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popculturebuffet · 2 years

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Sonic Christmas Blast Review: Loveably Insane Sonic Nonsense.. so Adventures as Usual (Patreon Review for Emma Fici)

Ho ho ho all you holly jolly people! I’m jake, I review stuff and things, and today I got a super sonic present for ya’ll courtsey of one of my patreons Emma Fici. If you too would like to join my patreonload of freedom fighters and request some sonic or other half hour episodes of cartoon, just hop on here

MY PATREON

Here you can find way past cool exclusive reviews and a free review on signup all for one dollar a month and five dollar backers get a guaranteed review every month. So please speed keed and sign up today!

This is the second time Emma’s thrown me into the Sonic Pool, the first being with the three part pilot to sonic underground. So it’s fitting our next visit is another piece of the DIC trilogy of sonic classics (and underground) The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog and it’s series capping christmas special, Sonic Christmas Blast

Adventures holds the distinction of being the only Sonic cartoon I saw more than a handful of times growing up. I dropped out of X quickly, I saw SATAM, good as it was, sporadically (Though It was still part of my young adult life via reading about it and it’s spirtal succesor in the archie comics). Adventures, while not a childhood staple or antyhing was one I saw replayed decently and sought out loving sonic.

As an adult having only seen a handful of eps.. it’s an incredibly simple but harmless and fun cartoon. One that uses screwball comedy, a literal mustache twirling villian who also likes to get naked or near naked way more than i’m comfortable with, useless bumbling comedy sidekicks he never murders, and a couchphrase spouting hero with a kid sidekick. It’s the platonic ideal of a late 80′s early 90′s show, for better or worse. It dosen’t hit the height of other 90′s comedies like Tiny Toons or Animaniacs that can also get silly but are self aware enough for it to work, but it’s still a decent show.

It’s also why i’ve never quite gotten the volcanic hatred of it. I get that a lot of it’s comparing it to SATAM, the other sonic show at the time which is better. But.. here’s the thing..

No really. If you don’t like this cartoon fine. But it didn’t impact SATAM any nor lead to it’s cancelation. You can have a goofy silly version of something and a serious version side by side. For example I don’t like Teen Titans GO! but it’s not because i’ts goofier but because it’s not funny, dosen’t try half the time despite having the whole dc unvierse at it’s fingertips (something the original didn’t), has gone on so long and prevents another titans show for kids from getting made. So if you don’t like Adventures for being what it is fine, it’s not the best show ever, but if you don’t like it because “SATAM was better your missing the point.

Now i’m done with that little tangent, onto this little oddity. Sonic Christmas blast came out three years after this series finished it’s run, as had SATAM sadly been canceled by this time, and even stranger it brings in a few elements from SATAM for no paticular reason despite still being thorughly adventures at it’s core. It’s also, like it’s parent series, throughly weird, so let’s dive into that weird puddle of christmas goo shall we after the cut?

So we open with a fun unique opening that as it turns out uses footage from the special itself. Some of these are spoilers but most are harmless without context, and it works well, and the adventures theme as always slaps. It’s a nice mix of looney tunes zanyniess and sonic sound. Sonic honestly HASN’T had a bad theme song in his shows i’m aware of. Even Boom’s short and sweet theme is pretty great. Maybe the upcoming series will fuck it up but I somehow doubt that, so to put my money where my mouth is if the theme to Sonic Prime isn’t at LEAST good, I will review Mobius: 25 years later, Ken Penders agonizingly long prospective future for our heroes. I do not threaten to inflict that on myself lightly but I stand by my words. The die is cast.

So our special proper begins as a football headed kid, sadly not the one we all want it to be as his mom isn’t lost in central america, waits ot hear santa give an announcment from a giant blade runner style monitor. Ah I fondly remember Santa’s monitor announcments.. it’s a yearly treat to watch him shotgun several bottles of whisky and mutter you fucking people on a big screen while we all get frostbite.

But this year he instead has an announcment instead of a hangover as he announces he’s retiring and passing his hat and boots over to ... and brace yourself here... ROBTNIK CLAUS.

I’d ask why he’s half naked but one of adventures robotnik’s main character trait is “wearing outfits too small for him”. The other is “scarring us for life with the sight of his shaven, unshapley gut. And thi sisn’t even the most strippery he’s looked. Gaze in horror one and all at this

Hey if I gotta be scared for life, so do you. Merrry Christmas! Fun fact, my friend Mars owns an animation cell of a half naked robotnik. Why?

Or mad persons in this case, but the point is their kinda nuts and I love them for it.

So Robotnik Claus, with Scratch and Grounder as his cheering section, announces he’s taking over and it’ll be fine... he promises

Spoilers: he would as at Stacey’s department store, nice to see in the sonic universe Gwen Stacey is not only alive but a mogul good for her, he has the parents all buy gifts for him and has the kid from earlier tell him what he’s getting robtonik claus. The kid punches him so Robotnik doe sthe rational thing.. and has the kid carted off to his child slavery factory to make stuff for him.

So we finally get to sonic a few minutes in and he’s talking to.. Princess Sally.

Yeah Sally’s in this, despite having never been in adventures up to this point. I mean she is in her earlier pink design so this is clearly an alternate one but this special WEIRDLY brings in elements of SATAM. Why?

There’s no real reason for it, this plot would work fine without them, just give sonic some other girl of the week for this plot, but for some reason no a lot of the action takes place in a more city like and less horrifying distopia version of robottroplis, Sally is here and Robtonik even has swatbots. They look ungodly weird because adventures, but he has them. I swear if underground were underaround we’d have Sonia and Manic here alongside tails.

This Sally is also weirdly silent. given her take charge nature and steadfast will are integral to the character it’s weird seeing her instead treated like future maggie simpson. At any rate Sonic wants to get her a ton of presents as they agreed on no presents this year. But of course last year they also did and Sonic didn’t get her anything while she got him this neat plot convience ring. Because WOMEN THEY NEVER SAY WHAT THEY MEAN AMIRITE FELLAS?

This cliche really sticks in my craw: Sometimes when someone ASKS to not be given a present they MEAN not to be given a present. Simple as that. This isn’t some mystic gendered code hackned writers, it’s just people of all genders are complicated. People sometimes hide things or play games and this sexist sterotype that women soley do that annoys the hell out of me.

Anyways, so Sonic goes super sonic shopping only to find all the stores empty and soon spots Scratch and Grounder and a bunch of “Swat bots”, rounding up presents and taking things from people. For those who haven’t seen adventures Scratch and Grounder are your standard robotnik sidekicks and the two I feel are the template for future ones like Sleet and Dingo or Orbot and Cubot, contrasting ones like Snively, that agent guy or Grimer who have more agency and competence. The two dumbases aren’t lacking though as theyt ake a guys house since he has nothing else.

Sonic hears them mention robotnikclaus and finds things are fishy with empty stores the day before christmas.. forgetting that’s how they usually look the day before christmas.. and you know the entire term robtonik claus. Try calling yourself that you’ll end up on some sort of watchlist.

So Sonic finds the kid from earlier and gets filled in on things and rightfully thinks Robtonik is up to something... and Scratch and grounder confrim it by coming up to him in a FREAKING TANK. Robotnik.. you had TANKS all this time.. and you thought a car with a drill up front was the better choice. No wonder you always loose man, get it together.

But this being robotnik instead of just haing a gun it has a crane strapped to it with a spiked box that nearly whallops sonic... until he you know dodges and gets the kid and tails out of the way because he’s THE FASTEST THING ALIIIIVEEEE.

They also made the dumbass mistake of telling Sonic the robot santa was fake, and sonic murders botht hem and robo santa.. then puts on a disguise for some reason to fool them despite not really NEEDING to this time.. or any time come to think of it, but it never stopped him before.

So Scratch and Grounder go to tell Robotnik of their fuck up as he’s having his robots put on ALL THE CHIMNEYS so everyone can give him presents.

I just.. can’t help but love how over the top evil Robotnik is in this series. SATAM robotnik is also pure evil but in a more horrifying, nightmarish way. It’s just hilarious contrasted by the guy next door being so cartoonishly, gloriously evil, doing things for such petty and stupid reasons, that I half expect him to have tied sonic to the railroad tracks at some point. It’s hilarious.

Sonic meanwhile easily saves Santa, making his way through the artcitc cave he’s hidden in which he found because Scratch and Grounder only have half a braincell between them, and then juices him out of there.

There’s a problem though: While Santa is unkidnapped, ther’es no way he can make the journey for christmas in time now, and even Sonic, fastest thing aliiiiivvvveeeeeee can’t make the round trips it’d take getting the presents back from Robotnik Claus. However luckily sonic has his magic bullshit chekovs gun ring, which is a mystic ring that, when choosing the right wearer (I.e. sonic) can grant it’s user powers but only if they pad out the special with some challenges which sonic does while Scratch and Grounder try to stop him because they have nothing better to do.

But sonic wins and gains the power of ludicrous speed.. woudl’ve been a good time to give him super sonic but whatever, point is he saves christmas, leaves Robotnik in his underwear, gives the kid and the rest of mobius their presents back and saves christmas.

So to wrap it up Santa decides Robotnik wasn’t wrong about him needing to retire and thus ENDS THE ADVENTURES CANON BY GIVING SONIC HIS HAT AND MAKING HIM SONIC CLAUS. Yes really.. this..t his is how this timeline ends. If there’s ever a spiderverse style sonic thing, offical or fanmade, I want it FULLY acklnowedged that adventure sonic is santa now. FULLY ACKNOWLEDGE. Anyways sonic claus gives us a merry christmas and we’re out.

Final Thoughts: This special is nuts and while far from the most insane christmas special I’ve seen is a fun bit of cheese. Gets a bit padded in the last few minutes, but it’s mashing things from satam in that don’t belong, wonderfully silly plot, and bonkers ending make it so bad it’s gravy and worth checking out twice this christmas season. I got one more christmas review in the pipe for you this frosty christmas eve and then i’m out so stay tuned and thanks for reading!

#the adventures of sonic the hedgehog #astoh #sonic the hedgeog #miles tails prower #robotnik #doctor robotnik #scratch #grounder #scratch and grounder #santa claus #christmas #holiday #DIC #paramount+#sally acorn #sonic christmas blast

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ladyc0312 · 3 years

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A Jikook Guide to RunBTS: 66-80

Things in this batch start out a little slow, KM-wise, but seriously pick up around the Toronto episodes. It features the episodes where both RM and Jin ask if JK and JM are a couple, so it includes the giggly hand-push game that helped make me a jikook believer!

As usual, let me know if I’ve missed anything or should take another look at something. :)

Ep 66 "BTS in a Comic Book Cafe Part 1" (Ep: 2 / KM: 1)

The one that I can’t help but feel would be more fun if I was more familiar with the comics involved, but the guys make it cute anyway

3:08 - This is a little hard to see because they use weird angles and cuts, but JK sings a piece of a theme song and JM catches his eye and sings with him.

9:23 - JK leans in over JM's shoulder to see how many people are on the comic book page

10:18 - JM does the same when it's JK's turn

BEHIND 10:29 - JM jokes around with JK and does the playful chest tap thing

Ep 67 "BTS in a Comic Book Cafe Part 2" (Ep: 3 / KM: 1)

None

BEHIND 7:28 - JM asks JK if there's a comic book he wants and says he'll buy it for him if so

Ep 68 "Heart Pang" (Ep: 1 / KM: 0)

The one where I can't for the life of me understand the board game they are playing

None.

Ep 69 "BTS in Toronto Part 1" (Ep: 4 / KM: 5)

The Toronto one where Jikook wear matching denim shirts while going to Niagara Falls, getting lunch, and playing games

2:36 - RM says there are certain people who will struggle with the wake up challenge. JK and JM readily seem to admit it's them.

6:29 - JM hangs back (to walk with JK?) when the rest of the group starts heading for the Falls.

8:06 - There's a "teleporting" moment where Jin is in between JM and JK, then the camera cuts away, then it comes back and jikook are next to each other. They stay next to each other as they walk on.

9:52 - You can see jikook interacting in the background.

12:25 - JM takes a photo of JK and gets him to giggle, then they huddle to look at the pic.

13:56 - JM puts his arm around JK and takes a selca in the background, causing RM to ask "what, are you a couple or something? Both wearing denim shirts?" He says it fairly seriously for a line that seems like it's supposed to be a joke and they don't laugh or say anything in response - it looks like JM looks away and flips his hair while JK shifts and awkwardly rubs his forehead. You can also see a quiet exchange after between RM and JM where RM says no to something, then nods at JK. Unclear if it's related, but including it just in case.

15:25 - JK doesnn't try to distract JM while he did the staring contest like he did with Hobi. When Jimin passes, JK is the only one to clap.

18:04 - Quick moment where you can see JK start to rub the arm of JM's shirt before the camera cuts away.

18:50 - JM laughs and touches JK's chest after JK loses the rocks paper scissor game, too.

19:53 - When the other five walk away and JK is doing something with his mic, we don't see where JM is.

22:02 - JK appears to help JM with something with his camera in the foreground.

BEHIND 4:12 - After JHope scolds JK for letting Suga pour everyone's water, JK goes to pour JM some water, then puts the pitcher down. JM seemingly tries to help him out by saying it's a new trend for the oldest to pour water.

Ep 70 "BTS in Toronto Part 2" (Ep: 3 / KM: 5)

The Toronto one where the guys go shopping, pick beds, and play games

1:15 - JK slows down to walk side by side with JM.

2:00 - When JK messes up the game he was confident he'd win, JK laughs and playfully shoves at his chest.

7:23 - When JK loses a game and has to buy the others hoodies, JM sneaks a hat into the pile while JK has his back turned. RM rats him out.

8:01 - JM quietly puts the hat back in the pile, then walks over and hugs JK.

8:40 - JK walks over to Jimin to show him something (sunglasses he wanted?).

20:30 - When they're all joking around about whether they can fit four people on a bed, JK moves JM into an L-shape and then lays down nested with him.

BEHIND 0:09 - JK calls out "Jimin-ssi!" and tosses JM that hat he bought him.

4:49 - When the guys are all stretching and JM is in an inconvenient place, JK calls him "Jimin-ssi" again, essentially feels up his calf, and then pushes his upper thigh, all purportedly to get him to move over.

5:28 - JK kneels down behind JM, who's on all fours, and holds his hips to correct his position (I am literally just describing what happens in the clip, but I kind of feel like I'm writing porn, here...). JK then picks Jimin up to move him over a bit. Both giggle as JK starts to stand up and then the camera cuts away. I can't even begin to think what exercising looks like for these two when there aren't cameras on them...

6:55 - JK reads out the words on the Jimin shirt they're all wearing, which happen to be, "BTS Park Jimin, I love you! I root for you! I'm ARMY!" with a huge grin on his face. Jimin laughs - no one else does - and then jokes that they should wear the shirts back to Korea, prompting JK to tell him "bye!" and wave while giggling.

7:37 - Jimin shows the parts of the shirt design he would change by poking JK's chest, and then JK and JM share a fairly steamy look until RM interrupts.

7:52 - JK folds up the shirt so JM's face looks weird and Jimin points to him doing it and laughs. No one else does. Man, these two were really in their own world this whole Toronto trip, weren't they?

8:02 - JM tries to give JK some advice on the game he's about to play. Before starting, JK starts what seems like it's going to be a silly pose, but ends up being him dragging his fingers down his face, neck, and chest. Sadly for JK, JM wasn't looking. Happily for us, we can look as much as we want.

8:18 - When JM wins a game, JK claps for him. You can probably guess by now that he's the only one who does.

10:09 - JM steals a piece of steak, then JK does some cross-cut teleporting to come over and sink down into a chair next to him. JM overdoes making his eyes look big and innocent (perhaps hoping to get caught and scolded?).

10:35 - JM makes Jin move when he takes JM's seat next to JK I feel like just the Behind for this episode needs it's own jikook rating! And most of it is watching JK lead the guys in a workout. If you're going to watch just one Run Behind, consider making it this one!

Ep 71 "BTS in Toronto Part 3" (Ep: 3 / KM: 3)

The Toronto one where the guys have dinner, have breakfast, and play games

14:28 - Maybe nothing, but just to note it - in this and the next shot, you can see JM heading towards where JK is lying back on the couch after losing a game, then there's an abrupt cut and everyone is in a totally different position.

29:20 - JK tells JM the "super-pancake" he made is for him since he has to do the penalties.

BEHIND 6:59 - JM says that he thinks JK will want to eat and calls out for him.

Ep 72 "BTS and Mafia" (Ep: 3 / KM: 2)

The one in which we learn that BTS is so terrible at the Mafia game that it almost comes back around to being impressive

3:10 - When Jin says JK is suspicious because he isn't talking, JM defends him, saying "you know he doesn't talk much."

8:34 - JM seems to direct his appeal to be spared to JK.

18:16 - JK compliments how well Jimin is doing at the game.

20:13 - After Jimin says he's ARMY, JK asks, "do you like me that much?" Then there's a quick cut and Jin is doing a Jim Halpert face at the camera.

28:03 - Confusing maybe-moment - let me know if it's clearer to anyone else! - but after JH is sending finger heart guns, JM points gun fingers directly at JK for no apparent reason.

BEHIND 2:39 - Before they start playing, JK predicts that JM and Jin will be good at the game.

Eps 73-76 “Run BTS Drama Parts 1-4″ (n/a)

The ones where BTS spend four episodes making a “comedic” skit

01:09 - After JK explains that he had a wisdom tooth taken out, Jimin adds the info that they had to take out the whole root. 09:10 - Even though V is the "director" of Jimin's scene, JK speaks up and takes over the role, saying that directors use informal language and repeating twice in informal language "Jimin, let's go!" He continues speaking informally when Jimin messes up and JK scolds him. 11:40 - When it's JK's turn to deliver a line and he gets nervous about remembering it, JM reads it out loud for him. He also says as soon as JK delivers the line that he did the best job and adds to Hobi, "he doesn't get embarassed, I told you." 16:26 - It's a little hard to see for sure, but it looks like Jimin votes for JK when it's time to choose who should be the skit's director. I'm going to be totally honest with you guys - I didn't rewatch these episodes past this. I first saw it months ago and remember being disappointed and fairly bored through most of it past the first half of the first episode - I don't find the skit funny and the behind-the-scenes stuff isn't amusing enough to make a four-part episode about. I’m sure there are others who completely disagree with me and no judgment if you don't share my opinion! But I'm doing this guide for fun and I don't want to spend two hours rewatching them.

I don't recall a ton of jikook beyond the above - I think there's a moment in part 3 where JK is getting tired and Jimin offers to take over slating for him. So, anyone who is a fan and knows / finds more jikook moments, please let me know and I will update this guide to reflect that. Otherwise, let's happily move along. :)

Ep 77 “Food Guest Part 1″ (Ep: 4 / KM: 5)

The weirdly-named ones that are prob better translated as "food connoisseurs" but the specifics of the foods theme don't really matter because JIKOOK

07:41 - When Jin says JK and JM will be competing in a palm-push game, JM says he's already lost (because JK is strong).

07:55 - I'm fairly certain that, if you're a jikook-er, you've seen this moment. It's so unabashedly flirty a description can't really do it justice. JK and JM are supposed to be playing a game where they put their palms together and shove to see who can make the other lose their balance. JM shoves lightly at JK's chest before they even start the game, then both start giggling. Still giggly, JM asks if JK's ready and JK says he is. JM pushes at JK's palms and JK just swings his arms back as they look at each other and smile. Jin interrupts to ask, "are you a dating couple?" (that's the most direct translation - V app translation is "are you two together?"). JK and JM both laugh, the latter so hard that he spins around, thus losing the game.

17:08 - JK is staring so intently at Jimin on his knees with a blow-pen in his mouth that he completely misses RM trying to give him a high five. Jin has to call for JK to please respond to RM before JK looks away and returns the high five, laughing and apologizing. He looks back immediately after.

BEHIND 0:58 - JK gives JM a shoulder massage while holding his chest as JM makes satisfied noises. I've seen this clip in compilations before, but hadn't realized it was also from this episode. It's really the gift that keeps on giving!

4:29 - Just prior to the above palm-push game, JM reaches out to do something to JK's sleeve (I think?). The camera cuts before we see clearly.

4:31 - Slightly different angle of JM and JK giggling at the start of the palm-push game.

7:11 - Reveals that RM actually tried to high five JK and was ignored TWICE before Jin called JK's attention away from JM on his knees with a blow-pen in his mouth.

Ep 78 “Food Guest Part 2″ (Ep: 3 / KM: 3)

15:00 - JK jokingly asks what the answer is and Jimin giggles at him as the on-screen text says, "how adorable." Unsurprisingly, the others are less enamored. (JK's biggest fans = 1. Jimin 2. Run BTS on-screen text writers)

BEHIND 9:56 - JK watches JM dance playfully, then wiggles his own hips, seeming to want JM's attention. Jimin smiles and starts to say something that gets cut off.

10:03 - JK films JM as JM dances and smiles while looking into the camera. Jimin is doing silly dance, but JK zooms in on his joyful face. He quickly licks his lips as he watches.

#jikook #kookmin #jikook guide to run bts #run bts

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extraordinarilyextreme · 4 years

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finally watched Guardian (2018) and i need to talk

Warning: contains MASSIVE SPOILERS, probably too much music/song analysis, my poor translations from Chinese to English, and some references to the original novel (disclaimer: my novel-reading was mostly jumping around because i have a problem where I’m not fluent enough to read the original Chinese novel and I don’t usually like English translations)

1. the freakin opening theme: We Won’t Be Falling by Chen Xueran... (also I see you Tina Guo on the cello thank you queen)

the amount of chills i get every time an episode starts,,, fantastic! marvelous! the lyrics are very VERY apt to the story of Guardian, esp this drama adaptation

(“We are the one/We will be holding on/For the promise we held for life/For the people we love are leaving” ... “And the story will keep on going”)

1.1. the promise? may i direct you to novel chapter 75?

Shen Wei: “Sometimes I think if one day you can remember everything, then I will be able to say to you: look, I did it, I did all that I had promised you; not one bit did I miss, not one word did I go back on.”

they promise to keep the peace, to protect both Haixing and Dixing; and in the show, it’s a promise they keep with their lives

2. Zhu Yilong plays THREE characters and is able to differentiate them perfectly with particular microexpressions

-Ye Zun (literally, “Respect the Night”; “Lord/Master of the Night” would be a better title) sets off my fight-or-flight instincts even though i think his name tries a little too hard to be edgy; the way he sneers, the smiles that don’t reach his eyes, also that infamous tongue flick when Zhao Yunlan sees through the act... i think it’s both great and sad that Yunlan could differentiate the twins because, why, Shen Wei would never be so openly flirtatious (and wear a deep-cut shirt like that lol)... the delivery of “Xiao Yunlan” disturbed me so much—wonderful, stellar acting

-Black Cloaked Envoy: does his best to bend the rules where he can for the Dixingren because he’s just so fundamentally GOOD; he’s empathetic despite how stern and strict he seems to be, and how much he claims to enforce the clearly-cut laws... he’s an absolute babie ten thousand years ago (Yunlan, doesn’t it hurt your conscience to flirt with such a babie?)

-Shen Wei: in the novel, his name (both surname and first name) are given to him by Kun Lun’s incarnations—there’s a lot of power in naming something, in naming someone; he’s good-natured and gentle, always polite... he pushes up the glasses [that he doesn’t need] a lot, perhaps because he’s used to pushing up his mask as the Envoy

2.1. i find it very striking that Shen Wei dies without his glasses; he doesn’t die as the Envoy, he doesn’t die as the Professor; he dies as a person, as the person who loves Yunlan the most and has loved Yunlan for ten thousand years

2.2. the other notable moments we see Shen Wei without his glasses are where he apologizes to Yunlan [and Yunlan apologizes at the same time because they’re pining idiots] for not noticing the camera in his office, where he sets aside all his pride as Envoy and Professor and kneels in the rain for the man he loves (lwj kneeling after visiting the Burial Mounds, yea?), and of course after he slices up an orange [cuz food = love] only to find Yunlan asleep and drapes his jacket over the silly silly man... anyway, Yunlan is indeed the only person Shen Wei is comfortable enough to reveal everything to, all defenses and masks (literal and figurative) lowered

2.3. that last instance (ep 26) is when Shen Wei pulls out his necklace and reminisces as he gazes fondly at Yunlan; the song that plays during this is 《乱心曲》or “Chaotic Heart Song”... may I direct you to novel chapter 65 where Yunlan finds all the paintings and pictures his Xiao Wei has kept from the centuries?

“邓林之阴初见昆仑君，惊鸿一瞥，乱我心曲。” which translates to “In the shade of the woods I first saw Kunlun-jun; a glimpse of his grace wrought chaos in my heart’s song”

2.4. but also let’s not forget the [in]famous cut wrist scene of ep 23, where our dear Shen Wei, without glasses, as a person who loves Yunlan—not the aloof Envoy or the well-spoken Professor—is reduced to two words: “Worth it.” Yunlan is worth everything to him; this goes without question, without a second thought. Kun Lun (Yunlan) told him not to regret whatever decisions he’ll make, and Ye Zun scolds and laughs at his brother for giving up his life for a human/Haixingren, but of course Shen Wei doesn’t regret dying to protect Yunlan, dying to protect Haixing. (also, peep the behind-the-scenes where Shen Wei grabs Yunlan’s hand for a moment as he blocks the attack from Ye Zun)

2.5. on this same train of thought, Da Qing brings up a line from ten thousand years ago where Shen Wei claimed he would never kill unless it was for the world... and, well, he kills for Yunlan doesn’t he?

3. Bai Yu plays our charismatic Chief Zhao Yunlan/Kun Lun and hoo boy does he do an excellent job; the found family vibes of the SIU are spectacular and the way he flirts with tries to recruit Professor Shen is endearing and touching

3.1. there’s another piece from the OST called 《一点真心》, translated to “A Little Sincerity” though I would use “A Bit of a Sincere Heart” because it too references the novel

Kun Lun’s confession to Xiao Wei: “我富有天下名山大川，想起来也没什么稀奇的，不过就是一堆烂石头野河水，浑身上下，大概也就只有这几分真心能上秤卖上两斤，你要？拿去。” [I’m rich with famed mountains and endless rivers under heaven, but none of it feels rare when I think about it. It’s all just a pile of broken stones and uncultivated streams. From head to toe, there is probably only this bit of my sincere heart that is worth anything weighed on a scale. You want it? Take it.]

Zhao Yunlan’s confession to Shen Wei: “我别的东西也有，只是你可能大多都看不上，只有这一点真心……你要是不接着，那就算了吧。” [I have other things, only you probably would not think much of them. There’s only this bit of my sincere heart... If you don’t want to catch it, then forget it.)

And Shen Wei’s reply to Yunlan’s confession is of course “我接住了。” [I’ve caught it.]

3.2. the novel is a happy ending because Xiao Guo’s important role actually plays a part (i literally don’t understand why the show couldn’t do that after they built up so many expectations about his good character/merit/inability to be corrupted but ANYWAY)... Shen Wei, Xiao Wei, the little Ghost King has a soul and wow isn’t that just beautiful after everything he did to become worthy/deserving of Kun Lun’s attention and love

4. the Zhang Ruonnan and Wang Yike (death-touch Dixingren) case in ep 3 is an obvious parallel to the “brotherly” relationship of WeiLan... Shen Wei’s line of “Many tragedies were destined from the start” references the show of course but also the paradoxical precognition that marks the drama version of WeiLan; in both of their “first meetings”, one of them was always already in love with the other—Yunlan, as Kun Lun, knew he would have to return to his own time at some point and thus doom this impressionable young Envoy to ten thousand years of waiting and Shen Wei (honestly in a Code Geass Lelouch kinda style) knew he would have to die to defeat his brother

4.1. the importance of “touch” in this case alludes to novel WeiLan, where of course Shen Wei watched over all of Kun Lun’s incarnations but wasn’t allowed to get close to him because hungry ghosts would inevitably devour the essence of the people around them; similarly Yike was terrified of touching Ruonnan all this time... but Ruonnan accepted her (just like how novel Kun Lun lets this intriguing little Ghost King trail after him)

4.2. speaking of Shen Wei’s grand plans and the idea of “knowing”, Yunlan reminds him that “You are not a weapon/blade, you are a person.” and wow once again, only Yunlan can pull the humanity from Shen Wei, who has carefully crafted his disguise and personality to fit what people expect of the Envoy and the Professor... but alas, Shen Wei fulfills his promise by in fact making himself a weapon; he poisons himself to become a bomb that will take down his brother

4.3. as many qualms and complaints as I have with Chinese censorship, much in the case of WangXian, i think i prefer the drama version of WeiLan to the novel version; the plot of the Guardian novel is a lot better in my opinion (with references to mythology and legends, as opposed to, what, aliens?? mutants from X-Men? quirks in My Hero Academia??) and yea the relationship of Kun Lun with Xiao Wei is built up a lot better and makes more sense than the time-travel of Yunlan masquerading as Kun Lun with Shen Wei... but there’s an unadulterated, unconditional kind of love that runs through the drama, whereas the novel had some darker (though probably more realistic) vibes of near-possessiveness and ulterior motives... Kun Lun/Yunlan in the novel can be, well, cruel, which is not necessarily out of character; it’s just seems a little wrong to me that you could threaten your partner in a relationship (if you keep things from me again, i really will turn against you + had i known xyz would happen, i really should have killed you)... plus i’m always a sucker for love without an “i love you”, a love that’s conveyed entirely through actions and gazes

5. Yunlan asks Zhou Weiwei (the mirror case) where her jacket was bought because he “wants to get one for [his] girlfriend” and lo and behold, what similarly-styled and colored coat does our Shen Wei show up in a few episodes later? (also the fact that Shen Wei dies wearing this jade-ish-blue-ish coat)

6. boyfriend jacket during the Moutain-River Awl case... boyfriend jacket!!!! Shen Wei claims he doesn’t need it and well he still wears it anyway because Yunlan’s love is unstoppable

6.1. the way Shen Wei grabs Yunlan’s elbow before running down the hill

6.2. Shen Wei being so freaking fine-tuned to Yunlan’s discomfort/pain as always that he drinks wine for him (and passes out immediately—heroics/bde of yllz! wwx and the alcohol tolerance of our dear lwj)

6.2.1. when Minister Gao brings up Yunlan’s dad and the Chief’s hands tighten... and of course nothing can go by Shen Wei, so he changes the topic of the conversation; also the way he leans forward as if to shield Yunlan

6.2.2. Yunlan is similarly Aware of his boyfriend’s boundaries; cue him politely excusing themselves from the dinner with Vice-Minister Guo when Shen Wei (of all people!) fumbles with his chopsticks

6.2.3. Yunlan also blocks Shen Wei from Minister Gao’s sight (subconsciously?) after that wedding showdown... even though he’s unhappy that Shen Wei has kept the identity of the Envoy from him, he trusts the other man enough to recognize there must be a reason; thus he doesn’t want other people to pry into the possibility that Shen Wei is a Dixingren

6.3. also, also that Shen Wei lets Yunlan have his way and use him as a pillow in the car once again (he also adjusts the actual pillow beneath Yunlan’s head to make it more comfortable)

6.3.1 the other Shen-Wei-is-Yunlan’s-pillow scene is when the professor picks up the poor hurting Chief off the road and in the taxi ride home... apparently this was an improvised scene from Bai Yu who just wanted to mess with Long-ge and our great Zhu Yilong just stayed in character and ran with it

6.3.2. the other notable improvised scene is the cute “Black Cloaked gege~ please be careful~ there’s someone is waiting for you at home~” [sorry that i don’t remember the exact line] but once again our great leading actors just stay perfectly in character

6.4. after Shen Wei wakes up from a night of being drunk (lol) Yunlan has left a note for him “I’ve gone back first, stay in touch. -Zhao” and what’s that on the corner of the note? why it’s a winky face

7. when Yunlan grabs the fake Zhang Danni’s wrist to confirm his suspicions, Shen Wei narrows his eyes... (lol is our Black Cloaked gege jealous)

8. when Yunlan claims he can swallow the painkillers dry, Shen Wei clenches his jaw in his anger at this idiot of a man for not taking better care of himself... you’ll find that a lot of Shen Wei’s anger is directed toward his husband being a self-sacrificial fool

8.1. after Yunlan uses the Hallows again and his nose begins to bleed, Zhu Yilong in all his acting glory has Shen Wei furious to the point that his lips tremble (cue Shen Wei angrily shoving a handkerchief into his husband’s face) [i really want to know if they ever broke character during this scene due to their proximity lol]

8.1.1. Shen Wei all but invades Yunlan’s personal space (he really does stand there between Yunlan’s legs guys) and he’s so careful even though he’s angry as he tries to stop the nosebleed; he’s aware the force might tip Yunlan backwards, so he immediately rests his hands on Yunlan’s thighs/knees to steady him

9. Yunlan has claimed that he doesn’t do things for the sake of gaining anything in return and yet every time he’s wanted things from dear Shen Wei... “take off your mask and smile for me”, “join the SID”... the sexual tension is Unreal during these scenes lol, you can see Shen Wei swallow visibly in anticipation + babie Shen Wei of ten thousand years prior all but chokes on his words when he promises to do ANYTHING Kun Lun wants him to do (honey where is your mind GOING???)

9.1. Bai Yu does have a bruise on his knee after the scene where Yunlan asks Shen Wei for something... dunno if it’s the actor’s bruise or the character’s bruise, but if it’s the character’s bruise—how did he get it? what exactly did WeiLan do that evening lol

9.2. also peep the fact that Yunlan almost always has a lollipop in his mouth when talking to Shen Wei... oral fixation much? (also the whole sequence where he tries to explain how to eat a lollipop to babie Shen Wei, wow the amount of homoerotic tension)

9.3. babie Shen Wei’s ears and cheeks are SO RED when Yunlan snatches the mask off his face

10. Yunlan’s hairstyle changes after Shen Wei joins the SIU (joins his family), much like how a bride would change her hairstyle after marriage in China ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (random note but CQL WangXian does this too when lwj puts his hair down/styled over the front of his shoulders when wwx wakes up 16 years later)

11. the first time we see Shen Wei spit up blood, there’s an echo of “Xiao Wei” faintly and Shen Wei mutters to himself “Xiao Lan” before looking up and saying louder “Zhao Yunlan” (nicknames/pet names/names only your family or lover can call you... this trope is good)

11.1. i also think a lot about how in the novel Kun Lun muses before he dies that it’s a shame he won’t see this Little Beauty [Xiao Wei] grow up to be a Great Beauty

12. Shen Wei’s funny little eyebrow raise when Yunlan accidentally reveals he broke into the professor’s apartment once ( “riiiiiiiiight i definitely believe you”)

12.1. though the ep 23 scene is angsty, the fact Yunlan says “It’s the middle of the night, were you hungry?” seems to imply their relationship is a lot closer than just neighbors... they’re probably used to sharing an apartment/room at this point :)

13. when Yunlan is hurt, Zhu Hong looks to him but he only has eyes for Shen Wei

13.1. after Yunlan is blinded, Zhu Hong is the one cradling him but he calls for Shen Wei first and reaches for his hand; Shen Wei of course responds immediately “it’s me”

13.1.1. both times after Yunlan gets his eyesight back, the first thing he sees is the person who loves him the most

14. Shen Wei warms up the congee in the morning with his magic after he watches over Yunlan when his stomach pain acts up (domestic use of magic? yes please)

15. the bomb defusing scene in the hospital (video game -> reality case) really is framed like a wedding proposal... also the way that Shen Wei smirks lol he’s so proud of his husband

16. after his Envoy identity is revealed, Shen Wei all but abuses his Black Cloaked Envoy voice to stop his stupid husband from doing stupid things that will hurt himself and every time Yunlan is properly sh00k by it

16.1. we really go from Chief Zhao remarking in the Mountain-River Awl case that he’s used to ordering people around, not receiving orders to married bickering with Shen Wei to then agreeing to everything Shen Wei tells him to do

17. the fact that “Shen Wei, ah, Shen Wei... You are such a good person, how could I bear to let you go?” is an actual line from the censored DRAMA astounds me, nevermind that Shen Wei just made breakfast for his man and Yunlan is basically pouting up at him from the bed

17.1. the way Yunlan’s dad warns him to stay away from Shen Wei and Yunlan responds with something like “he’s sincerely good to me, I want to be with him”... “be with him”???? [inhales deeply] yea this is definitely a “brotherly relationship”

18. Yunlan’s “WOW” after the Envoy kills the monsters in the cave of the Mountain-River Awl case is hilarious and i dont understand how such a noise is physically possible,,, it sounds like a growl?????

18.1. Zhu Yilong was asked to mimic it during an interview (which he did not do and only half-heartedly gave a “wow”) and then Bai Yu did it again

19. also i inevitably got attached to the side ship of Lao Chu and Xiao Guo... they have so much skinship for a censored “brotherly relationship” lmao

the amount of face-touching and hand-holding that they do is unreal... they’re more canon than WeiLan in the drama adaptation methinks

20. 《时间飞行》or “Flying Across Time” sounds like Yunlan’s reply to Shen Wei’s《只是太在意》or “Just Cared Too Much”

20.1. the lyrics of both these songs really cements this idea that both of WeiLan believe the other to be too good... Kun Lun was a god in the novel, and Xiao Wei was just a soulless little Ghost King... and then we have the incorrigible Chief Zhao pining after the beautiful and kind Professor Shen... i just have a lot of feelings about them becoming better people for each other, that their love really does make each other stronger

21. my favorite two pieces from the OST are Shen Wei’s theme (arranged by Kun Luo) and Kun Lun’s theme (arranged by Chen Xueran)

head’s up: it’s been like four years since i last even glanced at music theory so a lot of this might just make no sense to an actual professional

-Shen Wei: written in 4/4 time, Ab Major, melody is primarily carried by piano + strings; the piano almost sticks exclusively to triplets whereas the strings are in steady whole, quarter, and eighth notes—which creates in interesting impressionistic effect, kind of like hazy smoke or the ripples across the surface of a lake; every single measure uses decrescendo, so the first triplet is always the loudest and the three that follow get progressively softer (mimicking an echo)... the piece ends on the seventh note of the scale, which is usually a pretty awkward place to end and yet it doesn’t feel wrong it all; the piece uses a ritardando in the last three measures, and we simply drift off with that last G... i think it’s a beautifully written piece that perfectly portrays such a complex character as Shen Wei, someone who loved with everything he had, and was just so overwhelmingly good... and then he simply disappears as if the dream has ended. it makes me think of how he guarded over Kun Lun/Zhao Yunlan for thousands of years in the novel, never ever ever daring to meet him... and yet the other man always felt like he was waiting for someone

-Kun Lun: written in 3/4 time, a minor, there’s no real complex shift in the melody although there’s brief modulation into E major (dominant/fifth note); it’s a fairly somber piece, especially when the strings join in... it’s a steady waltz, and it finishes with the scale (second to last major is g, last major is a), like a circle coming back around [like their love story perhaps?]... there’s a finality to it, a completeness, a wholeness, which makes sense in the drama-verse because the moment Yunlan takes up the name of Kun Lun is when his love story with Shen Wei all fits together. the piece feels a little lonely in its minor key and all, a little sad, indeed as if you were standing at the top of a mountain surrounded by clouds and mist... the constant meter also reminds me of like the steady drip of water, the perpetual and inevitable passage of the days and time

-i don’t really understand how because the keys of the two pieces don’t fit together easily, but somehow it doesn’t feel wrong to play the pieces back to back; the melodies of both seem to call upon each other despite the differences in key and time signature, so it actually feels right. a circle without a beginning or an ending, wouldn’t you want your love to be so infinite?

-when yunlan finds shen wei in their bubble outside of time, when shen wei is about to leave him, shen wei is wearing the outfit of their first meeting. and the lyrics go “Across time, I am in the same place”... surely, they will find each other again.

#guardian #cdrama ramblings #zhenhun #镇魂 guardian

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jenanigans1207 · 3 years

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Lonely with Me |Renga|

Okay so I binged all 8 eps of Sk8 today. And like, I know ep 8 is already out but if I had started watching last week, this is the fic I would have written to help myself cope with the tragedy that was ep 7. And I decided that I want to write it anyways because I still have a lot of feelings about it. So, I hope you enjoy!

-- x

It wasn’t supposed to rain today, but Reki doesn’t care.

The rain patters to the ground around him, drowning out the sound of his ragged breathing, his broken heartbeats. It trickles down his back, across his face, it feels like tears. It wasn’t supposed to rain, but Reki thinks there’s some sort of ironic humor in the universe, some sort of sick joke that he has to endure as he walks away from his best friend, head bowed as his shattered heart somehow finds a way to break a little more with every step.

At this point, he’s already drenched to the bone anyways, the water sloshing in his shoes with each slowing step. His house is still a few streets away and the lamps are the only light he has to guide him there. And he should be going home, he has every reason to go home, but he finds that his feet stop moving of their own accord. He tries to breathe in the cool air of the rain, tries to feel the dampness against his cheek and think of it as refreshing. It doesn’t work.

Because the only thing he’s actually thinking about is Langa and the way he didn’t follow.

Reki walked away and Langa— Langa just let him go.

Langa, who stopped him from doing reckless things. Langa who tried to nurse him back to health when he was broken. Langa who had never let Reki get too far away, who had always reached out for him, circled back for him, sought him out in a crowd. Langa, who seemed to always hear Reki, even when he wasn’t speaking, who seemed to understand the language of Reki’s soul and managed to read between the lines. Langa, who Reki trusted more than anyone else, who Reki needed in his life, wanted in his life. Langa just let him walk away like he wasn’t just one gentle breeze away from falling apart completely.

Did Langa not see the way he was hurting, not hear the barbs laced into all of his words? For all that Langa had always been good at understanding what Reki really meant, he didn’t seem able to figure it out tonight. He’d just stared wide-eyed at Reki’s back as he’d stomped away through the puddles, his feelings washing away from the space between the two of them, drowned out a little more with every raindrop that seems to punctuate their growing distance.

He tries not to think about it, but his head is an echo chamber, replaying his words over and over again. Replaying Langa’s silence on loop until it drives him absolutely insane. What he needs is to get away from it all, to get home, to lock himself in his room. Reki needs to bury his face in a pillow and block out the rest of the world, not sit outside in the rain and catch his death.

Reki slumps to the ground anyways, pressing his back against the stone wall and dropping his forehead against his knees. He’d been fighting the weight of this for days, watching as Langa got further and further ahead of him. It had been a hard battle but at least then he’d been treading water, managing to somehow stay afloat despite it all. He had been able to put his fear of being left behind away and had been excited for his friend. But now— now he was drowning from it, the weight pulling him straight to the depths of the ocean with no hope of escaping. Reki may be good at skateboarding but it turns out he’s terrible at swimming and even worse at dealing with these feelings. The light of the surface is so far away now, he can’t even see it.

Logic told him that he should be happy for his friend. And he was, of course he was. Langa was brilliant and watching him skate was magical. It had been since the very first time Reki had seen him take on the S. Hell, it had been magical before that. From the first moment Langa stepped foot on Reki’s skateboard, only to fall flat on his back less than a second later, Reki had been enthralled. There was something about the way Langa moved on a skateboard, something about the way he made the sport his own— it was captivating, breathtaking, impossible to look away from. Everyone saw it— Snow had risen to the tip of everyone’s tongue lately, a name thrown around casually as if people knew him.

But they didn’t know him, not the way Reki did. They weren’t used to watching him practice skating, they hadn’t seen him start at the bottom. They had never seen his face as he’d hit the ground after his hundredth failed attempt at a trick, only to watch it harden back into determination as he got up to try it again. They didn’t know what his laugh sounded like, or the way he brushed his hair out of his face, they didn’t know what he looked like at the end of a long night, blinking the sleep away. They knew Snow, but Reki knew Langa. He knew the touch of Langa’s hand around his wrist as he shook his head with finality, cutting off some silly idea before Reki could even finish forming it. He knew the smile that Langa reserved only for when he nailed a new skill he’d been practicing.

He knew what it was like to have Langa nestled inside of his chest, right up against his heart. He was the only person Langa read like an open book, the only one Langa protected. Reki still remembered the look on Langa’s face after his beef with Adam, the way Langa’s expression had switched from worry to fury in such a quick second that Reki would’ve missed it if he’d blinked. He knew Langa as well as he knew himself because Langa was his best friend, his most important person. Langa was the person he shared his passion with, the one who listened to him as he rattled on and on about everything skating related.

Langa was the one he had left behind in the rain. The one who’d done nothing but watch him go.

God. This wasn’t supposed to hurt so bad.

The worst part was that there was nobody to blame. He couldn’t possibly be mad at Langa for being a genius— it wasn’t like Langa had chosen that. It wasn’t even like Langa had purposely wielded it against him. All Langa had been doing this time was having fun, that was clear in the look in his eyes every time he stepped onto his board. He’d been finding his place in this new world that he was suddenly thrust into, finding a way to express himself through all the things he’d been through. He was finding something to be passionate about again, something to give him back a piece of himself that he’d felt like he’d lost. He loved skating as much as he had loved snowboarding and Reki would never take that away from him. It came to Langa as natural as breathing by now and that was something Reki could be jealous of, but he couldn’t blame Langa for it.

He couldn’t blame himself either, though, not really. Because that would make it better. If the fact of the matter was just that he hadn’t tried hard enough, hadn’t put in the hours practicing— if the truth was that he was a coward, that he scared easily and didn’t have the guts for this, well that was something he could face. More than that, it was something he could fix. He could put it more time practicing, he could study the other skaters with more dedication, he could work on facing his fears. If it was his fault, he could do something about it, could manage to close the gap between him and Langa, even if just marginally. But that wasn’t the truth. Reki loved skating, too. Reki had been skating for nearly as long as Langa had been snowboarding, He had put in years, numerous broken bones and a lot of sleepless nights. He had watched video after video online, studied all the top skaters at the S, he’d put in the work and even when he didn’t see progress as fast as he would have liked to, he put in more work.

There wasn’t anything Reki could do that he hadn’t already been doing, There wasn’t anything that would allow him to catch back up to Langa.

And maybe that’s why it actually hurt so bad. Because the fact of the matter, the one Reki had been forced to face jump after jump after jump, that graffiti star an unattainable goal mocking him from just a few feet away, was that he and Langa weren’t the same. They weren’t in the same category, they weren’t the same skill level. And the gap between them was only going to grow wider. Because no matter how many times Reki made that same jump, no matter how many techniques he tried, he simply couldn’t reach any higher. And yet, it seemed like Langa got a little closer to the stars every time his feet touched his deck.

Pretty soon Langa would be so far away that he’d be nothing but a brilliant speck of light for Reki to admire from afar. He’d be nothing but fond memories of a time Reki had found his best friend, the person who fit the edges of his soul with perfect ease. He would watch Langa rise in the ranks and he would think of these months they spent together, learning to speak each other’s language, to meet each other in the middle. He would remember Langa’s laugh, the way he would duck his head as if it could somehow hide the melodic sound. And then he would think about how he’d lost all of that, how it had been just enough to whet his appetite before it had been ripped away from him, forever leaving a Langa-shaped hole in his heart.

And it was true that Langa hadn’t left Reki behind— yet. So far, Langa always came back for Reki, always glanced over his shoulder to make sure Reki was still there. Whenever he accomplished something new, Reki was the first person he showed, the approval he sought. But Reki had seen him skate against Adam, had seen the way he’d effortlessly flipped straight over Adam’s hug, like it was nothing. Like it was the only obvious thing he could have done. He saw the way Langa wanted more, craved for something further ahead of him. And if Reki was behind him already, there was no way he would ever be able to help Langa satisfy that craving.

It was really only a matter of time before Langa left Reki behind.

Or, it was a matter of time before Langa should leave Reki behind if he wanted to keep advancing and growing. Just as these feelings of bitterness had been weighing Reki down, he knew that he was starting to way Langa down. Langa could never get better if he kept skating with Reki, kept trying to match Reki’s pace instead of setting his own. He couldn’t develop his skill any further by Reki’s side and even though that cut, even though it hurt worse than every broken bone that Reki had ever had, stung worse than all of the road rash he’d acquired over the years, he didn’t want to be the reason Langa was stuck. Just like he didn’t want Langa to get hurt because of him, he didn’t want Langa to give up his potential, either. Langa was destined to shine and Reki was casting a shadow over his brilliant light.

So as much as it hurt, as terribly as it sucked— and it did, oh it did— Reki knew that he had to break free from Langa. He knew that he had to put the space between them, to sever the tie that Langa was using to drag him along. Because Langa was— well, he was Langa.

He was quiet, but genuinely interested in everything Reki had to say. He was soft spoken but the things he did say were brilliant. He added great insight. He was protective, fierce—

Reki pulled his knees closer to his chest.

He needed to stop thinking like this. He needed to haul himself off the ground and finish dragging his sorry ass home. He needed to collapse, maybe pretend to be sick tomorrow so he could lay in bed all day. He needed to do something because right now he was sitting in one spot, an easy target for all the emotions he had been trying so desperately to avoid. He didn’t think he could outrun them, not anymore, but he ought to at least try.

Somewhere in the distance, the sound of water starts to shift. It takes Reki a few seconds to realize that he’s hearing more than just raindrops now, he’s hearing a set of footsteps in the puddles. He considers for a moment trying to get up now, but whichever other poor soul is out in this rain has already seen him and really, he still doesn’t have the will to do anything but stay exactly where he is. If he’s lucky, the person will just pass him right on by, biting back whatever questions they have for a young boy sitting in the rain with his head bowed.

“Reki.” The sound of Langa’s voice is almost enough to make Reki jump right out of his skin. “You’re going to get sick if you keep sitting there.”

“So?” Reki manages to mumble, pressing his forehead firmer against his knees.

Langa sighs and Reki refuses to look up at him, refuses to see the way the lights are reflecting in his eyes, the way his longer hair curls gently at the back of his head. Reki refuses to look up and acknowledge that Langa had actually come after him in the end.

He refuses to look at Langa because if he does, he’ll say all the things he doesn’t want Langa to know.

He doesn’t look at Langa, because if he does, he’ll tell Langa that he doesn’t want him to go, that he wants to keep skating with him for as long as Langa will let him. He’ll tell Langa that he misses him, even if he’s only two feet away. He’ll tell Langa all these things that will become a burden on Langa because he’s too gentle to leave Reki behind, even if he needs to. So it’s up to Reki to cut the ties for his sake and he can’t do that if he sees Langa standing over him in the rain.

“Reki.” Langa repeats, but this time it’s so quiet, it’s almost drowned out by the rain entirely. When Reki doesn’t respond, doesn’t shift even a little bit, Langa steps closer, closer, closer and then he’s sitting down next to Reki, pressing his own back against the stone wall, his shoulder brushing Reki’s in the process.

For a moment, they just sit side by side like this, close enough that Reki can just feel the warmth of Langa’s skin despite the rain that still cascades down on them. They sit in the silence of the late night, no other people daring to be out in weather such as this. It’s almost peaceful, honestly, As peaceful as something can be when Reki is trying to nurse the jagged edges of a broken heart so they don’t get the chance to cut him any deeper.

Reki thinks that Langa is leaving it up to him to talk, to start whatever conversation they’re supposed to be having, It’s a fair thing for Langa to do, considering that Reki is the one who walked away, the one who is clearly carrying some burden— a burden that he only allowed Langa to see a glimpse of. It’s only reasonable to assume that Reki would have more to say after that, but he really doesn’t.

And then Langa shifts next to him, turning so that he’s facing Reki. Reki still isn’t looking at him, but he can see Langa’s legs and feet as he moves and then suddenly there’s a warm hand on his shoulder and it’s enough to jolt Reki into at least lifting his head.

He really shouldn’t have because Langa looks just as broken as Reki feels, his wet hair falling limp around his face, the longer edges of his hair kissing his shoulders along with the raindrops. He looks like he’s in pain and Reki’s immediate reaction is to want to fix it, even though he’s the cause of it.

This really became quite the mess.

“I want to skate with you.” Langa says after a moment, the words almost choked, as if he can barely get them out. “I want to beat Adam, but I want to skate with you.”

And there really is a difference there, Reki knows. He can feel it in the way Langa emphasizes the words. Beating Adam, that’s a one time thing. But skating together? That’s— that’s everything. That’s daily, nightly, forever. That’s the exact thing that Reki has unintentionally fallen in love with. Skating together is laughing together, it’s continuing to speak each other’s language. Skating together means more of Langa’s hands as he bandages up Reki’s newest injury, more chances to watch Langa’s eyes light up as he masters something new. Skating together is continuing to bare their souls to each other, meeting each other in the middle.

Langa doesn’t want to compete with Reki, that’s what he’s saying. He wants to share this with Reki, for it to be something they both hold dear. Langa wants to surpass Adam and leave him in the dust, but he wants to keep Reki at his side.

“You’re better than I am.” Reki responds feebly, glancing down to where Langa’s foot is almost touching his. “You should go on ahead.”

For a moment, Langa seems to chew on his response, thinking of how to properly say whatever words are all jumbled up in his mind. Reki has seen him do it before and, apparently, if Langa gets his way, he’ll see him do it again in the future.

“I don’t skate to be good.” Langa finally says. “I skate to have fun. And I have fun skating with you.”

“You have fun skating with Adam, too.” Reki replies. He doesn’t want to say these words, doesn’t want to keep digging the knife deeper into his own heart, but he tries to anyways. “You can keep having fun skating with Adam because he’ll keep challenging you.”

“No.”

It’s all Langa says before there’s a set of arms enveloping Reki, pulling him flush into Langa’s soaking wet body. Reki falls into him, his arms finally letting go of his legs as he allows himself a brief moment to just be held by Langa. And then, after a few seconds tick by, he wraps his own arms back around Langa, his hands fisting in the back of Langa’s shirt as he pulls him closer, pressing his face into Langa’s shoulder.

Langa’s hold is firm and unyielding as he buries his own face in the hair on top of Reki’s head. They don’t speak, not for a long time, but Langa’s always been good at hearing what’s inside Reki’s heart, even if Reki hasn’t tried putting it into words. And the longer he remains in Langa’s embrace, the more he realizes that he, too, can read into the depths of Langa’s heart. He can feel it in the way Langa smooths a hand down his back, the desperation for things to not end here. He can hear it in Langa’s rattling breaths, that he’s going to keep fighting for this, that he’s not going to just let Reki walk away again.

“I’m sorry—“ Reki starts to say, but his apology is cut short by Langa pulling away from him. Not far— not far at all, in fact. He’s so close, his blue eyes sparkling in a way that Reki has never seen before.

Their arms are still wrapped around each other as their gazes lock and there seems to be something filling the air besides the rain suddenly. Reki tries to swallow, to form the rest of his apology, to explain to Langa that he’s just afraid of losing the one thing that matters to him more than anything else. He wants to tell Langa that losing him will hurt worse than losing his friend in the past and that he’s handled it completely the wrong way but his intentions were good and he just wanted Langa to shine—

But before any of the words can find their way past the lump in his throat, Langa is leaning in and Reki can’t do anything but lean in, too, his eyes fluttering as the feeling between them grows to an almost unbearable level. They’re close, so close, painfully close—

The wall of water that drenches them is somehow cold, despite the fact that they were both already dripping wet. Reki makes some sort of startled noise and shoots backwards, trying to brush his hair out of his face. Langa is in the same spot, arms out to the side as he tries to shake some of the extra water off, but there’s a smile on his face. The driver of the car that had drenched them yells some sort of apology out of their window before continuing onwards. Reki, too stunned to have any idea what to do, turns to Langa only to see his shoulders shaking with laughter.

And then suddenly he’s laughing out loud, throwing his head back as he tucks his wet hair behind his ears and Reki finds that he’s laughing too. He’s laughing and his ribs and lungs are burning and it feels good and warm against the cold of the evening, it’s a balm against the storm of emotions that has only just started to be quelled inside of him.

“I’m sorry,” He says to Langa again, after they’ve finally gotten their laughter back under control. He knows Langa doesn’t need an apology, but he deserves one. “I was just— feeling left behind and lonely.”

“Reki, I’ll never leave you behind.” Langa says with the same conviction that he had promised Reki that he wouldn’t give up skateboarding, even if he got seriously injured. He says it with so much feeling that Reki knows it’s more than a promise, it's a guarantee.

Even though he still doesn’t like Langa going up against Adam again, even though he worries for Langa’s safety and still knows that he’s going to have bouts of loneliness as he tries desperately to close this gap between them, as he chases in Langa’s shadow, he knows that he’s going to have Langa by his side through it all. And maybe being lonely isn't terrible if he has someone to be lonely with.

Reki stands up finally, tucking his skateboard under one arm and extending his other hand to Langa. “Whatever you say mister hot shot, Snow.”

Langa takes his hand with a dramatic roll of his eyes and allows Reki to haul him to his feet. “If you act like that, maybe I will leave you behind.”

Or maybe, Reki thinks as Langa falls in step next to him as they head towards his house together, an unspoken agreement to dry off passing between them, he won’t be lonely at all.

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

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July 17: 2x26 Assignment: Earth

Finally finished up S2 of TOS yesterday. That was... a rough episode tbh. I’m just gonna say it: back door pilots are bad! They’re bad. If I wanted to watch that other show, I’d watch it.

Wow, they’re just really jumping right in, huh? “Here we are, on a routine mission into the past, using a time travel method that we invented nbd.”

Investigating desperate problems in the year 2020...2016.... no wait 1968.

Ooh, Spock in the transport room today. Does he have a whole extra random station there? That’s so weird; I’ve never seen that before. It’s like hidden in the corner.

Cat!! Cat!!

What a good actor. I’m still bitter that wikipedia has a whole section about the casting for “Isis the cat” that talks entirely about the human who played Isis for 2 minutes and nothing about the talented feline actor. Where did they find her? How did they teach her to act?

She has a lot of thoughts about Kirk.

I wrote down “Scully, you’ve got to see this” in my notes and I’ve already forgotten what it refers to lol. Some moment that I thought would fit well with my favorite x-files meme.

Change history, you say? Spock is intrigued. ...Admittedly, Spock is often intrigued.

“What if it turns out you’re an invading alien from the future?” Honestly...let him invade. You’re not supposed to be here anyway.

I’m pretty insulted by this. The aliens went through all this trouble to help in 1968...where are our alien helpers NOW?

The cat straight up attacked his face.

Kirk is so fond of Spock being fond of the cat.

“It’s a lovely animal. I feel myself strangely drawn to it.”

Kirk is way too confused by Seven--an allegedly human person with super-human abilities that he says come from aliens--and yet, he’s met Charlie X so??? Is this not the same?

Kirk’s got the whole crew checking in on zoom.

(I actually do like this sequence of him getting video calls from different parts of the ship.)

“Weren’t orbiting H-bombs a huge problem in 1968?” Looks at the camera like he’s on The Office. Not the subtlest bit of writing in the “social commentary” genre. I do say this with love, though. I always enjoy when they comment on contemporary problems.

“He has a totally perfect body.” Lol don’t distract these two bisexuals.

[soft meowing]

“The prisoner has escaped.” The way this is shot, it looks like he’s talking about the cat.

Hmm, I do love the decor. Very 60s. This honestly immediately feels like a different show, and a much more dated show; even when the Enterprise time travels, it tends not to time travel to... office space.

Love the little sounds the computer makes.

So is Isis supposed to be one of the fancy aliens? It’s never explained but one must assume she is.

Aw, he’s petting her paw.

So I assumed the cats sounds are real, but just dubbed. They’re not lol. Which I guess isn’t surprising: this cat makes a lot of noises! They were provided by a human voice actress.

Damn.... I want a secret bookshelf that turns around to reveal a super computer with a big screen. “Computer... play Netflix.”

That’s what Seven does in his spare time.

The computer is an AI. “Beta 5 snobbery” lol.

Where are OUR alien overlords to stop US from destroying ourselves before WE can mature into a peaceful society?

This is really masterful exposition lol. Not forced or awkward at all.

ST sure does love the snooty female computer trope.

“Get us the proper costumes.” Yes, get Spock his Requisite Hat.

Omicron IV....that’s one of the names they use in Futurama lol. Such nerds.

Another excellent Spock Hat.

I love Seven’s various IDs. Great style. I wish my driver’s license looked like those.

“Who do you think you are?” He hasn’t decided yet. That’s why he was shifting through his IDs.

Seven is not smart lol. Like, he should have figured out way faster that this lady isn’t one of the Alien Overlords. He asks her the code question, she doesn’t understand it, and he... assumes she’s just really in character? Dude, that’s what the code questions are for!!! To help you identify people! Otherwise you could just straight up ask: are you an alien?

Instead he’s like “oh, you silly alien, you’re playing with me,” and then is forced to trap her, reveal his whole mission, and ultimately ensnare her in his plan.

I want that typewriter. Voice recognition typewriter.

"My incompetence has made you aware of very secret devices." Well at least he knows.

Trained cat!

The alien overlords were killed in a random car accident. That’s ironic.

Oh look, a real rocket!

Brown pants + short sleeved shirt + tie is such a Classic 60s look.

This security guard doesn’t think it’s weird that this random dude has a cat with him? Is this part of Isis’s alien power?

Except for the part where it’s a weapon, it’s pretty cool to see all this build up to, like... launching stuff into space. Exciting.

Isis likes to be on shoulders. Just like Little Guy.

New hat for Spock. His outer wear hat, and now his fancy hat. There is something to be said for this ep, and that is Kirk and Spock in suits.

Amazing how they literally launched rockets with computers that old. Like seeing the big bank of primitive computers is totally wild. We put people on the moon that way! Amazing.

“Meow.” Lol, Isis is stressed so she’s speaking like a cat. That’s a pretty funny joke actually.

Seven is so incompetent. If he’d just let the Enterprise help, Scotty could have fixed that rocket issue in like 3 seconds.

Lol everyone’s just pulling Gary through space. Now on the Enterprise. Now in the office.

Why does this computer have a hug black screen if it only displays images on the small white circle?

"Spock and I in custody. Main characters, doing nothing, knowing nothing, totally useless and irrelevant. I have never felt more helpless." Literally what is even the point of them today? Does Spock even have lines outside of “I like the cat”?

Isis is jealous of Roberta. Is she.. in a relationship with Seven lol?

Uhura is listening to everyone in the world. She probably has a universal translator on, but I do feel like this scene implies she just...understands all the languages.

So now the warhead is armed and heading to somewhere vague... in other words, everyone has collectively made the situation worse.

....Or this was Seven’s plan all along? To scare people into ceasing to be so careful with nuclear weaponry? As someone who knows humans better than this guy, I think this is a dumbass plan.

“That’s why so many people in my generation are kind of crazy and rebels.” Same, sweetheart.

Really this is just a story about bad communication. If Seven had told Kirk his plan upfront, Kirk would have helped him. And if Kirk weren’t so insistent on involving himself in something just because he happens to be somewhere he probably shouldn’t be, we wouldn’t have this issue either. The hubris of everyone.

Overall, just a really forced narrative imo.

Or that’s how it was supposed to be lol. The Irony of time travel. By it’s nature, everything has already worked out.

Kirk and Spock are like “You’re welcome. Peace out.”

Honestly... Isis was the only good part. Such a talented cat actor!! Or trio of cat actors, I guess. Had to do all those stunts and stuff.. .amazing. I also liked the concept of Isis. How she turned into a human later just to troll Roberta. How she’s never really explained--one must assume, an alien? Plus I pretty much never get tired of human + animal teams where the animal makes animal noises and the human just understands and answers in English.

As a stand alone sci fi concept...it was okay. Kinda dated by now. The alien tech was nifty and Roberta could have grown on me. Maybe even Seven, though he left a lot to be desire. That said, the narrative relied a lot on people getting in each other’s way for no reason, which I find very frustrating.

But as a Star Trek episode....no. The main characters were just nuisances on the side lines!! I’m not even sure what Kirk’s mission here was--to try to figure out what Seven was doing? And stop him if necessary? But he never really decided if it was or not, until the point where not trusting him would basically cause a nuclear war? I don’t know, I found it all very frustrating. The melding of the original show and the spinoff was not smooth.

If I were watching this in 1968, I’d feel very cheated. THIS was the season finale? That’s it? I don’t even get a real Star Trek episode and now I have to wait months for anything new?

And what I get after all that waiting is Spock’s Brain?? I’d be tempted to quit. If I had a tumblr in 1969 I’d be writing multi-paragraph rants about how the best show on television has completely nose-dived lol.

But then there’s The Enterprise Incident, which is one of the best episodes... I don’t know, man. It’s a conundrum. I’ve only seen maybe half of season 3 but from what I remember it’s very uneven: some of the best eps (The Enterprise Incident, For the World Is Hollow, Day of the Dove) mixed in with some of the worst (Spock’s Brain, The Paradise Syndrome), plus some that are good concepts but shoddily executed (The Way to Eden). So we’ll see what I think about it when I see it all in one piece, in air date order.

#the year 2021 #2021: fandom thoughts #2021: star trek #star trek tos

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grrrlsoverdramas · 4 years

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i don't even get why people aren't liking her, so far she's EXACTLY like louis from shopping king louis, the misogyny is very obvious bc people absolutely loved louis

Okay this ask is getting all my word vomit so I stop talking about it:

tbh I didn’t watch shopping king louis because it didn’t appeal to me -- so I can’t be too mad that people don’t like ddsslls, but it’s the way that people express their dislike that annoys me.

I’m pretty sure I didn’t like SKL in large part because I like to be attracted to male characters and I don’t find stupid men attractive -- do I want to watch women do all the emotional and intellectual labor??? no thanks that’s life. But do I enjoy the wish fulfillment of having a guy who’s willing to wash a girl’s hair even though she’s not perfect? yeah.

Reading so many posts in the tag saying that the writer’s quality had somehow dropped or they were hugely disappointed was so silly to me. Why were their expectations so high? Are either of these shows art pieces? Are either of these shows complex explorations of the human experiences?

Like, people on this hellsite really watched this show and though it was poetic cinema or something and then watched DDSSLLS and thought.... Wow, now this is bad and cliche writing.

I was also just quite surprised at the number of people upset that she kept borrowing money from him when she hit him with his car, when as someone who bikes every day I can tell you he did a dumb thing and caused that accident himself (even though she’s technically at fault). Also, he clearly wants to be doing all these things and wants her to like him and wants to take care of her. And clearly his connection to her is more complex than we already know.

Rara is someone who was given zero life skills, who was cared for and loved and coddled by all those she met. @creoliteas is right in that the first ep is so much in line with the emma/clueless vibes of “handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence, and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.” Rara is even more like Emma in that she is truly unlikeable and untrustworthy in her own understanding of the world, but like emma she is ultimately warm and loving and trying her best.

SO anyway, I don’t think that ddsslls is high art, but it has the charm and hijinx of many of the dramas I watched 10 years ago, which was what I enjoyed about Terrius. The performances are quite good, and I think the direction so far is as well.

Also it’s directed by a woman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHICH IS SO EXCITING!

#asks #anyway #I'm very chill u know #Anonymous

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nobody-knose--archive · 3 years

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well, today i figured i didn’t have anything better to do & liveblogged the pingry ep. it’s probably a better stepping stone further into the tally void than incomplete demos, coming right off of complete demos, at least.

-from what i know this one basically includes all the mmmm songs that weren't on complete demos (andrew singing ones wahoo) & the expected demos that didn't end up anywhere else + just a friend. i also believe this one was recorded similarly to complete demos so i really have no clue what to expect for taken for a ride's vocals. anyway here i go

-the bidding sounds impressively professional to start things off, but i suppose humming isn't a terribly complex technique anyway. the intro feels a little longer th

-whoah there if that aint a marked difference in audio quality here we go

-guitars also sound different & i don't remember if this album has steve or ross on it i now realize

-goodness the mixing is wonky for rob's segment. the backing vocals do not need to bounce between channels

-why do they have kinda weird voices for the chorus. sounds like they're trying an accent or something. i can barely recognize who's singing

-the keyboard backing in zubin's segment sounds the same as usual, as in, it sounds so stupidly similar to the questions answered backing music that i'm offended i couldn't pick up they're the same for so long

-less echo on disappear actually. at least they still had the brass section

-still a weird sound on the chorus but maybe i can chalk that up to different mixing & more red

-outro sounds not super different. still very good drumming on display which will give me the push i need to decide it's ross drumming

-however i don't hear him shouting out the auctioneer stuff, and given that it was presented as a video during the mmmm recording, i might assume it was done specially for the mmmm releases, so maybe he didn't drum for this album after all

-it does have a greater similarity to the live performances even if the keyboarding is using a different synth

-well now. that's a real piano

-and as any piano will be when played that low, it's out of tune. very

-and everyone's singing? i can't hear andy in the slightest. this is interesting

-i mean i can certainly hear him doing plenty on the piano. but. it's interesting

-i suppose given the ep's hallmanac description, as a compilation of acoustic/one-take recordings i shouldn't be surprised taken for a ride is this different. but boy is it jarring. sounds incredibly different without the heavy synthesizing and complementary instruments

-barebones certainly. not much more of a way to describe it. that's what i expected just not in this way. i like the sound of this bridge though

-do very much wish i could hear andrew's actual voice. even at acoustic live performances he would sing at the very least. then again, that was years later i suppose.

-and it's only now at the final chorus that i realize, somehow, this is a piano-only song. no guitar, no drums even. that's really interesting. even the album version had some drums & bass

-red's singing isn't as impressive here. not as many high notes. understandable. bitch

-different rhythm on the quick part! bet steve feels lucky he didn't have to drum this part although i am hearing some sort of. pants-slapping? now that would be a sight to behold irl

-and that's the end

-goodness. be born. considering how this song was always & every time performed acoustic live i really expect to hear nothing here i haven't from concert recordings

-we're missing whatever the hell that skittery little shaker is called. alas i am not a percussionist & do not know the name of every auxilliary instrument ever

-rippin it up on the melodica bay be. a suitable replacement for whistling considering that never was all that good live. nobody can compare to bora karaca at whistling

-there's extra bass harmonies on display here. swell

-also no percussion i'm realizing

-da-da-da!

-but yeah normally ross uses brushes on a box/seat drum (also don't know what that's called!) for some good gentle percussion & it's not here. really hoping this won't be a trend because i'm fond of drumming even if it's from stebev himself

-bah (chorus) bah

-wait a minute that's not a bah! that's a doo! big difference! what are you doing rob

-i can tell it's one-take because rob has to take a breath in the middle of that final long bah there

-ooh dropping off the guitar there real quick are you? and not even doing the full outro too. good way to spice things up at the end.

-honestly maybe the reason i & so many other th fans dislike be born so much isn't even the country sound and weird subject matter, it's the fact that this song lacks a whole lot of the variability that might separate it from other music. in the album versions there are violins/fiddles, and the live versions... don't have that. maybe some halfway decent whistling at best. it just is what it is. especially compared to the rest of mmmm- g&e could often be more faithfully recreated on stage, but mmmm got to mix things up most of the time, except for be born. food for thought

-anyway. of all the songs i would expect to be absolutely completely identical (other than be born) the whole world and you definitely takes the cake. a delightful song. i should listen to it more.

-but yeah it was a toy orchestra piece long before a tally hall piece, and toy orchestra was & is nothing but silly little live performances. how on earth could they make this one completely different

-other than. the "punk rehearsal" i've heard of from incomplete demos. that's just. a thing i think

-oh hold on i didn't even listen to the end of be born there was a tiny outro with chat at the end oh that's adorable

-hey i can hear andrew's voice! nice!

-starting off with a full ensemble vocals, all sorts of harmonies in action, and a normal piano instead of a toy piano, so already i'm being proven decently wrong on this song's inability to be greatly altered

-other than that. i kinda like how it sounds as if they're stumbling over their words at points

-boy has andrew's voice changed hasn't it. i know i haven't listened to the solo albums so i'm not exactly one to speak but he really developed his singing a lot over time

-clapping live & not in a studio sure sounds a lot worse, especially when it's like 4 people max doing it and not a whole crowd

-zubin (i'm pretty sure) flexing on us all at the end there. good for him

-ayyyyyyy

-it's the song that's sure to invoke an emotional response out of me >:}

-it's also the song i was convinced had andrew vocals in the background (the badadum's between verses) for a good while. still not 100% certain it's rob instead but it's not like i can ask them themselves

-yeah i'll admit it right here this is the song i listen to when i'm going through emotional turmoil. not this version of the song, and no, i don't mean i listen to i'm gonna win or even the tally hall rock version of this one. i mean i listen to the cover of it from we think we're playing in a band. and that's enough on this subject!

-however given the above information yeah i am pretty familiar with this song already. not a new experience right here

-i greatly appreciate the heavy piano work. it's one of my favorite parts about the song

-oh and i should stop talking about that subject right there as well. actually i think i should just say nothing about this song in general. you'll see why in about uhh pauses video

-this friday or so? damn that's sooner than i thought lucky me

-everything will be fine! i'll be making it through!

-oh hello there. "ALBUM" is not a word beamed directly into my brain with great volume thank you very much

-so. it's the outro to good day done with weird haste. looping. no actual chord pro-

-this is. is this some sort of radio performance? what the hell is going on

-steven!!! hello there thanks for the confirmation & god is it surreal to hear his name truly uttered in the context of red rob zubin andrew. wow

-pingry school spring fling. how the hell have i never heard about whatever the hell this track is before

-wait- is it over? song listed as good day but it's in fact the outro to good day done on. a radio program maybe. and now it's a really strange sounding performance of yearbook

-i genuinely can't tell if there's a filter on rob's voice or if the micro- shit that's loud

-what in the hell is going on is this another radio performance or something? like ok yearbook at least was on songs about girls by listedblack but i really want this to be made clear soon

-all i really think i need to know about yearbook is that it's another rob "heterophobic homophonic" cantor angsty boy band song and. listening to it for the first time her. that impression sure isn't going away

-at least i get to hear andrew twinkling those ivories in the back. got a good sound. even if the mixing here is all sorts of wack. a song this complex should not be performed live with only like one microphone

-alright rob i get it you were in love with a girl- and it's over? ok

-live performance of just a friend holy shit hell yes hell yes hell yes for some reason i thought this would be the studio version but no

-i cannot imagine what this song will sound like with steve on the drums hell yes oh will there be banter will rob forget his lines will red say some random 4-syllable phrase will zubin be the best singer in the whole damn band give me an answer now

-already hearing some banter :}

-they're moving weirdly fast and andrew's already got the piano playing even in the beatboxing part. wowie

-ooh kick it andy do those riffs hell yeah

-"that sounded fishy... zubin sedghi!" i'm in love

-KICK IT ANDY

-AND ZUBIN

-and there's the drums! go stevie. go stevie

-good ness andrew just will not let up on the sick as hell keyboarding will he fukc yeah bro kill it

-rob sounds unbelievably tired for this i'm half expecting him to trip up the lyrics at any moment

-"i don't buy it" "don't gimmie that!" you say it boys. oh classic zubin line right there preserved on an official tally hall recording for all eternity, what a treasure this is

-hm isn't this a bit early to go into the pseudo-breakdown chorus? no it works. andrew still rippin it up of course

-and there's the tambourine bay be!

-buildup to the "oh snap" isn't as intense as it could get in later performances which i will gladly blame in its entirety on steve <3

-boy oh boy does rob's voice just sound generally different here. so young so so young

-shooby-doo-wah. well i had low expectations which were not quite fulfilled but it's technically more than what we got on the studio recording so. i won't complain

-THERE IT IS

-BARBEQUE SAUCE BAY BE

-what a fool i was to pause the moment he said it. silly old me <3

-no, no, thank you for coming! but hold on one second. is there not... one more track? technically not a song, technically something i think i've heard before, but if i take a step over to the tally archive...

-cell phone call.

-circus you say? if i had to guess it's the whole world & you given the 08 version of the song but that's a vague guess. can't think of anything better but my current answer isn't that good on its own

-ah! it's joey jo joseph. this wouldn't happen to be that phone call spoken of that, like, invited joe into the band in the first place, would it? i remember that story from an old bio or something, but it doesn't seem like the type of thing that'd be recorded & put on an album. hard to say

-pj? like a certain rob cator frat dude voice JP!?

-well well well now. i'm not sure what to say. i don't recognize that song they're playing as the outro. it could either be some vague listedblack or miscellaneous early tally hall song lost to the void or a demo. i wouldn't exactly know. anyway that ends the pingry ep. shorter than i thought it be, lucky old me. hope you enjoyed!

#tis i #well now i want to listen to the wall party 06 performance of taken for a ride #joe is mentioned by name only at the very end & otherwise it's only indirect references #loolin liveblogs #i wonder why the comprehension amalgamation upload doesn't include cell phone call in there. hm #and yes i'm aware there's some other cell phone track in admittedly incomplete demos no need to tell me. if you will also #not tell me something it's any other spoilers considering aid i look forward to going into that song blind actually #to the world and back again

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becausegoodbye · 3 years

Text

a few of my favourite albums of 2020

Jogging House - Be ... (plus Morimoto Naoki - Hibi) (plus Green-House - Six Songs for Invisible Gardens ...) (plus Denis Tremblay - SLEEP BETTER IN NOISY CLASSROOMS ...)

2020 was the year I got super into ambient music. There've always been albums I felt worked best nestled into the background, and Brian Eno's 'Ambient 1' has been a favourite for almost a decade, but this year the search took on a different energy. I approach ambient music with an extremely indulgent kind of simplicity — "Are these pretty sounds that make my ears feel good?" — and there's something really gratifying about setting yourself a question simple enough that you know you'll always be able to answer it. The ambient albums I loved this year I discovered almost entirely through Bandcamp, which is replete with so many tiny cassette labels that you can find ones that cater to every possible sub-calibration of ambient vibe (my personal favourites are Seil, Constellation Tatsu, Aural Canyon, Dauw, Global Patterns, and 梅レコード). It feels a little rude to combine several different albums into the same entry here, but for me, my unwillingness to analyse them is part of their strength. I just put them on and sink into my chair. They feel good the same way a fluffy dressing gown feels good against your skin, or a cat feels good pressing itself against your shin. This year, I decided that it didn't need to be any more complicated than that.

Dan Deacon - Mystic Familiar For a microfiction competition late last year, I wrote a short story about everyone in the world simultaneously deciding to lie down permanently and let the bugs eat us. The idea was to try and describe something intuitively repulsive to us (beetles licking your eyeballs, ants carrying off your flesh) in a way that made it feel meditative and beautiful. Then not even a week later, the video for ‘Sat By a Tree’ came out, which was about almost the exact same thing. This album doesn’t seem to have struck a chord with very many people, and I can get why: the vocals are still too shyly buried for lyrics people, and too nakedly earnest for folks who just want to bliss out. Even I can’t deny that I’d probably like this album more if the vocals were treated differently, or if it were reworked as a totally instrumental piece. But there’s a pursuit in all of Dan’s music that resonates with me on a subdermal level, and it’s carried through on this album beautifully. It’s the quest for density, for something maximal and full enough to approximate the teeming microscopic and macroscopic busyness of life. When I listen to Dan Deacon, I always think about microbes: about how each of us is a teeming metropolis more than a singular being. It’s the missing perspective that allows a person to see that being eaten by bugs isn’t so bad; it’s the most appropriate possible thing that could happen to us. (Emphasis on the ‘us’.)

Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud

Nobody needs me to tell them that Katie Crutchfield is a great songwriter. This is a classic album of heartbreak, of regret, of sobering up: a splint on an arm that’s still holding onto what it’s lost. The lyrics are pitched at this particular allegorical intensity – hells, landslides, scientific cryptograms – and the country-inflected indie-rock instrumentation largely has the sense to simply get out of the way. There’s a sympathetic wisdom to the songs here, focused less on the worst intensities of grief than on the life you figure out how to live afterwards. It’s an arm on your shoulder and an eye to the horizon.

“You might mourn all that you wasted That's just part of the haul Tangling up all your good fortune Bearing the heart of the fall You won't break it after all”

Dirty Projectors - 5EPs This is silly, incautious conjecture on my part, but Dave Longstreth feels like he's putting in the work of redemption. I was close to writing him off after the arch bitterness of 2017's self-titled record (a break-up album that was nauseatingly heavy on the arrogant self-righteousness), but 2018's Lamp Lit Prose did a lot to re-interest me. Its smile felt forced at times, but its melodies and rhythms were undeniable: reminders of why I was invested in this asshole in the first place. This year, Dirty Projectors put out five separate EPs, the first four each with different lead singers, then everyone coming together on the fifth. It feels as though Longstreth is making a conscious effort to bite his tongue, to clutch his micromanaging hand under the table, so that everyone else can have a chance to breathe and actually enjoy being in this band. The result is a collection of songs with a really pleasurable lightness: not the tortured and perfectionistic Artistic Statements that Longstreth's been prone to over the years, but a pigeon's glide, a coin's flash -- a less ponderous engagement with Longstreth's peculiar musical gravity. It's a lovely bunch of songs even without this projected-on story about Longstreth's personal growth, but try as I might, I can't not hear that story.

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

Ambient soothing aside, life's complications still exist, and Phoebe Bridgers is the queen of them. She's the only musician who seems like she thrived in quarantine, somehow cotton-candy-swirling all this loneliness and introspection and yearning and 'fuck it' into an album that feels miraculous and inexhaustible. Punisher is without doubt my favourite album of the year. It's anxious, funny, miserable, and sly. It's a dog-shaped helium balloon majestically floating into the stratosphere. I can't say enough good things about the production side of it, which maintains this perfect illuminated-manuscript balance of enhancing the text/song/scripture without ever overshadowing it. At the centre of it, though, is a songwriter who's figured out how to make every song its own entire world, keening and quaking in resonance with whatever you're going through. This has been a shit sad year, and it’s been a lot better facing that with this album than without it. No question, Phoebe was the year’s MVP.

#these get harder to do every year #but I always regret it if I don't at least write *something* I can go back to later #there are a lot of other albums I've really liked this year but I'm not sure I really have much cogent to say about them #things are really shit right now #but music #...#music's still really good

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vaguely-concerned · 4 years

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even MORE mandalorian ep 3 observations

this episode is so dense there’s just so much stuff in it!

- every single moment of baby yoda looking around in wonder and trepidation and trying to get mando’s attention is a fresh dagger in my heart. dishonorable mention to when he sees the small-ish alien in the spacesuit in the market and makes a quizzical noise and looks up at mando because it so perfectly matches up to how babies go ‘???’ at their parents to get explanations and reassurance. also the baby totally gets bad vibes off the storm troopers immediately and glances up unsettled but all full of trust like ‘dad why are we here?’ aUGH this short walk is probably going to haunt me and mando both for the rest of our lives

his little mouth falling open when he sees the doorbell eyestalk thing haha he’s doing the shocked pikachu face!

- when dr pershing is scanning the baby and it looks uncomfortable you can see mando moving forward just a little bit. dad instincts clearly screaming and kicking to get to the surface there lol

with the reveal in episode 7 that the empire dude is kind of an unironic mandalorian fanboy... boy this whole thing feels real weird

- if my eyes do not deceive me I think mando’s hands are actually shaking when he reaches out for the beskar. you’re welcome I didn’t want to be alone in knowing this

- you might find yourself wondering how many bars of beskar the reward consists of and who would be enough of a loser to pause the show just to count them out. I can inform you that it seems to be 20 altogether, 10 per stack. (i’d really thought they’d go for 30, just to twist that fucking salt-encrusted knife in the wound)

- “My armor has lost its integrity; I may need to begin again” fhsakdlfhds OH MY GOD he was not kidding; on the first watch I was just thinking about the breast plate but if you look closely half of his armor is just loosely tied on with rags fskdjfhask everyone else probably realized this before but what can I say I’m slow and easily amused

like yeah okay that’s a line with great thematic resonance and importance -- yes, he is going to have to change and essentially start over -- but also... poor mando had to clean his muddy armor post-mudhorn and then after bending the pieces back into shape as best he could he resorted to TYING THEM BACK ON that is one of the funniest and most endearing things I’ve ever seen, this is the way motherfuckers (Actual Engineer Kuiil watching him and shaking his head like ‘well that looks like so much scrap metal to me at this point but you do you kid’)

- just like in episode 1: while the armorer is preparing to work the camera occasionally cuts back to mando and every time there’s the sound of people screaming in the background fklhdsalkfhsda it’s just so UPSETTING

they keep zooming in on the melting Empire symbol in this one -- it’s definitely meant to underscore the general unease of the situation both because of the baby and the y’know empire part, but is it also hinting that mando might be flashing back to something to do with the purge too in a less direct way? :Ia

- relatedly: the armorer remains so fucking cool. I love how her design tells you that she’s clearly a part of the group but also something more, between the gold and the fur and the more refined/owl-like helmet shape. she looks so sturdy, like you might as well try to move a mountain. she also looks timeless compared to the others, you can absolutely believe she’s the personification of their traditions. (traditionally mandalorian armor has just looked. really really silly to me so huge kudos to the design team of this show making me go HELL YEAH whenever I look at mando or the armorer)

- cha boy pulling up to the club with a fresh new colour scheme lol it was nice of the tribe to give him a new cape and... idk what you’d call that fabric stuff he wears under the metal armor but it’s all in a unified Look now. ‘this would be appropriate for your station’ huh, so is he pretty high up their ranks? is this a seniority thing? some of the mandos in the background look very basic compared to mando, paz vizla and the armorer -- is it possible that a lot of the older mandos died in the purge and they fought to save the younger ones? this group does seem very focused on protecting the children (the foundlings are the future)

- hahaha mando has his hands tightly curled into fists the entire time he sits during the talk with greef karga -- his whole body is going ‘actually. this. is FINE I can’t believe how fine it is I can totally keep going like this’ through gritted teeth. so much good hand acting in this ep! and I love how in this new armor he’s coming out of his indifference and apathy -- what are the empire remnants doing here in the first place, actually? what the hell do they want with a baby? he comes alive a bit and it’s incredibly satisfying

- it really takes him all of twenty seconds after noticing the missing metal ball to make up his mind to do this completely buckwild thing. I love him

- credit to dr pershing for trying to shield the baby with his own body even though he’s a bespectacled noodly scientist with no weapons up against a dude in full armor and the wrath of gods in his bearing right then.

- the baby opens his eyes and realizes who’s carrying him while they’re inside the base and he leans his little head against mando’s chest 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 too bad this happens when mando is too preoccupied literally roasting a stormtrooper to notice but I saw it and I cried

- that little uh jump almost? when mando opens fire when he’s surrounded by the bounty hunters? YES WONDERFUL. and he’s still so gentle when he puts the baby down ;___;

- you know mando’s grappling line is in many ways the polar opposite of his flame thrower. reliable. sturdy. incredibly versatile. unflashy but gets the job done. look at how well your brother is doing, flame thrower, why can’t you be more like him

also he does seem to sort of like greef karga even though he doesn’t trust him very much (and rightly so haha), and karga’s regret that mando broke the code doesn’t seem entirely rooted in losing his best man either. like they clearly don’t understand each other (or at least karga VERY Does Not Understand how mando actually works under the surface, when he’s not just going through the motions) but there’s a sense of mutual respect there anyway. I wonder just how long they’ve been working together (this being star wars... how much do you bet we’re getting tie-in novels explaining just that lol)

#star wars #the mandalorian #meta #I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM YOU HAVE A PROBLEM #hands down still the best episode tho #it's as full of Stuff as episode 7 but it holds its emotional core better (though tbf it also has less to do since it's mid-season)#debora chow knows her stuff #grabbing a few minutes between family stuff to post this haha

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starbuck09256 · 5 years

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ooh prompt 111 please!!

Tagging @today-in-fic and @ruindil

“You can’t just hug me and think everything is going to be okay”

Triangle Post Ep

The parking lot is bleak at 9pm on a Friday night. The rain droplets race down her windshield as the lights from ambulances dance along the darkness. She sits in her car, and has been sitting there for a solid 15 minutes. Playing with her gold cross, running it back and forth across the longer than it was before chain. The chain he replaced for her, after it was broken in Antarctica. She’s here to pick him up and she knows in her heart when she walks in, he will have that goofy grin and the shy smile, he’ll wrap his arms around her and say “Thanks for busting me out Doc,” like he normally does. But for some reason she can’t get herself to move, to open the door and step out into the night. To be his knight in shining armor, after he played damsel in distress by chasing after a ship not quite a century old. She wonders about what he said in the hospital, has been thinking about it for the last 24 hours nonstop. She’s barely slept, each time she closes her eyes, her lips tingle and her dreams are of red dresses and Skinner dressed as a Nazi. It’s not ok, this constant ditching her. She thought they were more than that now. They don’t have the x-files to fall back on. They need to behave, tread lightly if they ever hope to see the cold damp basement again. He easily could have died this time, she would've never found him. Never seen his body floating on a piece of wood, dragging his sorry ass on board and whispering how she had him. She breathes in a deep breath to calm her emotions as she wipes a stray tear from her eyes. She can blame anything he thinks he sees in her eyes on the rain outside. “I love you,” he said it, said it to her finally after a delusional rambling. “You saved the world,” she thinks of the countless times he has saved her world. Saved her from the darkness that has found them. She bites her lip prepares herself to feel his chest against her, smell his aftershave that she dropped off yesterday. She knows what is in store she can already hear the tremble of his voice as it resonates in her ears and then after she drives him home, after she helps him get undressed and ready for bed, after she touches his skin, chuckles at his jokes, marvels at the strength and determination of the man she is so desperately in love with. She will need to have the strength to get in her car and remember the sound of his voice when he finally said he loved her. She just has to make it through the next hour then she can go home and rationalize away the feelings they both have been sharing too much of. She can do this, not let her guard slip as she helps him yet again, praying that she has the strength should he mention his love again to not do anything stupid. Don’t tell him what you feel Dana. Just scold him like the man child he is. She can do this, has done it for years. That was before though, before she realized he went to the ends of the earth for her with a gunshot wound to the head. Before he confessed so much to her in his hallway. Before he went and did something so stupid, knowing she would find him, save him, and save the world. Before he pulled her back into his trap and gazed into her soul with three little words almost crumbling the remaining shred of professionalism she could have with him.

Deep Breath

Breathe Dana

One hour, be strong. Get out of the car. Pull your jacket close but still let some rain hit your face and hair and for god's sake do not tell Mulder you love him too.

He probably doesn’t remember, that’s why you said oh brother remember.

Hold Strong.

She steps out the rain light and airy in the cool evening. She lets it hit her face, cleanser her a bit before she starts to race across the parking lot towards the hospital entrance. Her heels click lightly as she reaches the automatic doors. The warm air and smell of antiseptic reach her nostrils. She clicks through the hallways. Advantages of being with the FBI and a medical doctor means not a lot of people asking you silly questions.

His room up on the right, she looks through the glass window in the door. His back to her as she sees him putting on his shirt. The long lines of his back covered by his white undershirt. The crisp blue shirt that she picked up just in case he took a little longer to get out of the hospital and they had to make a mad dash to an opr meeting about his misadventure on the bureaus dime. Being prepared for Kershs wrath has taught them a few new skills.

She knocks lightly shuffling her feet as she feels the door open. She smiles up at him and starts to walk forward but before she knows what is happening his arms are around her. God he is so warm, so strong, and she fits so perfectly. He hugs her, wraps her up like his own personal christmas present, and while normally she does relish this feeling, lives in part for these moments where it can be just them, violating all the rules of professional conduct, now is not the time. He knows what his hugs do to her, knows they are a not so secret weakness. “Hi Scully,” he says but doesn’t let her go, his fingers gently caress her back and she knows she needs to stop this. She starts to pull away, pulling herself together at the same time. But he doesn’t let her, he pulls her back closer mutters into her ear. “I’m sorry,” but she does pull away. I’m sorry doesn’t really cut it, after making her freak out searching high and low for him. Practically begging that rat bastard Spender to help her, and Kersh. She kissed Skinner for christ sakes, all to find his stupid ass floating lifelessly in the water. She remembers how her heart stopped, how all her fear wanted to pour out of her soul when they lifted him out of the cold water.

She pulls back and her words come out before she has a chance to stop them. “You can’t just hug me and think everything is going to be ok. Everything is not ok Mulder.” her voice shutters towards the end and she turns her head, pursues her lips to gain some control. She expected the “I’m sorry,” he knows how to play her emotions, using those profiler skills in ways that test her patience and her rational mind.

He steps back pulls her gently out of the door frame and into the hospital room, still slightly aglow with a dimmed lamp in the corner. He cups her face, cradling it in his hands. She swallows hard, tries not to meet his eyes for a second. He strokes her cheeks with his thumbs and it feels so nice. He kisses her forehead, and then rests his forehead against hers as she takes a shuttered breath. He pulls back gives her a sad smile. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t tell you.” She looks at him sternly. She nods her head and starts to turn to grab his bag that is sitting on the chair, so she can drive him home and go home to her soft bed. He turns her back towards him. She looks at him, he’s not forgiven and he knows it. But his eyes are soft, the flecks of gold are shining through even with the soft light of the room. “I love you,” he says it again looking her straight in the eye and she can’t help but gasp and he wraps his arms around her again. She is shocked as he nuzzles her hair with his nose. “I love you so damn much Scully,” she rubs his back closes her eyes and licks her lips. “They really drugged you up good huh?” she says trying to lighten the seriousness of the room. He pulls back looks at her. “I kissed you on that ship Scully, and it was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. And sometime soon we are going to find our moment, where I get to kiss you and tell you I love you, and you won’t be so skeptical anymore.”

She shakes her head laughs at him as she moves towards the chair. “Now I know they gave you the good stuff, me not skeptical…” she grabs his bag in her hand pulling it up to her shoulder, turns to look at him. He chuckles shuffles his feet a bit, he pulls the door open for her with his arm outstretched. She walks in front of him out the door and as he closes it he grabs her hand sliding his fingers against hers intertwining them. He leans towards her ear to whisper. “Real soon Scully, that moment is going to erase all those doubts.” She can’t help but squeeze his hand as she looks straight ahead. “I look forward to it.” She mutters into the fluorescent corridor as they leave.

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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House of Mouse: Mickey and the Culture Clash (Commission by WeirdKev27) or “What the Hell, Clarabelle?”

Hello, hello, hello... I wish I could say I was in good spirits but i’m tired, have covid induced chills running down my spine.. and oh yeah there was an armed insurrection i the captial last night that showed just how broken this country was. And while Monster Bash would still be relevant... I couldn’t do it. I admit to being unable to do an episode where the millitant racist nutjob who harms people runs off into the night, and does much worse in later episodes, while the people she harassed are arrested the night after a bunch of millitant, racist, sociopathic, selfish nightmares sieged the captial, killed a woman, raised the fucking maga flag over the buildling and took pictures like they were goddamn heroes. We got a stark reminder, not a wake up call, not an opening a REMINDER of just how badly broken our country is last night, and it wasn’t till this morning I found out just how BAD it was. The deaths, the flag, the fact josh fucking hawley, MY STAT’ES SENATOR and registered piece of shit, raised A FUCKING FIST IN SOLIDARITY, which gives me the crippling fear his stupidity and unabashed racisim and support of a cou could mean riots at best and attempted uprisings at worst and who knows what kind of hate crimes against those of color and those in my own queer community. I am afraid, tired, and I am pissed and I feel we could ALL use something wholesome, warm and far removed from the shit going on. And in my hour of need to figure out something like that to put on the schedule.. Kev brought up a wonderfufl idea. Every month this month till the end of it Kev is going to comission one episode of a show near and dear to both our hearts that has it’s 20th birthday this month. House of Mouse. He was intitally going to request Pete’s One Man Show, which is one of my faviorites, but was ironcially one I already planned to cover next month to celebrate both the show’s anniversary and Pete’s Birthday. But since he was happy to wait till then to comission it, he instead asked for another classic and one with easily my faviorite character on the show: Moritmer Mouse.

One of the best things House of Mouse did was bring back Mortimer Mouse. Introduced in Mickey’s Rival, Mortimer was an ex of minnies who showed up for one short to be a dick to mickey before running off and leaving Minnie at the mercy of a bull he pissed off. He also weirdly kept electrodes and a car battery in his pants. The short itself is.. not great mostly because Minnie dimissies Mickey rightfully being pissed someone is hitting on his girlfriend in front of him, making jokes at his expense, and generally being a pillock as being jealous... which yeah, yeah he is. Most of the time jealousy and supscison of your partner is ugly, gross and damaging to a relationship. You should trust them unless you’ve been given good reason not to, and if your paranoidly jealous about every friend she has she could be attracted to.. get some fucking help. Seriously, I need to, not for this for various other problems, but get some therapy to help with your trust issues or if your just being the kind of dick who naturally assumes men and women or men and men or women and women or men and nonibinary persons, or women and nonbinary peeps and so on and so on cannot be friends if they could possibly be togehter romantically... grow up. I say all of that because those are serious underlying issues and I didn’t want it to seem like for a moment I was supporting them... and because sometimes i’ts OKAY to be jealous, to either just feel a little jealous of someone, or to you know be irate because your girlfriend’s ex is hitting on her in front of you and she’s being entirely receptive to it.

So yeah i’ts really hard to feel bad for minnie’s bull attack or find the ending sweet after Minnie was you know, what ramona said for an entire short. However my point for this rant, besides giving out about the short again because I clearly didn’t enough in my Mickey Birthday Special, is that Mortimer is still pretty great. He’s a frat bro in the 40′s sense sure, but the idea of a local douche hoping to swoop in and woo minnie away, who has an oddly specific sense of humor and a bizzare, memorable and wonderful walk, seriously the short is worth watching for mortimier’s “I got two car batteris in my pants’ walk, is a good one. While he’d naturally show up in comics and what have you Mortimer just sort of vanished. But clearly someone on the House of Mouse staff, and Mousewerks before it, agreed because Morty was made easily one of the best and most recurring characters in the HOM, and often more prominent than Horace or Gus. While he still tried his old “I’m gonna do your common law wife act” a few times he was mostly there to be an annoying douche when the ep needed one and to be taken down a peg by everyone in the house. And that VERY MUCH includes Mickey. That’s also part of why I love this show bringing him back: It gives Mickey someone besides pete to give out too on a regular basis. He’s still his charming self about it but it’s lovelyt os ee Mickey sarcastically roast someone. And I honestly attribute the main factor of his sucess on the show to VA Maurice LaMarche. While his original VA, Sonny Dawson, was fantastic.. it’s Maurice who very clearly made the character his. While others like Jeff Bennet have taken over since i’ts Maurice who gave him his signature “ha-cha-cha” catchphrase, swagger and signiture voice. And no i’ts not lost on me that one of Maurice’s OTHER best roles is another cartoon mouse.. and I now very badly want him to meet Pinky and the Brain. But yeah, Maurice just oozes the smarm that defines mortimer for me, oozes condescinon and assholery and he, is., glorious. He was a faviorite as a kid, he’s a faviorite now, and Disney needs to use him more.. and also have Maurice voice him for wonderufl world of mickey mouse, though Jeff Bennett is not bad at all I just prefer the master at the role.

So obviously, after the nightmare of an evening america had yesterday, an episode not only about how wholesome mickey and minnie are but about Mickey teaming up with Mortimer was EXACTLY what i needed. So pitter patter, this is Mickey and the Culture clash. As always for house of mouse i’ll be chonking it up and since this one starts right with the wraparound, and sicnce you know I spent a godo few pagraphs going over mortimer and he’s only IN the wraparound this episode... let’s start there

Mickey and the Culture Clash: Don’t Go Changin, To Try and Please Me So we open the episode and the review proper with Mickey performing a banjo sernade for Minnie, their song in fact. It’s a really sweet scene.. that’s quickly ruined by Clarabelle being an asshole, who says i’ts a bit crude. Minnie counters that while “It’s not mozart”, it’s nice and she clearly likes it and the gesture. Instead of you know leaving it there like a good friend, like she’s SUPPOSED to be to Minnie in most continuities, Clarabelle.. takes the things she said and her having to run out to wrangle pluto out of context, painting it as her thinking he’s not sophisticated and then running out because of it. Oh and she tops it by pointing to a classified add from a MM looking for sophisticated companionship.

It just paints Clarabelle not as Minnie’s friend or a chatty gossip, but as a heartless bitch who has no trouble implying one of her best friends would cheat on her boyfriend TO HIS FACE, and is fine wrecking a perfectly lovely relationship just to have more to talk about. Seriously she starts gossiping to everybody on top of it just in case you thought Clarabelle was a decent person in any shape this episode. She’s the one thing about this episode that dosen’t work despite being integral to it.. well two but hte other thing is a small, end of episode gag we’ll get to. This.. this is an integral part of the plot. It also relies on Daisy and Donald being absent for the episode for what I can only assume is their annual sex decathalon because otherwise the second she heard about her friend doing this, before reassuring Minnie, Donald would be holdiing her while Daisy beat the absolute shit out of her for hurting thier closest friend and not bothering to take a look into anything when leveling such a rough accusation at Minnie. In a really stellar, really well paced episode, Clarabelle being so heartless stands out. It’s also, might as well get this out of the way, teh final episode not inlcuding the two holiday specials.. and it’s a good note to go out on otherwise, I just can’t ignore the obnoxious cow in the room.. in both senses of the word.

So yeah Mickey’s trying to be fancy, and Mortimer gets a good dig in about him reading “You having trouble sounding out the words”, but once he hears what’s going on, or rather once he realizes mickey things Mortimer’s personal add is in fact his girlfriend cheating on him, he decides to help Mickey. And to his credit for this con.. Mortimer actually thought things out on how to trick his rival, and his plan here is douchey as hell but incredibly genius: he offers to help mickey and while that’d normally be suspcious he offers a genuine, and very mortimer explination for helping him become a bit more sophisticated to win minnie back: if Minnie finds a handsome, sophisticated guy to date, what chance does MORTIMER have against that? At least with Mickey, in his deluded egocentric view of things anyway, he has a shot at beating him.

So Mickey classes it up a bit, taking some sopshitcated stances when announcing and trying to woo minnie by talking in ye olde english. When that fails, she just finds it silly but charming, Mickey finds Jose.. hitting on her.

Just.. I expect better from you man. Woo ladies all you like as long as your respectful but I expect better than to hit on someone else’s girlfriend.. which granted he has but given the last time we saw him do that, he nearly got stabbed a bunch and the last time he agressively hit on a woman he got punched in the beak as he should, you’d THINK he’d of learned something. Seriously once again Donald is only missing because this time Daisy would be holding Jose down while Donald hit him. Or possibly they’d take turns. Point is Jose REALLY shoudln’t be doing this and knows better.. marginally. But.. it is in character enough so ti’s not as bad as Clarabelle the homewrecker.

So Mickey tries being fancy and goes on to do poetry instead of letting O’Malley and the Alley Cats play.. which is a nice running gag the series does as they NEVER get to play.. which while funny is a shame since I love the Aristocats. So then we finally get what Mortimer’s been playing at, he swoops in, claims MICKEY dosen’t need HER, and uses the same personal add to trick her. See, while what Mortimer’s doing is vile.. unlike clarabelle I can repsect it at least. I don’t condone it and i’m glad he gets foiled.. but as a bad guy plan it’s pretty clever and for someone like Mortimer whose usually pretty incompitent.. it’s pretty suprising he could pull this off. It’s still pretty damn low and scummy, no question, but props to being able to outwit and nearly outplay two people who deal with your crap on a regular basis and still convincingly conning both. Thankfully while he tries to take Minnie out Mickey, in a great visual gag, puts two and two together, and busts out their song, with Mickey and Minnie heartwearmingly reuniting on stage as seen above. Then we get that gag I mentioned not liking: Mickey gets Morty back by planting a false marriage proposal from Moritmer to Clarabelle, again under MM and he gets carried off.. HAHA HE’S BEING FORCED INTO A MARRIAGE HE DOSEN’T. LAUGH. LAUGH AT IT. The gag just really hasn’t aged well, as otherwise it’s clever Mickey used Mortimer’s own trick against both him and the person who caused all of this but really.. Clarabelle gets no real compuance. At worse sshe finds out she was tricked.. but she again you know tried to break up her close friends relationship for shits and giggles. But .. it’s at the very end of the episode and very easy to ignore, so it dosen’t really bother me too bad, and compared to some gags of the type i’ve seen, it could be MUCH worse. Overall this wraparound is one of the series best and a good one to go out on. it has a simple premise, a brilliant antagonist plot, some great bits from all involved, and even a great Belle and Beast cameo. All in all a really good wraparound only hampered by a sexist and dated ending and Clarabelle being portrayed as ...

She’s the worst, in the world. Okay onto the shorts.

Mickey’s Piano Lesson: That was a Fun One

It really was. It’s a simple premise: Minnie wants MIckey to do a piano recital and he decides “I don’t need practice i’m mickey mouse. “ And it’s REALLY nice to have a short that has, rather than aw shucks mickey, shenanigans mickey. While thanks to the new shorts we’ve had tons, it’s still nice to get one in the House of Mouse era, and it’s just fun to see Mickey take the usual donald roll of letting his overconfidence punch him in the face> It fits both though: Both are everyman and while I lean towards the duck, to no one’s shock, Mickey is just as capable, and his lack of practice comes off less like the angry and hostile way donald would dismiss it and mroe just loveable procastination. And as someone who REALLY struggles with procastination I related to this short, as Mickey does everything else he’d rather do from bathing the dog to skydiving till Minnie, in a great bit informs him everyone from the president, to several dignitaries from other countries, to a televised audience will see. We then get two really great and really beatuifully animated bits as MIckey wrestles with the notes on thep age then fights with his piano as he performs, still pulling it off but destroying the thing and rightfully earning a glare form his girlfriend. Just a fun, slapstick short with a great premise.

Dance of the Goofys: Scary Children Set to classical music, this one has a bunch of goofys as Fairy’s, who are making the flowers go and the one who sleeps in ends up saving the king from a horrifing looking little brat. He reminds me of Montanna Max a bit.. speaking of which Creer Summer recnetly announced Elmyra won’t be in the reboot. And while this does make me fear actually good characters like Fifi, Montana Max, and more will be cut like the animanics reboot and I do feel for Cree not getting to be involved and hope they find another roll for her as, given her status in the industry she deserves better.. THANK FUCKING GOD. I’ll go into this in another review I have planned for the future but unlike the cuts made to animaniacs this was a REALLY good decision i’m really greatful for. Thank you crew thank you.

Back on topic, it’s just a fun, really beautifully animated short about the goofies and hteir shenanigans with a really great high concept.

Maestro Minnie: Brahm’s Lullabye: Simply Irresitable Another simple but clever and lovely to watch one, and one I like quite a bit more. Minnie is conducting some living violins to Brahm’s Lullabye to get a baby Violin to sleep, and we get some really beautiful shots of her as she does so.. only to get comically interuppted by other insteruments turning up the noise. Not much to say on this one as it’s short and simple.. but sometimes short and simple is just what you need and the fun premise nad really beautiful especially for tv animation at the time visuals really sell this one. ONce again, good stuff.

Overall: This was a REALLY good note to go out on. While as I said the Clarabelle stuff can eat my entire ass, everything else is really damn good and I highly recommend checking this one out. Next time, in about a month, we’ll be looking at Pete’s spotlight episode for his birfday. While you wait tommorow we have my first look at legend of the three cabs. But for now, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

#house of mouse #mickey mouse #minnie mouse #mortimer mouse #clarabelle cow #donald duck #daisy duck #goofy goof #mouseworks #maurice lamarche #mickey's culture clash

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starship-nine · 5 years

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Getting into The Dear Hunter

Alright so like this is a post that may go nowhere but I'm making new friends again and want a quick and easy way for them to know how to get into my favorite band.

So in this post I'm gonna be detailing what albums you should DEFINITELY listen to, any you should be wary of, and anything bad (spoilers; that's not on here).

First are Must Listens, as these are the ones I think show the style, influence, and musical, lyrical, and charismatic ability of the group best.

Must Listens

So the obvious answer is "All the Acts", but I'm gonna break it down a bit.

Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional

Act III: Life and Death

Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise

Migrant

Act V and Act IV kind of go hand in hand as two signs of the same coin. Both have intricate, exquisite melodies, but Act IV is a lot happier sounding, whereas Act V is incredibly dark from moment one. Just compare the intro to The Old Haunt on Act IV to The Moon/Awake on Act V.

Act V is my personal favorite Dear Hunter album, and the dark tone has a lot to do with it. The album is varied, going from a large grand spooky rock number to a peaceful acoustic melody, and ending with a mob March, a funeral eulogy, and a Danny Elfman-esque ending piece.

Act IV has some beautiful tracks and works better for the emotional side of things, as it focuses on themes such as existentialism, relationships failing, and even politics and the meaning of organized religion. I'll go over highlighted tracks at the end of each section.

Act III is an album that I feel gets overlooked, even among Dear Hunter fans. The lyrical dissonance in so many of these songs is outrageous, though! The cheerful tone of tracks like Go Get Your Gun and This Beautiful Life when they're about going out and shooting the enemy, the talks of morally repugnant characters such as The Thief, who loots the bodies of dead soldiers regardless of their side, the Poison Woman who offers soldiers drinks only for those drinks to be, obvs, poison, and of course Hunter's father telling the story of how Hunter got conceived. On top of all of this some of the most memorable lyrics in the band's catalog ("Come away young man where the ground is red and you need a mask to breathe" is such a powerful intro lyric), and melodies that still show up later in the story... Don't sleep on Act III, please. It's so good.

Migrant is the only album I've listed not a part of the story, but that's not discounting the album at all; it's still got exquisite melodies, beautiful vocal harmonies, Casey's unforgettable lyrics, and some of the best rock music of the 21st century. Tracks like Whisper show the rockier side, while somber tracks like Bring You Down and the single Shouting At The Rain show us that Casey is more than capable of writing about topics beyond his 6 act story.

Recommended tracks:

Act V: The March, The Moon/Awake, Cascade, Light

Act IV: Wait, The Line, Ouroboros, The Bitter Suite VI

Act III: In Cauda Venenum, This Beautiful Life, Son/Father/Life and Death, Mustard Gas

Migrant: Whisper, The Love, Shouting At The Rain, An Escape

Further Listening

These albums are still good, but they're more for when you've gotten a good feel for the band.

The Color Spectrum

Act II: The Meaning Of And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading

Act I: The Lake South and The River North

All Is As All Should Be

As I said, no Dear Hunter album is bad. But jumping right into these ones without any prior Dear Hunter knowledge is not a good idea. Act II and Act I were very early on, and are a different beast than the newer stuff, and The Color Spectrum is a collection of different EPs all based on different influences, and as such feature no orchestral elements and is just the four band members (two guitars, a bass, and drums). All Is As All Should Be is a fantastic EP to be sure, but knowledge of the band's past work is almost necessary to understand the rather eclectic nature of it.

The Color Spectrum is a hard one, because it's 9 EPs all based on different influences. My personal favorites are Black and Red, but that's because they're based on metal and indie rock and I'm very biased. I think The Dear Hunter is better with a full orchestra, but give this a listen, see what you can find. The melodies are still here, Casey's voice is great as always, and the songs on Black really show how good of a drummer Nick Crescenzo is.

Act II was the album that made the band underground emo heroes, and while I do love it to death, the lyrics regarding the main theme of the album are a little..... immature? As they should be of course, and I still love tracks unrelated to the whole idea of love vs. Lust. This album is also catchy as all hell, and it probably won't leave your head for a week. Songs like Black Sandy Beaches, Where The Road Parts, and ESPECIALLY The Lake and The River have gorgeous compositions and melodies. You really can't go wrong with it, so long as you can excuse some higher eloquence high school dissing of your ex.

Act I was the very first album the band ever recorded, and as such it's easily the shakiest. I still love it, but Casey's dynamic range isn't quite there yet. Tracks like Battesimo Del Fuoco still hit me in the right spot, and songs like His Hands Matched His Tongue work on a level I can't quite explain, but overall this is the shakiest and the hardest for me to recommend.

All Is As All Should Be was actually cowritten by people who went to The Dear Hunter's summer camp! That's really cool. The album is a good 6 song EP, melodies all over, and some of the best lyricism in their catalog. But alongside it is the silliness of the line "Pay no mind to what the haters think, cause they're just haters". Its still good!! It's really good! But it's not my go-to recommendation album.

Recommend tracks

Color Spectrum: Filth and Squalor, This Body, We've Got A Score To Settle, A Curse of Cynicism

Act II: The Lake and The River, The Bitter Suite III: Embrace, Black Sandy Beaches, Dear Ms. Leading

Act I: 1878, Battesimo Del Fuoco, His Hands Matched His Tongue, The Inquiry of Ms. Terri

All Is As All Should Be: The Right Wrong, All Is As All Should Be, Witness Me, Beyond The Pale

Well that's all I got. Sorry for the long post, but I just really love this band.

#The Dear Hunter #long post

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tellywoodtrash · 5 years

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khkt 30.09.19 lb

no net coz of weather issues so here, have the most basic of lbs, that i’m doing on my phone ka notes app.

(also didn’t watch the previous ep coz....... i just didn’t feel like it. i always kinda mentally check out when i know trouble is coming, to save me the pain.)

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i hate when ppl are all “don’t bring gifts!!!” fuck you, you don’t mean that shit. in the end we’ll be the ones looking rude af for taking you at your word.

lol at vimmi having freakout in bg.

NO DON’T SUGGEST A FUCKING RICE COOKER.

pooja no, do not aid and abet this nonsense.

seeeti???? rice cooker pe?????

“khoon ka badla khoon! JAI MATA DI!!!!”

lol raima had not accounted for the exponential increase in mumbai traffic in these 4 years.

god this idiot and his ring. what the fuckkkkkk is wrong with you, man?????? EVEN ARRANGED MARRIAGES TAKE LONGER THAN THIS TO GET FINALIZED.

“aaj ki raat meri aur tumhari zindagi ki sa se khoobsurat raat hogi.”

sooooooo it’s all downhill from here onwards? that’s........ disheartening.

pffffft sona putting a whole other colour of lip product on her lips which already have bhar bhar ke lip liner and lipstick.

CAN SOMEONE TELL US WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKKKK HAPPENED TO HER 4 YEARS AGOOOOOOO????? AGLE JANAM TAK KHEENCHOGE KYA???

aaaaaah the sweet sound of suman screaming at pari. love it.

sona also fucking her up. noice.

raima, maybe take this as a sign that you’re not meant to go over there today????

lmao veena being ambushed by suman’s pyaar. haaaye kaash nishi hoti yahaan!

fitteh muh tera, pari. manhoos kahinki.

ajit is already taking all the bhaabi waala liberties with sona. i love it, give me more. pls show, sail this brotp ship of mine soonly.

i can never take bowties seriously. they look quite silly on anyone other than aziraphale and little boys below the age of 13.

ok slow mo dekhna muskuraana blah blah gimme the good stuff come on.

confidence ho rich upper-caste hindu mardon waala ho, warna na hi ho.

deepa chachi isn’t as excited as she usually is?

awwwww suman is already doing jamai raja’s taang khichaai.

once all this raita is sametofied (probably in mid-2020), i’ll need them to build a formidable alliance that kicks the ass of anyone who looks at sona wrong.

lmaooooooooo “jai mata di!”

ugh lo aa gaya i was hoping he wouldn’t be here.

tanya’s not here???? uh ohhhhhhhh.

oh wait, i guess pari’s mad coz of ego hurt rohan did on phone, eh? toh shaayad utna danger nahi hai. but who can tell with these horny fucks?

deepa chachi’s hawk like nazarrrr on these shady fucks. good good good.

unf never did i know elbow grabbing could be this saaaaksy.

UGH KEEP THIS SHADY MOM OF YK’S AWAY FROM SUMAN SO HELP ME GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

oh noooooooooooo they’re forming a passive aggressive alliance of sorts and it’s being overheard by naren. oh god make it stop.

OH FUCK IS RAIMA HERE ALREADY?!!?!?

oh it’s Irritating Bengali Mom. got here ahead of schedule. aunty thoda wait kijiye, aa jayegi. aur kahaan jayegi?

pooja, bless your heart, but there’s really no need to try and make nice with this bitch.

COME ON ROHAN, AT LEAST YEH DEKH KAR TUMHARI THARAK KAM HONI CHAHIYE. SHE’S A NASTY PIECE OF WORK WHO WAS RUDE TO YOUR SISTER!!!!!!!!!!! AT LEAST BE A GOOD BROTHER, IF YOU CAN’T BE A GOOD HUSBAND!

raima, i know you woke up from a coma and are a little addled, but will you just get into any random car that stops and asks if they can help?????? like, things weren’t soooooooooo different 4 years ago ki you’ve forgotten how to live in this country.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY GODDDDDDDDDD THE WHISKEY GLASS DKLFJLSDJFLKD I KNOW WHO IT IS AND RAIMA GIRL, OF ALL THE CARS IN THE CITY, THIS ONE?!!?!??!

why focusing on the brand name which is blurred out???? nonsense.

GOD PLEASE STOP MAKING THIS AWKWARD CONVO ON HOW MUCH THINGS COST WHY ARE Y’ALL SO CRASSSSS

“paisa sab kuch nahi hota” - that can only be said by someone who has a lot of it and has never wanted for it. fuck off naren.

OH GOD DON’T BE A RICE COOKER PLEASE DON’T BE A RICE COOKER

bless veena’s heart for being delighted at this also.

fuck you rohitttttttttttttttt you snarky lil shit!!!!!!!!!

OH THANK GOD. SONA HAS SENSE.

TAI TAI PHISSSSSSSSSS, DR. SURGEON.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSS ROHAN KO BHI AKAL AA GAYI THANK YOU JHULE LAAL!!!!!!!!!!

lol did suman not know that pari had the assignment before this????

ASKLFJSLDFJKDSLFKJLDSKJFLDSJ SUMIT WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!!?!?!?!?!?!!?

ABBE IS BECHAARI ADH-MARI KO TOH CHOD. USPE BHI LINE MAAR RAHA HAI?!!?!?!?

LMAO DID HE JUSTTTTTTT NOTICE THAT SHE HAS A BREATHING TUBE AND A WHOLEASS OXYGEN CANISTER?!!?!?

if i was raima i’d be like put me back in the damn coma, at least i didn’t have to deal with creepy fucks like these then.

OMFG AKASH CHACHU’S SHIRT. I LOVE IT.

god rohit why must you recreate the absolute worst parts of DDLJ?!!?!? THERE ARE SO MANY CUTE SCENES *COUGH* THE ALMOST KISS *COUGH COUGH*

WHAT IS WITH THE TERRRRRRRIBLE MUSIC DURING THESE SCENES MAN?!!?

aslfkjsdfklsdjflj rohit you are so bad at this COULDN’T YOU HAVE COME UP WITH A BETTER EXCUSE?!!?

lol deepa/ajit: the cuteass team-up i never knew i neededddd.

will women ever stop looking sexy af in large oversized shirts? NOPE.

OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO DR. SURGEON WANTS TO SHOW OFF HIS EXCELLENT STITCHING SKILLS, KI CHAAHE BODY PE HO YA KAPDE PE, HE’S GOT THE BEST PAIR OF HANDS FOR THE JOB

asalkdjlsajkdlsakdjsa the shirt removal. CONTROL YOURSELFFFF SIR.

can they stop panning the camera all around and focusing on idhar udhar ka random decor saamaan?!?! I WANNA SEE THE SEXY.

.......... what exactly is he stitching??? both hooks are there only. loop toot gaya tha toh iss side pe kyun silaai kar raha hai?????

OH GOD THE RING IS OUT THE RING IS OUTTTTT

AND RAIMA’S HERE AS WELLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!

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oh god. the poop hath hit the fan.

ROHIT ISTG IMMA KICK YOUR DAMN ASS IF THIS ISN’T A RED HERRING FOR THE PRECAP.

OMG SONA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :((((((((((((((((((

#kahaan hum kahaan tum #khkt lbs #episode liveblogs

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