This Is Still One Of The Most Heartwarming Martin Edits I’ve Ever Seen. The Trouble Is That I Saw It

Oooo spaaarkly! I love the kitty’s eyes :)

Also I saw these before I read the comics and I definitely found myself picturing these animations when I came to these frames.

The Zones

Hehehehehe silly kitty :) Also I reaaaally want to pet its fluffy little belly <3 

Side note, no one let me near an actual snow leopard. I would definitely get myself mauled. BUT.... KITTY!!

The majestic snow leopard

I should probably mention the main reason I was in a space pirate mood today: Skyvault. As a kickstarter backer I got to preview the pilot yesterday and today, and I am feeling all of the hype--I want to binge it but the show doesn’t even exist (beyond what I’ve seen) yet! 

[I ramble at length about my experience of and feelings about Skyvault below, with somewhat of a pilot review mixed haphazardly in. There shouldn’t really be spoilers but some may consider some of it as such so read with caution.]

I mean, to be fair, I knew a great deal of the pilot’s plot before seeing it, mostly from watching all of the Q&A’s Door Monster’s already done on it, and also partly from the audition scenes I got to read when I auditioned for it... a year ago already I guess, wow. Time is weird. (I didn’t get a part in it, if you were wondering, but looking back on my audition tapes, they were kind of a train wreck and I have definitely come a ways as an actress in the past year, though of course I have a ways to go.)

But yeah, it’s pretty cool having the forbidden knowledge of the audition scenes--obviously I won’t say much, but when Ian mentioned in the Q&A that Truman’s favorite soup would become a plot point down the line I actually had a pretty good idea what he was referring to, and (assuming I’m right) that was 100% my favorite scene to read for (even though I wasn’t actually in the age range of the character I was reading and so in terms of professionalism I probably shouldn’t’ve included that in the audition, but pretending to be that old woman was also the best acting I did so there were pros and cons.)

But yeah, that’s just to say I did already know a significant portion of what the pilot would be before watching it, which is probably why I must admit I felt like not a ton actually happened in it plot-wise. There were also definitely things I wanted to see developed more in depth--Jay’s relationship with his friend and worldbuilding stuff in particular. It did feel like it moved a little too quickly, although as Kyle explained in the Q&A the pilot isn’t going to be exactly how the first episode will be if/when they get picked up but rather a summary of the show which they’ll use to help sell it, which is reassuring. So, its main weaknesses for me were plot depth, pacing, and world-development, and I have confidence that those were either influenced by my knowing too much ahead of time, or among the things that they’re already planning to fix going forwards, so I think hopefully my current critiques of it will dissolve with time. It really just deserves to be a longer first episode than it was so it can develop itself better.

The best thing about the Skyvault pilot, I’d say, was the characters. I fell instantly in love with both Jay and Truman. At one point I referred to them both as “shards of my soul”. Jay is delightfully enthusiastic about everything and addicted to adventure; he is far too happy in the face of potential death. He’s the hero who has completely idealized and romanticized adventure and is just so deeply in love with it that he plunges headlong into danger and grins in the face of death traps. 

The only character I may love more than Jay is Truman. I said right away that he reminded me of a live action Milo from Atlantis, and in the Q&A they told us that Milo was one of the main inspirations for the character other than Ian (acknowledging my comment while doing so, which always feels great). Being deeply in love with Milo and all awkward adventurous academics, it was inevitable that I would love Truman, and he certainly did not disappoint. I don’t want to spoil it, but there’s a reveal with him that is brilliant and hilarious and beautiful. I also love how they’ve already displayed his internal conflict between earnestly wanting adventure and discovery versus his tendency towards fearfulness (“I’m done being safe.” vs. “The things we do are extremely dangerous.” “How extremely?”). 

To put it in Harry Potter terms, Truman is my inner Ravenclaw and Jay is my inner Thunderbird, and I love them both dearly. 

I will admit I don’t relate to Kat nearly as much, but I’m sure I’ll come to love her as time goes on. There was already a moment when she and Truman touched hands and I’m such shipper trash that I’m already fully prepared to ship it, haha. I mean I’m still flexible on ships at this early stage, but like, I’m ready. 

They’ve also done a great job with kickbutt female characters and diversity. There are already several women who display a range of strengths in different ways but who are all capable of handling themselves, and it bodes well for an epic series. 

It also has, of course, that signature Door Monster humor. The actors have done a good job of being characters based on the Door Monster cast but not exactly them, and the whole thing has DM’s signature inventiveness and I am so ready to find out more. 

And, yes, as I stated, this is primarily what caused me to go on a space pirate bingeposting spree today. 

Anyways, this review, like my Skyvault audition tapes, is a bit of a trainwreck, but I am now too tired to edit it properly so for now I’m just going to toss it into the merciless void of the internet. 

New official poster for Skyvault as the pilot enters post production

Yes, this is definitely my favorite Gerard hair :) The color, the shape, and the softness are all on point. 

Day 57: “Sniper”

If you get this and would like - answer with 3 random facts about yourself and send it to the last 7 blogs in your notifications, anonymously or not! Let’s get to know the person behind the blog!

1. Not to copy the person I got this ask from, but I also have two cats! Their names are Maple and Willa :) They were abandoned as kittens so we actually bottle fed them and raised them from when they were only a few weeks old, and now they’re super clingy because my mom and I are collectively their mom cats <3 Also, Willa is actually my blog icon. So, in fairness, I suppose I should post a picture of boy cat (as we often call Maple):

Here he is helping me do yoga. 

Also here’s another picture of Willa because she’s beautiful and adorable.

2. I sometimes suspect I might be tone deaf. I’ve been trying to tune my guitar but I have a terrible time telling if the notes on the guitar are higher or lower than the notes on the tuner. I used to have a tuner that just made a buzzing sound and I really couldn’t make heads nor tails of that since the sound it made was nothing like the one my guitar makes; I don’t get how people can do things like that, where they can get a pitch from one sounding thing and make it match up with a completely different sounding thing. It’s like when people take a note from a piano and sing it. Seriously, if it’s not the same sound then how do you tell if you’re at the same pitch as it? But anyways, I found this online guitar tuner that actually makes guitar sounds and I’ve been getting closer to being able to tune my guitar. I still had to ask my mom a couple of times whether I was higher or lower than the note on the tuner, but eventually I got it fiddled in and I think the first three strings on my guitar are actually pretty much in tune now. They certainly sound better than before, at least. (I can generally tell “good” or “not good”, more or less, even if I can’t always tell whether the “not good” is higher or lower.) I was going to try and tune the other three strings but Willa, speaking of whom, decided that she was more important than my musical endeavors and climbed up on my chest to demand attention. Fortunately, the first three strings are all I need to play Ode to Joy, which is the only piece I can play from memory. Despite the fact that I first took guitar lessons in 6th grade, I am still very much a beginner.

3. I have been idly thinking about dyeing my hair something between red and purple since… probably around middle school, but I’ve never done so. I have had roughly the same length and color of hair all of my life, basically. I’ve been thinking about it much more seriously of late (partially thanks to my current MCR obsession, between Gerard and the Killjoys), and I was generally thinking that after the current play I’m in, (which is the Crucible, and being historic, discourages unnaturally bright hair colors,) I might finally dye it. The rub, though, is that our play, which was supposed to happen this very weekend, is postponed indefinitely, what with all this pandemic business. So, now I’m not sure how long I need to wait before I dye my hair. But anyways, I found this blog post and this woman’s hair is pretty much exactly what I’m wanting color-wise. 

Bonus fact, I am pretty much incapable of giving short, simple answers, haha. I’ve always been inclined to overexplain, I guess. 

Also, you may have thought you saw me accidentally answer this ask before I was ready, but that definitely didn’t happen. Pfffffft I have no clue what you’re talking about. I know how to tumblr. 

It's wild because I have exactly one episode of Vampire Diaries left and I've been saving it since *checks blog* a little over a week ago (versus the six episodes a night I was watching back in season 1) and I keep telling myself I have to watch the ending if only so I know what I'm working with in fic but also I do want to see the return of Elena (and Katherine) but also I don't want to see Stefan die (or Damon and Elena in a flashforward apparently? How will they have time for all this, honestly?) but I do want to see how they manage to break the curse with Bonnie still alive (but maybe it wouldn't be so bad to write my fic without knowing) but I don't know. I'm notorious for not watching the last few episodes of shows I love (White Collar, Psych, Once Upon a Time, although that last I ragequit over many minor grievances with multiple seasons left so it's not really the same thing) but I keep telling myself that if you don't watch the end of a thing then you just have less of the thing that you love but like I turned the TV on to watch it just now and I'm actually so nervous? I both do and don't want to watch it so intensely, so I had to open up tumblr and blog about it. I could save it another week but I want to watch it before the intensity of my obsession starts to fade but I know this is going to hurt me, emotionally and profoundly. Maybe I can stretch it out to two episodes by stopping in the middle or something idk. But aaaaaaaaa I don't know I'm not ready but I feel like I have to watch it. Help me I don't know. I need some of you internet people to come over and watch this with me or something lol I don't know. I'm so nervous I'm not prepared but I don't want to put this off forever either. And once it's done I could start rewatching. But like, aaaaaaaaa!!

I love when a gifset is epic and powerful, and then you look up the song that it’s set to and it just gets that much more epic and powerful with the music sweeping behind it. I’ve found some darn good songs from gifsets, too. This set is just wonderfully done. 

I can’t decide if I want El to get her powers back in season 4, or if it would be better for her to be free of them... I mean it’d be nice to have them back, but maybe she’s safer without them... 

carry your flame, carry it higher // torches - x ambassadors

The other ships will still be looking to us, to the Black Pearl, to lead, and what will they see? Frightened bilge rats aboard a derelict ship? No, no they will see free men and freedom! And what the enemy will see, they will see the flash of our cannons, and they will hear the ringing of our swords, and they will know what we can do! By the sweat of our brow and the strength of our backs and the courage in our hearts! Gentlemen, hoist the colours!

This is the pinnacle of art.

I mean, it spans the full range of emotion. Mystery and curiosity, struggle and anger, generosity and adorableness, it has it all. And what greater art is there than cats?

babies!!!

art by: watercatlor - pls do not remove credit

The more I think about Victorian Christmas traditions and Spike, the more I wonder whether this may’ve been a Christmas party. It probably isn’t, given the lack of Christmas decorations, and I suppose there are plenty of other occasions for which Victorians might throw a party, but I still enjoyed the thought of it being one as I imagined it yesterday. (Also, even if it isn’t one, I’m quite sure Mr. William Pratt would’ve also gone to Christmas parties, and they probably would’ve looked a lot like this but perhaps with a few more pine boughs and red ribbons.)

I also recently discovered this podcast from the Weird Christmas blog, which has fit well with the cravings for Victorian Christmas traditions Spike's awakened in me. I already talked about Spike and Christmas ghost stories, in this post and a bit more in my tags on my reblogs of that podcast on blagueofchaos, but another thing mentioned in that podcast was Victorians playing hide and go seek at a Christmas party. I would just like you to join me in imagining sweet little William the Bloody playing hide and go seek at a fancy Victorian high society Christmas party. 

I just... I really love pre-turn Spike and thinking about him and Victorian-ness and Christmas things. 

William “Spike” Pratt | Fool for Love (5.7)