Latest Posts by screechinglostacademia - Page 5

Marks and Rec: Misc #2632

Spirits, where did you get all these pictures of Astarion? (Dialogue from tumblr.)

Viktor Hargreeves' entire life was dictated through that rumor and that fact lives in my brain the way a monkey lives in any enclosed space

Like, "you think you're just ordinary" is such a broad order to follow! Not only does it stop him from realizing he had powers, but it also stops him from thinking there's anything even conceptually unique about him.

It stopped him from seeing himself as talented with the violin because he has an ordinary level of skill in it. He can't be into girls because that's considered abnormal in society. He can't be trans because he's just ordinary.

Every season is him breaking out of the rumor's hold, little by little. Realizing things about him that had been kept on chains for years.

Franz Kafka, letter to his father

[ID: for me you were the measure of all things. End ID]

All 13 full moons of 2023 | by Ivana Fanti, @moonwise8

I love the post-apocalyptic genre as much as the next horror fan, but there is something to be unpacked in how they often reinforce very reactionary political ideas. Not just in the more bluntly conservative ways of thematically rewarding ideas like

“shoot first ask questions never”

“never offer mercy”

“torture works”

“Strong Government may be doing Bad Things but it is the only thing stopping people from becoming roaming bands of cannibal rapists unless Strong Men with police or military training maintain order once society collapses”

But also in the less easily recognizable reactionary beliefs like

“power vacuums are real and inevitable” (implying that unless you plan to exert a similar level of power and take the top of the hierarchy then you should not seek to dismantle power)

“the people who survive are the best— the strongest and smartest and most resourceful, the ones who deserve it most.” (implying that eugenics is an inevitable biological force rather than a political ideology)

“If someone who deserves to live dies, it is due to the actions of a villain, ‘good’ ‘important’ people do not just die from sickness or hunger or chance or mundane accidents” (more eugenics tbh, or at very least a just world ideology & confusing storytelling conventions with how the world works)

I think this becomes an issue when people—who have not studied, for example, the way that communities engage in mutual aid during natural disasters even if disconnected beforehand—will assume that collapse will inevitably lead to evil cannibal hoards as the biggest threat to survival and therefore the most important thing to prepare for, instead of understanding that collapse is much more likely to lead to an absolute need for community interdependence and cooperation to survive in the face of environmental disaster. I think it’s an issue if you can’t picture disabled people during collapse because you watched a hundred depictions of post apocalyptic shows where disabled people are eerily absent or die immediately, instead of internalizing the much more likely reality that if you survive disaster even if you were able-bodied previously, you and everyone you know will likely be surviving as disabled people.

like the media is fun as a form of storytelling, but if you are approaching your imagination of the future with increasing climate crisis with images you got from zombie shows, you do need to take a break from the fiction and learn from communities that have actually experienced natural disasters in real life.

Tumblr Tuesday: The Mouse Is Free!

With his gloveless hands and that delightful hat, the earliest iteration of Mickey Mouse, Steamboat Willie, is now free to sail the seas of your creative endeavors. Unless you're in Spain or Germany. Sorry, Spain and Germany! Please enjoy these Mickey Mouse…s (Mickey Mice?) as your local Artists on Tumblr celebrate this momentous occasion.

@artofdiana:

@llamadraws:

@nellucnhoj:

@nonagalleryart:

@depodraws:

@hpkomic:

@knuckles-junior:

@artsywriter25:

@sunshinelui:

@undibujomanco:

@synn0005:

@sleuth-hounds:

@yesthefandomfreakblr:

@pyrasterran:

@nickrowler:

@slightlycreative:

Nights in this secluded southern European village

BEN AFFLECK Jan 04 2024

claimed by the sea 🔱

Sophie’s silver hair

While I was looking for a screenshot of Howl’s Moving Castle, I stumbled across the same question spread over the internet: “Why is Sophie’s hair still silver at the end?”

I was surprised that the answer most readily given was, “because she still has the curse.”

This prompted me to write a mini blog about my own belief regarding Sophie’s silver hair at the end of Howl’s Moving Castle. 

So here it be.

The curse is never fully explained in the movie version of Howl’s Moving Castle (classic Miyazaki storytelling) but throughout the film, Sophie temporarily changes back to her normal age in moments of confidence, advocacy, and when she feels loved/loves others, like Howl. 

There’s A LOT going on in terms of how “old” Sophie looks and feels in different parts of the film. She has a much harder time walking, for instance, at the beginning of Howl’s than she does when she goes to the palace. 

In the palace scene, Sophie reverts to her normal appearance with her brown hair when she is advocating for Howl. As soon as Madam Sullivan points out that she’s in love with Howl, Sophie immediately changes back into an old woman. 

For Sophie, the old woman persona is both a comforting mask and a confidence booster. She continually makes comments throughout the film which cast being old in a positive light . For Sophie, she doesn’t have to worry about being “pretty” when she’s old, so it frees her to be her true, sassy, confident self.

Sometimes, as humans, we put on other identities so we can find out who we really are.

I fully believe that when Sophie changes back to her younger self for the last time with her silver hair, it’s because she wants to look that way, not because she’s cursed. She has the confidence of her old woman persona but she is the age she’s supposed to be. 

This is important: Sophie learned to love both herself and Howl when she was an old woman.

When Calcifer asks Sophie for something of hers he can consume to move the castle, Sophie gives him her hair. The cutting of hair is often symbolic of coming of age in Japanese media. It’s a final representation that Sophie is never going back to the person she was, and that she’s moving forward. 

At the end of the film Howl says, “Wow! Sophie! Your hair looks like starlight, it’s beautiful.”

And Sophie says, “you think so? So do I!”

Sophie loves her silver hair. What she learned as an old woman is never going away. 

It’s not a curse. 

It’s a metaphor, and a beautiful one at that. 

Neil’s quotes from 2019, back when S1 was released. 🤍 I so can’t wait for S2!

In Season 2, Aziraphale was Going Too Fast for Crowley

There's two primary reasons this is the case.

The first, is that in this season we saw Aziraphale reaching out to Crowley in ways he hadn't done before. We saw the increase in physical touch, we were told about the increased communication, the whole 'our car, our bookshop' thing and of course, the ball scene.

The second is Crowley's depression and the numerous hints we got this season that he wants to run away from it all.

I'm going to start with premise number two, because it makes me sad and I want it explored first, so the romanticism of Aziraphale can sooth that hurt.

There are multiple ways Crowley's depression is shown to us in this season. The first we see in the very first episode. As he's on the bench with Shax, he asks this:

"Do you ever just think what's the point? ... Heaven, Hell, Demons, Angels. It's all... it's all, well, pointless."

This is the first indication we get that Crowley's depressed. He's struggling to care but also - and this will be a running theme - he wants to run away from it all. He doesn't want them to be his problem anymore. He doesn't see the point of them anymore.

But the biggest demonstration of his depression is his relationship with the Bentley this season.

He's literally living in his car. And we see no indication that he wants to it be any other way. It's insignificant to Aziraphale. They don't bring it up at all. It's not mentioned between them. Which means it's a status quo that's been established and set in stone.

When Aziraphale returns with the Bentley after his jaunt to Edinburgh, Crowley is literally waiting at the door to the bookshop with his plants, almost anxiously.

He's ready to shove a box into Aziraphale's arms the moment he steps near the door. "There you are!" Crowley exclaims as he shoves a box of plants in Aziraphale's arms. And while Aziraphale is a bit shocked at being met so suddenly, he's not surprised Crowley is going back to the Bentley. He even helped.

But why? Yes, he loves the Bentley, it is his world, he's extraordinarily connected to it. But I also think it's more than that.

The Bentley is literally his get-away vehicle. He doesn't want to deal with Heaven, Hell and all that lot. But he's also depressed. He's lost his flat, most of his plants, he no longer has the structure of Hell to fall back on. He's listless. But through it all, he has the Bentley. If he wants to leave, if things get to be too much, he can leave in the Bentley. He's already wanted to do it in season one, when he offered to literally drive them to Alpha Centauri.

This makes the scene where Aziraphale refers to the bookshop and the Bentley as theirs hit a little bit harder. For Aziraphale, the bookshop is safety and it's staying put. It's consistency. For Crowley the Bentley is an escape, in a very literal manner.

Which brings us to Aziraphale.

This season Aziraphale was reaching out, the scene above with the 'our Bentley' being one of those moments. But other moments is the increased touching they're doing. There's a lack of distance between them there's never been before. Aziraphale is reaching out physically and emotionally (our Bentley scene), like in these moments:

But of course, then there's also the Jane Austen ball, that was "supposedly" for Maggie and Nina, but let's be real, it was as much for himself and Crowley as it was for them.

But before I get into that, lets look at a moment after Aziraphale first proposes the plan.

Muriel is poking around the Nina and Maggie thing, and Crowley says to them, "Don't hesitate to ask me if you have any other questions about love."

And Aziraphale goes on one of those lovely face journeys Michael Sheen is so very good at. He looks all at once, hopeful, nervous, tentative and like he's gearing up for something. He sucks in a breathe and then blows it out silently. There's a lovely little gif of the moment which you can find here. But here's a couple of screengrabs as well.

He does this little silent out take of air as if needing a moment to gather himself because Crowley was acting like a master of love and Aziraphale was planning on them dancing together and realising they were in love.

Oh, right lets get back to that.

Okay, so when they were spitballing ideas about how to get Maggie and Nina to fall in love, Aziraphale comes up with this:

"People would gather and do some formal dancing and then realise they had misunderstood each other and were actually deeply in love."

Coupled with the increased physical affection, the whole thing with the Bentley and then Aziraphale's actions during the 'ball', it's clear he's ramping up to 'something'. I'm still personally of the opinion that as angels and sex-less beings there won't be much of an element of 'sex' or even kissing to their relationship. But Aziraphale was leading up to 'ramping up' their relationship, giving it a new title, possibly even cohabitation, one day.

During the ball scene, when Crowley joins Aziraphale, Michael has another lovely little facial journey where you can see Aziraphale working up the courage to invite Crowley to dance.

And then, when he does work up the courage to ask (or rather demand), he's absolutely giddy about it. (side not: that is also an amusing range of expressions for David there too)

But he's not listening. Aziraphale is too wrapped up in his fantasy to see what's happening with Crowley in front of him. And it's not something Crowley is expecting from Aziraphale either. In that last image, the focus is on Crowley and he's confused, bemused. Not angry, though, even though he's being ignored or even worried, in that moment, about the looming demon threat. Merely confused about Aziraphale's reaction.

So, we've got Crowley's depression and his desire to run away from everything, we've got Aziraphale's attempts to bring them closer together working himself up to a confession and then we've also got the outside pressures.

Nina, assuming they're together. The tension of Gabriel there in Aziraphale's shop, the strengthening risk from Heaven and Hell, the demon attack on the bookshop, Armageddon 2.0 readying and then Crowley gets the final push.

Gabriel and Beelzebub are in love, and choosing each other over their respective sides and positions, coupled with Maggie's meddling.

Prior to Nina and Maggie coming into the bookshop, Crowley tidies the bookshop and he clearly is making plans for them to go off together for an "extremely alcoholic breakfast at the Ritz." Their celebration place, their 'us' place, but with the extremely alcoholic and public segment of it, not likely a breakfast for hearts to be laid out. Crowley's not planning that, he simply thinks they need to unwind for a moment before he lays out the whole 'Armageddon 2.0 bit.'

And then Maggie says this:

"Because you and Mr. Fell don't ever talk to each other. You never say what your really thinking. It was all we needed; It's what you two need as well."

And he's been given an answer. Armageddon 2.0 is coming, Gabriel and Beelzebub just ran away together, but maybe if he lays his cards on the table, this at least will be fine.

But he hasn't dealt with his depression, he hasn't worked through his 'need to run away' issues, he hasn't dealt with losing Aziraphale in the fire and then Aziraphale comes in with the Metatron's offer for him to return to Heaven. And suddenly every other road bar offering up his heart is closed. And so he does.

And it's a mess. It's impulsive, and unscripted and it's painful, raw and unorganised, he can hardly get the words out, it's all in a rush.

Because Crowley, at his heart, wasn't ready. He wanted the status quo to continue. Aziraphale is ready. He's been gearing up to it the whole season. He's ready to take the next step. But Crowley isn't. He wants to be, but he's pushing himself into it too soon. He has too many issues to work through before he can get to that. So much he needs to work through before he's ready to vulnerable and settled that way. But Aziraphale is still there, ready, going too fast for him.

Watching Barbie watch as Ken takes over barbieland, takes her dream house and turn it into his own property, ruins her things whilst she cries in despair and suddenly I’m six years old again pleading my brother to be gentle with my toys as he throws them on the floor and against the walls. The hundreds of dollars in dolls that my parents spent for birthdays and christmas, told me to be careful with and showed me how to play nice destructed and destroyed as my brother grabs at anything and everything, tosses them around, stretches their plastic joints and pulls at their heads while I scream for him to stop seemingly wasted in seconds. He throws one down for another and I’m too small to grab them off of him. Easily toppled over as he pushes me aside and I’m wondering what I ever did to him to deserve it.

On top of it all, he’s still surprised when his torment breaks one of them, the legs snap out and he pauses as though he’s remorseful. I cry at the loss of my doll and despite how it was him who broke it. Him who threw it around. Him who pulled until the elastic snapped..

I am still told I should’ve been more careful with my toys.

#I need bloopers reels

let's talk about it

How are we all feeling about Aziraphale’s last “I forgive you”? Does it mean I forgive you for kissing me to try to get me to stay, I forgive you for choosing this moment to reveal your feelings, I forgive you for not coming with me, I forgive you for kissing me period??? What?

I keep going back and forth on it and I NEED to hear what everyone else is thinking. Lay it on me, I’m open to new interpretations because everything hurts and I’m dying.

So, I feel like I’m losing my mind. I keep seeing metas about how Aziraphale wants Crowley to return to Heaven and be an angel again because he wants them to be on the same side/be good/change/etc., etc., etc. but I don’t see that at all. I actually see it as the very opposite.

Aziraphale loves Crowley just as he is. But there’s something more. Something huge.

Aziraphale loves Crowley and because he is an angel who is stuck in seeing things as black and white, he constantly praises Crowley for being nice. For being good. For being kind.

Aziraphale has watched Crowley on and off for 6,000 years. He watched him thwart the plans of Heaven and Hell because it was unjust. He spared the lives of innocents. He did small things that made Aziraphale happy just because (like making Hamlet successful and saving valuable books). And because Aziraphale sees things in black and white, he sees all the things Crowley has done as nice, as good, as kind.

Crowley vehemently attests he’s not nice or good or kind.

He’s not exactly wrong nor is he lying when he says this. When Crowley spares goats during a cruel bet over a righteous man and swallowing laudanum to prevent a suicide, when he prevents Armageddon by working with Aziraphale and stopping the Anti-Christ from being the Anti-Christ, he’s not doing the nice/good/kind thing.

He’s doing the right thing.

Crowley chooses to do the right thing without hesitation. He is better than all of Heaven and Hell who have callous and dispassionate view of all existence because he questions, because he makes choices. Crowley sees the world for all its messiness and he sees himself. He sees a place where he fits in. He sees the blurred edges.

And Aziraphale sees that, even if seeing the blurred edges is hard for him.

But here’s the thing that Aziraphale can’t voice.

It’s the reason why he told Crowley about being allowed to return to Heaven and become an angel again. He doesn’t want Crowley to change. He doesn’t think Crowley is flawed. Or not enough.

It’s something that is so monumental that it cannot be put into words. Because to put it into words would be more than blasphemy. It’s down right unthinkable for anyone in Heaven, Hell, or Earth to say what Aziraphale knows deep in his soul.

God was wrong to cast out Crowley.

Aziraphale believes Crowley can/should return to Heaven because he knows that Crowley should never have fallen in the first place. He wants him to be forgiven because when Crowley fell it was unjust. Aziraphale is trying to correct a mistake. He’s trying to do the right thing.

Yes, Crowley would never accept returning to Heaven. And Aziraphale was wrong to even suggest it (although that conversation is another can of worms to unpack).

Aziraphale loves Crowley. He loves him exactly as he is. He doesn’t want him to change. Aziraphale knows that Crowley the best of all of them. He wants to change Heaven because of it. Because God was wrong and Aziraphale knows it.

Aziraphale may have difficulty seeing beyond black and white, but when it comes to Crowley he sees everything crystal clear and in vivid color.

Me

TLOG characters as Barbie posters part one

The Boy in There

Short, fluffy, tousled hair. A deep, velvet voice that could make anyone swoon. A wide smile that just screams comfort and confidence, others would smile just because he was. He would play football with the other lads, scoring that winning goal; he would deliver a soliloquy so moving that everyone would be reaching for some tissues to wipe away the tears. He would be a shoulder to cry on, a friend to everyone, he would always say the right thing and make everything better- his hugs would bring anyone back down to earth. He wouldn’t be afraid of dancing and singing, he is comfortable in himself. He isn’t afraid of the sound of his own voice, he wouldn’t be afraid of his voice sounding fifty pitches higher than it should be. Flat chested, lean. He works out at the local gym, where everyone can see him and no one judges him. I see him in there sometimes, just out of reach, a blurry outline through a piece of glass as I walk past. I know he’s in there.

He’s the life of the party, scouring the walls for the waiting flowers, he knows what it's like to try and bloom without enough light. He is the one to go to for a walk along the beach as the sun sets on the horizon. Wearing a loose t-shirt that somehow hides nothing, his hands taking shelter against the cold in his trouser pockets as the wind blows aggressively, tensing his arms and flexing his muscles. He stands with a straight posture, unafraid of his chest. He isn’t afraid to clear his throat, his Adam’s apple flexing as he does so. I’m jealous of him. No matter how much I think of him, or how I think I see him in the glass, he isn’t out here. I know he’s in there.

He knows how to make his way in the world, he breathes confidence. He doesn’t need to feel meek when asking someone for help, he just knows they’ll answer. He doesn’t always excel at what he does but he greets failure as a friend and takes them on a walk, building the paths to somewhere better than before. He greets everyday in life with a flourish of grace and a smile warm enough to let you know it's okay, the world is better because he is here. He knows the way to sincerity and treats you with it, no matter the circumstances because he doesn’t want you to feel unwanted. I know he’s in there.

I know he’s in there because he is me. I am the boy in there.

my favorite work memory from this store will always be “hey remember when the subway inside the store closed down and they let me take a bunch of their shit for free and now it lives inside my house?”

my life is a joke

It’s much and it’s work :,)

yeah that’ll do it

Hehe blazin’ balls

friends

I was on a plane this weekend, and I was chatting with the woman sitting next to me about an upcoming writer’s strike. “Do you really think you’re mistreated?” she asked me.

That’s not the issue at stake here. Let me tell you a little something about “minirooms.”

Minirooms are a way of television writing that is becoming more common. Basically, the studio will hire a small group of writers, 3-6 or so, and employ them for just a few weeks. In those few weeks (six weeks seem to be common), they have to hurriedly figure out as much about the show as they can – characters, plots, outlines for episodes. Then at the end of the six weeks, all the writers are fired except for the showrunner, who has to write the entire series themselves based on the outlines.

This is not a widespread practice, but it has become more common over the past couple of years. Studios like it because instead of paying for a full room for the full length of the show, they just pay a handful of writers for a fraction of the show. It’s not a huge problem now, but the WGA only gets the chance to make rules every three years – if we let this go for another three years and it becomes the norm? That would be DEVASTATING for the tv writing profession.

Do I feel like I’m mistreated? No. I LOVE my job! But in a world of minirooms, there is no place for someone like me – a mid-level writer who makes a decent living working on someone else’s show (I’d like to be a showrunner someday, but for now I feel like I still have a lot to learn, and my husband and I are trying to start a family so I like not being support rather than the leader for now). In a miniroom, there are only two levels – the handful of glorified idea people who are already scrambling to find their next show because you can’t make a decent living off of one six-week job (and since there are fewer people per room, there are fewer jobs overall, even at the six-week amount), and the overworked, stressed as fuck showrunner who is going to have to write the entire thing themselves. Besides being bad for me making a living, I also just think it’s plain bad for television as an art form – what I like about TV is how adaptable it is, how a whole group of people come together to tell a story better than what any of them could do on their own. Plus the showrunner can’t do their best work under all of that pressure, episode after episode, back to back. Minirooms just…fucking suck.

The WGA is proposing two things to fix this – a rule that writers have to be employed for the entire show, and a rule tying the number of writers in the room to the number of episodes you have per season. I don’t think it’s unreasonable. It’s the way shows have run since the advent of television. It’s only in the last couple of years that this has become a new thing. It’s exploitative. It squeezes out everyone except showrunners and people who have the financial means to work only a few months a year. It makes television worse. And that is the issue in this strike that means everything to me, and that is why I voted yes on the strike authorization vote.

Vintage Comic - Twilight Zone #016

Pencils: George Wilson Inks: George Wilson Colors: George Wilson Goldkey (July1966)