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bonnymori · 3 years

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𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲

Word count: 2760+ (i'll try to keep bigger lengths such as this one!)

Synopsis: You meet a new classmate who's working along Nanami, you think he's fun to be around, it stands the same to him about you. Later, feelings unravel.

Contents/Warnings: (1) Itadori Yuuji x gn!reader (2) FLUFF, TONS OF FLUFF - and some comfort (3) With the small participation of... Ino Takuma!! I really like him too, that's why <33333 (4) This is pretty platonic, but also not? (5) Ending turned sorta cliché... but I liked it u.u

A/N: This boy made me run rampant... to fhe point it's not single attraction anymore I just wish him happiness (smh if only my parents knew...) also next post will be Toji's fic pt. 2! Y'all see the first part is almost reaching 100 kudos????? I'M SO HAPPY EHSODJWKDKSJD- thanks for all the new followers and the support!! <33

Ever since his fake death, Itadori has been training alone with the help of Gojo - and now, he works along a freshly new face, who belongs to a senior, founds out ex-salaryman named Nanami Kento. He's far a thousand times more strict than Gojo. Itadori doesn't really likes the change, because Nanami is a person he can't get along. This whole guy's appearance scream "work 4 life"; he has proved different, now he screams "work is shit - but I gotta do it because others won't".

They've just finished cleansing the outside of a movie theater off a few curses, when Itadori hears shouting from far behind them. Two figures approach, waving excessively. He quickly picks on Nanami's tired sigh beside him.

"Nanami! We figured out you'd be here! Our mission has been finished and we wanted to catch up to have lunch together!" A male clad in a full black outfit shouts, he has brown hair and a beanie on top of his head, looking quite content.

The other person simply trots next to him in silence, approaching with a friendly smile. They notice Itadori faster than the male, smile widening and quickly waving hello, suddenly eager to reach up to them. The gesture makes the pink haired boy perk up, curious to why the other person looked so joyful. His question is easily answered, when they tug on the man's sleeve and motion to him.

"Ino, we have a third buddy!" The dude looks at him with widened eyes. "So nice to meet you, I'm Y/N L/N! It's great to see new faces around!"

Itadori smiles at your energy, knowing already he would click with you very well.

"I'm Ino Takuma, sorry for not noticing you before! Your uniform looks cool." Itadori exchanges a few compliments with Ino, before the man turns to talk with Nanami, leaving him and you together.

"Yes! I'm Sukuna's vessel, Itadori Yuuji-desu! My type of woman is Jenn-"

You turn to him. "So, are you a first year?"

"Geh? Weren't you dead though?!"

"I was!- I am!- Please keep secret."

"Okay!"

"Ahem." Nanami coughs, drawing attention. "I requested you two to not come after me today. Itadori here is the reason why."

"That's no problem, we're very capable of keeping secrets." You threw your arm over Itadori's shoulder, him nodding along with you.

"Oh really, then remember to keep quiet about it. I'll let this slide." The group of students nervously at Nanami's intimidating tone. "But, I'll get to have my break alone."

"Gah!" Ino exclaimed, watching Nanami walk away; he also left the responsability of taking care of Itadori for you two, leaving without a word. "It really had to be today, when Nanami would take us to his favorite bakery..."

"Crybaby." You teased. "Itadori here can't go outside where anyone can see him, he's dead. So, we were to order food either way because he shouldn't be left out."

"Augh okay, it would be unfair."

"So, where are you staying Itadori?"

"At Gojo's state!"

"Whoa, I've never been there before." Ino commented, waiting as you sent a message to Ijichi to pick them up.

"He's my teacher, a very cool one!"

"I imagine! Ooookay, once we get there I'll get the food."

Itadori felt as his chest would burst of excitement, finally there was people around him again, he couldn't be less happy about it.

"Sharing is caring!"

Itadori laughed as you wrestled with Takuma for some fries, netflix long forgotten in the background, as watching the banter was way more entertaining. Most of the time, Ino rambled a lot about Nanami, while he rambled a lot about Gojo. The guy even showed him the cool scar under his beanie. He felt kinda upset after explaining the exchange was just temporary, his stay under Nanami's wing wasn't decisive, and therefore, he was more like a classmate than a partner.

Itadori also learned a lot about you. He was surprised to find out that you, although energetic, was the one to speak the lesser in conversations. His surprisement grew even bigger when you told him you're a exchange student from Kyoto, arriving Tokyo about the same month as him - thankfully, you were to say for good.

Conversations flowed easily in the air, until a voice from the doorway barged in.

"Yuuji-kun! Don't forget about your lessons! Hi kids! Bye kids!" Gojo said playfully, throwing the familiar punching bear to Itadori before leaving.

"What's this thing?" Ino asked.

"It's to help me control my cursed energy. So while I watch the movies, if I don't charge it with cursed energy it punches me square in the face. I thought I had mastered this thing already, but he insist I keep training with it." Itadori grumbles.

"At least it's cute." You commented, taking a sip of your drink.

"Until it punches you in your face without warning!" The pink haired boy barks.

The talks died down, the three of you eating quietly when another movie is played on the screen. Itadori didn't bother reading the title, it was a plain one about a zombie apocalypse that got him extremely bored, yet he kept watching still so the plushie didn't punch him in the face again; he's been keeping a record since all his last cursed energy training lessons were a sucess to this day. When his head started nodding and eyelids dropping Itadori can't remember well, about fourty five minutes of movie perhaps? Make it fifty, the second slumber took over his body completely.

When he awoke once again, it was near midnight, the clock on the wall told him so. He also noticed a soft and warm surface supporting his head, figures, it's your shoulder he's resting into, he feels an arm around his own shoulders and your cheek placed upon his hair.

"Hey, it's late." You immediately notices he's awake, calling out softly. "You should sleep on your room, or something, better to your spine."

He chuckles when you poke his side. "But I'm comfortable here."

"I'm surprised, you just met me today, and now is sleeping on my shoulder."

"I'm not, that happens often to me."

"Sleeping on people's shoulders?"

"No! Making friends quickly." Itadori likes your gentle warmth, your hug, everything makes him feel at home. "I met two more people before you for two weeks, but they can't see me, because I'm dead."

"So I'll keep you company, that's my new mission."

His eyes widen at that, a oh so little blush covering the tip of his ears.

"For how many time I slept anyway?" He asks.

"About two- no, three hours. You missed two movies, and this one is about to end."

"And you stayed here the whole time?" He motions to your shoulder.

"Yep. That reminds me I gotta pee."

Itadori grumbles, but quickly lifts himself off you, respecting your needs. That gives him some time to look around, he notices Ino is gone, and the plushie sits quietly at the other side of the couch, unmoving.

"Y/N! How did you manage to make it quiet down?" He's beyond bafflet.

"...que."

"What!"

"I said!" You arrive quickly at the doorframe, hands still wet from when you washed them. "I used my innate technique."

"Oh! How is it like?"

"It's kinda funny, gimme a moment." You left to wipe off your hands, coming back in a second. "So, just like Shoko, I produce reverse curse energy, but it's quite different than hers, I can't heal people. That's why we often call it positive energy instead. I can use it to soothe off negative energy, so the bear has no cursed energy right now."

"How does it works on people?" He felt very curious about everything, asking away like a kid.

"Since everyone has negative energy, it just makes you sleepy really. But when it comes to curses it's really practical, I can either weaken it or, if the curse is like grade three or four, I can slap them off existence completely by wiping all their energy." You were naturally proud of having a such versatile power, your own energy swirling with pride around you.

"That sounds amazing! Is it why I fell asleep though?"

"Nah, only if I did it on purpose. I guess you were just tired, hope you don't mind I decided to let you rest today."

"No way, it was a good nap."

You nodded. "By the way, Ino left to attend to a drinking party, he paid for our food."

"Drinking? Is he old?"

"Yeah, he's twenty." You chuckled, already expecting that kind of reaction.

"No way! He looks young just like us!"

"That's totally my reaction after I learned he's twenty!"

After that day, you started visiting Itadori weekly to daily, after exchanging numbers he made a little group with you and Ino, naming it the "Nanami trio". But really, he exchanges more texts with you in private, be them memes, cool images he wish to share, etcetera. Although, Ino wasn't left excluded, he ofter brough his xbox to connect to Itadori's tv room and you all would spend hours playing together; he just didn't spend much time with both of you as much. And that was okay.

For a few days, your connection with Itadori died down when he didn't reply to your texts. They would remain unread for some time, the longest being half a day, until he would spam apologies then move on with the topic. That became a routine until one day when you came over to check on Itadori unnanounced, needin to ease off your worries about the boy, only to find him sobbing in the middle of a hallway, staring ahead and beyond, his back to you.

"Ita-?"

"Egh!" Startled, he scrambled to wipe his eyes, turning to you. "H-hey, um, hi."

"What happened?"

"I- he-" His eyes didn't met yours, knuckles white in a death grip. You notice he has a few bandages thrown over his face and arms. The way his shoulders are drawn, as if he wants to shrink into himself is something you've experienced before.

"Something hard to talk about?"

He nods almost immediately, head still facing down.

"It's alright, come with me." You reach for his hands, grimacing slightly when his forceful grip is now on your hand, yet you don't comment on it. He follows you through the state wordlessly.

You two stop on the same tv room, sitting down on the couch. You then guide his head to your shoulder, gently massaging his scalp with the free hand.

"It's alright."

Those two words are chanted like a prayer for the next half hour, at some point, Itadori twisted his body towards yours and unknowingly caged you between him and the sofa arm. He embraced you with a force you didn't have in you, like he didn't want to lose one another. Painful or not, not a muscle moved on your body. He needed a shoulder to cry on.

Thirty minutes passed like seconds, you peered down only to find the boy confortably napping against your bosom; at some point you just became the cold side of the pillow to him. That's alright. It brings you joy to be the mom friend anyways. So you decided to join the sleepland aswell, arms still secured around his shoulders and the back of his head.

It feels like the nap hasn't been long, though, because you can feel Itadori's grip loosening and therefore, you're awake.

"Sorry if I broke any bones, in advance."

"Wow, and you only warn me now."

He laughs at your comeback, hands still secured around your waist.

"I'm surprised you let me uh, cuddle you for comfort - and sleep. I don't understand it? You just make me sleepy." He rambled, keeping eye contact with you while his head still rests on your chest.

"That's a piece of cake when you have younger siblings who seek for you every night they get a nightmare."

"Does that mean I can come to you again if I have a nightmare?" There it is, his togepi-kirby cutesy face.

"Are you four?"

"That's mean!" Itadori blushed, squeezing you on his arms. "I like the contact. It puts me at ease."

"Mm, do you want to talk about it?"

He gulped. "No, not really."

Your peach haired friend remained silent, and so did you. It seems he doesn't intend in letting you go soon, or he just really forgot to mention it. It gives them time to think, your younger sisted used to do that sometimes, back in Kyoto.

"Y/N, wanna watch anything?"

"Sure, have you watched Parasyte before?"

"No, let's give it a try then!" Itadori glances at the remote, then back at you - making you confused over his hesitation to move. He notices you noticed it, chuckling nervously. "To be honest, I don't wanna let go."

"It's hurting my back."

"SORRY I'M SORRY!" He jumped away from you like a cat would jolt away from a cucumber, making you snicker.

"It's okay, I just wanted to change positions."

And to tease you, but he didn't need to know that part.

He glared at you with a small pout, typing the initials of Parasyte on the search bar. Outside his line of vision, you were grinning like a idiot, his sweeteness took a tow on you. All the people of Tokyo you met really held a way different spirit from your classmates in Kyoto, Itadori being the nicest of all. It's surprising him being Sukuna's vessel to begin with; being honest, you felt drawn by it.

"Y/N, it's startiiiiing." He cut your daydreaming short, slumping on your side and propping his head on your shoulder.

"This again?" You throw an arm around his shoulders, very much like the first time he cuddled himself on you.

"Don't blame me, you're the one who wanted to change positions. Guess I'll just make some alterations since I'm awake this time!" One of his arms went behind your back and circled your waist, hand resting at your hip.

"It's definely different, since the other time you drooled on me."

"Hhgh, okay okay! Let me enjoy this." For perhaps the actual first time, you're able to watch without exchanging words with one another.

And this time, it's you who's head loll to the side, nose buried on his soft rose perfumed hair. Itadori doesn't comment on it yet, his free hand moves under your legs to lift your whole body up efortlessly when he senses you have fallen asleep.

"I remember you said it's bad for my spine, I wouldn't mind it... yours however."

The boy makes a beeline to the guest room, he sighs when there is no choice but open the door with his foot. Inside, he places you carefully in the soft bed.

Before he could leave, a hand reaches up for his sleeve.

"Itadori," He turned, looking at you. "Make me company?"

He giggles softly - you think it sounds like a highschool girl. "You should start calling me by my first name!" Itadori rambles as he climbs on the bed, arms wrapping around your waist in a motion you're familiar with.

"Yuuji, I'm tired, let me sleep."

"But I wanna talk more..." He pouts. "Also, are we, um, dating?"

You wriggle around, bringing his head down to peck on his forehead, teasing. "Correction, I want to date you."

"Uh, oh." A blush coats his face so quickly, you'd say someone dumped a bucket of red paint on his face.

"Is that a no?"

"No!"

"So it is a no."

"Christ, will you stop teasing for a second, I'm trying to talk here." He makes an angry version of his togepi-kirby face, you can't help but grin.

"You amuse me, but okay. I'll do it for you."

"Thanks." He blinks, the blush slowly fading away. "You know, I lied, not about the contact, I like the contact nonetheless-"

His hand moves to play with yours, such as tapping his tips against yours, or meassuring the palms.

"-it's you who brings me comfort."

It's also your turn to blush, that line was seriously charming.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yes, we're dating now." You respond, a little eagerly. "Can I kiss you?"

"Please."

This is the best person I could ask for, Itadori thinks, keeping his eyes open as yours shut during the kiss, whom I won't change for anything else in this world.

When you both separate, Itadori feels drowsy and sleepy. His face fits perfectly on your shoulder as always.

"Goodnight, my favorite person."

#itadori yuuji x reader #itadori x reader #itadori yuuji fluff #jjk x reader #jjk x y/n #jjk fluff #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen fanfic

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lovesanmotion · 3 years

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yandere!ateez joining his s/o’s fan call event

💌 This is: requested

Hongjoong:

Oh to purchase a hundred copies of your new album just to get into your fan call event was his ultimate goal. And to see that a handful of his serial numbers got in to your spot? Hongjoong felt like he was over the moon, it only meant that he was not only gonna meet you, or twice, or thrice. But five times!

“Y/N~ can we date?” He would ask during his first fan call event, it was tragic that he was only meeting you on the screen of his phone. But that was already better than not meeting you at all.

“Of course! You’re my boyfriend now so don’t cheat on me!” You said in a small tone, pouting at him through the screen. Oh boy what you said means something to him already.

Seonghwa:

He had a lot of thoughts running inside his head on what to ask you, his heart beat kept racing that he almost forgot that today was his fan call event with you. He immediately started to look presentable to you before answering the call, and when he did, he felt like his heart was ready to jump out of his chest when he saw how you look today.

“Are you nervous?” You’d ask him, peering closer to the screen. Seonghwa would slightly turn red and lean closer to the camera too, as if he was testing you, shaking his head slightly. “No. What about you?” He’d ask, it was your turn to blush and shake your head.

“Y/N, do you want to meet my girlfriend?” Seonghwa asks, you made a face as you looked at him in the screen.

“Why do you have a girlfriend? Am I not good enough for you? Am I not pretty anymore?” You’d act along with him, casually throwing in your fan service.

“I’m talking to my girlfriend right now and she’s getting mad at me because she thinks I have someone else.” Seonghwa tried to control his laughter, maintaining a straight face. It took you a whole minute to realize that he was talking about you, making you a blushing mess once again.

Yunho:

His only intention was to win an album that’s signed by you, however, luck seemed to be on his side that day that he not only won a signed album but also received an email from the company that he had won a fan call event with you. It had been weeks since Yunho last saw you due to the increasing cases caused by the pandemic. And he dearly missed you. So hitting two birds with one stone with you made him feel like he’s the only one worthy for you.

“I missed you! How are you?” Yunho asks as if you two were close friends. You’d only chuckle. “I’m doing well. Have you eaten?”

Yunho shook his head before responding “ramen and chill sometime?”*

(a/n: to those who don’t know, ramen and chill is Korean for netflix and chill)

Yeosang:

He felt like he was losing his sanity just because he couldn’t be near you and see you as often as before. Who knew what you could be up to right now, and it drives Yeosang insane not knowing what you’re doing, where you are and how you are right now. So when the news broke out that you were coming back with a new album, he did not hesitate to purchase eight thousand copies all by himself.

And so during the fan call event, he’d continously shift around in his position and discreetly take screenshots before posting them on his personal accounts and adding a caption of “I miss you, I want to see you again normally”

San:

He didn’t know the percentage of his chance winning a spot in your upcoming fan call event and that’s why he impulsively bought hundreds of copies from different stores in order to secure himself. To his surprise, he had won twice and was therefore eligible to meet you via fan call.

“Y/N, will you be my girlfriend for five minutes?” He asks, tilting his head to the other side, slightly jutting his lower lip out.

“Why not hours?” You’d ask him back. San’s heart raced, it felt like you were already saying yes to being his.

Mingi:

Towards the end of the year only meant one thing for Mingi: another year with you. And what better way to start his new year with you by purchasing your group’s season greetings? He didn’t know if he was going enter the fan call ring since the company strictly mentioned only entering ten fans inside, but to his surprise, his name popped up on the lucky ten winners. And Mingi felt extremely lucky, not only did he won in the fan call event, but he was also to receive a limited polaroid of a member of his choice and a signed album by the member of his choice too.

But he only has one minute to spend with you. Before you could ring his LINE account, he was already recording his screen, picking up your call.

“Y/N, I love you” he says, seconds after he picked up the call.

“I love you too” you tell him, gazing at him through the screen.

Wooyoung:

A minute and thirty seconds feels extremely short, especially to Wooyoung. He wanted to spend more time with you. However, the pandemic caused a lot of hindrances with his chances of being able to see you outside. But this time, he thought of something that would make him memorable to you. Someone that you would never forget.

“Y/N~ I have something for you!” He’d say proudly, showing you a small box through the screen.

“You got me something? What is it?” You asked him, eager to find out the content of the box. Your eyes widened in surprise as you watched Wooyoung literally get down in one knee and opened the box to reveal a diamond ring. “Will you marry me?”

Jongho:

During these trying times, Jongho made himself occupied by learning the english language for you. He wanted to be able to communicate properly and effectively with you. Day and night, he would watch shows to improve his pronounciation and read book and articles to expand his knowledge about the language, all the while he purchased a hundred copies of your solo debut album.

“Hi Y/N!” Jongho says, finally using what he learned over the past few months with you.

“Hello! You speak perfect english, you’re so good!” The compliment coming from you made his heart race a mile.

“Sweetheart, you’re better than me.” He chuckles, grinning to himself as he watches you turn your head down slight to hide a blush creeping into your cheeks.

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meichenxi · 3 years

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Hey, could I ask you how you do shadowing? Like the different ways you do it? You mentioned in your tag that shadowing is good and I'd love to hear how you do it! I do not attempt shadowing much so I don't really know what helps, etc. ToT (my studyblr is rigelmejo)

Hellooo! Thank you for the interesting question!

Tbh I think I do it fairly basically - I don’t use any particularly fancy software, but software like Language Learning with Netflix has certainly made it easier. There’s a whole video on how to get the most of it here: [on mobile, link didn't work - How to study Chinese with Netflix! by Chinese Zero To Hero] (I’d recommend checking out all of their videos actually, they’ve done a bunch of livestreams recently and they place a lot of emphasis on shadowing + the course they are trying to sell you is…actually phenomenally good)

(Also, I have to preface this by saying that I have been very lucky in terms of pronunciation: I learnt about 80% of my current vocabulary by ear without characters or pinyin. I have been in China for eight months in total, and while I didn’t speak Chinese for all of that, I was constantly soaking in info on natural sentence intonation. I still often don’t know officially what the tone of a vocabulary item is, especially if it changes tone like 教, 为 or 相, but I don’t get yelled at so I have definitely internalised a lot of those changes. I definitely would have more trouble with this if I hadn’t had that experience - my other areas are waaaay weaker because of this though- my reading SUCKS lmao and I can literally handwrite about ten characters)

Anyway. How I shadow:

1) Quite simply by playing the line, and repeating it with all the emotion it has!! I usually use Netflix or Viki for this. I try to do it as fast as possible, and if I can’t do the whole thing, I ‘chunk’ it: if I were doing the sentence 我们还不知道他会不会来, I would start from the end with 他会不会来, then 不知道他会不会来, and then the whole sentence. Notice that this isn’t breaking it down into words or even grammatical phrases, but intonational phrases: it would be perfectly sensible to just do 会不会来 without the 他 but realistically, since this is a question, it’s likely that a strong stress will be placed on the first 会, and you wouldn’t be able to replicate that without also included the more weakly stressed syllable before.

2) I locate (intentionally or subconsciously) the main locus of stress within the sentence, and I focus on that accordingly. Tones may become less extreme if they are not stressed, and may become more exaggerated if stressed. This is always a good exercise. I accompany this with physical actions - I throw my hands down, I sigh, I groan!

3) I put away the text, and don’t look at the tones or even my computer screen - more on this below.

4) Finally, when I think I’ve got it reasonably accurate, I’ll record them speaking the line into my phone with an appropriate pause for copying and play it back to myself at various points throughout the day.

5) I then go and find other words with the same tone contour to slot in, and copy it again. After that, I find words that are slightly different tonally and pop them in too.

6) I finally do fun things like hold a conversation with myself. This can be really simple phrases imbued with some kind of emotion - 这个女子到底是谁呀？为什么不认识我？应该是新手吧。You can do this either really informally, or very formally, or both - trying to speak in the latter way is very fun! So then it’d be idk something more like: 那位姑娘是何人，来自何处？This is fun because you can really slow down your speech and sound as elegant as you like!! (this will sound stilted if you do it for modern speech, but it’s a very fun exercise)

Choosing your media!!

1) Don’t use donghuas. Seriously. The voice actors usually speak at a ridiculous pace and not with the same range of ‘normal’ intonation

2) Your Chinese is definitely good enough to recognise when anyone is quoting poetry or speaking in a paricularly sexy literary way so, uh…don’t do that. That rules dramas like Nirvana in Fire OUT.

3) Modern dramas and reality TV shows CAN be great, but they can also be quite intimidatingly quick and almost too mushy at times. I’d recommend informal speech in guzhuang dramas more, because they have professional voice actors and extensive sound editing, meaning that although it might be fast and the vocabulary harder, it’s actually much more accessible and easier to copy. You don’t want to be stuck with the awfulness of 50% failed foreigner and 50% 12 year old boy who can’t enunciate properly!!

4) CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON WISELY. I try to find characters that speak in a dramatic, whiny or childish way. This is so important! There’s literally no use copying Lan Wangji unless you want to be able to have that particular cadence and tone of voice you get reciting poetry. Childish/whiny/dramatic characters on the other hand stress some words very strongly, and rush others together - this is great for hearing what actual real speech sounds like. Whininess wins. In The Untamed, characters like Wei Wuxian (not yllz!wwx but just…regular wwx), 一问三不知 Nie Huaisang, Jin Ling, and Jingyi are all great. Also Jiggy, who is just very extra constantly and speaks much slower as well, which really helps. In SHL characters like Gu Xiang are good.

5) CHOOSE YOUR VOICE WISELY! If you are really aiming to copy them 100% (which you should try at least sometimes), you want somebody with your pitch range to sound normal. I have a sort of party trick in Chinese that because I’ve spent so much time listening to women in guzhuang dramas I can change my voice and sound like a) a scheming concubine with honeyed words, or b) the voice of the Beijing metro. My teacher found it hysterically funny. But it’s not my natural voice, and if I speak like that for too long it hurts. The women usually are too high for me, and the big burly manly men too low - so I’d recommend finding a man with a higher voice, or an older woman (like some of the female characters in Nirvana in Fire). Again, sorry that this is mostly the Untamed (I’m just most familiar with it) but the voice actors for Wei Wuxian and some of the juniors (+jiggy) has a higher voice. Likewise Chengling in Word of Honour.

On intonation in general:

- The thing is that whilst shadowing is useful it requires prior ability in a whole bunch of other skills that you can train - it relies on your ability to accurately mimic pitch, emotion and other contrasts. Training this in ANY language, including your native one, will help your ability to do this in Chinese - so I’d recommend spending a fair amount of time practicing shadowing (or speaking just after somebody whilst listening to a string of text, like monolingual simultaneous interpreting) in your native language too. Any training copying accents or mimicking other people is going to similarly help, regardless of the language.

So, with that in mind, further tips:

1) Hum / try to copy the intonation without any words. What this does is force you to pay attention to what the intonation actually is, versus what you may think it should be.

2) Don’t look at the text! Do! Not! Look! At! The! Text! If you look at the characters or pinyin you’re telling yourself ‘ok this is a third tone here’ etc, but you want to override the part of your brain that has gotten into bad habits and is supremely self-confident in how you’re pronouncing the third tone, and actually just go straight back to mimicking.

3) Don’t be afraid to do it with vocabulary that is way beyond your level. Actually, I find this can sometimes be helpful, because you don’t have a prior idea about how a particular tone pair should be useful - and you don’t know which tone you should be producing.

4) Learn vocabulary by ear - listen to a vocab podcast or even make one yourself (I often do this; I record my daily Anki and listen back to it through headphones copying throughout the day - if you’re not confident in your pronunciation you can get Google Translate to do it). Similarly, pick unknown vocabulary out of a longer segment and remember it, trying to internalise the tones instead of figuring out which tone it is.

5) Find emotional sentences, and copy them with emotion. This is SO CRUCIAL!!! We remember things when we relate to them, and when we imbue them with emotion - and it also helps in hearing exactly how an angry second tone sounds, for instance.

6) When you’re copying, look up, and imagine you are having an actual conversation. Carry yourself with conviction and poise!! Really try to whine like wwx or slime like jgy. After a couple of turns copying them, try to turn off the audio and keep delivering it in the same manner.

7) Swap individual words out. Once you have a line properly figured out, swap a word or two that has a different tone pair, and focus on delivering it with the same pattern of stress.

8) Finally, practice doing this in your native language too!! It’s a skill that we don’t use often, and it can be trained. Some people are terrible at it at first go even in their native language, but you can work on it!

About intonation in general:

1) I think a lot of pronunciation problems with people sounding unnatural or stiff ultimately come down to a fundamental misunderstanding of what intonation looks like across different languages. In English we mark it by pitch: and we are so used to the rhetoric that Chinese has ‘tone’ and not ‘intonation’ that we try and focus on blindly copying every single word textbook perfect without listening to how it actually sounds.

2) Chinese does have intonation!!! Except that, unlike English, when you stress a word, the pitch doesn’t change, but the tone contour is exaggerated - basically the only time you will ever hear a full third tone is in isolated or very exaggerated speech. If you have a Chinese friend, get them to record a sentence like the English ‘I didn’t ask her to steal his rucksack’, and put stress on the different elements of it - I didn’t ask, I didn’t ask, I didn’t ask, and so on. Notice and copy how the tones change. When shadowing, you should always be paying attention to where the stress is in the sentence: when you speak by yourself, practicing saying a sentence neutrally, and then with stress on one component, the next, and so on. If it feels unnatural, it’s because you might not have practicised like this before - it’ll get better!

Hope that’s somewhat helpful / interesting!

- 梅晨曦

#chinese #chinese langblr #langblr #chinese studyblr #studyblr #learn chinese #study chinese #chinese vocab #lingblr #askies

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d-criss-news · 3 years

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Actor And Producer Darren Criss Reveals His Creative Process

The producer, singer and actor talks his approach to songwriting, discovering his sound and how he’s ready for the next chapter.

We don’t know about you, but we’re currently experiencing the Bank Holiday blues. With the realisation that our days of summer maybe coming to an end were in need of uplifting sounds and singer-songwriter Darren Criss is keeping the energy going with his fun-filled EP “Masquerade”. Between the slick alt-pop productions and high-octane energy, the artist puts his theatrical abilities and prowess at the forefront of the EP. Laced with serene dance floor-ready melodies, the actor and musician instantly gets the party going on the project, kicking it off with “f*kn around”.

“The dirty secret is that every song is character-driven,” the artist revealed when discussing the project. “I just chose wording that could perhaps aid people into understanding this exploration of genre, this self-aware exploration of genre a little more. For those people that only know me as an actor, I’m trying to guide them into this notion of music and songs being a form of acting.”

No newcomer to the scene, the artist has spent the past decade gracing our screens in the cult favourite Glee and the thrilling Assassination of Versace: American Crime Story. Wanting to continue his musical journey in the form of producing and writing, we caught up with the multi-faceted artist talking his growth over the years, staying creative in a pandemic and how he’s ready for the next chapter.

Check out the interview below now…

Hey Darren, how are you? How has this past year been for you? It’s a strange question to answer because everybody’s answer is so much more complicated than what you can say in a quick easy tight polite answer. You know, I’m well, as well as one could be given the situation. I feel, you know, luckier than most. Even with the music that I just put out there’s still more that I’d like to do, but I got to do even more than I thought I’d be able to. So that tends to be kind of the theme of the past year and a half. I feel like I’ve been so consumed by working on so many things for so long, that not a lot of people outside of my inner circle know about that. You know, it’s been a lot of high output but seemingly low visibility. So now finally getting to put out some of these things and talk about them… tipped scale of visibility versus output is hopefully having a chance to even out for a bit, to where the amount of work I’ve put in can somehow match that people you know may or may not know about what I’m doing. You know, I’ve been really busy. I’m the kind of guy where if you give me a white canvas it’s a more…I wouldn’t say stressful, but I’m more likely to fill up a blank canvas immediately with as much shit as possible – I guess that is more stressful than having only a few places to fit things in, and I usually keep pretty busy. Ironically when I’m really busy, that’s when I can get stuff done. Like you know that phrase ‘if you want something done ask the busiest person in the room’, and I think there’s a degree of truth to that because you know, the chaos kind of begets chaos, and productivity begets productivity, and in a lack of anything else to do it was like ‘I wanna do all these things!’ and then it gets really crammed, so it’s nice to be kind of simmering down from this overwhelming call to arms to get as many things done as I could with this new unprecedented free time that I had. So, in short, I guess, am well if you wanna use that! I feel, I’m just relieved that a lot of this stuff can exist somewhere outside of my head but it’s a complicated answer, I’ve been able to do a lot more than I thought I’d be able to.

With everything that happened last year, was your creativity affected? The time that it yielded is the kind of time that a lot of creative people fantasise about. Of course, we would have all preferred it in a very different way when you say ‘if only I had time to sit down and work on this’. I think we all have; I say creative people but we all say, ‘if only I had time to paint the kitchen, learn a language, get in shape’, you know do something different that requires a bit of time and focus. We were all given that golden ticket, of course take that with a massive grain of salt, I’m fully aware of the price with which that came, of course if we had the choice, I don’t think any of us would have wanted it to happen the way it did. But none the less, for those of us who did take the time to focus, to hopefully be productive and proactive with the situation we were thrown into, it was creatively beneficial to finally get to address things that had been sitting kind of on deck and dormant in my mind, and it was just a matter of having the time to give them any attention. One of the joys of jumping between acting and music is there is a battle of time commitment, because neither one is a thing you can do casually. If you’re acting in something, there’s a great degree of scheduling that really eats up a large chunk of your day. While I’m in an acting project, I’m writing stuff and playing music but the actual logistics of producing music is as time consuming as the acting. I am envious of people that can kind of just show up, sing a song and leave. I, unfortunately, am not that kind of person. Writing a song is only a small piece of putting music out. Production really does take a large part of my emotional and intellectual efforts, and I really dive in head on. And that’s not even mentioning the promotional side of it. So, it really does take a lot of time to dive into those things, and I was finally given that. If anything, it was hard to decide what part of my musical menu that I wanted to serve up. It just came to a matter of what felt right at the time, what seemed fun. I kind of wanted to put out something that was positive and fun, and unapologetically so. And something that really showed up for a side of me that I felt like hadn’t been represented in the past. The musician side, and unfortunately, we haven’t been able to perform these very much. We’ve done little videos here and there. Stuff that really showed my roots as a musician, a garage rock guy, a guy that really likes getting in the weeds of production. In the past I’ve put up things that are a little more analogue, singer-songwritey, and this is more me as a producer and a musician.

How did you first get into music, what sparked the interest? Well, I’ve been playing music my whole life, and not casually either. It’s such a massive part of my identity, and that’s one of the main driving forces of me wanting to put out as much music as I possibly can. These five songs on this EP are a small part of a much larger body of work that I’m dying to get out whenever I can. When you’re a songwriter, or just in general a creative person, you have more ideas back logged than your body can execute. This is only a small part of a much larger puzzle, and a lot of these songs, the ones that I’ve put out and the ones I’m still trying to put out, are ghosts that have been haunting me however many years., some more than a decade, some more than two decades. The reason I mention this is because I’m trying to illustrate how pivotal music and making music has been throughout my life. I started playing violin when I was 5, and that was a big part of my cultural education, learning how to play an instrument that is so dynamic and requires a pretty specific ear and technical ability. Now I’m not saying I was fantastic at the violin, but I think the training that I had on it from 5 until my late teens really shaped the way that I would create music and think about music, certainly as a writer and a producer, but with just how I would jump between other instruments as well, because the violin was such a great touchstone for me to end up taking up the piano or guitar, or drums, or other instruments that would really formulate how I create music. Between being the orchestra nerd kid that played a lot of music throughout my young life, and also being the guy that would play in bands, its just been such a huge part of my life. As I’ve gotten older and gotten to understand this other version of myself that exists in more of a public view, that has little to do with that I know, I have started to notice that person, that avatar of myself, isn’t necessarily associated with music. And that was troubling to me, so I wanted to rectify that.”

And now you’ve just dropped your EP, talk us through your mindset going into the project? If I was just a recording artist, and that’s all I did, I’d like to think that I’d have a much larger body of work to show for. I feel like a lot of songwriters feel this way. There is just simply too much music…now I’m not gonna say it’s all fantastic, there’s a reason you have to triage the ones that you think are the best at the time, and there are many songs that I feel would be outdated, they feel very of the time 10 years ago. But you’re always trying to put your best foot forward with the pile you have lurking behind you. So, it is a hard thing to decide which thing you want to put out. Killing your darlings is always a hard thing, figuring out which ones to really focus on is difficult and it usually comes down to who you decide to collaborate with – right before the pandemic was one of the most tumultuous times of my career where I was producing and acting in a show for Netflix, and I was also kind of show running, acting, writing music for, editing, doing everything for this other show I created called ‘Royalties’ on another platform. I was doing both at the same time, and one of the things that made this possible was the people that I would collaborate with. A young man by the name of CJ Baron who I produced and wrote this EP with, he’s sort of the midwife that I chose out of working on Royalties because we had a lot of great songs together. I keep referring to myself as a producer, but I do it from a much more cerebral space, whereas he is a much better technical producer than I am. We really shared a lot in common, so by the time I realised that I wanted to make a piece of music you have to decide ‘who do I want to go down this yellow brick road with?’ And when I decide with CJ, that kind of already hinted at the kind of music that I would put out because he has his own fingerprint, and so I thought there’s something that I have that might mesh well with that fingerprint, so that kind of helps the decision process along of what songs am I gonna put out. But in another world CJ wasn’t interested, so then I think ‘Okay let me try and produce an album with this person’, and that person would reveal a different selection of songs. I’m very open to seeing what the universe is allowing and pushing towards, and I kind of follow that northern star to figure out what songs I’m gonna put out. But the mindset was always ‘put something out’, on a completely pragmatic level. What did I want to have to show for if whenever we got out of this crazy, new age of ‘what does this pandemic mean? We have time to do stuff, when it’s over what do I want to sit there and say that I accomplished?’ And at the very least I needed to put out a few songs, so that was really my mindset – no excuses, this is the time that you used to hope for, and so what are you gonna do if you’ve got the golden ticket, you’ve won the time lottery – so don’t fuck it up Darren! That was my mindset.

You describe them as character-driven singles, why is this? The dirty secret is that every song is character-driven, I just chose wording that could perhaps aid people into understanding this exploration of genre, this self-aware exploration of genre a little more. For those people that only know me as an actor, I’m trying to guide them into this notion of music and songs being a form of acting. The number one question I always get it ‘which one do you prefer?’ and I always say they are the same to me. When I’m an actor I treat characters, characterisation of my voice and body, characterisation of how I deliver words like a piece of music. You’re scoring it the same way, there’s cadence, dynamics, volume, nuance, all kind of things that can make ‘a piece of music’ unique to a person. And that’s how I treat dialogue and characterisation. The other side of that coin is I treat music like I’m acting, like each song has its own character when you’re playing live or recording in a booth. You are donning the proverbial mask of that character and what it requires. I really wanted to keep people into this idea that at the end of the day, it’s all performative and all part of a narrative that don’t necessarily have to do with each other and the way that if you ask Alexa to play a ‘Jack Nicholson playlist’ it would be very disjointed. It would be like okay The Shining, that’s a vibe, and then it would go to As Good As It Gets, and that’s a completely different vibe. They wouldn’t necessarily be on the same playlist, but they are distinctly and undeniably Jack Nicholson. So I always thought that it was a bit of a double standard that actors can do this but in music, you know, I’m proud of this but it’s also very annoying – a lot of my songs would probably not playlist together on the same genres because you have more jazz songs, like a trip hop chill tune that might end up in the back of a Starbucks, but that wouldn’t necessarily go on the same playlist as a tune like ‘I Can’t Dance’, which is a crazy song because it doesn’t even sound like me, I’m literally putting on a different voice, I’m singing like two different people putting on an affectation. There’s a lot of things that are very different but uniquely and distinctly me. The word masquerade is a celebration of a lot of different masks, and in theatre we talk about ‘The Masque’, and how each Masque has it’s own style, history and culture, and I really love the genre, and I love Masques, and I love things that make them interesting, and celebrating things that make them unique, and really trying to maximise their effectiveness as a genre with whatever tools I have as an artist, so that’s really what I’m trying to go for, this whole character driven idea is – it’s all a masquerade.

It very much has a fun-filled vibe to it, was this your intention and why? I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I sat in a studio saying ‘Hey lets not have fun!’, especially during a time that was as fraught with a lot of troubled times. This EP was recorded during very troubling times, so I think I’d be delusional to think that whatever joy is in this EP was not some kind of reaction to that, trying to offer something positive is definitely my MO in life in general, so that’s always gonna bleed its way onto my records. Like it or not. The intention is to record things that can be effective. If the vibe you feel is fun, great. If you feel any vibe at all, whatever the fuck that means, that’s a win for me. If that happens to be the word ‘fun’ then awesome, there’s a lot shittier adjectives that can be derived from this body of work so I will absolutely take it. My intentions are again to try and honour the songs. When you write something it has its own magnetic pull, it has it’s own gravitational pull that you have to kind of follow. If a song sounds a certain way, you want the lyrics to feel the same way that it sounds, and you want the production to feel the way that it vibes for lack of a better word. All songs have different body types and dressing it up and knowing how to tailor it to accentuate the things that make it fun or sexy is really sort of a strange alchemy. It’s not up to me how people experience it, but that’s what makes it fun. Once you put something out into the world it’s up to other people to use their own adjectives of the suit you tailor. I’m always excited when it leaves my head and becomes somebody else’s experience. So hey, if it’s fun – great!

What do you want people to take away from the project? Obviously, I hope people enjoy themselves. Any musician or artist would hope that there’s some kind of memorable experience to be had from it. If I was talking about what I hope people take away from it, that doesn’t have to do with the music itself, I hope that every time I put out music it’s me broadcasting this notion that this is something that I do, and that this is a big part of my identity. I think the songs themselves and what they’re about and how they feel are less of an insight into my identity as the notion of me putting out music is, because I feel like for any artist your journey is a constant negotiation between how you see yourself and how you would like to be seen, and how audiences are willing to see you. And you know, sometimes that balance is not always even. Sometimes the way they see you isn’t the way you see yourself, and sometimes the way you see yourself isn’t the same as the way they see you, so you want to be somewhere in the middle. And ‘Masquerade’ is a huge step forward for me to try and represent who I am and what I’m about to folks who might not see that. So that’s the biggest goal I think with any release but particularly this one.

Who would you cite as your inspirations? I’m one of those people that, when I say that everything inspires me, I’m not trying to be cute. It’s a problem. It’s an actual scourge on my life, where I find everything interesting. I find everything inspirational. It’s such a core belief that I have that there is inspiration to be derived from every walk of life. Stuff like from a lawn chair to a Bach cantata, there are so many things that can be interesting and incorporated into some creative output. It’s just all about how you look at it and how you can perceive and understand where it comes from. There are so many things that are inspiring to me. Of course, this is the massive macro answer that you weren’t looking for, you’re probably looking for ‘what artist are you inspired by?’ I think I’m just inspired by people who are really genuine to themselves, and this is an ironic answer considering that I actually try to be as many different people as possible. It’s a strange thing that actors are celebrated for not being anything like themselves professionally. And musical artists are separated for being as close to themselves and putting their souls as close to the chopping block as possible. I think I’ve really found my niche as a storyteller. I’m envious of some of the great troubadours of history, that can put their souls out on the record for us and put their own personal experience into things. Leonard Cohen and Joanie Mitchell, and Carole King, more modern people like Taylor Swift who really can just bare their souls for us. I really admire them because that’s not a muscle I have. And when you’re an artist I think ‘Okay so what muscle do I have?’, and I think ‘Okay I’m like a playwright, I can make each story for these songs and try and bring them to life with as much accessible ability and reality, and as much truth as I can convey, that’s not to say they’re disingenuine, they’re born from a genuine idea but they’re supported by my background as an actor. Baring myself isn’t something that comes as naturally for me, I really admire those people and I try and perhaps emulate a lot of their song writing in whatever limited way that I can. Genres are inspiring to me, lets talk about song writing, and then there’s producing which are two different things to me, because when I hear music I hear chords, I hear melody, I don’t listen to the snare sample, but I always hear the bare bones and then I think about production. So as far as producing is concerned I think it’s really important to know all genres and to listen to what makes each one interesting and respecting those genres, and then when you are producing something yourself, and then taking from each thing by knowing why and how they work within that genre, so again to use a song like ‘I Can’t Dance’ which is a nod to late 70s/early 80s, somewhere between disco and new wave, I’m employing the things that make those genres fun, to me at least, and trying to smoosh them together in a way that sounds cohesive. So…everything is inspiring to me, it’s hard. But each song has a different source of inspiration, but they don’t transfer between all songs.

You’ve also wrote for animated series and for Glee, is the process different for producing? “This is actually a very good question. I think this ties into what I was saying before about writing for narrative is something of a calling that I think I’ve realised more recently is kind of where I can plant my feet more easily than any other type of song writing. I was mentioning the people that can bare their souls, some people have a really good ability of putting themselves out there but also writing as a satirist of character that he creates. The person that is a master of this is Randy Newman, he’s one of the greatest American songwriters of the 20th century. He has an amazing ability to create these scenarios or create first person accounts of people that aren’t actually him, but he can contextualise with his literal voice, his song writing voice, and make those their own sort of satirical version of himself. There’s a lot of layers going on there, but I’ve always thought of him as really excellent. He’s like a playwright with music, he’s writing musicals, I mean he’s won Oscars for writing music for narrative! That’s something that I’d really like to do – from a technical standpoint it’s actually very liberating because when you’re writing music with your name on it, you’re the artist, then there’s this sort of weird expectation that you’re trying to service which is why I like this idea of putting the mask on and separating the songs from my own personal experience, because I need to separate myself from my own experience of the music you’re hearing, at least on the surface. My big break was A Very Potter Musical, that I feel to this day are my biggest hits because I don’t really have hits, but as far as the songs that people know that strangers know of songs that I’ve written, they were songs that were written for characters. It’s a bit like painting by numbers. If you just write a song from scratch about anything, it’s like the canvas I’m talking about again. You can do anything, or go anywhere, and that’s overwhelming. Having parameters, knowing where the gates are, is extremely helpful, knowing when the deadline is, knowing how long your party can go for. It means you can maximise the space you know you have. When you write for narrative you go ‘this is the character’, ‘this is how they speak’ – so you already have your lyrical information there – ‘this is how they talk’, ‘this is the singer, the singer has a great range that goes from this note to this note’, ‘in this scene we need the character to go from point A to point B, and we want it to be a song that sounds like X’, so you create all these amazing little ingredients, and I look at artists like a service industry, I really enjoy servicing what the person or the experience requires. When I have a menu of ‘we want this, this, this’, it’s like okay great I’ve got you! A three-and-a-half-minute song that sounds like this song, but has to be in this key and has to be a duet, I really thrive on that. And it’s probably one of my more favourite versions of song writing. And usually there’s a deadline, so I can get it done! Because I need to get it done for production. I really enjoy coming back to writing for narrative, because I did that for Royalties with CJ, and when I realised how much I enjoyed doing that and how productive I was when I was writing for a narrative, that’s when I got into the idea of ‘I need to stop trying to bare my own soul in music’. I think if I treat it like I’m writing for a character, not only can I get it done faster but I feel like I can make things stronger. So that’s when I decided that’s what I’m gonna do for this next EP. Writing for other shows and characters is what helped me realise my strengths as a songwriter.”

What is next for you? What are you most excited for? “As I mentioned I think productivity begets productivity, and that’s exactly what happened with this EP. Even if the pandemic hadn’t happened and I didn’t have the time, I think I would have been just as emboldened from working on Royalties with CJ and it got me very excited about working on music and how much joy that gives me. Any artist will say the same answer, but I think by the time stuff comes out artists are already over it because they’ve been living with it for a year and a half, and in my case over a decade with these songs, so I’m always ready to move on and go to the next thing. Everything is a stepping stone, so I’m very happy that this EP is out, I think it’s a great representation of a lot of stuff that’s been unaddressed for far too long. I just wanna get going, it gets me excited about keeping the ball rolling as a songwriter or as a producer, I just don’t want this to be like ‘This is the thing I did during the pandemic’, I want to keep it going and be more proactive about keeping time aside for it, because that’s the name of the game. When you’re acting or doing music, you have to balance it with time, and this pandemic has shown me how much I enjoy spending time on music, so I’m gonna carry that on. But of course, as soon as I say that, that’s when something unexpected and something too juicy that I can’t keep my hands off it happens on the acting side. One learns to be pretty flexible, because as soon as I say one thing something else will happen, and that’s been the narrative for the past decade of my life. I hope to just keep going. I’ve been this lucky for this long so I’m not gonna pretend like I’m going to keep being this lucky. If I get to act great, if I get to do music great. I can’t believe I’m in a position where its like ‘oh if the acting thing doesn’t work out, I’ll just do music!’ or the other way around, it’s a highly privileged list of options, and I’m fully aware of that. So as long as I can have one or the other to fall back on, I will always be excited about option. It’s not always up to me, so we’ll see. Everything that I’ve put out is just a way for me to renew my lease with my ability to show up for myself as well as people that I don’t knows ability to be interested in what I have to do next. But I won’t flatter myself, I’m not gonna say that lease is forever, so I’m just trying to put in the time and work to keep it at the very least somewhat interesting.”

Photography - Amanda Demme

#darren criss #wonderland magazine #masquerade ep #press #sept 2021

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podcastdyke · 2 years

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Final Thoughts about the Archive 81 netflix show because I can't stop being annoying <3

I hope the readmore works!

Anyways. Like first of all, I think the show is actually pretty good on it's own. Like if I came to it completely blind, not knowing what it was based on, I think I could have really liked it! I have to raise my hat to all the actors, they did an amazing job eoth what they had. It would be interesting to know whether or not any of them had listened to the podcast. Other things that I really liked were how the tape restoration looked like and the way they had Jess (and Mark) play a bigger part in the story. I also didn't mind Melody's parts not being just the recorded footage but properly filmed, I don't think just watching found footage would have made for a that enjoyable viewing experience for the long run. The camerawork itself was also really good imo!

Like first of all the whole anticapitalism thing being removed. The fact that LMG and Davenport are just corporations playing with something they don't understand feels so important to me. And the noting of how the people living in the Visser were also people no one would look for, and that was something the Voss family was using for their advantage. I feel like they eraised all the social commentary that the podcast has...

And I don't want to come across like I was expecting them to follow the podcast script to the letter (i mean i had barely any expectations when i started the show). Like obviously they couldn't have done that, the mediums are so different it couldn't have worked. However, what I think lessens my enjoyment of the netflix show is how different the themes and ideas are?

And actually I want to say at this point that while I thought that these things were kinda stupid, I cant say that the show should have been exactly like thr podcast. And some of these issues arent even REAL issues. Like I didn't expect it to be the podcast but for screen. I think these are just thr things I was personally disappointed by, cause they could have been more interesting, at least in my opinion

Speaking of Visser, I found it also kind of annoying how they took the power from the Visser and gave it to the cult? The Visser could have been any apartment building. The way they dropped the idea of Melody trying to learn about the people there was kind of sad. Idk, I personally love evil and haunted architecture, and I thought that one of the most interesting parts of Archive 81 season 1 were the people of the Visser. The man who can't be recoreded, the man who can't see faces... I was also kinda sad about what they did to my girl Tamara, thry made her opera boring :( where is dinnerparty music... dinnerparty music my beloved... I think the fact that this show was visual would have given so many oppoturnities for interesting people and inhabitants of the Visser. Also sad to lose Jacob :( rip Rat Archive81season2

And the cult! First of all, not a fan of them including the catholic church at all, but thats just cause I personally think that it's boring <3 something about this version of the monster was just really boring to me lmao. It felt too understandable? Also there is something really tired about statues and "ancient languages", it's just so... basic? The cult felt basic. And the song was bad I'm sorry. I liked the idea of it being made of breathing, it just didn't sound good. Although that could have been the idea?

The witches. I hated that too djfndj but actually that connects to one of my biggest annoyances: everything being connected to everything. To me it was kind of significant how insignificant Dan and Melody REALLY were. They were just people who were curious and who liked stories. Them givibg Dan and Melody tragic background reasons to do things just removed that whole aspect, and lessened the importance of stories all together, which uh. i'll get to. But the interconnectedness got kind of ridiculous, like yeah. Dan recognizing his dog. that was stupid. and the whole bloodline thing? Super tired.

Annabelle's character was just a fucking slap in the face. literally that could have been Alexa, they wouldn't have had to change almost anything. I didn't even really mind the idea of reality being thinned by the tapes and Dan and Melody meeting, but the way they almost manic pixie dream girlified Melody in the scenes where she was with Dan to make it seem like they had a romantic connection? Served no purpose. Also they just made all the minor female characters lesbian as compensation for straightwashing Melody? Fuck you. I feel like it was also a detriment on Dan's character. He was given barely any character!!! I don't know HIM i just know about things that happened TO him. I don't mind exploring his backstory but like. they could have given the actor SOMETHING to do

About the short-lived Samuel/Melody thing. Absolutely unecessary! Although the hotmanifying of Samuel was kind of funny. I did hate that he was Davenport's brother, I genuinely thought that Davenport was lying to Dan to get sympathy. Like that's so stupid and also I do not feel anything for Davenport he's literally a capitalist

Maybe my biggest issue was the remocal of the idea of stories. Or at least the sidelining of it, they kinda mention it in the final episode but don't expand at all? Anyways, like that was such a central idea in the podcast, how the act of listening to the tapes and being a witness was enough to bring Dan into being a part of the story. And the story being almost like this character of it's own. I thought they would have done more with that idea, seeing that they had the VHS thing (which, I thought, was actually pretty good!)

The ending didnt make much sense to me but whatever lmao it felt like they stopped trying and also they would have never given me half VCR half human Dan

Okay I think those are like... my most major issues. Obviously they couldn't follow podcast even if they wanted to since it's even less comprehensible. But they also couldn't have the character of Rat with both no Jacob and no in-universe podcast. Speaking of Rat, they just dropped Ratty too!! I mean I guess I'm glad he wasn't eaten but still :( AND the s2 is so much about colonization of the otherworld and LMG (which was such a nothing corporation inbthe netflix show) that they couldn't dance around that

I think my biggest issue and final though actually might be that they should have allowed the show to be weirder. I feel like they tried too hard to follow horror tv-how convention (even having episode 7 be a backstory episode like in Bly Manor sbgnsbg) and so they removed the things that made the podcast actually interesting. Let things be weird!! Let things be strange and unexplainable!!

#okay now i wont make posts about it anymore #i will probably reblog things but i wont make posts!!!#netflix81 #like the show could have been good the 1st episode got my hopes up so gigh #high*#tammi talks

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kuiinncedes · 3 years

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just the keys to paradise

jatp au - prologue - part 1/15? - 1834 words

relationships: blaine & sam & tina & artie

okkkk we're doing it 🤪 idk how regularly i will update this (omg ongoing fic??? who is she) but i do have like technically a ~few~ chapters i guess done,,, and i am working on the next so . we're gonna try this lol

anyway if it wasn't clear this is an au based on the most amazing tv show ever with only 9 episodes pls watch or rewatch it on netflix the emmy-award winning julie and the phantoms !!! 🤪

that being said if you haven't watched it what are you doing jk i think you can still read this and hopefully it makes sense 😂 feel free to ask me if there's anything that doesn't make sense lol :)

also fyi in case it influences your decision to read: this will be more focused on platonic relationships for a while but will almost certainly have main endgames klaine, quinntina, and samcedes 😋

prologue title and lyrics in this part from "now or never" from the jatp soundtrack

plot and some dialogue from julie and the phantoms so like credit to all those creators and writers 🤪

warnings for this part: car accident, major character deaths (both of these are not actually in writing/"on screen" just implied at the end (especially within the context of this being a jatp au) and nothing really described -- if you want/need more details feel free to ask me)

read on ao3 or under the cut :D

1995

“Dudes, we fucking killed that !” Sam cheers when the smoke has cleared, going around and giving each of them something that could be called a high-five, just not to their hands. Tina laughs and cheers too as Sam excitedly taps her feet after she gets out from behind her kit, still elevated on the drum stage. Some of the workers applaud them from the audience space.

“Too bad we wasted that on the soundcheck,” Artie jokes, putting his guitar down and grabbing his water bottle. “That was the tightest we’ve ever played, yo!”

Tina grins and hops down from the drum platform. Sam slings an arm around her shoulders and she grabs his wrist. They’re both sweaty and too warm but she doesn’t mind having Sam’s heat pressed against her right side.

God, she thinks… that really was something else, even though it was just the soundcheck. She looks around at her bandmates’ faces -- shiny with sweat, red with exhilaration and exertion, bright with elation, eyes wide with excitement and --

Wow. They’re playing the Orpheum.

Blaine pats Artie on the back, jostling him enough to spill the water he’s trying to drink down the front of his shirt, but Artie just laughs -- he’s soaked with sweat anyway. They have spare clothes backstage just for this reason.

“Just wait until tonight, guys, when this place is packed with record execs,” Blaine says, looking out wonderingly into the empty (for now) audience. His grin widens almost imperceptibly, which is impressive considering how huge it already is.

“We’re gonna be legends!” the other three of them chorus, before Blaine can, and they laugh when he turns to them, affronted. “That’s my line!”

“It’s what you get for saying it ten times a day for the last month!” Tina teases. Blaine pushes her shoulder playfully, putting his hand within reach for Sam to grab. It’s a strange position considering Sam’s arm is still around Tina’s shoulders, but Tina adds her hand to their hold as Sam beckons Artie over from his side of the stage, barking out his name with joking anger.

Artie puts his water down and walks over to complete the group, placing his hand on top of Tina’s. “Tina, you were smokin’,” he says.

She rolls her eyes a little and grins back. “Pretty sure you’re just talking about the pyro. You guys were the ones on fire,” she says, pointing her drumsticks around at them.

“T, can you just own your awesomeness for once?” Blaine exclaims.

“Queen T!” Sam calls, pulling her closer into his side. She stumbles into him, laughing as the guys all start cheering it after Sam.

“Okay, okay! Thanks, guys, I got it!” she squeals, trying to get them to quiet down although -- they are in the Orpheum, where they’re playing later, it’s not like they have to be quiet -- while Sam leans his weight on her, causing them to stagger into the drum riser. Tina catches herself on it and Sam finally detaches from her and they’re still being loud and raucous and probably somewhat annoying to the staff, but she’s just laughing too hard to care.

“We’ve got an hour ‘til the show; I say we go celebrate before we become legends!” Blaine proclaims, jumping off the stage. The other three follow.

Tina starts, “Celebrate our last night of being -- ”

“Losers?” Artie interjects.

They’ve caught the attention of one of the Orpheum workers -- a woman with brown hair who’s wiping down the tables, smiling at them as Tina catches her eye. “There’s some nice restaurants around here,” she says with a wink. “You guys really killed it, by the way. But it seems like you know that.”

Blaine laughs, a little sheepishly. “Thanks. Uh, I’m Blaine,” he says. “This is -- ”

“Sam, hi!”

“Tina, how’s it going -- ”

“Artie, hey.”

Tina raises her eyebrows and stifles a laugh at Artie as he leans his sweaty arms onto the table that the woman just cleaned.

“We’re Sunset Curve!” Blaine says to complete their introduction.

“Tell your friends!” Sam calls, raising his voice and drawing the other workers’ attention to them. Tina elbows him lightly in the side.

“Nice to meet you,” the stranger says. “I’m Elle. So… what were you guys thinking for this -- what was it -- ‘celebration of your last night as losers’?”

“Well, we really can’t afford any nice places -- ” Sam starts.

“Oh, you know what? We should just go to Tip Top!” Blaine says, clapping his hands together. The others are quick to agree -- it’s the small, cheap diner where they spent the evening after their first “real” gig, and they’ve spent countless hours there since, annoying the staff and depleting their supply of plastic silverware. The employees there have learned to let them take what they legally can (and sometimes what they couldn’t), and the band is friendly with most of them. They haven’t been there in too long, having been working hard to get the Orpheum gig, and then writing and rehearsing like crazy once they got it.

Elle smiles as they excitedly and loudly recount stories of Tip Top to each other -- sentimental memories and the ridiculousness they got up to -- talking over each other and having multiple conversations at once.

“I guess you don’t need my recommendations?” she says lightly.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry, we’re good, thanks so much for offering,” Blaine answers, polite as ever.

“Have fun! Looking forward to seeing you guys perform again tonight.”

“Thank you!” the four of them exclaim as they make their way back to the exit. Tina yanks on the back of Artie’s shirt as he lingers at the table, a dumb look on his face that tells her he’s trying to flirt, or at least, his version of it.

“Tina!” Artie yelps and she laughs at the annoyed look on his face.

“You are not exempt from this last night of loser-dom celebration. You’re telling me you’d rather flirt with a girl than this?”

“Yes,” Artie grumbles. There’s no heat behind it, and Tina playfully pushes him sideways.

“Plus, we need you to drive.”

“You can drive!”

“Technically we all can drive!” Tina laughs at Artie’s horrified expression, probably at the prospect -- and memory -- of the one time Blaine drove them to a gig. “Just not your car!” she calls, jogging to catch up with Blaine and Sam, Artie running after her. “Your car is the fucking worst.”

“Don’t talk about her like that!”

“Blaine and Sam agree!”

That gets their attention and the two guys turn, Blaine asking, “What are we agreeing with?”

“I agree with Tina,” Sam says immediately. Tina nods gratefully at him.

“You don’t even know what we’re talking about!” Artie complains.

They’re at his beat-up car now and they pile in, Tina in the passenger seat laughing as Sam all but tackles Blaine into the backseat when he starts for the driver’s side, jostling her and Artie in the front. They continue shuffling around while Artie attempts to start the car, to many concerning -- but normal for his car -- noises.

“This thing is gonna go down and take us with it, Artie,” Tina mumbles teasingly, absentmindedly twirling a drumstick in her right hand. (She realizes too late that she probably should’ve left them at the Orpheum, but it’s not a big deal -- they’re not her favorite pair which are safe in their studio and she has extras backstage in case something happens to this pair while they’re out.)

The car finally starts with a rumble and Artie lets out a cheer. “We’re fine, T. Let’s go, y’all!”

“Floor it, Artie!” Sam calls from the back. The car accelerates comically slowly even as Artie presumably “floors it,” but they’re going somewhere.

After a few minutes, Tina finds herself unconsciously humming her solo in the bridge of “Now or Never,” only noticing when Sam interjects suddenly with his “Tomorrow!” leaning between the front seats and slightly startling her. She laughs and continues with the words, “‘Cause we got all we need today! ”

“Today!” Artie echoes, miming his guitar playing with one hand on the steering wheel.

“Living on a feeling that’s been running through our veins!” Blaine sings loudly, joining Sam in crowding into the front of the car.

“We’re the revolution that’s been singing in the rain!” It’s Sam’s line, but they all belt it at the top of their lungs together.

“That’s my line!” Sam exclaims at the same time that Blaine cheers, “My favorite line!” Tina continues to clap the beat for the next part of the song, Artie hitting the steering wheel in rhythm with her. Her face hurts from smiling.

“Artie, dude, where’d you go?” Blaine asks suddenly. Tina looks around at their slowly darkening surroundings that are completely unfamiliar. Slight panic rises in her stomach but she swallows it down; she’s with her boys, they’re safe, just a little lost.

Sam bursts out in uproarious laughter as Artie complains, “You guys distracted me!”

“Told you I should’ve driven!” Blaine says. He leans forward again and Sam follows. Tina stays quiet, pressing herself against the door a little to make room; her boys aren’t that much better but she’s always been completely hopeless with navigation and directions.

“You would’ve gotten even more distracted from singing and veered us right into a fucking building,” Artie grumbles, but he obeys as Blaine directs him to turn left and chooses to ignore his comment.

“Safe driving, am I right, dudes?” Sam cackles as he returns to the backseat, and Tina can’t help but laugh with him. “We’re gonna miss our gig, that’s how we’ll be legends!”

“‘Sunset Curve Skips Orpheum Showcase For No Reason’?” Tina suggests, turning around in her seat to face Sam.

He points at her. “Exactly. Or, 'Sunset Curve Skips Orpheum Showcase Because They Don't Know How To Drive.' The end of a promising career,” he jokes somberly. “No one would ever book them again.”

They fall silent and only the mutters of Blaine and Artie fill the car, along with the loud engine.

“Still haven’t figured it out yet?” Sam groans loudly, laying on his back across the backseats as Blaine is leaning awkwardly out of his seat to help Artie navigate.

“Not like you’re helping!” Artie says.

“That’s the street!” Blaine exclaims, pointing ahead. “The next intersection.”

“Give it up for Mr. Blaine Anderson, everyone,” Artie drawls, speeding up the car a little bit. “Perhaps not able to drive, but navigator extraordinaire.”

“You chose the wrong career path, dude,” Sam says, propping himself up on one elbow to clap Blaine’s shoulder. “Like, songwriting?”

Blaine looks down at him, raising an eyebrow. “Songwriting?” He gestures for Sam to continue.

Sam shrugs, sitting up finally. “Just, you know, songwriting, bro…" His gaze suddenly shifts and fixes at a point beyond Tina. "What th-- that car Artie!”

Tina snaps her gaze away from Sam just in time to see him yank Blaine down into his seat and the set of blinding headlights through the car windows in her periphery.

---

as a final note, i'm not sure if it can be seen this way but i'm not trying to erase artie's disability or anything and i believe i'm not doing that; as you might be able to guess, the car accident at the end of this is what paralyzes him, like in glee canon but just several years later (in his life not in actual time). please let me know if any aspect of this is disrespectful or anything <3

#i guess the warnings do kinda spoil it but it is the main point of the show lol #bye i'm stressed alksdhfgkajdhkkdsjf #kurt and the phantoms #i'm making a fucking tag for this yeahhh #will probably go back and tag some things where i shared lines or whatever lol bc i couldn't shut up about this 😂#this will be following the songs on the soundtrack... all of them not just the ones that are episode titles 👀#i'm really excited i love my ideas aksdghdfjkghlsdfjghkasdjf #so i hope i can do them well haha and i hope posting will help me keep motivated #but also i'm just really excited about it and want to share #and kinda reminding myself how i'm fine with wips being not updated for a long time or abandoned like it's not too big of a deal #so if that happens with this the person i'll be disappointing most is myself 😂#omg now or never came on shuffle while i'm putting it on ao3 a sure sign i should post lmao #what the fuck is ao3 doing putting spaces after italicized words excuse me???? kldhgklsdjfgh #AHHHH ok shit here we go????#dude editing this took way too long and it was just removing fucking spaces before and after italicized words after copying and pasting #from docs to ao3 and then from ao3 to tumblr???? why ??????#so i have forgotten anything else i wanted to say lol i will also put other tags in a second #ahhhjkdgfhkjlsdfgkahd;lkjadfghsdljighaksfd #glee #glee fic #jatp #julie and the phantoms #blaine anderson #tina cohen chang #sam evans #artie abrams #glee fanfiction #my ficsssss #ALSO this is why i've been on some blamtina bullshit lately lol 🤪 we got some blamtina comingggggg #and kurt of course ahhhh :DDD

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talesofafangirlwithadvr · 3 years

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May 2021 Picks

I can’t believe that I’m currently writing this while still in the month of May! That’s a record for me. (Now let’s just see if I post it before June...Wishful thinking...) I feel like I’ve watched a good amount of stuff this past month and these are just some of the highlights. I’m going to include stuff that I loved and some other stuff that I didn’t love that much, but want to vent a little about. So, let’s get started!

The usual spoilers are expected...

SHADOW AND BONE

This watch actually happened at the end of April, but I felt I needed to include it in my May wrap up. To date, this is the fastest Netflix binge I’ve watched. I always try to drag them out a bit because otherwise I’m sad it’s over (especially if we don’t know if the show is renewed or not). But with Shadow and Bone, I couldn’t do that. I was longing for the next episode and couldn’t stop thinking about it. I think we watched it in about 2 days right when it was released (another record for me). I didn’t have any background going into the show. Just a few details from my sister who loved Six of Crows and read the first book in the Shadow and Bone series. She didn’t spoil anything for me, she would just mention when it was a match to the source material (which was impressive how well it did that. We’re not often that lucky with book to screen adaptations). [Side note: I have now started to read Six of Crows. Loving it so far.] I really enjoyed the characters and how they fused the two plots together. I know that the Mal and Alina relationship is much stronger than the books, and I think they did a fantastic job of you rooting for them. I think that’s a great way of proving that the film adaptation can sometimes strengthen the source material. I honestly liked all the ships (other than Alina and the Darkling. Of course, it was great to see Ben Barnes though). I’m excited to explore more of Kaz and Inej AND Nina and Matthias more in the book. (Stay posted for more on that as I read). Lastly, I just want to say how much I loved any scene that the stag was in. I don’t know if it was because I watching this late at night, but there were times where I felt like I could cry seeing it. (That might sound dramatic and I’m shocked I felt this way too. I can’t explain it, so I hope others left that way too.)

Highly recommend this one! I really hope there’s a second season.

THE NEVERS

This show really snuck up on me and I’m so happy I watched it. I’m also happy that there’s more episodes coming for the second part of season 1. (Now I just want to know when that’s happening.) I love the fusion of the historical genre and fantasy (as I’ve mentioned many times before). I think the characters are great and I like that we got more insight into this world in the part one finale. Although, I was definitely confused watching it. Because we were apart of the future plotline for a good chunk of the beginning, I felt like I was watching the wrong show. I also understand the sci-fi component of the touched abilities coming from an alien presence, but I was also kind of hoping for something else too. (I don’t know what, but I was expecting something a little more different.) I really liked learning about Mrs. True’s backstory and filling in the gaps that were missing. Penance Adair has quickly become a character I would do anything for. I started watching Starz’s Death and Nightingales for Ann Skelly and while it has been good, it’s definitely not the Nevers (which I knew it wouldn’t be, but you can’t help compare when you just watched her as Penance).

I highly suggest this one if you’re looking for a period piece with an HBO flair (it’s not a Victorian Game of Thrones, but I compared it to someone like that because of the type of detailed world building.) ALSO if you want to revisit some of your favorite British actors as many familiar faces make an appearance then you should watch this show. I also LOVE the soundtrack and have been listening to the playlist nonstop on Spotify.

JUPITER’S LEGACY

Okay, so we’re now taking a jump to one of my watches that I didn’t enjoy. I wanted to include it on my list because I devoted a good amount of time to it and have some things to say. For a little bit, I thought about giving up on it, but then there would be moments where it looked promising. Overall, I did not enjoy this one. I was not a fan of the parallel storylines of the past and present. Mainly because I felt that they didn’t mirror each other well and that we were either in one or the other for a good amount of the episode. Why not have an episode just dedicated to the past? I read that it’s based on a graphic novel series, but had no knowledge of it going in. I knew it would not be a comedy, but felt it took itself very seriously. I wanted some lighter moments to balance out all the dark plots. I also couldn’t stand Chloe. I felt there was too much of her and I wanted to see a more redeeming development for her. I thought we were going to get there, but then we didn’t (or at least it wasn’t as big as I thought it should have been.)

If there is a second season I will not be watching.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

I’m doing a bit of a throwback now. Believe it or not, I haven’t seen all these movies. (Well, now I have, but at the start of the month I was missing movies 3 and 4.) I was in the mood for watching a series of movies and really enjoyed the Marvel Rewatch I did last year, so this felt like a good choice. I enjoyed watching them, especially along with my sister. For the most part I liked parts of all of them just the third and last one dragged the most for me. There’s definitely parts that repeat with similar storylines in each one. I think it’s ironic because any time I read a book that takes place on a ship, I can’t get into it, but watching I’m completely fine with it. I heard there’s talks of a sixth movie and I would watch it if it was released.

THE MIGHTY DUCKS: GAME CHANGERS

One throw back to the next. After watching each of the Pirates movies, my sister and I moved on to marathoning the Mighty Ducks movies. These were classics to watch when I was growing up, so it was great to re-live them before watching the new show on Disney Plus. I tried waiting a while to watch the series, this way we didn’t have to wait weekly for a new episode. (Just had to do that for the last two.) I REALLY enjoyed this series. So much more than I was expecting to. I wasn’t expecting so much heart and great acting from this new group of actors. I loved seeing Emilio Esteves once again as Gordan Bombay. While he’s a different Bombay than where we left him at the end of D:3, you quickly learn what has changed him. It’s interesting seeing the Mighty Ducks team as the bad guys. Before watching the show, I thought this would bother me, but it really didn’t. I loved all the throwbacks and Easter eggs and of course freaked out for episode 6 with the return of some of the original ducks.

I really hope that this show gets picked up. This way we can continue to make references from the franchise and without the restrictions from COVID more people can come back. (I’m looking at you Joshua Jackson.)

RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON

I’m so happy to add this movie to my May Picks. I just watched it a couple of weeks ago after it came out on Blu-ray. (Ironically, you can still go see it in some movie theaters in my area.) This was a highly-anticipated one for me. I was excited to learn more about the characters and get into the mythology. It did not disappoint. Similar to Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, this film has a lot of heart. I really liked Raya and so many of the secondary characters. There were a lot of laugh out loud moments. Awkwafina was a fantastic choice for the last dragon Sisu. Her voice was perfect! I loved the animation. I remember hearing that they had to film a good amount of the actor’s recordings at their homes and I think that’s amazing. You wouldn’t have known unless you watched the bloopers on the special features. Definitely add this one to your list!

THE GREAT POTTERY THROW DOWN

Such an addictive show. A must watch for anyone who is a fan of The Great British Bake-off and Netflix’s Blown Away. A friend mentioned this show to me at the start of the month and I instantly got hooked. I know nothing about pottery, but now feel that I do. Originally airing on the BBC, HBO Max is now streaming this pottery competition show. It follows ten home potters as they compete for the top pottery win (maybe money. I can’t remember, but there’s a great trophy). This is the kind of show where I feel apart of the cast and am sad to watch them go. I really clicked with season 1 and season 2 took a little bit, but I grew to love that group too. Now I’m on the finale and am very excited to see who wins it all.

If you need a feel-good, quick watch then you should look no further!

DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

You’ve heard me say it time and time again. This show is the best in the Arrowverse. I gave up on Supergirl years ago and while I stuck it through with Arrow, I don’t know if I’ll be doing that with the Flash. (I have been behind watching recently, and when I do watch I tend to fast forward most of it because I lose interest.) This season came back at the start of May and has aliens as the main adversary. Currently, I have liked some episodes more than others. I’m not sure if this is because of the alien plot, that I miss some of the OG cast, or I need a break from superhero shows. I also miss Sara being apart of the core group. Last season, she was away for a bit too and while I love Ava’s leader role of the legends (and have gotten really used to it), I want to see them working together. Especially now that they’re engaged! (Well, Sara doesn’t know Ava said yes yet, but I need them to be reunited.) Interested to see where we’re headed for the rest of the season.

Last thoughts....

I’ve been sharing a lot of my Nancy Drew reactions after watching the new episodes, so you can definitely find those on my page. I CANNOT WAIT for this finale tomorrow night. SO MUCH HAS TO HAPPEN TO WRAP EVERYTHING UP! I know Nancy has to be okay (because the show’s been renewed for a third season), but who knows what’ll happen. I am also desperate for more Nace content.

Kung Fu is another show on the CW that’s been killing it recently. I cannot believe that bombshell that Nicky’s mom revealed at the end of the last episode. What! How do we move forward? Also, can Nicky and Henry please make-up? I’m not sure my heart can take it.

I’ve missed you in the month of May. Can’t wait to watch more new episodes.

Just started season 2 on Amazon Prime Video. Just the historical/period piece, mystery I needed. I also love me some James Norton. (Although, I’m kind of done with the will they won’t they with Sidney and Amanda.)

Time for another Disney Plus telenovela. 80 episodes seasons; I’m back!

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moviemunchies · 3 years

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Imagine something like Iron Fist except a big budget movie and much higher quality--wait bump that, imagine what Iron Fist SHOULD have been, and you’ve got something very much like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe does not have a great track record with Asian representation. There was the whole controversy with the Ancient One in Doctor Strange and the depiction of the Hand in the Netflix shows, it’s not been anything to brag about. So when Marvel announced they were making a big budget movie about Shang-Chi, and finally tying up that loose end about the Mandarin that Jon Favreau was building up to until Iron Man 3 killed that Plot with a sledgehammer.

And you know that’s kind of fair because I don’t know how someone would adapt the Mandarin to a live-action Iron Man film in a way that wouldn’t be offensive. I say that as someone who is not that into Iron Man comics so maybe I’m wrong, but it sounds like a pretty difficult thing to pull off. So how does one deal with it?

Why by putting him in a movie about an Asian superhero, of course!

In the comics Shang-Chi’s father is Fu Manchu and that presented a lot of problems in adapting to a wide audience: first, that Fu Manchu is an offensive Yellow Peril villain, and second (and probably more important to Disney, let’s be real) there are some issues with film rights with that character. The Mandarin is heavily based off of Fu Manchu anyway, so the MCU decided to conflate the characters. And actually make him not a Yellow Peril stereotype. And also make him a fantastic character.

Xu Wenwu was an ancient Chinese warlord who discovered the Ten Rings, armbands of unknown origins that grant their wearer eternal life and amazing powers. He built up an empire, and later a criminal empire, also called the Ten Rings, but was always after more. He learns about a hidden mystical village called Ta Lo and wants to find it to gain their cool martial arts and magic. He doesn’t even get to the door though, because the guardian Ying Li is able to beat him despite his Ten Rings. Wenwu keeps going back and ends up falling in love--he gives up the Ten Rings (the artifacts AND the organization) and marries her, and they have two children: Shang-Chi and Xialing. Except then Ying Li dies and so Xu Wenwu goes back to crime. He trains Shang-Chi to become an unbeatable killing machine when he’s a child, and when he’s a teenager sends him on a mission to assassinate an enemy of the Ten Rings.

Except Shang-Chi doesn't want that, and he runs away and years later he lives in San Francisco and works as a valet driver with his best friend Katy. It’s a basic life, but it has nothing to do with crime or killing people so he likes it. Except then the Ten Rings are after Shang-Chi, so he’s got to find his sister Xu Xialing and figure out what it is his evil father wants with them.

This, like the other MCU movies, is an action movie, but this is also a wuxia film. As a result it has some of, if not the best fight scenes out of any Marvel film. Definitely better fight choreography.

Shang-Chi is a lovable protagonist--I think had the film come out like a decade ago they would have gone out of their way to try to make him a Cool Guy type of character who is nonchalant about everything and made his entire motivation a designated love interest. Not so here! He’s a bit of a dork that would really rather be chilling out with his best friend. But he’s willing to risk everything to save the people he cares about. He’s likable, he’s relatable, and he’s fun, but not in a way that feels as if he’s some kind of sarcastic quip factory always cracking jokes. He’s a guy trying to figure out who he really is who just happens to be a badass martial artist.

Xu Wenwu is actually kind of a fantastic villain? I remember seeing articles and headlines claiming that he was a really well-developed and complex villain, and I wasn’t sure what to expect going in. People said that about Hela, for instance, and while she’s fun to watch she’s not all that complex. Xu Wenwu actually is interesting though. I will admit that it’s a bit frustrating that there’s another fridging of a female character in his backstory, but I think his character arc still mostly works and elevates him to being more than just a Fu Manchu villain that he might have been had the original angle for the Mandarin been kept. Yeah, he’s terrible, but not so much that you don’t kind of sympathize with him. I have a weakness for stories about twisted familial relationships, so I really liked his character and his arc.

I found Shang-Chi’s best friend Katy is a fun character, but that doesn’t change that her role is almost entirely comic relief. That might bother some in the audience. However unlike some comic relief characters, she isn’t useless dead weight--she contributes to the action in several scenes. Notably she’s established fairly early on as a skilled driver, and this comes up more than once as something necessary for the Plot. And she goes through her own character arc like Shang does, albeit with less development (which makes sense because one of them is the title character and the other isn’t). What I am afraid of is that a future sequel might refuse to develop her further and just fall back on her comic relief role. Which is funny, but there’s more to her than that.

There’s also Xu Xialing, Shang-Chi’s sister, and this is where the movie’s going to have some problems for some viewers. She’s not a bad character at all; she’s a great character. But her backstory--being the daughter of Xu Wenwu but not being trained as a warrior because sexism, so she taught herself martial arts, started her own little business, and can easily keep up with Shang-Chi--probably makes her a more interesting character to a lot of people, and that’s something I can’t really argue with. Which means that once again there’s a badass capable and interesting female character playing second fiddle to the male lead. That’s more than a little frustrating. I didn’t mind so much because it’s not as if she’s sidelined--she’s still an important character to the narrative and has plenty of really cool on-screen moments. But I understand that many viewers will take issue with this, and this is a recurring problem Marvel has had. There is a promise that she will feature even more in a sequel, but it’s not like Marvel always keeps its promises in that regard, and no one should have to wait on another movie to get full enjoyment of the one they’re watching right now.

And yes, this is a martial arts movie, but it is also a Marvel movie and that means that it’s very special effects heavy. You probably knew that going in, but I recall while watching the movie thinking about how there were several scenes that were probably entirely green screen. And some of them had to be, those that showed fantastical creatures and environments. I imagine that if it wasn’t a big budget feature heavy on special effects it wouldn’t have been made as a movie instead of as a television show on a streaming service. If you were hoping that the martial arts trappings would make it feel less like a Marvel movie (which I kind of was), I can’t say that this film does that. If you do like Marvel movies there’s a few little hints about what’s to come by the time the movie’s done.

Still, that doesn’t change that it’s a pretty good movie, with fantastic fight scenes, and a solid, likable cast of interesting characters who are fun to watch on screen. It’s still a Marvel movie, with all that entails, but it’s a solid entry in their cinematic universe that does something a little different--albeit not different enough to feel too foreign. I liked it. I had fun. I don't think it's a must-see unless you’re a Marvel fanatic or want to see their take on a wuxia film, but it’s a good time at the movies.

#Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings #Shang Chi #MCU #Marvel #Movie Munchies #wuxia

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eventual-ghoste · 3 years

Text

TOG rambling

Hello! This post has to do with Andy and some revelations at the end of Force Multiplied. Spoilers I give aren’t super specific but they’re there, and I can’t promise they won’t bite.

This is also in response to a TOG discord question I couldn’t stop thinking about, regarding Andy’s history as compared to Nicky’s, as posited by Em | salzundhonig:

But Nicky's past as a crusader and his growth from his past was well received, surely that'll be the same with Andy right?

I apologize if these ramblings sound like a rant but I swear my intentions are in the spirit of debate/discourse, and they are not an attack on any individuals.

The TL;DR is: Andy has work to do. Hopefully Hollywood and Rucka don’t fuck that up.

Feel free to check/correct/call me out if I’ve misspoke anywhere here (I realize I still have a lot to learn) but IMHO, I don’t think a semblance of Andy’s growth will be well received. Or, at least, I’m not so certain it should be because, in the comics, I genuinely don’t think Andy has grown. At the end of Force Multiplied, she still defends her actions with the “this is how I grew up” argument, and says it was “a long time ago,” and as much as I love love LOVE Andromache the Scythian for her badassery and how she’s a vision of female empowerment, I can’t help but think about how I hear those words all the time from people defending themselves against racist and/or sexist comments from so-called bygone eras.

Wanna know a sad difference between those people and our beloved Andy? They apologize for what they’ve done, or who they were. As hollow as the words will sound, however unforgivable their actions, however self-serving the apology will be— Those Asshats apologize. Comic!Andy never does, not even when confronted by Nile, an African American woman who likely descends from slaves, and has undoubtedly experienced racism and discrimination on a regular basis. It’s been thousands of years and Andy doesn’t even know how to say sorry (if she ever does, kudos to whoever finds a timestamp/panel, and let me know!). Instead, Andy buries the truth of her actions with a load of justifications to the point that she becomes self-deprecating, calling herself “vermin,” concluding she’s no better than the apathetic, selfish, evil POS they hunt. She may have spent the past millennia with TOG, trying to make things right but then—

But then she gives up. She’s tired. She resigns because she doesn’t have it in her anymore to fight the injustice she once willingly and self-servingly participated in. So, on top of being incapable of apology, Andy also doesn’t vow to do better. She doesn’t accede to change.

If there is one reason for why “The Old Guard” is a fucking absolutely shitty title, is that it refers to people who refuse to accept new ideas and progress. We are in a fandom that has four canonically queer characters, three people of color, and two female leads! Maybe the irony is intentional but damn, why is it that Andy, PROTAGONIST #1, hasn’t completely caught up with the program?

And that brings me to why I think Andy’s reckoning will not be on the same level as Nicky’s. Because as popular as Kaysanova is, neither Nicky or Joe are the main protagonists of TOG.

We don’t follow Nicky or Joe (or Booker) into scenes. The men are strictly back-at-the-ranch, supporting characters. We follow Andy or Nile (who also have the most screen time, I believe, but fact-check me). Filmically speaking, we ought to value them with a measure of precedence. Their words and actions matter the most, especially Andy’s by nature of how everyone looks to her for guidance.

So, with all that in mind: How does one reconcile a beloved protagonist with a despicable past in slavery, of all things? In the wake of an international racial reckoning, how is a celebrated, white South African actress going to fulfill that role? How is production going to balance fantasy with reality? How are Rucka and other involved writers (Theron, Prince-Bythewood?) going to alter the original IP, while retaining the nuance of this moral quandry?

Forgive me for the overkill but: How is it going to happen?

I’m well aware that my thoughts are going down a rabbit hole, and I am definitely overthinking this, but as somebody who’s genuinely curious about whether Victoria Mahoney and the rest of the TOG crew will have the guts to confront the issue head-on, or if they’ll take the easy way out. Excise the bits that no one wants to talk about, much less watch in a feel-good film that TOG has become for many fans.

Whatever production ends up doing, I hope that 2O2G doesn’t end on a cliffhanging “pity Andromache” note because, damn, I’m gonna feel real uncomfortable scrolling through fandom posts, reading people defending slavery and giving the same “the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there” spiel, in order to protect a fictional character played by a conventionally-attractive cis heterosexual white woman.

(Also: If the past is so different from the present, why are there still calls for social justice? Why do ALL industries still lack diverse and equitable representation?)

Now, this is where I’ll go back to the original question and say: While I think Nicky functions well as an example for change/growth/redemption, I don’t think his change serves as a good comparison to Andy’s. I say this, even while I’m aware of double standards in gender, and even between the reception of gay characters vs lesbian characters vs etc. (re: I’m open to critique).

My line of thought stems from the fact that, canonically, Nicky always had Joe. The two have seemingly been inseparable from the moment they first killed each other. It’s likely that Joe would check Nicky whenever he said or did something wrong and offensive, and perhaps this symbiosis was mutual.

(I also have a feeling that many people easily disregarded the Christian/Muslim conflict because A) lack of knowledge in BOTH religions and B) the onscreen couple appear very much in love, especially when one is giving a beautiful monologue on the nature of their relationship. When we meet Joe and Nicky, we meet them at their best. Shout-out to interfaith couples who know more about this than my single (and secular) ass does, and might have more to say about this.)

On the other hand: Andy never had someone who was like how Joe was for Nicky. No one ever calls out Andy because A) she’s the oldest, B) she’s the lead, and C) her business card says ANDROMACHE OF SCYTHIA, WAR GOD. Yeah, she had Quynh/Noriko but— at the risk of yelling at Rucka for vilifying a queer woman of color (or praising him for not leaning on the stereotype of Asian passivity? idk, anyone got thoughts on this?)— Noriko is clearly not encouraging good behavior. Neither will Quynh if Netflix lets 2O2G be as faithful to the comics as TOG1 was.

Which means the Law 282 conversation might be…unavoidable? Somewhere along the line, we still end up in the hotel room with Andy, on the floor, pleading for her crew to not abandon her, even though she is the one who abandoned their cause.

This sets up a circumstance in which Fade Away might be spent trying to redeem Andy/Charlize Theron, bring her back to the “good side,” teaching her to be better— thereby highlighting her experience and “salvation,” rather than making a point of her past, and the reality of her actions. In other words, a “pity the white woman” fest.

(Because I’m crossing my fingers that TOG production/Netflix know better) In an effort to prevent that from happening, I wonder if Rucka will combine Force Multiplied with Fade Away for the 2O2G script. Given the series’ track record, I think it is feasible that FA’s release coincides with 2O2G’s, and that it finally resolves Andy. Whether by revitalizing her energy as a do-some-gooder, or finalizing her vulnerability by putting her 6,000 years to rest, thus handing off the reigns to Nile and a new generation of leadership.

The last thing I want to leave off with is: I don’t hate Andy. It’s a credit to Rucka and fellow writers (from film and fandom) that I don’t.

I might not love her character as enthusiastically as I used to, but that doesn’t mean I’m not amazed by her creation. She’s a female lead whose sexuality is not exploited by the male gaze; whose emotional vulnerability is not considered a hindrance to, nor an explanation for, her battle prowess; and whose unabashed queerness is not reinforced by cookie cutter stereotypes. Andromache the Scythian is AMAZING.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to excuse or ignore her most glaring and contemptible flaw. More than anything, I’d love to sweep her past under the carpet so that 2O2G can be problem-free. Like many people, I just want to enjoy a movie without getting triggered.

I want to see Quynh and Andy kiss and make up. I want to see Joe rocking Those Shorts, and a cheeky shot of Nicky appreciating his ass. I want to see Nile welcoming Booker back to the family again. Some form of group therapy would be chef’s kiss.

But something about glossing over/removing slavery from Andy’s narrative reeks of dishonesty, and reminds me that the (Hollywood) movie industry is full of people who do not want to be tainted with negative perceptions. Understandably, appearances are their livelihood— but that particular truth is something they still have to reckon with.

#the old guard #tog #vi rambles

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