beauty and terror

[paper-daisy]

Is it weird that I'm pleased that all Boyd did this episode was trip-sit Jade as he sat frozen in his chair for hours? Like, that's got to be the least strenuous duty Boyd has had to do for a while. I hope he enjoyed it. I hope he put on some Enya.

[paper-daisy]

From theory -

Tabitha's past life was a witch.

That somewhat crazy reaction from that man in her past life --what I think was her original past life -- throwing her dolls into the lake could be an indication that the villages already hated and feared her, that they knew she was capable of some terrible things. Because what happened soon after? The man died and representations of her dolls came to 'avenge' her. Feels like something a vengeful little girl with no idea what her powers could do might manifest.

Miranda painted Fromville years before she got trapped there, Tabitha dreamed about it - no-one else has had a connection to Fromville like that because they're not *magical* (for lack of a better word) like Tabitha and her past lives.

Jade's original past life was probably loyal to his wife and learned similar parts of the craft, even if he isn't innately gifted. Perhaps Spike-In-Eye is the original, which is why he was the one offering blood from a skull, begging Jade to 'remember'.

Tabitha being a witch could be why the village turned on Jade's past self before the monsters could, because look at some of the murders - spike in the head and crushed to death are both methods of killing witches/supernatural beings. They're both things scared people do to appease 'the gods'.

It could also explain that while Jade is murdered, Tabitha's fate is 'worse'.

Anyways, that's all just speculation.

[paper-daisy]

From theory - you're already in Fromville before you see the tree.

There are people asking 'what happens if you just go around the tree?' which as a motorcyclist, is something I have thought about because I would do that. It would take a bit of skill but it could be done.

But I think that even if you got around the tree, you would just come upon the same tree again and again until you turned back because - according to another theory I've seen on tiktok - you have actually already arrived in Fromville before you reach the tree.

It was pointed out that when the Stevens family first arrive, at the 8:01 mark of S01E08, Broken Windows, Open Doors, there is a weird glitch in the scenery. I've tried to break it down in pictures -

It also happens at the exact moment Boyd talks about a 'smooth transition' and is very startling when you know what you're looking for. The background repeats even as the car is speeding along.

Glitch? Or on purpose? Am I overthinking things?

[gildedruin]

Happy franchaela season 5 to all who celebrate!!!!! 💗

[simoneashley]

Next season, love begins again.

[paper-daisy]

Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson in a production of Much Ado About Nothing when???

[paper-daisy]

I mean, l love how it was the necklace that triggered the realization but ...

How could they not bring up the glove???

I mean, the angst of it, there could've been something like -

"And then I found the glove, one I would recognize anywhere as I have carried its twin with me ever since that night. Both of which you left behind in your hurry to leave me."

It could've been the same pair that Sophie would wear to the Queen's ball! It's Cinderella!!! If not the glass slipper, why not the glove???

[probablyasocialecologist]

“If I was “free,” as so many male writers have been free, I would be impoverished. Why should all my time be my own, just because I write books? There are human responsibilities, and those include responsibilities to daily life, to common human work. I mean, cleaning up, cooking, all the work that must be done over and over all one’s life, and also the school concert and the impossible geometry homework and so on. Responsibility is privilege. If you delegate that work to others, you’ve copped out of the very source of your writing, which after all is life, isn’t it, just living, people living and working and trying to get along.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin: The Last Interview and Other Conversations

[animentality]

I sometimes think about the letter KA Applegate posted for her fans who were disappointed by the ending of her series, and while I understand simply not liking how a story ends, I really respect her reasoning.

Like you can dislike the ending, that's fine.

But her reasoning is very interesting to read. And I really enjoy the framing of the anti war message.

[zarohk]

You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents.

K. A. Applegate, May 2001, 6 months before the start of the US-Afghanistan War.

[paper-daisy]

Loved loved loved season 4 of Bridgerton but ...

Releasing the season in chucks is not it, simply because it doesn't allow the fandom to breathe. For any kind of story, particularly romantic, I feel that weekly is best. The suspense, the anticipation, the buildup, it's all necessary to keeping fandom alive. Famine and feast is not it.

Weekly could allow artists to work on their craft without the pressure to binge something immediately, and then languish for a month. People would be free to talk about it at length without the fear that not everyone has binged it yet. There wouldn't be this sense of urgency to consume the media, but rather to just enjoy it in reasonable installments. Just look at Heated Rivalry.

'Water-cooler shows' were the best - because everyone would watch one episode a week, then chat about it 'around the water-cooler'. It was communal.

You'd think a genre like this would appreciate the importance of foreplay.

[paper-daisy]

Footman John: Gotta make sure there's no fucking in this house.

Hazel I-Studied-Under-The-Nobel-Mrs-Wilson-Patron-Saint-Of-Making-Sure-There's-Fucking-In-This-House: Absolutely disgusting, not happening on my watch.

[prokopetz]

Frankly, generative AI is being given too much credit for the devaluation of art and labour. Dipshits who think the Idea Guy is the only one doing any real work and everyone else is a mere technician who should be grateful they're permitted to be involved at all have been a thing for as long as art has been a thing.

[prokopetz]

(This is why you'll never get anywhere accusing folks boo-hooing about "prompt theft" of hypocrisy, incidentally. No hypocrisy is present if you genuinely believe that Idea Guys are the only people whose labour has value, and a great many of these folks do in fact believe that.)

[prokopetz]

"Isn't that kind of a strawman? Surely no one actually, literally believes that Idea Guys are the only people who perform real labour"

[paper-daisy]

What if ... John dies ... and then Francesca finds out that she's pregnant?

[by-ilmater]

YOU'RE A REGULAR WRITER! YOU CAN CRAFT A COMPLETE SENTENCE! YOU'RE A REGULAR WRITER! YOU USE THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF COMMAS! YOU'RE A REGULAR WRITER! YOUR PROSE IS GOOD AND RIGHT! YOU'RE A REGULAR WRITER! EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS YOUR VISION!

[wovi]

[krispycl0uds]

This one resonated with me

[glconnoisseur]

Why Benophie is a great ship

I saw a few posts on TikTok and Twitter saying that its difficult to engage with Benedict and Sophie as a couple because they don't understand why they need to be together. I thought it was rather obvious but I'll make an attempt at explaining why I believe they work so well.

Benedict is the second brother. The spare. This troubles him deeply as was shown in his interaction with the noble women at the masquerade ball when he jokes about being the second one. His entire life was marked by the fact that he was technically important but not really. Not unless something happened to Anthony.

He's not driven enough to go into academia or the military to try and build a life for himself - as most second and third sons did- and he doesn't care much for the restrictions of society. The one thing he did care about was his art. He was deeply attached to his identity as a misunderstood and tortured artist. When he found out that his art wasn't good enough to get into his dream school it broke his spirit and he retreated into himself. Drowning himself in pleasure to avoid ever having to strive and fail again.

The problem with Benedict's art and his life is he is too comfortable. He never has to take himself or his craft seriously which is why he has failed to reach the levels he expected of himself. Beyond that, he is such a harsh critic of everything he manages to create he doesn't fail as much as he needs too in order to obtain the mastery he desires.

He is miserable and no one sees it because no one takes him seriously. No one except Sophie. She sees beyond his charming facade. She challenges his ideas. She dares him to take himself and his art seriously. That's why he's so drawn to her.

On Sophie's end she's so divorced from the luxury of her childhood. So used to noblemen glancing past her like she's part of the furniture that Benedict's attention disarms her. He is kind to her. He looks past her station and tries to see and understand her. He forces her to rest. He shows her be joyous and playful. He listens to her. He values her opinion. They balance each other out really well. If you think about their dynamic for five seconds it becomes painfully obvious why they work. Bridgerton has never been subtle.

[paper-daisy]

4x01 - The Lady in Silver and the Footman 4x04 - Sophie and John