hendrix

iwtv, half man, kcd2, jjba

[ukedulac]

the finale making a point to connect when lestat was forced to watch the witches burn and when lestat forced claudia to watch charlie burn was the equivalent of when in del toro’s frankenstein victor is called the real monster

[mottesk]

~nom

henry always smells like flowers

[stventricle]

quick loubelle and beastat <3

[pinacoladamatata]

kiss your squire on the floor feel his heartbeat beneath your palm

[kr1santhemum]

obligatory brokeback gavries

[apoptoses]

just go into the streets and call me out why don't you tumblr

[ukedulac]

#MEEEEEE

[ukedulac]

episode three is BEYOND promising but i had really hoped by three episodes into the show, they would have tried harder to convey that louis and lestat are star-crossed lovers that would ultimately sacrifice everyone and choose eachother over everything, including their own daughter. i feel like it only truly happened when daniel called louis “the story”.

i understand only three episodes are out right now, but with seven episodes, i wish the first three made a bigger effort to reaffirm that louis isn’t just “the ex” as his poster says. is louis not his husband? is louis not the father of his daughter? have they not both killed eachother? do they not share an unspeakable grief for claudia only they can understand?

an understandable rebuttal would usually be “louis wasn’t born yet”, which is completely valid, except that this season clearly isn’t telling the story in a linear or coherent fashion that aligns with reality. lets say hypothetically louis isn’t in the story because they’re building pivotal moments of lestat’s backstory, makes sense. but that isn’t quite happening. we’ve already skimmed gabrielle’s turning and we didn’t get to see lestat fight any wolves, and we didn’t see lestat play lelio as a teen and nicki is turned off screen and dies off screen. i should probably trust the process but i can’t help but wonder what exactly is being built?

[ukedulac]

no yeah i’m very normal about this

[ukedulac]

i was considering replaying vampyr (2018) but i just remembered it forces you into a heterosexual romance no matter what options you choose. not on MY pride month, no thank you! but honestly i’m not angry that its part of the story and required, i just dislike when games give you the illusion of choice when it comes to romance. the game gives the player dialogue options that are completely platonic but you end up romancing her all the same.

i think geralt and yennefer are good examples of a required romance done right, they’re very natural and established, built across books for decades. the player isn’t blindsided by this. yeah, blindsided is definitely the word i was looking for. back to vampyr; i have mixed yet ultimately positive feelings about the story and i think the story is generally the main driving point (as many games that are lackluster in combat but rich in story are). vampire the masquerade bloodlines 2 has fun and unique combat, but the transportation is a huge bummer to me, because a lot of the game is simply playing messanger and running back and forth to three different areas.

i LOVE vampires games, and these are two vampire games that actually focus on being a vampire, i became very disillusioned with vampyr’s combat after playing for a couple hours, and vampire the masquerade bloodlines 2 with travel, so the games end up resting entirely on the storytelling. i know i sound super harsh but i DO like these games, but i desperately need more as a video game lover and a vampire lover. i’m looking forward to the blood of the dawnwalker this fall, i don’t know about the romance situation (if there’s a romance system i pray you can be bisexual, whats the point of a straight vampire) it looks interesting gameplay and storywise either way though.

[dimorisik]

“you’re like a big cat, les”

[ukedulac]

replaying bg3 and literally found baby erik

[ukedulac]

in the beginning of the episode raglan has a very lestat-esque disposition already but i’ve played these games with him before. i’m wary of a red herring.

[ukedulac]

unfortunately it’ll take me a couple days to stop being bitter by episode 1’s clearly disproportionate amount of explicity we see when lestat has sex with women vs men. they get full groin to ass, thighs slapping against vaginal penetration and explicit cunnilingus meanwhile the past gay sex scenes we have had were above the waist, faded to black and an offscreen blowjob.

and no i’m not mad lestat’s bisexual, i’m worried about the scarcity of gay intimacy and/or lust that is shown while this show airs during one of the most fascist eras in america. gabrielle is a prevelant character in lestat’s life and they are having sex, which only increases my anxiety that incest is less disturbing to executives than gay sex. game of thrones has already done this.

[ukedulac]

i do think it’s also a bit poetic, all the men who’ve hurt claudia all get to forgive eachother, while she’s dead and nothing can change that. even when season 2’s ending has a much more fulfilling ending than that of the first book, the fact that even seventy years later after her death, and her memory is still being used to either absolve louis’s guilt or being exploited comercially, that leaves an empty and withering feeling inside.

louis and lestat get to grieve and hug, for a moment atleast. louis and armand get to smile at eachother at the auction. lestat’s not talking to louis because of the book yet the man who published the book without louis’s consent is “dan”. and i guess lestat’s also chill with sam barclay, the man who wrote the baby lulu plays, the minstrel shows that killed her passion for performing, who also wrote the script for the trial next to santiago.

it poses a personally interesting question to me, do these vampires ever truly change? can cycles be broken if you’re immortal? are you bound to fall back into your old habits? are they frozen in the same dispositions they have when they were turned? states of fear, or grief, or arousal? will they continue to hurt claudia long after her death?

[ukedulac]

usually the writers have things of this significance planned out a season beforehand, so louis just forgetting or lying about the scars on lestat’s chest feels so half-baked. in tvl after dark, jacob himself said it just makes louis look like a liar. i’m not necessarily angry, i’m just confused.

it just feels like its in the same writing caliber as rolin and hannah deciding one day to simply rename gabrielle because she’s italian. it’s an insignificant detail in the service of realism in fictitious work where realism doesn’t matter. vampires don’t exist.

[adamraczek]

half man (2026) // late in the long apprenticeship, carl phillips

[gruntsandpoetry]

Sam Red and Jacob Anderson behind the scenes for GQ Hype