melannen: Commander Valentine of Alpha Squad Seven, a red-haired female Nick Fury in space, smoking contemplatively (Default)
melannen ([personal profile] melannen) wrote2018-12-08 12:27 am
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December Meme: What's your favorite physical non-living object? ; also Venom

So I pretty much took today off the internet in order to do a whole bunch of errands and finish the pinata (it is not finished, I got through about 3/4 of the errands) and also gave myself a couple of hours to go see Venom in second-run (there were three of us in the theater! I got a ticket and an entire bag of popcorn for less than $5! I mostly go second-run just because I never get around to it before first-run is over, but also, it's a really nice experience...) (I will probably also take most of tomorrow off the internet to actually *be* at the pinata party.(

Anyway the main things that came unexpectedly seeing the movie after reading a bunch of fic:
--Carlton Drake is not a white dude? Why would you cast Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake when you could have cast him as Eddie? Why is there not more fic with him - its Riz Ahmed!
--It was both less action move and less romcom than I was expecting it to be - it was more half indie romance and half monster movie 😶with Eddie as the manic pixie dream girl and Dan as the hero scientist.
--Fandom has picked up on the fact that Dan is absolutely solid in his relationship with Anne, but I'd love to see more stories pick up the fact that Anne seems less secure about it (...presumably due to bad experiences in other relationship...)
--Less obvious monster kink than I expected, more obvious Eddie-is-kinky than I expected.

Possibly related topic! Today's December prompt was: What's your favorite physical non-living object?

There was really only one possible answer, but I wasn't sure if he really counted as non-living, so I asked him, and he reminded me that one of his superpowers is becoming inanimate at will, therefore it was fine. So, here he is:

The amazing, the fantabulous
SUPER DROP-BEAR


(The reason this is a portrait instead of a photo is that I've done a series of portraits of him, dating back over thirty years, and it was past time for another one. Is it reasonable for me to go 'oh, a simple prompt this time! Time to learn charcoal portraiture? No. But did that stop me? No.)

SUPER DROP-BEAR does in fact have a secret identity as a mild-mannered teddy (koala) bear named K.B., but let's be honest, a koala bear named K.B. was never much of a secret identity. And these days, like most elderly Batmen, the supersuit serves partly as life support; he can only take it off under carefully controlled conditions (and then has to be sewn back in.)

He roams the night, protecting the endangered. The wicked beware - he will drop down on you from above, sharp claws at the ready, and rend yours ears bloody! In his pouch he carries the most powerful weapon of all - his library card (yes, he has a valid library card of his own! They told us to make one for a pet or stuffed animal or something in training, and they never told us to cancel it.)

He helps, in particular, small children, refugees, immigrants, trafficking victims, and anyone who is far away from home and feeling lost and alone - partly because of his heritage; Australian by blood, Korean by birth, and American by nurture. When he was young and lost and alone and in a strange country he was lucky enough to meet me, also lost and alone in a strange country (I'd only been here three days), and we helped each other, so he has made it his mission to help others. (I have made it my mission to one day be able to take him on a visit to Australia, even though he claims he doesn't mind if we never make it.)

(You might think the focus on immigrants and refugees and trafficking is recent, but I'm pretty sure everything in the previous paragraph is covered in a creative writing assignment I have somewhere, from first grade, where he was helping stuffed pandas and lions who had been unexpectedly shipped to America get back to their homes or find new families.)

(He is a dae-kor Potbelly bear. They came in various sizes and breeds; we have collected and adopted others we found in dangerous situations. The most relevant of the others is only known as Big Bear, because he is exactly the same size and shape relative to me as an adult as K.B. was when I was four, so now that K.B. is a little to fragile for most cuddles he has taken over the job. I highly recommend finding a scaled-up version of your favorite childhood hug and trying it; there is no comfort like suddenly having that again exactly like it was.)
musyc: Silver flute resting diagonally across sheet music (Default)

[personal profile] musyc 2018-12-08 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
He has the best biography! I've never been that detailed over my stuffed animals. That's an awesome world you've created for him.
jjhunter: Watercolor purple ruffled monster with mouthful of raw vegetables looks exceedingly self-pleased (veggie monster)

[personal profile] jjhunter 2018-12-08 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
K.B. sounds wonderful! And your drawing is delightful. :o)

I named my childhood cuddly 'Horance The Horse', and came up with a theme song for him I liked to sing to myself that explained, among other things, why his middle name was 'The'.
sylvaine: A gif of Venom sticking out their tongue from the 2018 Venom movie. The text overlay says "let's go, monsterfuckers, let's go" ([marvel:Venom] monsterfuckers)

[personal profile] sylvaine 2018-12-08 11:53 am (UTC)(link)
Wow, Super Drop Bear is delightful! And your decision to use this opportunity to learn charcoal portraiture feels very relatable :D

Carlton Drake is not a white dude? Why would you cast Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake when you could have cast him as Eddie?

Thiisssssss. Don't get me wrong, I think Tom Hardy does a great Eddie, and I love the movie/the fandom that resulted from the movie, but the absolutely weakest part of it for me was the decision to not cast the main villain as a white dude. It just... that's where my suspension of disbelief completely failed me. A MOC, acting like that, in today's US, and getting away with it (until superhero shenanigans)? I just... no. Let Riz Ahmed play Eddie!
sylvaine: Dark-haired person with black eyes & white pupils. ([gen:sj] in ur history emphasizin ur que)

[personal profile] sylvaine 2018-12-11 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeppp. It was just... nah.

(That's true, but I don't think the issues would have been worse than they were with Carlton Drake, at least. And man, I think it would have worked really well with the whole underdog vibe he's got going anyway.)
marginaliana: Buddy the dog carries Bobo the toy (Default)

[personal profile] marginaliana 2018-12-08 01:28 pm (UTC)(link)
An excellent choice for this question! Super Drop Bear has such a compelling story.
seascribble: a wolf holds half a watermelon in its mouth (wolfermelon)

[personal profile] seascribble 2018-12-08 02:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Super Drop Bear's ears look incredibly soft and fluffy. <3_______<3

Carlton Drake absolutely should have been a white dude (he is in the comics, not that they bear too much relation to the film); I can't imagine what a Riz Ahmed Eddie would have looked like but now I desperately want to see it. I wonder if he would still have ended up in the lobster tank.
peoriapeoriawhereart: blond and brunet men peer intently (Napoleon & Illya peer)

[personal profile] peoriapeoriawhereart 2018-12-09 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
Apparently that was Tom Hardy improv-ing.

But, there is always re-watching and conceptualizing how Riz Ahmed would have approached Eddie. Or, Dan. For that matter, recast Ann as Andy, and shift the actor of Ann over to Dan's role, Riz as Andy could be interesting.

Now that I've instigated 5 times fic I exit pursued by a bear.
peoriapeoriawhereart: blond and brunet men peer intently (Napoleon & Illya peer)

[personal profile] peoriapeoriawhereart 2018-12-10 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Has a method of writing prose 'in-world' versions of films developed? I ask because Fantastic Four...
seascribble: the view of boba fett's codpiece and smoking blaster from if you were on the ground (Default)

[personal profile] seascribble 2018-12-11 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
This comment is incredible and I salute you.
cadenzamuse: Cross-legged girl literally drawing the world around her into being (Default)

[personal profile] cadenzamuse 2018-12-09 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
I love Super Drop-Bear!

My parents have a story I wrote and illustrated about my teddy bear, Grey Bear (guess what color he is), in kindergarten. Apparently he didn't want to hibernate, so I found him out in the woods and rescued him. I am fairly certain that Grey Bear was a therapist long before I knew what therapists were--he always said such smart, comforting things. (He now lives at the head of my bed, between my and Spouse's pillows.)