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ursoself-satisfying · 5 years

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My Sweet Lord (ch1)

dude is that fucking brenda song?? lol i forgot he was in social network w her what a world huh???

Chapter One - Genesis 3:23

Priest!Joe Mazzello x F!Reader, SFW, 2.5k words

My Sweet Lord masterlist

A/N: ugh this is super short but its rly just kind of an intro,,,, I’m testing the waters here,,,, idk why this was so hard for me to write like its not as good as I want it to be but I’m ok w it rn,,, I might come back n rewrite it real soon n go in n change that so be warned lol but i’m rly excited for where this is going to go cus I do have a lot planned its just getting jumbled in translation lol but enjoy!!

special thanks given in this post!! you can find whole accompanying laylists there as well not just single associated songs!!!

Warning(s): none rn,, unless a priest being kinda into u or u being into a priest is bad cus thats gonna be this whole fucking series m8 so if u dont enjoy defiling holy ground n religious imagery i suggest u move on sorry!!!

The church was filled to the brim with life, with colors and sounds. There were your newest acquaintances, knitting in the corner. They were the main source of the commotion, all shrill laughs, and clacking needles. On the pews further ahead were some children, and a man attempting to corral them but failing in the end. The squeals of the kids echoed through the crowds and came to where you stood at the entrance. When you took in the scene, you were surprised the doors could even close given how the entire town had flocked to its sonorous halls this cold Sunday morning. Inside it was somehow still just as bright like the blinding clouds had followed your shadow.

Though you’d admittedly been to few churches in your lifetime, this one you were sure was exceptionally stunning. How such a grand masterpiece ended up out in these boonies was beyond you. You had felt a bit silly at first, attending mass at all but then you saw the steeple and then there you were, standing in awe of how the building seemed to soar above you. The view of it as you had driven up the small hill was impossible to replicate, how the belltower rose over the rolling grass like the sun that unknowingly led you the dawn of your new life. In your juvenile appreciation of its architecture, you lost yourself in the way the worn stone of the support beams still held the tall ceilings up like pillars of salt to the heavens.

Pillars of salt, you thought, was a fitting image for your situation. Surely you must have blended right into the columns, tributes to every other woman who approached religion and turned their heads back. You were ripped from your runaway thoughts, though, by the bustle of bodies behind you and the urging but ultimately gentle hand that came to squeeze your upper arm. Beatrice stopped at your side and looked up at you with shining, young eyes that got lost in the folds of her lids when she smiled.

There was somehow a familiar and comforting aura about her and when she touched you a blanket of trust always came with the contact. With the top of her auburn beehive just reaching your eyes, her bent body led you to the very front pew and gestured for you to take a seat on the sandalwood. You did as told with a thin smile, still distracted by the arched ceiling of the chapel around you.

As you waited in the congregation for the priest to begin his sermon, your mind wandered to the morning, how the belltower rose, tall and white, over the rolling green hills like the first sun dawning on a new world. Impossible to replicate. It was an unknowing sign of things to come. The church wasn’t something you expected to ever return to much less for it to become something you looked forward to, something that would end up being such a large part of your life. That was all yet, to come through, for, at this moment, your thoughts weren’t busied by the future but rather by the thought of the blinding white exterior of this place of worship, how bright it had been in those early hours.

The organ began and its resonance nearly shook you from your seat, but it certainly caught your attention as intended. The people rose in unison, you doing your best to follow, unfamiliar with the practices seeing as your last time in mass would have been before you were able to remember anything about it. The songs, though, were vaguely familiar, maybe reminiscent of something you’d heard on the radio, seeing as this town picked up almost purely religious stations.

You moved your mouth along to the words, not knowing exactly what they were but doing your best to look like you were competent. The song ended and you sat, grateful it was over, huffing a bit when your body hit the wood. The father beside you gave you an awkward smile when you attempted to cover your relief with a cough and a straightening of your back.

Then when you looked up from your awkward encounter-

Were you very religious? Not particularly, but when in Rome, do as the Romans, right? So when in church, pray. Maybe there had been a little prayer going on in your heart since you entered the building, hell, since you entered the town, a prayer for good things to come, and God must have heard those unintentional prayers because behold before you was what must have been an angel.

He walked slowly to the podium, robes dragging behind him and a glow seeming to emanate from the crown of his head. He seemed like the only living proof of a God that you could find in the whole of the chapel. His hair was wispy, auburn, and looked so soft, reminding you of clouds, and maybe cotton candy if cotton candy were brandy flavored. Bronze, you thought would be the right shade.

The stained glass behind him spread like wings, angels on either side surely singing of his beauty and softness. The haze of his arrival washed over you and you were enraptured. You never thought someone could so quickly feel this way. The romcoms were nice, but they were unrealistic, and most definitely did not happen to you of all people. Completely prepared to shove down these feeling, deep down underneath the mattress of your soul and leave them there to rot, you allowed yourself to enjoy the sermon, or at the very least, enjoy the priest.

God, your gaze hadn’t dropped past his eyebrows before you completely fell. His eyes were soft, pleading, forgiving, but young and curious as well. His nose? You adored immediately. He had, in the kindest way, what you would have referred to as an ‘old man’ nose, a little long, strong, gave him an impeccable silhouette that shown like a holy imagine again the early morning backlight, sun streaming from the tall windows behind him. His chin was soft and cleanshaven, his lips, soft and puffy and lush and looking simply perfect to kiss.

Kiss? You shook your head briefly, half attempting to banish these thoughts you knew you shouldn’t be thinking, but having been so completely lost in his image that you had missed the beginning of his sermon. The congregation spoke back at him at certain times, words you vaguely remembered from childhood. The echoes of “and also with you” kept you anchored to reality as you struggled not to get lost in the languid movements he made as he moved about behind the podium. He spoke animatedly about- Well, you weren’t exactly paying attention, but you did notice how he spoke with his hands, waving them about when he said something about the glory and grace that has been granted so many. His hands were long and thin and surely would be long and thin enough to fit perfectly between your-

The organ boomed through the hall and shook you from your daydream, again, and you, again, tried to lipsync your way through the unfamiliar hymn and failing, again. You had stood for the song, and the stretch was welcome after clenching your thighs so obviously together for so long, but when you sat back down, the cool of the wood and the wetness of your panties made you visibly shudder. Dear, sweet, Beatrice placed a feeble hand on your arm as a sign of concern, along with her shakily drawn on eyebrows being raised. Gripping her wrinkled hand carefully, you smiled, tight-lipped, as a reply of ‘I’m fine’.

You again turned from your elderly friend to the man at the front of the room, the one who demanded your attention with his repetition and his- He smiled, all teeth, cheeks puffing up. A sharp intake of breath was all you could muster before he began to pray. The rest of those looking on seemed to know what to do and you did your best to imitate, but as he pushed his hair back, your lips fell apart and you crossed your legs in desperation, his clergy status seeming to only turn you on more. Fuck, you chastised your own attraction to the taboo. As clandestine as it may have been, though, God, did it turn you on.

“Lord have mercy,” he said, voice effortlessly both round and light.

“Lord have mercy,” you pleaded breathlessly.

“Christ have mercy.” His eyes rose to meet yours for the first time and you choked.

“Christ have mercy” came out like a whine under your breath, unheard under the rest of the mass, but you knew he saw your chest rise and fall heavily as you seemingly tried to breathe in his prayer and send it back to him.

“Lord have mercy.” His own voice wavered when he saw you, red in the face and out of breath. His gaze didn’t move from you as you mouthed the words back at him.

“Lord have mercy.”

Unbeknownst to you, this was not, in fact, the first time he’d laid eyes on you. He had been watching you, side-eyed, the whole service. If his peripheral served him right, you had been the one with your eyes glued to him since he’d first emerged from his chambers. He saw you stand out in the mass, the last of the congregation to sit down after prayers or songs. He was unable to tell whether this was due to you being distracted or inexperienced, or both, but it caught his attention without catching yours, darting his own away just in time as to not catch your gaze. It seemed to work so long as he kept his focus on the other side of the chapel, though the magnetism of your attentive gaze was hard to resist. The man didn’t let himself give in, not until he somehow heard your barely audible repetitions after those of the congregation. Then you saw one another, caught in the undeniable stare of interest. Suddenly, his lungs felt like iron on his chest and he struggled to finish praying.

Again, you were pulled down by the older woman next to you, unaware everyone had been seated and for a moment it was just you and him, standing and caught in this sudden whirlwind of unknown attraction. The world seemed to dissolve around you, focus seeming to blur and leave you with tunnel vision on the holy man. His sermon paused for a moment as he stared at you and smiled softly. You could feel his eyes fall down your body, but then his voice picked up again, being carried over your head in smooth, calming waves and you were lost, again, in his presence that loomed over the crowd like the hanging branches of a willow on a sticky summer day. For the remainder of his sermon, you focused less on his words and more on the mystery that might be hiding beneath those layers and layers of robes that dragged behind him.

If you asked Joe why you caught his attention, he would tell you that you were the first young and clearly not familial woman he had seen in town since his arrival. This was true, that in a town occupied only by elderly folks and new families, you were the first young face he had seen in a long time. Of course, it didn’t help that he found you incredibly attractive and that, as a newly appointed man of the cloth, he had been experiencing somehow more temptations than ever before.

Every verse he read was budding with new meaning and potential, every lust soaked gaze sent your direction waning to go through with it. There was, of course, a pang in his heart every time the thought of you passed through his head. The allure of a woman who was neither the age of his grandmother nor heavily with child was far more than it should it have been. Father Joe knew it was wrong, that he must keep his mind as clean as his body, his thoughts as clean as his actions. “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds,” he said aloud to the congregation, using his slip as some kind of holy motivation.

Another song followed, then a prayer and every time he stood the priest had to force his eyes forward, away from the direction you were sitting. His thoughts went back to the way your skirt slid up your thigh when you sat down and how you must have known how much skin you were showing but when his eyes met yours with one final, united “Amen”, he knew you were too distracted to have noticed.

You watched the priest with unintentional intensity, looking as though you were spaced out, lost in thought and caught on his words, but the reality was that you were simply entranced. All the time you’d spent in this town so far and you had yet to see anyone as young and painfully unavailable as him. Though in the back of your mind you wondered how fidelious some of these new husbands were, you had settled with remaining single, that is, until now. What was more delicious than a man who was not only gorgeous, mature, and clearly into you already, but also one so out of reach, so taboo and clandestine. The beating of your heart when he would slip up and land his eyes on your form a little too long thrummed against the bars of your ribcage like Morse code, an aching organ begging to be hurt.

The service had ended and Beatrice had eagerly joined her group of cawing old ladies, but not before kindly introducing you to the sweet-faced Father that had spoken today. “Darling, this is Father Mazzello, he’s new to the Ridge.” Her smile was sickly sweet and you couldn’t help but smile back, keeping your eyes from the man approaching you.

He’d traded the excess robes for a simple black ensemble already and when he approached you and, God, he looked even better now. His hand was extended to you firmly, holding back any eagerness behind a front of eminence and dignity. Beatrice spoke again as you finally lifted your longing gaze from his nimble, capable, horribly inspiring hands, up his arms, across his shoulders, and finally to his green eyes. They were so much prettier up close. “Father Mazzello,” your friend spoke warmly, “this is [Y/N]. The dear has been staying with me and I’ve finally convinced her to get a bit of God in her.” She laughed and you took the man’s extended hand, holding it motionless.

“I would love a bit of God in me,” you laughed quietly, hopefully only loud enough for him to hear.

Joe swallowed dryly at your low comment and the softness of your hand, “It’s nice to meet you, [Y/N],” he smiled crookedly, “and you can call me Joe.”

#she has a voice!!!#joe mazzello #not queen #fanfic #joe mazzello x reader #priest fic #priest kink #priest #priest!au #priest! joe mazzello

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nighttimepixels · 5 years

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Heyhey Night! I have a buncha questions after seeing all your animations and they're just so cool so! I hope this is ok!! Can u animate normally too, or only pixel? Not that that's bad, just wondering! What's ur preferred kinda animation? Do u prefer lipflaps or lipsyncs? What's the hardest part of the animation process?? What's ur favorite?? Any part u don't like? What's a thing people don't see that u put a lotta time into? Do u have a fave animation u've done? Thank u btw for all ur art!!

Oh stars, okay, yeah- I’m happy to answer all these!! I’ll break them up so it’s easier to read X) And awww geez thank you so much for your support, sweet anon! It really makes my day when people say they like anything I’ve made, and stars knows it’s all the more true with the sweet sweet time sink that is animation (´•̥̥̥\\ヮ\\•̥̥̥` )

I’ll also put this under a cut since it gets a bit long :)

Can u animate normally too, or only pixel?

This one cracks me up a little, don’t worry about it XD I totally can! In fact I enjoy it a lot - and... gods, animation software is a nightmare and a half, to be honest. That’s the biggest hurdle.

I do just straight up love pixel art and the aesthetic I can achieve with it, but I do at times miss ‘normal’ (non pixel?) animation, heh. Especially sound-syncing! I do all my pixel art in Asesprite which imo is the best pixel art program, not to mention made by an actual pixel artist - buuuut it doesn’t have a sound file option. Which makes sense! Er, frankly, most pixel artists wouldn’t... use it to animate like I do? More for games, or for looping gifs? So I can’t complain much, it makes a lot of sense that it’s a low dev priority.

Now, when it comes to other animation programs... I’ve tried a lot. Unfortunately, the ones that are preferable for the feel I like are either way out of budget (stares at TVPaint in the distance) or... well, have too high a learning curve for my single-person workflow, really. (OpenToonz, sigh...) And a lot of the free programs are good for getting a start in animation, but once you get to a certain point you really feel the limitations (whether it’s workflow, sound import, exports, trying to make something more finished than a rough...).

Then... there’s animation programs I just don’t like, and a lot of those are angled towards bone-style animations (nothing wrong with those, they just don’t fit my style? and are too much time investment for a single artist to output more quickly...), or are, well, freakin’ Adobe Animate.

I... gods, I do not like Animate (formerly Flash). And I made a whole 2 minute+ animation in it a couple years ago! (It’s very rough and bad and doesn’t make sense, pfff, not gonna link it XD) It’s... clunky, and vector oriented, and freaking lines don’t go where I want them too, and it tries to predict too much?? It’s hard to put to words, gah. For me, my animation style would be much more... raster oriented. Flow, hand drawn inbetweens, yaddayadda. Animate’s great for... plenty of things, but not for that kind of animation. There are far better animators than I who make it work with freakin’ aplomb though! So really, it’s just my taste, haha.

.... Er, that got long! I’ll cut off more rambling about animation software and tl;dr boil it down to “I love animating period, but turnaround is something I have to keep in mind as a freelancer, as well as budget, and my current focus is pixel animations for a number of reasons.” X)

What's ur preferred kinda animation?

I’m not exactly sure what this one means! Between pixel and non-pixel? Er, they both have their pros and cons, so I couldn’t say! But if I have to break down my current animations into categories, I’d say I have cutscenes, loop environments, and the broad game-like animations...

The first would be something like this animation feat. teasing Edge, the second would be something like this one with skesgo’s Starlan and Cinnamon, and the third is... everything else! From headsprite loops to ‘small’ characters running and so on.

Honestly, they’re all a lot of fun for different reasons! Cutscenes are generally the most challenging, but they give me the chance to push my limits and try and pull off something cool, whether I’m having to conserve frames (to keep the cost of a commission down) or whether I’m going more all out (which is a pricey commission, or a fun personal project, lol).

Loop environments are their own challenge - it may not look like it, but I put a lot of thought into how to make them look as natural as possible! From timing of talking characters, to where to place a blink, to exactly how many frames it’ll take to ‘soften’ a motion (so people aren’t just snapping between major poses) and so on - it takes... a lot of time to animate even simple scenes well, so I do a lot of mental math on how I can keep things affordable when someone approaches me for a commission. And frankly, I totally undercharge;; but I do my best!

Game-like animations are just fun. They range, they’re silly, to intense (I’ve animated fight animations before for game concepts), to indulgent, and beyond! Headsprites are always a delight, especially if I get to push the expression X) and I love tiny things (I mean... I am a pixel artist...) so getting to make lil tiny babs even just walking can be fun - and also, a lot more time consuming than you might thing, esp if you wanna make it smooth, like this lil Frisk I did last month or so:

Do u prefer lipflaps or lipsyncs?

oTL

B... both??

Okay, lipsyncing basically is very time consuming. AND, I freakin’ love it. I love puzzles, and when it boils down to it, that’s what super fun & expressive lip syncing is (some Ghibli animations are the heckin’ best for this)...

and, I’m a pixel artist, without sound-syncing capabilities in her main art program oTL Yeah, I can export frames and line them up and check but... gods, it’s so time consuming. I’ve tried it out of desperation - but for even five seconds of sound (sayyyyy a lil Vine...) that’s hours upon hours of transferring back and forth just to check.

So even though I love lipsyncs, they’re too time-consuming (and ergo, if I’m being commissioned, often too expensive) to do often! Someday I’d like to get back to doing them more often, but for now, practically I stick to/’prefer’, in the loosest terms, to do lipflaps. For the layman, this is that ‘two frame’ (maybe three) open-closed style of animating mouths- however, I’m working on ways to keep that style, but make it more expressive! It depends on the project - and in commissions, I’ll pretty much always prioritize giving the client a little more body animation than mouth animation, unless it’d really fit what they’ve requested.

What's the hardest part of the animation process??

.... damn, this is a tough one! Sometimes I’d say it’s the initial concept work - but it depends on what I have to work with. Sometimes that parts a breeze - and honestly freeing, bc I can take the time to try and push what I’ll do with it!

Roughing is one of my favorite parts, tbh. It can be tricky, sure, but getting to go from keyframes to in-betweens & smears to adding the flairs of secondary motion (think hair swishing, or coats flaring, etc) is so exciting and satisfying.

From there it’s all refining, and tweaking...

Hm. Honestly, the hardest is probably the initial cleanup and lining. It’s cool to see it come together, but it feels so much slower, and it can drag - and then you find bits that actually don’t translate well from the rough stage, so you have to go back and rework, and oof it can just drag in this phase, heh. Plus, I’m always tempted to add more frames, but it’s not always realistic - I’m a perfectionist, to say the least, so I’m constantly having to leash myself back so I don’t turn a project into a half-a-year undertaking, pff.

What's ur favorite??

Probably gave myself away talking about the roughing stage X) It’s just loose and fun and free! But seeing it all come together is also damn satisfying too, so that’s not to say I don’t like the refining portions either...

Outside of that, I also really like the beginning of the color stage! .... Before having to translate shadows/highlights to each and every frame *shudders*. That gets tedious, but it’s so critical! Anyways, though, I heckin’ love colors. I always have a rough palette in mind at the start of the process, but I go ham and play with it as a little break and a true test when I get to actual slap together a full frame with full color, highlights/shadows included! It’s exciting, like a preview of the finished product, basically :D

Any part u don't like?

Heh, by the time I get to shadows/highlights, I tend to be getting impatient, I suppose. It’s not that I don’t like it - I definitely highly value it, and if it was the only thing I was working on in an animation that’d be different, but as a one-woman team I’m just raring to be done at that point; it’s very nearly the last thing I do, after all, so it’s a struggle to focus. X)

I suppose one that always gets me is more complicated backgrounds. It’s a work in progress, as I’m getting better and finding the fun in them for sure! But I’m still not where I want to be in translating ‘background concept’ to ‘finished background’ - it feels more stiff than my animations, I guess. So it’s a frustrating part... but hey, it’s part of it! And learning to embrace the challenge is a big help.

... I just always have to make sure I have a big cup of coffee and a good jam playlist going when I sit down to do ‘em, in the meantime.(=▿= ||||)

What's a thing people don't see that u put a lotta time into?

Definitely the coloring. This goes for both backgrounds and the animated characters themselves. It’s... never as simple as it looks? It’s time consuming, and while some parts of frames can be copy-pasted, I also put subtle work into the animations that mean that some pixels are off so it ends up being marginally faster to just recolor, but then there’s shadows, and working in pixels means that if I miss one then there’s a flickering pixel mid-animation, and sometimes there’s an unconnected line and then you bucket fill the whole damn thing, and gods know I’ve got colored lines so I have to be exacting with keeping the same ratios highlighted vs darker in shifting frames...

*deep breath*

... Yeah, basically the coloring is super time consuming. And balancing bg coloring with animated elements in the image itself is a whole extra challenge on top of that. For 99% of my animations, I can damn near guarantee I’ve spent at least twice as much time coloring it as I have animating it.

Do u have a fave animation u've done?

*looks at my goblin hoard of animations in horror like I’ve been asked to choose a favorite child*

... Stars above, I can’t choose! I love them all, and at this point a good portion of them are commissions- it wouldn’t feel right to choose!

*...carefully covers the hoard’s metaphorical ears*

... also, that said, I can admit a soft spot for any of them that involve humor. I tend to get to do extremely expressive faces and action there, even if I have to ration the frames, so it turns out really fun X)

And though rough and I’ve definitely done stuff I’m more proud of, I still crack up at this one I did a while back of the nonsense ‘ass’ joke between Red & Stretch... their faces were too much fun XD I’ve gotten waybetter since then though, Big Oof, I see so many things I can fix; might go back and redo it someday.

Honestly, though, I just freakin’ love animating! They all have their ups and downs andI always put a lot of love into them and find a way to have fun with it and try to push any emotion/theme (when applicable). I like to think it shows, but idk, that’s something I have to leave up to you guys X)

#night answers #about animating #phew there were a lot-!#thanks so much for your interest #hope these answers made sense! :D #Anonymous

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dimensionsunited · 4 years

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JANUARY 2020 DIMENSIONS ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULES & REVIEW

Members may earn 3 points each (up to 6 points) for writing, by the end of February 7 KST:

A solo para of 400+ words based on their monthly schedule (does not count toward your monthly total).

A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) based on their monthly schedule.

Threads do not have to take place directly during an important date listed on the schedule, but must be related to what the muse is mentioned to be doing in the paragraph explaining their schedule/the company’s schedule for the month and/or their thoughts on the mentioned activities or lack thereof.

These schedules may be updated throughout the month if new information needs to be added.

Reminder: December schedule posts are due by the end of January 7 KST.

Overall Company

On an administrative level, employees are busy getting everything together to begin moving operations into Dimensions’ new building next month. On a level more directly affecting the company’s artists this month, Dimensions will be hosting their usual beginning of the year meeting headed by Choi Dongwook as well as the normal consultations on creative and music direction. Choi Dongwook will not be present in the directional meetings this year, possibly sparking rumors his hands-on approach was a phase he’s grown out of as more and more of his uncle’s duties are being delegated elsewhere. The company meeting will emphasize a focus on living up to the investment of a new building this year with concert profits from nearly all artists under them as well as a continued focus in branching out into the Western market with Alien and Unity (and to a lesser extent, Dimensions Soloist 1 and Lucid), and perhaps working on an introduction for 7ROPHY into the market.

Important dates:

January 24-26: Seollal break (no activities save for specific voluntary individual schedules).

January 27: Meeting for company artists and those who work directly with them (managers, PR, etc.) headed by creative director Choi Dongwook. Dimensions Entertainment’s mission statements and overall plans for 2019 will be delivered.

Various dates: In a tradition started in 2018 by creative director Choi Dongwook, all artists will meet with in-house producers and artist and repertoire department representatives to discuss the styles of music and concepts they’d like to pursue in 2020. No promises are made that their wishes will be met, but the intent is to keep open a clear line of communication.

Dimensions Soloist 1

"Lalalay” and “Noir” weren’t quite the smash hits her previous songs had been, though they still performed suitably, so her schedule isn’t very hectic while decisions on her planned next album are being made on a higher level than her in order to alter it in hopes of more smashing success. She has been invited in to do a video talking about her lyrics. She’ll be expected to prepare a rough version of her explanations in advance.

Important dates:

January 11: Studio K Talking Lyrics video filming.

Dimensions Soloist 2

He’s slated for a late April comeback, meaning preparations begin this month. The track list and concepts will be finalized and confirmed with him at the beginning of the month, so he then will go into the studio to get down the vocals for the mini-album. He has a fanmeeting in Bangkok, Thailand next month so he’ll be expected to practice the songs he’s already released as well as up to three family-friendly cover songs of his choice for the set list.

Important dates:

N/A

Gal.actic

For the bulk of January, Gal.actic will be in the dance studio rehearsing the choreography and performance aspects of their comeback title track until the end of the month comes. On the twenty-second, they’re scheduled to shoot their comeback teaser photos, which will be shot full-clothed in a shallow bath tub. Right before the month ends, they’ll be on set to shoot their music video. The video is low budget and not all that impressive for a company often praised for their music videos, but will showcase the choreography Dimensions has insisted they work so hard on.

Important dates:

January 22: Comeback teaser photo shoot.

January 30: "B.B.B” MV filming.

Alien

They’re back home for the beginning of the month to attend award shows they’ve been nominated for, but then it’s off on the Europe leg of their world tour. Before they leave, they’ll record their Japanese double singles releasing next month: a Japanese version of “Alligator” and an original song “Swish”. While they’re on tour, they’ll be tasked with filming a few self-cam videos lipsyncing to “Swish” in different locations for a video to promote the song. Management passes down to them that their year is slated to consist of a lot of continued touring and English singles to lead up to the release of their first English album next year. This year, they’ll have one Japanese album release and one Korean album release.

Important dates:

January 5: Performance at Golden Disc Awards Day Two at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea (also attending: CHARM, Impulse, and Origin).

January 8: Performance at Gaon Chart Music Awards at Jamsil Arena in Seoul, South Korea (also attending: BEE, Lucid, and Femme Fatale).

January 11: We Are Here tour concert at Placio Vistalegre in Madrid, Spain.

January 15: We Are Here tour concert at AFAS Live in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

January 18: We Are Here tour concert at La Seine Musicale in Paris, France.

January 21: We Are Here tour concert at The SSE Arena Wembley in London, England.

January 23: We Are Here tour concert at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany.

January 30: Performance at Seoul Music Awards at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea (also attending: BEE, WISH, Lucid, Fuse).

MARS

The time has come for the concerts they’ve been preparing for (see November’s schedule for special stages). The content they’ve been filming during practice will begin to go up on Youtube before the concerts, but the members will continue to film before and after on the days of the concerts to get more behind the scenes material. Once they get their two concerts over with, they can rest through Seollal since they’ll be starting comeback preparations next month. Dimensions want them to comeback twice this year as well as get in another round of concerts before the end of the year. After being Dimensions’ most domestically-focused group for a while, it seems they’re giving in to the temptation to eventually float MARS to international fans with time.

Important dates:

January 11: KPop Super Concert in Hanoi at Mỹ Đình Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam (also performing: Unity).

January 18: LAUNCH concert at Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.

January 19: LAUNCH concert at Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.

7ROPHY

Their comeback comes at the end of the month, but between Seollal and the song being a digital single, promotions are too expansive. Instead of the fan signs they’d have for a comeback with a physical release, Dimensions will have 7ROPHY releasing online content through various channels and making radio show appearances. In addition to the customary Relay Dance video, they’ll split into two groups to film ASMR challenge videos. The group for the first video will consist of the lead vocal/lead dancer, main rapper/vocal, and lead dancer/vocal while the second video will involve the leader/main dancer/lead vocal, maknae/lead rapper/vocal, main vocal, and lead vocal. Dimensions would like them to have two more comebacks before the end of the year it seems, but they’re still reviewing songs for those. In positive news, if they can avoid doing anything too disastrous, they’re predicted to pay off their debt before everyone is required to have moved out of the dorm.

Important dates:

January 22: Release of “Me” digital single & showcase, promotions continue until February 22.

January 23: “Me” Relay Dance video filming.

January 27: Guesting on Idol Radio radio show.

January 28: Dingo MOVE REC Performance Video filming.

January 29: Guesting on MBC FM4U radio show.

January 31: ASMR unit video one and two filmings.

Unity

Sub-unit CHAMPION’s debut appears to be prioritized over Unity for now, if the way management talks is anything to go by. Initial plans had been for a comeback in the first half of the year, but once plans were finalized, it was considered a better look to investors to push it into the second half of the year. January’s schedule is more focused on keeping Unity’s name out there and giving fans content. Dimensions has worked out a contract for Unity to become one of the faces of Lotte Duty Free, joining Origin and Knight, and they’ll film a CF with a song in both Korean and English this month. They’ll also continue to film content for their Youtube channel. This month, it will be a New Year’s greeting video reflecting on 2019, looking forward to 2020, and wishing fans a happy new year. This will not be scripted, but the gist of what each member will say will be cleared with management first and any necessary edits will be made before upload.

Important dates:

January 4: New Year’s Greeting video filming.

January 10: Lotte Duty Free English and Korean CFs filming.

January 11: KPop Super Concert in Hanoi at Mỹ Đình Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam (also performing: MARS).

↳ CHAMPION

Now that the members have had time to settle into the idea of their new sub-unit, this month, they’ll familiarize themselves with the songs that will be on their debut mini-album and begin recording them in the studio. All of the recording will be done in the studios at Dimensions Entertainment building, as the group is working with their team musically instead of BC’s. Only two songs on the album, “Jopping” and “I Can’t Stand The Rain”, will feature all members, with the other three featuring select members deemed most fitting for the specific song:

“2 Fast” - Decipher’s maknae/main dancer/lead vocal, Knight’s main vocal 2, Unity’s lead rapper/vocal, Unity’s main dancer/rapper/vocal

“Super Car” - Decipher’s/maknae/main dancer/lead vocal, Knight’s main vocal 2, Unity’s leader/main rapper/lead dancer/vocal, Unity’s main dancer/rapper/vocal, Unity’s lead rapper/vocal

“No Manners” - Decipher’s maknae/main dancer/lead vocal, Knight’s main dancer/vocal/rapper, Unity’s leader/main rapper/lead dancer/vocal, Unity’s main dancer/rapper/vocal

Important dates:

N/A

Lucid

Though their music show promotions end on the 2nd, Dimensions has decided to extend their run of fan signs quite a bit longer to continue to increase album sales and lock in new fans that are now interested in them following their number one hit (and the only song to achieve a PAK on the charts in 2019 other than Origin’s comeback). Their awards show run continues but they’re in high demand now for more than that. This will include a return to Immortal Songs 2 as well as a return to MCountdown after the end of their promotional run to do a special stage of a cover of “To My Boyfriend” as a reward for achieving a triple crown. Management is now incredibly hesitant to proceed with a return to their dark concept as had always been planned, but scrapping what had already been planned would waste money, so they can only hope fans stick around for it. Lucid’s second anniversary is coming next month, so they’ll be recording a special anniversary song, “Full Moon”, to release. Now that their old brand contract with a shoe company expired, they’ve upgraded to Nuovo for 2020 and will shoot a CF for them this month. Dimensions is planning a dark concept and a power innocence concept release this year to compare their successes and also plan for the group to tour again.

Important dates:

January 2: End of music show promotions.

January 4: Performance at Golden Disc Awards Day One at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea (also attending: BEE and WISH).

January 8: Performance at Gaon Chart Music Awards at Jamsil Arena in Seoul, South Korea (also attending: BEE, Alien, and Femme Fatale).

January 12: Fan sign in Yongsan, Seoul.

January 13: Immortal Songs 2 episode recording (to be aired February 1).

January 16: Nuovo CF filming.

January 19: Fan sign in Gimpo.

January 30: “To My Boyfriend” special stage on MCountdown.

January 30: Performance at Seoul Music Awards at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea (also attending: BEE, WISH, Alien, Fuse).

#fmdschedule #queued post

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rkdaehwi · 5 years

Photo

CALLBACK AUDITION PART I : PERFORMANCE

MGA5 contestant Sohn Youngjae Performing iKON - 죽겠다 ( 00:00 - 01:54 ) Outfit

“ And suddenly you know it’s time to start something new ”

The worst possible outcome would be that he didn’t even make it back to the MGAs this year. Eric had always been a young man of great confidence, but even someone like him might take a dent from rejection after rejection and failure following more failure. Had he been denied from the very get-go he might honestly have felt his world collide yet again as he was still getting back on top after his argument with his brother. There was no bad blood left between them anymore, but Eric was still jealous of the other’s trainee position and that only meant that he had to work doubly hard to make up for lost time.

But he also knew that he couldn’t just do whatever he pleased anymore. So far he had gone through life with the mindset that as long as he did what he wanted to the world was going to bend down to his feet and accept it, but that had not exactly brought him very far. It was time to step back, take a look at his experiences and evaluate what could possibly have left him with rejection thus far. His age was something he supposed, but that was not exactly something he could do anything about. Yet again he found himself amongst many adults when he went to the designated venue for the audition. There was a fear that they were going to cut him off because he was too young and inexperienced again, but the only thing Eric could do about that was to believe in himself and not let his worries show. Prove them that even someone so young could make a name for himself.

What he actually could do something about was his performance choice. In the last season he had simply stuck to one side of his abilities for that was what he knew best. Even for the triple threat challenge he had stuck to female artists. He thought it was enough to expand his repetoire with hip hop, but alas. Eric liked to tell himself that it was because his heart hadn’t been in it enough, but as expected the sourness of the aftermath still remained within him and he greatly regretted the outcome and not trying his best. At the time he had thought only TRC had been accepting auditions. He was a fool.

This time he wasn’t going to make any mistakes. If anyone saw him as a cute boy who was jumping around a bit to girl group songs he was about to wreck that image completely. Heavy eye makeup in dark colours already hinted the theme of his song choice, and if that wasn’t good enough, the harness he had acquired for the occasion would also give the image of a dark and more mature concept than he had ever shown before. If any of the judges actually took his previous performances into consideration or even remembered him, this moment was to blow them away. Hopefully at least. He’d do his absolute best and if this wasn’t enough, what even would be?

To his surprise Eric spotted many a familiar face at the venue -- Moonbok’s long hair was impossible not to take notice of, and wasn’t that Jisung over there? These bastards hadn’t even told him that they were auditioning, but then again Eric himself supposed that he hadn’t told anyone either. Not because he had any fear of the outcome but because it was more fun to keep it as a surprise. But he was still upset! He himself was excused; they weren’t. That was just how it worked!

Unfortunately they were rushed in before Eric could really get a chance to talk to any of them, but he figured he’d just hit them up later. Easily forgotten were his hyungs as the excitement built up within him the closer he got to the stage, and the moment he stepped out he could hear gasps and murmur around him: the cause clear the moment he locked eyes with the five CEOs of Korea’s biggest entertainment industries. Honestly he wasn’t too surprised -- he himself couldn’t remember how early they got involved last year, but shouldn’t it have been obvious that they would appear sooner rather than later? Well, he supposed that some people might feel extra pressure performing before them, but in the end it was no different in concept -- it was still doing a performance, get judged for it and evaluated. Pretty simple if you asked him.

Getting seated it didn’t last long before the first contestant was called to stage and the young teen could immediately feel the rush of anticipation as it all began. There was just something about watching people do their best up close that was incredibly exciting and that he could never get enough of. And he couldn’t wait for his own turn. Everyone’s eyes on him as he took the stage for two minutes and made it his own. But for now it was time to let others shine, and certainly they did.

Seeing another kid he knew the face of slide across the stage on skates had Eric almost cheer his lungs out in pure amazement. The return was not quite as elegant however, and Eric gave a loud gasp followed by a brief laughter as Haruto fell off stage. He then turned to tug the sleeve of the person seated next to him once the younger hopeful person had made his way back to his seat. “That was so cool, wasn’t it?!” he beamed at the older male even though he had never met him before and had no idea what his name was. As the other was called in later he would come to know him as ‘Suwoong’.

With every performance Eric clapped and cooed enthusiastically as if he simply couldn’t cease to be amazed, and finally his own name was called. Going to the middle of the stage, he gave a nod to all five individual judges before speaking. Always make sure to greet his seniors he thought. “My name is Sohn Youngjae, and you might remember me from my brief appearance on last season. If you don’t though, I’m gonna make sure you definitely will this time!” It might be a pretentious claim, but Eric was dead serious and he was definitely not going to hold anything back. Once the tyre screeches of his backing track sounded Eric began his performance.

It’s killing me, once again Your traces remain And they torture me It’s killing me I turned around like you’re a stranger But why am I so lonely?

The song was so far from anything he would usually listen to and like. He barely ever listened to boy groups, and when he did, it was songs with a much softer and brighter concept. Something like this was so far away from his repertoire as anything could be, but that didn’t matter. He would take even this song that was so foreign to him and make it his own.

I thought I’d be indifferent about breaking up But there’s one habit of yours that I have Not being able to throw things away Foolishly, these feelings remain Something that feels like regret Opposite from you who is doing great I’m half dead

I didn’t know the weight of this break up I was selfish, I ignored your tears

Barely even knowing what love was, Eric was only just recently starting to realise what it meant to have a crush on someone. What it meant to have feelings for someone. And the difference between a celebrity crush and an actual tangible crush. Something like a breakup was still so far away and so foreign a concept that he couldn’t really conceive the feelings behind it, but all he could do was act his way out of it through his use of tone. It had been an absolute pain recording the song beforehand with his voice as the backing just in case he had to lipsync or even just for basic support considering he had to both sing and dance. He wasn’t a professional, he needed to take everything into consideration to keep himself stable.

It’s killing me, once again Your traces remain And they torture me It’s killing me I turned around like you’re a stranger But why am I so lonely? Killing me

As the dance break after the chorus came up, for some reason a single girl popped into his mind. Come to think of it, not even Lily knew that he was going to be here today, did she? He couldn’t wait to see her reaction to his performance once it aired in television (if it even would, he had no idea how much of this would even air when it came down to it) and for a moment an involuntary smile appeared on his face that was quickly replaced with the stern expression that he had tried to maintain for the sake of capturing the mood of the song. As he thought of her, he suddenly started to imagine how it would feel if these lyrics had been about her, and somehow the thought didn’t sit quite well with him. It bothered him and he couldn’t quite understand why it did so. He tried to shrug it off as the chorus came to a close and the next part came up, for this was something he needed his full focus for.

Freedom and new relationships But behind that is an empty heart On this dark night, I’m alone again This isn’t right Her existence is such a big part of my world I try but I can’t take her out of it Once I did take her off, I broke down But I can’t tell myself to be ready to die So it’s killing me

Eric could easily have skipped the rap part. He wasn’t by any means a strong rapper although he had practiced a lot and definitely got better. Honestly speaking it would probably have been more profitable for him if he didn’t include it, but he wanted to challenge himself and show a different image from thus far. The fact that it was a more melodic rap than anything else had made it easier, but flow was still a very important thing, and it was hard to keep his mind on that at the same time as his dancing. Even more so was it difficult when he was so used to dancing with a more feminine touch to suddenly switch to masculine movements, but he had a long time to prepare considering he already had an idea how things were going to progress. There was not a lot left of the song now that he had finished the rap more or less successfully.

I didn’t know the weight of this break up I was selfish, I ignored your tears

As the music came to a close Eric sang a last “it’s killing me” and placed both hands over his throat as the choreography dictated. For a brief moment he simply stood there, chest heaving for breath now that it was over and done with. Immediately after he broke into a big smile and sent a victory sign off to the nearest camera he could spot before he jumped back to his seat with skipping steps. He had been in doubt of whether it had really been a good idea to perform something so far from his league, but now that it was actually over and done with it did feel quite good. He had done his best, and if nothing came out of it, he would definitely be disappointed.

Returning, Eric yet again returned to his seat mate and almost shook the stranger’s arm in his simple inability to control his joy. “Did you see me hyung? Hyung, wasn’t I totally cool?! I did it! I’m so happy!” He didn’t have much time to celebrate however as another familiar name was called, Moonbok stepping up to the stage to give his performance and Eric’s attention was immediately directed back to the show itself and his own attempt was already long pushed to the background with what was happening on stage taking all of his focus. “Yasssss!” he yelled eagerly as Moonbok stepped down, soon after followed by Jisung who seemed to be a wreck of nerves. “LET’S GET THIS BREAD JISUNGIE HYUNG!” he yelled at the other without thinking about it, and only afterwards did he realise how weird his sentence was and brought a mouth to his hand in an attempt to silence himself.

There was simply all too much happening at once for a young boy who just wanted to show support for those around him.

#ch: solo #rkmga5 #rkmga5callback #mentioned:#moonbokrk #rkharuto #rksuwoong #rklily #rkdowoon #jisungxrk

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artificialqueens · 6 years

Text

ain't no big deal, it's innocent (bengela with a side of jivy) - trashqueens

a/n: i kissed a girl au for that killer lipsync, i would also like to add that this fic doesn’t reflect my opinions on the characters mentioned.

Dela was your typical, run-off-the-mill sweet high school girl. She was smart but not too smart, she was well-liked, she was in six different clubs in Rupaul’s High School. She was head of the student welfare group and had a football captain for a boyfriend, making them the power couple in school, which only served to boost her popularity. As the terminally delightful bubble of happiness, her laughter and enthusiasm was always infectious. She never failed to make anyone smile. There was no way anyone could resist her charm.

Shangela was just your typical grade A cold bitch. No, seriously. It made sense, since she was the head cheerleader, and unlike Dela, her popularity was built on fear as opposed to kindness. She was the kind of girl who, if she smiled in just the right way, could easily send even the seniors running in the opposite direction. She was often blunt and upfront, never bothering to talk behind someone’s back if she could just say it to their face. In some ways, her I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude was almost admirable, and most people either envied or hated her. Or both.

It seemed unlikely that two girls with such distinctive differences could ever be friends. True enough, Dela and Shangela rarely ever crossed paths. Dela was often too busy going for student leader meetings or drama class, and Shangela spent all her time on the field making freshmen cheerleaders cry.

So when Dela entered her first dance class that year, and saw Shangela in the studio, she was, well, not quite apprehensive, but curious at least. She knew the rumours surrounding Shangela, of course - she’s a bitch and a real slut too sometimes, I heard she stole some girl’s boyfriend and blew him in the back alley last year - but nonetheless, never having really interacted with her, she didn’t want to make assumptions. She prided herself on being fair and congenial. It couldn’t hurt to try making a new friend, right?

She set her bag down by the side and made her way into the studio, already dressed in her nude leotard. Shangela was on her knees in front of the mirror doing stretches. Dela watched as she bent over backwards at the waist, hands landing gracefully on the floor to form a perfect bridge. Her eyes were closed, lips slightly parted as she breathed evenly.

Dela approached her, leaning against the warm-up bars. “That’s pretty impressive,” she began.

Shangela’s eyes opened, and she straightened up before turning to look at Dela, lips quirked in what could’ve been a smile, but probably wasn’t. She didn’t respond immediately, and it took Dela a few moments to realised she wasn’t going to get a reply. She coughed awkwardly.

“Um. So, anyway, I’m -”

“Girl, please, I know who you are.” Shangela cut in with a roll of her eyes, standing up. “Dela Creme, RuPaul’s poster girl, whatever whatever. And you know me as the bitch.”

She blinked. “More like, the cheerleader, so I didn’t really expect to see you here.”

Shangela easily forced her legs into a 180 degrees split and said, “I’m a professional. I heard y’all was hiring.”

Dela was surprised, but said nothing. She didn’t think Shangela was the kind to actually do anything outside of cheerleading, but clearly she didn’t play into that stereotype. It was noticeable in the way she moved, too, her body amazingly fluid, and as she stretched in that split Dela could see her lean and muscular thighs.

The instructor came in shortly after, and they got started on their dance choreography. Throughout the lesson, she couldn’t help but sneak a glance at the girl beside her, watching her precise and purposeful movements, always in time with the beat, perfectly in sync. Shangela was focused in everything that she did, that in-it-to-win-it attitude apparently evident in dance, too, and not just cheerleading. It was almost oddly mesmerising, and Dela found most of her attention on Shangela rather than the class itself. She hadn’t even realised that practice was over until the instructor dismissed them.

It had been a long day for her. She was tired, that was all, she thought while trying to rationalise her lack of focus during today’s practice. She started on her cooling-down exercises as people started to file out. The other dancers often left as soon as they could, but she always liked staying a little later behind, to get some rare peace and quiet.

Spreading her legs slightly, she slowly bent down to touch her toes. The burn in her thighs felt good, she was practically bent over halfways with her palms flat on the floor. When she got back up, she saw movement in the mirror, and whipped around to find Shangela halfway out the door, staring at her. There was no one else around.

“What?” She asked, suddenly self-conscious.

Shangela just smirked and left.

***

What people often didn’t know about Dela was that the exterior mask she put on hid a vastly different person on the inside. She’d always had to pretend to be someone else to be liked - and while it was her own decision, she did get tired of the whole shtick sometimes. She sometimes fantasized about saying fuck it and dropping everything she’d worked so hard for, but she knew she never would. There was nothing else for her but this life, and there was too much at stake. So she continued being the teachers’ pet, turning up for all her classes and club meetings, dating the perfect guy. And she told herself that she was fine.

***

“I’m not saying that I believe the rumours, but you should probably be on your guard, either way.”

Dela always had lunch with her best friend Jinkx, and her girlfriend Ivy, in the cafeteria. Benjamin used to join them all the time when he first started seeing Dela, but he now usually hung out with his football mates.

She thought about it while sipping on her orange juice. “She wasn’t that bad, she seemed kind of nice, actually? I mean, in a room containing Thorgy and Milk, she was at the very least bearable.”

Ivy giggled. “Well, when you put it that way…”

Jinkx shook her head, unconvinced. “You can’t always trust people who ‘seem nice’. Look what happened with Rolaskatox.”

Jinkx had run for prom queen last year, with Roxxxy, Alaska and Detox as the three other nominees. The notorious clique tried to ‘befriend’ Jinkx with the full intention of kicking her out eventually, but she snatched the crown nonetheless. She never held any grudges, water off a duck’s back and all that, though Dela knew that she was still wary sometimes.

“Alaska isn’t that bad,” Dela tried to defend.

“She’s the lesser of three evils,” Ivy agreed.

“You know what I mean. Just be careful. Maybe she’ll try to steal Benjamin from you - though we’d probably have to thank her for that.”

Dela sighed. She knew that they didn’t approve of him. Sure, he was always busy at football practice, and he sometimes stared at other girls, and he wasn’t always the most sensitive, but he loved her. And relationship was about compromise, wasn’t it?

“He’s not that bad, guys.”

“Who’s not that bad?” Benjamin appeared at their table, squeezing in next to Dela. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and planted a kiss on her cheek. From across the table, she caught Ivy and Jinkx sharing a look.

“No one,” Dela smiled sweetly at him.

“You’re actually spending time with Dela today? Not eating with your friends?” Jinkx’s lips were curled upwards in false cheer.

“Came down to see my favourite lesbians,” he chortled like it was the funniest joke in the world. “Come on, give a guy a show, can I watch y’all make out?”

Jinkx looked like she was about to snap at him, but Ivy clasped a hand around her fist and whispered softly into her ear. Dela slapped Ben lightly on his shoulder. “Stop it,” she chided.

Ben just laughed again. “I’m kidding, babe. Anyway, just wanted to tell you that I’ll be at practice tonight. Big game coming up and all.”

Dela frowned. “But we had plans for tonight, you promised you’d accompany me to Adore’s birthday party. I told you weeks ago -”

“Man, I’m sorry, I just can’t, okay? I know you understand. I’ll see you tomorrow, baby, love you.” He pressed another kiss against the corner of her lips and left. Jinkx held up a black-nailed middle finger to his retreating back.

“Honestly, Dela, he’s such a dick, why do you still -”

“Jinkxy,” Dela cut her off, pressing her fingers to her temple and massaging. “Please. I don’t wanna talk about it. We’re fine.”

Jinkx must have sensed her discomfort, and shut up. Ivy laced her fingers through Jinkx’s, the simple gesture instantly calming her down, and Jinkx turned to her girlfriend, love and adoration evident in her eyes. She leaned in for a small kiss, still smiling.

Dela watched the encounter with a slight pang of jealousy. She’d only ever been like that with Benjamin in their honeymoon phase, but their spark never lasted more than a few months. They’d been dating for almost two years, and she really still did enjoy his company, but she wasn’t sure if he was still that into her. She was completely okay with being the one who invested more into the relationship, but watching Jinkx and Ivy, so loving even years into their relationship, made her long for more.

A sudden increase in chatter volume made Dela turn around. The cheerleaders swarmed in as a whole bunch, with Shangela at the front, still clad in her white Halleloo Squad uniform. Her blond hair was tied up in a high ponytail with a white scrunchie, and she looked more like she’d just stepped out of the shower, rather than spent 3 hours sweating in the middle of the hot field.

“Jeez, the speak of the devil syndrome is real today,” Jinkx commented. Dela laughed.

She watched as the group sauntered over to the footballers’ table, most of them shamelessly flirting with the guys. Courtney was halfway draped over Andrew, tilting her head and giggling at everything he said. And Shangela -

Dela tried not to watch, she didn’t want to be the easily jealous or possessive type. But Shangela was seated right next to Benjamin, eyeing him purposefully, that lopsided grin on her face once more. She twirled a lock of hair around her finger, saying something that Dela couldn’t catch from a distance, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Jinkx must’ve caught her looking, because she said, “Dela, she’s doing it on purpose and you know it.”

Dela turned to her friend, whose eyebrows were furrowed, eyes full of concern. She swallowed and looked back down at her plate, picking up her apple and taking a bite even though she wasn’t hungry. “You don’t know that. She could just be being friendly.”

“I think Dela knows what she’s doing,” Ivy said lightly, and looked at Jinkx meaningfully. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” Jinkx nodded and gathered her belongings.

Dela got up, but turned around one last time. What she wasn’t expecting was for Shangela to be unabashedly staring right back, and grinning. She winked.

Confused and flushing uncontrollably, Dela let herself be dragged away by her friends.

***

Turns out, Dela also shared another class with Shangela in Calculus, due to the timetable switch. She didn’t have any of her closer friends with her, so she was sitting alone in the second row when Shangela walked in. That in itself was a bit of surprise, given that A) Shangela was almost always late, and B) she usually came in a box. (It was a long story.)

Shangela picked the seat next to Dela, which was even more of a surprise. And her first words were, “You know, your guy’s kinda cute and all, but I don’t really know what you see in him. Kinda boring, huh?”

Startled, Dela took a moment to recover. She didn’t know what Shangela’s motives were. Did she want Benjamin for herself? Or was she sowing discord for no reason? She replied, “I’m sorry, that was kind of rude? He’s a great boyfriend.”

Shangela just snorted. “If you say so, cutie.”

Dela’s insides twisted uncomfortably. Shangela was really good at making her riled up for no reason, in a way no one had been able to before. Something about her just… got under Dela’s skin. It was unnerving.

She spent the rest of the lesson in silence, concentrating hard on the questions on her worksheet, trying to keep up with the pace. She forced herself not to notice Shangela’s messy scrawl of words across the paper, the smell of her cherry chapstick, or the way her collarbones jutted out when she leaned forward in her seat.

Needless to say, she kind of failed.

When the bell rang, Dela gathered up her things quickly, desperate for some fresh air outside the classroom. She had been cooped up too long, her mind a whirlwind of strange thoughts. She was the first one out of the classroom, and as she speed-walked along the corridors to the next class, she pretended not to hear Shangela’s voice calling out her name from behind her.

***

dela: jinkxy you there?

jinkx: what’s up darlin’

dela: oh uhm

dela: i don’t know… shangela’s been acting weird and it’s all a little confusing

jinkx: i mean i doubt she’s ever acted normal but

jinkx: is this about ben?

dela: umm… maybe? probably?

jinkx: you should talk to him

jinkx: and then probably also talk to her

jinkx: and then you can talk to me and i’ll tell you that you deserve better :-)

dela: awww you sweetheart

dela: but ok I’ll do that

dela: love you <3

jinkx: <3

***

Dela wasn’t always this popular. She was a bit of an outcast back in 5th grade, when rumours started spreading about her and Jinkx. They were just really good friends, but people thought it was more than that, and, well - 5th graders were insensitive and mean. Really mean.

It’s not like Dela didn’t already know that Jinkx was gay. She never had a problem with it, Jinkx was her best friend and she’d always be a hundred percent supportive. But Dela knew that she herself was straight, that she couldn’t not be straight, and it’d be weird for her to like like another girl. The thought of people calling her a dyke or a lesbo was downright frightening, and so she’d kept any strange or unnatural feelings she’d ever had to herself. She wanted to be a good girl, she wanted to grow up and be a successful woman with a loving husband and three kids and she wanted her family to be proud of her.

So she avoided the mean girls at all costs, throwing all her attention into her work and achievements in various fields. By the end of her sophomore year, she’d somehow also managed to catch the eye of the most popular boy, and that was when she started dating Ben. The girls no longer called her names, and she was more than happy to leave the past in the past. And if she ever felt like there was something missing in her life, a subconscious thought that caused mild anxiety to ripple through her, well, she was great at suppressing it.

***

“So… Do you know Shangela well or something?”

Dela tried to play her question as casual as possible, and predictably, Ben didn’t pick up the cue.

“Sort of. The Halleloo Squad’s always practicing while we’re playing footie on the field, so. She’s a popular one, isn’t she?”

“I saw her eyeing you, the other day in the cafeteria.” Dela shrugged as Ben turned to look at her. “She was flirting, and, I dunno, you seemed to be having a lot of fun too.”

He groaned. “Aw, come on, babe, don’t pull that card. You know I hate that whole jealousy bullshit. She’s just cool, okay? Christ, I swear you fucking do this to every girl I so much as make eye contact with.”

Resentment burned inside of Dela, but she shut up and dropped the topic.

***

Over the course of the next few weeks, Dela couldn’t help but notice Shangela everywhere. She saw her in the corridors while walking to her next class, talking and flirting shamelessly with Benjamin whenever he had a break between football matches, and on one particular occasion, smoking a cigarette alone behind the main building, a common hiding spot. She never seemed to be able to avoid the other girl - her aura was always present, to the point where Dela just always instinctively knew whenever she was around. It was driving her a little crazy, but the day she caught Shangela with Ben in an empty classroom was the final straw.

Dela was just looking for a quiet place to get her mind off things and finish her art project. Her favourite classroom, which was always empty after the main lessons, just happened to be occupied at that time. She’d heard voices from inside, and was about to go elsewhere to try her luck, when she recognised Shangela’s laughter. Followed by Ben’s voice.

She crept around the doorway, and there they were - Shangela sitting on the teacher’s desk, Ben with his arms on either side of her and pressing his lips firmly against hers, Shangela’s legs around his waist and arms around his neck.

Dela couldn’t tear her eyes away from the scene. She stared in shock, hand clapped over her mouth, until she couldn’t take it anymore and fled. She ran in the opposite direction as fast as she could, until she couldn’t breathe, until she was kneeling on the floor in an abandoned corner gasping for air.

She left for home earlier than usual, and stayed in bed the rest of the night, unable to get the mental images out of her head. The way Shangela’s fingernails were pressed into the back of his neck, her closed eyes with those long, long eyelashes, the way her lips interlocked with his.

She tried and tried and tried, but she couldn’t cry. She wasn’t even upset. Not even the slightest bit of anger at Ben cheating on her.

All she knew was that it all felt wrong.

***

dela: you’re a cunt and i’m breaking up with you.

[you have blocked benjamin putnam.]

***

Dela walked into the girls’ locker room the next day at 6, just as the cheerleaders were done showering after practice. She caught the tail-end of Alaska’s ‘byeeeeee’ as she left, and then there was silence. She hadn’t seen Shangela come out, so Dela knew she’d still be in there, and hopefully alone, so they’d get to talk.

She sat herself down at the benches outside the shower room and waited, nervously wringing her hands together. She needed to, as Jinkx so nicely worded it, ‘confront a bitch and punch her in the face’. Even after a sleepless night of her mind running endlessly, she still felt nothing but confusion, and she knew she had business to sort out with Shangela.

Soon enough, Shangela stepped out into the locker room, wearing a black and white polka dotted dress, wet hair dripping down her back. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Dela.

“You lookin’ for me, Miss Congeniality?”

Dela stood up and approached her, trying her hardest to quell the pounding in her chest. “Fuck you,” she said shakily. “Stop pretending. I know what you’re doing. You don’t fool me with your innocent act, I saw you with Ben yesterday.”

Shangela didn’t even bat an eyelid at that, just smirked, drying her hair with her towel while still looking Dela in the eye. “You enjoy the show? To be fair, he did come onto me first, I wasn’t even interested, so he can take credit. I must say though, still tasted the cherry flavour on him, don’t know if it was from you or some other girl -”

“Shut up!” Dela’s voice quavered, and her hands were trembling slightly. Heat pooled inside of her, but she wouldn’t let herself back down. “You’re a bitch, I know what they say about you, that you’re a slut with no morals.”

If anything, Shangela’s grinned widened. “I bet there’s one rumour you haven’t heard yet.” She stepped forward, inching closer to Dela, who started backing away until she was pressed against a wall. Dela hated how cowardly she felt, how powerless she was, confronting another girl over another guy when she didn’t even have the guts to admit how she really felt. She was lost and confused and utterly cornered by Shangela, who was merely five inches away by then.

Shangela leaned in and said softly, “Don’t you know what this is really about?”

Dela didn’t know what happened or who initiated it, but suddenly warm lips were on hers and she was kissing Shangela like her life depended on it. She was all soft skin and kissable red lips, and all of sudden everything clicked and made sense and for the first time in a long while, Dela felt like she was doing something right.

Shangela’s tongue brushed against her lips, teasing her gently and she couldn’t help but grab the back of her head and pull her impossibly closer, wanting more but not getting enough. She felt Shangela’s hands grabbing her ass moaned into her mouth, lifting her own legs to wrap them around Shangela’s waist. It felt so undeniably good, threading her fingers through the other girl’s hair and pulling, hearing Shangela make those soft little noises of pleasure, and Dela felt a pleasant shiver run down her spine. Kissing girls was a million times better than kissing boys, why hadn’t she ever realised? How could she have been so blind?

The loud slam of a locker door from somewhere in the distance snapped them both back to reality, and they practically jumped apart. Shangela looked positively ruined, hair wet and messy and eyes heavy with lust. Dela could only imagine how much worse she looked. Then her eyes widened in shock as it finally hit her - she’d kissed a girl, and actually liked it.

“Fuck,” she said, “Fuck, I’m gay.”

Shangela stared at her for one long moment, until she finally burst out in a fit of uncharacteristic giggles. Dela, still startled silly, joined in shortly after, until they were both laughing uncontrollably and gasping for air.

“I’m sorry,” Shangela choked, still wheezing, “You let a girl seduce you for weeks, then make out with her in the locker room like you’ve been doing it your whole life, and that’s the first thing you say?”

“I’m not thinking straight,” Dela grinned, leaning her head back against the wall and one hand braced on her stomach. “You know, you did actually flirt with Ben a lot, and I got confused about which side the jealousy ran, so that’s your fault.”

“Maybe not the best way to get your attention, but it worked, so.” Shangela, still slightly breathless but much calmer, smirked. “Wanna get out of here?”

“Hell yes.”

***

jinkx: so how’d it go

dela: i punched her

jinkx: wait what?????

dela: in the mouth

dela: with my mouth

jinkx: OMG WHAT DETAILS NOW

jinkx: hello???

dela: she’s kind of busy at the moment. -s

dela: or at least, her hands are. -s

jinkx: omg you fuckers

dela: that’s the idea. -s

#bendelacreme #shangela laquifa wadley #jinkx monsoon #ivy winters #jivy #i kissed a girl #high school au #lesbian au #cisgirl au #trashqueens #rpdr fanfiction #submission #dela x shangela #as3

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biancasiercke · 6 years

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What are some good techniques/practice animations one can do to get better?

I recently joined “Animated-buzz”. It’s a website where artists can help each other by critiquing artwork, animation and answering questions. Daniel Marinca recently asked a really great question. Namely: “What are some good techniques/practice animations one can do to get better? (Besides practicing squash and stretch?”) I took some time to answer the question and thought I would post the answer on my tumblr as well. Please note that all of us, professional and student alike are always striving to improve. I am therefore by no means saying that my answer is perfect. I’m simply hoping to give back to the community. A huge credit to where I am goes to the incredible mentors I had and the amazing people I worked with, that shared their knowledge and experience with me. I would love to give back to this wonderful medium in any way I can :)

Practicing animation.

This is always a hard question to answer, because it's such an open question. Each artist/animator is in a different part in their journey. One thing I would say is; try not to take on too much at once. I know it's really tempting to want to do a 10 second dialogue scene that has both physicality and acting, lipsync, and possibly multiple characters. Don't rush, you'll definitely get to animate those kind of scenes, but when starting out it's really great to do small exercises and learn from them. This way you can focus on one little thing and learn it well, then apply what you've learned to a bigger exercise later. Also it's always great to think about what it is that you're trying to learn from each particular exercise that you're doing. I don't know if it can help, but I'll write down a bunch of different ideas for exercises you could do. See which ones you are drawn towards, but don't feel pressured to have to do any of them. I'm just trying to generate some ideas for you :). I always tend to write a lot because I love animation so much, so be prepared for a long message lol 1) I know everyone hates the bouncing ball, but it's actually a great exercise. It teaches you spacing (as well as timing). How do you slow an object down and how do you speed it up believably? Learning this can be applied to how the hips of a character move, as well as many other things. If you have done the bouncing ball already, try to make your ball feel like a rabbit jumping. Then try to make it feel like a frog. What is the difference in spacing or timing. Does one need more hangtime, or is the difference in the take off? 2) a simple character jumping. iAnimates has a really nice simple character called "tots". It's pretty much a ball attached to a spiral/slinky, with a plank of wood attached to the bottom. If you can get a hold of a simple character like this and then making them jump, teaches you things like "overlap" and how different objects that are attached still move like they act as one character. It also teaches you about weight and follow through. I don't know if similar characters can be found on other websites for free. 3) an eye blink A blink can be pretty involved when you really shape the contact between the lower and upper lid. There are some pretty cool videos online analyzing blinks. These are two that I found on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtYccevwDNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73jRo4fwU3I&t=161s You could even expand on this exercise and animate a double blink, or a sleepy blink. Always ask yourself, what's the difference between the one I just animated and this new blink. How has the spacing and timing changed. 4) A foot lifting off from the floor in a walk. Things to think about when you do this exercise - when the heel has lifted off and is about to touch the floor, how does the foot roll down? (As animators we should never generalize, but most often the outside of the foot touches the floor first) - What kind of rotation does the food have when it's lifting up. Is the big toe the last thing that touches the floor? - how do you not make the foot feel broken. What kind of angles should you avoid. 5) Make the character go from a standing position, to bending their knees, and then getting up again. (you could just animate one leg) (just focus on the character from the hip down, don't worry about the upper body for this exercise.) - What is the angle between the foot and the upper leg. For parts of this movement they're going to be parallel. (this is similar to what happens in an animal leg) - how does the knee move? Does it simply move up and down, or does it veer away from the body and then comes back in? - how does the hip move? Does it drop first, does it get pushed up by this movement? 6) Lifting an arm, possibly elbow first, then stretching out and then bring it back down. (either controlled or loosely with weight) - when does the actual shoulder kick in when you lift your arm. - how do you make it feel like the arm is not driven by the hand (which sometimes can happen when we use IK) - how do you make the arm feel like it has weight. - what kind of an arch does the hand have in this movement. - what kind of an arch does the shoulder and the elbo have. - how is the hand rotating and dragging 7) a head looking around. - how is the head movement related to what they eyes are doing. Or if you want to ignore facial animation just see how a head moves around. If it turns to the side, does it start with Rotate Y, or is there some Rotate Z and X that happens first. - how do you make it come to a stop without it feeling stiff. 8) a walk cycle - (You can do a walk cycle as a treadmill or walking forward. ) Start with a generic walk cycle that doesn't have too much personality. - Analyze how the hips move. How many frames are near the top and how many frames near the bottom. What is the spacing like when you go up or go down, is it the same? What is the spacing as it moves side to side - What is the tilt of the hips when you lift of your leg off the floor? (normally the side of the hip that has the leg lifting up will drop, but this depends how high the leg lifts). - What kind of rotation is going on in the hip? - How do you give your character weight. Is it because of the spacing in the hips? - How does the foot take off? How does it land? - How does the foot travel as it passes the standing leg? Does it come closer to the standing leg, or does it move further away? - what is the relationship in the chest rotation to the hip rotation. How do they move up and down to create a fleshy overlapping motion - How do you create overlap in the head - How do the arms move in a walk. Is the shoulder leading the action? What is the elbow doing in relationship to the wrist. 9) Make a character start to move from a still position This is such a great exercise. I know it sounds simple, but there are so many small things involved. To be able to pick up the one leg, your body needs to shift. What happens to the rotation of the hip when you do that. Your body needs to lean forward to get you moving. Does that movement start from the chest, or from the hips? To move forward, is there a tiny movement back to "anticipate" that movement? 10) Make a character come to a stop from a walk. You have similar complicated things happening when you stop moving. How do you create a fleshy overlapping feeling when a character comes to a stop. What art the hips moving. Are they going up and down, left to right. Are you leaning forward or leaning back? For both this exercise and exercise 9, it's great to film reference of yourself from the side. Then if you have the software analyze the video by drawing a single straight line from your pelvis all the way through to your chest. Treat the trunk of your body as one shape and then see how your body is leaning forward or backward to start to move or to stop moving. 11) lipsync How do you create appealing lipsync, that doesn't have too many mouth shapes but still reads as what the character is saying? What kind of archs does the corner of the mouth travel in? Where is the biggest up and down in the jaw? (one great way to test this is to put your hand under your jaw as you speak. It makes you more aware of what your jaw is actually doing as your speaking). There was also some test animation done for Paranorman, to figure out what mouth shapes various characters would have. I believe the file is downloadable. If you can, try to export the sound file separately and then import the video and audio into a program like flash, after effects or even Maya. This will allow you to scrub the animation with the audio. It's a great way of analyzing what choices the animator made to archive at the final result https://vimeo.com/48783829 Another really great video to watch is "Animation Mentors" Spacing and Timing webinar. I love watching this video at least once a year, because it has so much great information. You can find it on their website here. http://www.animationmentor.com/resources/webinars/timing-and-spacing/ Lastly, another very important thing to consider is to study “acting” or better said “life”; as animation is about conveying a true performance. (if you're interested we can go into this more in detail in another answer) I hope this was not overwhelming to read but hopefully it gave you some exercises that you might like to try, or if not that; then some insights into what questions you can ask yourself when doing exercises. If any of you have any questions about something I wrote don't hesitate to send me a message. I'd love to help in any way I can :).

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axelsandwich · 7 years

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yuzuru hanyu: an exhaustive introduction

YUZURU HANYU IN 8 SECONDS: A SUMMARY

the weird goat noise crying at the end is yuzu himself basically going ‘nooo no way, no I don’t want this, that was scary, so scaryyy’

THIS IS ALSO YUZURU HANYU IN 13 SECONDS

YUZURU HANYU JUST BEING HIMSELF (PART 2)

choose your fighter

he’s happy a lot

basically the embodiment of the n__n emoji

and cute

the cutest

ever

loves nature on the rare occasions he goes outside

hitting his coach with a fan

scaring his other coach and then running away

adorable w kids

loves teaching

but also falls down a lot. very cutely.

sometimes in a stupidly beautiful way

factual info you could probably Wikipedia but are too lazy to do so: Yuzuru Hanyu is a Japanese figure skater from Sendai, born 7 December 1994 who competes in the men's singles discipline.

PSA: YUZURU HANYU IS NOT THE MODEL FOR KATSUKI YUURI FROM YURI ON ICE (yuuri katsuki is canonically based on tatsuki machida thank u)

japanese media (esp in sendai) basically filmed him growing up and called him a young prodigy so we’re lucky to get footage of chipmunk-cheeked yuzu with his (flying) mushroom hair

look at this tiny bean

he was interviewed in ice rink sendai with japan’s other figure skating gold medallist shizuka arakawa. to quote, when asked “can you become a gold medallist too?”, he said “probably”. and then he went and did exactly that.

he would get into fights with his rinkmates, used to ball up skate rink magazine flyers to hit like a baseball and basically had a 5min attention span after which he would get bored

he also remained top 5 in his class academically while competing internationally during high school and does online education at waseda university, which is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan (this kid was away the day God handed out laziness and procrastination I s2g)

he’s studying Human Informatics and Cognitive Sciences (ie. basically a massive maths nerd)

my favourite in-depth and extended interviews with yuzu are his press conferences with the foreign correspondents club in japan, he really lets his intelligence and thoughtfulness shine here in particular:

2014 post-sochi olympics

2018 post-pyeongchang olympics

2018 post-pyeongchang olympics (japanese media)

memelord mc memeface (no, I am serious)

literally can’t control his face

I could go on.........

for a long time

(this is my fave)

the duality of man

10 expressions for the price of one

‘yuzuru will also respond in english’

yuzuru was a victim of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami and lived in an emergency shelter with his family for about a week. spent the summer afterwards skating 60 different ice shows to raise money for the victims. he lost his home rink because of the earthquake and so would go to the show rinks early to practice ):

it’s heartbreaking that he’s still very affected by the memories. he’s said he doesn’t take anything for granted and is always grateful to have a rink to skate on, and the impact he had on the survivors had a profound effect on his skating

he mentioned it in his post olympics interview

if you feel like crying really really hard today, watch yuzuru visiting sendai’s disaster affected areas and where he stayed initially in the days after the disaster

he donated all his olympic winnings to helping tohoku recover

the only regular TV appearance he does every year is 24hr TV which is a charity marathon to raise money for various causes, especially for areas affected by natural disaster

“If it is because I visited them that those who suffered from the disaster can forget about their hardships for even just a moment, to me that would be something very meaningful. Therefore, at that moment, I thought that I wanted to get another Gold medal at the next Olympics.”

the reason why he’s going for another olympic medal. cry with us

gets on with nobunari oda like a house on fire and carries out shenanigans whenever they meet

nobu and ex-tennis player matsuoka shuzo have been his most zealous and purest hype men since he was sixteen, it’s the cutest thing in the world, they’re regularly worried about him, stunned by him and moved to tears by his performances

here they are reacting to his olympics programs

here’s yuzu thanking shuzo for his support by putting his gold medal around shuzo-san’s neck

has the cutest bromance ever with training mate javier fernandez (eg. when he cried bc he didn’t win but was also super happy for javi, and when he watched javi’s free skate)

gives the best hugs to javi

iconic(TM)

just before the Olympic medal ceremony, yuzuru cried after javi told him this would be his last olympics and saying ‘no I can’t do it without you’ wow I didn’t need my heart or anything today

has the cutest interactions with all skaters including his direct competitors

here’s boyang jin giggling about how he got a hug from ‘the guy who likes Pooh’

nathan chen commenting on yuzu & both of them complimenting each other

dodges media attempts to pit him against shoma uno as bitter rivals bc they are NOT ABOUT THAT LIFE

olympic gold medallist checking to make sure the olympic silver medallist has his jacket on straight and teaching shoma to wave bc he is actually just a mother

the only person who has the ability to make him lose focus: his forever-idol evgeni plushenko (now in motion)

probably the only asian boy who willingly opted for a bowl cut

who he shamelessly cheers on during ice shows

literally not capable of not being extra as fuck

here’s his pre-competition rituals aka. lipsyncing silently at a wall

he does it a lot

where every other male skater is in sensible shirts and pants, you will find yuzu standing there BEDECKED IN SEQUINS AND FEATHERS

he don’t give a fuck about your gender norms

and looks excellent while doing so

here he is, single-handedly destroying toxic masculinity

here he is just generally being Extra, with the rest of the men, bullying junhwan, bullying boyang... speed skating

tbh his milkshake seems to bring all the boys to the yard...seriously. and obviously most of the girls...

famous for his death glare murder face of hyper-competitive intensity

scariest thing is how quickly he can switch it on

there’s literally a collection of photos of yuzu - from when he was a bb to presently - eyeing the gold medal from another podium position like ‘my precious will be mine soon’ (here’s another one)

but also for being the sweetest kid ever

he is truly SUPER polite wherever he goes

hugging his competitors at the 2018 pyeongchang olympics

staying behind to answer all questions from media at the competition

CRAWLING ON HIS HANDS AND KNEES behind competitor shoma uno so he doesn’t get in the background of shoma’s interview

mr worldwide (he thanked reporters at the Olympics in five languages)

watch him say thank you in korean

JP TV basically had entire TV segments where they were like ‘OBSERVE HIS GOD-LIKE BEHAVIOUR’. It continues to this day

there’s literally a shrine with kanji similar to his name and fans pray for him there

he has three dedicated shrines that his fans make pilgrimmages to - yuzuruha and the two seimei shrines.

oda nobunari visited one and basically all the ema wishes were for him (yuzuru himself also visited the shrine to pray as well)

helping people repair the rink after competitions

single-handedly keeping the winnie the pooh soft toy industry alive.

Disney-senpai finally noticed him in 2018

he donates all the toys he gets to local orphanages and charities

gives his fans regular heart attacks

watch him save jumps that shouldn’t have been physically possible

changing program halfway through when he failed a jump to accommodate #emergencyquad and #yolotripleaxel

casually breaks world records because he was annoyed with himself

casual jump combinations during practices

casually says shit like wanting to jump hithero impossible jumps

jumped new quad when pissed off at the world team trophy It is REALLY IMPORTANT to know that the main reason for fan heart attacks is because he’s dealt with a distressing number of injuries, illnesses and misfortunes in his skating life but has somehow managed to come back and succeed in spite of them

a really scary accident that happened at cup of china 2014 and he decided to skate anyway because he wanted to qualify for the Grand Prix Final (which he then went on to win) and he really should not have been allowed to but he.......did that > <;

he then came back a month later to win the Grand Prix Final for the 2nd year in a row

he then had abdominal pain and surgery right after winning Japanese Nationals in 2014

and after spending a month recuperating, still managed to win a silver medal at worlds 2014

this is why we don’t talk about boston

important to note he skated his iconic chopin/seimei 2015 grand prix final programs WITH THAT INJURY

but then he came back and won the world championships in Helsinki in 2017

he missed almost the entire 2017-2018 olympic season he severely injured his ankle while practising the 4Lz in practice at the NHK Trophy, while recovering from a fever

is making his comeback from injury either at the pyeongchang team event or potentially yolo-ing it and going just for the individual event, we have no idea, we just know heart attacks are imminent

update: he skipped the team event and made his COMEBACK SKATE FROM INJURY after 3 months of no competitions and 1 month of prep at the individual mens event of the pyeongchang olympics.... AND FRIKKIN WON HIS SECOND OLYMPIC GOLD

he then...injured himself again for the 2018-19 season, went out and skated anyway, won the event and showed up to the victory ceremony on crutches. he made a comeback at the world championships 2019 on painkillers yet again and still managed to get a silver medal

is proficient at disappearing like a ninja and subjecting his fans to radio silence for months on end, usually bc he injured himself ))):

so his fans made him a banner

(he has some ridiculously talented fans tbh)

a helpful guide to stanning yuzu (warning: you may feel Attacked)

did I mention he happens to be pretty good at figure skating?

he’s broken the world record 16 times and counting (the video is his reaction to the first 11 (most of them are his own records)

he’s the first man in 66yrs since Dick Button to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in mens figure skating (sochi 2014 and pyeongchang 2018)

I cannot emphasise HOW FRIKKIN #YOLO HIS 2018 OLYMPIC SEASON WAS. this was the medal he wanted his ENTIRE LIFE, which he had literally planned since he was a novice skater and had seriously begun planning since right after he won the gold in Sochi. this plan had to be adjusted due to the truly distressing number of injuries, illnesses and misfortunes he sustained during the last quad (his Olympic athlete profile has PARAGRAPHS dedicated to all his injuries - and note these are only the post-2014 ones). but yuzuru started the 2017-18 olympic season with a plan to basically break all 3 of his WRs at the olympics by recycling his Chopin and Seimei programs but upgrading the layout and introducing a new quad - the 4Lz - which he had been preparing for years. and then this plan was, once again, thrown out the window when he sustained the injury in NHK in early November, which was much more severe than he first thought. he sat out of competition for 3mths despite hoping to return first at Japanese Nationals and then to the Pyeongchang team event, but pulled out of both as well. yuzuru made his comeback from injury debut at the individual men’s event, aka. the BIG DEAL, after marching into the airport like a BOSS. we were told he had only recovered his triple axel 3 weeks ago and his quads 2 weeks ago, but post-Olympics, he’s slowly revealing that it was even more dire than that. he skated the entire Olympics on painkillers that were not working 100% which meant every jump landing hurt. and he. frikkin. WON. by doing this. and this. (it was also the 1000th medal in Winter Olympics history because destiny rewards those who are Most Extra)

seimei is arguably one of the greatest masterpieces of skating programs and yuzuru was involved in every step of putting it together

his iconic moves ; _ ;

edges, have you seen anything more ridiculous

romeo and juliet 1.0 at worlds, less than 1yr after the tsunami disaster and really launched him onto the international stage

sochi olympic short program (the thing that won him the gold lbr)

sub point: his reaction to gold

sub point: his reactions to BOTH HIS GOLD MEDALS

chopin and seimei at Grand Prix Finals 2015/16

WR for highest short program and total program score and he’s gonna bring them both back and try to surpass them for the Olympic season because he wasn’t already under enough pressure.........

hope and legacy FS at Worlds 2016/17 where he came back from 5th place in the short program to win the free and break his own world record yet again (annotated version)

broke his 12th WR in the first event of the 2017-2018 Olympic season at the ACI Challenger event with a sore knee and downgraded jump layout

hilariously, his coach brian orser was - uncharacteristically - warning everyone that his first skates of the season are like ‘first pancakes’ and to not expect too much from him before the SP

his fans, needless to say, were amused

he did go ahead and die in the free skate the following day though, and finished with his obligatory Canadian silver

Jumped and landed his first 4Lz in competition at the Rostelecom Cup 2017 (watch it clean - it’s a THING OF BEAUTY) and now has landed 4 types of quads in competition (4T, 4S, 4Lo and 4Lz). Has now said that being the first person ever to land the 4A - his childhood dream - is one of his key motivations.

just go watch all his programs lol

has a majestic jump face. it’s art. literally.

seemingly endless appetite for getting better and continually challenging himself

his favourite word: kuyashii (ie. frustrated)

one of my favourite interviews of him ever was right after his broke all 3 world records and went over 200 and 300 for the FS and total competition score for the first time at NHK 2015. “[On losing to Patrick Chan at Skate Canada & the fact he was practising during gala rehearsal where everyone else was chilling] I thought I want to improve, even here right now. Patrick was nearby and it was a really good motivation. It’s like, ‘Watch me.' I will definitely practise all kinds of jumps and I will grow for sure. I will win the next time for sure, I have been practising with that in mind.” Then 3 weeks later, at NHK Trophy, he had a different lay-out. Yuzu: This is not related to Patrick anymore. I was really fired up this time. Boyang Jin got 95 points in SP, right? When I saw that score, I thought, wow NO MISTAKES!! He gave the best of his abilities! OH YES!!!! Matsu: You didn’t think OH NO!!! You thought OH YES???? Yuzu: I thought “It’s here!!!" Since I was a child, I have never liked winning a competition when others made mistakes. Everyone skates to their best, but I still come first, above all. That is what I like. I like pushing myself to the edge—.” (translation cr: yuzusorbet) says volumes about his competitive mentality.

this is also iconic AF. ‘In your mind, what do you mean by wanting to win with a commanding lead?’ yuzuru (no hesitation and immediately): after everyone goes clean, I go clean and win. (matsuoka shuzo’s face is a MOOD)

oh, also he’s had asthma since he was two

he talks about it here

it was referenced in a movie

he got an asthma attack 2wks before the World Championships in Helsinki 2017 and still went out and Did That

the new york times did a long feature on him and it’s mostly a pretty comprehensive article if you want an overview

has remained at number one in the world standings for the entire olympic cycle since 2013 despite aforementioned heart-attack-inducing injuries and illnesses

sucks at finding suits that fit him. because he needs one imperfection

questionable fashion sense in general (generally remains stuck at ‘japanese teenage boy circa 2005′)

he wears toe socks and has been seen wearing crocs once, ho n e st l y

Good Guy Yuzuru: doesn’t wear fitted suits often because he knows it’ll kill his fans and/or will only do so if he gets paid for it tbh

unless he’s wearing under armour

he can keep wearing under armour

seriously, why isn’t he being sponsored by under armour

why

really obsessed with earphones and has like 50 pairs, many of which are custom-made and cost over $1000. he gets really excited about sound quality & bonds with sound technicians over their headphones. basically it’s the only thing he talks about when interviewers want to know what he likes to do in his spare time

that and play games in his room by himself

he’s hyper-competitive about games too

is this a surprise at this point

he’s basically a shut in when he’s not on the ice rink, in competition or at an ice show. he is not v exciting

he got really obsessed with kendama and now has like 8 of them

can’t dance but has no shame (yeah) (YEAH. you’ve been warned). werq it boi

made his japanese film debut in a bald cap, playing the young lord of Sendai which he SORT OF BASICALLY IS

get you a man that loves you like the entire city of Sendai loves yuzuru

their cheer video for sochi and pyeongchang

as of originally writing this intro post - part of the top six men in figure skating right now. probably possesses the Most Lack of Chill, being world champion, olympic champion and holder of all 3 figure skating records. we’re all drinking heavily this olympic season, not in the least because Olympic season has been a Pretty Big Disaster So Far

BUT HE WON THE GOLD MEDAL AND THE MENS EVENT WAS - FOR THE MOST PART - PRETTY DAMN BRILLIANT, especially given all the disasters that happened this season.......so I recommend watching it all. ; __ ;

alas Patrick Chan and Javier Fernandez have now retired ;;

he’s also b e a u t i f u l

um excuse me, rude

VERY RUDE

apparently not interested in sex appeal.........

‘acting’

want to research more?

here’s a recommended watchpost

a compilation of interesting interviews by tsukihoshi14

gif cr: balladestorm

in conclusion, thank you for reading and I hope you know more about this special, brilliant boy ( :

#yuzuru hanyu #hanyu yuzuru #figure skating #figure skate #yuri on ice #pimp post #I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR 6MTHS I S2G #do people even do pimp posts anymore #anyway this is for anyone who hasn't fallen into the sinkhole that is yuzu's existence #maaaybe I will do some for other skaters #i contemplated making this a powerpoint slide meme #but then there was too much to link #so you get a HUGE FUCKING LINKS MASTERPOST INSTEAD #((if i've missed anything pls message me))#in celebration of fucking AUTUMN CLASSIC STARTING THIS WEEK AD:HS:FKJSA:

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newstfionline · 6 years

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The true story of the fake US embassy in Ghana

By Yepoka Yeebo, The Guardian, 28 November 2017

On Friday 2 December 2016, a curious story appeared on the website GhanaBusinessNews.com. “Ghana security authorities shut down fake US Embassy in Accra,” the headline declared. For a decade, the story went, there had been a fake US embassy in the Ghanaian capital. The fraudsters behind it had flown the American flag from their building and even hung a portrait of Barack Obama on the wall. The criminal network behind the scam had advertised on billboards and prowled the most remote villages of west Africa, searching for gullible customers. They brought them to Accra, and sold them visas for as much as $6,000 (£4,495).

The story was an immediate hit. “In less than an hour we were getting 20,000 views on the website for that story alone,” Emmanuel Dogbevi, the website’s managing editor, told me. Two days later, the news agency Reuters picked up the story and it swiftly became an international sensation.

“No Passport Control: Mobsters busted after running FAKE US Embassy in Ghana for 10 years” (The Sun). “‘Sham’ US embassy in Ghana issued fake visas for a decade” (Fox News). “Ghana uncovers fake US embassy that issued authentic visas” (Deutsche Welle). “The actual US embassy in Accra shut down the fake embassy over the summer,” stated the Chinese news agency Xinhua. “This takes counterfeiting operations to a whole new level,” read a comment about the story on the Times of India website, which triggered an argument between readers over which country did corruption better.

According to a US state department statement, which had been published in early November, the fake embassy was operated by “figures from both Ghanaian and Turkish organized crime rings and a Ghanaian attorney practicing immigration and criminal law”. The American authorities supplied a picture of an old, two-storey pink building with a tin roof, originally captioned: “The exterior of the fake embassy in Accra, Ghana.” The caption was later changed to: “One of several buildings used by the disrupted fraud ring.”

Reuters reported that the Americans, with the help of the Ghana Detectives Bureau, had raided the fake embassy. Several people were arrested, and officials seized 150 passports from 10 different countries. The Ghanaian police did not distinguish themselves. The conmen eluded them long enough to move the operation out of Ghana, and get their associates out on bail. But, the US state department said, the number of fraudulent documents coming from west Africa had gone down by 70% as a result of this and other raids, and “criminal leaders no longer have the political cover they once had”.

The fake embassy became a sensation largely because the story was so predictably familiar. The Africans were scammers. The victims were desperate and credulous. The local police officers were bumbling idiots. Countless officials were paid off. And at the end, the Americans swooped in and saved the day. There was only one problem with the story: it wasn’t true.

On the morning the news broke, Seth Sewornu, who was then head of Ghana’s visa and document fraud unit, got a text message from the director of the police criminal investigation department (CID). Like everyone else, the director wanted to know about Sewornu’s bust. “I was receiving a lot of calls,” Sewornu said when we met earlier this year in an open-air restaurant near the police headquarters in Accra. “A reporter from BBC called me, a CNN reporter called me. The Ghanaian media houses were all calling to find out. I got calls from other police officers.” The US state department story had said that the scammers had also been running a fake Dutch embassy, so the Dutch called, too.

Sewornu was stumped. He knew nothing about any investigations into a fake embassy. He tried to find out which officers had been involved, but the police unit credited by the Americans, the Ghana Detectives Bureau, didn’t exist. Ghana’s national Swat unit, the CID and the Bureau of National Investigation all told Sewornu that they weren’t involved either.

It didn’t make any sense. The entire story seemed to be based on one source: the US state department website. And their source was the US embassy in Accra. “So I called the American embassy to find out, and my contact said: ‘I don’t know anything about it,’” said Sewornu.

In Ghana, it can be extremely difficult to obtain visas for travel to other countries. The application processes tend to be expensive, time-consuming and usually end in disappointment. As a result, over the past two decades, a thriving underground economy has sprung up in Accra. It ranges from low-level conmen who can produce counterfeit paperwork to sophisticated criminal organisations that operate in multiple countries. In 2016, of all the American embassies in the world, the one in Ghana had the highest number of pending fraud cases, according to a US state department report.

The operators and middlemen who help circumvent the visa application processes are so ubiquitous that few people realise that what they do is illegal, Sewornu told me. “Some are very bold, they advertise visas on TV,” he said. “Plenty have fallen victim. They think it’s authentic once it’s on TV.”

Sewornu has been a policeman for 23 years, and as we spoke, he was serious and reserved--but when he talked about particularly audacious crimes, he started grinning. “I’ve lost count of the musicians,” he said. “A lot of them are into visa fraud. They go on tour and take people who can’t even perform. They just play CDs and lipsync.” Then, those people vanish.

In the past, he said, passports were easier to tamper with. Fraudsters would steal a real passport belonging to a well-travelled person with valid visas and replace the picture with one of a paying client. The classic method was to put the passport in a freezer for about an hour, which caused the film on the photo page to peel away. Then, said Sewornu, the scammers could “clean off the original picture with chemical eraser, and put in a new one, printed on a thin, almost transparent film.”

Now that passports contain biometric data, such as fingerprints, it is becoming harder and harder to get away with this kind of crime. “You can’t fake everything 100%,” said Sewornu. Instead, the underground economy has started to focus on faking the documents required for legitimate visa applications, both for short visits and for people who want to emigrate. For the right fee, you can get hold of school certificates that turn you from an unskilled worker to a PhD, or bank records that turn you from a shoeshine boy into a successful entrepreneur. Of course, scammers do still offer fake visas, but most of these are not actually intended to get the bearer past border control in other countries. Instead, they’re meant to make it look--to embassies--like you’ve travelled extensively, and returned to Ghana each time. As if you are the kind of person who has no intention of becoming an illegal immigrant.

In 2010, as the number of fake travel documents continued to rise, Ghana’s government founded the Document Fraud Expertise Centre, which verifies documents for embassies, banks and the police. It’s the only one in west Africa, which reflects the sheer scale of Ghana’s shadow visa industry. In 2016, about half the documents submitted to them for testing turned out to have been forged.

For centuries, Ghana was a magnet for immigrants, not a country people were trying to leave. The country’s population of about 28 million is made up of about a dozen ethnic groups, most of which trace their origins to other parts of west Africa. In 1957, after Ghana won independence from Britain, the country’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, embarked on a massive infrastructure programme. All that infrastructure needed people to build it, and partly as a result, by 1960, immigrants made up 12% of Ghana’s population. By comparison, less than 4% of the population of England and Wales had been born abroad.

In 1966, Nkrumah was deposed in a military coup. The country was destabilised and people started to leave almost immediately. Over the next three decades, much of the economy collapsed, unemployment soared and millions of Ghanaians left in search of work.

Today, Ghana is one of the most stable and prosperous countries in west Africa. But while the population is expanding, the economy is not. Each year, 250,000 young people compete for just 5,000 new jobs. Lack of prospects drives many young people abroad. Of the Ghanaian-born citizens currently living abroad, 70% are in other west African countries. Of the remaining 30%, most live and work in the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada and the US.

A small, but significant number of Ghanaians simply travel to these countries on tourist visas, then stay on when their visas run out and work illegally. So wealthier countries now assume that most Ghanaians who apply for temporary visas will become illegal immigrants. Visa policies have been designed to filter out the young and unskilled and the poor, says Paolo Gaibazzi, a research fellow at the Zentrum Moderner Orient in Germany. Such policies sometimes also exclude people who are perfectly qualified and would be granted visas if they were coming from wealthier countries. In one case not long ago, a Ghanaian consultant orthopaedic surgeon with two decades of experience was shocked to have his application rejected for a short-term visa to attend a medical conference in Spain.

Even with legitimate, professional help, filling out the application form for a US tourist visa is a maddeningly difficult and unforgiving process. Applicants have to provide their parents’ dates of birth, but Ghana had no complete register of births until 1965, so a lot of people just don’t know. Then there’s the fee: around $160, which amounts to about 75% of Ghana’s average monthly wage. That fee is non-refundable. If you are rejected, and you want to apply again, you will have to pay another $160.

Once you have done the paperwork and paid, you still don’t get your visa. You just get to book a visa interview at the US embassy. Well before dawn on most weekdays, there is a sizable crowd of people outside the embassy in Accra waiting to go in. “Applicants often waited outside the embassy compound for extended periods, presenting a poor image of the US government and causing a security issue,” according to a 2017 US state department report.

Once you get to your appointment, you must produce proof that you are who you say you are. Then it gets harder: fewer than 10% of people in Ghana have a salaried job, but many applicants have to present a letter of introduction and a payslip from their employer. You will also need a letter of invitation from someone in the US who can vouch for you. Got all that? Congratulations. You can still be rejected on the spot, with no explanation.

People in countries such as Ghana are faced with a simple choice: apply over and over again and spend huge sums of money each time, or pay someone who promises to get you that visa. Each time a new con is discovered, the embassies panic and add another layer of scrutiny to their visa application processes. Each layer of scrutiny gives the fraudsters an extra hurdle--but also creates extra business. “People try to level the playing field. This is where the migration industry kicks in,” said Gaibazzi. “The exclusion from legal ways of migrating creates so-called illegality.”

One day in early June, I decided to go in search of this fake embassy, which the US state department claimed had operated from a house in an old neighbourhood north-west of central Accra.

The pink house sits on a tumbledown street, part industrial, part residential, overlooked by a hulking shoe factory. There are mechanics’ shops, stalls selling spare parts and a huge, dusty football field. The house itself is stately but decrepit, the walls covered with a layered patchwork of faded paint and cement. In the house’s front yard, there is a small tailor’s shop. (According to the US state department story, a dress shop near the fake embassy was one of the fronts for the operation: “It was purported to house an industrial sewing machine they would use to re-create the binding on the fake passports.”)

When I visited, I found a man named Pierre Kwetey, who was cutting a pattern out of turquoise and yellow wax print fabric. He was adding an ever-widening series of chalk lines to a shirt for a man who was so big that “you’d think he’s pregnant”. Kwetey’s shop is less than two metres across at its widest point. The walls are yellow, with shallow seams of dust in the uneven cement. Above the cutting table, there’s a crucifix draped with two rosaries.

Kwetey first saw the fake embassy story when someone sent him a link via WhatsApp. He was totally baffled. “If I’m doing such illegal business, you’ll see my Range Rover parked in front,” he joked.

A few days later, when I returned to the pink house, I came across one of the building’s owners, Susana Lamptey. Sitting in the small courtyard in front, Lamptey was wearing a yellow dress and a headscarf, and looked even less like a crime kingpin than Kwetey. Her grandfather had built the house long before she was born, she said, probably in the 1920s or 1930s. When he died, he left it to his eight children. Most of them moved away and cut their portions of the house into flats, which they rent out.

In the entrance hall, there were no portraits of US presidents. Instead, it smelled comfortingly of flour and margarine--Lamptey runs an open-air bakery in the back yard. The rest of the yard is a tangle of washing lines and uneven cement.

When the Americans announced that her house was a fake US embassy, Lamptey was one of the last to hear about it. A friend called to say it was all over the internet, she said. “I was really annoyed. Because how? And from where?”

Lamptey said there had never been a police raid. Instead, after the story broke, she and the family marched down to the local police station to find out whether they were really under investigation. The cops told them there was nothing to worry about.

In the days after the story was published--and in the following months--Lamptey was plagued by journalists, all asking the same questions about her alleged life of crime. She has denied everything, every single time. In response to her denials, the US embassy doubled down on its story. “We cannot speculate at this time what has occurred at that building after the initial raid,” the US press attache told Ghanaian reporters in December 2016. “The photo used in the online article is of the building the criminal enterprise used to conduct their fraud operations.”

When we met, Lamptey still couldn’t understand why anyone had believed the story. Look at this place, she said. “If there was an American embassy for 10 years in this house, by now everybody would be in America!” As it happened, Lamptey had applied for an American visa--a real one, at the real US embassy, in the spring of 2016. She was rejected.

Lloyd Baidoo, a detective in Accra’s regional police force, said he was the one who took the photo of Lamptey’s house. He’s been on the force for 18 years.

Baidoo first heard about the fake embassy in June 2016, months before the Americans put out their story, when his team got a tip about a visa-fraud ring. Someone was allegedly issuing US visas out of an old pink house in Adabraka on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When it was open, they flew an American flag and hung up a portrait of Obama.

Baidoo and another officer went to check it out. They drove past the pink house a few times, and Baidoo took some pictures. He couldn’t see anything suspicious, so he walked around the back of house, in plain clothes, to have a closer look. Wandering around the rundown property, Baidoo quickly realised nobody would buy a $6,000 visa there. “I did not take five minutes to conclude that,” he said.

Later that week, Baidoo got a second tip. Another operation in Adabraka was issuing US visas. This time, there were more details: it was allegedly run from the apartment of a man named Kyere Boakye, who charged 2,000 Ghana cedi (about £350) for his services. This time, the information seemed to check out. Baidoo decided to raid the property.

Just before dusk, in late June 2016, a Ghanaian Swat team, five detectives, and a diplomatic security officer from the US embassy swooped in on the apartment. Inside, officers found 135 Ghanaian passports. The majority would turn out to be counterfeit. There were other passports too, mostly from other African countries. Some appeared to be real, but might have been stolen or bought on the black market. The passports contained visas for, among other countries, the US, the UK, South Africa, China, Kenya and Iran.

Detectives also found two dozen counterfeit rubber stamps, used to endorse the official letters for visa applications. There were stamps purporting to be from the Ghana Immigration Service, Barclays bank, the National Investment Bank, several non-existent doctors and even a firm of lawyers with offices below the apartment. Three men were arrested in the raid: Kyere Boakye, Benjamin Ofosu Barimah and Jeffery Kofi Opare. All three were charged with forgery and possession of forged documents. It was a month before they made bail.

It wasn’t a fake embassy, but it was a major case. Baidoo wrote to the passport office, banks, businesses, government departments, and even the country’s biggest teaching hospital--45 institutions in all--in order to confirm whether or not each of the suspicious-looking documents was fake. By the time Baidoo was done, two months after the raid, the police docket was the size of three phone books, and the case was ready to go to trial.

Then, in December 2016, the US state department put out its story about the discovery of a fake embassy. Dep Supt Sewornu took over the case, and Baidoo was moved on to a different police department. (Sewornu, too, was soon transferred.) Since then, the case has gone nowhere, having been delayed largely for banal administrative reasons. When I went to a hearing for the case in June, the three defendants were there, but their lawyer wasn’t. Neither was the prosecutor. The courtroom was almost empty. It didn’t look like a case that had made news around the world. After some muttering between the judge and another prosecutor, the hearing was adjourned.

Outside the courtroom, Kyere Boakye told me he had no idea why he kept being hauled into court. He didn’t think there was going to be a trial. Boakye insisted that he was just an ordinary travel agent. “It’s my clients who brought every paper they found [in the raid],” he said. “I have never forged anything.”

When Detective Baidoo finally got to the bottom of the fake embassy story, he was perplexed. Sitting together in his flat, we looked over the US state department’s story. Almost every detail in it came from the faulty intelligence Baidoo’s unit had received in June 2016. The photo of the pink house--the one that had brought the world’s media to Susana Lamptey’s doorstep--was, he insisted, one he had taken himself when surveilling the building.

Another photo that appeared in the original US state department story had showed a heap of passports strewn on the ground. That one, Baidoo said, had come from his raid on Kyere Boakye’s apartment, not from a raid on any fake embassy. In the top-left corner of the photo, you could see part of a maroon trainer, which, Baidoo said, belonged to him. “I was the one standing there,” Baidoo said, going out into his hallway to show me the shoe in question. “In my independent opinion, I’d say the story was fake.”

Sewornu was equally sure that there was no story. He said that his contacts at the US embassy told him someone at the state department had taken the faulty intelligence and “kind of married the story” with details of Baidoo’s raid. The two cases had been merged into one. It might have started with a diplomatic cable--a classified memo--sent from the US embassy in Accra to the state department in Washington DC on 25 July 2016, titled “Ghana: Fake US Embassy Closed for Business.”

When I asked the US state department for comment, an official simply told me that US Diplomatic Security Service officials work with Ghanaian authorities to uphold the integrity of the visa system. The state department declined to provide additional information in response to specific questions. They referred all queries to the government of Ghana. Ghana’s Bureau of National Security and Ministry of the Interior did not respond to dozens of letters, emails and calls requesting comment.

As it can take weeks or months for an embassy to check whether a document submitted by a visa applicant is real, most embassies do not attempt to verify everything. Instead, everyone puts on a show. Embassies overzealously scrutinise a handful of applications. Ghana’s police shut down what scams they can. Reporters file sensational pieces. Foreign governments, facing increasing pressure to limit immigration, add ever higher hurdles for legitimate applicants to clear. Everyone gets to say they’re doing something.

But the harder it is for ordinary people to apply for visas successfully, the greater the demand for fraud. While the Americans have been making a show of shutting down a non-existent fake embassy, it’s boom-time for Accra’s visa-fraud industry.

One day this summer, I stopped by the leafy, upscale Cantonments neighbourhood of Accra. There, hidden in plain sight, is a one-stop shop for visa fraud--one of dozens of such places that are scattered across the city. The fraudsters at the office I visited use a Microsoft Word template to churn out fake letters from dozens of different employers. A student visa application, complete with all the documents you’ll need, will cost you 1,000 cedi (£175).

One of the men running the place told me that people needed help jumping through all the hoops. As he spoke, customers picked up their paperwork and headed off to keep their appointments at the huge grey complex in the distance, spread over 12.5 acres of prime Accra real estate.

On the horizon, above the embassy, the American flag was flying.

#Ghana #fake US Embassy in Ghana

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tdrcharmschool4 · 7 years

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TDR Charm School 4 Final Exam - It's the Final Countdown

For the final exam, our students had to produce a mock audition filled with everything they’ve learned from the beginning of their time in Tumblr’s Drag Race Charm School 4, decked out in their fabulous Personalized Prom and Why You Gotta Be So Extra-curricular looks. Let’s see how they did!

Kushboo

Personalized Prom

Extracurricular Activity: Student Government

Letha: Hey Girl! So starting with the Prom look, I quite like it! The combo of the black/gold really goes well together, and the brown hair works with it as well. I will say the dress is a bit short and it should either be lengthened or shortened to have a silhouette that makes a bit more sense. The white heels throw off the outfit a bit as well. The styling of the hair could be neater but the height/volume is definitely there! I think if there was a little headpiece or gold crown or something it might add more interest to that area and tie it in with the outfit. On to the extra curricular look, I do very much get that feel from the top half of the outfit, including the hair (very Michelle Obama), and the skirt is a bit more out there which helps to make it less pedestrian in that regard. I think having maybe some signs or other props might have helped sell it more as well, as the journal is okay but not the most effective. For the lipsync, I think you had good presence and sold the song, but I wish you had connected more with the audience throughout through the lens. Performing on camera is a bit different than real life, in that looking into the lens is how you connect with people. You can deviate from that and emote/focus on other areas for a little bit, but you should always try to return to the lens. But the overlay and emoting is great! For the monologue I must admit I was a bit lost. I wasn't too familiar with Tennyson if I'm honest, but after reading up a bit on Ulysses this was a very interesting choice indeed. I think you could have sold it a bit more? Emoting frustration and discontent might have made it a bit more clear, in my opinion. Finally, the makeup! I think you really have improved throughout this cycle and it does show, but there are things that I think you could work on. One would be to make your lips more dimensional, with either outlining in a darker color, highlighting the center with a lighter color, or both. Same for the brows, the shape on the prom look is fun but a bit static, and the shape on the government look is very flat and not a shape that would be easy to emote through. I like the colors your picked on their own, but I'm not sure if they coordinate with your outfit choices, so keep that in mind for next time. Your lashes are looking better placed, now would be a good time to start practicing doing liner, either a really sharp wing of or a smoked out pencil. It really adds dimension and helps to restructure things. I think that just about wraps it up for me, so I'll leave you with saying how proud I am of your progress and can't wait to see what your Drag will evolve to after charm school!

Laveau: KUSH. This prom look is AMAZING. You look amazing! I love the entire package. The only thing I would have liked to see is more jewelry. May be a bracelet or a bigger necklace to give it a more elegant touch. I am enjoying this beehive on your head. It’s a bit messy, so going forward, be careful and pay attention to the little details as far as that is concerned. While your makeup has improved, you still have work to do, but don’t let that stop you from being proud of your progress so far. As for your student government look, I feel like you were going for the right idea but then you lost me with the skirt. It just feels like you either didn’t have a pencil skirt or just wanted to add an unconventional element to the look and it kind of takes away from the look as a whole. A better way to sell this concept would have been to incorporate more school supplies in the rest of the outfit. A fascinator made out of pencils or paper balls would have tied the look together a bit more. I really enjoyed your lip-sync! I appreciate the attitude and range of emotion throughout your performance. It was definitely fun to watch! Your monologue was well done. It was a bit hard to follow, but I do appreciate the concept. You have grown leaps and bounds in this competition. I am so proud of you and I can’t wait to see what you do in the future! <3

Sally: Hi Kushboo! I’m gonna talk about your outfits first, and then your audition reel. There are really intelligent attempts at work here, and I’m impressed with most elements, however there are some things to look out for next time. Both outfits seem to have flair about them that works super well, but technical issues seem to produce problems for me. Your prom look is stellar – the black and gold colour clash is really appealing, I get prom from this clearly and your character to me defines elegance so it wouldn’t be wrong to see Kushboo rock up to prom in eleganza like this. Remember to give us head to toe camera angles – these are close to head to toe, but I can’t see you feet until I watch your audition reel so I don’t know if you’re not wearing heels or not and if they correspond to your dress too – I don’t think they do correspond, but we’ll let it slide. Your exposure on the first picture with the light makes you look really heavenly but the second one diminishes details that I can see with the exposure. Your student government look is super cute; you look like you’re running for like Junior Councillor for the Head of a school, but the flair of having an unconventional skirt with resist propaganda on is a really smart touch. I wouldn’t have mind if your entire jacket had it too, or if the colours matched up better, i.e. writing with bright red / grey on black paper perhaps. Again, careful of your angles, I wanna see your shoes in your pictures next time and I don’t care if you’re wearing little biscuit heels or jelly flip flops!In your audition, it was quite long and I can see room for small technical touches here and there. For example, I’ve noticed you use fillers (um and erm) – with that you could cut out those and any pauses you too, that way your point comes across quicker and your train of thought is clearer through the edit. Remember to nail your runway in 15 seconds – it’s better to edit out your walk to your starting point rather than have it within your audition, and try to have your full body in the frame so that we can see the entirety of your costume move too. All in all, you’ve excelled really well in your knowledge of yourself and progressing your drag character throughout charm school. I’m really proud to see your journey continue to this point. Great job!

Toni: KUSHHHHHHHHHHHHHIm going to be doing this by segments so lets start with your outfits! I really love your prom look because I think based on what you've shown us it really does reflect your personal style. It's giving me Cinderllas stepsisters from into the woods and I really enjoy that. I think if there were a lot of stones added to the outfit as well as having the hair cleaned up a bit more and look more sleek it would be a perfect look In my opinion. The student government look I am really conflicted about. I get what you're trying to go for but I think if you wanted to do that you should have done all NONCON or all cloth just because theres a huge disconnect between the top and the bottom. I also think if you had done a suit or a jacket as well that would have been fierce. Your lipsync was SO GOOD I really enjoyed watching it and I think you kept it interesting through the whole thing so props on that. I would love to see you push the energy up thought to make it AMAZING. For your monologue the background noise was a large distraction but I do really enjoy what you produced, I think there were a few awkward pauses and I can't tell if you meant them to be there or if you were trying to remember lines but they need to be not there. I am so proud of everything you have done and how much you have grown <3

Dotte: I am absolutely LIVING for your prom look! I wish the other concept you had was better realized. A lot of the focal point is on the skirt and it doesn't really match the rest of the outfit. Ahhhhhh your lipsync was so cute though I feel like you've shown massive amounts of improvement there. Like we talked about, it's important to know what to do when there isn't any music playing and I'm glad to see you've figured that out. And I like this camera setting you have! It really allows for us to see your face really well! I'm so proud of you! Cycle 10 will be here sooner than you think and I can't wait to see what you do in the time between then and now!

Marcella: Ok Kushboo, this was a colossally long video, and it didn’t have to be. It’s important to plan your answers, and use things like jump cuts if you’re stalling a lot. That said, I think your responses were spot on for you and you have a good sense of self-perspective. I loved your prom look, and I felt your make-up for it was your best yet. Now for the lipsync – good choice, great job of articulating the unusual sounds in the song, and decent job of occupying the space and keeping it interesting. Between now and c10, I want you to work on your finesse. Your ideas and the aesthetic you’re going for are solid, but I want you to really focus in on details, and executing things as flawlessly as you possibly can, because honestly I think that is your biggest weakness as of now. I know you have it in you to polish up! Good luck for c10!

Harper: Whew, this was a long video! I think something that works for you is that you are very authentic and earnest, and that really comes through when you are speaking. I'd agree with some of the other judges that you could stand to edit out some of this (and film in horizontal next time, please), because while I think you did a fine job answering questions, it was a little dry in some spots. Try to be concise, personable, and minimize the sniffing! I liked your prom outfit, and I think it's very true to your aesthetic. I would like to see you wear a corset with a bit more structure to give you a smooth silhouette, and I will pass on to you the same critique that I'm sending to everyone tonight: LASHES. BIG ONES. I think you have a tendency to have really good ideas that just fall a little short on execution, and that's something you can really work towards in the future. I thought you did a nice job with the monologue and the lip sync, and this was overall a good final submission for you. Can't wait to see how you continue to progress, best of luck!

Luna

Personalized Prom

Extracurricular Activity: Athletics

Letha: Hey Luna! First off, well edited video. Everything is clear and labeled which certainly helps. On to the actual content, starting with the prom look. I love it from head to toe. The hair is very effortless but it works for me, the crown adds a nice touch of shine, and the black and red color scheme is gorgeous. I wish there were some nails though. For the makeup on the prom look, overall it's really good, love the red lip, my main critique would be to try for a harsher cheek contour, as the one you have now is very light and gets washed out easily when seen from a distance. For the sports look I really enjoy the boxing idea, and you really committed to it! The outfit and hair choices make sense. That being said, the end result is maybe a bit too totally masculine for me. I think if the shape was a bit more feminine with boobs/pads it might come across better. Also the flats make SENSE but I just think doing a black pump with a red leg warmer would be a bit more drag than a sneaker, ya know? The makeup here isn't bad either, a bit subtle though. The blood works but I think some more Sfx makeup would have sold it a bit more. On to the performances! The monologue. Girl. Gretchen's Crack has a long and infamous tdr history for being quite overdone, so I was surprised to see it done again. That being said, it was okay, there have certainly been worse renditions of it. Now the lipsync is where you really shone, in my opinion. I was thoroughly entertained and you really pulled every stunt/trick out of the bag. The song was a classic and you had your words down, so props to you! I'm so proud of the work you've put into this cycle and can't wait to see where your drag takes you next!

Laveau: Luna! I see you are here to knock out the competition! One of the things I appreciate most about you and your drag is the attention to detail and how you package your content. I love the cohesive color scheme and how you tied everything together. I absolutely love your after school look. The oversized robe, the realistic blood, the attitude, but I feel like it lacks a certain drag flare. If you are to continue on to TDR C10, one thing that will set your submissions apart from the competition is adding a little bit of razzle dazzle (see: glitter/rhinestones/sparkles). I feel the same way about your personalized prom look. While it’s absolutely gorgeous and screams Luna, it leaves me wanting more. I feel like jewelry and/or rhinestones could have amplified this look to its full potential. Your monologue was HILARIOUS. Idk if you were going for an even more crazed/deranged version of Gretchen Weiners, but you nailed it. But girl…this lip-sync… IS HOW YOU LIPSYNC FOR THE CROWN! That is how you fill an instrumental break!!! There was never a dull moment and for that, I thank you. Overall, I think you have shown fantastic growth as a queen throughout charm school and I can’t wait to see what you do in the future! <3 Win, lose, or draw, you’re already a winner in my heart. <3

Sally: Hello Luna! I am gonna start off by critiquing your outfits and then your audition. Your outfits overall were not what I was expecting coming from your amazing turnout for costuming week with these themes, I was a tad let down by some choices, but others brought it back up. You look adorable in your prom look, albeit looking a tad costume-y. Your styling is super cute and from head to toe the concept works well with your aesthetic. While your nose is looking pinched and proper, I’m losing definition around the cheeks – it’s probably just a personal thing for me, but if you could practice adding a flush of colour to the cheeks – a blush or a darker contour tone might bring out some definition there too. For your athletic wear, I like some elements, and others just throw this off. Those shorts are hurting my soul so much, because of the cut of them, and I would’ve preferred you in an actual bra than compression bra, because I am losing proportions. When you get a concept like Athletics, it is hard to get out of the idea that you have to pertain to the standard – wearing tennis skirts for tennis, going for a realness factor. When you get an assignment, you should always question how you can make it draggier. Rhinestone your gloves, make your robe have a crazy train, little things like that can amplify your concepts, and surpass your progression from past weeks.Your audition was really well constructed, and I enjoyed watching it. Your runways were concise, quick and simple, You had your flow down to a T and you moved really elegantly. You have such a strong camera presence and I was really surprised that I could still hear you over your music in the monologue section (be mindful if your overlay music is loud, turn it down if you can!) All in all, you’ve really defined yourself as a strong competitor consistently, and even when you had your lows, you managed to improve on yourself for a comeback each week. Great job!!

Toni: I plan on doing this by segments so lets start with your outfits! I really love your boxing out fit! When you first suggested it to me I was worried ti wouldn't come off as drag but it really does. i think the hair choice was really smart and I love the look head to toe. Looking in on the makeup its clear how much you've grown in charm school, I think a few minor things could be adjusted like the placement/angle of your brows could be changed to look a bit lower and I really would have loved to seen the same red lipstick you used in your prom look but a bit smeared to add the "i've been fighting" feel to it. Onto the prom look I really love this on you!! It reads as fun and girly but still lowkey badasss. I think the only thing I would change at all about this look is adding a few black stones onto the bodice just to add a little something extra. YOUR LIPSYNC WAS AMAZING! I really enjoyed what you did because there wasn't really a moment where I was bored or distracted away from it because you kept every bit fresh and new. I think the air guitar into a slipt was honestly amazing, and I love that you paired your lipsync up with a look because it really helped to sell the performance. Now onto your monologue.... I hate this monologue (not because you did it but like as a piece) and every cycle someone does it and thinks it's a good piece but there are better pieces you could have picked IMO. That being said I think it was a really good rendition of the piece but I did find the music very distracting to the point where I was unable to focus on you so in the future please make sure the music sin't too loud. My favorite thing to come form your Q&A was how you talked about not wanting to win jsut for yourself but so that you can fight on cycle 10 for the chance to lead and help build the community because thats a huge factor in what judges look for on cycles when planning to crown someone is "how will they do in the leadership role". You did an amazing job and I am so proud of everything you have done over the past few weeks <3

Marcella: Your video felt like a real tdr audition to me. Sectioning each part off, having slides for your questions, these sorts of things might seem insignificant but, to me, they show that you’ve acquired a degree of polish during charm school that I appreciate very much. I enjoyed your monologue, and your lipsync was thoroughly entertaining! I loved the splits and the leg guitar, and the energy was just so right. Look-wise, your sports drag was very unexpected, but I do feel it could have been dragged up some more. It felt a bit ‘boy’, especially when you were moving around for the performance. I know the shoes were fitting, but girl don’t let me see flats again, k? Between now and c10, I want you to experiment. Especially make-up wise: try lighter make-up, try different eye shapes, polish up that nose contour. See what happens when you twist and turn the basic silhouette of Luna and adapt her to different ideas and scenarios. Best of luck for c10!

Harper: Overall, I think you had the strongest submission this week. I thought both of your looks were distinctly you and well put together, my only critiques were that the prom dress was a bit Halloween Store and the extracurricular could have been a bit more femme. I really recommend getting some fake chicken cutlet titties! It wouldn't have been much, but just a little bit of curve and some Rachel-Green-From-Friends-Nipples could really make it read just a bit more feminine. Overall, I think your makeup is strong, but I'd like to see you in big lashes and with a bit more contrast. There's nothing wrong with using stark black, it's just learning how to incorporate that black with appropriate shades and highlights for the full effect. I would like to see you choose a different monologue for the real audition because, in my opinion, this one was a bit played out, but you did a nice job with it. Overall, though, I think your lip sync was the highlight of your submission. The song and the look worked together, and the routine was perfect for your tough-girl character. I lived for it! I know there's a lot of pressure coming into a competition where you might be held to a higher standard because you are starting at a more advanced place, but I think you did a great job of trying new things and refining your skills. Looking forward to seeing what you pull out for your actual audition because if this is any indication it will be great!

Marina

Personalized Prom

Extracurricular Activity: Drama Club

Letha: Hey girl! So starting with the outfits, I think the theater one is very cute, and it being shorter helps you get away with the shape not being the most flattering. That being said, I do like it. The prom dress is okay, a bit pedestrian/run of the mill, but the hair and flower crown help to make it a bit less conventional. My makeup notes for both looks are similar. Lashes are a must, work on blending the shadow on the eyes so there isn't a stark line, clean up contour lines on the cheeks, and better overdraw/define on the lips. I really enjoy the liner shape on both though! For the monologue, I had to google what it was about and having done that, I would say that the lines don't quite match up to the monologue, but it's not bad, you were just quiet and not really emoting as much as I think you could have. For the lipsync, you had some definite choreography and I quite liked the performance. It was a bit hard to see your sync at some points, as the lighting wasn't the best, so watch out for that in the future. Overall you should be very proud of the work you've done here in Charm School, and I can't wait to see where your drag goes from here!

Laveau: Marina: Your prom look is stunning but it looks like you grabbed a wig and a dress, pout them on and called it a day. Your makeup has improved for sure, but still lacks a certain element of refinement for drag. I love your after school look. It’s giving me Columbia from Rocky and I liiiiive. Would have liked to see some jewelry, but the outfit itself is cute. Your lipsync was very entertaining. I loved the emotion and dancing throughout the performance. I just wish you would have filmed in landscape so we could have seen the full frame. Your mologue was good as well, It was just pretty hard to hear you throughout it. You come so close to nailing it, but I feel like attention to detail is holding you back. You say that procrastination is holding you back, so now that you know that about yourself you’ve got to work hard to overcome that in order to succeed if you continue on with TDR. Make a list of things from head to toe/start to finish that you need to prepare for your submissions and systematically check them off the list in a timely manner. I see the potential in your drag, but it feels like you keep missing the mark. Congratulations on all of your growth this semester, and I can’t wait to see what you do in the future <3

Sally: Hey, Marina! I will talk about your outfits, then your audition reel second. Both of your outfit choices really reflect you as a person, and I applaud you for that, however some elements can be added to produce a full effect. Your prom look teeters on being a bog standard dress - I can kind of see this at a prom, but not really. I see this being more of a forest nymph than personalised prom. I would’ve preferred a longer cut on your dress, so maybe you could’ve added more length to it with an underskirt perhaps and added a few embellishments to really drag up the dress. The colour story is great - remember to take pictures of your feet within the shots too because I can’t see your heels in either of your shots in your submission and your audition with this concept, therefore I don’t even know if you’re wearing heels. Your drama club look is so fun and I love it honestly - really cute, playful, I get drama from it instantly. The colours pop and it’s exciting. I would’ve loved to see some sort of prop with this to sell it more, maybe one of those drama masks on a stick and you just throw it on your runway, might’ve excelled this more. Your audition is a kind of toss up. Remember to find your light, use a flashlight on a phone from far aback if need be, because some of your shots are really, really dark. You come across as quite shy, remember that you’re only talking to a camera and whoever’s on the other side wants to see you to the fullest, so when you film, remind yourself to be true to you to the fullest. Your runways are quite quick, take your time and make sure to film in an area that you can see your entire body clearly, your second runway seems to be a bit darker and a bit off-centre. All in all, you have improved a hell of a lot since the start of this competition, you’ve really proved to yourself that you can achieve a lot when you’re against all odds and I applaud your hard work. Great work!

Harper: I was getting serious Joan Cusack vibes from you this week and I can't put my finger on exactly what it is. You are so young and have so much potential, but I'm going to be real with you for a second: you've had excuses every single week and they are going to cost you opportunities. point blank. I know that's hard to hear, but it's something that I've had to learn as well as someone who also struggles with time management issues. Moving on, I thought both costumes suited you and the wigs you paired them with, but I would have liked to have seen more pizzazz with your prom look! It just came off a little flat when your extra curricular look was was so fun. Your makeup has definitely come a long way, and I think you have really gotten the hang of what shapes suit your face. I think the next steps moving forward for you are going to be to clean up your lines and add a lash. Please. Lashes will be what takes your look to the next level! As female drag queens, we have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously, and that means really owning the transformation: padding, contouring, cinching, wigs, and lashes because if any part of the "real girl" underneath peaks through people WILL call you out for it. It's not fair, it's frustrating, but it is what it is. I think the lip sync and monologue were both good choices for you aesthetically, but PLEASE film in landscape mode! It really does make a big difference. I think you have grown a tremendous amount through charm school, and I really hope you stick with it. Good luck!

Ophelia

Personalized Prom

Extracurricular Activity: Science Club

Letha: Girllll you know I love me some flowers so you had me with your prom look. I love the contrast of the stark (yet also muted) colors with the white. I think there could have been a bit more shape in the waist considering this length, but it's still very striking. I'm also not totally sure about the black shoes (I know shoes can be a bitch to find though, so forgiven). The makeup is great as an idea and I can see the direction it was taking, just work on cleaning up your lines to get that graphic style. I really do love this look though, the head piece is great. For the science look, it's honestly so fun. The shape is very much The Jetsons, and I love the transition of the appliqués from the outfit to the skin. I think a trim along the bottom of the dress would have helped clean up the lines, and I think maybe another color besides the white and purple would have added more interest, maybe a green? The hair is a bit of a nest but I think that was the intent so I can get behind that. The shapes on the makeup are interesting, but they just need to be defined/shaded/highlighted more to be believable and trick the eye. Also lashes are a must. For the monologue I was a bit lost, it seemed you were a bit stiff maybe? I'm not the most familiar with the material you pulled from, but it wasn't my favorite. The lipsync was great, as I expected, but check the overlay because it was off by quite a bit when you uploaded it. Still really good though! Overall, you have really outdone yourself, and looking back on week one you can see how far you've come. I'm so proud of you for that, and I hope you're proud of yourself as well!

Laveau: Miss Waters….I was so in love with your prom look until I got to the shoes. That being said, it’s obvious how much work went into making this look and you did a fantastic job. I wish the dress gave you more of a shape but that could be fixed with either larger padding or by cinching the garment a bit more at the waist. Your science look is KILLER. I love the concept and how you sold it. You look like a science experiment gone RIGHT. The hair and makeup could use a bit of refinement, but I absolutely love your concepts and style of drag. Your monologue was a bit monotone, so I would, in the future, work on changing inflection so that you can show a bigger range of emotion in acting challenges. On to the lip-sync. I love that I could feel the passion in your lipsync. This is the range of emotion I’m talking about. Bring that to your acting. Congratulations on a wonderful semester and I can’t wait to see what you do in the future! <3

Sally: Hey Ophelia! As per usual, I’m gonna give you my thoughts on the outfits and then your audition. Overall, your outfits are bold choices, but are a little rough around the edges. I’ll start by talking about your personalised prom, because it is extremely eye-catching. This is clearly Ophelia to the fullest and I’m seeing a strong aesthetic with what you enjoy in drag and how you produce your concepts in execution. It’s exciting, the colours you’ve chosen pop off the whites you’ve used in your scheme, and the clash of materials is exciting to look at. I would only say that the length of your gown doesn’t hit the floor, therefore exposes your black shoes. You could’ve added more fabric and flowers to the bottom, or even used socks and hot glued flowers onto the socks, putting them over your heels to make them correspond to your concept. For your science look, this is feeling a little bit rougher around the edges. I love that your silhouette is the shape of a science beaker and that your hair is frazzled like that of an experiment gone wrong, your purple scheme pops from the white again, and your choices in costume creation are so smart, but be careful with your makeup. I think a good example to look at for creative makeups like this for science is the partial face cover. Adrena Lin did this in Cycle 8 for the Pokepaint challenge using Muk, I think your normal face could’ve worked more than the scary-sludge lip you’ve done too.Your audition is super cute! Your camera presence is clearly strong, I feel like you know it’s a camera and not several people watching you on the other end which is a great attribute to have. You came across as quite awkward in your runway, make sure to just go with the flow when you walk, present yourself however you feel suited, and remember, take several takes if you have to! All in all, you’ve excelled into dragdom through this entire process and I’m really proud to see how well you’ve done throughout all of the weeks. Excellent work!

Toni: I'm going to be doing this by segments so lets start with your outfits! I think out fo the two the science one is my favorite. It has appliques and I am a slut for that, i love how the hair is styled and I think it's really fun but in a new way for you. I also want to point out the gloves because those are super cute. The makeup for that is really nice!! I would have just liked to see the eyes blended out so it was fading into the skin tone or if you had done like full black soot smokey eye to kinda match your hair. The prom look i really love too! the flowers are beautiful. I think it does lack a little shape but if you added a belt to it that could help the shape a lot. I also think if you had added a few stones among the flowers that just slightly catch the light that would have been cute too. The makeup for this one is the same as on the science one for me, just blend it a bit more so it doesn't look as harsh! onto your monologue it made almost no sense to me and I have literally no idea whats going on for it? I wish there was a bit of explanation in the video for it because I feel like it was kinda like a joke...that I just wasn't in on and for an audition or a show thats just...not good for the audience to not know whats going on. The lipsync was sadly off which i'm shocked to get from you because I know you know how to do that. Its hard to really judge the sync bc of that but I know you knew your words. I do wish there was an extra PUNCH of energy in this song. I think that would have really driven it home. I love that because of charm school you were able to find out more about your drag character and it's been so amazing to watch you grow these past few weeks!!! <3

Dotte: I wasn't expecting these looks from you at all! I love the ideas that you have going on here, but, as you said, attention to detail would be key here. One of my pet peeves is when someone's face is painted a color and their arms are bare. I'm not going to get into the lipsync missing it's sync but I'm really happy with the emotion you put into it. I hope you continue to experiment with different ways to lipsync and add complexity to your move-sets so it doesn't seem so "one-lineish." Hope you had fun on Charm School and thanks for playing!

Marcella: Ophelia, I was impressed with you this week. I felt you really pushed your costuming in particular, and both of your looks were super creative and pretty fierce. Your lipsync overlay was off :’[ but I could tell it was solid in spite of this. Great emotions as always, and good connection. I would love to have seen you inject a bit more drag flourish into your performance. You virtually HAVE to twirl when the beat kicks in, and I wish I’d seen you stomp and dance around a bit more. Your answers were very insightful and I definitely understand your drag character more from hearing you discuss your journey. To work on in the run-up to c10, I want you to think about exactly how Ophelia does everything. How does she sit, how does she dance, how does she interpret things? You’re onto a character, and I would love to see that character blossom and for you to fully embody her in every single aspect from head to toe. I wish you all the luck for c10!

Harper: I really liked the concept behind your looks, and I think both fit your character well. Something you touched on in your interview was the attention to detail, though, and I think that is definitely true for this week. I did not care for the fact that the body paint on your head and face didn't extend to your arms, and I feel as though you are relying on it again. It's fine to use the paint as a base, but the drag makeup should be good enough to stand on its own, and I feel that without the white it would not hold up. Take it a few steps further than what you are doing now, I know you are capable of it! I think that's also my critique for your lip sync. I'm going to hold you to a higher standard of the other girls because we share the lsfyl background, and mama... this overlay was very off. Don't be afraid to play with concepts for lip syncs in TDR like you did for LSFYL... most of the other girls are going into it doing really super basic lip syncs in dirty rooms and having a lsfyl background gives you a real opportunity to help yourself stand out in a positive way. I'm going to challenge you to think outside the box next time. I think the best part of this video is seeing how much more comfortable you are in front of the camera than you were when we met a few years ago. You seem so much more relaxed and personable and I'm really proud of you for that growth. Keep it up!

#tdr #tdrcs4 #charm school #finale #exam #luna #kushboo #nikita nox #marina lumiere #ophelia waters

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femaleidols · 7 years

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hi!!! i'm curious as to how the admins feel about lip synching for performances? on one hand i think that the purpose of music shows is to show off the singing and dancing talents of idols (and if ppl just wanted to see the choreography/visual aspects there's the mv and dance practices) but on the other hand i can TOTALLY understand bc its really hard for even the best vocalists to sing well and dance at the same time. also, what is a good indicator that a performance has "live" singing?

see our thoughts under the cut! 💘

sullflower: I honestly don’t mind as long as they deliver a good performance. I prefer live singing at concerts tho. It definitely makes the performance more enjoyable plus you kinda paid for it. :-)

iyokans: (hiatus)

heonies: I honestly don’t care all that much if they sing live or not on music shows. They’re just for promoting the song and themselves whilst entertaining the fans. Some groups promote so often that they’d probably kill their voices if they sang 100% live every single time. Not to mention, everyone knows it’s near impossible to sound like you ate the cd when you’re dancing around, and trying to hype up the audience (also when you’ve barely rested/slept/eaten). Concerts, however, I believe they should be giving it their all since fans pay to see those. But anyway, so long as they can actually sing, and did record the song in the first place, it doesn’t phase me when they lip-sync/pre-record vocals.

jiaerrs: i like it when idols sing and dance live, but sometimes it’s better to hear lipsyncing when they’re not at their best vocally. i hate this idea of having your mic on is good enough [looks at the idols who shout and do adlibs that are off-key], and sometimes it’s better to hear prerecorded vocals than to hear someone cracking again for their high notes or someone “skrrting” for several minutes. also, it gives them a break bc you can damage your voice if you don’t let it rest. i think a good indicator on whether or not they’re singing live is to check how in sync the sound is to their mouths. you can catch literally anyone who does this, even those who you know can sing their asses off. also, you can check their throats to see if it’s vibrating and hearing the imperfections of every performance. if every live sounds the same, it probably was pre-recorded and reused.

katypery: i personally prefer when idols sing and dance live so i stick to mr removed videos when i know they’re singing but the background music is too loud to hear their vocals. i don’t like watching performances when they’re lip synching even if their dance skills are considered good.

sunjis: i don’t really mind tbh. some groups focus on dancing, some on singing, some on both, and there’s no right or wrong. the most important thing is to deliver a good performance and promote their song.

lauxrent: I honestly don’t really care bc in the end more important is how the performance looks overall. Also a lot of really skilled singers find it hard to sing and dance simultaneously so I don’t think we should expect that from idols. I mean showing true vocal talent is nice sometimes and that’s why I like watching special stages with ballads and such but I don’t think that lip syncing during regular promotion is bad. Esp considering that they have a show every day and for each one they have to rerecord like five times. It’s certainly nice to see that some groups are able to do that, I just don’t think that inability to sing live AND dance means a lack of talent.

sooyulti: i understand lip synching only when an idol is sick, other than that, i don’t get why they should do it, especially if it’s a performance where they don’t dance. and a good indicator that a performance has live singing is the breathing? i mean, we can hear it when an idol is dancing (especially hard choreos) so i guess when we hear them breathing we can say it’s a live performance

wonhosoks:hmm idk i dont mind lip sync…maybe some are not confident enough yet? about their vocals idkk :/ but watching groups sing live isa bit more enjoyable to actually get to hear their voices

24kool:i personally have nothing against lip syncing in some performances, though i’d rather see more idols sing live. however, the reason they use it is completely understandable because i bet we all know how hard singing and dancing at the same time is!

1krystaljung: i dont really mind lip synching honestly… like ofc it’s better if it’s live but with such complex and difficult choreographies it’s understandable that a lot of groups lip sync. also i think a good indicator of live singing would be to watch mr removed performances? but idk!!

seuhgi: i enjoy the performances better when it’s not lipsync but i do understand they sometimes can’t focus on vocals and that they need to rest!

prkchaeyoung:personally, i don’t think there’s anything wrong with lip syncing. most idols are tired when they step on the stage, and there’s so many other factors to consider that go on behind the scenes that might affect their performances. most groups these days release acoustic covers and/or perform their songs without choreography to show off their vocals and i think that’s really smart. that way on stage they can emphasize their dancing and stage presence and in performances like that they can focus on their vocals. and personally, i’m more of a choreography/dancing kind of person so i don’t focus on vocals much so that may be why i don’t mind lip syncing that much. that being said however, i don’t think EVERY performance put on should be lip synced. for indicators of “live” singing, i would say if u can hear their breath, then it’s probably live.

jeonghsk: i don’t personally mind lipsync if they don’t do /all/ the time. i agree w/ u about ur points about the performance aspects and thatsometimes, it’s probably not best to have live singing and intense dance moves bc at least one of those will be lackingbut i do personally love live singing more from an audience perspective

monoka:i don’t really care anymore, because most groups doesn’t need “good vocals” anymore to get popular but if someone always live sings it’s a + i also respect every idol who manage to live sing esp if they are MAIN VOCALS. i’m glad to stan ggs that doesn’t lipsync 24/7 :-)

seulge: live performances aren’t meant to show talent or whatever. they’re meant to entertain. the only way you can know someone is singing well is when they’re standing still and not dancing. lip synching is such a non-issue, i wish more fans were calmer about it. it’s why mr removed videos prove absolutely nothing as well. and yeah, it is extremely difficult to sing well and dance at the same time, you need a lot of stamina for that. at the end of the day, even this live singing sounds tricky. the “they sound like in the studio!!” is so?? ok fine, but if in the studio they strain and have zero technique in singing, it doesn’t matter, cuz they gonna be just as bad and messy live too. so my opinion on live performances is that… idc whether they sing live or not. it’s there for show, for ratings etc etc. it’s meant to be fun, help promoting the songs and so on.

#reply #anonymous #about us

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jakemansbridge-blog · 6 years

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Practice 1 : Optical Sound

Brief to create a piece of animation around a piece of music.

The piece of music I have chosen for this project was pretty easy as I wanted to do something a little bit more dynamic then in previous works.

I choose La Roux Uptight Downtown, which has this wonderful 80s funk pop beat, and very heavy rhythmic beats and pacing.

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The idea behind this song for La Roux was the brixton riots in 2011, however wanted to detract slightly from that (however may implement it in future.)

A few things stood out, the very 80s vibe and the beat, wanting to match these in the work. Also, La Roux as an identity and a performer, wanting to use aspects of her personality in the look of the characters.

In addition this song has a great beat and journey for narrative story telling which is what I’m most interested in. Wanting to create a very organic story, listening to the song and making cuts and decision when needed.

Futhermore inspired greatly by animations with narratives, such as the Daft Punk anime series, Woodkid Runboy Run, even later Gorillaz videos.

Creating La Roux’s character...

I wanted to create a character for La Roux in this video, what does the music make me think about/images it comes up with. Using some of La Roux’s previous music videos and outfits, I came up with the idea of a beat cop (pun intended) / rouge detective, who solves mysteries in a 80s style landscape.

Inspired greatly by the aesthetics of both modern day 80s homages like Drive, John Wick (Nicolas Winding Refn movies in particular), and 80s neo-futures like Blade Runner or Akira, even Ghost in the Shell, with an little flair of 50s greaser (James Dean - Rebel Without a Course).

Mood board! Really like the dark shadows and neon glows, need to use this aesthetic in the finish piece.

Colour tests, just messing around with different hues, however really like both the ones on the right, purple and blue, leaning towards more of the bright purple and turqois.

The music, liked the idea of a powerful walking motif, as the beat is so full on wanted to push that with lights and a powerful walk. Also to push the character as a bad ass lone wolf.

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Really interesting video essay on the use of Bi lighting in films, want to implement this into the work, particularly because of La Roux’s LGBT following.

First tests, really like the design of her, maybe push the colours and neon lighting even further!!! Really want to capture that aesthetic but still have the fun on the song.

Villians! To me this song is a fight back, even though exceptionally fun and poppy there’s a bit of anger in the lyrics. And pushing the 80s vibe wanted to push a villian and this almost 80s inspired anime.

80s villians, what’s more 80s then a corporate suit, something along the lines of Micheal Douglas’ Gordon Gekko Wall Street.

Wall Street, 1987. Oliver Stone, United States: 20th Century Fox.

Making and drawing him more monstrous and hollow, a phantom if you will.

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Sketch / animatic, wanted to cut all edits on the beat or start of lyrics. The three moves and three proves wanted to an action also testing myself with lipsyncing.

A new addition the girl in the tube, the victim of the Corporate’s greed (possibly taking the talents of others to full himself, connecting it to the music industry)

Reflective

With this project I wanted to focus on creating a character for an artist, using aspects of my own opinion on the artist and what the music references. This character of La Roux is also an exaggeration of the these sources, La Roux to me is strong, powerful, androgynous, I wanted to create a character to reflect this, also the inspiration of 80s pop music wanting to make a world around the other aspects of 80s pop culture. This is to extend both the aesthetics of the song, but also the aesthetics of the animation (would in my opinion look weird if it was gothic or heavy metal aesthetics). In addition using this 80s culture and pop culture in the work and narrative, the beat cop / detective in a kind of revamp of film noir with films like Blade Runner, Body Heat and most importantly Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Having this key and tropic styles of 80s, big hair, shoulder pads, neon, all adds to this iconography creating a world that is not a reflection of the 80s but the pop culture of the 80s (80s aesthetic). This is reflected in the Villain of the business man the enemy of 80s counter culture and that depicted of Gorden Gekko and the film Wall Street, I wanted this work to have a lot of inter-textual properties and references, to get the essence of 80s culture to push the qualities of the song itself. The song references 80s beats and instruments, my video referencing representation of 80sness.

References

La Roux. (2014). La Roux - Uptight Downtown. [Online Video]. 27 May 2014. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnCLiNDx1qU.

KyleKallgrenBHH. (2018). Bisexual Lighting: the Rise of Pink, Purple, and Blue. [Online Video]. 6 July 2018. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gU3IA4u-J8.

Wall Street, 1987. Oliver Stone, United States: 20th Century Fox.

Mood board

https://www.thefourohfive.com/music/article/the-art-direction-of-drive-142

https://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/neon-demon-nicolas-winding-refn-says-nobody-liked-drive-1201689903/

http://neatocoolville.blogspot.com/2014/11/neon-signs-of-blade-runner.html

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/film/2017-10-04/blade-runner-honest-trailer/

https://plymouthartscentre.org/review-blade-runner-2049-outstanding-high-concept-blockbuster-sci-fi/

https://variety.com/2017/film/news/blade-runner-2049-box-office-opening-weekend-1202582867/

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/503488433331231869/?lp=true

http://forums.cgsociety.org/t/ghost-in-the-shell-2017/1794401

#Practice One #reflective

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forceyourway · 7 years

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Tree of Life Shadow Work Challenge

Day Eleven: “What aspects of my societal influence might I benefit from taking into consideration?”

(Using Loki’s tarot deck, “The Raven’s Prophecy Tarot”)

Page of Coins - A responsible, optimistic person who can make and execute a plan. The Page of Cups is drawn to opportunity, but unknowingly, cheats herself out of it. This is also someone who is carefully tending this tiny, baby thing, that somehow is and isn’t me. I may have a long way to go, but the seed has been planted, and with enough love, it’ll grow into something beautiful. <3

Society - Status, Roles, Standards

Think about the society you live in and how it has shaped you. Are you generally accepted in society? What kinds of status, roles, and standards has it placed on you? How is your current career perceived? What role do you play in community affairs and family relations? How is your sexuality or relationship status judged? What kinds of living standards are you expected to uphold? Do you have any resistance to the expectations that have been imposed on you by society?

I’ve touched on a lot of this stuff already. My field, Early Childhood Education, is considered to be insignificant by pretty much everyone. It’s believed that no education/training is required to care for children, and many will balk at the notion that Pre-K children can be “taught” anything (especially infants). In Canada, where I got my degree, they were for the first time piloting a B.A. in ECE program. Prior, there had been none in the province. Here, there’s B.A. programs all over; the problem is they’re all terrible. The amount of B.A. programs in ECE in the country that don’t suck is less than I can count on two hands, because they’re generally the same as Elementary Education programs. The classes are overwhelmingly focused on “teaching” a subject (”Teaching Math in Early Education” or “Teaching Phonics”), and there is very, very little child development to be had. As a result, even those with degrees tend to be clueless when it comes to child development. There’s rampant child abuse in public centres, and very, very high turnover rates, with many employees being young women waiting to be granted entry into the school system. As such, it’s very hard to find work that is fulfilling, having to dodge child abuse everywhere, and harder still to find anyone who treats me with respect. In their eyes, I’m just their babysitter. Circumstances have forced me out of childcare centres (for the time being) and into Nannyhood, which is truly awful on the respect front. I’ve had parents constantly cancel on me at the last second, or demand I work at the last second. I’ve had parents abruptly decide they didn’t need me, and parents who were months behind on paying me...not because of financial difficulty, but because they “forgot.” I’ve had parents who fought kicking and screaming against my efforts to make a living wage. I still don’t. And a lot of emphasis is placed on housework, which should not be the focus of my work. Society doesn’t like my sexuality, or my religion, and believes I should be married to a man, and serving his every need. Society doesn’t like that I am female and poor.It’s expected that, as a woman, I be ready to cook all dinners, and that my house always be neat and tidy; am impossible task for my mentally-ill self. And my mental illness is unacceptable too; perhaps that is the most unacceptable thing about me. I have a long, long history of being thrown around by the rest of the world. When I went to Catholic school, the first time I was picked on, but not in an extraordinary way. The second, however, the entire place - staff, children everyone - wanted me gone. A variety of situations were cooked up in hopes of achieving this, and each time, I unknowingly incriminated myself, even though I was completely innocent. For example, I was accused of forging my mother’s signature on a progress report. How one was meant to discover this, I’ll never know. The class was shocked, and the girl next to me was saying who could possibly do such a thing?! I said, “I think I know,” but backpedaled when asked to clarify. What I meant was the boy who always seemed to be getting in trouble, but this make me look real guilty. Of course, it wasn’t forced, and my mom was so pissed by the implication that she stormed in and harassed the woman. The second was the time I had a bee stuck in my hair; I had managed to avoid being stung my entire childhood, as I was afraid my grandmother’s deathly allergy come to me. One got caught in my hair one recess, and I was wailing miserably as a teacher tried to take it out. I was later accused of swearing, but did’t.They couldn’t prove I did swear, so I faced no punishment. The last involves a talent show, for which I wanted to sing a hip-hop song. The song I wanted was on a specific CD containing an assortment of songs. and to get it, I’d need to destroy those two units. The music teacher gave me permission to use the CD unripped (he originally wanted to take the words out), uneditied. My audition was pitiful and whimpering, but I didn’t want to be remembered for such. So when the time came, I really threw myself into it, and sounded, of course, totally different. So it was assumed I was lipsyncing, and they wanted me gone for that, but again, couldn’t prove it. In my first college ECE placement, I was working as a sort of student teacher at a childcare centre. The first semester was fine, but in the second, I started noticing a hundred thousand tiny, terrible things. I noticed my mentors’ readiness to set me - and the children - up to fail, their arrogance, and how horribly they treated the “problem children.” I was eventually so bothered by this that I was losing sleep; one day, at 3am or something, I sent my advisor an e-mail explaining that I was so worried about the children that I couldn’t sleep. She arranged a meeting with the director, hoping that she would dispel my concerns, and posed that the meeting stay between the three of us. The director agreed, but when the meeting came, my mentor stormed through the door, with the hugest, most arrogant smile on her face. This was not part of the agreement. Both my mentor and the director started verbally attacking me; I left a few hours later in tears. The next placement, I had at another centre in the infant room. I made the mistake of showing my mentor that I had a green sheet, which means I can have accommodations made for me if necessary. I never used it, but they came to guess what was “wrong” with me. I was accused of rolling my eyes when she spoke, but what was really happening was that I simply looked upward when thinking. Both my mentor and advisor (I had a new one) refused to accept this, and my mentor suggested that “maybe I have an information processing disorder,” and that I should stand in front of the mirror and practice “not rolling my eyes,” or no one would ever hire me. They refused to do a recommendation for me, citing that they “didn’t know me well enough,” when they’d done recommendations for many students before, who were in exactly my position. This finally led to my most-loved professor personally intervening and appointing herself my advisor for my final placement, which she chose herself. When I came back to the States, I worked very briefly in an abusive centre, which was mentioned in a previous post. I was told that satisfying the “customer” (parent) was of the highest priority, and that the needs of the children would come second. I was not okay with this, so I went to another centre. It was...fine, I guess. Deeply unprofessional and chaotic. Several of the staff resented me for not wanting to hang out with them, and one staff member personally hated me and one day let loose a verbal onslaught that caused me to suffer a panic attack (for the first time). The director insisted they’d never put this other person and I in the same place at the same time, but immediately revoked this as soon as the other gave them a fake apology. After this, came Dream Job, which was everything I ever wanted, until it wasn’t. The staff knew from day one I had anxiety, and during a flareup and getting ready for a huge open house where many famous people would be, and working overtime without pay, and working without breaks, meant I was utterly exhausted. I started to disassociate, and my boss unleashed this vicious attack about how she wasn’t sure I could be trusted. Because apparently I was crazy to her. It was a horrifying experience, made all the worse because it was completely unexpected.

#Tree of Life Shadow Work Challenge #Tarot #Divination #Divination Challenges #@unmaskingthedivine #Child Abuse #Ableism

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