Jordan

this movie is so fucking creepy jesus fuck

It’s by Tim Burton, what did you honestly expect?

Actually, it’s Henry Selick, who was the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The book was written by Neil Gaiman, though, and is far…far….worse.

Sorry, I’m about to geek the hell out.

The movie is captivating, but the book is twenty kinds of terrifying, even now, ten years after I first read it. As disturbing as the movie may have been to some, the things Selick added really serve to cushion just how horrific the story really is.

First of all, the character of Wybie does not exist in the book. Coraline is facing all of this nearly alone, with her only help coming from the sly comments of the cat, a warning from the circus mice, and the stone given to her by her neighbor, presented with no comment but that it “makes the unseen seen.”

Second, the Other Parents are never quite as warm (and, dare I say, normal) as they are in the gifs above. They’re described as having paper-white skin and the Other Mother’s hair is said to move on its own, and her long, red, claw-like nails don’t ease any uncertainty that she is absolutely, positively up to no good. The first time Coraline meets them, they (and the rest of the Others) seem to be playing roles (for whatever reason, Coraline does not seem to pick up on this), like they all know what to say and what to do and are simply waiting for Coraline to make her move in their terrifying play world. This is shown to be partly true when the Other Parents tell her they know she’ll be back soon after she refuses the buttons - this time, to stay.

Third, the Other Mother commits atrocities that really should not have been in a book for anyone not fully grown up. She physically deforms the world around Coraline to slow her progress in their game beyond any mild traps the movie portrays, and, instead of turning the Other Father into the wandering pumpkin-thing seen in the film, she simply ceases to use him and throws his body away in the cellar, leaving him to rot with whatever bit of sentience he has left. She begins to lose her touch, as Coraline gains the upper hand. Her world doesn’t just become a nightmare - it falls apart completely. No creepy but oddly cool bug furniture here, just the house that now appears to be a child’s drawing. Whatever the Other Mother is (a beldame, but something tells me she’s much more ancient and powerful than that), she does not give half a hump about what she has to do to ensnare Coraline. Destroy the supporting characters of her twisted creation? Done. Allow herself to be dismembered to ruin Coraline’s life in the normal world? Not even gonna bat an eyelash.

On a final, personal note, imagine eight year-old me, ignored by my parents, absorbed in the story and identifying with Coraline from the start. Imagine me finishing this bloodcurdling book and immediately thinking of my basement, where there is still a locked door that my grandmother swears up and down is nothing more than a storage room, but has not once in my (or my mother’s) lifetime unlocked.

Can you see why this book still scares me?

Fun fact I learned from seeing neil gaiman speak: when he first wanted the book published, his editor said it was too scary. He suggested she read it to her young daughter, and then decide. So she did, and her daughter wasn’t afraid, and it was published. Years later, Gaiman was sitting next to that daughter at an event and told her this story, and she said “oh I was terrified I just didn’t want to tell my mom”.

Coraline WAS too scary to be published, but exists anyway because a girl lied to her mother.

@neil-gaiman, is this true about the publisher’s daughter?

It was my literary agent, Merrilee Heifetz who read it and said “you can’t seriously expect this to be published as a children’s book.” So I suggested she read it to her daughters. And she called me back a week later and said “They love it and they weren’t scared at all. I’ll take it to Harper Children’s.”

A decade later, at the Opening Night of the Coraline musical, I was sitting next to Morgan, Merilee’s youngest daughter, and told her how her not being scared had made the book happen. And she said “I was terrified. But I needed to find out what happened next. So nobody knew.”

So, yes.

This website can be toxic at times, but the fact that people can just tag Neil Gaiman to get his input, like a sorcerer invoking a benevolent spirit, is definitely a bright spot.

this movie is so fucking creepy jesus fuck

It’s by Tim Burton, what did you honestly expect?

Actually, it’s Henry Selick, who was the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The book was written by Neil Gaiman, though, and is far…far….worse.

Sorry, I’m about to geek the hell out.

The movie is captivating, but the book is twenty kinds of terrifying, even now, ten years after I first read it. As disturbing as the movie may have been to some, the things Selick added really serve to cushion just how horrific the story really is.

First of all, the character of Wybie does not exist in the book. Coraline is facing all of this nearly alone, with her only help coming from the sly comments of the cat, a warning from the circus mice, and the stone given to her by her neighbor, presented with no comment but that it “makes the unseen seen.”

Second, the Other Parents are never quite as warm (and, dare I say, normal) as they are in the gifs above. They’re described as having paper-white skin and the Other Mother’s hair is said to move on its own, and her long, red, claw-like nails don’t ease any uncertainty that she is absolutely, positively up to no good. The first time Coraline meets them, they (and the rest of the Others) seem to be playing roles (for whatever reason, Coraline does not seem to pick up on this), like they all know what to say and what to do and are simply waiting for Coraline to make her move in their terrifying play world. This is shown to be partly true when the Other Parents tell her they know she’ll be back soon after she refuses the buttons - this time, to stay.

Third, the Other Mother commits atrocities that really should not have been in a book for anyone not fully grown up. She physically deforms the world around Coraline to slow her progress in their game beyond any mild traps the movie portrays, and, instead of turning the Other Father into the wandering pumpkin-thing seen in the film, she simply ceases to use him and throws his body away in the cellar, leaving him to rot with whatever bit of sentience he has left. She begins to lose her touch, as Coraline gains the upper hand. Her world doesn’t just become a nightmare - it falls apart completely. No creepy but oddly cool bug furniture here, just the house that now appears to be a child’s drawing. Whatever the Other Mother is (a beldame, but something tells me she’s much more ancient and powerful than that), she does not give half a hump about what she has to do to ensnare Coraline. Destroy the supporting characters of her twisted creation? Done. Allow herself to be dismembered to ruin Coraline’s life in the normal world? Not even gonna bat an eyelash.

On a final, personal note, imagine eight year-old me, ignored by my parents, absorbed in the story and identifying with Coraline from the start. Imagine me finishing this bloodcurdling book and immediately thinking of my basement, where there is still a locked door that my grandmother swears up and down is nothing more than a storage room, but has not once in my (or my mother’s) lifetime unlocked.

Can you see why this book still scares me?

Fun fact I learned from seeing neil gaiman speak: when he first wanted the book published, his editor said it was too scary. He suggested she read it to her young daughter, and then decide. So she did, and her daughter wasn’t afraid, and it was published. Years later, Gaiman was sitting next to that daughter at an event and told her this story, and she said “oh I was terrified I just didn’t want to tell my mom”.

Coraline WAS too scary to be published, but exists anyway because a girl lied to her mother.

@neil-gaiman, is this true about the publisher’s daughter?

It was my literary agent, Merrilee Heifetz who read it and said “you can’t seriously expect this to be published as a children’s book.” So I suggested she read it to her daughters. And she called me back a week later and said “They love it and they weren’t scared at all. I’ll take it to Harper Children’s.”

A decade later, at the Opening Night of the Coraline musical, I was sitting next to Morgan, Merilee’s youngest daughter, and told her how her not being scared had made the book happen. And she said “I was terrified. But I needed to find out what happened next. So nobody knew.”

So, yes.

This website can be toxic at times, but the fact that people can just tag Neil Gaiman to get his input, like a sorcerer invoking a benevolent spirit, is definitely a bright spot.

The Princess Bride (1987) dir. Rob Reiner

@itspileofgoodthings:

#murder me#the princess bride#I used to think they were only good because of their chemistry and faces#(bc they actually say so little)#but the script deserves so much credit too#because even though they barely speak they say ENOUGH#and then Cary and Robin fill the spaces in between with such TRUTH#I’m obsessed with the balance in writing romance between saying too much and not enough#both pitfalls and commonly made mistakes#the princess bride strikes that balance perfectly#this exchange alone says so so so much#through their words and their expressions#the moment starts out so Playfully Hard#she’s still in her bossing him around/tossing her head at him mode#but then he stands up and looks at her Like That#and she’s suddenly caught off guard by his humanity on a deeper level#so she softens and adds the please#almost as an apology- or at least an expression of gratitude#like she knows she’s just been kind of unfair (even if just in a fun way)#and then he Looks At Her Like That Again#and says what he always says#As you wish#and he’s so deliberate with it#and it’s like- it’s like#[screams into the void]#it’s like he’s saying ‘I don’t care what you ask me to do or how you ask me to do it’#‘I will always love you and I will always do what you ask me to do’#he’s almost (almost) laughing at her a little#but more than that he’s being pointed#to let her know he loves her and look at her face in the last gif. it takes!

Me after this post:

So often allo-hetero love stories frustrate me and a lot of people assume that means that I hate them. I don’t. I’m just comparing them all in my head to the princess bride and the majority of them don’t pass the bar of believability or chemistry or entertainment that this masterpiece of a movie has set up in my brain.

You know what’s funny?

They never actually explain why they’re in love.

In that way, the story is very shallow.

But ARE they in love? Who could doubt it? Look at them! Look at the risks they take and the lengths they go to for each other!

I’ve been doing a series of comics about men being deceived by makeup. 

This is the best comic series I’ve ever seen

Agreed

THE CREATOR OF CENTAURWORLD

I want this on my tombstone

Couldn't stop thinking about this little man

So i got on ebay and found him

Effervescent

i see we're all on the same wavelength today

funky dancer

hold me closer,,,,, tiny dancer 🕺 

Batman: The Movie (1966) dir. Leslie H. Martinson

“9/13 this year is the Chinese mid-autumn festival(a.k.a moon festival). Guess who are making mooncakes for us on the moon!” (x-post: /r/aww) https://ift.tt/31nZaBw

I have never loved anything like I love that little bunny in the top right corner with the mold.

My Fair Lady (1964) dir. George Cukor

Good girl:

Really bad boy:

I've been spending far too much of my time trying to learn medieval illumination techniques

one of my first semi-successful attempts at fore edge painting! done on an old paperback of aesop's fables.

+ some glamour shots:

Bruh

GUYS I JUST SAW THIS ON TWITTER AND I AM DYING

Add the author’s reply, cowards!

I scrolled through the notes on this post and my favorite has to be one mockingly accusing Madeline Miller (a Latin and Greek teacher with a Masters in Classics) of needing to do research and she wasn’t a real writer like them.

Anyway when I read that line I immediately understood what she was trying to say.

Articles mentioned (I think, anyway…)

https://pharos.vassarspaces.net/2018/05/11/scholars-respond-to-racist-backlash-against-black-achilles-part-1-ancient-greek-attitudes-toward-africans/

https://aeon.co/essays/can-we-hope-to-understand-how-the-greeks-saw-their-world

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/true-colors-17888/

Honestly, the first time I saw this tweet, I laughed my tits straight into the ocean.

I know what ‘olive skinned’ (and thus variations on it) means, but the author taking the time to have a little laugh, acknowledge that it’s at least a bit funny, and drop some knowledge is appreciated.

And a double thanks to the person I reblogged from for linking the articles.

SHUT UP LOOK AT THIS BOUNCY ASS BISON

unrestrained winter fun

me_irl

Visually pleasing “realistic” CGI

the opposite of the four horsemen of the apocalypse….the four knights of paradise 

Why did they do a vastly superior CGI lion literally 15 years ago asfdsalkj

Stuart Little came out in 1999

I dindt know that rat was gay good for him tho