#some people you go to for well edited drama and an excellent view of the overarching plot

[shadeswift99]

Reasons why Cleo is the best Life Series perspective: who else is going to leave in a full 30 seconds of Scar babytalking Jellie while his voice gets slowly quieter as he moves away from the mic

#limited life #limlife #this is a joke but not I really really love Cleo's life series pov #some people you go to for well edited drama and an excellent view of the overarching plot #and SOME people you go to to see and hear things that no other POV would leave in #that's Cleo #go watch Cleo please #please do it

[itspyon]

compilation post of commentary youtubers talking about dream, no drummyaches edition !

note, i might not exactly like 100% of the things said in these videos BUT they ultimately redeemed dream to a very large audience

starting with i think is the most viewed video right now, Will Dream's Response Actually Fix Anything? by Lessons in Meme Culture. it's 2:40 minutes long and the point is simply to open conversation about him being able to successfully redeem himself, but it has a lovely comment section if you want to scroll through that

Dream Just Responded To Everything by AugustTheDuck, had already spoken about Dream pretty positively, lovely guy, lovely summary [ touches earpiece the main studio is telling me august actually was a dream hater but turned around recently, so noting that down ]

Dream's Response was Perfect, But... by EntLaiser, who previously made a video actually speaking negatively of Dream, completely changed his opinion and talked about how meme culture is being used to justify mass harassment, along with being nice to Dream stans and defending them

Pyrocynical made a video. its bad. don't watch it. he gets cooked in the comments though so that's okay. Acheeto also made a video but i don't like the guy so i'm not linking that either, but it was a good video

Dream Finally Responded To The Allegations by sensitive soci3ty. i really like this video but i especially like the comments that bring up a lot of great points, it was refreshing scrolling through them

LIES! by Omni. Omni is really big on the commentary community so his input is valued, this video is long and goes through a lot of unrelated stuff because it's a news segment, but i linked to the timestamp he talks about Dream. it is long, it is thorough, he READS THE DESCRIPTION which i haven't seen anyone do, pretty good

Dream Might Actually Be Innocent by Saverino. this guy is like, the perfect representation of "i only consumed Dream content through social media for years", the most passive onlooker in the world. and his video is awesome, he took a lot of notes, he resumed Dream's video pretty well, and i feel the way he thinks of Dream is how people will look at dream from now on

Dream Finally Responded by Dolan Dark. it's a slob but it's fucking Dolan Dark and he says he believes he's innocent so who cares W for us

other creators we already know and knew they believed Dream, Hot Sauce Beats did a live reaction and so did Nate Alyn if you'd like to go and support them

Dream's Response Was Actually Good by Saamuel. dream hater admitting he was wrong. all is good in the world

Dream Finally Responded To The Allegations by Optimus. don't watch this video lol. he says a bunch of stupid shit, his comments call him out for it, but i am linking it because this guy is huge on the community, a lot of people were waiting on this video on twitter, and he's very clear on saying the allegations are fake, along with shaming twitter antis for their behaviour

Dream's Response Wasn't Good Enough by luhrix specifically talks about the reaction from antis on twitter to the video and how unreasonable some expectations are when it comes to responding to allegations

Does Dream's Response Make Him Innocent? by Blissolic who VERY BRAVELY calls out coyglone ( the guy behind the dreamwastalen account ) for being a piece of shit

Dream Responded... by Repzion. excellent video no notes, less about dream himself and more a critique of how people consume serious topics as "drama" and farm engagement through it

I Was In Dream's Video by orangepeanut. it's kind of ass but he is in dream's video ! he's the "dream sucked his own dick" guy. he says sorry for baiting and actually apologises to dream which is kind of funny, and he does say dream is innocent. just noting it down for reference

Dream's Response Was GREAT! by TekuToji. another excellent video, nice summary. he did thought the poki xqc dms were real but he corrected himself on the comments lol

Dream Has Returned ( and why you should be excited ) by PurpleMatter. sweet video ! go leave a nice comment :D

this is a different one as it is a full reaction, but it is by Kenji, a VERY famous vtuber, and he was awesome about it and called out his chat several times when they spoke misinformed shit. it's very fun and i'm glad a completely different audience now has a positive view of Dream

#i'll add more as i find them when they upload #dreamwastaken

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics, Regular Edition (thank you extremely early spoilers meaning I spent yesterday on the Gotham War stuff, this is a big edition and I’ve been holding myself back from touching these for FOUR WHOLE WEEKS):

Birds of Prey #1: Righto so as I read this my levels of trust are building just slightly. There is at least reasoning being built into this scenario. Also I note the note that this is post Green Arrow #6

The list!!! I’ve already ranted about this but I want to note how IMMACULATE the order of “Shiva, Selina, Talia?, Cheshire?” is. Shiva’s the obvious starting point. She’s heavily associated with Sin, she’s an actual Bird of Prey from several team lineups, there’s the whole Dinah and Shiva relationship… Dinah would consider this. Jumping to Selina next, as someone who again has had multiple BoP appearances, is known to ally up if asked, exists in the antihero spectrum, Dinah’s probably also now aware she’s been looking after Lian. Then Talia. I am unaware of Talia being associated with any BoP team lineup ever but she’s an obvious next place for thoughts to go. Talia has Views and if you’re looking at dangerous people who can help with an extraction rescue she’s an option. Then finally, Cheshire. Who Dinah full well knows would cause ALL LEVELS of drama if Dinah asked her to go after Sin given everything around Lian, but is willing to consider it anyway for a moment there.

I do adore the art style in this, DC’s really putting out some stunning LOOKING books at the moment, also the old fashioned comics style and colour here are giving me vibes of the Black Canary 1991 run.

“What’s more important than a sister” remains excellent, Barda and Cass together is just amazing, and I’m interested in what happens with Zealot and Meridian. I understand why Harley’s there even if I don’t like it, and it’s largely approached better than I expected (I just can’t summon the energy to care about that fight scene, it’s establishing stuff to jury rig a reason for Harley to be here at all, I just don’t care about Harley enough, though does Harley have a secret past with the Dava Sborsc ‘collect all the single punches’ form of martial arts?)

My actual big question is: Sin is SIXTEEN? I mean I know we’ve had 2.5 reboots since the last time she was on page in comics, but she was approximately 10 years old after One Year Later. She was in PRIMARY SCHOOL. That’s even faster aging than Damian! (I guess we could stretch the point to her being 11-12, but it feels older than she was depicted)

Blue Beetle #1: The thing I MOST adore about using that JLI picture for Ted is that even with this comic set in the current present, Ted was on the team with a proper USSR Red Rocket. Ted you were a superhero 32 years ago?

Also amused we got a zany Charlton Comics era villain back.

RED BEETLE IS BACK!!! Oh no. Also almost impossible for it to be Paco given various reboots, so… (I’m sure Ted is fine. They’re not killing him off permanently in the first issue of this)

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1: BEA! TORA! “Each day is a gift, and I get to share it with my best friend!” (Howling. I’m howling. They’re going to spend this entire mini baiting us all aren’t they)

…Martha immediately starts comparing Fire & Ice to her and Jonathan. “Gorilla Grodd’s little sister” (whose name appears to be Linka Grodd? And who is queer).

NOOOO THEY’RE BREAKING UP! AND THEY WEREN’T EVEN TOGETHER! YOU TWO JUST LESBIANED YOURSELVES INTO A BUSINESS TOGETHER! AND A TWELVE MONTH LEASE!

“Abandoned by my best friend, maybe the only true friend I’ve known.” (Get a room together)

AWW YEAH AMBUSH BUG!!

I am going to thoroughly enjoy this BECAUSE the entire run will be queerbait and hopefully Bea and Tora might finally get to kiss or something in issue 6. I am ready for this. Just gals being pals.

City Boy #4: this remains outstanding in my opinion. I really like what they’re doing with Cameron, and they’re making using Darkseid actually make sense. Also Chemo blowing up Bludhaven has been recanonised!

Shazam! #3: “Dan Mora an alien?” bookmark ahhahahaha. The background details are where Mora really has fun.

NOT THE AUDITORS.

This just remains silly fun (the Moon Emperor?) so I’m enjoying it.

Warlord #18: this week in the land of Skartaris we apparently DID manage to get out of 500km of desert in a single issue. Amazing work, Grell.

Travis once again using his gun. How many bullets left, Travis, how many. Can you make more?

Then they get attacked by the BLOODMOON and kidnapped by space aliens for breeding purposes. After running away from a T-rex.

And then…TRAVIS MORGAN BONDAGE SCENE. I’ve missed these, Grell, how have you been coping?

Travis gets transmuted into a minotaur. This will clearly only go well. (Sadly it gets fixed like three pages later)

Tara saves the day twice because Tara’s actually more competent than Travis.

#z canon read throughs #newish comics

[adarkrainbow]

Some Brothers Grimm fairytales facts (1)

So, my mother has this old copy of the Brothers Grimm fairytales published in the 70s - a selection of Grimm fairytales translated by Marthe Robert. If you do not know Marthe Robert, she is one of the famous French literary critics of the 20th century, known for her many translations of German works (she is recognized as one of the experts of Kafka in France), as well for her numerous works about the psychanalitic interpretation of literature. 

And this edition also has a preface where she points out some things that are quite interesting... Now, I need to precise, I wouldn’t advise you to take everything in this preface. As I said, Marthe Robert had a psychanalysis-approach to fairytales (which was the one popularized and widespread by Bruno Bettelheim’s work). And while I, for myself, enjoy those interpretations (Bruno Bettelheim was actually how I got to first discover the depths and complexity of the fairytales), I also came to realize, by studying fairytales, that they are not the best to ACTUALLY understand fairytales. Mostly because psychanalytic readings and interpretations of fairytales are strongly intertwined with the folklorist reading of fairytales, and... as I keep pointing out, the folklorist point of view has been discovered to be quite flawed in several aspects. It doesn’t remove the beauty or poetry of these readings and interpretations, which provide a new richness and new meanings to the tales... But to be taken with a grain of salt.

However we are here talking about the Grimm fairytales, which due to being folktales in nature (though slightly edited to fit an ideology), are much more fitted for folklorist and psychanalytic readings. And as a translator of the works of Grimm, Robert brings some interestng points... So let’s see them.

(This is the painting on the cover of the book, so I’ll add it for a bit of illustration)

1) One thing that is very true, and that we should never forget - the Grimms might be criticized any way you like, but what can’t be robbed for them, is the fact that thanks to their hard-work and dedication they managed to survive and restore an entire oral folklore that was slowly dying out and about to be lost forever. Without the Brothers, we would have never have so many tales that are classics of our culture today. 

2)  A good illustration of the literary VS folklorist point of view. Marthe Robert, having written this preface in the 70s, was heavily influenced by the folklorist studies, and this shows in the text. Most notably, already at the beginning, we see the presence of a HUGE misconception spread by the folklorists. This misconception is that “While Perrault made the fairytales popular among scholars and people of taste, nobody until the Brothers Grimm thought of these stories as something more than just the charming, naive and simple products of a popular imagination, only fully enjoyable by old women and children”. This is a HUGE misconception. The thing is that the whole “These stories are just humble folk-tales told by old nurses, by the fireside during evenings are peasant homes” or “These tales were written and told with a child-like mind, and are just little nonsense for your entertainment” was present in the literary texts of fairytales we had (such as Perrault’s tales)... But it was a narrative and publishing strategy. Fairytales, as a literary genre, was a whole aesthetic, and Perrault, like others, were trying to imitate the folktales they took inspiration from - so of course they were going to add elements defending the “childishness” or “simple-mindedness” of their tales. It was also an excellent way to avoid censorship (which was strong, back in the days) and to deal with the very harsh world of critics and literary feuds at the time (you don’t know how strong it was back in 17th century France, worst than Internet dramas these days). By pretending that these tales were just “simple folktales of foolish old women and naive children”, the authors could avoid a lot of things that would have raised the ire of the censorship. But these things, half-hidden, were clearly spot-on by those in the known...

Because, I can’t tell it enough, while the pre-Grimm fairytales, especially the French fairytales, Perrault and others, were PRESENTED as simple folktales, they were not at all simple folktales written hastily. They were literary works, carefully planned, with several drafts. They were stories written by adults for adults, part of games, entertainments, discussions and debates in intellectual circles. They were filled with jokes, and wordplays, and innuendos, and dark undertones, and there were layers of hidden meanings and symbolism everywhere. Because it was part of the “game” of the fairytales back then. They weren’t just about “Who can invent the wackiest tale?”. The pleasure was also to try to understand what the author hid and wrapped under the costume of a “poor, naive folktale”. The way Little Red Riding Hood was an obvious metaphor for ill-intentioned seducers, the way that Diamonds and Toads is in truth a praise of flattery and politeness (which were key elements when living at the royal court), the way that Puss in Boots was an humoristic critique of the ascension to power of some and of the system of inheritance and rewards at the time, in Louis XIV′s France... 

All that being said, take the next sentence of Marthe Robert and you’ll understand what is wrong with it: “While people had fun reading them, or sometimes writing them, nobody actually wondered why they came to be, and their meaning was clear enough to be resumed in a short morality that, while making these tales useful, also justified their weirdness”. It is true that the Moralities were here as a “safety measure”, to justify the nonsense and bizareness of these tales (in late 17th century France, nonsense was considered garbage, and every literary work needed to have a reason to be and a usefulness to it, you didn’t actually just wrote something because you felt like it - if you did that, you were not perceived as a true author, or even as a writer, but just a scribbler). But the mistake here is to believe that these “Moralities” hold the entire, simplified meaning of the tales. Far, far from it, as French fairytales were purposefully designed to have a game of meaning and complex senses: the fun was all about decyphering them. 

3) Marthe Rober then proceeds to describe the thought-process that led to the rise of the “folklorist reading” of fairytales, and which was the point of view that dominated ever since the Grimms’ work became popular. And this thought process is: Let’s collect folktales and stories from all around the world, from various countries and continents. Then, let’s compare them, in how similar they are. Now, we see that they have a common structure, common narratives, with elements that are sometimes described and placed in identical fashons - except for a few exceptions. But beyond them, these striking similarities and identicalities prove a continuity of themes beyond countries and cultures. How to explain this? It can only be explained by a common source, a common origin: all the tales have a common ancestor.

[Note by me: This is the folklorist point of view. But the literary point of view that is now contradicting this one, if you are ever interested, is that maybe the “story-ancestor of all the tales” is a myth that never truly existed ; maybe these similarities and continuities are due to stories feeding of each other, and blooming and spreading from each other, due to an intertextuality and cross-cultural influence rather than a so-called “common ancestor” that had “children” everywhere - and unlike the folklorist viewpoint, which casts aside the unusual and pattern-breaking variations as “exceptions to the rules” or “one time weirdness”, the literary point of view considers that, on the contrary, they should be considered with as much importance as the stories that deviate from the “main mold”.] 

Marthe Robert even mentions the theory held by the Grimms themselves (though she doesn’t seem to fully adhere to it?), that the common ancestor of these stories was... Aryan stories. For them, the “aryan tribes” were the ancestors of the Hindus, the Persians, the Greek, the Romans, and the other people of Europe, and thus the common ancestor of all those folktales and fairytales were none other than the “ancient Aryan tales”... [Did I mention the Nazis had a huge liking of the Brothers Grimm and reinterpreted their books and works in perverse ways? Well, if I hadn’t before, now you’re warned.]

4) Moving on, Marthe Rober then explains that, once the origin of the tales are explained in this way, all that is left is to interpret these tales and get their meaning. And she offers us something she calls the “natural reading” of these tales. A type of interpretation that was REALLY popular for a time, that is quite poetic in itself I’ll admit, but that also gets really wacky and wonky sometimes, when pushed to its extreme limits. This “natural reading” is simply the interpretation of fairytales as descriptions and allegories of natural events and phenomenon. The first example she gives, and which is the one that is invoked a lot even today, and perhaps the most “solid” of them all, is Sleeping Beauty: the asleep princess represents spring or summer, her hundred-years sleep is winter, and the young prince that wakes her up must be the sun “waking up” nature in spring (Marthe Robert notes that this interpretation still has leftovers in the tale of Perrault, where the princess two children are “Day” and “Dawn”). Okay, so far so good... But then Robert adds two more “natural readings” which, for me, are completely off, and just stretching the concept heavily. There is the “natural reading” of Cinderella, where the titular heroine is the “hidden light”, some sort of solar figure whose light and shine is clouded or obscured by the ashes covering her - and who gets to only shine bright again by marrying her prince. Quite a stretch of a reading, but at least I get where it’s coming from. And then... Then there’s the worst offender. The natural reading of “Donkey Skin/A Hundred-Furs”. The reading where “the girl fleeing her father’s incestuous desires by hidng in a beast skin” is actually “dawn, hunted by the sun, of which she fears the burn”... Poetic, but really wacky. And not solid enough to hold what Marthe Robert adds - that “with this reading, all these tales come to have roughly the same meaning”, aka a description of a battle to restore light. 

5) Hopefully the “natural reading” paragraph was purposefully presented in a not-so-good light by Marthe Robert, since she immediately adds that this subject has been debated, discussed and debunked for a long time now - and is just a “historical fact”. She notably invokes how these theories, be it the “aryan theory” of the Grimm or the “natural readings”, only work for European folktales, and completely break down when it comes to fairytales from other continents. Comparing them to the European tales completely debunks the idea that all these stories have a supposedly common ancestor whose influence spans worldwide. (That’s something I enjoy with psychoanalysis interpretations of fairytales, while they completely miss the literary aspect, they are also detached enough from the folklorist one to see its most obvious flaws. Of course, then they go sometimes into far-fetched places themselves, but nothing is perfect). In Robert’s own words, the theory of the brothers Grimm was “far too narrow and yet far too large”, but it had the praise to actually make people realize and understand that the fairytales were actually just as important and meaningful as the myths of old. 

6) Marthe Robert then goes on to describe how, despite social and religious changes, the continuing fairytales keep carrying the same meanings behind the allegories, and the same “human experience” hidden by its images - she notably points out that, despite being developed in Christian cultures, fairytales still hold on dearly to many elements of paganism, through depictions of various rites, practices and customs - for her, these are more than just memories carried on by the tales, but rather instructions making the fairytales didactic, turning them into manuals and teachers. 

7) So, while she rejects the Grimm-brought idea that the “true meaning” of all fairytales is a mythological description of the cycles of nature and weather or astral phenomenon, she, as a psychanalyst-influenced literary critic, still believes in a “general meaning” behind fairytales, a “recurring sense”. And for her, the fairytales are all about a passage, a transition. A needed passages, a difficult transition, with a thousand obstacles on the way, preceeded by seemingly unbeatable trials, but that always ends up happily concluded. “Under all of the most incomprehensible fantasies, a real fact keeps appearing: the necessity for an individual to go from one state to another, to transition from one age to another, and to shape themselves through painful metamorphosis, that will only end when they reach a true maturity”. For her, in the “archaic” culture that the fairytale preserved, the rite of age-passage, be it from children to teenager, or from a teen to an adult, is a perilous transition, a trial that can only be won by an initiation beforehand. So this is why the child or the young man of the fairytale, finds suddely himself lost in a deep forest with no way out, and there meets a wise person, often older than him, whose advice will help him find his way back. [Note: You can see here that she is very influenced by the Märchen, of which she is writing a preface of and that she just translated. But this is a common thing with psychanalist readings of fairytales, they usually focused exclusively on the Grimms and Perrault, with a tiny bit of Basile on the aside, but that’s it.]

8) Another typical “folkorist slander” of French fairytales: “If the French tradition weakened the initiatic aspect of the fairytale to replace it by a barely-disguised eroticism and a conformist morality, the German fairytale, less “civilized”, keeps all of its strength”. Urg. “A barely-disguised eroticism”, I guess when you want to denounce the dangers the sexual abusers, you need to add some sexual elements lady! And have you seen Basile’s story? They are sex comedies, and scatological too, true medieval tales of Reynard! As for the “conformist moralities”, I talked about it before - the Moralities of Perrault (and she is clearly referring Perrault because he was the only one to put Moralities in all of his fairytales) only looked “conformist”, but the minute you pay attention to them, you realize they are in truth subversive moralities. 

9) Now, while she uses this element to exemplify her slander above, this part is deeply interesting, because she describes there one of the major differences between French fairytales and German fairytales, hightlighted by the comparison of duets (the two Cinderellas, the two Sleeping Beauty, the two Donkey Skins): the treatment of the “fairy” character. The French fairytale fairy, for Robert, is this “character with a shining dress, a star on her forehead and a magic wand in her hand, who arrives exactly when she is needed to solve the love problems of young people”. (This is a bit of a caricature, but that’s also kind of true...). But in the German fairytales? No fairies. They are rather replaced by... “the wise women”. 

An old woman, that doesn’t get any description, and who is very ambiguous - when she shows up, the reader can’t tell if she is a protective spirit, or an evil witch. This frightening hag does not have the “shine” of the fairies - she is not admired, she is not beloved. Even whe she is here to bring happiness, she is gaunt and dry. She is the very opposite of the “radiant fairy who, in front of orphans, fuses herself with the figure of the dead mother”. The “old woman” here appears briefly, when all hope is lost, and she is the godmother of no one. If she sometimes assists the birth of those she helps, she never appears for their wedding, and as soon as her task is done she disappears. And in German fairytales, this character is called the “wise-women”. A name with two meanings. She is of course a literal “wise woman”, a woman full of wisdom, but she is also a “midwife” - because “midwives” were traditionally called “wise women”, since it was believed that one needed to know the “rules of wisdom”, aka the strict obediance to the rites presiding over birth, to be able to deliver a baby safely. This is why the “old women” of the Grimms are guardians of rites and taditions, hence why they are feared but respected - before being witches or enchantresses, they were the Greek Moirai and the Germanic Norns, these embodiments of Fate presiding over the destiny of humans (which is why the märchen old woman is often seen weaving). Between the fairy and the witch, the “wise woman” can be good or bad depending on the situations, while neither fully eing one or the other - she only responds to the customs and rites of the great events of life, and is here to highlight their meaning.

To place an example behind her development, Marthe Robert takes the Grimm version of Sleeping Beauty, “Briar-Rose”. In this story, there are thirteen wise-women in the kingdom that the king knows of, but he cannot actually invite them all due to him only having twelve golden plates - and apparently wise-women can only eat in this kind of plates. So the thirteenth wise-woman is purposefully “forgotten”, and this omission is a breaching of the rules of the rituals. This fault leads to the imposition of a serious ban over the baby girl: the prohibition to ever use a spindle. Which means, the inability to live a normal and regular young girl’s life. This prohibition leads to another omission, since all the spindles are destroyed except for one - one that stays in the hands of an old weaver-woman (in which one could reconize the thirteenth wise-woman, according to Robert). And from this second omission comes the last trial: an attenuated form of death, the Hundred-Years Sleep, which will only end with a nuptial rite. “Wrongly birthed”, since her birth is tied to a flawed act, the Beauty cannot develop herself without fearing death at every instant - her transition into teenagehood can only be done through a deep lethargy, and it is with great lateness that she finally “wakes up” through love. [Note: this is a REAL psychanalytic-reading. Having read Bettelheim, thus is pure psychanalysis-interpretation.]

A midwife, a scholar, a wizardess, the “wise-woman” is, for Marthe Robert, a better ancestor of her “ancestor from Antiquity”, than the romantic fairy of French fairytales: her role is to transmit to the individuals who need it the most (aka the children and teenagers) the knowledge of religious and social practices through which man becomes part of the “order of things”, through which man truly “comes into the world” and finds there his “place”. Once we understand that this is the function of the fairytale, it becomes very clear (again, all of this is Marthe Robert’s point of view) why the fairytale is such a paradoxical genre. It becomes clear for example why these stories supposedly for children keep treating a theme that is far away from being childish in nature: the erotic quest of the beloved, through a thousand painful trials. In truth, for Robert, this contradiction only exists for our modern eyes, according to the criteria of a moral pedagogy - but it disappears once we understand that the “wise-woman” character is the one causing the initiation, the advisor of the protagonist, and the keeper of rites. 

And this is also why fairytales are, at the same time, so innocents... and so cruel.

[More in my following post!]

#fairytales #fairy tales #grimm fairytales #brothers grimm #french fairytales #perrault fairytales #charles perrault #fairy #fairytale archetypes #the wise woman #witches #comparative fairytales #folklorist vs literary #marthe robert

[idanit]

possibly underappreciated Good Omens fics I enjoyed once upon a time

Indirectly inspired by a video series about fanfiction I watched, I decided to pull together a list of Good Omens fics I have bookmarked as stories I enjoyed, but which have less than 250-300 kudos at the time I’m writing this. No particular order. They’re accompanied by short excerpts from my private fic reading notes (not originally intended to be read by anyone but me, mind), sometimes slightly edited for clarity—and, sometimes, the comments I left on the fics.

This list sat in my drafts for a long time and the recent S2 announcement reminded me of it. I’d love it if it inspired you to do something similar! Spread the love.

And mind the tags, please.

△ = general and teen ▲ = mature and explicit 

thermodynamic equilibrium ▲ 7K the author has such an ear for dialogue and is unapologetic about what they want to write the characters like. They think of the characters as a mix of TV and book canon, but they feel like a homemade blend to me. (...) It’s very funny.

such dear follies ▲ 6K I can really picture this Aziraphale—Crowley as well, but her especially. She’s rather distinct. (...) Nice writing.

The Words Were With - △ 1.2K post-Blitz vignette, Aziraphale realizes what he feels and wonders if they're human enough for this. I liked it, and I liked the tag "transhumanism, but in reverse?", too—what an interesting idea. I'd say it's a vignette in a dire need of a follow-up, but, well, there's the show. The show is the follow-up. It fits very nicely within the canon and I totally believe it could have happened, like a deleted scene.

Gossip and Good Counsel △ 19K/? I love their companionship and how they're set up to be opposites by the management even though they get on pretty well. It feels very in keeping with the canon, but I feel like the fact that it's an F/F set in this particular time period adds a meaningful layer to the situation. It's women supporting each other in the world of men, working with the personas that are created for them, but, privately, being normal, well-rounded people. (...) and of course your writing is always a pleasure to read. (...) SDHDGDHDHDG Maisie is truly an Aziraphale.

Crowley Went Down to Georgia (he was looking for a soul to steal) △ 6K This was nice. Based on a song I didn’t know. Crowley goes to a funeral in the USA, one of a fiddler he knew and lost a bet to once. (...) The fic has not one but two songs composed for it and embedded inside it and that makes it even better. I really enjoyed the experience.

The Thing With Feathers △ 18K WARLOCK you'rE HORRIBLE AND I LOVE IT I would read an entire novel-length fic just of Crowley fighting his battles with Warlock. Written like this? It would be a blast. (...) The OCs are believably characterized and well-loved by the story. (...) Everyone seems to need a friend in this house. (...) This was so fun, and at the same time, their mission has weight here (...) We wonder about what the future holds even though we know it.

Here Quiet Find △ 11K This fic aimed for my head and the aim was sure precise. It was a story of Crowley sensing Aziraphale's distress and finding him in a self-quarantined English village in the seventeenth century, tired and anxious. It's hurt/comfort, so there was washing and bedsharing and I had to love it, so I did.

outside of time △ 2K Post-Almostgeddon, (...) nicely-written, short, but strung with a soft kind of tension and unspoken words. There's no drama, just "can we really", and "do you really" of sudden freedom. They fall into being inseparable. Book canon, which I like for this story (sitting on a tarmac). I liked the footnotes. There's a mention of Eliot. All in all, very much yes.

She'asani Yisrael △ 2K It’s Crowley going through a two-hour service and drinking blessed wine. He also keeps an eye on a boy he was asked to. It’s 1946. It was pretty good, so far the best Jewish GO fic, I think, from the ones I’ve read.

To Guard The Eastern Gate △ 11K  I loved it. You really made Sodom feel lived-in; the description of Keret, Hurriya and Yassib's house and relationship were great. I got attached to both them and the city (...) Aziraphale and Crawley’s interactions were generally very entertaining. I laughed (...) Your rendering of their voices just lands so well (...) But then oh, the entire ending (...) hurt, hurt a lot, and your descriptions are so vivid.

If you’ve been waiting (for falling in love) △ 14K AAAAA a good ending line. The whole paragraph, in fact. I love a good smattering of philosophy in my fics, and this was really nice. I can get behind Thomas Aequinus's and Crowley's view on eternity. It's (...) a pretty simple fic (...) - the courage to express yourself and take a risk is awarded with winning what was at stake by the virtue of reciprocity - but the way it was intertwined with a study of how they would experience a forever was done well. 

Holy unnecessary ▲ 2.2K It's well-written. (...) this is my type of sexual humour if I have any. So subtle. Blink and you'll miss it. Lovely.

The Parting Glass △ 17K Through the ages, they're dancing around their relationship until after the Armageddoff. (...) Wow, this was really, really nice. Very simple in its concept and nothing I haven't read before, but very well-executed. (...) AAAAH I LOVED the first chapter. I always like abbeys as settings, that's a given, but the banter, the good writing, the moral ambiguity!

Name The Sky △ 33K This Crowley is different, but very intriguing. Without his sarcastic talk, and much more animalistic. (...) I love how expressive Crowley is. (...) This fic has a very nice balance of drama and levity. I don't love Crowley-before-the-Fall stories very much, but with this execution I can read about it. (...) Okay I've read Crowley offering fruits, and even Aziraphale biting fruits, but the two of them sharing the apple? Outstanding. Ingenious. What a take.

A Flame in Your Heart △ 5K post-Blitz (why are so many dance fics post-Blitz?), they go to the bookshop and have an actually believable conversation. Then they dance the gavotte. It was really nice! Believable writing, emotions, the dancing! (...) Of course it's too early for them, (...) but the author's note? yeah.

Put down the apple, Adam, and come away with me ▲ 32K At this point it's just reading original stories with characters with names and some personality traits that I recognize. (...) I really enjoy this, the careful dance, the opposition between their views. (...) This is well-written, wow. (...) it's not an easy read (...) this story feels very believably 50s, but also reaches out to the present time. 

Liebestraum ▲ 10K/? It really is like music. I'm enjoying the writing a lot. (...) oh my actual god. This, this? Wow, uh. This came for my throat. (...) THE MUSICAL COMPOSITION, THE MOTIF RETURNING, THE AUTHOR KNOWS WHERE IT'S AT (...) Excellent. This hits the right beats so precisely, (...) and with feeling, too.

Down Comforter △ 2.4K and they lay down in angeldown, a soft rug ‘neath their heads– alright. Well, Crowley lies under Aziraphale's wing on a Persian rug after the Apocalypse, and they talk (...). It was sweet.

The Corsair of Carcosa △ 5K Crowley wakes up from a nap, visits Aziraphale for some drinking, and they read The King in Yellow that he happens to own. Good writing, so I'm bought. Aziraphale mentions Beardsley, so I'm bought twice over. My god, a discussion of etheral/occult madness? Caused by some wrong/true reading? Yes.

Very Good, Omens! △ 6K It's rather well-written, well-pastiched. People don't do that too often, nowadays - try to write in the style of a particular writer. (...) I love wordplay like this.

Reviving Robin Hood: The Complicated Process of Crème Brûlée △ 30K it's well-written (...), has a rhythm to it, and quiet humour. (...) Finally some nice, good, light writing. The attention to detail! (...) I'm still reading most of it aloud, the rhythm of it compels me to. (...) okay this does sound like Pratchett&Gaiman, the Good Omens itself (...) The fic is meandering, hilarious, sensitive in all the right places, and overall lovely.

my dear acquaintance △ 1K Oh. Oh. Yes, yes! Aziraphale in Russia, Russia I've never been in, but I can feel the snow and the evening of. Very real, and the bar, too. Attention to detail - vodka flavoured with dill, what on earth? Yes. He would totally have a distinct taste in operas and he would totally complain about a subpar one. I'm glad Tchaikovsky's there.

there is a crack in everything △ 1.8K This was good! Ah. Inspired by a comment (...), I went looking for Mr. Harrison and Mr. Cortese fics—really, what a big brain moment someone had and why have I never thought to look for them? This is Crowley getting suddenly anxious and Aziraphale going out of his way, through all his layers of not-thinking and denial, to console him. I also really liked how the Arrangement is a carefully unacknowledged partnership-marriage.

Scales And Gold And Wings And Scars △ 6K  No conflict, no plot, one tiny arc like a ripple on the surface of water on a calm sunny day - of Aziraphale discovering Crowley’s scars. It's the South Downs and it's early summer. They bask and swim in a spring. Non-sexual nudity, love in the air like a scent. Nice.

Nineteen Footnotes In Search Of A Story △ 0.4K This is a Good Omens story told only through footnotes. Your mind can fill in the gaps. Fascinating (...). Also, it’s an experiment so apt for this particular fandom.

Hell on Earth △ 6.5K Oh, I loved it! How could I not love it: it's Beelzebub-centric, it's historical, it has classical painting, and even a hilarious scene with a cuneiform phrase, as if I didn't enjoy this story enough already. There are so few Beelzebub fics out there and I find searching for them very difficult (I accept recs if anyone has any), and it's such a shame, so this was really like a gift to the fandom. I absolutely adore the way you portrayed them, small, frightening, powerful, and confident. Also, it was super fun to see how different Crowley seems when we're not in his POV or in a story about him and Aziraphale. (...)

Go Up to Ramoth-Gilead and Triumph △ 24K Daegaer is... pure class. (...) hdhdhdh what pfttt why you so funny (...) I love this Crowley. (...) This got unexpectedly intense. (...) I love the little nods to the fact that Israelites, especially the poorer ones, still believe in other gods. I also really like that they sleep on roofs. It's just the kind of detail that grounds the story and shows that the author is, in fact, a historian. 

#good omens #good omens fic rec #fanfiction #fic rec #idanit reads #i also have a multifannish F/F rec list in the works #all my bookmarks are private but i feel the need to share the love

[junicai]

Relationship with NCT 127

➣ Taeil ☾ taria 

taeil is the Sole Protector of aria’s sanity 

taeil loves his maknaes so much, but he literally looks at her like she put the stars in the sky 

the Proud Dad smile :’)

when aria first debuted, czennies thought that she was the same age as jungwoo - because she acted older than her age - but with taeil she lets her inner kid come out 

highkey dependent on his approval for things in relation to singing

“was, was that ok?” “perfect, ari.”  “ (O_O;)  - (◕‿◕)♡”

she will fight mark and donghyuck for his attention, and she will win

for a while, the two had shared a dorm room before they were rearranged, and taeil let her slip into his bed when she was feeling homesick 

the offer is still open, but aria takes him up on it less and less

taeil is NOT sad about that. absolutely not.

he’s vehemently against any and all diets she tries - saying that if she gets any smaller he’s going to be able to pick her up with one hand

que him dragging her out for ice-cream after a promotion, paying no mind to her protests

aria helps taeil with translating a lot of things into english during lives and interviews - so much to the point where he’s picked up a bit of an irish accent and the others never fail to clown him for it 

taeil still has the small braided bracelet that aria gave to the members on their first anniversary of nct (he keeps it in the drawer beside his bed)

aria is his self-professed happy virus. he told czennies in a vlive once that her smile makes him feel really happy and he wants to protect it to the best of his ability

aria always fixes his micpack before they go onstage if its crooked, because she comes out after him in the lineup

they have monthly movie nights and they alternate who chooses the movie / show (taeil normally goes for mystery or drama themed ones, while aria enjoys making them both sob miserably)

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

aria and taeil singing “I See the Light” from tangled for the NCT Music channel, and the tears that were shed by both moonis and realtai alike. sm really popped off with the staging and the lighting of the whole video - between the smiles that were on both of the singers faces and the whole ambiance created, its a cinematic masterpiece 

no one was surprised when it hit 2 million views in a day, and a lot of solo stans were born from that video

➣ Johnny ☾ johria

indisputable siblings 

there is not a single czennie who ships these two romantically, and that’s because they’re just too wholesome 

johnny is one of the few members that aria calls “oppa”, mainly because of the age gap and sm wanted her to appear respectful, but also because he thinks she looks so cute

very chill, excellent vibes

their vlives are either chaotic messes or the closest thing to therapy since ice cubes 

the blanket on aria’s bed? that was a gift from johnny - she had been complaining to mark about how cold she always was anemia tings

czennies are begging for sm to allow aria to open up a solo instagram account, becuse they see the amount of pictures johnny takes of her

in the park? he’s making her pose in front of the flowers. backstage before a show? the lighting, c’mon.

big big bear hugs - the height difference make nctzens want to die 

185cm vs 158cm? p l e a s e she’s so tiny in comparison  (/ =ω=)/

when she gives him backhugs it looks like a little kitten trying to wrestle with the family dog 

play fighting about vernacular:

“ITS CALLED A SIDEWALK” “S I D E W A L K, ITS A FOOTPATH YOU BUFFOON”

very vocal about her wellbeing, and has asked fans before to remind her to take better care of herself and get to sleep sooner

aria, starting a vlive at 3am: hi hi~

the comments: NO GO TO BED

johnny helped her a lot when it came to the style change in choreography, as aria was used to soft, flowing movements and not the powerful, sleek style that most nct dances have 

consistently forgets the fact that she is not the fourteen year old he first met, and is, in fact, an adult now. “you’re a child” “im 18″ “...no”

is the person to get angry on her behalf when interviewers belittle or ignore her 

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

during a fansign, a fan asked aria who did she think was the most comforting when she was stressed (besides mark and donghyuck) and aria said johnny. “he’s so, constant? like nothing seems to knock him or throw him off, and that’s really comforting when i feel unsteady.”

johnny is now known as aria’s weighted blanket. 

that is all. 

➣ Taeyong ☾ ariyong

taeyong took one look at aria the first time she showed up for group practice and immediately adopted her (not literally, but he would if he could)

eomma meets highly protective older brother meets life coach type beat? 

so so soft for her its sickening 

says he doesn’t have favourites and will then spend an hour cooking for aria because she’s been in the studio for the whole day and he knows she hasn’t eaten yet

when aria was given a duet to do for the sm stages, she had to pick another member to do it with and her first choice was taeyong

she always has said that taeyong is one of the pillars keeping her upright and sane - without him she wasn’t sure if she would have been able to complete her training

because of all the schedules they share together, if aria isn’t rooming with mark then she’s definitely rooming with taeyong

whenever she does his makeup (more often than you’d think) she point blank refuses to cover his scar, even when he asks her to 

“please? i don’t like it.” *gasp* “how dare you.” 

sleepy aria! snuggling into taeyong’s shoulder when a schedule ran late! 

he gets uncomfy when the stylists put her in too revealing clothes, and has spoken to them on numerous occasions about dressing her in age-appropriate attire, no matter how “sexy” the concept might be 

he keeps little bags of sugar-dusted strawberry sweets in his bag incase she forgets to eat and feels faint after the last time (they used to be blueberry flavoured, but he heard donghyuck throwing out any and all “blueberry-contaminated” food one evening)

taeyong doesn’t tolerate hate towards aria, especially in person, so he always makes sure to sit down the line from her so that he can see when people skip intentionally her

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

taeyong had just been awarded the solo bedroom on the last night of the Mtopia series, and was staring off into the corner looking rather uncomfortable. aria, who was meant to be rooming with baekhyun looked over and saw his mouth curled downwards slightly. 

“baekhyun-oppa, is it ok if i room with taeyongie-oppa tonight? i ran out of my tablets, and he has some in his bag..” 

baekhyun looked down at her with a small smile and agreed, while on the video edited captions appeared with the words, “a cute maknae, asking to room with a younger member...”

➣ Yuta ☾ nakamiya

the president of realtai 

this man is absolutely, completely and irrevocably whipped for aria and she is not afraid to use that to her advantage

she beat him at arm wrestling because she pouted at him - she’s too powerful 

aria.exe stopped responding when yuta started to playfully flirt with her the first few times

*winks* “hu-wha-”

one of the most outwardly protective members of her, because he feels a sense of responsibility for the younger girl

he was one of the trainees she first befriended, aria’s korean not being good enough to hold a decent conversation, and yuta happy that there was another japanese trainee 

9 times out of 10, when the members are making their way through crowded areas like airports yuta is always behind or directly beside aria

during a fansign one of the fans asked why he did that, and he said that he needed to keep her in his line of sight or else he’d get anxious that she’s so small that she could get swallowed in the crowds 

yes aria hit him for the short comment 

yuta, 50% of the time: you’re not allowed date until you’re 35

yuta, the other 50% of the time: bro where’s your boyfriend

he complains that she isn’t as sweet as she was when she first joined, and that hyuck must have corrupted her (╬ Ò﹏Ó)

he let’s her braid his hair when its longer, them both sitting on a bed with yuta in front and aria kneeling behind him so she can reach 

he was the first person to take her home for the holidays, because ireland was too far to go back for a week over christmas 

“what do you mean you’ve never been to japan???” 

bitching about the other members in japanese? more likely than you’d think 

when aria turned legal in korea, yuta took her out drinking and made sure to post pictures of her with her flushed cheeks on his instagram story with the caption “aish, i told you to pace yourself....” “happy birthday riri”

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

you know that one clip of the sasaeng getting absolutely trashed by nct’s bodyguard and taeyong jumping 7 feet into the air? 

well taeyong wasn’t the only one startled; standing beside yuta, aria was closest to the wall of fans when the girl ran forward towards the members. aria jumped in fright, while yuta barely made a face (#unbothered). he simply wrapped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her around to the other side, tucking her underneath his arm.

tsundere!yuta

➣ Doyoung ☾ dori

*ahem* WHIPPED *ahem*

doyoung adores aria so much 

was he unsure about a girl being added to a group of boys? yes but it was moreso concern about how he was going to make sure she wasn’t accidentally trampled

they bonded over a night in the recording studio when he found her sitting on the floor with music sheets scattered around her 

a whole mentor when it comes to singing 

aria always turns to him after singing - especially when it wasn’t planned, like at a fansign - to see if she did a good job

doyoung has yet to tell her that she hasn’t but sue her, she appreciates the validation

the original mother and Will Not Let Taeyong Forget It

doyoung, dragging aria out of the studio: now listen here young lady-

kitten and bunny friends RISE

no seriously sm released merch of a kitten and bunny plushie and it sold out in a day

when aria had the accident that led to her two month hiatus, doyoung was the one who rode in the ambulance with her after refusing to let go of her hand 

“i’m sorry sir, only family are allowed in at the moment-” “we are her family” *nurse looks around the room at the 14 other boys sitting anxiously*

he is a weak, weak man he will crumple on any decision if she smiles and slash or whines at him even slightly 

carries band-aids and support strapping in his practice bag because he knows that she gets really bad blisters when she hasn’t practiced while wearing her heels in a while, and he makes her wrap her ankles for the first few sessions incase she falls 

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENTS.

NCT 127 Take a Friendship Test (Glamour - 2020)

“ahh, my first impression?” *laughs* “actually, we first met in a recording studio, at like. 3 o’clock in the morning? he stuck his head in the doorway and i was so tired that i thought i had died and an angel had come to save me...”  (*μ_μ) 

➣ Jaehyun ☾ jaria

you know how cheetahs in the zoo get emotionally support puppies?

this is the same type of vibe

very snuggly together? but only in specific scenarios, like when jaehyun is too tired to move after a movie night, he’ll just kinda engulf aria in a hug and make her sleep on the couch with him 

any back hug she gives him turns into a piggy back, its non-negotiable 

likes to randomly compliment her to see how red he can make her face go

did she have a crush on him when she first moved to korea? yes, but who didn’t

that faded really quickly though once she started into the group officially - now they are more like siblings

they don’t interact that much on camera? rip to the jaria shippers

but that doesn’t mean they aren’t close with each other its just that a lot of their interactions happen off-screen

naturally, jaehyun began to think of her as a younger sister over the years they performed together 

jaehyun will end anybody who lays a hand on aria 

a little bap bap if you will 

he asked her to take him ice-skating one day, and the entire time was spent with aria laughing her ass off as he ate the ice nearly fourteen times before getting the hang of it 

he takes her out for food when he notices that she’s been put back on a strict diet plan (aria thinks she’s good at hiding those pieces of paper, but she forgets that when she puts it on top of things, that other people are a lot taller than her and have a higher vantage point)

the prince and princess of nct? check 

head pats

he likes to pat her head and she’ll swat it away immediately until she gets tired and just lets him do his thing 

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

jaehyun was wearing a flower crown placed carefully on his head as he bent down slightly to run his hands through the damp grass. a soft shutter sound went off, before he heard a hum coming from behind him. “jaehyun-ssi, could you take off the flowers? we can’t see your face clearly because of the shadow.”

jaehyun glanced backwards at aria’s retreating figure, being chased by donghyuck with hands still stained green from the grass she had shifted through to find the fallen flowers. she stopped and waved at him before resuming her run.

“i’d rather not, if that’s alright. i think it fits quite well with the theme.”

➣ Jungwoo ☾ ariwoo

oh my god someone please stop these two

once jungwoo taught aria about the power that aegyo holds for persuasion tactics against the older members of 127, they were unstoppable 

you should be afraid of them

100% have plotted someone’s murder before (and have succeeded, czennies always wondered where that last manager went after The Incident)

aggressively cute together - to the point where your teeth will rot 

jungwoo will intentionally flirt with aria just to fluster her because its “so easy to do”

not very physically affectionate, but jungwoo has no hesitation calling out “uri fighting haeyadwae!” to her when she looks like she needs a little encouragement 

jungwoo is the reason she wants to do a bachelors degree after finishing high school 

he used to help her with her maths assignments after school when she was struggling with managing her time 

they’re called the “aegyo duo” of the group, and there has yet to be an outright winner of the competitions to find the cutest member (its aria. jungwoo said it himself, its aria but we been knew)

they have an odd dynamic of looking like best friends the first second, evil masterminds the next and then siblings who want to murder each other but they make it work 

will and has flopped down on her while she was laying on the practice floor and then whined when she tried to get up 

he spilled the tea that aria gets super emotional and affectionate when she’s drunk 

cutest shit ever that made ariwoo shippers lose their absolute minds was the clip that got released in the behind the scenes filming of Kick It, where jungwoo was half asleep in the corner and aria just pops up out of nowhere to shove a folded jacket under his head and made sure to prop it in a way that he wouldn’t get a sore neck when he woke up

jungwoo is the reason she knows korean curse words (dont tell doyoung)

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

aria wobbled in her heels slightly as she stepped out of the van, trying to hold a blanket up to protect her legs while she slid off the seat onto the ground. jungwoo extended an arm around her waist, gripping the blanket in his other hand and carefully holding her to make sure she didn’t trip on the cobbled stone.

➣ Mark ☾ mari

1/2 of the best friend crew

honestly at the beginning, mark and aria weren’t very close, having only really seen each other in passing or with johnny 

but after being dropped into training together the two quickly became fast friends, and now they’re borderline inseparable 

you thought you knew pain? watch aria’s reaction to mark’s graduation from dream :)

mark’s the reason why aria felt confident enough to pitch some of her lyric ideas to the team, after staying up until 4am to help her make some edits so she was as confident as possible 

kinda just, rests his head on her shoulder? and wraps his arms around her waist when he’s tired 

mari being confused in foreigner: ??? 

aria said once in a vlive that she finds mark really comforting to be around - when she feels stressed or worried about something she’ll go to mark’s room and just sit on his bed for a while

aria is so close with his parents - “ahh, how’s my favourite child” “i’m doing great mom.” “no not you, how’s aria?” “wh-hu-MOM?” 

you’d swear sometimes mark is younger than her, considering the pout he puts on and how much he whines when they’re not on the same team together for promotions

mark big protecc boi but also little small cuddly boi 

they’re so soft for each other ( ╥ω╥ )

in one of the fancams for mark’s solo stage during superm, someone zoomed into aria singing along with him in the wings and dancing to herself with the Proudest Smile(tm)

he’s! so! proud! of! her! constantly! she could be walking and he’d be like “omg get it” 

when aria refuses to get up and make herself food (this happens way too often, she just gets into the groove of her work and doesn’t want to move) mark gets her to by threatening to do it himself 

consistently caught by czennies just standing behind her and holding her hand in crowded areas - airports, waiting rooms, etc. 

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

mark and aria were standing off to one side as the mc explained the rules of the game they were about to be playing. mark looked totally confused, and elbowed aria in her side before looking down and mouthing “what?” to her. aria opened her mouth, before closing it and looking down at the ground, muttering to herself, “결합... 結合..... le chéile.... le... le.. oh oh - combined! we have to put them together, markie.”

and thus, a new confusion meme was born

➣ Haechan ☾ arichan

the other half of the best friend crew

absolute heathens to be around when they are together 

donghyuck is the person aria is closest to, and someone she’d call her best friend (only when she was sure he wouldn’t hear her)

she calls him “the demon child i can’t get rid of” but will, and has definitely pouted when he ignored her for too long 

generally aria is a pretty soft spoken person, but not with hyuck around - he brings out all her chaos energy (please pray for the patience of dotae)

the pair have a little tradition of kissing the back of each others’ hands before going on stage for good luck. they can’t even remember how it started, but now its an unnegotiable pre-show ritual

he’s so clingy with her absolutely everywhere its painfully adorable  (ಥ﹏ಥ)

interviews? hyuck has a hand on her knee, or if she’s wearing a skirt he’s tucked his hand in between their chairs so she can hold it discreetly. in the dorms? full body tackle onto the couch, where he proceeds to lay on top of her completely. 

because of hyuck’s nickname being the sun, and aria always being around him, czennies gave her the nickname “moon” to go with him

fans thought that aria was older than hyuck for a good year and a half before she released her birthday on a vlive, because she’s normally the one tasked with reigning his chaotic energy in during promotions (that is, if she hasn’t already joined him)

but off-camera, aria is absolutely hyuck’s baby there is no disputing that. aria’s sad?he’s there with ice-cream and a blanket and a baseball bat.

the winnie the pooh character that is on aria’s bed was a gift from hyuck for her 17th birthday, after she made him watch seven episodes of the show on netflix with her one night 

yes he complained, but he slapped her hand away when she went to change it to something else 

a twitter thread of a czennie comparing their horoscopes together went viral when people realized that it was quite plausible that the pair were each others (platonic) soulmates 

after an incident involving blueberries, donghyuck took it upon himself to check the ingredients of every. single. food item in their dorm to make sure it was ok for her to eat 

hyuck clowns her for her irish accent, and aria curses him out in japanese

tldr: they cute or whatever 

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT. 

donghyuck was doing a vlive in his bedroom, sitting and talking to czennies when aria opened the door to his room quietly. she didn’t say anything, just waved slightly with almost closed eyes before she crawled underneath his covers and tucked her plushie underneath her chin. hyuck didn’t even blink at it - so it must have been a regular occurrence.

#*aria.relationships #nct #nct additional member #nct 22nd member #nct dream 8th member #nct 24th member #nct 2020 #nct 2018 #wayv #nct 127 #nct dream #nct imagines #kpop!oc #kpop addition #kpop additions #nct female member #nct female oc #nct extra member #nct female member au #taeyong #taeil #johnny #yuta #kun #doyoung #jaehyun #winwin #jungwoo #ten #lucas

[nanowrimo]

Why Genre Isn’t Just About Content

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. AutoCrit, a 2020 NaNoWriMo sponsor, helps you celebrate your commitment to your novel with excellent editing resources. Today, they’re here to share some insight about how the your novel’s genre can shape your word choice as well as your story:  

Anybody could be forgiven for believing that genre is defined by content. A fantasy story is fantasy because it deals with magic, myth, and worlds different from our own. Horror is horror because it seeks to scare us with monsters, ghosts, and the dark side of humanity. Romance is romance because it centers on relationships and the “will they, won’t they” romantic narrative. But content isn’t the only thing that delivers a true genre experience on the written page – as an author, the success of your story is also deeply rooted in the language you use.

Just like cinema has its own visual language that subtly (or not so subtly) clues us in on the kind of movie we’re watching, genre literature also takes advantage of linguistic seeds to create the kind of reading experience fans enjoy.

But how is it done? Let’s dive in and see!

The Power of Words

First to the front-line in backing up your content delivery are what we call Power Words. Well known in marketing circles, these words have an automatic impact on the human mind. This could be down to onomatopoeia, the forceful or strange nature of a word’s pronunciation, or simply the natural imagery a word conjures.

Words such as intense, obliterate, breathtaking, and slyly would all fall under the banner of Power Words.

In fiction, power words are a useful way of condensing concepts and feelings into a single word that elicits a strong emotional response. After all, the more concise and clear your writing is, the better it is for your readers. And as the number of these words increases throughout your novel, the emotional landscape of your book begins to take shape – like some long-forgotten island emerging from a blanket of fog – forming the basis of how your reader feels as they move through your story.

At AutoCrit, we regularly research and inspect the emotional foundations of all kinds of novels. See if you can guess what kind of stories these are:

The above is, of course, a horror novel. A heavy blanket of words rooted in fear takes prime position here.

Here’s another:

You can probably guess that this particular novel is a romantic drama, with a heavy dose of lust-based language backed up by encouragement (a staple of any involving dramatic arc) and, of course, fear – reflecting the fear of loss, or missing a chance, that so many romantic narratives rely on.

And a final example:

At the forefront here is an almost equal combination of the forbidden, encouragement, and fear – backed up by a large sprinkle of lust and greed. This is, of course, a mystery thriller – Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, to be exact!

Looking at these charts, it’s almost too easy to place the kind of novel to which you’d expect them to belong, and that’s reflective of the importance of proper power word management. The content could be the same, but a horror novel simply wouldn’t feel like a horror novel if the language were primarily rooted in a safe or encouraging emotional space. Would it?

But hold on just a moment, because we’re about to go deeper...

The Power of Words

The truth is that even the most innocuous words are essential building blocks of storytelling, and therefore deserve the same level of scrutiny in your finished work.

The word dragon, for example, is unusual enough that you could instantly know it is more likely to appear throughout a fantasy novel than it would in, say, a modern day spy thriller. The same could be said for the power word kill – much more likely to show up in horror than romance. That’s an easy one.

But what about a word as simple as just? 

Usually viewed as a filler word that can easily be deleted during editing, something as simple as just can actually be used to great effect in different genres – that is to say it does have a place.

Take a look at these examples, where we’ve compared our use of the word just in a horror novel to what we would expect, through extensive research, to see in books of other genres.

First up, fantasy:

Compared to the content of an average best-selling fantasy novel, AutoCrit recommends we remove 18 instances of our use of the word just. 

The fantasy genre is one that relies most on its world-building and the visceral experience of the narrative, so we’re less likely to see simple, common words being used to subtle effect. That’s not to say such a thing doesn’t exist within fantasy, but it is more likely to happen in romance, which we see here:

In romance, our use of just appears to be completely within expectations. There is a good reason for this: Romance often deals with human emotion and relationships, sporting increased amounts of dialogue. Naturally, people will use filler as they speak, so words like just are going to be more common here.

But since we’re writing a horror story, what about comparing our manuscript to best-selling horror?

Far fewer than the 18 removals recommended under fantasy, in horror it’s recommended we remove only 3. This is, again, reflective of the difference in base language between the genres – horror can very effectively use the word just to demean characters or increase horrific effect by seemingly playing down the shocking nature of occurrences.

Your story’s content often helps to dictate the language used – but, as you can see, it’s always worth revisiting your use of language while you refine the experience for readers throughout your second draft and beyond. Being aware of the overall context as you edit is a power to be envied by any word wizard. The right content, delivered with the right words to the right audience. Now there’s a recipe for NaNo success.

Here at AutoCrit, we’re looking forward to helping you achieve just that throughout the remainder of 2020 and beyond. Visit our NaNoWriMo 2020 offer page to enjoy 60% off an annual AutoCrit subscription. 

NaNoWriMo winners also enjoy free entry into the January editing of our Book Editing Breakthrough Challenge, where we’ll guide you day by day through the how and why of the most impactful edits you can make in your manuscript. 

Happy writing!

Top photo by Shelby Miller on Unsplash

#nanowrimo #writing #amwriting #writing advice #genre #by nano sponsor #autocrit

[worstjourney]

Interpretation and Criticism

Well, polar history was already full of drama when I got into it, and I’ve since lost a friend over my calling Scott ‘complicated,’ so as far as preparation for criticism goes, I am at least aware that it’s going to be inevitable.

I do find it oddly sweet of you, though, to think I would undertake to pour years of my life into a graphic novel series without researching the heck out of my favourite subject.  I moved to Cambridge for the sole purpose of being closer to the archives.  It was only a pressing fear of mortality that got me to stop  researching and actually buckle down to making the book.

As my own project is yet to hit the public, I haven’t got nearly the onslaught of criticism that I probably will, but the little that has come my way more often shows up how little reading the critic has done themselves.  So, as to your examples... 

Cherry’s description of Scott in Worst Journey was, in fact, considered so unflattering by Kathleen that it effectively ended their friendship, and she commissioned Stephen Gwynn to write a hagiography to counter it.  (This has turned out to be a very valuable document in that it reproduces a large amount of correspondence which, ironically, gives a less varnished view of both Scott and Kathleen than she probably intended, though Gwynn’s narration is almost comically obsequious.)  In our era of celebrity exposés and commodified scandal, the subversiveness of Cherry’s account is not as apparent as it would have been in a culture which still deified its heroes.  Compared to latter-day character assassinations, it’s quite mild ... but he paints a picture of an anxious, irritable, sensitive man who holds his contradictions and weaknesses in check, and achieves what he does, thanks to straining hoops of self-control: hardly a portrait of an Edwardian demigod.  Kathleen didn’t want it to see print.  Cherry put his truth above their friendship and pushed it through anyway.  (See Sara Wheeler’s excellent biography Cherry for more on this, and Francis Spufford’s foreword to the Folio Society edition of Worst Journey for the contemporary cultural context.)

As for Birdie, I had heard so much about his racism and misogyny that I approached his archive with some trepidation: how much respect for him was I going to lose?  But to my great surprise, I found far more to contradict this reputation than to confirm it.  The ‘hella racist’ appraisal seems to come from one line in a letter he wrote home to his sisters from Burma which, taken out of context, is, yes, hella racist.  But the larger context of the letter is not: He met a fellow British officer who had married a Burmese lady, and their young daughter was the brightest, prettiest, charmingest little girl one could hope to meet.  Birdie laments that, despite all these advantages, she would never be given a fair chance if she went back to England, simply because of her mixed heritage.  So his gratitude that their father had married an English missionary in Burma rather than one of the locals – the line always trotted out to show what a shrieking racist Birdie was – is couched in the observation of his and his sisters’ white privilege a fundamentally racist Empire.

As for his misogyny, I haven’t seen any of that, either.  His father died when Birdie was quite young, so he was raised by a very strong-willed and independent single mother, with two capable and intelligent older sisters, and he was devoted to all three.  He never talks down to them or assumes them incapable of handling the adventures he writes home about; in fact his letters are littered with expressions of respect for their ability to understand and engage with both his exploits and his abstractions.  As for other women, he seemed to prefer them to have a brain and be up for a lark – he seems especially fond of Australian and New Zealand ladies, who were comparatively liberated by Edwardian standards.

He does, however, come down pretty hard on Kathleen.  He resents her over-familiarity, and he accuses her of being a ‘schemer’ – which, if you read the Gwynn, you can see in her for yourself. Probable fuel for his dislike of Kathleen is left out of his own letters but recorded by Ponting in The Great White South: when the Terra Nova arrived in Lyttelton, Kathleen took over the job of unloading, cataloguing, and reloading the stores.  That was Birdie’s job, and he was very good at it – so good that Scott had just invited him to join the landing party, when he was previously engaged to stay with the ship – so being booted off it, at this critical moment, was mud in his eye.  There was very specific, personal baggage with Kathleen, but his lines about her have been presented as evidence that he hated women generally.  He had no problem with women, he just didn’t like Kathleen! (And he wasn’t the only one!)

Now, this isn’t to say there wasn’t racism and misogyny amongst members of the expedition – though being all white men in a mostly uninhabited continent, this rarely has any bearing on the story – and of course everyone has their faults and failings.  That’s what makes them interesting!  What first attracted me to this story was the people, and what’s kept me passionate about it is the people.  I want my readers to get to know them as people, with all their highlights and shadows, and a great deal of my research has been in making sure I have as comprehensive a picture of them as I can, in order to present them on their own terms and leave judgment up to the reader.  There has been more than enough authorial judgment cast on these guys over the years, and I have no interest in throwing my hat into that ring.  I find complicated people far more engaging and endearing than cardboard cutouts, and I hope that I can present them as such.  Of course everyone is going to have their own interpretation of the facts – that is unavoidable on account of the subjective nature of humanity – but I am trying to step out of the frame as much as I can, and let them speak for themselves.

#historiography #terra nova expedition #scott expedition #birdie bowers #kathleen scott #research #racism #empire #white privilege #apsley cherry-garrard #robert falcon scott

[pizzaapplecheese]

Donald and Daisy’s relationship in tlottc

this is my opinions on what is going on and their relationship and there will defiantly be spoilers and maybe a bit of bias, anyways on to my review

we first see Daisy and Donald’s relationship in the first episode, we are introduced to Daisy when she called Donald on the phone, she says that she can't wait for their date and that she wants him to hurry because she was waiting for him in a place she felt unsafe in, Donald says he will, but then he got a phone call from his boss asking him why he was late, Donald was confused by that because he thought he has a day off on his birthday (which funny enough was Friday 13 XD) anyways his boss said if he doesn’t come as soon as possible he would have to fire Donald, Donald rushed into his job and was on his last costumer, a kid who refused to get his haircut which got Donald angry and he tried to cut the boy’s hair so hard that he accident shaved it and he got fired, just like his house since he forgot to remove the kettle on the stove, remember Daisy? Donald forgot to tell her that he suddenly busy that day so she thought he stood her up and dumped him, which is understandable.

the first episode was to show how bad Donald’s life is by showing a bunch of misunderstandings, bad-luck, and having zero proper communication, the first episode have him lose his job, girlfriend, and house all in one day which ironically was his birthday, even though her breaking up with Donald was justified we were presented with Donald having so many problems going around in the span of half a day that I felt a little bit annoyed with Daisy suddenly calling him and calling him selfish.

the next time we see daisy was in episode 5 (which I assume was at least a month and a half in their universe), she visits Donald in his new house when April, May, and June told her the Donald was doing better according to Daisy. Donald says that they should go eat in a restaurant so she can meet the “new Donald” Donald recommended the greasy pan, the rust skillet, and the burnt onion (which Panchito says he finds delicious) all of which she was disgusted in, until her nieces says that he was messing around an was actually going to take her to Shake Quackmore (which is a very rich restaurant) and her response was “oh that is so 2.0″ when Donald heard that she liked the idea he stopped panicking on how expensive that is and instead went along just to make her happy, on the date they talked about what Donald was doing after they left, Xandra says he was not allowed to tell her about the three caballeros or else she would be in danger, so he lies to her on what he was doing, she then talks about the reason she dumped Donald which was she said “one of the reasons we broke up is that i could never count on you, you are always leaving me stranded” anyways back with the others, they were in serious trouble with the lava queen thing and they needed Donald to help them so Xandra took Donald and pretty much yelled “DONALD, Panchito and Jose are in trouble” and donald being a good friend that he is tells her that he needs to go because his friends needed him which for some reason she was angry at, when Xandra and Donald left Xandra tells him to not worry and that she was sure that daisy would understand with Donald replying “you don’t know Daisy” after Donald helped his friends he ran back to the restaurant and asked Daisy to forgive him, but Daisy left. Her nieces gave Donald a letter Daisy wrote to him that says “Donald, you are just as angry, undependable, and selfish as you always were. Don’t ever call, email, text, write, video conference, speak time or smoke signal me ever again, however the service her was excellent, 4 stars”.

okay, so the first half was okay, like she was just visiting Donald and seeing how he was doing, which I think was okay. I find it a little strange she was disgusted by Donald’s choice of restaurants until her niece stepped in and recommended a very expensive restaurant but I brushed it off, after that when she talks about the reason she broke up with Donald, if you forgot then this is what she said “one of the reasons we broke up is that i could never count on you, you are always leaving me stranded” which although i know their relationship is based on misunderstandings and confusion i must say if anyone is making you feel like you cant count on them and is always leaving you stranded then leave them you dont need them, relationships are built on trust and if you can’t count on someone on anything then there is no reason to be in a relationship with them, anyways back on topic Donald left because his friends are in trouble which you would expect your partner to understand, but nope Daisy straight up wrote him a letter telling him that he is still angry (which not once have he was ever shown to be angry when she was around) undependable, and selfish which i find strange that he was considered selfish when she and Donald was told by Xandra straight to their faces that Panchto and Jose were in trouble, l am just confused by that, also the fact the Donald knew she was going to react like that kinda urks me if you know what i mean.

In the next episode Donald was upset that Daisy broke up with him again so he pretty much was bitter for the whole episode and easily snapped at his friends like when Panchito ask/sang if anyone got a book and braille Donald yelled “oh shut up” or when Panchito said that Donald was unemployed homeless and single before he met Xandra Donald shoved Panchito’s face on his food, it wasn’t even a light or joking way either, he just shoved his face on it.

honestly, as much as I love Donald he was pretty much an ass, I mean I understand he was upset because he broke up with his girlfriend again but he should seriously calm down.

in episode 7 we see Daisy again and this time she is introducing Donald to her new boyfriend Dapper Duck and when he asks what she was doing (didn’t she just said 2 episodes ago to not communicate with her ever again????) she said this to Donald “well, I was in the neighbourhood for the gala and I thought I should stop by and introduce you to my date new date dapper duck” “we meet after you abandon me at Shake Quackmore” Donald ran off after that because there was a bear he needed to catch for the plot, we see Daisy again when she talks to Dapper about how Donald was acting when she introduced him saying “he usually isn’t that weird” (cue Donald being weird XD).

I honestly see no point in Daisy visiting Donald show her ex her new boyfriend what-so-ever like you broke up with him and the creator made it clear as day that these 2 were not on speaking terms, I see no reason for her to act this way other than being an ass.

in episode 8 we got to see Donald’s magnificent portrait of dapper that I jus-

back on topic episode 9 Daisy calls Donald and tells him that this was his “last chance” and to “not stood me up”, Donald was so excited but there was another mission so the nieces made a plane in which they pretend to be Donald’s body while Donald uses the phone mirror which surprisingly works for some time even if the date felt awkward, but at least we got this funny scene where Jose thought Donald was talking to him when he told Daisy her outfit looks cute on her, back with Daisy who is slow dancing with ‘Donald’ but ultimately the mirror fell off and Daisy gets mad at Donald and says these “Donald Duck what is going on here?!” “what kind of sick joke is this, using my nieces for one of your weird schemes” and when Donald tried to explain she broke the mirror phone and says “Then explain this!” which leads into Donald's temper tantrums that get him Panchito and Jose disqualified.

there is nothing much to say other than the date was awkward and Daisy does not allow explanations (like teachers when you are late to class) and breaks property, like do you know how expensive that could have been?????

in episode 12 Xandra wants Donald to be on 100% focus so she took Donald and Daisy to seek therapy and couple counselling in the Himalayas called the Shang li la, these 2 gets pampered, although Donald was a bit aggressive and shove one of the employees because he they gave him water when he didn’t ask for it? anyways the Shang li la resorts pointed out Donald's anger issues and placed him n a room to face it and he gets beat up by an angry birds egg surprise version of himself that represents his anger issues and realizes all of his problems were caused by his anger, they leave the resort and when they fly out the bathtub that the pet bear was taking a shower from we get the most Hollywood drama-action movie scene ever.

I like how they take couple counselling but these twos relationship made me feel as if it wasn’t really the ‘fix’ they needed, but the whole “where are you going???” “to my destiny” scene made up for that for how over the top it was

we finally see her again in the last episode we see daisy helping the nieces with papers and made a joke about how much she is into puzzles and when Shellgoose loses his presidency they gave them a letter that says that Donald owns the institute, as they walk in the house Daisy and Donald have this conversation in which she says that they would need to work on Donald's wardrobe (and you could kinda see them arguing in the background)

there was nothing really important for me to point tbh

conclusion: I see their relationship as pretty annoying in all honesty, maybe if we saw more on Daisy’s side/point of view or have her not break up with Donald 3 times in 13 episodes then it might have fixed some things, their relationship in this show was a wasted opportunity and they could have done better things with it, I felt confused on why Donald was in love with her and why she keeps popping up for no reason like she doesn’t even check up on how her nieces were doing anytime in this show

Edit: I would like to hear other people's opinions

#Donald duck #Donald #The legends of the three caballeros #The legend of the three caballeros #panchito pistoles #panchito romero miguel junipero francisco quintero gonzalez #Panchito Quintero González #josé carioca #Daisy #daisy duck #Panchito #José #donsy

[path-of-my-childhood]

Lana Wilson Wants to Make Another T.Swift Documentary in 50 Years

By: Paige Skinner for Teen Vogue Date: February 11th 2020

Lana Wilson, the director of the film, tells us what it was like to capture the 30-year-old superstar throughout all aspects of her life.

What interesting scenes didn’t make it into the film? The main thing was really more time in the studio, more songwriting stuff. It was so hard to whittle that stuff down because I loved it so much, and I think it’s so rare that you get to see one of the greatest songwriters of all time actually having ideas and developing those ideas into songs from start to finish. I love watching it because I think you get to know Taylor so well through seeing that process how she channels her life into her songs. We could have had a whole hour with just songwriting stuff and ultimately had to chop it down. No one had ever filmed her in the studio before, which made it extra special.

How did you approach the Kim Kardashian and Kanye West drama? These were a couple of key moments in Taylor’s life, but I was less interested in Kanye West and making any evaluative judgements about it than I was on how it affected Taylor, as someone who cared about what people thought. For instance, when she went to the Video Music Awards in 2009, that night started out like a fairy-tale and then it ended with her standing alone on stage with an entire theater of people’s boos. And I remember when she told me about that aspect of the story, it was something that I hadn’t heard before. Hearing that helped me understand why that event had such a big impact on her. It’s not about Kanye. It’s about how if you’re a 19-year-old performing artist who loves applause, a room full of booing people can be a really devastating experience.

How did you go about shooting the big political scene? What was the atmosphere in the room like? Taylor and I had been talking a bunch about the political stuff and how she was thinking about doing that. And I had told her, "If something comes up, even if it’s really last minute and for whatever reason I’m not in the room, please try to film it with a cellphone or get someone on your team or anyone to pick up any camera that they have." So that scene was actually filmed by someone on her team who was there because I wasn’t there at that moment. They filmed it and I got the footage immediately afterward and I can tell you when I saw the footage, I immediately thought this is going to be the most powerful scene in the movie. I thought that not just because of the politics - although that’s a part of it - but I think because it’s a scene where this woman is really coming into her own. I think we all have those moments in our lives where we disagree with the people who love us the most in the world. And you say, ‘I hear you, your point makes sense, but I don’t totally agree and I’m going to have to do it my own way this time.’ I related to it really powerfully as this incredible coming-of-age moment. That’s how I saw it in that scene.

You didn’t interview anybody besides Taylor. Was that a conscious decision? Absolutely. We thought a lot about point-of-view in the editing room. We experimented with different edits and overall, I really wanted this film to feel like [an] exploration of Taylor’s inner life and ended up using her voice and personal experiences and that’s what got the audience closest to her.

What did you learn about Taylor’s space in pop culture? God, so many things. I think one is that there’s no songwriter like her on earth. Another, I love watching a female artist at the top of her game be able to have ideas and then they just materialize - like that scene in the film where she describes the music video idea and we cut to what the video ends up being. I love just watching her creativity in action on all fronts, which I think is really special. But then on a bigger level, I think just because Taylor is a celebrity doesn’t mean she doesn’t deal with so many of the same hurts and feelings that we all go through. We’re all going through the world trying to feel confident in ourselves, and I think watching what Taylor has gone through in the last few years can be really inspiring for anyone who feels like their problems are bigger than that. She went through some hard times and then she stood up and became the person she wanted to be, and so I think it’s really special for young people to be able to see they can do that for themselves even if it’s on a much smaller scale than her celebrity.

What was it like talking to her about the sexual assault? Was that something she wanted to talk about or was it something you had to dig out of her? I remember when I did the first interview with her, to make it as comfortable as possible, we did an audio-only interview, which is something I do with subjects sometimes because you can relax in a different way when you’re not being filmed. So when I did that interview, it was just her and me with a recorder in a room and the sexual assault trial was something she hadn’t talked that much about. But once we started talking, it felt like so much stuff came out - maybe because she hadn’t done an interview in three years, it was so much she wanted to say. What I thought was so powerful about how she described the sexual assault trial was it was this experience that fundamentally changed her as a person and that was an experience that gave her perspective because she went in with seven witnesses, a photo, the best lawyers that money could buy. We did a Q&A after the Sundance premiere, and she said, "I had all the privilege in the world," and she won the trial, but it was still a totally dehumanizing and humiliating experience. I think after going through that process, she thought, "You know, what if someone didn’t have all these advantages that I had?" The scene ends with her saying, "What if you get raped and it’s your word against his?" And I think that’s why that experience changed her. It opened her up to how much worse things could have been, which is hard to imagine because it was already such a horrible thing to go through.

Did Taylor get final say on the editing of the documentary? The process was really set when we first met. We had talked about documentary film-making in general and storytelling and basically I started filming almost immediately and I filmed and filmed and filmed and then I went off and made a rough cut completely on my own and basically, Taylor gave feedback on a few cuts. I had a huge amount of creative freedom and I shaped the whole story with this amazing team of editors that I worked with and a producer and I would say that Taylor’s feedback was really excellent. She’s a great storyteller, so she has good ideas. There was never a moment when she said, ‘No, I don’t want to go there.’ That never happened. The only things we stayed away from were anything that could compromise her security. That was important, of course, and then her relationship. It was really important to her understandably to keep her relationship private, but we also wanted a way to indicate the significance in her life in the film and I think we found a way to do that, where you get a sense or what a big and positive role her relationship plays in her life but without ever seeing her boyfriend’s face.

Would you ever make another Taylor documentary in 10, 15 years? Absolutely, I think that would be amazing. I think it would be even cooler to make a documentary of her like 50 years from now. I really would love to see Taylor at age 80 playing stadium shows. I would just love to know what songs she’s writing then. That would be awesome.

#Lana Wilson #interview #about taylor #taylor swift #teen vogue #Taylor Swift: Miss Americana

[12raben]

Uninstalling Inteen & Nerfing ACR

Edit 07/10/21: I’ve seen, that this post has been liked and reblogged a lot. (Thanks for that!) But I just want to point out, that I changed some parts of my “romance mod system”. The current one can be found here. The information here is still valid, just wanted to clear up, what is up to date. :)

Ok, while some of you might be interested, others might not. For all of you, who are not interested: Here, have a nice picture of the Cullroth’s home and the Sunflower Inn from neighborhood view:

For the ones, who want to know, how I set up the new mods, and are not afraid of a good ol’ wall of text you may continue here:

So, one of the main-reasons, why I wanted to uninstall Inteen, is the fact, that it conflicts with everything, everybody and their cat. I read a post by simgigglegirl, where she explained, how she edited ACR to work with Romantic Standards (a mod I wanted to use for ages), so that was a motivation as well. And forgive me, but I’m getting the creeps, when an elder is heart-farting over a teen, who just aged up (so in my mindset is barely 12 years old). I wanted to get rid of that “feature” as well. ACR is hilarious at times, because sims are horny af, but I wanted the sims of twinhills to be somewhat modest. Drama: Yes. Unneccessary, stupid drama: Meh, sometimes, but -please- not all of the time. Raising the needed STR/LTR for romantic interactions was my solution, so far, but it did not always work. The love-triangle between Moira, Madleine and Hesel is somewhat disturbing. Midgethetree uploaded a mod to add a chance for death by childbirth. And how in the name of someone holy can you play a historical game without that mod? It’s also incompatible with Inteen.

Don’t get me wrong. Inteen and ACR are a great set and I used it for many years and I am very grateful, that people put their time and effort into the mods, so people, who are hopeless, when it comes to mods like myself, can enjoy the new features. And it’s all FREE. Simbology’s Inteen and ACR are still enjoyable and if used carefully do not blow up your game. They enhance your experience and will add many handy features.

Still, I wanted to get rid of Inteen, and so I did. I tried to make my progress as clear as possible, but I don’t know, if I succeeded. At the end of the post will be a list of all mods with links.

First, I made a list of the features, that Inteen had provided so far and I need for my gameplay, which was honestly more time consuming, than I thought. I dug through forum entries and mod desriptions just to see, what's even possible and/or compatible. At the end of the day I came to the conclusion, that I need:

teens, who are handled as adults, so they can get married, give birth, take over responsibilities etc. sooner

Chance for miscarriage, which is sad, but a feature, I don't want to miss

Romantic relationships only between adults/elders and teens, who are old enough

autonomy in romantic relationships, but not as strong as ACR, mainly for reproduction

And that was it. I thought, Inteen is such a big thing, surely there is more of it, that I need.... No. XD

So, after getting an idea on how to make the new set-up working (more on that later), I read instructions on how to uninstall inteen. Surely the uninstall-instructions of Inteen are there, but there are a few tips, I found here (post #15). This is, what I gathered; Quick and dirty:

Make a backup. I feel, there is always the need to say that.

Terminate any teen-pregnancy in your game (luckily no need for that in Twinhills)

Delete the Inteen-files in your program files and in your downloads folder EXCEPT Inteenimater_C. It contains the miscarriage memory. Deleting it will cause corruption, when a sim already had a miscarriage. If you don’t want to keep the memory file, you’ll have to delete the memory and all of it’s traces with Simpe and I have no clue on how to do that.

Gather and Install new Mods :D

There is a whole ton of things, I feel like, I have to explain, so you’ll understand, why I made specific changes. Alright. Let’s follow my own list of features, I needed and how I incorporated them with the new mods:

Teens, who are handled as adults & Romantic Relationships between Adults/elders and teens, who aren’t too young That was easy and hard at the same time. I use Midgethetree’s Independent Teens. Teens become for all purposes adults, but they’ll still look like teens. Perfect. Excactly, what I wanted. The only problem with that: The span of independent teens only lasts 7 days in the original setup. I use Almighty Hat’s Aging mod, so my sims spend 24 days as teens. (In Almighty Hat’s calculation one year equals 4 days. Which make the lifespan of teens 6 years, from 14 years old till 20 years old) So, 7 days is really not long enough in my setup. Luckily Midgthetree included Bcons to edit the mod to my liking. My sims will spend 8 days as young, innocent teens, who do not woohoo and if they have romatic relationships, they’ll only have them with other teens their age. The rest of their teen years (16 days), they’ll spent as independent teens, who are for all intents and purposes adults. This also gets rid of the fact, that elders/adults hit on teens, who are way to young. Any sim, who wants a college education, will spent 8 day as a teen, 8 days as an independent teen and 8 days as a young adult, because I use Dave Luv’s Faster College Education Mod, which is very much compatible with Squinge’s Mega College Pack. Only problem, mortia mentioned, when I discussed diffrent alternatives to Inteen with her, is the fact, that independent teens do not go to school. I don’t have a school in Twinhills so far, so that is not a big deal. I think, when the time arrives and I do have a school and a college in Twinhills, I will eighter have independent teens employed in their future career or will make a student career, where they can earn skill points with chance cards. I also use Cyjon’s Edukashun Iz Gud, so the independent teen’s maximum level for any career is level 5, even if they had a A+ grade in high school. The third option (which is my favourite) is to have an actual college/school lot for independent teens, who aspire to have a college degree. The best I can think of right now, is eighter to have a few apartments, where sims rent only a room and can study in the common area or to have them live at home and set up a community lot as a school. Uuh, the community lot could be owned by a sim, who is also enrolled in the education career and his employees are professors. (Who I could add as another pool of marriageable sims... yeah, I really like that idea...) Maybe an idea for the set up of guilds? I have no idea on how to include them in my game so far, so maybe that would be a good start. Maybe it will be a mix of all of the above depending on the sim’s social status? But I digress... Sorry.

Chance for miscarriage That one was easier, than I thought. I installed Chris Hatch’s Alternate Pregnancy Controller. Yes, it also enables teens to become pregnant, even if they are not independent teens. But I myself will have to make my sims reproduce, if the parents are teens. And if I don’t, they won’t. I have full control over teen pregnancies except for teens, who run away or teens, who sneak out. Midgethetree extracted Risky sneak out and Risky Runaway, which matches my taste perfectly. Teens, who rebel and do not follow the rules, aka run away from home/sneak out without their parents permission, are more likely to have a child out of wedlock. *evil cackle* Excellent.

Autonomous reproduction Frankly, when you read through simler90′s complete mod description for romantic standards, it’s so engaging and interesting, I wonder, why this mod doesn’t have more likes. (145 updates?! Come on, even if you don’t like the mod, that is impressive.) I encourage you to read the whole description, because honestly: It made me really excited! The progression of romances in the game are much slower and sims need a little time to warm up before they’ll consider to woohoo. They’ll value their existing relationships and depending on the version you get, it can be based on chemistry. You can add or remove autonomy add ons or get rid of them. It’s highly adjustable. I like this setup much, much more than ACR’s “I just met you and this is crazy, but there’s a hottub, so woohoo maybe?” (Simler90 has also a mod to overhaul the attraction system, you should check out.) Still, I can’t deny the allure of surprise pregnancy, that comes with ACR. Luckily as mentioned above simgigglegirl had the idea to use romantic standards and ACR side by side. She also uploaded the updated ACR-controller, which I think, is really kind. The problem, I ran into, was again the age span. ACR only considers the ingame age, so pretty much all adults in my game are too old to get pregnant this way. But glorious as she is, Almighty Hat included an edited version of the ACR controller to work with her age mod. Simgigglegirl asked Midgthetree for help and I follwed the instructions to edit Almighty Hat’s version of ACR. And lo and behold! It worked out for me! ACR is not uninstalled from my game, but the only option available for sims is reproduction. So, deprived romance sims can still woohoo all the way with strangers like before and knock up/be knocked up, but every other romantic encounter will take time and effort for them. Also, jealousy is handled so much better by romantic standards. The sim will always take into consideration, how serious the relationship has been before they explode and slap the cheater.

Phew. That took some time. As promised here is a list of the mods I use for the intermingling of sims (and the ones I mentioned, but not linked above).

ACR, with an edit by simgigglegirl (follow midgthetree’s instructions on how to edit ACR yourself, if you use a diffrent version of ACR)

Romantic Standards by Simler90 (+all add ons)

New Turn Ons - Young Adult + Education + Aliens + Influential + Travel + Great Dancer + Pet Lover + Great Fighter + Eye Colours + Rich + Poor by SImler90 (You can pick and choose, which version you like the most.)

Age Transition Teens keep loves from Simblogy

Chrishatch Alternate Pregnancy Controller

Independent Teens by Midgethetree

Risky Honeymoon, Runaway, Sneak Out by Midgthetree

Death by Childbirth by MidgetheTree (slightly altered the Bcon, so sims who are younger are also affected, but the chance is significantly lowered, so sims, who give birth in later stages won’t die no matter what)

PregRel by Chris Hatch - look for “pregnancy relationship change“ Original Instuctions: “ For when a sim's pregnancy first shows and those around her realize she's pregnant. If she is a teen living at home (with at least one biological parent) her parents will become furious with her and lose a lot of LTR and STR toward her. Just how furious and how much of a relationship drop depends on her school grades. Parents of A+ students will get a lot more upset than those whose daughter wasn't doing so well at school. If she's married, engaged or going steady and the baby is not from her spouse, fiancé or boyfriend and he figures that out then he will also get mad at her and lose a lot of LTR and STR. If they've never had a woohoo he'll know the baby can't be his, otherwise he needs a logic skill of 300 (out of 1000 or 3 bars) or more to realize. If he has a logic skill of 750 or more he'll also figure out who the real father is and get mad with him as well. There is also a small LTR and STR increase from the baby's father to the mother when he realizes that she's carrying his child. That is unconditional and applies regardless of if they are married or he was just a fling.” If only it would affect reputation as well *sigh*)

NoBiGenderPreferenceDecrease by DeeDee

ACR Asexual Plugin by Midgethetree (For nuns and monks, who should not woohoo)

It's the Proportion -Gestation-Based Age Duration Mod by Almighty Hat

Edukashun Iz Gud by Cyjon

Faster College Education by Dave Luv

Mega College Pack by Squinge

And that’s it. I hope you’ll find this information useful! Please consider install instructions and load order.

Happy simming! :D

#sims #sims 2 #ts2 #sims 2 mod set up #sims 2 mods #midgethetree #deedee #finds #simler90 #mods

[fearsmagazine]

THE UNTHINKABLE - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: Magnet

SYNOPSIS:  On the celebration of Midsummer in Sweden a state of emergency is called for as TV, internet, and telephone networks go down. Before anyone realizes what’s behind the collapse, a series of unexplained attacks take place around the country. Alex is a successful pianist whose controlled life is upturned when his mother dies in a suspected terror attack. He returns to his childhood village to help his uncle arrange the funeral. There, he is forced to reconcile with both his father and former girlfriend, Anna, who he has desperately been trying to forget. As old feelings come back to the surface, more mysterious attacks plunge Sweden into chaos and confusion.

REVIEW: The creative team of Crazy Pictures is a Swedish production and collective of filmmakers that have been producing short, feature, and documentary films since 2008. Their feature films have run the genre spectrum, some finding distribution to a wider international audience. Their latest film, produced and released in Sweden in 2018 is THE UNTHINKABLE, and it is just now making its way to theaters and digital platforms.

THE UNTHINKABLE begins with political themes that are timely for Swedish citizens. At its core is Alex and it is his story that influences his choices as the conflict unfolds. The cinematic narrative begins in the past as we meet all the characters and the filmmakers provide an excellent foundation for Alex and the other plays in the future drama. As the story shifts to twenty minutes into the future we have a clear perspective of who these damaged characters are and their motivations in dealing with the crisis. The filmmakers do an excellent of weaving together this personal story and the tragedy of the act. The story seductively hints at what the motivations are for this act of aggression and even as they wrap things up with news clips the last image they present makes a bold statement.

The production values they achieve rival any of the big budget studio films. I enjoyed the way they showed the battles, and during the course of the film we see the face of the Swedish but we never see the faces of the attackers, or ever see a clear shot of their uniforms or any insignia.  They have some amazing locations that enhance the authenticity to the tale. The costume designs feel lived in and nicely fit the characters. I enjoyed the action and the editing, it’s well paced without the crazy, frenetic pacing of a Hollywood film.

The cast is excellent. You feel the intensity of their situation and the passion of their emotions. As the drama intensifies you feel their inner struggles as they make choices, both good and bad. Christoffer Nordenrot plays Alex and his character runs the full emotional spectrum. He portrays such an intensity, he conveys the emotional turmoil of the character, and as he confronts a harsh reality he emotionally melts on screen. It’s a captivating performance.

I thought the irony the title offers, in light of the narrative, is skillfully done. There is a chemical agent used by the aggressors that affects people’s brains. There are Alex’s memories, what he knows and what he thinks he knows. While the act of aggression is itself unthinkable, it certainly applies to Alex, and equally to several of the characters in his life. THE UNTHINKABLE is a bittersweet cautionary tale exceptionally rendered and a haunting viewing experience.

CAST: Christoffer Nordenrot, Lisa Henni, Jesper Barkselius, Pia Halvorsen, Karin Bertling, Magnus Sundberg, Krister Kern, Lo Lexfors CREW: Director/Screenplay/Cinematography/Production Design/Costume DesignVisual Effects & Special Effects Supervisor - Crazy Pictures; Score - Gustaf Spetz OFFICIAL: www.magnetreleasing.com/theunthinkable/ FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/unthinkablethemovie TWITTER: twitter.com/magnetreleasing  |  #TheUnthinkableFilm TRAILER: https://youtu.be/eSwOzbO9WIo RELEASE DATE: In theaters and on demand May 7th, 2021

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay),  or 👎 (Dislike) Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

#film review #movie review #the unthinkable #theunthinkablefilm #crazy pictures #christoffer nordenrot #sci-fi #science fiction #action #war #joseph mauceri #joseph b mauceri

[dommexbritt]

FONDUE FOR TWO // ELECTION WEEK       ⤷ VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATES RECAP 

Aaaaaaaand we're back again with part deux of Fondue For Two Election Edition. This time we've got the line up of Vice President candidates, looking cute very serious and ON TIME. Totally appreciated. 

 The fondue is reheating so you're going to want to give it a minute and careful, there's some sneaky pepper jack in there, we're keeping things spicy today. Just like with the peeps who were running for Pres, lets do a quick intro from everyone and tell us why you've decided to run..

RIE: Well, yes! Hi! I'm Rie Anderson. I'm running because I believe I could do a great job in helping students communicate their needs to the people running the Academy. I'm a political scientist and one thing that I've learned is how important listening and being transparent is. And I believe we can make this place even better with the students' input. We are the ones taking the classes and putting the acquired knowledge to use. Then, as Vice President, I'm going to work together with our President, to make sure we, as students, are always heard.

BRITT: A cutie with some solid declarations, we totally love to see it! Next on the panel...

EMERSON: Hello all, my name is Emerson Patterson Fabray and I’ll be running for vice president. I believe those who are running for president are strong contenders but they’ll need another voice to help them reach where they want to go, someone to bounce ideas off of, and ultimately share leadership and school decisions with, and I personally believe I’m the woman for that job

BRITT: Excellent. Totally makes sense! And lastly,..

NORA: My name is Nora Cricket Toussaint and... I’m running on an education based platform but these women beside me are very well spoken so---

BRITT: SO SUPER HOT! You are absolutely right Cricket! You may all know her as Cricket or as the cutest of her partners long list of girlfriends, Nora Toussaint everyone! Totally VALID and third VP candidate in our line up!

-

Now... lets get to the real stuff. Rapid fire questions! Emerson, you’re up first!

Q&A W/ EMERSON FABRAY - 

B:  The hottest dish of the day and personally the most burningest question on my mind just happens to also potentially be some family drama... it looks as though you are running alongside Mateo Weston rather than your own namesake, do you expect there to be BAD BLOOD circa 2015 terrible carbon copy of an already terrible black and white movie adaptation of Sin City, no matter the election outcome?

E: No Quinn and I are adults and my views align more with Mateo’s. There should be a system in place that what happened with the interim deans never happens again, equality in both our education and simply in our campus life, regardless of legacy status or not, is the most important thing and  not to mention of course order is needed. A lack of proper structure can wreak havoc, but too much structure to the point corporal punishments willy nilly, in public no less, red robes to mark those who have decided to push back against a broken system? Is simply insanity, and also not conducive to any sort of learning environment. Back to the question at hand I wish my sister the very best, of course I do, and I always will but my I 100% stand by my choice to run with Mateo Weston.

B:  The rumor is that you’re starting a all blonde volleyball team, are potentially co-heading a belief group, and have recently entered into a claim... do you feel you’ll have time to devote to the Vice President position should you be elected?

E: I mean.. I’m simply in the Volleyball team I’m not starting it, and I’m not sure what belief system you’re referring too but... I can confirm I did enter a claim and that’s part of the reason I decided to do this. I have 5 sisters at this school, countless friends, and now a submissive who were all affected by what happened last month which means I’ll be more than dedicated enough to devote time to both her, and this position if I’m elected into it.

B: Same as I asked your running mate, as there seems to be a connection here in your joint purple candidacy, do you believe in the separation of church and state?

E: [short pause] ...Yes I do believe 100% in the separation of church and state.

- Q&A W/ RIE ANDERSON -

B: As the most technically qualified candidate for both the Presidency and VP, how do you plan to implement your MIT political science degree here at Deveruex?

R: When I was in college, I learned a lot about law making, laws in general and political communication. Those are all things that are going to help me here. Also, one thing that my professors were very strict about, was the fact that we should always look at situations with an unbiased opinion. Then we would know what to do, how to solve problems in a way that would be good for the Government but also for the People. So I plan to implement my degree by being a VP that listens, analyses and comes up with good solutions!

B: During a deep dive of your social media accounts I discovered that the adorableness of your face is so very distracting to any other thought processes, that I don’t think I read a single caption. Are you going to use that asset to your advantage while intellectually pulverizing the board standing your ground on student issues?

R: [laughs] Well... Why not? As a great VP I should always use all the assets available to my advantage! As long as I can help the students be heard!

B: Maybe not a hot dish but totally sizzling, if you had to choose only one other Anderson to spend the rest of your life stranded on a deserted island with... which would it be?

R: I know I said I'd pick Mark to go with me not a long time ago, but you just said for the rest of my life. So assuming I can't leave the island ever again, I'd totally take Blaine with me. He's my favorite Anderson, so he seems like the correct choice!

-

Q&A W/ NORA TOUSSAINT 

B: Hey, Bestie's babe. You are an absolute angel. I don't have any questions for you, I'm just going to give you the next three minutes of air time. Go for it.

N: [ speaks on popular issues and education issues and the incident with the deans last month and how it’s unacceptable ]

- FINAL QUESTION FOR EVERYONE - 

BRITT: We've heard your main concerns about the campus, is there anything you'd like to add? And also, what is the first action you are planning to take if elected?

  EMERSON:  My first act as vice president would be to make sure any legacy privileges become something attainable to all students. The divide is something that simply cannot last in a school that presents itself as forward thinking and liberal.

RIE: When I'm elected, I'd like to sit down with the President and talk about plans to make the school a better place for the students. I'd also like to set up an official anonymous communication channel for the students to be able to give their opinions without consequences. I'd also like to speak with the Deans to know what's their expectations of us, as students. From there, we'll start working!

NORA: [ clears throat ]  My first act as vice president would be... To make sure our education is as up to date as possible. That we’re getting the most updated practices are being taught to us, and not something that was given to us 10 years ago that doesn't apply now. -

Well you heard their intentions here folks! Thank you all for joining me, it’s really nice to hear everyone’s best foot forward on campus and student issues. I don’t know about all of you listeners, but I’m ready to get to voting!!

This has been your election dish here on Fondue For Two!! I’m your host Brittany S. Pierce, signing off until next time... 

#; FONDUE FOR TWO #fft: Emerson Fabray #fft: Nora Cricket #fft: Rie Anderson #emerson fabray #nora cricket #rie anderson

[letterboxd]

Empathy Machine: The Value of Film.

Kambole Campbell surveys the rapid rise in films our members are watching to deepen their understanding of racism, and recommends some deeper cuts once you’ve finished with the ‘first five’: 13th, Do The Right Thing, I Am Not Your Negro, Malcolm X and Selma.

As worldwide action against police violence (as well as a normalization of state-sponsored racism and armed-citizen violence) continues in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, it can feel strange and perhaps inappropriate to be talking about film, or even considering it.

But although the act of engaging with film is far from activism, there is still value to be found. These events are cyclical, and painful, and exhausting; you shouldn’t insist that your Black friends help you understand, you should be doing the work yourself. One easy way to start: with the many creative and galvanizing works by Black filmmakers. The likes of Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Cheryl Dunye and so many others have already done the job, all you have to do is watch.*

And, as clichéd as it feels to invoke, the simplest reasoning comes from Roger Ebert, who said: “Movies are the most powerful empathy machine in all the arts. When I go to a great movie I can live somebody else’s life for a while. I can walk in somebody else’s shoes.”

A lot of Letterboxd members feel the same way. Just as cinephiles flocked to Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion as the coronavirus pandemic began to spread, viewings of the likes of Ava DuVernary’s documentary 13th, Spike Lee’s magnum opus Do the Right Thing and Raoul Peck’s elegiac James Baldwin essay film I Am Not Your Negro—along with more films focused on Black experience, history and protest—have spiked in viewing and review numbers in the past fortnight.

Malcolm X, Selma, Daughters of the Dust, The Hate U Give, If Beale Street Could Talk, Just Mercy, Fruitvale Station, and more are all enjoying an undeniable surge of viewership—in some cases, an increase of a thousand percent over their historical viewership numbers. And a matching rise in the number of reviews gives us insight into the feelings, or sense of catharsis, people are seeking from these films. Here, we take a survey of recent reactions to the top five—followed by suggestions for digging deeper.

Activist and scholar Angela Davis in ‘13th’.

13th (2016) Directed by Ava DuVernay

At the time of writing, 13th was the current most popular film by volume of activity on Letterboxd. (Within 24 hours of its release, Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods jumped into the top spot, with 13th now in second place.) It’s easy to see why Letterboxd members gravitated to the film—Ava DuVernay’s 2016 documentary on the loophole of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which effectively allows slavery in the modern day, is comprehensive and convincing.

Built around interviews with a number of Black academics and a thorough history of Jim Crow laws through to modern-day mass incarceration in the US, it’s an important and effective primer for anyone looking for a basic comprehension of new methods of oppression from the state. Part of the film’s power comes from, as member and film critic Josh Lewis puts it, “the way DuVernay sequences this, the way she moves us through the major events, records and timelines with passion and anger, allowing Black voices and art to naturally narrate”.

As with a number of films from the last decade that examine Black protest, there’s a juxtaposition between modern imagery and rhetoric, and systemic racism from a history that America too often insists it has left behind. It makes clear the repetition of this history of oppression for Black Americans with powerful editing, as DuVernay organizes archive footage from the past through to the present day to emphasise this point.

Spike Lee on the set of ‘Do the Right Thing’ (1989).

Do The Right Thing (1989) Directed by Spike Lee

It could be said that the recognition of this repetition is part of why these particular films have proven so popular in recent weeks. Perhaps the most significant part of the engagement with older work like Spike Lee’s (arguably best) film Do The Right Thing, is that the imagery hasn’t aged. As Ashley Clark says in a recent piece for Time on films about Black history and protest, “…it’s amazing to see those patterns repeat now, specifically in the discourse of people focusing more on the destruction of property than on lives that are lost”. Do The Right Thing’s palpable anger and unending relevance make it one of the best fictional films to watch right now, if not for understanding and empathy (“I have a lot of empathizing to do,” Letterboxd member Ted agrees), then for some kind of catharsis.

Denzel Washington as Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s 1992 biopic.

Malcolm X (1992) Directed by Spike Lee

It’s not just Do The Right Thing either—even just going off the numbers, Spike Lee is a go-to name when it comes to engaging with Black people’s history in America and in American film. He’s been engaging with these subjects of protest and anguish for the longest time, and there are few such prolific directors in the way he broaches the subject, crossing the line back and forth between fiction and non-fiction, readily blending the two together in many cases.

That status feels evident in the corresponding surges of popularity for Malcolm X, one of his most acclaimed works, and BlacKkKlansman, one of his most recent. His latest work, the excellent, galvanizing war drama Da 5 Bloods (streaming on Netflix now), acts as a reminder that institutional racism is not just a symptom of the current establishment, but something deeply embedded in American ideology. It’s a multimedia examination of the overlap of racism and imperialism, its arguments backed up by clips of Angela Davis, Kwame Ture, Muhammad Ali and of course Malcolm X.

Malcolm X is a valuable watch in that it provides a loving and complex portrait of a man often vilified by white liberals as much as white conservatives, an example of the ‘wrong’ way to protest or take action. It’s a counterpoint to the reductive and often-held perspective of the man, who is often presumed to have stood in opposition to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s a humanist portrait of a man constantly changing, one brought to life by, as Jaime Rebenal writes, “one of cinema’s very finest performances” from Denzel Washington (whom, I must reinforce, was truly robbed of that Oscar). A long film, but not a minute wasted.

David Oyelowo is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ava DuVernay’s ‘Selma’ (2014).

Selma (2014) Directed by Ava DuVernay

On the flip-side of this is Ava DuVernay’s Selma, which paints an equally complicated portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., focusing on the organized action that lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. “As sobering as it is galvanizing” writes Letterboxd member and correspondent Ella Kemp. Selma’s vision of MLK was of a complicated man, one steadfast in his commitment to peaceful resistance and protest for civil rights, but still a man as opposed to a saint.

I could talk at length about that supposed saintliness being thrown back in the faces of Black people, as well as the gossip compounded by American institutions to discredit the man’s work—DuVernay and David Oyelowo’s interpretation of MLK saves me that time.

All beautifully lensed by the—at that point—upcoming cinematographer Bradford Young (whose subsequent credits include Arrival and Solo: A Star Wars Story), and with typically gorgeous costume design from Black Panther Oscar-winner Ruth E. Carter (a long-time associate of Spike Lee), it’s a visual treat as well.

Novelist, poet, playwright, essayist and activist James Baldwin.

I Am Not Your Negro (2016) Directed by Raoul Peck

I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck’s documentary-slash-adaptation of the unpublished James Baldwin memoir, provides a similar juxtaposition between America’s past racism and its present. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, words from Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript ‘Remember This House’ explore American anti-Blackness through a mixture of archival footage and anecdotes from Baldwin, as he recounts the lives of his civil rights leader friends Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers and others.

As with many other Letterboxd reviews, Daisoujou reflects on the persistence of state-sponsored racism, writing that it’s “a movie that feels like it was made yesterday, based on writings from roughly the 80s, which also feel written yesterday, in the most depressing way”. A lot of identifying with films detailing Black protest is to recognize this cycle, the seeming neverending-ness of it all; that engagement with racism is not just something occurring in the present moment but something that carries the weight of history, at all times.

A scene from Cheryl Dunye’s ‘The Watermelon Woman’ (1996).

These are all strong starting points for the beginning of an empathy with Black protest, struggle, history and art on film. But it’s just scratching the surface. The five films above mostly skew towards the recent, when there’s a long and exceptional history of Black cinema.

It’s important to consider the expansiveness of Black art, that not all of it is about our tragedies, there’s more to witness than our pain, and this deserves attention after crisis as well. K. Austin Collins’ introduction for his Vanity Fair list says it best: “Black defiance on-screen is bigger than Do the Right Thing, however. Black defiance (including but not limited to outright protest), Black anger, Black art: These are vast territories.” As Collins’ excellent two-part list states, the history of our representation and the self-determination of our on-screen legacies of course goes far beyond just the work of Spike Lee and Ava DuVernay.

You could watch Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman for a film examining just that: how the narrow idea of ‘representation’ has failed so many, that their own histories have to be invented, and how Black people often have to deal with art’s frequent rejection of their own image.

You could watch the work of Kathleen Collins, you could watch Paris is Burning for a history of New York City ballrooms and drag culture (and here’s K. Austin Collins again with a recent re-reading of that film, in conversation with its white director). The history of Black Britishness also often gets left at the wayside—both Collins and Clark recommend Handsworth Songs and Blacks Britannica for pictures of Black thought and struggle in the context of Thatcher’s Britain (and many more in their aforementioned lists, both well worth checking out).

The protests have also, naturally, lead to conversations around representation of Black people across media, in front of and behind the camera. Such discovery is both vital and easier than ever, as the protests have inspired artists and streaming sites to make their library of work more accessible—among those, the Criterion Channel, having dropped the paywall for much of its collection focusing on Black lives.

Related content

Black Life on Film: a master list, and broken down into sub-genres, by Adam Davie (he discussed the list, a three-year labor of love, on episode 6 of The Letterboxd Show podcast).

Black Saint’s list of Films by Black Directors You Should Watch.

Queer, Black, 21st Century: a list of 21st-century films featuring queer, Black experiences, by Black filmmakers (directors and/or writers), for Pride 2020.

Letterboxd’s official top 100 narrative feature films by Black directors

*It’s important to remember amongst all this that just watching these films isn’t activism; action is also required. Educating yourself is just the first step. Ways you can help, tangibly.

#kambole campbell #black lives matter #ava duvernay #13th #13th amendment #spike lee #da 5 bloods #do the right thing #black life on film #black directors #letterboxd

[kpoptimeout]

Top 10 Most Underrated K-pop Songs of 2019 (Idol Edition)

2019 has come and gone before we knew it.  

Continuing with the K-Pop Timeout Tradition (see 2018 Ver) of listing the Top 10 Most Underrated K-Pop Songs because all the other sites are just bothered with the Top 10 that pretty much everyone will have heard of/have fan wars over, below are our top 10 picks of songs that did not rank high but deserves your attention!

Like last year we have a separate post for Top 10 underrated non-idol tracks. Unlike usual years where there is a separate post made for Top 10 underrated K-Drama OSTs, this year there is instead posts for the Top 20 most underrated K-Pop songs of the decade.

Some of the artists have escaped the list in recent years to stardom (like NU’EST, N.FLYING, and OH MY GIRL), so hopefully, it happens again!

This is in alphabetic order NOT in the order of awesomeness because all of them are awesome. Also, all MVs are linked in the song titles because Tumblr won’t let me share that many videos in one post.

1TEAM “Vibe”

After braving through the shitshows of Mnet’s BOYS24 and YG’s MIXNINE, these talented boys finally debut as 1TEAM under Liveworks Entertainment (the label for the solo promotions of SHINHWA’s Hyesung and Minwoo). This debut song of 1TEAM highlights some of the key strengths of the group - their extremely laid-back retro sound and also addictive hooks. With K-Pop boy bands going for increasingly dramatic and over the top complex sounds due to the popularity of hype bops among overseas fans, it is a breath of fresh air to see 1TEAM deliver such a chill and amazing song and it is unfortunate they have yet to receive more attention both in South Korea and overseas. They continue this sound in their comeback “ROLLING ROLLING” and went more mature and sexy while still simple and retro in “MAKE THIS”, showing that they will continue to develop this unique sound. If you like the relaxing summer sound of WINNER, you would also love 1TEAM’s “Vibe”! 

3YE “OOMM (Out Of My Mind)”

After not getting much attention as Apple.B under GH Entertainment, 3 of the original Apple.B members Yuji, Yurim, and Haeun re-debuted as 3YE. And this was the right re-debut to make as the girls went from generic cutesy to edgy and hard in the most unexpected way. “OOM (Out of My Mind)”, their first comeback track, is definitely a powerful bop but what makes it stand out from other hyped-up party tracks is the structure of the song. The first verses were typical powerful girl group song sounding (a mixture of RnB vocals and rap), but things change up quickly at the bridge. The song suddenly becomes very melodic and sounding like something you would expect from a quirky girl group track. Then the song changes again, creating a dark and breathy build-up reminiscent to Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” and “all the good girls go to hell”. Only then do we get the beat drop you would expect from a lit girl group track and the adventurous path to get there makes the drop all the more enjoyable. Also, all three girls’ have amazing stage presence to carry the powerful choreo. If you love powerful girl groups like BLACKPINK and EVERGLOW, you should really check out 3YE’s latest song!

A.C.E “UNDER COVER”

After stints on KBS’ “The Unit” and YG’s “MIXNINE”, the boys of A.C.E have definitely increased significantly in their international fan base and have the makings of a small but dedicated Korean fan base. However, these boys really deserve a lot more attention, especially with “UNDER COVER” being one of the best and also most underrated tracks of 2019 K-Pop. After attempts with artsy edm music in their debut era and later a cuter sound in “Take Me Higher”, the boys and the label seem to have finally found their sound. It is dramatic, it is powerful, it has a strong rock influence combined with hip-hop and RnB. Honestly, this is what I would expect TVXQ to sound like if they debuted in the late 2010s (cries thinking about OT5 early days and their rock influence tracks). This song also clearly highlights the strength of every member - Byeongkwan’s playful rap and diva-like stage presence, Wow’s more relaxed rap and sexy charms, Chan’s boyish appeal and perfect complementation of other members’ sounds, Jun’s attractive vocal colour and Donghun’s emotive voice and wide vocal range. If you love the dramatic and powerful boy band tracks like the bops of B.A.P, it is time to stream “UNDER COVER”!

fromis_9 “FUN!”

After the amazing comeback with “Love Bomb” last year, I really did not know how fromis_9 can top that but they really did with “FUN!” They continue to go for the really quirky, really weird and playful cute girl group sound they perfected in “Love Bomb” to bring an amazing and refreshing summer track. “FUN!” has a ridiculously catchy hook and like other fromis_9 songs have beautiful bridge parts to also showcase the members’ amazing vocal abilities and harmonies often hidden under their hype and wild choruses. Also, the music video is a delight, with the girls’ parodying various CFs. The album for this song peaked at #2 on Gaon Charts but somehow this amazing title track did not rank at all on Gaon and only peaked at #94 on the K-Pop Hot 100 of Billboard. If you love the addictive, fun and weird side of girl groups like Red Velvet and Oh My Girl, you would really enjoy fromis_9′s “FUN!”

GWSN “Pinky Star (RUN)”

After a unique debut and a string of consistent bops, it is unclear why most K-Pop fans are still sleeping on GWSN. “Pinky Star (RUN)” is an amazing song, showcasing GWSN’s indie video game-like sound which is heavily electronic and 8-bit like yet has all the K-Pop high notes and dance breaks you would also expect. This perfect blend of the girls’ unique sound and a seasoned K-Pop style production makes the song all the more amazing and it all the more infuriating they are still quite a nugu group in South Korea. The MV is also beautifully shot, with amazing sets and smart use of the aspect ratios. If you love to see the artsy pop vibes of BOL4 and IU married with the quirky girl group sounds of Oh My Girl, you would love GWSN’s “Pinky Star (RUN)”!

JBJ95 “Awake”

After PRODUCE 101 Season 2 and the success of JBJ, JBJ members Sanggyun and Kenta continue as duo JBJ95 and continue delivering quality music. One of their best songs and one of the best of K-Pop this year is arguably “Awake”. The song excels in having this bright and dreamy texture to it, which blends perfectly with the concept of the song and the Bauhaus-styled MV set pieces. Those listening to the song which literally feel woken up by the upbeat chorus which incorporates some dancehall beats into this electro-pop song. While JBJ95 are without a doubt doing quite well out of the post-PRODUCE 101 groups with variety show appearances and web drama roles, this song did not win any awards albeit its superb quality. If you are a fan of SHINee’s more fun and dream-like tracks like “Why So Serious?” and “View”, you would love this song!

KNK “Sunset”

Last year was extremely annoying when IN2IT’s “Snapshot” and SF9’s “Now or Never” flew under the radar of most K-Pop fans and the Korean public in general for their sexy supermodel runway sounds. Apparently, people have still not learned their lesson this year with the spectacular release by KNK in the form of “Sunset”. These talented men are back again with one of the best concepts ever - the song is just a 90s house bop that serves expensive runway model realness. The chorus of simply just Seoham saying “Sunset, for-for y'all” again and again in his deep voice is definitely one of the highlights of the song along with the classy and mature choreography. The MV of this absolute bop is also an example of how low-budget MVs can look expensive if there’s good camera work, creative lighting and smart editing choices. So if you liked IN2IT’s “Snapshot” and SF9’s “Now or Never” last year, and love yourself some good mature and sensual choreo like Taemin’s, “Sunset” is the song for you!

ONF “Why”

At this point, ONF is just one of the best-kept secrets in K-Pop. All the members already showcased their immense talent on YG’s “MIXNINE” but somehow South Korea still does not seem to know they exist. And it is infuriating that after a masterpiece like “Why”, they are still swimming in absolute nugu-dom. This song sounds ridiculously dramatic, with beautiful high notes and sentimental harmonica/synth instrumentals in the chorus. One of the highlights of the song is Wyatt’s deep-voiced speed rapping which was layered with multiple effects so that it sounded like it was being received through a device from afar and also serves to make it so much more grungier. Basically, the song sounds like it could be the OST for a high-budget Netflix dystopian sci-fi series and the MV shot in Moscow actually gave us some very expensive looking CGI and effects. It is difficult for me to find a song to compare “Why” to but if you love yourself a dramatic boyband track, you should really check it out!

SAAY “ZGZG”

This song just hits hard in a very unique way. Following her departure from EvoL (a highly underrated girl group), Kwon Sohee/SAAY has mainly worked as a producer and songwriter, penning bops for SM Entertainment and often working with Super Junior M’s Henry Lau. As a solo artist, she shows that she has a lot to show in “ZGZG”, which honestly would not be such a great song if not carried by her off-the-charts amount of charisma. The chorus is just her swag-filled mumbling of the word(s?) “ZGZG” and it works because of her attitude. She also belts high notes and delivers smoking hot bars when she raps in the song too. If you are a fan of confident female solos like Hyuna, Sunmi, and Chungha, I now urge you to check out this amazing song by SAAY!

UP10TION “Your Gravity”

UP10TION is an extremely talented group but have failed to make a mark in the K-Pop industry due to years of TOP Media’s mismanagement. One of the biggest mismanagement moves, in my opinion, was giving UP10TION good but extremely generic K-Pop title tracks. There was never a song that screamed: “this is an UP10TION-only track.” I can go on forever about TOP Media’s poor management of all its groups but now is the time to focus on what a brilliant song “Your Gravity” is - UP10TION has finally found a unique sound and they really owned this song, making it arguably one of the best and most underrated songs of the year. The song plays on an addictive synth hook and good use of diverse beats. The whole song just sounded super fresh yet not cutesy but high energy at the same time - a rare example of balancing freshness and coolness. The MV is also filmed very well, with shots from very interesting angles and great use of a few set pieces in a variety of ways. The closest comparisons I can make would probably be WANNA ONE’s “Energetic” era. If you love a powerful and feel-good track, UP10TION’s “Your Gravity” is the song for you!

Special Mentions of Underrated Debuts:

There were many strong debuts this year and I would like to mention 2 underrated rookie groups to look out for in 2020!

Male - 1TEAM “Make This”

I have already discussed 1TEAM’s greatness and music style above, but the reason I also chose them as the most underrated male group debut is because out of all the underrated male idol debuts this year, 1TEAM is the only one that have already showed us their consistency and duality. “MAKE THIS” continues 1TEAM’s retro sound and aesthetic - the song sounds like how people in the 80s think future sexy music would be like and also how people right now thought 80s sexy music remade might sound like. So even though 1TEAM went from soft and cute in their first two title tracks to mature in this latest comeback, they still stayed true to their retro sound. The MV is also delight due to the very “2001: A Space Odyssey” inspired looking set pieces.

Female - BVNDIT “Dumb”

MND Entertainment’s newest girl group and basically Chungha’s younger sisters, BVNDIT may have been overlooked as they debuted in the same year as JYP’s ITZY, HINAPIA which features PRISTIN members, and a string of post-PRODUCE 48 girl groups like EVERGLOW, CHERRY BULLET and ROCKET PUNCH. However, BVNDIT has a lot to offer and has likely one of the most standout sounds and looks. The girls all have confidence and stage presence unlike any rookie girl group and this really shined in their songs following the safer pop song debut with “Hocus Pocus.” The south-east Asian and Latin American influences in the drums used in their songs like “Dramatic” and “Dumb” also gives them an opportunity to attempt more powerful and mature choreography than some of the rookies, giving them an additional edge. With the company now starting to use a “Chungha-like budget” in their production as seen in the “Dumb” MV, I believe we can expect a lot from BVNDIT in 2019.

Which idol songs do you think were underrated this year? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and let the song sharing begin!!!

#kpop #k-pop #kpop 2019 #k-pop 2019 #kpop underrated #k-pop underrated #1team #1team vibe #1team make this #3ye #3ye oomm #3ye out of my mind #a.c.e #a.c.e under cover #fromis_9 #fromis_9 fun! #gwsn #gwsn pinky star #jbj95 #jbj95 awake #knk #knk sunset #onf #onf why #saay #saay zgzg #up10tion #up10tion your gravity #bvndit #bvndit dumb

[tiffgeorgina]

alright trailer thoughts

watch it here slutties: https://twitter.com/SHOBlackMonday/status/1216778009044291585

1) HOLY FUCKING SHIT IT’S HERE THIS FEELS SURREAL

2) HOLYYY SHITTTT

3) but actually let’s get it. this song bangs showtime stays on their excellent editing.

4) trying to analyze showtime’s trailers is like trying to grab smoke so this is going to be extremely barebones for a while. 

5) somebody drives off with the busted up limbo, but we can’t tell who it is yet bc their face never comes into view. they’re wearing a gray suit tho, so it may become more obvious who it is once the episode itself is out.

6) mo is being dramatic asf which as of 1x10 is perfectly in character lmfao

7) bro what the FUCK did you do to your hair i gotta ask fuck the 80s. also there’s this character on IMDb tagged “Vanessa (hair like mo)” so that makes more sense now maybe?

8) establishing shots that almost make me think mo is hiding out in california. since we know his orphanage story is bullshit, maybe he’s visiting family? maybe this is where that marcus wainright iii character comes in? since i dont think he’s in the trailer?

9) keith is living. almost has out-of-the-closet energy. i bet that scene of him roller skating is either after a) he comes out to his wife and divorces her or b) he gets a call from mo and flies straight out to cali to meet up with him.

10) the editing is so good you guys holy shit they jsut never quit over there do they?

11) a shot of mo in some suburb. could be a family member or a friend’s house? which again leads me to think he’s in california.

12) there’s this TV show called “America’s Most Unsolved Crimes” that mo shows up on bc he’s being solely blamed for the crash. how dawn and blair managed to avoid any blame whatsoever is beyond me, but mo is an excellent scapegoat since he confessed on record. no idea who the guy sitting on the desk talking about him is tho, since he wasn’t announced as one of the new guest stars. probably just a one off. maybe this is where “reenactment dawn” comes in from the IMDb page?

13) mo is bringing back the 70s and i do not like it. when i said the 80s were cool bc nobody knew how to dress themselves This Is Not What I Meant.

14) he wouldn’t just casually play basketball with some random kids, these are probably either his cousins or his nephews or the kids of a friend. again leads me to believe he’s in california, possibly visiting marcus? it would make sense. either that or we finally get some real concrete background on mo that isn’t total bullshit.

15) keith is in contact with mo. it’s hard to tell if keith went to cali to see mo or if mo came to NY seeing as both are extremely suspicious. assuming mo is in cali that is. keith is definitely going to get mo back in the game. speaking of mo, this entire first 30 seconds is Mo-centric, so i bet mo’s arc is going to be plottier than blair or dawn’s in 1“A” (showtime doesn’t really have A and B arcs for this show bc there’s no midseason hiatus i just like the terminology)

16) throwback thursday lmfao

17) no idea who this guy shooting/probably fake shooting is?? like no idea. could be nothing of importance and just a transition filler/tone setting moment.

18) the heat is on motherfucker! let’s get this cat and mouse shit im ready for it!

19) here we go here’s dawn. back at the jammer group. back at DAWN AS THE PRESIDENT HIRING A BUNCH OF WOMEN???????? BIIIIIITTTTCCCCHHHH I LOVE TO SEE IT. INCLUDING DEANNA CHENG (she’s friends with casey which means she’s friends with half the cast we should’ve known she wasn’t going anywhere) AKA THE SALES CLERK WHO HARASSED DAWN IN 1X02????? YES BITHC

20) then wayne and yassir fucking it up (nice facial hair wayne it’s hideous kjsfkjdhg) and the women throwing paper at him??? LKJRHGKLJSERH????

21) blair and tiff dressed up??? guys. they’re going to some rich people gala thing. this is what i was talkinf about. im almost certain this is how blair and harris meet. their wives are gonna see each other after not having spoken in years bc of whatever but they used to be friends so they go to talk and the husbands and dragged along and *closet case to closet case communication sounds*

22) ok now BLAIR’S on the exercise craze? i thought that was just gonna be dawn like in s1 also how long is this exercise montage in the show bc there are some things a god fearing lesbian shouldn’t have to see. this weird mirror talking shit feels like voyeurism from this perspective i feel like i shouldn’t be seeing this.

23) she’s still topping him??? after all that??? aight yk it’s part of the dynamic

24) tiff is wearing the same dress in “you do, hunk” as she is in the bit where they get out of the limo and deal with the paparazzi so i presume that workout scene is immediately before that gala thing im establishing a #timeline

25) the skants reveal??? we call that PLOT DEVELOPMENT i love a good callback to the first season

26) the shocked gasp i can’t tell if it’s good or bad. also does this mean tiff’s starting her own company? since georgina is liquid?

27) larry telling dawn that mo’s on his way back for revenge? spliced with mo staring at the wall like he so frequently does while smoking? mayhaps this editing went off also i never thought i’d say this but the brotherfucker has a point mo is gonna pop off when he sees yall again

28) FBI wyd........ that’s a lot

29) that falling out last season bit: blair’s definitely talking about tiff’s parents, and im almost certain andrew flubbed right there and improvised over it by saying “autumn.” well im appreciative of that bc a) it’s funny and b) it indicates when this is going on a bit. it’s not like we’re two years in the future or anything. this is probably gonna start a couple of months after the crash and that’s it.

30) no idea who blair is talking to tho since i can’t see the woman’s face. could be one of tiff’s friends? idk. also nice hair tiff

31) that ball spinning around like a gumball in a machine? weird transition but aight. also immediately after, dawn is in the lehman office, again no idea why. probably the same scene as larry telling her that mo is plotting his revenge but idk why she’s there.

32) that shot of a plane coming into JFK? now im near certain that mo is in cali it would make so much sense please showtime just MAKE SENSE. 

33) confetti and mo’s entrance? you know what it’s what i should’ve expected tbh it’s all so delightfully in character EDIT: THE CONFETTI IS NOT BEFORE MO’S ENTRANCE. YOU CAN SEE DAWN’S CLOTHES CHANGE COLOR, IT WAS JUST AN EDITING TRICK.

34) mo’s just gonna pull up, zero fucks, in the middle of the day. much different than how i thought this scene would go, with a lot of betrayal and drama involved instead of this bitch just pulling up. now idek if dawn and mo are in contact before this, when before i was almost certain they would be.

35) what blair says here is definitely not the first thing he says when mo walks in, i can tell from the editing. also im near certain that blair doesn’t say “bro.” it sounds edited in/done in post (his voice pitches up a lot there when that’s usually a beat when your voice would fall), so i wouldn’t be surprised if blair curses a lot there and they just had to edit it to stay in the green band. 

36) ol polluted waterfall lookin ass jshgkjfdhg mo quit lying that hairstyle is not popular fuck off

37) im loving this tagging order tbh. paul scheer getting tagged in the trailer is just. what he deserves. do we consider keith a protagonist now? he’s in all the promo material by name and face now.

38) regina and andrew look so good god yes also the editing is so GOOD fuck

39) keith (hand holding emoji) blair

        getting hit by random vehicles

40) NO THE LIMBO FUCK SHIT THESE CARS WERE NOT MEANT TO LAST almost looks deliberate :eyes emoji:

41) what’s keith doing with this barbershop quartet wtf

42) almost certain that’s tiff singing? based on 1x09 this oughta be good lmao

43) THE HEEL CLICKING IS TAKING ME OUT HGKJDHFGKJFD. could this be mo and marcus? who knows?

44) look at all the cash wtf what’s all that cash for? ah shit here we go again

45) tiff entering another dimension followed by dawn doing what is certainly a mountain of coke? kind of poetic cinema ok

46) ok dawn’s wearing that green suit again from my icon so??? what does it mean what does it all mean

47) who is mo squaring up with tf? is this marcus? i can’t tell in this lighting maybe it’s fake shooting guy idk also where the fuck are they? some party? but not a rich ppl thing just a thing? idk

48) guys. we have it. the fucking airdate. i have been stanning since the first fucking episode almost a year ago today and finally we have an airdate. respect to the new stans but yall dont know what seven and a half months of network radio silence in regards to your current obsession feels like. @hatimbinaba msged me and said we had a date and the shot of adrenaline i felt was like nothing else. serotonin is currently stored in the black monday and now the serotonin is stored in the ME. Sunday, March 15, 2020, 10 pm motherfuckers. put that shit on the calendar. also looks like we have a slightly earlier timeslot which is nice.

49) and to top (ahah) it all off we have blair just straight up gay panicking at the end. that’s definitely tuc and june and if yall have been following yall would know that tuc is playing blair’s love interest and june is playing tuc’s wife so this is all very jghsrkjghs im rly excited for this scene. no way of knowing if this is before or after blair and harris get together but it’s still kshgkdjhgdkj. rich people golfing? more like rich people existing lmao. also where’s that onion video i need to find the onion video fuck this is just like the onion said would happen. i will post it and make memes later. 

50) then blair just gets hit??? by the golfcart?? and there’s this scream that is definitely not the scream of andrew, tuc or june so??? whose scream was that??? did they add that shit in post??? tf???? also tuc and june barely flinching is really decapitating me kjshkrjdg

51) there’s no way of knowing if tiff is also at the golf course, but if she isn’t? then it’s just blair and his canon love interest and canon love interest’s wife???? which is so funny “hey come play golf with me” “oh is anyone else coming?” “ya my wife” “you’re so stupid i have to question how you’re even still alive”

52) WHEEWWWW AND THAT’S IT YALL!!! BUT A COUPLE MORE THINGS. some distinct absences: no known shot of marcus (which is wack yall would think they would want to plug the hell out of dulé hill) and very few shots of harris and corky. why. promote your newcomers some more tf.

anyways that’s all on this long ass post. @ mutuals expect more freakouts xx love yall this is unedited just raw emotion

#black monday #andrew rannells #don cheadle #regina hall #trailer #showtime #slander