#had to be one that involved going back to school
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Fuck The Freshmen (1/2)
Pairing: Paige Bueckers x Media girl!reader
Warnings: swearing, sexual references, paige is slightly ooc
Summary: Paige seems to be paying a lot of attention to this years freshman, but what you don’t realize is she pays attention to you too.
A/n: not sure if I should do a second part to this or leave it as is..also I got a couple requests for media girl shit so I hope this is good!! I’ll prob do more involving a media girl reader in the future
“Girl… stop staring like that.”
“Shut up, I’m not.” You nudge your friend in response, not taking your eyes off of the people in front of you.
You and your best friend had both had an interest in sports throughout childhood, so when the opportunity to become media girls came up at the University of Connecticut, a school with amazing sports teams, you both took the chance.
Since freshmen year you’ve grown a lot with the D1 Women’s Basketball team. What started as an awkward beginning had blossomed into a family-like relationship with most of the girls, and you had learned a lot in the past four years. Taking pictures during games had been the best part.
You’d gotten so good at it, by senior year you were appointed “student manager” of the media team, basically meaning you ran social media’s and were able to be as hands-on as possible.
Another thing nice about being a senior was mentoring. Just like the players on the Huskies, when new additions came to the media team you enjoyed teaching all the freshies your ways. None of them were as close as you were with the girls, for the most part.
“Wow, this one actually goes hard.” Paige’s voice rings through your ears. She’s leaning into one of the freshmen students, peering at her camera.
“Wait go back to that one. Shit, that’s good. That deserves to go on the instagram.” Paige says, ruffling the girls hair and patting her back.
“Thanks! Means a lot coming from you.” The freshie replies. You watch as the girls face turns pink at Paige’s contact with her. You listen as Paige showers her with endless praises.
“Seriously (Name). Stop gawking at them.” Your friend flicks you.
You shake your head in disapproval. “When I was a freshmen i barely interacted with the team, let alone the seniors.”
Your friend raises her eyebrow. “You sure you’re not just mad that Paige is all over the kid?”
“Super-senior Paige is gross, I’ll say that. But whatever, it’s not a big deal. I was just observing.” You grumble, hating to watch those two interact but unable to tear your eyes away.
“You’re in denial.”
“Pfft, I couldn’t care less.”
Paige’s eyes turn to meet yours, and you quickly look away. You can feel her smirk radiating, even as you turn to leave the gym.
“I’m gonna go get a snack.” You mutter. Your friend just nods.
As you walk to the vending machine outside of the gym, you feel your stomach twist at the thought of the scene earlier. You wish you didn’t care, but you’re all too familiar with the feeling of jealousy.
You pick out your favourite from the machine, but as you’re about to pay you hear a familiar voice.
“Lemme get that for you.”
Paige is behind you, and she pays for your snack before you can object.
“You didn’t have to do that.” You say.
“I wanted to though.” She shrugs in response. Paige looked good as always in her Huskies tracksuit, hair braided and tied back in her usual ponytail. Eyes blue and constantly searching your face for a clue to what you’re thinking. Sometimes even observing your body. “Didn’t take many pictures today, did you?” She asks.
“I don’t take pictures of random practices.” You roll your eyes, she’s supposed to know this but obviously doesn’t.
“Me and the others were brainstorming, and the freshmen got to test out action shots with the cameras.”
“You’ve got some good talent on your team with those freshmen, huh?” She smiles. You almost want to punch her. Paige is taunting you.
You decide to stay unbothered, even though your body is feeling hot with either anger or arousal. Usually it was both with her.
“Yep.”
She raises an eyebrow. “The teams gonna be in good hands when you graduate.” Paige smirks again, an awful know-it-all smirk.
“I want to get to know the freshmen better, since I’m staying another year I feel like I should be closer with them.”
“And how do you plan on doing that, Bueckers? You gonna fuck your way through the whole media team?” You quip. So much for staying unbothered..
She’s startled for a moment, but recollects herself by saying “I would if I could. You wanna go first or last?”
“Eat a dick.” You snap
“Kiss my ass.” She replies.
“I’d rather die.”
Paige scoffs.“You know you’ve thought of it.”
“You’re so fucking cocky.”
“And you can’t admit that you want me.”
You truly seethe at that.
“God, you think everyone wants you. Get a grip.”
“Well I don’t care about ‘everyone’ I’m just tryna get you.” She groans, as if it’s common knowledge.
“If you think I’m the type of girl who’s just gonna let you hit and then carry on with my life then you’re more stupid then I thought.”
“Ion’ know where you got this little idea that I just hoe around, but it needs to stop.” She finally says, no longer joking. She’s basically cornered you against the vending machine at this point. There’s nowhere to go, and if you weren’t so worked up you would’ve felt frozen by her gaze.
“Have you heard the way you talk to me, Bueckers? You don’t talk to anyone else like that.” You cross your arms.
Paige rubs her face, embarrassed. “Because you freak me the fuck out. I don’t know how to talk to you, and you’re just so cute when you’re mad. I can’t help it.”
You say nothing.
“I fucking hate seeing you talk to the others like you’re best friends. I hate the fact that you never talk to me. I don’t know why I fuck it up when you do, you’re just different.”
“Different?”
“Yeah. You’re something else.”
The two of you just stare at each other now. There had always been an untouched tension between you and Paige. The others dismissed it as banter, but you were never quite sure.
“Just don’t lie and say you don’t think about me.” Paige finally says. “I know you think about me. I see the effect I have on you, ma.”
She cups your face with her hand, letting her finger graze over your lip. The two of you stare at each other for what feels like a lifetime before she whispers. “Can we go?”
“And the freshmen?” You cock your head.
Paige gives you a fierce look. “Fuck the freshmen.”
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Am I an asshole because I told someone to shut the hell up about his autism?
Now, please read this before making your vote.
I (21 F) started going back to school recently, I signed up for classes late because it took so long for the paperwork and processes to be finalized. I was taking a speech class in the morning and we had to do a group project in class. Now, I spoke with the professor and told her I did not do well in group projects because I either get treated like literal crap or I do all the work. She said she didn't care, either I join a group or get a 0. Someone (20 M) was watching, we'll call him Ed for clarity. I asked if I could join Ed's group and he said yes. I tried being really nice to Ed and waited for our group members to meet with us after class. He showed me which music he liked and I said it was nice. So, during the entire time period of this project I would meet a lot with my group mates and we'd do the project. It was very difficult because professor wanted over 10 resources and a certain length for the report, then to top it off a PowerPoint we'd be presenting too. Ed did a lot of things to make me feel very uncomfortable, but my group mates ignored it and didn't say anything. He'd talk about how he visited the dark web and looked into hitmen. Then he showed us an intro to a porno. I felt very uncomfortable and mentioned it to the other girl in our group, she said she would talk with the other boys in our group about it (they all had been friends since highschool except Ed) , she said the assignment did require us to find an intro that was terrible, but maybe a porno intro was too much. The assignment in question was basically a research project about why introductions are very important. They ended up choosing some 90's tv show intro, I don't remember which one it was, just that the show got 2 seasons and the intro was too stereotypical for the time. During the time Ed would send me random "hi"s and he added/followed me on all my social media. He would comment on everything and would try to make conversations on them when I wouldn't text back. I kept the texts as bland as possible. Ed just gave me a bad vibe and kept doing shit to make me uncomfortable. Now here's where the autism part comes in. I was talking to a guy I had a crush on instagram and I guess Ed noticed. So Ed basically calls me and asks if I'm not attracted to him because he has autism. I said what the hell and hung up. It made me feel so uncomfortable then he started bringing up his autism on all my photos, posts, tweets, you name it. I didn't know what to do anymore. Ed kept blowing up my phone too. He'd message me every 5 mins and would get mad when I wouldn't answer right away. So back to my crush, Ed messaged him I wasn't interested in dating him! Like dude! So my crush says he doesn't have time for immaturity and blocks me despite me trying to defuse and apologize hundreds of times for that. So I asked for some advice and basically I got that his autism was making him act like that. I don't want to sound ableist, I'm sorry if I give off that impression, but enough was enough. I told him to fuck off or else I'd get the authorities and school involved since what he was doing was harassment. He said he can't harass since he has autism so I told him to shut the hell up about his autism since it wasn't a "get out of jail" card so i finally blocked him everywhere. I don't know if I'm being an asshole or maybe I'm just not patient or equip to handle Ed? Even then, I am in no shape or form attracted to Ed nor was I ever. Now I just never want him bothering me again.
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Prepared for Anything Part Two
Gotham was a terrible place to live.
It was great.
People weren’t overly friendly or familiar with people they didn’t know, meaning they paid Danny no mind. No one mentioned he had fangs. No one commented on his slightly pointed ears. And no one questioned his strange ability to ward off muggers and would be criminals without even having to speak to them. His ghost aura came in handy sometimes.
It also mean that rent was dirt cheap. Especially in Crime Alley where Danny had taken up residence. It was made even cheaper by the fact that Danny didn't need heating with his ghostly physiology. It cut a lot down on bills. Not that it really mattered much. As Ghost King, he had an abundance of funds that he wasn’t sure he could dry it up within fifty lifetimes, let alone his one. However immortal it was.
The downside was the old wiring. Leaving him here. Eating Mac and cheese out of the pot he’d been cooking up as he watched the fire flicker and smoke plume out the windows.
Now, Danny hadn’t been planning to flee his apartment, it’s not like he woulda been in any danger, but his neighbour, some guy named Jason, had gone door to door, ensuring everyone was following the fire drills that children learned in elementary school which were ultimately incredibly flawed. Who really believed that an entire school of children would stay calm and collected during an actual fire?
Jason was nowhere to be seen now, though. Danny wondered if he was okay, but that guy currently helping a family out onto a fire escape, Red Bird. . .Red Helmet or something, would probably make sure he was. He was apparently a crime lord, but a good one?. . . .
. . .
Gotham was weird.
Just as the red guy and the family reached the ground, a scream for help called from the second top floor. They sounded young. Danny looked up to see a little girl at a window and flames raging too close for her to go anywhere.
Well. . . that was concerning. Who had left such a young kid unattended?
Red Dude was dashing out to the front of the building to get his bearings, looking for a way up. He wouldn’t be able to reach the girl using the fire escape. Danny took another bite of his Mac and Cheese, watching as the man’s grapple gun jammed.
Danny heaved a deep sigh.
He supposed he would have to get involved.
Leaving the crowd of tenants that had huddled on the sidewalk, Danny trudged back across the street and into an alley. He went far enough that no one would see him and opened a portal. With one hand, he reached in, found purchase on his quarry, and turned away to drag the ladder out and behind him.
Danny found Trigger-Happy-Dude starting to scale the building. Danny interrupted him before he got too far.
He belatedly wondered where the fire-fighters and cops were.
“Oh, hey, look what I randomly found in that alley.”
Red Dude paused to look at him. Looked at the ladder trailing behind Danny.
“It’s a ladder.” Danny raised it slightly from his lazy hold, noting how much he felt like he was giving an infomercial right now. “Pretty long, huh? Long enough to reach that floor, I bet.” Danny added helpfully with an encouraging nod. “How fortuitous.”
The Red Dude was quick to drop down and take it from him, but stared at Danny the whole time as if was abnormally weird.
Which was rude. Danny was just abnormal, thank you very much.
“Uhh. . .good work.” Red Dude said, setting up the ladder with Danny’s help. The vigilante tested it for stability.
Danny scoffed. As if he would purposefully tamper with it.
Which wasn’t too far-fetched in this city.
Red Dude deemed it acceptable. “Hold it steady for me, would ya?”
Danny nodded.
The man climbed up and Danny held both sides, pouting down at his pot of Mac and Cheese he’d had to set aside for the moment.
Ah, the sacrifices he makes.
Across the street, there were a multitude of cheers as Red Dude reached the little girl and settled her on his front like a backwards piggy-back hold.
Danny stepped aside when Red reached the bottom to pick his pot back up.
Sirens cut into the roar of flames above their heads and the loud call of the tenants that had lasted rather short, a few half-hearted cheers dying on the wind.
It was the middle of the night. Everyone was tired.
The mother of the little girl ran up to take her child and flagged down the first paramedic to arrive on the scene.
Danny returned his gaze to Red Dude who equally eyed him. Or at least, Danny assumed. His head was facing him.
“You’re that guy who punched out Joker.”
Danny paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. He slowly brought it the rest of the way. “How’d you know about that?”
“Cameras.” Hood tapped his helmet with a finger. “I saw RR and Robin’s video feed.”
Danny hummed, nodding along as he chewed. He wasn’t terribly concerned. Danny was just a random guy that happened to punch another random guy. It probably happened all the time in a place like Gotham. There was no need for further investigation into who Danny was. The vigilantes had probably forgotten all about him until this instant.
Red Dude looked at his pot. “That’s what you’re eating?” He said, somehow conveying judgement through the modulator.
“Yep.” Danny took another bite. After a moment of contemplation, he left the fork in his mouth to produce another from his hoodie pocket. He held it out to Red Dude. “Mac and Cheese?”
The dude leaned back slightly and his crossed arms gave the impression he was offended. “You just carry forks around in your pockets?”
Danny shrugged. “Ah, ya know, never leave home without a back-up fork.”
Red Dude considered him for another moment and Danny thought he’d decline. But then, he shrugged, his stance relaxing somewhat. “Sure.” He accepted the fork.
#Danny#danny phantom#Danny fenton#Red Hood#jason todd#dpxdc fanfic#crossover fic#dimension travel#I'm having fun#this fic is nonsense and I don't care
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I had always wondered why Binns wasn't replaced or the material updated for the History of Magic classes.
However I recently realised that History is a crucial part of understanding the world's past and paving the way for future. Not to mention History is tied with Civics/ Politics and plays a role in gaining your footing in the world and navigating creature relations.
To take such a crucial element away from the students and tell them to flounder on their own (especially muggle borns and raised who don't have the resources that pureblood and even half blood children do)
Coupled with the fact that whenever Harry learns a piece of history it's always from a biased source and by word of mouth (I mean text books can also be biased but still)
What I want to say is that generations of kids were seriously screwed over by the decision to not hire another effective History teacher.
Yes!! Yes!! All of this!!!
History is such an important thing to teach (I actually think real schools, at least where I live don't do a great job at it). As you mentioned, History is crucial to understanding politics, language, economy, and so much more. In the Harry Potter world, each spell comes with its own history of how it came into being and why, which affects how the spell is cast and what its effects are.
Now, Binns was the Hogwarts history Professor for a good century at least (he taught history in 1890 in Hogwarts Legacy as a ghost already), so it's not just Dumbledore who willfully keeps generations of Hogwarts students ignorant. And I think, if we opened their school books, we'd find a very biased account of Wizarding History and the goblin rebellions.
Now, I have a bit of a conspiracy theory about this and why history and magical theory aren't properly thought. Because their school books don't really cover why spells work or why potions need one ingredient over another, which in a world of magic feels like the bare minimum. I think the education problems, both with magical theory and with history are for the same reason — control.
As you mentioned, history is crucial to finding your footing in a culture, to understanding the world around you. Someone who is ignorant of history is easier to manipulate. They would be more prone to believing biased accounts and propaganda. And it's chilling how easy it was for the ministry to paint Harry as a deranged liar in book 5 by printing it in the Prophet. Even students who spoke with Harry and knew him personally believed it.
In book 7, a good portion of their world just kept living their lives, like there wasn't a war, like the minister wasn't under the Imperius. Some of the pure-bloods and half-bloods that have nothing to fear and aren't involved with the Death Eaters or the Order, they're just, there, living like nothing's wrong. They go to school, they go to work. Because if the newspaper (that's controlled by the ministry) says everything's fine, it must be true? Right? *sarcasm*
These are all signs of a very media-illiterate community that doesn't know how to be skeptical of what they read. And learning history, learning to ask questions about history, play a big part in teaching people how to be skeptical. I mean, learning about the history of propaganda and fascist regimes helps you know what to look for and how to hopefully not fall for the same tricks.
But the Wizarding World isn't interested in that. They're interested in a calm and controllable population.
Magical theory is the same in some ways. I wrote about how magic is all about intention here and here a bit. If you are focused and have enough magic and the force of will to back it up you can do anything. You don't actually need a wand or spells to cast magic, just a strong enough wish. This is how accidental magic works. Bright wizards like Tom and even Harry can learn to control their accidental magic, proving magic doesn't need wand waving and incantations. Yes, they make casting easier but they're not necessary.
But do you know what wands are necessary for? Following and identifying wizards. Wands are used to identify wizards and forbidding the use of them by creatures adds to the treatment of creatures as second-rate citizens.
And incantations? Well, if anyone could just cast whatever without a spell, magic would be incredibly hard (I might even say impossible) to regulate. You can't define which spells are unforgivable if spells don't exist. You can't make a list of illegal dark incantations if there are no incantations.
TL;DR
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is kind of a dystopia.
#harry potter#hp#hp meta#hollowedheadcanon#hp headcanon#ministry of magic#wizarding world#harry potter meta#hollowedtheory
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never been (stage) kissed
Summary: After years of being a struggling actress in Los Angeles, you finally land your big break! The only problem is, you’ve been cast opposite your longtime celebrity crush… Ruby Cruz. What will you do when the director demands a kiss between the two of you?
Pairing: ruby cruz x actress!reader
Contains: mature language, small amount of adult humor, kissing, fluff, thigh touching, in depth details of Hollywood movie shooting, anxious!reader, publicity tweets and comments, ruby being the sweetest girl EVER
Word Count: 3.1k
A/N: This is a Real Person Fiction. I’ve included a mass disclaimer of RPF guidelines here. Make SURE to click the link before reading, it’s extremely important for the safety of all Real People involved in this fiction.
You stared at the movie script in your hand, biting your lip to stop from squealing. After being in Los Angeles for the past five years, you had finally landed your big break.
You had known that you wanted to act ever since your mother signed you up to be a munchkin in a community theatre production of “The Wizard of Oz.” Of course, being a stubborn elementary schooler, you fought her on it, saying the songs were “stupid” and the costumes were “itchy.” But as soon as opening night came, and the lights hit your face, you put on a smile and celebrated the death of the Wicked Witch like it was something you’d been waiting for your entire life.
After the song's last note, deafening applause echoed around the theater, causing adrenaline to course through your veins. In that moment, you decided to spend the rest of your life chasing that feeling.
When you reached middle school, you joined their drama department, taking theatre as an elective class while occasionally participating in the school plays. Once high school rolled around, you began to take some of the more advanced classes, and even competed in a couple One-Act Play competitions. A lot of the people you started taking classes with eventually got bored and left to pursue other hobbies, but over the years you just fell more and more in love with acting, and became completely dedicated to your craft.
Instead of attending college, after you graduated high school you packed up whatever you needed and moved across the country to a small town about half an hour away from Los Angeles. The area was slightly sketchy, your apartment was small, and you had to work two jobs while sharing with four other roommates just to make rent.
Los Angeles kinda… sucked. But you had stars in your eyes and couldn’t be happier.
Unfortunately, you were kind of in for a rude awakening once audition season rolled around. Back in high school, you would book leads left and right. Now, it seemed like the only gigs you could book were background work, maybe a role in a rinky-dink student film if you were lucky. You always took what you could get, but you longed for something that could get your foot in the door.
One day, one of the short films you starred in entitled “Attack of the Killer Zombie Prom Queens” got entered into some film festival, and not only did it win an award you couldn’t remember the name of, it ended up going viral on YouTube, and not in a bad way either. Your performance in that film was astounding.
Plus, not that this was the sole reason the film blew up, but as an actress in your early 20’s who tended to take care of herself, you were kind of… well… hot.
Suddenly, you were getting recognized in public, signed with an agency, and landing more notable roles. You were featured in a music video for an up-and-coming country artist, booked a commercial for a costume makeup company (in which you brought back your look from “Attack of the Killer Zombie Prom Queens”), and even starred in three episodes of a new series on HBO Max.
Just when you thought life couldn’t get any better, one day you were coming back from what was either your third or fourth audition of the day, when you got a call from your agent on the drive home. You groaned, almost certain she was calling to schedule another “last-minute” audition. Sure you appreciated how hard she worked to get you booked, but you were also so tired after a long day.
To your surprise, when you picked up the phone, she ecstatically announced that you had booked a huge role.
In a feature film.
Starring alongside your celebrity crush… Ruby Cruz.
You had to pull over on the side of a highway to keep from swerving out of excitement.
Ruby had been your celebrity crush since you saw her in the Disney+ series “Willow.” Her masculine ambience, her devil-may-care attitude, and the way she swung her sword had you absolutely drooling. Somehow, you finished the entire series in two days, and immediately ran to IMDB to add Every Single Thing she’s been in to your watch list.
Now, you stood in front of the building where your first read-through was supposed to take place, the script for “Aliens of Atlantis” resting in your shaking hands. You gulped as you pushed open the door, wondering how you were going to keep your cool around Ruby when the very thought of her practically sent you into cardiac arrest.
Walking into the reading room, you were met with several chairs arranged into a circle and sounds of chatter from the other actors. You recognized a few of them from some smaller projects, even recognizing one from a movie that had come out the previous year. Your eyes scanned the room for Ruby, heart beating out of your chest when they landed on the back of a choppy brunette bob.
When Ruby turned around, you swore her blue eyes sparkled under the fluorescent lights. She caught you staring at her from across the room, and shot you a wide toothy smile before walking over to you.
“Hey,” she started. “You must be Zephyra.”
You blinked at her. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Zephyra.” She repeated. “You’re playing the alien queen of Atlantis, right?”
She furrowed her eyebrows at you slightly and tilted her head, worried she may have gotten you mixed up with someone else.
Her words clicked in your head, finally. “Oh! Yes! I’m playing the role of Zephyra.”
Ruby’s smile returned as she let out a lighthearted chuckle. You swallowed, trying to keep your cool. You still had trouble wrapping your mind around the fact that you were standing in front of the Ruby Cruz, and having a semi-successful conversation.
She stuck out her hand, offering a handshake. “Hi, I’m Ruby. I’m playing Calantha.”
You took her hand, electric shocks vibrating through your body at her touch. “Nice to meet you.”
After removing her hand (much to your displeasure), she turned to walk back over to her seat, but not before flashing you a smile over her shoulder. “Can’t wait to work with you!”
God, why did she have to be so cool?
The table read went fairly well, in your opinion. The movie was about Calantha, an underwater adventurer, finding the lost city of Atlantis during an expedition. Once there, she finds the city being ruled by aliens who’s spaceship crashed near the area about 100 years ago. Calantha finds Zephyra, the alien queen, who makes her promise to keep their secret, and in return, Calantha will help her run the city.
You were playing Zephyra, of course, since being in “Attack of the Killer Zombie Prom Queens” proved you looked hot even in otherworldly makeup. You kind of thought there might be some romantic or even sexual tension between Calantha and Zephyra, but you brushed it off as you thought that might not be the artistic intention.
Once filming started, your days were basically exclusively spent on set. Not that you were complaining, you loved every second. Even after coming home at 1am when you left for work at 6am, a blissful smile would be painted across your tired face.
The only thing that bothered you was that you barely ever got to talk to Ruby on set. It was more your fault than hers. Every time you two were working together, your brain short circuited and you couldn’t get out anything more than a few dim-witted babbles. Ruby was always so sweet about it though, always lightheartedly chuckling at your barely-comprehensible speech, sometimes even giving your upper arm a squeeze if you felt especially nervous.
You knew she meant well, but any touch from your celebrity crush was sure to do the opposite of calming you down.
One day, during a filming session, you and Ruby were meant to be sitting especially close to each other. You were sure you felt some romantic tension between the two characters, but you chalked it up to your crush on the actress and tried to downplay it. The director, however, seemed very frustrated today, this was the nineteenth take of this particular scene and he still wasn’t happy.
“Cut!” He yelled, letting out a frustrated sigh as you and Ruby turned your attention towards him.
“Everything alright, sir?” Ruby asked, making you glad you weren’t the only one who noticed his irritation.
“This scene… it’s missing something.” He brought his hand to his chin and squinted at the both of you. “Do we think we could add a kiss? Right here?”
Your heart stopped, and all the moisture disappeared from your mouth.
It wasn’t like you hadn’t kissed people before. You had your fair share of dates back in high school, that wasn’t the problem.
You’ve kissed, but you’ve never stage kissed.
Sure you had plenty of acting experiences, but the roles you played never required kissing. Instead of playing Aurora, you made a fabulous Maleficent. While Elle Woods locked lips with Emmett, you were busy portraying a hilarious Paulette. And of course, nobody wants to make out with a zombie prom queen.
You had no idea if there was any difference between actual kisses and stage-kisses. Obviously, sex scenes in movies weren’t real. But kisses? What if there is a difference and you go to kiss Ruby on camera and make her uncomfortable? What if she pushes you away? What if she gets mad? You don’t know how you’d recover from something like that, and your mind swarmed with plans to flee the country if that did happen.
Ruby opened her mouth to answer the director, before looking at you for confirmation and noticing your overly-panicked state. She sent you a reassuring smile, and placed a gentle hand on your back.
She turned to the director. “Could we pick this up after lunch? I think my scene partner and I have some things to discuss.”
The director agreed, and since it was still about thirty minutes to lunch, decided to use that time to record some “room noise.” You and Ruby were meant to sit still and quietly, the only thing you heard being the echo of your heartbeat in your ears.
Suddenly, you received a text notification, causing sound to go off and the director to groan and shoot you an annoyed look. You mumbled a quick “sorry” before switching your phone to vibrate and looking to see who texted you.
After wolfing down a sandwich from the craft services table, you stood in front of the trailer with Ruby’s name on the door, wringing your clammy hands while deciding whether or not to knock. You took a deep breath, raised your knuckles, and knocked three times, taking a step back after.
She answered almost immediately, staring down at you with a comforting grin. “Hey, come on in.”
Walking up the stairs and into Ruby’s trailer, you couldn’t help but notice how much cleaner it was than yours. You weren’t necessarily sloppy, but your vanity was covered in various bottles of blue face paint, while your floor held multiple alien-like prosthetics. Ruby’s was tidier, with a small couch pushed up against the wall, and her vanity holding nothing but some makeup basics and a half-full can of Dr. Pepper she had been drinking right before you walked in.
Ruby took a seat in her vanity chair and took a sip from her Dr. Pepper, motioning for you to sit on the small couch. “What’s going on? You didn’t seem too comfortable with the kissing scene.”
You gulped, staring down at your lap. “It’s not that…”
Ruby sat up, leaning forward to gawk at you. “Oh my god… have you never been kissed?”
“What? No! Of course I have…” you trailed off. “I just… I’ve never stage kissed before, and I know you have, so is it any different from regular kissing? I feel so stupid for asking and I’m so sorry but I didn’t wanna do it wrong while filming and I’m kinda embarrassed that I don’t know the answer so that’s why I wanted to ask you privately because I didn’t wanna fuck up…”
Ruby stared at you, silent and wide eyed. You felt your heartbeat in your ears as you tried to decipher what she was thinking. Suddenly, she threw her head back and let out a hearty laugh. Your heart sank. Here you were being awkward and vulnerable in front of your crush, and she was laughing at you.
Just before you decided to get up and walk out, Ruby calmed down, wiping away a tear and smiling apologetically. “I’m sorry, I promise I’m not making fun of you. I didn’t mean to laugh, really. You’re just so cute.”
You felt your cheeks burn at her words. She thinks you’re cute?
Ruby threw her soda away in a nearby trash can and moved to sit next to you on the small couch. She criss-crossed her legs, turning to face you while pondering how to answer your question.
“So… stage kisses are different from regular kisses, but they’re also not, you know? Like, we’re kissing but we’re not like… kissing.”
She peered over at you, studying your facial expressions. You looked more confused than ever, so she continued her explanation.
“So, if you’re asking if my lips will physically be on your lips… then the answer is yes, they will. But they’re not exactly like the real thing, because it’s more of a demonstration to the audience rather than an act of passion between two people.”
“A demonstration?” You cocked your head. Ruby nodded.
“Yeah, so say the camera was over there…” she pointed out in front of you. “…then you might cup my jaw, or cradle the back of my head. But if you were to grab my face or something like that, it’d look pretty awkward in a fifty-fifty profile shot.”
You nodded in understanding. “Ok… I think I get what you’re saying.”
“There are also different types of kissing.” Ruby continued. “Like, it should portray how your character feels about the other character. When Zephyra has scenes with Calantha, how does she feel?”
You gulped, focusing on your lap again. “Well, to be honest, it kinda feels like there’s a lot of romantic or sexual tension between our characters, but I’ve sort of been suppressing it because I’m not sure that was the intention.”
“But you feel like Zephyra is attracted to Calantha sexually?” Ruby asked. You nodded. “Great! You don’t necessarily have to make it explicit, but something like that can help you dive deeper into your character.”
Ruby scooted closer to you, taking your hands in hers. She gazed at you with half lidded eyes, causing your breathing to accelerate.
“I want you to kiss me.”
Ruby’s words barely resonated in your head, there was no way you heard her correctly. “You… huh?”
“For practice.” Ruby clarified, letting go of your hands. “Like you would during filming. Is that ok?”
An involuntary swallow forced itself down your throat as you nodded. You couldn’t believe you were about to kiss your celebrity crush, even if it was only for practice.
You pressed your hand into her warm cheek, pulling her close and quickly pecking her lips before retreating away. Your face burned from embarrassment while Ruby cocked her head, clearly confused.
“That’s it?” She asked. “My bad, I didn’t realize Calantha was your grandmother.”
Ruby moved closer and cradled the back of your head, entangling her fingers into your soft locks. You felt your hands sweat as her big blue eyes gazed into yours. “I was thinking maybe something more like this…”
She crashed her lips into yours, causing warmth to explode in your chest. Her fingers played with your hair as you began to kiss back, and your arms wrapped around her waist. Holy shit could she kiss! You could barely fathom how soft her lips were, tasting faintly of Dr. Pepper and vanilla lip balm. As hard as you tried to act professional and pretend there was a camera in front of you, every inch of your body screamed at you to succumb to your most primal instincts.
You lifted one hand from her waist and moved to rest it on her mid-thigh, causing a gentle moan to escape from her lips and a shiver to run down her body. Startled, you moved back, throughly convinced that you majorly fucked up.
“Shit, I’m sorry!” You exclaimed, pulling back your hand like it had touched fire. “I wasn’t thinking, fuck. I got too swept up in the moment. I shouldn’t have touched you, that was completely unprofessional.”
“Hm…?” Ruby blinked, still in a daze. “Oh. Oh! You’re good! Don’t be sorry. I liked it. Really.”
Ruby grinned at you shyly. You stared back at her, a question you weren’t quite sure how to ask lingering at the tip of your tongue. “Ruby, are still… practicing?”
Her smile faded as her eyes went wide and her gaze dropped to her lap. It was her turn to be coy, a sight you’d never seen before.
She dropped her voice to a low whisper as she choked out her question. “Do you want to be?”
Before you could even open your mouth to answer, your phone alarm screeched from your jacket pocket. You took it out, groaning as you turned it off.
Ruby furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “What was that?”
“My alarm,” you answered. “I have to go.”
“But lunch isn’t over for another twenty minutes.” Ruby pointed out, trying to hide her disappointment.
“Yeah, but I have to head back early so they can touch up my makeup and fix my prosthetics.”
Ruby sighed in understanding. She supposed your costume might have a bit more upkeep than hers. Your prosthetics did look a little wonky after the lunch break, never mind your smudged blue lipstain that made her apprehensive to look in a mirror.
You collected yourself and turned to walk out, but looked over your shoulder before opening the door. “Uhm… Ruby?”
“Hm?” She answered.
You wrung your hands anxiously. “Do you think we could maybe… do this again? Sometime?”
Ruby’s head shot up to look at you, and a playful smile spread across her face. “Do what? More kissing lessons?”
You rolled your eyes as she chuckled, then gave you a lopsided grin. “I’d like that. Lunch again, tomorrow?”
A blush pink color sprinkled across the apples of your cheeks as you smiled back at her, trying your best to stay cool and suppress the giddy feeling that was bubbling inside of you.
“See you then.”
#ruby cruz#ruby cruz x reader#hazel callahan#hazel callahan x reader#kit tanthalos#kit tanthalos x reader#fanfic#fanfiction#rpf#rpc#fluff#sapphic#lesbian#comedy#pining#fiction#real person fiction#willow#willow 2022#wlw
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Dispatch! (The Ossan's Love Episode)
And we're back!
NiNi and Ben bring our friend @twig-tea to the show to talk about the entire Ossan's Love series. We'll talk about the way this franchise evolves over time, the difficulties of comedy, what it means to love older queer men, and how this show tackles the complexities of family and masculinity.
Timestamps
The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.
00:00:00 - Welcome
00:01:15 - Introduction and Some Context
00:06:25 - Ossan’s Love History and Summary
00:13:42 - The Characters
00:28:23 - Love or Dead and In The Sky
00:39:00 - Ossan’s Love Returns
00:45:33 - Final Thoughts and Ratings
The Conversation Transcripts!
Thanks to the continued efforts of @ginnymoonbeam as transcriber, and @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.
We will endeavor to make the transcripts available when the episodes launch, and it is our goal to make them available for past episodes (Coming soon thanks to @wen-kexing-apologist). When transcripts are available, we will attach them to the episode post (like this one) and put the transcript behind a Read More cut to cut down on scrolling.
Please send our volunteers your thanks!
00:00:00 - Welcome
NiNi
Welcome to The Conversation About BL, aka The Brown Liquor Podcast.
Ben
And there it is. I’m Ben.
NiNi
I’m NiNi.
Ben
And we’re you’re drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie here sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.
NiNi
Four times a year we pop in to talk about what’s going on in the BL world.
Ben
We shoot the shit about stories and all the drama going into them. I review from a queer media lens.
NiNi
And I review from a romance and drama lens.
Ben
So if you like cracked-out takes and really intense emotional analysis…
NiNi
If you like talking about artistry, industry, and the discourse…
Ben
And if you generally just love simping…
NiNi
There is a lot of simping on this podcast…
Ben
We are the show for you!
00:01:15 - Introduction and Some Context
Ben
And we're back!
This week, we are covering all of Ossan's Love, from 2016 through 2024. We have brought on a special guest for this special episode as we're going to talk about the longest-running BL project. We have brought on our friend @twig-tea.
Twig
Hello.
NiNi
Hi, Twig. Welcome to the show.
Twig
Thank you so much for having me.
NiNi
New friend of the pod. Super excited to have you here. Twig is what we delightfully referred to as a ‘fandom old.’ I'm very excited to be having this conversation with two fandom olds in here, Twig and Ben, because, dear listeners, I have not had the time to watch Ossan's Love, so this is gonna be interesting. Ben and Twig are gonna school me.
Twig
We'll do our best.
Ben
This is going to be an interesting episode because we're going to be talking about a project that was somewhat overlooked by fandom, myself included, until the last couple of months. And I'm a little bit salty about it, and so I wanted to bring on somebody who has watched all of this in real time, and I thought that their perspective would be helpful.
Twig, you are new to our listeners. Why don't you tell them a little bit about yourself in fandom and your history with queer cinema and BL?
Twig
I actually started on the GL side, which is a little bit different than I think a lot of folks in the BL fandom. I started with getting into Sailor Moon and got involved with a group of women who started Yuricon. The first Yuricon was held in Newark, NJ, in 2003 and I was the secretary.
From there, there just wasn't enough GL content, and so I got into BL, too. I was really into Japanese manga, was part of a few scanlation groups, got oversaturated, stepped away, came back in 2016 to be shocked at the fact that a whole lot of the stuff that I used to watch was now made into live action.
The YouTube algorithm in late 2016—early 2017—fed me Lovesick and I sort of went, “Hello. What's this?” Then watched Make it Right and was hooked on Thai BL. Tried to backfill as much as I could, so I watched Gray Rainbow, and Diary of Tootsies, and all this stuff that nobody talks about, really, anymore.
One of the things about fandom at that time was that the way you found stuff was digging and a prayer, and random people making random lists, and it was very hard to tell how good those lists were. And so I managed that by watching everything and making my own opinions. And that is why I watched Ossan’s Love when it aired, or as soon as I could get my hands on it.
NiNi
So we're talking like real, real old school. We're talking about “Oh God, maybe some fansubber might help us out here.”
Twig
Fuckin’, like, Internet relay chat.
NiNi
IRC was my job back in the day.
Twig
Yes!
NiNi
I was talking about other things—not BL, but I was there.
Ben
Twig has sketchy as shit DVDs that were handed to her by a fan that have not great rip but really solid subs.
Twig
Bought in a mall parking lot with Mandarin subtitles that we used to watch with my friends who spoke Mandarin so they could translate for us in real time. It was hard. We used to walk uphill both ways back in the day.
Ben
A lot of folks who have been in this for a long time—we joked that we watched everything because we had to. You have done a better job of keeping track of what you've watched.
Twig
I wish I'd done better. I only really started tracking things in 2020. I did try to backfill the years before that, but I only really captured all of the major series. There was so many shorts, and things like that, I just couldn't do. But my spreadsheet has about 600 things on it, 606 as of today.
Ben
Incredible.
NiNi
I have been watching media overall—like seriously watching media—for…30 years…and I have not watched 606 of anything.
Ben
Nah, I believe her. It adds up. I engage with close to 100 BLs every year for the last 2-3 years.
NiNi
Clearly I'm not in these streets with y'all.
[Twig laughs]
Ben
I'm so glad Twig has showed up because it has given me permission to not watch so much.
NiNi
I bow down to you guys, because there was a point in time where, trying to keep up with week-to-week, I was watching something like eight shows at a time and I literally felt like my head was on fire. So, I don't know how you guys do it.
Ben
Practice. [laughs]
NiNi
We talked about this on the show, how last year I watched 50 things, maybe, for the whole year, and I felt like I was losing my mind. I usually watch like 15.
Ben
50 is good. Like, that's a really healthy number.
Twig
That is. That's pretty solid.
NiNi
As in five-zero?
Ben
Yeah, no, that's great!
NiNi
A year?!
Ben
Yeah! And we made a whole fucking show out of it! It’s good!
NiNi
Deep breaths. Okay, let's continue. Let's go on. [laughs]
00:06:25 - Ossan’s Love History and Summary
NiNi
Let's get into Ossan's Love. Ben, do the honors, tell us what is Ossan's Love about?
Ben
Actually, I want to do this one a little bit differently.
NiNi, you have not engaged with Ossan's Love. The most you have is the fandom vibe on it from the periphery. What is your impression of Ossan's Love prior to all of us posting a lot about the new show?
NiNi
When you say periphery, I think you're being incredibly generous. There was one where they’re flight attendants maybe, or something to do with an airline. I am aware of that. And then there was something with a boss. There was a thing about a shower. There's some dirty jokes that go over my head because they're referential to this show. But in terms of my awareness of Ossan’s Love, it's honestly not much.
Did I get any of those things correct by the way?
Twig
You totally did.
Ben
You did. I almost shouted “Dispatch” when you mentioned the airport. [Twig and Ben laugh]
All right. So, I will give what I knew of Ossan's Love prior to earnestly engaging with it: Ossan's Love is a workplace-set drama in which a guy who works in an office is being pursued by a colleague of the same age as him and his boss—who is like 20-plus-odd years older than him. At the time when I didn't watch it, the fandom vibe on it was that it was fairly offensive, particularly around the old guy character. And, when it was hard to find this show, I was like, “Whatever, I'm not going to work that hard for a show that people seem really put off by.” I have had to make sure that I check if I am riding an old fandom opinion from prior to 2019 when it comes to older work, because those opinions are usually not informed by the lens that I use. And so I decided to engage with Ossan's Love properly.
Before we start describing what the show is specifically, Twig, what do you remember about your experience watching the show in real time and the popular opinions about it?
Twig
So, the first thing is real time had really different meanings back then because we didn't have international distribution. It was sort of when things were fan subbed and when you could find them and knew they existed. So, I actually didn't get to watch the short until years after the original. So my first outing with Ossan’s Love was season one.
At the time, it felt like if you liked it, you should be quiet about it, because the opinion was so negative that you would be shouted down if you said anything positive about it. So I just sort of stayed in my corner of enjoyment and tried not to think too hard about it.
Ben
That is unfortunately how I remember it being. It was not popular to say positive things about Ossan’s Love at the time. Even the fans of Ossan's Love seemed super ambivalent about the second season, which was an alternative universe.
Twig
Yeah. When Season 2 aired it was an even wider swing. The people who really loved Season 1 seemed to hate Season 2. I actually like Season 2 better than Season 1, so I was even more like, [laughs] “Okay, I guess I don't know what I'm talking about, guys, so I'm just gonna stay over here and let you all have your opinions over there.”
Ben
So our quick timeline: we have Ossan’s Love the TV special in 2016. We have Ossan’s Love the TV show airing during spring of 2018. They released the movie Ossan’s Love: Love or Dead —that went into theaters on August 23rd of 2019—and then a few months later, in November, they released Ossan’s Love: In The Sky. It's my understanding that Ossan’s Love Returns was originally supposed to air in, like, 2020-2021. They've returned to that project this year in 2024.
NiNi
I know they're going to be doing a Thai version of this coming up and they also have the Hong Kong version?
Twig
That's right. Yep. There was a Hong Kong version in I think 2021 or 2022.
NiNi
I love when they take a property and they remake it across cultures over and over again. I'm always intrigued to see how they turn out.
Ben
Have you watched the Hong Kong version, Twig?
Twig
I peeked at it. It's really true to season one in a lot of ways. I haven't actually watched it all the way through because I was like, “If I want to rewatch season one, I'll just rewatch season one.”
Ben
I feel like I have to watch it at some point.
All right, so let's get into Ossan’s Love properly now: Ossan’s Love is about a 33 year old man named Haruta who is a slob. He is a hot mess of a man. He cannot take care of himself. He lives with his mom, and she does all the housework. She decides to bail on him and go run off with the hot new man she's with. And so he asks his colleague, whose name is Maki, to move in with him to help him out because Maki is very good at house chores.
He learns accidentally that his boss, whose name is Kurasawa Musashi, has had a crush on him for a long time and also simultaneously learns that Maki has been crushing on him for a long time. Hijinks ensue as the two of them begin aggressively pursuing him, and he is not prepared for this sudden surge in gay activities.
Twig
One thing I add to your description, Ben, is it's a comedy.
Ben
So this is where things get a little bit complicated. Comedy is hard to do correctly, because a big part of comedy is playing with people's preconceptions of how an interaction should go. A lot of folks struggle with Japanese comedy because they're just not aware of the expectations for how an interaction should go, and so the humor is not landing on them, and this can happen even in your own culture. Like, if you showed a teenager today Airplane, many of the jokes in that movie would make no sense to them because they're missing some of the cultural context. Some of that exists with peoples engagement with Ossan's Love, I think.
Twig
I think that's right.
00:13:42 - The Characters
Ben
The big part about Ossan's Love that impresses me is how the show gets better each time they come back. There are things that are kind of yikes in the short that are tweaked out in the first show. There are things that they retooled Haruta and Kurosawa over in the airport season. And then, in the most recent season, Ossan's Love Returns, they've shifted where the focus of their storytelling is after everything that's going on. So we are seeing the same characters, but they're dealing with much different dynamics.
So, Ossan's Love Returns was a completely acceptable point for a lot of people to jump on, and I almost just jumped on. But, I like to know how we got here. So I was like, “I must watch all of this first!” [laughs]
NiNi
I was about to say on what point were you ever gonna just jump on without going back into the before times? You, sir, are a historian and a completionist.
Ben
Of course. And so I went back and watched.
Twig, since you didn't have a lot of people to talk about Ossan's Love with at the time, how about you talk about your impressions of Haruta, Maki, and Kurosawa when you first engaged with it?
Twig
The thing that stuck with me is that, even in 2018, it felt a little more queer than a lot of the other stuff I was watching alongside it at the time. Haruta and Maki, and all of the characters, play into that in different ways. Haruta is an extremely frustrating character. I just wanted to reach through the screen and strangle him through most of season one, and I think that's partially intentional.
Haruta is set up as the literal straight man. He's there to be what your average straight guy reaction might be when confronted with gayness, and everyone around him literally slaps him and tells him he's being an idiot. Delightful, but it doesn't make the character himself very likable at first. The fact that he grows on you anyway, even while he's being so frustrating, speaks to the other strengths in his character: his kindness, and the way he values his coworkers. And I think the later seasons did a really good job of picking up the things that made Haruta such a great character, and enforcing that in the character writing itself to make him more likable overall.
I loved Kurosawa from jump. I think he's [laughs] incredible. He lives life on 11, and I think watching an older man step through some of the more standard romance tropes very clumsily but earnestly is incredibly charming.
Maki is the competent character. He's also a self-actualized gay man. He at no point questions his sexuality at all, has no crisis about it. He knows who he is and what he's attracted to. And that was also really refreshing for BL at the time.
NiNi
Describing the kind of character that Kurosawa is made me think of Ben describing characters like Shin from Minato's Laundromat. When you tend to see these younger characters who are full on gung-ho chasing after the ones that they like, people like that. But they don't like the boss because they don't think their character should be doing that.
Twig
When I was first telling Ben about my opinions about the show, I said one of the things I struggle with is whether Kurosawa is telling the joke or is the joke. I think the more I have watched and rewatched, especially in later seasons, they do a really good job of him being a funny character and we're not laughing at him. He's not the butt of the joke, he's just funny. The people who would be turned off by an old guy hitting on a younger guy no matter what were turned off by that character and the ones who were sympathetic to older men also having romance in their lives were turned off by the idea that it was a comedy.
Ben
The comedy in the way Kurosawa pursues Haruta is about the age gap, not the fact that he's an old man. It's that he's at a different stage of his life. He's not fumbling to figure out stuff, he knows what he wants and his time is limited, so he's pursuing it determinately and also because he's older, he's behaving in line with his generation.
Like, if you don't have friends who are more than 10 years older than you, sometimes you're going to get weirded out by their cultural stuff. Like right now, I'm reaching the age gap with some of the kids I tutor, and I had to deal with all the various iterations on rizz and I don’t like it.
[Twig and NiNi laugh]
I had an 8 year old call himself The Rizzler the other day and I almost pushed him down.
Twig
Oh no.
NiNi
Oh my God.
Ben
I understand the concern around Kurosawa. But that is not what I think the show is doing, and even if it accidentally does it, that is not the show’s intent. Haruta is dealing with the sudden shift in his relationships with men who are important to him. Maki was just like his friend and colleague, who he was low-key mooching off of to do housework for him, and he has to deal with the fact that the only reason Maki is willing to put up with him is because Maki likes him. With Kurosawa, a big part of their relationship is the fact that he respects and admires him so much. The relationship between them is very paternal in a lot of ways?
Twig
A mentorship.
Ben
Yeah, he sees Kurosawa as a respected mentor and Kurosawa respects Haruta as well as a valued member of his team. A big part of the show is them sorting out the way that affection complicates some of these relationships, and we as the audience have to struggle with why these men like this man. Haruta is fucking useless in the household. He may be good at his job, but he is horrible at house related stuff. And so the question is why would anyone want him?
And this is not rhetorical for the show. They really want you to grapple with this. The fact that Haruta is kind of repulsive as a romantic interest is something the show wants you to think about. You have to work to understand why so many people are into Haruta, and I think this gets better overtime.
Twig
They do a really good job with all of the women characters in this show, which was super rare for the time and still worth saying. His best friend Chizu also is terrible at housework, but she's a woman, and so she's struggling with the expectation that she get married and she keeps talking about how she needs to find somebody who does for her what Haruta’s men are willing to do for him. I just love putting those two characters side by side. And the silent question that's asked of the audience. That's like, why is this okay for Haruta, but not for Chizu.
Ben
It's not really subtle. As the show goes on, Maki won't really commit to Haruta because Haruta is ostensibly straight. Maki is hesitant about full committing because it's hard to be gay, like you got a lot to face as a gay person and he doesn't know that Haruta is going to stand up to all that. He's kind of a waffly type of dude. He's kind of a people pleaser who won't really stand up to anyone. This is kind of good for him as a salesperson. It's obvious why all their clients like Haruta. But it makes him kind of unreliable as a partner because you're not certain he's going to hold ground with you when the world is telling you that you shouldn't be together.
The first season ends on a really cool note, ‘cause Maki and Haruta break up and Haruta just falls apart. And Kurosawa moves in with him for a while to help take care of him. For Kurosawa, it's a romantic thing, but it very much feels like someone’s parent going to take care of their kid. Haruta recognized where he failed with Maki, and he starts trying to help out with house stuff a little bit. But it's not like he suddenly becomes like a great housekeeper. I really liked that choice, that he starts putting in an effort but he's still horrible at it.
Kurosawa ends up proposing to Haruta. Haruta has a hard time saying no to people, so he accepts. Also, he used a flash mob. It's hard to say no when someone flash mobs you.
NiNi
Pause. Pause for cause.
Twig
Michael Jackson-themed flash mob.
NiNi
Okay, not pausing. Unpausing. Go ahead.
Ben
Kurosawa is always at 11. He is an incredible character and like he and Haruta are going to get married and at the altar, Kurosawa is like. You need to go to him. You don't actually want to be here. And so Haruta runs to Maki and proposes to him at the end of the first season.
And then there's just an incredible supporting cast in the show. I don't think we have time to talk about all of them properly, but. Haruta’s friend Chizu’s older brother Teppei runs a little bar diner that they often hang out at. He's so funny, always giving them weird gross food combinations to try out. They’re’s Maro, who's a member of their team who did not know Haruta’s given name for the years they worked together, there's Maika, who's kind of a nosy busybody at their work. She's a great source of comedy, ends up with Teppei. There's Takegawa, who's the second at their office in the first season, who is revealed to be Maki’s ex later. And he is intense as hell and becomes a complicating factor in the budding relationship between Haruta and Maki because he challenges Haruta. He's like, why is he putting this much effort into you? You suck! I really love the Takegawa character because he is a hot mess.
Twig
He just is so pained at Maki falling for a straight man. Something that is deeply relatable for anybody in queer spaces. [NiNi laughs] Like we have all been that person. Like, what are you doing to yourself?
Ben
I want to nod to Choko real quick. In the first season, Kurosawa has a wife of 30 years. Her name is Choko. Once his feelings for Haruta become known to Haruta, he decides he's going to pursue them and he tells this to his wife and they get divorced. She is understandably upset about this whole situation. But what's so great about it is, the show allows her to have a journey of figuring out what her life is going to be now that this information is out there. Like, she was hurt and upset at first, but then decides to support Kurosawa because this is her partner of 30 years and she understands him, so she ends up eventually supporting what he's trying to do with Haruta. And she ends up developing her own relationship with Maro.
It's really cool in this show where there's this whole complicated thing about whether or not these three gay men are going to sort themselves out into various relationship configurations, they're also doing a pretty steep successful age gap romance between like a 30-something year old man and a woman approaching 60.
Twig
I love Choko's arc so much. It's the one thing that stayed with me the most. She is also allowed to be funny. She's silly and immature in the same ways that the male characters are. She's not perfect either. And I think that is super important that she's a complicated character.
I think it's really important that this show talks about the ways in which homophobia and being in the closet hurts everyone, not just gay people. I think this show does a good job of at least alluding to the fact that the hurt that's caused by people having to live lies makes waves in communities.
NiNi
I like when they put that on older characters, as well. There's so much to unpack when you're talking about a life lived in the closet, emerging from a life lived in the closet later on in life. What you're gonna do with that life and how you're gonna treat it. From what you guys are saying about Kurosawa, it’s like he just decided to take life by the balls once he came out of the closet, and that's always something that I enjoy seeing.
Ben
I guess, well, on some of the negatives. The humor is choppy in the first season. You do have to recalibrate as you're watching. It is very funny, but in ways that are unexpected. You will end up feeling a sense of revulsion in the show, particularly to season one Haruta. When I started going back to it, I had a difficult time with the first episode because I'm asking myself why would anyone want to fuck this man? [NiNi and Twig laugh] That is a real and valid reaction that you have to work with as you're watching the show. And so parts of it are a little bit difficult to watch in that regard.
And Kurosawa is a huge character. You have to take time to get to know him and understand him and understand where his behaviors are coming from. And if you're not willing to do that work, the show is super off putting.
Twig
It is loud. You do have to allow your comedy ear to calibrate to its shouting.
Ben
However, I will say that if you want to see romance in BL about older characters, Ossan’s Love is right there. The entire drama is about 30-somethings and much older dealing with life and love. There is no wistful stuff about “things were easier when we were kids” in this show at all. It is very much grounded in the perspective and dramas that people in their 30s and 40s and 50s are dealing with in life and romance.
Twig
I feel like the one other thing that I always feel the need to call out about the first season is Haruta, because of what his character is struggling with, is physically uncomfortable with displays of affection, and particularly with kissing, in the first season. And that can be off putting too, but he makes it clear verbally that he's not actually against physical affection, he's just familiar with it? It is one of the things that the show does better later on.
00:28:23 - Love or Dead and In The Sky
Ben
Let's talk about the movie! Ossan’s Love: Love or Dead.
Twig
[laughs] Every time I think about that title, it makes me laugh, ‘cause it's just so extra.
NiNi
I'm sorry, Love or Dead?
Ben
Mhmm.
Twig
Oh yeah.
Ben
The premise of this movie is at the end of season one, Haruta got an opportunity to go work in Shanghai for about six months, and the guys are going to be facing a separation for a bit. There's drama when Maki goes to pick up Haruta ‘cause he's found in a compromising position, and a big part of this is Maki still dealing with his anxiety around whether or not Haruta can be a partner to him. Maki gets selected to be part of this high-powered real estate team, and there's a bunch of drama that unfolds involving a partnership with a drug peddling organization and then we end on like an action note where they have to rescue Haruta from a burning building.
Twig
There are explosions.
Ben
Lots of explosions.
NiNi
This sounds… delightful. This sounds like exactly my kind of crack.
Ben
You should watch it sincerely.
Twig
It is delightful.
Ben
If you're not certain about Ossan’s Love, legit, watching Ossan’s Love: Love or Dead is not a terrible place to start. It's a two-hour outing that covers the basic ground of the franchise, has some really strong moments, and is super cracked out.
What's so fun in it is, we talk about the retooling of the characters. In season one, Maki and Kurosawa beef a lot over Haruta and legit get into physical brawls over it. This is a feature of the entire franchise. These men scrap on the regular. There's this great moment when they're trying to rescue Haruta from this building where Kurosawa's role as their mentor comes through and he reads Maki about how he's always holding back in the relationship. That's what I think works for me the most in this franchise, the collective love that everyone has for each other. It's true that Kurosawa is not going to succeed as a romantic rival to Maki in this story, but that doesn't mean that he's not important to everyone and everything going on. And I really, truly love that.
Twig
His mentorship relationship with Maki really starts to flourish in the movie, the moment where Maki’s hanging off of a ledge and Kurosawa is helping him physically back onto the ledge so he doesn’t fall into the flames, but also verbally telling him what he needs to do to save his relationship. This movie is not subtle with its metaphors. But it's such a good moment where we realize that Kurosawa plays that role for Maki, too, of a mentor, and that he's willing to do it for the relationship, even at the same time as being a love rival. And it sets up the new season really well.
Ben
The movie matters to the timeline of the series. The movie is not just some sort of one off moment that occurs. The events of the movie are built into the characters, and it was the beginning of them retooling how these characters function.
NiNi
This sounds like a very experimental type of series, just the way that they do different things each time. While they are refining their central characters and the central storylines, they're also experimenting with style and tone, and a number of other things it feels like?
Twig
I think that's really true. One of the things about the movie that's really fun is it's the first instance of sports in the series. We get Justice playing basketball with Haruta and working his feelings out through basketball.
Ben
JUSTICE!!! [Twig and Ben laugh]
Twig
Love and peace! And that becomes a huge part of the AU and also part of Ossan’s Love Returns that I think really adds to the experience. They try things out and then if it works, they pick it up and add and yes, and it, and then they pull out the things that didn't really work. I find that really interesting to watch happen.
NiNi
The concept of something being iterative like that in real time, it's not for everybody.
Ben
This series went on to do something super experimental where a couple of months after they released a continuation movie promising that these characters would get back together, they released an alternative universe season where only Haruta and Kurosawa were present from the original cast, and now we're at an airport dealing with a completely different set of characters and a slightly different dynamic.
It also gave Twig and I our favorite bit.
Twig
[laughs] Dispatch! 👍
Ben
Dispatch! 👍 Oh my God. It is so funny, every single time.
NiNi
Every time.
Ben
Every episode has at least two dispatch moments. [Twig laughs] It's so fucking funny.
Twig
Sometimes it's to end a conversation. Sometimes it's to greet somebody, sometimes it's to shut down a conversation, distract from someone saying something you don’t want them to say.
Ben
So in this particular season, Kurosawa is still a leader. He is the captain of a flight crew. Haruta is a new flight attendant who is joining this team. In this case, Kurosawa is not Haruta’s long-term mentor who has been harboring a crush on him. He develops his crush in real time. Haruta moves into company housing and there's a slightly older guy there who's got a crush on Haruta, but he won't say anything about it. And then there's the meanest twink who's ever existed in BL.
NiNi
I mean y'all just seem to be giving me multiple reasons to watch this show at this point, so.
Ben
So in the second season, there's far more complicated people in the Haruta stuff. There's Kaname who is the older mechanic who lives in the dorms, and he's got this huge crush on Haruta, but he'll never say anything about it. Naruse is causing fucking problems all the time, because every time he has relationship drama and people show up at their airport to fuck with him about it, he just starts kissing Haruta to make people go away. And then people throw drinks in Haruta’s face over it. Because Tanaka Kei is a master of physical comedy.
Twig
One of the staples of the series is what I call the Haruta reaction supercut, where they just have multiple cuts of Haruta’s face as it morphs into more and more absurd huh, no, whaaa faces. He does bend his body in ways that's like a cartoon falling over, it's pretty incredible.
NiNi
Ben knows that I love physical comedy.
Twig
Yoshida Kotaro has incredible physical comedy, too.
Ben
Like if you ever want to see an old man try and kill an aging twink [Twig laughs], this is the show for you.
I get why people who liked the first show bounced off of this, because the rest of the cast is gone. The supporting cast is a really strong part of the Ossan’s Love experience, but I really like the AU season because I think it allowed them to retool Haruta and Kurosawa. And retool the relationship between them to make it more about their mentorship. They're building that relationship in the AU season ‘cause they don't know each other.
Twig
The thing that I really like about the AU setup is because Haruta is coming into a new environment, we get to see him build his network of people around him over the course of the season. Showing us what's likable about Haruta because he has to charm all these people around him in order to get friends and build a community, is a really important piece of the puzzle that allowed me to get to like that character a lot more, because he was charming me at the same time.
Ben
We get a lot of great moments in the season. Kurosawa has been a pilot for 30 years and he decides to retire and everyone is sad about it. I'm sad about it, Twig is crying about it.
Twig
Mmhm.
Ben
He ends up inviting the three guys who we've mentioned out to hang out in the park with him. He has this sumo tournament with them where he's basically giving them the last bit of advice he's going to give them and it is, one of the most intensely emotional man moments I have had in this genre. I was losing it and I was crying. I was hollering and screaming, messaging Twig like, “Wake up, I need to talk about this right now, I don't care what you're doing. Get up.”
Truly, it is one of the best moments in TV about the relationships between men that I have ever experienced, and it is this hyper ridiculous sumo wrestling moment in a gay romance drama in the AU season that is technically not canon, and it was the moment from the series that lingers with me the most.
Twig
Even in the moment they're looking at each other like, is this happening? How is this happening? This isn't real. Nobody does this. Nobody calls each other to the side of the river with a note [laughs] to hold a wrestling competition in which we talk about our feelings.
Ben
But it works really well. I ended up really loving the way it allowed us to think about these two men and the relationship between them. We get to appreciate how important Kurosawa is to Haruta.
Twig
That sumo wrestling moment allows us to see Kurosawa's relationships with all of his subordinates. The way he's so firm and so gentle with Naruse, with like “soft landing,” meanwhile, throws Haruta out of the ring.
Ben
The way he talks to all of these men as specific to them, like his role as leader is strongest in the AU season. My primary concern for the Thai adaptation is who is playing Kurosawa, because this character is as important as the romantic leads.
Twig
I think it's more important.
Ben
I am with Twig. Who is going to match Yoshida Kotaro in Thailand? I need to know.
Twig
I'm eagerly awaiting that announcement.
NiNi
The answer is going to be Nu Surasak or Kob Songsit.
Ben
I really hope it's good.
00:39:00 - Ossan’s Love Returns
Ben
Ossan's Love Returns reunites the original cast after five years. Maki is returning from an extended stint in Singapore, and now he and Haruta are gonna start their cohabitating married life together. Maki is now part of the super team at headquarters, following up on the movie. Haruta is still on the streets with regular folk, ‘cause that's where he wants to be. Kurosawa has retired, I liked that follow up from the AU season. And now he's working as a housekeeper. Maki is working too much and Haruta is still bad at house, and so they hire a housekeeper, who ends up being Kurosawa [Twig laughs] who cannot hold back his feelings for Haruta and it becomes one of the ongoing dramas of the season.
One of the things I enjoyed in this season is… they explore how to integrate Kurosawa into their lives long term. Haruta is serious about Maki and committed to their romance. Kurosawa is also extremely important to him and he treats him like a father figure. They explicitly have Choko talk to Kurosawa about how a lot of the ways he feels [laugh] about Maki are a lot of the ways a mother-in-law might feel about their daughter-in-law with the way they beef with each other. And when we say they beef with each other, I mean, these two men are legit fighting in their kitchen, like Kurosawa hits Maki in the head repeatedly with a frying pan. Maki legit throws Kurosawa through a door at one point and knocks it off the hinges. These two men, when they scrap with each other, are fighting for real and I love it every time.
NiNi
It's just like you all conspired to come into this recording booth today and just be like, okay, so you say this and I'll say that and between us we're gonna get her to watch this, because she likes this kind of stuff.
Ben
I didn't really have to work that hard. We're just legit talking about what the show was doing. We get a really great season of Maki and Haruta settling into what their life is going to look like. There's some introduced new characters in the season that we all had very complicated feelings about who I think end up fitting fine by the end. Most of the original cast comes back and there's like a really great bit of exploring what all these characters settling into their relationships that they got into in the first season in this one.
So Haruta and Maki are now living together and figuring out what that is going to look like, who are they gonna be as a couple now that they're not doing long distance ‘cause they've basically been long distance between every outing. Which I think was a clever choice because it means that the characters’ relationship dynamic doesn't really move that much between outings.
Choko is now living with Maro and Maro’s mom, and Choko is struggling because she's older than Maro's mom. She can't just treat this woman like her mother-in-law. And Maro doesn't know how to help because he's caught between his wife, who's way older than him, and his mom, who's confused and a little bit uncertain about this whole dynamic.
Twig
I also love that that's not the only thing we see Choko having worked through in the time we've been apart from her. She opened an archery range after her divorce, and sort of reinvented herself with this new life that she's actually thriving in.
Ben
They get new neighbors who are a bunch of weirdos.
Twig
[laughs] They're so weird. They're so weird.
Ben
These two are revealed to be members of, like, a public security division that maybe doesn't actually exist. Izumi ends up becoming obsessed with Haruta because he's a doppelganger for his dead lover who was killed in the line of duty, who is very, very different from Haruta. It was fun to see Tanaka Kei play a very different type of character in those flashbacks. I don't know that it entirely landed for me over the course of the season, but by the finale, which was fantastic, I was okay with them.
Twig
A large part of the way they were written is that they were a mystery for a large part of it, too. It's hard to bond with a character that you know nothing about and is intentionally opaque.
Ben
Chizu is trying to make it as a single mom and this reinforces one of the big themes of the season, that family is all the people who are going to show up for you all the time. She relies on Teppei and Maika to help, and she feels guilty about this and they tell her straight up, like, don't feel guilty. We are a family. You should rely on us.
She had already made Haruta and Maki designated adults who can pick up her kid from the daycare. An important gay right of passage is your friend calling you and telling you I need you to go pick up my kid, and then you show up at said kindergarten to pick up a kid and they look at your ID and they go “oh you're allowed” and the kid runs to you and everybody goes, well, that makes sense. An important gay moment that everyone must experience.
Twig
One of the things that I love about this so much is that it picks up from a throw away line that Chizu says in the movie. She sort of brags that she's going to balance having a kid and her career. One of the things about the series is that it really feels like the people who are writing it love the whole series and are constantly thinking about how to call back in loving ways and how to pick up threads in loving ways. Something that she just sort of confidently stated she was going to do no problem in the movie becomes a whole plot in the following season.
Ben
There's a final arc in the season where Kurosawa has a health scare where we think he's going to die.
Twig
When we were talking about it, Ben, you said that it was an important moment for Maki and Haruta to confront the idea that Kurosawa won't always be around. And I was like, oh, that's why I don't like this part because I don't want to ever think about that. [Twig and Ben laugh]
Ben
The entire finale is this really great examination about the way this whole group of people are a family to each other.
Twig
It's not even just that it's happening, but they're explicit about it. They're having conversations about what is family? What are we to each other? How do we define our relationship? Where do those lines get drawn? And the answer is just sort of, yes.
Ben
There's an explicit line, like, what is Kurosawa to them? And then Maika comes over and hammers it home for the audience and is like, “There's no need to describe it. What matters is you all are going to be part of each other's lives forever.”
00:45:33 - Final Thoughts and Ratings
Ben
I don't think we talked about it as much. So, the first season is pretty light on kissing and intimacy between the male characters. Ossan's Love Returns is not! There's so much married intimacy between Haruta and Maki.
Twig
The casual intimacy in Ossan's Love Returns is constant, and it just feels very lived in? They're just constantly touching each other and having small kisses and teasing each other.
Ben
We got more of that today in the unexpected special spin-offs we're getting. I was like “ohh, I thought we were done. Oh, it's another cute little 20-minute office episode ending on the two of them making out next to the copier.” Love it.
NiNi
This is called Forbidden Gout Temps Nouveau.
Twig
Mhmm.
NiNi
I have so many questions, but I feel like I should not ask those questions right now.
Ben
My general attitude is you don't need to watch all of Ossan's Love to enjoy parts of Ossan's Love. I think if you are interested in gay domesticity and complex family units, you can just watch Ossan's Love Returns right away.
NiNi
I'm watching it all. Eventually. I don't know when. There's a lot going on in the IRL space right now, but I'm gonna be watching the whole thing.
Twig
I feel like I should say something about the original short. It has a lot of the things that people found the hardest to swallow about season one. A lot of the stuff that they did originally they fixed or did better as they moved through. I would say the short is the thing to skip, of all of it, unless you're really curious about the journey of this franchise.
NiNi
I'm really fascinated by the idea of this as a reserve process of working through and refining the show in kind of a real time. I would like to see the whole thing just for that purpose. I'm a writer, so the way that this feels like multiple drafts, and you getting to actually see the multiple drafts to see why they might have decided to make a particular change in the next draft, or why they would have gone for an overhaul, or what would they have tweaked around the edges. I like the idea of looking at that.
Twig
It is not just the writing that they iterate. We haven't talked a lot about the visual effects that this show uses, but it has its own style. One of my favorites: it uses the bokeh effect, where the lighting in the background is blurred and sometimes takes shapes. It starts from the very beginning. You'll see the lights behind Kurosawa make little hearts while he's confessing to Haruta and Haruta’s has little like stop signs. [Ben laughs] And then they get bigger and bigger with that where Kurosawa’s hearts have little like heartbreak. They have– there’s little, like, zigzags in the hearts behind him when he gets rejected. Sometimes he'll be crying tear lights. That’s just one of the things that they play with in the different versions.
Ben
Naruse having that whole tantrum trying to get someone's attention for help? Then having that super cut of them screaming and then smash cutting to them just sitting at the table. There's like the courtroom audio stinger that dominates the first season that I fucking love [mimics the sound] thing that happens over the course of the whole season. It's so, so dramatic, and I'm like, “Is Judge Mathis gonna walk out? What is happening?”
Twig
Oh, and they do this thing where they hard cut to a visual metaphor like water leaking out of a water bottle or a pot boiling to represent the character’s emotions. There's so many visual moments. It's not just written well and acted well. It's also represented visually really well, and seeing how they experiment with that and how that changes. Like, the weird bobble heads we got in the AU season. I'm still not over those. I'm glad those didn't return.
Ben
It is not a perfect show. This is not a “Everybody was wrong. They should have watched all of this. Grab your pitchfork!” situation. This is not an easy show to love. If you can find your way to loving the show, I think it has been one of the most rewarding watches I've had in the genre since What Did You Eat Yesterday?
Japanese BL is different from Thai BL. More experimental and weirder things are gonna happen over time if the series has a lot of leg in it, and Ossan's Love is one of those that has so much leg in it. Like the second season just ended, and I'd be okay if we don't see them again, but, I really hope we do.
Twig
Me too.
NiNi
All right, so let's get into ratings. I mean, is this the kind of thing that you rate? Instead of rating, let's rank. If you had to rank the different parts of the Ossan's Love franchise, how would you rank them? In terms of, for you, most enjoyable to probably the least enjoyable?
Ben
Well, the least enjoyable is the original special. It's the most rough and the hardest to swallow. I think the best season is the current one?
Twig
Yeah. I mean, for me, it's basically chronological order, I think. I struggle between the film and the AU ‘cause I like them for different reasons, and I struggled with them for different reasons. But I think Naruse tips it over there so that it stays ahead.
Ben
[Ben and Twig laugh] I love that mean twink!
Twig
He's just so great.
Ben
I don't know that I'd want to…rank them that way. I think each outing adds something to it. It's really a question of, do you like seeing people try to get together for the first time, or do you really like seeing people be together? For me, I'm very partial to Ossan's Love Returns because it's about gay life drama, which is what I’ve wanted for a while. And so I'm really fucking enjoying that.
Twig
Yeah, I love it when people have to figure out, “Now that we're in this relationship, how do we make this work?”
Ben
But I also love the AU season. I think the retooling of Haruta and Kurosawa is actually really helpful. I think taking a break from Maki is actually helpful for appreciating Haruta when you come back to them. I think you end up liking Haruta more by the time you get to Ossan's Love Returns and seeing the potential in him. The love people are trying to pour on to him in the current season is more accessible to me as a viewer because I got to spend time with Haruta growing to love him in the AU season.
Twig
I also just have affection for an entire season that seems to have basically been built off of like a throwaway reference to episode one, when Haruta says he's most attracted to stewardesses. And then, and also, like, maybe a pun because Kurosawa’s character is called bucho which means, like, manager essentially through all of the regular Ossan's Love stories. But in the AU he's kucho because he's a captain. And I think that's very funny.
Ben
In terms of my ratings, I'm looking at on MDL, I gave Ossan's Love and Ossan's Love Returns a 9. But I gave the AU season a 9.5. [Ben and Twig laugh] So, there's your answer.
Twig
There you go.
Ben
Twig, what did you rate the second season? I know ratings aren't always your thing, but did you give the second season a rating?
Twig
I didn't. If I was going to give it a rating. Ossan's Love Returns? Yeah, I’d give it a 9.
Ben
It's a 9 for me in that I think if you're into BL, you should watch the show, but I don't know that it is the most accessible show, so I don't want to give it a 10.
Twig
I think the thing about this show, too, is it's about multiple relationships. It's not just about Maki and Haruta, and I wouldn't even say their relationship dominates the story. So, to rank it against other BL as a romance narrative is quite difficult. It's about family and what that means in a queer context. Part of that is romance, but it's not even the biggest part? The family feels is what gets me about this series.
Ben
That's going to do it for Ossan's Love. We have succeeded at our mission. NiNi has agreed to watch the show. Twig and I got to unpack the entirety of this whole franchise. We have the benefit of knowing it gets better over time now, and so I don't begrudge people bouncing when they did in 2018. I think that in 2024, it is beneficial for people who care about the history of the genre to go back and properly engage with Ossan's Love. I genuinely think it is worth reconsidering your initial opinion. They… grow. Their characters are not static. What has occurred is taken seriously and what worked and didn't work is considered as they move forward.
NiNi
That is going to wrap us up on the Ossan's Love episode. Twig, it was so great having you on, and I hope you come back.
Twig
Thank you so much for having me. It was really fun.
NiNi
With that, we out. Say bye to the people, Twig.
Twig
Dispatch!👍
Ben
Dispatch! 👍
NiNi
At some point I'm going to find out what that means, and then I will be unstoppable. Say bye to the people, Ben.
Ben
Peace.
#ossan's love returns#ossan's love#ben and nini's conversations#podcast#lgbtq#the conversation#on art#thai bl#bl series#japanese bl#spring series#spring 2024
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Hermione does not, in any way, overpower Tom Riddle, in any field.
For evidence purposes, I'll use all of their achievements from book one to book 7. Instead of going on a long, disorganized tangent, we'll cut them down into 3 categories: studies, wit, and talent/strength. (I swear theres a difference between wit + studies.)
Studies --
During school, Hermione:
Was referred to as the brightest witch of her school year by Lupin
Got 10 OWLS (2 less than Bill and Charlie)
Prefect
She did get Slughorn's favour to an extent
During school, Tom Riddle:
Was referred to as the brightest kid to step into Hogwarts (possibly ever) by Albus Dumbledore
His grades are never revealed, but it is implied time and time again that he was a model student with a spotless record
Prefect and Headboy
Got a Special Award For Services to the School (hes a rat 😭)
Slughorn's favorite despite being Muggleborn and broke
There is not much I can work on in the studies department, because there isn't much text to support their performances involving the school directly, but it's obvious that Tom Riddle takes the cake. With every bullet point presented, Riddle's side of achievments is always 3x more impressive. I would like to add that he thrived in DADA and didn't shy away from any dark subjects, while Hermione was too scared to put thought into DADA + was too impatient with Divination (which I don't blame her for.)
If I had to compare them involving other characters, I would say that Tom Riddle is right up there with Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald, while Hermione falls below tier near James Potter and Severus Snape.
If Severus Snape is no match for Tom Riddle (atleast when he was sane), then Hermione isn't a match for Severus. Snape was the BEST potions boy to go to Hogwarts -- it could be argued that Lily was also up there but yk shes dead so we don't care about that -- and he wasn't scared to apply his studies in the Dark Arts to real life. He was a smart kid, and even though he was below Tom Riddle in terms of brilliance, he was pretty darn smart. If Hermione cannot even reach his level, it's kind of silly to compare her to Tom Riddle.
Wit --
This one is a no brainer. The thing that sets them apart is their ability to think outside of the box.
Tom Riddle believed in a world of magic. He believed there was not a limit in which magic could be stopped. He achieved GREAT things simply by letting his trust in his own magic and the wonders of the Wizarding World lead him to his goals.
Hermione is close minded. She believes what she wants to believe, and most of her information comes from her precious, reliable books. She was too close minded to believe in divination. She was too close minded to sit back and think that, perhaps, house elves were made a certain way in which they ENJOYED labour (which is a whole other discussion), she was too close minded to believe in the Death Hallows. She was too close minded to think that there could possibly be a better, alternative recipe to a potion that didn't come straight from the school book. Her refusal to simply believe held her back from many opportunities.
Hermione is studious. Tom Riddle is BRILLIANT. Most of Hermione's knowledge comes from what she's been taught at school, but Tom Riddle went out and learned his own knowledge. And that's not a bad thing. Being studious and smart already sets her apart from many, many people.
But Tom Riddle wasn't just a studious guy. He was a genius, a prodigy, kind of a psychopath. He learned at a young age how and exactly when to use his strengths to get what he wants. He carried himself up as social ladder reserved solely for purebloods before even finding out his heritage as the descendant of Salazar Slytherin. He made a grown adult women scared of him as a child. He didn't use his wit for good, no, but was he pretty damn smart? Yeah.
Talent and Strength --
When Hermione was a kid, she learned to utilize what she had around her to catch up with other kids. She taught herself the syllabus before even getting into school and even learned spells without being taught by Professors! She was always the first one to get the spell right and was quick on her feet in an argument. She had a lot of brewing talent in her. It is not easy to be thrown into a whole new world but she took all of it with grace.
She was amazing at spells. When the trio ran away during the 7th book, she was their rock to lean on--for strength, for protection, for guidance. She knew every spell in the book to hide them away from Voldemort.
Her duelling skills, while not on par with Harry's, were pretty darn good, too. She could hold her own in a duel if she really needed to get out of their alive, using her quick thinking and sometimes, deception. Ex. (When she changed Harry's face to not resemble him when they got caught by snatchers.)
I give Hermione a lot of credit in the book. She was stronger than she needed to be at a young age, and she handled it better than most people did.
Tom Riddle on the other hand...
His talent is unmatched when it comes to anybody else.
He learned to get a hold on his magic and command it like the king that he is at the baby age of one digits. Because of all the instances at Wool's Orphanage, it isn't crazy to assume that this wasn't just a case of accidental magic. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew exactly how to call onto his magic to do his bidding. I don't think even Dumbledore could have said he was able to do that.
He was a parselmouth. It's less a talent and more a skill, but he used his hereditary trait to manipulate and use another type of magic to do what he wanted. Speaking to snakes is one thing--getting them to actually listen to you has to count for something.
He made horcruxes at the age of 16. That is a type of deadly, deadly magic. It is so forbidden it doesn't even fall under Forbidden magic because it's blasphemous to even think to do it. The fact that his magic was so strong that he could go through that process and come our alive is actually crazy.
He made a whole persona for himself, under Lord Voldemort, and got a whole race of people to follow him blindly. He wasn't even a pureblood and he still had them down on their knees. That's talent.
He could perform all forbidden curses with ease and not get drained. Moody says that you have to mean your intent and that nobody can *just* cast the curses. You have to have the willpower and strength to cast them--the fact that Voldemort could cast dozens of them at a time without thinking about it already sets him apart in strength from Hermione. I doubt even Snape, as he brilliant as he is, would dare push his limits like that.
I don't want this to get SUPER long, but here are some things I left out about Riddle and didn't know how to add on the list.
He found the long lost Chamber of Secrets during his time at Hogwarts. It was there for millions of years--he can't have been the ONLY descendant. It's safe to say he was one of the first people to open it and actually use it for his own gain.
He acquired the Elder Wand. I mean, so did Harry and Dumbledore, but it doesn't change the fact that he did. He was kind of dumb when he grew up and became all insane but that's impressive, too.
It is implied that he was at the brink of winning the war before Harry killed him on Halloween. If he hadn't taken the bait, maybe we'd see a world overrun by his power.
He didn't inspire fear in just Britain. He inspired fear across the world. Harry Potter was known across every wizarding community, such as Bulgaria. That means they must've known Voldemort too. There was lots of foreign people at the world cup, but every single one of them ran at the sight of the Death Eaters--which means they recognize his sign in some sort of way. The Gregrovitch family recognizes him, as does the German witch does when she sees him in folds in fear.
Sorry, this became a long rant of Voldemort's powers and not just a comparison, but it does go to show that Hermione being even near his level. It's just not plausible.
You're welcome to argue with me or correct me on my oversights! I haven't fact checked everything and I won't be offended if you correct some points. (Also there is a lot of typos and I have a cut on my finger so please dont kill me for my grammar 😭)
#Tom Riddle#hermione granger#tom riddle vs hermione granger#harry potter#harry potter and the deathly hallows#severus snape#??#in a way#he always shows up in these for some reason lmao hes just that iconic#power#comparison#harry potter discourse
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It Happened at the World's Fair Review
It Happened at the World's Fair expands on what was introduced in Girls! Girls! Girls! (which came out after World's Fair filming started). Taking inspiration from Blue Hawaii, this set of movies are music heavy, have colorful scenery and involve Elvis having to work with child actors. The scenery in this case is the real life world's fair. The 1962 World's Fair in Seattle opened in April and closed in October. With a very limited timeline, it was very important that the movie comes out before the novelty of the fair is gone.
Because this is an actively operating fair, there were many issues involving crowd control. It's a major reason why filming didn't even start in September when most children started school. Naturally, this posed a problem because this meant despite making the movie as fast as possible, it still came out in April 1963 (6 months after the fair closed). Despite the logistical issues, does this movie capture the beauty of the World's Fair while balancing its plot, or does it take a complete nose dive because of the rushed production? Let's find out.
To start with, I'm not a big fan of the title. I get you need to highlight the World's Fair but it's a bit clunky. Might I suggest "World's Fair Wonders"? This opening song is forgettable. "Beyond the Bend" sounds like a rejected version of "Ridin' the Rainbow" from Kid Galahad. Since those two songs have the same songwriters, I get the idea that they repeat melodies to make up for the extra songs. After all Kid Galahad (at the time the last movie the songwriters worked on) only had 6 songs while this movie now has 10.
Elvis singing while flying a crop duster feels dangerous since it's obvious he's distracted. He looks goofy wearing those goggles and just seems out of place. We immediately get jokes with Elvis being a pilot claiming he can't see the barn. It's a joke as old as the Three Stooges. Elvis is so irresponsible that he flies the plane practically next to the road just to flirt with some girls. They almost crash into some telephone wires and I wonder if Paradise, Hawaiian Style was inspired by this scene when they did the helicopter scene with the dogs.
Surprisingly for a cliche womanizer, Mike is financially responsible. It isn't much but it does give him some depth. Given how he almost crashed the plane because he was distracted by women, it's impressive that he that it's not his entire character. As to why he doesn't take the money with him, I have no idea. I guess you have to assume that Mike doesn't know Danny had access to his hiding place.
So he goes to meet one of his girlfriends, Dorothy, who we never see again. They're making out on the couch while Dorothy wants to push away to get some iced tea. But Mike insists on keeping the action going. I know out of context "Relax" is a steamy song, but I wonder if it was intentional to make Mike so pushy. Because he's always touching Dorothy while she pushes him away and does everything she can to get away from him. He pulls stuff out of her hands and it's just creepy.
Her parents come back and I'm very confused on why Dorothy's dad is so upset. Unless we're assuming that they have never met Mike in their entire lives, it's very strange to react like that. At least seeing Mike run for the hills gives us a little chuckle as if to say "yeah he had it coming". The whole scene is just random as we didn't need to emphasize that Mike's a womanizer. The opening scene already tells us that he's a flirt. Since Dorothy doesn't even come back, it just feels like a scene where you go "ok that happened" as it came and went without adding anything.
Mike somehow catches up with a now broke Danny. After multiple bad hands, Danny can't pay his losses to some guys including a Red West cameo. A fight breaks out in the office and I don't think I've ever seen such an ugly scene. That gives it a bit more realism. You don't expect regular guys to have the punch of death. It's supposed to be ugly and brutal and it's not completely unrealistic that Mike and Danny win long enough to get away in their plane, Bessie.
The duo lands in Sherrington where they find out that because of the many debts they have, the sheriff "boots" their plane. He takes away their keys and gives them the ultimatum: pay the $1200 debt in 2 weeks or their plane goes up for auction to recoup the money. That's a pretty good set up for a conflict. It doesn't involve Elvis having bad luck, but instead relies on his friend having a realistic character flaw in the form of a gambling addiction.
Penniless and stranded, the duo tries to get a free ride into town. For how expensive his suits were, I'm amazed they had Elvis walking down the road in it. At first a car with a couple women stop but they only wanted Mike's lighter. I'm not sure if it was meant to be a joke or a narrative device meant to make the audience feel bad for them. Personally I don't think it does any of that. I didn't think it was funny and the "pain" they endure from the bad luck doesn't last long as they immediately get a ride. It makes me wonder why it was even added since there was no indication that a long period of time passed.
We get introduced Mr. Walter Ling and his niece Sue-Lin. I love this family. It's obvious that this is an Asian immigrant family which is very realistic for this part of the country and the time period. Despite Mr. Ling's actor being Chinese and Sue-Lin's actress being born in Manila (which is in the Philippines), it's actually not that bizarre. The Philippines does have a Chinese population so you can easily assume that Sue-Lin has some Chinese ancestry. For the time period, I'm so glad that this family is depicted as real people as opposed to stereotypes.
They drive to the World's Fair and I love the real backgrounds we get because of it. Mr. Ling being a delivery driver makes perfect sense since there are plenty of farms around the Seattle area. He can make extra money to be able to afford going to the fair. Sue-Lin has Mike try to explain what she might see and we get a decent song as "Take Me to the Fair" is a whimsical tune. I love Sue-Lin as a character. She isn't a generic cutesy girl character. We get genuine depth by showing that she's able to understand Chinese when her uncle is talking on the phone. When she finds out that uncle Walter has an important job and can't take her to the fair, she's naturally upset. It's not done in an over the top way where she has a complete tantrum. She understands that uncle Walter needs to take the job, but she's of course disappointed. Her realistic reaction only makes you appreciate Mike when he at first begrudgingly agrees to take her.
Mike's distracted by woman and we get it he's a womanizer. They could've just had him be absentminded because he's worried about finding a way to get money. But I do love how we see Mike and Sue-Lin interact with the real exhibitions such as the monorail. It gives you a special perspective that goes beyond a soundstage and shows just how big this fair is.
We get a Joe cameo as the man who gives Sue-Lin her red dog. I love the montage of them going around the fair. It's a wonderful showcase of what was there in case the viewer never had a chance to go and for younger generations who might not even know about the fair. Plus we get to see Mike warm up to Sue-Lin like he's taking his own daughter or niece to the fair. I can believe a change like that can happen in a short period of time. Unlike a romantic relationship, you don't need to have a lot happen to get along with a child. And it's not like Mike hated Sue-Lin as they got along on the truck ride.
It's really incredible to see just how much you can do at the fair for what doesn't seem like a lot of money. If only this was made earlier as it would've been a great way to promote the movie. After one too many treats, Mike takes Sue-Lin to the fair's nurse station. While Sue-Lin's being treated, Mike starts talking to himself and looks distractingly tan. When the nurse comes in and sees this he naturally can't help but flirt with her.
He pretends to have something in his eye and it's shocking how unapologetically pushy he is. I love how Nurse Warren rightfully calls him out on this. You really feel uncomfortable for her since it's relatable to have a man flirt unwarranted. Sue-Lin feels better so the two of them leave. Mike looks smitten and I have no idea what's meant to be so special about Nurse Warren. Because unless he thinks she's just playing hard to get, they have literally no chemistry.
I love this song. "They Remind Me Too Much of You" is such a beautiful ballad that if it wasn't for the fact that his first interaction with Nurse Warren went horribly, it would be the perfect ballad. We never see a quiet moment like this in any Elvis movie. In fact this is the first time outside of the opening song where Elvis isn't even singing out loud. He's only thinking about it as Sue-Lin sleeps. Not a single word is spoken as we take in this moment of Mike reflecting about his feelings. It's easily the best scene in the movie as it shows that Mike is so much more than a womanizer.
Mr. Ling returns to pick up Sue-Lin and you really get the idea that Mike loved "chaperoning" her. Sure he does say out loud to Danny that he was more happy about meeting Nurse Warren, but I honestly think the movie should've skipped the romance altogether. Mike had more chemistry with Sue-Lin in that one montage than he ever had with any other woman. The scenes with Dorothy and Nurse Warren only shows how shallow he is with women. With Sue-Lin we see a different side of Mike where he grows to care for Sue-Lin like she's his own family member.
Danny manages to swing the duo a temporary home that was set up for people attending the fair. We get introduced to Barney "yoo hoo" Thatcher who Danny uses as his pigeon to get money. Mike talks about how to get with Nurse Warren and again all I can think of is just how shallow he is. Even if he does succeed, it doesn't feel satisfying here because it doesn't feel like he'll change.
"One Broken Heart for Sale" is such an unnecessary song. We don't need to be bashed over the head with the obvious fact that Mike is horny for the nurse. Mike doesn't even deserve to say his heart is broken. You can't say your heart is broken just because someone you just met didn't reciprocate your pushy behavior. It doesn't add anything and just feels so out of place since you also have the other old men magically know what he's singing. Just shows how even the best songwriters can have duds if they're not in the right context. It's a shame because Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott have had great successes with Elvis.
We cut to the next day as Mike has a ploy to get Nurse Warren's attention. He pays a boy, played by an uncredited Kurt Russell, a quarter to kick him in the shin. I love how as Elvis screams in pain, you can see people in the background turn to see what happened. That's a sign that this was a genuine crowd and only makes the setting feel real. Given the extent of the actual injury I'm more amazed that the nurses didn't immediately call for an ambulance. If Mike supposedly can't walk properly that could possibly be a sign of a broken leg. Mike says he blacked out which if you're a nurse is a red flag. The head nurse even has him walk on it and you just have to wonder why they're doing this. They don't know Mike is exaggerating so they're doing a horrible job of insuring his safety when the head nurse suggests Nurse Warren escorts him home.
As Nurse Warren shows no sense of urgency we get pretty obvious rear screen projections as the two talk. Why are we doing this? Nurse Warren doesn't know that Mike's faking so why is she taking her sweet time getting him home? In fact, when Mike again lies about blacking out, instead of calling for an ambulance she instead helps him up to the real rotating restaurant. Why? A professional would've immediately called for an ambulance. You would never risk moving someone who feels that dizzy as you would risk causing them further injury.
His ploy seems to work though since Nurse Warren is in no rush to leave the restaurant. In fact based on the passage of time they've been in that restaurant for hours. Mike even sings a ballad about how he's in love with Nurse Warren. "I'm Falling in Love Tonight" is such a generic ballad that I have no idea why I'm supposed to support this budding romance. Nurse Warren falling for Mike is something I don't buy at all. If anything it's showing that so long as you get the girl, you can be as pushy and manipulative as you want. That's a terrible moral to have for what's supposed to be a family film. It'd make more sense if she's just going along with this until it all blows up in his face, but that isn't at all how it's presented
I do love how the extras have their own charm to the movie. These were legit patrons that had no idea of what's happening. Them clapping after Mike's song was real and I love it because it shows just how weird it is to have someone burst into song in a restaurant. Mike's ploy immediately falls apart as the boy from earlier comes back. He kicks Mike in the shin and I love the old man who's just like "oh my God what's happening". He looks realistically concerned.
As Mike tries to apologize to Nurse Warren, Sue-Lin rushes up to him. She tearfully tells him that her uncle didn't come back from a job. Given how she waited from 9 am to 3 pm for Mr. Ling to return, I'd say Sue-Lin handled the situation very well for a child. You always allow for some delay if someone's traveling because you never know what would happen. When it became obvious that something had to have happened, it's natural for her to be very concerned.
This is the most realistic acting from a child I've ever seen. A 7 year old girl possibly losing her only guardian is terrifying situation to be in. It really says a lot that she didn't go one of her neighbors since they were living in one of those temporary homes as well. In fact, I'm amazed that not a single adult noticed her wandering the fair alone and most likely in distress. It's like the movie wants us to believe Mike's the only adult in this movie who Sue-Lin can even trust.
He takes Sue-Lin home and the movie immediately got better again. Mike explains that he took every measure to make sure people know he has Sue-Lin. I love this as he could've easily been the buffoon that has no idea how to tell anyone that he's watching a child who would otherwise have no one. It seems like it's relatively late at night, so while you can question if Mike's doing the right thing, it's at least better to have Sue-Lin be in a safe space than drive around trying to find the authorities.
We get a sweet scene where Sue-Lin dresses in her traditionally Chinese pajamas. Mike even sings "Cotton Candy Land" as a lullaby. In the context that it's in, I know the lullaby is meant to be sweet, but I only get a creepy vibe to it. I'm not sure why but to me Mike singing it in a quiet voice and the music just makes me feel more scared than soothed. The sandman doesn't feel like this whimsical creature but more like a monster. I'm sure that was unintentional as I don't think it's a common opinion to feel that way.
After pretending to be sick so Mike can make up with Nurse Warren, she arrives to check out Sue-Lin. It's a bit distracting how the studio light casts a big shadow. You know that little night lamp isn't doing that. Sue-Lin tells Nurse Warren the truth and I'm amazed Nurse Warren didn't immediately raise an eyebrow. Then again this is the same woman who took what she believed to be an injured Mike up to a rotating restaurant when he said he was about to blackout. I can't take any expertise or authority a character like her should have seriously.
The movie clearly has no idea on how to handle their relationship as Nurse Warren starts to fall for Mike again when he serenades her. "A World of Our Own" is so unnecessary. Mike being nice to Sue-Lin and taking care of her doesn't eliminate the fact that he was pushy and manipulated her. The whole relationship just feels forced as I don't think this couple has any chemistry. Again there's nothing about Nurse Warren that makes her different since there's a clear difference between playing hard to get and having no interest. While the movie wants to tell you that she's the former, you really know that it's the latter.
Danny comes back from his card games completely drunk. You would think this would tell Nurse Warren that Sue-Lin living with Mike is a bad idea. But no. It's not even a thought that was uttered as she just drives home. How? She has the authority to report this to the authorities since Danny being drunk can lead to terrible consequences. Especially when you have a child in the home.
Danny meanwhile meets up with a guy named Vince who offers Danny a deal to fly up to Canada. Oh yeah they had a debt to repay. I almost forgot about that since that plot took a back seat to the conflict of Mike caring for Sue-Lin and the conflict of Mike getting with Nurse Warren. Vince outright agrees to pay them the whole amount that would allow the duo to get their plane back. So naturally you assume he's going to be the villain which can't possibly be a good thing since he's been introduced way too late in the movie to really do anything important.
Mike comes back from asking about Sue-Lin's uncle. We get a sweet moment where he watches her color before playing "How Would You Like to Be?" with the windup clowns. I love the song as it does serve a purpose. Mike is trying to cheer up Sue-Lin and it of course makes sense that Sue-Lin only sings along once she feels better. These aren't complicated lyrics to try to have a young girl learn so it feels realistic for her to join in. Her dancing along with Mike is sweet but the smirk he has does feel out of place. I would've used a different shot as out of context you don't think he's looking at a 7 year old girl.
A woman from Child Services arrive to take Sue-Lin away. Because after a couple days, now it's a problem for Sue-Lin to be here. The woman says "an abandoned child is automatically a ward of the state" which is a lie. Sue-Lin wasn't immediately taken by the police who had to have known she was with Mike. This whole plot point is terrible as it doesn't properly set up why now all of a sudden is it a problem. The woman claims that it was Nurse Warren who made the complaint which you immediately know isn't true. If Nurse Warren genuinely believed that Sue-Lin wasn't safe, that would've been conveyed in the previous scene. This is just terrible drama meant to turn Mike off of her. Also there's no way that woman from Child Services would straight up tell Mike who made the complaint. That would put the person who made the complaint at risk of retaliation.
This whole situation is gets even worse as for someone who's supposed to be in Child Services, she can't even keep track of one child. I understand that Child Services has a very legitimate job, but this movie doesn't paint them in a good light at all. Instead of taking this seriously, I just see Child Services as a joke in this movie. They're only now making a stink about custody of a child when not even the police mentioned it. Instead of making it a forced situation from the start, it was only "suggested" so I have no reason to buy this organization as legitimate. I can only think of the much later film Lilo & Stitch as it does a better job of setting up why Lilo could be taken out of the home.
So we have Mike now desperately trying to find Sue-Lin as he's the only one who would know where she could be. As irrational as it is that he wouldn't tell authorities where she would be, I 100% get it in this situation. The authorities have done nothing to prove that they are reliable. In fact, if Mike didn't find her, you already know Sue-Lin would just runaway again. It's really sad that a child feels more safe with Mike than the authorities meant to protect abandoned children. It's also frustrating that because of the situation, Mike's now being painted as if he's abducting her.
Mike and Sue-Lin manage to make it to the airport just as Nurse Warren arrives trying to find them. She tries to explain what happened but he naturally doesn't want to hear it. Mike is just so done with everyone as he immediately finds out about the smuggling scheme. I know that Vince being a criminal was going to be this twist but wow they really just dropped that fur smuggling scheme that quickly. It doesn't even give that much importance or tension as Sue-Lin actually does something by biting Vince's finger when he's holding them at gunpoint. A fight breaks out and again it's ugly. Just like a real fight between non-professionals. Mike at this point is running on pure adrenaline so it makes perfect sense for him to win. But it's just so anti-climatic because really? This is what you've been building Danny's subplot up to? This plot element of Danny being involved in a fur smuggling scheme is introduced and resolved so quickly that there's no point in it even existing.
They get caught by the police and it turns out Danny was the one who contacted Child Services. This is a stupid twist as there's no way he could've fooled the woman from Child Services into thinking he's a woman. Also why's he now deciding that Sue-Lin was a problem when he didn't want her being there in the first place? It's not like he cared about Mike's feelings for her.We then find out that Mr Ling was only 20 miles south of the town and was in an emergency hospital. 20 miles is not that far so I have no idea why it took them all these days to figure this out. If Sue-Lin knew where he was going that she knew he should be back by certain point, what's the mystery here? It isn't like uncle Walter got kidnapped and no one knows where he could've been taken. Again a very anti-climatic ending for something that took up a big chunk of the movie.
We time skip to Mike applying to NASA as he walks with Nurse Warren through the fairgrounds. He sings about how this is a happy ending with a very fitting title "Happy Ending". Danny and Sue-Lin with her uncle Walter are nowhere to be seen to share this moment and absolutely nothing was earned. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't think this couple is likable and Mike was better off forgetting about her. It isn't unrealistic to realize "hey my priorities have changed. Getting the girl doesn't matter to me anymore. All that matters is that Sue-Lin is safe." That's character growth.
But no this is an Elvis movie and regardless of whether it makes sense for them to be together, he has to get the girl. It just makes you wonder why we spent all this time on something only for it to be completely hand waved like it was nothing. Almost like they completely ran out of time with writing the script and just had to say "everything is magically resolved no matter how ridiculous it is".
This movie clearly tried to do too much and it shows. You have the conflict of Mike and Danny being broke and needing to get the money for their plane; Mike wanting to get with Nurse Warren and having to deal with her being mad at him because he lied; Sue-Lin's uncle going missing and people thinking she needs to go to Child Services; and a last minute fur smuggling scheme. None of these plots were resolved in a way that feels like thought was put into it. They were only resolved because it's an Elvis movie that has to have a happy ending as opposed to naturally fixing them. As a result, the whole film is messy and is a case of wasted potential. It seriously needs a rewrite to smooth out everything that doesn't connect together well.
That being said, I give this film a 7/10. I can respect the attempt at giving an Elvis character depth, but I still think more work needed to be done. I do recommend watching it simply because the fairground scenes act as a time capsule of what life was like back then. It's just unfortunate that the movie was rushed because it was a great concept. No matter how you look at it, you wouldn't have been able to get this movie out in time to promote the fair. You can't film before the fair opens because then you have nothing to serve as a background since it's being built. You definitely can't film it in April because then you have to worry about the massive crowds since it's a total novelty and you can't do what the directors chose to do and film near the fair's ending because then you won't be able to get it out in time to promote it. It's a lose-lose situation which is a horrible shame but I at least respect the fact that they tried doing something like this.
AN: Thank you to my discord bestie snaileyinsheff for suggesting this movie and providing input. Also shout out to @hooked-on-elvis for providing the link that I used to watch the movie.
Tagging: @eapep, @i-r-i-n-a-a, @atleastpleasetelephone, @huhhhhsthings, @jhoneybees,
@eptodaytommorowforever, @thetaoofzoe, @smokeymountainboy, @dragonkingsdaughter, @myradiaz,
@dnnenenens, @wildhorseinkansas, @lett-them-eatt-cake, @vintagepresley, @mercsandmonsters,
@velvetelvis, @arrolyn1114, @alienelvisobsession, @xanatenshi and @peskybedtime.
#elvis film#it happened at the world's fair#mike edwards#elvis film review#sue-lin#1963#1962 world's fair
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I was supposed to do this yesterday but I had homework so here is your Owl House DSMP AU dump :] (There are 2 versions btw)
"MAIN" Owl House DSMP AU: The Crow House(still coming up with a better name):
The island/demon realm this takes place in is called Essempii because Dream SMP sounds a bit on the nose considering Dream's role in this.
Tommy - Luz:
Tommy stumbles into the Essempii when Brian(Phil's crow/palisman) snatches the jar Shroud(Tommy's pet tarantula) was being kept in while he was on a walk holding Shroud's travel jar(don't worry, Tommy has a properly sized habitat for Shroud, the jar is only when Tommy wants to take Shroud out of the house. And yes I had to research proper tarantula care.)
Also, Shroud is a completely black curly-haired tarantula because it looked the closest to a Minecraft spider and was also a common species of tarantula to keep.
Tommy got in trouble a lot in school(in the human realm) for various reasons like letting raccoons into the school because he felt bad for them living on the streets, sneaking Shroud into the school and putting him in someone's hair(usually someone he found annoying), causing small fires in the science lab, and getting into fights with pricks, y'know, the usual.
When Tommy discovered the Essempii, it was on a Friday and close to summer break. He stays there for the weekend or a single day and leaves afterward. He makes a promise to come back when he's off for the summer.
Potions was the first type of magic Tommy learned to actually use and also got interested in Beast-keeping
Tommy learned about glyphs from Tubbo when they first met which I'll probably have a separate post for since I have a scene planned for it already. Basically, Tubbo knows about glyphs from experimenting but only knows the basic ones since he has the magic to not need them except for experiments. When they first met, Tubbo was using glyphs for an experiment that involved making basically a grenade. Tubbo taught Tommy the glyphs he knows and later, Tommy was able to figure out how to combine them.
Tommy's palisman will definitely be a raccoon in this AU version :))))) (In the 2nd AU version, he has a phoenix palisman)
Greek mythology isn't known in the Essempii, but Tommy read about Greek Mythology when he got bored back in the human realm.
Phil - Eda:
ANARCHYYYYYY (He's an anarchist)
He wasn't cursed by someone close to him(mostly because idk who it would be that doesn't already have a separate role). He was cursed by Admin Dream(who takes the role of Emperor Belos) for using wild magic and was going to be put into Pandora's Vault along with being cursed, chained up like a wild animal. This is the typical punishment for people who are caught using wild magic. However, Phil was able to escape and keep the curse under control. I have the perfect video to show what Phil looks like when the curse takes over but I don't have the energy to find it.
Also, I'm highly considering if Chat should be Hooty. We're definitely silly enough for it :/
His hardcore heart pendant thing is how he guages his magic
The curse didn't give him his wings. What the curse actually does is amplify hybrid genes.
Phil used to carve palismen for people in the Essempii but as the wood for palismen became more scarce, he couldn't do that anymore.
Tubbo - Gus/Willow
Tubbo mainly uses plant magic like Willow, but has Gus's general energy.
Although he mostly uses plant magic at school, he loves to use fire or explosive magic which- y'know, doesn't work out well considering plants are flammable and- yeah :/ He causes wayyyy too many fires. However, when he combines this magic, it's really useful in combat.
Tubbo likes experimenting with mixing magic and gets in trouble for it a lot but somehow finds a way to get out of trouble. After a very risky incident that nearly ended with serious consequences, he stuck to doing magic-mixing experiments in a secret lab setup in the forest(which is where he first met Tommy)
Has a bee palisman but I'm still figuring out a name
Tubbo has a garden and likes to put any weeds he pulls out into their own separate planters since he thinks they deserve to live as much as the other plants do because they're also just trying to survive(I got this idea from Tommy in Unlikely Events)
Tubbo and Tommy's shared love for animals and chaos caused them to get along well
When Tubbo isn't at school, he basically looks like a young version of QSMP! Tubbo's design
After students are able to join multiple tracks, Tubbo joins the beast-keeping and potion tracks along with staying in his current track
Ranboo - Gus/Willow
I have so much extra lore for Ranboo TvT
Even though they're in the Oracle track, they use other types of magic, mainly illusion and healing. Obviously, they are careful about when they use it and isn't as careless about it as Tubbo since they're trying to stay under the radar
They're secretly an enderian, a hybrid race that was slaughtered after Admin Dream took the throne because their enderpearls(which allowed them to teleport freely) were considered wild magic. Another big reason they were killed was because they have a natural talent for magic which Dream feared because they had the power to take him down if they worked together. Enderians were also one of the first people to discover magic so wild magic is ingrained in their culture.
To hide the fact they're an enderian, they use a concealment stone to hide their hybrid traits. Without the concealment stone, they basically look exactly like C! Ranboo but with different clothes. With the concealment stone, they look human(but with pointy ears of course) with heteochromic eyes(warm brown and muddled green), split black and white hair, and vitiligo.
Some enderians survived and had secret camps around the Essempii. The one Ranboo was born in was discovered and raided by Dream's army. Ranboo survived the attack because their parents hid them and gave him the concealment stone and a necklace that is a family heirloom. The pendant of the necklace looks like an eye of ender but smaller.
The concealment stone is kinda weak because to hide it, Ranboo broke it into smaller pieces so it could fit inside the eye of ender pendant. Ranboo uses their magic to help the illusion be more stable.
Sometimes, their magic isn't able to fully support the illusion so their mouth, hands, and eyes revert back and speckles of his black and white skin appear like freckles. To hide this, he wears a mask, sunglasses, and gloves.
They also know healing magic because they learned it back before the Enderian camp was invaded. They thought it would be useful and it comes in handy since Tubbo and Tommy always get hurt because they are chaotic and have a knack for getting in trouble.
Once they're able to take multiple tracks, they take the illusion and healing track. They want to learn how to control their illusions better to stay more concealed and they want to be able to heal Tommy and Tubbo when they get bigger, more dangerous wounds.
Okay that's it for now, I didn't realize how long this would take. I didn't even get to start talking about my 2nd Owl House DSMP AU(which is the one I like better despite it being newer and less planned). I'll continue with this AU in the next post then finally get to my 2nd AU.
#dsmp au#dsmp au lore#au lore#au lore dump#dsmp lore dump#owl house dsmp au#the owl house dsmp au#the owl house#dsmp#tommyinnit#tommy innit#tubbo#philza#philza minecraft#ranboo#dream smp au#this is such an old au TvT#i think it was one of my first aus???#probably my 2nd or 3rd ._.
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NOT OUR BORDERLINE DEADBEAT OF A FATHER THREATENING TO CUT US OFF IF WE WONT SHOW HIM OUR COLLEGE GRADES AFTER WE QUIT COLLEGE CAUSE IT MADE US WANT TO COMMIT SUICIDE AYISHDAGHJQWREFGY?????
#canções do rei#and lets just emphasize he did not pay a single cent for college tuition or tutoring or transportation#he bought us one calculator we already gave back cause we dont need it anymore#in fact he has invested nothing into our education all throughout the years#even before he and mom divorced#so like#empty ass fucking threats#he buys us gifts which like yeah#he is our dad but we are not involving him in our education since all he wanted us to us to have good grades so he can get bragging rights#and never help in anyway way with money even tho he has way more money that we ever had and left our mom broke when they separated#we dont think he has any right to claim any sort of involvement in our education and if we cut him off it will mean nothing other than#like less gifts but we can live with that who give a shit?#and no more data on our phone but whatever#like thats not shit we need at all so unless he coughs up the money for all our education he has no bussiness with our grades#or tbh? with anything related to schooling not what school we go to or what subjects were taking like all he wants is bragging rights#and we refuse to give him that he was a neglectful bitch and he will die alone
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they Need to Kiss.
#yes lovie#( i love your name btw it's very cute#one of my best friends is named lovie )#(you are my best friend now)#anyways#yes lovie derek WOULD fit inside sauce best ty king for seeing my light#i will never forget sauce posting a selfie that he thought was cool and captioning it 'I'm the best in the draft.'#before getting drafted under another cb derek stingley#derek being surrounded by parental role models involved in football#having the training and skill to be known as a number 1 COLLEGE draft prospect AS WELL AS A NFL DRAFT prospect#thanks to his football loving family (coaching father wise retired football player grandfather)#vs sauce being raised all by his mother alone who had to work overnights at an automotive seating manufacturing factory#being the youngest of three of his siblings and never leaving his eldest brother's side bcs he was lonely and unsure and afraid#allante (the eldest) trying to draw sauce spreadsheets to help sauce understand the recruiting processes (and why he wasnt as high#as he wanted to be)#sauce fighting as an underdog his whole life in detroit then going to an underdog school that at least had the name 'King'#so he can feel like royalty as a wr/cb#promising his mom he'll be a college graduate no matter what so he'll always have something to fall back on so she wont worry#sauce's secret not so secret envy of derek and all his resources#his secret not so secret stuck up nose bcs he thinks hes had to climb higher hills than derek and therefore deserves the better recognition#then hiding behind 'im just working for my family' when ppl notice theres a lot more ego involved in his envious little nose scrunches#derek just smiling and being lively bcs hes just thrilled to be in his familys dream that a lot of ppl dont have the chance to obtain#even his dad played in the arena football league but not the nfl#im telling yall ppl with a chip on their shoulder... watch out 😭#it's like a beautiful giant marble statue with a bruise#i need to see them interact. i must.#sauce: you took Every. Thing. From. Me.#derek: ... OOH-- did I accidentally take a swing from your gatorade dude? aw#im so sorry man :( !! sometimes i just see shiny things and KABLAMMO! im on it like a silk bonnet! sorry bro u can have mine tho 🐶!#i didnt open it yet so it should be cool clean! AND refreshing 😁👍🏽!
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hey yeah this episode? next time anyone has anything negative to say about akk i’m just going to hold this episode up. this is why akk acts the way he does. this is why he thinks the school is his responsibility. this is why he’s so willing to burn the school and keep the curse alive to keep people in control. and at least when he’s the one doing it, he can control it. this is what happens when he’s not in control.
i’m ready to start fighting people to defend this boy (mostly chadok but give me anyone, i’ll misplace my anger)
#he also cares so much more than anyone else who is involved with the curse at this moment#he cares SO MUCH#ayan sees that too by the way. that's why he's worried about akk ending up the way dika did#that's what the school does to people who care.#unrelated#i love how they bring back mes every time they want to explain a complex part of his personality to us#like we get it he had a crush and it didn't go well#i also had a crush at one point who kind of tried to indoctrinate me into a cult i get him#well it was less cult more general incel behaviours but like he TRIED#the eclipse#the eclipse series#i have so many more thoughts but it takes me at least half an hour after every episode to even BEGIN to get a bit coherent#so outside of this all that's going on inside my brain is#asklfjsdskdlksjdfldsk ldk ws#fucking BRILLIANT
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(tl;dr at the bottom)
this one is just petty, and i'm too much of a pussy to actually do anything (though my friends do say i absolutely should) but:
wibta for filing a complaint (?) against my table group for a class?
i take culinary for one of my classes, and it's one of the saving graces of my otherwise utterly shit high school experience. and while i do enjoy the class, i've recently been put in a group with people who do absolutely nothing and it's been frustrating me. for example, as of the day i am sending this, we made zucchini fritters. the dishwasher and i, the sous chef, did basically all the work and the manager and executive barely did anything unless we actively made them. i can understand the manager doing nothing, since their job is to basically just supervise the kitchen and they don't get to actually cook (worst role for me ngl) but the executive chef, who should be involved in the whole cooking lab, just sat around and watched. now don't get me wrong, i love the process of cooking and making stuff, but it's a little tiring when it's me doing most of the work while other people just grab their phones (they aren't supposed to get them until the lab is finished and the kitchen has been cleaned, for sanitary reasons) and idle about. anyways, the manager at least grated the zucchini while i worked with the green onions and garlic i guess, and during this the executive chef just kinda. stood there and watched? he always had earbuds in and i don't really know what he does, but i thought he'd at least be mixing the batter. he did not, and turns out he really was just standing there the whole time so i mixed the batter after i finished up with my veggies. while i was doing so, i also thought that they'd have put the zucchini in a bowl or a colander or something and started sweating it with the salt, but nope. the two of them just sorta went off to do their own things (stand/ lean against the counters and watch) and so i panicked and dumped the stuff into the nearest clean bowl, and i did manage to get the executive to salt it. then when it was time to squeeze the water out, it was again my job to do so, though i am currently missing about a quarter of my nail on one finger due to it snagging and ripping off. at this point, i think i should mention i have chronic back and joint pains and headaches, and i was starting to feel worse and worse, so i once again asked the executive to squeeze the water for a bit while i snagged a pain killer. when i come back, not even a minute later, he's just dumped the thing into the batter mix, instead of fully squeezing it like i asked him to. then he hands the thing to me and i mix it and then i have to fry it. by the time i start frying, all the other kitchens have finished, we have like half an hour till class is out, and chef puts on hell's kitchen for the class. me and the dishwasher (who offered to help throughout the lab occasionally. she's a godsend.) make them fry the rest (one fritter). while i did do the dishes after it doesn't count since it was as a thank you to the dishwasher who helped me. but other than that, it's like this for pretty much every labs except for when i'm dishwasher, and even then it's not too different since it just means i have to go back and forth between cooking and washing dishes.
i vented to a friend, who also takes a cooking class (catering) about this and he says i should email about it to chef. now this is where the question comes in. i don't feel good about reporting it to chef since i don't want to be a snitch. i, too, engage in listening to music and chilling, so i get the joy of doing these things. if i were to tell the teacher, though, they'd get in trouble for it and i don't think i want that. and i might be biased/ just cranky. last lab, which was hamburger and fries, the guy who was executive today threw away the fries because class was ending even though not everyone got their share of it yet. this instantly put him on the "i dont like this guy" list of mine, and on top of that, i was already feeling a bit cranky and gloomy since waking up, and it was only further worsened by whatever class cooked in the kitchen before my class, who leaves the dishes all dirty and gross every time without fail (specifically, it was all three pans sticky with grease and a glass mixing bowl encrusted with a white substance that set me off today) so i might just be being harsh on them. i usually enjoy getting to cook and actually do things, and thus i haven't had an issue with the lack of help from my tablemates (is that a word) until now, so this could just be me wrongfully directing my negative feelings to them and blaming them.
tl;dr: people in my group in culinary class do jackshit and make me deal with the brunt of the work except for this one girl, friend says i should report their asses to the chef
why i might be the asshole:
i was already cranky and might be just making them the subject of my anger and blaming them
i usually enjoy getting to cook anyways
i might be biased against one of them since he dumped potatoes before i could grab my full share
snitch
why i might not be the asshole:
should not have to do pretty much all the work and they get the same grade despite doing nothing
still have to do most of the work despite chronic back and join pains and headaches + injury
having to actively get them to help me is a pain in the ass since they just go right back to doing nothing after half assing whatever they were asked to do
sorry if this is a bit all over the place, i am bad at articulating my thoughts and the likes, and am currently being fueled by spite, pain, and caffeine.
(@sousanon so i get a notif when this posts)
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re: the american education system showing high school children their "dead" peers in an effort to lessen teenage drunk driving after prom,
the suing part is one hundred percent true but several parents (including my mom <3) threatened to personally beat the ass of the principal at the time
#i'm small town they all grew up together#when my brother graduated i had just finished seventh grade#and my mom walked up to my brother's now former principal and was like alright henry you have a year#you have a year where you have none of my children in your school. i recommend getting your shit together in the mean time#and the high school had a different principal when i hit ninth grade#mer rambles#the new principal was lisa and we already had beef though thankfully my mother and grandmother were not involved#i got dress coded a lot bc wearing a belt was part of the dress code and i did not own one and had no interesting in procuring one#because i'm autistic and belts fucking suck#but every time i got dress coded teachers would send me directly to the principal bc i had an attitude problem you know how it is#and i'd walk in and lisa would be like “belt again?” and i'd be like “yeah :) how are my grades doing :)”#bc the first time i got sent directly to her i told her to pull up my grades and tell me that a belt mattered to my education#and she would just tell me to go back to class beltless#i was in... sixth or seventh grade at the time?#then lisa moved to the high school my first two years and then became superintendent#during the senior pep rally i was leaving the rally to go to my favorite teacher's classroom bc it was loud#and lisa and one of the other school board members were in the hall bc it was an Event#and they're like Where Are You Going Get Back In There and i was like well lisa i still have anxiety attacks so i'm gonna go be somewhere#else. is that alright with you? and she just waved me off :) <3#i'm a nuisance to any and all authority figures
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Yayoi Dojima should've stayed Chairman. Sure there'd be no further games w/Tojo drama b/c they'd have gotten they're shit together but she deserves to kick their asses.
no but actually let that woman stay in charge !!!!!! LET HER COOK
#snap chats#yayoi if you gotta have daigo here at least make him like. idfk patriarch of the dojima family then fuck it#i just think yayoi wouldve been the best chair woman ever#no im not biased im right and my supporting argument is that she married sohei#ok she's resilient she's a soldier she's based#yakuza 3 conflict who ? dont know her see daigo wouldnt even have gotten shot#yall think yayoi woulda sold kiryu's land. 💀💀#PART OF ME SAYS YES BUT PART OF ME IS LIKE 'does she respect kiryu enough not to do that or' 💀💀#either way kiryus gonna start swinging#yakuza 4 conflict dont even exist if mine didnt neck himself. yayoi prob woulda told katsuragi to kick rocks#daigo too friendly that his problem yayoi knows how to throw hands and when not to#yakuza 5 plot its like. My Son's Missing Mine Find Him#mine has to drag daigo back to the tojo kicking and screaming#'no mine please i have to repay this debt to my high school classmate who barely remembers me :(((((('#mine's not having it daigo needs to get his priorities straight and now he's gonna hear it from him AND his mom#top ten cringe son moments#yakuza 6. tojo aint even involved in y6 lbr LMAOOOO#and yakuza 7. i mean that can go as it did thats like The One Time daigo did something smart#and i reckon yayoi prob woulda come to a similar conclusion as he did listen he had to get his smarts somewhere#no matter how limited they seem sometimes hes smart#i rambled too long jfc anyways Stan Yayoi
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one of my friends experiencing the plot of a teen drama:
another gaining their obligatory toxic ex:
me having the most chill drama-free life:
#i have watched teen dramas with worse plots than the first one#im also the only one hearing about it cos im the only close friend who had no connection to the man so it cant get back to him from me#friends#drama#she also told me there had been a development right before her 9 hour shift so i ahd to wait all day#(she obviously did get breaks but the people she works with were involved)#i did also have all my drama at the start of senior school#like i watched two of my friendship groups fall appart though i was the issue than realised this other girl who was also in both groups was#actually the issue as she became more overtly toxic#which ive been watching from the side line#so i havent got away stock free#but its strange being so calm whilt my friends are going through shit tm
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