#which my version of oz needs a post of its own

[elemental-alien]

some actual alfie sketches! im getting used to drawing him again

as for the merman designs? well, i personally love deep sea creatures, and since mermaids are real in eah, why not sirens? so i made alfie a deep sea siren that decided to live on land (ill make a post about his backstory n stuff later i promise!)

alfie doesnt get along very well with milton grimm, mainly because he keeps getting called in because his kid, kory, gets in trouble for the (in alfies mind) stupidest reasons. the man doesnt have enough spoons in the day for this lol

[unaplays]

✨ Fischl Electro Sub-dps Build ✨

⚡️ Fischl was one of the very first characters that carried me through the early days of my Genshin journey. I've used her in my team even when I hadn't understood about character building whatsoever. She was then benched for quite some time because tbh I didn't really like bow characters. But after dendro got introduced to the game, I started taking care of Fischl more than ever.

⚡️ Disclaimer: This build is not perfect and by no means should be treated as a rigid rule. I just share what I have tested in game and what I know works for me. So always do your own research and take my guide with that note in mind!

Artifact Set

⚡️ Fischl has had many versions of artifact sets. From Thundering Fury to Gilded, to now Golden Troupe era. Fischl is such a strong unit especially at C6. And her build is slightly different between C0 and C6 as she gets more atk boost when her constellation is all unlocked. At C6, she can use EM sands which can work wonder if you put her in dendro team.

⚡️ Here are some of the artifact sets I know will work on her:

2 pc Thundering Fury + 2 pc atk% (Gladiator/Shimenawa/Echoes/Vermillion)

2 pc atk% + 2 pc atk%

4 pc Gilded Dreams

4 pc Golden Troupe

⚡️ Post dendro, Fischl easily becomes my sub-dps in Alhaitham's spread team, helping the team by giving consistent electro to help trigger quicken reaction with Alhaitham as well as damaging the enemy.

⚡️ I would recommend farming Golden Troupe only if you still haven't had any good 4 set for her. Originally I wasn't gonna change her build cuz she already had 4 Gilded on her but since I had to farm for Neuvillette's artifact, I ended up with some decent Golden Troupe pieces. The damage increase is pretty nice, I got an increase of 5.000 skill damage after changing from Gilded to Golden Troupe.

Artifact stats: atk% sands, electro damage bonus goblet, crit circlet

Ratio to follow: >60% crit rate, 120% cdmg, 1.500 atk, 100 EM, >120% ER

⚡️ Her burst is quite important as it resets Oz, her raven. Think of her like Kokomi. The burst itself doesn't do a ton of damage but it helps resetting Oz's duration on field so when her skill is on cooldown (cuz it does have long cooldown), you can just burst instead and then immediately switch characters to summon Oz right then and there.

Team Composition

Alhaitham spread team

⚡️ She can work in many team comps that need electro sub-dps. You can put her in spread team, or even taser team with a hydro applier. Though she's not recommended for hyperbloom team despite being an electro off field because just like Yae's totem, Oz targets enemies, not dendro cores. So there's a higher chance that she won't be able to trigger hyperbloom at all.

Weapon Choice

⚡️ She can work with many types of weapon; atk%, EM, ER, or even crit weapons. I put mine with Stringless because of its passive to enhance elemental skill damage. Sadly even after playing 2 years and reaching AR60, my Stringless is still at refinement 1. At refinement 5, that weapon can provide 46% skill damage bonus.

Talent Priority

⚡️ Fischl is a quick swap unit, meaning she's gonna be on field for a mere few seconds only to do setup before she switches back to another unit. Her main source of damage comes from her skill, which is why it should be your first priority. Followed by her burst, though in my opinion you can just leave it at 6 at least.

So that’s pretty much my Fischl build. Feel free to ask me questions if you have any through my ask box or just leave comment on this post and I’ll respond right away!

Don’t forget to check out my other builds here!

[batri-jopa]

Ten Characters, Ten Fandoms, Ten Tags

Thanks for tagging @chrisoels ! At first I thought I don't have that many fandoms but then I found out that I actually have way too many😅 (why do I always have to overthink stuff like this?) So as there's no clear rules given here - I split it into the list of 10 characters and the list of 10 fandoms because why not:

TEN CHARACTERS - lets start with something normal...

John "Jack" Robinson (from Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries series) - for making all the most minimalistic reactions feel sooo intense with his voice, his face, his appearence and the way he can blink... He's the coolest quiet guy!❤

Amelie (from Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, 2001, dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet) - nice, quiet girl who is not best at socialising and doesn't enjoy sex (greysexual?) yet loves to make other people happy. Doing good things without being noticed makes her feel powerful and make her feel like Zorro. I love that she eventually gets some kind of reward for all that and the kissing scene in the end is sooo very sweet❤

Pollyanna (from Pollyanna, 1913 novel written by Eleanor H. Porter) [books counts too I guess?] - for looking at the positive side of every situation, what's more to say? Best way to live your life when you're too empathetic👍

Benton Fraser (from Due South series) - a guy from other realm: elegant, polite and humble, obeying all the rules and still be the smartest and most effective police officer around. Not to mention how handsome and cute he is! (take it for ace version of "hot") and scenes like when he falls into the snow in end credits I could watch forever❤ (so bad his asexual smart-ass potential has been wasted by producers in every next season...)

Young Bilbo Baggins (from The Hobbit, or There and Back Again written by J.R.R. Tolkien) - the book character once more: the guy, who starts up as the classical loser, the smallest in the group, knowing nothing, understanding nothing and being scared of his own shadow - when given a chance proves his potential for the greatest deeds, smartest solving problems and bravest of actions💪And the talking to the dragon on the top of that, OMG!!!🤯 (sorry, but Peter Jackson version packed with CGI and unnecessary stuff for me was emotionally flat as a pancake😩)

Zorro (from Zorro, 1957 Walt Disney series) - ZORRO!!! if that's not self-explanatory I don't know what to say😂

Z (from Ant Z , 1998dir. Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson) - for: "Why does everybody have to dance the same way?"

Sherlock Holmes (from Sherlock BBC series) and Gregory House (from House M.D. series) - well it is technically the same character (like Doctor Who or like James Bond - played by multiple actors): brilliant antisocial detective no matter if he is played by Benedict Cumberbatch or Hugh Laurie. And if not for his stunning personality (you may love him, you may hate him but you can't stay indifferent) - all the undefined interactions, dialogs and puns between Sherlock and John or between Greg House and Lisa Cuddy are just pure gold❤️‍🔥

Howard Brackett (from In & Out, 1997 dir. Frank Oz) - sooo sweet, I consider him my favorite ace movie character💜💚 (the 1990's movie tells him to be "gay" but I'd say it's an obvious misrecognition and I'd need another post to tell more about that guy...😋)

Jareth the Goblin King (from Labyrinth 1986, dir. Jim Henson) - well... that's another guy that I sooo much need another post to talk about😆 Starred by David Bowie, nuff said😎

.

TEN FANDOMS (don't worry, this part is much shorter):

Labyrinth (1986, dir. Jim Henson) and its fancomic Girls Next Door (I love that in the fancomic Jareth gets muuuch more good time teasing and flirting Sarah!😋) - what to say? Everything is magical and fancy here but never too naive

X-men - a talent that makes you special also makes you an outcast (which is not any different from the real world actually...) Also cool looking action scenes and young Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine.

Collateral (2004, dir. Michael Mann) - I watched it for the first time in 2021 and it became my biggest obsession, hyperfixation and life perspective changing experience❤️‍🔥 (again - most definitely some other post to talk about it) But apart from my madness it's also is just a very good action movie with nice soundtrack. And ppl saying they hate Tom Cruise but loved Collateral says a lot about it!👍

Terminator 2: The Judgement Day. It's like Zorro to me - obssesed since my childhood and never get over it

Fiddler on The Roof - pure perfection

M.A.S.H. series - classic

House M.D. - apart from everything else it was also a great help during medical studies - nice thing when you can memorise weird disease symptoms with an episode😉

Toy Story - fascinating thing to watch every next movie growing up with you - from your childhood problems to middle age issues...

Matrix - hyperfixation of 13 years old me (but the first movie I choose to treat as a whole story)

Garfield - 😁

Oh, that was kind of refreshing. Turns out I actually needed that.

Now I'm afraid I do not know enough people to tag but lets try it: @the-malfunctioning-somnambulist , @vampiiriic , @blackhoodedfigur , @lireb-librarian , @voidofsky , @sharp-lines-in-charcoal , @dragodina , @sbmranger , @tamisdava2 , @notasapleasure

Have fun if you feel like it or just have a good day anyway!❤

[rgr-pop]

i’m looking at this like what’s up with this nu formalist arched thing next door to the big bank building, is it art deco underneath, when was it built, can i put it on the art deco list, obviously i like it:

no info from the property assessor, as this whole chunk & more is owned and attached to the same property. there is no 105-107 s washington. i’m going to not consider this a clue. recall that the above big bank building looked like the following, before. how it became a millennium deco redevelopment monument is another post.. for now i am looking and i am thinking, the little arch building? that must be a covered up version of this little arched deco looking thing, which i’ve been trying to find more info on:

here is a picture of it with another building--an early liebermann’s location. so the porter’s building, here, is hiding underneath the arch building above, and the lieberman’s is an old slipcovered brick building that’s been uncovered?

no actually! liebermann’s IS the arched thing-- a different surface facade entirely. it appears that the 20s looking thing has disappeared into the big bank building, demolished or swallowed... they widened the bank building, i’m assuming when they did this other stuff to it. see, wide:

formerly skinny:

with the precious little moderne-looking building still next to it.  from photos i’ve found a few business names to attach to that building, i need to figure out when it was built so i can decide whether it can reasonably go on the art deco list. once again, the city assessor doesn’t have a date for it as far as i can tell. in this photo of the big bank building being built (bbbbb) can “see” that the moderne building is not there--some older buildings are, which must have been torn down. this photo is from 1917. shoutout to streetcars also

another sighting, printed 1921 (not necessarily a 1921 photo):

real quick though i for sure have always believed that the big bank building was elusively very much older, due to the property assessor has told me it was built in 1870:

i am choosing to ignore this mis/information. going through some news mentions of properties on this block and at this corner beginning in 1917. since the lil building i’m looking for doesn’t appear to be there yet, there may be mention of tearing those ones down and rebuilding. very lucky for me! something did happen to that little building in 1919, one of the biggest deals in town...

my hypothesis based on a lead like this would be that the new owners would tear down the old building (which, i don’t know how old that one was either), and put something new there. a little other note from this article, the store is claiming to be one of the oldest in town. oldest stores? oldest... buildings? also, i knew i recognized that name from the ten thousand candy factories we had for some godforsaken reason:

i swear to you i go to local history tours and people here are still talking about the sugar bowl it makes me almost want to go mehmet oz about it but i’m moving on. when will they tear down this building? rebuild this building? build the little moderne thing? will it be after roughly 1926 so i can argue that it’s art deco and should go on my lost lansing art deco list??

oh!!! he’s not tearing it down... he is giving it a new “front.” was my little moderne box a slipcover over a very old ass building??? (also, he says he is not in a position to tell us  the character of business that will occupy the remodeled building)

ok!! 1920 newspapers show me!!!

there she is! collaborator initially said the building looked chicago style (which i interpreted to mean a la louis sullivan) but i did not see it until now--exactly the kind of surface-decorated commercial eclectic modernity. a find like this--a reveal of a new building--is such a treat doing this kind of work. what’s even exciting for me are lengthy reviews of its decoration, and its proprietors going on about modernity, which is exactly what i’m looking for in an art deco building, but this is too early :(:

looking at this other photo of the block, you can see the little billiards building sign :). and next to it, here, you can also see: a 19th-century building that may, in fact, be our little arched building still remaining today :O.

there’s something so cute about seeing it with all the windows open and and the shades a mess:

there’s no date attached to the above photo, but we know it must be later than 1921 (per the billiards club opening). several other clues i could pursue--the crow’s nest traffic light thingy, car nerd shit, and the paving of the roads. neither here nor there, but i may need to return to it again eventually... but it’s a 20s photo, more or less. so it turns out that this building

is this building on the right:

and it seems likely that it could also be this building, in the 20s:

is that old building her?? when was it built??

local history library has this photos of two buildings at this corner that are reported to have burned down in 1871. this suggests to me that anything toward that corner of the block--including, possibly, this building in question--is not older than 1871:

but now i’m thinking about that city assessor date for the big bank building on the corner--1870. those digitized records have mistakes, but usually to the order of a few years off, not 1870 vs 1917. i suspect there is something else parceling related going on here... could our little buildings on this block have been the actual 1870 buildings? even if this whole block did burn in 1870, i see a 1-2 year reporting lag or error often enough--they could very well have been rebuilt right after a fire. tracking the arch building, the earliest mention i spot in the news is 1911, which, can you stop remodeling this building smh

here’s the 1885 sanborn map, earliest i have. i’m looking at 105 and 107, but really all of them--i do see a crockery and a bank here. there’s nothing totally convincing one way or another, except that there were buildings here by 1885. based on what i think this building looked like from the above tiny picture of it, i think that our little arch building and little modern building were probably here by 1885, and probably built between 1871 and 1885. i also think it’s hilarious that there were literally 2 billiards halls here because in 1920 the andros guy was like no one has ever seen a billiards hall before, i’m breaking new ground

let me poke into an old ass city directory (1873) to see what i can find. i’m immediately distracted by this, which is good because i didn’t have anything else of use in there

and i PROMISE you i drafted this post, originally, as i did this exploration (i am editing it now - editing rgr). i promise you i did not stage this: i got distracted by this ad because it has a picture of a building in it and i always brake for ads with pictures of buildings. i also recognized this building, or ones just like it, from several photos in the local history collection. (no date--if i was good at dating photos yet i would do so).  in the above ad the building is described as being at the corner of washington & michigan. this photo below is described as the southeast corner of washington & michigan. i recognized it, i had seen it, but i had no idea it was the block i was looking for! note that sanborn has a bank and a photo place at this corner. (i also checked some city directories for corroboration.) in fact it is lansing state savings bank, which would become the american state savings bank of my big bank building. library says they organized in 1892, so this photo is probably newer than that, but the building was a bank even before that, and so on. regardless, this is our block, but these two buildings stand where the big bank building is, and are not the little arch building i’m looking for..

luckily i feel like i’ve seen this block a million times just browsing. here it is again, more of the buildings, in 1900:

 are these 

therefore

this??? this was my new hypothesis, and i can accept that they--or now, just the remaining arch building--are the 1870 building referred to by the city accessor, building somewhere 1870-1885. but i need a few more things: i need some evidence that the right building wasn’t torn out and replaced as the lieberman’s building. i will get to that in a second. but first, i also need to square this:

city assessor says that this building was built in 1856--if true, this is probably not the oldest building in the city but it’s definitely the oldest building i know of in the city. here it is in the fities photos as a camera shop, looking basically the same:

(to the right of it, that plain brick building would get torn down to build the george nelson liebermann’s building in the sixties.) i guess i could believe that that brick building--which i never would have guessed was older than 1905, just with my eyes--is this 19th century building, stripped down with new ornament. but i need a some evidence because there’s a lot of difference. 

that’s 109. i decided to take a closer look in the papers, where i had overly focused on the 105 building and not the whole block...

was this a typo, or was there, in fact, yet another alex andros special facade redesign on this block??? in 1925 the remodel is announced again. seems true!:

i am dying to get this reveal. what i want to see is the old building transformed into the building that i see today, and to see what the ornament looked like in the 20s. let’s revisit this presumed-20s photo, where we can see it a little:

it really looks like the building i know-- post renovation. were the stone globes on it then? was it designed in a 20s deco style? (stone globes are a motif i am fiercely hunting right now.) do i have a story about art deco facades as redevelopment? can i find a photo where this very old--maybe oldest in the city--building was, for a second, art deco, now lost? i’m also sort of interested in this other thing, this porthole motif on turn of the century reo (auto industry) buildings in lansing appearing in this remodeled building:

need to gather more info. in the meantime i also found this article about how the building (if it is has claimed) has some of the only remaining virgin lumber from when it was all trees here. probably! that article had me quaking tbh i found a lot of things about this building’s remodel and reopening (as a cafeteria--mr. andrus, service industry pioneer), but no reveal yet. here is basically an entire page of congratulations ahead of the grand opening of uptown cafeteria, 1930:

more to follow... especially sitting on something extremely juicy about the widening of the big bank building (which honestly anyone older than me probably just knew from memory, lol)

[eazy-group]

Cottage Cheese Berry Protein Smoothie

New Post has been published on https://eazywellness.net/cottage-cheese-berry-protein-smoothie/

Cottage Cheese Berry Protein Smoothie

This high-protein smoothie offers a refreshing and easy low-carb breakfast alternative. While not strictly "keto," it remains low in carbs and, with its high protein content, keeps you full longer—making it an excellent choice for busy mornings. It's the ideal second meal option for those who practice intermittent fasting.

The smoothie gains its extra protein punch from cottage cheese and collagen powder. Cottage cheese, a surprising but effective ingredient in smoothies, creates a smooth, frothy texture without any aftertaste, ensuring its presence is undetectable once blended.

For an added boost, magnesium powder is included to enhance electrolyte balance, promoting energy and hydration throughout the day.

How To Make Cottage Cheese Protein Smoothie

This Cottage Cheese Berry Protein Smoothie is so easy to make. You'll only need a few ingredients:

Cottage Cheese: The cornerstone of this recipe, it ensures a creamy, high-protein smoothie without any aftertaste.

Collagen powder: Boosts the protein content and adds to the smoothie's creaminess. Options include plain or sugar-free flavored collagen, such as Vanilla Collagen Peptides from Perfect Keto. Alternatively, whey protein powder (isolate) or egg white protein powder can be used.

Cashew Milk: Unsweetened cashew milk, almond milk, or even water are suitable (although not ideal as it lacks potassium). For a nut-free version, try Poppy Seed Milk or Coconut Milk (light).

Berries:Frozen berries add creaminess and versatility. Choose from strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, or wild blueberries for a flavorful smoothie.

Magnesium Powder: Provides an electrolyte boost. Neutral tasting options like Natural Calm work well, or for added flavor, Raspberry-Lemon Calm can be used.

Low-Carb Sweetener (optional): To adjust sweetness, stevia or Allulose are recommended, with a variety of options and conversions available here.

Vanilla Extract (optional): Not necessary if using flavored collagen powder.

Customize Your Smoothie

Each and every one of us has different dietary needs so it's only natural that you may need to adjust the macros in this smoothie recipe. Here are a few tips:

Need more fat/calories? Add a tablespoon of MCT oil or some heavy whipping cream.

Need less protein? Skip the collagen powder.

Need fewer carbs? Use blackberries for a slightly lower carb count.

You can make all these adjustments and more directly in the KetoDiet App by cloning any of the recipes from my blog and customizing them to fit your own macros and preferences.

More Keto Smoothie Recipes

Love low-carb smoothies? Check out some of these recipes:

Keto Peanut Butter & Chocolate Smoothie

Vanilla Keto Smoothie

Chocolate Keto Smoothie

Keto Strawberry & Basil Smoothie

Keto Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie

Keto Blackberry Cheesecake Smoothie

Creamy Keto Green Smoothie

Raspberry & Lemon Protein Smoothie

Preparation time

Hands-on: 5 minutes Overall: 5 minutes

Nutritional values (per serving, 1 smoothie)

Total Carbs 19 grams Fiber 3.9 grams Net Carbs 15.1 grams

Protein 44.6 grams Fat 16.3 grams of which Saturated 4.7 grams

Energy 391 kcal

Magnesium 237 mg (59% RDA) Potassium 768 mg (38% EMR)

Macronutrient ratio: Calories from carbs (16%), protein (46%), fat (38%)

Ingredients (makes 1 serving)

3/4 cup cottage cheese (170 g/ 6 oz)

1 1/4 cups unsweetened cashew milk or almond milk (300 ml/ 10 fl oz)

3/4 cup mixed frozen or fresh berries (113 g/ 4 oz)

1 tsp Natural Calm or Raspberry-Lemon Calm (magnesium powder)

1/4 cup collagen powder, plain or vanilla or protein powder of choice (25 g/ 0.9 oz)

Optional: 1/2 tsp sugar-free vanilla extract (if using plain collagen powder)

Instructions

Prepare all the ingredients for your smoothie. If using fresh berries, wash under running water.

Place all the ingredients in a blender: cottage cheese, berries, almond milk (or nut/seed milk of choice), collagen powder (plain or vanilla) and magnesium powder. If using plain collagen powder, optionally add vanilla extract and/or low-carb sweetener of choice.

Process until smooth and frothy.

Serve immediately. You could store the prepared smoothie in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a day. Shake before serving.

Source link

[variousqueerthings]

Daniel LaRusso: A Queer Feminine Fairytale Analysis Part Three of Three

(another massive, massive thank you to @mimsyaf​ )

part 1

part 2

8. Queerness and femininity and masculinity and the colour red and *record breaks*

If we spin the record aaalll the way back to this paragraph: “…looking at what it is girls and women in fairytales have/don’t have, what they want, and how they’re going to get it. It’s about power (lack of), sexuality (repressed, then liberated), and men.” Reading Daniel as a repressed, bisexual boy in a society that doesn’t accept his desires it’s interesting looking at how he moves through the world of the Miyagi-verse, at how threatened other men are by him, at how obsessed they are with him.

He’s out in the symbolic woods and these large boys and men see him and decide for whatever plot reasons to come for him. And they are large and violent and attractive and apart from Johnny again, they don’t have the nebulous excuse of fighting over a girl and even that excuse dies by around the midpoint when Johnny kisses Ali just to get a rise out of Daniel. He’s not trying to “win her back,” he’s not even really looking at her. He’s just trying to get a reaction. They don’t have any of the fighters in Rocky’s excuse either of Daniel being a macho opponent. 

You can read whatever subtext into TKK1 and TKK2 (which becomes especially tempting once CK confirmed that the guys he fought at seventeen have been thinking about him ever since – for thirty-five years), but TKK3 is where it’s really At in terms of obsession and lust and forbidden desires.

Silver is presented as both a handsome prince who saves Daniel and mentors him (where Miyagi is undoubtedly cast in a fatherhood role) and later on becomes twisted into a dark secret that Daniel has to keep, while he turns that thing that Daniel loves (karate, it’s… it’s karate… it’s also men, but it’s definitely karate, because karate makes him feel… things...) into an abusive, violent version of itself.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

But he’s also offering him something liberating. Whatever is going on in that nightclub scene is about something other than breaking Daniel down. Even the bloodied knuckles aren’t just about revenge. It’s about giving him something that he isn’t, in the end, willing to receive, at least not from Silver. In that roundabout, strange way of these feminine fairytales, it’s exploring hidden desires through the metaphor of karate.

Daniel wears red because it’s his colour. In the movies he wears red a lot. Often in scenes with violence in them (the beach/the hilltop in TKK1 and the date/the destruction of the dojo/the final fight in TKK2), but he also has a variety of shirts (and in TKK3 pants) that pop up all the way through the narrative. He wears a red jacket when he accepts Terry’s training, when he punches a guy in the face, and when he tries to get out of the training again (as badly as that goes).

Did anyone consciously think about red’s link to desire, obsession, and violence when they made these? Eh. But is it there symbolically? When he meets Johnny, when he fights Chozen, when he’s in emotionally fraught situations with Terry? Hell yeah.

Probably the most lust-and-violence infused red is that aforementioned punching-board-until-knuckles-bleed bit – not that I thought Terry was going to pull him in for a kiss, because I knew, logically, of course he wouldn’t right? There’s no way… is there? Or later on when Daniel punches that guy and ends up with blood all over his shirt and Terry once more grasps him, euphorically. Blood is violence. Blood is also desire. Red is Daniel’s colour, even though he doesn’t acknowledge it come Cobra Kai. (Maybe he just needs someone else - cough Johnny Lawrence cough - to inspire it in him again).

Daniel LaRusso’s narrative is exploring that most feminine of fairytale tropes: To want and be wanted by monsters and having to hide those desires.

“Maybe this time that strange churning in my stomach that feels like a mix of anticipation and fear will turn out good for me.” - Daniel’s mind.

At the end of the story, Daniel saves himself, with all of the strange mixed narratives around it, and the acknowledgement that the end of The Karate Kid Part Three isn’t satisfying and its aftermath will likely be delved into in the next season of Cobra Kai.

Nevertheless, he saves himself. Not from Silver or Kreese or Barnes, and not entirely, but he makes a decision not to give in to fear (and he continues to try and live by that decision, making it over and over again for the next thirty-five years, even when the return of Cobra Kai makes that difficult for him). 

He doesn’t do it by being the strongest in the land or even through a lucky shot (although that too). He does it by refusing to be like the male antagonists that surround him, by telling them they have no power over him. The narrative isn’t just his getting lost in the forest and all the monsters he finds there, it’s about how he redefines power for himself within that forest. 

He’s a man who isn’t violent, whose victories include helping out a girl whose ex-boyfriend just broke her radio, successfully doing the moves to a cultural dance he’s trying to learn, sitting with his father figure while he cries over the death of his own father, telling a girl that she’s just made her first friend, and breathing a sigh of relief that a tree that got broken has healed. 

Daniel LaRusso is a good boy is the point!

Karate is a metaphor. It can turn into many things: A series of lessons learned about how to be his own man and take care of his own house, a respect for the history of the father teaching him and sharing his home and story with him, fear, desire, masculinity (and the different forms that can take). 

When a tall, handsome stranger offers to teach him karate in the dark, without Daniel’s caretaker knowing how to help him, and twists that karate into something that hurts him - when he reclaims that, over and over, that means something too. 

This man is fine and definitely isn’t carrying the weight of buried karate-based queer trauma - could a traumatised man do this? *stares blankly at a former tormentor as blood runs down his forehead*

9. In Conclusion Daniel Has Kissed Dudes… Symbolically… But We Can HC Literally:

So there’s Daniel and his coded feminine fairytale narrative. It’s all a series of fun coincidences.

1. Ralph Macchio is just Like That

2. Red. All the red. 

3. large portion of his storyline is about lack of power. Yes, he regains that power by the end of the first and second movie through A Fight, but generally he is framed as powerless opposite these almost monstrously physically powerful boys/men. And in the third one it’s barely even about physical prowess (he’d still lose a real fight against Barnes or Silver) and more about regaining lost autonomy off the back of a manipulative, abusive relationship with an older guy.

4. The third movie in particular is narratively a mess, but if reimagined as a fairytale makes a lot of sense (because it’s secretly all about how karate is bisexuality and Daniel gets manipulated through that desire to be better at karate).

5. Queerness and femininity and themes about hidden desires that can only be approached sideways through couching those desires in symbolism: Handshake meme.

6. The fact that the more I think about it, the more feral I am for a Labyrinth AU.

7. To sum up over 5000 words of text: The inherent homoeroticism of wanting to be slammed against a locker by a bully, but extended over three movies and ever-more inventive ways of hurting pretty-boy-Daniel-LaRusso.

Johnny’s not going to be happy when he realises Daniel’s got other ex-rivals buried in his closet...

10. Some Other Stuff Aka The Laziest Referencing I’ll Ever Do

Further reading on trans Matrix

Further reading on masculinity and rape narrative in The Rape Of James Bond

Youtube Video from Pop Culture Detective (Sexual Assault Of Men Played For Laughs)

Some film/TV references in this: Dracula (Coppola), Princess Bride, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Labyrinth, The Matrix, Rocky, Princess And The Frog, Cinderella, Enchanted, Shape Of Water, Swamp Thing, Phantom of the Opera 

Some fairytale references: Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, The Wolf And The Seven Little Kids, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Company of Wolves (Angela Carter), Through the Looking Glass, Princess Bride

Also referenced is Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel and the subsequent musical Funhome. Further thoughts on this by @thehours2002​ and @jenpsaki​:

https://thehours2002.tumblr.com/post/650033577171533824/daniel-larusso-and-fun-home-click-to-enlarge

https://jenpsaki.tumblr.com/post/650530225997971456/cobra-kai-fun-home-inspired-by-goldstargirls

My list of Cobra Kai meta posts

I wanted to delve into fairytale movies more, but then I was like “fuck, I have actual work to do,” but I was interested in the ways male and female characters are written in these stories:

The Last Unicorn, The Never-Ending Story, The Dark Crystal, Legend, and Stardust.

The Last Unicorn is an interesting one because she’s not really human, until she is. It’s more like The Little Mermaid (the fairytale, not the Disney film) in tone, and of course there’s a pretty substantiated rumour that Andersen wrote that one as a metaphor for falling in love with another man (who eventually got married). 

Andersen in general is just fun to analyse as someone who popularized so many fairytales and exists as an ambiguously queer historical figure – might’ve been modern-day gay, bi, ace, but we’re just not sure. All your favourite fairytales can be read through the lens of queer loneliness and ostracization. Just like horror.

Anyway I didn’t go into the whole Little-Mermaid-Last-Unicorn transformation bit so much as the Monstrous-Desires bit, but I think there could be something to that too, with monsters representing otherhood and all. Stardust is a kinda-almost-this, except she sticks to her human form and all is okey-dokey by the end, she’s allowed to marry the handsome man and be a star.

The Never-Ending Story has Atreyu and Bastian and because of a lack of female characters, an interesting bond between the two of them, but mainly Atreyu is absolutely a go-gettem Hero Type and it’s just interesting to see how Bastian relates to him as both an audience insert, but also eventually as his own character in that world.

The Dark Crystal contains certain… androgynous elements of feminine and masculine coded characteristics in the main character because of how he’s not human, but also they do have a “female” version of his species that he needs to go save (and bring back to life) by the end, so in a way it’s both more and less heteronormative in its characters.

Legend sees another example of a monster (literally called Darkness and looking like a traditional devil) trying to seduce a princess through promises of power, and she “goes along with it” in order to trick him and succeeds in that trick, but is ultimately saved by the male lead. 

In conclusion: I don’t even have Shrek in this.

[zed-zalias]

Calling All “Pyrophobiamaniacs”: Queer-Run Monster Prom Ozmien (Damien/Oz) Community Discord

Hello, Monster Prom fans!

Do you like the ship Damien/Oz?

Would you like a place to chat with other fans of the ship and share fanart and fanfic made by yourself and other Monprom fans?

Do you just want to scream at people about how beautiful of a couple Damien and Oz would make? 

If so, then this Discord server is for you!!

Here’s the link if you’re already sold: https://discord.gg/bfVsRtXpbH. If not, read on for more information about the server!

There are some hard rules, especially involving harassment and NSFW content so as to protect myself (I am 18) and the other legal adults on the server from liability and to protect minors from age-inappropriate content. Other than these rules, however, the server is very friendly and open to all kinds of interaction, including general chat, sharing fanart and fanfic you love, sharing your own fanart and fanfic, sending me fanfic to write summaries of and promote to the rest of the server (Including your own!), or just keysmashing frantically about Ozmien.

I emphasize that the Discord is queer-run (I am gay and a primarily He/Him enby just like Oz!! Hooray!!) because it has come to my attention that some people (half-jokingly, but still) view Ozmien as Monprom’s version of the “fetishized by straight people” mlm relationship that we have become so acquainted with in fanfic spaces, so I just want to make clear that my intense interest in Ozmien stems from a very genuine place. That said, respectful and enthusiastic cishet Ozmien shippers are obviously welcome, and we would absolutely love to have you. I just wanted to make sure I mentioned that in case any queer people were afraid of what the server culture would be like!!!! You will not be alone!!!!

Now, a brief bit about me. My name is Zed_Zalias. You may have read a little Ozmien fic I wrote a month and a half or so ago called The Most Badass Noob. Here’s a link if you’re curious: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32676679. It’s just silly, smutty, fluffy nonsense, but I had a lot of fun writing it and fell totally in love with this ship and its community while doing so, which led to me starting to plan a long, elaborate, slow-burn fic about healing from trauma, learning to love yourself, and falling in love with the Prince of Hell, the first chapter of which should be coming out... Soon™. So if you’d like to be part of the writing process—see snippets of it early, give me feedback when I need to ask if ideas are good, or just shout at me to hurry up and post it already—that’s another reason you may be interested in the Discord! I am often a bit of a disaster, so I honestly will need all the help I can get to make sure I execute this story correctly, and I’d love to have you along for the ride. That said, this Discord is not primarily to promote my own work. You can ignore every message I send about my own writing, and I will not be offended in the slightest. I honestly just want other people to nerd out over this ship with <3

So let’s prove the Monprom fandom isn’t dying, and let’s show everyone why this ship literally won an official contest for most popular ship in the fandom.

Once more, the link is https://discord.gg/bfVsRtXpbH.

[emberopolis]

A Brief Look at 🌟 Pop Pantheons 🌟

So I am a big fan of pop culture paganism/magic.  I could write at length about it (and I might eventually) but for now I want to focus on one of the (maybe) biggest aspects of pop paganism: pop pantheons.

A pop pantheon is a collection made of fictional characters, images, or archetypes that you work with like deities or other revered magical beings, or that you use in a sacred way.  A popular example of this is the tarot, where you can make 100 different decks using 100 different subjects and people can still connect to it as a divination tool.

Pop pantheons can be used either on their own or as a gateway into working with ancient deities-- both of which I’ll talk about.

Why would you use a pop pantheon over a ‘real’ pantheon? The answer to that question is very simple: connection.  You have a personal connection to these pop culture figures already, so you can really put your heart into working with them.  When you’re personally invested in something, you connect to it better.  The feelings you have for those things are raw and powerful and can be harnessed in your magic or your daily life.

I’ll use an example from my own practice: Pokémon.  I’ve explained in other posts how much I love Pokémon.  Because I have such a deep connection to Pokémon, I am able to tap into that and use Pokémon trading cards for divination.  I might also pick a Pokémon to embody something for a spell or ritual.  For example, I feel like I need to be more disciplined, but I don’t work with any deities or beings that represent 'discipline’ so I don’t feel like I have a source to call on.  I, personally, don’t feel comfortable calling on the help of deities I don’t work with, so instead I can turn to my special interest, Pokémon, and find something to represent discipline for me.  I could use Lucario as an image of discipline because of its history of being a knight’s companion and intensive training to be able to see and use auras.  I could do a spell where I involve this Pokémon through a trading card or a plush toy or an enamel pin, and I can use that item as my talisman.  Then when I need to call on discipline, I could turn to that item or carry it with me.

Pop pantheons are easily accessible. For some things in pop culture, there is vastly more information about that thing than there is about a specific deity or mythical being.  There might only be a handful of myths for a deity.  However, with pop culture work, you likely have access to the source material for the being you want to work with and can easily consume it.  A great example of this is Aslan from C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia.  There are already books dedicated to using Narnia as a religious-adjacent text for your life.

Another example could be Merlin.  Merlin is an archetypal figure with many interpretations that you can consume and build a connection with.  You can read the legends of King Arthur, or you could choose a Merlin-esque being who embodies the same archetype, like Gandalf.  You can read the Middle Earth books to foster that connection to the archetype of the wise wizard or magical mentor.  This stuff is readily available at your fingertips, it’s as simple as going to the library and checking out the books or renting the DVDs.

What you need might be too ‘niche’ for a deity/being or you can’t think of/don’t work with a deity/being that represents what you need. As I mentioned earlier, some of us don’t feel comfortable calling on deities/beings we don’t regularly work with, but we feel we need the help of a supernatural force.  We can call on an archetype or a fictional being that we feel connected to to serve this function.  My example from earlier was how I felt I needed discipline, but I don’t work with any beings that represent or embody that, so I called on a Pokémon for the job.  A big facet of the world of Pokémon is establishing a deep connection with your Pokémon and being able to call on them when you need help, so it felt appropriate to me to use a Pokémon for this task.

Pop pantheons can be more comfortable to work with. This is sort of the same as the previous point, but I’m going to include it anyway.  I’m going to use an example that Molly Roberts used in her video on this subject (which is linked at the end of this post.)  For road opener work, Molly uses Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz.  She mentions that many people like to call on/use Ganesha symbolism for road opener work because it falls under the umbrella of things he represents.  However, Molly doesn’t feel comfortable working with a being from a system she doesn’t know enough about, so instead she uses Glinda, who represents the same thing to her but comes from something she does know and understand.  She’s more comfortable with Glinda, so her work flows freely and her magic isn’t blocked up or diminished by uncertainty or discomfort or a feeling that what she is doing is ‘wrong.’

Pop pantheons can be a gateway into working with ‘real’ deities. If you’ve never worked with a deity before and aren’t feeling called to one, but want to start a relationship with one, it can be a bit intimidating to work with one at first, especially if you’re new to paganism and/or witchcraft in general.  You might feel drawn to a pop cultural depiction of a deity, though, and want to interact with that being through the lens of the pop culture ‘version.’  A great example of this is Loki from the Marvel universe.  I’ve heard of several people who came to Loki through an interest in his Marvel counterpart.  I have a friend who works intimately with Loki and the way he appears to her is much the same as Marvel’s Loki.  Is her work with him diminished because he resembles the Marvel character?  Not at all!

Another example is Hades.  Say someone played that game and suddenly felt a strong interest in Dionysus.  They might begin dipping their toes in deity work, and when they do they envision Dionysus the way he appears in the game.  This helps them connect to the ‘true’ Dionysus because they already feel drawn to that vision of him and feel comfortable with it.  They can use Hades Dionysus as their proxy for the ‘real’ Dionysus the god chooses to show his preferred form to that person-- if he ever does at all.  Dionysus might be perfectly happy to be represented as the Hades Dionysus for that practitioner and not change.

🌟 🌟 🌟

This post is getting quite long, so I will stop here.  I hope this feels like a good introduction to pop pantheons.  If you have questions or want me to expand on this subject, you can always send me an ask.

Before you leave, I’d like to recommend three videos to you.  Some of the information I’ve provided in this post comes from these videos, and each expands on the ideas presented here and provides more information.  So if you’re interested in knowing more, I highly recommend watching them:

Kelly-Ann Maddox: Worth with Deities and Other Personified Beings

Jesse Huntenberg: Discovering Gods, Goddesses, and Archetypes

Molly Roberts: Pop Pantheons!

[eurosong]

Undo my ESC 2021 - Semi-final 1

Good afternoon, folks! Every year, I take a look at each semi-final and share what feasible change I would make – as small as changing a few lines of the song or an element of staging, or as big as a different song completely winning a national final – to make it even better (just in my own opinion of course!) This year will be harder than usual, but I’ll try to set aside my conviction that every 2020 artist should have been able to return to see how different SF1 might look. Let’s go!

🇱🇹 Lithuania: PiN was in the Roop's hands, and whilst I fell in love with some of the underdog songs they were up again, most notably Home and Never fall for you again I wouldn't take away the chance away from the Roop. There's nothing I'd change about Discoteque, and I love their nod to On fire, but the way that they also took things in a different direction to last time.

🇸🇮 Slovenia: I may be in a small minority, but I absolutely love Amen and I loved Voda too! Ana Soklič has so much presence and stunning vocals with so much texture and depth; she can sell me pretty much everything. My only change would be to insert Slovenian language lyrics!

🇷🇺 Russia: I was initially really disappointed that we wouldn't see the iconic Little Big on the ESC stage - but I commend the way they wanted to share the limelight with other artists. The unexpected Russian mini-NF ended up being a revelation and very diverse for its size. I liked all three songs, but I think that the best hands down won. There is nothing I have to change to Russian woman, one of the most powerful propositions of the season for me. I just hope juries will value it and we won't see a Telemóveis style situation!

🇸🇪 Sweden: After a year of being happy with the result in Sweden - I was always in Dotter's corner, but who can't love the Mamas? - we return to more familiar terrain of an MF result disgruntling me. Tusse has charisma and talent, but his song is lacklustre at best for me. My fav was, once again, Dotter, and I wish that either she'd taken the win or that the Mamas got their shot at ESC as main artists.

🇦🇺 Australia: I really enjoy Technicolour, one of the more out-of-left-field entries from Oz. I am so intrigued as to what the Diane Warren song offered to Montaigne was like, as I'm certain that this isn't it, but I'm glad she trusted her gut and went for something so distinctive. My one change would be to get rid of the unnecessary key change at the end.

🇲🇰 Macedonia: When there was a nationalistic furore with attempts to stop Vasil from representing MK, I was entirely on his side even though his song for me is one of the least appealing of the edition. I'd still want him to get his chance at ESC - but his Sudbina would have been such a more compelling entry for my taste.

🇮🇪 Ireland: Lesley Roy served nostalgic pop wonderment for the second year in a row, and another song that has etched itself already onto my life's soundtrack. I don't know what I'd change, except perhaps translate one of the choruses into Irish Gaelic - it'd make the message of a return to home even more resonant for me.

🇨🇾 Cyprus: Cyprus and I haven't seen eye to eye for several years now, and it's a shame as they were one of my favourite countries of the 90s. I do enjoy El diablo more than their last trio of songs, but I find it leans too heavy on a clear inspiration from Gaga, which takes away from some of the more original elements of the song. So, I'd rework the chorus, and also change some of the lyrics elsewhere because some lines just flat out make me cringe.

🇳🇴 Norway: I seem to have been in the minority of people delighted at MGP's final results! I had bigger favourites - the rambunctious sea shanty that is Vi er Norge, the kickass empowering Witch woods or the pulsating groove of Playing with fire - but I wouldn't take Tix' win away from him given how meaningful it was for him and what the guy has been through. My change? Revert partially or entirely to the Norwegian version, Ut av mørket; for me, it hits my heart harder.

🇭🇷 Croatia: Sincerely, my biggest disappointment of the NF season potentially - I wish Damir had been internally selected, not just because of my wish to see all ESC'20 alumni return, but because his was the best Croatian song for me since Moja štikla. Tick-tock is harmless but if we can't get a Damir return in this hypothesis, then I'd go for Rijeka, which captivated me with its epicness on first listen and has just risen in my estimation since. Though, given Nina's histrionics after coming second, maybe I'd have Albina perform the song instead.

🇧🇪 Belgium: I was prepared to not be on board with Belgium this year despite my long-lived love for the country - I found Release me, whilst orchestrated beautifully, entirely lacking in dynamism; and I really couldn't stand the way the band dumped Luka unceremoniously. And yet... this lush piece of art is one of my favs of the entire season. And there's something different and singular in Geike's voice. So the only thing I'm changing here are the dudes' attitudes to ESC so that they can value it more, especially Alex.

🇮🇱 Israël: As one of the most naturally charismatic performers of 2020, I had high hopes for Eden's return and the original idea of a mega-NF for her seemed really promising. Instead, we ended up with an uninspired strewing of songs, of which the best didn't even get the chance to be recorded by her. Set me free was my favourite of the three that got to the final, but I feel they've really worsened it with the revamp, in between the hail mary pass of the whistle vote and the extra emphasis on "I'mma". I would have Eden perform Shoulders instead - I don't know how it NQd and think it would allow her to showcase her personality a lot more.

🇷🇴 Romania: I really enjoyed Roxen's selection last year - small but quite diverse, and I felt the best song won. My change would be to have seen a similar national final with 3 or 4 other songs of hers this time, because I'm not convinced in Amnesia anywhere near as much as I was of Alcohol you.

🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: I wish they had gone with something at least a bit different rather than this cut, smudge and paste from last year that is so on the nose with its "you loved Cleopatra, so you will love this, won't you?" feel that it even namechecks the previous song. Efendi has a lot of talent and could have shown more diversity here.

🇺🇦 Ukraine: I'm getting used to the surprise revamp of Šum by now, but the question still remains for me, why did they do it? They needed to cut about a minute off the duration of the track, but to me, that doesn't explain why they also had to change the melody in large parts of the song. I'd be tempted to revert to a shortened form version of Šum version 1.

🇲🇹 Malta: Another unpopular opinion, but I'm just not that into the Maltese song this year. The lyrics are great and Destiny has poise and presence and PIPES and I'm sure she'll do well, but the style - a glammed up Electro-Velvet, essentially - doesn't heat me up, and I feel like the different parts of the composition are too dissonant from each other, like we have 2 or 3 songs in one here. My change would be for her to have gone with something more soul-ish in its sound, like AOML was.

And the AQs of this semi

🇩🇪 Germany: How did juries decide upon this, especially when there seems to have been many promising artists in the German selection? No shade against Jendrick who seems like a lovely chap, but the song sounds like the cheerful four chords on a ukulele you hear repeated as royalty free background music on Youtube tutorials, merged with a post-chorus breakdown taken from a Stefan Raab b-side. I would have gotten out my phone book and given Lilly among clouds a call - she gives me the vibes of being able to create something totally show-stopping.

🇳🇱 Netherlands: My original slight disappointment at this was more because of how high I have Grow than any fault of its own. It's another gorgeous composition from Jeangu, with probably the best set of lyrics of the year, and this is going to be a moment. I change nothing.

🇮🇹 Italy: I like Måneskin and their performances at Sanremo were brilliant - but they were far from being at the top of my favourites list. I would have given the win to Madame with Voce, or Ermal with Un milione di cose da dirti. Both would have been my #1 of the entire year, both move me deeply. Madame showcases contemporary Italian style with classic songwriting, whilst Ermal almost created a companion piece to Fai rumore - Diodato wanted to hear the sound of his loved one, whilst Ermal struggles to make a noise and say what he feels about his love.

Join me soon as I take a look at SF2 and its songs (and France, Spain and the UK, the auto-qualifiers from that semi!)

[thenightling]

Why I do NOT think Over The Garden Wall’s ending is secretly sad

Recently I came across a comment from someone who believes Over The Garden Wall actually has a sad ending and Greg and Wirt and doomed, that the ending is false because of the lyric “Loveliest ...lies of all.”   I have to admit I was initially worried about this being potentially true too.  But then I remembered a few things that reassured me. A few things made me certain the end is not false.

1.  The phrase “Loveliest... lies of all”:  At first this worried me too that the frog was giving a wink-wink / nudge-nudge that this wasn’t really how it ended but how the boys would have wanted it to end but then I realized something.  He actually sings "Loveliest lies of all" at the start of the first episode too.   So if the end is a lie so is the whole thing.  So this makes the concern moot, doesn’t it?

2.  “What is a story but a lie?”:  Some people call fictional stories "lies" and The Unknown is a land of stories. A similar reasoning is how Marvel evolved Loki from God of lies to God of Stories in the comics.   

3.  The Over The Garden Wall comics are supposed to be canon:  The Over The Garden Wall comics (from the same writer) indicate all the stories ended the way the afterward claimed.  

4.   The end scene is supposed to show how the boys touched the lives of those in The Unknown:  We have been told that the ending is supposed to show how the boys impacted the lives of those in The Unknown.  Why do that if only that one part is a lie? 

5.  It was all real on some level:  The Bell still being in the frog’s stomach indicate that the adventure was at least partly true.

6. The opening and closing bookends:  There are things tied together that the boys would not have known in order to imagine the happy endings for the lives they touched.  For example, the fact that the gristmill (now mostly repaired) was owned by Beatrice’s family and the dog from the first episode was hers.  The boys didn’t know Beatrice had a dog.  The boys also didn’t know what the woodsman’s daughter looked like. We only saw her in the preview segment of the first episode.  And Lorna’s ending was the most probable since Auntie Whispers turned out to be a fairly nice person (even if she didn’t think of the obvious way to get rid of the spirit).   There’s a preview (in the opening segment of the first episode) that ties directly to the ending and the boys wouldn’t have been aware of either.

7.  A sad conclusion doesn’t match the rest of the mini-series:  All of Greg and Wirt's adventures ended mostly happily already (”O Potatoes and Molasses: The school is saved via fund raiser and the gorilla was Jimmy Brown all along,” the frog choosing his human companions over fame and fortune, the Potsfield folk just letting them go after their two friends were dug up, Adalade defeated, Lorna de-possessed and deciding Auntie Whispers is her family after all for loving her and looking after her through the ordeal, And the crazy old tea seller (who might actually be the ghost) finding love with his business competitor.  So there's no real reason the ending should be false considering how far fetched the previously established stories played out. 

8.  Purgatory isn’t a bad place by its original definition:  Yes, I’m aware that there’s a high chance the boys are in purgatory, or some place between realms.   There’s also a chance they are in The Dreaming (realm of dreams and stories) or a combo of the two.   But purgatory is not necessarily a bad place and you sometimes CAN return to the land of the living from purgatory.  It’s not like the Dante’s Inferno video game or Divine Comedy (which is Bible fan fiction, by the way).  Even if Dante’s Divine Comedy did influence Over The Garden Wall so did Goethe’s Faust  (part 2 of which had a sweet ending) and a bunch of other classic stories.  And purgatory is supposed to be a place between here and it is indicated that it is where forgotten stories (folktales / faery tales) must play out.  And most of those were designed to have happy endings.  

9.  The references and homages don’t fit a bleak ending:  Yes, some old Grimm Faery tales have very dark endings but the raw blue print for Over The Garden Wall comes from American folktales, vintage New England post cards, and 1920s to 1940 cartoons, which usually were whimsical and had happy outcomes.   You can see the likes of Betty Boop, The Wizard of Oz, and even Shirley Temple’s Animal Crackers in my Soup in loving homage.  

10. Tome of the Unknown: They were helping forgotten stories reach their conclusion.  That’s why the original working title was “Tome of the Unknown.” (Which Lorna is reading in her final scene, by the way.)   The fact that Lorna is reading the Tome of the Unknown (the book of stories the Unknown characters are supposed to be from) suggests that the boys actually helped these characters play out their stories like faery tale characters in an Enchanted Forest.

11.  A sad ending doesn’t really match the established tone. They were mostly sweet forgotten stories and folktales too from the looks of it.  If Beatrice was turned into a bird by a bird for throwing a rock why is it so hard for us to accept a witch’s scissors could turn her back?  I was worried the scissors would actually mutilate her too but I think we’re just too used to that sort of thing today.  Older stories were not so cynical which brings me to point 11.         

12.  Projecting cynicism and dark expectations: I saw similar projected darkness with some people watching The Shape of Water and thinking the end was wishful thinking even though we had already seen “The Asset” use healing powers.   And Guillermo del Toro said it has a happy ending.  The Rugrats aren’t dead and Angelica is not just imagining them either.  Sometimes things actually just are wholesome.  They don’t need to be edgy.  

13.  I’m aware of what was considered early in the production:  Just because an author considered making something darker than what was made doesn’t mean the finished product is darker too.  People also like to bring up that in the “original“ Peter Pan the boy was a villain and did awful things but that is not the version that became a beloved play and children’s book.   That was essentially a prototype version that no one cared for.   

14.  Sequel?: Though it’s not likely the show’s creator (Patrick McHale) will do it, there were sequel considerations for Over The Garden Wall, which would require those stories to have ended the way we saw them. 

15. “If Dreams can’t come true then why not pretend?”  I’ve heard this lyric used to try to claim the ending is false but one could argue that all of the stories the boys encounter in Over The Garden Wall are dreams.  And what is the sure way to make a dream become real?  “Fake it until you make it.” In other words... Pretend.  So the boys may have turned those stories (including their endings) real.  Pretending and belief.  Believing something strongly enough that is how you make an ideal real.  

To quote Death in the novel Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.:  “ THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET”—Death waved a hand. “AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.” "Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—" MY POINT EXACTLY.”   He goes on to say people need to believe in these things in order for them to “Become.”   

This is how you make concepts real, through pretending and creating belief in the idea.

So in a sense what he’s really saying here can be seen as “Make it real.”

[sincerelyreidburke]

Okay, here’s a little ficlet for you guys!! We’ve brought Quinn’s summer in Arizona into the discussion; now let’s see it in action. This is also now posted as the newest chapter in my ao3 cricket ficlet collection.

In which: Quinn takes Nando’s little sister on a costuming supply run. And wholesome content ensues.

(Sorry, this got so long. Actually, I regret nothing, but I’m still sorry because this is a weird medium to post something that’s long.)

//

junior-senior summer | june

 Quinn has a special relationship with Joann Fabrics.

For him, being let loose in one is sort of like being a chicken nugget fiend of a young child and finding out your parent is going to stop and get you a Happy Meal on the way home from school. It evokes borderline euphoria in his subconscious, a youthful eagerness that he’s quite sure he’ll never shake. The thing is that those places are just… boundless potential, everything crafty that he loves all under one roof. He could quite literally lose an entire day just walking around the store, without buying anything at all.

So… you can imagine his excitement when, on the third day of production on The Wizard of Oz , the director of the Tempe Community Children’s Theatre hands him an envelope of cash. “Here’s half of your costume budget,” she tells him. “Let me know when you want the other half. There’s a Joann’s ten minutes away from here, if that’s helpful for you to know.”

“Oh, my goodness!” Quinn looks into the envelope— there’s plenty here to accomplish what he wants with it; he’s used to costuming on the Grand Rapids Summer Players budget, which, if you must know, stretched him very thin most seasons. “Thank you so much, Erica. That is immensely helpful for me to know. Is it okay if I go tomorrow?”

Erica is tall, tan, middle-aged, and constantly wearing a shawl as part of her outfit. A lot of people on the tech team are scared of her, but Quinn isn’t in the slightest. “You can go whenever your heart desires,” she replies, with a smile. “Keep me updated with what you’re putting together.”

“Thank you.” Quinn nods his head a little, clasping the envelope behind his back with both hands. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

She waves. “See you, Quinn.”

That’s the key with directors. You have to kiss up a little, and then you’re on their good side, and life is easy.

Rosa and Gabriella are both waiting for him by the bench outside the auditorium. The program operates out of Tempe’s high school, whose theatre is better than the one back in Michigan but nothing near Kiersey's Beckett Center.

“Ready?” he asks the two girls. They jump off the bench in near unison.

“Ready!” Gabriella affirms, and Rosa just nods.

They’re identical twins, but it’s not hard to tell them apart. Gabriella’s hair is always braided, and Rosa wears glasses. Not to mention their personalities are entirely different. They each look so much like Sebastián, and their mama, too. Quinn has been in Arizona for three weeks, almost four, but the resemblance still strikes him every time he looks at them.

Quinn picks up the canvas bag that holds the girls’ stuff; right now, it’s not much, except Gabriella’s ballet shoes and some snacks, but closer to the actual production, they’ll be bringing more back and forth.

Gabriella skips over the linoleum floor, landing only on the blue parts in its multicolored pattern, like the rest of it is lava. “Good news, Rosa,” he says, as they start for the door. Rosa looks up at him, sticking close by his leg. He tells her, “We get to go to Joann’s tomorrow,” and her face lights up.

“Who’s Joann?” Gabriella asks.

“It’s a store , dummy,” Rosa replies. “You know, with arts and crafts?”

She leaps to a new blue square. “Like pom-poms?”

Rosa nods. “And sequins.”

“Why do you need to go there?”

“To buy supplies to make the costumes,” Quinn tells her. She wobbles on one foot as she hunts for another blue patch. “So you’ll look pretty onstage!”

“Ooh!” This seems to pique Gabriella’s interest. “Can you buy me a crown?”

“You’re a Munchkin ,” Rosa says. “Munchkins don’t wear crowns.”

“Well, maybe I’m a Munchkin princess!”

“Those don’t exist.”

“Yes, they do.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yuh-huh.”

“Nuh- uh .”

“Quinn?” Gabriella stops at the double glass doors to look back at him. “Do Munchkin princesses exist?”

They each survey him intensely, and Quinn, by principle, is scared of absolutely no one, but being selected as the judge for their debate is intimidating. “I… am not sure,” he settles for, “but maybe we can do some research in the real Wizard of Oz book and find out.”

“Yay!” Gabriella cries, and Rosa doesn’t look disappointed— Quinn knows she’s a book fan, so this seems to satisfy her, too.

It’s the little things.

The next morning, although they haven’t yet figured out if Munchkin princesses exists, Quinn is dialed in and on a mission. He has a rather lengthy shopping list for the Joann run, and he packs some of his own money, too, into the side of his bag, just in case something in there strikes his fancy. Which… it definitely will. He’s incapable of going in, even for a costume-related trip, without emerging with something for himself.

“For the road, mi amor ,” says Sebastián, pressing a travel mug with a teabag in it into his hands. “I’ll finish the cleanup.”

Quinn glances beyond him, to the small stack of dishes next to the sink, and winces a little. “Are you sure?” he asks. “I can stay another few minutes.”

“No, no— go; I don’t want you to be late.” They’ve handled breakfast, as they do most mornings, for themselves and the girls; Mrs. Hernandez is working a weirdly timed shift at the hospital. Sebastián has work today, too, at his tio’s restaurant, but it’s not until later; he’s still in his sweats. “I don’t mind,” he adds.

Quinn smiles up at him. He still has some curly bedhead, and the facial hair he shaved after his playoffs in the spring is coming in again. Mornings with him in his childhood home are domestic in a way Quinn has never known. “Thank you,” he says, wrapping both hands around the tea. “And breakfast was delicious.”

Sebastián beams. “Of course, baby.” He takes him by the shoulders for a quick kiss, and it’s no more than three seconds long, but right then, from out of nowhere, the ten-year-old relationship police descend upon them.

“Sebastián, yuck !” Gabriella is walking across the kitchen, fresh from the go ahead and put on your shoes, then we’ll go to rehearsal mission that Quinn sent her on two minutes ago. “No kissing in the kitchen.”

Sebastián rolls his eyes at his sister, still grinning lopsidedly. “Who said that’s a rule?”

“I did.” Gabriella huffs, then grabs Quinn’s shirt on the way by. “C’mon, Quinn, we’re going.”

Quinn laughs, as she pulls him toward the front door, and Sebastián raises his eyebrows. “Well, you sure told me, huh,” he says. Rosa, fresh from upstairs, crosses the kitchen without fanfare, and joins them at the door.

“He doesn’t have time for you; you’re gross,” Gabriella says to Sebastián, like so there , and Quinn makes eye contact with him as he’s being wrangled to the door. Sebastián raises his eyebrows and mouths, She really showed me .

Quinn grabs the keys off the hook by the door, still laughing, and waves to him. “I’ll see you later, honey.”

“Bye!” he calls, leaning against the counter. “Have fun at Joann’s!”

Quinn has been thinking about this since yesterday, and yet the reminder makes him smile like he’s remembering it for the first time. “Oh, I will!”

Sebastián winks at him, which is just cause to smile further.

“My brother is gross,” Gabriella tells him, as they walk down the front path towards the car. “He’ll give you cooties.”

If that’s the case, it’s far too late. “I suppose so,” he replies. “But it’s a good thing he’s sweet, too.”

Gabriella makes a gagging noise. “Love is yucky ,” she says, and Quinn laughs.

Getting out of the house in the morning has been a feat since he got here. The twins are chaotic— well, Gabriella is chaotic; Rosa just adds another person into the mix— and it was a little easier when they were sending them off to school, but now that Quinn is bringing them to the theatre, he’s directly involved in the child-wrangling. Mrs. Hernandez is sometimes working and sometimes not in the mornings, but he and Sebastián have taken it upon themselves to do the morning routine so they can give her a break.

It… feels like home. Quinn could get very, very used to this.

At the high school, he drops Gabriella off with the other kids for stage rehearsal, and then rejoins Rosa in the lobby, where she’s waiting dutifully. “Are you ready?” he asks her, and she nods, with a big smile he’s not sure he’s ever seen from her.

“Let’s go to Joann’s,” she declares, and he smiles.

“Indeed,” he replies, and they start back for the car together. “Let’s go.”

He wonders, as they set off in the car, if Rosa will be shy. Although the past few days with starting out Oz have placed them in one-on-one contact, because Rosa is his wardrobe assistant for the summer, those are the first times he’s been alone with her, without her much more talkative sister or Sebastián or Mrs. Hernandez in the mix somewhere. He knows that Rosa is shy; he’s witnessed as much, since he arrived here. He’d love to get to know her.

But he doesn’t want to push her, either, and especially doesn’t want to do the grown-up thing (goodness, he’s a grown-up) where you accidentally make a kid uncomfortable because you ask too many questions. So as he listens to his phone navigate him in the direction of the store, he keeps mostly quiet, with the radio on low volume.

Then, about three minutes into their drive, her small voice breaks the silence. “My mama says you’re staying with us this summer because my brother loves you.” As he looks over to her, she pauses. Her eyes are on him, behind her purple-rimmed glasses. “Is that true?”

“Well… yes, that’s true,” he replies, because it’s the most watered-down version of the truth. You can’t really tell a ten-year-old that your grandparents kicked you out directly because you love said ten-year-old’s brother. And boys. As a concept. “I do love your brother very much,” he adds. “And I’m very grateful to be here with you this summer.”

Both these things are true. If it weren’t for Sebastián, he has no idea where he’d be staying right now. He has nowhere to go.

It was a big and awful truth when he first faced it. But that was months ago, and he’s all right now. There are people who love him, who support him— even if they’re not blood family.

Rosa nods, like she’s a lawyer, and he’s on the witness stand. In three hundred feet, continue onto East Broadway Road , says the GPS. She folds her arms, but not in a standoffish way, and asks, “Why didn’t your mama and papa want you to come home and see them?”

Oh. This one is harder to dodge. Quinn takes a second, smoothing the front of his hair, before he replies, “Well… I don’t see much of my parents, actually.”

“Are they dead?”

It’s so quick, it almost gives him whiplash. He forgets that Rosa and Gabriella lost a parent; they’re well familiar with death. “No,” he says, gently. “They just aren’t around.”

“Oh.” Rosa hangs her head. “Sorry.”

“Oh, goodness,” he says. “Don’t be sorry. You didn’t hurt my feelings or anything, I promise.”

“Okay.” At least she takes this at face value, and Quinn can relax again. In 2.3 miles, turn left onto South Dobson Road. He knows she’s still looking at him, and for some reason, he can tell she’s going to ask him another question before it comes. “Is it true you can’t hear without your headphones?”

Quinn smiles a little. He taps the hearing aid on her side and nods. “They aren’t headphones,” he says, “but yes, that’s true.”

She cranes her neck to look over the console. “Are they magic?”

He laughs. “In a way, I suppose. They let me do some things, but I’m just as much myself without them.”

“What kind of things?”

“Like listening to music.” He pauses. “And speaking English. It’s like your glasses help you see; these help me hear.”

She touches her purple frames again. “But when you did your play last summer,” she says, “some of the actors were deaf like you, right?”

“Right!” He smiles fondly. Tour seems like a lifetime ago, but he’s still in touch with some of the friends he made.

“So you used sign language,” Rosa says. “Instead of singing.”

“Combined with singing,” he replies. “It was really lovely.”

She frowns a little. “How come we couldn’t go see it?”

Oop . Gabriella has asked him this same question before. Sebastián wasn’t even sure about letting Mrs. Hernandez see the show, let alone his then-nine-year-old sisters. “Um… because it’s— well, it’s for grown-ups.”

Rosa huffs, but she doesn’t sound mad at him . Just frustrated. “That’s what Mama said.”

He’s glad she doesn’t stretch that topic any further, because he would have no idea how to explain Spring Awakening to a ten-year-old. Instead, she shifts gears. “Next time you do one, can it be for kids?”

He smiles at her. “I’ll be sure of it.”

For now, this ends Rosa’s interrogation, but she doesn’t get shy again. It’s pleasant, actually, to hear her say more than a few words at a time— from then to when they pull in at Joann, she talks about Oz , and doesn’t go quiet until they walk up to the automatic doors. Quinn grabs a carriage, because they’re definitely going to need one, and pulls the list out of his pocket.

The doors slide open, and he takes a long breath in.

It’s time.

“ Wow ,” Rosa says, from next to him, as she takes in the sight of the store in all its fabric and craft glory. “We could make, like, a million costumes in here!”

“It’s the greatest place.” Quinn might be crying a little. He leans down to her, list in-hand. “Are you ready to be my little helper?”

She actually jumps up-and-down at this. “Yeah!” she says, and it’s the most energy he’s ever seen out of her. “What should I do first?”

He brandishes the list. “Follow me.”

*

It’s an absolutely religious experience.

It takes two hours, and not a second if it is wasted time. Rosa is the greatest help, always asking what’s next for her to do, and he moves through the aisles on a mission. He is in his glory, and he regrets absolutely nothing.

They stock up on the basics— tulle, yarn, and cotton, plus sequins and gingham, a few different rolls of ribbon, buttons and thread. They fill the entire cart. Each moment spent inside the store is like free serotonin to last Quinn for months.

Checking out at half of the cash in the envelope, he marks it down as an extremely successful trip. “Great job!” he says to Rosa, as they walk back into the parking lot. It’s baking-hot outside, but the heat is dry, and it’s tolerable for now. “We got everything on our list.”

Rosa is smiling, ear to ear, and has been for most of the past two hours. “Wow,” she says. “I love that place.”

“We’ll definitely be back,” he says, with a glance over his shoulder at the storefront. “But this should get us started for now.”

“ Yes ,” Rosa says, and it sounds like it’s maybe just for herself, a quiet little celebration.

He puts the bags in the back of the truck, returns the carriage, and punches the directions back to the high school into his phone. As they’re pulling out of the parking lot (he looks both ways three times, because he, as a gay, really shouldn’t be driving at all), Rosa, still in good spirits, says, “That was fun.”

“That was very fun,” he says, then holds up his palm. “Give me a high-five?” She nods and smacks it eagerly. He smiles. “That was a good one.”

“That’s because teamwork,” Rosa says, very wisely, and he nods his agreement.

“I’m really glad to have you as my helper,” he tells her. “We’re going to have fun with these costumes. And then they’ll look very pretty on stage. Just you wait.”

Rosa nods. “I like costumes,” she says. “It’s like being a fashion designer.”

“Exactly!”

He is really glad she finally opened up a little. He considers this trip a success on a number of fronts.

“Quinn?”

He looks to her. She’s giving him the lawyer stare once again. “Yes?”

She takes a short breath, then asks, “Are you and Sebastián getting married?”

He isn’t adequately prepared for how sweet the question makes him, and he feels his face get warm, like he’s blushing at the mere thought. Which, on one hand, could be embarrassing, and he’d most certainly be getting chirped or fined if Ben or Remy were around— but it’s just him and Rosa, his maybe future sister-in-law, in the car, and she’s asking honestly, and gosh, if the idea of that doesn’t make him soft all over.

So he answers honestly. “Yes,” he says, because they’ve talked about it plenty. They may not know exactly what comes after graduation, which, mind you, is still a whole year away— but they know, without a doubt, that they’re doing it together. “Not just yet, but someday.”

Rosa smiles. She nods, and folds her arms again. She’s not looking at him when she replies, but the words touch Quinn all the same. “Good.” She pauses. “‘Cause I like you.”

Now he’s definitely red in the face. This little girl is the sweetest.

Gosh, Quinn wants to be a dad someday.

As he drives along— the roads in Arizona are all straight, and they line up like a grid, like a much more stretched-out New York filled with cacti and palm trees instead of skyscrapers. He keeps thinking, being here these past few weeks, that he could see himself living here.

At the edge of his vision a ways up the road, he spots the golden arches, a giant towering advertisement. And he gets a very good idea.

“Rosa,” he says, evenly. “Do you like chicken nuggets?”

“Um, yeah ?” She doesn’t seem to have spotted it yet, but she looks over at him like he’s asked the most obvious question in the world. “What kind of a person doesn’t like chicken nuggets?”

Quinn laughs. “Fair point,” he replies, then starts to signal. “Do you want a Happy Meal?”

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Kay, so I found this old story idea I had a while back but never really did anything with, and I figured hey, I've got 300+ prisoners beloved followers who for some reason put up with my garbage, so might as well inflict this upon them.

That being said, welcome to what I call The Department for the Colonisation of Childhood Whimsey.

So our story starts with a little girl called Dee.

Dee lives in the UK, in a council estate. When she was a kid, there wasn't all that much space to play or do the things richer middle-class kids got to do. Her parents house didn't have a garden, the local streets were too dangerous for a child to go out and play in, and the house itself was cramped and crowded.

Despite this, Dee had what could charitably be called an overactive imagination, an imagination she channelled into two things: a plastic triceratops toy she called Sarah, and a book - a blank book of A4 paper that had coffee stains on it and papers falling out when she got it - that she claimed had a magical power: anything written in the book would come true.

Cut to a few years later. Dee is in high school, and like a typical teenager she's moved on from her childish dreams. That is, until one day when Sarah the triceratops approaches her after school and tells her she's in danger.

So, yeah, pretty basic beginning, you've probably seen fifty books that start out like this, and that's all I wrote back when I was actually trying to make this a thing. However, one thing I always do vis-a-vis my writing style is worldbuild, and it's the worldbuilding that I'm really keen on with this idea. So, let's talk about that:

The actual premise of the story is simple: at some point in the 1960s, the British government came to the conclusion that the British Empire was more or less doomed. Not only was the post-war economy not capable of sustaining an empire, not only was the Cold War between the Americans and the Russians ravaging them, but an increased awareness of the plight of one's fellow man was inspiring many people - not just in the colonies but in England too - to demand independence. No matter how hard they tried, Parliament could not forsee a solution that the people would accept where the British Empire continued.

So, a solution was posed. For the past hundred years or so, the government had been made aware of the existence of pockets of space-time created by people with active enough imaginations. From Neverland to Oz, from the Hundred Acre Wood to Wonderland, these places had resources beyond any place on Earth - magic, especially. If the public would not countenance colonisation where they could see it, then perhaps the solution would be to colonise somewhere they could not see?

Thus, the British Empire never really died. It simply... moved.

Cut to the present day, and the Department for the Colonisation of Childhood Whimsey is still going strong. Almost every parallel world is under their control, and the profits of these regions are beyond belief. However, rather naturally for stories like this there is a resistance movement, that seeks to free the imaginary lands from the Department. Although they are small and weak, they have had several worthwhile victories over the Department in the past few months, and the higher-ups in the Department, including the shadowy and little-seen Director, want all such resistance movements stamped out.

This, rather naturally, is where Dee steps in.

Every generation, one in a million people have the ability to shape the forces of Imagination itself, and the stories these people tell, and others tell after them, become reality in the Imaginarium. These people become known as Imagineers, and Dee is one such person. However, the lack of much real output for this power has led to most of it being placed inside The Book, which has led to a fascinating feedback loop - Dee's Book not only influences the Imaginarium, it influences physical reality itself to a certain extent. Thus, the Department need simply write in the book that the resistance movement does not exist, and it will be so. The resistance, naturally enough, are not down with this, and have sent Dee's childhood friend to bring her and the book back to them, to keep them safe.

There's also a ton of other small worldbuilding touches I came up with, chief among them being the thing the Department sends to collect Dee - a Stalker, the amalgamation of that seemingly universal childhood experience of that thing that followed your car on long journeys. But a couple of words on the characters:

The leader of the resistance is Peter Pan, because of course he is, why wouldn't he be? He's much more of the capricious, vaguely fae Pan of the book, not exactly evil but very much ammoral and childish. He's mainly invested in reclaiming Neverland, the Lost Boys, and Tinkerbell, although there is the subtext of him using the Department as an example of the inevitable consequences of growing up - although he's completely forgotten Hook, like he does in the book, he's still looking for that antagonistic relationship with a grown-up.

Peter's second-in-command and the one really running the resistance is Princess Ozma, who's much more... agreeable than Pan. Oz has been colonised too, but Ozma is still in nominal control of it, and she supplies the resistance with all the resources she can, although she can't openly work against the Department because the CIA branch of it has Dorothy imprisoned and are basically pulling a 'we have your wife' scenario on her.

The third key player in the resistance is Alice Liddel, who provides the resistance with shelter and safe passage - the Department has been having little success applying the logic of supply chains and regimented exterminations to a place as willfully chaotic as Wonderland.

The rest of the resistance are mainly heroic characters from other public domain stories, although some of the heroes are working for the Department, either willingly or because they're coerced, but one of the other main characters - and Dee's eventual love interest - is a character called many things, but most commonly Insert.

Insert is... complicated. Like the Stalker, they're an amalgamation of a certain new-fangled trend - namely, they're every self-insert character that's ever been written. Naturally, they have a habit of... changing, at random intervals. On any given day, they're any gender, of any ethnicity, of any sexual orientation, and with backstories ranging from an officer on a starship in the far future to a student at a school of magic in Scotland. Given literally everything about them is eternally mutable - including their allegiance to the resistance or the Department - the resistance members treat them with some distrust, a distrust that Dee generally doesn't share. Their relationship is pretty rocky at first - Dee thinks Insert is only interested in her because she can use The Book to give them a concrete identity, Insert is angrt when she reveals this because the constant shifting is just who they are, they don't want to be bound down, and later on there is a genuine dilemma of whether or not Insert is interested in Dee by their own choice or because she's clearly the protagonist and a key part of their identity in a lot of their lives is to be shipped with the protagonist. Also, obvious joke but at several points Insert turns into Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, because of course they do.

The Department's side isn't that interesting - it's a whole load of villains, some of the more... problematique heroes, and a few hundred grunts. The most interesting character is The Director. He's never seen, even by the highest ranking members of the Department, and no-one knows anything about him other than his gender. Everyone in the resistance has a different theory of who he is - Pan has a suspicion he may have faced him before, Ozma thinks its the Nome King, Alice the Jabberwocky, and Insert fluctuates, as is their nature, although the top two choices are Voldemort or Dumbledore.

It's Dee, however, who figures out the truth, when captured by the Department. The others couldn't possibly know him, but Dee's heard his voice before, in her history classes.

The Director of the Department is Winston Churchill, made immortal by the collective consensus of him as The War-Time Leader. Unfortunately for the whitewashers of history, the immortal they created isn't the brave fighter of tyranny, but the actual Churchill, warts and all, the man who starved over two million Indians out of spite and neglectfulness. Dee being a descendant of Indian immigrants, this meeting isn't perhaps the best one.

There are side effects to the Director's immortality, however. Since the perception of Churchill is tied so deeply to his speeches, to the voice on the radio, that's all he is now. He wants The Book to give him back a body again, and the Department is basically a means to that end.

That's about all I'd concretely plotted out, otherwise I just had random ideas for sequels:

The America Book, where the resistance goes to rescue Dorothy from the CIA version of the Department, which is located under a theme park that is as close to Disneyland as it is possible to be. Naturally, the head of the American Department is Walt Disney's cryogenically frozen head.

The India Book, because a book about British colonialism has got to touch on India at some point. I haven't gotten far in this one, but one idea was that there would be an ongoing war between the native myths and legends - Hindu mythology, the Mahabharata and such - and what is derisively referred to as the 'imports' - namely, the Jungle Book. Again, no idea how this resolves itself, and frankly as a Brit myself I am in no way equipped to tell a story about India, but food for thought.

That's basically it. This isn't a 'here's something to hype up this series' thing - this is an idea I had, I did some thinking about it, but other things happened and I'm kinda splurging this so anyone else who wants to do this idea can pick it up. If you write something like this, feel free to tell me and I'd love to hear about it.

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Remarks: Oscar’s Talk with Ironwood (RWBY V7 CH7)

This isn’t going to be like one of my usual posts. Let’s just say that this squiggle meister really, really loved the scene between Oscar and General Ironwood from today’s episode---RWBY V7 Chapter 7. I enjoyed it so much that I’m going to be that nerd and quote all of it in this one post for future analysis and reference because that’s how much I loved it. I’ll also share some of my thoughts on this particular moment since…as I’ll reiterate, it was REALLY GOOD!

 (Oscar and Ironwood down in the Vault of the Winter Maiden)

 Ironwood: It’s right behind that door.

Oscar: The Staff of Creation.

Ironwood: I hoped bringing you down here might jog some memories; after all it was your idea to use the staff to life Atlas off the ground.

Oscar: I thought gravity dust kept Atlas afloat.

Ironwood: That’s the public story. But with the staff, we have a constant, seemingly limitless energy source. Ozpin speculated it could take us as high as we wanted. To tell you the truth, that served for the inspiration for the Amity Project. Get a communication tower up in the sky, higher than the Grimm could survive so we never lose contact with each other again.

Oscar: But…you’re not using the staff to raise Amity.

Ironwood: The staff could only be used for one purpose at a time. We’re going to have to do Amity the old fashioned way. Dust and all.

Oscar: Feels strange; knowing a part of me helped come up with all of this.

Ironwood: You’ll get used to it, I’m sure. Eventually, you won’t even know who’s who anymore.

Oscar: …Right.

Ironwood: We…didn’t always see eye to eye but…I wish I could ask Ozpin what he thought of all of this.

Oscar: Well, I can tell you what I think. The path you’re heading down, where you’re the only one with the answers, where you do the thing you think is right no matter the cost, it’s NOT going to take you anywhere good.

Ironwood: We have to stop Salem. Nothing matters more.

Oscar: Some things matter more. I think. Keeping our humanity. It’s what makes us different from her.

Ironwood: Sometimes I worry that’s her greatest advantage. Without humanity, does she still feel fear? Does she ever hesitate? When Salem hit Beacon, even with all my ships, all of my soldiers, I was no match for her. I’ve never felt so helpless, the way she told me she was there.

Oscar: It’s okay to be afraid. You can’t just let that fear control you.

Ironwood: I am not going to end up like Lionheart. Do you believe in me?

Oscar: I do believe in you. But not only you. I think the best thing you could do is sit down and talk with the people you’re most afraid to.

Ironwood. Now you are starting to sound like him.

Some Squiggly Thoughts on This Scene:

 “I do believe in you. But not only you.”

Gosh I f***ing love that line and I love Oscar even more for saying it! Tell ‘em my BOY!

As a matter of fact, I love this whole scene. Tattoo it on my back. It’s that good, well at least in my opinion.

“Now you are starting to sound like him.”

…Jimmy, my boy you couldn’t be anymore wrong:. 

Oscar is something else. He’s different from Ozpin. Different from all the other wizards and I believe even more now that his perspective on things will make his experience as the new Wizard a whole lot more spectacular. 

Sorry to waste a post on this but I needed to caption this entire conversation. Not just for future analystic reasons  but because I loved it so much. There is so much to gather from this one talk and it’s sad I can’t muse on it right now.

But what I will say from what I’ve gathered is my concern for Ironwood. Fear really is his Baobab like I had theorized and if he doesn’t remove it soon; it’ll lead to him losing his humanity. 

With the exception of Glynda Goodwitch, I believe, each member of Ozpin’s Inner Circle---at least the men---- had a particular qualm about them that they succumbed to, based on the Oz character they draw inspiration from.

Qrow, I guess in his depression over learning the truth, succumbed to his alcoholism which you can say is a habit of his carelessness. Sometimes people who act careless commit foolish acts and we saw that with Qrow last season in V6 where he spent most of his time drinking himself into a stupor instead of banding together with the children to come up with a better solution. 

I guess in a way, this shows that Qrow is no different than the kids? Qrow was only a child---no older than our young heroes---- when he met Ozpin and he spent most of his life following in his wisdom and guidance. 

And after Oz “disappeared”, Qrow was left without a voice to guide him too like a scarecrow without a brain.

Lionheart succumbed to his fears. And now, Ironwood is at the risk of losing his humanity which is synonymous with the tin man needing a heart. 

I don’t wish to imagine how James would be if he didn’t act with empathy and compassion. The irony is that you can sort of say that he is  doing this already---sure he’s been looking out for the People of Atlas but he hasn’t even considered what his actions are doing to the People of Mantle. 

Imagine what it would be like if James just stops caring about anyone all together and the only thing that mattered to him was stopping Salem. 

I think this is what today’s episode is alluding to. At some point, I believe James will fall prey fully to his Baobab and will plot to go stop Salem---not even thinking about how the consequences of his actions might affect EVERYONE.

In the end, no one will matter to James. Not Winter. Not Penny. Not Pietro. Not even the People of Atlas. Not even the People of Remnant for that matter.

I think his goal of stopping Salem will become his main focus and all the humanity that he once had where he cared about people and trusted in others---all that won’t matter to him anymore. It’ll be all what he thinks is right. 

 This now makes me wonder what will happen if ‘this version of James’---a one driven into his own paranoia of one primary goal---one primary programming to stop Salem at all costs---how would he feel when he learns that the thing he’s been obsessing over to the point of losing himself to it, is all for not?

How would James feel after realizing that he can’t stop Salem at all…especially after he’s given up everything---meaning his humanity---to stop her?! 

I’m actually REALLY FREAKING INTRIGUED AND EXCITED by this now.

And we wouldn’t have gotten this conversation if it weren’t for Oscar lending his insight. Speaking of, can I just reiterate again how much I loved this episode particularly for this scene---this talk between Ironwood and Oscar.

I think I’ve said it a couple of times before, right? 

THIS is what I’ve been wanting for the longest while! This is what folks who often criticize Pineheads like myself who want Oscar to have more focus in the series don’t understand.

When I say I want RWBY to focus on Oscar, I’m not just asking for the Writers to give him more screen time or have him do cool things or just act cute for the entire episode. While any moment with Oscar is great, that’s not really what I’m looking for as a fan of his character. It’s fine if that’s what other Pineheads want but speaking for myself mostly here, I look for more than just the small “breadcrumb moments” for Oscar’s side of things, y’know what I mean?

When I say “CRWBY please give Oscar more proper focus”, I’m NOT asking them to kill off all the other characters in the series and quote, unquote, “Make Oscar the main character of RWBY”.

Honestly, I don’t know where some folks get the impression that “focus” is tantamount with being the main character of something. Not every character in a show has to be the main character just to have focus. As a matter of fact, I often find myself being impressed by shows that are able to provide good writing and development for its side or supporting characters just as much as the main ones. But then again, that’s just me. 

In the case of Oscar, this is what I mean when I say FOCUS ON HIM. Allow the audience to see and hear what he’s thinking when the story demands it. Allow him to challenge other characters on their perspectives with his own and let the audience see all of that rather than have it happen off-screen and Oscar has to then tell us about it in a later scene while no one really reacts to what he’s saying. *coughsV6CH9coughs* 

This is what I have personally been wanting to see. I want Oscar to talk to other characters and give his own opinion on things and let the plot focus on that because when it does, that’s when we get the gold, people!

Gold comes out of this boy’s mouth every time the story allows him to and no I’m not just saying that ironically because Oscar’s name is synonymous with the colour gold.

But you just know when the story focuses on Oscar in the right way---meaning let us see and hear how he feels---it’s good. Better than good. It’s freaking great and this is why I clapped for this scene with Ironwood. 

This scene was my favourite scene from the episode and probably my best moment with Oscar for V7 so far.

Oscar’s talk to Ironwood reminds me so much of his V5 Dojo Scene with Ruby. I actually think I like Oscar’s talk with Ironwood more since we get to hear more of what Oscar is thinking and see Ironwood react to it. This moment was GREAT, you guys. I cannot stress this enough. 

Oscar was really, really great in this episode and his stance with Ironwood made me feel so proud of him as a fan of his. Having Oscar spend more time with James---I was worried about where that was going to but I’m glad that this is the direction they went with him---showing Oscar being the opposite side to go toe to toe with Oz. He is like Ozpin in this manner but at the same time. he’s also his own person because Oscar is advicing James from a person who saw where Oz’s path eventually took him and how he’s doing his best to guard people he care about from walking down the same path.

Oscar was talking more as himself in this scene and....I LOVE IT.  I hope there is more.

I want more moments of Oscar talking to people. This is what I want to see above anything else. More than any Rosegardening Rosebud moments he’ll have with Ruby. More than him even unlocking his semblance. I want to hear Oscar’s thoughts on things that happened to and around him within recent times and I want to see him challenge other characters with his ideals and see how they react to what he’s saying.

I still want to see Oscar challenge Ruby on her stance with keeping the truth from Ironwood. I think Oscar has a greater incentive to do so now.

That line---that piece of advice that he gave James about “talking to the people you’re most afraid to”, I don’t think that advice was just for James. I wonder if we’ll have Oscar approaching Ruby again and the two resuming their talk from V7 CH3? I think it will happen soon, especially with how things are shaping up for James.

That Baobab man. It’s going to consume him. Not unless the little barn prince convinces the little red rose withholding secrets to help him remove the tin man’s baobab seeds before it’s too late. At least that’s what I’m thinking.

That being said, I’m curious to see where Oscar and James will be for the next episode. Will we go straight into the dinner? Overall, I am hyped for CH8. I don’t think I’ve been this excited for an episode to come for this season.

I just want to see how everything is going to play out. Especially for James and how Oscar is going to react to it. I’m sure Oscar will be watching James very closely for the next episode to see if he will take his advice. I doubt Ironwood will take Oscar’s advice. As a matter of fact, I think CH8 will be the first sign of Ironwood’s Baobab completely taking over and….it’s going to result with him having bad blood with not just Jacques Schnee or the Council (because I think we might see them too since Ironwood will be fighting for his seat on the Council) but everyone.

I think Ironwood will take the step towards losing his humanity next episode and I’m curious to see how Oscar will react to it. Maybe he might approach Ruby again on the subject matter and after James…dips…Oscar might look to Ruby who might finally come to the realization of what she had done. Because ironically, Ruby isn’t the only one walking Oz’s path for this season---James is too. The really, really bad one and maybe seeing James might help Ruby with her own qualms.

I dunno. Like I said, I am so excited for next episode!

 ~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)  

[joecial-distancing]

2019 in review in review:

A few years ago I started tracking yearly goals, books read, movies watched etc in a year, along with overview blurbs, in private posts. End of 2019/beginning of 2020 I was really frazzled/burned out about a lot of stuff and just never finished up making the thing. 8 months later, got the urge to read back what I’d got done, then figured I’d maybe go ahead and see about finishing. 

Media tracking below the break. thoughts/blurbs written in 2020 italicized, 2019 not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_____________________________~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Didn’t do so hot on explicit personal goals, but had a lot of stuff go ok around them this year.

School’s been fine/better than fine.

Job’s probably the biggest failing. Still with same job, haven’t made the firm moves to jump off, dragging my feet too much on exploring stuff w/ Columbia/NASA GISS.

Did not get better with covid, lol

Dating life still non-existent, but I’ve registered on apps, gotten more comfortable with selfies, improved general social life dramatically, been flirted with, updated my wardrobe, and generally started to get comfortable accepting that I’m a hot person.

Somehow got extremely better during covid.

Books

Grant (finished)

We stan a taurus legend

Guy was good at exactly one job, and was fortunate enough to have been in the right place/right time to get to do it.

Mort (discworld)

Definitely best discworld I’ve gotten to so far.

Don Quixote p. II

Really entertaining in a way that part 1 wasn’t; I was shocked how much the meta element landed for me.

Consider the Lobster (DFW collection)

had zero context on who DFW is/was when I read, and still don’t exactly tbh. Wanted to wait for a pause in The Discourse before diving into more of him, but dunno if I’m ever going to get that.

Crime and Punishment (revisited)

Weirdly didn’t get much more out of this than I did the first time I’d read it

Better Than Sex (HST Gonzo papers)

Xerox/widespread fax accessibility opening citizen access to mass media in a manner really reminiscent of what social media would go on to do at a much larger scale. Has a much more deliberate narrative arc than the other gonzo papers collections, also has that excellent HST richard nixon eulogy

The Brothers Karamazov

SPQR

Slouching Towards Bethlehem (Didion collection)

Pet Sematary

Not my favorite King, but not bad

Sourcery (discworld)

still funny/charming, but Mort really made clear/reminded me how much the hapless sadsack Rincewind mold of protagonist wears on me after a while.

The Devil's Teeth

My Year of Rest and Relaxation

Liked it a lot more once I realized it was doing a Fear and Loathing thing.

Homage to Catalonia

This should be the Orwell that gets taught in schools. Make it a followup to All Quiet on the Western Front or something, jeez.

Lyndon Johnson I

Having now finished all of them, this one’s probably the least-interesting but sets up a bunch of important context that the others still then feel the need to retread.

The Razor's Edge

Recommended to me as a “white guy discovers eastern mysticism” book, but also is more interesting in its treatment of that than I’d expected (helps it was written in the 40s). 

Cat's Cradle

There’s a part in this where Vonnegut’s making fun of people who try to bond with strangers over being Hoosiers, and my dumbass immediate thought was “ooh, Vonnegut’s a hoosier? Me too!”

Lyndon Johnson II

Robert Caro felt compelled to apologize for spending so much words lionizing Coke Stevens, segregationist opponent to Johnson’s senate run. His goal was pretty clearly to show lbj’s lack of campaign charisma by contrast, definitely definitely overcommitted in his own narrativising.

Libra

I want to go back to this after reading some more De Lillo.

Gravity's Rainbow

This book absolutely kicked my ass

Overstuffed and referential in a specific way that really keeps me hooked in instead of put off. When I learn about some piece of cultural context that I retroactively recognize as being referenced in this, I want to go back and reread the entire thing.

From Caligari to Hitler

Kind of fails both as film criticism and cultural analysis, but absolutely made me want to run for the hills when considering current relationship between mainstream movies and demands of pop culture.

I took a class on Weimar cinema in undergrad that I now realize was probably biting pretty heavily from this and never once referenced it.

Movies

Venom

Movie itself is not as fun as the Tom Hardy hype coverage. PG13 was the absolute worst space to aim for, PG- or R- versions of this could have been a blast.

Harryhauser Argonauts

Was tripping when I put this on, and it was all kinds of fun.

2001: a Space Oddyssey

First time seeing this, all-time classic for a reason!

A Good American (the NSA doc)

Dr. Strangelove

Mel Brooks History of the World p. I

Not my favorite Brooks, best joke was at the beginning.

In Bruges

Had been a while since I saw a proper dark comedy.

Spiderverse

Fukkin awesome!

Visually great, and extremely better than usual superhero stuff for being aimed at PG instead of PG-13.

You Only Live Twice

Highlander (Revisited)

I watched The Old Guard on netflix recently and it mostly just made me wish I was watching Highlander instead, because at least Highlander knows exactly how goofy it is

Moonraker

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Much like The Shining, I though this would have been 100% spoiled for me by cultural osmosis, but turns out it wasn’t, and even the scenes I had seen *totally landed* in-context still.

Kung Fu Hustle

Ichi the Killer

Really gross, really fun

Matrix Reloaded (watched thru highway scene) (Revisited)

The highway scene was not nearly as cool as I remembered it being.

John Wick 3*

Probably dumbest plot of all of them, best choreography. I like how every single fight had its own distinct flavor. “Knife museum fight” “horse fight” “halle berry dogs fight” 

Akira

A classic

Pet Sematary * (ugh, bad)

Why can’t john lithgow be in good movies anymore

The Revenant

MCU Spiderman

Fuck this was awful.

MCU Spiderman 2*

Really weird, complete Rorschach Test of a movie: it’d be totally valid to read into this that global warming is Fake News, for instance.

Lmao this was completely awful

Rites

Dredd (non-stallone)

oh hey Lena Headey’s in this

For All Mankind!

Watched in honor of moon landing anniversary

Lion King *

Watched it way too stoned, was like dark side of the moon + wizard of oz except instead it’s a lion king script reading + nature footage edited for lip syncing.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood *

Many scenes of very long setups for really stupid shaggy dog jokes, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. I do kinda want to rewatch now knowing more about manson, which I knew pretty much nothing about beforehand

Blowout

A good john lithgow movie

also I think I like travolta in things.

Lord of War

A Good cage movie

I like when Eamon Walker shows up in stuff.

Taxi Driver

A classic

Snowpiercer

Watched in a bar with only one speaker working, which is the correct way to watch. Weirder and funnier than I thought it was going to be, which still doesn’t make it good, but,

dbz big green dub

Exorcist III

Brad Dourif just tearing it apart

Deep Red (argento)

Suspiria (1977)

Watched the remake in 2020, which was ok, but nothing tops the Goblin score.

Elf Bowling

Thanks, Gnome

Parasite *

Interesting to me that this one seems poised to hang around people’s good esteem for a while

TV

FMA: B

Rick & Morty

Saw some episodes, generally pretty funny, some misanthropy that’s probably appealing to a certain type of teen al a something like House, but ultimately I don’t totally Get the intensity of discourse about it.

Leterkenny

Mob Psycho 100

One Punch Man

Deadwood

Watchmen

Only watched like half of it. Was playing around with a lot of hefty imagery/thematics, but didn’t really seem ready to rise above playing (tho also I feel like it’s weird on some level to *expect* them to rise above that in the first place)

Music

New Avantasia

HEALTH/ show

lol remember concerts

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard/ show

Just learned about King Gizz in 2019 and got completely obsessed with them. I don’t tend to expand my music selection very readily, and a lot of what I currently *do* know is old/inactive stuff, so it was/is incredibly exciting to have an active group with good momentum just immediately win me over like that.

Mistimed the edibles and ended up with a really good finale and a really long subway ride home.

New Yeasayer

Sad they split up

Steve Wilson Tull remixes

Aqualung’s a good album and the sound mixing’s kinda bad, so I liked this project.

Stonefield

Opened for Gizzard. Really good as studying music

Video Games

Civ VI: Gathering Storm

Hades

Turns out Supergiant’s design proclivities all work *extremely well* on a roguelike

Baba is You

Untitled Goose Game

Cute, if maybe a bit overhyped

finally fucking finished Pillars of Eternity

Had fun with it, but too long, and really dour for how long it is.

Pillars II

Kinda drifted off it eventually, but I do genuinely like that the flavor of the fantasy is colonial era rather than medieval.

There’s a Balancing Bastard Factions element where it’s like the writers are just being smartasses after a while. Having to go extremely out of their way to make siding with colonizers seem like a competitive option.

Pokemon shield

Cuphead

pisses me off, which was a nice outlet when I was stranded by flight cancellations during thanksgiving

Celeste

Also very difficult, but really easy to stay patient with, which is nice.

Disco Elysium

None of the discourse made me want to play this, but people talking about the mechanical stuff it did got me extremely interested. Mostly Delivered IMO.

Breath of the Wild

You can approach the nodes of the main quest in the order you choose, and the second one I chose made ninjas start fucking spawning everywhere when I’m just trying to explore, and there’s no way to make it stop. May go back to it one day.

Podcasts

Relentless Picnic Patreon feed

The treats really helped me start distinguishing individual personalities, compared to the regular eps.

Picnic Discord!

<3

FatT Counterweight

Fun, but also I think Mechs are not my shit.

FatT Spring in Hieron/ end of that particular world

8 months since I’ve last tuned into FatT. ah well.

Law School

He’s in everythiiiing!

You Must Remember This: Manson family

*There’s* the context

Misc.

Kindle train guy

Times Square sleeping guy + kids taking selfies w/ him

toddler singing along after Psycho killer (a, ya, ya ya, ya)

drunk and dragged to a drag show

Central park football family

Soft Steel Drum Subway Busker

Weird old lady going to grand central for oysters

2018 in review (cards):

MySelf (CC)

Self: Tower

Blocked: 10 Cups

Ethereal/subconscious: 8 Swords

Material: 3 Swords

Past: Justice

Future: Page Wands

Attitude: Sun

External: King Swords

Hopes/Fears: 5 Coins

Trajectory: High Priestess

Also Self:

Hierophant

7 Cups

7 Coins

Blind Spot:

(self & others): 5 cups    ||    (others not self): High Priestess

(self not others): Moon   ||    (nobody): 3 Cups

[fromtheringapron]

Scary Wrestling Stuff from My Childhood

Every Halloween season, it’s not uncommon for wrestling fans to reminisce about the moments in our great sport that genuinely scared them, and I’m certainly no exception. At the end of the day, wrestling is still a fantasy world that’s seen plenty of dark, suspenseful, and even at times supernatural bullshit. In fact, one of its biggest stars is The Undertaker, who has been in turns a mortician, a zombie, a Satanic cult leader, a desert biker, and some strange hybrid of all those characters at once.

Truthfully, nothing in wrestling scares me anymore. Well, at least not in kayfabe. Real life still provides a lot of fright in and out of the ring. When I see a wrestler get legitimately injured in the ring, you bet I’m concerned. The depressingly common trend of premature wrestling deaths is a terrifying subject on its own. But when you’re a kid, where even the most ridiculous thing in wrestling can seem real, there’s a lot in kayfabe to be scared about, and you don’t even known what the hell the term “kayfabe” even means.

So, to get in the spirit of the spooky season, I’ll give you a quick rundown of some things that personally scared me shitless watching wrestling as a youngster:

Evil Doink the Clown: Doink is usually associated with everything wrong in WWF’s New Generation era⏤one-dimensional gimmickry, cheesy beyond belief, and worst of all, out of touch. But it’s a reputation that isn’t quite deserved. The original Doink character was that of an evil clown, brilliantly brought to life by Matt Borne. As someone who churned out many rewatches of WrestleMania IX as a child, which features the character at its peak, you better believe I was terrified of this wrestling clown with lime green hair. If evil Doink’s sudden mood swings and aggression weren’t unsettling enough, the entrance music is fucking horrifying to this day. Far scarier than Pennywise and the Joker could ever wish, complete with maniacal clown cackles. Yikes, yikes, yikes. It sounds like the soundtrack to a haunted carnival episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? on Nickelodeon. Given the rise of creepy clowns in recent pop culture, evil Doink would still get over now, and scare a whole new generation of kids to boot.

Kane, Circa ’97/‘98: Hear me out: the video package to Kane and The Undertaker’s clash at WrestleMania XIV is one of the best ever. The music, the footage, and even the random Michael Cole narration all flow together perfectly to create something goosebumpingly epic. But, damn, as kid? This was some terrifying shit. Considering I was too young to stay up and watch every episode of Raw in full, that package was like a highlight reel of pure horror. Kane has become known for taking part in some of the most infamous and illogical storylines in WWE history, but it’s often forgotten how effective a job was done to build him up as a monster upon his debut. Remember when he lit that random dude on fire on Raw? Holy fuck. Not even the Wicked Witch of the West setting fire to The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz shook me up quite like that. The eyes peeping out of his mask was, to me, the most frightening part of his appearance. Total nightmare fuel. Generations more familiar with bald, mask-less Kane could never quite know the trauma.

Papa Shango’s Sega Genesis Theme Music: Okay, this a fairly obscure one, but my brother and I would play WWF Royal Rumble on Sega Genesis back in the day. The game was complete with cute little 8-bit versions of each wrestler’s entrance themes. The Crush theme, in particular, is a minor masterpiece. The other piece of music that made an impact on me is the version of Papa Shango’s theme. I didn’t have too much footage of Papa Shango in my childhood wrestling VHS collection so he held some mythical status to me. The original theme is creepy enough, but the Genesis version really takes you to an dark, murky swamp where Shango is hexing his latest victim. It scared me so much that I’d speed ahead the character selection screen in the game so I wouldn’t have to hear it. You can scoff at me now all you want, but I must speak my truth.

Zeus and Randy Savage Attack Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake: If you’ve watched Survivor Series 1989, you may remember a segment where Mean Gene interviews Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake about their upcoming match at No Holds Barred. That’s not scary at all, but it’s what happens as the interview unfolds that, for whatever reason, really tore me up when I’d put my copy of this show in the VHS. Sensational Sherri crashes the interview, with the most wild-eyed glared you could imagine, shouting at Hogan and Beefcake in her dark, garish makeup. She then throws handfuls of powder in their eyes, allowing Zeus and Randy Savage to attack them. It’s so hard to describe what’s so scary about this. No Holds Barred, both the movie and the pay-per-view, were pretty notorious failures so it’s not even like it’s remembered as a major angle or anything. If anything, I gotta think it has something to do with the sudden tonal shift from a goofy babyface interview to an all-out assault, which can be pretty striking for any young viewer.

Mick Foley, Hell in the Cell: I don’t really need to say any more, do I? The Hell in the Cell match at King of The Ring 1998 is something that warrants a post of its own, as its undoubtedly one of my favorite matches of all time. But I cannot stress this enough: watching a human being do what Mick Foley does in this match, no matter how pre-planned, is some seriously distressing shit. As an adult, you realize you’re watching this man single-handedly take years off his career. But even in kayfabe, there’s true terror in watching the full extent of Mankind’s threshold reveal itself. The dude literally fucking smiles to the camera as he’s concussed and his mouth bloodied into steak tartar. If that image alone doesn’t stay with you, I don’t know what will. Mick Foley turns this match into a mini horror movie. Years before people tuned in droves to watch Saw and Hostel, they watched Mick Foley torture himself. In the match’s most chilling moments, he turns Mankind into a character like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees⏤just when you think he’s been completely broken in half, he’s up and ready for more.

Early Undertaker: I can’t possibly go on without mentioning The Undertaker. When you really think about it, some of things I’ve mentioned already wouldn’t have been possible without him. It seems a little cliche to even bring him up for a topic like this, but he’s the OG of cheesy wrestling horror. Plus, it needs to be said: The Undertaker, in first couple years of his WWF career, could easily scare kids. It definitely scared the kids who grew up watching that version of the character, at least. I watched Survivor Series 1990 countless times growing up so, as you could imagine, I was one of the fortunate/unfortunate children. One of the more brilliant touches of The Undertaker’s early character, outside of the creepy glare and slow approach, was the various shots of mortified children in the crowd. It seems like a minor detail, but it went a long way in establishing him as a genuine monster. Not to mention, there were things the Undertaker did during that era that, even by the family-friendly standards of early ‘90s WWF, were pretty messed-up. How about that time he locked The Ultimate Warrior in a coffin? Or when he worked with Jake Roberts to terrorize Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth? Make no mistake, those first few years were critical in letting us know for whom the bell tolls.

And that about does it for my own personal horrors. Maybe you think mine are silly, but what about wrestling scared you growing up? Does it still scare you? Does it still give you nightmares? As you ponder, I’ll be looking over my shoulder, hoping I’m not attacked by Zeus.

[bookenders]

Storyteller saturday! What was the first thing you knew that /had to be/ included in your wips? What's special about it? What is giving your motivation to work on your current projects? What's a neat worldbuilding thing you came up with?

Storyteller Saturday!

Hey hey @timefire25! Thanks so much for the asks, friend!

I’m gonna tackle these fantastic questions in order: 

[H2H = Heart to Heart

FF = Fish Food

AOPC = All Our Painted Colors

TND = The Neither Days]

1.  What was the first thing you knew that /had to be/ included in your wips?

H2H: Lesbians. Happy, live-beyond-the-end-of-the-story lesbians who can do magic and are ridiculously wholesome. Also: a strong, loving community; social commentary; enough fluff to stuff a whole set of pillows; cool science stuff.

FF: Humor! Without it, this story would be super duper way too dark. Also, lots of social commentary on… *checks notes*

That. And legit depictions of mental health issues.

AOPC: A culture centered around ART. I love art. And stories.

TND: Okay so there’s this one scene coming up that’s super rad and I’m really excited about it. It’s been in my head since the beginning and it’s like, the second scene I thought up. I love the imagery and the symbolism and the feelings. It’s great.

2. What’s special about it?

H2H: Sometimes you need to read something that will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Fluff makes the world go ‘round, ya know? And lesbians gotta survive. Also, I’m passionate about found families, which is why the story has one at its very center. I love writing stories about people who don’t feel at home somewhere, so they find with other people who feel the same and call a new place theirs. It’s an important thing to learn: there’s always somewhere for you, and always someone out there who can catch your drift. 

FF: Stories like this one are ways to see the truth of reality. Okay, that sounded super intense. What I mean is that this is a story about a group of people who have been used coming together to fight back against a system that’s doing its best to tear them down. Including accurate and respectful depictions of mental health in this story is important to me, too. I feel like this genre is a great place to explore that. 

Also, I need to work on my humor writing so that’s pretty special, I guess. 

AOPC: I loved the idea of a culture based on art. What do they value? How to they keep records of events and their history? How do they share information? What do they hold dear? It’s sort of my own version of the Legato Conservatory, for those who listen to TAZ. I don’t know of any other fantasy cultures 100% centered on art, either. It’s a story about storytelling and all the ways you can use it. And I think that’s pretty special.

TND: The metaphor and the symbolism, with the context of the canon, is so full of feels it makes my heart clench. It’s an unexpected coming together, a reaching out of two hands that meet in the middle while the world spins off-kilter around them. It’s an oh and a gasp in the same breath. It’s a fall that feels like flying.

That’s about as poetic as I can get without spoilers.

3.  What is giving your motivation to work on your current projects?

Right now, not much, to be honest. It’s midterms time and I’m a grad student, so life is pretty much study hell right now. But my stories are my creative therapy, so I expect I’ll start writing again pretty soon after all my business chills out. 

But on the regular: I really want to tell everyone about the big giant spoilers and how they happen in H2H, and one of the big confrontation scenes in FF (seriously, it’s a huge twist I don’t think a lot of people will see coming - one of them anyway 😉), and I want to figure out what the hell happens next in AOPC, and in TND, I really want to get to the switched POV chapter because it’s full of mutual pining and it offers a lot of really good insight into one character’s head (it’s my motivation to finish this transition chapter too because it’s taking forever).

4.  What’s a neat worldbuilding thing you came up with?

H2H: The magic types I developed are pretty cool! Astromancy, Totem Magic, Sigilcrafting, and Pact Magic. There are a few others, but that’d be spoilers, my friend. Making these info posts was also very fun. I got to do nerdy research about magic and science! 

And something I haven’t mentioned yet: liminal spaces are very important in this story! The town of Linsay is a liminal space. Gemma’s house is a liminal space. The police station is a liminal space for Oz. The lake is a liminal space. This is important: transformation takes place at liminal places. Magic is strongest there. The old is left behind and the new is just ahead. And the fae inhabit liminal spaces.

FF: I made a WIP page that mimics the Coalition of Heroes’ database! It took forever and it was really hard but I did it! And I think it looks rad. 

In-world, hmm… I really like Lithium’s bar. It’s a place that’s like a hero-themed TGI Friday’s or Red Robin, and it’s also the hangout for off-duty heroes. They all chill there like it’s a cop bar for officers who are all undercover. It’s great. None of the civilians who go there know that they’re sitting next to high level super heroes. And Lithium thinks it’s hilarious.

AOPC: There are so many cool worldbuilding things in this story. One is the marriage ceremony I made up. The couple stands before the Namestone and the most senior Elder binds the bride’s left hand to the groom’s right. Then the men of the tribe line up behind the groom, and the women line up behind the bride. They’re ordered so the people closest to them, like family and lifelong friends, are first. One by one, the women dip their right hands in purple paint and mark the bride’s back with their hand print. The men do the same with green paint on the groom’s back.

After everyone’s marked the bride and groom, the Elder blesses the couple, holds their foreheads together, and then they turn around and press their backs together, mixing the paint and blending the colors together. The party starts as soon as their hands are unbound. 

TND: Since most of the worldbuilding for this has already been done by the canon, here are a few recurring story threads I’m working with: Crowley vs. ducks, liminal spaces being the most comfortable and calming, “a good shock to loosen the tongue,” and the kinds of miracles that don’t work. 

Thank you so much for these awesome questions!! 💜

I’ll add my tag lists since there’s a lot of information worth tagging about:

H2H

WIP Intro Post | H2H WIP Tag | Character Page | WIP Page | PowerPoint Intro

Character Tags: Gemma | Mel | The Ladies | Fred Coriander | Officer Oz

OC Intros: Harry | Mary | Oz | Jill | Treena | Fred | Gemma | Mel

H2H Tag List: @katekyo-bitch-reborn, @cawolters, @wasting-ink-not-youth, @quilloftheclouds, @snickertoodles, @mvcreates, @writeness, @half-explored, @dcdarrells, @aslanwrites, @minusfractions, @purpleshadows1989, @royalbounties, @waterfallwritings, @the-clockwork-anything, @kriss-the-writing-nerd, @abalonetea, @timefirewrites, @tricksexual, @introspective-outreach, @alternativeforensicscientist, @sumoranges, @hermiones-writeblrr

[Let me know if you want to be added or removed!]

AOPC

AOPC Tag List: @quilloftheclouds, @snickertoodles, @half-explored, @chemistwriter, @purpleshadows1989, @waterfallwritings, @kriss-the-writing-nerd, @abalonetea, @alternativeforensicscientist, @hermiones-writeblrr

FF

WIP Intro Post | FF WIP Tag | WIP Page | PowerPoint Intro

Character Tags: Iron Will | Overseer | Lithium | Babylon | Nightmare | Sparkplug

OC Intro Post:  Phase 1 | Phase 2

Individual Intros:

Phase 1 (Main Cast): Iron Will | Overseer | Lithium |  Babylon | Nightmare

Phase 2 (Supporting Cast): Sparkplug | Battalion | Ferro

***

[Let me know if you want to be added or removed!]

Fish Food Tag List:  @theevolutionofledarose, @kriss-the-writing-nerd, @quilloftheclouds, @waterfallwritings, @dontwritethatone, @aeschknight, @abalonetea, @ladywithalamp, @writevevo, @danger-writes, @anika-writes-things, @sunlight-and-starskies, @writing-every-other-star, @shadeshadow234, @jaimistoryteller, @leave-her-a-tome, @dowings, @alternativeforensicscientist, @sumoranges, @notanalien51, @hermiones-writeblrr​

TND

Link to Story | Story Tag

TND Tag List: @every-book-has-a-secret, @at-thezenith, @ofinkblotsandscript, @alternativeforensicscientist, @abalonetea