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sliggoons · 4 years

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I need me some Hop. Head cannons of Hop with a SO that used to be a Team Skull admin...? (Partner Pokémon is Houndoom. I love DoomDoggos.) thanks!!!

This is !!! such an interesting idea! I love it, I had so many ideas right off the bat! Thank you sm and I hope you enjoy!

ALSO !! GOd I LOVEEE HOP , this is my first writing for a character from SwSh and I’m so glad it’s about my boy :’D

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE SUN AND MOON GAMES

Hop x Former Team Skull Admin Headcanons

After all of the.. events in Alola and the disbanding of Team Skull, you moved to the Galar region for a fresh start. You took your partner pokemon with you, the strongest of your team, but you were excited to catch some cool Galarian friends as well.

You considered doing the gym challenge as far as you could go, it’d be a good way to vent your emotions and bond with you new pokemon, growing stronger as you did.

So you went to the pokemon lab in the little town of Wedgehurst, planning to get a pokedex and try to persuade the professor for an endorsement.

There you met Hop, he was maybe two years younger than you but still ATTRACTIVE. Who knew the first Galarian boy you met would be so cute????

Honestly, Hop was pretty intimidated when he first saw you, for a few reasons. One, he had never met someone so gorgeous?? WHO were you and where did you come from? You certainly weren’t from around here

Even though you weren’t wearing your old Team Skull gear, your outfit was still a bit edgier, a bit darker, and bolder than the normal streetwear throughout Galar. That and the scary, strong looking pokemon by your side, and Hop was shaking in his boots.

Hop was also insanely intrigued. Yeah, he was intimidated, but he kinda liked it. He liked how his heart sped up and he felt kinda shaky around you. You were a real mystery to him, a crazy cute mystery.

Turns out Hop was there for the same reason, and soon you got sucked into a full fledged gym challenge along with Hop. Being from Alola, you never had the chance to do an actual gym challenge, the island trials proved difficult for your younger self. The Galar region took trainers and gym challenges very, very seriously, it seemed more so than any other region you heard of.

After you left the pokemon lab, Hop asked for a battle, you obliged, and you absolutely smoked him. This only got Hop more intrigued. He declared you his official rival, claiming he had to beat you before he could ever have the chance to beat his older brother, Leon.

His brother was the Champion??? You thought it was a really crazy coincidence you ran into the younger brother of the Galar Region Champion. Given, you had never heard of Leon before now, but it was still wild.

You didn’t really have any place to stay, since you had just moved. It was an impulse decision really, so you spend most nights camped out in the wilds or on the sides of routes between paths. Sort of unnervingly, Hop ends up at your camp most nights. He spends a lot of time just hanging around for someone who is your ‘rival.’ But you don’t mind, he’s easy to talk to, friendly and funny, and his smile seems to shine brighter than the stars that keep you company each night.

Hop is eager to learn more about you, he pesters you about your personal life. You told him you moved to Galar just for ‘a change’ but he knew there was something more. He respected your boundaries and knew you’d tell him when you were ready, if you ever were.

Side note, Hop absolutley LOVES your Alolan accent, and the relaxed, more slang like way of speaking you picked up from Team Skull.

You and Hop were growing closer and closer from your late nights spent around the campfire. He was getting stronger too, you could tell from the battles you shared after each gym challenge you completed, side by side. If you were honest, you might have been developing a minor crush on Hop. You didn’t necessarily come to the Galar region looking for love, and it certainly wasn’t on your mind with all the training you knew you’d have to do to finish your gym challenge, but you couldn’t stop the blush when Hop nervously complimented you after each battle.

One early morning Hop was helping you and your pokemon clean up the camp you had shared the previous night. You bag was sat against a log, open, as you packed up your things to put in it. One of your pokemon ran by, knocking it over, and out spilled your Team Skull pendant.

Hop picked it up, curious, and trying to help. “Cool necklace! What is it? I don’t ever see you wearing it!”

You never did wear it, you just kept it around to remember your friends by, you didn’t really mean to do too much harm during your time in Team Skull, and you certainly didn’t want to forget about the family you had found in them.

And so with a sigh, you explained. You didn’t really want people to know, especially since the entire world knew about what had happened in Alola, even way out in the Galar region.

You explained to Hop that Team Skull wasn’t really behind anything, they were used as scapegoats for the Aether Foundation, and unfortunately found themselves stuck in a very sticky situation. You felt bad for your ex-boss, Guzma. He was a good guy deep down, just very misguided. You and him were pretty close friends while you were still in Alola and you had been meaning to call to check in on him.

Hop didn’t seem to mind. “I mean, you’ve proven yourself to be such a nice person to me! I’m not going to think any differently of you based on your past! I, uh, I like you, a lot, and this doesn’t change anything, Y/N.”

Sometimes love just has its way of finding you when you least expect it. That’s what happened when you met Hop, your rival, best friend, and boyfriend.

Are these even HEADCANONS ???? LOL WHAT DID I WRITE

#Fourteen #Pokémon swsh #pokémon sword #pokémon shield #pokémon headcanon #Pokémon hop #hop pokemon #Hop imagines #Hope headcannon #Pokémon #hop x reader

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fan-fantasies · 4 years

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Hello 💕 Can I have a ship with BTS, Monsta X, ATEEZ, & Stray Kids? I'm 5'2, half black/half russian. I'm kinda chubby and I have long braided hair. I'm Taurus and INFP. I'm introverted but then I feel comfortable with someone I'm very open to them and veeery talkative and funny. People say I have resting bitch face. I love nature, play with animals and drawing. I also enjoy traveling and discovering new things. I'm vegetarian. My style is something in between kidcore and grunge. Thank you!✨

Hey anon! I’m so sorry about the wait! I’m trying so hard to write but things just seem to be just getting worse and worse. I knew that today, I had to get this done! I was determined! I also apologize while writing this, I really wanted to touch on your style but I literally know nothing about kidcore. I did some research so I hope I did okay. I apologize if I didn’t get it right but I really tried. So I hope you like it! <3 Breezy

BTS

Jungkook

So my first thought was to go with Jungkook mainly cause I could see cute days spent in together. I think it would be kinda adorable.

Now hear me out, Jungkook being your drawing model. He would be sitting at his computer, playing his video games, you would be bored out of your mind. You would likely really want his attention but he would be too focused on his game and yelling through his mic at Taehyung. So you would do something that would likely get his attention. You grabbed your sketchbook and pencil, drawing him seeing as though he hardly ever moved because his eyes were trained on the computer screen. You would take in every feature and detail, you would want to make it perfect to get his attention once you were done. In no time, you had a profile drawing of this handsome man. You would be standing up and go over to him, he would glance at you seeing as he felt your presence. You would show him what you drew and his jaw would drop at the amazing detail and such. This would cause him to exit his game, pull you into his lap, holding you close, and peppering kisses all over your face. Your giggles would make him smile more if that was possible. It would be the cutest thing ever.

I also think your style would interest him as well. I feel like its not something he sees a lot so he would want to see more especially if it’s on you. He would be so supportive of your outfits and I feel like he would wanna help you get dressed to. I just can’t help but think like one day your gonna go out to get something, he would see you dressed in a more grunge style and he would be so for it. He would think it suits you. Then the next day, you were going out to see your friends and see you in a completely different style. With brighter colors and a very cutesy look. It would almost like give him whiplash because it would just be such a different look on your but he would absolutely love it. He would love that you could be so different by the change of the day, it would keep him on his toes.

Monsta X

Minhyuk

I feel as though you and Minhyuk would get along so well, mainly when you get really close to each other, because of his joking nature and your talkative nature. I think both of you would just mesh so well together. I know you say you’re an introvert but the two of you would be the light of any party.

Like if you were hanging out with the group in their dorm. It had been a long day for them and you could tell that they were just exhausted. You would be curled into Minhyuk’s side as all of you watched a movie. At some point during the movie, he would snake his arm around your waist and then suddenly start tickling your sides. He would get so many giggles from you that it would instantly break the silence. The tense air would quickly shift and the guys around you would chuckle and just watch as Minhyuk tickled you. Honestly, I feel like one of them would totally betray you, Kihyun, and would help him tickle you. What does this have to do with you being talkative? Literally, nothing, because Minhyuk just does this thing where he can easily shift the atmosphere of any situation. You would be there if he ever needed back up? The guys are nervous for a show and his words aren’t getting to them? You bet you would be there to cheer them on and back him up. There was an argument amongst the group? You would be there as like another mediator and would likely also be able to cool everyone off.

I also think he would be interested in going places with you, experiencing things with you. Even if he himself had experienced these things, he would still wanna be there with you while you experienced it. Like, you wanna go to a concert of your favorite singer or group? He would wanna find a way to go with you so he can see the look on your face. Maybe taking a hike or a vacation to a new place? He’s so ready, plus I feel like he would just love being with you.

Ateez

Seonghwa

Seonghwa… Man this dude, this tall dude. I think he would love being around you and just spending time with you. This one was one that my gut just told me was totally right. I could honestly just seeing you two doing wholesome things together, as well as helping him and Hongjoong keep on eye out on the demons that are the other members of Ateez.

I could honestly see the two of you just randomly deciding to go to the shelter to see animals because adorable animals. He would just be so happy to see you playing with the animals, they seemed just as happy to see you as you were to see them. He of course would join you in petting and playing with them but like, hear me out, he would totally admire you from afar. He would love to see you smile, pout, and giggle at just everything going on around you. I could honestly see that as being a date because that would just be honestly amazing.

I could also see him bringing you to the dorm, you being hella nervous to meet his bandmates for the first time. Mainly cause he had told you how they were honest to god crack heads. You didn’t believe him until you actually got there. Seeing them mess around in front of you, almost as if you had been apart of their family for years. It was fun to watch. Then they would calm down, Hwa would likely leave for a bit to go make something leaving you in the room with the rest of them watching a movie. If you’re anything like me as an artist, you would have your sketchbook out just doodling away. These boys would be so still they would make perfect models to just sketch quickly. One of them would likely notice and would just sit next to you and watch, trying not to scare you too much. (Unless its Wooyoung or Mingi, those two would most likely make the biggest deal about it, let’s be honest.) Honestly, I just see so much wholesomeness in this scenario.

Stray kids

Han

So I’m still learning about all the members of Stray kids, but I honestly just get chaotic vibes from Han. From what I’ve seen of him, I think he would be the type to love you for literally everything about you. I think he would really like your introverted side, cause I’ve heard he just really likes to spend time in rather than going out, but would also really enjoy your talkative and funny personality.

I just picture the both of you just making jokes and being giggly. Like, if you’re trying to draw something, he would be trying to make you giggle at every waking second you weren’t giving him attention. Though I feel it would go both ways. He’s sitting in the studio with you, having been working for way too long? You best believe you’re gonna try to distract him to make him giggle. I also think he would just see that you have a resting bitch face and would make it his goal to break it. Like, would do EVERYTHING to make you giggle.

I also think he might take an interest in your style and the duality of it. Just how completely different the styles are. Then seeing those two styles together would just explode his mind. Like for real. A mix of bright colors and an edgier style. He wouldn’t know what to do with his life. He would likely just stare at you for a few minutes, trying to process how goddamn good you look. Then he would pull you into his arms, hug you close and just never let you go, he didn’t care if you had plans. He was gonna get at least five minutes of cuddles with you. If you argued, he would pout and just hold you tighter. That man is never gonna let you go, the more you argue the longer he will hold you. So get used to it.

#bts ships #bts imagines #jeon jungkook imagine #monsta x imagine #monsta x ships #lee Minhyuk imagines #ateez imagines #ateez ships #Seonghwa imagines #stray kids imagines #stray kids ships #han jisung imagines

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starry-sparky · 4 years

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Hunchback and dark themes

Ok ok, I need to get something off my chest, I watched Sean(jacksepticeye)’s “Unpopular Opinions” video recently and he said he didn’t like Moana and wishes Disney would go back to taking risks like they did with Hunchback of Notre Dame. Him not liking Moana is fine, I could not care less, what bothers me is him saying he wants Disney to take risks and talk about darker themes. Anyway, that’s what I’m gonna talk about, yeehaw.

Gonna start this by saying I’m not attacking Sean, he just happened to say something I had wanted to talk about for a long time but I didn't have a way of bringing it up. Sean just happened to say something that fit well as a vector for me to talk about what I’ve wanted to for a very long time now. This isn’t aimed specifically at Sean, it's aimed at ANYONE who thinks darker themes are necessary for everything. Ok, let’s get into it now.

First off, Hunchback is a good movie, I wouldn't say it's the best Disney movie, or even my favorite, but it’s good for what it is. Second, people have different favorite genres, some people prefer drama over comedy and vise versa but that doesn't necessarily mean they're right about a film or show in that category. Ok, now let's talk about Hunchback. Hunchback is a good movie but people have put it up on a high pedestal and regard it as one of Disney's best movies because of the fact that its darker than other Disney films. If it weren't for the fact that Hunchback has a darker tone, no one would be regarding it as one of Disney's best movies. In fact, a few years ago I saw Hunchback for the first time. For years I heard of how supposedly great it was and I was very excited to see this masterpiece of a movie I had been led to believe it was. And, even though it is beautifully animated(which is another reason people hold it in such high regard) I remember being pretty underwhelmed. I thought it was good but I didn't really have any interest in seeing it again(sidenote: I haven't seen it since). And yet, I’ve continued to hear people singing its praises even though it honestly wasn't all that special. People act like it’s a surprise doesn't make movies like Hunchback anymore but it isn't when you really think about it. As good as people like to think it is, Disney doesn't do movies with dark themes for two reasons. One, Hunchback didn't do well at the box office so it’s no wonder Disney wouldn't want to do another movie in the same vein as Hunchback. Two, Disney movies are family friendly, they can appeal to both children and adults but are made to mainly appeal to kids. Although, I think we can all agree Disney cares more about the money so.

Ok now I'm addressing something else Sean brought up about the dark themes he wishes Disney would address, racism. First off, I guess he forgot Zootopia existed, which is about racism through and through, even down to the fact that stereotypes exist in the world. Zootopia has lines that are very clever and 100% intentional, like when Judy says “You're not like them[predators].” and Nick responds with “Oh there’s a them now?” which are great lines. Hunchback does bring this up with Esmeralda being Romani(they say g****, but that's a slur so no). The difference here is, the main theme and message of Zootopia is centered on racism so the writers can dig into it, but Hunchback doesn't do too much with it outside of Frollo and Esmeralda(and even that’s mainly because he wants her romantically/sexually(and hates her for him being attracted to her)).So we talked about dark themes in Hunchback but those dark themes, and dark themes in general, apply to anything anywhere. Hunchback at least was made with those dark themes in mind and went with it because that's the kind of story it is. What I’m tired of though, is people thinking a movie or show is amazing, deep, complex, and deserves every Oscar known to man for having dark themes. People don't care if the dark themes are well handled or not anymore, what they care about is if they have dark themes or not. If an animated movie or show(or even a movie or show that's not animated) comes along that wants to be fun, people will dig through every part of it to find something that can be construed as a dark theme. If they find it then they’ll make theories and insist the next movie or episode be darker to fit their need to feel good about liking something that was made with kids in mind. If it doesn't seem to have a dark theme, people will hate it automatically, regard it as “kiddy trash”, and treat the show like it was made for 4 to 5 year olds, when in reality it was most likely made for 10 year olds. It’s fine to have drama shows, serialized shows, or even shows that have more serious moments. What is not okay, is making a comedy show and then completely changing direction to make it “darker”(by that I mean edgier coughcoughstarvsandtangledtscoughcough). There's a reason why people remember The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Tangled, and even Frozen more than Hunchback, because they were fun movies. As much as people claim to want media that has darker themes, it’s never actually the case because it's boring. It’s why Spiderverse won best animated movie in 2018, because it was fun and, though it had serious moments, they were well handled.Stop claiming to want dark themes from Disney and/or from cartoons because you think it would be cool. They aren't usually known for darker themes but you want them to be. If you want drama, go watch a drama and stop forcing drama upon cartoons that weren't made to be dramas in the first place. Going back to Hunchback quickly, I am not saying Hunchback starts off as a comedy and becomes a dark drama, it knows what it is and that's why it’s good, not great, not the best movie Disney has ever or will ever make. Hunchback is more of a drama, which is fine, but stop forcing Disney to make more stuff like it, because if you wanted that, it would be more well remembered and would have done better at the box office.(once again going to stress this is NOT an attack at Sean himself because people may think it is, thanks for your time, bye)

#jacksepticeye #the hunchback of notre dame #notre dame #zootopia #dark themes #film criticism #Disney #disney movies

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joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh · 5 years

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Gakkougurashi Review!

Hi, I’m Josh, and did you know that I review anime sometimes? You wouldn’t think so because other than weekly coverage of currently airing shit I post reviews like, once a month maybe? Really wanna do something about that. But anyway, I’m wasting time.

So today, or yesterday as of the time of writing this, I watched Gakkougurashi, which has been on my plan to watch for quite a hecking while now, and I quite enjoyed it…?

The first episode was super strong, leading off and baiting us with some still genuinely enjoyable slice of life stuff, but then pulling the rug under us with a well foreshadowed twist. Now I did actually know going into this show that there was a twist – in fact I basically knew the entire nature of the first episode, but that didn’t get in the way of me enjoying it. And then episodes 2 through like, 6 or 7 are a little bit more of that – the School Survival Club being cute funny anime girls with good chemistry and occasionally strong backstories being forced into awkward zombie situations and also having to entertain Yuki’s delusions which is fun.

See, Yuki would be a generic main character in any other cute girl anime. She’s pink, cheerful, absolutely adores her friends and constantly talks about how great they are, sucks at school but loves it and all her teachers, the whole shebang. She’s like, ridiculously generic, but the context in which she exists makes that genericism work wonderfully. She’s generic but she’s got PTSD and has become literally delusional – subconsciously forcing herself to behave the way she does because it’s her only hope. Honestly while Yuki herself isn’t the most interesting character or anything, the way she actually works in the narrative is something to be admired.

Speaking of stuff that needs to be admired the tone of this narrative itself. This show genuinely manages to blend an equal amount of slice and life shit with edgy shit and somehow the tone for both moments is both perfect on its own and doesn’t clash with the other’s – primarily because of Yuki in fact. Honestly I’d go as far as to say that this might be the single best execution I’ve ever seen of two such polar opposite genres and narrative ideas being blended together. The edgy zombie shit compliments the slice of life shit and vice versa.

Except, I think that’s less true in the last few episodes. See, Gakkougurashi is obviously a zombie show still, so to justify the existence of zombies, they manage to find out that the government or whatever is testing bioweapons and their school – which conveniently has about everything a person would need to survive in the long term if society collapsed – was deliberately designed to be some sort of safe space. And then, for no reason other than “why not?”, lots of shit just starts hitting the fan such that one of the main characters – a dog – dies, while another one nearly dies. And by the way I really wanted this other one to die. I loved her, she’s probably best girl, but to see what is still a cute girl slice of life show kill off a main character this late in the game would’ve been cool. But instead all that stuff about the government and bioweapons meant that they could cure her, and then the only actual consequences at the end are that the dog died, but it also had puppies maybe so even that’s not all bad. I realise I’ve gone completely off-topic from what I was opening this paragraph with. Basically I wish this show’s edgy moments were edgier, but rather than fully committing to that in the last few episodes, they just give the illusion of it being edgier by having some not that interesting plot stuff to introduce fake stakes. It’s honestly kind of boring. Not helping is that they sandwich in a filler episode about them chilling at a pool or whatever. I kind of liked how early episodes actually combined edge and slice of life, but at the end that stuff was relegated to specific episodes only. I mean, I found the ending really satisfying, and part of that could be because it was a good change of pace from the barrage of plot stuff I’d had to endure for the past several episodes, but I’d rather I found the ending less satisfying if it meant the episodes leading up to it were a touch more interesting.

Because I don’t care about structure, I’m gonna talk about the narrative in the early episodes again, because they take something of a nonchronological approach and blend it with more of Yuki’s delusions, though I didn’t know about this in advance so while the clues were there I was still surprised by it – the death of Megu-nee. See, their cute girl slice of life anime teacher is a pink haired girl called Megumi, and at a basic level, she’s just the friendly teacher who loves her students and they all love her back. But what they don’t actually (directly) tell us until later on is that she’s been dead since before the start of the series and none of us as viewers actually knew because of Yuki’s damn delusions. It’s really great and that twist genuinely surprised me, but the second it happened it immediately clicked with me and I remembered all those “you’ve got no presence” jokes and ahhhh I really do like how the early episodes tell their stories. Later ones aren’t even bad they’re just kinda boring.

I’ve already talked about Yuki and a little bit about Megumi, but I think the rest of the characters were also pretty good. In the slice of life scenes we see that they’ve all got enough going on to carry like a 6 or 7/10 normal slice of life show but the zombie aspect makes them all the more fun. Kurumi’s maybe best girl but idk Miki’s also pretty good and also develops better than most of the other characters in the show. Kind of wish we got to know a bit more about Yuuri since most of her character’s just the reliable onee-san one that wants the rest to survive. They’re all pretty fun though and I actually dig all of their designs, which is nice because in lots of cute girl shows I often find myself immediately latching onto the girl with the best design. Here, the designs are pretty even all around.

Uhhhhhhhhhh this show looks cute as shit and I dig the OP

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I’ve either run out of things to say or am too tired to remember anything.

Final score: 7/10

Definitely not the best show I’ve ever seen and there was room for improvement in a few areas, but honestly I did really enjoy this and it definitely wasn’t the big disappointment I know a lot of other people found it. While there was definitely potential with this that they left untapped, I wouldn’t’ call the potential they did tap “wasted” or anything like that. Would I recommend this show? Yeah, probably.

#this is lowwwwwww quality #as in the review #but #eh #if you're curious about my thoughts on this show just like #ask me #and i'll probably write a better review in one go off the top of my head just conversationally #gakkougurashi #josh reviews #21.2.19

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grayintogreen · 2 years

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I have a question about some sort of writing insecurity. It's a bit of a downer so feel free to ignore this. So, I used to write a lot in the past but as the years go by I found myself wanting to write less and less. I write maybe once a year as a birthday present to a friend and I don't feel happy with what I come up with but when I try to write something I want to, I can't. When I read some of my past works I can't help but think that I'll never write as good as I once did. Do you have advice?

Hi! I had to sit on this one overnight, because as someone who is not a professional and who does suffer from a lot of "wow my writing is trash and will never be as good as x person's" I don't know if I'm even qualified to give advice, but I think as someone with Severe Performance Anxiety, I at least know what does and doesn't work for me.

Now some background. I've been in fandom for [squints] about two decades now. I went from FF.net to LJ to AO3, but by the time I hit AO3, I was pretty much not writing as much because I was into LJ/DW roleplaying games and I did that pretty seriously for a decade, so there was a ten year gap where I was not seriously writing fanfic.

And then I smashed onto the scene last year and wrote over a hundred fics in a year, so... That happened.

But let's backtrack. I didn't write fanfic for ten years. I did WRITE, because RP is a writing hobby but it's a very different writing hobby. It's really hard to craft a story in that kind of situation. It's hard to get exactly the right things you want out of it. You just end up kinda going with the flow and using it to examine character more than you use it to tell a story. (Why are all my pieces character driven? TEN YEARS of this.)

But I digress. I wouldn't say this experience killed my ability to weave a good story in its cradle, because prior to this, I had never weaved a good story in my life. That's not self-deprecation- I looked at my LJ and the longest story on there is 8k. I was writing a lot, but I was writing short pieces that were just for fun. My FF.net has been utterly nuked and before that happened, my only longfic was a darker and edgier sequel to the movie Over the Hedge that I never finished.

So how do you go from a history of never writing anything longer than a ficlet, to ten years of character-driven RP, to... whatever the hell I'm doing right now?

You just write. This seems like cliche advice, but it is LITERALLY the only reason I'm doing this.

Let's go back again. When I was in high school, I had notebooks filled with self-indulgent fanfic that would never ever see the light of day. I will never clean those fics up and post them. I will never expose anyone to those plots. Sometimes I didn't even write full fics. I'd write scenes that popped into my head. I still have all of those notebooks for no reason other than they were fun for me and it's cool to see what I was obsessed with as a teenager and what I did with it.

It didn't matter if it was good. It was just something to do when I was bored in class and my head was drifting and I needed to do something. Writing was my stimming. (Undiagnosed ADHD my beloathed.) Being terminally online gave me something of a VALIDATE ME PLS complex, but I also spent a long time on LJ and if you think FF.net and AO3 are voids, try LIVEJOURNAL where if you're not getting comments, the only way you knew you're getting seen is if someone recced your fic and you found it on Delicious by searching your username.

So basically, while I still crave that sweet, sweet validation, I learned how to live without it (but I still want it always). Writing on LJ was honestly about the same as writing in a notebook at school, except now people could see it if they WANTED to.

I am extremely long-winded here, but... Writing for the sake of writing makes you better. If you want to write, then first you have to commit to the idea that sometimes things you write won't be up your standards. (Also I'm gonna be straight with you- there are things I've written that I thought were the most basic trash I could come up with that ended up being VERY popular, while things I crafted with my blood and tears get crickets, so beauty is also in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes people want cakes without a bunch of fondant.) Writing without intent to post isn't a waste of words. My WIP folders are the way they are because sometimes I started writing things and then completely forgot the point I was trying to make. One day I'll salvage them. Or if not then well... It's a thing I wrote.

The other advice I can give is that reading really does help. When I feel like crap and don't want to write or my writing feels trite, then I read and usually my inspiration perks right up, because sometimes another person's way with words can inspire you to write and will also improve your grasp of narrative. Like seriously, it works. There's always going to be a little bit of UGH I'LL NEVER WRITE LIKE THIS, but my brain always tries, anyway, and that's how I've built my style- off the tactics I learned from of every writer who has ever wrote a sentence that made me go "damn."

I don't know if this helps you, nonnie. But it's what's gotten me from ten years of not writing (and ten years of not writing anything with substance) to a year of intense writing. I didn't appear out of the void, fully formed writing a million damn words and being a complete madwoman. I just sort of worked in the shadows honing my craft and then splooged it on my fandoms at once when I needed an outlet for my plague depression.

#my asks #long post #this was such a long-winded explanation for what EVERY DAMN WRITER will tell you #but like.. that's what works for me #there's never been a time in twenty years where I wasn't writing

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phantastus · 7 years

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Hi Kit!! I was thinking about Shattered Memories for the first time in a little while and so I decided to search your blog about your opinion on it and you said it frustrates you, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it if you're interested? :)

Oh man, what a coincidence. I was just talking about this with @dunglizard.

Hmm… to condense my thoughts on it, my basic opinion is that while I did enjoy playing the game, there was a lot ABOUT it that was frustrating. Most of my issues with it have to do with wasted potential and the disrespectful attitude of the people making it, and then also there were gameplay aspects that were frustrating too. Of the two, the gameplay aspects are more forgivable imo, because like, no game is perfect and they really were trying to do something new, which is risky and doesn’t always succeed even with the best of intentions.

But to be clear– I had fun playing it! The story was compelling, the character writing was great, and the entire visual makeup of the game was haunting and beautiful. There was a LOT about it that I find really commendable!

And, really, what made it so frustrating to me was the fact that those aspects of it… deserved better, and were sorely let down by the things that WEREN’T good about the game.

I’ll put my negativity under a readmore because it got really long.

(disclaimer: I’m an angry old Silent Hill fogey and while I think I’m generally more reasonable than a LOT of fans, I’m still exactly the kind of person that Tomm Hulett likes to chortle about never being able to please, so like… keep that in mind.)

So uh, we’ll start with the gameplay I guess!

I love the idea of a no-combat Silent Hill game, and I remember when the game had only just been announced, I spent so much time chatting with friends about how a Silent Hill game featuring a protagonist who had a valid reason not to be able to fight the monsters (such as a small child, or an elderly or disabled person) would be really, REALLY cool. But even with Harry 2.0 as the playable character, I was still looking forward to what I thought was probably going to be a stealth-based Silent Hill game, which was SO exciting for me because the most scared I’ve ever been while playing games as a kid were ones where you had to sneak, with no option for combat (guess who nearly had a fucking heart attack every single time I had to sneak out of the Slytherin Common Room in the Harry Potter + the Chamber of Secrets PC game? spoilers it was teenage me). If you were caught, that was it. And the trailers for the game seemed to indicate that this would be the case, with mechanics for hiding from the monsters so that they wouldn’t find you. You know, like what would make sense for a no-combat horror game. This is a common mechanic for horror games both indie and mainstream NOW, but at the time, the only major one I remember knowing about was Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which blew everybody’s MINDS with how pants-shittingly scary it was, and the thought of an SH game trying the same thing was like:

But then when the game came out, that mechanic wound up being… kind of broken. Maybe the AI for the monsters was just ramped way up or something, but hiding essentially felt useless, since there was basically never a time when the monsters WEREN’T chasing you. No matter how far ahead of them you got, they still seemed to know exactly where you were and would catch up to you within a few seconds. If you DID manage to hide, most of the time they seemed to telepathically know you were there anyway and would drag you out. Not to mention, since you pretty much had to run the entire time without slowing down or stopping, there was no time to check the map and, as the courses got more and more difficult, they basically stopped being scary.

There was no time to actually breathe and build up that apprehension of “Will it find me? Did I lose them? Is it safe to pull out my map and figure out where to go?”– instead it just became an obstacle course race where all the other participants were not only more in-shape than you but also knew the course by heart and wanted to eat you. What should have been heart-stoppingly terrifying and dread-inducing just turned into “oh FUCK now I have to run around at breakneck speed for twenty minutes and hope that I’m going in the right direction”, and that just got… really aggravating after awhile. It could have been really good, and it just… wasn’t.

Pictured above: me thinking I’ve taken a new path for the 20th time only to emerge directly into a Raw Shock army who already knew I was coming.

At best, watching Harry get repeatedly dogpiled by Raw Shocks every time my thumb faltered was pretty funny. But they were going for adrenaline rush and instead wound up with yackety-sax. Not a good move for a game boasting about how damn scary it was. The non-chase portions of the game definitely had a lovely, dread-filled atmosphere, but the fact that you were never in any kind of danger until the scripted events where the Obstacle Course Race From Hell happened kind of dampened their effectiveness, too.

ANYWAY, onto the other stuff, which I concede is more personal than objective. But I do feel really strongly about it, so here goes.

Originally, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was going to be an entirely new entry in the series, not only featuring a new story and characters but also the first female protagonist since Heather Mason. Between THAT and the unique atmosphere that SHSM had, I really, REALLY think that it would have been an awesome entry to the continuity, and GOD does Silent Hill need more female protagonists!

But somewhere down the line, that idea was scrapped in favor of the “re-imagining” idea, so instead of a new entry to the series, instead we got… a new entry where the characters had the same names as the ones from SH1, despite resembling them only in the most superficial of ways, and also you’re playing as a dude instead of a girl because of course you are. The honest truth is that if those familiar names were filed off and only a few minor tweaks made to the story, it would STILL be a completely original entry, which makes the re-imagining aspect feel jarring and cheap– the game really felt like it was banking on the shock value of Harry Mason Actually™ being an alcoholic womanizer and Dahlia Gillespie Actually™ being a hot sexy twenty-something, etc more than anything else– when the truth is, if they had just trusted in the story they were telling and the genuine emotional impact of the characters’ problems, they would have had an equally (if not MORE, imo) impactful and memorable game.

Instead, the SH1 aspects felt forced and ugly, and when you factor in Kaufmann 2.0’s smug soliloquey at the finale about accepting that your [Cheryl’s AND the player’s] perfect image of Harry Mason was wrong~ and unrealistic~, the entire story felt like a smirking hamfisted dickpunch aimed at people who enjoyed the original Silent Hill story about a diminutive and flawed (yes, even in the original canon, he WAS flawed) but determined man who rescued his child from a nightmarishly abusive home situation.

Reading Tomm Hulett’s opinion (pictured above: me reading almost anything Tomm Hulett says) on the game only reinforced that impression– I honestly don’t feel like going and looking up the interview because it pissed me off but it mostly consisted of insisting that SHSM was “as canon as any of the other games” and was supposed to be considered a viable in-universe ending to SH1 (despite… literally being an alternate universe BY DEFINITION and not being continuity-compatible with the other games). Given Hulett+Co’s consistent obsession with “fixing” the original games (see the HD collection debacle, during which the original voice actors/actresses were mocked rudely and key dialogue changed to be “more believable” despite the new dialogue being totally deaf to narrative, characterization, and tone), it’s really hard not to take the “We fixed Harry Mason to be more realistic and the entire message of the game is about how silly and fantastical the original character of Harry Mason was, hohoho” attitude as being deliberately condescending and self-masturbatory.

Not to mention, while I have NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER with the characters of SHSM entirely on their own (hence why I’d honestly be all for filing the names off and treating them as entirely-unique characters in their own story, which I feel they absolutely deserved), I personally find the whole concept of… ‘fixing’ an everyman hero by ‘revealing’ him to be an unfaithful, child-abusing alcoholic, and a delightfully sinister and brilliant villain to be a Sad Mom ™, AND a troubled and traumatized but ultimately heroic young woman to be a Daddy Issues Stereotype who was also Crazy The Whole Time ™ to be…. just repugnant, in the same way that I find overly-grimdark versions of superheroes repugnant.

Pictured above: me when people take pre-established characters and make them edgier for shock value and not much else.

For me, that was what took an otherwise interesting and poignant story and cheapened it for the sake of beating a dead horse (because they’d rather SHATTER our MEMORIES of those silly OLD games, lol cry moar babies!!! than take the plunge and try doing something that could stand on its own).

The characters of SHSM deserved so much more than to just be a “fuck you” to SH1, and the characters of SH1+3 deserve more credit than to be considered flimsy and unrealistic just because they didn’t fit into someone’s approved level of Grimdark. Given that, after all the smirking and hullabaloo and Problematic Decisions ™, the game’s connection to SH1 was still so, so superficial, it went from being just a questionable storytelling choice to actively making the game worse than what it could have been, for virtually no good reason.

And final footnote: These are my opinions, and obviously there are ample reasons for people to like and enjoy SHSM! I also in no way think that writing characters with the issues presented in SHSM is bad or “edgy” by itself, it’s purely the reasons behind doing it and the fact that it denied me a bona fide in-universe canon Silent Hill game with a new female protagonist that puts it in that territory for me. Nobody has to agree with me if they feel differently. Thank you for reading.

#Silent Hill #SHSM #kit rambles about silent hill #this is a largely negative post #so folks in the tag for regular SHSM content might want to scroll!#asks 4 me #Anonymous

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musicmapglobal · 7 years

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Fortune Shumba

Recently we premiered a track from a devilishly good digital dub EP entitled Dubokaj Meets Fortune Shumba, and immediately we wanted to know more about the singer adding his honeyed vocals to the Swiss producer’s ‘Alpine Dub’. As the title suggests, that singer is Fortune Shumba, a Joburg artist originally from the township of Mpumalanga.

After discovering music while cleaning his father’s taxi cabs, Fortune Shumba determinedly set out on a creative path that was not without its pitfalls. From being ripped off by unscrupulous promoters to getting accidentally stranded in Texas, it’s fair to say the smooth-voiced singer hasn’t had it all his own way. However, aided by a diverse range of influences and his irrepressible artistic energy, Fortune Shumba is showing that there are few barriers to self-expression that can’t be overcome. Read on to learn the rest of his compelling story…

MusicMap: We recently premiered a track from your EP with Dubokaj – what were your favourite moments from those recording sessions?

Fortune Shumba: Hard to pick! I could say the lunch breaks? But then you’ll say I eat too much hahaha so… it has to be when I was first being introduced to the instrumentals with no words and I had to come up with melodies that would perhaps enhance the songs (cause honestly they were already dope without my vocal!). Also cause this was new territory I was branching into, as far as the genre. I’d never really made dub before this.

How did recording with Dubokaj differ from your usual studio experiences?

He really lets you be as weird as you wanne be without giving you the eye LOL! He pays fine attention to fine detail, if a recording take has one tiny thing bothering him he will not be afraid to tell you to do another one. He also has a no rules policy, he makes music that feels good but there is no specific formulae. Anything goes!

Where would be the ideal place to listen to the EP, in your opinion?

With friends once everyone is super baked or alone in bed and in your feels (and/or baked). Bottom line is, it’s even nicer when you are baked. Promise you.

You’ve previously said your music is inspired by dreams – what’s the strangest dream you’ve had recently?

I keep dreaming of my late grandmother, and her house, it’s a recurring dream. But in these dreams there is a huge flood headed our way (My mom, younger brother and I keep driving to escape by driving away). She most probably misses me as much as I miss her. We used to visit her place every holiday and spend some time together. She was a poet and a school teacher so we’d spend most of our time writing or painting or something creative. I guess I also miss that life, hence these never ending dreams about that and tons of flashbacks from my childhood, suddenly.

You’re originally from Mpumalanga. How would you desribe it, and how does it compare to living in Johannesburg?

Mpumalanga is very quiet and reserved. I grew up in a simple, small township and not much really goes on that side. As a kid I was really errm.mo different (or weird depending how you look at it really…). So, as you can imagine – I did not have that many friends, hardly ever went out.

But I have some great memories of my time there. I know we had loads of trees at home so that meant we never had to buy Mangoes or Avos or Bananas. Some great weather too. I realise now how lucky I was because I moved to Joburg and had to pay a fortune for a tiny avo and it’s usually really cold. Nelspruit is generally relaxed.

Loads of WTF moments about Joburg however! Like, the fact that everyone is minding their own business and always on a rush to somewhere. No friendly hellos and smiles from strangers like back at home here. Everyone is on their daily hustle and no one trusts anyone or feels the need to get to know anyone. But also this is an exciting thrill, this pushes you to push yourself! I am still trying to get used to this rush and just being here and I moved here like a year ago already.

Can you send us a photo of the view from your window?

What sort of music were you exposed to when you were growing up?

Kwaito first, my father was a taxi driver who later went on to start his own taxi business. Before he and my mother divorced I was exposed to the taxi life almost everyday. My dad played a lot of Brenda Fassie, Soul Brothers and Yvonne Chaka Chaka in his cars.

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When he expanded his business there were more taxi drivers involved, each one had their own different taste in music and since it was my duty to clean the “mini-bus” taxis upon their return every night, I’d go through each driver’s music catalog and sing my heart out while doing my “chore”. You’d get guys that would play Brandy or Whitney or Destiny’s Child or Luther or Celine or whatever, the more younger drivers would have more edgier Kwaito and House stuff like Boom Shaka or Arthur Mafokate or Mandoza or Brenda Fassie or even Oskido. Then you had those drivers that liked American rap, your Ja Rule and DMX and Jay Z or Biggy or Pac. I played everything!

My gran played a lot of Dolly Parton so I was exposed to that too. She’d cry over it or dance or whatever cause it reminded her of a friend that had passed on. My grandfather from my dad’s side was from Zimbabwe, he ran a drinking shebeen for the villagers to drink at and he normally played a lot of Zimbabwean records, really loud. We’d normally dance to that and the people who were there to drink would form part of our audience and would sometimes throw some money at us.

I then grew a little older and went through my little gothic phase (picture this, a township kid in a public school who is goth and queer). I was listening to 5FM which was considered a “white station”. Radio introduced me to bands like BLK JKS, Panic at the Disco, Freshly Ground (first live show I saw and to this day I aspire to be as liberated as Zolani was on that day) and so forth. I was also listening to Evanescence, Paramore, Green Day, The Killers, Daughtry, Queen, Adam Lambert and 30 Seconds To Mars.

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Then I kinda outgrew that and started listening to a lot of world music, loads of Busi Mhlongo and Jabu Khanyile and Bholoja and Dobet Gnahorè, some Sade too.

When I was in high school I began dating a guy who was older than me and was a die hard Bjork fan. I jumped on that too, became super obsessed. Oh I loved Beyonce (still do), my playlist had some Rihanna, and some Missy Elliot, some Pink, some Madge, Bowie, Grace Jones. I liked the pop artists who were super visual and were pushing boundaries.

And then when I would still go to church one of the American missionaries who’d visit our house regularly told me about Florence and The Machine and Kate Nash and a bunch of very quirky and alternative Brit acts he liked. I was genre hopping a lot growing up.

When did you start making your own music and what was it like?

First time recording, I was in 10th grade and it was a hook [by] a guy called Pressure, a rapper neighbour of mine at the time. Never got to hear that mess after recording it and also, I was glad cause I hated it so much OMG I thought I had a really annoying voice!

Since I spent a lot of time with my writer gran, I became a writer and poet first before even deciding to sing my own songs. In 2013 when I went to University I was yearning to record music suddenly. I’d skip some classes and link up with some guy in the city who had promised to make me a star. I paid him for studio time from my own savings without telling my mom and he got these two guys to produce a house song for me and it was not as bad as my first attempt with the rap hook.

The two guys disappeared with the song and my damn money. The other guy who’d said he’d make me famous vanished too. So I never got to hear that song too, post- studio session.

Later on during the June school holidays in that 2013 whilst visiting a friend of mine from back home who had his little backyard studio set up, just a mic and mixer – nothing fancy but heeeeyyy. He played me a tribal house beat and I started free styling over it, he lost his mind completely. See, I was not that confident in my singing, he kinda hyped me up and talked me into recording that song the next day. We ended up doing an entire mixtape and I was like “I love this shit!”. I realised I really enjoyed singing more than anything.

I went back to University and wrote more music while other kids were studying hard for exams, it was an otherworldly experience honestly and I had been sucked into this fantasy land where I could be anything or anyone I wanna be through song. I ended up dropping out of University where I was studying Accounting and pursued the music thing full time. And yes my parents were disappointed in me, severely… but I could care less. I felt free through making music.

Does your local area influence the music you make?

Definitely! I mean… as a writer you find inspiration in almost anything and Jozi is like a melting pot of cultures so inspiration finds you all the time. I started being more outgoing, braver and edgier when I moved here. I grew into my own, away from all I knew back at home. The people I hang around with now, the spots I go to, just my general view of the big city and its impact in my way of living and thinking has definitely influenced my sound somehow.

Who’s your biggest South African musical influence, past and/or present?

Present: Die Antwoord, Black Coffee, Thandiswa Mazwai. Past: Brenda Fassie, Boom Shaka/Lebo Mathosa, Busi Mhlongo, Jabu Khanyile.

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What one place should music fans visiting South Africa see or do?

Definitely Maboneng. Very artsy vibe. Real African experience. There’s usually shows happening and there’s a back packer too, loads of places to get wasted at and buy some trees. Really tourist friendly and all the cool kids hang out there so there is some great company too.

What’s the biggest challenge facing musicians in South Africa right now?

People do not wanna pay for our stuff out here ’cause the respect for our craft is not really there. Though you do get lucky sometimes.

Promoters also do not pay artists and if they do it’s not what they are worth. And you get festivals that will book the same acts every year and shut other kids out. I could go on cause there’s a lot but that is up there in my top three… oooh also, no radio or tv air play for the kids who try to bring something fresh and original.

Where in the world would you most like to perform?

Does “All over the world” count as a valid answer? Lol Would really love to play a huge stage at a European festival. I really love Europe. I think I was meant to stay in Europe?

What’s your favourite album of all time?

This is so difficult. I will go with Bjork’s Vespertine.

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What’s your favourite track of 2017 so far?

Besides my own of course! I really like Sevdaliza’s ‘Bluecid’.

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Finally, Fortune Shumba, what are the luckiest and unluckiest things to happen to you in life so far?

Unlucky: Losing both my maternal and paternal grandmothers around the same time. My messed up relationship with my father. My parents divorcing when I was a kid… getting lost at night in Johannesburg on my first week of being here… what else? I got drunk at SxSW last year and got on the wrong bus back to the hotel, ended up stranded in the middle of nowhere in America and I had a flight to catch the next day. Also being molested at a young age changed my entire life and not being able to talk about it. And recently I was supposed to go to Switzerland for three months and my Visa got declined. Too many things to mention really… LOL

Lucky cause I am still alive and able to create music. Lucky to have a loving and supportive mother and siblings. Lucky to be free. Freedom is not known to others.

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