#when will my creative ambition come back from the war

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

'I should really sketch something other than Scarlet Briar expressions,' I say to myself continuing to sketch nothing except Scarlet Briar expressions (and exactly one thorny mordremified hand)

[simpishly]

Live Laugh Legacy a Sims 4 Base Game-friendly challenge by simpishly.tumblr.com

Everyone's heard of Johnny Zest. (Or so he hopes.) Former Landgraab, up-and-coming comedian, a friendly, outgoing goofball hanging around Oasis Springs just waiting to make it big.

But even Johnny can't shake his family's streak of ambition. It's got him thinking: I'm not the same as my parents, but why is that so bad? I live and laugh and love my life. Maybe I can create a live laugh legacy that allows every Sim in my family to follow their own dreams and goals...

Johnny's legacy aims to celebrate differences. It's okay to not be like the family members that have come before you! In fact, for this challenge, it's required.

Live Laugh Legacy Rules

Your challenge is to help Johnny carry on this new legacy through ten unique generations:

You must assign each generation ONE adult aspiration category. That generation may only complete aspiration(s) within that category. That includes heirs, spouses, etc., any young adult or older Sim living in the current household that is not from a previous generation.

Your Generation 1 category (Johnny's generation) must be "Popularity", though it's up to you which specific Popularity aspiration(s) you choose to complete.

You cannot repeat a category once you have used it for a generation. All Child and Teen categories/aspirations are excepted from this rule.

You must complete at least one aspiration each generation before continuing to the next.

There are exactly 10 Base Game aspiration categories, one for each generation including Johnny's. If you have additional packs installed, you may have more categories to choose from.

Base Game Adult Aspiration Categories

Athletic

Creativity

Deviance

Family

Food

Fortune

Knowledge

Love

Nature

Popularity (Johnny's generation)

Pack/Kit Adult Aspiration Categories

Animal* (requires Cats & Dogs)

Location (requires City Living, Snowy Escape, Island Living, StrangerVille, and/or Bust the Dust)

Star Wars (requires Journey to Batuu)

Wellness (requires Spa Day)

Werewolf (requires Werewolves)

*Be aware, the Animal aspiration category only has one aspiration. Feel free to combine it with the base game Nature category instead.

Additional Rules

No money cheats at any point during the challenge. All other cheats, mods, and custom content are ok!

Designate one heir per generation to carry on the family just like any standard legacy challenge. A new generation starts when the next heir ages up to young adult.

(optional) Every heir must have the Ambitious trait, because some family legacies are harder to shake than others...

That's it! Those are the rules! This challenge is meant to be bare bones, allowing you to put your personal creativity and spin on it. You might even come back to try it again a different way. Play as-is or add your own bonus goals and guidelines to create whatever game you want to play.

Questions? Comments? Want to share your attempt at the challenge? Click here to send me a message!

Above all, have fun and don't forget to leeb, leefah, lurve. 😉

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Hello! May I please request a star wars, the hobbit and the arcana match up? ^^

I'm 19, omnisexual and I go by they/them. I am a enfp, 3w4, saggitarious, so basically I'm impulsive, ambitious, fun loving, sensitive, expressive, understanding, always seems a lil high, blunt, out of pocket, creative, rebellious and live by the phrase Yolo. (I also have really bad anxiety, depression and adhd)

I'm like a mix of emo, metalhead, goth and punk in terms of music and style but I like mostly sticking with a cleaner look. I'm pale, 5'4, have shoulder length straight dyed black hair, brown eyes, skinny but has some muscle, lots of scars I am very proud of, and visible scoliosis but I like to pretend it's the emo hunch

I enjoy creating, dancing, music, trying new stuff, fashion, stuff that makes me feel sophisticated, comics, horror, zombies, learning, bugs, dark stuff, my pet bird, experimenting, running, space, writing in code, science, working out, reading, plants, red and black, collecting, info dumping, and I love taking care of things and people for some reason.

Lastly my ideal date is going and trying something new togethor or like a amusement park. What I look for in a person is passion and ambition extra points if there a little dorky lol. My love Language kinda differs from person to person I take there needs and wants into consideration but I am a little touch starved soo :)

And here you go good luck and keep up that good work fellow writer!! <3

Hi! Thanks for requesting a matchup! I hope you enjoy it! Sorry for the wait! <3333

---

Star Wars;

Luke Skywalker:

✨ You were already a part of Han's crew when you met Luke, chilling on the Falcon as you fixing one of the monitors; you heard blasters shooting in the distance, watching out the main window to see Han and Chewie running with two other people, (some old guy and a pretty cute looking young guy)

✨ Immediately getting into flight mode, you didn't get the chance to say hello to the newcomers until after you escaped the planet, and that's when you finally met Luke; hubba hubba

✨ Skipping the year that you both were just friends, you and Luke finally got together after he got back from cutting off a Wampas's arm on Hoth, (and after he got out of that water tank), but to get to the point, Han liked to joke around with you both; you were almost polar opposites, looks-wise, Luke was a blondie and you had dyed black hair, and you wore dark colors and he didn't really

✨ But opposites attract, and you and Luke actually had similar personalities, you were both passionate, caring, understanding, fun-loving, and impulsive; you both had anxiety and he definitely had ADHD

✨ Luke really, truly love you, from your love for trying new things to stargazing at the million stars in the sky - you're perfect; and you adored Luke, his willingness to learn and grow, his quirky charm, his bashful smiles, his dorky attitude; he was perfect

---

The Hobbit;

Ori:

🌿 You met Ori when you joined the Company, Gandalf asked you to come along since you were pretty great at knowing what plants can help heal or ones that you could eat, and you were great at keeping things light; basically your job in the group was to make sure no one was upset, trying your best to joke around and get smiles on everyone's faces

🌿 But sometimes you needed someone to bring a smile to your face, and Ori was your guy! From little jokes here and there, or just being his little, dorky self made you smile; he was your little, dorky boi

🌿 There wasn't a lot to collect on the road, so you'd collect a rock wherever you could, and Ori would help, running up to you with a huge, sheepish smile on his face as he handed you a few rocks he had found for you; you're swooning

🌿 Near the end of the journey, Ori took his chance and asked if he could braid your hair; having learned and read about Dwarven culture, you felt your heart skip a beat and you joked a little before saying yes and allowing him to braid you hair

🌿 As said before, Ori's a dork, like the number one dork of all dorks, but he was your dork, and he understood you, he cared about you, and he loved you

---

The Arcana;

Portia:

🐱 You met Portia when you came to visit your friend Nadia, yes, ou were friends with royalty, lucky you; for some reason the other many times you visited Nadia, Portia was at her cottage, what a coinkydink

🐱 But it was love at first sight, you loved how sweet she was, how energetic, upbeat, and mischievous she was; and you absolutely loved her eyes, you could stare at them all day

🐱 You had both started talking, going on walks together, talking about everything and anything, and soon a romance blossoms; from secret kisses in the castle to dancing in the garden, you and Portia were in love

🐱 She loves your bird, and you are so glad that she does; she also loves looking at plants with you, reading with you, trying out new things together, (all when she has free time, that is)

🐱 You both are two sweet peas in a pod, always there for one another, and always bringing out the best in each other :)

---

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for the Christmas Mass during the Night

Isa 9:1-7; Ps 95; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14

Christmas is a declaration of war! Or to be more precise, the birth of God in the flesh, in our world, in our human condition, makes visible and manifests in blood and bones and in our own human body, the spiritual warfare that began when the angels had fallen in love with themselves. For the angels had fallen through pride, which is essentially an overblown love of one’s own excellence, and an overestimation of one’s own correctness combined with a desire to dominate others, and so to get my own way always. Pride, in short, is believing that “I know best”. 

And so the angels’ rebellion infected humanity, and Eve had thought she knew better than God how to gain for herself happiness, and freedom, and the knowledge of good and evil. This temptation to create our own meaning, and reality, and happiness independently of God has never gone away, so dictators wage wars, and families continue feuds, and our hearts become battlegrounds – all because of pride. So Mankind fell out of love with God, and so we began to “walk in darkness” as Isaiah says.

But tonight God comes to shatter the darkness: “On those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone.” By his coming as Man, Jesus himself enters into the fray, and because he is God so he comes with victory to end this mad war, this insane rebellion against Mankind’s highest and truest good. For one of the insights of St Thomas Aquinas is that every act of sin is a lapse of reason, a kind of momentary insanity as we knowingly choose an apparent good over the true Good, God himself! Hence God comes to break the heavy burden of Mankind’s sin, the rod of pride that stiffens our will. Thus (Isaiah says) “the yoke that was weighing on him, the bar across his shoulders, the rod of his oppressor, these you break as on the day of Midian” – just in case you’ve forgotten, this refers to a battle between Gideon and his 300 soldiers against the vast army of Midian, and Gideon was victorious against the odds because God’s power was with Gideon and his men. And so at Christmas, God declares war on all that separates us from him, or turns us against him, and in doing so, they would diminish our humanity. 

Hence, an army of the good heavenly angels appears in the night sky outside Bethlehem declaring “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favour.” This, in fact, is a declaration not merely of war but of victory already won as peace is restored to men and women who live by God’s favour, meaning, for anyone who will receive his grace and live by it; anybody who will thus allow God to be their ally and friend. As St Paul said to Titus: “God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions”. In other words, Christ comes to lead us away from all that would lead us away from God and so end the strife begun so long ago. Therefore, tonight, by his birth among us, God declares war on sin, on pride, which leads us away from God. God comes to us to fight for humanity’s liberation from vices and evil, not with material weapons nor even with a mighty army of angels. Rather, God takes flesh and is born of the virgin Mary, born for us, as a vulnerable, little, human baby. There, lying in the manger – a domestic animal’s feeding trough! – helpless and vulnerable in his little body, is the Creator and Sustainer of All that Is. Isaiah, excitedly gives him a string of titles: “Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace” – many of us will hear these titles, I think, and hear the stirring music of Handel in the back of our minds. Nevertheless, no grand music, nor red and gold decor, nor warm glowing lights should distract us from this strange truth, this marvellous mystery, the sheer creativity of the divine stratagem of war that bring us our peace. 

For born in the cave at Bethlehem, and gawped at by outcast shepherds, and wrapped in simple strips of linen cloth is God himself, God-with-Us, a human baby. And this baby, even before he is full grown, is already our champion and warrior and victor in the ancient war against sin and pride. 

How? For the root of all sin, as we saw when the angels fell, is pride. So God, in answer, comes in all humility to demonstrate humility. Come to the manger and see the humility and meekness of God in the flesh. And Christ comes to teach us humility. This is enacted in a striking manner if you were to visit the Grotto where Jesus was born in Bethlehem: To get down into that small cave, you’d first have to stoop down and make yourself small, squeezing through an ancient doorway that leads into the birthplace of Christ. However, Christ teaches us not to become small physically - that is not his intention – but rather he wants to teach us to humble our thoughts, our intellect, our fundamental attitudes. 

And so tonight Christ, born for us, is here to teach us humility. For when we come to the altar, here in church, we see the humility and meekness of Christ. Because Jesus is present for us in the Eucharist, hidden under the appearances of bread and wine. So, in the Mass, the Blessed Sacrament is held up for us to adore and worship as God, and given to us here in Holy Communion, but we can only do this fruitfully if we have learnt to be humble and docile, if we can truly say, “God knows best”, and so we trust in the teachings of God’s Word given to his Church. God knows how this mystery of the Eucharist comes to be – our human minds will always fail to fathom this sublime sign of God’s love and humility. Certainly, the angels themselves marvel and wonder at the humility of this great Sacrament. Hence St Francis of Assisi said: “O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble himself like this and hide under the form of a little bread, for our salvation.” So, if you marvel that God is so great that he can humble himself and become a little baby, so we marvel that Jesus, who took flesh from the Virgin Mary, is truly present here and now, just as he had been in Bethlehem. For tonight, and indeed, at every single Mass, the church becomes Bethlehem, which means ‘the house of bread’, and the altar becomes the manger, the feeding trough, because from it you and I are fed with Jesus himself – we receive his Body and Blood into our own bodies, we become united to his flesh. This is the true wonder of Christmas that is extended to us day after day in the Mass. As Pope St Leo the Great said: “God took the nature of a servant… enlarging our humanity without diminishing his divinity.” 

Christ comes to us in the Sacraments, therefore, to enlarge our humanity. Christ comes, therefore, to fight with us, alongside us, and indeed, within us. As St Paul says to Titus that Christ has “sacrificed himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness and to purify” us. Hence Christ empties himself and gives us himself, giving us his grace in the Sacraments especially in the Eucharist, so that we might share in his victory, so that we might taste the goodness of God, and enjoy his peace.

Today, then, war has been declared and victory has been won. For today the Word became flesh and dwells among us. The prophet Isaiah says that it is the “jealous love of the Lord of Hosts” that motivates this, meaning, God’s all-consuming and intense love for humanity, for you and for me. St Thomas Aquinas suggests that God became Man, a little baby lying in the manger in Bethlehem, “so that even children could know and love God as someone like themselves”. Therefore, in this Christmas season do visit the Crib, our Nativity Chapel, or whatever favourite image of the birth of Jesus you have, and pray and ask that you can come to know and love Jesus, God-with-us, who is born for this. Or, if you ever find yourself sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, if you are anxious and frustrated and lonely and feeling unloved, come to Mass more often, and come to adore the Lord in the Eucharist, and discover the true beauty and miracle and wonder of Christmas. For as J. R. R. Tolkein said: “Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament… There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth”. 

Therefore, tonight, gathered around the manger that is this altar, we sing our victory song: “O come let us adore him, o come let us adore him, o come let us adore him, Christ the Lord!” 

[embossross]

2022 in Anime

i give ratings out of 10 stars based on a rubric that considers the following:

2 points / ambition of what the anime is trying to achieve 3 points / effectiveness of the anime in achieving its aims 4 points / my personal, subjective enjoyment 1 point / pacing +1/-1 miscellaneous

so with that said... ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (2 anime)

Ping Pong The Animation - believe the hype. incredible.

Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 - honestly if this show sticks the landing, it may become my favorite anime of all time. it's just the best week to week viewing experience. my jaw lives on the floor. and i spend at least half an hour after every episode debating ethics with my friends. amazing.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (6 anime)

samurai champloo - music! animation! episodic storytelling! STYLE! this anime just has style

ranking of kings - most loveable anime characters of all time. classic fantasy setting. stripped down for honest and charming character storytelling. hilling is best girl of the season FIGHT ME

Golden Kamuy - slow start and then POW. perfect shonen story in an atypical setting. juggles a large cast of characters with competing motivations expertly so you can never predict the twists and turns. criminally underrated

Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song - managed to make me - a known hater of ai/robot stories - glue my eyes to the screen for 3 days. tons of heart and fun storytelling.

Odd Taxi - this is a novel come to life. some of the best dialogue in anime history.

Kotaro Lives Alone - cutest anime child of all time must be protected

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (6 anime)

princess jellyfish - kind of the pinnacle of a generation of shoujo for me

yona of the dawn - tbh i can't remember if i watched this last year or in 2022 but anyway it's great. gripping stuff. the lack of season 2 is criminal and i'm gonna have to collect the manga smh

kaguya-sama love is war season 3 - continued great direction, gimmicks, and jokes

ya boy, kongming! - the shock of the season. somehow this is actually funny and the rap parts are genuinely powerful. i didn't know anime could do music this well tbh

the devil is a part-timer season 1 - had fun watching but nothing sticks with me

parasyte - truly ambitious, gripping sci-fi that doesn't spoonfeed you answers but examines a dilemma from every angle

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 anime)

banana fish - high stakes international thriller with a diverse cast and a gary stu at the helm

darling in the franxx - the not quite as good cousin of evangelion, interested in pubescent sexuality in big robots. major points for bonkers ambition. i was stunned with what it was trying to do.

spy x family - that little girl really is cute

space patrol luluco - studio trigger on speed with 7 min episodes

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (8 anime)

the tatami galaxy - smart, stylish, creative use of the medium.

made in abyss season 1 - a classic hero's journey to confront the unknown and come back forever changed

btooom! - prisoners' dilemma with explosions

demon slayer season 2 - i liked that guy with a bunch of wives and the bad guys

black lagoon - peak 90s anime

moriarty the patriot season 1 - no one told me moriarty is a righteous socialist antihero. it's fun.

theatre of darkness: yamishibai - horror vignettes in 5 minutes for halloween

ascendance of a bookworm season 1 - slow, dull isekai about learning to make a book (not write a book. make a book) until it suddenly gets political in the last couple episodes. can't decide if it's worth continuing tbh

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 anime)

seraph of the end - 'has-to-learn-the-same-lesson-500-times-protagonist'

my dress up darling - i watched the first two episodes in a dark room with strangers and it felt like a soft core porn showing but for kids ??

mushoku tensei: jobless reincarnation season 1 - damn this for having good animation and actually decent pacing because this was gross and i wanted to give it a garbage rating

horimiya - cute romance but i forgot everything about it

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (1 anime)

no game no life season 1 - confused that this was such a phenomenon when it came out. it's fine i guess.

⭐⭐⭐ (5 anime)

that time i got reincarnated as a slime season 1 - when given a name for the 1st time, male goblins evolve into 'hobgoblins' and female goblins evolve into...wait for it...'goblinas.' i died laughing + that's this show's legacy to me

danganropa - edgy and strange and not altogether convincing but it has its moments

my teen romantic comedy snafu - 🤷

call of the night -pretty colors! boring anime¡

death parade - philosophy for dummies the anime

⭐⭐ (1 anime)

k-on season 1 - i know it's a classic & i'm so sorry i was just so bored. cute girls doing cute things is not for me! maybe if it was a movie, but a whole 24 episode show!?!?

⭐ (1 anime)

overlord - overpowered isekai fantasies for men are something. i'll leave it at that.

& then ongoing shows that i'm not going to rank until i finish them (but actually all are pretty good so far) - chainsaw man, blue lock, mob psycho season 3, to your eternity, ao ashi, made in abyss season 2, dororo

[rhas-writes]

Zhongli Had to Start Somewhere - Morax x Reader

A continuation of my Ex-archon Reader! thoughts, but is very readable as a standalone. Uses you/your, so no pronouns.

Spoilers! for Zhongli's backstory. Keep in mind, I built off the canon so not all the information is true.

Content? Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst.

- - -

Ripe in his youth, Morax cannot see the appeal of companionship. A relationship established without contracts? He scoffs at the thought. The only connections worth creating were those with benefits. And you - a god much older, much wiser, much more powerful than he - is such a connection.

Your insistence to call him a friend wears on his rigid view of life as the decades roll past. Annoyingly enough, you too catch the moment his amber eyes shimmer at the plan to sip tea with the other adepti and gods. It's embarrassing to say the least, the great Lord of Geo made to eat his own words like a starved man. You don't tease him though, not in the moment anyways, you simply send him a knowing smile. You're gracious like that.

Morax thinks he's grown too soft as you and Guizhong braid glaze lilies into his long dark brown hair. But when the childish giggles float on the breezes of Mt. Hulao, he isn't upset at the revelation.

When the first seeds of love root in his chest, Morax blames you. You and your fondness for all beings is the only explanation for him feeling such human emotions.

Humans. Fragile, weak, in need of protection. Morax thinks lowly of the sentient creatures roaming Teyvat. But once again, you shove such words right back into his mouth. You show him the intelligence, the passion, the ambition of humanity. You wipe away his ignorance and replace it with respect, one that recognizes the worth of lower beings.

Morax wonders why he entertains your mundane activities, but he already knows the answer, he just ignores it. It's the little things, you answer when he mutters the question under his breath, which makes absolutely no sense.

Right now, he's supposed to be watching the sky paint itself lavender and pink to mark the beginning of a new day but he finds you to be a better view. Art, he's familiar with the creative outlet, - after all, it is a hobby of yours - familiar enough to know no being could ever create something as stunning as you.

The Archon War begins with hesitance that easily crumbles into an unquenchable thirst for power. It is only you and Guizhong keeping him from succumbing to such desire. Morax focuses on protecting his shared people with the God of Dust, fulfilling his end of an unspoken contract. There are pangs of guilt and grief when some inevitably die and he remembers why he built his walls so high.

Longing is not a feeling he is accustomed to but is forced to face it when the War keeps him from you. Unlike him, you have no people, no land. Your battles are all throughout Teyvat, fighting for those unfairly caught up in the wrath of gods. It's admirable, really, but Morax is selfish and he wants you at his side.

Even the strongest stone will crumble when hit properly, Morax knows this. He knows, yet he carves tunnels beneath blood soaked soil to see you. He is spent and exhausted after felling other gods but it's inconsequential when your light illuminates the tight space he's made.

His perseverance is further rewarded when you press a jewel tasseled earring into his palm right before you part. And there's that knowing smile plastered on your face as you turn away, the other half of the jewelry swinging with your hair. These moments may be small, mundane even, but they warm his heart in a way no flame can.

Irony is cruel, coming at the worst of times as Morax watches his dear friend turn to dust. He loses himself in a rampage that lays waste to once fruitful land. The night comes and he sits in crimson - loathing his younger self, the one so far removed from others, he cared not of their lives.

He knows it's your hand on his shoulder bringing him out of spiraling thoughts because who else dares touch a god bathed in the blood of his enemies? You speak to him softly, tenderly holding him, treating him like he's fragile.

"I will not lie and tell you this pain leaves with time. Instead, I will remind you how change is inevitable. It will come on a whim and do as it pleases, but it comes nonetheless."

Morax earns the name Rex Lapis as he establishes Liyue Harbor, a new home for his people. One that will stand until time itself erodes away the city. Oh, how far he's come...

Pride swells in his chest when you take your divine seat. The Archon War has come to an end and he can finally claim you as his. Just the thought gets him giddy, he's not ignorant to the favor you easily garner from others.

Morax's face rivals that of a silk flower bush when you reject his marriage contract. Embarrassed and confused he stands frozen with his mouth ajar. You don't want any contract? You want the love you share to be what binds the two of you? He thinks it's naive, silly, dare he say childish. But his opposition is short-lived because he loves you. If he must live millennium after millennium witnessing the joys and tragedies of life, then he will do it with you.

All of Celestia quakes as the archon meeting reaches its peak. The reason for the empty seat now speaks volumes. Runic lines glow against black to pale skin. If looks could kill, the heavens would have fallen. But there's a smugness in the ones giving such awful orders. A smugness that reminds Morax and the six other archons that they are not as powerful as they think.

For once, the great God of Contracts finds himself on the losing end of a deal. The Osmanthus wine, your favorite, in his hand is heavier than he remembers. He ascends the stairs to your abode, reaching the threshold he stills. His amber eyes draw over the small nation you preside over. A transparent golden dome protects it for all the times you are elsewhere in Teyvat, will it remain without you?

Dinner with your friends and lover, a tradition you have all of them partake in on the turn of a new decade. Everyone is smiling, laughing, the weight of being an archon lifted off their shoulders for a night. Well...that's how it normally is. This evening is different as the pressure to fulfill their duty has never been so heavy on seven of the eight attendees.

The effects of the dark liquid effortlessly poured into your glass by your husband is quick. One moment you're elegantly seated at the round table and the next you're haphazardly stumbling around the room.

Morax forces himself to watch the variety of imbued weapons sink into the skin he pressed adoring kisses to every night. He fights every instinct to look away when he meets your unreadable gaze. He lets your beloved familiar spread its wings across your chest in a useless attempt to save you. He does all this because it's the least he could do.

Atop Mt. Tianheng, Liyue's archon looks over the city he's protected for over a millennium. Your work is done for the day, a phrase he heard in passing, now replaying in his head. The sea breeze causes a small tassel to tickle the left side of his neck. Change comes nonetheless, the voice he longs but does not deserve to hear reminds him. His decision becomes clear. You always believed in humanity's capabilities, so he shall give them a chance to prove themselves. Prove that change has indeed come.

- - -

Published: 11 May 2022

[gotpineapple]

Under his mane Tywin Lannister x Baratheon!Reader //Part 3

I’m back! Finally I am back. With a lower stress level and higher motivation :)

The smirk on the face of the Queen of Thorns was unrivaled. If there was anyone who Tywin had come close to liking from that retched Reach, it was Olenna Tyrell. Intelligent, cunning and bold. All traits that Lord Tywin could respect. 

“So you have finally found yourself another wife? A bit young isn’t she”, She mocked as they sat in the tower of the hand. “Mind you Lady Y/n is a respectable woman, but she is quite a free spirit. Do you think she is fit to rule Casterly rock without it sucking out her soul?”

Lord Tywin pursed his lips after taking a sip of his wine. “She is a dutiful and ambitious woman. She shouldn’t have issues with being the WIFE of the ruler”, he weighed on the word wife. 

The lady before him rose her brows. “Her ambition is not ruling and you know that. The realm knows that the Gentle Doe is keen on knowledge and creative arts”

“She is keen on justice. As the sister of Stannis Baratheon, she has had a fine teacher in duty and power. She will do just fine”, Tywin scoffs. 

“I did not say she would do a horrendous job at her task. I said that it would make her miserable. I do not think I need to school you on the similar history of Elia Martell”, Olenna says with a sad smile and rises. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find that granddaughter of mine and see if she is free of your horrendous grandson”

---------

Lady Y/n was sitting in the sunlight with the young Sansa Stark. The younger woman before her was looking more or less miserable. Sansa was not a bad girl, she was young, a little naive and sometimes a little rude, but right now it was all to be expected and forgiven. 

“Why have you never married?”, the young girl inquires while taking a delicate bite of her lemon cake. Immediately she regrets her question when she sees the wide eyes of the Gentle Doe. 

“War has it’s costs”, Y/n laughs without any joy. “I was supposed to marry your father actually”, she adds trying to steer the topic to another direction. 

Sansa’s eyes widen comically and she almost chokes on her lemon cake. The older woman gives a true laugh and pats Sansa’s back. 

“My father? Truly? Why have you not mentioned it before?”, she gasps out as she manages to compose herself. 

Y/n shrugs and takes a small sip of her wine. “It has never come up I suppose. Robert planned the union after the first time I met Eddard. He thought it would be safe marriage for his only sister”, what a lie that thought turned out to be, she thinks sourly.

Sansa bites her lip and ponders for a minute “A planned union can grow to be love, even if someone else held your beloveds heart” were the words of her mother. Could that mean Y/n?

“Nevertheless that never happened and your parents did love each other deeply, never doubt that, petal” Y/n says and lays her hand upon Sansa’s. Petal was the nickname that she had given for the young wolf. Beautiful, soft, yet persistent. 

“And if this row that is storming as we are speaking, decides to last for a too long of a period: As the lady of the West, I will take you to Casterly Rock. That place is beautiful, you might hate the Lannisters, but their home is a much homier place than this appalling city”, she continues trying to take the red headed lady away from the worry in her head. 

Sansa smiles softly. She didn’t feel ready to trust anyone in the city, but she had started to realise that the Lady Baratheon lived upto her gentle nature. 

-----------

The Old Lion was scribbling at his desk. Only light in the room was the candle sat next to his arm. 

A sharp knock brings live into the room as he lets one of his guards enter. “My lord Hand, there has been an order”

“I presume is came from the king?”, Tywin says without stopping his writing. He hears the guard shuffle hid feet. 

“No, my lord hand. I-It came from Lady Baratheon”

Tywin scoffs. His betrothed then. “Where is she?”, he asks tiredly. The guard tells him that she is waiting for him in the council room. And so the old lion stood. 

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

“I would ask what is the meaning of this, but I think I can presume”, Tywin says as he enters the council room, finding his future Lady standing behind the seat of Honor, waiting for him to arrive. 

On the table there was a serving of dinner. “I usually eat at my tower, without wasting my time”, the lion grounds out as he finds his seat. What aggravates him is the smile on Y/n’s face. She thought she had won by just getting him there. 

“Forgive me, lord Hand, but I have the right to dine with my future husband”, she counters with a smile still intact. 

Tywin let’s out a laugh as he pours them both cups of wine. “Next time walk yourself up my steps and order the food to be sent there”, he advices making his betrothed smile wider. She had won. “But because of this little scheme, I will take the right to inform the jeweler. Rubies will fit your wedding jewellery finely. You will be a Lannister after all”, he says with a deviant smirk. 

He knew that this was no matter of importance but there was no harm in reminding Y/n on who is wearing the boots and armor. 

Y/n grinds her teeth for a minute but then lets a small smile come back out. “You really do live up to your reputation”

“Also I heard you have dismissed my chambermaid of daily duties, may I ask why?”, Y/n asks now agitated again. The main reason she had went behind his back on this, is because he had went behind her back on her private matters. Her private staff. 

“If I cannot dress my wife, you can stay in our chamber for the rest of your days”, Tywin shrugs. 

“What?”, Y/n laughs. “Will you also braid my hair? And you wake up before the sun does, does this mean I need to awaken with you?”, she ponders. Then her brows scrunch up, “Does this mean, I will be sharing my chamber with you?”

“You are my wife, with all the assassination attempts going about, I need you close by. Which means we need to cut everyone who is not necessary from our staff. I will not find you killed on our bed”, he says with finality. 

Y/n closes her eyes for a moment and sighs. “Tywin, I am not a prisoner nor will I just be a child bearer. I will be your companion, which means we need to start communicating, our wedding is in four short days. This realm is in enough chaos, without any more tricks”

“Then tell me of your letters to Ser Davos Seaworth, if I correctly recall he is fighting for the your most beloved brother”, Tywin seethes and stands from his meal. 

Y/n stays sat on her seat. Davos Seaworth was her brothers dear friend. Whom could not read nor write. Stannis on the other hand was a tactician who knew that letter with his own name would not end up in his sisters hands. 

“You might not love your siblings, but I love Stannis and I don’t care what route I need to take but I needed to know he was alright. After the attack. I needed to be sure, he hadn’t died”, she whispers. 

Tywin sneers. “You could have risked your reputation, had I not lied for your emotional schemes”, he growls and brings his face by her ear. “You will not do this again, am I understood”

Y/n in all her fear turns her head so that their noses are almost touching. “As I said, I will be your companion, WE need to start communicating. I will not kneel unless you kneel by me”

Part 2

[sitp-recs]

In the Bleak Midwinter by @the-fools-errand

Harry/Draco (2022, Explicit, 105k)

After serving in the border wars for the ever-expanding dominion of Lord Voldemort, Draco and his cousins have returned to Hogsmeade to resurrect the old Black Family name in crime. But when a shipment of wands bound for the front lines falls into their possession, they find themselves at the centre of an investigation backed by the Dark Lord himself.

Draco’s ambitions lie far beyond the borders of Hogsmeade, however, and he won’t let anything get in his way – except maybe a bespectacled newcomer to town, who knows more about the missing wands than he’s letting on.

“Of course this wasn’t the life Draco would have chosen for his family if he could wind back the clocks, but the reality was the Dark Lord couldn’t be toppled by one man or a thousand. The only difference was that Neville was prepared to throw away the lives of innocents fighting for a cause that had no shot of success, whereas Draco would never let another soul die on his behalf ever again.”

Interrupting the hidden gems series to scream a bit about the Peaky Blinders AU we didn’t know we needed! I’m finally catching up with LCD and despite having promised myself I’d take a break from long fics I just couldn’t resist this gorgeous claiming post - I knew I had to check this fic as soon as I saw the tags and that incredible art for it, and now that I spent the whole day eating up 100k I can finally say: What. A. Fic! I was sure this would be fun and exciting since Fe wrote one of my favorite AUs last year - if you haven’t read The Secret Keeper yet I urge you to do it ASAP! - and once again I was completely blown away by this brilliant, intriguing, inventive and satisfying ride.

It’s impossible not to start with the clever and detailed world-building; Fe created a magical and immersive PB universe even for those who have never watched the show, and the fic was able to deliver the same sexy and mysterious atmosphere. I particularly loved how the source material was adapted to include magic and small details within character arcs. Speaking of which, what a fantastic (and big) cast! I found each character incredibly fascinating with their own conflicts and distinct personality. From Hagrid and Cedric to Mundungus and Snape they all brought something to the table and it was lovely to see side dynamics like Pansville, Harry & Snape, Draco & Theo, the Weasleys. I was also very happy to see Sirius and Tonks alive here, and by the way Sirius’ heartbreaking back story is brilliant! Such a creative way to explore his canon arc, I loved it.

Now speaking of Drarry, I could wax poetry about their competent, charming and feisty personalities - the clash between Draco’s cool and controlled facade x Harry’s easy yet defiant persona behind his Muggle cover made for some delicious UST that took my breath away. The slow burn is exciting and perfectly paced with alternating POVs and a careful balance of intrigue, slice-of-life, character development and romance. The initial animosity between them gave me butterflies, slowly dissolving into attraction as the characters grow closer and allow themselves to become vulnerable and open with each other; we have no choice but to fall in love with their love even knowing hell’s about to break loose at any moment. I’m so weak for secret identity drama, this is peak angst material 🙌

Fe kept me at the edge of my seat the whole time wondering what would come next, and I kept being surprised and pleased. I remember that by chapter 3 I was already mourning this universe and trying to self-sabotage and stall my reading but I just couldn’t stay away 😂 if you’re looking for your next long read, I can’t rec this AU enough. BAMF Draco, Spy Harry, pub nights, secret relationships, grey morality, horse races, power couple, Harry playing the piano! This fic has it all and whether or not you’re familiar with the show I guarantee this will be a wonderful, thrilling and satisfying case fic and love story. Go forth and come scream with me after you’re done!

Read on AO3

[wingletblackbird]

Anakin's ingratitude?

In a recent exchange on Quora the fallen Anakin Skywalker, or rather the newly dubbed Darth Vader was described as "treacherous, murderous and ungrateful".

Of course, there is no doubt about the first two. He did indeed end up turning on Jedi and murdering many people. The part that I questioned however, was the assertion that he was ungrateful.

In answer, I think I asked what the Jedi ever did for him, and the answer was something along the lines of "Why are you even asking that? They gave him a sense of community and purpose..." alongside several other things. I don't see that. Now don't get me wrong, Anakin had many faults, but in all of my viewings of the prequels (and the Clone Wars series I've recently began watching), I honestly do no believe ingratitude was among them.

Did the Jedi give Anakin a sense of purpose and community that he shunned in his ingratitude? No, I believe they did not do either.

Going back to The Phantom Menace, Anakin, a sweet and friendly child of 9 stated outright that the reason he wanted to be a Jedi was "to help people".

That was his sole ambition. He did not want to be Jedi for selfish reasons, or for his own self-aggrandizement, but because he thought they were great heroes who went around righting wrong and helping others.

This is evidenced in several places throughout the movie, and what is also evident is the desire to help people was not something that the Jedi gave Anakin.  

He already strove to help others as much as he could, even before becoming a Jedi. It was a sense of purpose he already had.

Shortly after we first meet him in TPM he helps Jar Jar Binks get away from Sebulba, who was poised to attack the Gungun. Binks was an almost total stranger to Anakin at that point.

He helped him because he new Sebulba to be a bully and a cheat, and that anyone he turned on prbably didn't deserve it. The next thing we see is him leading a group of strangers around the town, apparently buying them food, and offering to take them into his home when a sandstorm blows up. One of the clearest statements of Anakin's helpful and self-giving nature, however, is that even after learning that Qui Gon Jinn did not come to Tatooine with the intent of freeing slaves, he still decides to help him anyway. He says to his mother "Mom, you're always saying the  problem in this universe is that nobody  helps each other"

Anakin then proceeds to take part in the pod race, purely with the intent of helping Qui Gon to get the parts he needs to repair his ship. He did not do it with the intent of gaining his freedom or becoming a Jedi. He didn't even learn that he'd gained his freedom until afterwards, and it was his mother who persuaded Qui Gon to take him off Tatooine, discussing the matter with him when Anakin was not even there.

This makes it clear that, long before arriving on Coruscant or standing before the Jedi Countil, helping other people was very important to Anakin. It was a sense of purpose that he always had, and one which never left him. Throughout the Clone Wars series, and several times in the movies, Anakin goes out of his way to help his friends and colleagues when they are in trouble, even to the point of ignoring the objectives of missions.

He even helps people who are not directly his friends. In an early Episode of The Clone Wars he creatively interprets an order to join the Jedi fleet  to go and help Master Plo Koon. He does so  because he can see that his Padawan Ahsoka Tano is very upset by the suggestion that they should just abandon her oldest friend. What about a sense of community? This is where I really disagree. Anakin never fitted into the Jedi, even as a child.  He was always different. He always stood out. He became a Padawan much later than anyone else, he was from the Outer Rim, and he had a lot of emotional baggage. Furthermore, he only became a Jedi as a result of the dying wish of the maverick Qui Gon Jinn and the defiance of his Padawan Obi Wan Kenobi. (I have often wondered that if a less controversial Jedi than Jinn has discovered Anakin, would the Council have been more accepting of him, but that's another question). He also stood in the Jedi Academy as a child as a result of his powers and considerable natural talent. This tended to attract the attention of other children: and not in a good way.

Compare this to his childhood before becoming a Jedi. On Tatooine he had friends. He was apparently well-known and well-liked in his local community, with one of his nieghbours calling him by his nickname "Ani". This despite being a slave. It is reasonable I think to say that he had more of a sense of belonging an community on his homeworld than he ever did as a Jedi.

I can't think of any friends he had as close as Kitster in the Jedi Academy. In fact, he doesn't seem to have been close to anyone except his Master who was some 16 years his senior. As a result of this he became isolated and withdrawn. Since I joined Tumblr, and began reading this blog (and others like it, for example Padawanlost), I've become more convinced of my belief that in his 13 years among the Jedi what Anakin (and others) endured was nothing short of abuse. Emotional, psychological and spiritual abuse. This may seem a controversial idea, but I would urge those who are unconvinced to read some of the pieces on this blog which go into the specifics. Including "A Nurturing Environment", This is not to say the Jedi were intentionally abusive, to Anakin or anyone. Abuse does not have to be intentional, it can happen when a group or organization become so set in their ways that practices which are unhealthy or have negative outcomes become the normal, accepted way of doing things.

"We've always done it that way, it works for almost everyone, why should we change?" I believe that is what the response of the Jedi would have been to any such assertion. Again, they really believed they were doing the right thing and had everyone's best interests at heart, but they had also become state in in their hive mentality did not realize that people are different.

I do believe though that the approach and practices of hte Jedi proved immensely damaging to Anakin, as a person with childhood trauma and perhaps severe mental health issues. Even as an adult, he often had to defy or bend the rules to help people, and sometimes even openly go against the Council to do what he felt was right.

Even when this happened, even when he did help others, it was always tinged with guilt. Anakin always believed because he did not fit in there must be something wrong with him. That his motives, opinions or desires were somehow bad.

There's also some evidence to suggest hat with the exceptions of Obi Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano, he never really considered the Jedi to be his family. Apart from these two, is is never really shown to have consistently positive or friendly interactions with other Jedi: and even his relationship with Kenobi is tense at times. They certainly didn't treat him as such, and he considered leaving for some years. "I know how it feels, to want to walk away from the Jedi" Anakin says in a (resigned?) tone to Ahsoka Tano at the end of Series 5 of the Clone Wars. These were not the words of a person who was happy in the Jedi. He stayed mostly because he felt he had a duty to the Republic as long as the Clone Wars lasted, and because he felt he could do good. This situation is summed up in this quite from Dave Filoni: I think it’s an important thing because a lot of people, when they watch the movie, they go, “Well how can he turn his back on these people? They’re like a family to him.” But when you give the greater context of this series, you see, “Well, it might be a family, but the family doesn’t trust him. The family doesn’t believe in him fully. The family often isn’t as much a family as Palpatine is a grandfather.” 

I think then, it is safe to assume that Anakin was not ungrateful. He remained loyal to the Jedi for 13 years, even though in some sense the Jedi never really wanted him as a person. They wanted him for what he could do for them, as the Chosen One.

They left his mother in slavery.

They told him he could not rescue her. Or Ahsoka when she too was lost.

They put him in the most dangerous missions during the Clone Wars despite his young age and lower rank.

They asked him to commit treason, all the while denying the rank of Master.

They told him to trust their judgement when Ahsoka was framed, even though this judgement proved to be wrong.

and finally told him to let his wife and unborn child die.

Anakin probably would not have said it, but he really didn't have much to be grateful to the Jedi for. Even for that though, we still see him apologizing to Obi Wan in Revenge of the Sith for not always being appreciative.

[sing-backwards-and-weep]

that post regarding “privilege of depth of ‘character’” vs “reductive limitations of ‘representation’” led me to this thinkpiece;

i believe there’s a stark difference between a narrative driven by a series of well-thought out conflict of interests, with a sufficiently nuanced level of political sentiment so as to be relatable - whether overt or subtextual, it really doesn’t matter - contrasted by a narrative driven by what is at best, shallow ideological zealotry - and at worst, the ideologically hollow appropriation of the aesthetics involved and associated with political thought, without any actual food for thought to offer

the criteria of conflict resolution also comes to mind - personally, i think good art is supposed to leave you with new ideas, not rob you of peace of mind by leaving unanswered questions - but this is a personal sentiment; don’t raise questions you don’t have answers for, it’s lazy as fuck.

that’s not to say that you need grandiose nobel-prize-winning social solutions to resolve the real problems of the real world, but within the scope of your narrative - and the real-world conflicts that vicariously drive its narrative - it’s vital that your heroes have some sense of direction and dedication for making the world a better place, rather than languishing in misery.

creative potential arises from the very nature of conflict - the drive to construct better solutions - and to default on your creative responsibility to contribute to the real-world conversation through your artistic vehicle (if it is your ambition to have something political to say) is a very a poor place to leave an audience.

personally, i think your heroes are supposed to be an extension and manifestation of your own creative potential - these are the creative forces that strive to build something better within the scope of whatever conflict to which you relate

examples of the first column include Fallout; New Vegas or Metal Gear Solid, because video game design falls the scope of my own personal concentration

Solid Snake is an interesting subversion of the idea of a hero who manifests creative potential, because instead of building something better, at the core of Snake’s internal conflict is his own realization of the fact that he was created as an agent of war and destruction; what he *does* with this tragedy, however, is turn his destructive potential against other agents of destruction - hunting down Metal Gears, turning his back on his country, etc - effectively clearing the way for future agents of creation by wiping away the mess they were born into - the best example of this is in the MGS4 microwave tunnel scene when he has a heart-to-heart with Raiden. if he cannot embody creative potential, he will destroy the destructive potential.

bringing this conversation back to its original talking point, what i’m basically delineating is the difference between meaningful and politically charged characterization versus hollow tokenism

as oft-disputed as this controversy is nowadays, my personal sentiments are that, while you can fill a story with as many tokenized minorities as you want, that alone isn’t enough to make your project progressive, and it doesn’t mean you actually have anything important to say. what’s worst is when an artist acts like they’ve said all they need to say simply by creating their tokens, as though it were a revolutionary act unto itself.

if you deny those minority characters an engaging level of personal depth and agency, nobody is going to want to invest in their potential - or your project - long enough to see where their story goes, because you’ve already shown your hand by revealing that their character arc stagnates and goes - surprise - nowhere beyond the static and superficial level of aesthetics. they instead become furnishing for the story you wish you knew how to tell, which is arguably worse than having never written them in the first place.

political questions aren’t aesthetic ones, they’re humanitarian and social ones - if you deny your character the qualities *of* character necessary to stimulate comprehensive and empathetic political thought - perspective, intelligence, compassion, drive, and passion - they’ll flop outright, and more often than not, in a way that is insulting to your audience, whose intelligence should be appreciated, never underestimated.

this isn’t to say that the aesthetics of political thought cannot work in conjunction with the actual nitty-gritty lore-work of political thought - in fact, that’s some champion level story-telling, to match aesthetics with subtext, that’s really the goal - but you can’t have one without the other, because by the same token that nobody wants to engage with one-dimensional political caricatures, nobody wants to slog through a treatise of meticulous political thought for entertainment, either

[clonewarsarchives]

PRODUCING MAGIC (#129, NOV 2011)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars producer Cary Silver tells Star Wars Insider why Season Four breaks new boundaries. Interview by Jonathan Wilkins

What have the challenges been this season?

The challenge has really been to maintain the high level of quality that George [Lucas] has tasked us with. One of George’s big tenets is to always push the boundaries, and this challenges us to constantly find ways to get better, to push the quality of the lighting, animation and effects as well as the storytelling. You’ll see all of this in the coming months. So buckle your clone helmets on tight because it’s going to be another amazing season of The Clone Wars!

Lead writer Christian Taylor recently told us you've been known to hold your head in your hands when you hear incredibly expensive ideas in the writers' room. What's the most expensive idea someone's come up with?

You know, it’s funny. I saw that quote and probably sometimes do get concerned about where we’re going, but honestly my feeling is that in a writers’ conference it’s not my job to cringe or try to limit what George wants to do. It needs to be a freeform, creative environment. It’s all about getting the idea right, going as far as we can, and then we’ll figure out how to do it and find ways to make it producible. So, although I do grimace at times, I don’t think that’s something we should worry about at a writers’ conference. The sky’s the limit!

Surprisingly enough, one of the most challenging things in this season was put forward by George himself. It’s the three opening episodes of Season Four and we’ve set them almost completely underwater. And for a TV series to completely change everything for one story arc is amazing and ambitious. Think about it: basically every asset we had previously used no longer applied. Every camera move as well as the simplest walk cycles or fighting cycles that we’d created up to that point had to be rethought and redone.

So we had to create a completely new construct for the series, which I think we did spectacularly. It was incredibly challenging and not something any other CG series would even think about doing, but for us it’s just another story arc. That’s just a small example of the level and ambition for the show that George is constantly pushing us to reach.

Presumably, having made those episodes, you’ve got the assets in the bank if you want to revisit it later.

Certainly, being in CG gives it that ability, although it never works as easily as you think. You might go back and say, “Oh great, let’s do another water episode,” and then realize there are all these other things you’ve got to change. But, yes, we do now have the basic concept in the digital world that we can pull from.

More than that, though, is that it helps create more confidence amongst the crew. We can enjoy the fact that we really pulled the impossible off! And for me, that’s the true achievement. We have the most amazing hard-working and talented crew, and there isn’t anything we can’t figure out how to do at this point.

As you've gone on, has the process of making the episodes become more streamlined through experience?

It has. One of the tenets of the company is to never rest on our laurels; so with every season we want to figure out how to make things more efficient and the production process more effective.

Usually when you try to streamline a production, the quality and complexity goes with it, and you simplify things. But we’ve been able to streamline the process and the production system while pushing the quality through the roof. They’re almost opposing agendas, but we’ve been able to figure out how to balance the two. Again, it’s really a testament to the talent and dedication of the entire team.

The Clone Wars has evolved every season. What have been the big advances in Season Four?

The big advances have really been the great strides that Joel Aron, [lighting and effects supervisor] has been able to do in terms of the overall look and feel of the show. We’ve also brought in a new animation supervisor, Keith Kellogg, who I think has helped us take the animation to a whole other level.

Those are some of the real breakthroughs, beyond continuing to hit our stride and build on everything we’ve learned along the way. As Joel has said, we learn from each passing episode and then apply it in the next episode. For us, it’s about constantly finding a way to up our game and push the boundaries creatively.

You've described working with George as being a masterclass in filmmaking. What's been the most important thing you've learned from him?

His storytelling sense. There’s a reason why George’s movies and stories have resonated with generations of fans.

They have a level of clarity in how the story unfolds that really involves an audience and brings them along on an amazing journey. But beyond that, it’s his editing sense and his creative inspiration. It’s amazing working with a visionary of his stature. For many people in this industry, particularly in my role, it can sometimes be hard to think out of the box and to break the mold, because you’ve built that mold and are trying desperately to live within it. But George is constantly imploding the mold and saying, “Let’s go further.” That continues to challenge us and ultimately inspire us to do great things. The Clone Wars is not your average animated series and George really makes us feel as if we’re making a Star Wars feature every week.

Walter Murch [acclaimed editor, sound designer, and director of Return to Oz] is directing an upcoming episode. How did that come about?

He’s a friend of George’s. Most of the guest directors over the years have all had some kind of connection with George, whether they’ve been a friend or whether they’ve worked with him before. We were incredibly fortunate that Walter was available and able to come in and work with our crew. The episode he directed is really pivotal in an upcoming four-episode arc in Season Four. It’s some of the deepest and most complex storytelling we’ve done on The Clone Wars, and Walter’s episode helped bring that home. He really is a genius when it comes to filmmaking and editing, and everyone on the crew was very excited to work with him and learn from someone of that stature.

As a producer, what do you look for in a director?

Obviously you’ve got to find someone who’s incredibly talented and creative and who isn’t afraid to push boundaries. But for me, the best productions are where I’ve felt that I can partner with the director. I really see a creative endeavor as a two-headed monster and you have to balance the creative with the production side. If the project is all creative, you run the risk of nothing ever getting done, and if it’s all production, then you run the risk of the project not being any good. Different sides may win the day based on what’s the most important at that moment, but ultimately both sides have to find a way to reach a balance and co-exist. Navigating these waters is always tricky but to me, the best work comes from when the director and producer are working together.

What's the biggest misconception people have about producers?

I think the biggest is that all we care about is saving money and being cheap. To me, that is so secondary to our overall role. Obviously as producers, we’re tasked with being responsible for the business side-we have to manage the show and manage the schedule. But that’s not what makes a producer worth his salt. To me, everything we do should support the creative vision. That’s what we’re in it for: to tell great stories and to put great visions on screen. So to me, all of the production decisions I make are to bolster that. I would hate to short-change creative so that I can save a few dollars on the budget. I would rather try and trim other areas in order to support a great idea.

Do we have to balance the creative with the amount of time and money we have to spend on certain things? Absolutely. But first and foremost, it’s got to be about supporting the creative endeavor that we’re a part of, because that’s really why we’re here.

You looked like you were having a great time at Celebration V. How important is fan reaction to you?

It means everything. It has such a profound effect on all of us, and certainly on me personally. We’re so wrapped up in making the series that we can lose sight of who we’re affecting and the fans we’re inspiring. One of the big things about San Diego Comic-Con and Celebration is to see the fans’ reactions; to see the eyes light up in little kids who are wearing Clone Wars outfits and T-shirts. It’s amazing!

To me, the great thing is when you realize how big it is. And I know that may sound silly if you think, “Yeah, Star Wars, of course it’s big.” But when you actually see the fans’ reactions-the generations of kids, parents, and grandparents-you really think, “Wow!” You get to see that The Clone Wars is an integral part of this huge, revered universe and in some ways, I feel that The Clone Wars is the torch-bearer taking Star Wars into the future for many more generations to enjoy.

If the opportunity arose to do another Clone Wars movie, would you do it?

Are you kidding? That would be an amazing opportunity! I really like The Clone Wars feature that was made, but I feel that with where the show and this crew are at now, we could hit it out of the park. I would love to be a part of something like that. It’s something Dave and I have talked about. As I’m sure you can imagine, Dave’s absolutely percolating with ideas. So we’ll see what George wants to do, but right now we have our hands full with keeping The Clone Wars TV series rolling!

Do you have a favorite episode so far? Or is that like choosing you favorite child?

You know what, it really is! I’ve got a million favorite episodes and I like them all for different reasons. I think the “Nightsisters” episodes and story-arc are just incredible; not only for storytelling but also for the visuals. The “Mortis” arc took us to places unknown and was handled beautifully. But if I had to pick a favorite episode at this moment, it might just be “R2 Come Home” from Season Two, which I loved-and not just because there’s a clone named Captain Silver! There’s just something about the storytelling in the episode that I love.

I also really love “Wookiee Hunt.” I mean, when we see that silhouette of Chewie, and he slowly stands and Looks up, and you hear those little tickles of the Star Wars theme.... I’m getting chills just thinking about it! It was a huge leap forward for the show and is a really beautiful episode.

Then again, we’ve got stuff coming up in Season Four that I think the fans are going to love. And I know we’ve said this in past seasons, but we’ve really kicked the show into a whole new gear. It’s going to be an epic, epic season.

[eretzyisrael]

Our Existential Choice

In my previous post I asked why Israel only “plays defense” in recent times. Why do we only bat the rockets away with Iron Dome, instead of ending our enemies’ ability to launch them? Why do we bomb empty Hamas installations in Gaza in response to incendiary balloons and machine-gun fire that are intended to burn and kill? Why did we allow Hezbollah to rearm? Why do we allow Hamas to mount its human wave attacks against the Gaza border? Why do we always let our enemies strike first? When they score a goal, why do we give them back the ball and tell them to try again?

I argued that this was not the case in the pre-state period or during the War of Independence, when our military and diplomatic policy was aggressive and creative, despite our relative military and economic weakness. I suggested that this was because in the past, the nation had a single overriding objective – the establishment of a sovereign state, and there was general agreement that there was no option other than success.

Now the nation has no national objective, such as the one the Palestinian Arabs strive for (our disappearance), or the imperial ambitions of the Iranian, Russian, and Turkish regimes. Israel today wishes only for a quiet time in which its people can cultivate their own gardens. Just let us alone, please, we say.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the way the historical development of nations works. Struggle is necessary for national survival. Complacency is the precursor of death. If you snooze, you lose.

The bloody fighting of WWII paradoxically revitalized American society after the Depression, and the struggle against Soviet communism focused its energies in the 1945-1990 period. It could have become the champion of the Western world against the armies of Islam that almost immediately threw down the gauntlet after the passing of the Soviet Union; but it chose not to do so. Perhaps because it saw itself as a secular nation, it was unable to grasp the meaning of the first WTC attack, the one against the USS Cole, the Khobar Towers bombing, and of course 9/11. It chose to shut its eyes to the challenge, and hasn’t reopened them yet.

I think Americans have a hard time seeing that they are involved (whether they want to be or not) in a long-term historical struggle with the Islamic world in part because their society functions primarily in the short term. Their politics are short-term, with a rapid changing of the guard every eight years or less. Their idea of history is short-term as well; they see the birth of their nation as the beginning of a brand new, even messianic age, and nothing that came before has the power to impinge upon it. Their enemies, though, take a very long view: 9/11 was the 318th anniversary of the Muslim defeat at the Battle of Vienna. They remember.

America’s complacency is enabled by the knowledge that it is massively powerful, protected from invasion by broad oceans, and at least in the past, had an industrial engine that could be turned to military purposes quickly to greatly outproduce its enemies.

On the other hand, Israel is tiny, has limited manpower and little strategic depth, is surrounded by enemies, and is dependent on the US for resupply. Complacency is not an option. But a large and powerful minority in Israeli society has turned to fantasy. This group, which includes the intellectual elite of our country, also shut their eyes: they shut them to the narratives and objectives of our enemies. They believe that our enemies think as we do that the greatest good comes from peaceful economic and social progress. Nothing could be more wrong; and yet, nothing that our enemies say or do can disabuse them of the notion that if only the right formula (always involving our giving up land, control, money, honor, etc.) can be found, then the conflict will be over, and we can all cultivate our gardens.

Most Israelis don’t belong to the deluded minority. But that minority holds a veto power over our politics, as well as a lock on our media, legal system, and culture. And so while they don’t have the ability to precipitate national suicide – though they almost succeeded with the Oslo Accords – the state is paralyzed and can’t act effectively against its enemies.

Because the minority believes that appeasement is the path to peace, they try to ensure that we don’t create permanent hard feelings on the part of our enemies. But the rest of the nation demands action against terrorism or rocket attacks. So as a compromise, we have adopted the strategy of “painless retaliation,” in which something is bombed, while great care is taken that nobody is hurt.

The rest of the nation understands that we are involved in a zero-sum situation. Either we will push our enemies out or they will push us out. Most of us understand the erosion of Jewish sovereignty in Judea/Samaria as well as in the Negev, the Galilee, and Jerusalem, as a sign that we are losing. But the fantasizing minority thinks that the Jewish presence in Judea/Samaria and especially eastern Jerusalem is “an obstacle to peace.” So as a compromise, we allow Jews to live there, but limit the construction of housing for them.

Human societies live or die by struggle. Struggle creates vitality, while lack of struggle breeds weakness. Sooner or later a culture that has stopped fighting is conquered by one that hasn’t. Our defeatist minority wants to stop; indeed, its spokesperson could be former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who said in a 2005 speech to the Israel Policy Forum that “[w]e are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies…” He actually said that.

Unlike Iran, Russia, and Turkey, we don’t desire to create a caliphate or an empire. But we are facing an existential choice: we can fight for what is ours, Eretz Yisrael, and at the same time strengthen and revitalize our society. Or, on the other hand, we can give up, like tired Ehud Olmert.

Abu Yehuda

[phantaloon-books]

(some) Riordanverse characters (bc I never read TKC) and which Hogwarts House I think they would be in

Warning: this is a long one

Nico: the dude is definitely Gryffindor without a doubt. Like Sorting isn't about some traits and some characteristics, it's about core personality. He may have gone through some of the roughest stuff when he was 10-12, and he was resentful and bitter, but he was brave and bold af throughout everything he did. From learning about his powers, to using them relentlessly despite knowing how exhausted he is afterwards, to his willingness to do whatever is necessary to do what has to be done, because it has to be done. You can't change my mind that he's Gryffindor lol.

Grover: Do I even need to explain why he's Gryffindor? He's a satyr, and even if we're shown strong satyrs, they're not really supposed to be brave fighters. Yet he is one of the strongest, bravest nature spirits we've ever encountered in the Riordanverse, and one of the bravest in general. Like he's so passionate about doing what is good, he's a hero, and the only thing he doesn't match with common Gryffindors is that he's humble and as far from arrogant as could be possible, but it doesn't take his courage away.

Hazel: She's Gryffindor, and core personality-wise, she and Nico are very much alike. They don't ever think about themselves, like Hazel really always does what has to be done, no matter the cost, I mean she literally died preventing Gaea to rise the first time, and she freed Thanatos while believing he would take her back to the Underworld. She's brave af, and she has one of the most strong willpower we've seen in the Riordanverse. She's a passionate hero, and she's the closest thing to a real knight in shining armor.

Lester: I'm gonna place him in Gryffindor because I don't think he fits in in the other houses lmao. That said, as Apollo he's very shitty, but as Lester, he's one of the most courageous people. He's grown so much, he's so willing to actually do stuff now, and sacrifice everything to do what's right, including his life, even if he doesn't know he's gonna survive. Hell, he really went most of TTT with an incredibly painful wound that nearly turned him undead, and he cared more for the future of Camp Jupiter than his own life. Additionally, he's a bit arrogant and cocky, but he truly means well, I love Lester so much.

Clarisse: Look look, all I have to say is that no one could have pulled off less than half the stuff Clarisse has done, she's so Gryffindor it hurts. She's reckless and impulsive, but she's driven by her passion to do good, even if she's the daughter of war, and was bullied by her own father. She's daring, she's bold and she is the hero. She's also arrogant and thinks she can solve everything by herself, something characteristic more of the canon Gryffindors in the books, rather than what the fans have shaped. In fact, she's very much like Gryffindors in the books, who are actually very rude to other houses and think they're the best. Still, at heart, she's in this house.

Alex: I'm in a huge dilemma about where to put them, but I reckon they'd fit pretty fine in Gryffindor. Not only are they daring and courageous, they're proud of who they are, but not in a too full of themselves kind of way, rather in a 'I am who I am, and if you can't accept me, fuck off' kind of way. They can get carried away rather easily though, and very arrogant, thinking they don't need anyone else, when they do in fact need some company. They are one of the kindest and at the same time most ambitious characters we've met, but they are brave beyond understanding in a very personal way, thus, Gryffindor.

Percy: I think it's fair to say he'd be Hufflepuff, because loyalty is literally his fucking fatal flaw, and he is the kindest sweetheart to all those who deserve it, he goes out of his way to help those who need help, whether that be mortals, halfbloods, gods, magical creatures or even his own enemies. He's too good for this world, and even if he's grown a bit bitter, he always looks to fight justly for what is right, and never loses faith in others. That, and the fact that he turned down immortality so that the olympians were more inclusive of minor gods, and their children were treated better. He's just a lovely soul, he's like 80% Hufflepuff so that's enough for me. All that and he's stubborn as hell.

Jason: Hufflepuff. Just, undoubtedly Hufflepuff. Like he seems to be this cold and self centered hero with a superiority complex (bc of all the son of Jupiter stuff) but he's the softest guy there is. Not only is he hardworking, open minded and kind, he appreciates justice but he doesn't seek for revenge or anything, he makes sure people are treated fairly and wants everyone to be accepted. Proof of that is how he continued Percy's job of including more gods, and made sure Nico felt comfortable with who he was. He truly has a heart of gold. (He deserved better btw)

Meg: God I can't decide between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, but I think I'll go with the former. She's so strong, my baby, she's faced so much wrong, but she's still so kind and understanding of others, especially those who deserve kindness. She puts up such a hard facade, but she's so patient and warm and inclusive. She's brave and strong (as strong as the big three kids, if not stronger), but she's also so loyal to her beliefs despite how she was forced someone else's beliefs for years, so I'll keep her in Hufflepuff. Also, she's stubborn af, and she can be lazy, so that settles it.

Will: I KNOW some people will say Will could be in other houses that are not Hufflepuff, BUT I won't have it any other way. Will is literally the warmest person ever. He is kind and sympathetic and enthusiastic and patient and inclusive. Like Helga Hufflepuff would take one look at him and lose her shit screaming "mine". He's the guy who saw the son of Hades so many people were scared of and immediately grabbed his hand and transfered him some warmth and didn't let him go ahead and get himself killed. He's also the one who everyone loves and likes, so much that Clarisse gets along with him and he can calm her down. He's the ideal Hufflepuff, you can't change my mind.

Magnus: I mean, what else can you expect from the son of the god of summer? He's literally a guy who heals others with warmth. He's also the guy who spent years on the street with the most difficult situations, and accepts every single person the way they are. He's inclusive af, and tolerant of everything. He's the guy who's closest include a deaf elf, a Muslim valkyrie, and a black dwarf, and he's dating a genderfluid person. Yes he's brave, and he's kinda smart, and he's ambitious, BUT none of those qualities overpower his Hufflepuff nature.

Piper: Kinda debated whether Gryffindor or Ravenclaw fits more, but in the end I went with Ravenclaw. Even though she isn't a fighter, she's very very brave, yet her bravery isn't compared to her wits. Like others in the PJOverse, she wins her fights by outsmarting her opponents, but unlike others that's one of her strongest traits. She's witty and creative and a little on the negative side, she really struggled to work in a group rather than by herself. On another note, she's able to keep calm in crazy situations and come up with the craziest most unthinkable solutions (I'm talking borderline ridiculous) that always somehow work. She's not booksmart, but she knows so much about everything, and she's lifesmart you know?

Reyna: Why are some of these so hard? Deeply debating whether she'd be Ravenclaw or Slytherin. In the end I'd go more for Ravenclaw though. Reyna's smart as hell, she's strong and sharp, and she always sees the best way out of a situation. She's witty and observant, being able to keep her cool in battle and lead others in the best direction. She's always looking to grow, and she prefers to do things on her own, but she's a great leader. She has some Slytherin qualities, and she's not learning as learning oriented as others, but she's definitely Ravenclaw.

Sam: Let's face it, Sam has the only active neurons in all of MCGA, she's definitely Ravenclaw. I'm gonna be honest though, I've only read MCGA once, so I can't remember much of their personalities, but Sam is witty and clever, pretty much the only one who can come up with competent plans, while the others rely mostly on luck and whatever plan they can cook up in 5 seconds. She's loyal and true to who she is, and she's extremely courageous and proud of who she is, but her sharpness is what she stands out for me, which is why I put her in Ravenclaw.

Annabeth: I know the obvious option is Ravenclaw, but I genuinely think she's also Slytherin. Yes she is booksmart and wise like Ravenclaw, but her personality matches Slytherins' ambitious, cunning and resourceful nature. She's smart as fuck, but she's calculative, she always finds a way to end up winning, and while she does so by outsmarting her opponents, she wouldn't need to outsmart them if she weren't so competitive. I feel like there's this 40/60 odds on Slytherin rather than Ravenclaw, but it's that small difference that counts. Plus her leadership skills are so powerful that people don't ask, they just know she's the boss.

(Also just picture the sweet and loyal Hufflepuff boy with the strong and cunning Slytherin girl, like it should be as opposite as it is with Poseidon and Athena, but they're so cute)

Leo: Idk what you can expect that's not Slytherin. This boy is the embodiment of ambition and determination. Reminder that not all Slytherins are bad btw (I'm slytherin myself), but like he's life smart and cunning, and he can analyze situations faster than anyone else. He's charismatic and talented, and there's no one to stop him from triumphing. I don't have much to say, I just know he'd be in Slytherin.

Rachel: She's kinda a difficult one, and I struggle between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and tbh I'm still not sure. But I think I'd place her in Slytherin, because even if she's brave af (especially since she was a mortal fighting in a war out of her power), her main trait is her determination. When she's set on something, she gets it done. You can't tell her she can't do something, because she will find a way to do it. She's kind, and she's only a mortal, but she still has incredible power unlike any other. I don't think I can really name it, but I think she'd be put on Slytherin with much difficulty from the Sorting Hat.

Luke: Where else could Luke possibly go? On the meaner side Slytherins have created themselves, Luke would be part of those misled by who preceded them, by those who want to take advantage of their mistreatment (bc let's face it, Slytherins are mistreated by both students and Hogwarts staff), and turn them cold and bitter. Luke is ambitious and manipulative, being manipulated himself, and it comes easily because of his natural charisma and talent. He's very freaking determined and cunning too. He'd fit right into Slytherin, but he'd be viewed as one of the rotten lot.

Thalia: I don't have much to say about this, but Thalia is the girl whose fatal flaw is their desire for power (or smth along those lines), just like most Slytherins. She's ambitious, she's smart, she's truly talented, she stands out between the rest, and she knows it, and she actually kinda likes it.

(Also I put Annabeth, Thalia and Luke in the same house because they're all kinda similar, even if their beliefs and postures are different.

Frank: Ngl I'm having more difficulty with Frank than anyone else. I'm kinda torn between Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. I literally can't choose. He'd fit perfectly in any of them lmao, I just can't decide where he'd go. You decide this one yourself.

Please keep in mind, this is my personal opinion and my take on the characters, and not all of you will agree, and that's fine! You can let me know what you think (kindly please, don't come at me), and if you want to, send me an ask on a character you want me to do the same as these (as long as it's not TKC, I'M SORRY I haven't read those) go ahead, don't be shy!

[lokiondisneyplus]

Loki is the latest Marvel Studios TV series in the long-running franchise and it’s currently ongoing with five episodes so far available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia. For previous breakdowns of Loki episodes, check out Episode 1 here, Episode 2 here, Episode 3 here, Episode 4 here and Episode 5 here.

If you want a non-spoiler guide to Loki, you can head on over here.

Courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia, we were lucky enough to be the only Malaysian media to participate in a roundtable interview with Loki Costume Designer Christine Wada and Loki Production Designer Kasra Farahani.

This interview with Loki Production Designer Kasra Farahani has been edited for clarity.

Keep in mind that we’ll be discussing some elements from all five episodes of Loki so far, so there will be spoilers below:

Q: You’ve previously worked on Black Panther and other MCU movies. How different was the experience of working on a TV set instead of a movie’s? Were there limitations?

Yes, I’ve worked on several Marvel projects. For me, this is the most fun one, maybe because I’m in a different position than I was on the other ones. But also, just because this project is unique in a couple of ways.

Number one; it’s literally in its own timeline from the rest of the MCU. It’s separate from the stories we’ve all enjoyed and seen in the MCU so far. The other thing that this one has that’s really great is the amount of visual and narrative variety. We have this kind of base in the TVA that we spend a lot of time in but also we have all these exciting different places in the world that the story takes us to. These were great worlds to design and to imagine.

In our case, there was no difference. The thing about the Marvel series is that it’s pretty much like Marvel movies; in terms of their creative ambition, in terms of the way they’re scheduled, the fact that we have one director.

There was not much about it (Loki) that resembled an episodic project, except for the fact that it was six hours of content that we were trying to make, so it’s a very long project.

In terms of resources, I didn’t ever feel that we were unduly stretched. Always, when you get a creative brief like this, there’s always a period at the beginning of every project where you’re reconciling the creative brief and the resources that you have. That has been the case for every project that I’ve ever worked on regardless of the size. There’s this beginning phase where that’s the case and oftentimes, it’s in that process where you come up with some very great creative solutions that are a direct result of some of the limitations, actually.

Yeah, I wouldn’t say that we had some extraordinary limitations in this case (for Loki), but that’s generally true for all projects, in my experience.

Q: What were you inspired by when making designing the sets of the TVA with its retro-futuristic and anachronistic aesthetics?

In the source material, the TVA had a lot of different things going on, but one of the strong themes also was this armada of desks, which is kind of typical of a post-war era bureaucracy look. There was a grain of that in the source material but a lot of it also came from the show’s creator and writer, Michael Waldron, who described in the original document I read before interviewing for this job.

He described the TVA as a kind of mix of Mad Men meets Blade Runner. Part of these two strong visual references for us. On top of that, me and director Kate Herron, even before we met and spoken to each other, were inspired by Terry Gilliam’s Brazil also as a strong influence because of the anachronisms that that story had and also because of the clear presence of this strong monolithic bureaucracy, which is something that we have in the TVA also.

For the TVA, we were looking a lot at wanting to create a world that had a paradoxical feeling, being an imposing monolithic architectural space that has brutalist elements in them and had almost Soviet modernist elements to them. The colour palette and the materials and the whimsical patterning were much more like American style modernism.

The result was hopefully when you’re in an environment like this, you don’t know whether to feel terrified or invited. Hopefully, it creates that feeling in both the characters and the audience; this kind of cognitive dissonance in not knowing whether they can trust the TVA or not. That’s the narrative objective.

The writers came up with these ideas and the idea with that was to kind of create the bubble gum wrapper in the Renaissance era (Loki Episode 2) and the futuristic shovel in the early 20th-century farm field (Loki Episode 1). These ideas were placed there to create a trail of clues for the TVA to follow before they have clarity on Sylvie’s identity. But for the anachronisms generally, that was something we tried to do throughout the TVA to have all kinds of strange things from different timelines and different worlds popping up in terms of props, like the Infinity Stones in the mail cart and stuff like that.

Q: What was it like working with Tom Hiddleston, who is a producer on Loki?

It was very exciting to have this opportunity to take the character and his storyline in a different direction. It became all the more exciting when I read the scripts and I saw the type of journey they were going to take the character on.

Tom is a professor of Loki, basically. After all, ten years or so of playing the character; he knows it better than anybody and he has an in-depth understanding of the character and his backstory; the character’s family relationships and he was really helpful in giving a little talk to all the department heads about the background of his character, which was very informative.

Q: Recently, Loki series director Kate Herron said that 90 percent of production sets were physical. Does this include the world of The Void, and can you tell us more about how you brought it to life?

That’s true. That was what was unique about this show, because of my own design approach, and my goal in creating this large monolithic brutalist environment, I felt strongly that the sets needed to be built kinda wholly and that they needed to have the ceilings in-tact. This was also supported by Loki cinematographer Autumn, in that the way of her own style of photography is very wide and low-angled photography, which is why for both of our creative goals, it made a lot of sense to build these sets like completed and 360-degree environments.

For the TVA, that was almost always the case, with the exception of when you saw outside a window. With the Void (in Loki Episode 5), a lot of that was built practically as well. What I can tell you is that we build a large piece of this landscape on a soundstage, which was about 150 feet by 200 feet of undulating wilderness terrain. In that, we would bring in these different scenery elements on different days to make it feel like different places within the Void.

For example, one day there was the bus stop terrain where we meet Loki. One day it was the giant head. One day it was the drive-in movie theatre where we find Sylvie. All of these things were brought in and we shot there over the course of seven days. The terrain was designed in such a way that depending on what angle you shot, it felt like a very different place. Backgrounds were put in during post-production in visual effects. The Loki palace, where the Loki variants kind of hang out, the bowling alley, all of that was also a 360-degree built set as well.

Q: What was the most challenging set of the entire Loki series that you had to work on?

We had a lot of very ambitious sets but I think the city of Sharoo at the end of Loki Episode 3: Lamentis was a very technical set. The goal was to create this virtual one-in, that appears as a single shot. This was a very involved and elaborate process of choreography, basically.

All the different departments were involved to make this happen because as we watch the sequence, we see tons of actors running around, there are explosions happening, the camera’s panning up to see the planet above crumbling and asteroids pelting the surface.

There was a lot of planning that went through at the very beginning. We brought the paper models of this to Autumn, our cinematographer and creative director, to use to plan some of their shots. One day, we had some more information that fed back to the art department where we developed more involved and elaborate drawings and models which again, fed back to them. In this way, we had kind of an iterative conversation to arrive at what the design was.

So, as we start to build the set, many of the department heads came to visit and check the progress. We rehearsed what the shot was going to be, so we could exactly fine-tune the set to meet the needs of this shot and see where the edits needed to be. In order to do this, we needed to adjust the exact width of the roads or move a piece of scenery here and then figure out exactly, okay, there’s going to be an explosion coming out of the ground here and another explosion coming out of the building here and this is when the camera looks up to the sky and sees the planet explode. This is where the window breaks and this is where the guy jumps out and grabs him and there’s a fight.

There are many, many people involved; Monique Garderton, our stunt coordinator, Kate Herron, the director, and also the special effects team, and of course, visual effects, deeply involved, and Richard Graves, who is kind of our AD (Assistant Director), the circus leader of all of it, organizing everybody to kind of work on this thing altogether. It’s the sort of thing that involves so many different departments that it can only really be discovered when working in a big group together.

I would say that was maybe the most challenging technically because there were so many logistical parameters and so many moving parts.

Q: What are your thoughts on diversity in the production of the creative industry?

I think that it is critically important. As somebody who is myself an immigrant, I was born in Iran and my family moved here when I was quite young. I’m super happy to see the direction that the industry is going in. I think Marvel has been particularly excellent in providing leadership in this way and I honestly have to give a lot of credit to Kate Herron, our director.

Almost more than any other project I’ve been on, she prioritised inclusivity and diversity. I mean, lots of people, don’t get me wrong, it’s on every project and on everyone’s mind, but I think Kate went above and beyond because it’s so fundamental to her worldview and she’s such a sensitive soul in this way. One of the many ways in that it was such a joy to work with Kate and I’m very proud of the many different ethnicities we’re representing, and how many women we’ve had. In our art department, we had close to fifty men and women.

It’s important and leads to better creative results that are more fully realized and more representative of what the fans really want.

[iloveyou-itllpass]

new to writeblr !!

hello! my name’s carrie, i’m a writer. i’m currently working on my second novel, which i’m hoping to get professionally published (and i’m really hoping people adore it the way i do)

more about me under the cut :)

- from the south of england

- from the south of england

- from the south of england

- lesbian and proudly aspiring sapphic rep writer :)

- infp

- studying english lit & creative writing at uni this september !!

🪴 welcome to my wips

- secret people is my first ever novel, written when i was 15 and finished last year when i was 17! i’m hoping to come back to it and rework it one day so it can be ready for publishing :) it’s a ya fantasy novel about this town that’s a safe haven for supernatural beings, who have to live in secret to protect themselves from Mundane’s fear / Hunters. it follows oliver, a green witch, rosie, a generational green witch and bronte, a necromancer who showed up in town out of nowhere unaware of how insanely powerful he actually is, aided by rowan and jaxon, two gods who have become the town’s unoffical (well, jaxon is the mayor. rowan just knows how to pull a good pint.) leaders.

- the lmc is my main wip that all my focus is on at the moment. it’s hugely reminiscent of donna tartt’s tsh and the goldfinch combined, as her writing style has influenced me a lot and really helped me as a writer. it follows rhy hart, alex conoro, dean dempsey, lucien emery and tessa gallagher, a group of self-destructive and beautiful english students trying to figure out who they are, all while grappling with the violent murder of the vice chancellor in an exact replica of the murder in oscar wilde’s the picture of dorian gray

- twelfth house this one is still in it’s early stages, as it’s something i picked up without any knowledge of the plot to curb some of the writer’s block i was experiencing with the lmc. it follows theo minerva in late 19th century/early 20th century perdam, who has been roped into a gang war between her bookkeeping employer and tobias finnigan, the den boss reigning over all of east perdam. at the same time, it follows prince elliot of strauss, who is grappling with mounting pressure to do what is right for his country and to find a wife to stabilise the strauss-oxslavian alliance.

🪴 my ambitions

- to be honest, i’ve turned to tumblr in a bit of a desperate grab at recognition, which i know sounds ridiculous. i really want to be able to build a bit of a community or at least draw some attention to my work before it’s out in the world, so that there’s at least a chance that it won’t crash and burn immediately. i’m also looking for a supportive place to find inspiration and motivation, so if you have any favourite writeblr accounts, please let me know!

- one of two of my primary goals with my writing is to write as much good sapphic (and wider lgbtq, but i think sapphic, particularly lesbian representation is severely lacking in media) representation as i can. i want it to be as normal as possible, without their oppression/sexuality being the centre of their character (saying this, the lmc has two characters dealing with severe religious trauma and/or internalised homophobia. but my point still stands.)

- my other primary goal is to write something that makes you feel seen, even if it’s by one little passage that sends you running to find a pen to underline it with because oh god someone else has put this very big very lonely feeling into words, like a little life, richard siken and the goldfinch did for me, because it truly did change the whole game and if i can do that even a tiny bit? i’ll die the happiest woman who ever lived.

- i’m also experimenting with poetry, one of which i’ve put above. that one is about being told that once i move out, my room, which has genuinely become a sanctuary, will be gutted to make space for something else. it hurt a lot.

so i guess that’s it! if you read all the way to here, thank you so much for caring about a stranger at least a tiny bit, just enough to keep your interest this long. i really hope you decide to stick around and keep me company on this little journey of mine <3

💌 much love, carrie x

(p.s. my askbox is always open !! feel free to send me anything — within reason, of course.)

[maozijun]

Mao Zijun Xing Fan Interview

Removing the “adonis of period-costume dramas” label, and returning to a Republican era drama

Before Killer and Healer (or KillHeal hence), Mao Zijun had not filmed a republican drama in a long time. For almost the past five years, the audience’s impression of him has been his costume dramas, such as Qin Wuyan from The Legend of Chusen, An Qinxu from The Glory of Tang Dynasty, Yin Yiren from The Legend of Haolan, and so on and so forth. Because most of his dramas are costume dramas, as it happens, offers that come to him are the costume dramas.

Thus, when an offer for KillHeal, a TV drama about “drug crackdown” set in Republican China, appeared before Mao Zijun, he accepted it without a second thought. “At the time, I felt that I didn’t want to keep shooting costume dramas.”

If “costume drama” is a tag the audience associates with Mao Zijun’s role and acting, we can also claim that “zen,” “placid,” and “easy-going” are impressions he leaves on most people. Other than for the purpose of promoting the broadcasts of his new dramas, he seldom appears in public. If he “wasn’t at home, [he’d] be hanging out, or watching movies.” To the public, it’s as if he’s been “spirited away.” As a regular whose name ranks on the “skilled actor without due fame” chart, regardless how many times he’s been asked about the matter, his response has always been “I really haven’t paid it much attention.” His response may seem like a pleasantry, but he means it from the bottom of his heart.

Mao Zijun knows that ever since he became an actor, his career has been successful for the most part without any major setbacks, and he’s met many great people along the way. From his first TV drama Beauty's Rival in Palace when he cooperated with Lin Xinru, he stumbled into the entertainment industry and was swept along despite his inexperience and unworldliness. Including Director Yu Zheng who was willing to give him the male lead roles for The Legend of Haolan and The Matriarch. “So I thought I’ve had good luck. I’ve met people who appreciated me and were willing to give me opportunities. I’m very grateful.”

Mao Zijun’s “zen” attitude, however, doesn’t extend to everything he does. When there’s a role he really wants, his “wolf-like ambition” is brought out. When it comes choosing projects, he doesn’t compromise either. “I think everyone has the desire to strive for things they don't have; regardless of where you are in life, you wish to become better, you wish that you can climb higher. It’s a never-ending climb.”

Regardless of whether he’s gained fame and popularity, or remains a fine wine waiting to be discovered, “becoming better” is a creed he lives by and acts upon.

- 01 - Shooting KillHeal was an effortless process

What made Mao Zijun “return” to KillHeal after a long separation from republican dramas was its story and Jiang Yuelou’s personality. Jiang Yuelou is a morally grey character: a police officer and Chief of the Inspection Department. He's made law enforcement and drug crackdown his lifelong war, and it’s an undertaking he’s willing to sacrifice his life for. Although a patient with manic depression (known as bipolar disorder in modern clinical terms)--which results in his irritable, violent, and stubborn personality and tendency to be a lone wolf--he’s upright at his core, and there’s a gentle side to him deep down.

When Mao Zijun saw the script, he knew that this character had a lot of potential and creative room to work with. Precisely because of the great amount of creative room, on top of Jiang Yuelou’s vivid and distinct personality, filming for KillHeal was a relatively easy-going process for Mao Zijun despite the character’s lifelong angst and suffering. The character was rich and human per se, “so there was no need to brood over some things,” and it could be rather realistically portrayed. By the same token, the more one could ease himself into character, the better the final results.

Many actors determine the difficulty of portraying a character by criterion of the character’s degree of complexity, or their own compatibility with the character. In this respect, Mao Zijun is somewhat different: his criterion is whether the character can spontaneously come to life in the mind’s eye. “When you’ve read the entire script and discover that the character is very vivid and lifelike--his motives, intentions, behaviour and course of actions, all of which constitutes his rich psychological wiring--you will be able to portray him with relative ease, and not based on whether he’s similar to you. “Compatibility is only one aspect.”

Even if you were to act a character completely different from yourself, “you can imagine yourself in his shoes--what he would say or do” because he’s such a vivid character. “You can effectively get into character.”

In crafting Jiang Yuelou, Mao Zijun largely relies on following the script, his character changing with the progression of the plot; as a result, Jiang Yuelou’s uncontrollable violence, uncompromising ways, and other destructive habits doesn’t extend beyond the character and affect the actor himself. Unlike other actors whose characters took a mental and physical toll on them, Mao Zijun isn’t a purely immersive actor.

“Filming for a movie may require more personal feelings and emotions, but for a TV series, I think it’s half-and-half. Except for particular emotional scenes, that is.” In KillHeal, for example, the emotion expressed through Jiang Yuelou’s eyes when he’s solving cases, or reaction to receiving news, are all achieved through acting techniques. But for scenes where he’s facing the death of his subordinates, his mother, his adoptive father, his brother, and other loved ones, his reactions and expressions of pain must be nuanced and highly faceted. Even for crying scenes, he must cry in widely differing ways. For these scenes, Mao Zijun must lend his own emotional faculties to the character.

However, he does not believe tears are the only way to express his character’s emotions. When his younger and less inexperienced co-star, Ian Yi, consults him about his worries of being unable to shed tears, Mao Zijun tells him, “Why must you shed tears? Tears do not mean everything. The more dramatic and emotionally heavy a scene is, the more you must relax yourself.”

Filming to Mao Zijun is in fact a creative process where he imagines the character, then completes him. Hence, for every character he has acted, Mao Zijun would forget about the character. In his next drama, he would similarly imagine the character, understand his character, and the cycle continues.

So far, he believes there has yet to be a character that requires a lot from him mentally and psychologically, or even one that took him a long time getting out of. But, he hopes he will encounter such a character; a character that can let him experience more, feel more, and empathize with more.

KillHeal was a project Mao Zijun worked on two years ago. Two years ago, he did everything he could to bring Jiang Yuelou into fruition. Looking back now, there are details that could be further refined or supplemented, but the current KillHeal is still to his satisfaction, from his performance and methods of expression, to the overall product that is his character. “As to whether it has met my expectations… Because the broadcast of KillHeal had been held off for so long, I was worried about if the drama would go out of date when it finally came out. But there haven't been such problems so there’s nothing else I’m unsatisfied with.”

- 02 - I’ve become increasingly sentimental

While Mao Zijun may not be a purely immersive actor, he is not a wholly rationalistic one either. It’s in his analysis of his characters and response after completing a character that is rational. This rationality is present in his logic, or his healing process after getting out of character, but not acting itself.

Rationality is perhaps a result of Mao Zijun’s own experiences and personality. He had no formal training in acting. He had good grades in high school, perhaps due to parental pressure and his own belief that good grades made life somewhat easier. After graduating from high school, Mao Zijun successfully got into Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics and majored in Auditing.

“Why had I chosen auditing? At that time, I thought auditing had good prospects. It wasn’t a complicated job either--I took math and the sciences in high school, so auditing isn’t hard.” After getting into university, his parents weren’t as strict as they were in high school, so he had the opportunity to “set himself free” and explore new options. Just like that, he started taking jobs for advertisements, and then acting.

“Beauty's Rival in Palace was especially looking for people to fill in roles at the time. Liu Che was an important character despite not having a lot of scenes, and they thought my appearance fit the role.” Mao Zijun laughed lightly, “Also because of my looks that I started acting.”

The profession of acting provided him with many new experiences, because every character was new and unlike the mechanical motions he had to go through everyday. “This is also the reason why I will persist on this path.”

As someone who changed career paths from the sciences to acting, Mao Zijun has never second-guessed his decisions. He thought of himself as lucky, and his path a smooth one. Many of his friends around him have changed their career paths because of setbacks or other reasons, but he hasn’t. His parents have given him understanding and support. “My parents would express their worries, but they would not try and make a decision for me. Every big decision I've made is my own choice.”

Mao Zijun is a Capricorn: steadiness and rationality are a big part of it. But because he’s been an actor for so long, he’s in fact becoming more and more sentimental. When he first started out in the industry, he would care about others’ views and opinions about him. But with time, they gradually ceased to bother him. This is one of the very few things that have changed about him since his debut.

As an actor with no formal training, but has still received praise and acknowledgement for his acting skills, he does not attribute it to natural talent. Instead, he attributes it to his own capacity for self-excavation. “I think as an actor, you are mining yourself (your talents and skills). For example, if you meet other good actors, good characters, you will be driven to tap into your natural talents. For many actors, rather saying they don’t have talent, they simply haven’t been given the chance to discover their potential.”

In Mao Zijun’s opinion, every actor has talent, it is only a matter of chance and whether they can encounter a great character.

- 03 - Try and lose the “let it be” attitude

Mao Zijun has been in the industry for more than ten years. Ten years’ time is enough to change the state of the entertainment industry and the actors in it. As a post-85 liner interacting with post-90s and -95s actors, he’s picked up a hobby of collecting tarot cards, and has been playing video games like Super Mario and Contra that came with the gaming console gifted to him by his fans.

Newcomers in the industry would abide to the instructions of senior artists and the director. If they met difficulties or discomfort in the process of the shoot, they could only learn to deal with it themselves. But the market has changed, with new genres, subject matters, and the actors, too, are young. These young actors can willfully express themselves and vent, unlike the older generation of actors who learned to put up with things.

These changes cannot be predicted. Just like how it happened in a few years’ time, when an actor may no longer have a large audience base like before--an audience who sits in front of the TV just to catch the airtime of a TV series. Mao Zijun, too, is no longer the unworldly and inexperienced newcomer he was.

If he had to draw a demarcation, he says it’s the year 2016. “Before 2016, although I was an actor by profession and had thought I took my job seriously, looking back now, I’d just been in a status quo of “passing time.” Life had been smooth for Mao Zijun: high school, university, getting a job. He hasn’t met any real obstacles. The efforts and hard work he thought he had been putting into his work were tantamount to what he could easily accomplish in his best and most favourable circumstances.

He strongly agrees with the view that actors need to experience pain and setbacks. But he thinks that’s only a part of it. An actor can experience some things, but he is not able to experience everything. To him, some experiences can be gained through reading novels. “The stories, including the thoughts and behaviours of characters, are enriching and detailed. If you’re not able to personally experience some things, you can experience them via other methods.”

Mao Zijun is a very carefree person. He takes on drama offers when he feels like it, and rejects it when he doesn’t. He’s content with hiding himself away from the public eye to take time off for himself. But now, even he doubts whether the “let himself be” attitude is appropriate. “I noticed that there was a gap, like the period of time after The Legend of Haolan finished airing to the airing of KillHeal now. During these two years, you had no other dramas on-air. Your fans want to see your new projects and content, but you couldn’t give them anything, yet they would still give you a lot of support. It would make you question, shouldn’t I be filming more projects for them?”

After questioning himself, Mao Zijun started taking on more projects. Even during the pandemic, he filmed a movie (no news yet), acted as a cameo in The Journey of Flower as the character Sha Qianmo, and filmed for The Matriarch. “Since my fans want to see me so badly, I’ll just have to act in more projects, I thought.”

In The Matriarch, he plays the role of Wei Liang’gong, a very kind, “moonlight” (unattainable) character--a character with all the wonderful traits and virtues of a person--much like the male version of Empress Fuca Rongyin from Story of Yanxi Palace (2018). “This costume drama depicts a very realistic portrayal of life during the period. Acting in this drama was more of a process of experiencing and feeling, using an everyday-life way of performing was quite nice.”

Mao Zijun doesn’t really care whether he’s famous or popular. Even to this day, other actors from the casts he’s worked with would offer him new projects. Speaking from this point, he thinks he’s lucky enough as it is. To him, a TV drama actor, a bit of fame and a lot of fame doesn’t hold much of a difference. In the long term, “fame” is only a matter of degree. “Unless you win an award--a prestigious film award, whether it be movies or TV films--how much fame is but a matter of quality.” What he must do now, and spare no effort, is to give himself more opportunities.

In retrospect, Mao Zijun has gotten the roles he wanted, and there’s really no regrets. What he desires perhaps lies in the future. Fortunately, there’s just enough time.

Writer: 77

WeChat ID: LJLX2013

Original Post