#why was it used in two of the most devastating movies ive ever seen i feel like this is a personal attack................

[elektroblues]

leaning on everlasting arms beating amazing grace as most criable hymn kinda...........

[crow-in-a-teapot]

unreal unearth first impressions

OKAY REALISING I AM RELISTENING TO THIS ALBUM FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME JUST TODAY ACCIDENTALLY SO IIM GONNA QUICKLY WRITE DOWN MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS BC IM ALREADY BEGINNING TO ACTUALY THINK ABOUT THINGS AND LOOK AT LYRICS AND READ OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS, so here is an only slightly tainted not quite first impression of unreal unearth from me (obviously the singls ive heard before but)

de selby (part 1) i turned on the album sitting in the absolute dark, ten minutes past twelve at night, this started playing, cue instant tears. i think i was just hit with 'this is the most beautiful thing ive ever heard' and i wasn't expecting that from de selby 1 for some reason. and when the irish kicked in that just. no words, just crying and im what two minutes in. i wasn't even thinking about what he'd been saying about connemara in the dark and mirrors of people you used to know (i'd seen him talk about it, but purposefully skipped the actual song when it came up online) it was just. de selby 1. and the part as gaeilge

de selby (part 2) sexy groovy silly fun, it's really growing on me, thinking about 'i'd still know you, not being shown you

i only need the workin' of my hands' also i cant wait to read third policeman and look at this completely differently

first time the beginning was jarring, and then at the lyric about his name i kind of :( i also liked the lethe/liffey parallel, it's so very hozier of him to do that. god the push and pull of there must have been something off from the beginning? if every time they called him baby he died? something like that was my first interpretation, now im wondering if it's because it's not his name and they're the one that made his name sound wonderful for once. intellectualising that part of the lyrics kind of ruins it for me ngl, i think it's more about how it feels, i think it feels like contrast like not knowing if it hurts or is wonderful. little detail of when he says come here to me and it sounds so casual and irish like come here to me tell me, i really love it. and the final lyric hurt. really impeccable timing for a breakup album like

francesca why can't i listen to i'd tell them put me back in it for the first time again WHY CAN'T I LISTEN TO I'D TELL THEM PUT ME BACK IN IT FOR THE FIRST TIME AGAIN AND REEXPERIENCE THAT. my favourite thing from this hozier era might just be that music video (over all the other ones help)

i, carrion (icarian) is just really devastating. sunlight but what if you wanted your heart to be torn to shreds. the imagery is so vivid

eat your young is growing on me too, the lyrics are just so good. they're just SO GOOD, their rhythm is so satisfying they fit together so smoothly, and at this point it's just as fun and danceable as something like de selby 2

damage gets done is kind of pop? it made me think of the bones ft marren morris

who we are [had to remove a section here] the vocals are otherwordly. the drums are gorgeously frantic. quietly it slips through your fingers love??? falling from you drop by drop??? HOLD ME LIKE A KNIFE???makes me physically ache

son of nyx i'm so glad this is here, an instrumental was something that really could put me back to where i was mentally with de selby (part 1). first thing i thought was i can't wait to learn the piano part. i've seen people say this, but it does seem like the obvious, it's an instrumental that just belongs in a movie

all things end all things do end so real. very cool how much of a direct inflence gospel music is

to someone from a warm climate (uiscefhuarithe) i can't wait to relisten to this one again and again, the parallels between being a child warming up a bed and jumping to later in time with a lover aaaa so tender NATURAL AS ANOTHER LEG AROUND YOU IN THE BEDFRAME AAAA

butchered tongue A FAVOURITE A FAVOURITE foreigner's god but softer, how can i listen to this and ever leave ireland how can i listen to this and feel like this and be packing suitcases what is wrong with meeeeee. the violin and the instrumence. jesus christ. instantly picturing my road signs when he started singing about the native ones

anything but THIS SONG STARTED AND I INSTANTLY STARTED SMILING COMPLETELY INVOLUNTARILY, THOUGHT OF ALMOST (SWEET MUSIC) i started thinking of bright lion king imagery before he even started talking about stampedes and hoofbeats. and the vocals here too, so overwhelmed by how cheerful and joyous it sounded that i really didnt pay attention to lyrics, so it'll be cool to look deeper later

abstract (psychopomp) the production here i was very unsure about, because there was something that made me think if it were more rustic/intrumental and less modern, it might have hit me even harder, like there might have been a way to elevate it further. it made me think of colours and purples and reds and oranges, another really visual song, like i, carrion. it's really gorgeous. SEE HOW IT SHINES will be in my head for a long long time... ugh it's all so bittersweet and sad and beautiful. all my love and terror there balanced between those eyes what a line

unknown / nth if you've scrolled through my accunt for longer than a second you know how i feel about unknown / nth

first light i was hit with such intense terror that this was the last song of the album. what am i supposed to do for the next decade without music to look forward to while andrew goes back into hibernation under bray train station jean jacket lost and found or whatever. so i didnt play and instead did this musing on how beautiful the vocals throughout the album are and how funny it was in the zach sang interview when he talked about singing instead of playing instruments when recording songs because he's 'better at singing than most intruments' and his producer just wouldnt replace those voice recordings and that's why there are so many choirs and zach is basically like 'you absolute weirdo no one else has the talent to do that but ok' (affectionate) (paraphrasing). i love the drums so much. i love the strings so much too. A VOICE YOUR BODY JUMPS TO CALLING OUT YOUR NAME :(((((((((((( imagining hearing this in the 3arena and having colours break out across the whole ceiling ill remember those lights during no plan in 2019 forever im an indoor concert girlie forever what they can do visually is so magical.. i saw a good omens edit of this today already i love you good omens fans

not to sound like a broken record i wish swan upon leda and through me the flood and love of were on this and maybe even but the wages and

[miriamundertale]

da miriam writing masterpost

so im porting my writing/review stuff over from wordpress to here. both are gonna be getting updated ideally so if u hate wordpress here is good and if u hate tumblr yet are on here to see this the wordpress isnt going away

to answer the "why is this around" question. i work nights at a hotel, and its very uhhh, full of free time. so ive wound up having most of the night to either watch stuff or read manga, and its gotten to the point where i think i should probably keep track of my opinions of them more in depth -- this felt like the smartest way to do so.

The core point of this post is gonna be to track stuff i want to write about and be a pretty ok navigation point for people. lets break whats coming down:

Yoshiru Konogi, the Hornybait writer who Fucking Gets it

if youve seen me tweeting ever henjou has almost definitely shown up. henjou is hornybait and largely just a sex comedy much like everything Konogi writes, but i think the standout about her writing in the genre and henjou and its spinoff in particular (Eroko-San on the attack) is that while theres an obviously set audience for the horny teenage boy in both, the target feels less to be them and more to be women, either the weirdo girl whos willing to be openly horny or the failwoman neet whos terminally fucking posting about being horny online. its very different in feel to a lot of its genre and i think deserves some more analysis. done! Konogi is a weirdly fascinating mangaka and at least worth peeking through like this. i also go into her crypto stuff for some reason

The Game Parodying a Genre You Didn't Know Existed

if i wind up making a video out of any of these, itl be this one. this is about a specific game in my horrible side hobby of playing terrible western eroge, specifically those using koikatsu party as their source of visuals. my biggest fear is how intentional the parody itself is, as unlike Yoshiru Konogi's work i dont have an accessible back catalog of works to go through. if i wind up having the creator see and and get some sort of weird backlash to my reading im going to be so fucking devastated. they're very much a weirdo(positive) so i dont imagine anything like that but the fear is there.

Homestuck

Yeah i fucking know trashing homestuck is very easy considering the state of a lot of homestuck fans and the way people were with it, especially since it was for a lot of people a first for fandom (and realistically was probably the worst possible entry into fandom one could get,) but homestuck really has a lot of interest going on in its meta layers and how it is intrinsically tied to the era it was written in. Homestuck and its successors (the epilogues and hs2, maybe ill read some of the bigger FA's once i get to this) have a lot of depth that i feel gets terminally ignored or just passed by from basically everyone who has had some sort of interaction with it, be they fans or Normal People

Star wars - God i fucking hate episode 9

Thats right two red flag series in a row babey. we got some TERRIBLE posting Writing POASTING about to happen Star wars realistically is a good series cursed with one of the worst fanbases imaginable, and i want to examine the overarching themes it has about fascism in detail, but here's the basic outline: the original trilogy is about the defeat of fascism and taking only the best from the past, the prequel trilogy is about the rise of fascism and how it corrupts democracy from within, and the sequel trilogy SHOULD have been continuing on the themes of the original and how fascism corrupts and utilizes the past as a tool to grow its own power (but instead we get the most fucking pandery fucking movie targeted at the worst of the fandom)

The one good gacha is fucking dead

Listen i just really wanna talk about dragalia. maybe it was laser targeted at me with its obvious mmo influences but dragalia was MADE for the platform it is on instead of being extant on that platform. dragalia wasnt by any means the best game ever made but it was easily the best gacha ever made. the loss of dragalia is a fucking crime that needs to be talked about more.

Can we please do a good live action comic book movie again at least spiderman like cmon

pretty please i wont complain about the actor spiderman is my favorite superhero of all time and the last two good live action spiderman movies were the first two raimi movies. i think they realised that with no way home and thought by bringing back dafoe and molina they had nailed that when really it was raimis commitment to understanding the fucking medium hes adapting that made those two hit so well and is part of why im so conflicted on multiverse of madness which i also wanna talk about

One Punch Man

See this is coming at some point i have a lot to say about OPM and specifically comparing it to the original webcomic but for now i will leave it at you should read the webcomic its good

Kyoukai No Kanata the best anime of all time

Kyoukai no kanata is the best anime of all time and im not taking questions

[catxsnow]

TAKE THE BULLET B.W.

Request:  I saw your post about requests! Can you do a Batman x reader (from the animated movies if you do him) where the reader is apart of the JL and almost dies by jumping in front of a bullet during a mission with the team to save Bruce? Fluffy/angsty stuff. 

Warning: injury, angst, fluff

A/N: I’m so sorry it took this long! It’s been sitting in my WIP for ages and I just never got around to doing it until now 

Gif not mine

Word count: 2.3k 

You knew the risks of being in the Justice League.

A constant target on your back, the willingness to lay down your life to protect the people of your world, even the on demand requirement of your presence when someone was endangering the world. The second that you joined the team, you lost your freedom to have a normal life.

When it came down to it, it was all worth it. Knowing that you saved hundreds, thousands, even millions of lives because you stood up against an evil greater than yourself. The nightmares that haunted your sleep because of the horrors that you saw. The pain you endured because you refused to give up. Everything was worth it.

Your whole life you had been the one to willingly put yourself through all this torture to save lives. It was engraved in you to make the world a better place, no one expected you to make a difference like this one. No one expected you to be a hero, one of the best at that.

For so long you were on your own. You had your friends in your civilian life but no one truly to understand what you had to endure as a superhero. That was until the Justice League formed. It was a rocky start - a bunch of people who didn't believe that they needed to be a part of something bigger.

While many of the heroes found it a burden to have people that relied on you, you found it a blessing. People to finally understand who you were, that accepted you for the person that you were, not some freak. This team meant everything to you, enough that you would give up your life for your teammates.

And that was exactly what you had done. It was a dangerous mission, everyone knew that. As prepared as everyone was, they weren't expecting you to take the bullet for Batman. You saw the blast coming while he was fighting off another monster. There wasn't enough time to get him out of the way and he had no idea that it was coming for him.

So, in a moments haste, you had put yourself between the blast and him. Batman might have driven you crazy half the time, but he was only human under that suit. He would have never survived the blast. You barely did and your suit was impenetrable.

Batman didn't make friends. He didn't stick around to get to know his teammates and he certainly wasn't chatty with anyone. You found him insufferable most of the time but that small part of you couldn't help but be intrigued by him. Batman acted as if he were Superman even though a bullet would stop him just as it would anyone else.

He was meticulous with everything he did. No matter the situation, he knew every detail about everything. Batman was cold hearted, except for the split second time that you got to see him smile.

The team watched in horror as you fell to the cement. Your suit was half disintegrated and your breathing shallow. The blast had almost killed you. Almost.

It was Hal that got you out of there, bringing you to safety and away from the fight that you could no longer be a part of. Everyone had seen you go down. As devastation filled them, so did determination. They couldn't lose this fight, not after what you had done for them all. Batman most of all.

Only when you were safe in the infamous Batcave did Hal leave your side again. At the moment, there was no better place for you. He knew the secret identity of Batman, he also knew that Bruce was going to want to be the one to help you. After that night, he owed you a life debt.

As much as Batman liked to make everyone think he was invincible, he was only human. Humans had a heart, and with that little move that you did, you had gotten right into his.

><

You woke up cold. The air was still and held a frosty bite to it. Your whole body ached and as you tried to move it flared even more though your nerves. An IV was stuck in your arm and you were no longer in your suit. It wasn't the new clothes or the medical supplies that got you curious, it was the location.

No one in the Justice League had been lucky enough to step foot in the Batcave. It always seemed like some sacred place that all your other teammates were afraid to step foot in. Their bad mojo rubbed off on you for the longest time as well. Batman's secret lair always seemed to spook you.

Sitting in there now, you didn't feel the same way. Aside from the cold and darkness, the place wasn't nearly as dramatic as you thought it was going to be. Large super computer, training area, the med bay that you were in, and a collection of memorabilia. Nothing like you expected it to look like.

"You're awake."

You nearly jumped at the voice. Batman stood to the side of you, his cowl off so you could see his face. It was the first time that he ever trusted you with his identity and least to say, you were shocked. Bruce Wayne hid under that cowl. Billionaire playboy by day, Gotham's hero at night.

Without the cowl on, he looked far less intimidating. Whether it was his piercing blue eyes or the fact that he was really just some human. You felt less of a need to cower away from him and more of a pull of attraction. He was handsome, extremely.

"How long was I out?" You asked. Your voice was hoarse and the cough that erupted in your chest only put you through more pain. It was going to take far longer for you to heal than you wished. However, seeing Bruce alive because of you was well worth the pain. You couldn't imagine Gotham without it's Dark Knight.

"Three days."

"Fuck," you muttered, laying back down to the pillow. Your eyes sealed shut in frustration at the lost time. "I take it the rest of the mission went well then."

"Minimal civilian causalities," Bruce told you. He took a step closer to you and reached for the bandages that crossed your stomach. Faint burn marks that would never fully heal laced your skin. They did as much as they could, but you would be left scarred forever. Just a reminder for Bruce that you nearly died for him.

Before he could touch the material, you had snatched his wrist. Your eyes were still shut when you did the action, but they popped open when you grabbed him. Bruce retracted without saying anything. He nearly complained as you pulled the IV out of your arm and swung your legs off the side of the hospital bed, but remained silent. You were a grown woman, you could decide if you felt healthy or not.  

"Thank you," Bruce found the only way to stop you in your tracks. Your hands gripped the side of the bed and he couldn't tell if it was because you were suddenly dizzy, or shocked by his words. It was both. Your head hung low and you didn't wish to gaze up at him. Memories of the searing pain you felt flooded you and seeing his face was only a reminder of it all.

You knew that taking that blast might of killed you. You knew that the second it hit you that you might not be waking up the next morning. Was it worth it? Saving someone as heartless as Batman? You weren't sure yet. You were alive and breathing, that was going to have to be good enough for now.

"I would be dead without you," he continued. You still didn't move. Bruce went down to his knee. One hand gently on you leg and the other balancing on his own. His touch caused you to flinch, catching him off guard. He felt the need to step away from you, to give you the space that you desired. "I'm sorry."

"I saved a teammate, Bruce," you used his real name. His narrowed slightly; he didn't think you recognized him. You showed no reaction as you saw who he really was, he just assumed you were as oblivious as Hal. "I'd like to think you would do the same but who fucking knows."

"I've dedicated my life to saving people do you really think that I wouldn't do the same for anyone else on the Justice League? For you?" Bruce grit his teeth. He stood up from his spot on the ground and towered above you once more. This sudden coldness that you were giving him was nothing that he expected when you woke up.

You were always so kind to everyone on the team - even him when he pushed you away so many times. After taking the risk of dying for him, he thought that you would be willing to show more kindness. Someone willing to die for another obviously enjoyed their presence . At least he thought so.

"I think that it's been months that we've been working together and it's only when I nearly die for you that you decide to show your face," you scoffed. "Then again why does it matter who's under the mask, you're still the same asshole either way." This time, you jumped off the bed and tried to walk past Bruce.

You never even made it two steps past him before he grabbed your wrist and stopped you. You tried to pull out of his grasp but it was no use, he was far too strong for you. Bruce tugged you back, nearly causing you to trip over your own feet as you did.

"I kept you alive, the least I deserve is a thank you," Bruce's voice lowered. If you were going to be cold to him, then he was going to be the same right back. "But then again, why does it matter? I'm still the same asshole anyways that could have let you die." He let go of your wrist, but his words only frustrated you more.

After taking the bullet for him, you thought he would be more willing to open up to you. To be himself while there was no one else around. It didn't take long to realize that he would never do that, or maybe this was him being himself. You would never know the truth. That was what angered you.

You wanted to argue with him, to yell at him for being such a soulless dick. However, Pain erupted though your entire body. Your knees buckled from below you as you held onto your wound. Bruce had caught you just before you hit the ground. He easily swooped you up and set you back down on the bed.

This time, you didn't argue as he lifted the bandage to see what kind of hell your skin was in underneath. Bruce worked in silence. He dabbed a clean cloth around the wound and sterilized it. The sting of alcohol made you bite your lip to hold back the hiss of pain. With more grace than you ever thought he had, he wrapped you with a new bandage.

As he tried to walk away, you were the one to stop him. You grasped his hand, far more delicately than he had grabbed you. He could easily snap out of your hold if he wanted to, yet he found himself stopping to turn back.

"I'm sorry," you apologized. He was right, Bruce did save your life. "I guess I just expected you to be... different without the mask on. I assumed we all were. Maybe in this life we're always hiding behind some sort of mask, even without realizing it."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"Bruce," you stopped him from walking away once more. "I just meant that I'm grateful for you to trust me with your identity. And that you saved me, you understand what it's like to be human under the suit. I know that trust doesn't come easy to you."

A silence fell between you. The intensity of his stare made you feel vulnerable. Cowl on or off, he was still the great Batman. A deadly weapon and a savior to Gotham. You hadn't meant to get upset. He was the last person on the team that you wanted to make angry - even more than Superman.

"Do you wanna get a drink?" Bruce suddenly asked. The corner of his lips tugged up and it was the most that you had seen him smile since that brief first time. You looked down at the over-sized clothes that you wore and then over to his Batsuit. Together, you looked to be quite the pair.

"I hope being a billionaire means you buy good whiskey," you agreed to his offer. Bruce pulled you up off the bed with the hand that had been resting in yours the whole time. You were thankful for his help. The wound you had surely would have taken you down once more if it wasn't for his support.

You stopped several steps in. Bruce looked down at you, worried about your wound. With a second of hesitation, you stood on your toes to kiss the corner of his lips. Your hand rest on his chest as your lips lingered on his skin. Your hand felt as if it was burning a whole through his chest.

He didn't expect this sudden act of affection, but he appreciated it nonetheless.  "If you'd let me, I'd like to get to know the real you - whatever version that may be," you offered. Bruce had trouble opening up to people, but maybe it would be easier with you.

"I'd like that."

[khiphop-stories]

Getting Off The Wrong Foot

[Christian Yu | Chapter XII]

Previous Chapters:

Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V | Chapter VI | Chapter VII | Chapter VIII | Chapter IX | Chapter X | Chapter XI

“How could you just leave like that?” You shut the passenger door close after you had entered Christian’s car. You used a little bit too much force causing him to flinch at the sudden noise.

“I thought you might wanted to talk to him,” he attempted to explain, but he didn’t seem to have much confidence in what he was saying. How did he expect you to believe his lame excuse, if he didn’t even believe it himself?

“How did you get that idea?” You glared at him in disbelief. You weren’t able to say it out loud with Kiseok being there, but you entire body language was basically screaming for him not to leave you alone with your ex. Christian wasn’t stupid; he got the signal but seeing the way you looked at Kiseok made his stomach turn upside down. Without knowing, he clenched his jaw and balled his fists as if he were ready to fight. It all happened subconsciously. He didn’t quite understand it himself, but in that very moment he felt irritated and frustrated with you. Why did you still allow Kiseok to have that much power over you? Why did you still have feelings for him despite how much he had hurt you?

There was a little pause since Christian didn’t know what to say and he didn’t want to lie to you either. Instead of answering your questions, he asked his own.

“Why are you avoiding him so much?”

“I might forgive him if he gets a chance to apologize,” you answered honestly. 

Kiseok had been a big part of your life for five years and you got used to him being around. You wanted him to be back in your life, because ever since he was gone you felt an empty hole in your chest as though part of you was missing. If you were being honest, forgiving him would make a lot of things easier. You wouldn’t have to change your lifestyle, you wouldn’t have to step out of your comfort zone and you wouldn’t have to be all alone. Everything would remain the same, be it good or bad. If you let Kiseok tell his version of the story, if you listened through his explanation and apology, you might not be as strong and resolute as you were now. Your heart might waver and that was one thing you couldn’t let happen. 

“Did you?”

You looked down, avoiding his gaze while a sudden silence surrounded you. 

“I really want to.”

Then there was a pin drop silence. Christian’s eyes rested on you, but he didn’t say anything. The anger he had managed to suppress struck him again at full tilt as he realized he stood no chance. He wouldn’t be able to compete with Kiseok. The love you felt for him was painfully real. 

You wanted to forgive him so badly, but if you did you would let down your past self. You would become the person you spent your adolescence despising. It wasn’t just about cheating any more. Sure, you had felt embarrassment, rage, pain and devastation. You heart had been completely shattered into pieces and your trust completely broken by the person you loved most. However, it wasn’t just about that anymore. Eventually it turned into an issue of identity. What kind of person will you be? Were you able to throw away your dignity and pride for love? Could you grit your teeth, endure the pain and look past his mistake while turning into someone you vowed you would never become?  Forgiving - was it a sign a of true love or foolishness? 

“But I can’t. I won’t,“ you came to a conclusion.

“Why?“ “Because if I do, I would break a promise I once made.“ A promise you had made with your younger self. 

“Even though you still love him.“ He seemed be asking a question, but he didn’t raise his voice at the end. There was no question mark.

“It’s love, but it’s not the kind of love I want.“ 

You loved him, there was no denying that, but you hated what your relationship had turned into. It would never go back to the way it used to be. It couldn’t. It could never be the same. You had seen it with your own eyes, the magnitude of a betrayal, how the seed of betrayal would fester and slowly but surely grow to poison every aspect of your life.

“Did you ever think about getting back together with Nayeon?”

He spent a brief moment thinking about your question, before he came to a quick conclusion: “No.”

You turned your eyes to him, a small smile playing on your lips. “You’re always so sure of yourself. I admire that.”

“Putting aside the fact that she never wanted to get back together, there is a reason why a relationship comes to an end. I’m not someone who breaks up over little things. I try my best in every relationship and really make sure I don’t have any regrets. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.”

As you listened to him speaking, you wondered whether you had tried your best with Kiseok. Did you have any regrets? Was there anything that you could have done differently? If you had the ability to turn back time, was there anything you would change? Could you really confidently say that you had done your best? Kiseok was the one who made the mistake, who betrayed you. But if you had noticed and reached out a helping hand when he was at his darkest, his most insecure, wouldn’t things be different?

“Can I take a rain check?“ You said out of the sudden. His car was still parked in front of your apartment. Christian hadn’t even started the engine yet, almost as if he knew you were gonna change your mind about going to the movies.

“I figured you weren’t in the mood to watch a movie,“ Christian chuckled as he nodded his head at you gently. He placed one of his hand on your shoulder giving it a light squeeze. Then he released a little smile. “Don’t blame yourself too much.”

Your eyes widened at him staring at him silently. Just how did he always know what was going through your head? Did he have the ability to read minds?

~*~

[Time leap]

Since you brother was on spring break he came to visit you in Seoul. When you were little you used to spend almost every school vacation in Seoul, so he had a couple of friends he wanted to catch up with. But more than anything, he wanted to escape your mother’s hawk’s eyes, breath a little, live a little. Although he stayed in your apartment, you didn’t get to spend much time with him as you were too busy with work and catering to your clients and he was too busy meeting his friends and enjoying Seoul’s nightlife. You tried to shift things around so you could make time for him, but it was one of the busiest times of the year. You were able to finish work early today, so you forced him to have dinner with you. Even though he complained a little, you knew he was actually excited. You were a gourmet so you knew the best restaurants in town and he also missed you, but he wouldn’t ever admit that to you. He was too cool for that. 

~*~

“We broke up,“ you told him in a flat tone before you took a sip of your water. There wasn’t much emotion in your voice. You could as well have been talking about the weather. It wasn’t something you tried to hide from him, you just didn’t know how to bring it up, since he had always been quite fond of Kiseok even before you had started to go out with him. 

“I know,“ he answered in the same manner.

“You do?“ You arched one of your brows at him, a stunned expression covering your face. You expected him to be more surprised, perhaps even in disbelief, but he was none of that. His calm demeanour was astonishing, but you were grateful nonetheless that he didn’t make a big deal out of it. If it were your mother sitting in front of you right now, she would have probably flipped a table and made a mountain out of a molehill.

“He hasn’t been around lately,“ he answered simply. You were surprised that he noticed and you could barely hide it. He had been so busy and happy meeting his friends the past few days, you didn’t think he would pay much attention to things going on in your life, but he did. He always did and he was right. Kiseok used to drop by almost every other day when Minho came to visit two years ago, but he didn’t even show up once this time.

“I’m not stupid, you know“ he laughed at your bewilderment shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. No, he was far from being stupid, yet you still tend to underestimate him. Ever since he was young, he had been very aware of his surroundings. He noticed every little thing, every subtle change. He knew things, before they had been said and he knew more than he let on. On many occasions he had pretended to know less than he really did, sometimes to avoid getting into trouble, but oftentimes also to protect the dignity and pride of the other person that was trying to put on an act.

The smile on his lips faded as quickly as it appeared. His face suddenly turned dark as he looked at you, his eye softening. “I don’t want you suffering like Mom.“ Again you were caught by surprise. He was spot on. But how in the world did he know? You had barely even exchanged a word with him since he slept all day and went out at night. Were you that easy to read?

“I don’t want to be anything like Mom either,“ you nodded in agreement.

You were in middle school when you caught your dad cheating on your mother and it took you another year to tell her the truth. You didn’t want your family to be destroyed, you didn’t want your baby brother to suffer through a divorce. More than anything, you wanted the lies your dad had told you to be true. You were mistaken. It wasn’t what it seemed like. She was just a friend. You shouldn’t tell your mother because she might misunderstand. 

Your mother wasn’t surprised when you she heard the news. No, she was in rage; not with her husband, not with the situation, but with you, because by telling her you had shattered the perfect world she had created for herself. She already knew, but she turned a blind eye to your dad’s affairs. At first you thought, she stayed with him for your and your brother’s sake because she wanted for you to grow up with a father in your life. That might have been one of her motivations, but you later found out she valued her lifestyle too much. She didn’t want to lose her status. She became known to be his wife and leaving him may have closed doors professionally and socially. She didn’t want to risk breaking up her social circle either. Men will be men, that was what she always said and repeated like a mantra. 

It was never again mentioned and cheating became a taboo word in the household, but the time you caught him wasn’t his first time and it certainly wasn’t the last. At some point even your bother knew. You all were part of an act you mother had put on. The picture-perfect family. The loving and devoting husband, the caring mother and wife, and two smart and successful children. None of it was true. None of you fit the role you mother had assigned to you, but you all played along, fooling other people, fooling each other and fooling yourselves. 

There was one thing that your parents and all of it had taught you though. You vowed to never turn into a pathetic woman like her and your brother never wanted to grow up to be a man like him. You tried so hard not to be like her in any aspect, but without knowing you eventually ended up being more and more similar to her than you wanted, blinded by what you thought had been love.

You actually didn’t want your brother to know the reason why you broke up with Kiseok because you didn’t want him to be disappointed again by a man he looked up to. To him, your father was always something like a superhero, someone who was invincible and without fault. In a similar way he thought highly of Kiseok.

“How are things at home lately?“

“Same as always. She’s still pretending we’re the happiest family….No one actually believes it, but her.“

“What about Dad?“ “Haven’t talked to him a lot since I moved out. You?“ 

Hearing that, broke your heart. Your father and your brother used to be inseparable. He took him literally everywhere, baseball games, the movies, business meetings, the golf course. They had a strong bond - the strongest father-son bond in your entire neighborhood. But ever since Minho learned the truth, he distanced himself more and more, building a wall around him.

“He sometimes calls and visits when he’s on business trips in Seoul, but that’s it.“ You as well never saw your father with the same eyes anymore. You noticed that he tried his best to fix his relationship with you, he tried to be the good father supporting you in everything you did. He never once questioned your decisions and when you fought with your mother he always took your side. It was easier for you to talk to your father than to you mother, but there still was this invisible barrier that stopped you from getting too close to him. He tried to be a good father, without question but despite his effort things were never really the same anymore. 

“Enough with the depressing talk,“ you let out a chuckle, giving your head a quick shake as if to shake away all the bad thoughts. “You’ve finally finished high school! How does it feel to be free?”

You spent the rest of the dinner talking about his life at university which he seemed to enjoy much more than his high schools days. He accustomed himself quickly and made new friends. You didn’t expect him to enjoy university that much, because it was pretty much hell on earth for you. The people you majored with were way too competitive. You always felt like you lacked something, like you weren’t good enough. The friendships you had made there were superficial and shallow, none of them lasted long while you still kept in touch with your friends from middle school. The only people you considered friends were the people you met outside the walls of education. Jay was the first friend you made in Korea and it was thanks to him that you didn’t end up having depression or going crazy. It was a relief that Minho wasn’t struggling like you did. He deserved only the best in the world. You were ecstatic for him that he had finally found his place.

~*~

As you were calling the waiter to pay the bill, you received a call from Christian asking if you wanted to join their bowling night with the DPR guys. You had to decline since you were with your brother, but he told you to bring him along. “You wanna go bowling or stick to the original plan?” You asked your brother, with Christian still on the other line. Your original plan was to have dinner and then go home and watch a movie with him. You didn’t really have energy for anything else. “Bowling for sure. I know you’re gonna make me watch some weird horror movie.“ He laughed.

~*~

You decided the teams by playing rock, paper, scissors. You ended up in a team with Dabin and Scott, while your brother, Christian and Cream were on the other team. The loser would have to pay the bills. At first you didn’t understand why Christian and Cream were so excited, high-fiving each other while Scott was a little bit bummed. But you soon learned the reason. Scott was really good but Dabin totally sucked, tanking your overall score whereas the players on Christian’s team were all pretty decent. 

“Dabin you suck!“ Scott groaned out in frustration, giving Dabin a playful slap. His ball had landed beside the bowling alley once again. “Why are you so consistent in sucking?“

“Skill come with practice,“ Dabin retorted with pride. “I don’t see any improvement though,“ you said jokingly as you shook your head at him with feigned disappointment. 

“It takes time.“

“Stop bullshitting, just pay the bill, Dabin,“ Christian joined in teasing him.

Scott and you managed to raise your score so it wouldn’t look too pathetic next to Christian’s team, but you still lost by far. 

“Let’s play another round! I’m sure this time, we’re gonna win,” Dabin clapped his hands together determined. 

“In what world?“ Minho broke out into laughter.

“No way,“ Scott shook his vigorously as though his life depended on it. 

“Not with you on our team,“ you both said in unison and he immediately stretched out his hands for you to give him a high-five.

As the game ended you moved to a pub to get a late night snack and some drinks. It turned out Minho actually listened to Dabin’s music and was quite a fan of Cream’s beats, he had a little fanboy moment in which he raved about their craft with admiration. Somehow it then turned into a freestyle rap battle with Dabin and Minho participating and Scott beatboxing. “Damn you got bars!“ Dabin complimented him, surprised by his witty lyrics.

“If you join DPR, I’ll make you a star,“ Scott agreed.

“Don’t make him change career paths! He’s at an Ivy League right now,“ you said jokingly. 

Your little brother was the pride of your family, the shining star. Your mother always wanted her children to be Ivy League graduates, but you didn’t have the interest nor the grades and ambition to attend an Ivy League. All you wanted was to be as far away as possible from your controlling mother. You didn’t apply to any university in the U.S. All the applications you had sent out were to universities in foreign countries. Eventually, you decided to turn back to your roots and attended a university in Korea. That’s how you ended up where you were now. You remembered the time when he dreamed to be a rapper and you were glad Kiseok was able to talk him out of it. It wasn’t that he wasn’t talented enough, he was. He had the talent and the looks, but having seen the industry from behind the scenes, you knew that alone wasn’t enough to succeed. You had seen with your own eyes how the industry destroyed people taking everything away from them, leaving nothing but emptiness. He would barely survive under these harsh conditions and along the way he would have probably lost himself. That was something you didn’t want to watch.

“I guess now we know who got all the intelligence genes,“ Christian said playfully, sticking out his tongue at you as he gave you a gently nudge.

“At least I graduated from university,“ you teased him back. You found out at his aunt’s birthday that Christian had been accepted into a prestigious university. But he dropped out even before the semester started, packed his bags and flew to Korea to pursue his dreams. Another thing you admired him for. His ambition. 

“Not an Ivy League though,“ Minho teamed up with Christian to tease you.

“You’re in you first year, let’s see how long you’re gonna survive,“ you replied playfully.

~*~

While you went home with Minho the other guys returned to the studio. The reason why they went bowling in the first place was because it was feeling too stuffed and suffocating in the studio. They had been listening to, recording, and mixing songs since the sun had risen over the roofs of the city. There was only one month left until the release of Dabin’s new album which meant sleepless nights in the studio for them.

As Cream was rearranging one of the tracks, Christian and Dabin plopped onto the couch enjoying the little break that they had. 

“When are you going to tell her the truth?” It was a vague question, but Christian knew exactly what his younger friend was talking about. 

“Never.” “I think she likes you too.” “And since when are you such an expert, Dabin? Didn’t your girlfriend just dump you?” Christian laughed. It happened recently, but Dabin got over it quickly. They hadn’t been dating for long and she lost interest in him quickly. Dabin didn’t like her that much either, he just didn’t like to be alone. 

“But what if she does?” “She made it clear that she doesn’t want to be in a relationship right now. I don’t want to pressure her. Besides, I don’t think she’s over her ex yet.” Christian just like anyone else was afraid of rejection but what was even worst than that was losing what he currently had with you. “It’s just a stupid crush, I’ll get over it.” “I think I can help you with that.” Dabin said, peaking Christian’s interest. He turned his head to his friend, motioning him to go on. “You remember Jenny?”

“Who?” Christian furrowed his eyes digging in his memory for a face that matched the name. “One of the models who starred in my first music video?” 

Christian tried to remember, but he needed more information than that. Over the years he had directed many videos. He accepted almost every request in his earlier career because he needed to get his name out there and he also needed the money. It was almost impossible for him to remember all of them. He had lacked skills, knowledge and experience back then, so many of those visuals weren’t very special to him or carried any meaning at all. Watching those videos now made him cringe. But he was still proud of his work. It what made him what he is today. “We filmed in Itaewon and I accidentally destroyed your camera.” “Oh! Yeah! I definitely remember that!” 

That camera had costed him a fortune. He had so save money for months in order to be able to afford it. It was his most precious possession back then and there was no one that didn’t know how much he loved that camera. However, Dabin ended up dropping it while they were changing locations. It was in the middle of winter, so his hands were frozen when Christian shoved the camera into Dabin’s hand so he could help the staff carry the props.

“Sorry about that by the way. But do you remember the girl you lusted over, but she didn’t give you the time of day?” “Oh! That girl! Right! Jenny! Of course I remember! Man, she was hot! But wasn’t she in a relationship?”

Christian recalled an image of her in his head. He usually wasn’t that interested in models. Though he had to admit they were pleasing to the eyes, they were also a tidbit too skinny for his liking. But Jenny — that girl had the right curves in the right places. It would be a lie to say he hadn’t fantasized about her before. He didn’t have an ideal type, but if he had one he always imagined her to look like Jenny. The fact that he couldn’t have her, made him even more intrigued by her. Christian felt the blood rush through his veins as images of her popped up in front of his imaginary eyes. 

“Well, she’s single now if you’re interested.”

“How do you know?” “We kept in touch. If you want I can set you guys up.”

It didn’t even surprise him that Dabin actually got her number. Dabin was friendly and chummy with almost everyone he met. He didn’t discriminate between male and female when it came to making friends. He had as many female friends as he had guy friends. He was someone that was well liked by everyone of all ages, regardless of gender. Even Christian’s mother was very fond of Dabin. She always asked about him while she didn’t really care about the rest of his crew. “Yeah…why the hell not?” He agreed with a shrug. He had to get over you somehow. If he didn’t, he could end up destroying your friendship and trust. He definitely had to get over you and why not start with someone he found visually and physically appealing?

~*~

[Time Leap]

“So you want me to go on a double date with you and meet some guy you know nothing about, just so you can get laid tonight? Did I get it right?“ You summarized everything that Christian had been trying to tell you for the last half an hour through constant stutters and pauses. Christian usually never beat around the bush, he would just get straight to the point. But today he was having a hard time trying to form cohesive sentences which you found quite amusing. You haven’t really seen him this nervous yet.

“Basically,“ he nodded his head although you couldn’t see him. 

Dun Dun Duuuun! Minhee’s little brother is in town and Christian’s finally acknowledging his feelings for her. Will he really get over her by seeing Jenny? Aaaand a double date - that’s just calling for a disaster isn’t it? Do you think Minhee will agree to go?

[willieowinsbury]

why didnt you like little women? ive been wanting to see that movie but the nearest theatre is like an hour and a half away.... not trying to waste that time, you feel

this is specifically about why i think that i didn’t like this little women, but here are my thoughts.

this specific little women is not bad. little women (2019), is thematically rich, technically near impeccable, and does what it does well. the main issue i find in little women (2019) is that it is no longer about what little women is about.

if you look at the movie divorced from any other little women it is without a doubt, an interesting and rich movie. greta gerwig has made a film about fear of adulthood, and fear of unhappiness. this shows, more than any other aspect, in the lighting. in childhood scenes, rooms are full of warm-toned light. even beth’s sickroom glows with candles and dances across jo’s face as she nurses her. this shifts in jo’s first scene (in terms of timeline) in new york, where sunlight seems to only hit her and casts the rest of the city in a cool blue shadow. as the timeline progresses, you see jo sink into this blue, and the rest of the adulthood scenes are lit with cool tones. however, at the end, when jo watched the printing of her novel, the window behind her is filled with light, and while not quite reaching her, the scene is intercut with a scene at jo’s school, where once again, there is childhood, and once again, there is golden light. to quote jeanette winterson, “this is not a love story, but love is in it. that is, love is just outside it, looking for a way to get in.” for a movie about how darkness seeps into adulthood, this is the perfect ending. but little women is not about how darkness seeps into adulthood.  little women is about family. and despite what you may think, little women is not all about jo. 

one of the hardest things when you are adapting a novel to a film, is the point of view. no longer is the world seen through the eyes of the main character and is instead seen by us, the audience, as objectively as possible. there are, of course, ways to have a narrator in film, and ways to see through the main character’s eyes. but we do not have a main character in little women. it is about meg, jo, beth, and amy. it is not called little woman. it becomes clear, however, that we are seeing jo’s life through jo’s eyes. arguably, the other sisters get more screen time not with jo than in the 1994 version. but the time spent with them, even without jo there physically, is steeped in jo’s presence. while more overt in meg, this comes through most of all with amy, who acts (at least in earlier scenes) like exactly how jo thinks she would act. when jo cries about her hair, amy comforts her and says “i would feel the same.” jo, in a jab that is supposed to be funny, but is extremely telling, says, “i know you would.” amy, throughout the film, states her emotions and motivations clearly, and loudly, and multiple times. she seems less like amy, and more how jo knows amy. of course, meg is not spared this. on meg’s wedding day, jo begs her to run away with her. this scene is where meg’s line in the trailer for the film happens. “just because my dreams are different then yours doesn’t mean they’re unimportant.” jo then proclaims, “you’ll be miserable in two years.” and for the rest of the movie, this rings true. while meg is not miserable, she is shown to be unhappy. beth, of all of them, gets the worst of this. beth has lost all nuance of character and is now just the shy musical one. despite her being “the best of us (the march sisters).” beth exists in this movie, not to serve as a conduit to the devastation of losing a sister, but as a character who has to die so that jo can write her novel. jo’s poem, “for beth” does not exist in little women (2019). this is telling. 

overall, little women (2019) is not little women. the deep bonds of sisterhood, family, and love, that are ever-present in other adaptations are shallow, if not completely cast aside. this story is, first and foremost, about one girl on the brink of womanhood, and her cardinal fear: adulthood is filled with unhappiness and disappointment. greta gerwig excels in those types of stories. little women is not that story.

[timeisacephalopod]

Ive seen endgame! Spoilers under the cut and I’m not tagging this as spoilers because I’m literally telling you now its spoilers.

1- what the fuck was the point of Tony’s kid? We had more than 10 years with this character, he doesn’t need a kid for emotional impact when he died and now I’m kind of pissed they threw this fucking random kid in there only to orphan the poor thing and make Pepper a single mother. What fucking bullshit. Never should have been a storyline.

2- Pepper in the suit yaaaaaas.

3- Wanda. Fucking loved her moments. And Thanos’ “I don’t even know who you are” was fucking iconic lmao. I mean her “you will” was okay but holy fucking damn that was the funniest shit from Thanos.

4- they killed viz permanently lmao yeah I didn’t give 2 tits and a snare drum about him anyway so I don’t care.

5- Steve. What the fucking fuck did they do to him? Don’t get me wrong, I like Peggy, and I liked him and Peggy in FA. They were cute. But it was a 4 month fling in the middle of of a war. Not that it can’t be important, but after 15+ years you are telling me a 4 month fling from Steve’s youth is more important to him than everything else? And what of Bucky? He leaves him to HYDRA and after all the shit he went through in WS and CW you’re seriously telling me he’d just LEAVE him there like that? I don’t mean to be a dick to Peggy because I do like her, but narratively speaking Bucky has always played more importance to her except when they want to make Steve feel nostalgic. I’m sorry, I’m fucking over that plot line.

More than that though she moved on in her show, she had a life after Steve and he went back and took that from her. And I don’t see why aside from no one let him grow as a character while also having him grow as a character. He went through a huge character shift in WS and then we saw nothing of it. Aside from his motivations in CW, which make sense given the context of WS however much I disagree, we see none of that development and I’m fucking tired of watching him lament over a relationship that lasted for a shorter time than a high school semester. To any normal person, and even to Steve given his non normal stance, he would have moved the fuck on. Also he made out with her niece that one time!! How is he living with this!

Also Sam says they never had a Captain America but Steve was still big when he danced with Peggy, which means he got the serum, which means he still can’t age right, which begs the question of how the tits long did he live? And again, what does this mean for everything else considering getting the serum implies he was, at some point, Cap even if he was never the Cap they knew. What the fuck! I’m actually the most mad about this because Steve, post WS, probably would have been one of my favorite characters given his extreme narrative shift and just how interesting that could have been if anyone ever fucking let him move on with his fucking self but no. Instead we end with him in the same spot he started in! I watched ten years of this shit for him to do NOTHING? All that development (that the narratives never really let him go through in totality because he narratively never shifted out of his War and Peggy Phase even while his character, on an individual level, moved out of that several times) and I watch him end in the same place he started?

Honestly I’m pretty pissed about that. Especially with all the did with Bucky. I seriously can’t believe Steve fucking left him there, ignored every piece of information he had, ruined Peggy’s original happy ending, and then didn’t even grow as a character. I like that he got a happy ending, I think he’s earned that, but I simply cannot believe a 4 month fucking fling meant so much he’d ignore his best friend, HYDRA, Peggy’s original marriage, the fact that he made out with her niece that one time, and everything else to end up exactly where he started. Which is why I don’t really care for him to begin with- because the narrative always leaves him right at the beginning and I don’t know how to invest in a character that grows but never grows. If he narratively was allowed to grow he would have been so. Much. Better. It is so fucking frustrating to me that he never moved the fuck on. You have no idea.

6- “I can do this all day” “Yeah I know”

7- “You look like melted ice cream”

8- Hated almost everything they did with Thor. Fat jokes? Yikes. Though I did love that ice cream line. Loved the bit with Frigga. And like. Thor being devastated and traumatized is ok. I think that’s realistic enough even if I wonder how someone that’s been alive for well over 1000 years doesn’t know how to handle himself with slightly more grace. I would have liked to see him crack differently.

9- Cap picking up Thor’s hammer and Thor being happy about it? 10 000 times better than the garbage Whedon wrote. Loved that.

10- Nebula. N E B U L A. NEEEEEBBBUUUUULLLLAAAA. Start to finish fucking loved her. She was amazing. 2 questions though- how did she not kill herself when she killed herself? Which in itself is a fucky question to ask. And also the second contention point I have with the movie beyond time travel bullshit is why NO ONE asked where she was post Nat (that in a minute). I know they were sad about Nat obviously but Rhodey is a full bird colonel, he keeps track of thousands of people for his job, plus all of his involvement in Tony’s antics, plus the Avengers and you’re telling me he didn’t notice her gone even with Nat? And Tony, you’re telling me he didn’t notice her gone? He was the one who bonded with her the most and he didn’t notice that he’s now technically lost two people he was close to? And Rocket? He didn’t notice? Are you fucking kidding me? I thought that was bullshit.

Even if, by chance, Rhodey somehow didn’t notice his partner in crime was missing (”I wasn't always like this” “Neither was I”- new BroTP yo!) when I think his military experience alone would have made him the second most likely to notice after Rocket (because he knows her the best) then Rocket should have. And if for some reason Rocket didn’t notice despite her being all that’s left of his found family, making him extra invested in her whereabouts, over Nat, whom I think he’d care about but not like Nebula, then Tony, who spent all that time with her in space, would have noticed.

Fucking someone would have noticed her gone. And the whole second half relies on no one noticing this moment and I call absolute bullshit on that. Someone. Would. Have. Noticed. Rhodey if for no other reason than experience of keeping track of people in war zones, Rocket if for no other reason than her being his last remaining connection to his family, and Tony if for no other reason than Nebula being a large part of the reason he’s alive. I was completely thrown from the story here. I simply can’t see how they could over look that even considering Natasha.

11- Natasha. Are you fucking kidding me? You killed her over Clint? I fucking hate MCU Clint. He’s boring, he’s nothing like the comics, he’s a fucking prick, and I don’t give a fuck about his family or anything to do with him. I liked him best when he was going to kill himself for Natasha. That is the only moment, as Marie Kondo would say, sparked joy for me. Otherwise throw the whole thing out. Fucking Natasha over Clint. Fuck you. That was an insult to the viewers. I don’t give a fuck about Clint, I don’t give a fuck about his kids aside from thinking they didn’t deserve the snap, and I don’t give a fuck about his story.

My mom said he was a plain Timbit (donut hole for the US readers) in a donut world and I honestly think that’s insulting to the plain Timbit, which is something we give to dogs as treats in Canada. Clint isn’t even a dog treat to me and they killed Black Widow over him. Fucking pissed.

12- “That suit does nothing for your ass” “No one was asking you to look, Tony!” “That’s America’s ass!” .... “That is America’s ass”

13- I actually really liked what they did with Bruce. I was excited to see all the benefits of the Hulk and Banner in one! That was pretty cool!

14- Strange’s reappearance was pretty badass. And Wong! I was excited to see him there! Was a bit surprised by Tilda Swinton’s appearance but okay. I didn’t hate it. Loved when she punched Bruce out of the Hulk lmfao that was so funny. I do like that she apparently does that to everyone lmao. I should write a fic where she punches Wong’s soul out of his body when the meet just because I think it’d be funny. And I’d love to see more Wong.

15- Steve vs Steve was really cool, I liked that. And fucking Hail HYDRA holy fucking shit I almost lost my ass. Couldn’t fucking believe he said that (and knowing that he just leaves that all for Peggy, his 4 month fling? Find this wildly out of character for him). Then he fucks right off with the tesseract omg.

16- Scott had some iconic one-liners. “That’s America’s ass!” “Okay I'm going to go inside you” omg. Ant Man was a joy to watch in this. I find Endgame used his character right.

17- I know I said it but Pepper Potts in the fucking suit y’all! I don’t know who was watching Morgan but also Pepper Potts in the fucking suit!!

18- That time travel shit made things entirely way too fucky. I knew that’s what they were going to do because that’s all that made sense, but I thought it was fucking stupid. And can Thanos even snap the stones out of existence? Because Tilda Swinton’s speech implied if he did something like that timelines would essentially do the funky chicken and die. She removed the time stone and shit was supposed to get weird, remove all 5 and what happens? Wtf? He fucking hid those stones. Did like Thor’s bit there though, killing Thanos. I think Nebula earned it more than him but I also think it was a good moment for Thor before his character became a fucking joke. 

19- narratively I understand why they started with Clint’s family dusting but I don’t give a fuck about Clint or his dusted family. I would have preferred watching a civilian lose his shit.

20- Steve you need therapy, stop leading therapy sessions. Especially when your advice is ‘move on’ and you literally go fucking nowhere in your life even after you went all over hell’s creations. Get this man a proper therapist he needs like 15!

21- lmfao Russos talking about gay representation and it was a guy talking about a date. I shit you the fuck not that was it. Gay. It was barely even there. Only straight men would ever assume that could possibly count as representation holy fuck. Like thanks for the blink you miss it shout out I guess. You remembered gays exist, wow!

22- Strange’s one finger thing, I liked that a lot actually. I think it functioned both as a great call to action and a nice reference to Stephen’s power.

23- Quick question, why was Tilda Swinton in New York? Because they went back too far for Strange- at first I when they mentioned 3 stones in NY I was like wait, when’s Strange’s story supposed to happen? After WS right? He can’t be in NY with the stone? But then Tilda showed up and I was like... why isn’t she in Nepal at the teaching sanctum? Because apparently the NY one isn’t a teaching sanctum and as far as I knew she was training Mordo and Wong there at this time so wtf? And it can’t be explained with ‘she knew she needed to be there’ because she punched Bruce out of hulk and he had to grovel to her to get the fucking thing from her and only managed because she knew Stephen gave up the stone willingly and would never do so without good reason because he’s the best fo the best. So like. Why was she there aside from plot convenience? That was a little too easy. Frankly, the whole plot was a touch too easy but still.

24- tired of aliens we’re supposed to relate to looking like humans but in pink while aliens we’re supposed to dislike are animalistic and non human looking. That’s a garbage trope.

25- The black woman in the elevator who made Tony and Steve is 100% Fury’s mother no one can convince me otherwise. I think the timeline matches up but I don’t care if it doesn’t she’s his mom now. He gets it all from his mama.

Bonus: stop trying to make Howard happen, Marvel, its not going to. I fucking hated that scene with Tony and Howard. What kind of bullshit abuse apology was that? Howard then, sure, he didn’t suck quite yet and seems to be aware of his own shortcomings. Howard in the future? Sorry, irredeemable crap. Narratively interesting irredeemable crap but irredeemable nonetheless. Tony panicking and saying his last name was Potts was great though lol. I’ll take it as evidence he took Pepper’s last name when they got married.

Bonus Bonus: I cried when Sam held the shield. I’ve been gunning for Sam to take over as Cap since we met him and everyone told me it’d be Bucky. I argued that we’ve already seen the story of a super soldier as Cap, it would be more interesting to watch Sam as a relatively normal guy take over as Cap. And I like Bucky traumatized and Winter Solider-y. I think he’s more interesting that way. Seriously though, Sam as Cap will be amazing and I didn’t expect to cry at that of all things but I did. I’m so excited to see him in that role!

Bonus Bonus Bonus for any sorry fucking soul who’s made it this far in I think I might update the Tony, T’Challa, and Their Gaggle of Children verse to include Morgan (but older) finding Tony only she’s his actual assed kid and no one believes it even though they have a striking resemblance. Which annoys them both because he got the media to buy all his other fake kids with easy to track down parents but not his actual kid. Ending with Nebula showing up and him claiming she’s his kid and everyone buying it.

[douxreviews]

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Review

[This review includes big honking spoilers.]

Spock: "I never took the Kobayashi Maru test until now. What do you think of my solution?"

The Wrath of Khan is a favorite of many fans, and it deserves to be. It is exactly what a big Star Trek movie should have been, and finally was.

Why is this movie so good? Bunches of reasons. Like an exciting story that had personal significance to the main characters, terrific writing, an outstanding villain, and the intensely moving death of the most beloved character in the series. I can't get through this movie without crying, and I've seen it a dozen times.

Birthdays, old age, death and loss, passing the torch to the next generation, it was courageous of the franchise to make these things the center of the movie, instead of ignoring the fact that it was fifteen years after the series and the cast was getting older. The Wrath of Khan is beautifully bookended by the Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario at the beginning, basically the arrogance of youth believing that they will never die, and a no-win real life situation at the end for Kirk when he loses Spock, his closest friend, the other half of himself.

When you watch the movie knowing the ending, you can see Spock's death coming. There are so many references to dying. The first thing Kirk says to Spock is, "Aren't you dead?" And we can see on Spock's face the moment he realizes what must happen in order to save the ship. He just gets up and goes to his death without a word to anyone, a very Spock-like thing to do. He even has to trick McCoy in order to carry out his plan, which for me, makes it even harder to take. The way he stands and straightens his uniform, those final moments where he and Kirk are separated by glass, it always gets to me. It was an exceptional death for an exceptional character. I can remember when I first saw it, I was absolutely devastated. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were at their best in that scene.

And yet, there is the obvious hint that it's not over for Spock. There was the way he touched the unconscious McCoy's face and said, "Remember," a deliberate call-back to "Requiem for Methuselah." The pod containing his body was lying on the grass of a vibrant new world that hadn't existed an hour before. They just couldn't bear to write Spock out completely, could they? (Not that I'm criticizing. I couldn't, either.)

As Kirk faced aging and death, pretty much for the first time, there was the complementary plot of passing the torch to the next generation. It was believable that Kirk would have had a child somewhere along the line, and it delighted me that his ex-amour was the most brilliant scientist in the Federation. David Marcus felt like he could have been Kirk's son, and I liked that Kirk did exactly as Carol had requested -- he stayed out of David's life and let Carol raise him alone. In an obvious parallel, Spock was mentoring his young protege, the competent, professional and often amusing regulation-quoting Lieutenant Saavik. The feminist in me can't help pointing out, with the exception of the comments about her hairstyle in the turbolift, Saavik could have easily been played by a man without changing a single other detail.

All this, and I haven't even gotten to one of the best things about this movie – and that's Ricardo Montalban reprising his character Khan from the original series episode "Space Seed."  His performance was so strong and so intense (and his chest so amazing) that there has yet to be a Star Trek villain that can top him.

And the supporting cast was terrific: DeForest Kelley was a delight as McCoy. James Doohan did a fine job with a wonderful dramatic scene when he lost his nephew. Bibi Besch did well in the key role of Carol Marcus, Merritt Butrick as David Marcus was pretty much perfect, and we also got Paul Winfield as the unfortunate Captain Terrell and future television star Kirstie Alley in her acting debut as Saavik. And yes, Chekov recognized Khan but Chekov wasn't in "Space Seed." I honestly don't care, since it wasn't important to the plot, and Walter Koenig's performance as Chekov in this movie is probably his best. (I only started liking Walter Koenig after his villainously wonderful continuing role in Babylon 5.)

Unlike Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan never stops moving. The space battles are terrific, the gimmick with the prefix code and the scenes in the Mutara Nebula all work, the musical score is outstanding, and best of all, the effects still hold up. (Although the close-ups of the ears during the Botany Bay scenes don't. Ah, well.)

I love this movie. The Wrath of Khan and the two movies that completed the trilogy are the pinnacle of original Star Trek, incorporating the best aspects of the original series. They're wonderful. In my not so humble opinion.

Bits and pieces:

— Stardate 8130.3 to 8141.6. The Reliant, space station Regula 1, Ceti Alpha 5 (not 6), and the Mutara nebula.

— Star Trek: The Motion Picture was set two and a half years after the end of the series, but here it was established that it had been 15 years since "Space Seed". Khan mentioned his "beloved wife," which would have been Lt. Marla McGivers.

— The Genesis presentation was exceptional. Best commercial ever. I'd buy it.

— I loved the way they used the rare book and the antique glasses as a reminder of the fact that Kirk was getting older. I also loved the level of detail in the furnishings in Kirk's apartment, as well as the huge mosaic IDIC in Spock's quarters.

— The ear thingies were the Alien chestburster of their time. Ick.

— Khan's use of the lines from Moby Dick were set up by the mini-library aboard the Botany Bay: Moby Dick, Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno. And all books relevant to what happened to the Botany Bay.

— Kyle from the original series was a crew member on Reliant.

— Although the theatrical version is fine, I prefer the director's cut. It includes just a few little extra scenes, but one in particular – the introduction of Midshipman Preston as Scotty's nephew – makes a difference.

— Even the costumes were great. I particularly liked the white flap on Kirk's uniform stained with Peter Preston's blood; it was a striking visual.

— The Genesis cave scene is wonderful. But I've always wondered: where did the light come from?

Quotes:

Kirk: "A no-win situation is a possibility every commander may face. Has that never occurred to you?" Saavik: "No, sir. It has not." Kirk: "And how we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life, wouldn't you say?" Saavik: "As I indicated, Admiral, that thought had not occurred to me." Kirk: "Well, now you have something new to think about. Carry on."

Dr. McCoy: "Admiral, wouldn't it be easier to just put an experienced crew back on the ship?" Kirk: "Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor." Uhura: "Now what is that supposed to mean?"

David: "Remember that overgrown boy scout you used to hang around with? That's exactly the kind of guy..." Carol: "Listen, kiddo. Jim Kirk was many things, but he was never a boy scout."

Kirk: "Mr. Scott, you old space dog. You're well?" Scotty: "Oh, I had a wee bout, sir, but, Doctor McCoy pulled me through." Kirk: "Wee bout of what?" McCoy: "Shore leave, Admiral."

(Kirk tensely watches as Saavik takes Enterprise out of space dock.) McCoy: "Would you like a tranquilizer?"

Kirk: "I would not presume to debate you." Spock: "That is wise. Were I to invoke logic, however, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Kirk: "Or the one." Spock: "You are my superior officer. You are also my friend. I have been and always shall be yours."

Khan: "I'll chase him around the Antares maelstrom and round Nibia and round Perdition's Flame before I give him up!"

Spock: "As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create." McCoy: "Not anymore. Now we can do both at the same time. According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now watch out, here comes Genesis! We'll do it for you in six minutes!" Spock: "Really, Dr. McCoy. You must learn to govern your passions. They will be your undoing."

Khan: "Let them eat static."

Khan: "Ah, Kirk, my old friend. Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold in space."

Spock: "Jim, be careful." McCoy: "We will!"

Kirk: "KKKHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!!" :)

Carol: "Can I cook, or can't I?"

Saavik: "On the test, sir... will you tell me what you did? I would really like to know." McCoy: "Lieutenant, you are looking at the only Starfleet cadet who ever beat the no-win scenario." (gestures at Kirk) Saavik: "How?" Kirk: "I reprogrammed the simulation so it was possible to rescue the ship." Saavik: "What?" David: "He cheated." Kirk: "I changed the conditions of the test. Got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose." Saavik: "Then you never faced that situation... faced death." Kirk: "I don't believe in the no-win scenario."

Khan: "To the last, I will grapple with thee. From Hell's heart, I stab at thee! For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!" Montalban makes these lines from Moby Dick work. How many actors could pull off lines like this?

McCoy: "He's not really dead as long as we remember him." Kirk: "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. A far better resting place that I go to than I have ever known." Carol: "Is that a poem?" Kirk: "No. Something Spock was trying to tell me, on my birthday." McCoy: "You okay, Jim? How do you feel?" Kirk: "Young. I feel young."

It isn't necessary to have seen "Space Seed" or Star Trek: The Motion Picture to follow this movie. In fact, it isn't really necessary to have seen the original series to follow this movie. And you don't even need to watch Star Trek III and IV. Although I assume every Star Trek fan pretty much has.

Four out of four no-win scenarios.

Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

[scromit]

my very long review of mother! (2017)

short version (contains no spoilers): captivating. intimate. fucked. possibly the most anxious movie ive ever seen. a nightmare and panic attack in cinema form. downfalls: a bit predictable, the ending was somewhat disappointing, and the brief cgi used was slightly regrettable, but these are all very subjective opinions. the film ended over two hours ago and i still feel extremely on edge and filled with gut-wrenching anxiety. i rate 9/10. 

full version (contains very minimal spoilers):

first of all i would like to say: like many people, im not a big jennifer lawrence fan. this movie has possibly forever changed my perception of her as an actor. the film is told intimately, through her perception, and she is absolutely enthralling in every scene, in every shot. she is authentic, helpless, and devastating. michelle pfeiffer was also wonderfully horrible. javier bardem was ok, very intense, i guess i cant say anything bad about him in this film other than his character could have been more relatable or redeemable in some way.

originally, i had been interested in mother! because of the awesome score heard in the trailer. that piece of music must have been written solely for that goddamn trailer because not once in the actual film did any music play whatsoever. there was absolutely no score, save for one scene, possibly two, with a very subtle, very unnerving bell or drum which played on a beat, and once scene in which music is being played canonically within the story. i would have been very disappointed in the loss of that score if it wasnt for the fact that the film simply did not need it. the whole soundtrack was the ambiance, the sounds of the house, and honestly the lack of music made the whole thing more intimate and unsettling. 

as far as the story goes, i have mixed feeling about a few things. first of all, this is one of those rare movies in which things happen that are not explained at all, (not necessarily plot holes, but events that happen which the viewer is not told how or why they came to be), and yet the story feels complete without the explanation. personally, i generally enjoy this because A) it creates a more streamlined, simple, and authentic-feeling film that relies on good filmmaking, not excessive backstory or details that would remove the viewer from being immersed in the story, B) the film is left (mostly) up to interpretation by the audience, and this movie in particular leaves plenty of open space for you to decide what exactly it means to you, and C) its impressive to find a movie that can do this successfully. i do think many people will be left with questions after the movie ends, and unfortunately if you are someone who prefers to be told how and why anything happens in a story (nothing wrong with that), i feel like it might be easy to be disappointed or frustrated with mother!.

that all being said, the film’s main allegory is (at least by the third act) almost painfully obvious, and there is one scene that feels bizarrely political (and not in a good way; it is hard to read this scene any differently than some sort of anti-socialist statement). however, i will say that although you basically know exactly what is going to happen during the climax, when it happens, the horror is still undeniably gut-wrenching.

lastly: i dont have a big anxiety problem. movies dont have a tendency to affect me much, if at all. this movie, my jaw was clenched, my stomach was churning, my heart was beating, and i dont think i looked away from the screen once for the entire thing. i was so on edge and disoriented when i left the theater, i walked all the way to my car before i even realized i had had to piss since the movie had started. i turned my music up and screamed to dookie the whole way home for the sake of catharsis, and smoked a bowl the moment i walked in the door, and im still fucking anxious. now thats what i call memorable cinema. 

trigger/cautionary information (contains possible spoilers):

this movie contains: gore, pregnancy, cannibalism, sexual assault, heavy misogyny

this movie can definitely trigger anxiety or fear of: small spaces, crowds, strangers, social situations, not knowing what is real or not, abusive relationships, religion, and helplessness. 

[hearsaykrp]

                 Presenting — seo gyuri as the dove.

— info.

name / seo gyuri birthday / 930914 pronouns / she/her occupation / receptionist at veterinarian office

— traits.

( jealous, dependent, faithful, affectionate )

jealous: gyuri has always felt inferior, forgotten. at first she lived on the sidelines of their little group, longing for a way into the tight bond she saw every day between the swan and jungsoo - the whispers, the giggles, the unquestioned power, the crown parting when they walked arm in arm down the school hallway. gyuri was there, but only on the fringes - until tragedy struck and jungsoo vanished. but every cloud has a silver lining, right? she thought that being plucked from her tangential position by the swan to be her new best friend meant that there was something special hidden inside her, something only the swan had seen. after all, she was now trusted with keeping a dangerous secret, one that could make or break her best friend’s life. that was a kind of power, wasn’t it? but that alone wasn’t enough. the swan continued to reign from her throne, and while gyuri was higher in status than before, she was hardly as powerful as she’d like. she’s terrified of losing the swan’s affection and being cast off altogether, to be well and truly forgotten - but she can’t help but covet the love and attention her friend gets.

dependent: who would seo gyuri be without the swan and the lark? her name is never spoken without theirs, as if they were a three-for-one deal. in a small town like ilmyo, everyone knows everyone, and everyone knows seo gyuri as part of a package. everyone also knows (or so gyuri suspects) that without her pretty friends, she would be just about nothing. she has no real ambitions or aspirations except to be pretty and popular, and her popularity is reliant on those with whom she associates. while everyone in the town knows the name seo gyuri, would anyone be able to pinpoint a single thing about her, other than the group with which she travels? her reaching out to the starling is an attempt to change this - maybe if she can rub off on her fame, gyuri can finally stand on her own.

faithful: gyuri is all-in. she’s your ride or die, your right hand, your shoulder to cry on, the person you can trust with a secret. she doesn’t understand betrayal or double crossing as concepts - with the way she relies on others, she can’t afford to not be reliable herself and to lose her friends by letting them down. it does mean she gets swept up in situations she otherwise wouldn’t be in - but she trusts that the people she’s faithful to would do the same for her.

affectionate: lucky you - gyuri likes you! and you’re sure to know it, too. gyuri believes in heaping praise, in giving gifts, in holding hands, in making soup for you when you’re sick. she wants no one to ever feel less than the way she has for her whole life. when you’re in her good graces, she puts all of her energy into being as good a friend as possible and to make you feel loved.

— about.

i. seo gyuri is born on the first day that the weather begins to turn cold after a bright, hot summer. she is a sister, the youngest of three, an only daughter. her family dotes on her. she is raised with all the love and attention a child needs.

ii. gyuri is a bit shy. when she begins elementary school, she can’t work up the nerve to ask the prettiest girl in the class whether the seat next to her is free, but she works up the nerve to take a seat at the same table, just at the end of it instead. by some miracle, over time, they become friends. gyuri’s role in the group is largely providing backup and letting everyone hang out at her house after school (because her parents are the “least nosey”), but she’s happy to be included, to be viewed by the other students with the same jealousy or reverence that her friends got.

iii. gyuri finally worked up the nerve to ask her first crush out, and he accepted! she has her first boyfriend, and it was just like all the dramas and movies she watched! it took a few weeks before she realized something. other than their first couple of dates, they never went out just the two of them. they always hung out with her friends. suddenly it became clear - her boyfriend is less interested in her and more interested in her pretty friends, her social capital, the jealous whispers from his buddies when they saw him with the most popular girls in ilmyo. that made it clear - gyuri is nothing without the swan, jungsoo, and the lark by her side. she broke up with him and cried all night with her friends, but never told them why their relationship ended.

iv. it was just supposed to be a game. a way for the swan to get back at jungsoo for hanging out with the robin. nothing dangerous, nothing deadly. but the night went on and on, and except for the call the swan got, they didn’t hear from jungsoo again. gyuri continues to repeat the same story every time someone asks - jungsoo was there when they fell asleep, gone when they woke up. there’s always been a nagging feeling in the back of gyuri’s mind, thinking that she shouldn’t have laughed along with the swan when she hung up the phone, that she should have run up into that mountain and found jungsoo when the dare stopped being funny - but gyuri leaves dangerous thoughts like those locked away.

v. in jungsoo’s absence, gyuri is promoted. the rosefinch abandons their group. suddenly gyuri’s the one who gets the swan’s undivided attention, who walks arm in arm with her, who gets the swan’s secrets and clothes and power. gyuri revels in it. she’s never felt so energized, so envied, so unrivalled. it’s almost enough for her to ignore the rumours that start to swirl about gyuri’s role in jungsoo’s disappearance - that she somehow arranged jungsoo to be on the mountain or to be kidnapped or to be disposed of in order to take over her rank in the group. gyuri doesn’t correct them - keeping the swan’s secret is too precious to her to even consider it.

vi. gyuri went to university - not because she had a particular path she wanted to follow, but because that seemed like what she was supposed to do. she came back to ilmyo upon graduation and got herself a job at the local veterinary clinic, getting back into the small town environment she feels most comfortable in. by some happy circumstance, she befriended choi goeun - someone who was truly generous and kind in a way gyuri wasn’t used to seeing in her own tight-knit group. goeun seemed so in love, and was so sweet, that gyuri volunteered herself to help plan the wedding. they spent many hours together looking at dresses, trying cake flavours, picking bouquets, and for the first time in a while gyuri felt important and needed. goeun was trusting her with one of the most important days of her life! it reinvigorated her, gave her a sense of purpose. even when goeun’s mood began to shift into something less bright and cheery, gyuri pushed her to keep her focus on the wedding so she wouldn’t lose her drive. when goeun and her fiance disappeared like her old friend had years ago, gyuri felt like her world had collapsed. rumours were swirling again, but this time she wasn’t glowing in the novelty of a closer friendship with the swan. gyuri continued to go through the motions, pretended she couldn’t hear the whispers, but she felt devastated and hollow inside.

vii. gyuri decided she didn’t want to hide this time. she wanted to stand out more than she has in the past. she was tired of always fading into the background and being overshadowed by the swan. she decided to try being a beauty vlogger. she set up a youtube account, posting videos of herself reviewing her favourite makeup products or showing off her daytime look, hoping for a quick ascent to fame. that didn’t happen, so she’s been trying to get close with the starling who’s had her own small share of fame. there is the whole issue with gyuri hiding the hints she picked up from goeun leading up to her death, and the fear that the swan is going to ditch her entirely if she catches her trying to make friends outside their little circle, but maybe gyuri’s become more daring over the years. and wouldn’t it be worth it, if people could finally stop speculating that she was somehow tied into these disappearances and recognize her as special and interesting on her own?

[networkingdefinition]

Hummingbirds Quotes

Official Website: Hummingbirds Quotes

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();  • A day so happy. Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden. Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers. There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess. I know no one worth my envying him. – Czeslaw Milosz • A rhododendron bud lavender-tipped. Soon a glory of blooms to clash with the cardinals and gladden the hummingbirds! – Dave Beard • Across the downs a hummingbird Came dipping through the bowers, He pivoted on emptiness To scrutinize the flowers. – Nathalia Crane • After a few mouthfuls of moon-flavored air, even the stubbornly drowsy can find themselves wide-eyed.. All the normal noises of life were gone, leaving behind the secretive sounds, the shy sounds, the whispers and conversations of moss disputing with grass over some soft piece of earth, or the hummingbird snoring. – N.D. Wilson • And in time it will be as though men had never come to this perfect corner of the world-never called it paradise on earth, never despoiled it with their dream factories; and in the golden hush of the afternoon all that will be heard will be the flittering of dragonflies, and the murmur of hummingbirds as they pass from bower to bower, looking for a place to sup sweetness. – Clive Barker • As long as the hummingbird had not abandoned the land, somewhere there were still flowers, and they could all go on. – Leslie Marmon Silko

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Hummingbird', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '68', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_hummingbird').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_hummingbird img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • By the way, did you fellows know that a hummingbird weighs as much as a quarter? Do you think a hummingbird also weighs the same as two dimes and a nickel? But then she asked a question of her own: How do they weigh a hummingbird? – Calvin Trillin • Charm is the enchanted dart, light and subtle as a hummingbird. But it is deceptive in one thing: like a sense of humor, if you think you’ve got it, you probably haven’t. – Laurel Lea • Coming eyeball to eyeball with a hummingbird on my terrace is as exciting to me as any celebrity Ive met as a result of Downton Abbey. – Lesley Nicol • Dancing is such a despised and dishonored trade that if you tell a doctor or a laywer you do choreography he’ll look at you as if you were a hummingbird. Dancers don’t get invited to visit people. It is assumed a boy dancer will run off with the spoons and a girl with the head of the house. – Agnes de Mille • either you take in believing in miracles or you stand still like the hummingbird. – Henry Miller • Flutter like a hummingbird, Dive like an eagle, Ain’t no bird that’s my equal. – Twilight – Kathryn Lasky • furious flutter awakened hummingbird heart hello hello love – Megan McCafferty • Gentle day’s flower – The hummingbird competes With the stillness of the air. – Chogyam Trungpa • He has the attention span of a hummingbird. – Christopher Moore • He was becoming unstuck, he was sure of that – his bones were no longer wrapped in flesh but in clouds of dust, in hummingbirds, dragonflies, and luminous moths – but so perfect was his equilibrium that he felt no fear. He was vast, he was many, he was dynamic, he was eternal.- Tom Robbins • He wasn’t that good looking, he had the social skills of a wet cat and the patience of a caffeinated hummingbird – Karen Chance • How do you view God in a desert? There’s two types of birds. There’s vultures, and there’s hummingbirds. One lives off dead carcasses, rotting meat. The other lives off the beautiful, sweet, nectar in a particular flower, on a particular desert plant, in the same desert. They both find what they’re looking for. Do you know – take it all the way back into the Old Testament – and the Muslim and you, we actually serve the same God. Allah, to a Muslim; to us, Abba Father, God. – Brian Houston • I always loved those little creatures [hummingbird], always feel blessed when they appear nearby. There’s a magical quality to them. I finally put one in a song. – Leonard Cohen • I had the metabolism of a hummingbird on crack. – Ilona Andrews • I like snakes. I like hummingbirds. There’s nothing on earth I don’t like. Frogs. Salamanders. The bunnies, the giraffes, the hippopotamuses. – Ted Turner • I love devastating movies, documentaries and hummingbirds (yes, in that order). – Tig Notaro • I would say the hummingbird really deserves the royalties on [some of my songs]. – Leonard Cohen • I’d like to be like a hummingbird. You see them every now and then. You don’t see them everywhere. – Shailene Woodley • I’d written a lot of songs with hummingbirds in them. None of them ever came to anything, but I did write a few lines last month. It went like this: ‘Listen to the hummingbird whose wings you cannot see. Listen to the hummingbird, don’t listen to me’. – Leonard Cohen • I’m a Gibson guy. I play anything from Hummingbirds to J200s. – Corey Taylor • I’m more of a culture hummingbird. – Jai Rodriguez • In Mexico people wear hummingbird amulets around their necks to show they are searching for love. Here people pretend that they aren’t. Searching. – Francesca Lia Block • it doesn’t matter if Prince Charles falls off his horse or that the hummingbird is so seldom seen or that we are too senseless to go insane. coffee. give us more of that NOTHING coffee. – Charles Bukowski • Most elegantly finished in all parts, [the hummingbird] is a miniature work of our Great Parent, who seems to have formed it the smallest, and at the same time the most beautiful of the winged species. – J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur • Much still remains to be learned about his sex life because the Hummingbird is quicker than the eye. – Will Cuppy • My mind, I know, I can prove, hovers on hummingbird wings. It hovers and it churns. And when it’s operating at full thrust, the churning does not stop. The machines do not rest, the systems rarely cool. And while I can forget anything of any importance–this is why people tell me secrets–my mind has an uncanny knack for organization when it comes to pain. Nothing tormenting is ever lost, never even diminished in color or intensity or quality of sound. – Dave Eggers • My mother’s eyes were large and brown, like my son’s, but unlike Sam’s, they were always frantic, like a hummingbird who can’t quite find the flower but keeps jabbing around. – Anne Lamott • My work is the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird – equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums. – Mary Oliver • One day a hummingbird flew in– It fluttered against the window til I got it down where I could reach it with an open umbrella– –When I had it in my hand it was so small I couldn’t believe I had it–but I could feel the intense life–so intense and so tiny– …You were like the humming bird to me… And I am rather inclined to feel that you and I know the best part of one another without spending much time together– –It is not that I fear the knowing– It is that I am at this moment willing to let you be what you are to me–it is beautiful and pure and very intensely alive. – Georgia O’Keeffe • Question four: What book would you give to every child? Answer: I wouldn’t give them a book. Books are part of the problem: this strange belief that a tree has nothing to say until it is murdered, its flesh pulped, and then (human) people stain this flesh with words. I would take children outside and put them face to face with chipmunks, dragonflies, tadpoles, hummingbirds, stones, rivers, trees, crawdads. That said, if you’re going to force me to give them a book, it would be The Wind In The Willows, which I hope would remind them to go outside. – Derrick Jensen • Quick as a hummingbird…she darts so eagerly, swiftly, sweetly dipping into the flowers of my heart. – James Oppenheim • Regularity chauvinists are people who insist that you have got to do the same thing every time, every day, which drives some of us nuts. Attention Deficit Disorder – we need a more positive term for that. Hummingbird mind, I should think. – Ted Nelson • Shortly before she died Janis Joplin gave me the Gibson Hummingbird she recorded “Me and Bobbby McGee” on … Janis was a good guitar player, for her purposes .. she just wanted to play along with her songs, and she had a real pure and nice style for that. – Sam Andrew • Some of my old memories feel trapped in amber in my brain, lucid and burning, while others are like the wing beat of a hummingbird, an intangible, ephemeral blur. – Mira Bartok • Some people never find the right kind of love. You know, the kind that steals your breath away, like diving into snowmelt. The kind that jolts your heart, sets it beating apace, an anxious hiccuping of hummingbird wings – Ellen Hopkins • The first and most important thing for me is that people feel how beautiful fashion can be and that it is not just a case of well-made and expensive clothes. Fashion is so rich and it is such an amazing occupation because we can draw on so many different sources of inspiration – just as a hummingbird feeds on a multitude of flowers. – Dries van Noten • The retriever took each bit of meat from his master’s hand with a delicacy almost equal to that of a hummingbird sipping sugar water from a garden feeder, and when it was all gone, he gazed up at Dusty with an adoration that could not have been much less than the love with which the angels regard God. – Dean Koontz • There is a difference between our wisdom and nature’s simplicity. That reflects the burden of a complex intelligence. A complex intelligence like ours is impotent compared to the intelligence of a monarch butterfly migrating from Canada to Mexico, or the intelligence of hummingbirds that have co-evolved with the flowers all along their migration route. That seems so simple; it just happens, it just unfolds. – Alison Hawthorne Deming • There’s as much chance of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment as there is for a hummingbird to fly to the planet Mars with the Washington Monument tied to its tail. – Morris Sheppard • They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator. – David Attenborough • Up north, you could find these radio stations with no name on the dials that played pre-rock ‘n’ roll things – country blues. We would hear Slim Harpo or Lightnin’ Slim and gospel groups, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. I was so far north, I didn’t even know where Alabama was. – Bob Dylan • We at Google have made tremendous advances in understanding language. Our knowledge graph has been fundamental to that. The new algorithm that we launched today called Hummingbird has been a great leap forward. – Amit Singhal • We spend so much time, these days, on forms of literature that don’t rise to be literature, and I’m speaking about Twitter posts and quick and hot takes on different websites. We sort of zoom from thing to thing like a hummingbird. – Ben H. Winters • We’re constantly being bombarded by problems that we face and sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed. [But] we should always feel like a hummingbird. I may feel insignificant, but I don’t want to be like the other animals watching the planet go down the drain. I’ll be a hummingbird, I’ll do the best I can. – Wangari Maathai • We’ve all led raucous lives, some of them inside, some of them out. But only the poem you leave behind is what’s important. Everyone knows this. The voyage into the interior is all that matters, Whatever your ride. Sometimes I can’t sit still for all the asininities I read. Give me the hummingbird, who has to eat sixty times His own weight a day just to stay alive. Now that’s a life on the edge. – Charles Wright • When I did the Abyssinian mass, I went through the whole history of the church music and the gospel music, even with the Anglo American hymns, the Afro American hymns, the spirituals and how it developed, up to Thomas Dorsey and the Dixie Hummingbirds, going through the history of the music, jazz musicians. – Wynton Marsalis • when you are convinced that all the exits are blocked, either you take to believing in miracles or you stand still like the hummingbird. The miracle is that the honey is always there, right under your nose, only you were too busy searching elsewhere to realize it. The worst is not death but being blind, blind to the fact that everything about life is in the nature of the miraculous. – Henry Miller • You are Life passing through your body, passing through your mind, passing through your soul. Once you find that out, not with logic, not with the intellect, but because you can feel that Life-you find out that you are the force that makes the flowers open and close, that makes the hummingbird fly from flower to flower. You find out that you are in every tree, and you are in every animal, vegetable, and rock. You are that force that moves the wind and breathes through your body. The whole universe is a living being that is moved by that force, and that is what you are. You are Life. – Miguel Angel Ruiz • You are so high in the tree.If you jumpyou will live a full lifewhile falling.You will get marriedto a hummingbirdand raise beautiful part- hummingbirds. You will die of cancerin mid-air. I will not lie. It will be painful. You are a brave little boyor girl. – Zachary Schomburg

  jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'a', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_a').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_a img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

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[equitiesstocks]

Hummingbirds Quotes

Official Website: Hummingbirds Quotes

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();  • A day so happy. Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden. Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers. There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess. I know no one worth my envying him. – Czeslaw Milosz • A rhododendron bud lavender-tipped. Soon a glory of blooms to clash with the cardinals and gladden the hummingbirds! – Dave Beard • Across the downs a hummingbird Came dipping through the bowers, He pivoted on emptiness To scrutinize the flowers. – Nathalia Crane • After a few mouthfuls of moon-flavored air, even the stubbornly drowsy can find themselves wide-eyed.. All the normal noises of life were gone, leaving behind the secretive sounds, the shy sounds, the whispers and conversations of moss disputing with grass over some soft piece of earth, or the hummingbird snoring. – N.D. Wilson • And in time it will be as though men had never come to this perfect corner of the world-never called it paradise on earth, never despoiled it with their dream factories; and in the golden hush of the afternoon all that will be heard will be the flittering of dragonflies, and the murmur of hummingbirds as they pass from bower to bower, looking for a place to sup sweetness. – Clive Barker • As long as the hummingbird had not abandoned the land, somewhere there were still flowers, and they could all go on. – Leslie Marmon Silko

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Hummingbird', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '68', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_hummingbird').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_hummingbird img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • By the way, did you fellows know that a hummingbird weighs as much as a quarter? Do you think a hummingbird also weighs the same as two dimes and a nickel? But then she asked a question of her own: How do they weigh a hummingbird? – Calvin Trillin • Charm is the enchanted dart, light and subtle as a hummingbird. But it is deceptive in one thing: like a sense of humor, if you think you’ve got it, you probably haven’t. – Laurel Lea • Coming eyeball to eyeball with a hummingbird on my terrace is as exciting to me as any celebrity Ive met as a result of Downton Abbey. – Lesley Nicol • Dancing is such a despised and dishonored trade that if you tell a doctor or a laywer you do choreography he’ll look at you as if you were a hummingbird. Dancers don’t get invited to visit people. It is assumed a boy dancer will run off with the spoons and a girl with the head of the house. – Agnes de Mille • either you take in believing in miracles or you stand still like the hummingbird. – Henry Miller • Flutter like a hummingbird, Dive like an eagle, Ain’t no bird that’s my equal. – Twilight – Kathryn Lasky • furious flutter awakened hummingbird heart hello hello love – Megan McCafferty • Gentle day’s flower – The hummingbird competes With the stillness of the air. – Chogyam Trungpa • He has the attention span of a hummingbird. – Christopher Moore • He was becoming unstuck, he was sure of that – his bones were no longer wrapped in flesh but in clouds of dust, in hummingbirds, dragonflies, and luminous moths – but so perfect was his equilibrium that he felt no fear. He was vast, he was many, he was dynamic, he was eternal.- Tom Robbins • He wasn’t that good looking, he had the social skills of a wet cat and the patience of a caffeinated hummingbird – Karen Chance • How do you view God in a desert? There’s two types of birds. There’s vultures, and there’s hummingbirds. One lives off dead carcasses, rotting meat. The other lives off the beautiful, sweet, nectar in a particular flower, on a particular desert plant, in the same desert. They both find what they’re looking for. Do you know – take it all the way back into the Old Testament – and the Muslim and you, we actually serve the same God. Allah, to a Muslim; to us, Abba Father, God. – Brian Houston • I always loved those little creatures [hummingbird], always feel blessed when they appear nearby. There’s a magical quality to them. I finally put one in a song. – Leonard Cohen • I had the metabolism of a hummingbird on crack. – Ilona Andrews • I like snakes. I like hummingbirds. There’s nothing on earth I don’t like. Frogs. Salamanders. The bunnies, the giraffes, the hippopotamuses. – Ted Turner • I love devastating movies, documentaries and hummingbirds (yes, in that order). – Tig Notaro • I would say the hummingbird really deserves the royalties on [some of my songs]. – Leonard Cohen • I’d like to be like a hummingbird. You see them every now and then. You don’t see them everywhere. – Shailene Woodley • I’d written a lot of songs with hummingbirds in them. None of them ever came to anything, but I did write a few lines last month. It went like this: ‘Listen to the hummingbird whose wings you cannot see. Listen to the hummingbird, don’t listen to me’. – Leonard Cohen • I’m a Gibson guy. I play anything from Hummingbirds to J200s. – Corey Taylor • I’m more of a culture hummingbird. – Jai Rodriguez • In Mexico people wear hummingbird amulets around their necks to show they are searching for love. Here people pretend that they aren’t. Searching. – Francesca Lia Block • it doesn’t matter if Prince Charles falls off his horse or that the hummingbird is so seldom seen or that we are too senseless to go insane. coffee. give us more of that NOTHING coffee. – Charles Bukowski • Most elegantly finished in all parts, [the hummingbird] is a miniature work of our Great Parent, who seems to have formed it the smallest, and at the same time the most beautiful of the winged species. – J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur • Much still remains to be learned about his sex life because the Hummingbird is quicker than the eye. – Will Cuppy • My mind, I know, I can prove, hovers on hummingbird wings. It hovers and it churns. And when it’s operating at full thrust, the churning does not stop. The machines do not rest, the systems rarely cool. And while I can forget anything of any importance–this is why people tell me secrets–my mind has an uncanny knack for organization when it comes to pain. Nothing tormenting is ever lost, never even diminished in color or intensity or quality of sound. – Dave Eggers • My mother’s eyes were large and brown, like my son’s, but unlike Sam’s, they were always frantic, like a hummingbird who can’t quite find the flower but keeps jabbing around. – Anne Lamott • My work is the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird – equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums. – Mary Oliver • One day a hummingbird flew in– It fluttered against the window til I got it down where I could reach it with an open umbrella– –When I had it in my hand it was so small I couldn’t believe I had it–but I could feel the intense life–so intense and so tiny– …You were like the humming bird to me… And I am rather inclined to feel that you and I know the best part of one another without spending much time together– –It is not that I fear the knowing– It is that I am at this moment willing to let you be what you are to me–it is beautiful and pure and very intensely alive. – Georgia O’Keeffe • Question four: What book would you give to every child? Answer: I wouldn’t give them a book. Books are part of the problem: this strange belief that a tree has nothing to say until it is murdered, its flesh pulped, and then (human) people stain this flesh with words. I would take children outside and put them face to face with chipmunks, dragonflies, tadpoles, hummingbirds, stones, rivers, trees, crawdads. That said, if you’re going to force me to give them a book, it would be The Wind In The Willows, which I hope would remind them to go outside. – Derrick Jensen • Quick as a hummingbird…she darts so eagerly, swiftly, sweetly dipping into the flowers of my heart. – James Oppenheim • Regularity chauvinists are people who insist that you have got to do the same thing every time, every day, which drives some of us nuts. Attention Deficit Disorder – we need a more positive term for that. Hummingbird mind, I should think. – Ted Nelson • Shortly before she died Janis Joplin gave me the Gibson Hummingbird she recorded “Me and Bobbby McGee” on … Janis was a good guitar player, for her purposes .. she just wanted to play along with her songs, and she had a real pure and nice style for that. – Sam Andrew • Some of my old memories feel trapped in amber in my brain, lucid and burning, while others are like the wing beat of a hummingbird, an intangible, ephemeral blur. – Mira Bartok • Some people never find the right kind of love. You know, the kind that steals your breath away, like diving into snowmelt. The kind that jolts your heart, sets it beating apace, an anxious hiccuping of hummingbird wings – Ellen Hopkins • The first and most important thing for me is that people feel how beautiful fashion can be and that it is not just a case of well-made and expensive clothes. Fashion is so rich and it is such an amazing occupation because we can draw on so many different sources of inspiration – just as a hummingbird feeds on a multitude of flowers. – Dries van Noten • The retriever took each bit of meat from his master’s hand with a delicacy almost equal to that of a hummingbird sipping sugar water from a garden feeder, and when it was all gone, he gazed up at Dusty with an adoration that could not have been much less than the love with which the angels regard God. – Dean Koontz • There is a difference between our wisdom and nature’s simplicity. That reflects the burden of a complex intelligence. A complex intelligence like ours is impotent compared to the intelligence of a monarch butterfly migrating from Canada to Mexico, or the intelligence of hummingbirds that have co-evolved with the flowers all along their migration route. That seems so simple; it just happens, it just unfolds. – Alison Hawthorne Deming • There’s as much chance of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment as there is for a hummingbird to fly to the planet Mars with the Washington Monument tied to its tail. – Morris Sheppard • They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator. – David Attenborough • Up north, you could find these radio stations with no name on the dials that played pre-rock ‘n’ roll things – country blues. We would hear Slim Harpo or Lightnin’ Slim and gospel groups, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. I was so far north, I didn’t even know where Alabama was. – Bob Dylan • We at Google have made tremendous advances in understanding language. Our knowledge graph has been fundamental to that. The new algorithm that we launched today called Hummingbird has been a great leap forward. – Amit Singhal • We spend so much time, these days, on forms of literature that don’t rise to be literature, and I’m speaking about Twitter posts and quick and hot takes on different websites. We sort of zoom from thing to thing like a hummingbird. – Ben H. Winters • We’re constantly being bombarded by problems that we face and sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed. [But] we should always feel like a hummingbird. I may feel insignificant, but I don’t want to be like the other animals watching the planet go down the drain. I’ll be a hummingbird, I’ll do the best I can. – Wangari Maathai • We’ve all led raucous lives, some of them inside, some of them out. But only the poem you leave behind is what’s important. Everyone knows this. The voyage into the interior is all that matters, Whatever your ride. Sometimes I can’t sit still for all the asininities I read. Give me the hummingbird, who has to eat sixty times His own weight a day just to stay alive. Now that’s a life on the edge. – Charles Wright • When I did the Abyssinian mass, I went through the whole history of the church music and the gospel music, even with the Anglo American hymns, the Afro American hymns, the spirituals and how it developed, up to Thomas Dorsey and the Dixie Hummingbirds, going through the history of the music, jazz musicians. – Wynton Marsalis • when you are convinced that all the exits are blocked, either you take to believing in miracles or you stand still like the hummingbird. The miracle is that the honey is always there, right under your nose, only you were too busy searching elsewhere to realize it. The worst is not death but being blind, blind to the fact that everything about life is in the nature of the miraculous. – Henry Miller • You are Life passing through your body, passing through your mind, passing through your soul. Once you find that out, not with logic, not with the intellect, but because you can feel that Life-you find out that you are the force that makes the flowers open and close, that makes the hummingbird fly from flower to flower. You find out that you are in every tree, and you are in every animal, vegetable, and rock. You are that force that moves the wind and breathes through your body. The whole universe is a living being that is moved by that force, and that is what you are. You are Life. – Miguel Angel Ruiz • You are so high in the tree.If you jumpyou will live a full lifewhile falling.You will get marriedto a hummingbirdand raise beautiful part- hummingbirds. You will die of cancerin mid-air. I will not lie. It will be painful. You are a brave little boyor girl. – Zachary Schomburg

  jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'a', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_a').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_a img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

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[thekoreanlass]

I am pleasantly surprised to know that a respectable actor like Kang Ha Neul is actually the protagonist in this mystery-thriller film ‘Forgotten‘. Of course, his character doesn’t deviate much from his usual geeky roles, but he continues to show his charm in such a genre despite the tragedy that comes after.

The movie alone, though loses its fire at the ending, stands out because of its unconventional way of story telling that totally duped me into thinking what is in front of me is real when everything was just nothing but a lie to uncover a truth that had been missing for so many years.

The Story

Jin Seok (Kang Ha Neul) moves into anew home with his family–his mother, father and older brother who had a limp on his leg. He suffers from hypersensitivity, but with medication he is able to live normally.

One night, while it was raining hard, JIn Seok witnesses his older brother Yoo Seok (Kim Moo Yul) being kidnapped by a group of men that dumped him into a van and left. After nineteen days of being gone, Yoo Seok suddenly returns home, but he doesn’t remember anything from his disappearance. Jin Seok, on the other hand, starts noticing some changes about his older brother, including the limp on his leg being gone, making Jin Seok’s suspicion grow about his brother. It doesn’t help that Jin Seok keeps hearing sounds from the locked room where the house’ previous owner stored his belongings, making him even more paranoid of his surroundings and the people around him.

Thoughts:

 ‘Forgotten’ fooled me into believing that all is good between Jinseok, his brother and his family. I would have been thankful to have someone like Yoo Seok as a brother too, but the too much mystery surrounding him eventually gave a strong feeling that something is definitely up with the perfect older brother. However, it was far from the psychotic brother I thought he will turn into. It made everything I visioned actually wrong just when I thought I could predict what’s to come next.

Plus, that locked room right across their room constantly brought chills to my spine as we were duped into thinking that some ugly ghost would actually pop out from that room when it was nothing but a stupid prop to the real setup of the story. The movie almost turned into a horror story, but I guess that’s their sly strategy to fool us and  overwhelm us with something else. And gosh, that worked on me.

I skipped some parts when it came to the locked room and whenever Jin Seok was investigating about his odd older brother who came back, because I couldn’t really tell what was to come next. It frustrates me that I am kept in the dark, but then as I skim through the entire story, I think it’s amazing how they came up with how the entire film was executed. It may seem confusing to an outsider because the film didn’t start in the order where it was supposed to show the past, but I think the sequencing, the plot itself is intelligently written and done.

I was so mindblown when I realized who Jin Seok and Yoo Seok really is, since they aren’t who we think they really are.

Jin Seok thinks he’s still back in the 90s when all he needs to think about is passing his exams, but then the reality is it’s already the 21st century and Jin Seook is nothing but a lonely old man, who is the suspect to a crime years ago and is being unwillingly and unknowingly dragged back to the house where he allegedly killed a wife and a daughter. The happenings of that year were reenacted together with the help of undercovers who wanted to know the truth of that night and pretended to be his family members.

Because apparently, he accepted the task from someone called ‘Bluebeard’ on the internet to kill his wife and claim his insurance money that he thinks will better the lives of his daughter and son. Out of pure desperation to get Jin Seok’s older brother have his operation, he takes the bait, but unfortunately also kills Bluebeard’s daughter. That night he’s also seen by the son, who Jin Seok fooled into counting to a hundred ten times in his room, so he could make his escape.

Later, Jin Seok finds out that his brother’s surgeon was actually in fact the same ‘Bluebeard’ that assigned him to kill his wife in exchange for money. Bluebeard eventually hears from his son over the phone that both his wife and daughter is killed. He is struck with grief and somehow he ends up with a brawl with Jin Seok and he’s thrown of the edge of the rooftop of the hospital. Jin Seok was able to hold onto him, but the doctor’s hand slipped and he died.

Years later, after the case of the mother and daughter being killed was closed and buried under the mud, some detective who is adamant to solve the case finds Jin Seok and tortures him while telling him to confess his crimes. Jin Seok apparently deletes the distressful memory of those times and denies he had killed them. So, out of desperation of the authority to know the truth, they devised a plan that will make him remember the past: lead him to believe that his family is still alive and go back to the crime scene to later reenact that night.

In the first scene, if you will remember, this is the part when he is seen in a car with his family. They were moving to their new house, which was actually the real crime scene. That’s why Jin Seok feels familiar when he sees the house. It’s because he had been there before.

Jin Seok also hears something from the locked room, because stupidly enough there were people there watching everything that they were doing from a monitor screen. It wasn’t because it was haunted. Then the time Jin Seok sees his brother being kidnapped, it was actually when Yoo Seok was taken by the real police for doing an illegal investigation of the past crime. He wasn’t able to come home for 19 days because he had to pull some strings to get out.

By the time he was back home, Jin Seok has become even more sensitive and suspicious. He was able to discern between his dreams and reality and somehow realized the changes in Yoo Seok. One, he doesn’t have a limp because he’s never gotten into an accident. Two, Yoo Seok is in connivance with the police that went to their home to investigate, because they are actually in the same boat and they are the people in the locked room.

Until such night happened when Jin Seok heard his fake mom talking over the phone to Yoo Seok, telling him her observations. Jin Seok tries to cover up his own undercover, but he eventually gets caught. And when he managed to run away and go to the real police, that’s when he figured out he’s not really a twenty year old teen but instead a wrinkly old man born in the 70s. It devastated him to know this, but Jin Seok eventually gains back his memory afterwards.

There are some struggles that led him to being confined in a hospital bed and Yoo Seok admitting to the twisted truth. The fact that Yoo Seok is actually the same son whose family died and was left alone to fend for himself. He tries to inject something to Jin Seok’s IV to eventually kill him for what he’d done, but Yoo Seok changes his mind and drops the injection because he knew that behind his mother and sister’s death is an even worse man, ‘Bluebeard’. His father.

Tragically, in the end, Yoo Seok jumps to his death and out of guilt, Jin Seok injects the solution that Yoo Seok was supposed to use on him and he eventually dies.

The plot twist and execution is really daebak. They made a total fool out of me for most of the movie and saved itself in the last 30 minutes by revealing the cruel truth. However, the intelligent plot creation becomes forgettable because of how things wrapped up: everyone dies.

I mean, it’s sad enough that Jin Seok killed somebody out of desperation and someone manipulated him and made him waste two years of his life while deceiving him. But what tops death in the ending? This is the type of film I absolutely hate. If ain’t for that plot twist and the flashback in the credits, my heart wouldn’t have softened for this film.

If you’re wondering what happened then, they showed one of Jin Seok’s happy memories when he’s being greeted by his family from the other side of a lake. He smiles happily at them, but then meets a little boy, who he runs into and talks to with a grin on his face. The boy is later whisked away by his family, but at the same time that boy’s memory of Jin Seok was very pleasant. He clearly liked the younger version of Jin Seok.

That same boy Jin Seok met by the lake, however, is the same man whom he took away a family from, Yoo Seok.

Looking back, those are time when you’ll think, fate has its cruel way of letting two people meet twice. Once, when they were both happy. But because of our bad choices, somehow we end up meeting these people, we once before came across with, in a bad situation later. If only those happy times could be preserved, but then again fate has its way of mocking us back.

Over all, the movie is great if you don’t mind tragic endings. The execution, plot twist and acting is quite flawless. The movie is also able to set a mood that is deceiving in the beginning, leading us to the eventual turn of events we will not ever expect, which is really good. The tone of the movie, however, is pretty dark. It’s a film genius, but I don’t think people will have the same opinion about it like how critiques would praise it for its unique strategy, especially with all of them dying.

Rating:

I would have really hated the film because of the sad ending, though it’s a genius in the way sequencing was done and how they deceivingly and strategically filmed the entire thing. Luckily, the last few minutes were worth the watch. Poignant and nostalgic, yet smacks some life lessons into you. Rating this film, I’ll give it a 3.9 out of 5.

 91%

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Movie: Forgotten (English title) / Night of Memory (literal title)

Revised romanization: Gieokui Bam

Hangul: 기억의 밤

Director: Jang Hang-Jun

Writer: Jang Hang-Jun

Producer: Park Joon-Sik

Cinematographer: Kim Il-Yeon

Release Date: November 29, 2017

Runtime: 109 min.

Genre: Mystery / Thriller

Distributor: Megabox Plus M

Language: Korean

Country: South Korea

Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki Staff ©

Jin-Seok (Kang Ha-Neul) moves into a new home with his older brother Yoo-Seok (Kim Moo-Yul), mother (Na Young-Hee) and father (Moon Sung-Geun). Jin-Seok suffers from hypersensitivity, but with medication he is able to live normally. One rainy evening, Jin-Seok sees his older brother being thrown into a van by a group of men. After 19 days of silence, Yoo-Seok returns home, but he doesn’t remember anything from his disappearance. Jin-Seok though notices enough changes in his older brother’s personality and behavior that he begins to suspect that the person who has returned is not Yoo-Seok. Meanwhile, Jin-Seok keeps hearing sounds from a locked room temporarily storing the previous home owner’s belongings.

Film Review: ‘Forgotten’ – Tragedy with a great plot twist I am pleasantly surprised to know that a respectable actor like Kang Ha Neul is actually the protagonist in this mystery-thriller film '

[petersaysthings]

Prelude: A Brief History of Viktorium (Part I of V)

by Benoit Laurent IT BEGAN WITH THE DREAM of a young boy, as all things must. An innocent childhood fancy imbued with the spark of imagination. Throughout the course of his life, this spark would be heavily nurtured. His parents indulged him, this boy, as most born to affluence would—with immediate response to every demand and a condescending attitude toward his peers. This of course would leave him unprepared for the devastation that was to follow in his personal life as he dealt with its natural lessons such as death, betrayal, and above all, failure. ‘But what if one did not have to learn such things?’ he thought. This question, more than any other, became the primary driving force behind his life pursuits as he reached the age of adulthood.

Thus, the unchecked spark of indulgence was permitted to grow unto its logical conclusion; a dream so grandiose and decadent, its creator would soon realize there was no room left for it in the real world. And once he discovered Viktorium, that was it. The only reason this man ever needed, as it provided an excuse for everything from his narcissistic behavior to his mad scientist tendencies. The fact that it was a literal escape from the real world was perhaps the icing on the cake. ‘Ah, so one does not have to die after all! How might I exploit this?’

Have you all eaten your fill yet?

The man I am referring to of course is Charles DuPont, ‘First King of Viktorium’ as he no doubt likes to be known. By no coincidence, today so happens to be his birthday. I for one certainly hope he is enjoying it where he belongs—in exile!

Unfortunately for Viktorium—and in particular, our fine capital of Cavarice as it stands today—exile was not quite enough to repair the damage that was already done from fifteen long years of his leadership. We still have our share of problems to clean up, and that’s exactly where we lack guidance. Who is responsible enough to lead us into the next era as a Futuristic society? Mayor La Cour and the Republican Council certainly aren’t cutting it. The fact that everyone on both sides of the political sphere fancies themselves the next supreme is not the least of such concerns; they ousted DuPont with no clear backup plan in mind, yet they refuse to take responsibility.

And that is the very crux of the issue. Our current politicians in power were among the first to arrive here. No one in their rational, living, thinking intelligent minds could ever have conceived of the idea of having major responsibilities in the afterlife. Indeed how could they, when the very man who founded this place was just as irresponsible and naïve as they, so much so to have marketed it as a vacation destination? After all, death is the great respite. If you wish to escape death, you must take responsibility for the technological power that permits you to do so. But as is death, so is life! In Viktorium, you must work to earn your fill.

And to that end, I feel I must issue a sincere apology to all new arrivals. Many of you were duped into believing this to be a vacation destination, whilst those of you who came long after perhaps thought you were entering Heaven. Even the criminals recently executed that arrive here are those whom you must now consider your brothers, a rather Marxist law which has been upheld with disastrous results. Article IV of the Constitution of Cavarice which states “Thou shalt not judge new citizens for Earth crimes” was the worst of DuPont’s edicts left over as a relic of his former cabinet. But not to worry, you’ve got our fine upstanding Dispatchers for that, another organization that is not without its share of problems, and certainly not free of corruption either. So where did this all start, you ask?

The Man, The Machine, & The Movie Star

FIRST CROSSOVER, 1906. A man enters a poor rural village claiming he has recently developed a very special vacation destination which has yet to be used. All he needs are enough willing families of the general public to test it out for a couple weeks, which he will allow them to do for free. He uses all sorts of scientific words to describe the location, which you wouldn’t listen to anyway because he keeps pointing at his scantily-dressed assistant. All of your attention is focused on her. You trust him not because he smiles, but because the girl smiles. He goes at the men first.

“If you gentleman bring your wives to Viktorium for some much deserved relaxation, I can promise you they won’t soon forget it!” The girl captures your attention with all sorts of flashy poses as he displays a map of the area. “This is the most sophisticated restaurant in town, just off the waterfront. They serve only the best aged wines, delectable dishes of seafood including the finest caviar, and the best chocolate cakes for the lady here, if it so happens to be your wife’s birthday.” He smiles and pats her behind as she caresses her neck and coos in submissive adoration.

Now any intelligent man from the city could see through such a ridiculous act, but the town of Bezonvaux unfortunately had little experience with carnival marketing tactics. They were simply happy to escape their troubled lives through any means necessary. Then again, that is precisely why Charles DuPont had chosen them to test his machine. Also chosen as part of his marketing act was a then twenty-five year old model and actress by the name of Constance Renou, now the Director of Viktorium-France Transit. Charles’ relationship with her, as well as her role in the deception, remains unclear to this day.

What is most clear, however, is what occurred one month later at a date now known as First Crossover. The very mention of it in Viktorium is enough to make one shudder in abject terror, and rightly so. The Viktoria I machine was the biggest technological disaster of our age. Not that Charles cared. He got what he needed most out of the deal in the end—test subjects. Because for all of his credit as a scientist and innovator, DuPont was still the same ruthless, conniving human being he had been as a child. He had to have his way no matter what, and he would go to any means necessary to get it.

On the night of First Crossover, two hundred and thirteen people entered the Viktoria I never to be seen again, either in Viktorium or anywhere else for that matter. According to Charles himself as he stood trial, the crowd formed an orderly line and talked of their excitement. One by one they stepped into the chamber, each accompanied by a green flash that grew ever brighter. The last lit up the entire sky even ten kilometers away. And just like that, the peaceful village of Bezonvaux was gone forever. The following is from DuPont’s court statement before he was exiled:

I tried to stop it. I had noticed earlier that the matter density array was misaligned to a variance of a few degrees. At first, I thought it was within acceptable limits. When they began entering, everything seemed fine. But the flashes got brighter as time went on, and I realized the phase emitter was failing to compensate as it should have. There was a critical overload and I couldn’t be sure the rest would materialize on the other side. After the first fifty people, I told them we had to stop. But they kept pressuring me to continue firing the switch. ‘You promised us!’ they said. I had never seen a crowd of farmers so upset and angry. Some of them were carrying pistols, others rifles. I was certain more were carrying knives. Despite the fact I had my own pistol, I was outnumbered. Viktorium was no assurance for me either. I knew if I died, I would come here and the ones who had crossed might make further attempts on my life. We’re still not yet certain what happens if you are killed in Viktorium. Where would I go? But I thought they might have gotten through. How is this all my fault again? Surely they must be alive somewhere! We just have to keep looking.

But of course nobody wanted to look, and they won’t bother. There is far too much power at stake. The fact that Charles’ machine was an eventual success is all that matters to Viktorium’s current politicians now. They just needed the right scapegoat to exile him, because even that was difficult enough. He is a most intelligent man, but I digress. The machine must keep running at all costs, even if it should send us to the Reapers!

That was Charles DuPont’s philosophy, and it is that of our current Parliament. So does it not seem strange to you that the parts are still defective, even if the body has changed? Are we truly expecting a different outcome in this world, and will we also expect one in the next, so long as the same tired cranks are still in power? Of course not! These little power plays they make every damned election year are blatant misdirection, folks! The corporate wheels are still turning, and this is the very essence of The Man, The Machine, and The Movie Star.

Because while The Man hides in a magic box somewhere no doubt holding the secret to his miraculous return in his bloody hands, The Movie Star is still here to draw our attention, operating The Machine to the horrid detriment of our society.

God Save Viktorium! God Save Us All!

If you liked this, you can read more of my web serial Adventures In Viktorium here!

[andrewsallreviews-blog]

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - A new look at the Star Wars universe

I just got home from seeing Rogue One, and my god, that is a Star Wars movie. The acting was superb, the story was well written and well executed, the music felt reminiscent of John William’s music, but also unique to Michael Giacchino.

So, into the real review.

The movie starts with the classic “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”, but there is no classic crawl that takes places after it. The title doesn’t even appear. Suddenly, you see a landscape. Black, almost ash like, with very little nature. This is the section that gives you the backstory behind our lead character Jyn Erso, and her father, Galen Erso (Played by Mads Mikkelsen). The Empire has found them, being led by Galen Erso’s old friend, Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn).

This section has a few cliched moments in them. Kidnapping of father, death of mother, ect. But it is a good set up. As Jyn hides in a small room under a rock, Saw Gerrera (Forrest Whittaker) finds her, a friend of the Erso’s. Star Wars fans will recognise that name from four episodes in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

The title suddenly appears. Simply coloured in the classic Star Wars yellow, just showing “Rogue One” and stars behind it. The music played at this point is the most reminiscent of William’s music, with a few notes played from the title music, which gives off a feel of Star Wars, while not being exactly the same. This does allow for the movie to seperate it from the main saga. The same effect comes from the lack of the opening crawl. This properly illustrates that this is not Episode VIII, but rather a story set in the Star Wars universe. I know a lot of people were pretty disappointed when it was announced that there would be no crawl, but I already had assumed that It wouldn’t happen, way before the announcement.

We then find Jyn, grown up, now played by the wonderful Felicity Jones, locked up in an Imperial prison. This section is where it is messy for a bit. The location jumps around so much, it’s a little too fast paced. We go from Jyn’s prison cell to Yavin 4 to the Death Star to Jedha within 5-10 minutes. It’s a little confusing at times and, a little annoying. However, this is done to properly set up the characters.

In this sequence, we see all kinds of characters. The audience is introduced to another main character, Cassian Andor, as well as K-2SO (played by Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk respectively). We also meet characters from the original and prequel trilogies, including Mon Mothma (reprised by Genevieve O’Rilley from her single scene in Revenge of the Sith), Governor Tarkin (despite Peter Cushing’s death in 1994, he is revived through the power of CGI), and Bail Organa (also reprised by Jimmy Smits from the prequels). 

I have to mention the CGI used to recreate Tarkin. It truly is remarkable what can be done with CGI nowadays, and this isn’t the first time we have seen this sort of thing done before. CGI has been used like this in a few films, but one that really comes to mind is Tron Legacy, used to deage Jeff Bridges. While that was only deaging, this is full on recreating a man. This is absolutely remarkable technology. I only saw one flaw in this and that was that it looks majorly strange when he talked. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but there was something about it. Otherwise, it was absolutely amazing.

This all sets up the story to find the plans for the Death Star.

Something I really liked about this was that it explained why the Death Star had the weakness like the exhaust port. WE FINALLY HAVE AN ANSWER!!!!

This movie showed a bit of the Rebellion’s dark side. Unlike in the original trilogy, where the rebellion appeared as wholly good, Rogue One shows that the Rebellion was a side in a war, and they have their own atrocities. This really appears in Cassian, who, in my belief, was the best written character in the movie (more on that later). Cassian has a small character arc that involves the disobeying of orders due to his morals. This plays out more as he explains that he has done stuff that has made him have to say to himself that “it was for a good cause”. This shows that the Rebellion was not wholly good, but rather as complicated as any side in a war.

The massive battle sequences were really well done, specifically the one on Scarif. At this point, it showed that it was more of a war movie than any other Star Wars movies had ever displayed. There was death on both sides, and a display the devastation of war. I think there are only two sequences in the main saga to display something like this, where there was both sky and land warfare, and the death on both the sides of the war, and that is the Battle of Hoth in Empire, and the Battle of Takodana in Force Awakens (even then, less so with the latter). There is only one other thing that displayed the horrors of war better than this movie, and that is The Clone Wars TV series from 2009, but that is an entire other matter. The Battle on Scarif was truly well done, and it was absolutely horrible at times, so I applaud Gareth Edwards on the direction of this battle.

I will, again, applaud Gareth Edwards, this time on the direction of Darth Vader. To me, this was the pinnacle of scary for Vader. Despite only appearing in two scenes, Vader is such an imposing figure. During, what I call the epilogue, which is a collection of scenes at the very end that lead directly into Episode IV, there is a part where a rebel ship is attacked by Imperials above Scarif. and this is some immense spoilers for those who haven’t seen it yet, and want to experience this for themselves.

This scene begins. The rebels have downloaded the plans onto a drive, as they are being attacked. They are running for another ship (which turns out to be the Tantive IV), when the door shuts. The lights go out. There are about 10 rebels stuck in this hallway, one of who has the plans. There is an explosion at the other end of the hall, and just darkness. A few rebels turn to fight whoever is about to come through. Suddenly, a beam of red light appears. Darth Vader is standing in the doorway. It’s a low-angle shot, making Vader appear more imposing. A fight begins. The rebels fire upon Vader, but he just blocks the lasers, and kills the rebels. While this goes on, a rebel is still trying to get a door open to escape with the plans. Vader is encroaching ever closer. The rebel eventually gives up and just gives the plans to the guy on the other side. That guy runs as Vader stabs the last one standing. The rest of the rebels escape onto the Tantive IV, where we see, who is assumingly, Raymus Antilles, give a CGI’ed young Leia the plans, which leads into A New Hope.

It’s quite suspenseful, and Vader is terrifying. It is the best that Vader has appeared ever. 

I only have one major criticism of the movie, and that is that the characters were not very well fleshed out. I could not tell you what Jyn or Cassian would do in certain situations like I could with someone like Obi-Wan or Luke or even Rey or Finn. I couldn’t really tell you if Jyn was a hot head, or if Cassian is funny. As I said earlier, I do feel that Cassian was more fleshed out than others, as his mini arc was based around knowing when to follow orders and when to disobey them based on moral grounds. There are a couple characters I could tell what they would do in situations, such as Chirrut (Played by Donnie Yen), who would believe in the force in pretty much any situation, or K-2SO, who would make some sarcastic remark (I actually really liked K-2SO), and Baze (played by Wen Jiang) would probably shoot at it, but it is all very two dimensional and not very well explored. I feel this is a weakness in the story, as the story does comprise of several different sections, with the characters flying to many different planets throughout the movie (from Yarvin IV, to Jedah, to Edeu, back to Yarvin IV, and the to Scarif), and it needs to be that fast pace to keep the story going, but it feels like there really isn’t a lot of time for the characters to properly develop.

However, I don’t feel like you were meant to truly connect to the characters, as they are one off characters that will never appear again. And this isn’t a bad thing, as there needs to be characters who serve their purpose and then go, but I do like to connect to characters, I like caring about characters, so I would have liked them to have been explored better.

Unlike Star Wars’s previous attempt at comic relief (not mentioning names…*coughJarJarcough*), K-2SO is a welcome character. He is a droid, who, due to his reprogramming, says “anything that goes through his circuits”. This makes him pretty funny and extremely sarcastic at times, and provides some much needed comic relief from the fairly dark story.

Overall, this is a fantastic spin-off film. There is enough roots to connect the movie to Star Wars, and to the Star Wars universe, however, it also feels like it’s own film, which is exactly what spin-offs need to do to achieve their goal. It is familiar, but different enough to not be a main movie. Gareth Edwards did a fantastic job at directing, and the actors performed amazingly. The story worked very well, but the characters could have been better written. If you are a Star Wars fan, then you should really see this movie, because it’s damn good.