#they have their pitfalls but i really respect quinn

[wyllzel]

but what are your bridgerton opinions? share share

AAHHH 🫣 ty for asking omg! opinions time 😏

my big thing is that i'm annoyed whenever people complain about the lack of historical accuracy in the clothing, or when people complain that it all looks over the top... i firmly believe that bridgerton as a series of works has no interest in historicity (see rants A and B)!! so i think it's much more interesting for the costuming department to be able to construct these really interesting, elaborate gowns instead of painstakingly trying to recreate clothing from 200 years ago :^) plus they get to use modern visual language to emphasize characters' roles!!! like we know cressida and the featheringtons are trying too hard bc the patterns/materials they wear are what we associate with tacky/costume-y sort of looks 👀

i haven't seen many people talk about this - but i really wish the show had stuck with the 10 year time skip before colin's book... penelope is 28 years old during her book romance! both her maturity and her having to reckon with being "old" while never having been kissed/romanced is a big part of why her story resonated w me ;; it doesn't quite hit the same in the show, where she's probably in her early 20s still...

probably the worst decision the show has made for the polin romance is having colin keep an erotic diary rather than what he has in the novel, which is a travel journal 😭 i'll put this below the readmore since it's a pretty big spoiler haha

^ anyway cressida's gowns are everything 😔🫡

spoilers ahead for colin's weird erotic diary!!!

basically, the polin romance works so well bc they both respect one another as writers! so far, we only have one comment from penelope about colin's writing, which is right when she reads his diary and he finds her snooping :(

throughout colin's novel, we see him as really insecure bc his brothers have achieved some measure of success (anthony is respected as the viscount bridgerton and benedict is a renowned artist) while he's just kind of traveling the european continent lol... so when colin discovers that penelope is lady whistledown, he freaks out A) because she has haters and he has to "protect" her (LMAO) and B) because she's a successful writer and he wants to publish his travel journals, but he's insecure as an amateur writer...

and basically colin has to grow from:

not understanding why penelope is so proud of her gossip column, to

understanding why penelope is so proud of her gossip column (it's her life's work and is a valid literary artform), to

overcoming his jealousy of penelope's success, to

being actively proud of penelope's success and her talents

which is so fascinating!!! i can't think of many other romances/works that feature a male romantic partner who's jealous of his female romantic partner's abilities!! dude overcame his toxic masculinity and basically spends the rest of the bridgerton saga telling anyone who listens how much he loves his wife :') it's great stuff

anyway... i'm not super sure how the bridgerton show is going to tackle the whole "colin is jealous of penelope's talents as a writer" thing... because if he's writing erotica, how is he going to get published??? is he going to be regency nicholas sparks????? also, not everything has to be about sex/romance!!! his travel journals were perfectly fine as they were!!

plus so far the only hint we have that colin's insecure is his weird playboy era, but even that... i'm not super sure if that's supposed to be evidence of his insecurity, or if the show is hastily establishing his "rake reputation" that all the bridgerton men have LMAO

[magicwingslisten]

H.P. Lovecraft & C.L. Moore on “The Black God’s Kiss”

Regarding the Moore stories—one has to separate the undeniably hackneyed & mechanical romance from the often remarkable background against which it is arrayed. “The Black God’s Kiss” had a vastly clever setting—the pre-human tunnel beneath the castle, the upsetting of gravitational & dimensional balance, the strange, ultra-dimensional world of unknown laws & shapes & phenomena, &c. &c. If that could be taken out of the sentimental plot & made the scene of events of really cosmically bizarre motivation, it would be tremendously powerful. The distinctive thing about Miss Moore is her ability to devise conditions & sights & phenomena of utter strangeness & originality, & to describe them in a language conveying something of their outre, phantasmagoric, & dread-filled quality. That in itself is an accomplishment possessed by very few of the contributors to the cheap pulp magazines. For the most part, allegedly “Weird” writers phrase their stories in such a brisk, cheerful, matter-of-fact, colloquial, dialogue-ridden sort of style that all genuine sense of shadow & menace is lost. So far, Miss M. has escaped this pitfall; though continued writing for miserable rags like the current pulps will probably spoil her as it has spoiled Quinn, Hamilton, & all the rest. The editors will encourage her worst tendencies—the sticky romance & cheap “Action”—& discourage everything of real merit (the macabre language, the original descriptive touches, the indefinite atmosphere, the brooding tension, &c.) which her present work possesses. Nothing will ever teach the asses who peddle cheap magazines that a weird story should not & cannot be an “action” or “character” story. The only justification for a weird tale is that it be an authentic & convincing picture of a certain human mood; & this means that vague impressions & atmosphere must predominate. Events must not be crowded, & human characters must not assume too great importance. The real protagonists of fantasy fiction are not people but phenomena. The logical climax is not a revelation of what somebody does, but a glimpse of the existence of some condition contrary to nature as commonly accepted.    —H. P. Lovecraft to William F. Anger, 16 Feb 1935, LRBO 229

   Also, since I’m disagreeing with everything today, I’ll have a shot at your dislike for romance contrasted with your love and understanding of fantasy. You don’t have to take Dumas any more literally than you do Dunsany. Of course lots of people probably do look persistently through rose-colored glasses, but then dear, sincere old Lumley believes implicitly in his phantasms. To me it’s just as pleasant to imagine during the duration of the story that there is a lovely springtime world peopled exclusively by handsome heroes and exquisite heroines and life is one long romp of adventure with no unpleasant attributes at all, as it is to believe for the length of the story that time, space and natural law can be elastic enough to permit the existence of a Shambleau or a Cthulhu (have I spelled him right?). Your point, of course, is that to be acceptable as release-literature the happenings must be incredibly outside, not against the phenomena of nature. Does that mean that you can’t with self-respect, enjoy Howard’s gorgeous Conan sagas, which are surely pure romance for the most part?    —C. L. Moore to H. P. Lovecraft, 11 Dec 1935, Letters to C. L. Moore and Others 88-89

[comic-panels]

Movie Review — Birds of Prey

Commits the sin of being boring.

Sure the action is bad, that’s fairly standard for superhero movies, but also there’s basically no good banter; which is what these movies live and die on for me. This is movie full of asshole loner characters who have no chemistry with each other and so everyone suffers from having no one to play off of. It’s actually worse than Suicide Squad in that respect, because even in that mess I thought that Margo Robbie and Will Smith has good chemistry, here there was nothing for me to hold onto.

Look, it’s more competent than Suicide Squad. It’s not a movie cobbled together from a different movie; the editing isn’t completely off the rails. But because it’s still bad that actually made it worse for me because it makes this movie less interesting. There’s less to dissect.

It’s a movie with a lot of bad ideas. Trying to cram the Birds of Prey and Harley Quinn into the same movie is an awkward fit. Making all the characters asshole loners who don’t know how to behave around people makes everything awkward. There’s just so much exposition, and narration.

There’s zero economy of storytelling. Again, in Suicide Squad you can laugh at how crammed in the exposition about Katana is, but it’s quick and gets to the point. Dragging that out over flashbacks and getting it spelled out multiple times is much worse. This movies spends way to much time stuck in first gear. Hell it’s stuck in neutral a lot of the time because of how bad the dialogue scenes are.

The movie avoids the more recent pitfalls for ending a superhero movie: there is no swirling vortex of doom, no army of robots, not villain with the same powers as the hero fight scene. No we go back to an older problem of this movie taking for fucking ever to get its characters together. There is no team until the fight at the end, so we’ve got over an hour of buildup and backstory. The plot is slow moving roundabout and meandering.

The thing that really gets me is that in theory this movie is adapting some of my absolute favorite stuff. The interconnected world of heroes and villains in Gotham is my favorite thing about Batman comics. That’s the space this movie is playing in, and it made my favorite thing incredibly boring to watch.

The best part of the movie is it’s version of Cassandra Cain (who has literally nothing to do with the comic book version of the character but so it goes) played by Ella Jay Basco because she is the most like able and gets the closest to having any actual chemistry with another character. I also feel like I could have liked Huntress if she had had anyone to play off of.

It’s not a train wreck, it’s not a disaster it’s not awful. It’s just mediocre, bland and dull. I think it’s bad, but I also have specific opinions of these characters and I know how much more could be done with them and how much better they deserve, so I was disappointed and annoyed. A worse movie would have at least provided me with some schadenfreude. This one’s already leaving my brain.

At least they didn’t make Renee Montoya straight?

Thank You For Your Time.

[junker-town]

These 6 NBA teams will hit the under on their projected win total

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Sorry, Lakers fans.

Everyone in the NBA is undefeated in the preseason, but that glorious early fall optimism has a way fading quickly. With only a few weeks until the games start to count for real, the SB Nation staff examined some over/under betting lines on win totals and picked the teams we think will disappoint.

The lines are from Draft Kings and all come with their own odds. These the teams we like to hit the under this season.

Los Angeles Lakers: 51.5

There are so many potential pitfalls for the Lakers. On the brink of season No. 17, LeBron James no longer seems indestructible after being limited to 55 games because of a groin injury last year. LeBron has famously coasted through the regular season (especially on the defensive end) for the last few years, but he doesn’t have that luxury this season even if he remains fully healthy. Who else is going to initiate this offense? Rajon Rondo? Quinn Cook? Alex Caruso? Would any of these guys even be in an NBA rotation if they weren’t with the Lakers?

Yes, Anthony Davis is great, but 65 percent of his field goals were assisted last year, a number that’s more than 10 percentage points higher than even Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic. For all of Davis’ talent, it’s hard to imagine him carrying the offense by himself if and when LeBron isn’t on the court. The defense will likely be a real problem even if they’re at full strength. Then there’s the issue of lineup optimization: Davis doesn’t love playing center full-time despite that being his best use when the games really count. Davis is already talking about the Lakers using “super big” lineups with Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee on the court together. That’s a hard pass.

I’m buying the idea of the Lakers being able to beat anyone in the playoffs if they’re healthy. The LeBron-AD two-man game is that intriguing. I just don’t see them winning 52 games or more before they get there.

— Ricky O’Donnell

Milwaukee Bucks: 56.5

Giannis Antetokounmpo was everything last season, but as a one superstar team, the Bucks were still a team only as good as the sum of their parts. So what happens when one piece of the machine is stripped away?

Malcolm Brogdon’s signing with the Indiana Pacers was one of the most overlooked moves of the 2019 offseason. Brogdon’s a really good on-ball defender and an elite shooter. Both things are crucial to what makes Milwaukee’s system work. He connected on 51 percent of his shots from the field and 43 percent of his four three-point looks and 93 percent of his free throw attempts. Brogdon’s minutes are super productive, and they’re going to be replaced by less stable replacements. Will this be Wes Matthews’ bounce back season? Does Pat Connaughton take a leap? Donte DiVincenzo maybe?

There’s a missing piece in Milwaukee’s floor-spacing offense, and no obvious replacement.

— Matt Ellentuck

Indiana Pacers: 47.5

There are several reasons why 48 wins is a reach for the Indiana Pacers this season, but none touch the unknown surrounding Victor Oladipo. Here’s what Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said about his star guard last week: “I don’t anticipate Victor being available for a while, and I don’t know what a while is. There’s no timetable. “I haven’t had any information given to me that he will be practicing live anytime soon.”

Now, a Pacers optimist can counter by looking at Indiana’s “strong” finish after Oladipo’s injury. Yes, they avoided total collapse and made the playoffs. But after January 26th, they also had the league’s 24th offense and a defense that relied on an ability to force turnovers. Indiana also lost five of their top-seven scorers—including Bojan Bogdanovic, who averaged 20.7 points per game after Oladipo went down—and five of their six minutes leaders. Who is replacing Thad Young?

Malcolm Brogdon was really good in the role he had in Milwaukee, but asking him to generate shots on a team that doesn’t have Giannis Antetokounmpo or Khris Middleton eating all the defense’s attention will be quite an adjustment. T.J. Warren is a nice player, and we’ll see how he responds to competitive basketball for the first time in his NBA career. But the Pacers have too many questions and concerns to knock on the door of a 50-win season until they have at least one healthy All-Star making a nightly contribution. Onward to 2021.

—Michael Pina

Indiana Pacers: 47.5

This is your resident Indiana Pacers fan, doubling down on the Pacers hitting the under. There is no optimistic way to spin this but Pacers are going to spend a large chunk of their season without their star in Victor Oladipo. And that team without Oladipo, probably won’t be in the hunt to win 50 games. This feels like free money.

Oladipo ruptured the quad tendon in his knee and at one time had an expected return of January, but the Pacers continue to preach there is no timetable for his comeback. The Pacers also have no reason to rush their star back onto the court this season.

No matter how lovable Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner and Malcolm Brogdon may be, they are sadly not a 48-win team. They will be fine and and sometimes fun. Just not ya know ... as good as they’d be with Oladipo on the floor.

— Whitney Medworth

Washington Wizards: 27.5

This summer featured Ted Leonsis reportedly calling every high-profile general manager candidate he could think of and begging them to take a job as the highest paid GM in the NBA, with none of them even accepting the interview. Tommy Sheppard seems like an extremely qualified and well-respected dude, but the Zards needing to resort to roughly their 5th choice tells you all you need to know about the state of their roster. Several smart people took one glance at the situation and quickly determined it was a loser for them.

Thankfully for fans, the Zards do have their own pick, so SuperTanking could prove extremely fruitful. So could trading Bradley Beal, who rules, but is almost certainly worth less to the Wizards than the assets he could fetch from a contender.

A healthy John Wall, a handful of new young players and a couple of lottery picks could make the Wizards extremely entertaining in 2020-21. I’m looking forward to the Anthony Edwards era in Chinatown. But betting on 27 wins or fewer this season feels like free money.

— Kim McCauley

New York Knicks: 27.5

Much has been made of the Knicks’ disastrous summer from a macro perspective. They embarrassingly struck out on the superstars they promised to bring in, watched their crosstown rivals swoop in to snag them, and released what amounted to a public apology less than 24 hours into free agency. All this after trading their best young player at the deadline on the theory that having additional cap space to build a superteam was preferable.

In response, the Knicks proudly refused to hand out long-term maximum deals to second-tier stars, which is understandable. The problem is they didn’t build a coherent basketball team in doing so.

The Knicks have more useful NBA players, but none of them fit together. It’s hard to see how Julius Randle helps elevate Mitchell Robinson, or how a bunch of 4.5s up front combined with non-shooting point guards helps space the floor for R.J. Barrett’s inevitable growing pains with the ball in his hands. Does Marcus Morris really help Kevin Knox, or will he simply block his playing time? Where is the infrastructure that’d allow Dennis Smith Jr. to play with the ball in his hands consistently? Is it even possible for David Fizdale to build a functioning five-man unit that has everything he needs without pissing off someone who believes they should be playing?

NBA teams need a pecking order and a coherent style of play to win games in the regular season. The Knicks’ full roster may be better than last year’s 17-win unit, but there’s no way all the parts can add up to a sum of 11 wins more than last season.

— Mike Prada

New Orleans Pelicans: 38.5

They traded for a new core that even Anthony Davis couldn’t drag to competency last year — and all due respect to Zion, but at age 19, AD he is not.

Additions like Derrick Favors, J.J. Redick, and Jaxson Hayes are nice, but not enough to move the needle in the savage West such that they’ll flirt with .500; David Griffin may have them well-positioned for a future when Zion develops, he potentially trades his point guard who can’t hit a J, and all those picks from the Lakers start to become real, tangible, actual hoopsters. But 2019-20 will feature a fair amount more losing than winning.

— Alex Rubenstein