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bengiyo · 4 months

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BL 2023 Review

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to write about BL for this year. I was originally going to do a The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly framework for it, but that feels meaner than I actually am about it. Instead, I think I’ll just write out some sections and unpack some things I felt along the way.

I Watched Too Much Again

Last year I engaged with about 92 productions around the world. This year it was 99 (I tracked stuff I completed here). Sure I dropped 18 of them this year, but goddamn. The problem with watching as much as I did this year is that I worked full time this year and also maintained a separate hobby. I also continued my twice-weekly watch sessions with my friend Emily, so there are an additional 100-ish watch sessions in here of rewatching, plus a few other rewatches (Theory of Love and My Ride most notably).

One of my struggles at this point is I’m far too familiar with the genre, and find myself feeling impatient and irritable with shows that aren’t to my taste the way I used to. Throughout the late summer and fall I found myself increasingly grumpier about the genre, and it didn’t get better until I had a holiday and basically slept a day to get some energy back. I also found myself growing apart from fans I’ve known and followed a long time. It’s been a difficult year for me as a long-time fan because my tastes, habits, and friendships in the genre have changed even if the amount I watch hasn’t really.

I Wrote a Lot This Year

I recently converted my watch tag away from my gaming internet persona to just my shortname, so all near-1000 of my Stray Thoughts posts can be found under #ben watches now. I’ve also been going back and adding #ben writes to some of the standalone pieces that I really liked. In reviewing them, the pieces I’m happiest about are my ode to Framboise from Kabe Koji Nekoyashiki-kun Desires to Be Recognized, my post begging everyone to watch La Pluie, my post about what it means to actually like queer men, my SBS ep 10 post that ended up being wrong, my post about the Lavender Scare and Be My Favorite, my Tokyo in April is… post about the breaking of the BL line,

However, the two posts I am most proud of is my half-joking response about why I think tagging each other back and forth across Tumblr in our writing is so important. and The Knowing: Being Queer in BL because I had so much great conversations with folks as a result of both of these posts.

Looking back at my own blog, this is probably the most active I’ve been in my entire time on this website, so thank you to everyone who interacted with me this year, because it really is people talking to me that gets me most inspired to write things down. Big shout out to @lurkingshan who will bug me repeatedly until I blog something that I said in passing.

We Started a Podcast!

After hanging out with @shortpplfedup since Bad Buddy, she got inspired and really wanted to bring something different to the BL podcasting sphere. I had time, and liked talking with her enough, so we started @the-conversation-pod. Now we’re a full year into it and planning out future stuff. It’s been so much fun being able to get things off my soul and break poor NiNi in our recording sessions.

From this year, I think my favorite episodes we did were The Moonlight Chicken Episode, the Eighth Sense episode, the ITSAY Anniversary Episodes, The Wedding Plan episode, , and The Holiday Clip Show. Huge shout out to @ginnymoonbeam for anchoring the transcription process, and @lurkingshan for editing.

The VIIB Awards will begin airing soontm so look forward to that.

Favorite New Term: Business Gay Performance

Let’s be clear, Bump Up Business is not good. It is an obvious BL cash grab from OnlyOneOf that seeks to comment on the fake nature of BL while doing everything it can to trick the audience into believing that the BL pair is real.

Before we got deeper into this year, I was a big fan of a certain pairing, and then their fans took it too far and it affected the way I engaged with their performances and their work. I like that we have a new term for “fanservice” that communicates that you understand that this is for work. (thanks to NiNi for this comparison) I can look at the latest behind the scenes video from Last Twilight and say that I think Sea really understands the work they’re doing, and he and Jimmy have a very relaxed and mature version of BGP without feeling like I’m feeding into shipping.

Do I think they’re dating? No. Do I like the way they fake it? Absolutely!

I can look at one of @respectthepetty posts about Yin and War having personalized, color-coded mics, and we can talk about the next level BGP between the two and both communicate that we know that this is a performance.

It actually makes the extra PR work fun for me again, because now I can just shout “BGP! BGP! BGP!” and it not feel like I’m giving myself brainrot.

Thai BL Needs to Finish Stronger Next Year

Let’s get into some of the show stuff. This year was defined for me by Thai BL starting strong with good premises and then squandering them by not focusing on the details that mattered or leaning into baseless melodrama. Time for some reads. Some of these shows were generally good, but they failed at these things:

609 Bedtime Story: The world building crumpled in the back half and both endings are flat.

A Boss and a Babe: Cher is a pro gamer who worked for a gaming company and there was no plot point about this at all, or collaboration between the two groups.

Bake Me Please: Why was a show about cake so lacking in flavor?

Be Mine SuperStar: You had a real opportunity to explore a fan and idol romance and had Punn show so little growth. I hope the footage of First’s range is helpful now that Ja is out of BL.

Be My Favorite: You redid that whole amusement park date and muddled so much of what the hell happened on that day.

Between Us: You had years to make this interesting. Why are there five pairs and why is the end of this a JC Penny catalog photoshoot?

Dangerous Romance: What the fuck happened to the Sailom we had in episode 1 and 2 before that gun incident?

Hidden Agenda: Tee, what the hell was this? Twelve weeks of this?

I Feel You Linger in the Air: You may be the most beautiful show, with some of the most impressive performances of the year, but you absolutely botched this ending. Finish the goddamn season next time.

Love in Translation: I love you, but that whole kidnapping plot was so stupid at the end.

Low Frequency: I like your OST. That's about it.

My Dear Gangster Oppa: No examination about how gaming friendships become close quickly because of the combination of anonymity and teamwork (shout out to @twig-tea for this excellent summation).

My School President: Saving your gay commentary for the final episode felt like a conservative choice. I want more from you next time.

Naughty Babe: You retconned your own characters to tell a worse story. Unforgiveable.

Never Let Me Go: You didn’t know if you wanted to be a high school BL or a mafia story. It was difficult to watch.

Only Friends: I cannot believe you did Boston like that at the end. Either give Force’s character a clear personality next time, or keep him enigmatic; half measures make him and Book look worse. Sand was absolutely embarrassing. Boeing was a waste. Ending on all of them paired like that felt so unearned.

Step By Step: You forgot to ground Jeng’s external dreams at the end, so the final two episodes are just frustrating.

I’m glad I got that off my chest. We can go into the next year now.

Korea Put in the Work This Year

I really like the efforts from the various Korean studios this year. I really hope we get a Strongberry joint next year, but I want to acknowledge that we had 18 Korean BL dramas I watched this year, and at least three of them I think are must watches: Our Dating Sim, Sing My Crush, and The Eighth Sense. Beyond that, I think Love Tractor, Unintentional Love Story, and A Breeze of Love are easy recommendations.

It’s really impressive how the complaint for me this year with Korean BL is not about them using their time poorly. It’s more about normal drama concerns, where I think characterization is a little weak, or a theme doesn’t land squarely. This rapid iteration from the Korean studios is really impressive to watch, and I’m excited to see what some of the recognized players do next year.

Taiwan and The Philippines Have Been Quiet for Me

I wasn’t really able to connect with much from the Philippines this year except for The Day I Loved You. I never wrote about The Day I Loved You, but this beautiful and heart wrenching show is one of my favorites from this year. I wasn’t too keen on the Oxin Films offerings of this year, and I’m still chasing down the ones from The IdeaFirst Company.

As for Taiwan, this new BL project from the end of the year just isn’t hitting. Kiseki: Dear to Me also ended up really hurting me with the way they used Wayne Song and Huang Chun Chih. I love that angry little man with the white hair, but I’m still salty about Wayne and the general mess of that show.

Japan was Busy This Year

I watched 16 new shows, a few older ones, and a few movies this year from Japan. We haven’t gotten this much from them ever. I continue to love the Drama Shower project from MBS, and my beloved What Did You Eat Yesterday? returned this year. We had pretty stellar outings with Our Dining Table, If It’s With You, and I Cannot Reach You.

I think a third of the Japanese BL I’ve tracked on MDL actually released this year. That’s huge.

Still, I am going to side eye Minato’s Laundromat 2. You were the show that let me down the most this entire year. More than Only Friends, more than Step By Step, and even more than Kiseki. You absolutely blew it. You were telling a great story about a man with an acute case of internalized homophobia coming out of his shell and learning to love his younger partner and you blew it for stupid amnesia nonsense. I will never forgive you for this.

Where Were All the Uncles This Year?

Really, without Jim from Moonlight Chicken, and without the men from What Did You Eat Yesterday? we had an alarming dearth of older gay characters passing on knowledge and wisdom to the youngsters this year. What the hell happened?

Rare Dynamics Won: Second Chance Romance and Friends to Lovers!

We had so much second chance romance this year. It’s really my favorite version of gay romance because gays don’t always have ideal settings when they’re young. We had Our Dating Sim, Individual Circumstances, Jun & Jun, The End of the World With You, Tokyo in April is…, Be My Favorite, Love Class Season 2, and A Breeze of Love. I am satisfied.

Friends to Lovers is actually so rare in romance and we have so many to choose from this year! The best examples are I Cannot Reach You and Sing My Crush, but we also have one of the pairs in Love Class Season 2.

Gay Thoughts

I had a couple of ongoing thoughts this year about queerness in BL.

First, I want to return to my post about Sing My Crush and La Pluie, and how I assert that Men Need to Be Angry Sometimes. More than giving men grace to be righteously angry or upset about things, along with letting them express it in ugly ways, I really want to get into how we engage with these shows. I will stop engaging with moralistic reads on characters in 2024. I will no longer engage with asks, reblogs, or meta gripping the fandom where we're judging the moral fiber of the character.

The question that really only matters for me at this point is: Is this act from the character justified from their characterization, the narrative, or genre conventions; and is it interesting? Whether or not the character is good or bad reeks of the lame arguments about good and bad representation, and I am not watching BL like I’m being graded in Sunday school.

The second thing I really want to acknowledge at the end of the year is that the gay sex is finally getting better again. I watched The Novelist this year, and we have taken so long to get back to the space that show took us on the portrayal of male-male intimacy. We are in the genre about people with dicks. It should feel like it. There should be a masculine component there that feels specific to queer intimacy.

I will acknowledge 2 Cutie 2 Pie, A Boss and a Babe, Be Mine SuperStar, Bed Friend, Candy Color Paradox, For Him, I Cannot Reach You, Kiseki: Dear to Me, La Pluie, Love Class 2, Love in Translation, Love Mate, Middleman’s Love, Naughty Babe, Only Friends, The End of the World With You, Tokyo in April is…, and Wedding Plan for your contributions.

Final Thoughts

I like how broad the genre felt this year, and I enjoyed how much speculative fiction is entering into the conversation. I don’t know how I feel about there being five vampire stories in the works next year, but overall I’m glad that we’re getting more experimental concepts. I’m burnt out on the college engineering BL, and would like to see more shows about working adults.

Despite how grumpy I was for at least three months, I think this has genuinely been one of the best years we’ve ever had in the genre. I made a lot of new friends in BL this year, and I’m excited to see what comes next. Thank you all for spending some of your time with me this year and I’ll see you in the next one.

#Ben writes #best of bl 2023 #bl series #thai bl #japanese bl #taiwanese bl #filipino bl #korean bl #ben watches

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thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai · 1 year

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YOI meta: The mechanics of reigniting your love for skating with the help of a childhood friend and a gay love song

During my latest rewatch of Yuri!!!, the missing pieces of why Yuuri chose, of all of Viktor’s programmes, Stammi Vicino (aka Stay By My Side And Never Leave) to get his love for skating back and what part Yuuko plays in the scene he skates it fell into place. Spoiler: there are some beautiful symmetries, be they unintended or by design.

Of course, Stammi Vicino is Viktor’s current free programme; picking it seems convenient at first glance. However, apart from obvious plot reasons, Yuuri didn't choose this routine on a whim.

If this were the entire point, Yuuri could have chosen a programme he and Yuuko copied together as kids—something they enjoyed tremendously and still have fond memories of. Would make more sense than skating one of Viktor's recent programmes, wouldn’t it?

A recurring theme in Yuri!!! is the skaters’ artistic expression through a piece of music that resonates with them, and this holds even more true for Yuuri, whose entire character arc features his struggles to understand and voice his feelings and how he improves his ability to express them on the ice (the alexithymia is strong in this one, hehe).

As discussed at length, Stammi Vicino is a gay love song (this post explains how you can recognise the gayness*), and there's absolutely no way Yuuri doesn’t know this. As an avid watcher of figure skating and taking the subtle sports commentary in Yuri!!! into account, i.e. Morooka saying that this programme brings out a new side in Viktor** (curiously, the same wording describes Yuuri's performance On Love: Eros), the entire skating community knows by now.

Let’s take a closer look at the lines we see Yuuri skate to (check this post for lyrics and translations):

Con una spada vorrei tagliare/With a sword I wish I could cut Quelle gole che cantano d'amore/Those throats singing about love Vorrei serrar nel gelo le mani /I wish I could seal in the cold the hands Che esprimono quei versi d'ardente passione/That portray those verses of burning passion

The bitterness in these lines mirrors the conscious and subconscious layers of Yuuri’s current struggle quite brilliantly, and both are linked to Viktor:

1) Yuuri’s frustration about his career: His love for skating is hanging by a thread, the results of his last two competitions smothered his passion for the sport, retirement is a tempting option, and he missed his chance to meet his idol (according to his memory). The poor boy has hit rock bottom and returned home. To him, it must seem absurd that so many people around him are hyped about skating and celebrate him as a star while all Yuuri sees is the shitty season he just had. And as if that wasn’t enough, they don’t tire of referring to Viktor like “But Viktor would do this, look Viktor is on TV…” (looking at you Minako in particular), which is not the kind of reminder he needs right now.

2) Very literally unrequited yearning for love or, more precisely, gay love. At this point in the story, Yuuri is far from being in love with Viktor, but seeing him sets Yuuri into an instant swoon,

and, after drowning his anxiety with champagne, he hit on Viktor at the banquet and made him fall for him, not to forget this totally-not-subtle display of physical attraction

(I'd love to know what was going on in Viktor's head at that moment lol)

It hardly can get more obvious than that.

This is the second set of lyrics Yuuri skates to:

Stammi vicino/Stay close to me Non te ne andare/Don’t go Ho paura di perderti/I’m afraid of losing you

Le tue mani, le tue gambe/Your hands, your legs Le mie mani, le mie gambe/My hands, my legs I battiti del cuore/The heartbeats Si fondono tra loro/Are fusing together

(Both Yuuri and Viktor skate the parts of the programme that reveal their strengths as skaters and their current situation to the audience. Interestingly, we don't see Viktor, who remembers the banquet, skate to these intimate and pleading lyrics, but Yuuri.)

Again, there are two layers:

1) Keep pursuing Viktor as a competitor: Ever since Yuuri saw Viktor skate for the first time, he emulated Viktor, worked hard to become like him/his equal, and wanted to compete against him. However, to continue pursuing this goal, Yuuri needs his love for skating back. The better part of his life revolved around this, and he's desperate to preserve it.

2) Finding his soulmate: These lines above refer to Aristophanes’ soulmate theory from Plato’s Symposium, which appeared in the context of Yuri!!! before. For instance, Kubo-sensei herself referred to Yuuri and Viktor as soulmates. Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia:

people in love say they feel "whole" when they have found their love-partner. […] in primal times people had doubled bodies, with faces and limbs turned away from one another […] these original people were very powerful. […] Zeus […] decided to cripple them by chopping them in half, in effect separating each entity's two bodies. Ever since that time, people run around saying they are looking for their other half because they are really trying to recover their primal nature. […] when two people who were separated from each other find each other, they never again want to be separated.

Sounds a lot like Viktuuri and “Stay by my side and never leave”, right?

All this makes me actually wonder whether Yuuri's subconscious mind remembers the banquet and had a part in his choice.

Besides being a gay love story, Stammi Vicino reflects Yuuri’s and Viktor’s current situation as athletes or, more precisely, their loss of passion for their sport. Yuuri’s feelings for Viktor and his love for the ice are closely intertwined, whereas Viktor is drawn to Yuuri because of his beautiful skating, which ultimately reignites his own passion. Both can't be without one another, and both cannot turn their back on skating. We call everything on the ice love, indeed.

Now on to the last set of lyrics:

Ora sono pronto/Now I’m ready

Yuuri is not yet done. He has fought through the slump and battled his depression. A part of him refuses to bid his desire to skate on the same ice as Viktor again goodbye for good. He still yearns to become Viktor's equal, maybe even surpass him, although he cannot yet admit this to himself. And he returned to where it all started: his home rink.

And that’s when Yuuko enters the equation.

While Minako suggested trying figure skating to Yuuri, Yuuko plays an active part in Yuuri becoming ambitious about the sport and pursuing a career in it.

Yuuko introduced Yuuri to Viktor. Together, they fangirled over Viktor, watched competitions, devoured every piece of news about him, and copied his programmes.

Yuuko protected Yuuri, she encouraged Yuuri, and she believed in him. She never made him feel bad about himself or blamed him for his failures. She doesn't patronise him. Ever wondered why she’s the Madonna of Ice Castle? That’s why.

Not her

But her

(Yes, there’s Christian symbolism in Yuri!!!)

Yuuko is an integral part of Yuuri's support system. He looks up to her, he trusts her, and she knows how he feels about Viktor and shares his crush,

so it doesn't come as a surprise that he shows her his version of Stammi Vicino. In a world where everyone celebrates Yuuri while he perceives himself as a loser, she is a safe space, someone whose approval means something to him. His performance is, to some extent, about her, too.

Because Yuuko introduced Yuuri to Viktor, because she believed in him, he was motivated to pursue a career in figure skating and chase Viktor as a competitor. If he can revive these memories, he might revive his love for skating. And he invites her to share this love with him and be a part of his journey as a skater again.

Yuuri is good at conveying his feelings through skating but sucks at verbalising them. The press conference of the Worlds' medallists that interrupts his conversation with Yuuko hints at what he cannot get across in words. In real-time, Viktor would sit on the kiss and cry and wait for his result (the press conference is 15-20 minutes after the event, actually). Yet the cuts in this scene suggest both happen simultaneously, and that choice isn't random.

Characters supplementing meta-information for other characters' thoughts and emotions through a POV switch is a frequently used technique in Yuri!!! We see this a lot during the competitions, and episode 1 follows the same pattern. Both Yuuri and Viktor are confronted with the loss of their passion and its impact on their future. While it's implied that Viktor cannot let down his guard, Yuuri feels safe enough around Yuuko to try.

(I cannot decide which of these precious boys looks more miserable)

Until recently, Yuuko's role in this episode was a bit obscure to me. Her detailed introduction suggests a more significant role throughout the series, but she fades into the background after three episodes. What's the point in showing a detailed childhood montage of her and Yuuri obsessing over Viktor when she's a minor character with only little screen time, especially since the creators had to boil down their script to the relevant bits in order to fit it into 12 episodes? It's because she plays a significant role in setting the story in motion.

Twelve years ago, Yuuko helped Yuuri pursue his dream through her undying support and their mutual fangirling over Viktor. Now that Yuuri has returned to the start, she takes over her old role one more time by watching Yuuri's very intimate performance of Stammi Vicino. And that's just the beginning. While she still gives Yuuri the support he needs to carry on, her daughters take over the active part of her former task: acquainting Yuuri with Viktor—with the result of making Yuuri's dream come true and bringing him and Viktor together for real.

If you enjoy my meta posts, please consider giving my blog a follow or checking out my works on AO3(link in bio). You will find the results of my meta musings in there!

*OP and I have different interpretations of the lyrics, but they don't contradict each other imho

**this wording is from the corrected subs in the Blu-ray version

#yuri on ice #yoi meta #my yoi meta #yuri on ice meta #katsuki yuuri #viktor nikiforov #yuuko nishigori #yoi #anime #stammi vicino #plato's symposium #plot analysis #figure skating #this has probably been analysed over and over so sorry if I'm stating the obvious

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oceanwithinsblog · 4 months

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guys i've just been struck by a haunting query

y'know how i'm rewatching good omens for the nth time and i'm reaching the final episode, but something just came up to my mind and i can find no satisfactory answer...

in s2 ep1 (i believe) azi and crowley wonderfully perform half a miracle each, but obviously heaven notices and sends its best unit to check on what's happening in the bookshop. personally, i've always thought that said joint miracle was /that/ powerful because the metatron had already appointed aziraphale as gabriel's substitute archangel somehow (in my view, the metatron's offer to aziraphale at the end of s2 is just a pure formality as he had already made up his mind wayyyyyyy before going down on earth and meeting up with azi themselves). therefore their half a miracle was much stronger than crowley's.

here's where trouble comes. ever since i've rewatched that scene with my brother (who is doing an incredible job at keeping up with all sorts of gomens stuff on his first watch), i've been wondering if that's really what happened there. what is the actual reason why the combined miracle halves are so distinctive, fierce and recognisable?

my brother suggested the idea that aziraphale and crowley have little to do with it - the only reason why the miracle resonates so clearly and strongly is because they are performing it on gabriel (while holding both his hands). i guess he means that gabriel still has some of his powers left (as throughout the show he gets part of his memory back at random times and recites lines from the bible + he hasn't actually forgotten everything about himself) or that he is a very special entity of interest for heaven therefore whenever someone interacts with him there's a sort of alarm going off (?).

another idea that i got recently is, quite honestly, a very romantic one as aziracrow are both involved in doing a good deed. since love is the strongest power ever, in any universe and reality, and these two idiots' feelings are clearly mutual (without them knowing), maybe the miracle turned out to be so huge and mighty because what they're feeling for each other influenced the miracle itself and sort of multiplied its efficiency? i mean, i'd make sense somehow as later on we find out that another power couple is involved (gabriel and beelzebub). aziracrow's love for each other sort of mirrors beelzebub and gabriel's, i guess? but both their relationships are supposed to be a secret since heaven and hell should not ever collaborate (and i'm not even mentioning dating here).

what do you think? what is, in your opinion, the reason why the joint miracle halves worked but got inevitably noticed by heaven?

(it could also be that the answer has been given in the show and i'm too big of an idiot to find it out so please put up with my me. i'm just a dumbass in adoration of two more ineffable dumbasses.)

#good omens #aziraphale #crowley #aziracrow #gabriel #beelzebub #gabriel x beelzebub #aziraphale x crowley #ineffable just ineffable #ineffable soulmates #ineffable partners #ineffable divorce #ineffable dumbasses #miracle #jimbriel #jim short for james short for gabriel

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blue-cheeseinmyoffwhites · 1 year

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THE CAT IS THE CROWN

So You All Write recently did a theory about the cat being the Relic of Choice (link below) and I was immediately on board. I knew there was at least something significant about this cat, and there was some relic in this world. I never thought to link them together, but after watching Chapter 6 & rewatching the Fairy Tale, I am 100% certain that the cat is the crown.

Firstly, the cat’s appearance and proportions are very relic-like. Although not having a human appearance like Jinn & Ambro, they still has that blue glow, and seemingly limitless control over space time, like flying around, stopping time, etc.

The cat has many interesting abilities. They can reach people’s hearts and make them do other things. I wouldn’t exactly call it mind control, more decision control. With all the Afterans seemingly only able to do one thing, the cat has the special ability to give them another choice. This places the status of the cat’s nature as one above the Ever Afterans. The cat’s role in this world is to guide someone when they lose their way. It convinces them to either keep performing their role OR to receive a new one. It gives them choices.

The cat initiated the Ponderstorm by announcing that the group has reached a crossroads. Then they get trapped in the storm with no escape until they fix the problem. Jaune tells them them that the process would go quicker if they “make up their minds”, if they made a choice. Blake & Yang had to choose to vocalize their feelings for each other. Also, once the cat leaves the group, that’s when the Ponderstorm cleared.

The entire Fairy Tale of The King & the Crown may be made up, but the properties of the Crown seem significant. Basically, if you have an issue that needs to be sorted out, the Crown shows you different scenarios that will play out if certain choices were made. With this information, the holder will have a clear understanding on which choice will be best.

The King’s people came to him for advice, and the king would guide them to an answer. Once he received the Crown, he became overwhelmed with too many answers. He confessed to the widow that the crown has trapped him in a distant crossroads, one with no solution, no way out until he found the right answer, until he made up his mind & resolved the issue. We literally see in the episode him putting on the crown and getting trapped in a cloudy storm of visions, just like Ruby & Co.

Some other notable dialogue was in Volume 8 with Ozpin. While apologizing to the group, he is told that he was reminded of an old fairy tale. A young girl flees the consequences of a choice to a magical place. Once again, the story of Alyx in Wonderland and the theme of choice are linked together. Also interesting how the episode the cat was introduced there was a point to emphasize the Prince’s crown🤔🤔🤔

youtube

#rwby #rwby volume 9 #curious cat #Youtube

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gayofthefae · 3 months

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I guess the set photos with the actors actually like performing in them are just making me reason that season 5 is coming like...season 4 is old news. That already happened and there's more. It isn't some great show that got tragically cancelled and now I'm tasked with giving myself closure, it isn't some shitty queerbait with a terrible ending that I have to fix in my mind, it's just incomplete and it's going to be completed.

It's not done. And also, seeing those photos, it's starting to get into the image because it's been two years now of like "they look so young" in application to season 4. My brain is adjusting and starting to make little comments like "remember when Mike had long hair".

And it's all reworking because I just automatically envisioned everything in their same hair and costumes even though I knew they wouldn't be in those because what would I change it to? But now I have options and logic and it all makes sense and it's coming and season 4 is behind us and they were only 14. Remember when they were only 14? When they didn't know yet how it would all end up when they were older? How much deeper they'd fall in love? God, feels like just yesterday. But no. Time has passed. Mike cut his hair. Will turned invisible, apparently /s, El grew her hair back out. They're all different and they're all older and season 4 already happened.

And it's like I've been rewatching it and looping it in my brain. Because in an artistic way, these characters have souls that have been trapped in this loop of whatever their most recent content is every time I rewatch it. And they aren't resolved yet. But they like...came out of hibernation. And they're filming now and I saw Mike making facial expressions and now the last thing Mike did isn't stand on that hill. Which makes it all the past. And it's all already happened and they aren't stuck anymore. We don't know where they are but they aren't here

I just- I wasn't ready for an updated way to envision them and it's weird. I was still telling myself "[image of Mike] but like pretend he's older".

#stranger things 5 #stranger things #and technically they aren't because filming happens out of order #and at my roots i'll always be a 'must go in-order' theatre kid but #those characters are up and they're doing things #or at least have doing things #those characters are in purgatory okay?#they aren't dead but they aren't in chronological order yet #or...order- we don't know what time is gonna do....#scene/episode order

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crowdvscritic · 4 months

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behind the scenes // ST. LOUIS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS (2023)

The winners have been revealed! The St. Louis Film Critics Association has announced its picks for the most outstanding filmmaking in 24 categories. Like all of the Nobel Prize winners in Barbie, they all worked hard for and deserve the recognition.

If you’re interested in the mechanics of how critics’ voting works , I recently provided a behind-the-scenes look at last year’s voting with a more logistical view. (Read it here or just keep scrolling to the next post if you’re on the home page of Crowd vs. Critic.) For this year's behind-the-scenes look, I’ll be sharing more about why I chose my nominations and how I decided on final voting. Of note, I had not seen every film that ended up being nominated before I submitted my nominations ballot, so if you’re wondering why I ignored Anatomy of a Fall, Bottoms, Evil Dead Rise, The Holdovers, Godzilla Minus One, Knock at the Cabin, Menus Plaisirs - Les Troisgros, Perfect Days, Poor Things, Robot Dreams, Skinamarink, Talk to Me, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, or The Zone of Interest, the simple reason is that there are only 24 hours in a day!

Unlike awards shows, I’m starting with the big kahuna: Best Picture! The SLFCA decided to up this category’s number of nominations to 10 from 5, and you’ll keep seeing these 10 titles in my voting:

Priscilla - My favorite Sofia Coppola movie since 2006’s Marie Antoinette. It just missed a lot of nominations, which I suspect is because too few in the group had seen it, but those who had seen it ranked it highly. Unfortunately, every critic in the group only has 24 hours in a day!

Air - I rewatched this just before submitting my nominations, and it still rules! Based on chatter from my colleagues, I suspected the first six films on my list didn't have a ton of support across our group, which is why I ranked them higher. As you can see, my suspicion was correct since none of them made the final cut

BlackBerry - Another film that just missed nominations by a few votes, including Glenn Howerton’s performance as a most terrorizing boss

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. - My first notable theater cry this year

Asteroid City - The 4th of 7 movies in my top 10 that were released before October—a rarity! I’ve been thinking about all of them for months since their release, which tells me it's not just Awards Season hyping them up in my mind

The Iron Claw - This is the most recent viewing to make my list, and it's also the one that made me cry the most

Past Lives - I ultimately ended up voting for Past Lives because its simple elegance moved me so much that it has stayed with me since seeing it in June

Barbie - The funniest movie of the year and one with big ideas...aka the heart of Crowd vs. Critic!

Oppenheimer - Practically eligible in every category—what wasn’t well-done here?

Killers of the Flower Moon - The same note as Oppenheimer, which is to say, no notes! I correctly assumed Past Lives, Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon would earn nominations without ranking them at the top of my noms, which was why I ranked them low even though I think they are all outstanding

Also on my long list: Creed III, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, The Killer, You Hurt My Feelings

Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor are two categories I never wavered on how I would vote. Lily Gladstone and Ryan Gosling put performances for the ages on the screen this year! I also wanted to recognize the incredible year Jason Schwartzman has had between Asteroid City, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. His lead role in Asteroid seemed like the best bet for widespread support, but basically every time he breathed in The Hunger Games, I laughed.

More actors on my long list: Matt Damon, Air; Scarlett Johansson, Asteroid City; Anthony Hopkins, Freud’s Last Session; Florence Pugh, A Good Person; Jason Schwartzman, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; Zac Efron, The Iron Claw; Michael Fassbender, The Killer; Carey Mulligan, Maestro; Jessica Chastain, Memory; Jodie Foster, Nyad; Teo Yoo, Past Lives; Colman Domingo, Rustin; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, You Hurt My Feelings

These categories are always difficult for me to pin down. For Ensemble, is it about the breadth of performers and the number of familiar people I am happy to see? For Director, is it the size of the production and the level of difficulty the shoot appeared to have? Those are all factors, but I think it comes down to weaknesses being nigh invisible in both categories. For example, in The Iron Claw, it was difficult to identify which actor stood out the most because they worked so well in tandem. In Past Lives, the camera work, performances, and writing aligned perfectly to support its theme in every moment. Barbie ended up being my final vote in both categories because Greta Gerwig's vision of Barbie Land was inspired and every member of the huge cast found a moment to shine.

More directors on my long list: Ben Affleck, Air; Matt Johnson, BlackBerry; Sean Durkin, The Iron Claw; David Fincher, The Killer; Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon; Bradley Cooper, Maestro; Todd Haynes, May December

More ensembles on my long list: American Fiction, The Boys in the Boat, The Color Purple, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Leave the World Behind, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Which stories felt clever, sharp, and authentic to the human experience? Which felt fresh with a unique point of view? Which created moments I've never seen before onscreen? Which explored its ideas with honesty, empathy, and thoroughness? It’s no coincidence 8 of these screenplay 10 nominations align with my picks for Best Film.

More screenplays on my long list: American Fiction, The Boys in the Boat, Freud’s Last Session, A Good Person, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, The Iron Claw, The Killer, May December, Memory, Oppenheimer, Polite Society, You Hurt My Feelings

There’s no such thing as objectivity in criticism, but it really goes out the window when looking at these focused categories. Animated and Documentary films aren’t as plentiful as live-action narrative films, and I’m not naturally drawn to Horror and International films as much as other genres, though I’m trying to grow in those areas. (Seeing Cocaine Bear, Renfield, and A Haunting in Venice in theaters felt like big risks for me!) Not including My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 on my ballot would have felt dishonest since I saw it three times in theaters, and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is one of the most fun theatrical experiences I’ve had in years. Perhaps my most unpopular vote this year was for Elemental over Spider-Verse—I'm one of the few people who liked but didn’t love that sequel.

More genre films on my long list: Cocaine Bear (Comedy), The Covenant (Action), The Equalizer 3 (Action), Extraction II (Action), Gran Turismo (Action), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Action, Comedy), A Haunting in Venice (Horror), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Action), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Action), Kandahar (Action), The Meg 2: The Trench (Action), Polite Society (Comedy), Renfield (Comedy), You Are So Not Invited to My Bar Mitzvah (Comedy), You Hurt My Feelings (Comedy)

In many ways, Stunts and Visual Effects are extensions of the Action Film category, with a few exceptions. The Iron Claw is a drama with insane wrestling stunts, and Polite Society is an action-comedy that centered on the art of stunt work.

More stunts on my long list: Creed III, Extraction II, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Kandahar, Sisu

More VFX on my long list: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, John Wick: Chapter 4, M3GAN

This is where my Spotify Top 100 comes in handy. The Air, Barbie, BlackBerry, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Priscilla soundtracks all charted for me this year, which made those votes no-brainers. Asteroid City, Creed III, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Past Lives all had soundtracks I spent time with as well, and May December’s score almost acts like a narrator, adding comedic and dramatic punch when needed.

More music on my long list: Creed III, A Good Person, The Iron Claw, The Killer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Leave the World Behind, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Wish

These come down to wow(!) factor, and the categories were some of the hardest to rank. I voted for Priscilla for Costume Design in the final round because I hoped that movie would win something, but to be honest, I adored the costumes in Barbie and Killers of the Flower Moon, too. Same with Production Design: I picked Asteroid City, but it's a three-way tie between Asteroid City, Barbie, and Killers for me.

More editing on my long list: Barbie, BlackBerry, The Iron Claw, Leave the World Behind, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Missing, Oppenheimer

More cinematography on my long list: The Iron Claw, John Wick: Chapter 4, Killers of the Flower Moon, Leave the World Behind, May December

More costumes on my long list: Asteroid City, The Boys in the Boat, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Oppenheimer

More production design on my long list: The Boys in the Boat, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Iron Claw, The Killer, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Sisu

I saved Best Scene for last when picking my nominations since I'm better at remembering how a movie makes feel as a whole than its scenes. I started thinking through my favorite movies of the year, and these moments were the ones that left the biggest impressions (more wow factor!). Barbie’s scene of tricking the Kens made me laugh so hard I cried, but I happily voted for America Ferrera’s monologue in the end since it just made me cry, period.

More scenes on my long list: Killers of the Flower Moon, lots of choices!, Maestro, lots of choices!, May December, hot dogs; Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, the train falling; Past Lives, bar conversation

See more about the St. Louis Film Critics Association picks for 2023 at STLFilmCritics.org.

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kkf · 7 months

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I’ve woken up with Ava Max’s “Sweet But Psycho” chorus in my head the last few days. My subconscious is definitely not trying to tell me something.

To be specific, it was the chorus:

Oh, she's sweet but a psycho

A little bit psycho

At night, she's screamin'

"I'm-ma-ma-ma out my mind"

Not the most comforting lyrics to wake up to. While contemplating my current mental health, I considered how my therapist would ask me to deconstruct that particular thought.

Which, because of my recent Buffy rewatch brain, eventually led me to think about how badly Buffy needed a therapist. In 144 episodes, she had only three brushes with mental health professionals. I’m going to set aside 6.14 “Normal Again,” because that not only does that episode merit its own post, but I also don’t have enough chocolate on hand to grapple with the mind fuck that is that episode. I’m just looking at 3.04 “Beauty and the Beast” and 7.07 “Conversations with Dead People.”

In season 3, Buffy is recovering from the implosion of her relationship with Angel. As a Bangel fan, it hurts me to write this, but the relationship from the point where Angel loses his soul is a metaphor for an abusive relationship (dude tries to kill her, her friends, her classmates, end the world…not a healthy route to take a relationship).

So as the season starts Buffy is traumatized from losing Angel and Jenny, as well as being the one who had to sacrifice the person she loved to save the world. After her three month sabbatical to LA, our girl CLEARLY needed some professional help to sort through everything. And for once, Buffy gets some of this help in the form of Mr. Platt, the school guidance counselor.

Buffy’s conversation with Platt is impressive when one considers how much ground he covers in such a short amount of time.

Of course, in true Buffyverse fashion, this help from a qualified professional only lasts about the 15 minutes it takes for him to become a victim of our latest monster of the week, a Jekyll-Hyde classmate whose own abusive relationship is meant to serve as a foil for that of Buffy and Angel. Buffy never gets professional help again. Until Holden, Buffy’s former classmate-turned therapist-turned newly risen vampire.

(Confession: I have a soft spot for Holden, because the actor who plays him was also in one of my favorite episodes of Firefly.)

Now Holden’s therapy session is an interesting blend of analysis and fisticuffs, as he IS a newly turned vampire and is, thus, evil. As he reminds us.

For this reason, Holden has a slightly more confrontational style when getting Buffy to open up. He challenges her, pushes her not to hold back. And as a result Buffy is open about her inferiority-superiority complex, which really, he says, is the root of the loneliness that Buffy feels. Being the Slayer makes her feel superior to her friends, however her performance as the Slayer makes her feel isolated and inferior. As Holden states, “it all adds up to you being alone.” But then goes on to argue that “everybody is until you die.”

Thinking about loneliness and isolation as recurring themes for Buffy, both of which are experiences trauma survivors tend to experience, I’m reminded about a recent YouTube short (which was originally a TikTok) that I saw which stated two pieces of food for thought. The first was that “the reason why we self sabotage is because it allows us to predict what is going to happen which gives us the illusion of control over our own pain” and the second was that “they’re not your type, they’re your pattern.”

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fx12Lxxojvo

Buffy’s sabotaging patterns of behavior (choosing men who are centuries older than her for example, or men who she is in no danger of falling in love with) offer her the illusion of control over what kind of pain she is inviting into her life.

Additionally, Buffy’s patterns of behavior - the self isolation, the relationships she chooses, all of them work as ways of protecting herself. She chooses emotional isolation from her friends as a method of protecting herself from the possibility that they won’t understand the choices that she’s making or that they will call her out on repeating sabotaging patterns of behavior.

It’s not a coincidence that it’s someone outside her immediate social circle who calls her out on her pattern of choosing relationships where she doesn’t have to completely open up. As Holden is someone to whom she has weak social ties, Buffy is more likely to be receptive to new ideas coming from him than from someone within her close social circle.

Often, especially when starting therapy, the fact that the person you’re speaking with is someone who has no “horse in the race” enables a patient to be more open, not just to being completely honest with the therapist, but also to receiving feedback. With my own therapy experience, having a complete stranger validate that while my reactions to certain triggers were not disproportionate, they didn’t make me crazy. They didn’t make me broken.

I wish, looking back, that Buffy had more of an opportunity to interact with mental health professionals. The metaphor of the show is “growing up.” How much more interesting and helpful would it have been for young viewers to have seen that the patterns we can find ourselves in can be challenged. That we can change. That with a little help, we can stop feeling so “psycho.”

#buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #mental health #random #ramblings #therapy

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natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk · 1 year

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youtube

I just saw this and thought it was kind of neat.

Gakuto Kajiwara was talking about how he became a seiyuu during the first bit. Around 5:40ish, they show a couple of pictures from his time in high school (which he did in Singapore). He looked like a background character in the second shot they showed (when he wasn't on stage performing). Masayoshi Oishi (the host) is quite a big otaku himself, so they were discussing many anime. At first, it was just Dragon Ball, but then they got down to discussing romcoms.

Here are Kajiwara's three rom-com recommendations (I've already heard of and watched 2/3 of them and refuse to watch the other sooooooo yeah):

Oreimo (Ore no Imouto ga konnani kawaii wake ga nai)

Oishi called this one "Our [Kajiwara and his] bible". Kajiwara gave a brief rundown of the synopsis (since Airi Suzuki is not much of an anime otaku yet). Oishi asks Kajiwara for his favourite character. He says Ayase, which is apparently quite rare for the fanbase despite Oishi also saying that's his favourite as well ( she seems to be the anti-otaku character in a very otaku anime). He goes into why he likes Ayase in particular and reveals he likes tsunderes (with this one apparently approaching yandere territory). He then realizes mid-explanation that he may be a masochist. ((Also, I can't believe this anime is 12 years old. I feel old.))

Toradora

You see, this recommendation I can get behind. He describes it as a "odd couple romance you can't take your eyes off of" which is actually very accurate. Oishi said, "THAT'S MY FAVOURITE ANIME!!!" They share a lot of taste. To be fair, Toradora is great (but I feel like I'd like it less on rewatch). Kajiwara gives another synopsis, and Airi says she might actually like that anime. Oishi, of course, asks who his favourite character is. He says Taiga to which he says they share a favourite character. They talk about how she's rough on the outside but has a beautiful heart on the inside makes their hearts flutter. Personally, I'm more of a Minorin fan myself.

Kanojo Okarishimasu

After a brief rundown, Oishi talked about the Twitter campaign they had when the anime was first released where you could hear the characters answer the phone if you called a certain number or something along those lines. Oishi said, "I called that number around 30 times." Airi responded, "I think I would too if they had a hot male voice on the other side, so I think I understand." The seiyuu fandom exists partially on that kind of idea, so it's definitely not rare. Since Oishi and Kajiwara share a lot of favourite characters, they decided to both say their favourite character from this series at the same time. They both said Sumi-chan which goes against their past picks since Sumi is not a tsundere and is more of the embarrassed and shy type. I can see why people like her. I think she's very sweet and cute but definitely trapped in the wrong series since KanoKari turns into a dumpster fire.

Fun fact: Kajiwara has starred with Sumi's voice actress, Rie Takahashi, recently in Romantic Killer which is probably one of my favourite recent romcoms!

#kajiwara gakuto #seiyuu #anime recommendations #oreimo #toradora #kanojo okarishimasu #Youtube

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florencepout · 3 years

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@hatchetober Day 4: Song

Black Friday: Take Me Back

#starkid #black friday #starkidedit #mine #hatchetober #becky barnes #tom houston #listen this song will from time to time make me lose my mind #this lyric specially make me go a little insane #and like when black friday first came out i Had A Time with it #and after more recent rewatches i thought maybe i'd gotten over it #but i actually fully cried making this #noticing all their little acting choices and how fucking SOFT dylan saunders looks through this entire performance #i'm not super happy with the how the text looks in the last gif but i have a headache and i really wanted to finish this #also me yesterday: haha sorry im gonna take the piss on this challenge #me today: im crying about this and i love them so much #ALSO thoughts i had while making this: the context of this lyric in post nmt world is just so delicious #because THERE ARE alternate realities #the universe IS infinite #and these two LOVE EACH OTHER SO FAITHFULLY #GOOD FOR THEM

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black-silystya · 6 years

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青春アミーゴ ♥ BEST ARTIST 2005 | 2017

#Kamenashi Kazuya #Yamashita Tomohisa #亀と山P #修二と彰 #Nakajima Yuto #Hey! Say! JUMP #ベストアーティスト #2005 #2017 #青春アミーゴ #They saw the occasion and they did it!#I'm proud of them. XD #I actually forgot that they were going to perform it together until I watched Johnnys' interviews in PON!#With Kame mentioning how he had to stand on his toes to match Yutti's size now.#When KamePi came up earlier this year I thought they might do it for Johnnys' Countdown or something.#This came up earlier than I expected. :D #I thought of using the MS version for 2005 for better quality (since they showed it recently) but cutting off text and all was looking bad.#So instead please have a very crappy gif.#(I make bad choices sometimes.)#I just rewatched NwP a couple of weeks earlier and wanted to make gifs from it.#But then I just ended up finally watching this year's new KamePi drama.#And then of course wanted to make gifs from it too.#Instead I procrastinated and ended up with this instead.

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feelingofcontent · 3 years

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DNP Rewatch: What's in my suitcase?!

Date video was published: 06/25/2014 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 231

This was a seemingly last-minute Phil video before DNP headed to VidCon. (Although he did tweet about actually packing a couple days later...)

0:00 - so much travel.

0:06 - Phil has never moved faster in his life, lol. What sort of landlord doesn’t knock or ring the bell before just coming in?!

0:07 - I’m not sure trying to explain makes it better. 😊 Love that he added a subtitle for his landlord that is just “...?” 😂

0:14 - poor Phil. He looks so frazzled after that.

0:23 - “I’m writing an angry letter” somehow Phil does seem like an angry letter/email type of person if he’s really upset about something.

0:30 - all of Phil’s pajama pants are SO bright

0:35 - I’m with Phil here...wtf.

0:39 - oh, DNP both tweeted about seeing and crying at the TFIOS movie (1, 2, 3)

0:53 - he is paying such little attention to what he’s actually packing. Funny animal background (and voice, hahaha) of course.

0:59 - the bat t-shirt from back in Kissing a Plasma Ball! is still his favorite several months later

1:01 - I love the googly eyes on his DS, lol

1:05 - Phil’s recently used emojis are always a journey

1:25 - just a rain of random socks into the suitcase there

1:37 - ahhhhhh, those spider’s legs are so long. yikes

2:07 - I’m terrified by both that noise and face 😨

2:13 - why did he associate a question about sushi with Australia? lol

2:15 - so about a year before this. And Dan calling Phil brave for trying it. 🥺 Cat had a whole vlog that this clip is from.

2:29 - so many horrifying things in this video, actually

2:46 - well. yep.

2:52 - Phil’s pants halfway down his ass for once, like Dan’s usually are

2:57 - that looked dangerous but I’m surprised he got that high

3:08 - I love that the only thing he’s seems to be really embarrassed about from the past is his hair 😂

3:12 - of course he had a lion ready to go for this. But also...that is not the words, haha

3:20 - lol at him packing the Furby for some reason

3:27 - and the Totoro

3:31 - his annotation here 😂 Definitely not the most efficient way to pack.

3:54 - of course he has a “suitcase noise”

This is definitely a filler video with no substantial questions answered (not that that’s different than usual for this era), but cute all the same!

DNP were in California for Vid Con from June 24 (lol at this Dan post from the airport, and photos from the plane) to July 3. Both of them posted several photos (1, 2, 3) from Day 1. They also prepared for and did a stage performance of “who’s more likely too” (which will eventually get posted on Dan’s channel), had a 6+ hour meet-and-greet that they took a “template” photo for too, hung out with friends like Tyler and Cat, recorded for YouTubers React, adventured in LA, and went to Six Flags.

But also found time to chill and play Mario Kart (lol at Phil giving a thumbs up?) and order room service. That sounds about right for DNP.

#dan and phil #dnp #dnpRewatch #amazingphil #phil lester #amazingphil videos #What's in my suitcase?!

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a34trgv2 · 3 years

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Why It Worked: The Princess and The Frog

Introduction: The Princess and The Frog is an animated musical fantasy romantic comedy film. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, the film stars Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jim Cummings, Jennifer Lewis, Jennifer Cody, John Goodman, Oprah Winfrey and Terrence Howard. The film was released on December 11, 2009 and recieved very positive reviews from critics and audiences (85% of 200 reviews agregated by Rotten Tomatoes gave an average rating of 7.4/10). The film grossed $269 million on a budget of $105 million. For the past decade, I've grown to love this movie more and more with each passing year. Having rewatched it recently, I now firmly believe this is one of Disney's best films. In this post, I'd like to go into detail as to why.

The Plot: Based on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale, The Frog Prince, mixed with the material in The Frog Princess by E.D. Maker, this film tells the story of Tiana, a waitress trying to earn enough money to start her own restaurtant. She encounters a talking frog, who's actually Prince Naveen turned into a frog by Dr. Facilier. He agrees to help Tiana get her her restaurant if she helps him turn back into a prince by recreating the classic tale of The Frog Prince. This backfires and now they're both frogs hopping around the buyou with their gator friend, Louis and a cajun firefly named Ray, to find a way to reverse the spell they were put under. The film is really a subversion of classic fairy tale tropes that makes the film feel fresh and new. The goal for our leading lady is not to fall in love with a prince but to make her childhood dream come true. What also makes this film standout is how magical they make New Orleans, paying tributes to jazz music and cajun cuisine. I also found the humor to be very funny, with many of the jokes getting a great laugh out of me. One of the funniest scenes in the film is when Tiana and Naveen outwit a trio of frog hunters. The slapstick and perfect timing had me in stitches. What really makes the story so engaging is the animation. It's too bad Disney hasn't used 2D animation in their recent films (not to say they don't look amazing in 3D) because the animation in the Princess and The Frog is amazing. The character movements feel so smooth and fluid and they're designs are unique and well defined. It should also be noted that some 3D was used for background elements yet are coated with a 2D paint so well you never would've noticed.

Cast and Characters: The cast of this movie did outstanding jobs voicing these characters, who are all well developed and very likable. Starting with our leading lady, Tiana is a smart hardworking woman that's determined to start up her restaurant. She's also sassy, funny and a great cook. Anika Noni Rose was perfect as Tiana as gives the character a very determined and no-nonsense tone in her voice. Prince Naveen starts off as an arrogant playboy that only wants to live a carefree life. However, the more time he spends with Tiana, the more he realizes that not everything is just going to be handed to him. This is especially true during the scene when he and Tiana are making gumbo and he comes to realize he's so used to having everything be done for him that he doesn't even know how to take care of himself. Bruno Campos gave a very stellar performance as Naveen, giving him such charm and funny lines while also selling the more personal aspects of his character. Louis the gator is such a fun comic relief that plays a mean trumpet. He easily brings out some of the best laughs and Michael-Leon Wooley gave a very memorable performance as the character. Ray the cajun firefly just might be one of Jim Cummings' best vocal performances, up there with Darkwing Duck, Pete, and (of course) Winnie The Pooh and Tigger. Ray might appear to have a screw or too loose, but he's actually a really smart, brave and reliable ally who's more than willing to help his friends. His love for Evangeline (which is actually the North Star) feels very genuine even if it might come across as odd at first. Then there's the film's made baddie, Dr. Facilier (often referred to as The Shadow Man). Dr. Facilier is every bit as charming as he is sinister. He's manipulative, he's smart, he's charsmatic and he loves what he does. Keith David was excellent in the role, giving him a deep yet unsettling tone in his voice.

Super Supporting Players: This film has one of the strongest supporting cast I have ever seen. Each of the supporting and even minor characters leave a lasting impression and make the film feel lived in. Lawrence, Naveen's butler, acts as the secondary antagonist of the film, being the catalyst of Naveen's desire for a carefree lifestyle. He sides with the Shadow Man and poses as Naveen while the prince is a frog in order to marry Charlotte La Bouff. Speaking of Charlotte, is very much nothing like the standard spoiled brat. Rather than be snobbish, selfish and rude, Lottie is a true friend to Tiana and is willing to help her get her restaurant. Believe me folks, after having to deal with the likes of Gem Stone, Princess Morbucks, Sincerity (What About Mimi), and Tricia Holmes (6teen), Charlotte is a breath of fresh air. Her father, Eli (aka Big Daddy) is also a very kind and caring figure who, despite spoiling his daughter, clearly raised her well as she gets her generosity from him. Mama Odie is a wise 197 year old blind lady that not only helps our heroes on their journey, but helps them understand the difference between what they want vs what they need. This is echoed by Eudora (Tiana's Mom) earlier in the film, who even in the limited amount of screen time she had exerts such a motherly personality and has authentic chemistry with her daughter. Then there's James (Tiana's Dad), the main driving force behind Tiana's desire to open her restaurant. Despite succumbing to the frequently used "dead parent" trope, every second he's on screen is imperative to the story. He's a kind hard working man who dreamed of opening his own restaurtant with his daughter Tiana. When she tells her Dad about the wishing star, he gives her great advice: "that little star can only take you part of the way. You got to help it along with some hard work of your own and then you can do anything you set your mind to." What truly makes this supporting cast come alive are the stupendous voice work from the actors who portrayed them. Jennifer Cody was fantastic as Lottie, making her sound so energetic and lively. John Goodman is always a treat to hear and he brings such a humble fatherly presence to Eli. Jennifer Lewis perfectly captures the sass and erratic nature of Mama Odie and is an amazing singer. Peter Bartlett right captured the bumbling mannerisms of Lawrence and when he's disguised as Naveen he exerts more confidence in his voice. Oprah Winfrey, who was also a consultant for the film, played Eudora beautifully as a kind and caring mother and they couldn't have picked a better actor than Terence Howard for the role of James.

Songs and Music: Randy Newman is a musical genius! Every single song in this film is written wonderfully with an awesome beat, wonderful lyrics and the amazing vocal talents of the stars. Starting with the opening track after the lovely melody prologue, Down in New Orleans perfectly introduces the audience to this city and what it's like to live here. The late Dr. John brought such authenticity to the song being a New Orleans native and he had great singing chops. Almost There, Tiana's number, is not so much an I want song, but more like "I'm so close I can almost taste it." Anika Noni Rose has great singing talents and carried that long final note like a champ. The villain song, Friends From The Other Side is (in my opinion) one of the best Disney villain songs. It perfectly captures the charismatic and manipulative nature if Dr. Facilier and Keith David's baritone singing makes this all the more memorable. When We're Human is an upbeat song that showcases the excellent singing talents of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos and Michael-Leon Wooley as they sing about what they'll do when they're human. It also makes great use of the trumpet, the go-to instrument for jazz. Ray is given the distinct honor of singing 2 songs, which are polar opposites yet are both wonderfully well crafted musical numbers. The first is Gonna Take You There, which is a classic cajun song in with Ray sings while he and his firefly family take our heroes to Mama Odie's. It's bounce, it's fun, it's makes great use of the accordion, it's just a great song to listen to. The second is Ma Belle Evangeline, a slow yet beautiful love ballad Ray sings for Evangeline. Even though Ray is singing to a star, it feels very genuine with his mix of French compliments and Louis' slow trumpet playing. Than there's the last musical number before the reprise of the opening track, Dig A Little Deeper. This is my personal favorite song in the film, and that's saying something because they're all great. Dig A Little Deeper incorporates a choir of roseate spoonbills to make it look like a church service on Sunday. It also has a great message behind it about finding what you need versus trying to get what you want. Also, Anika Noni Rose coming in with that extra verse was the perfect cherry on top. In addition to these spectacular musical numbers, Randy Newman also made a very memorable score incorporating strings and strong brass for intense scenes and some soft, subtle tunes for the quiet moments. Where the score truly shines is during Ray's death and funeral. From the sad reprise of Ma Belle Evangeline all the way up to the music slowy but surely picking up as Ray essentially becomes the brightness star in the sky next to Evangeline, this scene best showcases what a great score this film has. The song that plays during the credits, Never Knew I Needed by Ne-Yo, was also the picture bookend to the film, capturing the film's central message in a wonderfully crafted pop ballad with a beautiful piano tune.

Where It Falters: 👆. No, seriously this film is still a 10/10 in my book, but I personally would've amended this response from Lottie to "Travis, when I said later, I really meant not ever." Still shoots the guy down but without making her speak for all women. This concludes my meaningless nitpick.

Conclusion: The Princess and The Frog is without a doubt one of Disney's best films and Tiana is my personal favorite Disney Princess. The animation is spectacular, the characters are great, the songs are all wonderful, the voice acting is superb and it delivers a great message of finding what you need versus trying to get what you want. If you haven't seen this film, I highly recommend giving this film a watch on Disney+ if you have it. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you soon ;)

This addition of Why It Worked is dedicated in memory of my grandmother, Margaret "Peggy" Simpson. I'll see you in Heaven Grandma.

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lovewillthaw-j · 4 years

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9 parallels between Wreck It Ralph (2012) and Frozen/Elsa

I love WIR, it is such a great show with great plot, animation and music. I recently rewatched it and I couldn't help but notice some parallels with Frozen (1). To be specific, parallels with Elsa (in F1). 6 Ralph and 3 Vanellope. Note: this isn't my normal gif quality as I didn't want to spend too much time on this.

1. Ralph is isolated from the rest of the people

2. Ralph embarrasses himself with his powers in front of everybody when he was pushed and got angry.

Like Elsa during her coronation when Anna pushed her and she let out a burst of ice.

I made a post on that here

3. Ralph can only see himself as someone who is bad.

In this scene, he has just finished helping Vanellope "make" a race car, which looks disastrous. He says "Look, kid, I tried to warn you. I can't make things. I just break them".

It's like how Elsa can only see her powers as destructive after Anna's accident. She thought running away (Let It Go) was the answer to protect everyone from her powers, but realised that she had caused an eternal winter (when Anna told her).

4. Vanellope feels trapped

In this scene, Vanellope says "Glitches can't leave their games. It's one of the joys of being me." This isn't actually true, it's because King Candy did something to her code that prevents her from leaving.

Elsa too feels trapped, especially at her coronation when she has to be a young queen, conceal her powers and has nobody to confide in. Even after running away she still feels trapped by her powers, which can't be separated from her.

5. Ralph does something bad to someone he loves out of good intentions and is tormented inside

In this heartbreaking scene (tremendous vocal performance from Vanellope/Sarah Silverman) Ralph has been tricked by King Candy into stopping her from racing for her own good. ("I'm doing this for your own good") He chooses to do it the only way he knows how, by destroying her race car. By this time, he has become affectionate towards the little girl and feels tormented inside for doing it.

I see a parallel when Elsa made Marshmallow to send Anna away. Her face is so tormented.

She didn't make Marshmallow out of malice (and truly, Marshmallow never harmed Anna per se) I made a post on that here.

6. Ralph looks at his hands and balls them into fists

Elsa does this throughout F1 and even in F2. I recommend @hafanforever 's post Keep your hands to yourself

7. Ralph still thinks he is a bad guy

A sobbing Vanellope tells Ralph "you really are a bad guy" after he destroys her car.

As previously alluded to, Elsa experienced momentary freedom when she retreated to her ice palace, but upon realising she had caused an eternal winter, spiralled back into thinking she is bad and there was no goodness in her.

8. Conceal, don't feel

In this scene, Ralph tells Vanellope "You got to get that glitch under control, kid!"

And in this scene, Vanlelope says "All right. Gotta keep it under control. No more glitching."

Glitching is actually her superpower, but she's been lied to that it is bad and Ralph tells her she must "keep it under control" which becomes her mantra too. (until the film's climax)

The parallel with "conceal, don't feel" is obvious. Agnarr interpreted Grand Pabbie's vision that he needs to conceal Elsa's powers.

9. Dress transformation!!

'Nuff said!

#frozen #disney frozen #disneyfeverdaily #disney #elsa #frozensnetwork #frozensource #wreck it ralph #vanellope von schweetz #parallels

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inthediamondsky · 3 years

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SHINee in the Good Place

What We Owe To Each Other:

This is for you, Jonghyun🌙✨

**TRIGGER WARNING**

note: I am not trying to tell any other shawols how to grieve. Trust me, I’ve gotten enough advice, both well-meaning and not, to know that it’s not helpful. I hope that all of you are able to grieve however you want, and that those you care about are there for you today. I wanted to write this because this very recently made blog has become my safe space to share my feelings about SHINee without the unsolicited input of a thousand twitteratti. Truth be told, I haven’t talked about this in three years. I don’t think I’ve ever really confronted my own grief. And I wanted to do that here. Yes, ITS LONG AND WORDY. I’m well aware that these posts aren’t exactly conducive to the short-attention-span era. My blog is nothing if not on-brand. But this one’s not really for everyone. This one’s for me.

Prologue: “It’s okay not to feel lucky sometimes.” - Jane Villanueva, Jane the Virgin

Nothing makes me more incensed than when people try to comfort me by saying, “think about how lucky you are.” Objectively, yes, in many ways and compared to many people, I am lucky. Certainly, I am lucky to exist, here, now, because how else would I have met the people that I am about to spend thousands of words writing about? But grief isn’t objective. It’s not supposed to make sense. Maybe the fact that it doesn’t make sense doesn’t make it any less real. Maybe that’s okay.

Chapter 1:

“Since nothing seems to make sense, when you find something or someone that does, it’s euphoria” - Janet, The Good Place

I know why I fell in love with SHINee. At least, I know how I found them. But what I’m not so sure about is why I stayed in love with them for over a decade. It’s a love that I can’t explain all that well. It’s not comparable to how I love my family or my friends or how I loved my significant others when we were in a relationship. It’s not all that similar to how I love my favorite sports teams, because those are entities more than individual people. Certainly, I admire SHINee. That’s a big part of it. I think they have accomplished a great many things. I have learned a lot from them. I enjoy their music and performances. But I can’t pretend that I love them because they are objectively the greatest; love, like grief, isn’t objective. All I can say is that loving them always made sense. Life rarely makes sense, and loving them did. So it was, as Janet says, euphoric.

I think the reason was that they always made sense TOGETHER. As a unit. As five. I always felt like they were born to perform together. Maybe that’s cheesy, but to me, it’s obvious. I don’t think that SHINee themselves would ever say that; they are a team strictly against self-mythologizing. Very practical and humble people, those five, and I love them for it. But even with their humility, their pride in their team sometimes leaks out around the edges. On the “SHINee’s Back” special, when Minho talked about remembering how SM announced their team one day: a sheet of paper titled “2007 Trainees to Prepare for Debut” with their names, 이진기 김종현 김기범 최민호 이태민, listed underneath. And on Minho’s episode of 청담-Key친, when Minho and Key talked about the fact that they remembered Lee Sooman’s voice telling them, “I’ve decided on your team name. Your name is SHINee,” like it was yesterday, that they couldn’t forget it if they tried. There’s a reverence in their voices when they talk about those moments. Like somehow, someway, it was meant to be.

I got to see the five of them on stage together once. SHINee World V. In Seoul. And I’ve never felt more strongly that musically, performance-wise, it all made so much sense. It was the one where Jinki hurt his ankle but insisted on coming back out to finish performing with the rest of them. It was heartbreaking in the moment, but it also made sense. It checked out with the fact that they are the ultimate professionals, who care so much and work so hard for the impeccable quality of their live performances. And it checked out because we all intuitively knew: SHINee is five. Like somehow, someway, it was meant to be. That was my dream. Maybe it’s unfair to project that on them, but it was. That the five of them, and my knowing the five of them and everyone else that I loved, it was all meant to be.

Chapter II:

“Time is cruel and indiscriminate and entirely uninterested in supporting our dreams.” - Joe Posnanski, on the career of Ken Griffey Jr.

Human beings live with the knowledge that we will die. As Eleanor says in The Good Place, that truth means that we’re all a little sad, all the time. But somehow, we’re also foolish enough to simultaneously believe that we always have more time. Especially, that we have more time with those that we love. But we don’t. It always runs out, a little too soon, when we’re not ready. We’re never ready. And it never makes sense.

I had moved to America by then. So it was the afternoon of the 17th when I found out. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Or so they say. I can speak to a couple of those: To this day, nothing makes me angrier than when YouTube recommends me videos from his funeral. Like I have a right to see it, or that those people had a right to film it. We don’t. None of us do. And sometimes I rewatch enough old variety shows and interviews and concert recordings that for a couple hours, even now, I think that he’s still here. I can still trick myself like that, even three years later. Oh, the magic of the internet: fueling anger and denial since its inception.

At my darkest, I allow myself to be depressed. Because it is all too cruel, too cold, too much. The fact that such a beautiful artist was taken from us too early. The fact that such a beautiful person was taken from us too early. The fact that this world was cruel enough that he decided to leave on his own.

I miss him. Of course I do. What I wouldn’t give to see him, here, happy, just one more time. Days like today, I pop in my SHINee World V DVD for the millionth time and cry, again. But I don’t like to grieve for myself. I don’t really feel like I deserve to. If I did, would I be grieving for him, or grieving for the idea of him? What he meant to me, or what it meant to have him mean something to me? I didn’t really know him. It’s okay for me to be sad. It’s okay for me to miss him. But is it okay for me to grieve? I ask myself this every day, because I think about him every day.

Undoubtedly, I am angry at the circumstances that led to his death, especially that my country, our country, still largely ignores mental health (dismissing it as fake or a sign of weakness) while promoting a workaholic, tough-it-out culture and thus suffers from one of the highest rates of suicide in the world. I love my country. That same workaholic culture has led us to excel at a great many things. But the mental health epidemic that has followed is one of our most glaring and tragic flaws, and one that we are still largely failing to address. I will never stop fighting for that to change. And I will never, never get over the fact that their last performances before he died, especially the final stops on their suddenly-ironically-named FIVE tour in Japan, were performed as four. How could life be so cruel? And preventably so. For that, I will never stop being angry.

But I do grieve, profoundly and truly, for those who loved him. Not as I do, for it would be terribly unfair to reduce him to that: an idea more than a person, an endless inspiration more than a living being with hopes and dreams and flaws and failings. No, I grieve for those who loved him in a close and real and visceral way. People who were close enough to not only watch him and listen to him to be happy, as I do, but were saddened by him and frustrated by him and annoyed by him too. That’s all a part of real love, as much as any of the happy bits. I grieve for them because, obviously, I have no idea what it is like to die. But I do know what it is like to lose somebody too soon to a death that is too cruel. Too sudden. Too nonsensical. Under those same preventable circumstances, in that same country.

There’s a story that many shawols know. A PD at some music show (I forget which one) posted it on their Instagram after Jonghyun’s death. Taemin was wrapping up his Day and Night promotions at the end of 2017, and the PD wrote that he would never forget the earnest look in Taemin’s eyes as he asked him to look after Jonghyun, since he was supposed to come back in early 2018. The earnest look in his eyes. Every time, that phrase: it feels like a punch in the gut. He asked so earnestly. How could it not have come true? I remember asking someone to look after my friend, to check up on her, a couple of days before she died. Earnestly. How could it not have come true?

“Irresolvable guilt,” they call it. Guilt that makes it impossible to let go. Guilt that never goes away. Guilt that is only amplified when everyone you see says that they’re sorry for you, when you can’t even forgive yourself. You’re still sorry for the words you didn’t say and the words you did, because there are never enough words afterwards to sum up how happy they made you or how much you loved them or how sorry you are for that one time you yelled at them about something that wasn’t their fault. There are never enough words, and they can’t hear you anyway, so you just cycle through the same ones again and again: 고맙다 미안하다 보고싶다 사랑한다 thank you I’m sorry I love you I miss you. There’s the guilt that you weren’t enough for them to tell you everything or that you were busy that night. Because what if you hadn’t been? Could you have saved them? And you feel guilty, more than anything, for the time you didn’t spend together. If only you had known that it was finite. The truth is, you did. But the problem is, humans always think that they have more time.

Chapter III:

- “Time means nothing. Jeremy Bearimy, baby. We’ll get through this, and then you and I can chill out in the dot of the “i” forever.” -“Right. We’ll be okay. We found each other before, hundreds of times. We can do it again.” - Eleanor and Chidi, The Good Place

2017 was shitty. I lost someone so present in my everyday life that every single thing I do, even now, reminds me of them. And so did SHINee. But I went through my loss and my grief privately. They weren’t given that opportunity. All the cameras, all the attention. It horrified me from the start. The way that a bunch of people who’d never cared about SHINee or Jonghyun when he was alive started to roll around in grief porn like pigs in mud. In the aftermath of a loss in my own life, to see it played out in the lives of more people that I cared about, and on a much bigger scale, was unbelievably triggering. I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t watch people ask them about their loss for the sole purpose of indulging their own curiosity. Like they’re supposed to have the words to explain why all of this happened? It disgusted me.

In a life where nothing ever made sense, especially after the death of my friend, SHINee always had. And then suddenly, it all turned upside down.

I couldn’t watch for two years after that. Not just all of the interviews. I never thought that I would ever not want to watch them perform, but I didn’t. I was scared to see the empty space where he used to be, to see four instead of five. It didn’t make sense. But more than anything, I couldn’t watch them grieve. It reminded me too much of myself.

So I, a shawol since 2009, missed their tenth anniversary. I missed TSOL and their enlistments. I missed Jinki’s Voice, Kibum’s Face, and Taemin’s Want promotions. It was only less a year ago, when all of the kpop world, other than my fellow shawols, had largely moved on, that I could come back to them. It had been two years since they lost their friend, and a couple more since I had lost my own. We’d been through a lot. It seemed like a good time to come back together.

In the meantime, I had watched The Good Place. I’ve been to a lot of therapy, but nothing came close to being as healing as watching that show. That moment, at the end of season three, when Eleanor has to let Chidi forget her and their love for each other, and she says that they’ve found each other hundreds of times, so they can do it again? I don’t believe in afterlife, but god, I’ve never wanted to believe more strongly. That there exists a place, a good place, where time means nothing and we can find the people that we love the most over and over and over again, no matter what. A place where everything makes sense. Where SHINee can be five, forever. Where I can be with the people I’ve lost, forever. I want that to be true.

Jonghyun, if it’s true, let me know? Friend, if it’s true, let me know? Is there such a good place? A place of warm winters and coming springs? Are you there?

When I came back to SHINee in 2020, it wasn’t the same. How could it be? It couldn’t be, and it shouldn’t be. But still, he was there. There is no doubt in my mind that he was there, with them, through everything that they did. I watched the interviews and the variety shows, but more than anything, the performances. Sometimes it looked like four and it hurt to see. But if I squinted, sometimes it looked like five, like it always was. It sounded like five, like it always was. Maybe it was meant to be. Maybe time means nothing. Maybe all of this, all of it, wasn’t a pipe dream. Maybe it makes sense. Maybe they can find each other over and over and over again.

Maybe my friend and I can too.

Chapter IV:

“I proposed a rule, that Chidis shouldn’t be allowed to leave, because it would make Eleanors sad. And I could do this forever... and I’d still never find the justification for getting you to stay, because it’s a selfish rule. I owe it to you to let you go.” - Eleanor, The Good Place

I remember how shocked I was to hear Kibum say in one of their tenth anniversary interviews (my rough translation), “If we had it really hard, I could make up a grand story about how we scratched and clawed to get to our tenth anniversary. But we didn’t. We just kept going, and now we’re here.” I remember thinking, “Well if YOU didn’t have it hard, who did?”

Partly, it was their humility. You know, acknowledging big company bias and all that jazz. But mostly, I think, they wanted everyone to know that this was not a story of struggle and redemption. Jonghyun was more than a storytelling device. He was more than a challenge for them to get over. They didn’t think of him as a supporting character in their own stories: he was the main one in his own. As always, SHINee taught me something that I had been too scared to learn. Wise souls, those five, and I love them for it.

Following the death of my friend, I wallowed into my own sadness and depression for years. I let my other relationships fall apart under that burden. But eventually, especially now as I watch back all of the things that SHINee has said through the last three years, I realized that a lot of that grief was selfish. That I wasn’t grieving for my friend, but that I was feeling sorry for myself. That I had to go through this. That I had to shoulder this loss. What did I do to deserve this pain? At some point, my grief stopped being about her, and it became about me. It was never supposed to be about me. She was more than what she meant to me. She was the main character in her own story.

It’s no comfort to hear it from others, but I know: I am lucky that this was how it was meant to be. As Winnie the Pooh says, how lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?

I could wallow forever. She did, in the end, mean that much to me. I’m absolutely sure that they could wallow around forever too. Jonghyun meant that much to them, too. But I think we both came to the same realization, albeit under different timelines, that we owed them something. No matter how much it hurt, we owed it to them to let them go. Letting go isn’t the same thing as giving up on them or forgetting them. After all, they say that best friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget. Because we loved them that much. Even when we want forget, we can’t. Even when Chidi left Eleanor, their love never stopped existing. Like he said, when the wave returns to the ocean, it looks like it was never there. But the wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. The water is still there. The water, our love for those we cherish the most, is always there. It was always meant to be.

So I thank The Good Place for comforting me and healing me when I was at my lowest. And I thank SHINee for inspiring me and allowing me to grow with them for over ten years, all through the tireless pandemonium that is life. You mean so much to me, more than I think I have succeeded in expressing here. And to Jonghyun, and my friend, what more is there to say? 고맙다. 미안하다. 보고싶다. 사랑한다. Thank you for everything. I’m sorry for everything. I miss you everyday. I love you, forever.

*standing on the road we walked together again, those five hands folded together, the tears, the memories... it’s all so clear, I don’t want to forget, I can never forget (Taemin’s lyrics from Our Page)

#I apologize for all the room this is taking up on your TL :///#SHINee in the good place #mine #너무 보고싶다 너네들 #지금 만큼은 놓아 줄게 #다시 만나자 #다사 또 다시 #우린 그런 운명 #처음 부터 deja-boo #그 날을 기다리면서 #난 널 위해서라도 #이번 겨울도 따듯하게 보낼게 #날 기달려 줘!#ITDS

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