october

November 01, 2024

Things I enjoyed in the month of October:

Bea Fitzgerald's, Girl, Goddess, Queen:

When they asked me what I wanted, I said: "The world."
"And what would you do with the world?" my father asked.
...
"I'd fill it with flowers."


There is no power in the 'verse that can hinder my need and love for greek mythos (and other tales) being retold to lovingly deliver underwritten characters the agency they deserve.
But especially women.
Be it power, control, depth, love, learning, or "simply" expanding their story to give more scope than the myths provided, I will always, always be here for it, yelling "fuck the patriarchy, that's my wife" from the sidelines, holding my middle fingers up to the wrongs committed against the women of these stories.
And there are so many.
I cannot think of a single female character held at the forefront of these tales without being vilified, over-sexualised, Madonna-fied, or marginalised. Not one who's allowed to lead their story with the complexity women possess; either sold into marriage, raped, murdered, punished, and rarely allowed to be happy, instead settling for their lot as a pawn in someone else's game. Waiting patiently, and often with quiet courage, at the edge of the story as their husband fucks his way home to them (yes, you, Odysseus, you useless prick), who ends up getting offed by his illegitimate son in the end anyway!
It's frustrating and infuriating to see the neglect and disdain the myths have afforded women, and Persephone is always high on my list.
There are varied ways you can read the original myth, as the "rape" in The Rape of Persephone, in the classical sense, wasn't necessarily sexual assault but another term for abduction. The myth is in fact oftentimes translated as The Abduction of Persephone, which in turn, depending on how you interpret it, could simply be that Demeter was unaware of the marriage between Hades and Persephone and jumped to conclusions. In some translations Zeus knows before the nuptials, does in fact arrange the marriage, and uses as it as an excuse to cause his usual amount of fuckery (this is not a Zeus stan account, that guy sucks). In others, Persephone living and ruling in the Underworld actually predates Hades, so it would be him being "held hostage" in her territory instead. And there's of course the romance of two people falling in love despite their circumstances and owning the fuck out it.
It all depends on how you read it, how you choose to read it.
Personally, I've always been team romance, because in that version a woman isn't taken against her will, isn't abused, isn't a secondary character in a man's story, but makes her own choices, comes into her own power, and rules over an entire plane of existence with her simp husband.


Fingers still buried in the soil, I feel every flower in this new meadow. I close my eyes and tell them to bloom and see and spread. I'll cover this realm in a thousand flowers.
I'll ensure Hades can't even look at his domain without seeing mine.


...
There's no choice, here.
And Girl, Goddess, Queen might be the softest retelling of the myth I've ever read, which is a bold statement coming from someone who's been in a hardcore love affair with Lore Olympus since 2018, (Not gonna lie, it took me a minute to stop seeing Bea Fitzgerald's H+P as pink and blue toned cinnamon rolls, but I got there eventually), but this reimagining is genuinely, somehow, inexplicably the softer of the two. And this took me aback slightly, because this is very much a case of a book's outsides not matching its insides - at least, with the copy I have (Hardback, Penguin with gorgeously illustrated endpapers/hardcovers), stained Peony pink and emblazoned with a crystalline crown doused in blueish hellfire across the front. A softer than soft retelling was not the vibe the cover was telegraphing, but one I'm not even remotely mad about reading. While I may have been expecting a bombastic tale of defied coercion and one woman's fight for freedom and love - which I did get, just way more mellow than expected, I received instead a sweet RomCom that took a minute to hook me, but when it did I couldn't stop the squeeing intensity of my feelings for these hapless two and the life they build together as the story progresses.
I'm already a huge romance fan, so the story turning out not to be a high octane fight against the gods wasn't something that was ever going to disappoint me; I am here, ready, and willing to watch the rulers of the Underworld fall in love any time it's proffered my way, and Fitzgerald's version contains an abundance of the tropes I like within the genre:

🌸 Marriage of convenience
🌱 Forced proximity
🌸 Enemies to friends to lovers
🌱 Absolute nightmare/sweater boy energy
🌸 Sloooooowburn
🌱 He falls first (and hard)
🌸 Mutual pining
🌱 Bicker-flirting

The only thing missing was Only One Bed (brief stint; chivalry and secret cuddly cuteness resulted).
It's a feast for the romance reader; and Fitzgerald isn't shy about embracing that, to her (and me), Hades and Persephone is a love story, it is about two people from adjoining worlds finding and falling for each other in defiance of the gods, and it doesn't have to be a tale of abuse against women with little justice.
It can be about love and power and freedom being synonymous with each other, and also be adorable as fuck whilst dealing with some pretty heavy issues:

🌱 Parental emotional abuse
🌱 Misogyny
🌱 Bodily Autonomy
🌱 Women seen as chattel
🌱 Consent
🌱 Masking
(Hades is neurodivergent as fuck)
🌱 Speciesism

It really is skilful to bundle all of those offences to the human condition in such a loveable package that stirs not one pinch of discomfort. Not a shudder of unease. Nary a wince of anxiety.
All the while presenting it exclusively from a Greek heroine's point of view.
Girl, Goddess, Queen is so wholly Persephone's story, told entirely from her perspective as she takes us from her spiteful introduction to power as a child, to the moment she makes the decision to flee the marriage market and beseech Hades for help. We see her build a home in the Underworld, make friends, discover her true powers, and yes, fall in love. It's all about her. Her, her her. As it should be.
In the myths it's rare to read women's stories from their perspective, to see how they feels about what's unfolding in front of them instead of how other people/gods are reacting to it, how it affects them, and this book exclusively demands a full audience with Persephone. It's her story, so she's going to damn well tell it, and she does, so delightfully, ferally so.


My hair is a mess, my dress is worse, I have creases and bags around my eyes, and my fingernails are gnawed and covered in ink. What a relief it is, to be hideous without consequence.


This is no meek flower goddess, this isn't Kore, but Persephone, Bringer of Death, Goddess of life. She won't bow, she won't break, and she won't for any second do as she's told, much to Hades' delight.
And it's that "bratty" behaviour that makes her so damn captivating. No offence to biddable girls who do as they're told so Papa Zeus (so many children, the man needs a vasectomy, stat) doesn't smite them down for breathing wrong, but I'm here for the audacious sweethearts who'll flip you off as soon as they'll dog sit for you (Cerberus is such a good boy in every H+P retelling I've ever read. I love it).
And the Queen of the Underworld is the very definition of smart-mouthed, chaotic good, daddy's little hellion, sunshine darling who wants to build and grow and make things better for everyone, but especially those under her care; live her life and learn along the way, mistakes and all; she wants to be be as free as anyone with immortality should be, and not a damn thing, not even the gods will stand in her way.


Gone is little girl, Kore.
I am chaos bringer.
Persephone.


This whole story very much has "Babe, hold my flowers" energy, with Hades grinning like the sweater boy funeral director he is as his wife kicks everyone's asses.
Did I mention I'm a hardcore Perse and Hades stan and this is my favourite vibe of theirs? Well, I am, it is, and G, G, Q made me work for it.
As I mentioned, this was a very slow burn, so slow I was getting audibly miffed with every chapter they weren't sucking face (it's a lot chapters, so many chapters). I'm not an insta-love kinda person, I actually actively avoid the trope, but I'm also an impatient gremlin when the MCs dance around their mutual attraction for more than half the book. Especially so when they're "fake-dating" and the flirting's got that extra dose of believability because it fucking is (!) and I'm rapidly losing my mind because the idiots won't do something about it. I lack the mental stability for this kind of moon-eyed nonsense and G,G,Q was a true test of not yeeting literature out the window due to chronic impatience issues, but I'm so glad I stuck around. Because of them, yes, but also because sometimes you just need a story that isn't going to break your heart, make your brain to itch, or cause HEA anxiety.
Sometimes, you just need to read your longstanding OTP in a different form once again realising they're dopey in the heart for each other as they revolutionise the crappy way of the gods along the way.
My brain is very soothed. Very effulgent. Very looking forward to reading Bea Fitzgerald's spin on Helen and Cassandra.

Gimme.


Ps. The world building in this was *chef's kiss*.

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Trick Ghastly and folding in the cheese:

I've watched this way too many times.
Apparently iconic moments in tv are equally matched by transforming them into adorable spooky animated moments.
Whodathunkit?
a man wearing a sweater and apron from schitts creek looks down

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Heartstopper season three:

Maybe a controversial opinion, but... this might be their best season yet?
I know a lot people love Heartstopper because it's cute and feel-good, which it so is and why I love it, too, but the best thing about it is actually that it deals with serious issues in relatable ways that hold you close instead of whacking you over the head with them.
image

It's such a clever and peace-giving way of offering reassurances to readers who might be in the same boat, or know someone who is and don't know how to help/deal with it themselves.
Which, personally, I find way more validating than a lecture from someone who "has all the answers", who can "fix my problems", when they almost never can. But a story like Nick, Charlie, and the rest of the gang's can provide something better: a hand held out that comforts and validates in the sweetest of settings.
And they nailed it this season.
And made me cry several times.

Between the squeeing and cackling that normally occurs whenever these adorable idiots are on-screen.
The entire cast has come so far from the first season, which they were all brilliant in, but the initial nervousness has gone and left in its stead a confidence in not only their performances but their story arcs.

Adaptations are hard to get right, they'll always fail somehow, or in grander circumstances elevate above (this one's rare but it can happen, eg. IWTV), but I honestly couldn't ask for more from the Heartstopper series. It's perfect and flawed, in all the right ways, it makes me feel all the feels - just as the webcomic continues to do so (last chapter and I'm not ready!), and if the last season is the last, the actors, show-runners, screenwriters, costume/set designers and everyone else lucky enough to have been involved will have done Alice Oseman proud.
Done the fans proud.
Which is all you can ask for, really.
Also, throwing Jonathan Bailey in the mix just because you can. Now that was a stroke of hedonistic genius:
image
 

Got sentimental over this one, but goddammit, this show means so much.
image

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Saira Vargas continuing to fulfil my Gormenghast illustrative dreams (excluding Mr. Peake himself, obviously):

I don't... I can't... it's too much!
It forms new wrinkles in my brain how Vargas manages to do this, how she always chooses the right animals to transmogrify beloved characters into every damn time.
I mean, fair enough, within Peake's gothic tale of Machiavellian, monarchical mayhem there are distinct animalistic comparisons between the characters:

Lady Groan ➡ Cat
Lord Groan ➡ Owl
Swelter ➡ Pig
Steerpike ➡ Rat

But Fuchsia is more of an unknown quantity, she's the white sheep of the family, the fairest (in both senses) of Peake's cast of grotesqueries, whimsical and fey-like; it's hard to pin her animal counterpart down.
And I'm not one hundred perfect sure what animal she's meant to be in Vargas' illustration, but I read her as a wolf and that feels... right.
Small, lithe, needy, but never weak, Fuchsia's never been weak.
Her strength has always been in her stalwart devotion to the imagination, to the wonder of it all; a hard feat in a family of malfeasants.

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In Praise of Things Being Just Plain Good by Molly Templeton for Reactor:

This is something I've been endorsing for a while now and failing miserably to enact.
I used to be very easy-osey about consuming things, rarely bothered about whatever it was being my next favourite thing ever!, and looking back that was a pretty joyous way to be. No stress about picking the right movie, taking a chance on a new author, wasting time on something that doesn't perfectly fit my vibe, etc. 
The experience of encountering new things was enough, and if they happened to hit all my buttons and land a place in my hall of "this shit's amazing, I'm going to keep it forever!", then more's the better.
It really was no big deal.
But now?
Now I've got the eternal fucking yips, and it's driving me batshit.
Choosing a new book to read is actual hell, the amount of anxiety it causes me borders on the ludicrous, but the question of "what if I don't like this, maybe even hate it, and it ruins everything?" runs on ceaseless repeat as I look helplessly around my collection, reading blurbs at random and hoping gut instinct will override the panic.
The same goes for movies and tv, for exactly the same reason, and it's almost worse with the media because the turnaround is so fast these days, there's a new movie/tv show practically every day, and the quality just isn't that high.
Sweeping statement, of course there is truly spectacular broadcast media being made at this very moment, as I prattle on, of course there is, but it's few and far between in my opinion. Instead, we're overloaded with short-form series after series (love a S-F, but I miss the days of 24 episodes minimum), shows cancelled before they've had a chance to breathe, and cheap tat given season after season in lieu of making something of substance. And that, especially with the rabid cancellations, makes me pause before I start something new because, well, it'll almost undoubtedly get cancelled (OFMD, KAOS, My Lady Jane, Renegade Nell, Daybreak), so why bother?
Movies are easier because they're usually a one-and-done situation, mini-series are hugely enjoyable because they're a one off so the anxiety of "will this get another season, probably not" is lifted, music's always been almost biologically easy so no problem there, but books? Open-ended series?
It's mayhem in this head of mine, and it's not getting any easier.
Choosing new art to consume used to be fun, and now it's all about hitting the right pleasure points so the sads don't kick in and my brain isn't left to wander the depths of its labyrinthine insanity.
It shouldn't be this way, it shouldn't suck the life out of you to choose from the things you enjoy, it should be a simple task of "this looks good" ... *cracks spine/pushes play*.
And it's something I don't want, but need, to get back to.
Because it's like Molly Templeton (endlessly reposting Molly articles, I know, but she just gets it, y'know?) is saying in her article: art, fundamentally, at its core, is meant to be experienced, whether that's joy or revilement or delving into its secrets; you take what makes you feel and you leave the rest.
It doesn't have to change your life, it doesn't have to make you look "cool" or "refined" or "interesting", not when you're curating your own internal gallery and the only thing it should reflect is you, and what you enjoy, from the mediocre to the highbrow. That's what matters, that's all that matters.
And you absolutely don't have to have an opinion on it.
In fact, sometimes the best thing, the most enriching thing, is to place something you've enjoyed in the hands of someone else (physically or digitally) and say, "here, this is good, I think you'll like it."
image

After six years of writing the Monthlies, and even more of having general opinions on this blog, I think that's been taken away from me, by me.
When I read something, I'm always thinking how I'll review it - even when there's nothing to say, which is not always a negative.
When I watch something, I'm hoping it sparks something of substance to be said, something witty - when all I hear are happy whale noises.
When I find new art, I feel I owe the artists more than a gif and excited gibberish to show my feelings and respect for their work - even though when I was making art I'd've been absolutely delighted with both.
Feeling like I have to say something is, honestly, draining as fuck, and I'd really like to give myself a break and just enjoy things again without the pressure of them having to be above average, and me having to wring myself out forming an opinion on them.
Hopefully, now I've put that out into the aether and expelled it from my anxiety-ridden mind palace, I'll actually do just that?
Fingers crossed?
Hedonism Bot, help me? Teach me your no fucks given ways!
a cartoon character says i apologize for nothing while eating grapes

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B aka. alpacalypse; last month we did Chappell Roan, now it's Sabrina Carpenter's turn:

Style, tone, dedication to pop princess genuflection.
What's more to ask for?
a man in a white suit wipes his nose with a napkin while sitting at a table with the words so satisfying above him

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Twilight saga rewatch:

Not gonna lie, I was watching for two things:
1. Billy Burke's moustache.
(Charlie Swan's always been the hot one and he doesn't fucking sparkle)

Tumblr: Image
2. To watch a legion of genuinely actors ham it the fuck up in the last two movies.
(Michael Sheen, you gorgeous, bitchy thing, you)

But, also not gonna lie, this was weirdly comforting.
I am not a Twilight fan. I read the books and went a little nutso for a few months, but swiftly realised Bella's the worst, vampires shouldn't be this bloody maudlin (even my beloved Louis isn't this mopey), Edward's a gaslighter, and the whole pregnancy storyline is the poster child for pro-lifers.
Yuck, to all of that.
New trending GIF tagged fox brooklyn nine nine… | Trending Gifs

But are the movies the kind of trash you can binge in a night and have no regrets because watching the life drain from Robert Pattinson's eyes the further you get on in the story is one of the funniest things in movie history?
Yes, absofuckinglutely.
And I'll probably do it again.
If someone could redact Renesmee's creepy ass face, though, that'd be great.
a woman is holding a little girl in her arms in a living room .

Jesus fucking christ...

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Sasha Mutch and the Sailor Moon girls:
https://www.tumblr.com/sashamutch/91797168604/the-sailor-scout-fantasy-rpg-set

I long for the day this perfect fucking show is put somewhere streamable, or free, free would be cool, so I can watch the whole thing.
LOOK at them.
Have you ever seen anything more adorably badass?
Download Anime Sailor Moon Gif

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October Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark:

Trying something new.
Not because I ran out of time.
Nope, nope, nope.

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Marisa Rivera:

I love this.
That is all.
a black and white image of a hand with tokyo mx on the bottom

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Post-Post-Birthday Happy Makers:
Golden Bee
(It is my mission to own every golden insect out there and slap them on my walls)

Gingham Scalloped Lamp
(It's kitschy and I love it)

Mushroom Bud Vases
(For pretty propagation. ... And dick jokes)

Fizzarolli Enamel Pin
(Because he is crackle-voiced perfection)

Ghost Lamp
(T'is the season of spooky lamplight)

Original Earthlings Plant Pot
(LOOK AT HIS LITTLE LEGGIES!)

No Face Print
(My needy neurodivergent love by OrlartYorkshire)

Frogger Sheets
(A little noise for these pastoral, pot-smoking amphibians; I've never slept happier)

Bouis de Pont du Lac
(Yes, I named him after my beloved immortal sad boy. I couldn't not)

Halloween Corner
(Double pumpkin lights courtesy of the pater. The obnoxious glow makes me weirdly chill)

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Michalina Grzegorz's spooky queens:

These women are always adorable, especially when murder happy, but have they ever been this adorable?
Survey says?

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Obstinate, Headstrong Women in film:
Lady Bird

I can honestly say I didn't "get this" the first time I watched it, couldn't see why everyone was so enthralled, but a second watch made it clear:

Growing up is weird and you're allowed to be a little unhinged about it, especially as an eighteen year old girl.

Those years are absolutely feral.



Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Twenty years later and it's still perfect, always will be, it's an immutable fact.
#filmedit from the pink opaque
(How is this movie twenty years old? What the fuck?!)

And is, to this day, the moment I realised Jim Carrey could break my heart with a single look, and not one of his whacky rubber-faced ones, but just his face quietly reflecting abject devastation.
Fucking hell, Carrey.
a close up of a man 's face with a helmet on

Also, Kate Winslet's the brattiest she's ever been, and that includes Heavenly Creatures.
It's glorious.
a woman with blue hair is sitting next to a man on a bus and saying i 'm a vindictive little bitch


The Edge of Love

Thomas Dylan is my favourite poet.
"She deludes the heaven-proof house with entering clouds" and "...suffer the first vision that set fire to the stars" are quite possibly two of the most beautiful arrangements of words I've ever seen.
And he himself is interesting because he's a classic example of a deeply flawed, toxic man creating inexplicable beauty, two discordances that usually don't meet.
But this movie isn't about him, not nearly, it's about the two women who orbited him, or should I say, he orbited, and as far as I can tell, it's all bullshit.
A scandalised version of fairly tame, mundane, unromantic events, but damn, it makes for fantastic storytelling, and the stellar cast amplifies it.
I've loved this movie for a long time, and I'm sincerely glad it still holds up.
Even with Keira Knightly and Sienna Miller's dodgy Welsh accents.
#the edge of love from billdecker


Metal Lords

Sometimes Netflix does something great - when they're not mercilessly cancelling fan-favourite shows - and this is one of those things, and you should watch it if you can.
Immediately.
With haste.
If only to witness this blazing ball of furious Celt:

Never been prouder to be Scottish.


...and TV:
Derry Girls

Is there anything more feral than them?
If you answered "yes", then you're wrong, I'm sorry, these five gremlins are playing post-apocalypse games in a pre-apocalypse world.
"Feral" might not even be a strong enough word...
(Clare losing her bookmark and subsequent page and the tantrum that follows is still one of the most relatable things I've seen to this day)


Bad Sisters

Just... women.

I will follow Sharon Horgan to the ends of television (and film, Your Monster looks insanely epic?), possibly further, to the restaurant at the end of the universe where she'll tell filthy jokes and I'll swoon with delight.
Anger Eva GIF by Apple TV+
Murder Eva GIF by Apple TV+
Get Out Of My Way Move GIF by Apple TV+

Crushing on talented, caustically funny women is the best pastime, and Horgan's not even at her sardonic peak (Catastrophe, it's always Catastrophe) in Bad Sisters, but it's so good, so, so good.
Funny, unhinged, unexpected.
The trifecta of female-led, murder plot, dark comedy.
I'm buzzing to see what fuckery runs abound in season two.

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Rachel Eaton's sapphic darlings:

And my personal fave:

Succinct and true.
My love, Lagertha knows:
This may contain: a man and woman dressed in medieval clothing holding swords while standing next to each other

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Historical Heroes of the Blonde Persuasion:
Our Flag Means Death


The Artful Dodger

What can I say, there's just something about a towheaded male protagonist that does it for me.
Blame it on Cary Elwes altering my brain chemistry with three words and an armada's worth of swagger  when I was at my most impressionable.
a young man with long blonde hair is looking at the camera and saying `` as you wish '' .
(Not since has anyone ever been this beautiful. Damn)

Now there's a triple crossover I would love to see.
Can you imagine Stede's reaction to Westley and Dodger?
Babygirl, meet farm boy Babygirl, meet pickpocket surgeon Babygirl, let the swooning commence.
Stede would ask Westley for his his deep conditioning secrets so he can grow his hair out long enough to pull back, and beseech long-suffering Dodge to sew up his wounds every time he and Ed played hide the sword.
It'd be so beautiful.
Why must my brain think of crossovers that are destined never to be?
Is there cancellation not punishment enough?!
(Losing OFMD was truly criminal, and The Artful Dodger technically wasn't mean to be more than a mini-series, but it's also still listed as uncancelled/open-ended, so... I live in hope!)
a woman in a pink wig is sitting next to another woman in a colorful shirt .


These two shows may be over and done with, but if you have the means (legal or illegal), watch them, I'm begging you, they're like televisual antidepressants!
a man in a suit and tie is talking about television and says `` i just love television so much '' .

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Mari Krekeler's Ghoul Friends:

I haven't even read the webcomic yet and I'm already obsessed.
Smitten.
Smoted.
Dumb with supernatural sweetheart sickness.
And I don't know why, can't for the life of me explain it, but the fact that Countess Serafina is a blue-hued vampire makes me immeasurably happy.
This slice of life spooky love-fest might just kill me.
Which would fit the vibe, yes?
a cartoon drawing of a panda wearing a scream mask and holding a pumpkin


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Fleecey sweatshirts of the spooky kind:
Ophelia from The Literary Emporium

French Frights from Batch1 Takeout
(Forgive the wrinkles; executive dysfunction girls don't iron)

Because it's not enough for one to simply be spooky, one must emblazon it upon one's chest for all the world to see, so they know that come the harvest moon, the spooky collective will make fuckboy sacrifices to Hecate, Maeve, and Morticia Addams for clear skin, lamplight eyes (for reading at night, obvs), and endless fucking patience not to knee film-talker-overs in the nethers at every godforsaken mouth-flap.
It's in the by-laws.

Sidebar: does Ophelia count as spooky?
Yes, because she was murdered by the idiot patriarchy, and if she isn't drowning Hamlet, her father, and every other idiot with a penis who did her wrong in the river Malebolge, then there is no justice in the literary world.
a group of people are standing next to each other at a new year 's party .

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Camila Estela G.:

I don't know what's happening, but I know I need more.
Game - Conversational GIFs | Page 17 | Umbra Roleplaying

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Rainbow Rowell's, Fangirl Vol.4:

The end of Fangirl always makes me pause for breath and wait for the hitch to settle back into its rhythm, because endings are inevitably hard and bring with them a sense of loss, but few rarely compound that loss by acknowledging it directly.
The end of Fangirl isn't the last moments of the romance Cath and Levi strived so adorably to win throughout, but the last moments of a different kind of love, the one readers have with the literature they pour their every atom into, and the exquisite pain that inescapably comes when it's over.
Half devastation, half unfettered joy.
It's a particular kind of grief that's generous in the knowledge that the story will always be there (and there for you), that you can always return, but there will never be anything more.
At least, from the original source, that is.
Which is the other beauty of Rainbow Rowell's love letter to every reader who feels intensely for fictional people and do it unapologetically, that actually it's never over, not until the last fan fiction is written, the final kudos clicked.
The story might be complete, but it's not over.
And that might be the greatest gift literature's ever given us.

Also, authors turning their novels into manga/graphic novels being peak literary hedonism.
Why isn't everyone doing this?
Well GIFs | GIFDB.com

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Arielle Jovellanos:

Just dropping this Locked Tomb fanart here because I can and my spooky skeleton sapphic babies deserve all the airtime.
Plus, it might finally be time to read Harrow.
I might be ready to have my aortic valve blasted into the aether.
It might be time to crack that seal and feel the pain:
Chekhov

Or not...

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The Last of Us:

...
Fuck, I overhyped it.
Not so much that I didn't enjoy the unholy hell out of Pedro Pascal (hot fucking damn, Pedro, take it easy on us) and Bella Ramsey (my goblin sovereign *bows*) going head to head with the fungi undead, but enough that I wasn't as bowled over as I thought I'd be?
This is the problem with being bombarded with trailers and first-look reviewing, plus living in the UK and having to wait for shows to come out on dvd/being picked up by streaming months after everyone else has watched it.
There's a lot of momentum built up for immediate watchers, but by the time it reaches me? The high's pretty much gone to ground and the show/movie suffers for it.
Which was... half the case with TLoU, the other half being that there just weren't enough fucking zombies!
I feel like a broken bloody record when it comes to horror shows, specifically zombie ones, and I blame it entirely on The Walking Dead altering the entire genre, but I don't want a soap opera, I want to be scared shitless.
Remember when 28 Days Later came out and it was beyond terrifying? Like it felt as though the Energizer bunny zombies would burst through the screen at any moment and rip you to pieces? When the peril was actually perilous?
I miss that.
I miss actually feeling scared.
(To those who don't like horror, I get it, it doesn't make any sense to you, but it's a yummy endorphin/dopamine thing, okay? And I'm in short supply!)
And no horror show/movie I've watched since has had the same fear factor.
Not even TLoU, which, not gonna lie, I thought was going to land me on my ass, clutching the covers to shield my eyes during the really gory bits, and beseeching Hades for sweet relief, but alas, it was overall quite a mellow experience.
image

It's a beautifully made show that's incredibly well acted with moments of true anguish (strawberries, fucking strawberries *cries tears of queer joy and heartbreak *), and the story itself is, not exactly revolutionary within the genre, but it's certainly a different and interesting take, and I had such a good time following it from start to end, even when it made me question whether I'd mentally/emotionally survive it (when Pedro cries, I cry. When Bella cries, I fucking lose it).
#the last of us from write some love letters to heaven
(I waited so long for this moment and it did not disappoint. Daddy Pedro wins again)

But yeah... zombies, where art thou zombies?
I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, though, because first season in the budget's not going to be exactly bursting and the foundational storytelling has to be put in place, so I get it, zombies aren't high on the list of must haves, even in a zombie show (very much enjoyed when the Bloater rocked up like the Ghostbusters Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, though, that was pretty awesome).
But season two better bring it, okay? I want peril, I want viscera, I want Joel losing his ever-loving mind because Ellie has zero chill.
image

And after watching the trailer for season two?
It's totally on.
a girl sits at a table with a plate of food and a cup of coffee and says " oh shit "


Fanart:
Alessia Trunfio

Shannon Lawson

Adam Murphy

Audrey Estok

Freddie aka. fredddoloso

Naomi Dale

Greg Ruth

mardy

Miranda Parkin

lindi

Anastasia Ivanova

Diana Kresge

Floriane Ballestra

Lorna Kelleher

flavouredmagpie

Victoria Alessandri

Elicia Donze

Omychan

Connie Kang

Damian aka. palpyisweak

Roger Witt

beefknee

Vee aka. cuddlyveedles

Beth aka. SPILT MILK PRESS

Oakley Billions

Abigail Larson

Jackson Howell

Christine Chang

Giada Carboni

Io Kay

Alexandria Monik

Arthur Shahverdyan

Sam Yang

sonny

Andrea C. White

Marci Klugiewicz

solitudee

Angelica Fatourou

Madi Fernandez

Clem Val

Liz Parkes

Nic Collins

Megan Rika Young

Olivia aka. vvivaa

Sam Davey

Abi aka. TheNerdyAlchemist

Rizal Badar

Dana aka. dana_delion

Ajgiel

Alice aka. aliceewn

Isabella Ceravolo

Emma Parker

Megan Crow

Megan Rose Ruiz

Fabiola Colavecchio

___Ves

dickson aka. tinynocky

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Collected Authors, In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology:

M.L. Rio's, Weekend at Bertie's
★★★✩


Lou closed the basement door behind her, dazed after the darkness by the sticky summer sunlight oozing down the hall, pooling like honey in each whorl of the hardwood. Every floorboard creaked and she stepped lightly until she found more solid footing on the cold kitchen tile. Tiny espresso cups crowded along the windowsill above the sink, holding flakes of sea salt, pink peppercorns, a forgotten bulb of garlic shriveled and brown as a lump of cancerous lung. Lou looked down the hill to the belt of trees that hid the big house from any prying eyes on the winding road from town. She gathered her hair at the nape of her neck and vomited into the sink.


M.L. Rio has the uncanny ability to put the arcane in the mundane without twitching so much as an occult pinky.
Whilst this short story may be Dark Academia, nothing supernatural happens (not a requirement for DA), not a necromantic rune etched into the underside of an antique writing desk in sight, but there's unquestionably something... present, lurking, observing.
It's not overt, never in your face, but as this tiny tale of morality vs. academic financial health progresses, the creaks and groans of the professorial home it inhabits starts to tickle at the back of the neck, whispering beckoningly, "there's something in the basement, come see, come see".
We never see, of course, it's not necessary, because this is the magic of Rio's writing, that she can bewitch without the witching, and bewilder with ease as the tale takes you over one gorgeous word to the next, and leaves you wondering at the end: "Did she? Did she?"
...
Flawless. She's flawless.
#dark academia from COLLAPSING IN A STARK SUPERNOVA


Tori Bovalino's, Phobos
★★★★✩


On the evening of the penultimate ritual, once the scavenger hunt was finished and won, the neophytes were ordered to meet at the House when the clock struck midnight and the darkness was thick and black. Mila Orlicker made her way down Fifth with her hands deep in the pockets of her trench coat. She chewed on her own annoyance like a hearty meal, waiting for a reluctant end to the frustration that wouldn't come. She should've won the hunt, should've put the pieces together faster than Kurt Proctor and Hannah Locke. Not that it mattered – speed was not the goal; only completion. But she hated the sinking in her stomach when she'd charged into the cavernous halls of the Cathedral of Learning, up the stairs, and not the Austrian Room to find Proctor and Locke sitting at the table with Ian Gale. She'd beaten Patrick Carmichael and Julia Riker, but that wasn't enough. She wanted to be first. She wanted to be the best.


This is classic Dark Academia: secret societies, dark and stormy aesthetics, unhinged collegiate hazing, someone ends up dead.
A tried and true recipe for DA storytelling, which is enough alone to be compelling beyond comprehension (at least if you're anything like me who gobbles this goodness up like my stomach thinks its throat's been cut), but it's Tori Bovalino's writing that elevates it to something more, something richer. That bruises it forwards from a diminutive tale of Ivy League, Raskolnikov atrocities to a static shock you can feel in your fingertips, to something you can't scrub clean, and maybe, just maybe, don't particularly want to.
And as with M.L. Rio's story, you're left with this nagging ponderance: did he want to? Or did he have to?
...
I was already a fan of Bovalino work, but now?
Now all I can think is more, I want more.


Olivia Blake's, Pythia
★★

That Awkward Moment – Sara Bynoe


This was… very self-aware, to the point that I was actively put off by the writing style and genuinely did not give a shit about the story.

Which is... not ideal, given The Atlas Six is currently sitting in one TBR pile of many, awaiting its time to be cracked open.

Not ideal, not at all.


.............................................

frenshaped.comics laying down neurodivergent racoon facts:

Being neurodivergent is... uh... fine?
a little girl is laying on the floor in a playground with the words status written on the bottom

Also, the accuracy of this:

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Where the Crawdads Sing:

Once upon a time a manic pixie swamp girl met milquetoast vanilla and milquetoast fuckface, and a really bland story was born with nary a polyamory in sight.
...
Christ.
Why did this even get made? And why will I probably watch it again?
What is wrong with me?!
a woman says that she 's really sounding like a trash monster right now


Ps. Big fan of Daisy Edgar Jones, Normal People is basically a biannual (minimum) watch at this point and if I can get past the fact that Glen Powell kinda gives me the creeps (he's no Bill Paxton, that's for sure. If you haven't seen him as a vampire, you should fix that immediately) I think Twisters looks kinda fun, but this is giving me the sporadic, nervous face-scrunches:

The problem is, Joe Wright made perfection twenty years ago, and Netflix made the Persuasion adap (which I love in a this is an abomination but I stan it anyway kind of way).
#pride & prejudice from no.1 party anthem

...
Do we see the problem, here?!

.............................................

Amanda Shae aka. StaBeriWaffle:

You ever look at something and just:
a man in a blue shirt is adjusting his sleeves while sitting in front of a green ball .

But with love?

.............................................

Spaceballs:

How do you talk about irreverent, goofy, parody perfection?
You don't, you just yell at people to watch the fucking movie (you know who you are) because it'll make your life infinitely better.
Mel Brooks is a genius (Yoghurt. FFS, YOGHURT! I'm cramping, it's too funny).

Rick Moranis is forever the short king of our hearts (first time seeing him as the villain and it's like he was born to do it in this one very specific way).

John Candy's wiggling ears are a sensory pleasure (also I just fucking love him) and Bill Pullman as a dollar store Han is... well, kinda hot, to be honest (he is of the eternal crush elite).
a man is wearing a cat costume and has a laurel wreath on his head that says atlanta international film festival

Even the misogyny is on-the-nose flawless (Princess Vespa is just THE BEST name).

And the puns.

Good bloody lord, the puns! ("Combing the desert" took me the fuck out)
THIS is an example of something I don't want to wax lyrical about, I just want to Clockwork Orange you into watching it because if you love fantasy and laughing your ass off, it's the movie of your dreams  and you're missing the hell out. I was certainly was.
So, to you I say, watch the fucking movie, you absolute gremlins.
a man wearing glasses and a helmet says everybody got that ?

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