Labeth Midori

she/her • ace • blogging random thoughts & art

[labeth-midori]

The other week my dad & I were listening to a podcast discussing people’s top 5 James Bond movies, so I thought I’d share my 5 personal favourites.

5. Casino Royale

4. Dr No

3. The Living Daylights

2. Tomorrow Never Dies

1. Goldeneye

[labeth-midori]

Cristina Vee & Carrie Keranen in Miraculous Ladybug

Cristina Vee & Carrie Keranen in Madoka Magica

I just found out the other day that Alya & Mami share the same voice actress. And the idea of Cristina & Carrie being besties in one franchise & rivals/enemies in another entertains me.

[labeth-midori]

So, this is basically what happened when I started re-watching some of Code Geass.

“Ah, Liam O’Brien is so fun as Lloyd.”

“Oh, Travis Willingham is here too.”

“What?! Laura Bailey’s in this as Rakshata?!”

“Are there any other Critical Role cast members in this show?!”

Checks & finds Sam Reigel is Clovis.

“Bloody hell!”

[labeth-midori]

My dad is struggling to remember the names of some of The Odyssey characters, so these are some nicknames he’s come up with instead.

Telemarketing - Telemachus

Miscellaneous - Menelaus

Agepanthus - Agamemnon

[labeth-midori]

I didn’t want to say this about Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, but Epic the Musical is a better adaptation

[labeth-midori]

Hey so, Elsa Fogen’s blog got banned without any warning. So far there’s no explanation to why this happened.

Ознакомьтесь с сообществом «Elsa Fogen the Artist» в Discord. Весело проводите время с участниками сообщества, которых уже 351 чел., и польз

[labeth-midori]

How have I never known that not only is Jeremy Jordan in the Death Note musical, but that he played freaking Light Yagami?!

[labeth-midori]

Continuing my venting of book frustrations, I need to vent about Shadow Reaper by Lynette Noni.

Now, I’d been looking forward to Shadow Reaper since it was first announced & I was really excited to get to go to the book launch especially since I’d missed the launch for Wandering Wild (btw loved that book).

But, as I listened to the interview, I started to have doubts. This gnawing feeling in my gut that I was going to be disappointed in this book. (Perhaps if I’d actually kept up the author’s social media posts about the book, I would’ve thought known better.) And a big WTF moment at the launch happened when I learnt the author had been told to cut a supporting female character because editors said there were “too many strong female characters in the story already.” Again, WTF! Also, this character was replaced by a male character who hated the female lead for stupid reasons (hating someone who has done nothing to you just because their parents messed up in the past is idiotic).

I was hoping for something like The Medoran Chronicles, the series that got me into Noni’s work and whisked me into a fantastical world with characters I loved. That is not what I got.

Viri the lead was just a “meh” character. She would do stupid things because it would make the plot dramatic. Though I can’t blame all her poor decisions on her. Half the time bad things happen because other characters go “oh you won’t believe us” or “we don’t have time explain it”.

Reese, no sorry Reeve (the love interest) does this so much it’s not even funny. And if me mixing up his name didn’t give it away, this guy just felt like a reskinned Rhysand, complete with the same physical description.

The supporting characters were a mixed bag, some I didn’t really care about, others I wanted to see more of instead of the main characters. Wynter (Viri’s best friend) was one such character. She’s secretly studying alchemy, a forbidden form of magic that she has to keep secret from her mother & only her best friends know the truth. I wanted to see way more of what she was up to over Viri or Reeve.

And I need to gripe about Jessalyn, a character who’s meant to be nearly 14 but written & treated by other characters like she’s 10 or younger. Her character didn’t even need to be 14, so why not just make her 10?

The magic didn’t feel that complicated but it felt like the book was trying to over complicate things with over explanations.

The romance was not engaging. I would often skim read those sections. And I hate saying that because I love a fun romantic subplot, but this one was not fun.

The only interesting thing about this book was the plot twists, but that’s all I was reading it for. When I read, I want to be thinking “Ooh, I can’t wait to see what happens next” not “Ok, what’s the next plot twist.”

I will still read the sequel when it comes out to see out to see how things end, but seeing an author whose previous work I have adored publish something that just panders to popular tropes and relies on “shocking” plot twists to keep people reading is just disheartening.

[labeth-midori]

Book trends that are currently driving me up the wall:

• Duologies - Nearly everything is a goddamn duology & they always feel like 1 book that’s been split in two. So the first book never feels like it ends. It just stops.

• You can’t be the main character unless you have a tragic backstory.

• The male love interest having “golden skin, black hair, an uncommon eye colour, & so many muscles”.

• Also the male love interest being a bad boy who’s actually good but he won’t say he is until the plot says it’s the most dramatic.

• Side characters hating the main character for asinine reasons because we need to have someone who’s not the villain hate them.

• Enemies-to-lovers romance - I used to like it, but it’s everywhere at the moment so it has to be really special for me to actually care.

• Cliffhanger endings. Save it for later books, not the first one.

[labeth-midori]

Watching Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Me: I can’t believe this movie came out in the 80s

The 80s synth music kicks in

Me: Now I can

[labeth-midori]

Hot take for the Dark Knight trilogy: Bruce & Rachel’s relationship would’ve been better if it was platonic & not romantic.

I was re-watching Batman Begins the other day & in all their interactions (barring the last one at burned down Wayne Manor) none of it read as romantic to me. There was love between the characters, but it felt more like the love of two friends who’ve known each other forever.

And in my opinion, the romance sours their relationship. This is largely because it’s an unrequited romance where Rachel can’t love Bruce for who he is (which if you ask me doesn’t sound like real love) & Bruce holds onto this false hope that he & Rachel can be together when he’s no longer Batman.

Imagine if there was none of this romantic drama & they were just close friends. Rachel would still be very important to Bruce because she’s the one friend he has who isn’t an older mentor & knows the real him, rather than the facade he puts on for everyone else. And you’d avoid the stupid love triangle between Bruce, Rachel & Harvey.

Not every Batman movie needs romance.

[labeth-midori]

Watching the Burton & Schumacher Batman movies.

Villains barging in when Bruce is trying to have an emotional moment with his love interest.

Me in my best Fizzarolli voice: “Trying to have a fucking emotional moment here!”

[alastors-totally-canon-deertail]

Alastor’s ears give me the exact same brand of cuteness aggression I used to get with Inuyasha’s ears.

[labeth-midori]

Finally got to see Heathers the Musical live on stage. Here are a few bits things I want to shout out:

• Veronica’s actress having amazing comedic timing & some hysterical facial expressions

• Heather C towering over Veronica

• JD mouthing “What the f***?” after the “My Dead Gay Son” number

• Both Kurt & Ram peck popping when they stripped their shirts off

[labeth-midori]

Scene from my Radiojoy fic Locked Out of Heaven.

Context: Canon divergent AU where Heaven’s lockdown traps Emily in Hell when she goes to tell Charlie about Sir Pentious’ redemption. Staying at the hotel until she can get home, Emily figures out Alastor is injured & spies on him to try & find out more. Unfortunately, Emily isn’t very stealthy & soon gets caught by Alastor.

[labeth-midori]

Me after hearing Epic the Musical is getting adapted into an animated movie

[dailyalastor]

[labeth-midori]

Reblogging this because I find these shots fascinating. Especially how Rosie’s ethereal hand completely encircles Alastor, but he ignores it. He’s so focused on obtaining the power he sought, he doesn’t acknowledge how he’s going to be entrapped.