly into our mouths.”

... The building in front of us has a peaked terra-cotta roof, brick-and-stucco walls, expansive glass windows, and no fewer than five remote-controlled Carrier air-conditioning units. At the front door, a dozen pairs of leather slippers wait for us. “Very Japanese,” Greaves observes. We remove our dirty shoes and take our first steps into Reverend Moon’s Victorious Holy Place.

All is silent. Wilson flips a switch, throwing light on what appears to be a dining hall. The large wooden tables, each covered with a plastic tablecloth, could accommodate about 100 people. They are vacant.

... A few hundred yards from the guard station, I spot a sportfishing boat docked at the riverside. It’s big—about 30 feet long, fiberglass, with a prominent cockpit. I ask Mister Date about it.

“Ah yes,” he says. “Reverend Moon designed that boat himself. It was brought here from New Jersey.”

... Apparently, the True Father’s fishing jones was a deciding factor in the placement of Puerto Leda. Moon first visited the Paraguay River on fishing trips in the 1990s, and by decade’s end he was cruising down it and ordering church members to wade along the muddy banks to plant 63 signposts demarcating the land he had decided to buy.

▲ Japanese “National Messiahs” with Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han (The Heavenly True Parents 天地父母님 ) on September 23, 1999. 

In 1999, Moon called his most devoted Japanese followers to join him on a 40-day spiritual retreat outside Fuerte Olimpo, about 25 miles south of Puerto Leda. I’d read a brief description of those days on a church website. One Messiah had written: “It was very hot and we wanted to bathe in the water. But we could not because piranhas would come. It’s a big problem! Also there are problems with ants. One National Messiah became very sick from an ant bite. It’s a dangerous place. There are all these problems, but Father just says, ‘Ah, the purity of nature!’”

... In addition to calling for a return to Original Creation here, he told his devotees, in 2000, that “we need to build the best underwater palace in the world.”

... Near the end of their [40-days] together, Moon instructed them to build an ecologically sustainable city that could serve as a model for the whole world. The plan, such as it was, lacked specifics; not all of the founders agreed on what the city should look like. Yet they forged ahead, determined to create something extraordinary in a place where wilderness reigned.

Now, as I glance at the scene, I see huge dormitory buildings, guesthouses, and sheds for mechanical repairs. I count seven freshwater fish farms, fully stocked with pacu, a toothy species that looks like an overgrown piranha. I see no other people.

“Normally, there are about 10 of us who live here,” Mister Date tells me. “But this week six are away in Asunción. So there are just four now.”

We walk through early-morning light on smooth sidewalks, past manicured gardens of hibiscus and bougainvillea, beside an Olympic-size swimming pool. A young man hired from a nearby village slowly sweeps a filtering net through the deep end. Nothing—not a single foreign particle—seems to mar the clean blue rectangle of water. We enter a two-story communal building that resembles an office complex. I see Wilson in a small room, tapping away at a computer. We climb a stone staircase to the second floor, following Mister Date into what appears to be a rec room. There’s a television hooked up to a satellite system, and Mister Date pops a disc into a DVD player. The DVD, Mister Date tells us, explains everything.

The footage that flashes across the screen dates from 1999. We see the founding Messiahs walk across untamed wastes—the grounds where we now sit. They lay bricks in wet mud. They sand metal frames. They wash dishes in the river. They wear heavy clothing, light fires to keep the mosquitoes away, and sweat in the wavy heat. They stagger through gale-force winds.

Then, in a clip from 2000, we see Moon himself, touring the partially cleared grounds, wiping sweat from his brow, eating lunch, leaving in a private plane. The footage segues into scenes of the men working feverishly to build a luxury house for Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, who visited for a second and final time in late 2001. 

▲ Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han visited Puerto Leda twice, but only once after the mansion they ordered built for themselves was completed. They inaugurated the mansion on November 30, 2000 (above). Takeru Kamiyama is standing close to Moon, wearing a pale blue shirt.

▲ The view from the mansion.

The rest of the DVD covers more recent developments, and the highlights—set to swelling orchestral music—unfold like a training montage from Rocky. Messiahs erect the water tower. Man-made fishponds materialize on the grounds. A landing strip is planed flat by tractors. The Messiahs unload saplings from the Aquidaban, then plant them in sprawling groves. A group of about a dozen visiting Japanese students—the children of Unification Church members—help the Messiahs build a school in a nearby village. When the DVD ends and the lights come up, I’m exhausted just from watching all that drudgery. I look at Mister Date’s corded forearms, his gaunt face, his waspy waist. Every aspect of his being seems molded by toil. Even with the help of the local hires, the Messiahs labor all day, usually outside.

“It’s a lot of work just to maintain,” he admits.

The fact that only 10 men live here comes rushing back to me. The colony has actually lost population since its inception, despite all the construction. Four of the original Messiahs have returned to Japan. Only the hardest of the hardcore have stuck it out.

And this raises a couple of questions: Who are these guys? And why have they put themselves through this?

Mister Auki walks across the dining hall carrying a basket filled with whole fish freshly yanked from the river. He’s a short, balding Messiah whose task this morning, as on most days, is to catch something for the grill.

“I caught lots of piranha today,” he tells the men, his face splitting into a smile. “And also a five-kilogram pacu.”

The pacu is now part of the lunch buffet, which the four Messiahs plus Wilson, Greaves, and I spoon onto plates.

... In the beginning, the colonists hoped they would be joined by their wives (as well as many, many more followers). Every August, they invite children of Japanese church members to visit for a couple of weeks, but so far none have chosen to stay on. “My wife thinks that it is not realistic for her to move here yet,” Mister Owada says, “because we still have to raise the standard of living more.”

When I press him on how tough and lonely this must get, Mister Owada says it doesn’t bother him. Moon sanctified his personal sacrifices, promising the men that spiritual rewards would make up for their suffering. “Even if you die, what regret will you leave behind?” Moon asked the founders in 1999.

“We’re risking our lives for this cause,” Mister Owada says, his left eye twitching convulsively. “I like to risk my life,” he continues. “That is doing something worthwhile. We have continued to stick with this.”

Months later, after Moon’s death from complications from pneumonia, I will once again reach out to Mister Date to see if the True Father’s passing affects the Messiahs’ dedication. It doesn’t. They have the blessing of his widow, Mister Date says, and the ongoing feuds among the Moon children won’t affect them. They plan to work on Puerto Leda for at least another decade.

“Of course there is ecotourism potential here,” says Mister Date. We’re standing outside an unfinished three-story brick building near a shed that protects three car-size generators. Mister Date refers to the brick building as “the hotel,” but for the moment its only occupant is a stick-legged baby goat nosing around the food pellets being stored on the ground floor.

... “Why did you stop work on the hotel?” I ask.

He pauses and smiles politely. “In a small place, you can have disagreements easily,” he says. “They’re expecting us to be financially independent, but that’s not easy here.” The Messiahs, it seems, don’t always see eye-to-eye on the best way to reduce their dependence on member donations. Some want to concentrate on agribusiness and scrap the ecotourism idea. The hotel is unfinished because they aren’t sure whether opening the place to outsiders is a good idea.

▲ Puerto Leda from the air.

We walk on, past planted fields of lemongrass, oranges, mangoes, grapefruit, asparagus, sugarcane. The crops are struggling. If agriculture alone is expected to support the colony, there are some kinks to work out. The men have planted thousands of jatropha trees, which can be used to make biodiesel fuel, but hundreds of parrots zeroed in on them and ate all the fruit. During the most recent wet season, rising waters flooded many of the thousands of neem trees.

“It’s been a hard year,” Mister Date admits. “A lot of things have died because they were three months underwater.”

It’s clear that these guys have faith in miracles, and that’s exactly what’s needed here in Puerto Leda. Without one, the Victorious Holy Place seems destined to be another curious monument to human ambition and folly. But watching how hard the Messiahs work, I can’t help but admire their tenacity. The fanaticism that underlies their devotion to this cause must burn hot, but they hide it well. They’re not evangelical. They’re friendly and welcoming to those who don’t share their beliefs. They’re reflexively humble and generous and—whatever I might think of their motives—admirably tough. They’re underdogs. The kind of guys you root for.

During the last hours of my visit, Mister Date shows me something that might actually work out. “Japanese yams,” he announces, staring down at a plot of tilled soil. “They grow very large underground, up to 10 kilograms. They do well here.”

My immediate impulse is to celebrate this victory with hearty congratulations. I’m thrilled for his indefatigable yams. Maybe all the sweat that Mister Date has sunk into this plot will bear a little fruit. Maybe little victories like this can help other people in the Pantanal live richer lives. Maybe that’s enough.

Mister Date stares down at the dirt. “Unfortunately,” he says, “they taste very bad.”

... I head out toward the pool.

▲ The swimming pool at Puerto Leda.

He’s still there, the man with the net, sweeping as if he hasn’t let up since dawn. A shame: I didn’t bring any trunks. But I do have a pair of heavy cotton cargo shorts in my backpack. I walk to the dormitory and return wearing them. I ask the sweeper, “Does anyone ever use this pool?”

“Only the tourists,” he says.

The tourists? Based on a guest book I flipped through earlier, he must be referring to those Japanese students who visit every August, the occasional Paraguayan government official, and Greaves and me. ...

________________________________

Outside magazine   https://www.outsideonline.com/

________________________________

Monte Reel’s Between Man and Beast: A Tale of Exploration and Evolution was published in March 2013 by Doubleday.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/between-man-and-beast-monte-reel/1113244445#/

________________________________

Sun Myung Moon organization activities in Central and South America

Actividades de la Secta Moon en países de habla hispana

FFWPU President of IAPP Prosecuted for Money Laundering and Drug Smuggling in US Court; may be connected to UC / FFWPU Leadership

[letterboxd]

Ten Things We Learned at the Rise of Skywalker Press Conference.

Director J.J. Abrams and the key cast spill some beans about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Although we’re gifted more Star Wars content than ever these days—all hail baby Yoda—a new Star Wars film still means something. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker “is wrapping not one film, not three films, but nine,” says director J.J. Abrams, “so the responsibility was significant.”

Abrams is only the second two-time Star Wars director after George Lucas, lured back because “we live in a crazy time, and Star Wars to me was about hope. It was about community, it was about the underdog… Seeing all oddballs represented and the most unlikely friends. It really is about hope, and it’s about coming back to a sense of possibility.”

As the culmination of the nine-film Skywalker saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has the dual burden of wrapping up one of—if not—the most beloved cinematic stories ever told, and helping the franchise move on from the often toxic divisiveness associated with the previous film, Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. Which was amazing, by the way.

Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’.

Letterboxd’s West Coast reporter Dominic Corry reports his learnings from a press event with the key cast, plus Abrams, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, and co-writer Chris Terrio (an Oscar winner for Argo).

1. Sure, the fans are everything, but you can’t think about them. “My job as director was to make sure that all the pressures of all the obvious things—fan expectations and studio—weren’t on the set, so that on the set we could have a buoyancy, a sense of being spry,” says J.J. Abrams. “While it was never quite an ‘indie’ on the set of this movie, we needed to keep the thing feeling as human as possible, and not like a massive machine.” Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron) agrees: “The way we approached shooting a lot of these scenes, there was a looseness to it. There were things shot in big, beautiful, choreographed takes that are just astounding to watch.”

2. It’s all good when you have the right people. “We didn't know at the beginning of The Force Awakens exactly what it would look like with Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac and John Boyega,” says Abrams. “What would that cast be like? On the first day of Rise of Skywalker, we knew those things were working. What we didn’t know was everything else. The scale of the movie is pretty enormous, [but] none of that would matter if you didn’t care deeply and track with the people. So the most important thing—people—we were good with. We knew we had this incredible cast, who I think have gone beyond people’s expectations and are extremely spectacular in the film.”

Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron).

3. Isaac and Boyega fail, again, to quell the Poe and Finn-shipping frenzy. “When Oscar first came in, the chemistry was blatant,” John Boyega (Finn) reminisces. “There was a natural vibe between me and Oscar. I don’t know why. I just liked the guy.” Oscar Isaac elaborates in, er, more detail. “He came into my dressing room, he was so sweet. He was like, ‘You wanna run the scene before?’ and I’m like ‘Yeah!’ In the dressing room we were like butt-to-butt and ran the scene together and from then on we’ve been in that position.”

4. Rian Johnson’s Last Jedi set things up nicely for Skywalker. “Larry Kasdan and I, and Michelle Rejwan and Kathy [Kennedy], the producers, we had talked about quite a few things back [on The Force Awakens], so it was a bit of picking up where we had left off,” Abrams explains of Rise of Skywalker’s storyline. “What Rian Johnson had done in The Last Jedi had set up some things that were wonderful for the story. One of the things being that the cast was separated. The characters weren’t together for the entire movie, essentially, so this was the first time this group got to be together.”

Getting together with co-writer Chris Terrio to pick up the threads, Abrams says, “we immediately wanted to tell a story of an adventure, there were some very specific things that we were both drawn to immediately. We just started doing that thing that you do, which is you say: ‘what do you desperately want to see? What feels right?’”

5. Keri Russell freaked J.J. Abrams out. New cast member Keri Russell, who plays the mysterious bad-ass Zorii Bliss, kept her mask on between takes. “J.J. emailed me and said: ‘Do you wanna be in Star Wars?’, and I was like, ‘Yeah!’ Then he told me the idea about the mask. Personally I loved the mask. That’s my fantasy: that I can see everyone, in a super-tough version of myself in costume, and nobody can see me. That’s my dream. It’s a real power play. Because no one can really see what you’re thinking, and you can see everyone else.”

Keri Russell as Zorii Bliss.

The problem was, says Abrams, “Keri loved the mask so much that the first two days she worked as Zorii, the entire two days, I never saw her face. She could have, like most people, taken the mask off between takes. Or after a couple of hours. Or after two whole days! I got to work with Keri for a couple of days and never saw her. It was weird.”

6. There are horses in space. Space horses. Fellow new addition Naomi Ackie, who plays mysterious freedom fighter Jannah, found her character through Jannah’s physicality. “I felt like Jannah’s strength was in her body, so when I got to training, that’s when I was like, ‘I’ve got this’, being able to do pull-ups and horse riding, and with that came the confidence that I hadn’t previously experienced.” (Those space horses have a name: orbaks.)

Naomi Ackie as freedom fighter Jannah.

7. Richard E. Grant broke the review embargo and was not sued (yet). Third major new cast addition Richard E. Grant, who plays Allegiant General Pryde, feared he was in deep trouble for tweeting his reaction to the movie after a cast screening the night before this press event. “I thought that Disney would sue me, because I think you’re not supposed to say anything about it. But I didn’t tweet any spoilers,” he promised, before going on to review the film some more.

Just seen the 1st cast screening of @starwars #THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. What it achieves, weaves & resolves, is a total emotional meltdown & resurrection of the Spirit. Bravo to @jjabrams & his astonishing cast & creative crew 💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀 pic.twitter.com/EwtYghYTXK

— Richard E. Grant (@RichardEGrant)

December 4, 2019

“Having seen the first one when I was a theater student when I was twenty years old, before many of this cast were even born, it’s an extraordinarily emotional thing to see just the passing of time that goes through all of these movies. It felt really like a combination of everything I’d read in the Bible, Greek mythology, The Wizard of Oz all rolled into one. It delivers an emotional wallop at the end that I was totally unprepared for. I was wiped out and I barely slept. So thank you very much for having me.”

8. Carrie Fisher is everywhere. “I, like everyone who knew her, loved Carrie,” says Abrams. “The idea of continuing the story without Leia wasn’t a possibility, and there was no way we were gonna do a digital Leia. There was no way we would ever re-cast it. But we couldn’t do it without her. And when we went back to look at the scenes that we hadn’t used in The Force Awakens, what we realized is we had an opportunity and we could use that footage, use the lines that she was saying, use literally the lighting, the… [at this moment a stage light suddenly and unexpectedly turns off] …that was amazing. That was creepy. Hi Carrie. That’s so Carrie, by the way, to do that. Weird.

The late Carrie Fisher (Leia) hugs Daisy Ridley (Rey).

“In any event,” Abrams continues, “we knew we had an opportunity to use the footage to create scenes that Leia could be in. And of course, had Carrie been around—and it’s still impossible for me to believe she isn’t, because we’ve been editing with her for about a year, and she’s been very much alive with us in every scene—if we’d had Carrie around, would we have done some different things here and there? Of course we would have. But we had an opportunity to have Carrie in the movie, and working with all the actors, including Billie Lourd, her daughter, who’s in scenes with her, we were able to do something that Carrie herself, I’d like to think, would be happy with. She’s great in the movie, of course. And it’s still emotional and moving to think of her and how sad we all are that she’s not sitting here with us.”

9. Everyone is emotional. Daisy Ridley found the emotional demands of playing Rey more trying than the physical burden. “With the physical stuff, you train and train and train… obviously the stamina needs to be there for you to continue to do the thing. But I would say it was more demanding emotionally, because there really wasn’t a day where I was like, ‘Oh, it’s just a quick scene’. Coming from the last one, which was quite heavy, even the joyous scenes I found very strange to do. That was probably the most tricky thing, to sustain that emotion. There’s a singular intention that was tiring.”

Likewise, Oscar Isaac found his character’s optimism tested. “He’s always had a bit of wild-card energy in figuring out where he fits in the story, and I remember J.J. getting excited about dirtying up the squeaky flyboy image that he’s had for a bit and just revealing a bit more of his personality. [We see] the hope that I think he in particular brings, a kind of relentless, almost aggressive optimism that he has. And how that is tested. And how he tries to push them all even when it seems quite hopeless.”

10. John Boyega has no time for shit-talking. “I really do genuinely respect J.J. because he’s not into bullshit,” Boyega says. “When you come into this industry the way I did, you get a whole bunch of promises. A whole bunch of people telling you, ‘this is gonna happen and that’s gonna happen’. J.J. was like: ‘I really liked you in Attack the Block and we’re gonna get you in something’, and in my head I was like, ‘I’ll see you in twenty years mate, champion’. But I auditioned at [Abrams’ production company] Bad Robot several times before Star Wars. For TV shows and other stuff. And it just so happens that Star Wars was what I was right for. I appreciate him not being like the rest of this industry, talking shit half the time.”

‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ is in theaters from December 20. Related: read our recent interview with Rian Johnson about his new whodunit, ‘Knives Out’. The Star Wars films, ranked by weighted average rating (‘The Empire Strikes Back’ takes the top spot), and by overall popularity (‘The Force Awakens’ rules). Naomi Ackie appeared in ‘Lady Macbeth’ with Florence Pugh. See the rest of her film history here.

[popatochisssp]

Make Your Mark, 9/10

Series: Undertale, Horrortale Relationship(s): HT!Sans/Reader Chapter Warnings: none

AO3 Link

In a world where soulmates exist, monsters and humans have one thing in common: the first time two soulmates touch, a mark randomly appears somewhere–anywhere– on their bodies to represent their match.

It still doesn’t make relationships easier…but maybe it does make them a little more interesting!

You met him online.

It wasn’t under the most favorable circumstances, all things considered—he beat you in a bidding war for a really uniquely shaped hunk of coquina jasper at the very last minute and you spent probably a solid few hours cursing his username in your head no matter how cool it was.

Naturally, you were pretty surprised when he messaged you through the site the next morning.

geode-dude: hey, sorry about the coquina, kinda stole that from under you, didn’t i?

As much as it had galled you, you had to reply…

xXgoblincoreXx: Oh, don’t worry about it, you won fair and square! That’s how these things go, no hard feelings.

geode-dude: mm, still didn’t feel too gneiss of me, no matter how good a shale it was

……Pfft.

xXgoblincoreXx: Haha, not to quarry, dude, I’ll get over it, enjoy your spoils. Just don’t take it for granite, alright?

geode-dude: lol i like your style

geode-dude: think you’d be up for a consolation prize? sure there’s something around here i can part with to send you. might make me feel like less of a jerk for doing you dirty like that

It was…an unusual request to be sure.

The guy was well within his rights to have screwed you bought the stone for himself and he not only apologized, but was actually offering to send you something else? For free?

It occurred to you to be wary, but you had a PO Box for this kind of thing—too many doorstep package thieves who assumed ‘heavy’ meant ‘valuable’ instead of ‘ten bismuth geodes that you never saw and didn’t get a refund for and were definitely not still salty about’—so you didn’t see the harm in seeing where this went.

xXgoblincoreXx: I’m not one to turn down free shinies, if it’ll really make you feel better. You don’t have to, though, no pressure! ;)

geode-dude: think i will anyway, thanks for being so coal about this

You laughed and sent over your PO Box address and then promptly forgot about the whole thing, not quite expecting the guy to follow through. He was probably more after an excuse to try out those sweet rock puns on somebody and you were happy to be the audience.

At least it had put a smile on your face!

You imagine that expression was nothing compared to the awestruck one you wore when you picked up an unexpected package a couple days later and opened it to the most incredible-looking rock you’d ever seen in your life.

xXgoblincoreXx: Dude, did you send this?!

geode-dude: oh you got it, cool

xXgoblincoreXx: Yeah, what is it? I’ve never seen anything like this before!

Even as you frantically typed, the fuchsia crystal sat beside you, innocently illuminating your room with its warm, fluctuating glow.

geode-dude: don’t think it has an official classification, it’s mostly magic, but we call ‘em lantern rocks. they’re everywhere Underground.

Only one kind of person capitalized ‘underground’ that way and had free access to what was down there.

Your punning, rock-loving pal here was a monster.

You were fascinated—there were no monsters where you lived, their population was still small after everything and hardly any had branched out from Ebott, even though it’d been a few years since they surfaced—and you can’t quite restrain the burst of curiosity this revelation sparks.

You…probably embarrassed yourself a little, to be honest… but all of your eager questions about what other magic stones and crystals he had or could tell you about were met with good-natured amusement.

Good-natured amusement and surprisingly detailed, informative answers, the kind that turned out to be better suited to actual phone texting than a limited bidding site’s chat feature.

‘geode-dude,’ or Sans as you eventually found out, had a pretty extensive geological background and seemed happy to answer anything and everything you threw at him. The only real drawback was the unstoppable slew of puns that came with those answers, but… to a person like you, the puns were less of a bug and more of a feature.

In addition to being a funny guy with a varied rock collection, Sans has a horrifically messy room, a self-sustaining tornado of trash in it, and a younger brother named Papyrus.

He’s also a skeleton, which he didn’t exactly tell you, but he sent you an awful lot of puns about bones and once—when you’d insisted he prove he wasn’t catfishing you—a video of Papyrus balancing a seashell on his head, since that was too weirdly specific to fake.

The guy in the video was definitely a skeleton and he definitely had a seashell atop his skull, effortlessly keeping it there even as he proclaimed to the camera, “Well, Sans’ Pen-Pal, I Have No Idea Why You Want This, But I’m So Stunned That Sans Is Actually Making Friends That I’m Not Going To Question It Very Hard—So Behold! My Impeccable Balancing Skills!”

After that, you wholeheartedly agreed with Sans’ assessment of his brother’s coolness levels: clearly off the charts.

For several long, albeit fun months of chatting and memes and pictures of rocks, though, that’s all you really know about your apparently-a-skeleton friend.

He’s never sent a picture or video of himself, and he’s flatly turned down anything resembling a phone call.

It doesn’t bother you too much. Some people are just private that way, and that’s okay!

You figure you’ll see him when you see him, and that’s just fine by you.

-

You get the text early in the morning—which you’ve gathered is approximately the witching hours over in Ebott.

geode-dude: hey

geode-dude: i’m trying to be a little boulder so i’m kinda petrified here but

geode-dude: do you want to come visit for the festival?

The Freedom Festival—held to commemorate the anniversary of monsters’ escape from the Underground and reunification with the surface world.

Being held in Ebott, next weekend.

You don’t have to think about your answer for more than a minute.

xXgoblincoreXx: Sounds rockin’, I’d love to! :D

-

Ebott isn’t quite as far away as you’d thought.

It’s a few hours on a train and then you’re there, wandering around in search of the skeleton you’d been promised to pick you up.

You’re expecting Papyrus, taller than tall and decently loud, presumably very easy to spot in a crowd.

But he’s not the skeleton you see.

His brother is stupidly tall, but even slouching, Sans is a pretty big guy himself. Dressed in a well-worn blue hoodie, some basketball shorts and the cutest pair of hot-dog-shaped slippers you’ve ever seen, the big skeleton leaning up against the wall is hard to miss.

…And so is the massive gaping hole in his skull, black as pitch above the giant red light darting nervously around in his socket.

It’s…

Not that much of a surprise, honestly.

You understand a lot of monsters suffered permanent injuries in the living hell they crawled out of and while grisly, it’s really nothing worse than what your imagination’s cooked up for you over the past few weeks—reasons ranging from the embarrassing to the outright horrific that Sans had been hiding his face from you.

In comparison to that, a bit of jagged bone is nothing to bat an eye at.

You head right on over to say hello.

Sans stiffens a little as you approach and somehow a bead of sweat seems to appear on his skull. He asks your name in a surprisingly soft voice and you nod.

“Yep, in the flesh,” you chirp. “Which I guess makes you Sans the flesh, right?”

It seems to take him a second to process what you said…but then his shoulders start to shake with laughter.

“good one,” he chuckles. “here five seconds an’ you’re already tryin’ to steal my thunder…?”

“Just trying to make a good first impression,” you joke with a shrug. “I have a feeling I’m not gonna get more than a couple over on you, Mister Funnybones.”

Sans is just a pinch slower in person—or maybe his puns just seem to come across a little snappier with a screen between you—but the moment or two you have to wait is more than worth it.

With a screen and miles of distance separating you, you’ve never had the pleasure of watching Sans’ skull go a dusty shade of blue, or hearing a downright bashful laugh escape him.

“eheheheheh, you, uh…ya’ might be surprised…”

You already are.

You came down here to meet a friend and spend some time with him.

You weren’t expecting him to be this cute, or to feel a spark towards something beyond simple friendship already, within mere minutes of talking to the guy.

“…This is going to be an exciting weekend,” you decide with a smile.

Sans grins back. “yeah? ya’ feel it in your bones?”

You laugh and your duffel bag slides down off your shoulder.

Luckily enough, you have pretty quick reflexes…and apparently, so does Sans.

For all you’d have expected a slow reaction, he reaches out lightning-quick and catches your bag before it can hit the ground—at the same time you catch it.

You touch.

Forming soulmarks don’t cause a physical sensation.

They don’t, it’s been studied: no one, not even monsters, the most soul-attuned sentient species on the planet can conclusively feel a soulmate match being made or say where the mark is forming with any degree of accuracy. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong, reacting psychosomatically at best.

And yet, you swear your skin is tingling all over from that one little brush of skin against bone.

Sans is…… you think Sans is your soulm—

You jump a little as suddenly, Sans has your entire hand in his grasp.

“hey,” he says, and through the very nice sensation of the warm, rough bones of his hand wrapping around yours, you notice that his grin is a little tight. “can we…not…?”

You blink at him, not understanding. “N…not?”

“the…the whole…soulmates thing,” he unhelpfully clarifies. “we don’t have to…look, y’know?”

………Ouch?

“Uh… I… I mean, I…guess?” you try. “If that’s…”

Sans looks pretty damn relieved and that’s yet another thing you hadn’t planned for. The ‘spark’ you’d felt must not have been very mutual if your pen-pal didn’t even want to know if you were soulmates, and that was…

Well, ouch.

“cool,” says Sans, “cool, it’s just…you’re… it’s… you’re here the whole weekend, it’d be……… no need to, uh, ruin the trip…right? it’ll… if we are,it’s…it ain’t like it’d be goin’ anywhere.”

………

Wait.

You almost actually, physically facepalm at the dramatic direction of your thoughts as reason finally occurs to you.

It would be insanely awkward to get all excited about a soulmark…and then risk not finding one immediately before having to spend a whole weekend with somebody—especially since Sans and his brother had so graciously offered to host you while you were visiting.

You think you feel equal parts silly and relieved.

“Yeah,” you agree, much more easily this time, “you’re right! We can…check that out later. For now, you just focus on showing your pal a fun Freedom Fest!”

Sans smiles, passing your bag back to you.

“that’s the plan,” he says and as he starts to amble off, you happily follow. “c’mon, let’s get ya’ settled in first.”

-

You last about two hours.

After arriving at the brothers’ house, meeting Papyrus, and enjoying some delicious (homegrown!!!) cucumber sandwiches for lunch, you’re shown to the guest bedroom and then the bathroom.

“This Is More Sans’ Hostly Duty Than Mine, But Quite Frankly,” Papyrus confided in you, “I’m Not Certain Sans Remembers We Have A Shower. But! You Seem Like A Fine, Upstanding Human With Standards And I’m Sure You’d Appreciate Knowing Where To Find It In Case You’d Like To Freshen Up Before The Opening Ceremony And Fireworks Tonight!”

That had sounded perfect to you, so you’d stripped down for a quick shower to rinse all the miscellaneous travel funk off and…

Well, there it had been.

You manage to contain yourself long enough to actually get clean and then you dry off, grabbing your phone to snap a…very carefully cropped photo of your inner thigh.

At first, you figure it’s just for you, because Sans had said…

But the longer you look at it, the less restraint you have and it really, really, really feels like Sans should get to see this.

You could easily go down the hall and knock on his door to show him, but you’ve been texting buddies for months.

It feels like the most natural thing in the world to pull up your chat and send the picture.

xXgoblincoreXx: [IMG-96]

xXgoblincoreXx: I looked, sorry…

And after a moment of thought:

xXgoblincoreXx: No regrets, though. :)

The dark, rough oyster shell on your thigh, just barely cracking open to reveal a pretty little pearl hiding inside…

It just gives you a really good feeling about your relationship with Sans, and you don’t know how to regret that.

You watch your phone, nervously awaiting a text that…never comes.

Because suddenly, from behind you, you hear, “i looked, too.”

You jump, whirling around to find Sans looming over you. You hadn’t even heard him come in and you marvel that such a big skeleton could move so silently, but that quickly falls by the wayside.

Sans is fiddling with the sleeve of his hoodie, blushing again, but at your encouraging, curious smile, he shoves it back and lets you see.

“guessin’…guessin’ it’s a human thing,” he says, “‘cause i got no idea what it means. google ain’t helpin’ either, heheh…”

You don’t imagine it would—without already knowing the name of it or at least its context, it would probably be a little difficult to just stumble across a Rod of Asclepius.

You reach out and gently grab hold of Sans’ ulna, tracing the line of the rod all the way up to the thick cluster of his carpals where the head of the snake had settled.

He must be able to read some of the emotion on your face because after a moment, he tentatively speaks.

“s’it good?” he asks. “ya’ look like… seems like it’s…something good…yeah?”

It is so good.

You actually think you’re genuinely honored to have caused a mark like this because if there’s anybody out there who deserves to heal from everything they’ve been through, it’s a monster.

It’s Sans, your friend.

…But you don’t think you know him well enough yet to be able to say that out loud.

Instead you put a teasing smirk on your face and shrug.

“I’ll tell you later,” you say, letting go of his hand and heading out of the guest room. “Isn’t the fest starting soon? We should probably get going.”

There’s a pause…but then, Sans is hot on your heels.

“c’mon,” he pesters, “you know, just tell me.”

“I don’t recall,” you tell him. “I think you’re gonna have to refresh my memory somehow…”

“…you’re…ya’ want a bribe?”

“Sans!” you gasp. “I’m hurt! We’re friends, aren’t we? I thought you knew me better than that.”

Sans does know you better.

He quickly realizes, “ya’ want bribes.”

You elect not to respond.

“………eheheheheheheh, oh stars…”

You turn and Sans’ red eye-light is glowing brightly with mirth.

He looks like he’s having fun.

He looks happy.

“alright, twist my arm,” he mutters, shoving his sleeve back down. “you’ll get your bribes, but m’pretty sure i already know what it means, now.”

“Do you?”

“yeah—you’re a snake.”

You laugh.

“Oh, don’t get all hissy, I’ll tell you! You just might have to buy me one of those Spider Ciders I’ve heard so much about before I can remember properly.”

“an’ a funnel cake, too, i guess.” In spite of Sans’ put-upon tone, he looks just as amused as you are. “some popcorn. maybe a nice cream or two?”

“Now you’re getting it!”

You shoot Sans a wink and he snickers, shaking his head but hardly protesting your demands.

Depending on how the night goes…you think you might even be able to finagle a smooch onto the list.

The idea of getting to plant a kiss on this skeleton under the fireworks is very, very appealing.

You guess you’ll find out what fate has in store.

POST-SCRIPT

UT!Sans | UT!Papyrus | US!Sans | US!Papyrus | UF!Sans | UF!Papyrus | SF!Sans | SF!Papyrus | HT!Papyrus