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missaureus · 3 years

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EXplOration in Manila Pt. 2

My roommates finally arrived past 1AM. I was super drained but I still managed to put on my bear nail stickers while waiting for them. The moment I opened the door we were already squealing because we haven’t seen each other since my Davao vacation on January that year. We chatted randomly and eventually dozed off. We only had a few hours to be physically prepared for a hectic day ahead.

The concert proper was still at night but we scheduled to go to the mall area at 10AM to distribute freebies under Team Jongin PH. I was wearing heels and my feet were already crying. Obviously, I am not used to it and it was a poor decision. Cafes and restaurants near the arena were banning meet-ups and large groups who were giving stuff to concertgoers because it would obstruct other costumers. What would they expect in a day like this? We respect establishments and would not go out empty-stomached. But I cannot blame them. With that, we ended up being stationed in a wing way distal to the arena.

Many familiar faces were spurting inside the café. I got to introduce to them using twitter usernames. It was hilarious. I even messed up with my other internet friends who I failed to recognize right off the bat! I felt so apologetic. Probably out of exhaustion, my sugar was depleting!

Around 2PM, I had pasta and coffee as my lunch. I cannot indulge my palate that I had to share my small dish to a friend. My fight-or-flight hormone was doing its job generously that afternoon. I could not recall how much yards we had to stroll for unknown reason in and out the mall.

After giving away those packed stuff, we took some pictures in front of the arena in groups. After that, we went back to the condo to freshen up and get ready to line up. With my sequence number, around 400, I was near the end of the line. Surprisingly, almost everyone in my area was from the province, particularly Bisaya. We finally realized how the provincial assistance failed us that year. Probably the worse experience I had due to the hectic announcements for the Manila leg. At that moment, a hint of regret was circling my thoughts. Was it a right decision that I did not bite that one under the table offer? I could have experienced a barricade line. I just ignored that bleak light of what-if.

Inside the arena, around 5PM, I was probably 5 or 6 lines away from the stage. It was way farther than my ElyXiOn stop but still a good and close view. There were still foreigners in our area. There was no sign of the event to start so I finally decided to listen to my feet’s plea --- to sit on the floor. The VIP area was more compressed than the first day. Thus, I had to stand in no time to reserve my spot.

Around 6PM, the show commenced. The intensity of Filipino EXO-Ls’ heated cheer in response to the house rules was much more ear-splitting than yesterday’s. The setlist was not even rolling but one or two from our area were already dragged out, mostly foreigners. I swear, the level of security was not a joke this time!

With the same pattern of Moonlight being played, it was a hint for everyone to mentally prepare. The 1st VCR played on the big led screens. The ghastly intro was beating in a rising intensity until the EXOs finally set foot on stage. By the time Tempo played, not only the lightsticks but also the phones were raised up high to shot fancams. I was so stressed I forgot how the moshpit game should be played. I had to brace myself for over 2 hours! People in the pit were starting to make waves out of pushing and eventually I had to stop my fancam during Transformer because the bouncers were barring my view when they were trying to catch another bull-headed fan pinpointed by Filipino fans.

Due to the endless commotion, I was ushered to the side barricade and had the opportunity to step on the platform for a much elevated view. I was so afraid of stampede I did not dare to move an inch from my position. I anchored myself to the barricade. From there, I had a better view for Gravity which is a personal favorite. A choreography does wonder to a song!

Baekhyun came out with the backup dancers for UN Village after the 2nd VCR was shown. Undeniably, he appeared to be exhausted which was obvious when he let the fans sing most of the song at the end. The fans did not fail to par the energy of the song with its fanchant..

This was followed by the 3rd VCR then the powerful trio: 24/7, which played a huge part in my decision making of which ticket to buy. I was after Jongin’s position for this song. Unlike, ElyXiOn that each member had a fix spot every time they go scatter around, EXplOration was way opposite and random. All te members were so mobile throughout. Next, the general public’s favorite, Love Shot attacked. Followed by Oh La La La.

The deafening shout from the crowd was breathed out when EXO started talking for the 1st ment. They individually introduced themselves with matching hello Philippines and mabuhay greetings. Finally, Monster! This was a stage missed out last ElyXiOn. I was happy to finally witness it live. The members then scattered on the main stage for Oasis. The led screen was an art it was dancing gracefully with them. Breathtaking!

A solo stage by the leader, Junmyeon, followed. Funnily, they were now confident to rip off in an oversea show excluding Japan and China. With that, the crowd was expecting so much from Been Through. The moment Junmyeon exposed his chiseled abdominal muscles, the crowd went crazier that the shouts reached the roof the arena.

Finally, a ballad song! Jongdae entered the center stage and the light bulbs were simultaneously falling like stars. He sang Lights Out too perfectly and I commend the crowd for understating the sole assignment during this stage --- to stay silent to appreciate his vocals. The lights were already reflecting towards my tears pooling in my eyes.

The SeChan duo then took over the stage after the 4th VCR. They entered the scene with their bigass luggage as props. They were playing with What a Life and Closer to You. After that, the rest of the members joined with Falling for You.

A brown couch was dragged to the center stage for Wait stage. This ballad number was so heartwarming when the crowd sang along with the EXOs as if it was a duet. They appeared relaxed. Literally, feeling at home vibe in the living room.

The 2nd ment started. SeChan playfully pointed their microphones to the fan to let then sing some parts of What a Life. As expected from Phixos, we are remarkable to the group as the loudest crowd among all hosts. The rule will always be, we do not do fanchant, we sing the whole song haha! The leader then teased Baekhyun with his sexy choreo in UN Village. Baekhyun did it which made Chayeol crazy for it! Randomly, Jongin danced the sexy choreo of Been Through followed by Junmyeon. Out of nowhere, the crowd cheered loudly for Jongdae’s name suggesting for him to be next in line to do the steps. He was generous enough to do both choreos while singing Lights Out lol I swear they were so chaotic! After that, Sehun did it too! Chanyeol was not getting any free pass and the crowd cheered for his name next. He was crazy that I did not already care for his self-image at that moment. He did his own version of rolling hills and the crowd had gone mad for it! He eventually went near each member to grind at them lmfao! Guess what! Except for Baekhyun!!! Jongin had a secondhand embarrassment for this guy and even threatened to punch him. To end the chaos, the leader finally introduced Power as the next song. It was so fun there were also fireworks-like effects during the break dance part which was serve by the leader, supposedly it was Kai’s part but the members cheered for Junmyeon to do it this time.

At this point, I was a battery at 2% already. I almost forgot what was next in line. A Kai solo! Jongin entered the main stage with the back up dancers, he was wearing a vest with nothing underneath it and a cap! To be honest, I loved his get-up on the first day more but the experience of him much closer to me is the best! I did the fanchant, I tried religiously but his performance was jaw-dropping that I kept on losing my focus, I went silent while covering my mouth! Surprisingly, he opened the only clothing coving his upper torso that finally exposed his amazing physique! By that time, I already got unleashed, I am still sorry for that crispy FUCK on my fancam hahhahahaha!

Bad dream and Damage were performed on the main sage. I actually was not able to give my full attention to it because my phone notified I was out of storage. Out of impulsivity, I deleted all of my applications thinking that it would save me until encore stage. After that, EXO danced to the legendary title tacks in a form of a medley, Growl, Overdose and Call Me Baby.

The 6th VCR was a hint that it was about to end and I went emotional. The boys playfully performed Unfair and On the Snow. The latter song is nostalgic. It is vivid how Jongin was enjoying this stage, wearing a black shirt and pants with his cap placed backwards. SeChan were so cute during You give me yours, I'll give you mine part when Chanyeol gave the maknae a bouquet of flowers. The fans started throwing lots of stuff on stage, the floor got crowded.

During the last ment, I befriended the person in front of me who is a Chanyeol-biased. We shouted in chorus Jongin’s name while raising a gom banner but unfortunately he did not respond. We just kept on laughing! We tried it to Chanyeol while waving a banner of him and he waved backed to our area enthusiastically using the doll he picked on the floor. While the others were busily doing their individual messages, ChanKaiHo were so bust playing with the coiled spring, I swear they were kids!

During Jongdae’s part, the audience started chanting Walang uuwi! We also did this last ElyXiOn and finally this time it was already translated back to the boys! They kept on saying that they enjoyed the night so much with the fans and shamelessly said it was way better that yesterday hahaha! I had to agree. They said that they would love to come back to the Philippines for a concert and a vacation. During Sehun’s part, he secretly asked the translator how to say “Walang uuwi!” and Sehun said it back to the crowd cutely. Finally, after a year!!!

The leader finally introduced the encore song, Smile on my Face. The confetti were starting to rain and feel our faces. The harmonization was heavenly that I almost cried. To be honest, I was sad but happy at the same time. The boys then arranged themselves on the moving platform. Until the last time, Sehun kept on saying Walang Uuwi!. They faded before my eyes, it was surreal! Thank God for letting me see them twice in a row!

I looked for my friends in the pit and cried in unison! We took pictures outside the arena with some of our friends and decided to look for a place to eat. It was actually raining cats and dogs as if heavens knew how heavy my heart was that it was finally over.

We went back to the condo with my packed order hahahaha I do not know what was into me that I did not touch my food. I just quenched my thirst bottoms up with a soda full of ice! I was so silent after that hahahaha.

We slept around 2AM after consuming our fancams. The next day, we had breakfast in Naynay’s condo. Hnnng I miss her food! After that, we parted ways with my condomates and met some of my friends also before heading to the airport.

It was raining. The weather turned my departure more melancholic that it should be. But when I reached the arrival area, I was so touched my whole family came to fetch me. Thank you for supporting me and my happiness. Thank you for allowing me to have this memory when I grow old.

This is my youth.

#EXO #exoconcert #explorationinmanila #explorationinmaniladay2 #kai #chanyeol #sehun #suho #chen #baekhyun #jongin #personal

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letting-them-take-liberties · 4 years

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VolFes 2020 Shop Event Report

That got intense so fast.

Crossposted at Wanderlust.

Because of the current situation and the company probably not wanting to risk it, VolFes 2020 got cancelled and instead was turned into a pop-up shop so that they can sell the goods meant for the event.

Around an estimate of 99.5% of Japan events are mostly all about buying merch, so it felt like a bloodbath of sorts as everyone around me was spending money like it grew on trees (someone I know spent at least USD2,000 for merch alone). I’ve been attending Voltage events for three years now and it always amazes me how far the fangirls will go to spend for their favorite character (I’ll be calling them ‘oshi’ [推し]) from this point forward.

As mentioned in this post, it is always good to go to an event on the very first day to avoid disappointment and loathing when the merch you’re eyeing gets sold out.

I took a leave from work for Day 1 of VolFes 2020 Shop as I knew that it would get crazy; the last few merch buying events I’ve been to left me exhausted, even if all I did was buy. It can get pretty intense at times since the people I hang out with can really get wild with the buying spree.

It was announced in the website that they would allow a free-for-all-entry to anyone wanting to buy goods after 2PM. My friend Y and I took this opportunity to eat lunch and relax since it’ll take time; between her and I, she was more tense and kept checking Twitter for any announcements. As for me, I was a bit more chill, knowing that if they run out of goods, I could still buy online.

If you’ve read my past entry, Y is a huge Saizo fan, so she’s more into this merch buying than I since she has to compete with a lot of fangirls for Saizo goods. I’m happy that with Masamune and Ieyasu, the competition for merch for the both of them isn’t as tense as Saizo’s.

The Chara announced on Twitter that the free-for-all entry would be delayed by an hour, so we took our time to have some dessert, then head off to Ikebukuro Marui. While waiting for the distribution of the designated timeslot tickets, Y and I decided to go to the nearby bank so that I could get some money (thought to pay in cash to keep the expenses lower), and on our way back, Y met an acquaintance who was just on their way out as they were done buying merch.

The acquaintance started asking Y what she would be buying this time around, and Y confessed to not buying anything related to Ouji/Be My Princess series as she had gotten disappointed before with her merch pick.

(Spoiler alert: her oshi is Ivan Chernenkov, she tried to get can badges of him by buying up to the maximum number of can badges allowed in one transaction (20 for that event), and ended up with no Ivan. That traumatized her that she swore off buying merchandise from that series.)

Acquaintance was with a friend, who then started asking Y if she could buy 20 (!!!) can badges from Ouji-sama no Propose EK (Be My Princess 2) 10th Anniversary art plus a bromide from MiraPuri (Kagami no Naka no Princess Love Palace), with 20 being the limit for can badge purchases.

At that point, Y turned to me, who was simply listening to the conversation, and said, “Kiyo isn’t buying any Ouji trading can badge merch, right?”

I gave her a confused look. “Yeah, I’m sticking to KoiRan and Ouji, with hardly any trading merch on my list.”

The acquaintance’s friend then straight-up asked me, “If you don’t mind, would you buy me 20 more can badges for Ouji EK 10th Anniversary art? I’ll give you some money to cover for the expense.”

I then took out my list (in Google Sheets); the acquaintance’s friend started dictating to me her wishlist. Upon seeing my list written in English, she gave me a look and then said, “Oh… uh, I can’t read English–”

“No worries, I got you covered and I wrote it down. So you want 20 can badges for Ouji EK…”

“Yeah, the ones with the grandsons! 20 of those, and one bromide from MiraPuri!”

Total cost of the merch was JPY9,020, enough for her to get three bonus postcards from MiraPuri.

We then promised to meet up after the buying so that we could hand over the goods, then off we went inside the building to wait for the ticket distribution.

This is the part when my friends and their other friends (at that point, I didn’t know them) got really disappointed and pissed at the free-for-all entry system that had a designated timeslot entry ticket.

If you didn’t know by now, if there’s one thing that sets off a local in this country, it’s the horrible queue/entry ticket system. It’s no exaggeration when someone says that queuing is a national sport/pastime, so if an event is crowded but has a good queue management system, a lot of people would be willing to put up with that.

However, if there are fewer people but the management is horrible, people would really criticize the hell out of it.

Which brings us to Day 1 of VolFes 2020: the website states that the entry ticket they will be handing out will be given at random, which means that even if you arrive late during the distribution of the entry ticket, there is still a chance for you to be able to secure an early timeslot.

Ex. Person A arrives at the venue at 1:30PM and has been waiting for the entry ticket distribution to start, which is an hour away. There’s a chance that they’d be given an entry ticket for the last time slot, which is at 7:40PM ~ 8:00PM.

Person B arrives at the venue at 2:30PM, the designated start of the distirbution of the numbered tickets. There’s a chance that they could get the earliest time slot to buy goods, which is at 3:00PM ~ 3:20PM.

What upset my friends was that when it was time to distribute the tickets, everyone made a run for it as soon as we were asked to queue, and when they gave us the entry ticket, we got a really late timeslot since we were positioned at nearly the end of the line.

In other words, the entry tickets they gave us was based on how "late" we got to the line; the ones that got ahead of us got an earlier slot, despite the fact that the website mentioned that the time slot on the entry ticket would be shuffled and handed out at random.

Everyone around me was ranting about how half-assed (they all kept throwing the word 中途半端 [chuu’to han’pa]) the whole system was (they could have stuck with a full online timeslot reservation system for Day 1 and Day 2), and how they didn’t go through with the promise of giving out the entry tickets that shuffled the entry time of the attendees in the spirit of equality and fairness, while I figured out the loophole of the system.

No matter how early you arrive, if you’re not fast enough to queue for the entry tickets as soon as they ask you to, high chance of you being given the last timeslot.

Since we had two hours and twenty minutes to kill, we all headed for dessert at a nearby cheap restaurant and just chatted with one another until it was time to go in.

Unlike last year, VolFes 2020 is smaller, more compact, and you had less time to have fun and enjoy.

Admittedly, the merch line up is better and much more gorgeous, but goodness, there’s just too many of them that it was difficult for me to decide which one I should purchase.

In the end, I decided to skip out on buying the maximum number allowed for buying random merch and stuck it out with getting 3 ~ 4 can badges.

To prevemt the spread of the virus, anyone who enters Ikebukuro Marui and the building had to wear a mask, sanitize their hands, and had 20 minutes to complete their shopping, from picking out the merch to paying at the checkout counter. They only allowed up to 8 people at a time at the shop so you had to plan your purchases. All of us shopping had a list that we referred to while searching for the goods because entry to the venue was controlled and you are not allowed to go back in anymore after paying.

If you missed out on an item, you’ll have to ask someone whose timeslot to buy the goods is different from yours to buy your merch, you go back the next day, or you order online, which means there’s a three-month waiting period before you receive the item.

Day 1 of the shop was on a Friday so I still had another day to think about any additional purchases, so even if I missed out buying merch, it’s not really a big deal.

[I’m chill that way]

With the buying done, my friends and I headed to another cheap restaurant across the street. Just like last year, the majority of them used that time in the restaurant not to eat, but to open their merch in blind packaging to check and see who they got. If it’s their oshi, they keep it, but for the ones that are not their oshi, they carefully place both the item and the shining packaging inside a ziplock back so that they could trade it with the others.

After we ordered dinner, Y got a message that her acquaintance was at the restaurant we were at, which meant it was time for me to hand over the merch. The girl who asked me to buy for her was so thankful that I think I actually got really shy over it haha.

When I got back to my table, the food was there, so I ate dinner and continued chatting with Y, who also took the time to multitask by eating and opening the merchandise she got. Sad part was, not one of the items she bought for Day 1 contained Saizo, which made me feel sad for her. It’s really rough when you spend so much and end up with no oshi; it’s really the worst feeling in the world.

Y had an early day for Day 2 of VolFes 2020 Shop so we all parted ways early as everyone was exhausted from stressing out whether merch would get sold out on Day 1 and from simply buying goods.

Day 2 wasn’t that eventful, aside from us buying more goods (I bought Ivan’s goods this time around as my priority was Yakov’s), and I ended up trading all my Saizo goods with Y for other characters. Nothing against Saizo, but I know that someone who isn’t me would actually cherish him more than I will ever do.

———-

Not sure if anyone’s interested to see what I bought, but let me know if you’d want me to post photos of my haul.

———-

More event photos:

#volfes2020 #volfes 2020 #personal #voltage inc

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suchalilyofthevalley · 4 years

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I think you raised a lot of good points with how they're going to market both S and C moving forward...I have my own opinion on this "relationship" but regardless I've been surprised they've been promoted as a duo so much? i actually felt sorry for C that her album promo wasn't about her album. and i'm interested to see what shawn's major interview will be like. if it's a fluffy relationship piece i think it will do more harm than good. (part 1)

Also I think his foundation should have launched with an interview not necessarily for his fanbase but to attract corporate partnerships? Would like your thoughts on that and the foundation in general. I just feel like he was on an upward trajectory and that it may have stalled because of the current positioning, but I don't have any figures to back it up, it's just my impression. I do think some new advisors on his team could elevate him though.(part 2)

::cracks knuckles::

First off THANK YOU SO MUCH for an ask like this. It’s very well thought out/well written and it lets me go into what I LOVE about my job/PR - the build and strategy/positioning in regards to media.

Before I do - the part about the next big interview for him: fan hat off, PR hat on. It NEEDS to be about him, about music, about what’s next. All fandom and mass pop has seen since last summer has been the THEM of it all. Most folks that know him or support him, are there for him and his music. not his relationship. These are the folks that are going to buy albums, concert tickets, merch, stream, tune into interviews, etc. They’re the ones that keep the engines fueled and the lights on. It sometimes feels like that’s forgotten about in the mix of everything.

The massive Billboard article that dropped about the success of Shawn Mendes: The Tour at the end of January didn’t even get the love and push it should have. This was massive news and it like didn’t even get acknowledged in any way, even industry facing.

This has to/needs to be a legit interview. Not a 5 question curated thing that shows up in like PopSugar or InStyle or online video only with like BuzzFeed. And honestly, after the success of SM3/SMTT - it should be something that elevates his profile. He’s done some of the big ones in Variety, Billboard, Rolling Stone. Which all awesome. But time to build and keep moving forward and upward.

This next big moment - it NEEDS to go next level to hit wider, more mature more male and female mass pop. My thoughts? Depending on what they’ve actually got to talk about - Vanity Fair or Vogue are both a bit a reach but that would be EPIC goals - especially if there’s something of substance to talk about and he’s willing to be open. More realistic? GQ, Esquire, Interview Mag, even Hollywood Reporter but that skews a little more industry. I don’t trust EW to have enough of a deft hand to handle what really needs to be done, it would be too floof and veering tabloidy for that next meaty piece.

Total aside - the fact the team hasn’t pitched him for like Men’s Health/Men’s Journal yet BOGGLES considering some of the other folks that have been able to snag covers. To me? No BRAINER to have pitched that at album release or before the tour to talk and dive into his regiment and how he gets into shape to take on a tour/shows.

For the foundation - there was absolutely Z E R O marketing/pr thought or strategy put out on it or towards it. This launched in the lead up to what was the biggest moment of the tour, his hometown stadium show in Toronto. They basically launched it and was like yeah it’s a thing here’s a sizzle video and some pretty graphics ok donate to us byeeeeee.

No friends. No.

You needed to LAUNCH this thing, really and truly. Not only for the general awareness, but like you said dear anon, for the corporate philanthropy of it. Your partners are tour folks who probably got looped in on the tour deal. So what’s happening now? Who else is backing this? How much have you ponied in to start this? What else have you been doing for it? What are your fundraising drivers other than soliciting to fan base and having a donate button on your website? What’s your ethos and mission statement?

They’re under the umbrella of the Social Impact Fund for the States and Internationally to manage the financials/donation platform website, who also manages the charities/foundations from wii.i.am and Bradley Cooper. Which yay good legit and folks. So that means they’re using THAT team to do a lot of the heavy lifting on the back end with distribution, their charitable status, etc. I know I’ve heard noise/chatter on here before that folks think this is a sham, it’s a tax break/shelter, it’s not legit. The fund they’re using is a fully registered 501(c)(3) here in the States which means they’ve got folks they’ll need to answer to with legit breakdowns of how funding is being used, etc. Folks being the IRS. It looks like they’re under the Sick Kids Foundation/Sick Kids Charitable Fund with donating in Canada. So what this all means is that they’ve got the framework of the foundation without having to do the lift and say have an Exec Director on their staff managing everything.

However, they’re slow to the kick on everything the fan base says is important OR that he’s said is important/has backed before. It took a good beat to answer on the Australia wildfires and we’ve seen more recently with the COVID-19 response. There needs to be true thoughts and efforts put in, against and behind this. The fact that “our impact” on the website is literally links to Instagram posts? It would be a good idea to flesh that out a little bit more. Same with the partners they support - say what programs of theirs you’re giving to, what it’s going towards/for.

Given this kicked off in Canada around this show, like Macleans would have been a good interview, CBC/CTV or given it’s his hometown show was coming up, the Toronto Star or even go national with the Globe & Mail. It would have been a no brainer to do something with a Billboard for this, loop it in with talking about the show. Even better if you want to go after the double whammy of mass pop and corporate that would span across borders? Forbes. I know the music guys there and that would have been AMAZING. There was so much that could have been done and there just...wasn’t. Which is sad. This could be something and it’s just like a thing that’s there.

Coming off the album drop, the positive reviews, the blast through of shows/ticket sales followed by the actual tour success? Major positive forward motion and it feels like it’s stalled or backslid. I am all for him taking a beat to breathe and a break, but he shouldn’t do it at the detriment or demolition of everything he’s worked to build. He’s at a serious turning point. It’s also not out of the ordinary for artists to outgrow their teams or change teams. I know I’ve mentioned it before. It’s going to be interesting to see what he and the team, this one now or otherwise, do next all around.

#getting on my PR soapbox #cause publicists don't stop working #anon #Anonymous

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nomediaplay · 5 years

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If Tumblr shuts down, where do you go?

Most likely nowhere. In my good-bye note on onehallyu I said I might decide to answer questions somewhere. Then I regged this tumblr, but after a while decided to not do that as I wrote in the first post on this page. But with my usual “luck” in timing, Jessica left SNSD just some days later so I ‘had’ to post a bit.

supermofficial.*com/#events weren’t you bragging SM never forces their artists to do free events

Sigh. All artists of course have to do promotional events for new releases. And this is even some new group. And not just artists. If an author has a new book coming out, he’ll have to be on TV shows to promote it. If there’s a musical, the cast need to promote it on TV etc. Heck even the very top star Hollywood actors have to go all around the world and be on TV shows and events to promote their new movies.

What I’ve complained about is how many shitty idol companies make their celebrities constantly do lots of promotion for free, and also especially when they use very big established celebrities for events to which fans get “free tickets” by buying CDs.

What would happen to Taeyeon’s music if she were to leave SM? Would she still be able to perform these songs or she’d literally have to start anew?

She (and anyone else) can continue to perform her music however she wants, but she (presumably) can’t make new recordings without SM’s permission. Look here: when it comes to music, there are 2 different types of intellectual property rights:

The first is for, so to say, the ‘creation/invention’ of the song, and belongs to the composers/songwriters.

The second is the copyright of a specific recording. This typically belongs to a record label. That’s literally what record labels do: they organize the recording of music, then market and sell copies of that recording. And the record label will typically sign deals with songwriters, producers and singers to make a recording from which these get a royalty % cut of the total sales of that recording.

Anyone can perform whatever song anywhere without needing anyone’s consent. But if you do it for commercial purposes you need to pay the songwriters. This is handled by collective agreements and organizations such as ASCAP in the US, JASRAC in Japan and KOMCA in Korea which work to collect money for song usage and distribute it to the songwriters.

But to make a new recording of the song (for commercial purposes) you need explicit permission of the songwriters. However, whenever any record label signed a contract for a recording to start with, that agreement would typically stipulate that the record label now has the right to determine who can make new recordings of the song.

So, surely, if you’re a fan of a kpop group, you must have experienced that members of the groups have performed covers of other songs in concerts (because they can perform whatever song they want) - but if there’s a DVD release of the concert some of those covers might be missing (because record labels have refused the right to make recordings of the song).

What does it mean for an idol to have a lot of copyrighted songs, like the ones on those lists?

Per the above answer: it means he/she is listed as one of the ‘creators/inventors’ of a song as composer and/or lyricist. So whenever that song is used for any commercial purpose (such as played on TV, played on radio, performed by at any concert/event, etc) he/she will get paid some money.

However, as I’ve said countless of times before: for any really successful artists the payments from songwriting are really small compared the very big money they can get paid in other ways, particularly from performing at concerts and from doing CF/endorsement deals.

Also, I’d like to point out that it’s difficult to know how much an artist really have contributed to creating a song. Sometimes I get the feeling that YG lists whatever people that happened to sit next to Teddy while he composed a song. And it’s well known that many big western artists throughout history have demanded to be credited as songwriters even though they didn’t actually contribute anything at all.

Does Jessica have the right to use Girls’ Generation’s name to promote herself? Other girls who left SM - left the group as well (at least for now) but they all still use GG’s name when promoting their new projects. OT8 stans believe GG should never be mentioned anywhere near Jessica but I don’t think their situations are that different actually? but maybe I’m wrong?

I doubt that there are any legal constraints, but really, your question is strange because she’d be laughed at if she went around saying she was still an SNSD member. Any ‘group’ in society is defined by how the members of the group recognize each other as part of the group. The other 8 members have made it quite clear that they define SNSD as 8 members without Jessica, so it would be ridiculous for her to call herself as SNSD. Of course, she could if she want have journalists write news-articles calling her ex-SNSD Jessica and she could do interviews talking about her time in SNSD etc. I’m not sure if that would help her or not.

How so many bands and solo acts in japan are able to survive for a long time even though they don’t have good digital or physical sales?

But the Japanse music sales have been completely fucked up for the last 15 years as I’ve ranted about plenty of times before.

Can those bands and solo acts actually sell decent amounts of concert tickets in Japan? If yes, they’re living a good life no matter what their music sales are.

what is more important for a company, the success of their newer groups or their established artists? sorry if it’s a dumb question

Err, it’s not entirely black and white. But for a company to make really big profits (as in money for the owners of the company) it’s most important to get a new group to become really big really fast. This is partly about how new groups are on worse contracts and partly about how fans of these new fresh trendy groups spend huge money on buying albums and streaming like maniacs etc which are things from which the company gets most of the money (unlike for example concerts).

But it’s not all about contracts. Several of these smaller companies have absolutely horrible contracts. That doesn’t mean the companies make any profit. Because their acts simply aren’t successful enough. They spend so much money on everything from music videos to stage outfits and make up to road managers and security guards so there’s no money left.

And so on the flip side, for most of the normal employees who work in these companies to sort everything from music videos to stage outfits and make up to road managers and security guards, it’s really just important to have successful acts period (no matter if new or old) in order to make sure they get paid safely.

It is true that GD alone bring as much money as blackpink?

Per above: yes, GD alone would generate much more revenue than Blackpink. But they are both profitable in the sense that they generate much more money than what’s spent on music videos, outfits and managers etc. And obviously Blackpink has a much worse contracts than GD, so after splitting profits per their contracts YG probably makes bigger profits on Blackpink than GD.

Why do you think YG did a fanmeting in seoul for blackpink instead of another concert?

Well, considering the amount of negativity YG has ended up in recently:

I thought it had been well established that much of the audience at their previous Korean concert was in fact not paying for tickets, but people who had been given tickets through corporate sponsorship of the concert. In this current situation, there’s probably not a single company willing to sponsor a concert.

Secondly, even with regards to that fans actually would pay to go, I think it’s likely that media would have put out critical articles about YG doing concerts in this situation. By calling it a fan-meeting they’re pretty much making it impossible for journalists to write such negative articles.

Did that super junior member really leave because he got married or there is something more to it?

As I’ve always expressed: save humanity - disband Super Junior.

So no I really have no idea about what they’re doing. But I used to say some 7 years ago that there will probably be a Super Show 10. And we’re soon there. Because members seem to be aware of their own short-comings and their joint success and are OK with doing group activities.

But it was my understanding that this member not only didn’t really contribute with anything to the group, but that he also really pissed off the few fans he had with his actions (such as drawing symbols for his girlfriend when signing autographs for fans).

Is Mnet bigger than SM and YG?

If you just mean Mnet as in the cable-TV channel, the answer is that SM/YG are bigger. But this question is not straight forward to answer. First off it’s difficult to define what one mean with ‘bigger’ company:

By profit? By market cap (value)? By number of employees? By revenue?

My take would be to in most cases (such as this) go by revenue as the most relevant measure of ‘big’ company.

Secondly, in Asia in general and in Korea in particular they have this horrible habit of building conglomerates and interlinked companies. And it just runs in their culture/society. Both SM and YG were new small independent startups initially. But look at them now. They have used all the profits they’ve made over time to start all kinds of businesses very vaguely related to their core businesses and invested in a myriad of other companies and started to become big conglomerates in entertainment.

And Mnet goes way back and to the very top. Mnet is just one cable-TV-channel. The actual company here is CJ ENM. CJ ENM also has a lot of other cable-TV-channels and a huge home-shopping-channel. CJ ENM are also very big in for example producing musicals and concerts in Korea. CJ ENM once upon a time also almost had a monopoly on music distribution in Korea, but nowadays the music distribution business (now called Stone Music Entertainment) is far from the leading distributor. CJ ENM is also the biggest producer of Korean TV dramas and films. That was spun off into a separate company (Studio Dragon) but CJ ENM own like 75% of that company still. CJ ENM has also spun off its music streaming business (but they own like 15% of Genie Music) and its gaming business (but they own like 25% of Netmarble). So CJ ENM is a very big and powerful company in the Korean entertainment industry and much bigger than SM and YG.

And CJ ENM is in turn owned by and part of the CJ Group. The CJ Group also own a whole lot of other companies primarily into food production, restaurant chains and entertainment. Most known to kpop fans is probably that they also own the biggest cinema chain in Korea, but the main businesses are food related.

And CJ Group was in turn part of the absolutely gigantic Samsung chaebol group. CJ was one of the parts of the Samsung chaebol that was split off around 1990 following the death of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul. It’s a separate group now, but basically, CJ Group is run by 2 siblings who are grandchildren of Lee Byung-chul. Other parts of the former Samsung chaebol are run by other relatives of Lee Byung-chul.

(PS, Lee Byung-chul had TEN children who in turned had a lot of grand children, hence why his gigantic corporate empire is nowadays a bit of a drama mess)

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kur0kvmi · 5 years

Text

The Menacing Mind of Felix Lombardi-Act 2

I peek through the door glass one more time, to make sure I’m not hallucinating. Yep. Ami Fujinami in the mother, fucking flesh.

“Felix? I know you’re in there, open up” Ami said, in between repeatedly knocking

“Yea I’ll open it up in a minute” I said as I frantically searched for a clean pair of sweatpants to wear.

Ami and I have known each other for the entirety of the 2 years I’ve been living at this apartment. She and her Grandma have taken pretty good care of me seeing as I’m not exactly the best at it.

“Hi Ami, what brings you here?” I asked, trying to push out the conversation with my brother from my mind

“Well, a strange man in a dark blue suit was here yesterday and he gave me 2 tickets to Mysticon”

And then it call comes rushing back

“Wow that’s weird, well have fun” I said as I tried to close the door on her, only for her to stop the door from shutting.

“He said he was your brother, and that I should ask you to go with me” Ami said, slowly edging towards me like she was trying to get a good look at the reflection in my eyeballs.

“Well, I have no idea who you’re talking about. I don’t have a brothe-”

“Hello? Mr. Lombardi? He said exactly what you said he’d say. Mhmm That he doesn't have a brother. Should I hand him the phone? Ok. Ok. I’ll tell him.”

Oh fuck.

“He says if you don’t go to Mysticon with me, I should tell Obaa-san to lock you out of the wifi for a month” Ami said, in the most perfunctory tone imaginable.

“First of all, you can’t do tha-”

“Yes. Yes I can. And to be honest, I don’t care if Mr. Lombardi is your real brother or not, I want to go to Mysticon, and I don’t care who with. So you’re going with me Felix.” Despite the fact that Ami was more or less extorting a date out of me, she did so with the gusto and demeanor of a middle schooler who just won a spelling bee.

“Why couldn’t you just go by yourself?”

“The deal is, I take you, and I get a free ticket. Mr. Lombardi was very clear about this”

“So I have no choice”

“None at all”

“Alright. Come knock on my door on saturday”

“It is Saturday, you bum”

“Why aren’t we using your car?” Ami moaned as we exited the building.

“The train is faster” I said, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of my jacket.

“Mysticon is in Hells Kitchen right?” Ami asked, whilst reaching into her backpack

“Yup, and it’s...3pm, traffic will be annoying, and I don’t wanna worry about driving back if I buy weed.” I said, pulling out my lighter

“What have I told you about smoking when you’re next to me.” Ami said, pulling out a batton, then flicking it to extend it’s length.

I put the cig back in the pack, whilst prompting her to sheathe her weapon. Throughout the journey my mind is racing. Ami and I hanging out again? It’s not that I like her or anything, it’s just that I kind of missed her. Hey I’m allowed to have feelings aren’t I? I’m sure you’re wondering “but Felix, if you missed hanging out with her, why did you stop talking to her?” Why yes fair reader, that’s a very adequate question, however the nature of our relationship isn’t that simple. Ami is kind of an all around nerd aficionado, she cosplays, she writes fanfics, she draws, she sings anime openings on youtube, it’s kind of scary how much she does all over the place. Recently she’s started to get really famous online, she’s started to devote a lot more time to it, and She started ghosting. Being distant... And you know me, I ain’t exactly a butterfly myself, so we just drifted apart. She should be making money on youtube, couldn’t she just get her own tickets?

“Obaa San wouldn’t let me” Ami said as we reached the station. “She’s against anime conventions on principle”.

“Is this about a ‘Japan is more than anime’ thing?” I asked, shifting over to the right as I stepped on the escalator so I could walk down past the standers.

“No that’s more my parents. Baa san is a reeeeaaally old school Otaku.”

“Then what’s her beef with anime conventions?”

“She thinks they’re ‘commodified caricatures of otaku culture’ or something along those lines” Ami said as we hopped on the train.

Granny Fujinami isn’t wrong in the slightest.

“So she won’t be mad at you for going?”

“She’s only letting me go because I’m going with you. It’s aaalways about you with her.”

“Not my fault i’m the grandson she never had” I said while making a mocking face at Ami.

“She only loves you cuz you’re a broken mess she can nurture. You’re like my dad. Ugh, you’re like all men really.”

Ouch.

“Ouch.”

“Suck it up loser.” Ami said, shifting her direction away from me.

“You’re so cute when you go all Tsun” I said, pulling out my phone.

“That would imply me having any ‘dere’ for you.” Ami snapped back.

So hot.

[At the Convention]

What’s going on what’s going on going on. Everyone’s looking at us. Well I guess I am walking next to Amura. Yes that’s Ami’s social media name, you try coming up with something better at 12. Mine’s [REDACTED]. This is not what I signed up for. Louis Othello Lombardi you fucking bastard. You knew this would happen. You did your homework on Ami and figured out she’d be a lightning rod for attention. Keep me around her, and I’m bound to be assaulted by nothing. But. Fucking. People.

“OH MY GOD IT’S AMURA!” Two young girls screamed. “But I heard you weren't coming? You said so on twitter :(.“ I swear to almighty Haruhi Suzumiya, if there was such a thing as a frowny face emoji in real life, whatever that girl did was damn close.

“Well change of plans ^_^” Oh my god, Ami can speak emoji too!

“So what panels are you going to? I heard Gail has a panel about anime piracy” Said one of the fangirls, angling towards it on the con directory.

“Gail from Crunchyroll?”

“Sounds fun! Felix, ikimasu!” Whoever this version of Ami was, I wanted NO PARTS.

“Sounds lame. I’m going to the arcade.” I was putting my foot down

“Ok cool. Hand me your pass then. You can pay on your own.”

“You can’t do tha-”

“Yes. Yes I can. You want this pass?.” Ami pulled out the 3 day convention pass out of her purse and dangled it in front of me. Obviously I tried snatching at it, only for Ami to move it out of the way. Damn japanese reflexes.

“Gotta be quicker than that. We’re going to the panel. Follow me.” Ami said, tossing me the pass.

“If you sneak off, I’m calling Obaa chan.” she said, in that her perfunctory yet declaratory way.

“...So what you end up having is an environment where it’s harder and harder for us to justify hosting servers for anime distribution, because they don’t wanna pa- *ahem* because piracy.” Or something to that effect I’m not really listening to this Gail lady.

Anime piracy is a dumb thing to have a panel about anyway, it’s not like anybody in this room even knows how to torrent off wonwons, let alone\ how find the right codec for shows with bad compression. These are a bunch of crunchycores. The kinds of anime fans so hopped up on seasonal hype that the mere thought of an anime older than 12 months makes their tongues run dry, and their eyes wire shut.

“Are there any questions?”

“You got anything to ask?” chuckled Ami.

“Why are we here. We both know Kissanime is in your bookmarks” I jeered.

“Networking dummy. I talk to Gail after the panel, and smooth out something over at Crunchyroll” For some reason Ami’s eyes did the dollars signs when she said “crunchyroll”

“In San Francisco? You’d hate it there.”

“I’d make it there. That’s the important part. I’d really make it. I’d be in.”

“In what?” I said with a look of befuddlement.

“You wouldn’t understand. You’re basically guaranteed a job after graduation”

“Hey, don’t make it like tha-”

“Don’t make it like what Felix?” Ami snapped, but less with anger, and more a tired expression.

The Panel was beginning to wind down, and folks were getting up to leave. Ami bounced out of her seat and darted towards the stage.

“Gaaaaaiiiil! Hiii, I follow you on twitter!” Ami screamed, like a schoolgirl seeing a classmate

“Amura! I follow you too! I love your singing” Gail responded in a surprisingly similar manner.

“Thanks so much, ugh. That means alot l love you and Sailor Bee’s podcast ^_^” This whole display was just. The worst.

I backed off from the discussion, but I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to make it far without incurring that good old Fujinami wrath. Jeez they’re taking forever. Is this a meet and greet? Or a job interview.

“Felix? Oh shit, how you been bruh?” This voice, I recognized it.

I turned around, and yup, it was Tyler.

“Who let riff raff like you in here?” I said as we shook hands

“Is that any way to treat your one black friend:” He responded dryly.

“I have plenty of black friends. Unlike you, most of my friends are girls.” I shot back.

“Yea right, if you ever left your yuppie ass play pad I’d believe you.”

“You’d be surprised how many of em recognize me from Ami’s streams.”

“The streams she stopped inviting you to?”

“Low blow T.”

Tyler is a friend from Highschool who runs in the same online circles that I do. We keep in touch through discord and trade merchandise on message boards. He’s been trying to break into the FGC since middle school and recently struck a deal with a team based out of Brooklyn, The Mash Masters. He’s pretty good, quick reflexes, consistent muscle memory, but he lacks patience, and his neutral game needs work.

“Where you headed to after this? Tryna hit up the arcade?” Asked Tyler as he picked up his backpack getting ready to leave.

“I’m here with Ami, I gotta check and see where she’s headed to”

“Whooptish” Tyler said, while making a whipping motion.

“You know it’s not like that bro.” I shot back

“For her it isn’t, for you it is.” he retorted.

I told him to wait up for a sec as I went over to Ami & Gail. They were still chopping it up like they’d known each other since band camp.

“Shoot me a DM on twitter whenever you get the chance, I’d love to get you acquainted with the rest of my team. Maybe even talk bringing you to some other cons around the east coast ;)” Naruhodo, it seems this Gail is also of the emoji Clan.

“Sure thing! Don’t forget to tweet out the channel link with the picture, and tell Vicky I said hi!” Ami said gleefully.

“I definitely will, but uhh, she hates being called Vicky. Victoria or Sailorbee are just fine.” Gail responded, with a tinge of trepidation.

“Yea, I made that mistake on twitter once, it wasn’t pretty” I said with a chuckle.

“Oh hello, and who might you be?” Asked Gail.

“This is my friend Felix I was telling you about.” Ami said. Wait, telling her about what?

“Ah yes, the animator. Ami showed me your fan animation of Diebuster. Very interesting to see a Gainax show done with heavy Yutapon vibes” This lady knows her stuff.

“This lady knows her stuff” I said to Ami.

“Of course I do silly, I work in the anime industry” The smile Gail shot me as she said this wouldn’t be out of place in a Shaft anime.

“You definitely have some real skills. We’re looking for someone to do a sakuga heavy promo for our new youtube ad. If you’re interested, Ami has my contact info. It was so very nice meeting the both of you, don’t forget to keep in touch.” Gail said in a warm, professional tone as she got up to leave.

“Well she seems nice” I said to Ami.

“You’re welcome Felix.” Said Ami, in her usual biting tone.

“I didn’t ask you for that. If I wanted a job at Crunchyroll I’d have one already.”

“‘Thanks Ami, I really appreciate you showing my work to someone really influential who can open doors in my chosen profession, would you like headpats?’” Ami said, in a mocking imitation of my sultry ciciillian speech pattern.

“First of all, fine, thank you, that was a very nice thing to do, and I was pleasantly surprised. Secondly, do you seriously want headpats?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, you weirdo” And there’s the Tsun again.

“I ran into Tyler, he says he’s going to the Arcade, and I was looking to go with. You in?”

“Tyler’s here? Yea sure, let’s go”

Ami & I leave the stage and head over to where Tyler is sitting when I get a text on my phone.

[11:58. Text from Lou]: Having fun?

[11:58. You]: Yea

He’s just like mom.

“Oh my god it’s Amura! Could you sign my Fightstick?” Tyler sniggered, his fightstick outstretched. He’s such an asshole I love it.

“Knock it off, I’d actually sign it if I didn’t know you’d just flip it on Ebay” Ami sneered, arms folded and head angrily tossed to the side.

“Aww don’t be like that, I really did want your autograph. You’d be surprised how many Blazblue players would pay good cash for one” Tyler said, packing his fightstick back in his backpack.

“If anyone’s gonna make money off the Amura brand it’s gonna be ME!” Ami retorted viciously.

“Now that’s just anti-black business” I said, chuckling as Tyler dapped me up.

Ami rolled her eyes as heavy as she could roll them and stomped out of the conference room, and we sheepishly trailed after her.

By this point in the day I’d grown used to Ami being a lightning rod for attention. My camera skills must have leveled up big time from all those pics I had to take, of her with fans. Just getting to the Arcade area of the convention was a whole 20 minutes of photo after photo with weeb after arrested developed weeb, and to be honest I was practicing some big time restraint to not just walk out of the center and catch an Uber home. But surely enough, through fire by force, we found ourselves at the-

Boy was this the kind of place I wanted to be. The whole area was what you’d expect from a high profile convention in a big city. What seemed to be at least 30 TVs all hooked up with consoles spanning an entire auditorium. This wasn’t an arcade, it felt more like a Bazaar crossed with a colosseum. You have your old reliables for the boomers like Street Fighter, MK, ok that’s neat, there’s Melee, 64, Ultimate, Smash 4, oh even Brawl, full house, that’s impressive. As we moved through, you could imagine that there were furrowed brows due to the smell, but in all honesty it wasn’t as bad as most invitationals I’ve been to. We couldn’t find the game we were here for though; Blazblue. Tyler directed us to the kiosk so we could get directions.

“Nigga where the Blazblue at?” Tyler said to one of the convention attendees,

All the way at the back, by the Under Night” The Attendee responded.

I was just about ready to dart over there when Tyler said:

“Nah hol’ up real quick bro, I got a question I gotta ask you” uh oh, I hear the Brooklyn leaking out.

“Yea? Is there something wrong?” the attendee said, with a befuddled expression.

“Y’all always hide the anime fighters, what's up with that?” Tyler said blankly, almost with no life at all.

“It’s not my decision where the games are set up-”

“That’s not what I asked bro. I’ve done conventions fam, I sat where you sat. NYCC 2017, bigger con than this, and from what I know about my time there, y’all have a meeting to coordinate where the games are set up. Correct?” Oh my god, Tyler what are you doing.

“Yes correct” The attendee responded.

“So you were in the room when the decision was made, correct?” This is so wacky

“Yea, but like, I didn’t have a choi-”

“Nobody’s asking about a choice, I’m asking you, what was the reasoning behind the decision?” Should I stop this? Or?...

“They didn’t want the anime stuff turning folks away” Oh no, here we go

“There it is” Tyler said triumphantly as he began to walk off.

“Hey, I think it’s bullshit too ma-” t

“Yet you said nothing. You and all your boys said nothing. Aight, I see you fam. Haruhi’s watching you” Tyler said, his back already turned and walking away. “Let’s go guys”

“Did you have to make such a big hoopla you maniac?” Ami said laughing her ass off.

“Because I have Principles Fujinami, you should try em some time” Tyler snapped back.

“That was the FUNNIEST shit I’ve seen all day, I’m so happy I knew to record that” Ami said, still cackling.

“Wait you recorded that?” Tyler said, shocked

“I uploaded it. Enjoy being a meme” Ami said blankly.

“Not again…” Tyler sighed.

We finally make it to the Blazblue section, and it’s about as serviceable as you’d expect. Two TVs both hooked up to PS4s playing Central Fiction. There wasn’t much of a crowd, about 5 or 6 people, all looked to be around college age, couple on the boomer side though. All guys.

“This game is so hyperactive…” Ami said, in a tone betwixt judgement and bewilderment.

“Not every game gotta be Street Fighter” Said Tyler. “Ey yo, who got next?” Tyler asked a portly asian fellow playing Taokaka.

“Uhh, I dunno, anybody got next?” the Taokaka player asked. The crowd shook their heads. “I guess it’s on you bro after this.”

Nobody else noticed, But Tyler’s killing intent began to spike. I get you’re excited kiddo, but you haven’t even chewed the scenery yet.

The game was pretty hype. There it was Taokaka vs Valkenhayn. Both characters with adequate rushdown capabilities and heavy damage. The Valkenhayn was an even match, but the Tao was just catching clutch reversals at every corner. It felt like seeing a tiger beat a lion by leaving a bigger gash every time they left the scuffle. Tyler, ever the professional, was quiet as a mouse. A mouthy prick like him? Quiet? I know right? But he gets like this when it’s Blazblue. The data collection phase. See if Street Fighter is Chess, then Blazblue is Mahjong. The same level of depth, but a wider variety of dealing with situational disadvantages and advantages. Tyler sees what I’m seeing and he’s analyzing, putting his pieces together, he’s not here for fun. This is off the job training.

“FINISH” 6 red letters on the television screen. Read em & Weep.

“My turn now right?” Tyler asked the Taokaka player.

“Yup. What’s your name?” said the Tao player

“Tyro, and you?” oh yea I forgot that was his FGC name, everywhere else he’s Tyrilla. He sucks at names yes I know.

“I’m Yiao, nice to meet you.” Yiao said, pushing his glasses up.

The character selection screen pops up and… Wait don’t tell me he…Oh boy, Tyler’s picking his middle school main. Hazama. Yiao on the other hand started mousing over Tao then over to Litchi. Come on pick a character already. After more mousing, his cursor finally landed on Mai... From rushdown to range spam. Just all around bloodthirst.

Both of them sat in silence as the loading screen started up, until Yiao broke that silence.

“I’ve heard of you, Mash Master Tyro. To be honest I was hoping we’d meet. I have this Mai prepared just for you.” said Yiao. Yawn. This happens all the time. Tyler’s probably got him scoped already too.

“Yiao, third runner up at Anifight Staten Island. Three. Years. Running.” Yup, knew it. Tyler lives for this shit.

“You wanna know why HowRite was able to beat you 3 to nothing last year?” Tyler said, deadpan staring at the screen.

“THE WHEEL OF FATE IS TURNING” oh shit the round is starting.

“Cuz he knew if he lost, he’d never get to face my mentor in the finals”

“But wait. Ulysses isn’t on your team?” Yiao said confused, the backstory here is really weird, I’d be confused as well to be honest.

“REBEL 1”

“Ulysses is my stepdad.”

“ACTION”

Told you.

End of Act 2.

#short story #lightnovel #light novel #anime #fgc #independent author

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pokemaniac-d09 · 5 years

Text

Mythical Pokemon - opinion

I want to focus on the things I’ve loved about mythical pokemon back in the day and what the Pokemon company does today towards these Pokemon.

( To check about Mythical Pokemon just click on this Bulbapedia page )

(20th-anniversary Mythical Pokemon distribution, Bulbapedia)

I personally never did many of the events in what can be considered a legitimate way, considering I didn't get the chance to get these items back when they first came out, however the ones I did get access to stuck with me. And the ones I checked other people obtaining and using were amazing to watch.

The first time I did an event was on a pokemon emerald rom I played on my pc, and I got to capture Mew. The event was incredibly satisfying. You receive an item and are led to a special location, in that location you feel a presence that something important will happen, and, eventually, you are met with the pokemon Mew.

( I am aware there’s a way to obtain Mew in Pokemon RBY and I was able to do so, but glitching isn’t as much fun as actually seeing the pokemon in the overworld)

(Pokemon Emerald, Faraway Island, Bulbapedia)

To anyone who ever had the luck of doing this event, I think we can all agree that the feeling of traveling to a secret location to capture a secret Pokemon, or at least one that was never easily obtainable in the first place, felt very special, and definitely increase your gaming experience. There’s a presence to these pokemon and the places they show up in that makes them truly feel important, like secret cool boss fights. Legendaries are the main boss fights you take on (or more like boss captures in the case of Pokemon) , while mythical are pokemon you can only obtain during a certain limited time, but you also got to do a cool mini quest in the process. (ORAS Deoxys being the only one in any main game always possible to capture without event distributions)

To anyone who wants to check the different events and legendaries, there’s this cool list on youtube.

(Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, Sinjoh Ruins, Bulbapedia)

This brings me to the latest Pokemon games. Ever since Pokemon jumped into 3D worlds there haven’t been any events like the previous ones, all you need to do is receive a Pokemon from the Mystery Gift after redeeming a code and that’s it, you have it, nothing else, no cool experience, no effort to battle it nor capture it, no trippy animations, simply given. It feels incredibly underwhelming.

Pokemon Black and White came out on the 18th of September 2010, I am writing this post in 2019, prior to the release of Pokemon Sword and Shield. It’s been nearly 9 years since the last game that featured some sort of Pokemon event which required you to obtain a certain item and travel to another location to capture a secret Pokemon.

This was also the only game I got a mythical Pokemon by doing the limited time event, the Pokemon was Victini. The very first game I bought with my own money was Black, and in it, there was a code to receive a ticket to explore an area and capture Victini, and to this day, that experience remains as a lovely memory of my love for the franchise. Unfortunately, it would also be the last event that would be this cool, every other single event I have acquired have always been mystery gift received pokemon, no battle, no capture, no challenge, straight out given by a character that doesn't even have a background. It also explains why I can barely remember the mythical Pokemon that came after generation 5.

(Pokemon Black and White, Liberty Garden Victini Event, 2010)

I still don’t fully understand why this choice was made, it was a huge improvement during its years and they are universally loved by fans. Why were suddenly the Pokemon handed to you instead of you receiving the item through mystery gift? was it some sort of marketing strategy to get people out of their seats and visit their nearest gaming shop in hopes they will buy some more games while they are there? Then why not do it like that sooner? and wouldn’t people still go if they knew they’d get an item to get the Pokemon they so wanted? I’m still very confused about why they stopped making the events in its quest like manner.

Pokemon Let’s Go was the most recent game from the franchise and I’m still a bit disappointed about some features that were not included. However, making an event for Mew could have probably made the experience far better, especially if the event was based on one of the Pokemon communities biggest rumor ever created, the legendary “Mew under the truck” rumor. Which we know the creators are aware of, thus it felt like a missed chance. Mew was instead given away with the Pokeball Plus, which was even worse than giving it through Mystery Gift because now you have to pay in order to get one. It’s an even bigger disappointment knowing that they did such a cool event in Pokemon Go to get Mew and you still can’t send it to your pokemon Let’s Go copy.

Things just seem to have gotten worse for the Mythical Pokemon, and for people wallets if they so desperately want to complete their Pokedex truly to a 100%.

(Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, GO Park, Bulbapedia)

With all this said, here’s hoping for a brighter future for mythical Pokemon and events. I personally loved what they did with Ultra Beasts mini-boss like areas in USUM and I would love to see a mix of that and the old events in the future. We know Game Freak can pull this kind of stuff, after all, DPP and HGSS had amazing event quests and I’d love to feel that joy in doing special missions in the Pokemon games. Considering this is the era of DLC and extra content for video games, I’m surprised Pokemon hasn’t done anything of the sort yet.

If you have anything to add, feel free to do so.

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zelos-official-armrest · 5 years

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Seoul Limited and Forever with Babyz (Madrid)

I’m about half a year late, but I just want to share a bit of my B.A.P concert experiences both in Seoul Limited and Forever With Babyz tour in Madrid. You know, if anyone’s interested…

First of all, how did I get to Seoul? I applied for a month-long summer university program and I got a smaller tuition fee thanks to my schools being partner universities. Still, it took me about 5 years to get enough funds. I’m not going to talk much about that in here, but it was the most amazing time of my life. I do advise everyone not to ONLY go there for running after a potential Korean boyfriend tho. The culture is so much more than kpop-related fantasies.

Ok, on to the actual topic- B.A.P. While in Seoul, I did want to see the TS building with my own two eyes (so I’d know where to go to throw the tomatoes, haha). Therefore, one evening me and my fellow coursemate/ friend went to look for it, but apparently that day B.A.P and TRCNG had a practice there as it came out. When we approached the building, Zelo was chatting with someone in front of the house, but seeing us coming scared him off and he fleed to the building. I felt so sorry for him, because it must be a common occurrence for them to not get privacy even there by the way he reacted. So, I got nervous because I really wanted to have a picture in front of the building, but I didn’t want to be causing any discomfort to them. Me and my friend decided to take a picture real quick and I kinda got my two half-blurry pictures in front of the building.

Here’s potato me making TS surrender to the Matoki power:

When we stood back a bit, I saw TRCNG entering the house and we decided to leave. While we were walking away, around the corner came Himchan who was, for some reason, followed (basically cornered) by a bunch of blonde chicks (stalkers I guess?). Since I was a bit too close, for some reason I thought it would be really impolite if I didn’t say anything so I bowed and let out „annyeonghaseyo“ (It’s really weird to type it out like that). He answered me with a nod and when he had entered TS, some Korean fans who were following set themselves to wait outside the doors. That was the last we saw them as we moved further away from the place…

Before going to the summer program and buying the plane tickets to Korea, I didn’t know B.A.P would have a concert. When it was announced, I praed for the dates to overlap with my stay. I was incredibly lucky, because B.A.P’s first Seoul Limited concert was on the last day of my stay. The day itself was super-hot (38+ degrees) and I had a lot of troubles from moving out the dorms with all of my luggage etc. In the morning I managed to go to the venue to buy some merch (got myself a matoki whistle and a t-shirt). In the afternoon, there were already fansites distributing free merch (got also 2 banners, but I lost my shiny Zelo banner at the concert T_T).

The queueing was so different from European stops, where we camp in front of the venes. Here you had a number on a ticket and you just went and looked for your spot in the line and everything went smoothly. I actually had bought two tickets, because I was hoping for someone to go with me (and to get more people to appreciate B.A.P, lol). I did manage to get a friend from the program to come with me, so it was a success. The venue was really well ventilated and the sound system was great. B.A.P had a live band to back them up and they put on a great show as always. Too bad I couldn’t really understand much when they did their talking. In the crowd, there was a couple and B.A.P pointed at them and stated that „This is how you take your girlfriend out. You take her to a B.A.P concert !“, and they continued to chat for a bit. The best things from the concert- Coma rock version, Blind and small snipets from songs fans had selected as the ones they want to hear from B.A.P the most, watergun fight, new solos and tons of adlibs. Even though my ticket queue number was quite big, the stage was so well built that when idols came off from the main stage to those cat-walks, I had maybe only 2 rows of people in front of me making it the closest I’ve been at a concert.

This is basically how I saw them went they came near:

But there is one thing I found different from previous concerts. I don’t know if it was because I was really nervous about my flights and everything that day, but the crowd in Europe felt more passionate. I guess it is just in the way we cheer. I mean, their fanchants and everything was on point, but somehow it felt more calm and collected that I was used to. Either way, I loved that I could be there with OT6 and that Jongup released his cute MV for Annoying as a memory of that day. Oh, oh, and I finally got on Himchan’s fancam J. Really blurry, but I know it’s me. Thank you Channie!

Moving on to my Madrid experience. At first, I didn’t really plan to go to another tour because I’d already seen them this year, but the fact that there were tickets with best perks I never really managed to get before still available started creeping on me. I had to decide whether to wait for the mess that was Berlin ticket sale or settle for the Madrid one. I decided to save myself from the excess stress and take the Madrid VVIP. I don’t regret going one bit even though the Youngbros organisation was freaking awful. As VVIP holders, we were promised more time at the high-touch than VIP but nothing like that happened. The signed poster was actually just printed on and they had ran out of black beanies before even half the VVIPs could pass the counter.

Just a small look at the merch etc:

The worst thing was that they messed with B.A.P’s sound system so some time the microphones didn’t really work and the security guys didn’t pay any attention to people fainting in the crowd, which Daehyun and Zelo had to point out to them (Zelo tried to get their attention in Spanish, Daehyun wanted to stop the song to resolve the case) and Jongup threw his own water bottle to fans in need. The concert itself was really good (even though we still missed Bang and were chanting his name from time to time). I loved being able to hear Howler in it’s Spanish home and Zelo went wild with the butt-slaps and butt-wiggles. During Do What I Feel, he threw his towel to the crowd and guess who was the lucky one to catch it! It still has his makeup on tho :D.

Haha, towel-kun has seen some things... At this point I knew. For 5 years, I didn’t manage to choose a bias in B.A.P. That was the day my bias chose me (lolololol)

The only kind of OK clips that I got from the concert was Youngjae’s acapella “I’m happy” and Jongup’s “Try my luck”, because I was trying to enjoy the concert too much which resulted in my hands being extra shaky.

There was also a lottery where they chose a random number and a fan for every member got a small canvas bag with member’s drawing and autograph on it. And a hug. At some point, Youngjae managed to hurt his shoulder, I hope he is ok now. Them teaching us the fanchant for All the way up was pretty memorable since they almost booed Daehyun off the stage because he couldn’t contain himself and do the right thing. And Zelo just went like “OMG, it’s our song”. We also had a support project for Himchan where we held his banners and chanted his name.

My high-touch experience. While we were standing in a line, the organisers started to let B.A.P take their positions near the wall. To get there, B.A.P walked through a small bordered area which was right next to where some of us were queueing. I noticed Himchan and told him “annyeong” for which he raised his head, looked at me and just had the cutest smile ever on his face. I made Himchan smile, everyone! I don’t know if he noticed that this is the one person who never manages to greet him correctly (me in Warsaw, Seoul and now Madrid). He was also first in line at high-touch and he was still so extra smiley at me.

To sum up the high-touch experience, this is basically it:

B.A.P with their beautiful hands vs Me coming from a jungle

And then this 1 second you had to admire all the beauty

I mean, there were so many things I wanted to say (just one sentence to each member), but I couldn’t do anything because it was too fast. I tried to tell them stuff in English or Korean, but they tried to tell me stuff in Spanish and in English and it was honestly such a mess. It was so funny. Then right after we had the group photo so I fastened my steps and got next to Zelo. After everything I just had to go to him. I could tell he did something over my head while taking the picture since he was touching it, but I had no actual idea what. The picture turned out better than I expected. I am not really good friends with cameras, specially when I don’t even know, where the cameraman is or when the picture is exactly taken. Got the cutest photo ever and I will now officially present my short ass as “Zelo’s armrest” since this is what he used me as.

Tbh, I had to photoshop my face on the picture a bit, because the camera reflected on me so bad that I looked like a Christmas tree in a Colgate commercial. Literally.

Anyways, after the short time for pictures, I could pass by all of them again and thanked them, especially Zelo, when I turned around. I love them all so much and I had soft hours for days after we got to know that Zelo shouldn’t have even been on the tour but he insisted to come. Made it all 10 times more memorable and important.

I wish I could also go to Yongguk’s tour. I don’t know if it’s possible, because I have already emptied my bank account for them. So I guess we’ll see what happens. I hope he receives a lot of love and support anyways.

That’s it, folks!

#bap #b.a.p #bapinmadrid #seoul limited #concert experience

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kyotakumrau · 6 years

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2018.08.07 CLUB CITTA KAWASAKI -aknot only-

00 video intro

01 詩踏み

02 Ash

03 蜷局

04 腐海

05 輪郭

06 new song / leather mask

07 new song / Omae

08 Phenomenon

09 THE BLOSSMING BEELZEBUB

10 Ranunculus

11 人間を被る

12 The inferno

13 THE IIID EMPIRE

14 Beautiful Dirt

ENCORE

en15 理由

en16 new song / Punk is not dead (Go MAD)

en17 THE FATAL BELIEVER

en18 Revelation of mankind

en19 羅刹国

They were distributing number tickets for goods line, I really hope it will become a thing for all venues. Yet, I don't think anything got sold out tonight, but recently it seems that fans buy more towards the end of the tour.

The tour name board was located outside just next to the merchandise stand, they relocated it inside after the show.

There wasn't anything very different about the stage for this tour, they had a screen in the back and Kyo has his 'BLESSING TO LOOSE HEARTS' stand with hands.

I think they started on time? I really enjoyed my spot today, was in 6~5th row and stood together with my friends despite all of us having different numbers ;3

The new video intro / SE started with some multicoloured pyramids that kept increasing and started to create something that looked like geometric condensed formulas, with an electronic sound in the background.

So Shinya... had something white on? Die had a scarf draped over his shoulders and sleeveless (or short sleeve) black top. His hair is top notch as usual. Toshiya looked like he came out of shojo manga (I hope his fans are not offended 😂) - he wore a black brocate jacket, it had a really sharp cut, very interesting collar and big bronze colour buttons. He kept it on for at least half of the main set (as my Toshiya toriko friend told me). Underneath he had a black button up no sleeve shirt. The prince that make you look around looking for a white horse 😂 From my spot I couldn't really get any good view of Kaoru, but he had some kind of black top with a... lace?

And then when other band members got a hold of their instruments and stood ready Kyo came on stage.

If his outfit is supposed to introduce the world of the new album I'm getting even more and more interested in it!

He had the white veil on (the one from the album photo shoot). Over a long white shirt he had a white harness that draped the shirt into folds. Over that he had a short cape looking thing that gave the whole outfit with the veil very 'nun-ish' look. The cuffs and collar had a black душа / soul printed on them. He also wore damaged skinny black pants and his tabi boots.

His make-up was done paired with black light paint. When he came on stage it looked like he had shining yellow eyes, but with a more normal light we could see that it was actually neon green. He drew huge oversized lashes top and bottom as well. Across his face and eyes he had a red/orangey line that was also done with the black light paint. He used black for his lips, making them much wider looking. And he had a quite white face, not super thick white base, but his face was a lot lighter compared to his neck.

And then there were his contact lences. I'm not the type to get envious of what other people have, but I'm totally envious of his full eye custom made snake eye lenses. They look SO good. SO GOOD.

(sorry, I just really like colour lenses)

Starting the set with Utafumi was quite powerful! Kyo had us join in as much as possible from the very start 😁 and we were asked to sing many parts of Ash as well. I remember Toshiya coming over to visit us in the middle during Ash.

I remember singing a lot during Fukai as well, and Kyo who came to the side of his stand to be able to point at fans and look at everyone.

The quiet at 'Minerva' moment and the following screams and shouting from fans are always quite an experience.

Another break and another excitement.

The new song (06) with a video including a man wearing a quite scary leather mask starts fast, I can already see a lot of headbanging at seated venues. Kyo mostly sang fast, but some parts had shouts/shrieks. The rythm/speed changed few times - like sprinting and then jumping high for a while to go sprinting again.

The new song (07) had a video with the images of several serial killers, there was also a line like お前、そして見下して (will try to confirm tomorrow) appearing several times; Kyo definitely sings 'omae' repeatedly and that's why the song had been code named 'omae' 😁 This song is apparently the one they played during the mode of DSS, but I'll be completely honest - I couldn't remember it so it felt like a new new song 😅 it's a fast one as well.

Let's see if I can remember more details after the second night!

Phenomenon had the same video they used before with 'impossible stairs' but there was a doll? parts floating in the space between stairs.

Beelzebub was definitely something else for Kyo's fans. He used the camera and the back screen set again, with his current look it was something to remain in one's memory for a long time! Kyo's silhouette showered in pink light with his back to the audience, and the madness ensuing on the screen... with the line 動く米粒にいつか羽が生える? and 僕は飛べない何故だろ? Kyo put his hands together (thumbs touching and palms spread) to make a shape of a butterfly to symbolize flying. With his snake eyes looking at the 'butterfly' it looked like he was going to devour it for a moment.

I think the breaks with the night creepy sounds are always coming before Ranunculus?

It was as beautiful as always, I like the video as well. I wrote before that we can read the lyrics appearing on the screen, but the video also shows a forest and we can see that some parts are burnt out, nature and devastation.

The following songs of the main set were just so full of energy! 'コイ！ / give me your all!' at the start of Ningen from Kyo got everyone properly fired up! I think he had us singing many more parts than during Shinsekai tour. The energy from the band and from the audience was great!

After usual calling for encore band came back. I think all of them wore tour t-shirts? Kaoru had the sleeves cut off. Kyo had sleeves rolled up a little bit and he came back without any make up. He kept the snake eye lense in his left eye though, but he replaced the snake eye with a light grey coloured lense in his right eye, the finish look was amazing 😁

And as I already wrote - Kyo most likely has a new tattoo on the back of his head (but in case it was just painted on, don't shoot me). It was all done with fine lines, in a ~10cm diameter circle there were many straight lines that create the main image of a star, but because there are so many lines there are more details there. It looks a bit like a magic sphere. If it is a tattoo then it's still very fresh, the black is very vibrant so it was done very recetnly.

Before Rasetsu Kyo was firing us up more. After the usual 'guys' 'girls' he actually started to call us without the microphone 'かかってこい！！ラーーーースートー!!!! / GO WIIIIIIILD!! LAST SONG!!!!!'. Precious, precious time.

In the end there was a typical goodies throwing - picks, towels, water bottles. Die and Kaoru were the ones who stayed on the stage the longest, Kaoru seemed to have a lot of fun in his area splashing fans with water etc.

I'm 100% ready for what tomorrow will bring!

(but maybe minus the typhoon that's approaching Kanto 😂)

#dir en grey #tour18 wearing human skin #club citta kawasaki #attempt at live report #setlist

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dimples-of-discontent · 6 years

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JIB recording policy: my thoughts and feels

So this feels like a really awful moment to be an SPN fan. I’m crushed that “Wayward” didn’t get picked up and honestly that deserves its own post and other eloquent folks on here will no doubt be chiming in soon. Before that, though, I was already alternating between seething and feeling on the verge of tears about the “no recordings” policy for JIB. Because, honestly, I was relying on it as a hugely positive experience to lift me out of the daily struggle I’m in right now. Where the show can and will hurt me all the time (hopefully with a narrative purpose!) as I expect it to in the finale, Jibcon never does anything except make me laugh and smile (and post too many gifs). And without the prospect of seeing the panels, especially Misha and Jensen’s, I genuinely feel...bereft. It’s not that I feel like I lost what I was entitled to, but that I’ve been deprived of something positive and beautiful for no good reason.

If you think that’s silly or that I should get over it or whatever please do me a favor and stop reading. These are my personal thoughts and feelings about something personal to me and you don’t have to agree. But since I think many of you do I’m going to write about it. I’m also going to reflect on the positive impact that sharing panel videos has on the fandom and what we lose without them. (And I recognize that this policy has existed before and that we have gotten around it and that we do not yet know how strictly it will be enforced. But I have these feelings anyway so I wrote about them.)

ETA: I hear from some folks there that you can record but not livestream, like usual. I’m going to go ahead and leave this up though, whatever the outcome, because it makes other points that are prompted by the policy but not strictly about it.

In a previous post I used the phrase “hostile to the fandom” to describe the policy and I stand by that. If it were merely about money or legality why would they not do something like sell tickets to a livestream and/or digital downloads or recordings? (If you are in the industry and have insider information on this I’d be super interested in your perspective and happy to post it with or without attribution.) I know that they may not have the infrastructure to accomplish this. It takes a lot of servers to livestream to that many people. It takes a certain standard of recording equipment to make something professional. But this is the 9th year running. They know there is enough interest to justify sinking some capital into that infrastructure and I’m surprised they haven’t.

I am absolutely willing to pay for content. Paleyfest panels are livestreamed and available to buy afterwards (months after, but that’s ok). I have bought a copy of all the Paleyfest panels from my favorite shows. I am not objecting to paying for content at all. Give J2M a cut! Give the JIB staff a cut! Shut up and take my money! There needs to be a price point between “flying to Europe and paying hundreds or thousands of dollars” and “peering at illegal phone video on YouTube.” Legal recordings that generate profit seem like a great option.

You know who they would be good for in the fandom? Everyone.

People without the money to travel and attend cons.

People who might have the money but who have difficulty traveling or being in a group of people because of physical disabilities, social anxiety, mental health issues, illness, etc.

People who are caregivers and cannot easily find someone to take their duties or who cannot be away at all.

People who work multiple jobs with inflexible schedules.

I could go on at greater length but I think you all get the point. We talk about the SPN Family and have our fandom-driven efforts to better the lives of people involved and show them that “you are not alone” and “family don’t end in blood” and “always keep fighting.” And that is AWESOME. It’s special. It’s so unlike other fandoms I have been in. But the thing that keeps a lot of people going is seeing videos from cons and feeling like a part of that community by sharing those experiences. For some people, maybe just the show is enough. But there’s a substantial population that relies on the social aspect of fandom and on the (perceived) closeness or accessibility of its figureheads, J2M.

Taking away the means to do that and acting as though we have done something wrong in asking for it, in wanting it, seems antithetical to the community-building we rely on. (I could do another post about campaign fatigue, which hit me pretty badly back in the fall, but right now it’s not on my mind.) Why not record it and either monetize it or even (radical idea!) don’t and just release it? Forbidding recording and distributing panels creates elitism and alienates many of the people who rely most on that sense of connection.

This is where I get to the point about hostility. Because I can’t see this new policy (or new decision to strictly enforce the policy) as unconnected to Daniela’s Facebook rant. I can’t. I wrote about it at the time and agreed with other folks who said that, though offensively expressed, it was fundamentally anti-antis and anti-entitlement rather than anti- any particular ship. I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt and allow her to just be a frustrated human being who had a bad time at work and complained. But now I feel like it was a message about how we need to back off of Jibcon because we in some way don’t deserve it.

And, perhaps wrongly since no pairing was singled out in the Facebook post, I feel like it’s about Jensen and Misha. Because by raw YouTube views alone those are the panels people want to watch recordings of. They are chaotic and hilarious and sweet and a just A Hot Mess, so it makes sense that we want to see them together and beam at our computer screens. There’s a reason it’s always the closing panel, that it’s so expensive, that it sells out so quickly. And just like with Creation’s weird refusal to offer that as an option (except at Honcon) it seems like banning recordings has to do with some unarticulated prohibition on how fans view those two specifically. Like it’s untoward.

But...if that’s the case, if Jensen and Misha are so bothered by it, why haven’t they done something like sue for libel or send out cease and desist letters to the Cockles blogs? They...don’t care. They actively know what we think about them (they’re grossly in love! they’re secretly a couple!) and they play with it in their stage personae and, I assume, just gloss over it in their everyday lives because they’ve developed a strong and healthy sense of “who the fuck cares?”. I guess it could be something their publicists are clamping down on, being like NO MORE HELLA GAY GIFSETS AND KEEP YOUR DAMN CLOTHES ON, or whatever, but my impression is that the policy is coming from JIB staff.

There is no need to generate more antagonism anywhere in this fandom. There is too much of it already. Alienating the fans who aren’t able to attend JIB from the JIB organizers seems pointless. If it’s an attempt somehow to shut down the shipping wars, well, that’s ass backwards since I’m just waiting for someone to yell about how the whole policy is because of Destiel/Cockles people and their inappropriate questions and theories or whatever because obviously we are the reason Jensen flashed his underwear onstage last year. It’s going to alienate us from each other too, as I already now feel way more envious of people who will get the privileged experience of seeing the panels.

It seems like such a harmless thing, to let people post videos of panels they can’t see but desperately want to. Like it’s basically just a force for good in the fandom. I suspect that people will find a way to record and share anyway, as we have before in face of the same policy. But, because of where I am personally and how much I have been looking forward to JIB, I have been thinking about the difference it (and other cons but especially this one) make in people’s lives I wanted to say something. Perhaps I’m wrong about the motivations--I admit to making all kinds of assumptions--but I don’t think I’m wrong about what it indicates about how the staff are viewing the fans. And that hurts. Because it’s not about objectification and shipping at all for most of us, even if it’s fun to talk about. Many of us just want a delightful thing in an otherwise painful time.

#sads #fandom life #personal #jibcon 2018 #wank adjacent #spn family #can't we all just get along?#negativity for ts #j2m #cockles #mental health #depression #anxiety #my thoughts

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missaureus · 6 years

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ElyXiOn in Manila Pt. 2

I left home feeling unsure if I had some forgotten baggage from my less-than-an-hour-pack-up and drove away towards the east following the light of the streetlamps. But one thing was sure, I was leaving my academic-induced stresses. But, to have that sense of relief, I still brought a few reading materials with me, which were left unbothered throughout my secret trip.

Past 8 PM, the car was already swerving the road towards the airport from the highway. It was the boundary which felt that I was not home already. I was leaving home, temporarily. To be exact, less than 36 hours. I jumped off from the backseat and bid farewell to my family by the time we reached the entrance of the departure area, as if they were giving it to me as my well-deserved break from reality.

The airport was tranquil the moment I checked in, no hustle at all. No one was forming a line, so I directly went to the counter. I asked the staff in-charge if I can get into the flight prior to mine. My flight was still at 11:20 PM but I decided to be at the airport before 9 PM, gathering all my luck to be able to have a seat in my friends’ flight to Manila. Sadly, he turned me down and said that a few were also trying to get into early schedules but most of the passengers had checked in already. He gave me my ticket and directed me to the boarding area.

Honestly, I expected it to happen since flight fares at these times were super expensive, who would have ditch their flight schedule? I rode the escalator up and looked for my friends who were already waiting for their boarding time by past 9 PM.

I have my two concert buddies, Anne and Alisha, who were also my companion last EXOrDium. I regretfully informed them that I was not able to have the chance of getting into their flight. I was not able to avail the same flight schedule beforehand since I had no concrete school schedule and just waited for the safe zone to get one. We just chatted for a few minutes and the next thing was, they were already on board.

I waited in the first row while busily watching The Miracle We Met. Guess what? I failed to sense that the line forming in front of me was already my flight after an hour of watching, my bad! I hurriedly pulled out my earphones and stuffed my gadgets inside my sling bag. After picking up all of my stuff, I went to the back of the line. I was shocked that the boarding time was an hour earlier than what was indicated on my ticket!

It did not feel any difference at all that it was my first air travel alone. Sometimes, being solitary is the best feeling in the world. It took an hour before the plane finally took off but I was already half asleep during that time. Imagine the energy I spent the whole day in school, what a suicide. My eyebags do not lie even.

Almost 1 AM, the plane arrived in Manila. I realized at that point while riding the bus to the arrival area that night travels are such a beauty. Peaceful. I fell in love with the idea. I walked together with the surge of people to the exit of the arrival area where lots of people were waiting and waving for their loved ones.

I am never familiar of the place but I trusted my instincts so much. I trusted on where my feet would bring me. Terminal 3 of the airport was ridiculously silent! I could not believe I missed CBX in there with just hours apart. How does it feel?

I directly went to the Grab-Taxi lane. I was honestly nervous. I am a baby to this monstrous city. Despite the uncertainty, I acted stoic. But how crazy love would make you do. My first step in Manila 3 years ago was also due to an EXO concert. EXO did that to me, to act independent for a day. Away from my comfort zone. I was glad to fake an act of bravery. You will never know what to do in a difficult situation until that situation is right in front of you.

A staff in the counter booked my driver and waited for him a few minutes. I was just quiet at the backseat trying to enjoy the city lights. I navigated with my Google Maps to arrive safely in my destination. I stayed with my other group of friends who were also concert goers since my concert buddies were staying somewhere else far from the airport.

At almost 2 AM, my friends fetch me in the lobby of the condominium building but before getting into the unit we went to the nearest convenient store to buy some food and drinks. We directly went back to the residence.

My body was so beaten. I could hardly move. I placed my things on the corner and admired the aerial view for a second. I was conflicted if I would sleep right away or fix my mini-giveaways which I was not able to work on days ago. My housemates were already asleep but I decided to work on that thing. Even if I was tired, I was not sleepy yet.

Past 3 AM I already rolled over my sleeping space. One of my housemates was playing her EXO playlist overnight. Wow. The last song I could recall before dozing off was She’s Dreaming. I can clearly remember.

I got little sleep. Three hours of it. But my body was hyped since I could not waste time on sleep. My housemates left me by 10 AM since they needed to post near the venue to distribute their prepared giveaways. They are admins of one of the fanbases under EXO Worldwide Union. Big responsibility, huh? I chose to stay in the unit since I was still waiting for Anne and Alisha to arrive.

Almost 12 noon, we left the condo unit. I booked for our Grab driver which surprisingly knew how to speak Bisaya and that gave me relief! Undeniably, riding taxis is a horrifying experience unless you could assure that the driver is not taking any advantage of you! We chatted with him, like you gotta befriend people and gain their trust, haha.

The air was crazily humid. If I am not mistaken, the temperature went up to 34 degrees C. I was afraid to walk around so much because, again, the pit was calling me! I tried so bad not to expend so much energy prior to the concert.

The crowd was unbelievable also! It was the same situation last EXOluXion. There were shouting in every corner that would give you frequent heart attacks! You get afraid that they might see some of the members(?) while you miss that chance, haha! It was never like this around Araneta during EXOrDium. I swear it was so frustrating. Like every big buses that would pass by towards the backstage entrance, those crazy fangirls would run into for nothing. I chose to stay away from the arena. We eventually looked for the desk to have our VIP straps on and went to the mall area right away to look for vacant food stores. Most of it with nearer proximity to the arena were full, mostly on standby and meetups. We luckily found a resto with a vacant table with an outlet to recharge our phones! We were so happy to find an outlet lmao! Fully-charged phones is a must! So we decided not to let go of that post and stayed there until 3:30 PM. I met a few of my internet friends but sadly was not able to meet all since the temperature was pretty energy-draining and also the mobile network service was down.

After freshening up, we went to our sequence line by past 3 PM. We were honestly disappointed with our sequence numbers, 230-232, since my friends had 66-67 last year! However, when we were following our line in the sequence, our numbers were right after those foreigners or those who availed the Global Package, which somehow gave us an assurance that 200 plus was still a good number to have better view in the pit.

A few were wearing killer platforms and it made me regret on why I only added over 1 inch of my height, I could have worn higher ones! I stand 5 feet 4 inches plus 1.18 inches but I felt so smol! I was starting to get tired and rested near the railings. I refused to used my phone to preserve my battery. So, I just killed time on resting. There was also one thing that happened! The girl before us in the line started crying because her ticket went missing! Some staffs were roaming around announcing a lost ticket but only to find out it was not it. There was a moment of panic around because OMG that was a huge problem! Eventually, she found it in some i-did-not-bother-to-know corner. Thank God! If it happened to me, I do not know what to do too but cry.

Almost 5 PM, we were already in front of the entrance of the arena. I still could not feel any tension! I was so numb at that moment. We went through the metal detector and our bags were checked as well as our tickets. I directly went straight to the line being held in front of W standing pit entrance, only to find out that my buddies were not behind me! I went back to the first entrance and my friend was being confined by the officer due to her instax camera. What were they so pressed for? It was not even a professional camera! A few moments later, he gave it back because it was not on the list of the prohibited things inside the arena. Sadly, a few people already overtook the lane and that made me so pissed off! On a brighter side, the number of people allowed to get inside the pit was grouped which was good. What happened last year was that, the line from the outside to the pit was continuous and it was not being held by the staffs, thus, the fans had a chance to run inside the pit and overtake those with lesser sequences numbers.

I was awed the moment I set foot in the pit! The first thing that came in my mind was questioning my past self on why I did not take standing tickets back then! The three of us were in chaos! We already strategized on where to run and stand when we get inside but yes, planned moments mostly never happen. My buddies wanted the barricade so bad in the left side. It is every fangirl’s dream: to hold that barricade. But we have a rule to follow too! Follow your bias, not your friends. Thou shall not break the rule. I had to think straight and fast and cut off my indecisive self. I went in the center part of the pit. 2-3 rows were already formed and mostly foreigners were still inside. I ran back to my friends saying firmly that I would stay in the center part! After acknowledging my decision, I went back to my post. I will never regret this spot. I assured myself. Come what may. The surge of fans was only minimal. Thank God there was no need to panic.

A few minutes later, one of my buddies, who is also a Jongin stan, came to me and checked the area! She went back to the barricade and went back again to my post saying she also decided to stand in the center part with me! I was happy because we have studied the map of the whole setlist long ago and we, Kai stans, knew by heart on where he positions in a certain song! He is not put in the center part for no reason at all, Kai is the center. The center belongs to Kai!

Eventually the arena was being filled with fans. I just observed the people around me. Most foreigner fans were quite aggressive and knew the pit game so well. They guarded their post as if they already mastered the dirty game. Diversity in language was an advantage for all! You get to talk with your co-nationality EXOLs on how to safeguard your position since some were really pain in the arse. They would push you so bad. Some would even swear at you. Stressful. I did not mind them and gave not a single cent of care.

I had regrets in bringing my doll inside the arena. I just took a photo of my baby once and placed it back inside the bag. But eventually, it served its purpose well since I place my bag in front of me, it became a cushion from the people in front row. It was such a relief for me.

Everyone waited patiently for an hour while singing along with the background music being played. Finally, the lights went off! My heart was banging against the rib cage. I cannot contain the fact that THIS IS IT! A year of waiting. I am going to see my artists again.

#exo #exo concert #concert #kai #jongin #kyungsoo #suho #junmyeon #baekhyun #sehun #chanyeol #jongdae #xiumin #minseok #lay #yixing #elyxion #elyxioninmanila #diary #personal

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erhiem · 3 years

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George Harrison performs at the Concert for Bangladesh held at Madison Square Garden on August 1, 1971 in New York City. When asked why he attended the event, he said, “Because I was asked by a friend if I would help, that’s all.”

Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images

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Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images

George Harrison was one of the biggest rock stars on the planet in 1971, but his voice didn’t hold up as he lent his celebrity to discussing the global crisis. Demonstration sitting at a press conference opening the film, concerts for bangladesh, he was asked why, out of all the troubles in the world, why did he collect a profit for refugees from what was then East Pakistan.

In one voice explaining why he was called the “cool Beetle”, Harrison simply replied, “Because I was asked by a friend if I would help, that’s all.”

He was a friend of the great Indian musician Ravi Shankar.

He organized an all-star concert at Madison Square Garden in New York on August 1, 1971, to help Bengali refugees who had fled violence and were in India. Its immediate impact and lasting impact far outweighed Harrison’s soft demeanor. The late 1960s/early 1970s pop artist came to be viewed as just entertainers, and was the first large-scale pop concert to benefit a major human rights issue.

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The impact of two sold-out performances at Concert for Bangladesh (together with the album and film) set the tone for all-star charity events. Some musician organizers have built on models in their own way and have used new tools like social media to raise awareness for a myriad of causes. But flagship performances still have the potential to grab more attention and retain audiences for longer than tweets, TikTok or Facebook posts.

fan base rally

An advertisement for George Harrison’s single “Bangladesh”, from the 7 August 1971 edition Board Magazine.

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An advertisement for George Harrison’s single “Bangladesh”, from the 7 August 1971 edition Board Magazine.

Board

Perhaps most importantly, the concert for Bangladesh showed that celebrities could use their fan base to bring Western audiences more attention to geographically distant issues.

The situation in South Asia at that time was dire. During the spring of 1971, the Pakistani military suppressed a democratic Bengali movement for autonomy in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing hundreds of thousands. Millions more fled to refugee camps in India. Harrison’s Indian sitar guru, Ravi Shankar, who was Bengali, explained the situation to the guitarist.

Shankar credits the concert for raising awareness about this struggle. “Overnight, everyone around the world knew the name Bangladesh,” he said in the 2005 DVD. concerts for bangladesh Documentary from 1972. “Because it came out in all the newspapers everywhere. So it had tremendous value.”

While Harrison and Shankar stated that their intentions were not political, they did not mention Gary J. According to Bass’s historical account, the Pakistani military regime in the United States and its supporters created panic, The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Massacre. Pakistani officials were outraged that the concert, album and Harrison’s “Bangla Desh” single oppressed them as they persevered.

President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger – who skirted a US military aid cutoff and authorized arms for Pakistan during a brief war with India over the situation – were also chagrined. Bass reported that Nixon privately raided a concert fund known to “goddamn Indians”.

a deep look

Musicians who have staged charity events since Concert for Bangladesh have looked into the causes of the crises they are addressing. Jamie Drummond co-founded ONE, the global anti-poverty foundation, with Irish rock singer Bono. He said that the mid-1980s Live Aid event – inspired by Harrison’s concert and headlined by a huge roster of stars ranging from Queen to Madonna – gave that event’s organizer Bob Geldof as well as U2 star international credit. Caused a closer look at the relief. Drummond showed how countries like Ethiopia, saddled with crushed international financial obligations, could not buy enough food.

“Concerts, show biz for good causes go a long way, and fundraising goes a long way, but you have to get to the structural causes of the problems,” Drummond said. “It requires a little more involvement in politics.”

Bob Ferguson, who manages creative collaborations and music outreach for Oxfam, said providing information and education on all these issues is critical to his organization’s partnership for COVID relief with celebrities such as Australian singer Courtney Barnett and pop band Lucious Is.

“The biggest part of my job is being able to make sure people are really aware of what’s going on,” Ferguson said. “I prefer our artists to be fully aware of anything we are involved with, and we have the luxury of being able to connect artists with experts in the field. An artist to know about our work in Darfur wanted, and we could connect with someone in the refugee camps in Darfur in 15 minutes.”

For an organization like ONE, which strives to be non-partisan, it is also important to work together with everyone from American conservatives to French socialists to work together on issues such as COVID mitigation, climate change and girls’ education. base can be found.

“Agreement is not a dirty word,” Drummond said. “Sometimes the best ideas come out of conflict between different people [political] The sides and the middle emerge. Thanks to bipartisan American leadership, we canceled debt and launched a historic AIDS initiative.

December 1971: Singer-songwriter George Harrison at the Royal Festival Hall with Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, during which time Harrison helped organize a ‘Concert for Bangladesh’.

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Evening Standard via Getty Images

December 1971: Singer-songwriter George Harrison at the Royal Festival Hall with Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, during which time Harrison helped organize a ‘Concert for Bangladesh’.

Evening Standard via Getty Images

Watching Out for the Ego—and Paying Attention to the Details

Harrison’s affable personality set an example for Western musicians who wish to present themselves as having used their fame for a greater good. That’s not always the case in a largely ego-filled industry, some of whom may simply use charitable appearances to burnish their reputations.

According to Ferguson, Oxfam has become aware of how some artists may not have philanthropic goals when the organization is approached. “We have to stay on our toes to sniff out opportunities that are more about rehabilitating an artist’s reputation rather than being helpful,” he said. “It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. So it’s a vetting process to make sure we’re working with people who want to work with us. Music fans these days can easily be a marketing idea or Can smell the project.”

Musicians who follow Harrison’s model should also be aware of the non-glamorous bureaucratic work involved with raising and distributing large amounts of money. While their concert raised over $243,000 for UNICEF, the US Internal Revenue Service withheld millions from subsequent record sales because the event’s organizers did not apply for non-profit status (that issue has been resolved). Is). Drummond said artist-run charities always needed to take such operational aspects of fundraising seriously.

And the impact can be tremendous. In the case of the Bangladesh Music Program, its legacy continues today through the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF helping around the world. “There’s no point in doing show biz right and then getting real delivery of something you’ve done wrong,” Drummond said. “The good news is that if you are a celebrity in this field there has never been more people to help you out. There are now more cottage industries that are certainly helping influencers with philanthropy and advocacy. “

right music, right tone

Even though Harrison sold tickets for the Concert for Bangladesh with his British and American rock star friends, Shankar’s early performances were meant to represent the music of the affected region. This kind of inclusion is always more important than their oppression to show the culture of the people. Drummond said he would like to include more African musicians as well as African athletes and movie stars – who focus on that continent.

Tibetan musicians who performed at the Tibet House Benefit Concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall last year are an example of such participation. According to Ferguson, this diversity also inspires active audience participation. He said that this participation can be at any level from signing a petition to joining an organization.

“The Tibet House Concert at Carnegie began with a prayer, a long chant by the monks,” Ferguson said. “So you knew right now and there that it’s real, that you’d be in for not only some interesting music but ready to take some action.”

Aaron Cohen is the author of Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power (University of Chicago Press) and amazing Grace (Bloomsbury). He teaches humanities and English composition at Chicago’s City Colleges and regularly writes about the arts for publications such as Chicago Tribunehandjob Chicago Reader And downbeat.

The post The Original Celebrity Benefit Event : Goats and Soda : NPR appeared first on Spicy Celebrity News.

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phantom-le6 · 3 years

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Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 (2 of 6)

Later than planned due to the Snooker World Championship final, here’s my second round of reviews for season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Episode 6: The Game

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Commander Riker visits Risa and is introduced to a video game by Etana Jol, a Ktarian woman with whom he has become sexually involved during his vacation on the pleasure planet. Riker, upon his return to the Enterprise, distributes replicated copies of the game to the crew of the starship.

Cadet Wesley Crusher, on vacation from Starfleet Academy, is visiting the Enterprise and notices everyone playing the game (and trying to convince him to play as well). Doctor Beverly Crusher, Wesley's mother, secretly switches off Lt. Commander Data and sabotages his circuits, because he would be immune to the game's addictive properties. The game addicts people who play it by stimulating the pleasure centres of their brains when they successfully complete each level.

Wesley reports to Captain Picard his suspicions that the game is dangerous. However, Picard is already addicted. Eventually, Wesley and his new girlfriend, Ensign Robin Lefler, are the only people on the ship who have yet to become addicted to the game. Wesley and Robin discover that Data's injuries were in fact sabotage, and begin working on a plan to stop the spread of the game. Wesley meets Robin in engineering, where he learns that she has come under the influence of the game, presumably having been captured by the crew and forced to play. Riker and Worf pursue Wesley, as he is the last non-addicted person on the ship. Wesley evades them for a time, but they eventually trap him in an access tunnel and take him to the bridge, where he is restrained and forced to play the game.

Data, having been examined and repaired by Wesley before he was forced to submit to the game, frees the rest of the crew from their mind-controlled state by flashing pulses of light in their faces from a handheld lamp known as a palm beacon. The crew is then able to discern the purpose of the game: It rendered them extremely susceptible to the power of suggestion, compelling them to aid the games' creators, the Ktarians, in an attempt to take control of the Enterprise and eventually the Federation. Picard captures the Ktarian vessel, captained by Etana Jol, responsible for distributing the games and has it towed to the nearest spacedock. Wesley and Lefler bid each other a reluctant farewell as he returns to Starfleet Academy.

Review:

Following Wesley’s departure from the show’s main ensemble of characters in season 4, Wil Wheaton reprised the role for three episodes and a single cinematic cameo, and this episode is the first of those reprisal moments. Now on the plus side, we get to see Wesley get a girlfriend in the form of young Ensign Robin Lefler, played by guest actress Ashley Judd, and he proves fairly adept as the lead protagonist in the episode. However, he’s unfortunately landed as the lead protagonist in an episode that’s a total bloody howler in terms of its plot. First of all, the concept of an addictive video game? Red Dwarf beat Star Trek to this with Better Than Life in the novel adaptation of their series, and did a far better job on the concept. Also, I’ve gone off anything using anything even remotely linked to hypnosis in a negative light where fiction is concerned, and the design of the game’s ‘discs’ being a spiral pattern is a clear visual nod to visual-based hypnotic inductions if I ever saw one.

However, the real problem is that this is Trek trying to hammer out a ‘video games are addictive’ message, and frankly it’s right up there with anytime someone rails against violence and anything else in video games as something to piss me off. Why? Because the world was full of things that people could get addicted to or that were violent well before computer games existed. Drugs, including alcohol and nicotine, are addictive. Gambling is addictive. Sex is addictive, but guess what? Not everyone is walking around with a constant need to down a ton of pills with half a liquor store and a pack of cigarettes, buy a hundred lottery tickets and then boink everyone on their street. Likewise, the violence in video games is nothing compared to all the other violence in human history. Two World Wars, the Crusades, dozens of other wars and skirmishes the world over and goodness knows how many murders, honour duels and the like all before we got anywhere near a home computer game of even the most basic variety.

The reality is that addiction to anything is a serious issue, and frankly the anti-drugs episode back in season 1 of this series did better addressing it than this episode does. It’s a near-total train-wreck, ironically saved by the one character many people often found most irksome in the show’s early years. For me, it’s only worth 4 out of 10. Oh, and Will? There are some women you need to say no to, so maybe adding that word to your vocabulary next time you’re on Risa.

Episode 7: Unification (Part 1)

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Starfleet Admiral Brackett informs Captain Picard that Ambassador Spock is missing and an intelligence scan has placed him on Romulus, raising fears that he may have defected. Picard orders the Enterprise to Vulcan to speak to Spock's ailing father, Sarek, with whom Picard shares a close bond. Sarek mentions Pardek, a Romulan Senator with whom Spock had been maintaining a dialogue for several decades. Lt. Commander Data discovers a visual record of Pardek from a trade conference and confirms that he is the other figure seen on the intelligence scan of Spock on Romulus. The Enterprise crew find the remains of a decommissioned Vulcan ship, the T'Pau, in the debris of a Ferengi ship which crashed in the Hanolin asteroid belt.

Picard calls in a favour from Klingon Chancellor Gowron, speaking to one of his aides and convincing him to lend them a Klingon ship that could take them to Romulus while cloaked. Picard and Data board the ship, with Picard ordering Riker to investigate the T'Pau and try to find a link to the Romulans. En route, the Klingons inform Picard that they intercepted a message of interest to him: Sarek has died.

On Romulus, Picard and Data (disguised as Romulans) locate the spot where the picture of Pardek and Spock was taken, which Data determines is a legal office. They wait until Pardek arrives, but when they approach him, they find themselves met by soldiers and taken to a cavern. Pardek arrives, explaining that Romulan security knew they were on-planet and they've been brought underground for their safety. Picard states that he is looking for Ambassador Spock, who emerges from a nearby tunnel.

Review:

Although Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry died a few days the previous episode aired, it is the Unification 2-parter episode that bears a memorial tribute to him at the beginning of each of his segments, and rightly so. This two-part arc was meant not only as part of a cross-promotion between the Next Generation and Star Trek VI, but also as a way to mark the 25th anniversary of the original series first airing. Frankly, there’s little I can think of that would be more apt in that regard than to have Spock guest-star in a special instalment of TNG, though admittedly part 1 sees very little Spock. However, to my mind, this is actually a good thing.

As cool as it is having an original series character guest-star on TNG is, the show has worked hard to be its own thing and not be simply a direct continuation or a poor rip-off of the original show. Because of that, delaying Spock’s entry helps TNG retain its own identity; a rush to have Spock on screen could have undermined any sense of TNG as its own show. Moreover, some characters have a certain ‘larger than life’ reputation among fan-bases, and good writers will understand this and build them up as an idea, a symbol of themselves in the minds of an audience before the character really appears. A key example of this approach in other media is how writer Brad Meltzer tackles the introduction of DC Comics’ ‘big three’ into the events of the mini-series/graphic novel Identity Crisis.

Overall, part 1 of Unification is very good at building us up to moment of meeting Spock, as well as putting us on Romulus for the first time in Trek history and just generally telling a good story, one which also echoed real-life issues like the re-unification of Germany after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. In fact, I would say all that robs this episode of top marks is that the remaining Enterprise crew doesn’t have the greatest of B-plots to deal with once Picard and Data head for Romulus. Granted, it pays off in part 2, but somehow I feel it could have been better, though for the life of me I can’t think of how. End score for this one is 9 out of 10.

Episode 8: Unification (Part 2)

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Spock demands that Picard leave Romulus. Picard informs him of the Federation's concern over his "cowboy diplomacy" and tells him that Sarek has died. Spock takes the news of his father's death stoically. He explains to Picard that during the peace negotiations with the Klingons decades earlier, he felt responsible for putting Captain Kirk and his crew at risk, and so is now working alone on a "personal mission of peace" to re-unify the Vulcan and Romulan people. He is working with an underground movement to achieve that aim. Pardek has asked Spock to come to Romulus to meet with the new Proconsul of the Romulan Senate, a young idealist who has promised reforms. Picard expresses concern that the willingness of the Romulans may be part of a larger ploy; Spock agrees but points out that if a larger plot is at work, it is best they play out their roles within it to uncover it.

Picard, Data, and Spock are soon captured by Commander Sela, who is planning a Romulan conquest of Vulcan. The stolen Vulcan ship and two others are carrying a Romulan invasion force, under the guise of escorting a peace envoy. Spock refuses to deceive his people by announcing the false news, even after Sela threatens to kill him, and she locks the three in her office and leaves to order the ships on their way. By the time she returns, Data has hacked into the Romulan computer system and created a holographic simulation that distracts her long enough for the three captives to incapacitate her and her officers.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise arrives at Galorndon Core following their investigation into one of the missing Vulcan ships. They detect the three Vulcan ships and moves to intercept them as they cross the Neutral Zone. A medical distress signal comes in, but as Riker orders the ship toward its source, they receive a broadcast from Romulus in which Spock reveals the true nature of the Vulcan ships, and Riker orders Dr Crusher to check the source of the medical distress call, suspecting it to be a Romulan ruse. A Romulan Warbird uncloaks, destroys the ships, and recloaks, killing the troops instead of allowing them to be captured.

On Romulus, Data and Picard bid farewell to Spock. The Ambassador is intent upon his goal, realizing that it cannot be achieved through diplomacy or politics. Picard offers Spock a chance to touch what Sarek shared with him, and the two mind-meld.

Review:

Discounting the various alien bar scenes that factor into the Enterprise’s B-plot (for goodness sake, TNG, you’re not supposed to be Star Wars and that is certainly not Mos Eisley Cantina), the second part of Unification is about as good as the first part. According to Memory Alpha, the writers felt like this episode was a bit too talky and wanted more action in retrospect, but with respect I disagree. Trek is made for being talky at times, and anything involving Leonard Nimoy and Patrick Stewart working together as Spock and Picard more or less demands it. Had it been Riker and Kirk, then I could understand the action impulse. Moreover, as I just noted a moment ago, this is Star Trek and not Star Wars. Trek is about issue and character exploration, about delving into matters of substance, not shallow action scenes and plots with little to no issue exploration or substance. If action isn’t going to serve something deeper on Trek, then it’s best left to one side.

The A-Plot works to a nice conclusion, and it’s cool to see Commander Sela back, even if you still have the issue that she looks like a Romulan clone of Tasha Yar and not her daughter. It’s the character’s last appearance, which in some ways is a shame considering the later Romulan stories in this show and in Deep Space Nine. The Enterprise also gets at least a decent, albeit slightly anti-climactic, conclusion to its b-plot. Nothing more to really say; just going to hand down a score of 9 out of 10 and warp over to the next episode in this run.

Episode 9: A Matter of Time

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

En route to Penthara IV to assist its population in combating the effects of reduced temperatures created by a dust cloud from a recent asteroid impact, the Enterprise encounters a nearby temporal distortion, and finds a small pod containing a single human occupant. Beaming aboard the Enterpise, the human introduces himself as Professor Berlinghoff Rasmussen, a historian from the 26th century who has time-travelled to witness the Enterprise complete this "historic" mission at Penthara IV. He requests that the crew complete questionnaires for him, but reveals little about himself as he does not wish to alter history. Rasmussen's investigations are somewhat annoying to the crew but they entertain him.

At Penthara IV, the Enterprise uses its phasers to drill into the planet to release carbon dioxide, creating a greenhouse effect to warm the planet, but this creates a side effect of increasing seismic activity and causing volcanoes to erupt, threatening to worsen the impact winter they were trying to end to ice age proportions. Chief Engineer La Forge and Lt. Commander Data offer a solution of ionizing the upper atmosphere, but the manoeuvre must be done precisely or they could risk burning off the entire atmosphere and killing all 20 million on the surface. With the severity of the decision, Captain Picard attempts to gain Rasmussen's help, claiming this is a scenario where any possible temporal equivalent of the Prime Directive can be overridden, but Rasmussen refuses to offer advice, noting by his era, the fate of all those on Penthara IV has already been decided. Picard decides to allow La Forge and Data to go through with the plan, which is successful and returns the planet to its normal climate.

Rasmussen prepares to leave with his research done, but is met by a security team at his pod. Picard informs him several items have gone missing and requests to see the inside of his pod. Rasmussen reminds him again of the possible temporal prime directive, and asks if only Data goes in to look for their missing equipment, as Data can be ordered not to reveal anything about the future to the crew. Picard agrees. Inside, Data finds the missing items but discovers Rasmussen has him at phaser-point. Rasmussen explains he is really a disgruntled inventor from the 22nd century New Jersey that stole this pod from a 26th-century traveller, and intended to return to his time and profit by selling the Enterprise equipment as his inventions, and now that he has Data, he plans to take him back as well. However, Rasmussen finds his phaser does not work, as once he opened the pod, the ship's sensors were able to disable it. Data forces an anxious Rasmussen outside along with the stolen equipment, and Rasmussen tries to apologize and asks to be allowed to depart. Picard instead has Rasmussen placed under arrest, and the pod automatically disappears, leaving him stranded in the 24th century.

Review:

Before I get into the review itself, a bit of house-keeping I had to bring up. Prior to this episode, Trek had been steadfastly anti-time travel for much of its history due to it being one of Gene Roddenberry’s ‘rules’ that Trek avoided this sometimes-overused sci-fi trope. As a result, Trek did not have a temporal version of the Prime Directive, which is why when Picard discusses this at one point with Rasmussen, he wonders if the supposed historian is following a temporal equivalent. As such, all references to the temporal prime directive being cited in this episode on any form of wiki sight are wrong and premature; you can’t reference a temporal prime directive that has yet to exist because there’s previously been no reason to even have one.

Now, all that said, I think this episode was ok, but a bit all over the place. Is it about suggesting that deliberately creating a greenhouse effect could be a possible solution to impact winters? Is it about using that as an excuse to explore the nature of causality and the potential ramifications of time travel? Frankly, for me time-travel is all too often a confusing thing because it invites paradox and gives you a headache in doing so. For this reason alone, the multiverse concept of time-travel used more recently in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is better. Also, all that talk about avoiding contamination of the time-line and then you let a guy from your past remain in your present, knowing that by Trek standards that could alter history? Pretty sloppy, but as I’ve noted, Trek was still new at time-travel at this stage. Overall, I give this episode about 7 out of 10; some of the acting, especially from Patrick Stewart, helps compensate for some of the confusion factor.

Episode 10: New Ground

Plot (as given by me):

While Lt. Commander La Forge is getting excited about a test of soliton wave technology, which could enable ships to travel at warp speeds without a warp drive or engines, Lt. Worf learns his human mother and Alexander have come to visit him via the transport ship Milan. When they beam aboard, however, Alexander claims he won’t be returning. It turns out Worf’s human parents feel that they are too old to act as parents anymore, and they have seen Alexander show troubling behaviours that they feel only the guidance of his father can help him through.

Worf attempts to incorporate being a parent into his life on board the Enterprise, but faces numerous challenges. In addition to trying to tackle the minutia of enrolling Alexander at school and registering him with sickbay, Worf also struggles to deal with Alexander’s problem behaviours, which include lying and stealing. When the behaviours continue despite Worf teaching Alexander about honour and making him promise not to lie anymore, he decides to send Alexander to a Klingon school instead.

Matters are complicated when the Enterprise is damaged during the soliton wave test, and the wave itself begins to exponentially gain in speed and power as it heads for a colony on Lemma II. The decision is made to chase the wave, travel through it and then dissipate it using photon torpedoes. However, the ship’s shields are not at full strength, and travelling through the wave leaves certain sections exposed to possible ion radiation when the wave is dissipated. One section is bio-lab 4, which Alexander runs away to following another argument with his father; the trip through the wave causes a major fire in the lab and traps Alexander under debris.

When the bridge crew learns of Alexander’s plight, Worf and Commander Riker race to Alexander’s aid, narrowly saving him and some endangered animals that were being transported in the bio-lab before the soliton wave had to be dissipated. While Alexander recovers in sick bay, Worf offers Alexander a choice; to face the rigours of Klingon school, or face the potentially greater challenge of remaining on board the Enterprise. Alexander chooses the latter option.

Review:

This is an episode that, much like the soliton wave from its B-plot, starts out weak and builds to strength at the climax. At first, it’s almost cringe-worthy watching Worf try to play single parent and assume what he thinks a parent should be, not for a moment factoring in how Alexander has been raised up to now or how being sent to Earth after his mother’s death affected him. You can see Worf’s discomfort with the whole situation is making him try to more or less duck the situation, which I can understand to a degree. After all, no one likes being chucked in at the proverbial deep end of any scenario, and as an autistic person I absolutely hate it when that happens, so I can empathise with the whole set-up.

However, Worf is not autistic, and he’s been around a crew that includes families for his entire stint on the Enterprise, so you’d think he’d adapt a bit quicker. As it is, the A-plot is saved when the conflict puts Alexander in a position where the B-plot can endanger him, and for that final act of the episode, you get a great bit of dramatic television. There’s nothing that can get you on the edge of your seat more than a child being in danger and their parent having to race to the rescue. The fear and the worry of that situation charges everything with urgency and commands audience attention, which is a key reason why I think when Marvel put the Fantastic Four on the big screen for themselves, they have to include Reed and Sue’s son Franklin and put him in peril; otherwise, the F4 can’t distinguish themselves as they did in the comics.

For me, it’s very much that final act that really makes this episode worth a watch, but only just. Overall, I give this episode 6 out of 10.

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togetherinspirit7 · 6 years

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[FAN ACCOUNT] 180108 INFINITE ‘Top Seed’ Showcase

Hello again! I’m so happy to be able to write another fan account so soon after the ‘Begin Again’ fan meets! As the showcase was broadcasted live on V, I’m not going to talk about the showcase itself, but I’ll focus on things that happened before and after. It was the first time that I was even able to go to a showcase, and I luckily won the lottery as well!

So first of all, there were a few different methods to try to win showcase tix. There was a naver form that you fill out, a twitter lottery through 1theK and also a lottery based off of album sales. There were a few different sites that would pick out 100 winners from each site. Only Hottracks clearly said that each album you buy would be considered a separate entry (though I’m sure they all did it like that, I just chose hottracks to be safe), so I bought 7 albums. Honestly, I really wasn’t expecting to win because 7 albums are not a lot. Plus there were more than 500 people who were signed up with Hottracks. Anyway, Friday came around and I checked the list and to my surprise I actually won! Plus the music site winners got 2 tix per person, so I was able to bring a friend.

Fast forwarding to the day of the showcase, I was really anxious because they announced that tix were to be distributed first come first serve. I already heard that there were a bunch of people in line from the afternoon before. I would’ve waited in line overnight but I got REALLY sick this past weekend. There’s been a crazy flu going around lately, so I really sympathize with Sungyeol, cause if he had what I had, I have no idea how he was able to keep up with his schedules, IV or not. Anyway, I forced myself to wait in line for 3 hours before tix distribution started and there were already hundreds of people in front of me. Fast forward a few cold hours and finally I got my ticket. I got the end of the 400s in section A. So I was pretty disappointed, thinking of the layout of the fan meets.

After eating dinner, we started lining up to get in the venue and it started snowing. I’m not sure if it was because of the snow or because it was a different event, but it was a lot more disorganized. Instead of lining us up by number outside, they made us go in the building first and try to organize us in the tiny hallways. I’m pretty sure it was for safety reasons cause there are lots of stairs made of slippery material. Anyway, I was surprised to see a different set up once I got inside. Instead of having Sections A and B, it was just one big section with a rail halfway splitting the section in the middle. So although I was in the 400s I still got a really good spot near the middle rail! I was also kind of confused. As far as I know, the numbers in section A went up to 600 but the whole section was super packed. In the fan meets, those areas are supposed to fill like 1800 people. And without the extra rails, it could fit even more. Plus they didn’t even use section C or D at all! They were just empty! But the showcase itself had 2000ish tickets... so... idk. There were people on the 2nd floor though. So I think they just shoved almost everyone in the big section at the bottom which was a terrible idea imo. Because there were no rails dividing the section horizontally, there were crazy waves of pushing with nothing to stop the forward motion. I don’t think anyone intends to push but when you inch up a little it causes the person in front to inch up and so on and so on. So there were like non stop waves of pushing throughout the whole showcase. Idk why they didn’t just use sections c and d and just let everyone have a little more space. Either way, it’s done and over with now I guess.

Oh yeah, 10 mins before it started, people started screaming cause Golden Child started taking their seats on the 2nd floor. My friend saw them walking in the hallway outside the standing section while they boys performed ‘Tell Me’, prob to go backstage to say congrats. Also, I noticed they lowered the stage again, back to ‘That Summer’ height. So I was only able to see above their knees again. Also, a funny thing that happened was prior to the showcase starting, they were playing the different songs on the album in the background. When ‘Tell Me’ came on, everyone started practicing the fan chant and the ‘nege nege’ part was so awkward so everyone started laughing. But in the end, I think we pulled it off well. It’s a strange fan chant but after doing it a couple times, it’s quite endearing lol. Also, I have to say, I loved the ending, where they were sprinkling the silver confetti on the boys while they were dancing. SO PURDY!!! Anyway, I think that’s pretty much it! Let us know if you have any questions or comments!

***** Please remember to stream!!! Do whatever you can to help the boys! Tweet! Stream! Download (legally)! Purchase! Anything! Thank you~

#infinite #top seed #showcase #tell me #fan account #sunggyu #dongwoo #woohyun #sungyeol #myungsoo #l #sungjong #180108 #togetherinspirit7 #인피니트 #탑시드 #쇼케이스

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