The Mad Poet

@novelistASH I loveeeee to rant if you can't tell from my other announcements lol

@Glory_feeling2 Thank you! I'm so jealous - I am a huge movie person and 80s is a time I wish I could've experienced or lived through, even though I've been told how privileged I am to grown up in this period...I watch movies like Pretty in Pink or Say Anything, and just think wow I'd love to have friends like that.
            
            I feel like even the 'outcasts' of this generation are still following this whole trend.

@Millany_Kelly_Green Thank you!! I feel like every person I talk to is just citing an opinion from a reel or trend. And 'era of softness and brainrot' I completely agree with 100%. Everyone and everything always has to be perfect and lazy and chill. No one's passionate about anything. 
            
            Something interesting however - I've found a lot of solace at punk shows. It's so funny and amazing to see the punk crowd still strong and the only ones with true individuality and expression, who are able to talk with real, intelligent satire and irony and act without insecurity and be BOLD.  I feel like I can actually breathe.

@TheMadPoetGold Do you have any intention of releasing more poems yourself? I like your voice.

@novelistASH love these ideas!! And don't worry, she will definitely be getting her hands dirty, I'm trying to make her both likeable but with a super strong personality and way of seeing the world. Short hair Zel is also coming. 
            
            I know what you mean about balancing the visual elements. There's a lot of ways to do that than just using like the stereotypical tacky scenery and clothing. It's also about the characters and the way they interact with the world, the creatures and colours and weather and moodiness. I'm also taking some inspo from Wizard of Oz for the colours scheme––you'll see why. 
            
            Going to try and write a few chapters more so I can post on a weekly basis!

@TheMadPoetGold Steampunk is such a difficult genre for prose! It is such a visual genre. I've only read a few steampunk stories but they've all struggled to balance all of the visual elements in a way that feels compelling.
            
            I think Zel x Flynn in a steampunk setting sounds like a lot of fun, especially if you keep the Mother Gothel stuff. Steampunk is generally a dark genre, so I'm interested to see what you mean by that, especially with Princess Bride and Labyrinth as comps. Dark steampunk makes me think of clockwork prosthetic limbs, cthulu-humans in top hats, and debilitating smog.
            
            What I personally would love to see from this kind of story is Flynn working with Mother Gothel to break down Zel's need for independence. Maybe even going full dark and having both of them willingly imprisoned by Gothel by the end, but I'd also be fine with a happy ending after Gothel is defeated. I'd love to see Zel get her hands dirty. Oh, I really want her hair cut earlier if there's a happy ending because short hair Zel is great and under represented.
            
            Great job with the writing progress! Keep writing what's fun!

@TheMadPoetGold Awesome!

@taicardi thank you <3

@novelistASH I so love 80s fantasy and Hook just perfectly captures it (I put it on this shelf with The Labyrinth, Neverending Story, Hercules, and Princess Bride). I love the lack of CGI––when they knew it didn't look totally real and had to rely on visual art and storytelling. 
            
            You should totally watch Pump Up the Volume, I really loved it in high school, it's this beautiful dedication to the youth experience with a perfect touch of 80s, and the music is so good (think Empire Records but more punk and realistic). 
            
            I liked Renfield because of it's cult-classic feel. I love when movies are so unserious and just rely on the fact that you don't need to have drama and tears and a meaningful message to make something enjoyable. Movies are supposed to be fun. It's theatre.
            
            Nope haven't seen Doctor Sleep but it's a good reminder to––wasn't so sure as I tend to not like modern horror movies so much as I find they're not as gritty (and just rely on good effects versus psychological mind-fcks) but I've heard great things about it. What I mean is I don't like to watch horror for the sake of being scared as I find a lot of others like to do, or else it's just boring and not cinema. It needs a good story and fleshed out characters, or why else would I give it another thought after it's finished?
            
            
            Yes, I really liked Poor Things––it had this psychedelic 70s technicolour feel with a perfect dash of gothicism. 
            
            As you can see I just mostly enjoy anything that is visually engaging or has great dialogue (12 Angry Men is also a favourite even though it's got completely muted tones and takes place in a single room, it's just so well written. It's also why I love Tarantino movies). 
            
            Thanks for the recos again and will definitely update!

@TheMadPoetGold Robin Williams is a treasure. Love him in The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting, and Hook! I love Hook and so many critics hate it! The score is so musical! I'd heard that it was going to be a musical at one point and I desperately want Hook to come back as a musical.
            
            I totally understand what you mean about Being John Malkovich being too weird. That was part of the appeal to me! You have eclectic tastes so I thought it might work for you. I'm a big fan of Charlie Kaufman. His movies are very weird. I also didn't like Lebowski! The humor never worked for me.
            
            Winona and Slater were electric in Heathers! I should check out Pump Up the Volume. Sounds fun!
            
            Cage was the best part about Renfield! I think he's an underappreciated treasure. I still need to watch Leaving Las Vegas. I'm worried it'll be a tough watch.
            
            Have you seen Doctor Sleep? It's a sequel to The Shining directed by Mike Flanagan. Pretty cool movie with some nice call backs, but I absolutely adore his original series Midnight Mass. Incredibly smart dialogue with deep character work.
            
            If you love intense visuals and color themes you should check out *Poor Things*. It's a blue movie but it says some really intelligent things about sex and maturity. But the stand out is definitely the visual presentation.
            
            You've got good taste so it made it easy for me to recommend things! Lemme know what you think of the movies I recommended.

@novelistASH half these movies I've already watched and absolutely adore. Little Shop (huge comfort movie!!!), Bird Cage (I loveee Robin Williams, should've included Hook on the list), and Nightmare are also movies I have seen at least five times and love (if you can't tell Spielberg and Burton are two of my most favourite directors). Also love that you included Goonies, EEAAO and Before Sunrise––I think I've recommended them to my friends like a hundred times no idea why I didn't think to include it in my list lol! 
            
            I love Moonstruck because of the dialogue and music and I love the family dynamics, and Before Sunrise has that When Harry Met Sally vibe with just the best chemistry and dialogue. Being John Malcovich I started to watch but found it too slow and a little weird (was the same thing with The Big Lebowski which was also too weird for me––I hate using 'weird' because I love weird stuff but this was like 'too' weird, you know?). I also love Heathers (love Winona and Slater––his movie Pump Up the Volume is also a treasure, it's a cheesy title but has such a good soundtrack). 
            
            Cage is fantastic - I really enjoyed his kinda recent movie Renfield.
            
            Reading my list again and I also should've included The Shining and Pulp Fiction as they're also huge go to movies for sad days, the dialogue and colour themes I find so mesmerizing. 
            
            Most of the other's I've heard of and been wanting to watch, and will for sure check them out thank you for the suggestions!!

@TheMadPoetGold love audrey, what an icon. sick taste

@eternal_solace the one and only. plus Hepburn in breakfast at Tiffany’s as my profile :)

@TheMadPoetGold ♥️♥️♥️

@TheMadPoetGold i'm late, but you should be so, so proud of yourself. that's not easy to overcome, so well done! <3

@TheMadPoetGold *talented... Dang typos

@TheMadPoetGold Scavengers picking at the dying website.

@TheMadPoetGold don't know