#this scene is playing and francis says this line

[cowboy-robooty]

this is a real scene from that goddamn ameger fic im not joshing

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Miriam Hopkins (Design For Living, Trouble in Paradise)—miriam hopkins had great range as an actresses, truly a woman who could play a passionate outburst for either dramatic or comedic effect and sell the ever-loving hell out of it. she's wonderful in the witty and sophisticated comedies she made with ernst lubitsch, great examples of movies that could never have been made after the hays code; the frothy musical comedy the smiling lieutenant where she plays a naive princess who accidentally gets betrothed to maurice chevalier, the polyamory classic design for living where she gary cooper and hot vintage shadow king fredric march are a throuple, and the ineffably exquisite comedic masterpiece trouble in paradise in which she and hubert marshall are sexy jewel thieves trying to con sexy rich lady kay francis, but will emotional complications ensue???? watch to find out!!

Joan Fontaine (Rebecca, Suspicion, Ivanhoe)— Check out the screen tests of other actresses for Rebecca to fully grasp how subtly and effectively she plays the role. Competence porn! Good acting before the method!

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Miriam Hopkins:

She is an incredibly charismatic and versatile actress who brings a certain captivating je ne sais quois to each and every one of her roles that makes her impossible to ignore. Her pre-code films were considered quite risqué, with her part in a thrupple in Design For Living, and some saucy scenes they had to cut from Jekyll and Hyde. She also had a strong career in early television, so good that this queen literally has TWO Hollywood Stars, TWO!! One for TV and one for Film

Also she is Gorgeous, capable of being the girl nextdoor and also a stunning blonde bombshell. She's not as well known as some golden-age Hollywood stars but she's really incredible and I recommend everyone watch her films

In Trouble in Paradise she plays a pickpocket who flirts by stealing from her criminal boyfriend and I fell in love

queen of the pre-code era. often her roles were of carefree, flirty and lighthearted but intelligent women. famously in the movie where she was part of a fredrich march/gary cooper throuple.

Linked gifset

She's got this sly slouchy confidence that just draws you in. Almost no one wore 30s fashion as well as her

We all know that Design for Living is THE pre-code movie and she is so iconic in it. Her eyes are everythingggg. Also everyone look at her in a suit in She Loves Me Not please

A Frequent collaborator of Ernst Lubistch, Miriam Hopkins like up the screen in her comic roles, as is especially sexy in her pre-code performance in Design for Living; probably one of the first movies to showcase a coded polyamorous relationship. She toes the line between adorable and sexy, and had the acting chops to back it all up.

Joan Fontaine:

ABSOLUTELY too hot to have played Jane Eyre like what were they thinking.

[froggieco]

Some controversial thoughts about the Peachyville Horror

I've been seeing how everyone is reacting to Francis's moment in the bathroom in this latest episode (episode 7) and I thought I might as well add one more.

Francis is someone who is mentally unstable, yes. I think this is something we can all agree with. He's surrounded by people who seem to either enable his actions in one way or another or they're on a list of people he keeps which we can only assume is something like a hit list. He's been looked down on by his parents, bullied by his peers, and generally just beat down by everyone around him including himself at this point. Then he won that trophy. That's where everything shifts. He's the one to take it home and it's obvious that by how Will was describing that trophy, something about it had negative energy.

⚠️Now I get into some gory details in this next part so fair warning ⚠️

Now, Francis had his dream and suddenly became violent to an extent that he would joke about it and people would feel threatened. Relistening to episode 5, he threatened a man after scooping his eyes out with an ice cream scoop by kicking him in the balls and then grabbing his eyeballs and threatening to squeeze them. Now, I get it this is a horror comedy podcast but if we are gonna analyze a character I'm taking everything into account and really this is the first and really an extremely violent thing for a person to do, especially when this is the first actions he's been known to take.

Getting the gun and instantly he seemed to know exactly what he "needed" to do. On a dime, the Francis we knew just a few episodes ago was already so different.

Now that brings us to the bathroom scene. People have been saying it was a mental "snap" or "break" which doesn't line up, like how most others have pointed out that this was something that was premeditated. He planned out this whole thing and followed through with it. And to those who think he did this so Shane wouldn't bother him anymore, he didn't see Francis at all through the whole attack, which yes, Francis could go back and claim he did it but I still this it's important to note we don't know if Shane will believe him.

That being said, with every increasingly violent act that Francis had done up to that point it made sense within the confines of his world. It was in his character that things have played out this way so far. And really I think it's going to make for a really interesting character arc. He isn't going to to be a character that we have seen before, which when we just had a season of teens that were just coming into themselves Anthony is getting his chance to get his character in, and it is a horror series. This doesn't make any of the actions acceptable by any means and this should not encourage people to romanticize any of the actions he does. There is a way to like a character and not romanticize their actions, some of these posts remind me of posts of people romanticizing real murderers and shooters, which is rather disturbing.

TLDR

Francis suddenly got violent after bringing the trophy home, having a dream after being under his teacher's bed for 4 hours, and now he's suddenly he's on a bloody rampage and those around him are either enablers or in his line of fire and that's an interesting new character to think about. But don't romanticize that shit.

Extra

• Another idea I saw floating around was that Francis got switched with his reflection in the trophy, which I love the idea of this one. It can keep the idea of mental health slightly but it brings the story back into it. But, I understand that even without evil trophies, people like Francis exist in our world.

• Also having him practice with his bully's face as the target was really the warning. I personally didn't know the scene was going to be that graphic but now looking back I get the horror side of the podcast now. As someone who lives in America it was something that shocked me the first time listening to it, knowing that the usual stuff that the guys bring up I can laugh off. This scene most definitely felt different and I'm sure that it's going to be a huge turning point for a lot of things.

[are-you-fucking-with-me-rn]

okay so I always wanted to work on a show soundtrack so here's some songs I would put in s2 because since its probably maybe not gonna happen these can be canon in my head

Stupid Cupid by Connie Francis - okay so imagine if you will. The episode starts out jarring, maybe some payneland smooching out of nowhere, makes you go back to the last episode thinking you missed a scene. But then Edwin opens his eyes, he's lying on the ground or something, and is immediately thrust into the middle of a fight scene(this is where the song starts playing). He had just been temporarily knocked out and had some dream sequence or something idk. The fight scene is in a fancy restaurant or smth and it's close to Valentine's day and it's all decorated with hearts and stuff. This song is diegetic, playing in the restaurant.

Flaws by Bastille - I'd probably put it during end credits/end of the episode. It feels very transitional to me. It's a song on the Charles playlist so of course it's gonna play after a scene with Charles heavy lore or something. Maybe Charles's dad dies, and the song starts at the beginning of the funeral scenes. Then, long after everyone's already left, Charles goes and stands in front of the gravestone and his mom is just there kneeling in the grass in front of him and doesn't know he's there and yeah. It's like, the start of Charles's Actually-finding-peace-and-confronting-trauma arc or smth.

Girls on Film by Duran Duran - good for a montage of like Crystal adjusting to having rich, showy parents. She thinks maybe if she helps them out with their big projects, which she assumes the old her didn't do, maybe they'll start seeing her and caring about her like parents should. Going to grand openings and being photographed/interviewed, being in the public sphere all the sudden. Crystal's overcompensating for being a major jerk in her past life and is now bending over backwards to be nice to everyone (which, from experience, isn't exactly healthy either)(aka she's gone the "obsess-over-being-good-enough" route that Charles's gone down)(yikes).

The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen - I honestly have no vivid images for this one. I just like the song, I think it matches the mood of the show. Maybe something about Crystal and David? A final confrontation? Cus I saw someone (I'm sorry I forgot who) say they thought it would be interesting if Crystal's powers get "contaminated" by David cus he's still buried by the tree. So like a final standoff.

Swan Upon Leda by Hozier OR Eurydice by Eugénie - I think s2 would be more about Charles' journey the way s1 was more about Edwin BUT i'm also curious about Edwin's life. Something happens where Edwin maybe ends up at his old house, or relives his memories and it's all in slow motions and more calm than Charles's in ep4. They're not all bad, but Edwin was different and outcasted and the likes. George Rexstrew said himself that he thought Swan Upon Leda described Edwin really well, but also Eurydice gives off a sort of melancholy floatiness that fits with a boy 100+ years dead reliving an upbringing that now seems to foreign to him, and yet is ingrained in every part of himself.

Since listening to music is my #1 hobby, I will probably find more songs down the line and add on, but this is what I got for now.

[clandestinegardenias]

Plz tell me about the carnival fic 🥺🤲

Okay so GET THIS, Francis recovers before Carnivale happens but after James has already started planning it.

Far from thinking it a bad idea, he’s offended Fitzjames would plan it WITHOUT him (historical Crozier helped plan and took part in a lot of such festivities! It was a super common arctic exploration morale booster)

AND it turns into a TALENT SHOW (also a super common real life feature of Arctic expeditions!) with a PLAY

I’ve got ideas for what all the crew can do as talents, I’ve got James playing the lady’s part in the play opposite Dundy and Francis appeases their demands to participate by serving as Dundy’s understudy BUT WAIT Dundy is sick the night of the big show and Francis has to step in and there’s a big kiss scene and James and Dundy have been doing it as a farcical air kiss but Francis doesn’t KNOW that and James is in a dress and he looks…fuck he looks GOOD, he looks, well, pretty, and the script says Francis kisses him passionately and so Francis kisses him passionately. And it feels real, CHRIST, it feels REAL, but it can’t be, right? The way James’ chest is heaving and the way his mouth is is hanging slightly open, red and slick, and the way his eyes haven’t left Francis’ face and he seems to have forgotten his next line…it can’t be REAL.

Later, backstage, Francis helps James unlace his dress while the rest of the crew carouse. He helps James take down his pinned up hair, like he used to do for Sophia.

That’s more or less as far as I’ve gotten 😇

[riveracheron]

how to stage “the tragedy of francis” (MAG 172), but like. in a normal theatre

hi this’ll have to do today @a-mag-a-day

im a theatre technician who, upon listening to the Spooky Play Statement of “Strung Out” got really into the idea of how one would Actually create the technical elements. it seems like an interesting challenge! this was the only theatre related episode with indepth description of the Spooky Stuff but if yall are interested id be happy to talk about Other Episodes and ways you can practical effects your way through the fearpocalypse :)

spoilers for mag 172 and fake blood below the cut!

rules of this:

- i am a technician, not a director. i am assuming that the play as described by jon is the script and that we need a giant spider and hooks and blood. i am not making any choices, simply describing how these effects can be done in a professional theater sense. to that end, i am also only a student; and not an expert.

- we are going as hard as possible. no substitutions, no artistic choices to pare it down, no nothing. this is the magnus archives we’re getting meta enough. alongside that, im not worrying about budget. this is broadway level shit.

- i am not putting a stage on a stage. this is just looking at the Tragedy itself and jon can go sit in the audience for all i care.

cool? lezzgo.

i. the hooks

this is a fly system! it’s mostly used for lowering and raising set pieces. oftentimes, its also used with actors to raise them into the air when flying. shows like wicked, mary poppins and peter pan use this to pull actors into the air to make it seem like they’re flying.

it’s done with wires connected to hooks connected to the actors’ bodies via straps. sound familiar?

they are often hidden with lights, but they don’t have to be- for a play that draws attention to these wires, the designer would probably draw attention to them - at least for when they start to dance around and stuff.

the hooks that attach to francis’ joints throughout the show could be flown in as well, and their costume and more strategic lighting could make it seem like they were attached to them. you can get pretty grotesque with high budget theater and special effects makeup.

ii. the spider

characters that are puppets is not a new thing in theater! one of the most famous examples is Audrey 2 in little shop of horrors- a puppet that has an actor off stage saying their lines into a microphone. the spider would also probably be the same.

there are some motorized puppets like the sandworm in beetlejuice the musical, but most are person-controlled, which works best for speaking puppets as show to show, peoples way of speaking can change from show to show, and the puppet needs to be able to keep up, and motorized puppets can be out of sync.

this video is a good making-of process for a giant speaking monster puppet, and i assume the spider would be the same, just much higher. there would probably be a false ceiling like the false wall above, and the puppeteers would sit above to operate the legs as if they were dangling.

it would probably be also attached to a fly system for easy lowering as the scene goes on.

iii. minor things

- the blood would come from “strawberries”, little packs of blood hidden under actors’ costumes that they can burst when needed. theres also a capsule version that one can put in the mouth and bite down on.

this is an example from the 2019 production of oklahoma, and a good look at blood strawberries and what they do

- the spider-drink would probably be done with. fake edible spiders, lots of scuttling noises from the soundboard and lights that hide the fact that they are not moving, perhaps with strobe or something crazy. the spider rain would probably be the same, but with stagehands pouring spiders down from the catwalks.

- other characters would also be off stage with mics.

- good actors will sell a Lot of this. even if the new hooks and stuff don’t touch them, they can definitely make it seem like they do.

sooooo um yeah! as much as this episode made me sick - i love technical theatre and this was a fun infodump !! take this um. as you will ig. please stage safely !! blood packs can stain and fly systems can be unsafe so please. don’t try this at home. or at least get a professional to help

[lyledebeast]

Disney Villains, Disney History

For some reason I've resisted comparing Colonel Tavington from The Patriot, who is often disparaged as a Disney villain, with Captain Rouchefort in The Three Musketeers (1993), who actually is a Disney villain. Well, fuck that! There are too many fun comparisons to not make a post about them, and as I've thought about the two films more, a lot of other comparisons have occurred.

Both feature main characters who are based on and share the names of historical figures but reduce them to a handful of egregiously exaggerated qualities. Cardinal Richelieu was a powerful 17th century man who probably did engage in some shady business to maintain power at some point, but he was hardly the campy stage villain Tim Curry plays. General Cornwallis made some costly mistakes during the American Revolution, but he was hardly the buffoon Tom Wilkinson plays.

Both films also ask us to suspend our disbelief where the heroes' violence is concerned. In The Three Musketeers, the titular characters set Richelieu's carriage aflame and roll into a camp occupied by Richelieu's guards, causing their powder supply to explode into flames that engulf their tents. Guards are fleeing as this is happening. In a film intended for adults, some of them would be on fire. Yet in The Patriot, the militia blows up a supply ship anchored just a few yards away from a courtyard full of Loyalist civilians, one of whom mistakes the explosion for fireworks. These scenes are so strikingly similar that it's hard to believe one is from an R-rated film historical drama shown in high school history classes as an accurate reflection of the time.

That the middle of The Patriot is so cartoonish gives Tavington's burning of Pembroke Church with its congregation inside a particularly savage punch. One might say the only parts of The Patriot that would not be at home in a Disney movie are the war crimes. Both Tavington and Rochefort are very much aware of being the villain in thejr respective stories, and they are both having an absolutely marvelous time. Rochefort takes such relish in ironically evoking the musketeers' motto that Richelieu reprimands him for trying to cause a riot. It's the only villain line that could threaten Tavington's "And indeed you may (be forgiven), but that's between you and God" at the top of my list. The crucial difference between these scenes is that the swords Rochefort collects from his former fellow musketeers and the uniforms he burns all magically reappear in later scenes. When he gleefully menaces the king, who is also a teenager, with his rapier, the musketeers come to the rescue before he can stab him. The civilians Tavington orders locked inside their church, including women and children, die.

If we consider the extent to which The Patriot is a Disney movie, the problem does not lie with its villain. Tavington is exactly the kind of scenery-chewing, queer-coded, elegant villain utilized in varying forms from Sher Khan to Ursula to Jafar. The character who does feel out of place is the hero, Benjamin Martin. Not only does he fail to stop any atrocities that do not involve his own children (and Gabriel still up dead at Tavington's hand later), but he commits some of his own. I don't know if the solution to The Patriot's myriad problems is to give plot armor to characters besides the hero, but it's interesting to see horrific things happening to innocent people set as a standard of adult-friendliness. Apparently, grown men can abide Disney movies if they contain buckets of blood, none of which belongs to the hero.

I am aware of The Swamp Fox in which the titular character is based on Francis Marion, officially making it Disney's The Patriot. I don't remember seeing it as a child, and I haven't made much of an effort recently to see it because I think it would make me more insane than anyone needs or wants!

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

Some speculation for what's to come based on the OST* and my own perception and yearning

EPISODE 1

Not so much to guess about this one. The opening track and how it is used to introduce Delainey's Claudia is one of the most spectacular pieces of cinematography that I've seen in my entire life

EPISODE 2

We know which scene Paris sucks belongs to since we've already seen it in the trailers so it makes sense for it to be at the begining of ep. 2.

I speculated that Who are the young men could be related to Lestat and Nicolas and their portraits hanging in the theatre. But it can also be about Loustat first meeting and even the brave men they met at the park (cruising-meet cute confirmed around min 21:00)

They invite us for a hunt is def the slaughter scene at the palace after the motorbikes and Armand for you could be the moment Armand finaly joins the interview (meaning, Daniel paying attention to him finally) by the end of the episode.

Included Raglan James in ep 2 cause I wanna see Justin Kirk asap but he might as well appear at the begining of ep 3.

EPISODE 3

The 1700s flashbacks are said to happen at the beginning of this ep so The fourth great law could be an introduction to Armand as a coven master in both the 1940s and 1700s and A vein winding through paris sounds like something Armand would say to describe the city and the time. This is when Arlecchinostat is supposed to happen so there should be some remarkable track that didn't make to the OST

I don't like windows when they're closed we know is Claudia's debut performance so wouldn't it be beautiful if we hear it right after Lestat's 1700s show?

Amadeo... I don't even know how to make sense out of this one. I'm just getting ready to be stabbed through the heart and that's it

EPISODE 4

This episode is when Caludia meets Madeleine so most of the tracks may have to do with it and Madeleine as a character.

Hello Francis, Goodbye Francis I think is referring to the Francis Bacon tryptic

EPISODE 5

First time in new orleans sounds like a way to introduce the first interview.

I didn't know it was a gift I don't really know how to explain it but since it's probably in episode five (unless it isn't) something about someone being too young and stupid to realise something is important and what Eric said about Daniel reading something from one of his books that didn't know what he meant when he wrote it. Something...

EPISODE 6

Most of these tracks will probably have to do with theatre performances.

Ladies And Gentlemen as in something Santigo would say; Jardin de Satan might be some of the plays Nicolas wrote.

Come To Me Again it is a performance on its own**

Annika is probably the girl they torture on the stage and Le Bucheron and Woodcutter... a lot of foreshadowing (Le bucheron could even be a pun in French although I don't know enough French to be sure). We have also seen a play about a woodcutter in one of the trailers

EPISODE 7

The Five Great Laws for this episode since it is probably going to be The Trial and we know Baby Lu is Claudia's (unfortunate?) theatre persona

My gut tells me that Je N'Aime Pas Fenêtres Quand Fermée will play at the end titles of the episode, in contrast with the atrocities that might have happened previously

EPISODE 8

We know that Nicolas should have already showed up at some point between ep1 to 6 so For A Young Violinist Again being at the bottom of the list can only mean that we will see him once again. Something tells me it will be painful and maybe the first approach to authentic Nickistat.

Love Wronged could be applied to almost every relationahip in the show

In Nomine Magni. Who could possibly say a line like this in Latin so close to end of the season?

Followed Closely By My Madness has Nicolas de Lenfent written all over it again

Vien À Moi Encore sounds perfect for a dramatic clifthanger, maybe even Lestat coming back to Louis

*Considering always that the titles are in order of appearance as they were for the S1 OST

**Unlike Come To Me on Rue Royal that goes at the bottom as a bonus track, I doubt we will actualy hear it *in* the show but we will see

[eleonkraken]

Sprizzy Rec List

Here, take this rec list dedicated to my current favorite brain squatters. For such a small pairing there's a crazy amount of really good fic to read.

This list mainly includes 10k+ fics but there are a couple 5k+ ones in there as well. All of them are complete unless I say otherwise.

I could have included a lot more but I've already been working on this list for too long and I want to post it for you guys.

Please mind tags and warnings before you read.

Canon Era

Comprehension by MaggieMay His stance hasn't changed - he'd still sooner keelhaul his own bollocks than do Izzy Hands a favour, but an idea is already taking shape in his head - one that he's certain will have absolutely hilarious consequences in either direction, and for all it might get his throat slit, the odds still work out in favour of, for want of a better phrase, fuckery. If Izzy wants to read, Lucius can teach him.

OR: Lucius' personal approach to 'fuckery' involves lewd gay poetry, and one oblivious and feral first mate.

I'm (Not) Just a Notch in Your Bedpost, You're (Not) Just a Line in a Song by Ennaess It starts with a hand on a sleeve. None of the other crewmembers would have minded--would have thought much of the gesture at all--but no one touches Izzy. Lucius, quite accidently, realizes he would very, very, very much like to touch Izzy. Intimately.

Head and heart on fire by RustyTheTrain Everyone is back together on the Revenge, and things are fine. Until Lucius helps patch up Izzy after he gets hurt on a raid, and then can't stop thinking about him without his shirt on. It is quite annoying. And inconvenient. The last thing Lucius needs is a crush on the angry, asshole first mate Israel Hands.

by any other name by sugarybowl & wishingonalightningbolt Once upon a time, Izzy Hands had a steamy weekend with a pirate called Francis Spriggs. A few years later, he boards the Revenge and meets Spriggs' younger brother, Lucius.

Portrait of a Man on Ire by sweatervest “Yes. To sketching,” Izzy growls. “But on one condition.”Lucius lifts an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”“I sketch you.”

Modern AU

beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth by sugarybowl & wishingonalightningbolt Ed, Izzy, Fang, and Ivan make up the London-based rock band Kraken, which rocketed to fame in the 1990s. When ballad singer Stede Bonnet reaches out about a collaboration, Izzy has to work with Bonnet's songwriter, an overeager composer named Lucius, to write something that aging rockstar Ed and new-on-the-scene Stede can perform together. What's worse is that Lucius is utterly obsessed with a mysterious songwriter called Basilica, a faceless, genderless musician—and he has no idea that Izzy and Basilica are the same person.

and a silver sixpence in his shoe by CyborgShepard Izzy likes lines, likes rules. Likes to know where things start and where they finish, definite and resolved. But where the fuck does getting off to Luce begin, and how does sitting on the bridal table at Ed’s wedding with Lucius end?

Or: The one where Izzy is Ed's best man, Stede wants the most lavish wedding possible, and the person in charge of planning it is the camboy Izzy's been subscribed to for the better part of a year.

under the ashes, i'm on fire by izzyxhands Izzy's having a miserable night at Bonnet's stupid party playing nanny for Ed. Until, that is, Lucius finds him on the balcony and introduces himself. Trans!Izzy modern au.

Work in Progress by sweatervest After a disastrous interview, crime novelist Israel Hands abruptly retired, leaving his popular Detective Leyendecker series one book short of finished. For the last 10 years, he's been content to work as an editor at Edward Teach's small press. But now Ed's working on a merger with Stede Bonnet's press, and Izzy's expected to work with their star author: romance novelist L. Steele.

L. Steele turns out to be Lucius Spriggs, twenty years younger than Izzy and flirts like it's breathing. Worst of all, Lucius recognizes Izzy as Israel Hands.

Money Can(t) Buy Happiness by Blackforestfire [series] Sugar Daddy alternate universe. Lucius and Izzy have an arrangement with strict, specific rules to follow. Each installment in the series shows them drifting farther and farther away from the safety of those rules as feelings and personal growth change their dynamic.

take this sinking boat and point it home by sugarybowl & wishingonalightningbolt [part of series, you can read the Stede/Ed work for context but it's not totally necessary] Izzy supposes he gets used to having the assistant around. That doesn’t mean Izzy likes him. He’s rude, for one thing, completely fucking bitchy. He talks back, rolls his eyes, treats Izzy—treats him the way he treats authority. Dismissively, without a care in the world, as if he could take it or leave it. The most fucking annoying thing about the stupid fucking assistant is his stupid fucking dating life.

The Indignity of a Tender Touch by CloudsPassMeBy Izzy has been doing ballet for so long and he will never, never shit where he eats but he likes Lucius so fucking much.

if love is the answer (you hold on) by CloudsPassMeBy [F/F cisswap] Izzy is dragged kicking and screaming out of retirement to become Lucius’s partner. They may not be able to enter the Olympics as a same sex couple but they’re going to do their fucking best to win Worlds.

Edge of Heaven by RustyTheTrain The job wasn’t supposed to a forever kind of job, more of a until he got his shit together job. Something to keep him going and earn him a paycheck while he worked on his portfolio, freelanced, applied for internships, did what he had to get a foot through the door to the design and illustration world. So far, he hadn’t actually gotten anywhere with his plans, but he now worked five nights a week at the Revenge instead of three, lived in a shitty little apartment in a crappy part of town, spent all his money on rent, books, clothes, take away food and art supplies, and didn’t save anything. He’d be turning 30 that year and figured there was still time to change things. If he wanted to.

lucius Artpopping his pussy for izzy by CyborgShepard [series] [I can't believe I'm having to rec this title] Izzy's always glaring, always coming in here every couple of weeks to sit and brood. He doesn’t even tip, just takes up a table in the back and pretends like he’s not positively vibrating with awkward sexual frustration as he watches Lucius’ shows. And it is always Lucius’ shows he comes to watch. It’d be flattering, Lucius thinks, if Izzy wasn’t so fucking weird about it all.

in the middle of fucking nowhere by bitchlesss Lucius gets stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere with his annoying coworker. Izzy thinks about the past. Until he's too busy to do so.

Special mention

Leda House and the Kraken 'Verse by Vera_DragonMuse [series - different works in the series have different pairings, it's best to read from the beginning but there are several works that focus on Sprizzy] A modern AU that follows the entire staff of the drag bar named Revenge as well as their partners. Features drag shows, late in life coming out stories, romance in many forms, and as much found family as you could ask for.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Greta Garbo (Camille, Anna Karenina, Queen Christina)—Enigmatic and alluring and made me bisexual. The perfect example of the eroticism in silent films that literally transcends text. Could literally not change anything about her expression but you knew by looking at her eyes what she was thinking. She’s so gorgeous.

Kay Francis (Jewel Robbery, I Loved A Woman, British Agent)— kay francis was an icon of glamor in her time and a top star of the 30s - she was the highest-paid actress at warner bros from 1930 to 1936. she tended to play characters who were charming, sophisticated, and elegantly dressed, and starred in at least one legitimate masterpiece, the sublime 1932 comedy trouble in paradise. her first big role was in the marx brothers movie the cocoanuts in 1929, and she and william powell made seven movies together between 1930 and 1932. even in her sillier movies she always elevates the material with her charm and presence - she never phones it in and there’s a sort of warm, knowing wittiness about her. a really good short promo from a retrospective of her movies that i think really gets her Vibe across

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Kay Francis:

Jewel Robbery clip

"From 1932 through 1936, Francis was the queen of the Warner Bros. lot, and, increasingly, her films were developed as star vehicles. By 1935, Francis was one of the highest-paid actors, earning a yearly salary of $115,000, dwarfing the $18,000 Bette Davis – who would one day occupy Francis's dressing room – made. From 1930 to 1937, Francis appeared on the covers of 38 film magazines, second only to child sensation Shirley Temple's 138." Source: Wikipedia. Kay Francis is like the MOST FAMOUS Actress from the 1930s you've never heard of--and it was her and Norma Shearer who wore and made classic the 1930s tall, slim, bias cut silhouette. She ALSO has a WHOLE PODCAST episode devoted to her life and career in Hollywood--it's fascinating! She is both tough and a total wet cat.

One of the TALLEST Warner Brother stars at 5’9” and known as a “clothes horse” for her glamorous roles wearing the height of 1930s fashion. She fell out of popularity in the 40s, but her 30s work sizzles. The scene with her and Herbert Marshall in Trouble in Paradise where she says she doesn’t care about his reputation (because she’d rather sleep with him?) HAWOOGA

melted my gay heart with her butch look in stolen holiday

"My life? Well, I get up at a quarter to six in the morning if I'm going to wear an evening dress on camera. That sentence sounds a little ga-ga, doesn't it? But never mind, that's my life ... As long as they pay me my salary, they can give me a broom and I'll sweep the stage. I don't give a damn. I want the money ... When I die, I want to be cremated so that no sign of my existence is left on this earth. I can't wait to be forgotten." —From Kay Francis's private diaries, c. 1938

Garbo:

A cold-ass Swedish WLW Sphinx. Had plans to murder Hitler that she never got around to. "She will remain always a child of vikings, moved about by a snowy dream."

First of all, she's on the money; that's how much of a treasure she is. She's beautiful in such a distinct way you need very few lines to draw her. (Drawing by Einar Nerman) She managed to be mesmerizing in both silent and sound films. She kissed a woman in Queen Christina (and probably several more in real life). She was super dry and really funny in Ninotchka. She got the hell out of Hollywood and stayed out, living for almost 50 years after her retirement.

Garbo is one of the many reasons why I'm gay. If you haven't seen Queen Christina please do, She is so gender in that film. Also her accent makes it sound like she's always talking in cursive and it's so hypnotic (or at least I think so).

She's a gay introvert, like all of us here on Tumblr.

Mysterious and aloof, charismatic and enigmatic, with beautiful androgynous characteristics, Garbo is undoubtedly the most eccentric and unique Hollywood vintage star. Her aversion to fame and stardom makes her even more desirable to the audience, and her insane chemistry with the camera, an actress one of a kind! Her particularity and her oddity is what discerns her strongly from her hollywood co workers at the time, noone was like her and would never be like her. I think, to the utmost extent, that she deserves the title of the hottest vintage star, even though that would be an understatement of what she is!

SO gorgeous, her thick Swedish accent makes will turn your brain into pudding

Probabaly a lesbian, absolutely a mood when she retired

[theuniverseawakens347]

When I was 19, shortly before my grandma was emitted to the hospital for cancer but “died” of aggressive fluid on the lungs, says Lee to me ( and I did not go to my grandmothers funeral )

My granny Florence told me when I visited her off of Florence ( ironic) and 8th ave …down the way from uncle love lots ( Gilbert) on 72nd and Crenshaw … she told me the truth about my identity of being ADONDI and the Illuminati

And that Lee would go ABOVE AND BEYOND out her way to deem me crazy and unfit “ward of the state” to reap BIG financial benefits off my family name / MY life purpose.

I purposely made this blog to document EVERY STEP OF MY SPIRITUAL AWAKENING BACK TO TRUE SELF as documentation that Lee Garlington was going to try and use the “mentally ill” card against me .. which is EXACTLY what she did at the psych ward of St Francis medical center and even LONG before that to therapist Michelle Cauley ( and associates) ...who ironically worked RIGHT ABOVE THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD ON LABREA.

Thanks to the Illuminati I have been placed in ALL the proper hands / care to get me safely to claiming WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE and FINALLY ENDING the war “against free masons and Illuminati” but REALLY THE WALLACE FAMILY BLOOD LINE AND MOST IMPORTANTLY FUCKING NAME.

As I’ve stated many times before this blog is in the hands of EXACTLY who needs it to finish off my case against

Doris Jean Bennett

Grace “family” homes

The state of California

And Lee Garlington / Illuminati vs Free masons.

I will NOT be taking any psychiatric meds simply because I DO NOT FUCKING NEED MEDS,

YOU USE THEM TO SILENCE ME BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID OF ADONDI AND HER POWER/ TRUTH GETTING OUT,

..bruh, I’ve had FAMILY ALL AROUND ME this WHOLE TIME, doing what they need to behind the scenes to GIFT ME BACK WHAT WAS ALWAYS RIGHTFULLY MINE AS CASHAY TANEISHA WALLACE.

You Lee Garlington sent me down the path of spiritually ON PURPOSE to further see what I would discover on my own and how you could use it against me ,

And I wrote TWO WEEKS before my accident something would happen where I WOULD be perfectly OKAY, WHICH I WAS , but YOU would try to use as a means to label me mentally ill , WHICH YOU DID ,

And tried to take it a step further by saying I was also a drug addict like my “mother” YOU met when I was 15.. when you KNOW that is not my mom.

I was also told by GOOD family members of the WALLACE name that YOU paid off, some of the women I was close to / getting close to in my birth family

Aunty Mimi,

Cousin A’sha,

“Aunt” Emma ( who ironically lived in the neighborhood over from you where Alexis Wallace was shot)

Aunty Wanda AND Cousin Trysha

To NOT tell me my truth / Deny access of me “being” around birth family.

THATS why everyone was so SPOOKED when I popped home summer 2020 and people were asking “who told you where I live now”

You paid Mimi and Trysha off again when I attended the memorial in 2021 for cousin Lexi… as YOU were ALREADY reading my blog ( planning) and “keeping” up with me on your own …HOPING I had NOT met Tristan …

Whom you ALSO paid off in September of 2023 to separate and leave me hanging while you AGAIN placed me in the psych ward to make me look like a crazy stalking lunatic ex.

Tristan told you YOU should tell me the truth and you said “ if you keep quiet and let me do it I will gift you $$$ “ telling him to “name his price”

From September 2023- March 2024 YOU’VE been paying him off to keep quiet and / separate from me, WHICH I HAVE PROPF OF AND WILL BE USING.

So YOU can put your fucking big girl pants on and have the uncomfortable TRUTHFUL conversation, or I can continue to let the world around you fall apart …like you saw / felt today.

DONT FUCKING PLAY WITH ME ANYMORE.

[adanima]

KPTS Soundtrack - VegasPete edition

Listing of the songs played during emotional VP moments ep11-14, in chronological order, plus some meta as a treat (shout out to @aletheiarynne's post for starting me off on this journey)

Timestamps are for when the song starts in the episode. Colors are to indicate type of instrument - purple for strings, blue for piano, red for other (usually guitar or some electronic synth) <- more on the instrument type later

EP 11

40:22: Vegas bandages Pete - Dreaming While I’m Awake by David Celeste

41:32: Vegas gives a kiss pill to Pete - Little House on the Hill by Francis Wells

43:50: Pete tells Vegas about his own abusive dad - A Sky Sparkling by Johannes Bornlöf

48:49: Vegas shows up in front of Pete in his jammies, "I'm hurt...it's not as bad as before" - True Bliss by Line Neesgaard

EP 12

20:55: Pete turns back from escaping and walks to Vegas sitting on the lawn - From the Ashes of a Previous Life by Lama House

22:05: Vegas cries for his hedgehog - Hypothesis by Jo Wandrini

23:12: Vegas and Pete walk back into the safehouse after hedgehog funeral - Therapy by Bireli Snow

24:29: Vegas tells Pete about the other hedgehogs - Quiet When Dark by The Tap Room

26:34: Vegas hits himself, "your eyes tell me you like it" - They Broke Out by Farrell Wooten

28:44: VegasPete sex scene - Stable Delusion by Max Anson

EP 13

11:19: Pete tells himself he didn't like sleeping with Vegas, Vegas trashes his kitchen - Unspoken by Silver Maple

13:21: Vegas drops the bowl of noodles to the floor and puts Pete in a chokehold - ??? note: don't know the name of this one but it matters for what I say later, so I'm listing it here. lmk if you know the name!

16:06: Pete tells Vegas he never exists and grabs the knife - This Creed by Johannes Bornlöf

18:34: Vegas pleads with Pete to stay with him - ??? note: same deal as above lol

30:59: Vegas and Pete try to eat dinner alone - ย้อนแย้ง by เอก Season Five (Contradict by Aek Season Five) special mention for an OST song because I say so. the song actually starts playing at 30:02 but the vp scene starts at 30:59

40:16: Vegas tells Pete he's sorry in the bar alley - Touchless by Gavin Luke

EP 14

40:49: Vegas and Pete raise their guns at each other in the garage - Silent Castle by Jay Varton song actually starts playing at 40:40 but vp scene starts at 40:49

42:35: "Could it be you who kills me? I love you, Pete" - Felt like November by Magnus Ludvigsson

50:16: Vegas points his gun at Korn, Korn tells Vegas he'll take care of him and Macau, Vegas leaves, Pete resigns - A Most Dignified Betrayal by Trevor Kowalski

52:59: Pete takes off his jacket after resigning - End of an Era by Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen

56:46: Pool scene. "I'm your pet. Could you please turn around to see me?" - Glory Be by Heath Cantu

57:41: Immediate aftermath of Vegas getting shot - Ink by Charles Holme

1:18:52: Post credits scene - Midsummer Waltz by Wanderer's Trove

So...why color code by instrument type?

Here's my claim: string instruments (violin, cello, etc) are used to signal external forces/pressures, specifically their unequal positions in the mafia, getting in the way of VegasPete's relationship, while piano is used to signal VegasPete baring themselves to each other, without the masks, and becoming equals.

I'm about to sound like an obnoxious English teacher "the curtains were red because…" so putting the rest under a cut.

First, another quick shout out to aletheiarynne's post for pointing out that guitars seem to be used for KinnPorsche's sweet scenes, which is what prompted me to pay attention to the type of instrument used in VegasPete scenes.

Note: The color coding may not be wholly accurate or representative of the songs. I'm color coding based on what I hear in the episodes. Meaning the whole song may use strings and piano but if the sections of the song we hear in the episode only use piano, I only color coded for piano, not strings. And I mostly color code and look at what instrument is playing the melody or can be easily picked up on while watching the episode. That leads to a couple of points of error - my ears aren't perfect, the audio used in the episodes may have been modified from what we hear in the youtube videos, what I consider to be the melody may not actually be the melody.

Now, we're gonna go episode by episode, scene by scene. All timestamps used below are episode timestamps. Remember the coloring - strings, piano, other

EP 11

Vegas bandages Pete, Vegas gives a kiss pill to Pete, Pete tells Vegas about his own abusive dad

gah the timing of the music throughout the whole bandage > pill > talk scene is so so good

Vegas bandaging Pete is the first time Pete gets to see Vegas as something other than cruel, something other than the minor family heir or his captor. The BGM is all piano for the entire bandaging and the kiss. We don't get the first note of a string instrument until 42:16 when Vegas sits down on the floor, looks away from Pete, and Pete asks why Vegas didn't just let him die, as might be expected from "Vegas from the minor family". The entire time Vegas is trying to heal Pete, he isn't bothering to put up a front as "big bad evil Vegas". He's just a guy who worries when his hedgehog isn't eating. It isn't until Pete poses that question "Why don't you just let me die" that the reality of their respective statuses come back to the forefront and the strings come in, but the piano is still there. Vegas says "you must suffer" which sounds in line for minor family Vegas but it's said without his usual evil glee.

The next couple of seconds could honestly just be due to good timing within the song but if I choose to believe it's intentional, my claim looks stronger lol. The strings and piano still play intertwined here but when Pete asks "What happened to you?" the strings fall back and only the piano plays aka this is Pete (not head bodyguard or prisoner Pete) asking Vegas (not minor family heir or captor Vegas). The strings kind of swell up as Vegas talks about his dad who is very much an oppressive force in Vegas's life and the main marker of Vegas's status as minor family heir.

When Pete talks about his dad, it is all piano. Pete is completely revealing himself to Vegas here, no more mask as dumb, cheerful Pete. The first note of a string instrument happens at 44:48, right when Pete says "And has he ever beaten Khun Korn?" which again, brings the major vs minor family conflict back to the forefront of the conversation. The strings are still mostly in the background for a bit, with the piano holding the melody. There's a slight increase in how loud the strings are right after Pete says "they, themselves, suck" and Vegas presumably rethinks his entire life/relationship with his dad. But by the end of the scene, it's really just piano we hear. Which makes sense - Vegas and Pete both end that scene having learned entirely new sides of each other.

Vegas shows up in front of Pete in his jammies

This one is easy. Other people have talked about how Vegas wearing his comfy clothes signals Vegas being open and more himself, less of the minor family heir, in front of Pete. Having the BGM be piano adds another layer to this. Vegas is being honest with Pete, revealing how he is actually feeling.

EP 12

Ngl, pretty much all the BGM in ep 12 contradicts my claim. I have no idea why they decided to use so much guitar or synth (is that even the right word?) sounding music for VP here, other than to make it seem eery?

Pete turns back from escaping and walks to Vegas sitting on the lawn, Vegas cries for his hedgehog

Honestly, if the songs for this scene started off with strings then transitioned to piano, it would make my claim look so much stronger. Unfortunately, they don't.

First, we have piano playing when Pete initially runs out of the safehouse. When he slowly walks back to take a long look at Vegas being sad on the grass at 21:13, the strings come in. We get Pete shaking his head in disbelief before heading down to join Vegas. I could say that the strings when Pete shakes his head is him reminding himself of their respective positions and that this is Vegas - minor family Vegas and his captor - but I'd be lying if I said I 100% believed that. It's all piano again when Vegas first turns to Pete and says the hedgehog is dead. He's not putting up a front. Pete looks hesitant or conflicted for a moment before laying a hand on Vegas's knee and that's when the strings come in. Again, maybe the strings are there to remind them and us that they should be in opposing positions but even I don't believe that.

Everything else for VP this episode is not strings nor piano, so idk lol. Given how the only other moments in this list non-string or non-piano music is used for VP is Vegas begging Pete to stay (ep 13) and the post-credits hospital scene, maybe we can take it to mean extreme turning points in VP's relationship. Or maybe a release/freedom from something? We got Pete letting go of his inhibitions in the sex scene, Pete letting go of their budding relationship when he leaves the safehouse, and both of them letting go of their previous positions in the mafia in post-credits scene. The more likely option is that I'm pulling stuff out of my ass for this lol. Moving on.

EP 13

Oh dear, this and ep 14 is where we really get into the fun stuff. I'll try not to go on too long, since I'm drafting a whole other post about the music choices for the breakdown/escape scene + alley scene

Pete tells himself he didn't like sleeping with Vegas, Vegas trashes his kitchen

Reality is crashing in for Pete. He knows there are a multitude of reasons he shouldn't want Vegas, one of the biggest being their respective positions in the major vs minor family and their relationship as captor/captive. He doesn't want to want Vegas.

For Vegas, he's dealing once again with the reminder of his position in the minor family, as his father's son. And, most of all, dealing with the pressure of it and not living up to it. Both of them are putting walls up around themselves again. Of course we're hearing all strings, no piano.

Vegas drops the bowl of noodles to the floor and puts Pete in a chokehold

Again, other people have talked about how Vegas is wearing his Vegas-clothes here and how he's back to being "minor family Vegas." Obviously he isn't showing his bare self to Pete right now. For Pete, this BGM starts right after Pete told Vegas to give himself up to Korn. Pete is bringing that external party into their conversation. The grip the mafia has on both of them, and their place in it, gets brought back into the spotlight with Pete's words. Again, all strings, no piano.

Pete tells Vegas he never exists and grabs the knife, Vegas pleads with Pete to stay with him

Now, you would think that if my claim is true, we should hear some piano for this moment, right? Pete is revealing some long hidden truth about himself. But when does this BGM start? Right after Pete says "I got nothing left. Not even my humanity." Now, it's possible Pete may have felt this even before becoming a bodyguard. But being a bodyguard certainly doesn't help this feeling, and most likely exacerbates it. His place in the mafia is a cause for him feeling this way.

Everything Pete says applies to Vegas too. Vegas's place in the mafia, in the minor family, directly contributes to him feeling less than human and lashing out at Pete.

Strings in the BGM don't necessarily mean VegasPete are occluding/hiding their true selves from each other. It's more like strings in the BGM means external forces like the mafia are asserting themselves on VegasPete and getting in the way of them expressing themselves to each other. Here, because of the mafia, both Vegas (his father showing up and hitting him) and Pete (remembering he doesn't exist his whole time as a bodyguard) are at breaking points and unable to interact with each other here without remembering the weight of their respective positions. So, we get strings in this scene. (Again, don't really know what to say about the more electric/guitar sounds.)

Vegas and Pete try to eat dinner alone

This one should be fairly simple. They're alone, no pressure to put up a front, and both crumbling to pieces because they're separated. They're letting the walls down and letting themselves truly feel the loss of one another. Even if the other person isn't there to see it, we the audience are, and some inner part of them is being revealed here. Plus, neither of them are acting in their mafia positions, so no strings, just piano.

Vegas tells Pete he's sorry in the bar alley

When they first see each other in that alley, both of them are back in their mafia positions. Vegas is in his Vegas clothes, Pete has returned to the main family. This BGM starts as Vegas puts Pete's gun to his chest and says "Why don't you shoot? Don't you want me to disappear?" Vegas is reminding Pete of all the reasons why Pete should hate him. This is similar to when Pete was telling himself he didn't like sleeping with Vegas.

Their past status as captor/captive and their ongoing status as minor family heir/main family bodyguard should dictate that they want nothing to do with each other. But Vegas says the infamous "I don't think you can. And you know why." And, yeah, we really do.

You know when the piano starts? When Pete starts crying. When Pete gives up on wanting to hate Vegas and gives in to Vegas.

Now, the strings don't entirely go away. They stay throughout the rest of the scene. But they're in the background, playing the accompaniment while the piano holds the melody. Which is so fitting for this scene. Yes, they're reaching out to each other and holding on to each other. But Vegas is still on the main family's blacklist and Pete is still going to return to the main family at the end of the day. In this moment, they and their true feelings are exposed to each other, but the reality of their situation with opposing loyalties looms in the background.

EP 14

Oooooh boy, we're about to get into stuff. Let me point out that in this episode, every single time VegasPete are truly alone, we get piano BGM. Every single time there isn't someone else present to be a physical reminder of their positions in the mafia, they are truly genuine with each other and able to see each other without caring about their positions and statuses.

Vegas and Pete raise their guns at each other in the garage, "Could it be you who kills me? I love you, Pete"

I mean, do I need to say anything? VegasPete aren't even trying to pretend they want to shoot each other in the garage, Vegas fully lowers his gun. And then the love confession is pretty self explanatory.

Vegas has no defenses, no walls up for Pete. And Pete isn't fully ready to accept he wants Vegas, not yet, but there's definitely no mask here. His emotions are plain to see on his face.

Vegas points his gun at Korn, Korn tells Vegas he'll take care of him and Macau, Vegas leaves, Pete resigns, Pete takes off his jacket after resigning

The whole time Vegas is in that library, his focus is no longer on Pete. All he's focused on is his dead father and the threat of Korn. There is no way he can let himself shed the "minor family Vegas" persona in front of these people. Of course we're hearing strings. Again, strings = assertion of external forces (the mafia) getting in the way of VegasPete expressing themselves to each other.

And when Pete resigns, he says it himself. "I can't betray my own feelings anymore." Being a bodyguard for the main family means Pete can't express his true self/feelings for Vegas. It isn't until Pete takes off his bodyguard suit jacket that we hear some piano. Pete is literally shedding his status within the mafia in order to express his own feelings. Now, we do get some strings in the background here, especially as Korn says "Take care of him" which not so subtly brings back to our attention that Vegas is still related to this mafia family. A nice little foreshadowing for the pool scene? So, you know, there's that.

"I'm your pet. Could you please turn around to see me?", Immediate aftermath of Vegas getting shot

I love the BGM here. It's actually silent during the pool scene until Pete yells "Then why did you tell me you wanted to be with me?" and Vegas finally gets some hint of understanding in his face. That's when the piano starts. And all we hear is piano for this entire interaction because right here, Pete is no longer a bodyguard and Vegas no longer has anything of the minor family left. There is no external societal status to get in the way here. This is just Vegas and Pete, telling each other that yes, I want you.

And then, of course, the gunshots and subsequently, the string instruments. A literal mafia presence coming in and causing a wreck in VegasPete's relationship.

Post credits scene

Last but not least, we get guitar BGM for the post credits scene. Okay, definitely not least in terms of the scene, but maybe least in terms of what I have to say about the BGM. Again, guitar - don't really have much to say. Could possibly represent true freedom from the mafia, since a guitar is a string instrument but the guitar sound is very distinct from other string instruments like the violin.

Caveats

I am making this claim about strings vs piano in BGM purely for the VegasPete narrative. I do not know whether this music observation holds up for the whole series and I highly doubt it does. As mentioned in aletheiarynne's post, some of the music used for VP scenes were also used for KP scenes and just looking at the KP scenes mentioned in the post, I don't think it holds up.

Why only talk about strings and piano? Why not other instrument types? Because I only paid attention to the VP scenes in ep 11-14 and those instrument types were the ones that stood out to me. I'm too lazy to go back through the whole series and dissect every piece of music used. Also, the prevalence of strings and piano instruments in the music used could honestly just be down to what music is available. Pretty much all this music comes from Epidemic Sound aka those copyright free music channels on Youtube. Most composers will use piano or string instruments as the main instrument or the instrument that plays the melody. This is a choice that has historical and physical reasons. Composers have focused on piano or string instruments for centuries and continue to do so today because musicians are able to play these instruments for longer hours than, say, woodwinds which require you to breathe and thus have limited play time. It just makes sense for composers to use piano or strings in their music more commonly than other instrument types.

Also, it is entirely possible that this is all coincidence and Be On Cloud meant nothing quite as deep with these music choices. I could be making a fuss about nothing. They could have just chosen whatever emotional sounding music they liked and that music happened to have strings or piano for whatever scene they lined it up with. I'd like to think there was some meaningful thought behind the music choices, though.

And there we have it. A rather unasked for breakdown of some of the music in VP scenes. If you've read this far, thanks, you're a trooper.

[wixhing0nastar]

So I’m finally sitting down and watching Season 2 of Warrior Nun (I’ve been super sick for the last two weeks but I’ve let it play in the living room over a dozen times for the views) but first I wanted to rewatch Season 1.

Season 1 rewatch thoughts below the cut! Season 2’s coming soon!

First thought: fucking hate Mother Francis or whatever her name is, like, as a disabled person myself learning what she’d done to Ava and the other kids at the orphanage was rough.

On that note though, I do want to give WN props for its surprisingly good representation when it comes to Ava’s disability. Maybe a little-known fact outside of disabled communities, but narratives like Ava’s where the person is magically cured by something are normally pretty unpopular (with us) and offensively written.

But the way it's handled is actually really good! Sure, Ava can magically walk and use her arms again, but we see repeatedly that she struggles with pretty basic (for an able-bodied person) things because she was never in a position to learn them. And even more impressive is how they managed to write Ava’s selfish/thoughtless behavior without demonizing her for it and acknowledging that it’s a result of trauma and something that needs to be worked on... like lots if things you have to work on after a long-term traumatic experience.

-

I suddenly really want to see Ava and Shannon interact. Like, I know it's impossible on account of Shannon being dead, but I’m very curious what their interactions would look like.

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For some reason, I don't remember the OCS having this much screentime during the earlier episodes... which is good because tbh I really don't vibe with JC’s Drifter group... which is on purpose, we as the audience are drawn into Ava’s narrative and her thoughts and desires and outside of having some uh... Hormonal Feelings towards JC, she doesn't really care about the Drifters outside of having a good time, unlike how she eventually comes to feel out the OCS.

Which, on that note, maybe I’m noticing/paying more attention now because I’ve seen the back half of the season and have come to care about them in retrospect.

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Me Vibrating In My Seat: Look! This random tidbit supports my “Ava is the WN universe’s Second Coming of Christ” theory!

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Okay, another thing I don't think I’ve picked up before was that the flying levitating is a power that’s unique to Ava and that different Warrior Nuns have different “bonus powers” so to speak...

I wonder if, based on Lilith’s reaction during the scene, another one of Ava’s powers is either like... ridiculously high pain tolerance or super rapid healing to the point her brain doesn't register the pain from something as simple as getting hit by a stick?

Because Lilith and Mother Superion both seemed to think it should hurt and I feel like out of everyone they’d know what “standard” Halo-Bearer powers should look like best.

-

Ugh Lilith... what sucks is knowing where her character arc is going and this whole “hunting down Ava” thing feels (pardon the pun) saintly in comparison to where she’s going.

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The Mary/Ava episode is probably my favorite episode of Season 1. Just, peek comedy with a mix of feels and lore, aka: perfection.

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Camila showing up to a knife fight with an automatic machine gun (after Ava was just shot with an arrow) is also peek comedy. “I really hope I got God’s message right.” Which I only just realized is a call back to the last conversation with Beatrice.

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Also just... knowing that Ava’s biggest fear is being alone, and like... the joy radiating off of her when Mary, Beatrice, and Camila are taking care of her while she’s injured hurts. Like... after the way Mother Bitch treated her for being quadriplegic, it was such a surprising experience to be taken care of so tenderly by people she’d only known for like... a week? After spending 12 years being told she was nothing but a burden by her own caretaker. No wonder she’s willing to die for them down the line.

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Also, forgot to say anything during the episode, but I love how the two women we’ve kind of seen as primary antagonists up to this point (Jillian and Mother Superion) are both developed into sympathetic characters (and future allies) during the same episode, which is also right around the time Father Vincent starts seeming a little sus (even though it’s hard to tell because everyone else is even more sus).

-

Ah... the scene that started it all. I do love Beatrice’s coming out scene. It’s so beautifully done and I love Ava’s reaction, not just as someone who ships them. Like... Ava struggles a bit with empathy, when JC told her about his mom she didn't really seem to care all that much, but when Beatrice is opening up about her own messed up history and is clearly upset, you can almost see the switch getting flipped in Ava’s mind and she becomes genuinely serious and concerned for one of the first times in the show...

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I love heists!

That’s it. That’s the comment.

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The reveal that the main characters have been unknowingly aiding the bad guys the whole time is just... perfection.

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AAAND THERE’S THE CLIFFHANGER! Can’t say I’m upset I won’t have to wait another two years to watch the next episode, lol.

[sloshed-cinema]

Nosferatu the Vampyre [Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht] (1979)

Of all the versions of villagers reactions to Jonathan Harker stating he needs to get to Dracula’s castle, this iteration takes the cake.  The innkeeper’s wife promptly flings some random bit of crockery to the ground as the rest of the shocked and frightened onlookers are rendered into practically mannequins for the remainder of the scene, so great is their terror.  Less batty is writer-director Werner Herzog’s handling of the vampire himself.  Far from the genteel charm of the Tod Browning Universal iteration or the delightfully gothic Francis Ford Coppola turn, Herzog’s Dracula is more comprehensively inhuman and simply Other.  His presence is defined by an eerie emptiness: Dracula’s castle is barren and cobweb-laden, unfit for habitation.  The same vacuum of existence comes to the streets of Wismar when his plague-ship finds its new harbor.  Visually there are of course parallels to the film’s namesake, Dracula hewing closest to FW Murnau’s Orlok in appearance and mannerism.  But still, Herzog finds something even more animalistic and frightening to pull out with Klaus Kinski’s chilling performance.  His attack on Jonathan Harker in bed has a slowness, the terrible inevitability of the bite which Harker is aware of but cannot do anything to stop.  

There too is an existentialism to the vampiric arc.  The terror of Dracula is not an incursion of Eastern Otherness but rather a bacchanal of death.  Dracula laments his inability to end his existence, the countless march of the same days more dreadful than some sort of final extinguishing.  Plague-stricken Wismar regresses to an almost medieval existence, the legion of white coffins bearing the dead visual counterpoint to the arrival of Dracula’s black, noxious caskets.  As Lucy wanders the public square, the film takes on an air not unlike that of The Seventh Seal, our black-clad hero lost and bereft in a landscape of death, the others either lost in anguish or losing themselves to a final expression of nihilistic joy, making of the moment what they can: today we feast, for tomorrow we will be gone.

Though Bram Stoker’s source novel has proven ripe for reinvention for one reason or other, Herzog’s envisioning of the tale feels the most intentional in its departures.  Notably, the roles of Lucy and Mina are reversed, Harker not involved with Mina but rather the other notable woman of the tale.  As Lucy becomes more involved in vanquishing Dracula, this choice begins to feel incredibly intentional.  In the novel, Lucy is Dracula’s first English victim in a situation which feels rather slut-shamey: Lucy is promiscuous, fucks around, and finds out, transformed into a monster for her sins.  Here, Lucy begins her arc as a fragile and dependent figure but becomes the sole individual to find resolve to defeat Dracula.  Her sexuality becomes her weapon as she uses her appeal to lure Dracula to his demise.  She is victimized, but there is something strong about her porcelain features as she lays her life on the line to stop this monstrosity.  Reversed too is the Van Helsing figure, altered from a seasoned expert in the field of vampire hunting to a condescending perpetual skeptic who causes nothing but harm through his obstruction and delays.  Muddier too is the conclusion of the film.  In a strange way, Jonathan Harker becomes a more ‘useful’ character than typically, through in a way that is to everyone’s detriment.  Unlike the cut-and-dry conclusion of the source, evil here is something which can never be conclusively defeated but simply beaten back only to take different form.  It is an unrelenting, thankless Sisyphean task. 

THE RULES

SIP

Someone says ‘Transylvania’ or ‘faith’.

Bats.

Someone starts to read something or write something.

People posed like it’s a documentary.

BIG DRINK

KITTENS!

Renfield is able to finish a sentence without laughing.

That kid playing a violin shows up.

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats | Viva Vanessa (Pachard, 1984)

This review contains mild spoilers.

As far as biopics of Vanessa Del Rio go, this is likely a less fanciful account than Gregory Dark's Deep Inside Vanessa Del Rio, which alleges that Del Rio defected from Russia and worked as a sex toy salesperson, only to go back for a gangbang scene. But I do think this foregrounds the tension between the genre's artifice and reality in a pretty interesting way. We start off with Del Rio, trying to shoo a couple (Eric Edwards and Tiffany Clark) away after a tryst so she can prepare for a biopic about her life made by Henri Pachard. We see her recount her attempts to make it mainstream cinema, only to be taken advantage of by sleazy agents and producers (Robert Kerman and Jose Duval). Once again we have the tension between a scene that's pretty rotten in a real life context but played for you to get off on, but in this case that seems very much the point, and I think Del Rio's displeasure with these experiences comes through.

Then Del Rio switches to a pornographic career, working with a much more on the level Fred Lincoln (who tells her in his industry, "You fuck after you get the job"), who provides a supportive hand through the process. (Lincoln comes across as much less pungent than he did in his best known mainstream role in The Last House on the Left. The beard looks good on him.) A lot of the appeal of hardcore pornography comes from that fact that the performers are doing it for real, but Lincoln lampshades just how much artifice there is. When her male co-star has trouble remembering his lines, Lincoln steps in. "Let's just get on with the hardcore, and we'll work it out later in the editing room."

And we get scenes that are more obviously in the realm of fantasy, like where Del Rio picks up a pair of fans (Jerry Butler plays one of them) in a bar and takes them to the bathroom for a threesome. It's as if to say, if you step into a bar at the right time, you too could have sex with the great Vanessa Del Rio. (But be sure to bring a friend.) Of course, the scene snaps us back to some semblance of reality when it ends with a shot of a flushing toilet, which I understand the purpose of but really could have done without.

This tension between artifice and reality culminates in the climactic scene, a tense shoot where Del Rio is asked to share a scene with an ex-boyfriend played by George Payne, but isn't told beforehand. The idea is to find genuine emotion in their performances. As Pachard explains, "I don't know how much of it's gonna be real and how much of it isn't gonna be real, that's the chance we're taking. Try to find an erotic moment, let your heart out." And "I'm not asking you to do anything, except be yourself." But how genuine these performance are is questionable, as Payne insists on slathering himself in baby oil, and explains to Del Rio (after she tells him "You're not an asshole, you're a whole ass"): "I don't play nice guys in films, you know why? Because they pay me to be an asshole." The scene ends with Del Rio angrily walking off the set, while Pachard telling everybody what a great job they did.

Obviously these (as with all the other scenes) are dramatics within the movie, but I do wonder what Pachard's real thinking behind this scene was. There's a clip from an awards show where Pachard gives a nod to Francis Ford Coppola (who was present in the audience), and I do wonder if this is acknowledgement that art can be a messy, emotionally fraught process, made by people who could be callous people even if they don't think of themselves as such. I don't think this has the same angst as something like Gerard Damiano's Skin Flicks, which ends on a much more challenging note, but it is interesting to see something that's more cliche ridden still try to grapple with these questions.

Of course, it's no surprise that this ends (along with a threesome, and a striptease where she wears a sparkly tuxedo and hat) with Del Rio deciding that she's gonna go back and finish the movie because she's a goddamn professional. Del Rio has always been a magnetic screen presence (and enjoyable to watch for... other reasons), and this movie is no exception. If there's one other thing I can single out in this movie, it's a scene between Del Rio and Angelique Ricard. Ricard is a trans performer who I'd previously seen in a non-sex role in Squalor Motel (she plays a member of the house band). Considering how gross pornography can be with respect to transwomen, this scene is refreshingly free of those dimensions. The scene is appreciative, not fetishistic, and has a casual, relaxed vibe that I found quite appealing. Certainly a nice surprise.

Thanks to @gotankgo for the recommendation!

[rubireads]

a little life by hanya yanagihara

5 stars

it feels extremely morbid to say i enjoyed this book considering the dark themes and traumatic events running through it but the strong attachments i have towards these characters and the devastatingly beautiful words written has made it one of my most cherished books to date.

a little life is a very character driven book - a favourable aspect of any book for me. the story begins by following four friends from college: jude, willem, jb & malcom, but it then goes on to mainly explore irreversible and relentless trauma through the character of jude st francis. yanagihara shows absolutely no mercy with jude’s trauma as she writes of the disturbing childhood and the consequential suffering he has experienced his entire life. she depicts the reality of human emotions and the complications that are inevitable in unfathomable situations. this was one of my favourite aspect of the book - how frustratingly real the characters and their actions were, showcasing the reality of human flaws. there was a constant feeling of impending doom as the thoughts of jude’s loved ones were projected onto me and i often found myself feeling as protective over jude’s character as any of them.

it is a book filled with pain, desperation and heartache but it is also one full of friendship and unconditional love, an in depth study into human relationship. i purposely only really read this book in the privacy of my own house and i am glad i did because of the way that some lines and scenes had me feeling such a visceral reaction - like my heart had been ripped out - whilst others had me tearing up with joy. i can only imagine how emotional i’ll be watching the london play in may.

whilst it was a read i found extremely powerful, it is also a heavy one and it is imperative to say that anyone going into this book read the trigger warnings you can find online.