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pinkysfaultorbrainsfault · 4 years

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pinky and the brain - s1e5a: where no mouse has gone before

the blood test went okay! i’m still fucking exhausted but i’m pulling through. hopefully when the results come through it’ll be something tame yet treatable.

episode summary: upon learning of a human plot to communicate with aliens from a nearby planet, brain attempts to convince them that he is earth’s leader.

the rundown:

the mice are floating around.

did i need to cap all of those images? no. i probably only needed the last one, honestly. was it funnier? absolutely. so that’s what y’all get.

brain is upside down now.

“look, brain!” cries pinky. “i’m experiencing total weightlessness!”

bonk.

they’re in an anti gravity chamber, for reasons that have not been elaborated upon. they just sort of merrily bump into each other in there until someone lets them out.

bonk.

ow. if pinky could die, that would probably be it for his spine. brain looks more like his alarm has just gone off and he really doesn’t want to get up, but god damn it, he has a 9am on tuesdays.

gromp.

“these experiments are degrading.”

“narf! i think they’re fun, brain! i can’t wait for the next ride!”

“that is because you have no dignity.”

but it’s okay. this man in terrifying sunglasses has come to rescue the boys. air mice nyoom is over.

as he takes them back to wherever, brain spots something of interest.

IT’S A DVD. HOW ANTIQUATED. but no, he’s more concerned about whatever it is this dude is polishing.

“did you see that plaque, pinky?” brain asks, and then does... this. for some reason. i don’t know. maybe i paused at a weird time. this is, uh, not a good moment, brain. there are people here.

“poit. he really ought to floss more often.”

this, at the very least, is enough to get brain to stick his ass out slightly less, and as they get lowered into fun little chairs,

he explains to pinky that the plaque "displays representations of man, woman, and the rudiments of earth’s most sophisticated science.”

see! there are the sciences right there. all sciences can be narrowed down to a bunch of dots and pi.

so then they get put in the promare spinny machine for their crimes.

sunglasses man leaves. he has done his duty for bill and country.

completely unbothered by the prospect of fueling the promepolis warp drive, brain explains to pinky that said plaque is being “sent on a probe to the outermost extremities of the galaxy, along with a disk showing earth’s arts and music.” unfortunately, this show is set in the 90s, so it’s a miracle this episode actually happened and the aliens didn’t just listen to a couple seconds of bjork and then decide to call the whole thing off.

meanwhile, the scientist turns the spinny mode up a bit.

“if the aliens look upon it, they will learn everything they need to know about the dominant species on earth!”

“naaarf. too bad there isn’t a picture of you on there, brain!”

“exactly,” says brain, who can somehow still manage a coherent sentence. “are you pondering what i’m pondering?”

“i think so, brain! but pants with horizontal stripes make me look chubby!”

awful. brain somehow manages to convey that if he puts a picture of himself on the plaque, then the aliens will recognise him as earth’s leader.

unfortunately, most of his lower half appears to be significantly broken, so he may need some assistance.

the episode cuts straight from spinny machine to the next scene, so i’m not entirely sure how long afterwards it takes place. i assume at the very least they both had a nap first, but anyway, now the mice are here and significantly less broken, and brain is standing in front of an engraving of himself and saying voila.

“voila.”

not only has he carved himself into the plaque, he’s also carved the human figures out entirely. impressive stuff, considering that tool is bigger than him.

pinky thinks it’s marvellous!

“but who is it?”

bonk.

it gets worse. brain explains that he has “slightly altered the great art masterpieces” to enhance his own importance as earth’s leader.

slightly.

“oh, this is my favourite one, brain!”

“......how did that get in there.”

undeterred, brain switches over to some samples of The World’s Great Works Of Classical Music.

BRAIN’S THE LEADEEEEEEEEEEER BRAIN’S THE LEAAAADEEEEER

he’s even included some examples of america’s contribution to the fine arts!

ROCK. AND ROLL.

A WOP BOP A LOO BOP A LOP BAM BRAIN. let it be known that little richard was actually white and dubiously canadian.

anyway brain wants them to swap his disk and plaque with the real disk and plaque, so they set off to do that.

“but brain, what about ballet? aren’t you going to give them a sample of the ballet?”

“the aliens aren’t going to care about ballet, pinky.”

or perhaps he was just too embarrassed to edit his face onto the ballets russe. it’s okay brain. we love you even if your short legs make your sissones lackluster.

time for Big Rocket.

they’re stopped at the gates, of course.

fear not! it’s only famous jet propulsion scientist wernher von brain from the braun institute in baun.

and wernher von pinky!!! from the mink institute in pink!!!

brain looks at pinky like he’s just said something stupid, and chooses to ignore the fact that wernher van braun had been dead twenty years before this cartoon takes place. very smart, brain. much genius.

still, it works on this guy.

“from now on, pinky, whatever anyone asks you, just say ‘ja’ or ‘nein’.”

BUT NEVER MIND THAT.

IT’S TIME FOR BIG ROCKET.

brain screws his custom Mouse Plaque onto the base of the rocket. he also sticks his ass out again as he does it, because he is clearly having one of those days.

pinky watches as the countdown progresses slowly, from ten-nine-eight-seven-six-five-four-three-stand by for emission.

“did you hear the countdown, pinky?”

“ja!”

“what number are they down to?”

“nien!”

“nine???”

“ja!”

“excellent, plenty of time.”

(he did not, in fact, have plenty of time.)

“didn’t you tell me they were down to nine, pinky?”

“ja! nien! poit!”

there’s your answer, i guess.

but it’s fine! brain’s picture is on the rocket, as well as his cultural erasure of little richard, so surely nothing can go wrong now!

look at it nyooming around in space. how cute.

conclusion:

ALIENS LAND ON EARTH.

news man witters on about this being the GREATEST MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD as various politicians and news organisations congregate to say hi to the aliens. they are from firnobulax, and they want to meet earth’s leader!

here they come now!

squelch.

the aliens politely request to be taken to earth’s leader.

“he means me,” says bill, wriggling himself to the front of the line. “i can feel his pain.”

the other world leaders don’t seem too sure about this.

including... this guy. who is definitely supposed to be british (”oh, really, old chap, i think he means me”) but i. definitely do not recognise him. who are you??? what did you do to the queen??????? give liz back right now you bureaucrat, or the entirety of england will throw hands.

the aliens care not for this.

so they kind of explode everyone in the venue, as you do.

the politicians watch in horror as the aliens fly right past them, to this innocent looking soap box right at the back.

the inhabitants of which came prepared. very cute.

“you are the earth creature known as. brain?”

“yes!”

“i am the leader of this planet!! ruler of all i survey!!!!!”

good for you! (:

“narf. and he really isn’t just a laboratory mouse trying to take over the world.”

brain will handle this from here, thank you.

the aliens are satisfied, at least. they give pinky a little pat on the head for all his narfs (he speaks excellent firnobulax, don’t you know, narf poit egad) and take the mice away to CELEBRATE THEIR GLORY.

it doesn’t look very comfortable, but neither of them seem to mind.

“at last, pinky! we are finally appreciated!”

“what does it feel like..........”

anyway, the spaceship full of mice flies away. brain regails the firnobulaxians with tales of how he invented electricity.

“but brain. wasn’t that ben franklin?”

bonk.

brain realises mid bonk that this probably looks very suspicious, so he convinces the aliens that this is a gesture of respect on earth.

it goes about as well as one would think it would.

“you mean all those years, you were just showing me respect! i’m touched!”

“yes, you certainly are.”

luckily, they make it back to firnobulax without too much trouble.

there’s a parade and everything. the crowd cheers “narf! poit! brain!” as they’re carried through the street, which is probably a sequence of words that brain is very used to hearing.

i don’t know what these things are, but they’re scary.

they make it to brain’s “domicile” soon enough, which is a big fancy room with a chair in it.

there’s only one chair, which is sad, but hopefully that can be mitigated. brain settles himself down triumphantly.

“from now on, pinky,” he says, “everything will be different.”

which is a good time for bars to fall down over one of the windows.

donk.

the mice look on, horrified,

as it continues around the rest of the room.

and the door, too, for good measure.

“egad, brain!” cries pinky. “they’ve locked us in!”

“yes, pinky.”

“yes.”

awww. ):

as pinky attempts to break the bars, brain wanders off back to his little chair, incredibly despondantly.

he has to prepare for tomorrow night.

“why, brain? what are we going to do tomorrow night?”

“same thing we do every night, pinky. try to take over firnobulax.”

hmmmmm.

man. i just. the plan actually worked, is the thing. it did exactly what brain intended it to. and how could he have known that firnobulax wanted to kidnap the leader of earth for scientific purposes? maybe if they’d been upfront with their intent, we would have had an excuse to send some dictators into space. go figure.

but never mind.

brain: 6 pinky: 7 outside influence: 13

“ooooo, i don’t know, brain. i once saw a group of japanese tourists absolutely melt at the final scene of giselle.”

#patb #pinky and the brain #hi everyone #this blog is not doing too well at the daily updates thing #lol #a funnier and better episode should be coming tomorrow (:

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jalebi-weds-bluetooth · 4 years

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10 Times Arnav Singh Raizada Crossed The Line (Part 2)

Read Part 1

This is the continuation of my analysis of my favorite television hero - Arnav Singh Raizada. A man who has as much as qualities as flaws. And my endless inspiration to writing a thousand words!

Recap: Arnav Singh Raizada is our perfect, tortured Mills & Boons hero. Sometimes it’s unfortunate when recent shows have aped his behavior and not the layered characterization that he had. However, sometimes (according to my own opinion) I felt that his character might have crossed the line. It’s moments where no explanations justify his behavior.

- Tearing the dori. - Arnav Singh Raizada does not apologize. - Blasting at Khushi for pranking, PRANKING him. - Telling Khushi her anklet, their almost kiss & she, does not matter. - Arnav Hypocrite Raizada - forcing an engaged Khushi to confess her feelings when he’s unable to do so.

Reminding Khushi of her broken engagement cause he can’t handle jealousy.

Manipulating & frightening Khushi with Akash & Payal’s divorce papers.

Telling Khushi he ‘faked’ his sickness to get rid of the ‘Swami’ tag.

Refusing to believe Khushi’s version of events.

Becoming Khushi’s landlord and blackmailing her (emotionally and financially) to get her to come back home.

Bonus

Telling Khushi that she does not have the brains, courage nor talent to face the real world.

#6 “Tumhara rishta? Hua tha... yaad hai na?”. (S5, E10)

“Your relationship? It happened... do you even remember that?” - A foot in mouth Arnav Singh Raizada.

First Reaction: How to lose a woman in ten seconds ft. Arnav Singh Raizada. Are you bloody serious? THIS… out of all the valid things you could have yelled at her for, HER BROKEN ENGAGEMENT is what you taunt her with?

What’s wrong with it:

Arnav arranges a party for Akash & Payal according to his own tastes. He never takes into account that his new sister in law might get intimidated in the new setting. This is a power move for Arnav and really not a party for Akash & Payal because nothing in the party is for them. From whatever we know about Akash, he is a quiet guy who enjoys little things in life - not necessarily wine and a cultural show. Payal feels left out. Akash’s discomfort is visible at the party as he keeps asking Payal if she’s comfortable.

Arnav literally has this party for himself, and he can’t party. In general, Arnav acts like an entitled dick for these two episodes. In the previous episode he makes it clear that he’s aware how Khushi might feel left out and does not invite her to the party for her own sister. He’s insensitive, callous and mocking (and surprised as to why NK and Khushi mix well?).

And I LOVE that Khushi and NK chose to hang out with each other because Arnav is almost pushing her away to another man by his ‘generous acts’. Like if these two were not soulmates and born for each other, I was a minute away from being “Yeah Khushi, I think you should date the other guy who is more sensitive to you even though he’s lived all his life in another country and knows you for like 48 hours.”

Quick note: I’m not all that aversive to NK & Khushi being a pair. Now wait a second, it might be like oh Khushi really pushes their families to think that she and NK go well together. Well… she and NK have an instant connect like no other - even in the future NK is almost always able to tell when Khushi is disturbed or when something happens that demeans Khushi’s worth in the house.

Also, imagine this, in the shoes of Akash - if I am Khushi’s friend and I’ve seen her go through a terrible engagement, incessant insults from my older cousin, and then I see her connect with my younger cousin who actually makes Khushi smile and laugh all the time…

I don’t think it's a mystery that I’ll ship her with a man who can make her smile. And no wonder why the Sangeet performance stuns everyone. Anjali & Akash more than anyone else (because I think they were the only ones who thought there was something else between Arnav & Khushi and they put that thought in the backburner until they see that shit… whatever it was has simmered all along).

Track Rewrite:

I’m just realising that I don’t have many track rewrite ideas for most of the foot-in-mouth situations of ASR. The dialogue that Khushi, here, says is amazing. She literally replies to him, word for word, and makes him see his own hypocrisy and also highlights that he’s furious about something else - that he does not want to accept, as usual.

She states, in between lines, that she has given up reading his mind and trying to be gentle to him when he, frankly, doesn’t deserve that treatment. If anything, their sangeet rivalry and the win-lose situation just gets to my nerves at one point.

Head-canon:

NK openly flirts with Khushi more on seeing how interested Nannav is with Khushi. NK never regards Khushi as his sister-in-law, for him Khushi always remains as his best friend and as the woman he understands best which he not-so-lightly rubs against Nannav’s face every now and then. He truly loves Khushi, but as a friend. It’s a pure, true friendship between Khushi and NK.

Public Service Announcement:

Before planning a party please make sure you have a survey on what the people actually want in the party, especially if it's hosted for them. A party is not a party if you’re the only one enjoying it.

#7 “It is so sad Khushi, ki Akash ka phone mere paas hai.” (S6, E19-21)

“It is so Khushi, that I have Akash’s phone with me.” Arnav, holding Akash’s phone while Khushi frantically dials Akash to ask if he knowingly signed the divorce papers, and make him aware of the same. Arnav makes Khushi think it’s Akash’s divorce papers - Akash actually signed some random office papers.

First Reaction: I know the context of everything but that was a low blow. I KNOW ARNAV DOESN’T KNOW HIS KHUSHI BABY IS INNOCENT but somehow this part is tough to digest.

What’s wrong with it:

Abuse of power - as simple as that. Of course we’re all immediately swayed to Khushi’s feelings because we know she’s an innocent bub. But to Arnav she’s the woman who’s breaking his sister’s house so he probably feels justified in torturing her with the idea of breaking her sister’s house. I get it, it’s a tit for tat situation.

But if we’re thinking deeply, this is not just an average argument that they always have - Khushi literally is going through a mental breakdown to stop Payal. This could have easily gone out of hand. Just saying.

Track Rewrite:

A necessary evil to establish the tighthold Arnav has on Khushi regarding the marriage. I don’t appreciate the immediate comedy, romance or smugness that follows. The scenes are great - individually. But BUT BUT I feel this event would trigger a more serious reaction from Khushi because she has always been very serious when it’s about her sister.

If I had to rewrite this, everything happens the way it is but instead of the childish thing of her jumping into the pool (I know she’s childish but we have infinite opportunities in the future to prove that), she would grow very serious and threaten Arnav to never, ever touch her sister’s marriage.

I would assume she would become very serious for a few days, and then resume to her usual antics. Arnav’s anger is well justified - on one hand Khushi has the galls to threaten him about her sister’s marriage when she’s breaking his, on the other hand he also would never do any damage to Akash’s marriage.

Head-canon:

Bua ji, for as much as she’s crossed with Khushi, actually had a wedding trousseau for Khushi (she starts wearing all the anarkalis and salwar kameez post this trip to Gupta House). There’s actually a very emotional moment between Khushi and Bua ji where Bua ji tells her she bought new clothes for Khushi when they were buying things for Payal.

So yeah, just an emotional, almost mother-daughter bond between Khushi and Bua ji where the latter expresses her disappointment in the way Khushi married but also loves her beyond everything.

Here Bua ji says that she’s upset with Khushi because she’s their own, if not she won’t have even bothered. Also, Garima and Bua ji have a talk in between where they miss Khushi immensely and find it difficult to live in a house without the two daughters.

Garima and Bua ji have a mature talk, as adults, wondering if what Khushi did was a return to what they did to Khushi and then they receive Anjali’s call to attend Holi.

Public Service Announcement:

Don’t manipulate! Also, always check with your spouse for any assumptions you might have against them :) Communication is key. For more enquiries about relationship troubles regarding assumed infidelity or hiding secrets - contact Dr. Jalebi S, your own sweet relationship expert. But yes, don’t hide stuff from your partner if it involves their family and DON’T MANIPULATE AND PLAY MIND GAMES!

#8 “Kitna bhi jaan lo, kabhi kabhi kisi ko pehchaan na bohot mushkil ho jaata hai. Kal raat mujhe kuch bhi nahi hua tha. Main bilkul theek tha.” (S6, E46)

“Irrespective of how much you know someone, sometimes it can get very difficult to (truly) recognize someone. Last night, nothing happened to me. I was absolutely fine.” Arnav Irony Singh Raizada. Doesn’t the first line apply to himself too? He thinks he knows her, but he does NOT.

First Reaction: YOU SON OF A BACHELOR! YOU WERE NOT NOT SICK!

What’s wrong with it:

I don’t like how Arnav’ perennially pissed with Khushi the minute he got up. Pfft, Khushi’s beautiful and seeing her wonderful face in the morning was a great moment for a Rabba Ve moment because of the sweet Rabba Ve they had the night before! I love Arnav’s discomfort in knowing how Khushi took care of him while he was asleep, while no one was there to watch. Because for him, it was crossing borders on what their marriage was beginning to seem.

And then the whole I was not sick, bleh, and then Anjali (I love her, wonderful woman) but for the life of me I couldn’t understand what in the world she was trying to explain. Because really, no way had Arnav lied to Khushi to make her feel better/less guilty.

Rather he was belittling and mocking her efforts.

There’s one thing about hiding intentions, there’s another about forcing and painting someone’s actions in a romantic light - that’s not right.

Arnav is a master at hiding his intentions. Whenever he yells at Khushi where she’s gone - it means he’s worried. When he tells Khushi he doesn’t need her help - well he actually needs it. When he’s ignoring her - he wants her to stop ignoring him, etc.

So we know Arnav when he hides intentions. Hence I felt the Anjali-Arnav scene was forcing the viewers to sympathize with Arnav and be like heh, he did that to make Khushi feel less guilty. I anyways sympathize with Arnav given the battle he’s facing internally... so this one scene felt odd.

Quick note: I have a love-hate relationship with Khushi eating all the food scenes and embarrassing him in his office with wifey behavior. Also, Arnav has a very telling body language when he lies - he speaks very fast, and does not meet her eyes and in many cases, physically turns away from her while speaking.

Track Rewrite:

Just… let’s put the wonderful Anjali/Arnav moment somewhere else in the story where Anjali notices Arnav actually lying to make Khushi feel better. Cause Anjali does hit the nail in stating that her brother never reveals what he feels.

Also, I love the entire Gupta House adventure that they have but there’s a part of me that wished it happened at another time.

Like if it happened at the time it did, then oh God please change what triggers the marriage reveal.

Otherwise the entire thing can happen when Arnav decides to stay in Gupta house cause Khushi won’t be coming to Raizada house (post his great “You’re the biggest mistake of my life Khushi”). In a way it would be hilarious that Arnav is trying to win Khushi back but also is facing extreme discomfort at the lack of luxury he’s become used to - classic ASR.

And probably Khushi suffocates him with a recall to the ‘Swami’ track and makes his life a living hell in her house. Made for each other that they are.

Head-canon:

Arnav and Khushi get used to and look forward to having meals together. Arnav, rarely, eats alone ever again. It’s a development Nani and Anjali are very happy to see.

Public Service Announcement:

Don’t eat all food if you have a diabetic partner. Also, don’t try to understand everything your sibling does - try questioning them instead of justifying. Try drinking coffee instead of tea if you’ve been awake all night <3

#9 “Tumhe kya lagta hai, agar tum uss raat mujhe bata deti toh kya main aankhein band karke tumpe vishwaas kar leta?” (S7, E15-17)

“What do you think, if you told me your truth that night then I would’ve believed you without a doubt?” Arnav, to Khushi, after she’s told her side of the misunderstanding. And with that, every fan’s highest hopes dashed and worst dreams came true.

First Reaction: NO ARNAV DON’T… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What’s wrong with it:

He refuses to believe her. He has a choice, he has heard both sides of the story. And he refuses to believe it. But my biggest problem - Khushi pretends she has no idea what moment he’s referring to?

Girl, you’ve been forcefully hugged by Shyam only once in your life and until and unless you’re amnesiac you would remember that traumatic moment. I am just so upset that Khushi does nothing nor says anything concrete when he says he doesn’t believe her. She doesn’t say Shyam molested her.

She puts it on Arnav. That what he knows isn’t true. That he doesn’t deserve the truth, which is a good argument but state more! Then she goes silent *argh*

Her argument starts strong, but ends up terribly. She just ends up saying all the things that don’t matter!

Track Rewrite:

Khushi should have told why she went to the terrace that night. That she thought it was he who asked her to come up. That Shyam harassed her. That Shyam has continuously harassed her. That Arnav’s not the only one who threatened the safety of Payal’s marriage - Shyam threatened it too.

No matter what Khushi did, somehow Payal’s marriage always ends up on the line. If she tells, Payal’s marriage is threatened by Shyam and because she didn’t, Payal’s marriage was threatened by Arnav.

ALSO KHUSHI APOLOGISES FOR HIDING THE TRUTH!

It should’ve been a clash of their ideologies, their personalities, her heartbreak over the fact that he doesn’t know she loves him, his disbelief that the truth is too good to be true (and essentially confusion because if Khushi loved him all along then it meant that he misunderstood her all along and he’s not great at seeing his own mistakes). She would’ve been too angry to make amends - not until she realizes he’s leaving for London and his mistake doesn’t matter.

Here’s a fic that I wrote that covers this.

Head-canon:

Akash and Payal are the only ones who later get to know the entire thing as this topic affected both the marriages deeply. Nani also knows, but of course not the part that he forced her to marry for six months by threatening Payal’s marriage.

Public Service Announcement:

Lies rarely do good. And be careful to analyze any traumatic event from all angles! What’s visible is not what happens and what happens is not visible!

#10 “Khushi, tum kiraya kamkarwana chahti ho? Toh tumhe mere saath ghar aana parega.” “Nahi.” “Okay, mere paas koi choice nahi hai. Mujhe tumhara ghar girwana parega.” (S8, E21-22)

“Khushi you want to reduce your rent? Then you to need to come home with me.” “No.” “Okay, then I have no other choice. I will have to tear down your house.” - Arnav to Khushi. The most inappropriate sentence anyone can tell to another. Given that they are husband and wife, it’s even worse.

Quick note on the photos: Khushi Kumari Gupta, not believing the man she married in all three scenes. Arnav Singh Raizada, lying in all three scenes.

First Reaction:

Everybody… yeah… don’t really rock your body… yeah… Stupid. Singh. Raizada’s. Back!

Oh my God stupid Raizada is back again! Brothers sisters everybody’s sayin’…. Not really gonna bring Khushi back nor gonna show anyone anything how… *continues butchering Backstreet’s Back* I gotta question for you (yes I do ASR so) you better answer now..

Are you original? Yeah

Are you the only one? For Khushi, yeah

Are you sexual? Very, but that’s not helping… Noooo

Are you everything Khushi needs - Yes but you need to shut up.

Are you - SHUT UP AND SAY SORRY

AND MEAN IT IF YOU’RE SAYING SORRY - IN FORTY EIGHT HOURS YOU SAID SHE’S THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF HER LIFE, APOLOGISED AND FOLLOWED IT UP BY THREATENING PAYAL’S MARRIAGE, MADE HER WORK FOR YOU AND BOUGHT THE HOUSE SO YOU COULD HIKE THE HOUSE FEES AND THEN LITERALLY TOLD HER YOU CAN DRAG HER OUT OF THE HOUSE… and you think she’ll come back?

DUDE, what are you smoking?

What’s wrong with it:

Boy… no. No. Ask NK, Nani, Payal or even Lakshmi (talk with the people who understand Khushi!) on how to appease Khushi. A part of me was really upset with this track cause although I understand that Arnav is never really gonna do a full blown redemption and they need to stay true to his character, I didn’t see how ANY of his actions would get Khushi back…

It’s not wrong that he was upset at Khushi for visiting Anjali - even I was! Like seriously, Khushi, despite her best intentions, really does make the biggest mistakes! However, implying that Khushi’s existence is the reason why Shyam cheated Anjali was shit. On top of that he calls his marriage a contract, blackmails her about Payal, is unable to wish her a happy birthday, becomes her landlord and stops all utilities (hence now blackmailing her using her family) to get her back?

I don’t see the sense. I try really hard and I’m team Arnav but for me him becoming her landlord was just flexing his money and power. It was a low blow, and it’s really not funny how he keeps threatening the peace of her family but get’s pissed off when Khushi, unintentionally, disturbs his family.

It does not matter that Arnav would essentially not carry on with his threat, to Khushi he would and that’s what matters (cuts off electricity and water to prove his point and it does cause inconvenience her family). It’s just a very unhealthy atmosphere over here. The little moments are great, independently, but apart from that I just found this to be a very troubling scene.

Track Rewrite:

Oh I have a lot, LOT of theories for this one:

- Khushi first thinks Arnav has bought the house from her landlord so as to stop the harassment and Arnav is guilty AF because he didn’t expect that. Bua ji enters right when Arnav talks about the truth of the marriage. She hears everything, and asks Arnav to leave her house, forever. She goes all ‘Haye Re Nandkishore’ on him. DRAMA. #BuajiRoxx

- Landlord shit doesn’t happen. Khushi leaves the house, Arnav decides to stay at her house since she isn’t going back to Shantivan with the promise to reminisce all the sweetest moments she shared. Khushi kills him with the ‘Swami’ shit, again, and Arnav ends up being irritated due to lack of adjustment but also does everything possible to get Khushi back. They have their Rabba Ves and then he brings her back and gives her the sweet gifts.

- She returns home (just like in canon) but distances herself from all the Raizadas (and does not jump into making Raksha Bandhan celebration - ugh, women are not always obligated to keep their sasuraal happy)! For a few days she becomes just like Arnav - unemotional, unaffected, orderly and unexpressive. Akash, having repaired his relationship with Payal and hence having gained a deeper insight, helps Arnav overcome his marriage issues.

Head-canon:

Khushi and Arnav have a conversation where she asks him when, where and why did he transfer the house’s papers to her name. It’s an important and tender moment. Arnav gradually comes to know Khushi married him more because it was he who proposed marriage. Khushi gradually comes to know that Arnav, never, would threaten Akash-Payal’s marriage.

Did she accidentally come across the ‘office’ papers that Akash had signed? Did Arnav actually play a role in smoothening Akash-Payal’s relationship post the Shyam reveal - anything on those lines.

Public Service Announcement:

IF YOUR PARTNER ISN’T COMING BACK HOME AND YOU THINK BLACKMAIL IS A SOLUTION THEN MESSAGE DR. JALEBI/S IMMEDIATELY. YOU NEED HELP. At this point, irrespective of star crossed pyaar, I’d 9/10 recommend separation, break, counseling.

Bonus

"No you can’t. Kyunki asal zindagi main guzara karne ke liye paise chahiye hote hai. Aur paise kamane ke liye akal chahiye hoti hai. Himmat aur confidence chahiye hote hai puri duniya ka saamna karne ke liye. Apne sapne pure karne ke liye. Aur tumhe inn sab main se kuch bhi nahi hai.” (S11, E2)

“No you can’t [face the world on your own]. Because to face the real world you need need. And to earn money you need intelligence. You need bravery and confidence to face the whole whole. To fulfill your dreams. And you have none of these.” Arnav, to Khushi. The moment when Arnav forgot that Khushi was the sole breadwinner of the Gupta’s and Khushi forgot that Arnav is a multimillionaire.

First Reaction: WHAT ARE THE WRITERS DOING? WHAT IS THE CHANNEL DOING? WHAT IS ARNAV DOING? THIS LEADS TO A FASHION SHOW INSTEAD OF AN ACTUAL CHAT - WHAT IS KHUHSI DOING? WHAT AM I DOING??!! Should I stop watching the show?

What’s wrong with it:

I really liked Arnav and Khushi’s difference of opinion when it came to raising Aarav - not where she is being stupid and asking to burst crackers (she is retracting on so many of her characteristics right now I can’t keep a track). I did not like the second half of the argument because it really took the characters several notches down on their growth/development.

I really liked Khushi stating to Arnav that - hey, buying happiness with money can work with adults but terribly spoil children. But then what followed, without a hint of apology, into an embarrassing and terrible Fashion Pageant that completely missed the point of this argument!

Neither parent thinks it’s important to sit and have a calm chat with Aarav. Arnav is a ‘yes’ man around him. Khushi is there to heap the values instilled on her. Is anyone trying to make Aarav understand, no? And Arnav’s evident lack of respect for Khushi will translate to Aarav.

They’re both bad at parenting and this could have been a really nice track that they could have wrapped up in a few episodes but no.

Aarav never learns. Arnav gives a half assed dialogue about ‘oh I know Khushi you’re talented’ and Khushi spends the next 10 days behaving like an 8 year old, not chatting up with Aarav about behavior issues, and thinks winning a Fashion Pageant is being courageous, talented, determined and independent.

*throws head on wall*

Track Rewrite:

Oh I HAVE TONS but I’ll explain my favorite one. First of all, I’ll let that argument be because it is natural that this is where Arnav and Khushi might conflict. But instead of Khushi’s childish sulking that puts Arnav into a ‘oh let’s make her jealous, call her to office, appease her by some shitty ASR plan and probably apologise somewhere’ and Khushi going all ‘haww, he called me brainless, now I’ll prove so by stupidly acting like a kid in his coat’-

Arnav and Khushi stand still when they realise he has crossed a line and he storms off, leaving a very quiet Khushi alone. They both walk on eggshells, neither’s ego letting the argument down. It seriously hampers their relationship. They just don’t speak and anything small leads to a big argument.

Khushi spends an enormous amount of time in her catering service in an attempt to prove herself, becoming a bit crazy behind earning money which makes her off character. Arnav throws himself in office, and is almost happy when he realizes Khushi’s catering service does not earn even half of his monthly profit, annually. A competitive streak drives a wedge between them. This goes on - that troubles the entire family, and stops until Aarav misbehaves with Anjali.

This breaks the ice wall between Arnav and Khushi, draws them out of their workaholic spheres. Bua ji, Payal, NK reprimand Khushi for being absent in raising Aarav, her obsession to make Aarav religious and traditional without making him understand the reason of the values and above all, competitive with her husband that she grandly declared she can’t live without. Mami, Nani, Akash reprimand Arnav for pretty much the same.

When Arnav and Khushi talk to Anjali, she again reprimands the both of them in terms of parenting, marriage and the coexistence of both. Arnav cannot buy upbringing, manners, ethics, respect and character through money. Khushi cannot instill goodness, kindness, generosity and honesty by piling beliefs of the Lord. If that was the case then her husband - who would get all the money he needed from Arnav, and believed in all the Gods - would be a good man.

Arnav and Khushi talk to their son, together, to figure out his actual problem of fitting in. Aarav is surprised to learn both his parents were orphans. He truly bonds with them after getting through his adjustment fears and issues. In teaching Aarav, Arnav and Khushi realise what truly matters - their love. And that they had forgotten how similar they were.

With Aarav they have met another person who is just like them - alone, afraid, orphaned and lonely who’s standing at the same point in life where he either turns himself into a man with absolute belief or none at all. And with parents who have faced the extremes of fates, Aarav might just have the perfect upbringing.

Hence, Arnav and Khushi patch up with an emotional, tear jerking hug. They end up recounting each other’s stories and realize how far they’ve come along. They never had a name for their love and after all the hatred, denial, lust, acceptance, confession, purity, marriage and parenthood - no one name’s going to fit either.

Head-canon:

Aarav, although behaviorally like his father, grows up to be a complete Mumma’s boy. If anyone thought Arnav is super protective about Khushi, well Aarav is ten times more protective about his mother. Also, internally Aarav is a big fan of Hindi cinema, loves sweets and has the most outrageous dance moves. But he’s also an introvert so he would kill anyone who pointed out on those.

Public Service Announcement:

Adopt children when you are ready. Having a child can take toll on a marriage so COMMUNICATE - COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR SPOUSE, YOUR CHILD AND YOUR SUPPORT SYSTEM!

Phew, this is the end of this post and I sincerely hope you liked it! Feel free to send your thoughts through asks/notes/etc.

#ipkknd #iss pyaar ko kya naam doon #Arnav Singh Raizada #tv analysis #analysis #character analysis

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creativityworks-sx · 4 years

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Paige Michel - 5 DJS on Instagram Live that bring the party to your house! - Dancehall & Soca Edition

For those of you that don’t know I am an Afro-Caribbean girl, my family originate from Jamaica, St. Lucia and Dominica. I am a care leaver, and my foster carer was from Barbados. I appreciate the beauty, arts and culture from the Caribbean. I love the music - I am a huge Bashment/Dancehall and Soca fan! Woi Yoii!

For two years, I was radio presenter and producer of a show I created with my two closest mates, Albert and Kaira, called URBAN P.A.K, at Surge – The University of Southampton’s official radio station. Together, we celebrated and showcased Black Music, Artists, DJs and Producers all over the world. Of course, I played all my favourite Dancehall, Soca and Afrobeats tunes, we played games live on air and I even hosted some quizzes too. We went to the R.U.M (Real Urban Music) events in our free time, to see the hottest artists and DJs live in clubs. It was such a lit experience!

The 5 DJs that are killing it on Instagram live right now are - DJ Supa Nytro, DJ Larni, DJ Nate, DJ Nassen and DJ Private Ryan! They are my Greater Londoners, because they have brought me and thousands of others so much joy, through Dancehall and Soca music, during lockdown. This Covid-19 crisis, has proven very difficult for self-employed creatives, like DJs, so please go check them out, show some love, book them for future events, and wuk up your waist lol!

1. DJ Supa Nytro :

Instagram: @SupaNytro

Twitter: @SupaNytro

I went to Manchester Carnival for the first time in August ‘19. Not gonna lie, it didn’t compare to Notting Hill Carnival, but I still had a brilliant time. My makeup was on point, purple glitter on my water line to match my purple ombre hair. I was palancing, jumping up, and throwing colourful powder everywhere like it was jouvert! The rum punch was sweet (and cheap... not overpriced like London lol)! The patties were delicious too. I watched the showcase of Manchester’s mas bands, their local musicians, and dancers. I was dancing with my cousin Bertha, to all the DJ sets. This is when I came across DJ Supa Nytro – and OMG, his set was everythingggg, playing all my favourite songs! He had his dancers with him - Miss Rose was my favourite. Lol, I like how he’s always wearing his customised hats and tops with his name on it – I see you! I loved DJ Supa Nytro’s set so much, I just had to get a pic with him! (Go check it out on my insta!) I’ve been going to see him play at Dancehall events in London ever since.

I tuned in to DJ Supa Nytro’s Instagram Live one Friday Night, and I am so glad I did! I realised he is not only a DJ, he is a host too. He has no filter, which makes him absolutely hilarious. He initiated conversation like ‘who are your Top 5 Dancehall artists?’. I was definitely engaged in his conversations, and intrigued to see others opinions on the Instagram Live chat. I said my favourites right now are:

1. Vybz Kartel A.K.A ‘THE WORL’ BOSS!’

2. Popcaan

3. Alkaline

4. Aidonia

5. Dexta Daps

I also mentioned there’s a difference between my top favourite Dancehall artists right now and of all time. What we could all agree on was the fact that Vybz Kartel is the King of Dancehall – Awaoh! As a Dancehall music lover, and a history student - I really appreciated Supa Nytro’s Dancehall History quiz. He really got me thinking. I was singing along to all the bangers he was playing. His Movado set was excellent, bringing back some old tunes, and bringing back some old memories lol! You know how a song has the power to remind you of a person, a place or time in your life. I can’t wait for Supa Nytro’s next live!

2. DJ Larni – ‘Him nuh normal!’:

Instagram: @Dj_Larni

Twitter: @Dj_Larni

I have been to quite a few Dancehall events with my friends Channon, Aisha, Mercedes and Tiana, like Bashment Central. It was here I heard DJ Larni’s set and yasss he was superb! I’ve since, followed him on Soundcloud, so I can hear his mixes in my day-to-day life, like when I’m doing my makeup looks or travelling on the tube etc. Sometimes I feel to just bruck out on the train, because woii the tunes are too lit!

It was a dry quarantine Friday night and I was scrolling through my Insta, as you do. I was checking who was on live and I saw DJ Larni was online. The energy he was giving through the phone was madddd! He’s an amazing host, and knows how to entertain his audience. He’s hella funny too – just freee and crazyyy, I love it. I like how his room was dark, lit with blue party lights, giving us that club feel. DJ Larni is innovative – he requested ladies who love to dance to dancehall music, to join his Instagram live. Seeing the ladies skin out and bruck out really gave us that dancehall experience! He also engages with his listeners, telling everyone to bring their flag to rep their country, just like you would at a Caribbean carnival. DJ Larni’s liveliness is a vibe, really contagious. His Insta live party was tun up!

3. DJ Nate:

Instagram: @DjNateUK

Twitter: @DjNateUK

I have been listening to DJ Nate’s mixes on Soundcloud for a long time. I love his ‘Dancehall and Chill’ mixes. I like that some of his mixes specifically focus on one Dancehall artist at a time i.e his 100% Dexta Daps, Popcaan and Alkaline mixes– some of my favourite artists. Last year, I attended DJ Nate’s Caribbean Rocks Festival with my cousin Bertha and it was amazing! I wasn’t feeling too well at this time, but I said nahhh, there’s no way I’m missing it. Never that! I had the pleasure of seeing so many artists perform live like The Rara, Alicai Harley and Dexta Daps. I was gutted when I found out Shensea could not make it, but I had a fantastic time, nevertheless! Dancehall a mi everything!

I saw DJ Nate’s Instagram Live and I was really feeling it! It was the day he was wearing his Vans vest lol. He was doing a Soca special and the tunes were fireee. The comment section on his live was going off. Bare girls putting the gyal on headtop emoji lool! People were absolutely loving the music he was playing. People from all over the world were tuned in and having a lovely time. DJ Nate was telling us to go get a drink, to give it that party vibe. I think something a little stronger than orange juice lol. Then, he put on a Soca song called Party Bad – Mr Killa and Legz. Woiiiii, I really enjoyed myself!

4. DJ Nassen:

Instagram: @NassenUK

Twitter: @NassenUK

Back in Summer ‘19, when we could actually leave the house and live our best lives, I went on a couple dates lol! There was one fineee assss guy I met up with, and we had some good conversations, like our music interests. We discovered we both liked Soca and woiii that made my day. Anyway, the point is he told me to check out his cousin, DJ Nassen, for the hottest new soca tracks - and the rest was history! I love DJ Nassen’s Notting Hill Carnival 2019 Soca Mix on Soundcloud. I’ve been getting hype to all the jab jab music! Bringing back some good memories of my time with my friends at Dreamland Jouvert ’19 and Notting Hill Carnival ’19. Woii!

I was checking out DJ Nassen’s Instagram Live one Friday Night and it was poppin! He calls it Lockdown Fridays, with his host Mist Hooli. Mista Hooli was his hype man, making the party lit! I appreciate when creatives join forces to make magic – so thank you to them both. I was really whining on my sofa lol, I had that Jamish feeling! I was putting hella fire emojis in his Instagram Live comment section. DJ Nassen was really moving them hips lol, when he was playing his set, really grooving to the music. Some of my favourite soca songs, DJ Nassen played were:

Head or Tail - Lavaman ft Mr Legz

Famalay – Skinny Fabulous, Machel Montano & Bunji Garlin

Run Wid It – Mr Killa

Wet It Up – Zeek ft Shal Marshall

Bend Dong For Di Hmm – Krome ft Nassis

If you haven’t heard of these songs, go have a listen - I’m sure you’ll enjoy them…(unless your anti-Soca like Marv Abbey looool)!

5. DJ Private Ryan:

Instagram: @DjPrivateRyan

Twitter: @DjPrivateRyan

One day I just typed in Soca Mixes on Youtube, and DJ Private Ryan came up. I listened to his Soca Starter mixes, and loved them. When I went to my friend’s sleepover a few months back, we were dancing like crazy to Private Ryan’s mixes, having the time of our life. Lol, I’m so unfit, I was out of breath. Dancing to Soca music is really a workout and a half, which is great for your daily exercise intake. I followed Dj Private Ryan on Instagram not too long ago, and my guy is verified, a whole blue tick you know. Big up yourself, a great achievement!

I saw DJ Private Ryan’s live on Instagram and it was great! He calls it Freestyle Friday! He was playing a range of music from old school to new school, and a mixture of Dancehall, Soca, Afrobeats and RnB – The listeners were loving the versatility! In his comment section, many people thanked him for his mixes, as it was helping them pass time during quarantine. What I love about Private Ryan’s live is the inclusivity. He asks his listeners to send him song requests, which he plays, which makes it that much more personalised and special. You’ll definitely have a Fete in your house, tuning in to DJ Private Ryan’s Instagram live!

Many Dancehall and Soca events, like carnivals, have been postponed or put on hold due to the outbreak of Covid-19. So, this has left many of us feeling down in the dumps and disappointed. DJs using the Live feature on Instagram has been a great alternative, to bring the good music, and positive vibes to us. I have noticed, that some of these DJs Instagram live’s overlap with each other on Friday nights. But not to worry, if you do miss it, you can always listen back the next morning when they post it on their story or feed. So, go check out the 5 Djs that will bring the party to your house! – Dancehall and Soca edition. What are you waiting for!

If you know any other amazing DJs you think I should check out on Instagram Live, please feel free to hit me up. Apart from Soca and Dancehall, I like Reggae, Afro-beats, Neo-soul, RnB, and Hip hop. Thanks!

By Paige Michel:

Insta: @ItsPaigeMichel

Twitter: @ItsPaigeMichel

#PaigeMichel CreativityWorks MediaTrust MT_Futures Music Dancehall Soca DJ

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nigelgodrichproducer · 4 years

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Nigel Q&A in The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/live/2020/feb/21/nigel-godrich-webchat-ultraista-radiohead-producer

Nigel did a very nice Q&A for The Guardian. Reproduced here for posterity’s sake:

Q: I saw Atoms for Peace at the Roundhouse [in London]. The lot of you seemed exceptionally into it. How much of a thrill was it to play with Flea? He seemed totally lost in the gig at points. I think Flea is one of the greatest human beings I've ever had the good fortune to spend time with, let alone make music with. He's such a generous player and probably my most rock'n'roll moment is standing on stage staring at his face 6 inches from mine, or when he jumps up on my riser. Massive respect to that guy, and you should read his book. Q: Nowadays, I’m asked to master tracks for Instagram and Spotify as opposed to vinyl and CD. What’s your view about how streaming has affected everything? – John Davis, Metropolis Mastering That's what my book's going to be about... Q: How do you use intuition as a tool in your productions and how do you know when something you are working on is finished? You mentioned Talk Talk and Mark Hollis – he stopped when he thought he could not add anything new. Can you imagine yourself doing something entirely different? Definitely. And it has crossed my mind many times - working more in visuals, videos, even film. But these days the hard thing is finding the time, when you keep getting sucked into exciting things you want to do, and can do. I could definitely write a book and I've enjoyed doing stuff on radio. Q: Is there any track from any artist you’ve worked with that you are particularly proud of? Something that brings back great memories when you listen to it? Sure! How about Diamond Bollocks from Beck's Mutations? Which was just the studio equivalent of sitting in a hot tub drinking champagne with a bunch of your best mates, and two days very well spent I would say. I'll always enjoy listening back to that sonic postcard. Q: Pavement’s Terror Twilight is one of my favourite albums and sounds incredible. But the band broke up soon after it was released and I understand that relationships were strained. Did you enjoy producing that album, and how do you think it holds up to the rest of your work? Yes I love that record actually, it's one of my favourites and I enjoyed making it immensely. It was such an adventure to fly off to America to make a record with people I hadn't met. Maybe there were some internal politics, as there are in any band, but I made friend forever in Stephen and I think I performed my role well: my idea was to make something that stood up straighter and felt like it might reach people who were turned off by the beautiful sloppiness of other Pavement records. I just thought they were such a good band and wanted them to reach a bigger audience. The writing may have been on the wall even before I got there, but I don't think I had any part of that, and I heard they're getting back to play shows, so there's always a happy ending, right? Q: Any chance of another Basement session? I would love to and plan to do more from the basement. Watch some space somewhere, but it was such an enjoyable thing to do and I look back on it as a great archive of those times. For sure it will happen. Q: Where did the artwork for the new Ultraísta album come from? Part of the fun of doing this album with Laura and Joey is the creative elements of all the stuff that isn't music. So for example we do all our own artwork and videos, and the cover is a photo I took of Laura inspired by one of my favourite photographers, Gjon Mili, a Hungarian-American photographer. We also made a lot of video content which is bleeding out into the universe slowly and relates to the album and its theme of colours, and also includes a lot of footage from the London Underground which is a particular obsession of mine. I'm great at dinner parties. Q: How hard is it making an album? How hard is a piece of string? It totally depends on a million factors. The imperative nature of your delivery date, or maybe just whimsical noodlings that can continue for some time. Or it can be really very hard, and you have to coax people who are struggling through a very difficult process. I feel like I've had every version of this. And it can be quite leisurely, eg the Ultraista record, which was what I would call a country club style social bonanza. We could take our time and work on it when we had time, and even though the challenges were there, it was actually quite natural and easy. Q: What do you listen to as you’re trying to fall asleep? I cannot fall asleep with any music playing, at all. I cannot have sex with any music playing at all. I cannot do any other activity, as my brain just tunes into it involuntarily and I'm rendered incapacitated. Q: How much Marmite do you consume? A daily teaspoon. Q: You seem to shy away from technical-oriented discussions. Any reasons for doing so? A lot of bands have noted how quickly you work and that you’re not too precious about the recording process, yet the final result comes off as meticulous. Do you have any insight into how to move fast and capture the energy of the moment? Do you organise the studio and control room in a way that is responsive to any creative situation? The reason is because I think people attach too much weight to equipment and studio trickery when the reality is I consider the most important part of making records is about musical sensibility and communication with those involved, and the notes, and the words. I get very annoyed with people asking me what my favourite microphone is. It doesn't matter. These days I don't even use the expensive ones. One of the reasons why music has become generally worse, and I'm sorry to say that, is that people think about technology more than the actual music they're making. So sue me. To your second question, see the above answer! The recording process is best when fast, because it's then the smallest obstacle to the actual music. That doesn't mean the end result shouldn't be absolutely meticulous and pored over for hours and reconsidered and reframed and sat in different places, whatever, but how far you keep you kick drum from the mic really doesn't matter. Q: Those of us who shelled out for the deluxe edition of A Moon Shaped Pool also received a small length of half-inch tape alleged to have been retrieved from actual Radiohead sessions dating back to Kid A. Were any lost and unreleased gems included as part of this Willy Wonka-like scavenger hunt, or is my piece of tape likely to contain something disappointing, like Colin Greenwood practising a bass run? This is absolutely true. I was staring at mountains of half inch tape reels from the Kid A sessions and felt sad because they were all very soon going to be unplayable useless bits of plastic that would just contaminate the environment. And thought it would maybe be better to send them off to some people who would appreciate them, so as part of the packaging with Stanley Donwood, we realised we have enough tape to wrap each special edition with a small length of it. On each tape is part of an outtake, alternative mix, instrumental, something that would have been thrown away when it became unplayable. It just felt poetic to send it out into the universe. Unfortunately I don't think people truly understand what they have... Q: What was it like working with Roger Waters? Did you consciously avoid “big guitar solos” to negate it sounding like David Gilmour/Pink Floyd. Roger is a fascinating character, really a genius. The whole experience was incredible, being able to watch this guy thinking his way around things, particularly with words and motifs and conceptual ideas. Again one of my rules in that case was there would be no big guitar solos - in the same way as the McCartney thing, I was interested in another musician, and wanted to hear him speak, and hear his musicality. As the usual formula with his solo work seems to be to find some soundalike, and use that Guitar Hero equation, which I feel is lame. So the decision was to use orchestration as a musical foil to the beauty of his simplicity and songwriting which would keep the light and focus on the words he was writing. And keep the focus of the whole work simpler. Q: I would imagine that very few people question Paul McCartney’s methods in the studio. How difficult (or not) was it to say to him, “How about doing it this way?” during the making of Chaos and Creation in the Backyard? Well, that was the entire point! Like I mentioned before, he called me, so I was able to dictate my terms, so to speak. My general appraisal was that I was more interested in him rather than the people around him, so persuading him to play everything was part of the "method" that allowed us to move forward with this work. That worked very well. His charm as a musician is astronomic and undeniable, he's a very intelligent musical person. He was very brave and put up with a lot of crap from me - he could have told me to fuck off at any point, but he really met in the middle to see this experiment through, and I left with even more respect for him than when I went in. Q: Really curious if you like classical music, and if so which pieces? Would you consider doing Big Ears festival [in Tennessee]? Yes, I would not claim to be an aficionado in any respect, but I'm a big fan of Debussy's Preludes, and one of my favourite pieces of music is his Arabesque No 1. I also love Prokofiev in general, and Erik Satie's Gymnopedies really get me going on a Sunday. Q: Is it true that much of The King of Limbs was recorded with the software Max/MSP? If it is true, how much of a hand did you have in programming and using Max/MSP? Jonny Greenwood seems to have taken all the credit … This is basically bollocks. I went to a dinner party 15 years ago and sat next to a Stanford grad who told me about this software, Max/MSP, and took it back to Johnny. He's used it on and off on lots of things, as have I. King of Limbs is made up of everyone throwing pieces of audio together - Johnny used Max/MSP in that case to link up a turnable via a piece of software called Miss Pinky. The result was a huge and gigantic mess that took me about a year and a half to unravel, and then Thom wrote over the top. So there you have it. Q: Thank you for your inspiring work! Do you have a favourite Joni Mitchell album? Joni Mitchell is my favourite human artist of all time, she is incredible. I have to give you a top three. 1. Hejira 2. The Hissing of Summer Lawns 3. For the Roses But would say all of her output between Blue and Mingus is untouchable. She is a unique combination of musical and lyrical talent. She's pretty much the only person I find can write a narrative lyrically that can remain poetic but articulating, communicating, beyond the abstract; it's very specific and very beautiful. And as a musician she dug deep into so many vats of folk and jazz, still managing to spin her incredible voice into the mix. Q: Created an account just for this. I’m a human person who enjoys audio production and engineering a lot. I’m quite shy when it comes to working with other interesting music folk, mainly down to the fact I have no idea how to write a melody. I love sounds and atmospheres, making things sound full and all that great stuff. The question I’m really getting at is: when was the first time you knew you could do this? Did that moment happen at all? And how has your relationship to music evolved? Bit of a belter of a question, but you asked for this so I don’t feel bad. I think I realised, retrospectively, that from an early age I had a fascination for recording. My dad worked at the BBC as a sound man and as a child I was surrounded by the tools of his trade so I always watched enviously and wanted to play with things. When I was very young I asked for a machine to make records, like really young, and he told me in his calm wise way: no I couldn't. But he bought me a cassette machine, so I could go around and record things: the TV, the train set, running water, things that sounded interesting when they were played back. I always aspired when I started recording music in studios, I tried to emulate my heroes, like the Trevor Horns, but found what worked best was going with the things I could do well which were an organic-ness to sound, rather than a clinical shinyness, which I loved to listen to. Making a dark brown soup was more my skill, that making a big fairy cake. I was wise to go with the things I was good at - isn't that the art of life? Q: What compels you to commit to a project? Is it a different circumstance each time? Can you please produce Keane’s next album? Tom Chaplin is a fan, I’m sure you know! Yes definitely, every project is different, but I would say I'm very wary of people's preconceptions and expectations, and generally my first question to them is: what do you think I'm going to do? Just so they don't have some idea that I'm going to repeat something I've done before or make them sound like someone else I've worked with. Generally I can make a fair appraisal of whether I have something valuable to contribute and will generally like what we can do together. I'm not under any illusion that I can improve someone I'm already a fan of so I never approach anyone – they have to ask me. Q: Are you a night owl? If so, how do you deal with society’s preference for early birds? Do you suffer from insomnia? Hell yes. Nothing great happens before dinner. I have always been like this, I have always leapt out of my bunk bed as a child at 3am to run across and start building something out of a piece of wood, or do a drawing- all creativity happens in my brain at night. I deal with the unfair preference of early birds in society by having chosen a career whereby I get to dictate my hours. I wouldn't dream of starting a working day before lunchtime. Producers start flowing over coffees at dinnertime. I like the isolation at night - there's no background noise, and you can really focus. And also night, it's has a dark cloak of melancholy which makes you connect to something inside, in a way you can't do when the sun is shining. Daytimes are for nice walks in the park - nighttimes are for sitting alone at a laptop. Q: What state are the songs in when you start working with an artist? What is the variant that most changes in the production process? Structure, aesthetics, sound? Love from Argentina! Every single version of the process is different. Sometimes you have everything completely written; siometimes it's a case of building a song from a fragment of audio that's created abstractly, which is the case with Thom's solo work and a lot of Radiohead work. Even if a song is finished you can still improve it with editing and working out what it's strengths and weaknesses are. And also how to present it as an orchestration, or sonically if there's a trick you can use to make it pull you in. I like all versions of this, because they use different parts of your brain, but sometimes it's great to be given amazing songs and a blank slate to make them happen - that hasn't happened for a while! :-) Q: You’ve worked with countless musicians. Do you adapt to their work process, do you propose a process, or is it an exchange? And with Ultraísta, specifically, did you have the same process with the second album [Sister, out in March] as with the first? Did all the time in between the two influence the way you produced an album together? Can’t wait to listen to Sister! There are no rules to methodology, in fact the skill is creating a new method each time that will generate work which will generate output, which then becomes the work. Every time you start with a band that's two guitars, bass and drums you hit the same brick wall, and it's my job to think of a quick fun way to kick the ball out of the pitch, and remain focused enough to catch it when it gets thrown back in again. With Ultraista, what started as an exercise in wordplay and groove construction on the first record this time has become a more refined process and in an effort to make more song like structures. We are all indeed different people from when we made the first things and we're amused by different things, so thus the goalposts move - to keep the metaphor going - and the method changes. Q: Which producers and which records inspired you as a young would-be producer? As a kid, I was obsessed with Regatta de Blanc by the Police, and saw it was produced by Nigel Gray. A lightbulb went off that there was someone called Nigel doing this stuff. In terms of influences, there are ones with mythological status, like George Martin, or Trevor Horn, both of whose work I absolutely love for different reasons. Martin for his inventiveness and creative approach to the technology of the day, ie the new possibilities of multitrack tape, and the use of visual devices like sound effects. Trevor Horn for his obtuseness and skill as making artful pop music using, again, the tech of the day. Which could make bend and shape things to become bigger than real life and make the brain do somersaults. And then more direct practical influences on me such as the people who actually taught me, including Phil Thornalley, John Leckie, Steve Lillywhite, and others. These are people I watched directly and emulated. Q: What is your feeling/relationship with failure? Don’t mean to be a downer, just curious to learn about your journey when overcoming failure. This is a very good question. It also depends on where you're standing. A lot of things could have been better or were small failures, small battles in a larger war. You regard as part of the process moving forward what the end goal is you're trying to succeed. I wouldn't regard any of my work as massive successes as they're all attempts to achieve the unachievable. However, if you're referring to something like the Strokes episode, it wasn't a failure, neither of us walked away hurt from that experience. It was just fascinating. And everything else has been successful, hasn't it?? Q: It’s been a year since the great Mark Hollis passed away. How much of an influence were/are Talk Talk on the Radiohead sound and your work with the band as producer? For me, personally, I was a massive Talk Talk fan and I used to listen to those records endlessly, certainly Laughing Stock and Spirit of Eden. I think they were again things that really plugged into your feelings - our version of a classical symphony that you would start and listen through to the end. Q: Which album has the best atmosphere in its production? I can never get over how rich and ghostly Time Out of Mind by Bob Dylan and Daniel Lanois is. Every record is different and you feel different about every record as time passes, but I think In Rainbows is very evocative due to hte space we recorded it in. All the ambience on that record is real, it comes from the house we recorded it in, so that conjures up a very visual image for me when I think of that record. Also Beck's Sea Change is a very emotional record, evocative, which somehow crystallised perfectly sonically to me, and if I hear any part of it it takes me back to that time. Which I regard as a job well done. It's a conduit to your feelings, which is a goal, it's what you're trying to do. Q: When you’re making a record, do you try to listen to as much other music as possible to spark ideas? Or do you do the opposite – try and isolate any external music to not get thrown off what you set out to make? When I'm working on a project I don't listen to anything else, it's not out of choice, I'm just compelled to be focused on what I'm thinking about, and it stays with me when I leave the studio. I literally don't want to hear anyone else's music!

#nigel godrich #radiohead #beck #ultraista #roger waters #pink floyd #paul mccartney #the beatles #record production

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dprdabin · 5 years

Text

DPR Live And DPR REM Talk About Their Struggles, The Future And... Karaoke?

2018 has definitely been a year of growth for the Korean hip hop scene, and we must say, Dream Perfect Regime (DPR) kept us dreaming with their visually breath-taking videos and their impressive tracks. Laced with fervent passion and lots of hard work, their music and visuals are sure to burn brighter in the music scene. We caught up with two members of the collective, DPR Live and DPR Rem during their Coming To You Live Tour to talk about their struggles, what the future holds and the importance of karaoke.

E! News Asia: Let's talk about the past. How did you meet the rest of the DPR Collective?

Live: I first met Rome (Christian/DPR Ian) about six, seven years ago. I met Rem, four years ago. It's funny because we all crossed paths somehow. Cream and Christian knew each other back then and they got to reunite through us. Rem had a mutual friend with Christian, and my cousin Cline, he's in the team too so all of us gathered four years ago.

Did you always want to become an artist?

Live: No, I didn't know what I wanted to be. My mom always told me from a young age, "You should start thinking what you want to do". That question always baffled me because I thought I was supposed to know like this *snaps fingers*. But I guess, on the way, around when I was in the military, I think three or four years ago, I got to sit down with myself and really think ponder through what I wanted to do.

I realised I had three things I wanted to do, and they were all heavily related with music so I was like ah, I should really try music. I gave it a try, I had a gist for it and I had fun doing it so I knew when I was in the military that I wanted to do it.

HER was such a hit, even peaking at Number 8 on the Billboard World Album Charts…

Live: Wow! Did it?

Wait, you didn't know?

Live: I didn't know, that's crazy!

Rem: I kinda knew because I've seen a couple fans talk about it and seen other articles post about it. But for that to happen, I didn't really believe it at that time but then I see that more people are talking about it now so maybe it really did do a big impact for us too.

Could you share a one of the most memorable moments I guess, throughout your career?

Rem: When it comes to career wise, that's come to a whole other story because like we've been through a lot. I would say, personally for me, it was when we got our studio.

We got our studio about a year ago now, and before that, it was literally like us meeting in...

Live: Weird places.

Rem: Karaoke rooms at night because it's the only place to meet in privacy, or like coffee shops that are open till late.

Live: Sometimes even outside, hotel lobbies.

Rem: Even right now, when I go back to the studio in Korea, we see how far we've come. I think the studio is constant reminder for us to not take anything for granted, but second it's also always appreciate how far you've come.

Live: I think for me it's whenever we drop our projects. Our first project was in Cream's studio, I remember all of us were so into it, we were so excited, and we were so happy. It didn't matter where we were. I feel like every time we drop a project, I feel like that always comes back.

Rem: We all get together, before we drop anything, a music video, a song, any content, we all get together and it's just like a cultural thing now. We all count down now.

That's so cute!

Live: It's so fun, it means everything to us.

Rem: Whenever we go somewhere, like a show or an event, we always go together. We leave from the studio to the van, all together. It could be the smallest thing, it can be an appearance at a store and they literally just called Live to come, but no no no, we all have to come.

Live: Yeah, you gotta feed all of us.

Let's move on to the present. You're almost done with your world tour, so how was that experience for you?

Live: Tour was crazy. It was crazy how our projects can just bring so many people together. We went to different countries, different places, everybody looks different, speaks a different language, and it's crazy how the energy is the same. It's very fulfilling to just look side to side and your brothers are there with you. That is something I would never trade anything for.

On to some fun questions! How is karaoke like for you guys?

Live: I suck, but Cline is really good. I would be that guy at the back just putting the ad libs in like, "Yeah! Oh!".

Rem: Cline likes trot! (a genre of Korean pop music, known for its use of repetitive rhythm and vocal inflections)

So like ahjussi-style?

Rem: Yeah he would get along with my parents at a karaoke session.

Live: We're actually pretty united in the karaoke session like the trot guy; the ad-lib guy; everybody with tambourines; very united. You should come some time, it's crazy.

Speaking of Playlist, what is one must-have song on your playlist?

Live: I haven't been digging music honestly, I've just been open to what my friends have been listening to. So Cream, these days he's been listening to jazz.

Rem: I listen to a lot of classical music. I usually listen to like piano or some violin pieces. Stuff like ensembles and orchestra I listen to a lot these days, and it gets you mind working. If you listen to hip hop when you're working, it gets very distracting. Rome is a rainbow, he likes heavy metal sometimes...

Live: He's listening to EDM these days.

Rem: He would be the biggest range and for me it's usually hip hop, R&B/classical stuff.

Live: Jaean our manager, likes Red Velvet a lot.

Rem: When we're in the van, because we play all of our (music), we have a Jaean session so he can play like 10 minutes of whatever he wants.

Rem: It's either Red Velvet or Blackpink or...

Live: TWICE. That's when it gets the craziest. The driving kinda gets a bit shaky after that because he's the driver too and he's just bobbing.

If you could pick one artist or one band you can have dinner with, who would it be and why?

Rem: Drake. Game, set, match. I say this because artist wise, I don't think I need to say anything. But more so being in my field of like the music industry and the business and all that like strategy, I just think he's...

Live: The god.

Rem: One of the most refined artists. I mean he must have a crazy good team too, with OVO (October's Very Own) like that whole movement is crazy. Just for him to keep up with that, I know how hard it gets. For everything to work, everybody must be connected.

Rem: For Drake to be that guy and kinda understand both (music and business) worlds, that's a very hard thing to do as an artist. For Drake have that almost near perfect 50-50 balance, in my eyes at least, he either has a crazy good team or he himself is a very experienced/just strategic person and I respect him more than anything.

Live: Probably both.

Live: I have too many, actually. J.Cole is one. I love, I love J.Cole. He's just such a good human being. I don't really look at the artist, I mean the songs obviously are amazing but I really like the team and the people that usually go behind the art.

Live: They spread positive messages, and that is always something I'm always drawn to, and something that I see in each of my members. So being able to do something as great as them I think yeah it goes the same for Drake and his team. Usually all the great teams are like that. I would love to sit down and bug them with questions. One day.

Lastly, what can we expect from you guys in 2019?

Live: Great music, great videos, good intent.

Rem: We are already working on trying to get some new projects going. I think this tour has been giving us a lot of inspiration because its been our first tour ever, it's more for us to just take it in now, but yeah we're always working, I hope the fans know too.

Rem: The reason why sometimes it may take longer than the previous project is because we are trying to make it better. We never want to reach a point where we get comfortable. Once you put out a video, it's there for life, especially in this day and age. We never want to look back on something and think, we kinda cheated that, or we skipped a few levels on that just because of a deadline or just because we didn't have money or budget for that video. We just wanna make sure that whatever we come up with, we don't regret and we don't disappoint.

#dpr live #dabin #hong dabin #dpr #scott #article #eonline #181221

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songketalliance · 6 years

Text

Remember, Remember, The Colonial Hangover

“How do we move on from this if our education system pretends that everything was fine and dandy during the “Age of Exploration”?”

A contribution by Mu’izz Khalid

When I was younger, I remember being in awe of white people. Their white skin, light coloured-eyes, and bridged noses. I remember how I once got a bit tanned from swimming practice and was told that I looked “less cute” for not maintaining my fair skin. I remember being proud of speaking in English with my circle group of friends, and tried my best to avoid talking in my native language, Melayu Brunei. I remember being excited to move to the UK for further studies and was captivated by the city of London. I remember wanting to fit in with my European friends while looking down on my Asian friends. I remember learning and memorising Karl Marx, Auguste Comte, Max Weber and the whole nine yards of Euro-American scholars. I remember returning to Brunei and was utterly devastated to be back in my home country because I miss London. I remember that I did not want to go out and meet my friends because the thought of being back to this ‘backward’ country just depresses me.

I remember one day meeting a professor from Universiti Brunei Darussalam. I told him that I wanted to do a PhD. We set up a topic to discuss about Islam and the state. I proudly debated him with my academic views that I gained from UK universities. He replied with a smile:

“Are these the only scholars that you know? Why are you only citing Euro-American scholars like Karl Marx, Max Weber and John Rawls? What about Islamic scholars like Ibn Khaldun? The Western worldview is not the only view that we have in this world. If you want to debate about Islam and the state, you need to know the vast scholarship of Islam too. If I were you, I would not want to be intellectually colonised.”

I was shocked by his response. Initially, I was upset because I was very firm and stoic with my views. However, I could not reply him back because it was true – my worldview was colonised.

Although the colonisers have decolonised the Southeast Asian shore, they never left our minds. I knew that the previous worldview that I held strongly was about to crumble. I took the gap year before continuing for my doctorate research to study other worldviews, particularly Islam and the subalterns. I was shocked to find out that Islamic scholarships were very vibrant and dynamic, and was advanced before European philosophies. The first question I had was, “How come I did not know this?”

Then I realised… the whole nation is still under a colonial hangover. Colonial hangover is an internalised attitude and behaviour of racial, ethnic or cultural inferiority experienced by the colonised as a result of Euro-American colonialism. The realisation expanded further when I moved to Singapore for my research and started to notice that ‘Raffles’ is being revered everywhere, from the elite school named after him ‘Raffles Institution’ to the public holiday celebration for the 200th anniversary of Raffles ‘founding’ of Singapore, In honour of Singapore's "Founding Father" and British coloniser, Stamford Raffles. Truth is, Singapore was not ‘found’ by Raffles, Singapore was already there before him. The erasure of pre-Raffles Singaporean history is baffling to me because it shows that the colonial mentality is being reproduced by the state through educational institutions. And the scariest thing is that now it is much more insidious than ever – as it is no longer about physical subjugation but psychological subjugation instead. Psychological subjugation can range from the obsession with glow-in-dark fluorescent white skin in the forms of buying whitening/bleaching creams just to look as ‘beautiful’ as our former colonial masters, to the acceptance of colonialism as a tool that had made us "civilised", when in truth, civilisation comes in many forms, not just industrial.

When I moved to Singapore, I finally had the opportunity to learn about Southeast Asia. Ranging from ancient kingdoms to postcolonial modern nation-states; British Burma to British Malaya & Borneo; to the differences in how the colonial powers operated. Most importantly, it made me realise that our local education system refuses to discuss colonialism in depth to the extent that we would not want to admit to ourselves that Brunei was actually colonised like the other Southeast Asian states (except for Thailand). Speaking of Thailand, I befriended a Thai, who asked me genuinely on Brunei's good grasp on the English language:

Thai guy: How come Bruneians have such good English? Me: Well, it’s mostly to do with our colonised history by the British, which shaped our education system to be bilingual. From secondary school onwards, the medium is in English.” Thai guy: Oh, now I wish Thailand was colonised so I can speak better English like you. Me: *laughs awkwardly*

Meeting other Asians, whether, from Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia and India, I finally have a sense of appreciation for my fellow peers that I used to look down on. I no longer see India and Myanmar the way I did before. I no longer look at the Big Ben in London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris like a wide-eyed kid in the candy store. I no longer look at Europe, especially Western Europe, with such awe, because now I know that colonialism helped them become ‘developed countries ‘and their rapid ‘developments’ were done through the subjugation of the Orient, whether it was in India, where most Indians died from famine because the British exploited and shipped off the sources back to London, or in the Malay states where the Malays were told that they were ‘lazy’ to do any work, therefore needed to be ‘civilised’ by the colonial power.

Now the question is how do we sober up from this colonial hangover? How do we move on from this if our education system pretends that everything was fine and dandy during the “Age of Exploration”? I end with a quote from Edward Said:

“The power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming and emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism, and constitutes one of the main connections between them Most important, the grand narratives of emancipation and enlightenment mobilized people in the colonial world to rise up and throw off imperial subjection; in the process, many Europeans and Americans were also stirred by these stories and their protagonists, and they too fought for new narratives of equality and human community.”

A contribution by Mu’izz Khalid

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Photo by Samantha Hurley from Burst

#Contribution #brunei #writing

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cb-143 · 6 years

Text

Dating Day6

♥ Wonpil ♥

First Meeting

You decided to fly out to LA with a couple friends for your holidays

the flight was really long and tiring, and everything just seemed to get worse once you arrived

The airline had lost your luggage & when you came to the hotel, you first got help at the front desk, asking where you could get some cheap clothes, tooth-brush, etc.

After buying anything you needed, you just wanted to shower and try to calm down somewhat, so back to the hotel you went

turns out your friends had used up all the fresh towels.. so, things were clearly going even better

you went back to the front desk to ask for towels

guess what? They didn't have any.

You were about to give up when a strange man approached you

He had heard your story ealier and felt incredibly bad for you

now he's met you again, and he took his own towels with him anyway, so as you two met in the hotel's lobby once more, he offered you his towels

he takes you to his room to hand you the towels, that's where you meet his friends

he tells you they're in a band together, but you don't stay there long enough to find out all that much

you just want to shower and then head off to bed

the next morning you and your friends are having breakfast at the hotel

and you see him again.

He sits by the table next to you, and so you start talking again

you find out more this time, learning that his name's Wonpil, what kind of music he makes, that he's on tour,

but most importantly, you find out his phone number

Confession

After you met in the US, you didn't see each other all that much anymore

He lives in Korea, and you live in [your country name(if you're not Korean.. if you are.. just play along?? fshdkjhs)]

you did frequently skype though

Wonpil loves to call you, wants to talk to you all the time, whether it's through Skype/Discord, text Messages, or even snaps

He thinks about you a lot and can barely put his phone down when you're both awake and online at the same time

He would've prefered to confess to you in person, but somehow he never got the chance, so he confessed to you through skype – at least that way, he'd be able to see your face

You were both a little worried; long distance relationships and all..

but you could see how badly Wonpil wanted this

and you had fallen for him too – so of course you wanted to be with him just as bad

Dates

The distance and Time differences make everything a little difficult

Wonpil would love to take you on dates all the time, but you hardly ever find the time

But that only makes it more special when you two do get to meet up and go on dates

When you visit him in Korea, he will go sightseeing with you, show you everything from his culture

if he visits you, you'll do the same for him

No matter where you are, he loves to go on walks (along the beach) with you, whether its daytime or dark outside

he loves the freedom of walking around, having you actually by his side, and just talking away

it's very peaceful to him

but he will go all out then too~

will buy y'all food, surprise you with flowers or little gifts here and there (a new suitcase lmao)

also likes to stay inside with you, watch a movie, play a game, have you help him with his english, etc..

will cook for you/order food and cuddle with you

Spending Time Together

imma just continue that from before hsfdjs

yeah, you'll often stay inside to just chill, eat some food, talk about nonsense

He likes to appreciate the rare moments when you can be with him in person

loves to be affectionate too during those times (will describe more in the next section)

when you're both in your own countries, he loves to still talk to you

he'll also do that where he just calls you and you both do your own things in silence, no talking

sometimes he falls asleep, or both of you, but waking up with one another is always the highlight of your morning c':

loves to take you along to practice/other really cool 'celeb' moments you wouldn't get to see otherwise, just by face-timing or sth

loves to play the piano for you, sing for you

gets shy sometimes c:

VERY interested in how your day was/what's on your mind

he could just listen to you talk about anything the entire day, because he cares sooo much, and because he loves to hear your voice

Loves to get your opinion on things he buys/makes as well

basically y'all would be living together through your phones ♥

Romance

he will always be super affectionate with you when you finally get to be together

loves to have your fingers intertwined, no matter if you're just chilling and watching a movie, or if he's playing a game – and it'll make him fail – or things beyond that

sometimes it annoys him a bit, but Wonpil knows that he doesn't get to interact with you like this often, so he wants to touch you as much as possible

Lots of hugs

backhugs!!!

cuddling

when y'all are around the others, he will still have his arm around your waist/on your back

hold him, and he will start crying

anytime you're close like this, he will remember and think about that you'll have to leave eventually, that he won't get to be close to you like this, and hear your heart beat right under his ear

he will do a lot of little, romantic things for you, but he likes it if you treat him, if you hold and cuddle him

will either sass you or be your little babyboy c':

seriously though, just put your arm around him, backhug him, do all those things, and he will be yours

lowkey likes it when you tickle him

loves tickle fights with you

very conflicted between feeling embarrassed to serenade you and just serenading you as an act to show you his love

don't even ask him to do it, he'll be so smug, but also so touched

it rlly depends on your role in the relationship

if you take charge, he will tease you a little for it, but will try his best for you!!

if he's in charge, he will still tease you hsdkgdj but he'll be more shy/cute about it

gives you little presents

loves any little gifts you bring/buy him

no matter what it is

he'll keep it

he'll keep them all very close to him when he's that far away from you again

'I love You'

It's just like you that terrible things always happen twice

you're on your first ever holidays together (you meet up in another country somewhere)

and the airline loses your luggage??

deja vu, huh?

You're freaking out, meanwhile Wonpil talks to people @ the airport & the hotel about how they could get it back/if they have some items you'd urgently need.

He comes back to you even more cluelessly than before, and as he walks towards you, he notices how stressed you look, what a mess your hair is (a bad mess, not like the usual way it's always like)

your eyes look tired, and you can't even bring up a fake smile for him

and he just feels his heart being squeezed so tightly in his chest

not only because he feels bad for you, or because there's nothing he can do about this

but also because it's in that moment that he realises just how much he loves you

he's pondered about his true feelings for a while, but he's already asked you out over the internet, he at least wanted to confess to you in person

so he had to wait for the right moment

and he felt like this was it

He stopped in front of you

and you asked him how his discussion with the staff went, if he could arrange something, anything

and he just replies with "I love you, it's gonna be okay." and hugs you

and you start crying in his arms, right there, just glad that – even if you don't have your luggage – you have him

Introducing you to Day6/Family

He's always in front of his phone/computer since y'all started talking

the members didn't think that anything was up at first

but his parents noticed it immediately, the way he smiled whenever he talked to you

"So, who's this girl/guy you're talking to?" they'd just ask him

and he'd deny it at first, rolling his eyes even

parents always assume such things, don't they?

Of course, it was true this time, but he'd rather introduce you in person

his parents insist, though, and he ends up telling them all about you, how you met at the hotel, how defeated you had sounded talking to the people at the hotel

his parents are happy for him, despite it being a LDR

they're just as eager as he is to see and meet you in person

his members saw you already at the hotel, but again, didn't really think anything of it

it's when you're constantly talking to him, when they know that you're not just an ordinary friend

but it's of no use asking wonpil about this

they wait until he opens up about it (more like until you demand to talk to them as he calls you)

Going Public

You looked more into his band after you get back from that first ever trip where you meet

Discovering how big his fanbase is, you decide to wait with going public – you know what that could mean for his career, and you're really not up for receiving so much hate!

Wonpil asks you a few months into the relationship

neither of you brought it up before?

He is fine with waiting too

you don't go public until you propose to him

a picture will be published of you two kissing (the ring on full display!!) and a message written by him

A few fans react as you expected them to, but the normal, human part of the fandom is very happy for you two

you receive many congratulations

you also receive many comments and questions about when you will adopt some animals/when children will join your family c: ♥

#kpop #kpop edits #kpop reactions #kpop scenarios #day6 #day6 reactions #day6 scenarios #jae #park jaehyung #sungjin #park sungjin #young k #briang kang #kang younghyun #wonpil #kim wonpil #dowoon #yoon dowoon

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circamoore · 5 years

Text

LLS: Go Team!

Chika and Riko give advice. Hanamaru receives advice. Does it matter that it isn't what they meant? Progressively shorter, sillier (& inappropriate-er) humorous skits around the idea that Hanamaru's formidable appetite extends to certain boy-related activities (implied only, non-explicit). The title is not missing any punctuation. 1100w.

Somewhat non-PC, but I hope not too offensive (I feel like there is potential for a “don’t date the player, date the game” pun here).

AO3, FFN or full text below the cut.

Chika and Riko sat enjoying the sun on the slope overlooking the sports ground, turned so they were almost facing each other. On the grass their shadows where thoroughly tangled, their actual bodies less so. The school administration had strong views on appropriate public conduct. Closeness and a little light petting was easily defensible, since as demonstrated by other groups around them, it was quite common even among platonic friends. As far as Riko was concerned, the thrill of minor rule-breaking just made the occasional stolen kiss that much sweeter.

"Hi guys"

"Hi Hanamaru, whats up?" Chika responded cheerfully.

Their friend sat down on the grass beside them. "You two have dealt with this sort of thing, and I need some advice"

"Sure, what about?"

"You know what people have been saying, about me... and the football team"

At the recent school fair Hanamaru's eating prowess had attracted a certain amount of fascination from the boys at the adjacent school, particularly as she responded to their encouragement. As a result of those events, in addition to a permanent ban on foot-long hot dogs at school events, she had gained certain level of notoriety. This, and her continued association with the boys, had earned her the enmity of a group of the more socially "outgoing" girls, who saw her as stealing their spotlight. Whether or not they counted as truely "mean girls", they certainly weren't above spreading some mean stories.

Chika glanced at Riko uncomfortably. Hanamaru was right, they had plenty of experience with unkind rumours. "Yeah, I think I know the one"

"It's so unfair!" Hanamaru huffed. "I haven't done that, not with any of them! They treat me like a sister, or princess or something" Frustration tinged her voice.

Chika nodded in sympathy, stories like that could be so infuriating, even if nobody really believed them. "You can't control what people think of you"

"I just wish I could change things"

"You could try talking to them" Riko suggested, "Even if they don't change, at least you have let them know how it makes you feel, so it is their problem"

"It is kind of awkward to bring up" Hanamaru sighed and turned to stare down at the sports ground. "Look at them down there, without a care in the world"

Chika followed her gaze and saw that the mean girls were gathered at the edge of the field, ogling the football team as they ran laps. "Kind of shameless" she conceded.

"...Running around getting sweaty in those tight little shorts, I just want to go down there and-" Hanamaru stopped and her face hardened with resolve.

"Er" Chika had seen that hungry look on Hanamaru's face before... generally around baked goods. With a shared look of shock at Riko she started to re-asses the conversation she thought she had been having.

Hanamaru stood up "Just like you said, if I don't say anything, nothing will change" she strode of down the slope.

The couple sat in contemplative silence for a while.

"Don't tell me she really is going down there to talk to the team" Riko smiled nervously.

"Ok, then I wont"

"But she is, isn't she?"

"Maybe she is just going to talk to them on the way to the girls" Chika didn't sound convinced. After thinking for a while, she moved her position so she was almost parallel to her girlfriend "If she uses gestures, I don't want to see" she explained apologetically.

After a while she spoke up again "So is that even a thing, like team-o-sexual?"

"I don't know. I suppose there is polygamy, or polyamory" she saw Chika's puzzled look "Being in a relationship with more than one other person where it might be more complex than just one and many"

"Well, aren't you knowledgable. Do I have to watch you around other girls now?"

"You're all the girl I need" Riko leaned over to deliver a brief but heartfelt kiss.

"Sakurauchi!"

She looked up the hill to see the teacher. "Sorry sensei!", turning back to Chika she mouthed "Worth it", before getting up to receive her lecture.

(You can never have just one, Zura!)

~o~

Yō smiled as Hanamaru entered the store, it added a bit of variety to the evening. Her friend had been doing a lot less Friday night shopping since she had switched to rechargeable batteries. How did one person use that many batteries, anyway? The girl did like gadgets... she imagined a large collection of buzzing oddly shaped and brightly coloured toys. Fans, remote controlled cars, engraving tools, that sort of thing. There was an art to retail, distributing your mental and physical activity evenly though the shift to avoid exhaustion and boredom. There was the entertainment of making guesses about people's plans based on their shopping list, tempered by the fine art of knowing when such speculation should be avoided lest it open doors best left closed.

When Hanamaru came to the counter smiling and humming cheerfully, Yō took one look at the items and carefully, deliberately, shut down the speculative parts of her brain. Two dozen condoms and an X-large bottle of lube. There might be an innocent explanation, but it didn't seem safe to look for it. "My parents are away for the weekend" She explained.

"Um, ok." After a pause, Yō switched on her retail smile, "Will that be all?" she asked brightly.

"Um, hang on" Hanamaru dashed off, returning a moment later with several large bottles of sports drink "Have to stay hydrated, Zura!"

(Bzzzzz... It's the future, Zura!)

~o~

The coach scowled at the boys jogging sluggishly around the field. Kids these days! Most of them had skipped weekend practice and they still didn't have any energy.

(Before high school she never thought that she would become a fast woman, but thanks to the Aquors training regime, now only the quickest and wariest boys can escape)

~o~

Watching the girl carefully at lunch Riko felt that Hanamaru seemed even more cheerful and bouncy than usual. But then what was she looking for? The target of her surveillance took out a sheet of paper, the boys' school athletic roster, she realised, and started looking over it intently. Like a menu, her watcher worried.

"Yō, swimming builds stamina for other things, right?"

"Sure. Thinking of trying a marathon?"

"Oooh, marathon, good idea!" She picked up a pen and put marks beside a couple of names on the roster.

Riko shared a look with Chika and carefully focused her attention on her food. Maybe it was better not to be sure.

(Hanamaru says: Competing over a girl is a waste of energy, sharing is caring!)

~o~

"It is important that foreign exchange students get the opportunity to see and experience a wide range of local cultural activities, so we would appreciate if students from both schools should help to show him the best experiences our country has to offer"

"Dibs, Zura!"

~o~

"Oh, I see, C-H-A-S-T-E. English is tricky" Chika looked up from her phone, glancing worriedly at the oval "We should tell her"

"Nah", they jumped, hearing the coach behind them "He could use a few more laps"

~o~

A/N: Ok, that last one in really poor taste, but the pun is a classic. Almost didn't publish these because it isn't very PC, but in the end I don't think it turned out too bad. It actually started out as a serious idea about Hanamaru approaching established Chika/Riko couple for advice about initiating things with her oblivious boyfriend... but I got sidetracked. The original idea (or maybe a more serious take on Poly!Hanamaru) might still happen if I ever write a sequel for Girl Friends.

#chikariko #hanamaru kunikida #love live sunshine #love live! sunshine!!#poly!hanamaru #my fanfiction #chika takami #riko sakurauchi

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thisdiscontentedwinter · 6 years

Text

sjw anon

Hello everyone, I am the SJW anon, and I want to thank you very much for the words you’ve said.

Disco, thank you so much for the link, but too bad the page said that the service is only for Australians :(.

Thank you all. Oh I actually don’t partake in tumblr culture/debate. My tumblr only follows gay porn stuff + fanfic writers, I don’t follow any social movement-related tumblrs at all. I agree with you guys, SJW is not exactly a bad term, but now it feels like a term for overly sensitive people who only take part in aggressive internet debate about social justice without doing anything in real life. And I feel I’m becoming something like that. I really want to help too, but it’s hard to be a part of a social movement in my country. In here, being gay can get you a public whipping and being a trans woman can get your hair shaved publicly by the police. Women are expected to be virgins, or they are whores. Racism inside the country still exists, I am Eastern Asian-born, which is a minority and often discriminated by the majority, South East Asian-born.

Like Disco said, it’s hard not to be angry when the status quo isn’t changing. Either status quo of the things that are happening in my country, or in USA. I always look for the things in USA because I feel it has become the beacon of the world. If USA is changing to a better direction, the rest of the world will follow, with their own pace of course.

Fanfictions have been an escape for me, but I don’t know how much more it can help me/destroy my sense of reality. It helps me to fantasize about this world that accepts me the way I am, imagining myself finding true love who is loyal, having friends that supports my belief, etc. But it also distances me from the reality even more. Do fanfictions make my standard too high for men? I only want a nice guy who doesn’t cheat, is that too unrealistic? Is that only in fanfictions? But if I stop reading fanfictions, I feel I won’t have anything to cling on. I have guy friends who I asked about cheating, and they said “well men are men, what can we do?”, and that fucked me up even more about getting a nice boyfriend.

I guess it would be easier if I took a step back from the internet & interacted ith my real life friends more. But even my real life friends are either homophobic, cheat with their partners, or think I’m crazy for having these life values. I have to wear a mask when I’m with my friends. I really wish I can enjoy life more like they do.

To the anon who submitted a response to me: How do I stop caring? I wish I know, seriously. Now I am easily triggered by anything. Pictures of celebrities will remind me of my assumptions, movies that have ‘problematic’ scenes, etc. One thing I know, if I stop caring about those issues, won’t I become someone who grows insensitive to them? At first I do care about these issues because I really cared. But now, after seeing how I was not appreciated, I also wanted appreciation & recoginition (not saying that I care less now). I feel really useless and sometimes I feel I’m doing the wrong thing by prioritizing things wrong. I feel I’m not allowed to fuck up a bit, especially in the sexism/racism/homophobia part. And I feel people can’t fuck up in those area as well, or they’re assholes. I can’t be a racist (LOL ___ people are stupid as hell, their race should vanish!!) and advocate for anti-racism the next day. What kind of hypocrite would I be? I feel you can fuck up in other areas, but if you fuck up in sexism/racism/homophobia, then it just means you are showing your true colors.

“Their lives are theirs and not yours. How is comparing their success/lives to yours helping you?” I know this would sound unrealistic, but me wishing for consequences to happen to them is just my way of thinking, that good behavior will be rewarded, while bad will be punished. What would it teach to young men when they see grown men who cheated on their wives are still successful? What would it teach Americans when they see celebrities like Steve Harvey making fun of Asian men or Ellen making fun of Chinese names and they still have their own show? Isn’t it normal to wish for punishment?

I can’t exactly go to a therapist face to face. In my country, even the most professional psychologist & therapist has stated that homosexuality is a sin and wrong.

Sometimes I wish I was religious. At least if I believed in God, I could rest assured that someone would know & appreciate my inner struggle.

I feel I’m getting more disconnected to reality, yet I can still feel the weight of the ugliness of it.

Again, thank you so much for Disco and her followers, for allowing me to get things off of my chest, and for your time & advices. I’m sorry it took me so long to formulate my response (and yet I still feel I was incoherent in many parts).

I’m sorry! I had a quick look at that site and I didn’t see that it was only for Australians. Is there anything similar in your country?

It really does sound like you’re struggling, and I hope that you’ll keep reaching out to people online, if that’s the safest place for you to do it.

I hope that you can find a way to be a little easier on yourself--although of course that’s easier said than done. But also, I just wanted to address this too:

I feel you can fuck up in other areas, but if you fuck up in sexism/racism/homophobia, then it just means you are showing your true colors.

I absolutely agree with having no tolerance for bigots, but sometimes people do say the wrong things, or they’re still learning, or they just haven’t been exposed to enough of the world to have an open mind.

me wishing for consequences to happen to them is just my way of thinking, that good behavior will be rewarded, while bad will be punished.

And this is something that I think most of us ask ourselves at some point, when we realise that the world is a very unfair place. Which brings me back to what we talked about in one of your previous submissions: find a way that you can make the world a little better, a little fairer. Nobody can change everything on their own, but if everybody did just a few little things, then that would make a difference. And--importantly--it might stop you from feeling like you have no agency.

Pick some small steps that you can take, that are still meaningful for you, whether it’s volunteering at a local charity when you can, or fundraising for people in need, or buying couple of tins of pet food for an animal shelter.

You don’t have to do the big things all on your own.

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thevampsupdate · 6 years

Text

The Vamps for 1883 Magazine

Are you aware of chart-topping sensations, The Vamps? With two albums already under their belts and multiple singles soaring through the top 40 charts worldwide, it’s safe to say these boys have earned their success.

Two years on from their last album release, the band have returned with a number one album Night and Day, smoothly dethroning Mr Sheeran to snatch pole position in the process.

I know what many of you oblivious to the band must be thinking, (unless you are one of the many enthusiastic Vampettes’ out there). These guys look like a knock off “One D”, or maybe even The Wanted. Yet, these lads aren’t just another cliché pop group following the boy band road to stardom. They, unlike many, write and co-write their own music. In my eyes this proves their musical ability is beyond just hitting the right notes. James, aged just seventeen at the time, approached other members, finding one another through their respected YouTube channels.

Ahead of dashing off to Camden for an MTV interview, we managed to nab some time with the fresh-faced group amidst their world tour, for which Brazil beckons next in the schedule, just a few days away.

Their now daily routine of performing to thousands around the world — with female teens being a familiar sight amongst the crowds — was completely out of their minds as the boys joked around, relaxing into the shoot at the Chapel of St Barnabas House in Soho; an unlikely location for the group, however the stained-glass windows make a damn good back drop.

You guys are in the middle of your world tour. How’s it been so far?

James: This venues’ been a bit dead … (the boys snigger in agreement) Actually, a week today we fly to Brazil. We did the UK and Europe in April, May and June. We’ve been in some summer shows but The Vamps tour has mostly been put on hold for a couple of months, but we start again on Monday. I think we’ve probably forgotten all the songs so we might need to have a little recap before we go… but yeah, it’s been going really well thanks.

You said you’re off to Brazil next, which country is your all round favourite to perform in?

Bradley: Australia’s really nice, our days off are really great in Australia. Tristan: Canada’s good, really fun. Connor: Norway? James: I think everywhere’s really good!

Is there a country that stands out as having the best crowd?

Bradley: The Philippines and Brazil, those are the two ones that are crazy.

James: India was quite good as well.

Congratulations on your new album Night and Day reaching Number 1! You pushed Ed Sheeran off the top spot too, that’s a pretty good way to get in there…

James: Thanks! Bradley: Yeah, well he was back there the week after!

The album is released in 2 parts: Night Edition and Day edition, what’s the story behind the 2-part release?

Bradley: Usually we write a big batch of songs before each album. We’ll have like forty, fifty songs and you’ve got to cut that down to a fifteen-song album. So, this way we get to release more music. There’s a concept to the night and day: “the night” is a bit more sultry and moody whereas “the day” is a more upbeat and sunny. We were originally going to release the day" part in December before realising that would be a bit weird, so we’re releasing that next summer. It will be a summer album.

This album is your first to reach Number I why do you think this?

James: This album has been the most honest and the one we’ve taken the longest time on, eighteen months as opposed to just under a year. So yeah, I think this album has had the most effort put upon it and I think that can be heard and appreciated. We did some album promotion, we did a fan rally tour, an acoustic thing where we played the whole album before it was released in its entirety. I think hopefully fans are just really excited to hear what is our favourite album. Well, hopefully it’s our best album!

You guys all write and co-write all of your music, do you guys think that this is something that makes you stand out against other boy bands?

Bradley: Maybe. I think there’s a lot of songwriters in the industry and a lot of them go unnoticed. The ability to write a good song is the important thing. We try to pride ourselves on songwriting and that’s what we’ve done from day one. Hopefully we’ll just continue to get better and better.

Did you write your own music when you were younger?

James: Yeah, we were all in bands before The Vamps. I think Tristan was the youngest starting, but we were all in bands sort of from ages eleven, twelve. I think throughout that time we developed the song writing side of things, We started off playing a few chords and then we got more into watching bands on TV and seeing bands live and realised that song writing was really important for us. It’s what we’ve done for the last ten to fifteen years.

The Vamps were formed through YouTube. How did this happen?

Bradley: We were all kind of doing own thing and then James found me on YouTube and we met up and went to my house for the weekend. We started writing some songs and it was the first thing we kind of bonded over. I’d never co-wrote with anyone before and James was the first person I connected with on a songwriting level. So that’s when we knew we’d found something quite cool, quite special. Then we found Tristan on YouTube and saw him when he was doing a drumming competition, we formed the band, got signed and then we found Connor a couple of months later again through YouTube. It all just kind came together from there.

How has your music changed from the beginning?

Bradley: As a band we have always wanted to challenge ourselves. It’s interesting to see popular music, popular culture and how we can approach it, put our stamp on it and make it sound ‘Vampsie’. So there are always challenges, taking new, exciting things and putting our twist on them. That’s what we’ve tried to do with each album. Hopefully that’s why this album is the best because it feels so authentic but also very current.

What’s part of ‘band life’ do you enjoy the most? Being in the studio, touring, stage life…?

James: Studio Bradley: We’re all a bit different James: We go through cycles, well not so much anymore. Certainly, at the start we spent a lot more time making the first album rather than touring, but now it all kind of happens all at once. There is a feeling now that after we’ve finished the tour and we’ve been writing for four months we want to get back out on the road again. The nice thing about the industry and the technology now is that we can make music whilst we’re touring, so we never get bored of doing one thing, it’s nice to do it all at the same time. Yet there’s something nice about being in the studio and seeing how a song develops, through to it becoming a single.

How do you guys stay entertained whilst on tour?

Bradley: We’re building up to the shows on show days and then days off we make sure we’ve got cool stuff planned. Sometimes we’ll hire a boat. James: Like when we went fishing and didn’t catch a single fish … Bradley: Little things like that keeps things interesting.

I hear you guys also have your tapping ritual before stage - where you tap your chins.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a bit weird. Who came up with that? Tristan: Well we couldn’t do the hands in (eeeh lets go’ sort of thing, so not sure how but we somehow came up with that instead.

You recently presented the 47 show for Radio 1 at V fest, how was Presenting for a change?

James: It was really good but we actually had a lot of technical issues so we had to hold our mic packs in the air as we spoke throughout the whole thing, but it was really cool! It was also chucking it down with rain It was nice to see it from that point of view because we always see people go around festivals with mics interviewing people. We interviewed James Arthur and Ella Eyre and just had fun for three hours basically!

Do you hang around at festivals after you’ve played? Who have you enjoyed the most?

Tristan: I saw Pink the other day she was cool. Usually artists get access to go on stage whenever they want to so in India we went up to see Jay Z and then Coldplay were playing after. We were playing before those two acts so we just stayed on after which was pretty cool.

What are your favourite festivals to play at?

Bradley: V was a first for us this, that was really really cool. Isle of Wight we’ve played at a couple of times that we loved.

Do you have any particular artists you want to collaborate with?

Connor: We have loads of different ones. I’m really into James Blunts’ new album. Weirdly he was part of the writing process for one of our old songs, but we never got to meet him. His music’s sick so I personally would love to work with him. He’s done some stuff with Ed Sheeran, so it would be good to get something going like that.

So, as we come to the end of this interview we’ll finish off with your favourite sock?

All: Sock? (in unison)

Yeah

Tristan: I’m rocking the Nike’s at the moment, they’re like ankle socks cause you don’t want them too long and showing above your trainer but then you don’t want any rubbing or for them come off. What about you?

I’m just wearing some black ankle socks. I don’t want them rubbing either, but they do fall down a bit which is annoying.

Bradley: I’ve got like some peppered grey, woollen ones. They go quite high, down below it’s a seventy-year-old man look and then above is more a twelve-year-old boy. Connor: I usually just go for black but today me and James are copying each other.

The Vamps new single Personal is out now.

Interview by Miranda Bunn Photographer: Joupin Ghamsari Grooming: Chantelle Philips Video: Logan Irvine-Macdougall Location: House of St Barnabas, Soho

#the vamps bradley #connor ball #bradley simpson #brad simpson #james mcvey #tristan evans #the vamps band #the vamps brad #the vamps connor #the vamps james #the vamps tristan #the vamps tris #the vamps con #the vamps james mcvey #1883 magazine #1883 #the vamps #interviews #magazines

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whipped-for-kpop-fics · 7 years

Text

BTS meetin’ and teachin’

You worked for an entertainment company. The company itself dealt with such a wide range of people and topics it had its fingers in every damn honey pot within reach. But, you’d always wanted to stretch that reach to somewhere not so western. From the first moment you listened to k-pop, you fell in love with k-pop. It was so different from what you were used to there was such a sense of familiarity, comfort that it felt like home. Your heart belonged to Korean music and you couldn’t wait for the day to show the world just how great it was.

You just never thought the day would come so soon.

“Y/N!” Your boss called walking over to your desk. You screamed in shocked and fumbled to minimise the youtube video of your favourite k-pop group in an interview. “Are you watching videos again?” She enquired in an unusually chipper tone. You didn’t answer, you had been warned so many times to keep away from videos while working but, you were weak for dat k-pop.

She stood beside you and opened the tab back up. You hung your head in shame, not for actually watching the video for the fifth time already that morning, but for getting caught. You were being so sneaky, at least that’s what you had thought.

“Good.” Your head snaped up to look at her. She was eyeing the screen. “You understand this, don’t you?” She looked at you. “Korean?” You nodded. “Go down to make up, I need you ready in twenty minutes.”

“Wait, ready? Make up? What?” You asked, standing and following as she walked off. You were too confused and curious to care that your computer was still on, your bag left carelessly kicked under your desk.

“That group you’ve been practically stalking for the past week, they’ll be here within the hour.”

“It’s not stalking, it’s appreciating.” You respond smoothly earning an eyeroll. “Wait, what, they’re going to be here? As in the company? As in the building I am in currently?”

“As in the room you are going to be interviewing them in.” You froze and she stopped too, a smirk on her lips as she looked at you. “You’re the only person available that speaks Korean.”

“B-but, Kandace-”

“She only speaks English.”

“She’s the interviewer person!” She chuckled lowly at your wording.

“Who doesn’t speak Korean.”

“Their leader speaks English, he’s always translating to them.”

“We know, you’ve told us all many times, Y/N and also how he shouldn’t have to do that, the company should have someone that can speak their language fluently with them so we took that on board and that’s why I’m talking to you right now.” You could only stare. “I would’ve thought you’d jump for joy at this chance to meet your, what is it, ultimate bias group?”

“I’ve had no time to prepare! I’m not dressed right, I don’t know what to say, do I even smell okay?” You stepped closer and she stepped back instictively, giving you a strange look.

“We have cue cards for you, there is plenty of clothing in makeup ready for you along with whatever you need to get yourself ready, just get down there now or else you’re going on camera looking like that.” With that, she walked off leaving you with the thought of how the hell you were going to interview BTS without making a complete tit out of yourself.

***

The thought of having to walk into a room where the seven males were already waiting made your mind race, as if it wasn’t working overtime already, and you knew you had to calm down, it would be completely unprofessional of you to greet them with sweaty palms and erratic eyes but your breathing exercises were doing sweet FA and you were forced into the room.

They hadn’t noticed you enter, too busy taking in their surroundings and talking amongst themselves so you took a moment to wipe your palms furiously on your jeans before taking a deep breath and slapping on a confident exterior before strutting over. But the second they looked up at you, all confidence vanished and you found yourself bowing a little too heavily in an attempt to be polite to them. They all returned the greeting, smiles on their faces at the fact you had obviously at least learnt something about their culture.

“Hi, I’m Rap Monster.” Namjoon greeted in English. You looked up at him slowly and gave a polite smile.

“Y/N.” You responded weakly before looking over at the group. “Nice to meet you all.” You spoke in Korean, their eyes widening slightly, surprised you spoke their language. “I don’t know what you know about the company but if you’ve ever watched one of our music interviews you’re probably expecting Kandace...”

“Uh, she has red hair?” Taehyung asked and you nodded in confirmation. “Is she coming?”

“No. Sorry to disappoint you but you’re stuck with me.”

“Ah no no no, I didn’t mean like that!” He exclaimed wide eyed, his hands shaking in front of him madly, worried he had offended you. “I-”

“I’d probably prefer her too, to be honest, she has such a way with people, plus she’s so nice to look at.” You spoke bluntly, shocking them all before sighing dreamily. “Ah she’s beautiful alright. I can go get a red wig if that makes you happy? I’d offer surgery too but, that is a little out of the company’s budget.” They all looked at one another wide eyed, totally lost without a single idea between the seven of them of how to respond. You started to giggle and clap your hands gently in laughter. “I’m messing with you. Please, relax, I’m not at all offended or anything. I know you’d expect Kandace because she is the usual interviewer but she doesn’t speak Korean and I do so, here I am.” You beamed and the seven calmed down, laughing lightly realising you were a lot more relaxed and normal than they thought.

“Your Korean is very good, have you lived in Korea?” Namjoon enquired.

“Nope, I’ve been twice for trips but only for like two weeks at a time.”

“How did you learn?”

“I downloaded an app.”

“So you taught yourself, basically?” You shrugged and he smiled wider. “That’s really impressive. I really thought a person taught, someone actually from Korea.”

“That’s like your English skills. Man you speak it better than some actual English people. Honestly better than me at times, I sometimes think I’m better at Korean that English.” You mused and they all laughed lightly. “Anyway unfortunately today is a busy day, a lot of reassignments in the company so it’s literally just me. I’ll turn the camera on and we can start when you’re ready, okay?”

***

The interview had been going for an hour already despite the time slot only being twenty minutes. You were all getting along so well and they would go off with funny anecdotes and jokes that every question got lost and you could never tell if it was answered but you didn’t care. You could listen to them talk for hours on end, and often did online but they didn’t need to know that.

“Ah crap, we’re over by so much.” You suddenly noticed after glancing down at your watch.

“Oh...” Jungkook mumbled feeling guilty for telling you such a pointless story about a prank he played on Jimin only days ago that had nothing to do with the question you asked ten minutes ago. “I’m sorry.”

“No no no, it’s fine. I’m loving all these stories and I know ARMY will too!” You beamed. “It’s just a shame most of it will get cut.” You frowned which they all mirrored.

Honestly, since arriving in the country, the boys hadn’t truly enjoyed a single interview. They were all awkward, only Namjoon being able to converse with the interviewer and most of the time was consumed with translations and elaborations into terms he hadn’t come across before that the rest of the boys would be sat nodding mindlessly, entirely clueless of the conversation going on before them. But with you, they could all speak effortlessly and they felt so comfortable sitting and talking with you, not being prompted to talk or act a certain way. You didn’t interrupt them once no matter how extra they were being and would laugh at all the right times so naturally they forgot they were being recorded until they would notice a microphone or your cue cards. But even when you were reading a question, you were doing it in such a relaxed and open way that they didn’t feel like they were repeating themselves for the billionth time like a broken record player. They knew you were asking questions that every interviewer asked but you had such a way of making it sound so different and new that they were excited to answer and often stumbled over each others words to say their piece.

“Well, I only have one card left.” You announced and all of your frowns deepened. None of you wanted it to end, you felt like friends that had been seperated by life and finally reunited, almost like soul mates in the least cheesy way possible, and probably some cheesy ways too lets be real. “Okay this, ah you guys have already done this a bunch of times, you’re probably fed up of the request.”

“What is it?” Namjoon asked leaning closer to get a look at the card. “Oh! We can teach you a dance no problem Y/N, we’d be happy to!” He grinned.

“Well, we can.” Jungkook sniggered. “Not hyung.” He teased Namjoon who only rolled his eyes.

“What dance?” Hoseok questioned.

“It doesn’t say.” You shrugged. “You guys pick, what do you want to teach me?”

“Give us a minute.” Hoseok ushered his friends to him and they huddled up to discuss their options making you laugh lightly.

“Okay! We’ve decided!” Yoongi announced backing up and straightening his jacket as he looked at you. “You, are going to learn Fire.”

“What? One of your hardest dances.” You whined. “Do you want to kill me?”

“No! We’d never try that!” Taehyung pouted. “We like you too much Y/N!”

“Aw, you little flirt.” You giggled and he blushed looking away only to turn back to you with an exaggerated seductive expression making you both crack and laugh less than a second later.

“Come on.” Jin encouraged offering you his hand. You let out a heavy breath and took it to stand with them, your cue cards on your chair. “Don’t worry, Y/N, you can stand with me, that way you won’t look bad.” He announced quietly while the other boys got into positions.

“No, she needs to be at the front.” Jimin spoke. “You’re learning my parts, Y/N.” He smiled warmly and you groaned but shuffled forward reluctantly to join him. He chuckled at your childish pout. “I’ll be a good teacher!”

“Doesn’t mean I’ll be a good student.” You grumbled and he giggled.

“Ah then I will have to punish you!” You gave him a raised eyebrow look, smirking as his face tinged pink.

“Ohmygod!” Jungkook exclaimed through his laughter having caught the exchange. “Maybe Jimin-hyung shouldn’t teach you.”

“No.” You put your hands on Jimin’s arm and pouted at Jungkook. “He is my only teacher.” Jungkook grinned and nodded, giving Jimin a look before getting back into place. You let go of Jimin to stand beside him, leaving a little distance so you didn’t accidentally whack him. “What first?” Jimin showed you the opening sequence, blushing as you watched intently, awe plastered on your features. “Damn.” You mumbled when he finished. “Okay, how do I do that, well, the easy version?” He chuckled and showed you step by step.

“Are you ready Y/N?” Hoseok called, his thumb hovering over the play button on his phone. You gave him a wide eyed expression and shook your head. He sniggered and pressed play all the same making you shriek and quickly rush into place causing them all to laugh.

As soon as the sequence Jimin taught you was over, they all cheered and clapped for you.

“You did such a good job, Y/N!” Jimin complimented, smiling widely at you.

“Well, I had a great teacher.” He blusheda dn looked down shyly making you giggle and turn as you you nudged gently.

“Can you sing? We should replace Jin-hyung with you!” Jungkook teased and you rolled your eyes.

“Hey!” Jin exclaimed in English and you both giggled.

“That was the last card so I’m afraid, that’s all for today.” You frowned which they mirrored. “Thank you so so so much for coming on today and giving me one of the best experiences of my life. I’ve neglected to tell you this but I’m actually a big fan.” You grinned sheepishly and their faces lit up. “That’s also why I’m here, because I kept complaining in all the interviews, RapMon had to translate constantly and none of the companies bother to get someone who can actually speak to you all.”

“Ah, really?” Namjoon beamed. “Most people don’t really care about that.”

“Your job is to make music, not cater to lazy people who won’t even try to accomodate for their guests. I could say more but I think that’s classed as slander so I’ll stop. Once again, thank you for coming on the show and giving up such a big part of your time to do this. I’ve already said it but congratulations on the incredible win at the BBMAs last week I lost my shit when I saw you had won and it made my whole week, I’m still buzzing from it. Personally, I’m so proud of you all for achieving it and making history words can’t describe it-”

“Ah stop it Y/N you’re going to make us cry!” Hoseok whined dramatically, wiping under his dry eyes making you laugh.

“Okay I will because I don’t want to cry either and get too personal. Thank you again and from myself, ARMY and the company, we are so honored to live a life with BTS in being so humble and kind and we hope you keep on making music until there is no music left in your souls, which I hope is never. But please rest and look after yourselves, you can’t do your best if you’re not at your best.” They all smiled and nodded in agreement before bundling her in a group hug wordlessly.

Somehow, while still in the middle of the group, you turned to face the camera.

“Thank you for watching, I hope you enjoyed it and please give your love and support to BTS, they truly deserve it.” You finished in English with a wide smile on your face.

Not long after you turned the camera off, the seven had to leave you. You knew they would go and you knew it would suck but you didn’t know they would take a part of them with you, a part you didn’t know what missing until they came along.

You had no idea if your paths would ever cross again, if they’d even remember your name the next day but you hoped they would at least remember the girl that made a fool of herself just so they would be happy for their short time with her.

BTS had made such a positive impact on you and your life that all you could hope for was that one day you could meet them again and finally pay them back.

literally no-one asked for this but i wanted to write it

It was supposed to just be about Y/N learning a dance and being extra and flirty towards them to make them blush and ya know, maybe a little mutual flirting but, as per usual, i got carried away

Anyway, I hope you like this one off little piece of writing. We’ve never posted something like this but if you guys like it, I’m willing to do more like it!

Requests are still(and probs always) open for reactions and oneshots so don’t be shy!

~Admin Chee

p.s. we are open to smutty ones and even full on smut if you ask nicely enough(beg me bish im kidding...or not...being begged would be nice ehehehe)

p.p.s. speaking of smut does anyone know of any Changkhyun(I.M Monsta X) smut? Or Yoongi (Suga BTS) or ya know, just good old fashioned smut with pretty much any idol(gender doesn’t matter yo)

ppps. I love you :3

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ktpal15 · 7 years

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More Questions!

These ones are from @drift-time-tales

1. Favourite historical era?

I go through phases, but at the moment I’m bouncing between Victorian London and 1920s Ireland

2. Favourite landmark?

The Disney castle (CA or FL). I find it impossible not to be happy at Disney Parks.

3. How many languages do you speak?

English is my native, I have pretty decent French and basic conversational German and Irish Gaelic.

4. Which scene from your favourite show stands out to you the most?

In the Ripper Street episode “A Stronger Loving World,” Reid’s conversation with Issac Bloom about how humans are caged by what is, but the real tragedy would be to see no further than the bars.

5. Favourite mythological creature?

Probably the bean sidhe- spooky, historical, culturally impactful

6. If you could master one skill what would it be?

I would love to play a musical instrument well. I’ve taken up fiddle in the past year, but I would love to be really good.

7. Favourite genre of music?

It varies. Lately I’ve been bouncing between folk and Disney soundtracks, but I also like classic rock and ‘60s pop

8. Who is your greatest inspiration?

I don’t really know. I tend to do a lot of stuff just because I like it, and it’s more of in internal determination than an external inspiration.

9. City or countryside?

Country, definitely. I like visiting cities, but I’d get stressed trying to live in one for any length of time.

10. If you could relive one past memory what would it be?

We had gone to Disney World when I was little, but I had pretty severe anxiety and hated parades, fireworks, anything with a loud noise. Last November I went back with my mom, and we sat together and watched the fireworks and for the first time in my life I was able to just appreciate how beautiful they were anxiety-free. One of my favourite pictures of myself is the one she took of my back in my Star Wars Mickey Ears silhouetted against the fireworks.

11. Are you religious?

I’d say more spiritual than religious. I like feeling connected to nature and do a lot of ancestor work, but it’s more personal than part of any organised thing.

What is the last thing you cooked ? I made a proper roast dinner with lamb, potatoes, carrots, and stuffing.

What would you name your pet if you had a new one ? I really like the idea of having a little dog (like a jack russell or a rat terrier) and naming it Tidbit (I love both dogs and trivia)

What do you think about cryptids ? I just had to look up the word, so I obviously haven’t given this much thought, but I think most undiscovered animals are probably deepwater creatures.

Artist or just enjoying the art, do you prefer traditional or digital ? My artistic skills are more craft-based than fine art, so there really isn’t a digital option for me. In terms of looking, I honestly can’t tell the difference most of the time.

Favourite super-heros ? Cyclops, Captain America, Deadpool, Thor (mostly bc Thor is the bringer of Loki)

Last show you watched ? Hotel Hell. I have really crappy wifi at the moment, so I’m trying to watch things that I can do one episode at a time, since marathoning is difficult/impossible

If you could visit any new country, which one ? I’ve never been to Germany and I would love to go!

Which type of tea ? Barry’s in the morning, chai in the afternoon

What is your Hogwarts house ? Ravenclaw

Where are you from ? The Bronx, originally, but I lived in the NY suburbs for longer

C’est une bonne situation, ça, scribe ? I think it’s asking if writing this was good. Yep!

Okay, my questions!

1. Favorite Villains?

Loki, Riddler, Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, Yzma, Maleficent, and Jafar (My parents love to tell the story about 3-year-old me scaring the guy in the Jafar costume at Disney by running up and hugging him.

2. Favorite Folk Story?

Cheating on this one, bc it’s actually a new movie that uses a lot of folk story elements, but Song of the Sea. Blends a lot of traditional Irish lore and themes into its own story, and has absolutely gorgeous music.

3. If you could choose to live in any fictional story, what would it be and why?

Wow, this question is making me realise how dark most of the stuff I watch/read is. Need to give it some more thought.

4. Hornblower or the Aubreyad?

I’ve actually never read or watched any version of either.

5. Colin Firth or Matthew Macfadyen?

Macfayden, definitely!

6. Most embarassing childhood fact (that you feel comfortable sharing with god and everybody)?

I once decided it was a good idea to cover my sister’s and my shared room in baby powder. All of it. Like, it looked like there had been a blizzard. It was the most trouble I’ve ever gotten into in my life.

7. Favorite series that was cancelled too soon?

Weird example bc of the way things ended up working out, but Ripper Street. It was cancelled and then brought back, but the new episodes feel really different and a bunch of plot lines got dropped, and I preferred the pre-cancellation seasons.

8. Favorite books that the movie/tv show screwed up?

From Hell. The original graphic novel is really creepy and well-written, and the movie manages to take an interesting story and make it feel boring.

9. Have you ever seen a movie you preferred to the book? What was it?

Pretty much anything by Charles Dickens. I think his plots are really interesting, but I can’t stand his writing style, so I watch the BBC movies instead. They don’t leave anything out, but I don’t have to put up with pages and pages to describe one action.

10. Favorite obscure, under the radar band?

Altan. They’re an Irish-language folk group, and my professor went to school with a lot of the people in the band, so he uses them to teach us new vocabulary. The lead singer’s voice is beautiful!

11. Steampunk or Dieselpunk?

Steampunk

As always, if you haven’t done it yet and want to, go for it!

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maroccheno · 7 years

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Help with KGSP motivation letters

Hey guys! I realise it’s that time of the year, again: only a few weeks left until the deadline to submit your KGSP applications. I’ve been giving a hand to a few friends with their essays based on the advice I received a year ago and on help I’ve gotten with application letters in general, and decided to write down a few tips.

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional advisor/counsellor on application writing. My tips and advice is entirely based on experience of myself and others.

1. Form: Letter, story, job application....??

If you have written a job application before, you might have googled a few examples, and at least the first few you’ve sent probably looked something like this: “I’m a 20-year-old female/male from Awesome City. I’m very social and love teamwork, and I’m a fast learner. I study Fantastic Stuff at Unbeatable University and I speak English and Spanish.” And there’s nothing wrong with that. If you’ve written a grant application, you might have realised that the people receiving that letter probably care less about you as a person, and more about your reasons for having written it in the first place. A letter of motivation in many cases sits somewhere between there - although I have found that a letter of motivation in fact makes for a better job application, too. Why? What’s so special about a letter of motivation? And more importantly: why should I consider the form of my KGSP application letter? First of all, you’re trying to make an impression. You’re trying to fit your self introduction and your reasons for writing that letter into a single page with silly big marginals and a restricted font size. Here’s also why a letter of motivation makes for a better job application. You’re trying to explain what kind of a person you are, what motivates you, what your dreams and aspirations are, and why these features make you the candidate they should consider. All right. So how does this affect the format of your letter? Of course, unlike a regular application, your letter of motivation does not have a designated recipient. Because your letter will be read by several people in several different institutes, there’s no point wasting space into including a greeting or an opening line like in a regular letter or job application. (E.g. “To whom it may concern”.) This also goes for a typical self introduction in the opening paragraph. Your application is accompanied by the personal information document, which means that the people reading your letter have already checked out your name and age, your school background, and so on and so forth. You can skip “My name is Eve”, and go straight into telling your story. Think of it like this: you’re writing a letter to a professor who already knows a little about you, but not enough to know your family background or your future dream career.

2. Your story

Now, because you’re trying to leave an impression, think of your application as a story. It has a beginning, a climax, and an ending. Your background and the environment you grew up in brought you to a point in life where you realised something about yourself as a person, and this is why you are applying for the scholarship program. Finally, to convince the reader, you’ll offer them your unique abilities that you have accumulated during your growth process. Fin. Sounds pretty simple, right? It is. However, it may be tricky to get the details right, and choose the things that both describe you and your aspirations and motivation. This is where it’s useful to consider the culture of the recipient. No matter what your background, the people reading your letters will be Koreans, so it’s better to try to include aspects of your life that they can relate to and that show you have what it takes to move abroad and assimilate into their culture. So what are these things? Here’s a few questions you could try to answer.

Have you lived alone - abroad, in a different city, at a school dormitory, etc? How did your family support you as you lived by yourself? (Not: “My family sent me money during college.” Yes: “My family supported me as I lived alone during college and offered to help me if I had a hard time.”)

What have you inherited from your parents? (Not: “A house”. Yes: “Your parents taught you to be open-minded”.)

If you were an exchange student, how did you find the experience? (Not: “Living abroad was a party.” Yes: “Although it was difficult to live by myself in a different culture, my colleagues and teachers helped me a lot to feel at home.”)

What about Korea interests you? (Not: “The history is very beautiful.” Yes: “I’m fascinated by Korea’s long history and the way the historical events affect the society today.”)

Why do you need to study in Korea? (Not: “I want to see idols live.” Yes: “As I am interested in the economic background of the Korean wave, it is essential to my research that I learn about Korea and the Korean culture first hand, and gain the chance to study the entertainment industry from up close.”)

Wait - what’s that? Am I telling you to pretty things up and lie? White lies are perfectly acceptable as long as you know you can back them up if someone asks you to talk about that particular thing in the interview. For example, don’t write you have studied Korean by yourself and know it perfectly if you don’t, because you’ll get caught if they ask you to answer their questions in Korean. But: your parents didn’t give a shit about your well-being as you grew up? Make it sound like they did, or talk about your siblings, cousins, or aunt or uncle who was there for you. Why not just leave it out? Because talking about the support you have received from other people shows you appreciate their help and advice, that you’re ready to listen to others, and that you don’t think all your achievements were thanks to yourself (even if they were). This goes back to the culture thing - no matter what the recent changes, the Korean social values are still very family oriented. (Trust me - I wrote a Master’s thesis on this.) The hardest part may be figuring out this “climax” in your story. For me, it was being accepted to university and realising how much I enjoyed Korean studies, and how during my exchange year in Korea I found myself at home and wanted to come back to Korea. Yes - that lame. But I dressed it into pretty clothes and said something along the lines of having learnt the importance of networking through my friends and teachers in Korea, and going back to Finland I really missed the great atmosphere. What about why you want to study in Korea? What if Korean history really is your thing? What if you want to just include something about your knowledge of Korea? Consider things that are relevant to your future major in Korea. If you want to study linguistics, mention how interesting you find the Korean linguistics or how hangul fascinates you. If you want to study economics, mention you find the Miracle of the Han River interesting. If you want to study design, mention you like the traditional Korean patterns or hangul typography, or maybe the Korean game market. Here, the idea is to show that you have looked into the field of your choice, and you have also checked out that field in Korea. As to why you want to study in Korea, combine that interest with what you want to be in the future - if you want to work in international trade and you are fascinated by the Korean economic development, then maybe you want to study in Korea so that you can examine the historical and present developments and help turn that into a success story for a country that is still waiting for or experiencing the early stages of economic growth. Other stuff that’s good to mention is working experience, but not as is, e.g. I have worked at the post office. Yes - but why was this beneficial to you? What did you learn through this job? What qualities did you gain and how can you put those to use now? These are questions you should always answer, be it about studying abroad, moving to a new city, or work.

3. Things to avoid

Because you’re trying to make an impression you might be tempted to pretty things up too much. Avoid too long and too fancy sentences, because it is not only difficult to keep your grammar in check during such sentences it is also considerably difficult for the reader to keep track of what it is you’re trying to say as they will completely forget what it was you were saying in the beginning of that sentence by the time they get to the end. (See what I mean?) Stick to simple sentences, but don’t be afraid of changing up the length. Five word sentences are boring. Especially one after the other. Start your sentences with adverbs: therefore, however, eventually, and so on. Don’t try to sound too smart or like you’re an expert on Korea or the thing you want to study. Even if you were an expert. The point is to sound smart, but to admit you don’t know everything, but that your lack of knowledge is exactly why you want to study more. Avoid things like “Having worked at the post office has made me very social.” You might feel like post offices are social working environments, but that’s not obvious to everyone. If you insist on your work experience having been beneficial to your social nature (or that your work experience taught you a skill or quality), explain it: “Having worked at the post office has made me very social, as working in customer service taught me the importance of maintaining an open and positive attitude even in difficult situations.” The same goes for things like “Studying in Korea would be very beneficial to me”, “Studying in Korea will help me achieve my dream”, etc. Beneficial how? Helpful to your dream of what? Finally, and this goes for your study plan as well, try to make it more about Korea and less about your home country. What’s this mean? You will come off as much more interesting if you are planning to research something that is beneficial to Korea, rather than come over here, study stuff, and then take that knowledge elsewhere. (This is related to brain drain.) Think about it: if your government was paying tens of thousands in tuition plus monthly scholarships to foreign students, would you prefer they do something useful to repay that rather than take the money and run? Thus, try to avoid giving the impression that this scholarship is just a stepping stone to a career back home. (This does not mean you should say you want to stay in Korea if you don’t; but make it sound like this scholarship is really the only way you can achieve your dream or get that perfect job back home, and that once you leave you will make your experiences in Korea a big part of that future.) And, last but not least, proofread, proofread, proofread. Have someone else proofread your letter. While your country might have very few applicants (hello, Finland), in the end stages you’ll compete against several candidates, and at that point a few silly typos and unclear sentences might really make a difference. If you have any concerns, thoughts or questions, just send me an ask or a message and I’ll try to answer to my best ability. Good luck with your applications!

#kgsp #korean government scholarship program #kgs #study in korea #korea #studyblr #letter of motivation

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randrvstheworld · 7 years

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The Bogotá Diaries, & a passage to Ecuador

So far, Bogotá had been extremely chill.

After a shopping day & a stir fry (home cooked by us; we have been eating extremely well especially since hanging out with so many vegetarians) we relocated from the Airbnb to a hostel, Lucy in tow as she cancelled her flight & decided to hang with us some more. Hooray!

We’re now back in a Fatima Hostel, the same as Santa Marta; one of the biggest we’ve stayed in & v nice too. You come to appreciate all sorts of trivial things when you don’t live in a house of your own - having plug sockets next to your bunk (this hostel has none), showers with nice hot water & good pressure (this hostel does indeed have these & they are worth a thousand plug sockets).

Bogota passed in a bit of a blur - Lucy’s last days with us were very well spent but also involved a lot of drinking as we kept going out to celebrate her ‘last night’ & then every morning she’d change her mind & travel plans hahaha. I also wrote a long passage about our trip to the Museo Nacional but tumblr bungled it right up so I’ve only just realised that it did not post - CHEERS TUMBLR. I do enjoy writing about our travels but I’ve been a bit slack about doing it every day of late, too busy having fun but I don’t want to forget anything so I’m gonna try & be a bit more disciplined. Also need to cut back on the drinking & sobriety & being productive do make great bedfellows so I’m gonna get all my business back on track.

So. Bogota. We visited the Museo Nacional - I can’t tell you on what day because as I have learned it’s virtually impossible to keep track of days of the week when you’re unemployed & your life has no structure. But we did. It’s a museum dedicated to the history of Colombia, containing many interesting artefacts & info & art works from hundreds of years of history of the country; a history blighted by Colonisation, & conflict, drug wars & violence but also incredible resilience & art & traditional & a whole indigenous history of it’s own that makes for a truly rich tapestry. One of the things I am enjoying the most about travelling is learning about world history although it is highlighting that my current level of knowledge is embarrassingly poor. Anyway. The museum is housed in an old prison so the building itself is very cool, also slightly eerie, but housed a very varied & interesting collections of stuffs. We inadvertently ended up in some college students’ projects on account of being English. We participated in an interactive & collaborative art installation that involved writing words that we felt related to Colombia on the walls in chalk.

On our way home we attempted to stop for coffee but what we thought was a cafe was actually a Cuban inspired salsa bar that only sold alcoholic beverages & so I was tricked, TRICKED into drinking a very large gin. The bar was very cool, called La Bembe, it was like a 70s disco curiosity shoppe with mirrored walls & neon signs & disco lights & crazy colourful patterns everywhere & a life-size white tiger made of plaster guarding the bottom of a spiral staircase. Precisely my kind of place, a riot of colour & pattern & kitschy motifs.

The following day we took a daytrip out of Bogota into a small town called Zipaquira to visit El Catedral de Sal, a cathedral in an active underground salt mine & the only underground cathedral in the world. It was very eerie, I find churches & places of worship & religious iconography somewhat creepy at the best of times & the fact that it was all underground & spookily lit gave off a very Parisian Catacombes kind of vibe that freaked me out a little because I kept thinking we were going to imminently find ourselves in a horror film, however it was very interesting & a truly unique experience. There were all these corridors & pathways that wound around & further underground; along the way all these big stone cross sculptures lit up in different ways, sculptures of angels & also knaves where mass is still held regularly - they also apparently have weddings there. At the end there is a truly inexplicable light show. My favourite part was the Espejo de Agua, which is a pool only 10cm deep that looks 20m deep because the water inside is so full of sodium that it reflects the ceiling like a giant silver mirror. It was beautiful, like a pool of mercury. We all took turns blowing on it to create ripples to prove it was actually water.

That evening was Lucy’s actual last night for real this time, so we popped to the hostel bar next door for ‘a couple of quick drinks’, met a hilarious guy from Chicago & before we knew it it was 3am & we were smashed on Aguardiente (a typical Colombian liquor that tastes like aniseed), trying repeatedly to make Chicago dude (real name: Emmanuel) understand the rules of shithead (”WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T PLAY A 4 THERE”). The next day we woke up with heads so sore we sacked off the hostel breakfast (fruit & toast) in favour of a hangover-curing feast at a cute place down the road, where we dined on veggie omelettes & croissants & papaya & fresh OJ & coffee until we felt slightly better, or at least better enough to laze about in the hostel TV room under blankets. Chicago reappeared & bought us all pizza & moaned with us. And then the moment we had been dreading - Lucy left us for Santa Marta. I miss her. She is one of the coolest people I have met & someone I clicked with much quicker than I normally do with people. I’m so glad she lives in London so I’ll be able to hang out with her on the regs when I finally, eventually go home.

Roxy & I were leaving the next day but managed to cram a trip on the funicular up to Montserrate into the morning before we had to leave. Montserrate is a ginormous hill overlooking the whole of Bogota - there’s a church at the top & a beautiful garden & a little market, you take a kind of hillside tram up there & a cable car back down. Needless to say the views were spectacular: Bogota as far as the eye can see on one side, beautiful green luscious hillside on the other. Colombia is truly one of the most beautiful, breathtaking & constantly surprising places I have ever been, my word. I am sad we had to go. I keep thinking back to all the places we visited & getting all emotional that we’re not there any more. It’s also been the setting of the start of many glorious friendships, we’ve met some really lovely people there & partied super hard. Our time in Colombia has been pretty wild so I guess like all good things it had to come to an end but I am quite sad about it. Whenever I start feeling sad about leaving a country it reminds me of how sad I was to leave the UK & all the people I love that live there & I suddenly get struck with a homesickness that aches my heart. I know I will be back at some point but I’m currently wrestling with the idea of whether or not to get a working visa for Australia to prolong the travelling for a bit & also hopefully not return home completely destitute. My only concern is what if I want to come home. I WISH I had enough money to go home for a couple of weeks & just spend 14 days hugging people. I can’t though.

And now, I am in Quito, capital city of Ecuador, where it is cold & I have no towel because I left it hanging on a tree to dry in our hostel in Bogota. We are staying in an AirBnB/guesthouse with very sweet hosts & eagerly awaiting the return of Gabby back into our lives tomorrow evening. Today was spent in my very best way to spend a first day in a new city - a free walking tour. It’s a great way to learn the lay of the land & a lot of history & cultural norms & traditional tips as well. Today I learned about the messy political history of Ecuador & also about the prevalence of blackberries in various juices & dishes which I am now obsessed with trying. Quito is extremely hilly & much prettier than I had expected, not that I was really expecting anything as we ended up here completely by accident due to a flight-booking snafu. But what a happy accident it has transpired to be.

Someone I care about very much said to me the other day that he suspected I may come back from travelling a completely different person. I hope if that is true that I will have only changed for the better. Travelling is certainly making me more confident & a little less uptight, also more humble, & I feel I now have a clearer mind about what I want out of the rest of my life. But I am still me, or at least I hope so.

Anyway. It’s getting late here & I slept super badly last night on account of my bad knee which is getting worse by the day, keeping me up at night in agonising pain. It’s cold here so I’m wearing my warm clothes for the first time in 4 months. I don’t know what we’re going to do tomorrow, which is a first for me, not having a plan. I kinda like it though. I am naturally a planner - I like knowing what I’m going to do tomorrow, & the next day. But in a way I think it’s good not to know. The only thing that lies ahead is exactly what I choose in that moment.

#travelling #colombia #ecuador #travel diary #randrvstheworld

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teineralco-blog · 7 years

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Consider Croatia

I have posted something on my Blog http://teineralco.com/blog/consider-croatia/

Consider Croatia

So…. I am sure a tight budget is nothing new to all of us avid-traveling-middle-class-blog-readers.

I have always enjoyed traveling. New cultures, strange people, museums and skylines, you know, all the main reasons why we are willing to go bankrupt in another country. There are obviously somethings that you favour less than other things, but the thing that I hated the most about my previous travels was watching the local people having more than one beer while having a good time. Laughing while eating, and not letting a calculator decide that you are going home dry (again)

Well if there are any of you like this out there. Consider Croatia.

Now if can give you a summary of our tour.

My wife and I bought a return trip to Zagreb.The skeleton of our trip looked a little something like this: Zagreb -> Zadar -> Split -> Vis(Komiza) -> Hvar -> Orebic -> Dubrovnik -> Sebinik -> Zagreb -> Home

Zagreb (3 Nights)

Word of advice, buy a sim card(my previous trips taught me to rather pay for local data and minutes than using the sucky occasionally working free WiFi). I know that you cannot really say this about the first destination you get to, but I knew Zagreb was going to be one of my favourites.

Before I get to the rest of our trip, i must tell you about THE LIFT! We stayed in a dark, scary, not so clean building. Empty ground floor made it look like it was an office. We were all the way on the 5th floor. My wife does not lift weights in the gym, but she still decided a half ton luggage is okay since she’s got a man who can almost bench press 4 tightly stacked marshmallows.

The lift had two buttons, one one above the other (logic says up and down) but it translates to “call lift” and “send lift” so after we have called the lift, it stopped with a sound that reminded me of the ambiance at night back home in South Africa. BOOOM!

I don’t know how to exaggerate, but the floor of the lift was literally made from cardboard. We got in, and the Kellog’s cornnflakes box floor did a fine job by not tearing in half. It was only when we got to the top and experienced the most intense hand cramps from holding on to my wife, when I realised humans are not supposed to be in that lift. It was just to send and call your luggage, hence the buttons. You appreciate Croatia a lot more when you know you’ve just almost died.

As for the rest of Zagreb, we did all the touristy stuff; Cathedral, gate in the wall, griek tunnels, st mark’s church, a park or two. and came across a burger market being set up for the evening (which we obviously attended)

Zadar(2 Nights)

Accommodations: the Palace Suite via bookings.com

Went to see the old town, and sea organs. It was a cloudy day so we were not able to view the sea organs at sunset. Made some pasta at home and whiskey and wine and beer.

Daytrip to Plitvice lakes Here I learnt the most valuable lesson: Neither a cheap poncho nor an overpriced poncho will make the pouring rain actually pleasant. That’s right 5 hours of walking around water falls while water was falling on us. See, paying entrance to see waterfalls during a rainstorm is actually quite okay. It is the thick cloud of mist impairing your vision to see less than a meter infront of you that changes the game slightly. At least we got to hear the water hitting the rocks somewhere in the fog.

Back at Zadar we greeted the sun at the sea organs. We did not see the actual sunset, but the light on the water was breathtaking!

Split (1 Night)

It was cool, Went into some dungeon of some castle. Apparantly some lady trained her dragons in there. Wish I rather did the bell tower. oh well, was to excited to get onto the ferry for Vis.

Vis, Komiza (1 Night)

WHAT A SPECIAL PLACE! Truly my favourite island I’ve ever been on. The whole island’s population 2000 odd people.

I am not sure if this was because of the calm atmosphere, amazing food, prestigious scenery or because we met MILAN. A local Croat whos parent wished the were in Italy at the time I suppose. We did not have enough time to rent scooters for the day, so Milan took us on his 6 person boat instead. Luckily for us the boat had the power of one scooter. Scary entrance shalow entrance to the bluecave Swam in the green caves killing our soft city feet on the Pebbles Stiniva bay And Milan took us to Croatia’s smallest beach.

This Beach!

Hvar (2 Nights)

Accommodation: Some guy’s house we stumbled on via Bookings.com

We always try to stay closer than 1km from the main city center, but I’ve got a problem with the Map Apps that we using on our devices. From an bird’s eye view they do show you how far point A is from B, but they never tell you how high you need to elevate. We walked 950 meters from the ferry port, but 500 flights of stairs. With the half ton that I was referring to earlier

If I did not visit any of the other places, I would have been blown away by this place, but it did not really compare to the other cities we’ve visited. The Old Town was old and restaurants average, but not much to do. I suppose I am a little biased because there are quite a lot of islands around Hvar that you can go to or in our case only view from the Fort. We experienced spectacular sunset from from the ledge of the Fort.

Orebic(1 Nights)

Accommodation: a very much appreciated Hotel.

Orebic, pronounce whatabich! we had to figure this one out a day before. No direct ferry from Hvar.

So we had to take an Kirlo Star Catamarn to Korcula run accross the cobble stones and catch another Ferry to Orebic. It was probably because of the hotel and sunbathing elders that made this destination felt like a Vacation during our vacation. A lovely rest before we attempted Croatia’s source of tourism, Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik(3 Nights)

Accommodation: We found ourselves living in an small office converted into the most illogical use of space for an apartment. 4 chairs, no oven, 1 bedroom the size of a football field and a deprived-of-natural-light-staff-room.

Dubrovnik made me feel like a medieval tourist with a hate for over crowded spaces, but a strange attraction for restaurants on narrow staircases!

We decided kayaked our way to Lokrum Island where there were a parade of naked men waving at us. Some guys even waved with their hands.

Anyway, kayak away. Great teamwork between my wife and I… I rowed and she commented on the average speed of our kayak. The guy who was leading our kayak pack gave us some history of the country, Dubrovnk, the war and the myths of Lokrum island. Very cool, go read up about it.

The only thing there is to hate about Dubrovnik is the 5am bus ride to Sibenik.

Sibenik(1 Night)

Accommodation: A spotless, modern and very spacious Bookings.com apartment

We only really stopped at Sibenik for a halfway stop between Dubrovnik and Zagreb. We were far from the Old Town but Uber took care of that.

Speaking about Uber, we learnt a very valuable lesson, 5 adults, with 4 LARGE luggage bags and a back pack each can easily fit in a Kia Picanto if you need to catch a bus that leaves in 15 minutes.

Zagreb (1 Night)

we were on our way home, but Zagreb felt like it! Was good to be back even tough we had to leave.

We were having burgers at a joint called “Rocket Burgers”. Best service in the whole of Croatia. There was an hour waiting list, but we got drinks and food in 115 minutes.

We munched it down like animals and sipped our last drop of Croatian Craft Beer, when all of a sudden the waiter place 4 more drinks in front of us. We joked and asked if he got someone else’s order wrong? He stopped and asked: “Do you know why I gave you all something nice? “ after we gave synchronized: “No” he stated: “Because of this man, he is gorgeous” and pointed at me. Of course if blushed, but I am a married man and love my wife.

#blog #Europe #travel

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