Lovelyz - Temptation.mp3

cg, she/her, black, 30+

[foreignswaggersession]

i debating posting for weeks months (omg season 2 started in may) so i've been lurking and observing (very talamasca of me i must say) but i'm inebriated i've finally felt compelled to share my Thoughts about amc's interview with the vampire, aka my obsession since it started in 2022. i feel like i should explain what makes me somewhat of an anomaly in this fandom and why i've been so reluctant to do anything other than read/like posts:

i don't particularly care about vampire media

i read anne rice as a teenager, like many people, but i was way more interested in the mayfair witches and feast of all saints than the vampires

---i'm a '90-liner like jacob and assad, and like sam my first intro to anne rice was the qotd movie (saw it in theaters opening weekend!)

interview is my favorite book in the vc (upon re-read in 2022, i forgot most of the vc during my anne rice phase and only read some of the later books for the mayfairs (rowan, mona, merrick))

i like louis de point de lac in all versions (controversial opinion)

i like claudia in all version (should be an uncontroversial opinion, but some of y'all really are mad at the 5-year-old vampire for 'killing' the one who made her that way)

i don't care for lestat as a narrator and i find most of his behavior annoying, not endearing - i am not anne rice and i will not be giving him the benefit of the doubt on my blog fyi

so yeah - to release some of my brainrot (and correct some of these incorrect and off-putting takes about my twin and soulmate louis de pointe du lac), i'll post some iwtv on my defunct k-pop blog a little bit. may reply to comments here and there. if you want to ask me something, feel free i guess

[cdzen]

NCT 127 Title Track Tournament - Final

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[foreignswaggersession]

mayfair witches s2 is here so here are my quick-ish thoughts on s1 (just completed 3rd rewatch) before i start s2

i re-read the witching hour when the show aired and i still love it. yeah it could use some trimming, but it would only turn a ~900pp book into a ~700pp book. to dickride just a little bit, rice not only demonstrates her mastery of southern gothic horror (just read the first chapter for a taste), she comments on women's relationship to power, sex, and reproduction (specifically the power to reproduce), and men's exploitation of (mayfair men) and refusal to understand (talamasca men) women with power, while also promoting new orleans (seriously, a good 1/3 of the book is a tourism ad for new orleans and the southeast gulf region of the us).

my enjoyment of the show is largely (if not entirely) based on my love of the mayfair witch series, so i forgive it for a lot of its shortcomings (i.e., people complain about the pacing, but the book moves even more slowly - rowan and lasher don't talk until like page 700 of a 900+pp book). there are actually a lot of things i love/appreciate about the show - eps. 1, 2, 5 (always a banger episode), and 8; carlotta, dolly jean, josephine, odette, and tessa; ciprien (fuck michael curry forreal sorry to your self-insert anne); the book fan easter eggs; even the creepy talamasca guy (brecht?). that said, i can only rate the show a 7.5/10 (fyi - this is up from 6.5 on this rewatch - time has been kind to this show, and it helps to not have iwtv s1 at the forefront of my mind).

my major hangups (still):

rowan's lack of curiosity/ambition to control mayfair wealth and power

lasher reveal in ep 1 (hate that so bad)

failing to establish the mayfair legacy (both the line of designees and the value of the trust)

failing to establish the mayfairs in general - who are all the women in the "coven" in ep 6?

having a bunch of black members of a prominent former slave-holding southern family with absolutely no friction (sus!)

the decision to focus only on suzanne but not show her pass lasher to deborah

poor use of setting and mediocre/bad fashion (rowan's funeral outfit is offensive as a southerner)

fear of the words "incest" and "rape"

science plot killed in the first episode :/

ciprien getting banished to the shadow realm for 2 episodes

killing off all the members of the mra plot 1 episode after setting them up

anyway, i'm excited for s2 - trailer looked cool, plus the second book has my favorite (and most problematic) character - mona mayfair. i think they changed mona to "moira" or something and aged her up (expected - no one wants to see the events of lasher on their screen). i haven't re-read lasher so i really have little idea of how this season will go, but i'm in for the long haul. so here goes...

[foreignswaggersession]

pulled out the book and realized i was wrong - rowan and lasher's first real meeting occurs on page 857(!!) of the 965pp novel, the witching hour. i was ornery about lasher in s1 b/c i hated the early reveal of his nature (this is the major mystery of the book - wtf is lasher) and thought he was overused (which made him less effective), and i still think his first meeting with rowan should have been later, but i guess it'd be hard to sell the press on the show when a major antagonist barely appears in the episodes they get to review.

[foreignswaggersession]

happy to report mayfair witches s2e1 substantially improves from s1 and addresses several of my criticisms. longer thoughts to come but: moira is my tv mona and i accept it wholeheartedly - i love everything about her so far, especially her ability to see through lasher's alleged devotion to the mayfair family. love that dolly jean continues to be hella sus but in a classy way (what does that woman know and what does she want - i need answers). other things i love - they directly engage with rape, brought back the science plot, remembered rowan was a doctor, added more grotesque body horror (loved the scene of boy!lasher pulling his teeth out in front of rowan), and kept ciprien!

however...WTF IS THIS TIMELINE??? did no one double-check the script? why is katherine writing about child julien in 1946, but marguerite (their mother) is also writing about adolescent julien in 1912??? (julien is rowan's great-great-great-grandfather...and also grandfather so young julien in 19?? is already a stretch) i appreciate the inclusion of mayfair history, but let's not be sloppy. s1 absolutely needed extra review rounds, and apparently so does s2.

off to a promising start!

[foreignswaggersession]

mayfair witches s2 is here so here are my quick-ish thoughts on s1 (just completed 3rd rewatch) before i start s2

i re-read the witching hour when the show aired and i still love it. yeah it could use some trimming, but it would only turn a ~900pp book into a ~700pp book. to dickride just a little bit, rice not only demonstrates her mastery of southern gothic horror (just read the first chapter for a taste), she comments on women's relationship to power, sex, and reproduction (specifically the power to reproduce), and men's exploitation of (mayfair men) and refusal to understand (talamasca men) women with power, while also promoting new orleans (seriously, a good 1/3 of the book is a tourism ad for new orleans and the southeast gulf region of the us).

my enjoyment of the show is largely (if not entirely) based on my love of the mayfair witch series, so i forgive it for a lot of its shortcomings (i.e., people complain about the pacing, but the book moves even more slowly - rowan and lasher don't talk until like page 700 of a 900+pp book). there are actually a lot of things i love/appreciate about the show - eps. 1, 2, 5 (always a banger episode), and 8; carlotta, dolly jean, josephine, odette, and tessa; ciprien (fuck michael curry forreal sorry to your self-insert anne); the book fan easter eggs; even the creepy talamasca guy (brecht?). that said, i can only rate the show a 7.5/10 (fyi - this is up from 6.5 on this rewatch - time has been kind to this show, and it helps to not have iwtv s1 at the forefront of my mind).

my major hangups (still):

rowan's lack of curiosity/ambition to control mayfair wealth and power

lasher reveal in ep 1 (hate that so bad)

failing to establish the mayfair legacy (both the line of designees and the value of the trust)

failing to establish the mayfairs in general - who are all the women in the "coven" in ep 6?

having a bunch of black members of a prominent former slave-holding southern family with absolutely no friction (sus!)

the decision to focus only on suzanne but not show her pass lasher to deborah

poor use of setting and mediocre/bad fashion (rowan's funeral outfit is offensive as a southerner)

fear of the words "incest" and "rape"

science plot killed in the first episode :/

ciprien getting banished to the shadow realm for 2 episodes

killing off all the members of the mra plot 1 episode after setting them up

anyway, i'm excited for s2 - trailer looked cool, plus the second book has my favorite (and most problematic) character - mona mayfair. i think they changed mona to "moira" or something and aged her up (expected - no one wants to see the events of lasher on their screen). i haven't re-read lasher so i really have little idea of how this season will go, but i'm in for the long haul. so here goes...

[foreignswaggersession]

happy new year! took a break to process my anger at...everything but now i'm ready to get back to sharing my random thoughts about the anne rice-o-verse and whatever else i'm watching/paying attention to

[thydungeongal]

Uncharacteristically political take, I know, but I personally think if you want to blame any particular group of voters for Trump getting elected it should probably be the people who voted for Trump

[vampiricvenus]

To be fair then these libs would have to call out their family and friends in real life instead of insulting minorities online, which they'd never do. ❤️

[jockoppressor]

If Harris loses, please try blaming real issues (Republican-driven voter suppression and intimidation tactics; billionaire-funded Trump-PAC’s and propaganda machines; a broken electoral system that hinges presidential elections on a dozen or so states instead of a simple popular vote; or the Democratic Party’s fumbled opportunities to respond to things like the corporate greed driven cost of living crisis, the housing shortage, the medical debt and healthcare accessibility crisis, the ongoing climate disaster, and the ongoing genocide in Palestine) instead of doing the Right’s job for them by blaming folks like climate protestors, Antizionist and pro-Palestine activists, Black and Brown people, jaded millennials living paycheck to paycheck, and tumblr users with an audience ⅛ the size of the average Christofascist MegaChurch Congregation.

[amorevolous-lune]

Reblog to hug the person you reblogged this from and tell them that everything's going to be okay

[foreignswaggersession]

Yes thank you! honestly i was interested in reading more analysis, until the tags became inundated with "louis was so mean and unfair to his husbands", "haha louis fantasized about white french dick for decades and never loved anyone else" and a lot of other nonsense. like you said, just so much projection onto the character instead of watching the damn show.

it almost made me withdraw from this fandom entirely until i came across blogs who could discuss both armand and lestat critically, without spreading annoying apologia or racist humor to prop up one abuser over another.

really appreciate your insightful responses and have a happy halloween! 🎃

🎃👻🦇🥰Happy Halloween!

[foreignswaggersession]

halloween viewing plans: over the garden wall binge, iwtv ep 12 (s2e5), maybe a movie if i'm not tired (practical magic, the substance, something else?)

fav horror films i watched this month: audition, misery, in a violent nature, an american werewolf in london, ringu, pearl (watched whole trilogy, pearl's my favorite), speak no evil (original)

[foreignswaggersession]

there are definitely iwtv fans who love acting like they care about racism when it comes to fictional characters, but have no issue with being condescending towards actual black and south asian people in this fandom.

Btw making "brown man has mid dick" jokes to prop up lestat is also clownery and it's even more stupid how some people would choose to double down on it after hearing about why it's degrading and uncomfortable. like i couldn't believe the bullshit i was reading from some of these so called "fandom anti racists", but they're clearly not mature enough for this discussion.

sorry for taking so long to respond anon - i wanted to make the posts with screenshots first so i could show my work and not be accused of merely reaching to support my ship. i think most the condescension from these fans comes from their selective memory of the show as filtered through their long-held headcanons, and i wanted to respond by citing the show itself. the fans started claiming louis was never attracted to armand as plainly evident, when the show clearly says the exact opposite, repeatedly. i watched the "armand has mid dick" joke/theory develop in real time and snowball within the pro-louis section of the fandom. it got twisted up in the 'louis hates topping' + 'lestat's dick is uniquely amazing' + 'armand can't satisfy louis' takes, all of which i disagree with. i understand your discomfort anon, it's part of why i started posting in the fandom - 'louis only wants pink dick' also became a thing this season and it broke me (louis didn't get it up for jonah while eating rats for y'all to act like pink dick does anything for him but sure, believe what you want).

to give some credit, i think some of these fans you're talking about started making these 'jokes' in reaction to the overwhelming (and undeserved) sympathy towards armand that dominated the fandom at the time (probably still does tbh). it's fair to point out that armand is not just any brown man but is in fact an extremely manipulative abuser who threatened to kill louis, set him and his family up to get killed, killed his daughter/sister, lied to him about it for years, sadistically let him suffer after a suicide attempt he instigated, erased that memory and covered THAT up for years, and to also suggest that those acts negatively affected louis's attraction to him. and yeah, i too am tired of reading takes about how loving armand was (girl when?) and how louis wasn't nice enough to him 🙄. that said, armand is attractive as fuck in universe and in our reality, so it's weird to pretend louis would not be attracted to him, despite his off-putting nature (see season 1).

most importantly, louis's desire for armand is a key plot point essential to the breakdown of his and claudia's relationship. claudia didn't say "picked another one over me" and "you were lestat's, now you're armand's" out of ignorance - she understands louis better than anyone. it's wishful thinking to suggest that louis suffered in silence for claudia through eps 11 and 13 and only stayed with armand for 70+ years to protect claudia/punish lestat and no other reason. it would have been really great if louis kept his commitment to claudia, probably would have saved several lives...alas, tragedy.

like i keep saying, just say you don't see the chemistry in / can't support loumand, or prefer the chemistry / want to support loustat. but claiming that louis never fell in love with armand prior to claudia's murder - that just is not supported by the show's text.

just fyi, i think saintarmand has a great answer to a similar ask, so i will also refer you to her response here.

[saintarmand]

just saw another iwtv fan doing the exact same thing. people were circulating racist jokes that are drawn from derogatory stereotypes in real life. but that fan instead of being mindful and actually learning from this, decided to laugh about it and be dismissive about the concerns.

caring about racism is a performative act for some individuals in this fandom and more of them decided to go mask off in these past few months. i'm done with these fake ass people.

most of the time when you're being called out for something, your initial response is going to be "no, that's not true" because of course you didn't INTEND to be racist. most people don't. it's usually not conscious at all. that's why it's important to sit with it and think about it for a while, maybe ask clarifying questions or do some research into the specific topic, see if there's something you missed. and even if you come out of that still thinking you personally weren't actually being racist, making fun of the person bringing it up is still a dick move. you can be polite to people even when you think they're wrong. more than likely they had a genuine concern, especially when it's someone talking about their own community. they've noticed a wider pattern of behavior that you were contributing to, and that can be true regardless of what you specifically were thinking about at the time, and the other person did not have access to your thought process, only what you said. an unconscious bias could easily have influenced your thoughts and feelings without you realizing it, that's what the majority of casual racism is. acting like people having concerns about that is an absurdity to be made fun of just contributes to the problem even more. it signals to other people that that's an acceptable way to behave, and discourages conversation.

[foreignswaggersession]

Vetted by: 1) gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #89 ) 2) a-shade-of-blue Here 3) 90-ghost Here 4) dlxxv-vetted-donations Here

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[betterthankanyebitch]

Queen of the Damned (2002)

[foreignswaggersession]

Thank you for your IWTV posts and clearing up misconceptions. Tbh I wouldn't be so annoyed if people weren't constantly determined to do as many bad faith readings as possible when it came to Louis and Armand's relationship. Like of course it was a very flawed and very complicated relationship, we know this! But it's so obvious when a fan is making a post about how it was "completely loveless and devoid of sexual intimacy" solely so their own otp could look better. So many examples that others have already pointed out, including that one take about Louis disliking the first TVD performance, so this means that he hates theater in general and prefers Lestat over Armand (excuse me, what?)

Also more than one person trying to say how loumand had more PDA and not just for Daniel in the Dubai interview. But that this meant "every affectionate gesture between them to ever happen including Paris was just for performance" and was not truly genuine compared to what was with Lestat? Um no shit, Louis and Lestat had more of their love scenes behind closed doors. But also consider the context with how things were in NOLA and Louis having to pose as another person (brother, business partner, etc) because of rumors surrounding him and his lover. How due to racial discrimination he couldn't even get into an opera house without playing Lestat's servant. Then skip forward to the 1940s when he believed he can actually be comfortable doing this openly "Paris was a formative sexual liberation", with him having those casual relationships with other men while cruising. To kissing and being affectionate with Armand in public and not give a damn who is watching or if he's being heckled for it. This isn't even trying to reduce Louis' previous relationships either or say they're less important, more that Louis' comfort with how he expressed his own sexuality and romantic gestures developed over time.

As for Dreamstat... guys he's an extension of Louis' inner thoughts (a complex mixture of emotions before Louis was ready to enter a new relationship), but he wasn't present during loumand sex scenes either... and Louis certainly wasn't having sex with Armand just for Dreamstat to watch??

Despite already knowing what's "endgame" some people still can't allow even a single moment of love, attraction and vulnerability between loumand to just exist without twisting it into something else, or making it actually about Lestat or Daniel while propping up their preferred pairing. good lord, I'm tired of this.

🥰thanks anon! i'm not as familiar with tv fandom so maybe i'm not understanding why people are so resistant to acknowledging louis's attraction to armand (even pre-claudia's murder) when they were together in canon. like in both the show and the book (and not in a future book, devil's minion stans). since when are people not allowed to enjoy different relationships at different times? i think it's silly to ignore or misrepresent whole sections of the plot just to feel like your favorite ship is the more romantic(?) or healthier (😂) ship, i guess? but yeah, recognizing any romance or attraction between louis and armand (especially from louis towards armand) makes some people angry, as though it undermines armand's abuse or any future relationship either party will have.

not much to add to what you said - the majority of fans only care about louis to the extent he cares about lestat, so they focus on dreamstat/lestat scenes in s2 and ignore the many scenes without him. then there are fans that can't let go of their s1 headcanons that conflict with new information from s2 (louis tops sometimes. it's just a fact now. please stop being weird about it.) i also hate the refusal to engage with louis's repeated statements about his changing relationship to his sexuality over time. his sexual preferences are not stuck in 1910, and i don't agree with pathologizing louis topping or having sex with men besides lestat (if you're not into it, just say that, but don't act like there's no evidence for louis enjoying a different sex life in the show).

i'm not a solo shipper and i love thinking about louis so it's not hard for me to imagine louis in multiple relationships (and in various positions 🥵), and lucky for me i get to see that on screen! cause that's what the show is about actually! louis! the titular vampire.

[foreignswaggersession]

to the anons who've messaged me about iwtv - thank you, i'm sorry for taking so long to respond, i'm not ignoring anyone, i just have a hard time staying on topic and i need to edit to make sure i'm responding. but my responses are coming