#this was pretty hard to adapt from my native language lol

[minami-mad-fish]

#i made a comic #lone wanderer has canon feelings for Amata #fallout lone wanderer #lone wanderer oc #lone wanderer #fallout 3 #fo3 #fo3 lone wanderer #fallout character #amata almodovar #vault 101 #comicstyle #my comic #comic strip #theyre so in love #this was pretty hard to adapt from my native language lol #fallout g.o.a.t. #lgbtq #L.W. #easy living

[nukenai]

Hey I saw your tags about the BLM and mustangs thing. Could you share more of what you mean by that being propaganda? I'm not asking you to wrote a whole article or anything, just if you have a couple of sources or something I'd like to check it out and make sure I'm not falling for that same nonsense myself when I try to support wild horses

I would actually be really happy to write a whole article LOL. I get really wordy about this subject because it's something so close to me, so I'm SORRY in advance for how long this wound up being.

Unfortunately, I don't have much in the ways of like… hard sources to link or anything with scientific data regarding rescues not being truthful. The Mustang Heritage Foundation is a group that works with the BLM and focuses on placement of horses into homes, so I suggest at the very least checking them out. The BLM also has been making frequent posts about their operations and whatnot on their active facebook pages. Unfortunately every post they make is flooded by insane people calling them murderers and liars, which I'm sure the social media admin just loves.

THIS GOT EXTREMELY LONG SO I'M PUTTING IT UNDER A READ MORE SORRY

The tl;dr is that a LOT of those "high profile" rescues, especially ones that focus on mustangs, are lying to you. When they use extremely over-emotional language like calling the roundups "brutal", talking about wild horses having "families"... they're lying and being emotionally manipulative. They pretend that overpopulation is not a problem, when plenty of people who live by the range will attest to the opposite. Also, it's pretty clear with common sense that overpopulation is going to be an issue with a non-native animal that has basically no natural predators. They preach "letting nature take its course", but that means letting animals starve and die of dehydration. They talk about fossil records, how ancient horses millions of years ago lived in north america... so that makes the modern, domestic horse a "native species". That's just not true.

The big thing they try to talk about is how these horses are "traumatized" by roundups and so many don't adapt to captivity. This is just... not at all true. I really truly believed in all this nonsense, that horses had a concept of "family"... Horses are very social animals that form tight bonds... but they also get over it when separated from their friends and family, because they are animals and can form new bonds. For example. I have 2 horses - an APHA paint and a mustang! My paint mare had a foal when she was around 5. She's 21 now. She does not give a shit that she is no longer with her baby. My mustang was rounded up when she was a yearling. She's now 14. She is not traumatized by helicopters. She had a lot of issues when I got her, but it had to do entirely with being locked in a stall for 5 years with no real care. Not the roundup or her treatment by the BLM. For the record, I have vet paperwork from her for several years - all while she was in holding pens! So she was getting consistent vet care while she was in holding.

Another big thing is the very weird demonization of the BLM! These rescues and "advocacy" groups will seriously say that people who work for the BLM are evil and love abusing animals. That they love hurting horses and chasing them gives them a rush. This is insane movie logic. The BLM is just a government agency, and the people working there are just PEOPLE. Every person I've spoken to who works for the BLM has been kind, patient, and helpful. I found out my mare was sold to me untitled, and once I got ahold of someone, I had everything settled within 24 hours. These people WANT the horses to be helped and they WANT them to be in good homes.

At the barn where I board my horses, another boarder went and got 2 mustangs from the closest corral to us (which is not very close, lol). She told me the people there were all extremely friendly, and excited to see people showing up for adoptions. They cared about the horses and even knew some of their personalities. The horses in those corrals were extremely friendly and used to people from being fed and cared for. Both of the mustangs she brought home required almost no gentling because they knew humans were good.

Once I joined communities for people who have actually adopted and worked with mustangs, I realized how much I had been lied to. Once I saw people doing the REAL work - the TIP trainers putting work into these horses and getting them homes - I was so embarrassed that I let wool be put over my eyes so much.

Mustangs are really cool and they're my favorite "breed" of horse (they're not really technically a breed lol). But some of these rescues use the drama we've all seen in Horse Movies to insinuate that they're somehow something Different, something Very Special, so special that they deserve to run free forever, and it's a shame to "break" them and ride them, or whatever. That's absurd. They're horses just like every other horse. Every horse is an individual. Of course it's true that some mustangs won't adapt to captivity. Hell, some DOMESTIC-born horses don't like being ridden or worked with. But that all comes down to the individual animal, not some kind of magical inner spirit they have.

I also really need to point out the racism. There's a lot of bizarre fetishization of Native American cultures by the largely white base of these horse rescues and "advocacy" groups. I see a LOT of it. And you know what else there is? COMPARISONS TO THE FUCKING HOLOCAUST. Again it's mostly white women in these groups (and I say this as a whole White Woman myself!!), and I am constantly seeing them calling horse roundups "GENOCIDE" and saying "it's just like the holocaust". It's disgusting mania and I don't see that being brought up a lot when people talk about the propaganda from rescues. That was honestly the final breaking point for me leaving every one of my mustang "advocacy" groups and staying solely in the groups for people who actually own or are interested in owning mustangs. I don't think anyone in any of those old groups I was in ever actually adopted a mustang. They just reposted other peoples' photos all day.

And here's just some anecdotal stuff. Skydog Sanctuary is the most heinous in my opinion because of things I know they've done. They (I know other rescues do this too, but I know most about them) bid on the horses on the internet auctions if they have "family" of those horses at their rescues, or if they're "famous" mustangs that were well known in the wild. I'm talking, they'll bid up the price of some 2 year old filly into the tens of thousands, because they have her "FATHER" on the sanctuary and they want to "REUNITE" them. The young horses are the ones who get the most interest, because they're young and tend to adapt better to training, etc. I think this year Skydog talked about how they're finally going after the older or injured horses. In my opinion, that's what they should've been doing in the first place. Get the horses that might not do well in captivity. The ones that need special care and deserve sanctuary placement. To me, it's borderline cruel to buy a 2 year old just to turn her out on 4000 acres or whatever and let her "be wild" forever. That horse would've absolutely wound up in an amazing home, but their ego made them go after her because they wanted to "reunite her with her father"... wtf. I would put money on my own horse not recognizing her own baby if I brought them together. Stallions do not care. The reason this story was an issue is that an experienced trainer was trying to get that filly for a client, because she fit everything the client requested, but she wound up in a battle with the rescue who was sending her nasty emails accusing her of "breaking up a family". It's nuts.

Are there issues with the BLM's management? Of course there are. It's a government agency, and I haven't met a single person who actually thinks they're perfect. But they face CONSTANT opposition in the courts from these "advocacy" groups that waste their time and money with lawsuits and rallying people against them. My view is that even if the horses aren't starving NOW, they WILL if we just let them be. Horses are domesticated animals that humans created through thousands of years of selective breeding. It's like dogs. Just leaving domesticated (but feral) dogs to roam wild in the woods would be considered cruelty! I think some horses deserve to stay wild, absolutely, but there's so goddamn many of them, they're not remotely at risk of going "extinct".

And at the end of it, I think the fact that thousands of mustangs have been adopted into loving homes and have adjusted completely fine, is proof enough that they are not some special wild animal. Horses and people are linked through thousands of years of history. It is not cruel to tame a mustang.

I know this was pretty ranty, I'm sorry! If you have any more specific questions I'll be happy to answer them because I'm sure there's some points I've missed. This is all just off the top of my head...

My biggest warning to people who are interested in animal advocacy and rescues for any kind of animal: Please be extremely wary of any rescues that use really overly emotional language. If their posts are extremely dramatic, like they're writing a drama book, and they talk about "seeing the deep pain in an animal's eyes from the trauma of helicopter roundups and missing their families"... RUN. This is a rescue that is trying to manipulate you and take your money, and they are not being truthful with you.

Unfortunately, if you listen to the rescues, they will only ever say that everything the BLM says is a lie, and the Mustang Heritage Foundation is right up there with them, lying and being evil. I don't want to sit here and say all these rescues are horrible evil liars or monsters. I'm simply saying they're manipulative because they have an end goal, which is getting donations. And people are easily swayed, especially when it comes to animals. Just note how different the language is when you read something about the horses from the BLM or the MHF, vs a place like Skydog Sanctuary.

This issue is unfortunately really divided and really heated, and it can be difficult to find any real information that won't be clouded by your own personal biases, so I can really only encourage you to do your own research and come to your own conclusion.

I guess, as a hard source, I'm speaking as someone who entirely believed in all of that "be forever wild, the mustangs are special animals and the BLM is so evil for hurting them", until I got my own mustang. And even for a while after that, I thought, "wow. she must be so traumatized and deeply wounded". ...but then I had her for a while. And I realized, oh.

She's... a horse.

An amazing horse, for sure. My heart horse, definitely!

But she's a horse. Not a fairy tale, or a dramatized facebook post talking of "family" and "trauma". She is a horse, and a very happy one at that. Despite the fact that she lives inside a fence.

#this post is borderline nonsensical rambling but #i hope i made some kind of point #i'm sure much smarter and more articulate people have made better posts about this than me... #i'm overly wordy and can't keep it brief lmfao

[loveshacks]

diego and soundman's accents

this one was a little harder since neither of them are given specific bithplaces in canon. i had to make a few assumptions in order to assign them an accent ^^' but somehow i feel like i got a more precise idea of their voices than gyro and johnny's?

Soundman: in canon, he's never given a more specific heritage than "native american" which, thank you. thanks. that helps. also for all my ~15 minutes of forum scouring i could not find anyone else who cared to try and figure out what tribe he might be. So I will do my best:

We know at least that they live somewhere in the desert, with their intro scene having a backdrop of mesas and cacti. we also know that they ride horses, which helps to narrow it down a little. based on that im guessing Apache, since Apache people are more well known for their horseback riding than their neighbors in the desert, the Puebloans. Some Apache people did live in tipis like Soundman's tribe seems to, but the Apache groups that lived in the desert (Lipan and Mescalero) generally lived in wikiups, which are similar, but less easily transportable. Like I said he doesn't seem to be based on any specific tribe, so the references to Native culture are all over the place.

But as if Apache is specific enough! Apache itself has two distinct languages within it (Eastern and Western) and at least four dialects within those. I'm going to assume Soundman is Mescalero Apache specifically, which would mean he speaks Mescalero-Chiricahua. Here is a sample of someone switching between english and Mescalero- altho that's a much more modern example, i think we can assume that's pretty close to how Soundman would speak!

My guess is that he learned english entirely from his books, since his tribe seems to be pretty anti-contact, so i believe his english would be pretty accented and probably become more adapted/smooth throughout the race. ok transcription time!

/ aj wɛl k'las͜ t̬ɛ k'an.t'ɛ.nɛnt wɛt maj fiːt ɛ'lõ: /

"eye well c(l)ass t'e cantenent wet my feet el-oan" (VERY roughly) here's the IPA reader , i recommend Ines for best results

reader friendly text: aj wɛl klas͜ t̬ɛ kantɛnɛnt wɛt maj fiːt ɛlõ:

the mescalero language does not have the [ð] (that, the), [ɹ] (red), or the [w] sounds, so i figure the "th" jumps to the next best thing, a flap [t̬ ] (butter, medal) and an [l] is slipped in in place of the [ɹ] as they are both pronounced in the same area of the mouth, assuming he doesn't just skip over the sound entirely. as for the [w] sounds, the neighboring languages, Western Apache and Navajo both include a [w] sound in their alphabet, so i don't think it's impossible for Soundman to say 'wet water is wet,' assuming he had contact with people outside his tribe.

The biggest difference is in the vowels. Mescalero does not have the [ɪ] (will, hit), [ə] (alone), [əʊ] (own, loan), or [ɒ] (cross, hot), and those are just the sounds i needed for this sentence ^^'. They do however have 4 different nasal vowels, which are kind of hard to imagine the sound of if you aren't familiar with them, but think of how the french say "jean" and you have a nasal 'a' right there. So I think Soundman would often slip back into nasal vowels, especially in place of a vowel/nasal consonant combo at the end of a word: the end of 'alone' slips to the soft palate, and he doesn't hit the 'n' sound on its own. Mescalero also doesn't have any diphthongs, most notably the [au] in sound. so his name probably sounds more like / sã: mã / assuming it's not a translation of some longer phrase.

The vowels would be the defining feature of his accent, since it seems a lot of english vowels don't translate into mescalero. Also, didn't get to mention this, but mescalero also has quite a few sounds that are more...lisp-y (i guess?), like [ɬ], [ɣ] and and [k'] idrk if i can write out an accurate pronunciation, check them out on this interactive chart. So i think he would end up using those sorts of sounds pretty often especially in place of tighter consonants, so like 'slip' might become 'shlip' and 'contact' might become "conta(cht) " with the ending "k" sound going towards the soft palate and being pretty closed off.

Diego: he's a poor british dude, so you'd think we could just pin him with a cockney accent and call it a day. Sadly it's just not that easy. And i like making things complicated. Cockney accents are found among lower class Londoners- aka city dwellers, and Diego was born and raised somewhere in the countryside. A few miles (or kilometers i guess, we're in the UK now) can really be a world of difference on an accent. so:

during his intro his parents take him "into the mountains" so that puts us up in the north of the country- and then he flows down a river and grows up on a farm. So I am pinning him with a Yorkshire accent, since it's an area of countryside directly next to the mountains, while newcastle seems a little too north (but imagine geordie diego lol) and scouse (liverpool) seems a little too far south/also on the other side of the mountains.

Here is the oldest example i can find of a yorkshire accent, someone born in 1912, and luckily it doesn't sound tooo different from the modern accent, at least not to my american ears :~). But, given his goal of 'climbing the ranks of society' it also makes sense for him make an effort to cover up his natural accent in order to sound more posh (aka upper received pronunciation). I'm thinking then that his speech would be characterized by a lot of dropped r's/ non-rhoticity (obv), glottal stops at the end of words (mostly to replace t's d's and k's), omitting h sounds from the beginning of words, as well as diphthong vowels and a majority of frontal vowels. he might even roll his 'r's if they're in the middle of a word, like 'brando' / bɾɑ:ndɔ /

if he's really minding himself though, he'll be sure to enunciate his t's & h's, follow the rises and falls of upper RP, and not roll his r's, since that would give him away as a...u know, / blʊ:dɛ kʰʊ:ntɾɛ: fʊ:k /

the vowels would be a little harder to mind, since upper rp vowels are generally formed nearer the front of the mouth, while yorkshire vowels are less restrained, more open (formed with a low tongue/open mouth), and not very subtle. yorkshire accents can also create diphthongs where there are none, so floor may be pronounced, flu-or.

/ a:bɛts kʰɑ:ntʰ be: fɛkst jʊs laɪʔ feɪtʰ /

" 'abets c(ah)n't b(eh) fex'd, joos lai' fate" (roughly) IPA reader i recommend Geraint or Amy to get the best results.

kinda weird sounding. i know. like i said, i think he would have trained himself to hit his t's (otherwise it would sound like, "abe's, ka' fae' " ) and some more posh sounding vowels like in can't (caaahn't) and be (beehh). And then there would be the bits of his natural accent that slip thru the cracks, like the dropped 'h' in habits, and the long 'u' sound in 'just.' (dkm he might sound sorta like louis tomlinson)

so there u have it ^_^ i might do valentine, steven steel and hot pants next

#if u read this whole thing i give u a kis :* #steel ball run #jjba #jojo essays #linguistics

[oranaro]

@mercurysystem you wanted to be tagged, here ya go

How many works do you have on AO3?

52 if you include the ones on anon

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Dream SMP, Hermitcraft, Doll Eye, that one HC fic inspired by 100 Gecs, and a couple originals

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

(REDACTED), Dolls And Toys, Uncovered, Lucky, Skephalo Smut. All of these except Uncovered contain porn to some degree. 

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Ehhhhhhhhh not really? I used to try to respond to every comment I got, but I quickly learned I’m not good at doing that. I only really reply anymore on request books to let the person know I fulfilled their wish. 

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hard to say since for a while I was fucking addicted to the angstiest shit possible. All my most brutal stuff is on anon though lol. I guess my most angsty fic that doesn’t dip into NSFL territory is All That Mattered. Basically a guy kills his friend in a past life and wakes up with all the memories of it. Meanwhile his friend has no idea what happened and acts like he’s still his bestie. The killer has to live with the guilt of what he did while pretending nothing happened for the sake of his friend’s happiness. 

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No. IDK What to say, I just don’t enjoy writing or reading them. 

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Considering what I like to do as well as the sort of stuff I used to specialize in, people have been surprisingly kind to me. Only fandom I’ve gotten any negativity from was Dream SMP. One person told me to starve myself. I’ve also gotten a few people tell me I made them vomit, and made them want to rip out their eyes and erase their memories. That was on my more brutal stuff though, so I just take that as a sign I had done my job right. 

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Heeeeelllllllll yeah. Pretty much everything except underage, age play, scat, and farts. 

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

YEAH TWICE. The first time someone said they loved my fic and asked if they could “adapt” it. I said yes while not really knowing what this person had meant. When I checked their profile the next day they had copy-pasted my fic, its description, and all the tags word for word and changed out the names so that it would fit into a different fandom. At least they credited me in the notes at the end. My fic was waaaaaay more popular though, so I don’t care LOL. I also think it’s flattering that they thought my stuff was good enough to steal. 

The second time I had quickly typed up a oneshot which I would never consider my best work. A few hours later I saw a fic with the same title, description, tags, and general plot posted by someone on anon. I guess they read my fic and thought they could do better. Again, I don’t care since my fic got so much more attention. 

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of. 

What’s your all time favorite ship?

All time favorite? I don’t know, there’s so many to love. That’s like asking “What’s your favorite food?”; it’s impossible to choose one. 

Whats a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Happy Family Coraline AU. I had already written out the scene where the Beldam throws Coraline into that room with the ghosts in it. I had recieved some good feedback on that bit. I did some more world building, but could never figure everything out. It’s been months since I touched it, so I guess I’m gonna call it done forever. 

What are your writing strengths?

I like to think that I’m good at angst. 

What are your writing weaknesses?

Character descriptions T_T. Can I not just give them different pronouns so you know who’s talking and call it a day?

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

This one’s complicated. 

Usually when it’s done it’s when a character only says a word or two in their native language, a sentence at most. Sometimes it’s to show personal relationships (Like an Arabic woman calling her boyfriend her habibi). Other times it’s to exaggerate how ‘exotic’ a character is (Like a Spanish character saying “MADRE DIOS” every time he’s in a scene). Or it’s to sound fancy (Like saying “Cafe de Merde pas Cher” instead of “Cheap shitty coffee”). 

I’m monolingual, so it’s not my business to police or critique how other people write language. But I have spoken to multilinguals, and from what I’ve heard writers rarely do a good job of accurately depicting this sort of thing. Things like having to translate stuff in your head so you seem less intelligent in your non-native language, or forgetting common words in every language you know, or saying things like “hand shoe” instead of “glove”. And sometimes this inaccurate writing can be harmful and enforce stereotypes as well as just not be fun to read. 

As a monolingual, I feel like most of the time it’s... unnecessary. Especially if it’s not accurate to how people of that language talk. Sometimes it works just fine to say “He whispered praises to him in his mother tongue”. Having words of a different language randomly in dialogue can be distracting. (The worst offenders are in movies where even the subtitles just say “Speaking in (language)”). 

We can all agree on one thing though, actually know what words mean before using them. Do some proper research on linguistics instead of relying on Google Translate to spare yourself from becoming a laughing stock. 

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Hetalia LOL. Back in Jr. High. I’m not sharing that shit. 

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

The Sun Always Came Up. Just a bit of hurt/comfort. 

I also like Sleep-E-E’s. A guy can’t get to sleep, so he pays his friend to kick him in the face until he passes out. 

#not maintagging aaaaaany of this LMAO

[umusicians]

UM Interview: Jimah, El Cézar & Quantum Flush

Many artists today are constantly evolving in their artistry, whether that be personally or musically, through their image and sound. This Atlanta trio is no different. The trio made up of Jimah, El Cézar, Quantum Flush are bringing a new sound into the music industry, creating music under a  genre of music, called "Afroton". A blend of Afrobeats and Reggaeton, which the trio introduced to the world with the release of their debut EP, 'Rice & Stew'.

Amandah Opoku sat down with Jimah, El Cézar, Quantum Flush to talk about their new record ‘Rice & Stew’, embarking on a solo career and more!

Amandah Opoku: Jimah, El Cézar & Quantum Flush, thank you for doing this interview today! Before we kick off please tell our readers about yourself and one random fact people do not know about you? JIMAH: Hey, my name is Jimah, I’m a Cameroonian artist based in Atlanta and it’s my pleasure to do this interview. As far as one random fact goes, I used to go to boarding school in Cameroon when I was younger which was a crazy experience.         EL CÉZAR: What’s up! To start off, I was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela.  I love to make music, i love to game and i love to eat good food. Me and the guys are gonna have our own food show when God permits. One fact about me that is not so known, is my day hustle when i’m not wearing the cape; i bartend for a living. I go to weddings and serve up to 200 people and no cap i make a good ass margarita.                                                                  FLUSH: I am a composer and producer of world music based in Atlanta.  I’ve been creating my entire life and I’m a believer in God.

Pictured: JIMAH

Amandah Opoku: What inspired you each to create music and pursue it as a career? JIMAH: When I was like 13 in boarding school, I used to write out song lyrics for my friends in class who wanted to know the words to songs. From doing that over and over I figured I should start writing my own lyrics, and that led to me getting into instrumentals and trying to make my own songs. I used to also battle rap some of the kids in older grades and it used to be a little thing we’d do to pass the time between studies. The way the people reacted to me and what I did was a rush. The more I did it I realized I didn’t want to do anything else in life but chase that feeling that making music gives me.  EL CÉZAR: What inspired me. My dad is a percussionist and had drums in the house at all times.  I remember being 5 years old when i got my first drum set and driving my mom nuts playing the hell out of it.  My grandfather was also a singer in a gaita group along with his brother, who played the cuarto, (basically a smaller guitar.)  I remember growing up in Venezuela.  Every time we had a family gathering, beer and live music was always involved.  My grandfather singing his chords out with by grandma, my dad banging his drums, my uncles joining in with claps.  It was overall great times.  As i grew in the States, I began to fall in love with hip-hop and the culture.  Around my junior year of high school, I quit drumline and started messing around with FL studio.  The rest is just history, well growth and history.  Music is all I know and love. FLUSH: I began this journey in sound my first trip to Africa and got inspired by what was around me. Good things always came out of the arts for me. It always felt good for me to share my sound with people. With music, more opportunities opened up for me and I felt it was the most natural path for me in life.

Amandah Opoku: What artists would you say inspire you both musically and personally? JIMAH: I listen to a wide variety of music, so I’d say Sade, Fela Kuti, Future, Wizkid, Bob Marley, and Kanye West to name a few.  There are so many others in Africa like the late DJ Arafat, and the late Manu Dibango, Flavour, and so many others. EL CÉZAR: Definitely, Wiz Khalifa because of his lifestyle.  It’s a carefree, luxurious lifestyle.  He preaches good energy, hard work, and that you can become a self-made boss on your own.  His old music was all I listened to.  My second inspiration is Bad Bunny.  He writes all his songs, his style is unmatched, and he’s always creating the wave.  A big thing for me and the guys is creating the wave and not riding it.  FLUSH: I’m really inspired by Bach, Beethoven And Debussy because of the passion and their ability to push music into a new era. They inspire me to play with chords and form when laying out my ideas.  Dub Reggae inspires me too. I really love King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry.

Amandah Opoku: Who are artists that you look up to that you would like to work with or collab with in the future? JIMAH: I feel like Skepta and I would make a smash for sure.  Wiz and Burna would be crazy. Rema has been going crazy too.  I feel like we’d make something that would really shatter the boundaries of the sound. EL CÉZAR: Right now, I'm really praying and manifesting a feature from Fuego. He’s an innovator, a genre bender just like us. Another artist I really look forward to collaborating with is Rema. The guy is just a vibe wizard. Lastly, Nessly. Nessly is fye. FLUSH: There are so many to name.  But, I definitely want to make records with Oumou Sangare, Fatoumata Diawara, Gunna, Young Thug, Alfa Mist, and Yussef Dayes just to name few.

Amandah Opoku: If you could describe your music in three words. What words would you choose and why? JIMAH: I’d say my music is a “Futuristic Eclectic Medley” because we are really taking elements from cultures from all across the globe and implementing them into the music. From instruments to lingo, I just want everyone in the world to be able to relate to the music. EL CÉZAR: Three words: smooth, sensual, and at times enigmatic.  I feel like I’m a pretty chill guy so this type of music is what resonates with me.  Plus, I’m also a night owl.  Listen to my music at night and you’ll feel what i’m talking about.  With the guys though, I’m heavily influenced by the energy Flush is trying to emit with the beats.  Flush is an unpredictable man, so i have to adapt a lot.  I love it though.  FLUSH:  The words that best describe my sound would be diversity, eclecticism and originality.  I’m creating music that transcends cultures and language. I pull inspiration from all aspects of my life and create with the intent to weld different cultures together.  I’m born and raised ATL with parents from West Africa.  So when I think about creating, certain sounds make sense with others.

Amandah Opoku: You recently released your project, ‘Rice & Stew’. What was the writing and recording process like? JIMAH: Yeah Rice & Stew was a lot of fun to make.  Working with El Cezar and Flush was just a flawless process.  Flush and Cezar are always coming with some crazy production and once they press play on the beat, it doesn’t take long for the ideas to start flowing.  I typically do a mix of freestyling and writing, and we record ourselves.  I went to school for engineering and Cezar is a beast with engineering too; so all the recording, mixing, and mastering was done in house, handled mostly by Cezar. EL CÉZAR: Rice & Stew man, the process was great!  I’ll never forget those times.  I think Jimah and I have a similar process.  During Rice & Stew, it was always hard to figure out who would go first on the song unless Flush explicitly said who he felt like should start.  We played rock paper scissors sometimes for who would go first, LOL.  Once we figured that out, we just vibed on the beat.  We spit melodies, and sometimes words will come out so we get an idea of what the song will be about.  After that, we either knock out the song in one go and write it then and there, or we’ll vibe on like 3 or 4 more beats and pick the best one to finish.  FLUSH: The writing process is actually something similar to a therapy session. Jimah and El Cézar are my friends so we talk about what’s happening in our personal lives. They pretty much narrate my feelings into song form. We have inside jokes the somehow worked it’s way into the music. Everything we do is from the heart I swear.

Amandah Opoku: You are 3 individuals contributing your own visions, sounds and ideas to what ultimately became, ‘Rice & Stew’. How did you integrate your own personal ideas/views into the project? JIMAH: The one thing we realized when we all came together was that we all had very similar life stories but just on different sides of the world. We also realized that our music and cultures were very similar and were almost like cousins. On every record we tend to tell the same story just from our points of view, whether that be in our native language or with lingo that only people from our cultures would understand, we’re like 3 sides to the same coin. EL CÉZAR:  Being yourself is really easy when it comes to making music. You do what feels natural.  I feel like because we’re from different parts of the world, we’re even more encouraged to hone into our cultures.  In 17hrs, I talk about taking my girl to Maracaibo, comiendo cepillao’ por el lago. Maracaibo is known for many things, but a great attraction is the Lake walk, “La vereda del lago,” and we also eat special iceys with condensed milk called “cepillado.” Also, in Maracaibo we have a different dialect then pretty much the rest of Venezuela.  We use the “vos” instead of “tu,” which completely changes the language.  It feels forced when i try to speak with the “tu”, the “vos” just feels too natural to me. I definitely like to incorporate that in the songs, mainly because it’s what I write naturally, but I sometimes want to make it digestible for those who aren’t too familiar with the “vos” dialect.  FLUSH: We respect each other’s vision and also learn along the way. El Cézar definitely taught me a lot about Maracaibo to the point where I feel like I was there. This is what Rice and Stew is about. Creating a hot meal by bringing our own seasoning and mixing it together.

Amandah Opoku: What inspired you to come together and release this project together? JIMAH: We felt like there was an absence of Afro-Reggaeton collaborations, so we decided to really spearhead that movement by labelling the new genre AFROTON. Once we figured out the formula for blending the cultures sonically, we knew that we had to give the people a collection of music from that genre. EL CÉZAR:  Me and Jimah met during one of our studio internships and clicked the first day we met.  We spoke about Afrobeats and how it’s similar to Reggaeton.  We spoke about the similarities the genres shared, the emotion the genres give us and how we resonate with the sound.  We cooked up beats at the internship that same day and pretty much planned our first session together.  At the time, I wasn’t really behind the mic much.  I was just making beats.  Our first session, I played Jimah a beat and we recorded “Wahala,” our first track together.  I loved the vibe and i felt inspired to write something in Spanish.  This was my first Spanish verse ever.  When we finished the track we literally went nuts and knew we found something special.  We even shot a video to that song, but never dropped it.  After weeks of cooking up with Jimah, he finally introduced me to Flush.  That day, me and Flush cooked up a beat for a song called “Shayo.”   Great song man, humble beginnings.  After that, we knew we had to keep cooking up.  This was something truly special.  After months of cooking and just vibing, getting closer and growing together, we decided that maybe it was time for a project that would showcase this new sound that we’re bringing to the world.  We knew that this would bring people together and that’s all we ever wanted.  I see these guys as my brothers and this music really fortified that.  Now, the ultimate goal is to have the most diverse dance floor anybody has ever danced on.  FLUSH: We felt that the world was changing especially now that we have reached a new decade. The sound has to transform and reflect the new age we live in today. We are all experiencing something completely new some of these things being life threatening. It’s only right that the sound changes with the times.

Pictured: EL CÉZAR

Amandah Opoku: What inspired you to name the record ‘Rice & Stew’? JIMAH: Honestly it was a joke at first, but it eventually stuck. Rice & Stew is a staple household meal that most cultures eat in some form or fashion and we felt like people would be interested to hear what rice and stew would sound like sonically. EL CÉZAR:  EVERYONE EATS RICE & STEW. Flush named the “La Zorra” beat “Rice Stew” and that’s what truly inspired it.  That’s where the name came from.  FLUSH: The name came from a crazy beat I made.  After making the 4th record on the project, we noticed that rice and stew is a meal people all over the world can resonate with.

Amandah Opoku: If you had to choose one song from ‘Rice & Stew’ to introduce someone to your music, which song would you choose and why? JIMAH: I would probably show them La Zorra. That’s because that record really cuts across all cultural boundaries and has a lot of energy that is just undeniable. EL CÉZAR:  I would choose Outta Line as the song to show the first timers.  It’s the perfect blend of everything - vibes, emotion, story, theme, the BEAT.  This song is my fav from the project.  Me and Jimah go back and forth, passing the baton, and telling the story.  This man Flush went crazy on the beat as usual.  It’s just an overall digestible vibe.  Anybody can vibe to that song. FLUSH: I would choose La Zorra. That song is the one that makes me speed down the highway when it comes on.  I love the high energy in the drums mixed with the psycho synths and syncopation.

Amandah Opoku: In the future, do you think you’ll create a group name that your projects would be released under or do you think you’ll continue to release music credited as your individual selves? JIMAH: You know this is something we talk about very often and we just didn’t want to force a name that did not resonate with everyone. So, until we get the perfect name, we’ll keep crediting each other. EL CÉZAR:  We’ve actually thought about the group name A LOT.  If we get a name, we want it to be something that represents all of us.  We’re really not tryna force it so as of right now, I think we’re going as individuals.  To us, we’re still a group.  We’re still the Afroton trio.   FLUSH: I feel that we could have a name in the future, but as of now God hasn’t revealed that message to us yet. We are just trying to grown in our sound and through that it’ll manifest itself.

Amandah Opoku: What do you want people to take away from your music? And as an artist, what do you hope to achieve with your music career? JIMAH: The underlying message throughout my music is unity and cultural appreciation. We all have different things to learn from each other and appreciate so I really want to preach that. I want to be recognized as one of the greatest artists of all time for bringing cultures together and I want to really represent for my country Cameroon, and I want to change the lives of people back home with my music. EL CÉZAR: I want people to understand that we’re all brothers and sisters at the end of the day.  We want people to treat each other like family and really to share the dance floor together, metaphorically and literally.  As an artist, I want to be up there with the greats, just like any other artist. But not because we’re good at what we do, but because we are innovative and we brought something to the table that no one has ever thought to bring - something genuine built from love and passion.  FLUSH: I want to inspire people to express themselves. People should be free in thinking and shouldn’t be afraid to take their time in finding themselves. I find out more and more about myself through the sound and share it with my listeners.

Amandah Opoku: What has been your favorite track released this year and why? JIMAH: I released a song at the beginning of this year called “Fake Energy” and that song really set the tone for me this year in terms of my mental state and how I approach people and this music. Whenever I listen to it, it really inspires me to stay on my game. EL CÉZAR: La Zorra had to be my second best because there’s an unmatched emotion that i get when i listen to that. The song is just crazy. From another artist though, it has to be Ginger by Wizkid.  The production is impeccable and the mixing is on point. Burna boy did his thing, Wiz did his thing too.  The outro of the song where the key signature changes was just perfect.   FLUSH: My favorite track released is Right Mind because that is when we all came together for the first time. We created the song at a studio called Danny Vails and since then we’ve been rockin heavy. That was the first time I linked El Cézar.

Amandah Opoku: 2020 has been a very interesting year for all of us. How has the pandemic affected you as a musician? JIMAH: It’s just given me more time to create, and if not for the pandemic, I don’t think we would have been able to really lock in to make Rice & Stew.  It was a blessing in disguise.  EL CÉZAR: It was truly a blessing to just be able to sit at home and perfect my craft.  Every day was productive for me. I was either studying music business, learning new methods to master songs, or making new beats and songs.  It was great. It gave me time to really hone into this music.   Being able to dedicate my energy into just music felt amazing to me.  Rice & Stew would’ve probably came out in 2021, if not for the pandemic.  We literally cooked up weekly and pushed out about 30 songs in the span of 3 months. FLUSH: It sucks because we have been performing in clubs and can’t enjoy it like that cause of the masks. We are also on a virtual tour which is cool, but it would have been better if we could get on the road and physically interact with our fans. I pray everything clears up so we can really go crazy.

Pictured: QUANTUM FLUSH

Amandah Opoku: With ‘Rice & Stew’ out now, what can fans and music listeners expect from you next year? JIMAH: Expect more futuristic culture blending, culture bending vibes from all 3 of us.  EL CÉZAR: Rice & Stew was only the beginning. Expect more collaborative projects from the guys and I.  In 2021, I am planning to release my first solo EP to showcase what I can do as an individual.  Music from us as a trio is inevitable! Expect greatness in 2021.  FLUSH: This project is just the spark to a flame that leads to the dynamite going boom. We have so much music to share and many experiences to give our listeners. We are performing shows and collaborating with people all over the world, It’s just a time to be global.

Amandah Opoku: Jimah, El Cézar & Quantum Flush, thank you for sitting down with me! Before we close this interview is there anything you want to say to your fans and our readers? JIMAH: I appreciate you for interviewing us and to everyone reading keep your head down and chase your goals, don’t worry about what those on the outside have to say, and go stream Rice & Stew out now on all platforms and more vibes on the way! EL CÉZAR: To all of the readers and supporters, thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for listening to Rice & Stew, and for accepting this sound.  We don’t want it to be esoteric, but even if it’s that; I’m happy and thankful for those who resonate with the music. We love y’all and we want to keep growing with y’all.  Stay safe and don’t forget to just be yourself.  You’ll get further that way. Peace. FLUSH: I want to thank my fans for taking this journey with us into the new world. Thank you for reading and if you haven’t heard the project yet check it out and hop on the UFO. There is plenty of food to go around just take a bite of this Rice and Stew.

Stream ‘Rice & Stew’ here and connect with Jimah, El Cézar, Quantum Flush on the following websites: Jimah: @jimahlegar (Instagram), @Jimahlegar (Twitter) El Cezar: @elcezar_ (Instagram), @elcezar_ (Twitter) Quantum Flush: @quantumflush (Instagram), @quantumflush (Twitter)

#Interviews #Amandah Opoku #Jimah #El Cézar #Quantum Flush

[dechagnys]

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK ( depends on who u ask lol )

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. ( again depends on who u ask )

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK

Were they relevant to the main story?  YES / NO

Were they relevant to the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO / IDK

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL

How strictly do you follow canon?

hm.   I follow canon to the point until I don’t.   in terms of phantom there are a lot of different interpretations and versions you can pull inspo from and I tend to mix between the leroux novel and the alw musical ,  and just kind of take the bits that I like and go from there.   the two are pretty different in terms of how raoul is characterised so I’m not totally faithful to either one of them ,  however I don’t think I disregard some of the negative traits in either characterisation either   ???   I try to reflect them in a less fuckboy way.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals

raoul loves so hard.   he is just a smart ,  brave man who loves and respects those who deserve love and respect.   he’s shy and kind and fiercely loyal and is generally considered to not be worth one’s time because he does not put himself on display.   he’s a thoroughly unique twist on a classic victorian hero archetype ,  by which I mean instead of being the bold ,  aggressive ,  rough-tough-no-emotion type ,  he is a man who is very much in touch with his own feelings and his own emotional health.   he is still a strong leader when it is required but is generally more a lover than an aggressor.

Now the OPPOSITE. List everything why your muse might not be so interesting (even if you don’t agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?)

okay.   so ,  the phandom has generally been getting better ,  especially recently after the livestreams of both RAH and LND ,  but raoul is still very much of background consideration in terms of fanmade content.   generally ,  the r/c dynamic is considered less appealing than the e/c dynamic which is understandable because beauty and the beast narratives are pretty sexy ,  but it tends to be at the expense of raoul’s character.   this also applies to most phantom adaptations which take great pains to develop the e/c dynamic and give raoul barely ,  if any ,  character in general.   ( ie. most of the phantom adaptations don’t even give the raoul character the name raoul )   this ,  however unintentional ,  has given raoul the general reputation of being a ,  to use an academic expression ,  soyboy cuck.   which he is ,  at face value ,  but lack of character development means he’s really not anything more than that.   this leads people to assume he’s a wonderbread boy with zero character which leads to the general aforementioned shelfing.   I won’t claim that raoul is the most interesting character in the story because he’s of course not ,  the phantom is objectively WAY COOLER than he is but that doesn’t mean raoul’s not interesting.   anyways raoul de chagny is my oc

What inspired you to rp your muse?

I’ve mentioned this on a previous ask meme but I love me a good soft boy.   a man who is pretty much completely driven by his love for his SO to the point that it’s at the heart of all his motivations.   really just a total simp.   a boy who doesn’t like being yelled at but also would let his SO yell at him like a dog.   a tall man with a short gf.   a man who would let his gf peg him anyways I’m really into the dynamic and raoul is that to a T.   I’ve always really liked him as a character ,  after being exposed to phantom through the 04 movie I was just really drawn to raoul and more exposure to this character arcchetype developed my interest in him.

What keeps your inspiration going?

- memes - salt - love for my wee baby boy

Some more personal questions for the mun. Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO.

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO.   ( not as much as I really should since I appear to have a lot to say about him )

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO.  :(

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES  / NO. / SOMETIMES .

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO.

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO.

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?

yes ,  to a point   ??   I’m pretty firm in my general characterisation of raoul and I haven’t had any complaints so far ,  but if it turns out I’m actually being problematic about something then by all means I’m open to that criticism and would change it.   I don’t think anyone really cares enough about my muse to give a fuck tho lmao

Do you like questions which help you explore your character?

it’ll take me 84 years to respond but hell yeah.

If someone disagrees with a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?

yes.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?

honestly I think I’d be upset at first since I really love my portrayal of raoul but I would understand ,  because of the varied interpretations of his character it’s natural people would read him in different ways.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?

it’s fine lol ,  I think at this point I’m used to raoul being cucked in the fandom although that sentiment is generally going away ,  ALW really played himself when he streamed LND and all the comments were talking about how stupid the changes to raoul‘s character were.   if it’s specifically my characterisation ,  I mean I wouldn’t be thrilled but I’d understand.   if you really don’t like me then pls softblock me and don’t vague about me   ????  

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?

that’s a little but of an overreaction but I guess not   ???   I tend not to make a lot myself but I am pretty stupid and I type too fast for my own good so it’s bound to happen.  however I suggest people not make a habit of calling out other people’s grammatical errors because you cannot assume english is everyone’s first language and if you call someone bad at english whose native language is not english   ???  you’re a douche.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?

oh god I hope so.   I mean.   my zodiac is cancer and I’m the most cancer-y cancer ever.   if any one of you says one mean thing to me I will start crying ,  I mean it.

tagged by:  @wldbirds tagging: @fantomoir​ @wandersung​ @corpsemade​ @wshdreamer​ @marblecarved​ @dubovoye​ @intoxicatiing​ @aleximedicus​ @partiallystcrs​

#ooc / YOUR HAND AT THE LEVEL OF YOUR EYES !! * #/ * this was fun !! reminded me of how much of a simp raoul is for christine #/ * and how much of a simp I am for raoul

[rigelmejo]

Repetitive Listening - here’s a youtube video playlist I found about it a few days ago.

Short summary: listening to audio in a language you’re trying learn, to the point of more than you feel like you need to. To where you can remember a lot of what’s said, the words/phrases sound familiar/pop into your head, and where if you have questions you could maybe say the chunk you’re wondering about out loud and ask about it. So like when you like a song a lot, and play it a lot, to the point its sort of in your head sometimes and you can remember lyrics somewhat. The idea is that if you listen to it enough you will get better at recognizing sounds and words and word chunks, and even if you don’t understand everything this will at least make looking unknown things up easier - and it should make your pronunciation/speaking better, and improve your comprehension of words you do know/have studied.

The videos give 80-100 times suggestions, but I do think as long as its a point where you feel really comfortable, that’s probably enough. The videos suggest: pick voices you like listening to, since you’ll listen a lot, and since you may pick up pronunciation/your voice sound from them. They also suggest using 2 minute to 20 minute clips depending on your level of comprehension in the target language, your comfort, etc. 

So songs will easily be good material for this, along with youtube video audio, radio drama episodes, audiobook chapters, podcasts. 

---

Tested it out a bit (listened 5-10 times so far):

I’ve decided to test out this a bit with the Guardian Audiobook chapters avenuex made. I think the podcast Slow Chinese would be better for beginners, since its shorter at 2-4 minutes. 

I just figure I might as well use something I’m listening to anyway. Also, before I heard about ‘repetitive listening’ as a technique, I was noticing a Tangible difference in my comprehension of the audiobook chapter from the first time I listened to it to the second. So if nothing else, I figured it would definitely help boost my listening comprehension up to the point of being able to catch most/all words I’ve studied - instead of just some when listening.  

I do think its helping me a lot with picking out words/phrases - to the point where I am picking up most words I’ve studied with text/flashcards, and to the point where I can catch the unknown words/phrases enough to type the pinyin in pleco to look them up. Also, for me personally, because an audiobook is based on a more literary text, I’m getting more used to the flow of the narrative writing - hearing time transition words, adjectives, descriptive phrases that usually get used more in writing like ‘turned his head’ ‘scratched his neck’ ‘gave a smile’ ‘hung up the phone’ ‘put his hand in his pocket’ etc. I could sort of recognize those phrases anyway when reading, since they’re words I know just in ways I’m less familiar with (I’m more familiar with dialogue sentences like ‘i did/he did X’). But hearing these phrases again and again is helping me to ‘process’ more quickly what they mean instead of having to work so hard to parse it out.

I’ve still only listened maybe 5-10 times, so I can’t say for sure yet if 30 or 40 or more times would see even more noticeable improvements. I can definitely say, even just doing this repetitive listening a little bit, seems to help a lot with listening comprehension of words you already have some familiarity with (have seen in text, or studied, or know some hanzi of) and it seems to help with recognizing pronunciation. By that second part I mean that often learning materials will speak slower, evenly, with a bit less natural variation, and if you learn a decent amount from flashcards or dictionaries then you know how often the automatic text audio can sound robotic and ‘off’ compared to once you hear it in real context like a convo or show. 

Avenuex’s voice is really crisp and clear (and lovely I think) so she’s still really comprehensible for beginners, but her voice also says the tones so much more naturally than a lot of learner texts I hear (which exaggerate tone sound so you can hear it better/are more evenly paced) - her pace gets faster and slower depending on the suspense of the scene, and the flow of the sentence. I think its a nice example of how to break down word-chunks when saying a sentence too. She changes her voice a bit too for each character (and the bg music changes, which is all really cool and funner to listen to than a lot of audiobooks I’ve heard!). I can hear some of the more natural-sounding ways of things getting pronounced, but she still speaks clear enough that it doesn’t get as slurred as those same words/phrases sometimes get in dramas I watch (I started rewatching Guardian and wow the amount of times Zhao Yunlan slurs/is muffled because he’s talking with a sucker in his mouth lol, or in many dramas when its short lines of common words they’ll get slurred quicker a lot). 

When I studied japanese, our teacher had us shadow the audio scenes in Genki, and record ourselves trying to say the dialogue and we were graded based on how close we sounded to the original book’s audio. What I noticed, back when I had to do that, is that I had to pay attention enough that I started noticing where the natural word-breaks were. Basically, which words you sort of ‘say together’ more quickly almost like they’re one word, versus the areas you’re more likely to leave empty space for to slow down or breath or change the pace. I’m guessing a lot of languages have this kind of natural word-breaks flow. I might break some of these sentences down in english like “I-might break some-of-these-sentences-down in-english like.” There’s a few different natural sounding ways to do it, but there’s definitely clear WRONG ways. It would sound less natural to pause after every single word - and depending on the sentences, there are sometimes odd places to pause that will stand out to native speakers. 

Well for chinese, its easy for me to put probably more unnatural sounding word breaks, if I don’t consciously try to emulate a chinese sentence example’s word-phrase breaks. I do think repetitive listening is helping me to get more of a ‘feel’ of when to do it, the way when my teacher made us try to exactly emulate japanese audio I started to notice much more ‘when’ to choose to put breaks in my sentences and how to chunk saying the words together.

Listening to the audiobook chapter a lot is helping me sort of get used to picking out the word chunks, instead of just the individual words I know as ‘separate.’ I think in the long run, this will probably help with comprehending audio faster, and it may eventually help with me speaking with a more natural flow when I’m not thinking as consciously of it. Hopefully, I’ll have to find out on that second benefit over time lol!

There is other benefit I’ve noticed - and I’m not sure if its because of repetitive listening, or because I have been reading a lot more, and adapting sentence-example flashcards with Audio into my flashcard study. I’ve noticed when I’m typing its easier for me to gather my thoughts and word them in chinese. Before, when writing I would struggle first to think the right words, then on how to even phrase it in chinese/general grammar, then on word order. I’m still double checking my written sentence on word order (mostly on time placement, since I know it goes toward the beginning but I just tend to think of it when typing toward the end, so I insert it at the end). But for the actual words/how to phrase them I’ve been a bit quicker - its easier for me to go “na jiu hao”, “wo juede na ge,” “zai zheli” etc. Pretty basic stuff to word together, I know. But in the past it was just taking me longer to figure out how to phrase “that’s good,” “I think that” “Here...” even though I knew the words, just because I’d be double checking whether to use na/nage/naxie/naben (which still kind of confuses me but I can tell seeing/hearing it more is helping me get used to when to use which easier), and where to place zai/mian/cong. 

If anyone else has tried repetitive listening, or used this study method a lot, I would love to hear about your experiences with it. How it helped you, how you used it, how it fit into your study plans. Whatever you feel about it lol.

#repetitive listening #study method #study methods #chinese studyblr

[scullyeffect]

i love reading your posts about being a nanny, its something i like the idea of but i dont think id ever be able to do it

it definitely takes a certain type of person i think, but you can also learn with experience. i have friends who suddenly become very ~aware of themselves~ when talking with a kid. like making sarcastic jokes or something and it’s like um...be yourself?? nobody likes being talked to in a patronising tone, or spoken to like a well behaved dog. but seriously, just be yourself. they already think you’re cool af for not being mom lol. and most kids don’t judge. the amount of times i’ve been self conscious about my appearance at work? zero. the amount of times i’ve been scared my boss will catch me on my phone? zero. the amount of times i’ve plucked a wedgie with confidence? every day. i’d been babysitting kids for like 8 years (including one 5 y/o girl who got dropped off at my house at 8 every morning and was picked up at 6pm five days a week for the entire summer when i was 16...wow) before i became an au pair, but i know people who wing it and are completely fine.

i think the real key to it being a job you can enjoy or be “good” at is patience. because at the end of the day you’re not the parent. it’s not fully up to you to discipline the kids. you get to go home at the end of the day. sometimes you have to bring problems up with the parents to deal with because you’re unsure about their protocol (the kids i take care of aren’t allowed to watch tv or use electronics, so when i showed them a trailer for a movie 6 was like ooooh i’m gonna tell mom!! and i was like fuck). one time 6 peed during a 5 floor elevator ride and i had to reassure her that it was okay, then spend ten minutes wiping up the mess with paper towels hoping to hell no one would need the elevator. luckily that sent her right into the shower so there was no war. like i could have lost my temper and been like WHY DIDN”T YOU JUST HOLD IT. YOU CLEAN IT UP. because she had been holding it for like 30 minutes and she’s 6. i learned from this and whenever one of them says they need to go i’m like WHO WANTS A PASTRY REAL QUICK LET’S GO SPEND 5 EUROS TO PEE.

but at the same time you end up being a really important factor in a child’s life. sometimes they’ll ask you questions they feel like they can’t ask their parents: the 15 y/o teenager i lived with for two years came into my room in tears saying she couldn’t figure out how to use a tampon and she didn’t want to ask her mom, the 9 year old got “the talk” from her mom but admitted to me that she didn’t understand and could she ask me some questions. you’re the one (in my case), who’s making sure they’re clean and have eaten and brushed their teeth before the parents come home. you’re the one helping with homework (and it’s really amazing to be able to be the one teaching a kid how to read at home. i’ve gotten to do this twice and it’s so exciting when they start wanting to read some of their bedtime story instead of letting you do it). at the end of the day it’s a really humbling job.

but patience and understanding is really key, also confidence. sometimes babysitters are the good guy, and you can get away with anything because mom and dad are out for the night. i think that’s normal and fun. but when you’re with the kids every day you don’t get to just be the good guy, or they won’t learn anything. and that’s hard!! because again, you don’t have the full parental authority. 

the absolute ABSOLUTE most important thing, which can either be the easiest or most difficult, is getting a solid routine going. especially with younger kids, but it’s good for all ages. once you have the routine set up you’re good for life. obviously sometimes you’ve gotta roll with a doctor’s appointment, or in my case the occasional public transport strike (”who wants to walk a mile today ladies!!!”) it’s especially nice when the kids unconsciously pick up on it and will sometimes prompt you like “how much time do we have to play until bath time?”, or “today is wednesday, so we’re going to the park, but can we go to this one instead of that one?”. so like with the kids i take of now the afternoon routine (except wednesday, which is different) is:

4:30pm: pick up from school, snack while we’re taking the metro back (bc otherwise they get antsy, they haven’t eaten since 11:30)

5:00-5:30pm: homework

5:30-6:30pm: play/read

6:30-7:00pm: one of them takes a bath/shower while i make dinner, the other one sets the table and helps with dinner, or she can read/play

7:00-whenever dinner is finished (normally 7:45pm)

7:45-8ish: second one takes a bath/shower while the other helps clear the table, then she can read/play, after that they both brush their teeth

8:00-9:00 the older one reads while i read to the younger one, or they’ll both listen to me read

also keep in mind this is france where eating late is normal, bedtime is probably later than the US (when i think about putting kids to bed at 7:30 in the US i feel like it’s the afternoon)

idk if you remember, but in september when i started taking care of 6 and 9 i was absolutely miserable. their parents had separated literally weeks before i arrived so the emotional dynamic was chaotic as hell, both apartments were in boxes, they were sleeping over at their grandparents’ house most nights, and here was this new girl they were supposed to trust. i met the girls for about 10 minutes in june when i had an interview, but the next time i saw them was the first day i picked them up from school. they still stress me out way more than the girls i lived with for two years (who were older, but overall just more well behaved), but i love them a lot. for the first two months i seriously thought i’d quit. i was so stressed out every day and felt like i was getting no support from the parents when i brought up problems i was having with their kids. now i really love them and i think they dig me too. 

so i think if you want to do it maybe try to get more experience babysitting and trying to get a steady babysitting job! i remember i would babysit the same toddler pretty often and i always had a loose routine with her so that when i came over she knew what to expect and i didn’t feel so harried at age 17. if you’re looking to be an au pair though, especially in a foreign country, you’ve gotta be picky as hell. i learned that from experience. if you don’t think you can handle a baby but you want to live in paris, you’ve gotta put your job before the location. if you do better taking care of boys (i do way better with girls. they’re so awful to each other if they have a sister, but the chaotic physical energy boys seem to have does not agree with me. they’re like dogs i’m like “time to play frisbee i need to wear you out”) look for a family with boys unless you think you can adapt. if you’re fine with both, go for it. if you want to learn/improve a foreign language, try to find a family that’s cool with you speaking their native language. people looking for anglophone nannies often have a 100% english policy. when i plugged in all my search criteria in 2016 i think i found five families total who fit the specifications. and then in addition to that i skyped all of them so i could try and sense if a Vibe was there. 

i’m sorry this is so long but i don’t have any au pair friends who kind of like...were there for the job as well as the city...so i never got to gab childcare. ask me all the questions.

[plumbobsandllamas]

21 Questions Tag 💭

I was tagged by @willowspringss​ and @racingllama. Ty! 💞

Rules: Answer 21 questions, then tag 21 people you want to get to know better.

I tag anyone else who wants to do this!

Nickname? I don’t have one! Just call me Jade 🙃

Zodiac? Taurus

Height? 5′8

Last thing searched? "Baguette with a face” lmao don’t ask

Favourite musicians? Coldplay, Big Data, The National and a few others!

If you had a time machine, would you go back in time or visit the future? Back in time. I love the Georgian and Regency eras, so I’d definitely be paying them a visit.

Do you get asks? Occasionally! 

Following? I don’t keep track ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Would you rather be rich or famous? Rich, 100%. I’d go totally off the radar and live my life as a happy little philanthropist.

Amount of sleep? 6ish hours most days, but about 3 when I work a morning shift lol

What are you wearing? Black leggings and a black t-shirt.

Dream job? Honestly, I don’t know. I have lots of ideas, but nothing that seems feasible in reality. Ideally something chill, something with animals, or something that allows me to move around during the day. (I hate being stuck in one place)

Dream trip? I want to visit Iceland and see the Northern Lights ✨

If you were an animal, what would you be? Probably a bird or a butterfly. 

Favourite books?  It’s hard to choose a favourite book - I used to read a lot when I was younger. Not so much anymore :(

Favourite films? I don’t really watch films! The last one I saw was The Last Jedi.

Favourite shows? I’m not watching anything right now, but some long-time faves include The Last Kingdom, Poldark, Downton Abbey and pretty much any true crime documentary. I also really enjoy the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice from the 1990s.

Favourite games? #1 is The Sims - shocker, I know. I also love Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing and simulation management games like RollerCoaster Tycoon.

Do you play any instruments? Nope. I wish I could :( 

Language(s)? I’m a native English speaker och jag lär mig svenska.

Describe yourself as an aesthetic? I’m not sure how I’d describe it, but here’s one of my Pinterest boards. Yellow, blue, earthy??? It changes all the time.

#text post #non sims #tag thingy #personal

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Fruits Basket 2019 Episode 14: “That’s A Secret”

Me before this episode: “I’m a big strong adult who can DEFINITELY deal with watching Momiji’s backstory and the grave visit get animated in the same episode :)”

Me two seconds into this episode: *insert sad cat picture here*

Anyway this episode is dead even though it killed me and now I’m typing this from beyond the grave.

Thoughts under the cut.

Right off the bat, this episode actually gave us a new set of OP and ED themes, which I’d been curious about for a while. They hadn’t said anything about it for the longest time, and then they just announced it a day or two ago, lol.

The new OP is really going to need some time to grow on me. I can’t help but feel like it should have been swapped with the first OP, since this is where things keep getting heavier. I know there’s some people who disliked how slow and mellow the first OP was, but I loved it, and this super energetic one is kind of hard to get used to.

But the new ED is absolutely AMAZING and I love it. The song feels very similar in tone to the first ED, which is nice because that was also a really nice song, but the visuals are a real departure from basically everything else in the show. From what I’ve seen people seem a bit divided on how they feel about that as an artistic choice, but I love it. I really like how it seemed to be real footage of figurines and dioramas mixed with digital backgrounds and effects. Which reminded me a bit of some visual tricks used in Sarazanmai last season [fun fact that I definitely haven’t just been waiting for an excuse to bring up: the person who did the zodiac animal character designs for this series, Kayoko Ishikawa, is also the person who did the character animation designs in Sarazanmai!]. Though I think my favourite part is the very first shot of Tohru.

Anyway, even though I knew exactly what was coming with this episode, and it was more or less exactly what I expected, it still managed to take me by surprise with just how emotional it was.

For the record, this adapted chapters 23 and 24 of the manga, which were also adapted into episode 15 of the 2001 series. Which also means that the reboot’s just gotten to the end of volume 4 of the manga. I still think we’re looking at about 70 episodes total for the reboot, give or take.

It’s pretty interesting to compare this to the 2001 version, since it’s technically a less drastic difference than the Valentine’s episode, but it still highlights how the 2001 anime made the conscious choice to remove any foreshadowing or character development that hadn’t been resolved in the manga by about volume 8 or so, which is what was out when the 2001 anime was made. From what I remember of the 2001 anime version of this material, they did a really good job with the Momiji side of things, since they kept it pretty 1:1 with the manga, but their version of the grave visit chapter really suffered because so much of Kyo’s character development and depth got taken out across the entire original adaptation, which in particular really took out a whole layer of foreshadowing from this part. It was still fine, from what I remember, but it lacked the sense of mystery and intrigue that the reboot version has, and the whole scene with Kyo and Tohru at the very end of the episode was entirely removed in the 2001 version.

It’s a much less noticeable change than how the 2001 anime had to basically remove a whole chapter or so of content for their Valentine’s day episode since that part of the manga was so heavy with foreshadowing, but at least if you know where things go with the story in the long run, you can really notice all the intentional set-up going on in this episode.

I’m really excited for anime-only people to eventually figure out what’s going on and what exactly this episode is hinting at, especially since more people seem to be starting to develop theories about what they think’s up with Kyo and Yuki’s backstories and how they tie into Tohru and her mother. So I wonder how they’ll all feel about this when they can look back on it later.

I’m definitely biased since I’ve read the manga, and I’ve seen a lot of anime-only people still make largely incorrect guesses about what’s going on after this episode, but wow does a lot of this foreshadowing seem super obvious in hindsight, lol. It’s not a bad thing, but when you know what’s going on, you can really tell how heavily they’re hinting at stuff. In particular the bit with Yuki at the end made it seem really obvious that he’s the one who gave Tohru the hat, but I feel like that’s something that anime-only people might end up forgetting about compared to all the stuff going on with Kyo.

And on the note of that whole final scene, I loved the abrupt cut to the new ED. It was such a neat shift from how every episode thus far has ended with a relatively mellow and slow lead-in to the ED theme. And most [but not all] of the previous episodes had ended with fun and light-hearted scenes. So having this sudden and relatively surprising admission of guilt from Kyo and an abrupt cut to a new ED theme was really neat.

But of course, the True MVP [tm] of this episode was Momiji, our resident precious bunny boy. I’ve been bracing myself for this exact episode for weeks now, but oh man it still hurts so much. I know the reboot’s been really good with it’s dramatic moments, but I wasn’t expecting how intense and visceral everything about his backstory would be. I had to check back at how the manga presented it, and even though it’s mostly the same, the reboot’s a lot more explicit about showing that Momiji’s mother started engaging in self-harm after he was born. In the manga there’s one panel that shows her vaguely laying on the ground with one of her arms tied in bandages, but that’s about it. And in the manga, the bit with Momiji and his dad didn’t really have a clear setting, but the reboot makes it very clear that they’re at the hospital after his mother hurt herself. Which made it hurt all the more.

I also feel like they were a little more visually explicit with Tohru’s flashbacks to her mother’s death and her going to the hospital. That was also presented as a set of small and relatively vague panels in the manga, but the reboot went all in on making sure you knew exactly what was going on. Like always, I think both approaches work well for their different mediums, but I appreciate the reboot’s commitment to giving every scene a sense of time and place, especially when it comes to flashbacks. It gives it a very different feel to the manga at times, which helps it feel fresh and interesting.

Momiji’s backstory is pretty interesting and noteworthy, since even though we’ve already had tragic backstories in this series before, this is basically the first time where the series really starts to specifically explore and develop this theme of parent/child bonds, and how the curse plays into all that. I think that the way the manga handles the theme of being born ‘with a curse’ and how that impacts your relationship with your parents is actually my number one favourite thing about it, and something that I think it does almost perfectly. It’s a big part of why it means so much to me as a story. It’s not really something you see explored often in media, especially not with this level of nuance, and from as many different angles as this series looks at it from as it goes on.

Trust me when I say that I have A LOT I want to say about this whole theme of the story, and this is definitely where it first becomes a big part of it all, but specifically I’m waiting for the Kyo arc to happen later in this season before I really let loose all my thoughts on it. Pretty much like 90% of the main cast have different sorts of messy relationships with their families, and with the state of their bodies, but Kyo’s story is the one that speaks to me the most. Going by when I think the reboot will get to that part, I’ll probably spend most of my post on the season 1 finale talking about that, which would be a pretty fitting place to do it.

Though on the topic of Momiji, I do want to say that the scene where Tohru hugs him and they both cry together is one of the most memorable and hard-hitting parts of the manga. It’s such an raw and emotional example of the sort of acceptance and love that Tohru represents to the Somas. With how many examples we get across the whole story of the zodiac animal forms being a curse that the characters are hurt by, and which cut them off from other people, the image of Tohru hugging Momiji’s bunny form, and Momiji letting himself cry in his bunny form and be hugged by her, really just goes to show why Tohru is such a pivotal character in all this, and why she in particular is the one who manages to get through to the Somas so well.

Also, before I forget, people are talking about the whole debacle with his accent again, and my two cents on the matter are that he definitely comes across like he’s either a native German speaker, or he’s intentionally acting like one, and I tend to lean toward the former. Especially early on, he uses German very fluently and frequently, and there’s a whole running gag of him misspeaking simple phrases in Japanese, so either he’s genuinely more comfortable with German and not fully fluent in Japanese yet, or he’s trying to come across that way intentionally. It’s also worth noting that Momiji even says in this episode that his little sister ‘isn’t very good at speaking Japanese yet’. Basically I don’t think we’re really meant to question the in-universe logistics of whether or not it’d actually make sense for Momiji or his sister to speak German as their first language when it seems like they were both born and raised in Japan, lol. [And on the note of his sister, the short moment of her looking back at him while her mother pulls her away is another one of those little details that make it clear they’re setting up for way later scenes]

Anyway, this was an incredible episode, and it makes me really happy that they’re committing to adapting the entire thing, so all of the foreshadowing in this episode will be followed up on and developed.

#murasaki rambles #fruits basket

[janedward]

The thing with languages

I think it is important to explain why I sometimes use Polish, sometimes English and occasionally German.

First it is all completely random. I didn’t choose any of that. Having said that I may proceed with the story. 

Man I think I’m too tired to do that right now. It was all so well in my mind but now when it comes to actually writing the damn thing, it’s not so rosy anymore. Damn it.

Anyway. Here it goes. So Polish is my mother tongue, native tongue or whatever you call the damn thing, the first language I learned. When I think of Poland, the country I was born and (partially) raised in, I often associate it with the Polish language. In other words, if someone asked me what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think “Poland” I’d answer: Polish. It goes something like this: having emigrated from Poland at the age of 13 I sort of separated from its pop culture. Not totally, thanks to the internet, but it just the way it is when you have an emigration background. You lose touch with your origins. Or at least I feel like that’s the case. So if someone asked me “where you’re from?” and I answered “Poland” I’d start feeling this weird impostor feeling. But at least I have the language. At least that’s the thing that connects me to my land. (or the land of my forefathers lol)

Why English? Well, it sort of happens that my parents made a pretty big deal out of learning English. It turned out they were right. Although at first I did not believe them and hated really disliked learning English, now after years I feel blessed. English gives you access to so much of the worlds culture. I don’t know how much but it’s definitely uuge. To those of you who were born into it, please don’t take it for granted. If you know English from the start, there is basically no need for you to study any other language. So at first I disliked it but now I really love English. Although it sometimes annoys me and I know I’m not (and never gonna be) as fluent as a native, I mean what does it really matter? It’s the internet for mom’s sake.

Ok now let’s move on to German. Let’s make one thing clear. I just don’t like speaking German. But really, why is that? Well it’s because I was sort of forced (by life) to learn it. I started to learn German in the sixth Grade. I was kind of annoyed by having to learn yet another foreign language (like seriously Poland, what is wrong with your own language that you force student’s to learn so many foreign ones?). Just kidding. Anyway back in the day I didn’t think about it much. It was only after we moved to Switzerland one and a half years later that I started to dislike German. 

Let me just start with this, as a 13-year old you definitely don’t want to move, like anywhere, not even to some other town let alone a different COUNTRY. You have friends which mean life to you, you have your first romantic encounters, you have your squad, your places you like. You definitely don’t want some stupid other country to take that all away. And then all you’re left with is learning German.

Or at least that was my 13-year-old logic back then. 

But it is kind of true man I mean why would you want to move as a thirteen-year-old? You don’t have any reason to do that. When you’re forced to do that by some external circumstances, naturally you rebel. 

So I wanted to show em, not only that I can be as good as the locals, I wanted to be better. I studied super hard and became good at grammar. It didn’t take long until I started getting better grades at grammar than my peers. After that I started to adapt the sophisticated High-German accent to sound even more German. 

But whatever I did I never felt at home. I never felt German, I definitely didn’t feel Swiss, even after I was “citizinised” (I got the citizenship). To be honest I didn’t feel Polish either.

It took me years to somehow explain to myself that these things don’t really matter after all. Nevertheless, I struggled with this identity thing until very recently (I’m almost 24 now) and sometimes still do. But you know what, I also just don’t care anymore. What does it really matter, where you’re from, what your identity is, what your language is? I genuinely don’t care. 

Whenever I use German I sort of jump back to these moments of shame and insecurity that I associate with moving out and having to adapt. It just sort of is like this.

You know what, I was adding some hashtags in German and I felt like, man this language is actually kind of cool. It’s really awesome when you think about it. I just wish I never took “integration” so seriously.

By the way don’t take this post seriously. It’s just an opinion. Please. All right? Good night.

I’ve just noticed something else. I posted the hashtag nightclub and the thing I had in mind was a club of people staying long hours at night haha. Only after I gave it a second look did it occur to me that the hashtag probably refers to the dancing thing. #whatever. -.-

#languages #english #german #polish #polish boy #swiss guy #nightclub #nightsky #night rants #nichtgut #sowieso #ist #alles #nur #es ist okay #zu lieben #und #zu #tanzen #whatever #writing #spilled ink #inspiration #creative writing #prose #diary #einmalig #expresion

[meny-sempai]

MO DAO ZU SHI IS A MASTERPIECE – part 01

OH MY GOD EP 15! That was so… UGH. I have so much to say, yet I’m speechless at the same time! Aaaaa! Ok, that’s it! It’s time!

The first season is over and I can finally talk about my experience with the piece of art that is Mo Dao Zu Shi. Yes, it is a piece of art and I will prove it to you in this short series of my thoughts about the show.

I just have to say – I’m not a native English speaker so bear with the mistakes I’m bound to make. I did read the novel, but only as far as the Exiled Rebels Scanlations translated it (thank you Rebels, you’re gods). I started reading the novel after the first airing of the third episode, so at the very beginning of MDZS mania – I went in blind and… it was FUNNY. I’ll talk more about that down below. And yes, I know a lot of spoilers, but I can’t say I know the whole story – If I start theorizing be aware that I’m just theorizing, I’m not actually telling the plot, but, just to be sure: SPOILERS ahead, I will use the facts I know for my analysis.

For the first two episodes I’m going to tell you my blind reactions and compare them with my impressions after finishing the season. My misinterpretations are hilarious and I admit I was really dumb. Enjoy my stupidity.

The rest of the episodes will have my impressions and analysis that I now have after finishing the show. There will be a few of these kind of posts on my profile because I can’t fit everything I have to say in just one. I don’t actually do analysis of shows here, because this is my personal art blog, but I sometimes make exceptions. As an animation student I just had to talk about Mo Dao Zu Shi. I want more people to see it. I want people to know that it is much more than BL.

So… Here we go!

INTRODUCTION – or, who the hell even asked for my opinion?

I’ve been a fan of anime/manga since I was 13, which was 12 years ago (I’m old, I know). Sure, I’ve watched Digimon, Pokemon, Bayblade and all that jazz when I was even younger, but that doesn’t count, because I had no clue about the concept of anime.

I’ve seen a lot of shit, I’m quite open to a lot of shit and if I’m in the right mood I can take a lot of shit, but I still regard myself as someone who has a good taste. The older I get the less time I have to take a chance at something I wouldn’t normally watch. Even if there is something I’d watch I usually end up not having time for it. Since I started studying and doing animation myself, my criteria for the quality skyrocketed. I long gave up on the three episode rule. One episode is enough to see potential if there is potential (some shows can still trick me – I’m looking at you Sirius the Jaeger).

Ok, ok, I’m not bashing on Sirius the Jaeger. I’m just saying the show had a lot of potential and threw it out of the window. If there was no Mikhail and Yuliy dynamics… Scratch that – if there was no Mikhail in the show, the story would have been completely empty. At least for me.

Since we’re talking about other shows, I’ll use this opportunity to declare Mo Dao Zu Shi as the animation of the year. Sure, the year’s still not over, sure I only watched Cells at Work, Free! Dive in to the Future, Sirius the Jaeger and BANANA FISH, but I still believe in what I say.

Sorry Cells, you’re cute, you make me care more about my body, you make me have weird feelings about Cancer (WTF). I wish I can show you to all the school kids in my country, but you’re not the best this time. Please, give me another season, thank you. Love the manga. Guys, please watch this anime!

Sorry Free, you… Pfff… Ok, yeah, FREE, I love you dude, thank you for all the sexy muscles and almost BL drama (and some actual deep moments). Thank you for all the Rin, we can never have enough of Rin. And thank you for Kisumi and Asahi – didn’t know I needed that. Thank you, but… yeah, know your place (hint: it’s right here in my arms).

Sorry Sirius, I wish you had more episodes to explore the story and the characters. Liked the OP and the animation.

Sorry BANANA FISH, oh god, I really am. Before MDZS I lived for you BF, I lived for you! I was an old fan of the manga and I was so hyped. I can’t say I’m dissatisfied with the anime adaptation. I liked a lot of things they did, the way they adapted stuff, added and changed stuff, but it was just too much plot for 13 episodes and the effects of it became clearer and worse while the anime progressed. I have no idea how MAPPA will handle the second season. My fingers are crossed. Guys, watch this anime. Even with all the flaws it’s worth your time. 

And yes, I watched Voltron and The Dragon Prince. This will be a really long post if I start on those, so I won’t.

So… YES. Mo Dao Zu Shi came out of nowhere for me and took the crown. Wow… where to start…?

How did I find this show…? Actually, how did this show find me? Well… It was my beta reader, I think. After 13 years of being a silent fan of Asian comics and animation, I decided to finally write a fanfiction. Surprisingly, it was for the small fandom of the Korean comic Noblesse (nobody cares, carry on). I don’t know why, but my beta told me about this new BL “anime”. When I realized it was Chinese I rolled my eyes. I’m an asshole, I know, but I just never liked anything I saw from the Chinese (I haven’t seen much, but what I saw was poorly animated/was in 3D and I’m not a huge fan of 3D). I also never liked the voice acting… Ok. OK, I admit! I never liked the language, ok? Shoot me!

Then… Everything changed when the Wen clan attacked.

Anyway… I was bored, I was lazy and didn’t want to do work for my university, so I said: “What the heck! Hit me with some Chinese BL.” I clicked on the first episode not even bothering to read the summary. Man… My expectations were the low of the lowest.

EPISODE 01 – or, what the fuck did I just watch and is there more of it?

Oh shit… I’m terrible at names, especially Chinese names! Am I supposed to remember all this, is this important? The clans, the wars, the titles? This is BL, right? Should I take out my note book? Fuck, pause it. Ok… Ok… I get it? Let’s just continue.

(When I look at it now it was pretty clear. I really am dumb. To be fair, you need time to get used to how they use names. And for someone who never watched Chinese animation seriously and doesn’t know anything about the culture it really was a lot of new information. But don’t let that stop you from watching it!)

Ughhhhh…. 3D… damn it. And it was going so well. Ugh, just look at those wings flapping! Are the wings broken? What the hell! Why do they do this?

(Lol, I was so triggered. XD The bird is actually fine. I like how the scene transitioned from the pupil of a scared man to the pupil of the crow. As if they were watching each other in the eye, only adding to the creepiness. The lighting is also great. Everything is dark and gloomy, fitting the “horror” atmosphere really well, yet at the same time the dark scenes are vivid and clear. It’s hard to make the misty night look clear and colorful. The flying is a bit iffy, but it doesn’t really matter because the effect of hundred birds covering the sky is strong and meaningful.)

Holly shit! This is amazing! Pause it! No, go back, I wanna see this again. Oh my god, that flute! The music is awesome, I’m having goosebumps. Ooohh, love the music, I never heard something like this. Oh, this dude is so cool. Red eyes and zombies and… What is this show about again? Zombie BL? Really? It’s not really zombies, right? Please don’t be about zombies, I hate zombies.

(Honestly, this scene is stunning. A really effective way to reveal a character. Especially a character that we are not sure whether he is good or bad. The most amazing thing for me about this is how they used music. It isn’t just the background music to accompany the atmosphere. It isn’t there just to tell something about the character and make him stand out (it’s not a character theme). The flute is not alone here, there are many themes working with it. Together they are not there to tell us “this is a scary action scene” so feel this, or “this is a sad scene”, or a “funny scene”. No. The music here is its own art piece. It’s actually there to tell us in its own language the story that we are seeing on screen. I don’t know how to explain it. For me, the way the music changed was perfectly synchronized with the way people were saying words, the way Wei Wuxian moved his head, the way the corpses stood up to attack. If I close my eyes I can see the scene by only listening to the music. This is something that regularly happens in this show. I don’t know how they do it, but I applaud to it. I can’t remember the last time the music left such an impact on me in the animation series. And this is just the first episode and the first scene. We have no idea who these people are. We are not expected to feel emotional for them. But I felt the connection. I felt like I was there and the corpses were about to get me.)

Ugh! 3D, you’re killing me! And it was such a cool intro! Ok, calm down, what are they saying? So… That’s the guy with the flute, right? No, it was Wei, but Wei Something else. No, wait, it has to be him. Go back. Yeah, it is him. What the hell is a courtesy name? Ok, never mind, try to remember.

Oh no…! More exposition, more names and clans! My brain is melting! Cool smoke/ink animation, though. Hmm, purple ring. Nice. That’s important, right? Oh! The amulet thing! Remember that. That’s gonna bite us in the ass later, ain’t it? Alright, so “Wei something” died. Killed by… shidi? So… the younger clan member? So…? This Wei also had his own clan? Am I getting this right? I’m probably not getting this right. Ugh, just watch the damn episode, quit pausing every goddamn second! It’ll explain itself.  

I like the OP! The similar smoke/ink animation and… Wow, ok, there are too many handsome guys here. I’ll have to focus. The music is catchy. I like the singer’s voice. Cool!

(I’m now quite fond of the 3D in here. The tortoise and everything. XD Also, in my defense - they have three names, like, come on. I didn’t see that coming. I don’t even have a middle name. Although, I do think having three ways to be addressed is pretty interesting. You can tell and convey a lot by just picking a name the character uses in his speech.

Fun fact no1. – at the time I couldn’t even recognition the names when they would speak. All of the words sounded the same to me, which was so unusual. I can now recognize a lot of words and phrases. And, I think… Well, you’ll see what I now think about Chinese and VAs. I’m just gonna say this: I’d like to learn Chinese just so that I can write a love letter to Guo Haoran.

Fun fact no2. – It took me 6 episodes to actually pay attention to the lyrics of the OP and ED and to realize that they are representing Wei Wuxian and Lan WangJi. That’s a really beautiful touch, very smart. And it brings so much meaning to the table when the ED changes. I don’t think I ever saw OP and ED used in this particular way.)

Well, this is getting really dark and interesting. This Wei may be a refreshing MC. Probably a good guy at heart, but shady as fuck and ready to kill. I do have another name to worry about, but Mo is easy to remember (“Don’t close mountain” – if you know what I mean :P). I wonder if Mo is important to the plot. I see potential for some twists here. 

2D animation is looking good so far. I like how they made us look from the protagonist’s POV. Really refreshing directing… hmm… Still not buying the Chinese, but Wei has a nice voice. The music is still great.

Bahahahaha! Scratch that, Wei is an idiot! Good to know that liquor is your priority, Wei! XD Omg the donkey, too, look at that face, look at the eyelashes!

The fuck is this shit? Are those people flying? While standing? Are they standing on something? What the hell? XD Man, that sky is nice. Oh! Oh, oh, wait, those guys! Those were the shadows I saw a scene earlier. Mmm… Attention to detail. Nice. Looks like I’ll have to pay close attention to every scene. Been a long time I had to focus so hard on an “anime”.

(10 minutes and I was already very intrigued. I didn’t know shit, but I was in. With all the pausing I probably spent 50 minutes on this episode, but it felt like barely 20 minutes had passed. At the beginning I paused a lot because I was too slow to read the subtitles (no, I don’t watch dubs, I’m just too used to Japanese and their culture references that reading subs is child’s play, but this was new territory for me). I also paused a lot because I felt I’ve missed something, or because I was surprised at how some scenes looked. 

I don’t pause that often now. Mo Dao Zu Shi trained me to see and hunt for detail. As I said, it’s been a long time since I had the need to carefully look at the backgrounds and pay attention to all of the characters’ expressions. Mo Dao Zu Shi tells a lot in silence and in small details. It awards you if you take time to look at the scenery. When I find something that I’d usually miss, I don’t necessarily feel smarter, but I feel the show is treating me as someone smart. MDZS respects its audience. It makes them think and remember. Which makes this show 100% re-watchable. I watched all the episodes 3 times. Some I watched even more – like episode 11. And I always have a new experience. I love coming back to it. Even when I work I play the episodes and listen to them. It’s interesting. Try it. Try just to listen to the audio. It has rare quality to it. The sounds and music are used wisely and a piece of music always has a legit reason why it’s played.)

Ok, this run is too slow. I get that he’s fat, but still, the foot exchange doesn’t fit with the distance he’s making. Also, the flying guys are not flying anymore. I got more info. And MORE NAMES. Kill me now. The info is interesting, though. Cultivators are Chinese exorcist, right? I really should have read the summery.

(I still think the running was not convincing. There are moments such as these in the show, but honestly, MDZS has fascinating animation and it only gets better in the later episodes (I’m not even gonna start with ep 11 – ep 11 will get its own post). The animators know what they are doing and the director knows how to make a scene work at full capacity.

Fun Fact no3. – D.Gray-man destroyed me. I now only know how to say “exorcist” the Japanese way.

MDZS also has a way of making seemingly stupid stuff look and be cool. Surfing on swords sounds pretty dumb, but when you actually see it and have it explained to you, when it has plot significance it becomes a fresh idea. I want to have my own sword to surf on!)

Well, hello… Lan… Jingyi ~ (How do you read this? O.O) Mmm… I’m digging the art style. Cute boys~

Also, Wei, you’re a fucking genius! XD The Oscar goes to you, my dude.

(… I still think Wei Wuxian is a fucking genius. I’m not gonna talk a lot about him right now, but I just gotta say that he is such a classic MC, yet at the same time he is so original. He’s just one of the proofs how great the writing this series has.

Speaking of writing – this show has some of the best dialog I’ve ever seen. Not only because of what is being said, but also because of the VAs, directing, music and animation. Dialog often has more than one meaning and always serves to deepen the characters and their relationships. I love how they use animation to show how the characters are truly feeling while saying something and what they actually mean when they say it. Everything they say has a reason and it makes you pay attention to other’s reaction to what is being said. I love how the character can say the same thing in so many different ways and that this is used to show his development and growth. I’m also amazed at how simple “hmm-s” and “mmm-s” mean so much in this show. 

I’m not saying character animation and rich expressiveness is something new, but it is rare and this show is really good at it. For example, quite a few characters laugh or cry but they all do it differently. They raise their eyebrows differently, they’re surprised and scared differently etc. This all sounds as a no-brainer, but it’s not so common. It’s difficult to pull off and I’m not saying MDZS is perfect, but it’s close.)

(Please… You think you can take down someone who spent his whole life perfecting the art of climbing up trees? Pff! You’re not Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan.)

(He looks so comfortable among corpses. It’s funny, yet so sad. These are all great hints for the mind-set of a character that you’ll miss at first watching, but you won’t forget about it. And when the memory clicks – it makes a loud click. Not a second is wasted in this show. Everything has a point. I’ll elaborate more on that with some examples in other posts.)

Bahahaha! I feel you bro! XD

But I feel you too. I mean, I don’t care about you, wench, don’t get me wrong, but it’s kinda sad. I’m liking these zombies. They’re my way of creepy and there’s potential for a deeper plot for them if it’s true that their personalities are still there somewhere. This just adds to the debate whether Wei is good or bad. The grey area… I love the grey the most. All 50 shades of it. And I’m enjoying the mystery vibe of this episode. Was there a mystery tag on this “anime”? Also, the fight scenes are not bad. And it’s cool how they all hate Wei but use his technics and knowledge. Realistic. Cool.

Oh my god! The colors! Whaaat? What the hell, look at that hair animation! And the music from that… string thingy- instrument – so cool. Ooohh, wait, this is the white dude, THE dude. Here comes the BL!

Ooohhh, I see what you did there. Kudos for you, director! Similarities and contrasts. Nice. And it’s over, I can’t believe it’s over! How can you cliff hang like that?! There’s a second episode, right? Mm, the ED is so pure. There IS a second episode! Well, while I’m here, don’t mind if I do!

EPISODE 2 – or, how I got everything wrong!

I bet he’s thinking: “The fuck is with this aim? The little shit almost killed me! I’m annoyed and amazed! Better play a fool and run for it.” But, seriously, that aim! Wei actually paused (love the little wobble effect on the arrow). And I have another name to remember! Ugh! And another color! Are they color coded? That could be helpful. Also, look at that tree. Wow… They’re blending the 3D backgrounds quite well with the 2D.

And Mo is important to the plot! Nice! So he has connections with the Yellow clan. The plot thickens.

I just gotta say – all of them have interesting designs. I wonder if every cultivator has his own sword. Bleach style or something. On the other hand, animators must be pulling out their hair because of all the details. XD

Cool little battle. Great camera work. They showed the difference between a student cultivator and an experienced one in an entertaining way. That soul summoning was nice too.

(This fight served as a nice show of power difference. It adds a lot to the future episodes where all of the main cast are students and have to face various trials. It gives us a hint at how powerful the clan leaders must be, it gives us a new perspective on the war and its casualties. We now get why many cultivators died so “easy”. It also hints at how talented students are different from the average which is an important detail in the plot. This little “unimportant” fight grounds it all and makes the levels in the clan system believable and palpable.)

This is really clever. Kudos for the reflection. Wei, haven’t you ever watched an anime? It’s clear the kid doesn’t have a mom. He probably doesn’t even have a dad.

(Ok… prepare for a full on fangirl attack.)

… My ears are tingling.

… This voice… Oh my ears, please calm down, something big is happening right now. Wait… Oh wow, he knows him! Look at the face he’s making, oh shit! And this new guy…! We haven’t even seen his face and he’s making threats! Hmm… Can’t say I don’t like that. Yeah, I like that… He’s gonna be the villain, isn’t he? I always like the villains and they always have the best voices. Well… if he’s a villain, let’s hope he’s hot-

Oh, wow, this is really good. The way the light appears, and that little shine of the… bell? Purple… Purple? The purple ring? Is this connected? Well, anyway, he has a pretty dramatic reveal and nice music – yep, he’s the bad guy. Let me see your face-

Wei… why are you so scared? They sure take their sweet time in revealing this guy. This may be more important than I thought. Don’t miss anything!

(Are you prepared?)

HOLLY MOTHER OF GOD WHAT THE FUCK OH MY GOD WHAAATT??? Was he this beautiful in the OP? Whaaaatt? AAAAHHHHHH!!!! SCREENSHOT! WALLPAPER! GO BACK, REPEAT THE SCENE! YOU! YOU, MY BOY, HAVE ENTERED MY HAREM. Oh what a day to be alive! Mmmm, ok, calm down, we’ll draw him later, let’s try to focus. Jiang Cheng. Ok, it’s a more common name, I’ll remember him. Heh. Like I could forget this boy. Oh, no, not a boy, a MAN. This is a man. Uhuhuhu~

(Aaaand my mind was a bit hazy for the rest of the episode – you will see the results.

Fun fact no4. – Immediately after this episode I looked up MDZS on Tumblr and realized that the fandom is calling Jiang Cheng JC. Still under the effects of what I just saw I thought calling him God was quite appropriate.)

NICE PROFILE!!! Is he going to be the other love interest for the MC? Are we gonna see the cliché love triangle? If it’s with this dude, maybe it won’t be so bad~ Ok, seriously, watch the show!

Ok, the magic light here is a nice touch. This Jiang Cheng is a bit cold even to his nephew. He doesn’t recognize Wei, but that’s expected. Wei is strongly reacting to him. What’s the connection? Judging by the music – it’s sad? I expected something more, I don’t know, menacing? Evil? But it’s just sad. Maybe he’s not a villain. That… that could open so many doors… TO MY KOKORO.

“Feed your dogs.” Ouch, that’s dark. Someone really hates the “demon” cultivators.  

“Could this boy be…?” What? What is he? Want’s the connection? Should I know, did I miss something?

The white dude and my purple man clash! Holly, Jiang Chang sounds pissed (passive aggressive enough?), while White poster boy here doesn’t give a damn! XD Ahahaha! Could Jiang Cheng be the Chinese tsundere? No, no, no, let’s not call such a man a tsundere. It’s too early.

Oh, Uncle is the leader of the sect. Nice. How old is the Uncle? Is he married?

This obvious metaphor of concealing the light is distracting me from fangirling. It’s interesting how it connects with the Jiang Cheng reveal. I feel that… shit is about to go down.

I was right! He’s the ring! What does the ring represent? And he’s doing what I always do! I play with my ring like that all the time! Nice.

SCREENSHOT! Oh, but he’s pissed. Oh, but I love the way he looks at me~ I feel all mushy.

Ha! Interesting. He’s smart, he has some self-control. Refreshing. But don’t turn your anger at your nephew, please. Also, it seems like the white dude and the Uncle have some history. Hmm…

I thought so. The white dude was the one who killed Wei. The tragic love. I can already see it.

(Yep. I thought Lan WangJi was the Shidi who “killed” Wei Wuxian. You are allowed to face palm.)

Oh no… I know where this is going. And the music…

Oh man… It’s the second episode and I’m already having the feels. What happened, Wei?! I refuse to believe you’re a bad guy!

But, I get Wei’s reaction to Jiang Cheng now.

(I don’t know how it happened, but I was thinking… What if she was killed by Jin Zixuan’s sword? We know Wei Wuxian stopped using his. From this shot we know he wasn’t the one who stabbed her, so was it Wen Ning? It’s obvious he was involved in the tragedy. As far as I know SPOILERS Wen Ning killed Jin Zixuan. If the killer sword is the one we know – if it’s Jin Zixuan’s then Wei’s reflection in this episode has a deeper meaning.)

Bahahaha I feel you, honor student. I like the kids.

(Honestly, they balance the humor and the serious stuff masterfully.)

I died.

This is giving me Gantz PTSD. That shit gave me nightmares. Nephew is really bold.

(I believe Jin Ling has some of his Uncle Wei’s recklessness and hero complex, but he also wants to prove himself just like his other two Uncles. I’ll talk more about them in another post.)

Uuhh, Wei is playing the flute! Risky, I like it.

(Ok, people. Be prepared for the ultimate face palm.)

Oh my god! Don’t tell me he summoned his own body! This resembles the scene from the narration… and he’s wearing black!

I’m right! Nephew wants revenge! Great shot by the way. You can feel the rage in the movement.

(You face palmed yet?)

I really love the way they use the flute! It depicts the flow of the camera so well!

… Wen… Wen what? Wen Ning? Who’s Wen Ning? What? Wait, are they talking about the corpse? What’s going on??? O_O Who’s Wen Ning?! Did I miss something? What’s the full name of the MC again? Ugh… This is so tiring… Ok, never mind, enjoy the beautiful flute song.

Busted!

I swear to god, this guy is illegal!

Oh, boy he figured it out too and he’s… sadistically happy? Eh… But, I get it. If he believes that Wei killed his sister, I get it. And her husband? Did he “kill” the dad, too?

I can’t believe he has a whip AND a braid? And he’s purple??? Did someone look into my diary? Is it Christmas yet? XD Am I dead?

Did he just smile? Am I imagining things? XD I can’t figure him out!

Please! Don’t lie, white dude! “He’s path is uncommon”, yeah right, we all know what you want.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I’VE SEEN AND HEARD IN MY LIFE.

(This would have annoyed anyone no matter who said it, but because it was Wei Wuxian, I think it was even more annoying in Jiang Cheng’s head. Wei Wuxian knows him too well. It’s even funnier when you know that JC is blacklisted. XD He’s no good even to the lunatic.)

And at this exact moment Wei knew he fucked up. XD This is golden. 

... Please DON’T turn into rape BL.

(It so DID NOT.)

Oh Wei, you’re no match for this guy! :D

Hmm, looks like we’re going back in time. I love me some juicy flashbacks. Can’t wait to see more.

... I can’t believe I actually like this zombie BL. I just hope they don’t fuck up the animation later on.

(And the rest is history. As you can see - I’m obsessed.)

-----

That’s all for today! Next posts will have more character, story and art analysis. Hope you liked this and please forgive me for making this so long. See you! 

#mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #wei wuxian #lan wangji #Jiang Cheng #jin ling #wen ning #jin zixuan #analysis #donghua #animation

[uiruu]

im rly struggling with the most niche, unrelatable problem in the world lol

so i have a conlang, a constructed language, and im transliterating various names and words and such, and so for Korean... hmmm... romanizing (or i guess conlangizing? lhashizing? my language is called lhash or lhax) the “eo” and “eu” vowels is tricky. i get that i dont have to have a one-for-one system, some sounds just naturally fall together when translating them from one language to another. for instance, in Korean borrowings of English words, the vowel sounds in “bit” and “beat” would probably both be written with the “i” vowel. so it’s not a huge deal... the struggle is.... which vowel do i make them lol.

i have six main vowels which can be long and short and there are diphthongs too. /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/, and a sixth that is like anywhere from /ɨ/ to /ɘ/ to /ə/, though is primarily /ɘ/ when short and /ɨ/ when long. for simplicity’s sake, i’ll refer to this vowel the way i write it, “y”. so okay, korean “eo” can be /ʌ̹/ or /ɘ/ too, and its /ɔ/ in north korea. hmmm. i’ve been using “y” to represent “eo”, but is it closer to just “o”? ive also been using “y” for korean “eu”. maybe i should be using long “yy”, which is /ɨ/, for “eu”, but its not always long in korean. i know that doesnt matter but... still. should i go with y or o? y feels too high but o feels too rounded. hell, should i go with “a”? because /ʌ/ is a lot like /a/..... no, im not gonna do that one lol. hmm tho... hm. 

i realize that unless you know about phonology this is probably completely unintelligible but... still. 

i also am not sure if i wanna distinguish unaspirated vs aspirated consonants word-initially... word-medially is easy because i can use the voiced consonant and it’ll match the phonetic korean, but word-initially not as much. and i dont have distinctive aspirated in my language. should “Gyuri” be “Gjuri” or “Cjuri”? either way, “Seulgi” is “Sylgi” and a hypothetical name (since i cant find good examples) with an aspirated k mid-word like “Seki” would be “Seci”. and what about the fortis consonants? the doubled ones? do i just leave those as is? do i make them into geminates? i think right now my plan is to leave them as is, not distinguish them, but idk. my method at the moment has also been to just use voiced consonants word initially too, as English romanization does.. but that’s not fully accurate. it’s not a big deal to merge them so “Tami” and “Dami” are both “Tami” in my language, but “Mata” and “Mada” would be different (those arent real, i just dont have examples ready to go lol). My voiceless stops are slightly aspirated.... I say slightly because I think if this was a real language they wouldnt be (or it would be pretty slight, not unlike the way the voiceless consonants are pronounced word-initially in korean), but I’m a native English speaker, and that aspiration shit is really hard to unlearn lol. Who knows, like, maybe i’ll even just copy wholesale the voiceless-aspirated vs voiceless-unless-between-vowels thing, so I can make my language’s “g” voiceless word-initially... i probably won’t do that lol... i also have a LOT more fricatives than korean, and distinguishing aspiration on fricatives isn’t really common. it’s not unheard of, it’s just not common.

there’s other little assimilations that my language makes that korean doesnt, for instance the name “Sunmi” (in strict romanization Seonmi) would be phonemically Synmi in my language, but n is pronounced like m before p, b, and m, and i write out all assimilations unless they occur across morpheme boundaries. So her name is Symmi. but if i had a compound word where the first word ended in -n and the second word began with m-, it’d be written -nm- but pronounced /m:/, just because i wanna make the morphology clear. so but idk, there’s a precedent for not being too strict and just adapting it the way a hypothetical native speaker of my language would hear a Korean word. 

#korean #conlang #conlang phonology #conlanging #phonology #long post #o #and yes i use c for the k sound #i dont like writing the letter k by hand lmao #it started as an aesthetic thing cause i was taking latin at the time but now i hate latin... i still use c though... just looks better #i also use q for ng tho so.... not following all the conventions haha

[lunebinnie]

(1/11)Oh my gosh yesss I'm glad that you like long messages too because I talk way too much 😂 (And yeah about my friend and just hanging out w/ her more that's exactly what I was thinking 😂) It's actually kind of funny bc just yesterday I was hanging out at her house and her younger brother needed to go to Walmart and I was like 'I've been meaning to go to Walmart, I'll take you' and ofc since I have a bluetooth radio adapter the whole drive I had my Spotify going with some quality k-bops, lol

2)And as we were driving I noticed him kind of jamming and I was like 'Oh my god Mickey do you actually like this???' And he was Like 'yeah, these are some good bops 👍' I was shooketh. I had to go home before I had the chance to show him any music videos but he says he's open to watching some with me next time I see him. One way or another I'm going to turn someone in my social circle into a kpop fan you mark my words ☝ and then maybe we can team up and try to work on his sister some more 😂

3)I only started first getting into kpop last June so I'm still very new, but it's definitely super frustrating how so many ppl act like it's an inherently bad or cringey genre of music just bc it's kpop! The stigma is ridiculous! I also started out with BTS (lol) and since they're pretty popular in the US at least I was able to be like 'See, this isn't just a niche thing, lots of people know abt and like this group' but of course my dad still says 'Just cause it's popular doesn't make it good'

4)And I'm like? You're a band teacher, you of all people should understand that music doesn't have to be in your native language (or even have lyrics) in order for you to enjoy it, but go off I guess... It's the same with one of my college friends. They make fun of me for liking kpop but this is coming from some who still treats March 22nd (the day My Chemical Romance broke up) as a day of mourning. Like, no tea no shade no pink lemonade, MCR was a good band nothing wrong with liking them.

5)But like if you're 22 and you still haven't grown out of your emo phase do you really have room to pick on other people for their music taste?  🤷 Anyway that's the person who follows my main that I didn't want to know I had a kpop sb. I think I made it around July. Tbh it was pretty dead for most of 2018. But like I said I've started using it way more since I recently revealed that it exists, lol. Especially since that good good Astro cb 👏💗😩 But honestly Astro is such a blessing

6)Idk how I lived so long w/o them. When I first got into kpop I was planning on just sticking to BTS since the reaction to me being into kpop was so volatile. I was like 'I'm only into one group, ppl already are negative about me liking kpop so I'm just gonna stick to this and not become a full on multifandom fan' and then in Nov I accidentally let myself fall in love with Monsta X and that plan was foiled. And realizing I wasn't gonna be able to stick to just one anymore opened the floodgates

7)And I was like okay in that case, let's just start getting into *all groups* Lol. My story of getting into Astro was actually bc of my best friend's roommate (can you tell I have like one friend and my whole social circle kinda revolves around her? Lol) so this roommate when she heard me being sad about having no kpop friends was like 'oh hey, I'm kinda into kpop' and it turns out she didn't like very many groups and was one of the ppl who blah blah BTS is overrated, which ya know isn't ideal8)But I was just really desperate to have someone to talk about kpop with. And Astro was her favorite so I was like, okay I'll get into them so that I have something to talk about with her! So I started watching some videos and I fell in love with them pretty much instantly! And I was real excited bc #1 now I can talk about kpop with someone! And #2 this group is actually amazing? Bonus! ... And then they got in a big fight about their living conditions and the roommate ended up moving out RIP

9)So that didn't work out, lol (Your story about finding them during that internship sounds amazing though! Haha) But yeah, so this is my first cb too! And although I love them w/ my whole heart and would have loved to have them in my life even sooner what an amazing cb to be your first! The concept was wonderful, the album was excellent, the visuals were to *die* for. They worked so hard and I'm so proud of them and I'm so happy we got to see their work come to fruition and get them a win 🤧🤧

10)The dance practices though? You're so right omg 💗 Me and my Rocky bias *fully* understand 😂 All of them are such good dancers?? I never fail to be impressed. Of course you know who I always end up watching tho 👀 lol (̶i̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶l̶f̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶R̶o̶c̶k̶y̶'̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶o̶t̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶e̶y̶e̶s̶.̶.̶.̶)̶ ̶ I also love how at the end they always pause all dramatic for a minute and then start screaming 😂

11)It's like? Amazing talent *and* dorky personalities? What more could you ask for? Lol. In regard to your last question though Unfortunately I also won't be able to see them 😔 I live in the smack middle of the US and since they're only going to coasts all of the venues are way too far away to get to. Esp since it's the school year and I can't skip class to drive cross country for a concert much as I'd like to (Holy lord I talked over twice as much?? Why am I like this?) Talk again soon! -ASA

Okay SO I’m very sorry I haven’t had the time to answer everything until now bc I’ve been busy studying for midterms and also I was a lil trashy today since my uni closed bc of freezing rain so I slept in but I’m glad that FINALLY everything got sent like damn tumblr you really don’t want us making friends huh. 

Yessssss I love the feeling of seeing someone else also get into the same interests! I’ve been pretty lucky in the sense that I grew up around mostly other asian americans, so kpop was never something that was considered super “weird,” like some people were into it and some weren’t but even if you weren’t you still would’ve been familiar with the more popular groups from when you were younger. Even now, I have a bunch of friends also into kpop (one of them is even my roommate) so tbh I was definitely the one in my friend group late to the party aha. Even my university hosts kpop nights at our bar and I’m pretty sure we have a kpop dance team as well? So tbh if I met someone new there’s probably like a 50% chance they’re into kpop or at least listen casually. 

Tbh I used to be a little bit judgy too but moreso because of the obscene amount of money I’ve seen some of my friends spend (no joke one of my friends has spent probably like $500+ on Loona stuff in the past month and a half and another friend bought like 5 copies of the same album for herself like damn idk how do you have that much money).

I also really don’t like it when people bash other people’s music tastes, since I feel like it’s something so personal? Idk but for a long time I used to be really self conscious about sharing my music with other people and even now I feel like that sometimes. For me after getting into BTS I kind of expected to get really into other groups since I was in Korea anyway and I was already listening to a lot of other artists casually. For me it started with NU’EST (fell for them immediately at the same concert that I saw Astro at) and then after was Astro, and then I just started slowly getting into other groups after that (even though I haven’t totally been able to get into Got7′s music they’re SO funny and I just kinda fell for their personalities  you know). 

I honestly think that they did such a wonderful job with this comeback too! I like seeing their concept evolve and mature but they’re not straying too far from their original cute concept so I feel like it’s a nice middle ground that’s very unique to them, you feel? Also I feel like the visuals especially and the execution of the whole plant concept was just done so well?? Even my friend who’s not in kpop was like “k idk who they are but that was the prettiest music video I’ve ever seen”. What are your favourite eras and songs? For me I’d have to say either the Spring Up or Baby era BUT right now my favourite song is probably Again/Should’ve Held On though tbh my mood and my tastes change like every few weeks loool. 

I have no idea why I tend to be most attracted to the dances rather than vocals or rap (maybe has to do with the fact that it’s something I’ve always wished I could do but have always been bad at lmao). But Astro’s stood out to me for the exact same reason! I just thought it was so funny seeing them all break character at the end because you really get to see how hard their choreos are and you get a glimpse of their personalities like damn, how can you not stan these dummies?

That’s really unfortunate that you won’t get to see them either :/ They’re also coming to the closest city to me but it’s on a Tuesday, but I *hypothetically* looked up flight prices and tried to see if I could get away with just missing a day of classes if I flew back in the middle of the night since I have some friends who did the same thing and drove down to Buffalo but I seem to have underestimated the size of New York State LMAO. But apparently my university’s too far from the airport so it’s “not realistic” (and also I’m hella broke from travelling to Taiwan and Japan while I was in Korea but that’s a minor issue ig). I hope we do both get a chance to see them live though! Who knows, after the success of this comeback I’m expecting a lot more cbs and world tours out of them ;)

#asa #Anonymous

[allbluesanji]

🌻 aksksksn I know people in the fandom are divided on qi rong. I can't stand him when he was still alive like the flashback chapters but demon qi rong hmm...a bit tolerable. Idk why but they way he speak in ALL CAPS I can't help but laugh. He's like problematic comic relief lol. I love mu qing and feng xin more tho!

I too will be watching the drama but I'm not going to have a high expectation, don't want to be disappointed later on. That's what I did with the untamed and I find myself enjoying it! They did some part better in the untamed.

Natsume is like my top anime. It's really comforting to watch 🥰🥰 and bittersweet and nostalgic sometimes. This show could go on forever and I'll watch it. It feel like home 🥺💖 Do you have any anime that you can always go back to rewatch and feel good?

Oh! I love taylor swift! She's my #1 top artist on spotify wrapped haha. I also listen to little mix and carly rae jepsen. What's your spotify wrapped top 5 artist and songs? 👀 I mostly listen to kpop/krnb and jpop/rock and bit of jmetal. Also, a few songs from my native language.

i kind of can't stand him period but he is hilarious sometimes!!! problematic comic relief sounds about right lmao. he certainly has a way of breaking up the tension. mu qing and feng xin are delightful but i am so glad they had the character growth they did! very, very necessary, that.

ah, the all caps... i wasn't much a fan of that particular decision. there's that one scene in book 2 where mu qing and feng xin scream at each other in all caps for like three straight pages and frankly it is Too Much. i hope the official versions will have ironed out that particular quirk.

speaking of, are you planning to buy/request as a gift the officially translated novels for mdzs and tgcf??? i love that first there were the web novels and then the various adaptations and now here we are! published books! i'm thrilled for mxtx; she deserves it(*´▽`*)

pretty much no screen adaptation ever measures up lol so yeah, baseline expectations for me too~ the untamed was excellent, but it definitely had its high and low points too. zhan xiao as wwx for example??? he was PERFECT.

awwwww i'll try to watch natsume over break!!! i've heard so many good things☺️ comfort anime hmm... around when it first came out i think i watched yoi 4(?) times in a very short time period but i would say that was more obsession than comfort, perhaps. i haven't watched it since. haikyuu is comforting for sure! i could watch gsnk on an endless loop and love it always, i think. i've even considered making a fanblog for it to attempt to boost it but the tags are so very dead that'd end up being a depressing prospect in the end🙈 and then run with the wind and ouran are lovely too🥰

taylor is my #1 as well lmaoooo. she has been ever since she approved her songs for spotify streaming a few years ago. it's odd bc i wouldn't call myself a massive die-hard fan or anything— bc i know ppl who are— but i've liked her for so long that her songs are very reassuring, idk.

top 5 artists: taylor swift, yuki hayashi, hiroyuki sawano, florence + the machine, and panic! at the disco

top 5 songs: 0 (zero) by LMYK, grand escape by RADWIMPS, stay with me by seven billion dots, you say run by yuki hayashi, and daddy lessons by beyonce.

2021 is the first year i’ve really tried to find anime songs on spotify and it shows rip

ohhhh those sound cool!!! native language, hm??? if it’d be too revealing obvs don’t tell me, but what would that be?🤔

#answered #anonymous #secret santa '21

[tangled-headphone-cord]

5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 14, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24

Linguasks

5: What is the prettiest language?

There’s so many languages and many ways in which one can be pretty, so this is a hard question… I really like the Celtic ones though. (I haven’t yet managed to actually try learning one so idk which I’d like best)

Russian sounds so beautiful

I love Polish language a LOT whenever I hear it I get real happy

Also Finnish?

this is all phonetically (though for Polish I can’t seem to define exactly WHAT I love about it so much or if it’s just the language or also the memories I have associated with it)

Also you know what? 19th century Slovene is RAD. Like, I-was-reading-and-paused-just-to-marvel-at-it rad.

6: What is the ugliest language?

ahhh idk I don’t really want to see languages as ugly you know?

7: Have you ever made up your own language?

I have actually, or better said I tried doing something a few times when I was younger than 10 and didn’t know anything about linguistics or how language works. I’d just make up random words and assign random meanings to them.

10: Have you ever tried to learn sign language?

I tried a little bit, but didn’t stick to it. I’d like to learn it still someday but idk what to chose? Like people seem to use “sign language” to refer to American sign language - does each spoken language have its own sign variant?? Then I’d rather learn whatever is used in my countries, but idk what it is? can I just make up my own

12: Choose a Scandinavian language you’d like to learn.

Icelandic

14. Choose an Asian language you’d like to learn.

I was gonna put the most cliché weaboo option and say Japanese bc of the anime but then I remembered Hebrew is an Asian language too (idk my brain filed it under african for some reason ok)

also guess what I actually AM learning in college now lol

18. Name a dead language that you wish to make a come back.

amm idk that much about dead languages, maybe Old Prussian?

but also if you count Latin then yes, absolutely bring back Latin. With proper accent. (Latin technically doesn’t count as a dead language bc French, Italian and other Romance languages are a thing but shhh)

also, Russenorsk. (I don’t really think it’s a language of its own bc it’s pidgin but it’s rad)

20. What language is overrated?

English

21. What language do you think is too intimidating to learn?

Celtic languages.. phonetics/pronounciation… but idk if it’s really that hard or is it only hard bc I can’t find resources for it that do NOT adapt their explanations to the phonetics of English (ie. no“pronounce like in ”). English is really the worst language through which to learn another one…

22. What language should more people speak?

just have everyone speak more languages in general

but proper Latin, really. Not “I know 1 sentence and 3 other words I speak Latin uwu”, not “I speak Latin but the accent of my native language is showing so bad that anyone who doesn’t speak my native language would have trouble understanding it”, not “I speak Latin but with the syntax of my native language” you know?

also every Christian should learn biblical Hebrew/Greek tbh. At least the basics.. and i guess Aramaic too since some parts of the Bible are written in that

Like I’m not putting up trilingual heresy or anything, I don’t think we should just ditch any translations and say “it’s not sacred if it’s translated” the way Muslims do with the Qur’an but fact is things get lost in translation and being able to read things in the original should be something anyone who’s serious about their faith should strive for.

Old Church Slavonic (emphasis on the OLD) for Slavic folks and bring back glagolitic

23. What language uses the prettiest alphabet?

Quenya (Tengwar/tehtar) nothing beats that tbh.

Then Old Church Slavonic (round glagolitic) is a close second because? ⰾⰹⰽⰵ ⰾⱁⱁⰽ ⰰⱅ ⱈⱁⱆ ⱂⱃⰵⱅⱅⱏⰻ ⱅⱈⰹⱄ ⰹⱄ??? (ⱆⱄⰹⱀⰳ ⰹⱅ ⱇⱁⱃ ⰵⱀⰳⰾⰹⱄⱈ ⱇⰵⰵⰾⱄ ⰾⰹⰽⰵ ⰰ ⱌⱃⰹⰿⰵ ⱅⱈⱁ Ⰹ ⱄⱈⱁⱆⰾⰴ ⱄⱅⱁⱂ)

24. What language uses the weirdest alphabet?

Hebrew.

This probably applies to several other Semitic languages too, but this is so WILD like:

1) write from right to left (not so bad in itself except when your notes are in a language that doesn’t do that and you have to do transcription)

2) who needs to spell out vowels lol (tengwar is like that too, but in Hebrew, the word root isn’t a syllable or group of syllables but a group of consonants. So you see a word and just have to GUESS the vocals in it, but getting it wrong can change the word’s meaning.. idk if Elvish did THAT too)

there IS a system for writing vowels, similar to tehtar, but only used in texts meant for learners.

3) a different, more calligraphy-like (Rashi) script is used in books. It’s not the one you’re supposed to write in. While the letters in this script do look like simply calligraphic versions of the “regular” ones, they’re still harder to read.

4) some letters look different if they’re at the end of the word than if they’re anywhere else. There is no historical reason for that AFAIK (if someone knows the reason please tell me), literally just “it’s at the end of the word so let’s write it differently”. The final version is pronounced and transcribed the same as the non-final one.

and while I don’t mind #1 (you get used to it) and quite like #2 actually (would have liked it better if they were consistent about actually writing out the niqqud…. which btw works similar as in Elvish except it’s usually below the consonant, not above, and pronounced after said consonant. I forgot how that latter part is in Elvish languages, but IIRC one of them pronounced the vowel before the consonant it was written with and the other after), I just don’t get why there’s a need for #3 and #4.

#ewa jednak chce spac #answered #langblr #thank you for asking!!! <3