#''this Drama was too dramatic I think it should be more lighthearted & people need to sit around doing nothing just being weird more often' | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jnixz · 2 years

Note

Ford cruller for ask game

For this Character ask game 💚🤍🖤

—————-

Ford Cruller

one aspect about them i love

He is just A Lot

Unhinged funny old man, the comedy with this man kills me. He is absolutely sassy and weird and yet somehow also grounded, this man intrigues me so much.

An absolute Oxymoron of a man, who has somehow combined the dichtonomy or being eccentric and also it being normal as hell. Like this man can do x amount of fairly normal and lowkey jobs but also know a lot about them that it feels like he has had that job for a lifetime and witness many strange this on the job-- and yet he has a 20 of them that you question how the heck did he get this much experience. An then he gets an actual spy job and he gets to all these at the same time

then you remember, oh yeah he is also psychic, and also had psychic adventures

my dude what i would give to have an anthology of his adventures.

Oh and the second game absolutely made him so much more human and I love that

also my man, his voice-acting is A+

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

idk man i think we pretty much understand this guy is complicated. Personally wish he had more action in the second game but it is understandable because a) old and b) recently just had his mind pulled back together again and put into action.

Yeah he was able to fight Maligula down a bit but like yo dude you should also maybe get another follow up check-up. I don’t think Lucy is the only one that needs monitoring my dude. We know psyche is still bit cracked and it will never going to be the same, but at the very least talk about the trauma my dude (honestly if obdlc ideas weren’t compelling I’d be making more mind levels for ford-- like I’d be worried for him if I didn’t see the fact that he is able to hold it together and acknowledge the mess enough to just fucking chill for a bit)

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

He had already had his teleporting proficiency during the gulch days but it vastly improved after the Deluge when his psyche shattered. He couldn’t travel too far with too many people back then (they couldn’t get to Grulovia that way...) else he get very exhausted and probably pass out to strain. At most was very useful in his fight against Maligula.

but with the raise of the organization, he had to make use of his abilities even more to ensure peoples’ safety. It’s also very helpful when the Pelican isn’t around yet and when transportation is limited. Very convenient and nice challenge to improving that power’s capacity.

Granted, this didn’t help his mental health at all, and even somewhat helped in the confusion of the situation with the unraveling of his psyche and his emerging fragments.

With the fragments, his proficiency is enough that he can literally be at two(or more) places at the same time with the combined use of projection + teleportation. Indeed, we can even see it from the first game, when you pull out the bacon while being near one of the fragments at camp.

But yeah with separated mental facilities at unknown amount of times, this does not help with getting sleep or a full night’s rest at all.

I got another one about precognition/premonition but that’ll be on the other post I prepared. I can have so much worldbuilding canons about this man. Just ask, it is an intriguing thinking challenge for me

one character i love seeing them interact with

Being my fav, I cannot stop myself from thinking of interactions with any other character ever. *shakes you at more psychic interactions*

Though would aquato fam interactions would be intriguing if it was able to read anything that could possibly be very dramatic (read: aka I’m a whimp and while I do wish for apologies, I would love to see more lighthearted bonding because I cannot handle drama most of the time)

Would also love to see him interact with other psychonauts employees, juniors, campers, and basically any other character possible.

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

As always would love to see psychic 7 interactions. Can’t get enough. There really should be more. I should probably write down my ideas on them and share it some time but that’ll be the days. For now it’s all pinging around my headspace.

Other than that Camp counselor interactions! Scott C comics were hilarious and I am curious for more of that dynamic (especially curious for Morry, since we haven’t gotten a comic interaction between them and just had that finale bit in the first game). Would also love post-pn2 interactions

Would also love what it’d be like with Hollis and Truman are like. I mean Truman got a picture of him in his office and Hollis gets her haircut from him and I think that is like, intriguing little snippets that yeah he interacted with these people before, we just never see it.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

I think Helmut asks him for dating tips or like ideas where to take Bob on dates and stuff. Ford-Vision gives me the vibes that he is one of the people Helmut remembers being supportive when he gets nervous on something. (recalls literally Ford being the first to support his performance on an empty theatre, meanwhile, Bob gets his support from Lucy)

Somehow Ford cooks more normally than Compton, granted both of their end products look equally ridiculous on their own right. Ford mostly knows how to grill, cook family foods and whatever else he picks up on jobs that he gets to learn that there is a lot more fanciful and competitive cooking from Compton.

Ford, Cassie and Otto are the most book nerds in the group. Compton also likes reading a lot but these three in particular could spend all day talking about something from a book. Of course there is the intellectual kind, but there is just a casual talk on more fictional genres. Otto tends to be less interested in these and leaves Ford and Cassie to those kind of stuff. One interesting tidbit on these two is that they are both a fan of the horror genre.

#asks #ask #anon #ask game #gwb character ask game #psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #psychonauts 2 spoilers #ford cruller #headcanon #character ask game

7 notes · View notes

forever-in-phapundao · 2 years

Text

i have some thoughts about how i’m finding bad buddy so far, let me see if i can make them coherent comments. i don't really like forming an opinion before the show has actually finished telling the story but it's getting close now. this is my first time watching a show as its aired too. some thoughts below the cut~~~

while i've really enjoyed a lot about the show overall, it hasn't super connected with me as a narrative. i'm not a huge fan of the secret relationship vibe so while i get the premise in this show i wouldn't say it's a plot i’m intrigued by. i think this is why i need more convincing of the plot/justifications.

the acting and chemistry between the main actors is amazing and is really the heart of the show. they're a joy to watch and they have served us some steamy scenes and domestic bliss, we stan. but it hasn't been enough for me to get lost in the characters and their relationship.

i find i'm at the end of episode 9 wondering what i'm rooting for? when i've been this far into other shows, like a tale of thousand stars, i've been more invested in the plot, the stakes, and the relationship existing within a world. part of the main couple's love is based on childhood connections and we've had some flashbacks but it hasn't provided me with enough grounding to understand fully who they are.

apparently there are all these 'stakes' for how people won't accept their relationship but so far it hasn't been followed through on. i know the family stuff is coming up, and ima loop back to that, but even with the friends before it got revealed and after. for instance, when wai finds out and pran is trying to say sorry wai is upset because they're best friends and pran should have told him. but he doesn't follow that up with anything that expresses the nature if their friendship/why pran should have felt like this. like wai could have said 'we're best friends, i would have supported your happiness' or the idea of 'we'll never know how i would have reacted now' addressing how keeping it a secret didn't give wai the option to respond. in the end it just gets reconciled by extreme external factors not because of reconciliation or communication.

i literally don't even want to get into the random inclusion of a gun as a plot device, it was awkward and unnecessarily dramatic to say the least.

and now we're about to be thrown into the deep end of the parental drama. we'll have to see how this plays out, but i'm worried about the pacing of this over the course of the season. it's been pretty lighthearted(?) so far so what is going to be the tone of these final episodes? for instance, if these last few eps are overly dramatic it doesn't fit in with what the rest of the show has done and that shift could be pretty jarring. (the childhood/family stuff makes me think of lovely writer and while that’s a different story how we were included in their history and the context of the two families.)

i think for me it really boils down to feeling the stakes of pat & pran's world and what this means for their relationship. they're adorable and in love, and the supporting cast/couples have been fun, but beyond product placements scenes, domestic flirtation, and some hints at angst i'm just not sure what to hold on to especially as we move into the final arc and one of the main obstacles of the show. so far we’ve been given indications that their relationship will hold (growth and communication goals honestly) but what will that journey look like? how many tears shed?

i like the show overall (so long as it sticks the landing) but it hasn't been one to really dig itself a spot in my heart and i needed to put some of those thoughts down.

#i put it under the cut so if u dont care u dont gotta read it lolol #i meant to post this like last week #i'll be happy to eat my words and complaints but its gotta finish first #idk if its just an ep 9 thing or not #i've literally never reviewed a show before ongoing or otherwise so like idk if this makes sense #bad buddy #tofu talks

15 notes · View notes

meimae · 3 years

Text

Look at me, not being on time for my April Immersion Overview as is the usual. (・w・;

First, little blog updates to get out of the way:

I reached 100 followers! Got an influx of people checking out my 1 year update post, and got plenty of nice compliments on my data collection.

For those of you wondering just why I keep up with so much data, it's mostly because it can get really hard to notice how much you're improving in a language especially with something like immersion learning that for people who don't get it feels like a waste of time or a time sink.

Graphs showing consistency, improvement in reading speed, increasing vocabulary counts, and generally just seeing numbers grow turns language learning more fun and motivating for me, and if as a bonus, it encourages someone to try immersion learning then that would be cool!

With that said, whether you're here as a fellow language learner, graphs enthusiast (笑), or just want some Japanese media recommendations, ようこそ!

Also, made a tiny DP change - it’s チト from 少女週末旅行. Pretty sure it’s the first manga series I ever finished in Japanese (not the first one I started since ちはやふる is still ongoing), and I always felt a bit of a ☆connection☆ with her - between her book-loving personality and being a no-nonsense kind of person, there was no way for me not to enjoy her character. Great beginner anime/manga if you’re not into most beginner recommendations.

-☆-

April has been a pretty good immersion month, as I was able to dip my toes in a variety of media. A bit competitive, too! The club I joined has been pulling all the stops to get to the Top 20 Immersion Leaderboard in it’s first month. I was able to snag the 9th spot among a bunch of people of different comprehension levels (the majority being N1+ since they’re able to comprehend much more and in turn stand longer immersion hours). Lots of tiny complaints though of potential “whitenoising” content (”listening” and “reading” but not comprehending very well just to get a large number to post), but really what can you do? People lie all the time on the internet. Besides, it’s internet points that doesn’t do anything beyond being a little shiny I guess.

Enough about that, let’s get into the nitty-gritty details you came here for!

ANIME

フルーツバスケット

Might need to rewatch this one. Felt like I didn’t connect with the characters the way the rest of its fandom has. I’m kinda sad about it, since I normally love Slice of Life and Fantasy, and I know this is one of my friend’s diehard shows.

ラブライブ! School Idol Project S2

A filler anime to watch tbh. Nice and easy enough to follow for beginners. Pretty good songs. With regards to it being a show about music and moe, I still 100% prefer K-On! if I’m going to be honest, but for a show about non-toxic idols, it’s good!

魔法少女まどか☆マギカ

First read this as English translated manga when I was 13 or something. Mistakes were made. Let’s all just agree to throw キュウベえ into a pit of fire and never talk about it again. Great ending and a show that really reworked the magical girl genre. But seriously, I was traumatized by マミ’s death then and now, help.

四月は君の嘘

Already knew what was going to happen even before watching this so I didn’t ugly cry like I was expecting. Still got that awful sinking feeling though. 10/10 would recommend for a good cry. Also, I’m planning to read the manga, might enjoy that more, because I’ve always liked it more than anime actually. *shocked pikachu face*

ホリミヤ

Watched before I even finished the manga which felt like a mistake at first until I realized that it perfectly stops where I stopped reading. Nice and comfy anime, the kind I would have loved as a teen. Fun animation too, making parts very dramatic even though it wasn’t really that deep of an issue even in the manga. Just teens feeling feelings. Still salty that we lose bad boy styled 宮村, but I get why it had to happen.

AUDIOBOOKS

氷菓

Second re-listen. I understand it fine, but it’s very easy to drift off when you can’t catch all the words so I had to replay often. Will have to mine more from the anime/book.

君の名は

I mined from the anime, and was really pleased to be able to follow all 6 hours of this audiobook perfectly fine. Will need to read the book, because I realized just how seamless reading it would be after listening to it with hardly any issue.

BOOKS

キッチェン

Completed! Read my thoughts about it and see my stats on this post.

君の膵臓を食べたい

Still trudging on with this one. It’s not a bad story, it’s pretty well written actually, I just made the mistake of watching both the anime and live adaptation first, so I know exactly what’s going to happen and it’s killing my motivation to keep reading. I guess reading the book first before watching the movie still applies in any language with me. Really need to 頑張れ and finish so I can move on.

三日間の幸福

Started reading towards the end of the month, mostly because I realized that every chapter is only 5000-15000 characters long, and I was able to read up to 40k in a day with Island most days. Only two chapters read so far though because I got distracted by manga, but it’s shaping up to be a really good plot and potentially a really sad one, too, so I’m interested.

DRAMA

花ざかりの君たちへイケメンパラダイス

Heard this was a classic so I gave it a try. Loved 生田斗真’s character in this one the most especially all his internal dialogue acted out. Also, 小栗旬 in anything is bound to be a good watch. Simple and fun watch. They dragged the ending so much though lmao

ごくせん

Look, I see 松本潤, I click. Definitely the kind of show you should watch for some great life advice. Planning to watch the 2nd and 3rd seasons even if there is a terrible lack of 松本潤, because I love my strong female protagonists, and man, ヤンクミ is such a great character. Need to read the manga, too, if I can find it.

極主夫道

Oof, this was kind of hard. The yakuza talk was throwing me off, but the rest of it was enjoyable. Not really plot heavy as I thought it was going to be. The comedy side of it was fun and predictable after the first few episodes. Overall, pretty good slice of life, family story with a twist.

MANGA

Read a bunch of manga this month, mostly because I am struggling to find the next vn to read.

おやすみプンプン

Read a couple of volumes (6-7). This manga is so good, but it’s so depressing I need to stop to take a breather every once in a while. Please don’t leave any spoilers. The club has been reacting to me reading this, and it has mostly been a lot of crying emotes. It’s both been enjoyable to see and really worrying. 笑

チェンソーマン

Club recommendation. Only read the 1st volume so far. I really need to get into more 少年 anime/manga. That’s currently my 苦手 genre which is awful because literally all the top anime/manga is 少年 help. I just can’t enjoy it much still even though it’s comprehensible to me.

ちはやふる中学生編

Read Vol. 1, chill read to me at this point after reading 45 volumes of the regular manga. Look, it’s my favorite 幼馴染 manga in baby format, of course I’m going to read this! 太一 has been a flake way before season 3 confirmed. Don’t come at me たいちはや stans bc I also like his character.

約束のネバーランド

Volume 7. I’m taking my sweet time with this one, because I heard the anime for season 2 sucked, so I’m avoiding it like the plague. This is 少年 how am I enjoying this and not everything else what.

ヲタクに恋は難しい

Enjoyed the anime hated the movie why did they make it a musical that sucked (ps i normally love musicals hated this one)

The オタク jargon is kinda hard to read suprisingly but I do enjoy this ship very much. It’s a lighthearted take to otaku culture which is great because seriously it’s scary out there.

ツバサ -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-

It’s my childhood ship, obviously I will read this again (read in English several years ago). Still as plot twisty as I remember it being (now at a bonus hard level reading it in Japanese 笑). Really enjoyed reading this one (I finished it this May).

-☆-

I’m starting to really dislike furigana in manga. It was a great help as a beginner, but now it’s like training wheels that you can’t take off. I feel like the gains I’m getting from manga is much lower than it was when I first started which makes me both proud of how far I’ve come, but also sad because I love manga. Sad that I might have to start choose VNs over it, because it’s not going to challenge me as much going forward. I mean it didn’t stop me from reading a lot of it this month, but you get the picture.

VISUAL NOVELS

ISLAND

Completed! See my stats and read my long spoiler filled post here.

ファタモルガーナの館

Picked up this VN and finished two doors (15 hours) before stopping. On the fence about it, because it has been kind of predictable so far, and I don’t particularly enjoy the horror genre. That said, this is more psychological than anything, so it’s probably not that that’s putting me off. The language is not exactly difficult, too - maybe some oddly specific words because it is after all historical fiction (which is one of my favorite genres, btw), and 敬語 is definitely interesting to read for once after encountering so many お嬢様 characters in anime/drama so far.

I think maybe it’s the conversations that are kind of dull - dots (silence) every few clicks that keeps breaking the flow of reading. Probably judging it really harshly too early, because it’s rated so high everywhere, and I just have high expectations. Definitely not dropping it yet though, just taking a break and testing a couple of other VNs before I settle with whatever I end up choosing. It is, after all, going to be another 50+ hour read, and I just don’t want to not enjoy the process, because having fun with the process is a huge part of immersion learning.

Let me know if you’ve read Fata and if I should continue!

-☆-

That’s it for this month!

If you have any suggestions on what to watch and read next, please send me a reply, especially for VNs because I’m struggling over here.

39 notes · View notes

chicoriii · 3 years

Text

Season 4, Episode 3 - Le gang des secrets (Gang of Secrets)

So far I've been writing my posts about new episodes just after watching it, but this time I didn't manage to do it. I've seen the episode yesterday, but right after finishing it, I started working on a subtitle file for this episode. It's not that I know French, I'm Polish and I've been learning only English and German in my life (though I haven't used that second language since 10 years after high school). I'm a member of project in which we're trying to provide more literal translation of the French original than the English dub (so also using French names of the characters, with "transform-me" instead of English transformation phrases etc.), but my role is mostly making subtitles and hardcode them. Hopefully, Gang of Secrets will be the the first episode we will complete. I've done 3/4 of the episode till now, but even that took ages, because setting time marks is very time-consuming and tedious work. I also always try to not read others people opinions before, because I don't want to be suggested by them, but this time I've seen a glimpse of some people posts.

It's hard to say something about this episode. I don't know to think about it, to be fair. I can't not get the impression that Miraculous is getting overly dramatic. All three first episodes were like that to some extent and this one the most. Some drama is not bad, but high intensity in a short time would be too much. Too much for me. But I know some people like that the show becomes more "serious". The New York special is popular in the fandom for a reason. Now I know what Astruc had in mind saying that the S4 will have "equivalent to the impact of Chat Blanc on each episode". He meant every episode will be more or less dramatic. I don't think I like it, the more drama, the more tiring it's becoming and the less emotions we feel, because we're getting used to them too much. The balance is very important. It would be better to place some more lighthearted episodes between those more dramatic ones. But I felt that Furious Fu wasn't a dramatic episode. It was important for the plot, but not too "heavy", so maybe it won't be that bad.

At least Ladynoir moment from the beginning was hilarious. Especially Ladybug roasting romantic comedies for being unbelievable and suggesting watching superhero movies instead for lacking of emotions, as Miraculous itself is mix of both genres.

I've seen someone complaining that Marinette's current breakdown should have happened way before, because she's been forced to lie to everyone since she become Ladybug and now that's just a cheap drama. I can't completely agree with it. Prior to season 4 she was not only Ladybug, but she also could live in her dreamed life in which she's happy with Adrien. She's been thinking that she could be with her loved one if she's managed to confess and he won't reject her. But now she believes that she can't have any boyfriend. She can't be even in a "light" rebound relationship like that one with Luka. That's not only fear of rejection, now she can't dream anymore about the future in which she's Adrien's wife, they have three kids and a hamster. She's sure it will never happen and that makes her life destroyed. Is she exaggerating? Of course, she is. But that's completely valid. She's just a teen. Teenagers being overdramatic is completely normal. We all were like that, too! I remember having few short emotional breakdowns (though much lighter than Marinette's), because I could not be with my first crush when I was at her age (at the end, I have never been with him, but I think it was a good thing). I only don't want that to last too long. Then I could start complaining about it as well.

I have nothing more important to add about other aspects of the episodes than the ending of it, so I just let me proceed to it.

It's hard to me to believe that reveal would last. It happened completely out of nowhere and very early in the season. And Alya. She's a good friend and I like her, but as someone said, she's not as much important to the plot. I know that many people loved that she is the first person who learns Ladybug's identity, but that doesn't seem to be the most logical step. I'm not completely against the idea, but before seeing episode 4, I won't believe it's going to last. I think the show could just tricks us. The episode ends with a cliffhanger, so it could be easily undone at the start of the next one. It could turn out to be just daydreaming of exhausted Marinette about revealing her secret to someone. Or the next episode will be another Chat Blanc-like one, in which Alya discovering Ladybug's identity led to a catastrophe (even without Alya’s fault), Bunnix has to get in on the action, and Marinette learns that she can't tell anyone her identity. Even her best friend she trusts a lot. Maybe even teen Alix could get the rabbit Miraculous in it. At first I thought that Fluff could use her power just at the start of the next episode, but then I remembered that Kwamis using their powers without holders has some bad consequences and Miraculous Ladybug can't be used.

I could be wrong and maybe we will see Alya helping Marinette with superhero and Guardian stuff in the next episode. Alya knowing the truth could have zero negative consequences. But knowing the show, I would suggest to try to not be too enthusiastic about it yet, because you could be disappointed at the end.

If it was Alix, it would be more believable to me, because as I've written in other post, Marinette is aware that adult Alix knows identities of them (her, Chat Noir's, Hawk Moth's) and the world is fine despite of it. It always seemed to be more logical to me. But maybe the writers have a different opinion and Alya knowing it is not against the rule of keeping identities in secret. Maybe they claim it's a good time for Alya.

I really hope that none television would release episodes out of order. Even if it means a hiatus. I would be even fine with a little break. Episode 4 needs to be aired next. Since we know nothing about it and the 5th one as well, I think they may be not finished yet.

#miraculous ladybug #ml gang of secrets #ml season 4 #ml spoiler #ml spoilers #ml season 4 spoilers #chicoriii about S4 episodes #chicoriii #original post

18 notes · View notes

localswordlesbian · 3 years

Text

sweet talk

this is my submission for @martimweek for the prompt “club/pub/bar”! I’ve been wanting to write a martim one shot fic for a while and this gave me the inspiration to actually do it

read it on ao3 or below the cut

“I’m sick of this. I’m dropping out.”

“You say that every single time you leave an assignment to the last minute, Tim. You’d think you’d have learned by now.”

Tim glared at Martin from where he was dangling upside down off his bed. “I mean it this time. This paper is due tomorrow and it sounds like hot garbage. I’m probably just better off not handing anything in.”

Martin rolled his eyes, putting his own book in his lap. “You’re so dramatic, I’m surprised you’re not a drama major.”

“Why study for something I’m naturally good at?”

Martin groaned while Tim laughed. “You’re insufferable.”

“And you love it.” Martin grumbled. “Screw this paper.”

“Oh, hand it over, you oaf. You’re not submitting nothing, especially after writing ten bloody pages.”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re a saint, Marto?”

“Literally only you.”

“You’re a saint.”

Martin skimmed over the paper, a historical analysis of the Cold War and its more violent clashes. Martin was no history buff, but this paper was far from, as Tim put it, hot garbage . It was actually pretty good.

He told his flatmate as much, but Tim just scoffed. “You’re just being nice.” Despite his dismissive words, a glow of pride lit up his face.

“Just hand it in, you insufferable twat. You already knew that, you just wanted affirmation.”

Tim clicked his tongue. “Is that so wrong?”

“No, not really.”

Tim leaned back against the wall as Martin picked up his book again. “We should go to the pub tonight, you and me. To celebrate.”

Martin laughed. “To celebrate you turning in a paper? We do this every semester, Tim. Multiple times.”

Tim threw an eraser at his head, and Martin squeaked indignantly. “Fine, then you come up with a reason. I want to go to the pub, and I want to go with you.”

Martin looked up at his flatmate, leaning casually against the wall with his laptop perched precariously on one knee. His black hair was sticking upright from the amount of times he’d run his hands through it in the past few hours, and his tanned and chiseled face looked tired. Despite that, his lips were curled upwards in his telltale smirk.

Martin sighed. “Yeah, alright. Wanna invite the others?”

Tim shook his head. “Sasha’s busy, Daisy and Basira scare me, and Melanie has a date with her new girlfriend.” Tim raised his eyebrows. “Unless there’s someone you’d like to bring along?”

Martin’s face instantly heated up. “Uh, nope. Just the two of us is good.”

Tim chuckled. “I’m sure Jon would love to have a night off from studying, head to the pub with some friends –”

“Tim, I swear to god–”

Tim put his hands up in mock defeat, his grin more infuriating than ever. Martin knew perfectly well that his face was an alarming shade of red, bright enough to put firetrucks to shame, and he also knew that this amused his friend greatly. “Alright, just the two of us then.”

Night fell while Martin finished up his reading for his English class – The Yellow Wallpaper, a story about a woman who spent so long trapped in a room that she began hallucinating a woman living in the walls and trying to rescue her. The ending of the story gave Martin chills, and he quickly scribbled some notes into the margins before closing the book and putting it back on his shelf. Stretching his arms over his head, he winced as several of his bones cracked and his muscles strained from being stuck in the same position for hours on end.

Tim wanted to go to the pub in a few minutes, so Martin pulled a white turtleneck jumper from his closet, throwing it over his shirt. When Tim knocked, he didn’t wait for a reply – simply opened the door and stuck his head in.

“Ready?”

“Christ, Tim! Normal people knock! I could have been changing or something.”

“Which you clearly should be. You’re not going in those jeans.”

“My jeans are fine!”

“Nope. I’ll be in the foyer.”

Martin groaned as Tim shut the door, rolling his eyes as he turned back to his closet. He didn’t want to wear his nice trousers to the pub, but his jeans were old and worn and a little bit gross. Making a split second decision, Martin pulled a galaxy-patterned skirt on and grabbed his wallet and phone on the way out the door.

Tim was waiting by the door, one of his signature hawaiian shirts unbuttoned over a plain black tee. Martin’s heart skipped a little – there was a reason Martin had had a sexuality crisis when he’d come to university, and that reason was standing in front of him.

Tim raised his eyebrows approvingly. “Much better.”

“Bossy arse.”

“Come on, you love it,” Tim teased as they headed out of the flat and into the dark London street. “Your type is clearly bossy.”

Martin sputtered. “My type is not –

“Oh, come off it, Martin. Sims?”

“You don’t need to call him by his last name, he’s not a professor.”

“Alright, Jonathan, the librarian’s special little boy.”

“I don’t get why you don’t like them.”

Tim narrowed his eyes. “Do you really think I don’t like them?”

Martin shrugged. “Well, yeah. You’re always so… snide and sarcastic whenever he’s brought up. Like now,” he added pointedly, raising his eyebrows at his friend.

Tim sighed. “Okay, fair. But I like them perfectly fine, I’ll have you know. He seems like a nice guy, if a little, what’s the word? Married to their work.” Tim threw his arm over Martin’s shoulders. “Look, Martin, I wouldn’t say anything if I didn’t know how you get, especially when it comes to people you fancy.”

“How do you mean?” Martin asked slowly.

“You have a tendency to give yourself away, until there’s nothing left of you to love. I don’t want you to pursue this guy and have your heart broken cause he’s got his nose too glued in a book to notice you. Or your tea,” he added lightheartedly.

They reached the pub, and Martin sighed as they walked inside and made a beeline for a booth in the back. “Tim, I’m not dumb.”

“No, you’re crushing on a guy. And those two things are sometimes interchangeable – trust me, I’d know.”

Martin sighed, gathering his skirt into the booth. “Yes, Tim, you’re a dating expert.”

Tim flashed a grin as he ordered a drink for each of them. “I should write a romance advice column in the school paper. ‘Timothy Stoker’s Guide to Love.’”

Martin snorted. “If you want to increase the number of breakups, maybe.”

Tim punched his shoulder, and Martin yelped. “Rude! I give amazing dating advice.”

Their drinks arrived, and the beer mixed with lighthearted banter was giving Martin a happy buzz. He loved all of his friends, of course he did, but there was something different about having a night out just with Tim. They had an easy rhythm, the two of them, bouncing conversations and teasing and laughter back and forth like a beach ball, pausing to sip their drinks and order more, and soon enough Martin was feeling properly tipsy, and a look over at Tim’s flushed face told him he was faring about the same.

After downing his last drink, Tim turned in the booth to face Martin, one leg crossed under his other knee. “Why don’t you just ask out Jon?”

“Because I can’t,” Martin shrugged.

Tim scoffed, his eyes slightly unfocused. “Seriously? Why not? You’re way out of their league, if you don’t mind me saying, and he clearly likes you back. So what’s there to lose?”

Martin sighed. “Come on, Tim. I’d have no idea where or how to even start. Between my mum, and then my transition and anxiety fucking everything up, I never let anyone get too close. It feels too late now.”

Tim rolled his eyes, but they were fond. “Martin, I mean this in the most loving way possible, but you’re a dolt. It’s not too late, you’re only bloody twenty-one! So what if you haven’t had a relationship before? It’s not like he’s got anything to say about you being trans or having anxiety, and if he does I have a crowbar I keep in my closet for that exact situation.”

“Yeah, I know he won’t.”

“So what’s the issue?”

“God, Tim!” Martin threw his hands up in exasperation. He wasn’t annoyed at Tim, and Tim knew that; he was annoyed at himself, and the alcohol made everything just spill out without a second thought. “I’ve never done this before, I don’t know how to ask someone out without making a blubbering fool of myself, it was hard enough even becoming friends with them because, what are coherent sentences, even, when someone you fancy is talking to you? I’ve never even kissed anyone!” His voice quieted at the last sentence.

“Oh, well if that’s all, that’s easily remedied.” At Martin’s confused tilt of the head, Tim leaned in slowly, slowly enough that Martin could have easily pulled away, easily declined.

Perhaps a sober Martin would have hesitated, would have considered the aftermath, had overthought every aspect of what he was about to do obsessively until Tim pulled away, regretting having made the offer.

Instead, he closed the gap, and then Tim’s lips were on his, soft and tasting of beer. His hands were in Tim’s hair, the curls soft and welcoming against his fingers, Tim’s breath hot on Martin’s face as he parted his lips, pulling Martin’s lower lip into his mouth. He gasped, dimly aware that this was a terrible idea, he was kissing his best friend in the back booth of a student pub that stank of beer and sweat, and Tim’s hands were gripping his shoulders and his lips were soft on his. Tim kissed like he was drowning, and Martin’s lips were air.

Tim pulled away first, and Martin slowly opened his eyes, the dim lights in the pub suddenly too bright. Tim’s hair was still bunched in Martin’s hand, and he slowly disentangled his fingers while Tim released his shoulders, never taking his eyes off Martin’s face. His lips were swollen and red, and he was grinning. “That, my friend, is how you kiss. You’re a natural, nothing to worry about.”

Martin exhaled a shaky breath, causing Tim to chuckle. “Nothing to worry about, yeah?”

Tim grinned lopsidedly, pushing a strand of hair behind Martin’s ear. “Nothing at all.”

Martin nodded. “Cool.” That made Tim laugh. “What now?”

Tim tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we’re best friends, and we just, well, made out in the back of a pub. Isn’t this supposed to make things awkward?”

“Does it need to?”

“Hm. I guess it doesn’t.”

Tim scooted, bumping his hip against Martin’s, and it took Martin a second to realize he was trying to urge him out of the booth. They stood, swaying and leaning against each other for support. They left the pub and emerged into the chilly London night, arms around each other, concentrating on not walking into the street. “I’ll tell you what now.”

“Hm?”

“We’re going to get food on our way home, then we’re going to fight over who gets to use the shower first, and I’m going to win with my devilish charm. Then we’re going to go to bed, and wake up tomorrow with horrible hangovers and more schoolwork. Deal?”

Martin smiled. “Deal.”

#martimweek2021 #martim #martin blackwood #tim stoker #the magnus archives #tma #tma fic

8 notes · View notes

things2mustdo · 3 years

Link

I went to visit my family for Thanksgiving, and as usual, I was confronted with numerous blue pill beliefs. While I’m no longer annoyed by these things, because I’ve gone through the “Return Journey” phase of swallowing the red pill, I did notice something that was extremely disturbing.

As I grew tired of arguing over basic political, economic, and gender points, I meandered downstairs to my family’s recreation room. There was a group of my younger relatives, aged 16-20, watching some show on Netflix about trans-gendered individuals.

I don’t know what the show was called, but one thing that really struck me was the show’s uncanny ability to use emotionally charged scenes and drama to elicit a feeling of compassion for the characters. In other words, numerous TV shows are now starting to take advantage of our natural empathy, and using it to sway our political and social opinions.

Emotionally Gripping

As I stood behind the couch watching a few minutes of this transgender show, I saw a very heart wrenching scene take place. Although the nuances of the story line were lost to me, I gathered enough information to see what was going on.

Basically, some guy was getting surgery to turn into a woman. As he was in the operating room, something went terribly wrong, and despite the surgeons’ desperate attempts to save him, he ended up perishing.

The following scene was comprised of extremely grief-inducing piano music played to various clips of the man’s children all mourning their loss. While this may seem innocuous, or like it’s just “creative, dramatic television,” I believe that it’s actually something far more sinister.

What’s going on here, is that the elites (because remember, this is a top down operation) are trying to traumatize the average American youth with images of the “horrors that transgender people go through!” They’re using television to create these emotional “triggers,” if you will, that will be ignited anytime someone says something against transgenders.

In other words, the trauma that occurs from becoming engrossed in this TV show (in our example) leaves an emotional residue of sorts, so that whenever the topic of transgenderism is brought up in conversation, the viewer subconsciously remembers the emotions associated with the topic which the TV show implanted into his mind.

Emotional Triggers

This became abundantly clear to me as I was arguing with a friend from the West Coast over transgenderism. I very calmly said that I believe it’s a mental illness, and should be treated as such. I said that these people need help, and we shouldn’t encourage them. I backed my assertion by referencing how the chief psychologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital has vehemently called out doctors who perform transgender surgeries as “collaborating with a mental illness for profit.”

Despite my calm and collected assertions, she grew EXTREMELY emotional and automatically assumed a whole host of things about me:

I’m a disgusting, careless sociopath

I have no sympathy for others’ suffering and I’m a cold-hearted bastard

I vehemently hate anyone who’s different than me

Despite the fact that none of these things are true, it became clear to me why she automatically believed this about me: the TV shows that she watches had been subtly implanting little emotional biases into her brain. This is how manipulative our “real” media is.

What happened, in psychological terms, was that as I was calmly explaining my perspective on transgenderism, her subconscious was flooded with all of the EMOTIONS that she associates with the topic:

All of the pain and grief she experienced from TV shows depicting transgender “issues”

How Bruce Jenner is a “hero,” and how much mainstream “opposition” he encountered when coming out

All of the anger she experienced when the token “anti-transgender person” in each show was a huge dick to the main character (more on this in the next section)

All rational thought was completely stopped, as she had literally been trained to elicit a certain response whenever the topic of transgenderism is brought up. Do you see my point? By repeatedly exposing people to scenes that elicit sympathy for transgenders, the media is engineering a widespread social response in favor of it.

Token Characters

As I alluded to before, another underhanded tactic that mainstream TV shows use is that they never have a rational, level-headed man who supports traditional marriage and normal heterosexuality. Any time someone in mainstream media doesn’t support the main character’s disorder, he’s always portrayed as a complete asshole.

This can take the form of him beating up the main character, bullying the main character, or what have you. I recall several years ago there was ample talk at the work place over some “anti-homosexual” character in glee that smothered a smoothie onto a guy just because he was homosexual, or something ridiculous like that.

Despite the fact that NOBODY I know would do something like this, the elite-sponsored TV utilizes token characters in order to implant a certain idea into our heads—the idea that everyone who opposes deviant sexual orientations is a cold-hearted bully. I recall that this was pointed out to me by a Catholic high school teacher, and it didn’t make any sense to me back then (before homosexuality was normal).

Now, in retrospect, I’m extremely thankful that he planted that seed in my class’s mind. The more that I look at television through this lens, the more I see what he was talking about. There’s never a level-headed, confident, genuine man that has game, either. It’s always either a completely meek beta male, or a chauvinistic “bad boy” Hank-Moody type character (although I do love me some Hank Moody).

This phenomena is taken even further as the transgender or homosexual person in mainstream TV is almost always portrayed as some brave, sweet, sensitive soul, with a hard life. In other words, the elites are engineering a dichotomy as Roosh has referenced before.

The dichotomy is that you’re either a sweet, empathetic, gentle-hearted person who supports transgenderism and deviant sexual preferences, or you’re a complete asshole who bullies and berates people just because “you’re mean.” This use of labeling brainwashes others into IMMEDIATELY putting you into the “sociopathic jerk” category if you don’t support transgenderism, making any and all rational discourse folly.

Subtle Desensitization

Another terrifying event that comes to mind of the media’s disgusting methods was when I was watching a popular kid’s TV show known as “Adventure Time,” a year or two ago. Again, I was with my family for some holiday event (I can’t remember which), and recall some of the kids watching this show.

Despite the fact that it’s labeled as a kid’s show, I saw an insidious little dialogue take place that was meant to desensitize children to pedophilia. In the show, there was some ball going on (I assume it was like a “prom” type deal), and the old wizard was looking for a partner.

He ended up going with some underage girl, who was probably 60 years his prior, and when the main character pointed this out, the old wizard simply stated: “Age…is nothing but a number!” Upon which the characters started dancing and doing comical things to prevent any sort of rational thought occurring after this was said.

After seeing this I became extremely disgusted and turned off the television, but that’s beyond the point. Why is this type of dribble being used to brainwash our youth? Anyone with half a brain can see that the point behind this scene was to start subtly implanting the seeds of pedophilia into a child’s mind.

Again, the words of my wise old Catholic high school teacher come to mind. I’ll never forget when he told me that “in 15 years, pedophilia will become normal.” My entire class was shocked, and couldn’t comprehend such a thing happening. He said this in 2009, and it seems that his prediction is coming true.

“First it will start with the media,” he said. “They’ll have some show where they make jokes about it and they’ll keep the humor very lighthearted, never showing the actual act. They’ll begin the process of desensitizing you, then eventually some politician will bring it up, and it will be an official stance that other politicians will be forced to take. This will begin the process of slowly normalizing it.”

My God was this man spot on, because this is EXACTLY how the media sways our opinions.

Keep in mind that their methods are SUBTLE, and that’s the point—they want to keep it below the level of thought so that you never question what they’re teaching you. Any time a strange or ridiculous belief is asserted, they very quickly move into a joyful scene or celebration to not only prevent you from thinking too much about the ridiculous belief, but to have you associate happiness with it, as well, which brings me to my next point.

Association And Correlation Bias

There’s a very powerful phenomena in psychology known as association; this is sometimes also called the correlation bias, or “Illusory Correlation.” This is basically your mind’s tendency to look for relationships where there aren’t any.

For example, why do you think most modern girls aren’t girlfriend material? Why do you think that the average man is weak, pathetic, and emasculated? It’s because of the media’s tendency to slowly create illusory associations within your mind.

The media causes women to associate happiness and a successful life with the following:

Being a man-hating feminist, who can’t submit to a strong, confident man

Not cooking or cleaning, because that’s “sexist”

Riding the alpha male cock carousel, and not getting married, because marriage is “oppressive”

The media creates a false correlation in women’s minds by constantly portraying bitchy, overly-masculine, slutty women as being empowered, sought-after, and happy. As any man who’s been learning game knows, this is absolute nonsense.

It doesn’t matter, though—once your brain has an association, it’s extremely difficult to get rid of it. This is why so many men are emasculated nowadays. It teaches us to associate:

Being a weak bitch with getting a hot girlfriend

Being a feminist and leftist with having girls think you’re noble and heroic

Courting a slut with being a gentleman

As any modern man who reads the manosphere knows, these are completely fallacious beliefs. Being a weak, low-testosterone man will not in fact land you the girls. Being a screaming leftist who holds those “I’m a feminist because,” signs will not get you the approval of women, and courting a washed up slut does not make you a gentleman (it makes you stupid).

Despite the obvious illogical nature of these beliefs, because the mainstream media has 8 hours a day to indoctrinate us, most men end up buying into them wholeheartedly, and will even berate you for having game when you CLEARLY get more women than them.

“So What Can I Do?”

First things first, stop watching mainstream media. In case you haven’t noticed, the MSM is starting to feel the effects of men waking up; in fact, they’ve recently gone on a long, drawn-out tirade about “fake news,” or in other words, news that is red-pilled.

I haven’t watched mainstream media EVER—the only time that I ever watch MSM is if they’re interviewing a pickup artist, a manosphere blogger, or if I’m trying to debunk their ludicrous reporting. I get almost all of my news from sites like ROK, Danger And Play, Info Wars, Natural News, and the people that I follow on Twitter.

In addition to only consuming a red-pilled information diet, ensure that your children don’t watch TV unarmed. I saw a phenomenal post recently on “How to Raise Red-Pilled Daughters,” and the ROK author talks about how he doesn’t flat out ban TV, but rather teaches his daughters to think rationally and learn to see the foolishness of MSM.

Aside from not watching MSM and raising your family to be skeptical of it, you can also support alternative media sites by simply tuning in. You don’t have to buy any of their products (although it helps); simply giving them your attention and leaving a thoughtful comment or two is enough to generate interest.

All in all, we’re facing extremely tumultuous times. More and more people are starting to break free of the MSM’s grip on their mind, but the men who get left behind end up more brainwashed than ever. Eventually, once the MSM dies, we can begin the long and arduous process of reclaiming our country—and this, my friends, is something I believe is worth fighting for.

Read More: Fact Checking Emotional Propaganda

When I was making a purchase at my local bookstore last week, the cashier solicited me for a donation. This donation was for a charity dealing with sick children or something. I told cashier I came here to buy a book not make donations. I guess she realized I am not one to be guilt tripped into doing things and told me that many people do not have the courage to say no. This pressure to comply due to emotional appeal has run rampant in America. When people make decisions on how they feel or manipulated by their feelings, not many good things can come of it.

Usually I do not delve into the details of the various schemes and manipulations that powerful people do in order to influence people’s behaviors. Someone actually fact checked one sales pitch for the limitation of guns. This exercise in breaking down an argument outside of the emotional shows that emotion is all it has. While the premise is guns, the method is pure emotional appeal.

The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg has decided to throw his hat in, as well as his capital, in a political fight against the NRA by spending an estimated fifty million dollars to start up Everytown for Gun Safety @ Everytown.org. If you go to his website, one of the articles pops out on the front page is an “analysis” of the over sixty “school shootings” that have taken place since the Newtown massacre on December 12th, 2012.

In this era of political rhetoric and ideological echo-chambers, there is little in the way of fact-checking and realism with statistical data. The media is off panicking the masses of soccer moms and metrosexual dads that mass shootings are a growing epidemic, apparently none of whom look at the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports of homicides every year. Of the sixty-two incidents on Everytown’s “analysis”, only one can be classified as a mass murder. The FBI is quite clear that a “mass murder” involves the homicide of four or more individuals with no cooling off period between the murders. The article would lead readers to believe that there have been sixty-two incidents of similar scope as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. But this is simply not the case.

With a total combined death toll between the sixty-two “school shootings” of 39, it’s hard to match them up to Newtown, which in one incident saw 28 deaths, including the perpetrator, Adam Lanza. Despite what the media might portray for politics, ratings, or profit, such shootings are exceptionally rare. Of course, a large amount of the focus is on the AR-15 reportedly used,the gun control advocates would like gullible Americans to think without which Adam Lanza would not have been capable of such carnage. But if you remember the Virginia Tech shooting on April 16th, 2007. Seung-Hui Cho managed to kill 32 people, then himself, with nothing more than a .22LR caliber Walther P22 and 9mm Glock 19; the Walther with a magazine capacity of ten rounds and the Glock a bit more at fifteen. There is little discussion of firearms in the Everytown analysis, probably because they are virtually all handguns or the suggested firearm for home defense of Vice President Joe Biden, a shotgun.

Let’s look at that the lack of analysis this “analysis” gives us, as it’s little more than a picture of a crying woman and a list of schools at which a firearm was discharged on or nearby campus grounds since December 2012. Thirty-nine people dead, because of school shootings, between December 13th, 2012 and mid-April 2014. It’s hard to find statistics for causes of death even near that number. The United States averages roughly 51 deaths due to lightning strikes per year, over the last 20 years; according to NOAA. According to the CDC, there was an average of 3,533 unintentional drownings per year for the years of 2005-2009. Yet where is a politically motivated and affluent billionaire to launch a safety campaign outlining the dangers of pools or thunderstorms?

The fact that Mayor Bloomberg has taken Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s now infamous quote “never let a good crisis go to waste” to heart, is no surprise. But who thinks about the political realities of why someone is making moves against one of the GOP’s biggest political lobbies, using a tragedy like Newtown as the crest on their flag; when they are busy being emotionally compromised by the idea of children being gunned down in their school classrooms?

Among the 39 deaths, there is a justified case of self-defense, a possible case of self-defense, and seven cases of nothing more then suicides by firearm. The biggest trend among these “school shootings” is the shooters and victims are young black men. This reality is in stark contrast to the media image of upper-class white elementary school kids gunned down by socially awkward psychopaths with AR-15’s or other “assault weapons”. Few if any of the mainstream gun safety campaigns reflect the reality of gun violence. Remember, you are more likely to be killed by bee stings than you are to be shot on or around a school campus.

In conclusion, this emotional appeal by Mr. Bloomberg seems to be all about coercing a population into following his politics through emotional appeal. His advocacy gives them an audience of motivated people controlled by their emotions. What could a powerful person do with this audience aside from campaign against guns. I signed up at this website to get the newsletter. This newsletter only talks about political activism for those that seem to not be able to make up their own mind. Be aware of those that appeal to your emotion, because they may not appeal to your interests.

Note: The author received help from “Glocktopus”, a member of the notorious “Donk Chat” in writing this article.

1 note · View note

tristala · 5 years

Text

Star vs the Forces of Evil Finale (Spoilers) Part 5 Final:

I remember the time when I used to imagine what the ending of this series might be. The possibilities were endless and fascinating. I used to anticipate those new episodes and browse the fandom for theories. But now in the last months it had, I just wanted to get it over with.

In all of the series finales I have ever watched in my life as of now, Cleaved is the worst one I have ever seen. It was even worse than Samurai Jack’s ending.

So you’re telling me that Tom Lucitor, one of Star’s and Marco’s closest friends, was forgotten by the same “best friends” that he’s ever had? I know that everything was chaotic but they didn’t even show that they stopped to think where he is?

Was destroying the magic really the only thing they could do? Was there really no other way? Star suddenly just made a very rash decision/revelation. They could have gone through with Eclipsa’s suggestion and tried to fight Mina or just come up with something else. Star claims that magic was the root of all the problems but have they stopped to think about the good things too?

Did Star ever thought about the magical beings made out of magic? Her spells? The MHC? They were problematic yes but she kinda grew up knowing them. Why didn’t they show her hesitating at all?

And Marco. You have known Hekapoo for over 16 years but you have barely shown any remorse or sadness that your old friend, who you have known for more than half of your life and known far more and longer than Star, is going to just die? Just like that? Do you feel nothing at all?

An “I’ll miss her.” is not a good show of sorrow people.

ALSO him getting stabbed didn’t matter at all. It was all for the trailer to hype the fans. That’s pathetic. No side effects to the stab wound at all. Nothing.

It did not give me any sense of satisfaction at all to see Mina getting defeated like that. I really don’t like the fact that Solaria was just frowning and coldly staring at her most loyal subordinate getting beaten down and kind of getting drowned by the dark unicorn. It disturbed me. It didn’t feel right. Solaria was almost the same. I bet she has even killed innocent monsters and their children. I feel her character doesn’t have the right to judge Mina when she has done the same.

Mina is of course, not an innocent person. She is a crazy monster hating fanatic but who was responsible for it all? Solaria. She was the one who experimented on her and while I know that Mina volunteered, she probably didn’t know that she’d turn coo-coo and be alone for centuries. Mina could have been a great antagonist but she didn’t have enough screen time. I understand why she became what she is now but a full flashback episode couldn’t have hurt.

This series has shown that not all monsters and mewmans are evil but then they could have, should have delved into that more. Both sides have their reasons for war but it really would have helped if They. Have. Shown. More.

Hence I shall talk about another wasted character that I couldn’t stop mentioning because he was such a waste.

Toffee is literally my favorite character. There was so much mystery with him I was so intrigued that it kept me up at some nights thinking about what his past was or what’s his next move.

What did the Butterflies do to him to make him hate their magic so much? How did he meet Glossaryck? How did he rise up and become a general? What was his relationship with Seth?

There still so many questions. But no, they just killed him off. Just like that. Again.

Star has always been selfish and that’s fine, she’s a spoiled, privileged princess who didn’t know much about the world yet she did grow throughout the show. But I never thought that she would be so willing to never see her family and friends and her world just to be with a boy she loves. That was so selfish.

I actually understand Marco’s decision more because he was freaking stabbed by a unicorn with dark magic so he might have thought that returning to Earth would just be heartbreaking for his loved ones to see him die or something. Or maybe he also just cares about Star and Star alone. Who knows at this point. I mean this is the Marco who has become numb to his own parents.

The music was so dramatic and epic. It builds up at the right time but I wish it was used for a completely different finale for the show. The scenes it was used for didn’t do justice for it.

“Because with or without magic,”

“We belong together.”

I vomited inside guys.

Star and Marco. You are emotional teenagers. Romantic love isn’t the ultimate love of all. Get over yourselves. I hate that the series is showing that romance is the only thing that matters. That two people having that type of love don’t need anything or anyone else. That’s a messed up message to send.

And all of this is happening just after Star, Moon, Eclipsa and Meteora committed genocide.

Those people, those unicorns, those spells had their own thoughts, their own will and their own lives. They had families and they all just died for a gamble that a teenager has rashly made.

All of the creatures made out of pure magic are dead and majority didn’t get a say to it.

When Ponyhead was “comforting” Star it was all sorts of wrong for me. They will never see some of their friends again. But why can Ponyhead still fly? And how did she know about their friends and their other worlds? Was she lying? This all just feel forced with them laughing and feeling better. Also, does this mean Tom can go back to his home? Does he still have his powers?

And the way they treated the Magical High Commission’s deaths were very disturbing, at least to me. I am aware that they have done horrible things but the way their deaths were portrayed as a joke is frankly messed up.

Another thing is Ludo’s arc is also one of my more favorite arcs of the story. I was looking forward to him having more screen time now that he has kind of recovered and grew as a person. Him and Dennis were adorable and I wish there was more content of them. I was hoping they would appear in the finale but I wasn’t surprised that they just appeared for like a few seconds.

And finally, the merging of Mewni and Earth. For the last time, the show treated it like it was a good thing, the music used for it was so lighthearted and hopeful while you see humans running away in horror and some being victims of other creatures. I bet a lot has already died. There will be upcoming destruction and culture shock on both worlds. There will be even more fear and discrimination for the monsters. There will be wars. It was horrifying and so fucked up.

But hey, at least we got our OTP back together right? RIGHT? This ending is so fucked up. Fuck off finale.

The only things that I actually liked was Moon and Eclipsa seeing their mothers for the last time (Though I’m still iffy about Solaria having “redemption” if that’s what you’re gonna call it) and the music.

God the music was amazing. It’s the kind of music for an epic finale which the series didn’t give. Such a waste.

So, let’s sum this up:

Star committed genocide of pure magical creatures and prevented other people from seeing their friends and family ever again. She and Marco have an unhealthy obsession with each other to the point that they were willing to leave their parents and friends forever just be with each other. Moon was given a slap on the wrist and was forgiven easily for endangering hundreds of innocent lives. Earth and Mewni are now cleaved together so now the monsters will be in even more danger and be more prone to discrimination.

Four years of character development and plot buildup just flushed down the toilet.

I was in love with this series. It was one of my top cartoons. But ever since season 3 it just went for the worse. Instead of me getting excited for a new episode, I watched it like I’m watching it out of obligation with some dread almost every time.

I know kept saying this but it had so so much potential. It could have been great. This could have been a classic cartoon that people would love to rewatch. A show like Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Avatar The Last Airbender. But all of it was wasted unnecessary drama on romantic love. 35% of those episodes were about romance. If they had just gotten over with it or didn’t have much focus on it the show could have been much more fleshed out.

It’s just so sad that a lot of people put a lot of heart and hard work on this series for it to end up like this.

I will miss Star vs the Forces of Evil but I will miss it mainly for the wasted potential it had.

To all the people who read this rant or the other parts of my rants, thank you.

Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4

220 notes · View notes

coffeeandcalligraphy · 5 years

Text

Animal Instinct + Dead Disco | Writing Update

Hey People of Earth!

We’re back with another Moth Work update because ya girl has finished two chapters and is here to spill all the tea! If you missed update one, and two, be sure to check them out before reading this one! I’ve been having a bit of cabin fever with this project lately which has made it difficult to really immerse myself into the project. But we’re almost at the 20k mark of this project which is wILD! I never imagined writing so much of this story (which was initially just a guilty pleasure) and I’m happy with how much I’ve learned about my characters just through this small detour in the series.

The first chapter I’ll be updating on is chapter four, ANIMAL INSTINCT.

This chapter was a giant pain to finish! It had about 5000 revisions mid-draft, and I definitely feel like I had blinkers on when writing it. Because of that, I lost sight of the big picture and really got stuck on the little things, like the writing and overall quality of the project. This was not actually the purpose of Moth Work--it was supposed to be a dumping ground for whatever. However, in this chapter, I became really hyperfocused on all the small details I disliked which made drafting it a month-long process. I’ve now come to a slightly healthier place with quality in this draft, and found a middle ground between trash-dumping and nitpicking.

What’s it about?

Animal Instinct is a major point of tension for Lonan and Harrison as their goals deviate. This chapter focuses heavily on the volatility of their relationship and highlights Lonan’s current irrational mental state. The title stems from this idea of calculated action for the sake of a single person’s benefit.

The writing bit:

I struggled to write this chapter quite a bit. It took me the majority of July to complete because of a major logic problem I kept running into. After struggling for a few days, I finally realized by fleshing out what I’d written initially, I could overwrite the logic problem. The solution took a lot of work/test scenes to figure out, but eventually I got it!

Excerpts:

I shared this excerpt before because it’s one of the only paragraphs I don’t mind in this chapter! I think the flow is a lil funky but I dig the concept! This outlines the last bits of the cabin, specifically Harrison’s final check around the perimeter.

Around the corner, the back patio is static—like Anna and her son never stopped sitting there. Her bowl of avocado and Greek yogurt—the holistic remedy Emily said would make her glow like an angel—sits gummy and pestered with flies. One of Milo’s toys is wedged under the cheap lawn chair. It haunts him, seeing them while not seeing them, but he leaves everything like it is. Anna and her son will always remain on the patio, Anna with her cheekbones splayed for the moon, Milo babbling mildly about his father like he hasn’t made the connection. They’ve gone invisible.

After this first scene, Harrison does some driving in the dark which gives me major book three vibes lol, and eventually pulls into a motel somewhere in Nevada. This route from Oregon to Boston makes no sense but I conveniently needed Lonan to end up in Vegas, so!! do it for Vegas!!

In the motel, Harrison meets Jeremiah, his potential new man lol. Harrison is focused on getting in and out of there as quickly as possible, but he’s like dang mans teeth are the straightest I ever did see (me too tho). Because he gets distracted, he fails to notice his car turn off, and only makes the connection after passing it a few times in the parking lot. He minorly paniques as he looks for Lonan, but eventually finds him around the building.

The scene that follows gets volatile as heck, and really showcases how similar Lonan and Reeve are? Like dang that whole family tho? (Can I join?)

I’m not going to share much of this scene because she gets dramatic, but this is the wildest dialogue I’ve written in a while and I think I’m going to steal it and make Reeve say it because something like this would come out of her mouth:

“Do you feel that, Harrison? I could burn you with a cigarette and call it a wolf bite and nobody would know the difference.”

sounds normal at first then NOPE

The next chapter (chapter 5) is called Dead Disco:

This chapter came together very quickly because I’d had it basically planned out, however, it veered into an emotional direction I wasn’t expecting. This chapter was supposed to be fun and lighthearted, and it ended up being... not that??

What’s it about?

After the tragic drama that occurs in the previous chapter, Harrison wakes up the next morning to notice that Lonan has #left and #taken the car. This is v/ not good, but instead of getting super worked up he chooses to chill out at Jeremiah’s place and chill ft. some disco. I meant for it to be cute but Harrison ends up in a mental place I wasn’t expecting, so the chapter feels a bit “derealized” to me. After both Lonan and Harrison head out on their solo endeavors, they meet back up and this encounter ends *badly*.

Playlist:

July 31st Rachel was feeling very enthusiastic about the playlist for this chapter (I was writing while listening to music) and wrote down a list of songs that describe the progression of this chapter (in order + all Nothing But Thieves because predictable!):

Holding Out For A Hero

Crazy

Afterlife

Hanging

Excuse Me

Forever & Ever More

You Know Me Too Well

I’m Not Made By Design

Amsterdam

Number 13

Itch

Hostage

BUT SHOUTOUT TO: Disco by Surf Curse

Probably the most accurate vibe here lol

Excerpts:

This first excerpt is Harrison angsting hard about missing his friends. I don’t *love* her but I don’t *hate* her! I tried revising it but it... flopped, so here’s the failed revision:

Lonan could say those words and it haunts him, how easily he taints him like a bad omen. There are so many things Emily would tell him to do to cleanse the bad magic, but Harrison recalls none of them properly. He remembers words like moon, and black walnut, and quartz crystal, and cardamom, but can’t think of what to do with any. He wishes he were like Foster, curious enough to carry around a pocket dictionary, or like his mother, clever enough to make something up on a whim. All Harrison can do is bury his face in his palms outside the restaurant and hope no one watches him. The main road bustles by and he wishes to be invisible, like Anna and her son. He wants his friends back. Foster could lull him to consciousness with a quiz on the different kinds of plants, which are edible, which are poisonous. Reeve would split a cigarette with him and scare him back to life with her driving. Emily will never speak to him but at least she’d cast a curse on him, and even that’s better than his nullified state of living. It’s disorienting, to feel asleep while awake. Harrison blinks hard, but everything feels the same—the buildings all shimmering, the people staring barely even people, everything derealized like it’s all been coated in REM.

(tag urself i’m foster’s pocket dictionary)

This next excerpt outlines Harrison getting turnt with his new man and then getting philosophical? drunk Harrison be Aristotle and Madonna smushed together idk

Harrison knows he shouldn’t drink around a stranger but Jeremiah’s got a handmade bracelet and scribbly tattoos on his forearm so it’s hard not to trust him. Photo prints of hostels in Japan, statues in Europe, cathedrals in Paraguay decorate the walls in perfectly cut rectangles. Each is plumed with a dried flower and it reminds Harrison so much of Emily, he has to look away, back to the Lonan-coloured drink. He studies the shot glass like it isn’t transparent, the grooves around the perimeter, the engraving that reads Cancun 1987. He loses Jeremiah’s absent swish around him, and gets lost in the blue. The trifecta amazes him, how a colour as unnatural as this has manifested in Lonan’s eyes, his earring, this drink. He tips the glass back and finishes it in one go, and even though it’s strong and should taste like artificial blueberries, his mouth is tasteless and numb.

“You live here alone?” Harrison asks, raking his fingers through his hair. The apartment overlooks the strip across the street and Harrison gets lost in it, the artificial signs like bad advertising, the neons ill like influenza. When he looks toward Jeremiah again, his glass is refilled and he has to think hard to remember if he emptied it in the first place.

This is where Harrison manages to make disco big sad + some lowkey salt at Lonan which is always! a! win!:

Together, they move in a trance, limber and manic. The glass in Harrison’s hand isn’t a weight—it’s a lifeline. The apartment blurs, and waves in slow motion. Harrison doesn’t hear the music or taste the drink; he feels nothing in the ground, and everything in his tongue. His hair swims in his face like Lonan’s, moving like he did in the water, careless in his forehead, his eyes. The pictures on the wall become the pictures in his bedroom, and the blinking doesn’t get rid of them. In his sidesteps with Jeremiah he sees him, in the glass, across the street, under a streetlamp. Taking his cigarettes, his light, his car, his mouth like a cannibal.

To end this update, here’s some dialogue ft. savagery:

“You’re patronizing me.”

“You’re patronizing yourself.”

A meme to accompany this lol:

So that’s it for this update! At the time of drafting most of this post (which was a few weeks ago), I wasn’t really feeling this project, however, after writing chapter 6 and switching POVs into Lonan’s head (where there’s lots of messy stuff to work with), I’ve been having a lot of fun!

I’m sorry updates have been slow on this blog--I’m in the process of moving so I’m getting busy, however, I hope to post at least one more update before I go off to school! Thanks for reading. :)

--Rachel

#writing #writeblr #amwriting #writerblr #fostered #writingupdates #mothwork

22 notes · View notes

dramaworlduk · 5 years

Text

Drama recommendations!

Part 2!!

<-Part 1

11. The Legend Of The Blue Sea

There’s history, mythology, mystery, romance, and comedy- what more could you want?! Heo Joon-jae (Lee Min-ho) is the son of a rich businessman who becomes a handsome and clever con-man after his parents' divorce. Shim Cheong (Jun Ji-hyun) is a mermaid who becomes lost and runs into him. First only sticking by her for material gain, Joon-Jae slowly realises his feelings are a little stronger than that. Their tale is juxtaposed with the parallel story of their Joseon era incarnations, town head Kim Dam-ryeong and the mermaid Se-hwa. Cheong is absolutely adorable as she learns to adapt to human life, and strikes up friendships with some of the strangest people. Joon-Jae is a scumbag with a heart and a tragic past and it is very difficult not to love them both. The added element of mystery with a murderer on the loose and Cheong’s attempt to hide her identity make for a full and intriguing story that you won’t want to take your eyes off of.

Year: 2016

Where Can I Watch?: KissAsian

Episodes: 20, 1hr length

12. Pinocchio

Choi In-Ha (Park Shin-Hye) hiccups every time she lies. Choi Dal-Po’s (Lee Jong-Suk) life was ruined by the lies the media spread about his family. He is adopted by In-Ha’s family and they grow up together, battling back their feelings for each other and the cutthroat business of reporting which they’ve both found themselves pursuing. It explores the value and falldowns of honesty and how the media can be manipulated and faked. Friends->lovers plus lovely family bonds and the importance of empathy. Very good drama, emotive and charming, 100% recommend.

Year: 2014

Where Can I Watch?: Netflix

Episodes: 20, 1hr length

13. The Heirs

This ones a really good one if you’re starting off, as it’s not too heavy or complicated. Kim Tan (Lee Min-Ho), a wealthy heir to a large Korean conglomerate, and Cha Eun-Sang (Park Shin-Hye) meet in America when Eun-Sang goes to visit her sister. After a failed encounter, Kim Tan offers to let Eun-Sang stay with him before she goes back to Korea. Despite being engaged to Yoo Rachel (Kim Ji-won), a fellow heiress, Kim Tan soon falls in love with Eun-sang. When Eun-Sang returns to Korea, Kim Tan also returns. Tan’s ex best friend Choi Young-Do (Kim Woo-Bin) notices Tan’s softspot for the new girl and begins to pursue her too. It explores teenage trials and tribulations in the lives of the rich and the poor, as well as pressures from the adult world.

Year: 2013

Where Can I Watch?: Netflix

Episodes: 20, 1hr length

14. Hymn Of Death

This three-parter channels Titanic with its tragic love story and historical setting. You go into this knowing there will be heartbreak, but it still hurts so much!! It is based on the true story of the tragic romance between Joseon's first soprano Yun Sim-deok (Shin Hye-Sun) and a genius playwright Kim Woo-jin (Lee Jong-Suk). It is heartbreaking to see the two fall for eachother knowing they cannot be together for far too many reasons. It spans a number of years and their love remains strong throughout. The quotes in this from Woo-jin’s real journals are beautiful too and add to the real life story. A must watch, if not for the story, then for Shin Hye-Sun and Lee Jong-Suk’s acting which is fantastic throughout.

Year: 2018

Where Can I Watch?: Netflix

Episodes: 3, 1hr length

15. My Love From Another Star

Alien Do Min-Jun (Kim Soo-Hyun) whose time on earth is nearly up meets Famous actress Cheong Song-Yi (Jun Ji Hyun) as she moves in next-door to him. He finds himself entangled in Song-yi's crazy and unpredictable situations, and finds out that she looks like a young girl he fell in love with in the Joseon era. Song-Yi’s best friend Lee Hee-kyung (Park Hae-jin), is in love with her, but his older brother Lee Jae-kyung (Shin Sung-rok) has a dark secret and will get rid of anyone who finds out about it or gets in his way. This drama can be very intense at times wih the threat of Jae-kyung, but Song-Yi’s sweet, comedic personality serves for some very humourous moments too.

Year: 2014

Where Can I Watch?: Netflix

Episodes: 21, 1hr length

16. W: Two Worlds

Bad boy with a heart of gold?? Comic book world??? Violence and mystery?? Adorable, loyal sidekick?? Badass doctor who can travel between worlds?? LEE JONG SUK LOOKING HOT WITH A GUN?? W has it all. The premise is new and exciting, making for unpredictable plot twists and constant need for questions to be answered. W is a fictional bestselling webtoon in South Korea centering around the dramatic life of Kang Chul (Lee Jong-suk). Authored by Oh Seong-moo (Kim Eui-sung), somewhere along the line W became a living universe. The gap between the two worlds is crossed as Seong-moo's daughter, resident cardiothoracic surgeon Oh Yeon-joo (Han Hyo-joo) gets dragged into the webtoon world and is immediatel faced with saving Kang Chul’s life. Only, Kang Chul wasn’t meant to live. If you do one thing this year it should be to WATCH W. It’ll do you good, I promise.

Year: 2016

Where Can I Watch?: Netflix

Episodes: 16, 1hr length

17. While You Were Sleeping

A girl who sees the future in her dreams, and a seemingly unconnected new neighbour are brought together through a series of events. It is legal drama crossed with fantasy as Jung Jae-Chan (Lee Jong-suk) starts a new job at the prosecutor’s office despite his clumsy, goofy personality. Jae-Chan dreams about an accident which causes much grief and loss, and decides he must try to stop it, and in doing-so his connection with Nam Hong-Joo (Bae Suzy) is strengthened and their relationship blossoms. There are some great dynamics here, not only between Jae-Chan and Hong-Joo, but also with their friend Han Woo-Tak (Jung Hae-in), who begins to dream of the future too after his life is saved, and Choi Dam-Dong (Kim Won-hae) who is a funny but sweet father figure to Jae-Chan as he teaches him the ways of life as a prosecutor. Ruthless lawyer Lee Yu-Beom (Lee Sang-yeob)’s portayal is magnetic and captivating.

Year: 2017

Where Can I Watch?: KissAsian

Episodes: 32, 30min length

18. My ID Is Gangnam Beauty

Afraid of how her peers perceive her, Kang Mi-Rae (Im Soo-hyang) undergoes plastic surgery to stop worrying about her looks before she starts university. However, after a while at university people begin to label her as a ‘Gangnam plastic surgery monster’ as her appearance is a bit too obviously altered. Mi-rae struggles with her concerns of what people think about her, which has followed her around her whole life, in a stark contrast to Do Kyung-seok (Cha Eun-Woo), who does not care what others think. The general message of body positivity isn’t without its flaws, but it brings discussions of insecurity and societal standards to the forefront. The good messaging outweighs the flaws by far and there is also a fair bit of feminism going on, just keep track of Mi-rae’s T-shirt slogans! The relationship between Kyung-seok and Mi-rae is very sweet and shy, and Kyung-seok likes her regardless of what others think. Lighthearted but with an important message.

Year: 2018

Where Can I Watch?: Netflix

Episodes: 16, 1hr length

19. She Was Pretty

Kim Hye-Jin’s (Hwang Jung-eum) childhood friend contacts her years later wishing to reconnect. However, upon meeting Ji Sung-joon (Park Seo-joon) does not recognise her, expecting her to appear like her younger self. Kim Hye-jin was a beautiful girl from a rich family, but after her family's publishing company went bankrupt, she experienced hardships then lost her beauty too. Ji Sung-joon was a shy, unattractive boy, but grows up as a handsome and successful editor. Ashamed to meet her first love and ruin his perception of her, Hye-jin asks her attractive best friend, Min Ha-ri (Go Joon-hee), to act as her once, then make up an excuse to never see Sung-joon again. Things get complicated when Hye-jin is assigned to work at The Most magazine publishing office where Sung-joon is the deputy chief editor. He openly mistreats and belittles her for her clumsy nature, not knowing that she was his real childhood friend. Kim Shin-Hyuk () is the second lead in this and his performace is fantastic. The growth between Sung-joon and Hye-jin is definitely worth watching and messages about beauty resonate well.

Year: 2015

Where Can I Watch?: Netflix

Episodes: 16, 1hr length

20. Thirty But Seventeen

Although there are a fair few emotional moments, this show is still for the most part a light, heartwarming drama with little angst and struggle. Also, there are not really ny plausible second leads to confuse the romance storyline as Yoo Chan (Ahn Hyo-Seop) is Gong Woo-Jin’s (Yang Se-Jong) 19 year old nephew, and Kim Tae-Hyun has very little screen time. I feel this makes it a lot easier to connect to the main couple, who are ADORABLE. They are both still mentally 17, after Woo Seo-Ri (Shin Hye-Sun) was in a coma for 13 years, and Woo-Jin’s PTSD from the accident keeps him stuck on repeat. After waking from her coma, Seo-Ri returns to her old house, unaware that it is now under new ownership in the form of Woo-Jin’s family. There is still a lot of tropey goodness (living together!!), but the story and interactions feel fresh and unique, and the dynamic between Seo-Ri, Woo-Jin, Yoo Chan, and Jennifer (Ye Ji-Won) is enough to keep you watching as it’s so warm and pure. Not to mention the dog Paeng/Deok Gu!! I love them all so much and it’s just the sweetest!

Year: 2018

Where Can I Watch?: KissAsian

Episodes: 32, 30min length

74 notes · View notes

lands-of-fantasy · 5 years

Text

My problems with Elseworlds

- SPOILERS everywhere -

Look, I had a LOT of fun with this crossover (I sure laughed!! Also epic stuff!!!) but at the same time, there were a lot of things bothering me throughout the whole thing, and I think even more in part 3. Looong rant so first a

SHORT VERSION:

They spent a good portion of the whole thing shitting on Oliver (I’m not talking about the friendly teasing, those were cool). And a lot of the plot focused on Barry and Oliver, even though they said the crossover would focus on the Trinity - like, Kara’s part was kinda separate from theirs? And I was like, ok, but I thought part 3 would give her more spotlight but it did NOT do her justice.

And now I’m afraid of the outcome of next year’s crossover.

LONG VERSION:

Idk man the writing on this crossover seemed kinda all over the place sometimes. Just to be clear right away: I like all 3 shows and their 3 leads.

You know, as much as I always look forward to the Crossovers and enjoy them, I think I’m always a bit disappointed because their storylines are just SO weird and out of nowhere and everybody seems to be written slightly(?) out of character. Like, one thing they do a lot is get each character trait and AMPLIFY them, as if they are trying to show us “oh look how different they are from one another!!!” - i mean, yes, we know, you don’t need to exaggerate them to show that.

But like, ok, the crossovers are about having fun seeing the heroes teaming up, so I just go with it.

So when this crossover was announced it seemed to have some epic concepts (Batwoman, Superman and Lois, focus on the Trinity), but also the body swap thing seemed...too weird. But again, this is just how things are, it can be fun! An you know what? It was!!!! I had fun with it - I laughed a LOT. And there were important things coming out of it - introspection from Oliver’s part and the boys understanding each other better.

Things were pretty good in the first 2 episodes, but sometimes there were some scenes that really took me out of it like what the hell???

ABOUT OLIVER (and other stuff):

Who apparently is basically the leader in the crossovers (cause he usually calls the shots) but also some sort of edgy bad person/monster or some shit (stop.pushing.both. Like, it’s cool that he leads sometimes but, other times, it feels forced to me. Balance, people)

Like, as a whole, the Event seemed to want to both elevate and shit on Oliver? at one scene they were propping him up as this Big Hero while in another they are making him look like a Big Jerk/Bad Person? Both in unnecessary/uncalled ways? Look, I know Oliver can be difficult and, sometimes, a bit of a jerk but like...??? Not that much??? And not at this point in life??

I usually brush the exaggerations off but sometimes it’s a bit TOO much. And why do we have to make one hero stand above/beneath others? That’s not the point. They are supposed to focus on everybody’s strengths equally!! I was a bit relieved when, after showing as if Oliver would be the one doing the biggest move in the saving, alone, he actually did it by trusting/relying/betting on Kara and Barry “they are our biggest chance to win this” (or something like that) - and convincing the monitor of that. Then probably exchanging his life for theirs because he had to make his heroic move too. (Like, I know without the duo slowing down the rewrite of reality none of this would have been possible but seeing them “just” running while Oliver goes solve the problem is not the same). And speaking of exchange, I am Really scared about them actually killing him next year? Because Arrow started first so one could expect it to end first - that thought has haunted the back of my mind for a while now. I really wish they would end the 3 shows at the same time, because they are connected, even if not all the time. And it’s not like Arrow started THAT much earlier.

By the way I’m not sure I like that they had both Kara and Barry risking their lives in a move that wasn’t going to save the world directly, just giving time for the others to MAYBE save it (they didn’t even had a proper plan on how to do it). Not to mention that, as far as we know, they were not going to die if Deegan rewrote reality again? They would just need to try AGAIN. Unless I’m forgetting something.

Again, I usually brush it off, but it does bother me. Plus, crossovers were always side stories, a fun way of seeing everyone together, a pause from the main storylines. But suddenly it seems it got serious?? Like, serious, ok, but out of nowhere it seems deadly???? I really hope things are not gonna get that serious on Crisis but how can I not fear it, after how this one ended and by the nature of the comics story?? I know they don’t really follow the comics plotlines, but still. Cause really, I don’t think Kara and Barry are in danger, but what about Oliver??

[ Just a separate note here: I WAS surprised last year with Stein’s death cause, again, I never expected people to die in crossovers - I actually cried in that scene, whoa - but while Stein was an og Legend and a main, he was not THE main character of the show and they were already building up to his exit of the show beforehand, so this time, with the perspective of maybe killing one of the leads I feel like it’s really bizarre and out of place. Really hoping I’m worried for nothing ]

They always want to sell the storylines as serious threats, which I get on some level - it needs to be something big to require the team up or whatever. But they frequently make some scenes that feel a bit...forced to me? Like back when Vandal Savage first appeared and suddenly they were all dying and Barry had to go tot he past and change things? Like, what? But sure, ok. But this time there was part 1 - with people being overly dramatic about Barry “giving in to darkness” or whatever while trying to emulate Oliver?? Like, tone it down, it’s not that serious - and if it was, it surely didn’t feel like it was to me. It just felt like an exaggeration. I completely understand they don’t want Barry to be like Oliver but again, Oliver is not a monster and Barry was only acting as Green Arrow for a few days, what’s the drama??? To be honest the way they were both trying to emulate one another felt forced to me at times - the script asked for Drama around this, but it all happened in a few days, they can’t actually change who they are like that, stop pretending so (I GUESS it’s perhaps a leftover from having living each other’s lives in this reality, even though they don’t remember it??? Only half logical explanation, even though this was never addressed). Maybe it’s only me, Idk.

And when Oliver was a jerk to Barry in that talk in Smallville - he later admitted he was just upset with how Barry seemed to be doing things well as GA without having to go through things he did, and later we see him praising Barry (twice(!), I think?) for who he is which was Genuinely Great (the fear gas thing was good, wow) , but honestly, that little fight on the farm was TOO much and did require he actually saying “sorry”. I mean, he shouldn’t even have said that to begin with. I really think he wouldn’t say those things about Barry (Barry himself pointed out some of his arguments were pure bullshit). Idk what was up with that.

Also as we saw Oliver not believing in Batman’s existence, saying it was a myth created by the GCPD or whatever - sure, ok, but he goes like “I was the original vigilante” I just...... It was just to make us laugh but at the same time, it seems so petty? Which I get is the point, but.... You know, I was almost giving them a pass for some of these cause I feel past crossovers (and even this one at times) want to push Oliver as the main here, so they wanted to show his is not above the others, but whoa, they were actually dragging him?? To see Barry, and even Kara, teasing him doesn’t bother me, I like it, but to see people continuously talking about him as if he is straight up horrible? too much. It all piles up and upsets me. The “cheating with the sister” thing? That was a REALLY shitty thing Oliver did, yes, but that Oliver is from like, over 10 years ago? Barry didn’t even know him back then. WE only saw him through flashbacks. Why do that. Specially IF they are planning on finishing Arrow, why shit on him that much, specially for ooold past deeds, when we are nearing the end? That comparison between the couples also didn’t even make sense, I don’t care what couple you prefer or think it’s best, you do you, but the way they did it was not even fair.

ok this one might be dramatic on my part XD but I want to talk about the lack of a hug: I get that it’s kind of a joke and a way of breaking the pattern, but also....really? I’ve felt like this thing has been a bit forced for years too cause Oliver never had a problem with hugging people he is actually close to, even if he doesn’t do it often depending on the person. And honestly I think at this point we can agree Barry is close enough. And if Oliver did exchange his life for theirs...and he even went with a toast about “appreciating what we have as long as we have it”!!! And then he denies the hug? I feel like they are saving that for next year, but Idk man, we could have both and make them different too. Oliver better initiate that hug at some point, tbh.

By the way, sometimes they make Oliver seem way too lighthearted too, in what feels like a forced way to me as well.

ABOUT KARA (and co.):

Who is frequently sidelined

Seriously, when will they let Team Supergirl be an actual part of a crossover, for at least one episode as themselves?? I say that cause alternate versions of them don’t count. It’s been 3 years, seriously. We already lost the opportunity to use Winn, when will J’onn be included?? That was just a nod to him. Like, Brainy barely got here and his part was actually better than J’onn’s.

Not to mention Kara should have been more active in part 3 - that really bugged me! The Oliver and Barry bromance is one of my favorite things in these shows and I always love to see Clark but I feel the writers did Kara dirty on part 3. She should have fought with Deegan Superman. Twice I thought she was going to, and twice they didn’t deliver (particularly when she finally got her suit back). And while the Clois proposal was very cute (listen, I love Clark), I just....why put it in the end of the episode? It felt weird to me, this is Kara’s show, not Clark’s. And we had the baby’s announcement already. Maybe it wouldn’t bother me as much if they had given Kara more things to do, Idk.

And I actually got upset with that talk about Clark leaving Earth for an indeterminate time - He usually doesn’t show up anyway, why add that? Weird. Maybe worrisome.

Finally, when they said they wanted to focus on the Trinity I thought they meant it as a team. Not Barry and Oliver + Kara and Clark (with bonus Kate and alternate Alex). They did have time together and all, but sometimes...eeh. Tbh alternate Alex seemed to have been shoved in just to make the episode feel a little more like Supergirl, but the good thing about it is that with Alex there Kara actually escaped her cell without the need of the guys coming in - but then they didn’t follow it through by giving the fight to Superman.

Also in my opinion there was too little of Batwoman - I’m not personally upset about it, I wanted them to focus on the trio anyway. Besides I only know the character from like, 2 batman animated movies or whatever. But judging by the promos I thought she would be more in it. I knew having the 3 main plus Clark and Clois plus Kate was a lot...

#elseworlds #arrowverse #arrow #supergirl #kara danvers #a!oliver queen #elseworlds spoilers #I feel weird complaining this much but I needed to say it :p

1 note · View note

dazais-guardian-angel · 5 years

Note

I mean, based on what I remember, the books were kind of a tragicomedy, which is a difficult tone to get right. Which, you kinda have to, because the comedic moments are part of what keeps the tragic tone from being too overbearing, but if you lean too far towards the comedic, then the tragic parts feel more forced. It's a VERY delicate balance that you have to strike.

Yeah, you’re not wrong there. There’s definitely hilarity to be found in the ridiculousness in some of the events that occur, even if the peril and darkness in said events is very real. But in the books, a huge part of the comedy comes from Lemony’s narrating style, where he goes off on a lot of wild tangents and uses really specific, funny, sometimes ironic metaphors and figures of speech in order to tell the story in a humorous way, and if you take out the narration and only include it rarely, which the show does by having him talk onscreen sometimes about current events, that strips away a lot of the funniness of it, which the show tries to make up for by adding its own jokes and comedy into the actual story itself, which....... sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Overall the show has a very slapstick-y, quick, snappy pace to it, in order to land the jokes, and doesn’t give itself much time to slow down and breathe to let the emotion of tragic events set in, before it’s moving on to keep up the pace (the best example of this is the Klaus birthday cry scene in TVV part 2; it happens, technically, but it’s over so fast that it barely has an impact), and that its biggest problem. I don’t think it necessarily needed to be all doom and gloom 24/7, it just... didn’t need to have so much comedy. The movie is an example of what you get when the funny narration style is removed, and what’s left is the core of the story, which is quiet and thoughtful and reserved and about the kids’ relationship and the emotions that come with them being together, which is only rarely a focus in the show (the scene with them eating with Hal in THH? GOOD. The scene in TSS where Sunny tells Violet she wants to stay in the cage? SO FUCKING GOOD, THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE LIKE THIS).

Opinions vary about this from person to person, but to me, asoue doesn’t have to be a comedy; it’s only comedic in the writing style, which was needed to appeal to children, the series’ target demographic; as a kid, of course I loved this, but as an adult, the deeper themes and messages of the story itself are what appeal to me way more now. And the show misses the point of these themes, with how its turned VFD into a one-dimensional black and white organization where all of the “good guys” are noble and pure and have it together completely and have nothing but good intentions and try to help, instead of everyone being morally grey and either malicious or well-meaning but useless in the books, and with having the Baudelaires’ main focus being nothing but trying to learn more about VFD from as early as TRR I think, when in the books they were more preoccupied with their, you know, hardships and trauma and emotions. Add in the fact that there’s so much comedy and lighthearted pacing that they literally do not know how to make things too depressing and emotional at ALL, and... yeah. It’s not that they tried to strike that balance between comedy and darkness and failed; they made a very deliberate choice to lean more into the funny side of asoue that comes from its writing style instead of the emotions of what actually goes on in the story, and only rarely do they linger on the emotional, hard-hitting stuff for more than a minute or so (again, saying this without having finished s3 yet). The themes of child abuse, the cycle of abuse, moral ambiguity, etc, that resonated with a lot of people when they read the series, as well as the emotional bonds between the characters and just everything interesting about said characters, the show chose not to focus on, instead making the point of it more like a mystery/adventure/thriller/dramatic comedy, with some unnecessary additional romance thrown in that adds absolutely nothing to the narrative and only drags it down.

tl;dr, I love Lemony’s metaphors, the fourth wall breaking jokes, and the hilarious one-liners just as much as anyone else does (whenever Olaf is being a drama queen I consider to be the most appropriate comedy in the show imo, it just feels right lol; NPH is one of the best parts of the show honestly), but that’s just unnecessary fluff, it’s not what asoue really is, and I may be laughing at some of it as a person purely watching the show as a standalone thing, but as a fan of the books, it doesn’t capture the right tone at all 90% of the time, and in my humble, personal opinion, comedy isn’t really necessary at all to adapt it, even if the original books had comedy.

#replies #GOD WHY DO I WRITE ESSAY RESPONSES TO EVERYTHING ;SLKGHKGL;'S;LKGK #swapauanon

1 note · View note

x0401x · 7 years

Text

Gakuen K Drama CD: Bread Party

Raw version here. Please feel free to message me about possible corrections.

Kuro: Gakuen K ~Wonderful School Days~ V Edition Bonus Drama CD – Bread Party.

Rikio: Right side, fine. Left side, fine. Looks like the Blue Club ain’t here. Okay, on with the trade. Did you bring the goods?

[Rustling sounds]

Rikio: Whoohoho! That’s it, that’s it! *sniff* From the smell, it’s pretty high quality... huhu! I can’t handle it! Didn’t you guys use a pretty neat powder for this? Thought so! Just the change in smell is already making me dizzy. Here, your reward. Take it. Thanks for always. Lots of people are looking forward to this! Hm, then, I’ll be going, but... don’t get caught by the Blue Club. If they ever find out that we, the Red Club, are doing this kind of trading with the Culinary Club in the shadows...

Saruhiko: What you doing there?!

Rikio: Guh?! Fushimi...!

Saruhiko: Deliberate trades involving money are forbidden within the academy’s premises. Show me what you’ve got in your hands.

Rikio: Ooh?! This is... Hehehehe... This is the last thing I can hand over!! *runs*

Saruhiko: Tsk! *dials* Ah, Captain! Please come to the front of the Red Club’s clubroom right now.

Reishi: Did something happen?

Saruhiko: I’ll explain later! Please hurry!

Reishi: To think you of all people would be in such a haste... Rarities really do happen. Understood. I shall go immediately.

Izumo: Yata-chan, how’ve ye been lately?

Misaki: “How”? What do you mean?

Izumo: What I mean? When someone asks a teenage boy ‘bout how he’s doin’, it’s obvious that they’re goin’ fer a lighthearted talk.

Misaki: “Lighthearted talk”? Is it about a kidnapping or something?

T/N: The pun here is that Misaki mistakes the word 薄いた (lighthearted) for 失いた (disappearance) because they’re pronounced the same way.

Izumo: No... that ain’t it...

Rikio: *panting* Yata-san! Kusanagi-san! Bad news!

Misaki: What’s wrong? What happened?!

Rikio: Our trading with the Culinary Club... was found out... by that bastard Fushimi of the Blue Club!

Izumo: What’d ye say?!

Rikio: *gasp*

Reishi: I had been thinking since long ago that your relationship with the Culinary Club was suspicious. You have finally let your tail out, haven’t you?

Misaki: Blue Club... grr...

Izumo: So ye’ve been markin’ us from the start, huh?

Reishi: Now, may we have your explanation?

Izumo: My, my, no need ta rush like that. First, how ‘bout we take it slow and have some tea?

Reishi: So you do not have the will to cooperate? If that is your intention, we must take corresponding measures. Fushimi-kun. Confiscate the proof that he is holding.

Saruhiko: Yes.

Rikio: Aaah! Wait a min—ioaeugisydojogau

Saruhiko: Here you go.

Misaki: Kamamoto...! Saru, you bastard! What’re you doing?!

Saruhiko: You got a problem, Misaki? I don’t mind being your opponent right here and now!

Misaki: Of course I got a problem, you—

Izumo: Theeere! Stop, stop! I’m beggin’, don’t wreak havoc inside the bar! Yata-chan. Ye remember the number of goods ye’ve broken until now?

Misaki: A-Ack...!

Izumo: If ye break anythin’ else, I’ll turn into flames of wrath... in the literal sense.

Rikio: Yata-san... if it’s about me, I’m okay...

Misaki: But...!

Saruhiko: Hmph!

Reishi: Then, let’s confirm what’s inside the bag. *rummages* This is... bread, huh... moreover, just out of the oven.

Izumo: So it’s finally been exposed... that we secretly buy fresh bread from the Culinary Club and serve it as part of the snacks menu?

Reishi: So that really was the case? No matter the reason, money trades between students are forbidden. Let’s put an end to this kind of thing on behalf of what happened today.

Izumo: Don’t say such harsh stuff, Mr. President of the Blue Club! This bread’s one of our hidden best goods, and hotly demanded by part of the costumers. If we lose it, there’ll be a dramatic decrease in our power! The costumers will leave in a flash! It’s already hard for them to come by just ‘cause these grubby fellows keep crammin’ the place. They’re quick to eat all the stuff I buy, too. They’ve broken about 39 of my items. I’m really crossin’ a thin line! Take pity on me somehow, please!

Reishi: You have my empathy, but there is no way I can acknowledge those means. If these are meant as snacks, you can buy them from merchants, right?

Izumo: You can’t buy fresh bread from merchants, and the cost would also be bigger than now. We’ve got no choice but rely on the Culinary Club! I’m seriously implorin’! *clasps hands together* Like this!

Reishi: Regardless of how much you ask, my will shall not change.

Izumo: Kh...! So this is how it goes with fellows that don’t make deals...

Tatara: Ah? It sure is crowded today. The Blue Club is also here; how rare. Are you getting everyone together for a party or something?

Izumo: Does this look like party airs? Uh? Totsuka, what ye got there?

Tatara: Ah, this? An acquaintance of mine who was a baker is closing his shop and going on a journey around the world. And so, since he doesn’t need these anymore, he gave me a lot of stuff! Like bread shapers, tools that I don’t get very well, and flours that I don’t get very well!

Reishi: Hooh? Well, well. Strangely enough, this is wonderful timing. However, I can foresee an outcome with this.

Izumo: “Outcome”, ye say? Ye can’t mean—

Reishi: Yes. How about the Red Club start making its own bread from now on? If you do so, as you wish, fresh ones will be at hand, and there will be no delivery fees, right?

Izumo: No, no, no! Ye say it like it’s simple, but... makin’ bread is extremely hard! Ye talk ‘bout doin’ it so straightforwardly—

Tatara: That’s great! Seems fun!

Izumo: Totsuka?! Listen to my—

Misaki: Kusanagi-san! I’ll do my best!! To make up for the stuff I’ve destroyed up until now, I’ll knead, knead and knead bread!! So rest assured! I’ve made it once during cooking practice in middle school. Back then, the teacher praised me, saying it was a bread out of this world!

Izumo: No good. I’ve only got bad feelings ‘bout this...

Reishi: It seems the opinions have been gathered. Then we shall take our leave. Let’s go, Fushimi-kun.

Izumo: Ye two. Can’t ye wait?

Saruhiko: Tsk! There anything else?

Izumo: Ye fellows don’t get a thing ‘bout the hassle that is makin’ bread. That’s why ye get to say irresponsible stuff like that. I’ll have ye participate in a bread-makin’ contest with us. And then, ye should be able to understand what I’m sayin’.

Saruhiko: Hah? Who’d do that? Unlike you guys, we’re busy.

Reishi: Hm... it is true that I have never made bread before. Fushimi-kun. We will do it.

Saruhiko: Wha... Are you serious?

Reishi: Do you think I would be joking?

Saruhiko: I wished it was a joke...

Izumo: Anyways, we’ve started makin’ the bread, but... Yata-chan. Ye okay there? The dough’s all gooey and yer hands look like a zombie’s.

Misaki: Somehow, this... augh...! Is clingy, and won’t come outta my hands! Ah, damn...! Ah, you... you...!!

Izumo: Wai—don’t flail yer hands! That sticky dough is splatterin’ everywhere!

Rikio: Yata-san, didn’t you add too much moisture? If you increase the flour, it should be just on-point.

Misaki: Oah! Kamamoto! Nice idea!

Rikio: Then, I’ll put in the flour!

Izumo: He’s added too much of one ingredient again...

Misaki: Hey, now I can’t put the dough together at all... Kamamoto! More water!

Rikio: ‘Kay!

Izumo: Ah. Again, so determinedly...

Misaki: Weird... it’s sticky again... Kamamoto!! More flour!

Rikio: Aight!

Tatara: Whenever you add up strong flour, you also have to put in yeast and butter.

Misaki: Got it!

Izumo: That’s some impressive cooking. It’s floodin’ out of the bowl. And ye don’t seem to be measurin’ anythin’ since earlier. Is this okay?

Misaki: What’re you saying, Kusanagi-san? This is a man’s cooking!

Izumo: Ah. Well... do yer best. Totsuka, how ye goin’?

Tatara: Hmm! Though I’m the one saying it, I think I’m doing fine! I put together and thoroughly mixed flour and yeast, sugar and salt, then added butter, and on top of it all, kneaded well.

Izumo: Oooh, as expected, ye know the methods!

Tatara: After letting it rest and ferment for a while, what I had was... this!

Izumo: Hey, how did it turn into udon??

Tatara: Udon-cooking is one of my home hobbies. Once I thought they were generally the same while making it... I ended up with this.

Izumo: “Ended up” my ass! They’re completely different! Ye said ye were doin’ okay just a while ago. What do we do with this thin stuff?

Tatara: It’s fine, it’s fine. It’ll work out somehow.

Izumo: Listenin’ to that line right now... makes me really annoyed.

Misaki: Kamamoto!! More water!!

Rikio: ‘Kay!!

Izumo: Ye guys cut it out!

Reishi: It seems that peculiar breads are being conceived over there. Fushimi-kun. How’s your progress? Mine is about to finish fermenting.

Saruhiko: Nothing much... just normal. I searched the how-to of this thing on my PDA. By following what it says, anyone can do it. Seems like those idiots couldn’t do that much, though.

Reishi: Hoooh... that is a smooth dough. You are going to shape it now? What kind of form will you make it into?

Saruhiko: Just balls is fine, right?

Reishi: That is uninteresting. How about... making it into plants or animals?

Saruhiko: It doesn’t have to be interesting...

Reishi: Fushimi-kun. Please.

Saruhiko: Hnnn...

Reishi: Please.

Saruhiko: Tsk! I get it. I get it already. Please stop pressuring me with a grin.

Reishi: Huhu... I’m really looking forward to what Fushimi-kun will make.

Saruhiko: Hmph... it’s done.

Reishi: This... seems like an ordinary sphere.

Saruhiko: It’s marimo.

Reishi: Hm. Marimo, huh. It is unique in its own way, but how about you attempt making something more varied next?

Saruhiko: It’ll be the same no matter what it is...

Reishi: Fushimi-kun.

Saruhiko: Ugh... it’s done.

Reishi: Again, it looks like just a sphere. What is this?

Saruhiko: A dung beetle.

Reishi: Fushimi-kun. Do you really have any intention of doing this?

Saruhiko: None.

Reishi: All right. Then I will be the one giving suggestions. Next, please make a rabbit.

Saruhiko: Haah? Tsk! Nnngh... hah. Are you... satisfied with this?

Reishi: It is... quite out of this world.

Saruhiko: What? If there’s anything you want to say, just say it.

Reishi: No, as expected of Fushimi-kun.

Saruhiko: You say that but what about you? It seems past the fermentation time.

Reishi: Oh. This is no good of me. Let’s take out the vinyl and examine the situation first.

Saruhiko: Ugh...!

Reishi: This stench... It really... looks like it went too far past the fermentation time.

Izumo: Well, ‘bout time to bake. Everyone, put yer stuff in the oven!

Neko: Uuuh... I’m hungryyy... I can’t move a single step forward!

Kuro: This again? Every time you open your mouth, it’s to say things like, “I’m hungry”, “it’s hot”, “it’s cold”... Don’t you know what patience is?

Neko: I don’t!!

Kuro: Don’t cut me off! You need to train your endurance a little – no, a lot! If you relax your mind and body and elevate yourself, a bit of hunger should become something easy to withstand.

Neko: Ah... hnn... Shiro! Kurosuke sounds like an old man!

Kuro: “Like an old man”, you say!?

Shiro: Now, now. There’s no helping it. Neko is Neko, after all. We’ll buy something at the cafeteria, so put on just a tad more effort.

Kuro: Shiro! Don’t spoil Neko!

Neko: As expected of my Shiro! Unlike the blockhead Kurosuke, he gets what I say! Ugh, but it’s really no good! I really can’t move anymore!

Kuro: You just ate lunch barely three hours ago.

Neko: If I say I can’t move, then I can’t move!

Shiro: Hmm... this is a problem...

Neko: Nnngh... hm? *sniff* Ah! It’s the smell of bread!

Shiro: “Smell of bread”? In a place like this?

Kuro: *sniff* It’s true... it’s certainly the smell of bread baking.

Neko: Bread... bread... It comes from over there! Let’s go, Shiro!

Shiro: U-Uwaaah!

Neko: Bread, bread... bread, bread, bread, bread, breeeaaad~~~!

Shiro: U-U-Uwah!

Kuro: Weren’t you the one that couldn’t “move a single step forward”?!

Shiro: Waaaah!! Lemme go, lemme go!

Kuro: Neko, slow down a little!

Shiro: Aaaaaah!!

Kuro: Shiro is being completely dragged around!!

Neko: Gimme my bread~!

Kuro: Hey, Neko! It’s rude to just abruptly come in! Hey, Shiro! Are you okay?? Hang on!

Shiro: *moans*

Izumo: Members of the Silver Club... That was pretty sudden. What happened?

Kuro: Neko was hungry and sensed the smell of bread coming from here, so she went out of control...

Izumo: I see, so that’s how it is. Well, then. Wanna eat the bread?

Neko: I do!

Kuro: Hey, Neko! Hah, honestly... I’m sorry. If it’s a bother, do say so.

Izumo: Nooo... it’d actually help if she ate it. Right, Mr. President of the Blue Club?

Reishi: That is right... If it is meant to be eaten, then I wish you please do so.

Kuro: What do you mean?

Izumo: Welp, one eye-witness is better than several hearsays. Look at this!

Kuro: This is...

Neko: NYAAAH! These breads are creepy!

Kuro: How unbecoming... This is... bread? One hasn’t gone past the state of dough, another is tremendously packed and with a pale color, and yet another is... as thin as pasta and all coiled for some reason. The only one that can almost be called bread is this rabbit-shaped one, but... ngh... what’s this abnormally hateful face?! It’s almost as if it’s meant to make one lose their appetite with this look that seems to be making fun of people! To be able to make this sort of expression, there’s no mistaking that the person who baked this bread is completely twisted at heart!

Misaki: Heh! Tell him off more, Yatogami!

Saruhiko: Tsk! Yours didn’t even become bread to begin with, Misaki!!

Tatara: Yatogami, if you would, couldn’t you teach us about bread making?

Kuro: Me?

Tatara: Hm. If it’s you, Yatogami, this kind of thing is your specialty, right?

Kuro: Indeed, I did learn how to make bread from Ichigen-sama. I don’t mind the part of teaching, but if you’re going to do this, we’ll do it meticulously. Shiro! How long are you going to be snoozing? Hurry up to wash your hands and put on an apron.

Shiro: Uh... ah... “ap-ron”...?

Kuro: For starters, it’s a mistake to try to make bread just by knowing how. Bread is a living thing! A very delicate living thing at that! Taking in consideration the state of the flour, the heat of the fire and the humidity of the air, the temperature of the added ingredients will change. You must know how to adjust to this, or else making it work becomes impossible, but even so, you guys... kh...! How deplorable!

Izumo: What’s that? It’s like some switch’s been turned on...

Neko: Hey, Kurosuke... where’s my bread?

Kuro: SHUT UUUP!! I’ll be making the best bread ever now! Until then, go eat that disgusting rabbit or something!

Neko: Eeeh, this? Hmph, no helping it...

Saruhiko: Tsk!

Kuro: Well, let’s begin from the part of measuring the flour. Shiro! What are you dilly-dallying for? You’re the assisant. Hurry and get the ingredients.

Shiro: A-Ah, yes!

Kuro: Mix strong flour, yeast, sugar and salt and shape into a sack. The lukewarm water that will be added to it should be... let’s see... today is rather hot out, so let’s make it 30o C (86o F). After adding that, knead it all in the bowl until it becomes a homogeneous sphere. First, let’s do it until that point!

Izumo: We only have one thermometer, so pass it around after using!

Tatara: Yatogami is amazing! I, too, might awaken to bread making today.

Reishi: I’ll take care of the flour, so Fushimi-kun, I leave the yeast and sugar to you. It will be more efficient if we share the load, right?

Saruhiko: Grrr...

Misaki: Heh! As if I’d do things in this fussy manner! It’s better to do this kind of thing in an easygoing way!

Kuro: Yata! Do you think this sort of laidback reasoning is allowed in the conduct of bread making?! That sloppy, huge mysterious ball of earlier was your doing, wasn’t it? Learn a little from your errors!

Rikio: S-Scaryyy...

Misaki: Ah... I get it. I just have to do it, right? Just do it.

Kuro: Honestly... I’ll have no liberty to let my guard down. Well, then, now we’ll get to the part of kneading the dough. Shiro, divide the butter in the amount everyone will use. 10 kg for each.

Shiro: Roger! Neko, you help too.

Neko: Hm! I’ll eat the butter!

Shiro: Hehe. Just a tad, okay?

Kuro: When kneading the dough, it’s important to roll it in a rhythmical fashion. Open your legs like this, and use your entire body, as if you were applying your weight onto the dough. When you do so, the protein of the flour, gluten, comes out. It’s like a stretchy membrane. This gluten will inflate the bread during the fermentation. So, for us to bake a tasty bread, it’s important to enhance this gluten membrane and make a dough that will be very stretchy.

Misaki: Hey, Kamamoto. You got what he said?

Rikio: Nope. But it kinda seems delicious, huh?

Tatara: Hm... hmm... is it like this?

Kuro: Totsuka-senpai!! Lower your back more! It’s almost like you’re putting no strength into it like that.

Tatara: Understood!

Kuro: Fushimi!! Do it more rhythmically! If you just knead aimlessly, the bread will not respond!

Saruhiko: Tsk! What a pain... what’s with this...?

Kuro: Munakata-senpai... hm, that’s the spirit. If I may, I find it better to use the bulge of the hand for kneading the dough.

Reishi: I see. I’m grateful for the advice.

Kuro: All right. Everyone seems to be doing fine, yeah? Shiro, give them the butter.

Shiro: Yes, yes~! Here you go.

Kuro: Return the dough to the bowl and add the butter. Rub well and completely blend the butter into the dough. At that time, while the butter is not yet totally blended, we transfer it onto a wood board. It’s necessary to be careful so that the board doesn’t become sticky. And then, again, same as we were doing until just now...

Kuro: Well, now we’ll finally let it ferment. Put a wrap around it in a radius of about 30 degrees and leave it for 3 to 4 minutes. It takes time for the dough to become twice its size.

Misaki: At last, huh? With this, all left is to bake...!

Kuro: What are you saying? That’s only the first fermentation. From now, there will be gas releasing, partitioning, resting, shaping, and after those, the second fermentation. We’ll put them in the oven after that.

Misaki: Seriously...?!

[Alarm sounds]

Kuro: Hm! It’s done baking.

Neko: Hmmm~! What a nice scent~! Thanks for the food~! Ow, ow! Agh—Hot, hot!

Shiro: Careful! It just finished baking, so you have to properly blow it. *blows and bites* Delicious! This is super delicious!

Neko: No fair! Me too! *blows and bites* HMM~! TASTYYY~! *eats desperately*

Kuro: Then, I guess I’ll have some too. Thanks for the meal. *eats* Hmm! It’s quite satisfactory. This is the figure of a righteous bread. Hm? Won’t you guys eat?

Tatara: Ah, no... we’re just a little tired, you see.

Misaki: I have no energy to eat.

Kuro: Is that so? Then you’d better do it after resting. We’ll take our leave now. I’ve fulfilled my role, after all.

Tatara: Yatogami, thank you! Thanks to you, Yatogami, we’ve made it this far.

Kuro: No need for gratitude. It was a time for learning many things to me as well. Let’s go, Shiro, Neko.

Shiro: Our Kuro flipped on a weird switch... my bad about that. If we’re able to overlook that and do some activity together again, I’d be happy. Well, then... sorry for intruding~!

Neko: Hm?! Hm! Hmnmhnmnmph~!

(T/N: I can tell that she means to say “wait for me” here. XD)

Izumo: They left, huh?

Mikoto: Nice smell coming from here...

Izumo: Mikoto! Where’d ye come from?!

Mikoto: I’d been sleeping at the back of the shop all this time. Bread, huh? *eats* It’s pretty tasty.

Izumo: Mikoto saying “tasty” is a rare feat... Lemme see. I’ll also... *eats* Hm? Hmm. Hmmm~! It’s true! This is really tasty! It won’t lose at all to the Culinary Club’s! Everyone, try it too!

Misaki: If you’re saying that much...

Reishi: Shall we have some?

Rikio: H-Hmm! TASTYYY~!! I’ve eaten a lot of bread in the academy, but one this tasty is a first~~~!!

Reishi: Wonderful...! The softness of the dough, the pleasant smell, the light sweetness... everything is perfect.

Saruhiko: Hm... Well... it’s not like it isn’t edible...

Misaki: UWOOOH?! WHAT IS THIIIIS?? U-Ultimate... IS THIS THE ULTIMATE BREAD!?

Tatara: Hmm~! Bread after labor is the best, huh?

Izumo: But, Mikoto... ye wakin’ up with some marvelous timing, huh? Just now, we were in a pinch!

Mikoto: You made this bread all together?

Izumo: Yeah. Bein’ harshly beaten up by a Spartan instructor.

Mikoto: Heh.

Izumo: Well, Mr. President of the Blue Club. Makin’ bread was a real hassle, huh?

Reishi: Yes. Indeed. I understood that it requires an incredible effort.

Izumo: Right? On top of it, there’s still the cleaning from now. Makin’ bread on our own while handlin’ a bar at the same time is impossible.

Reishi: Seems so. However, no matter the circumstances, buying bread from the Culinary Club with money is...

Mikoto: I don’t really get it, but it’s fine if it’s not money, right?

Izumo: I see! A trade on both sides? How’s that?

Reishi: Suou. I have slight resistance in accepting a suggestion from you, but... this is fine. Let’s leave it as that.

Izumo: Great! Nice one, Mikoto!

Mikoto: So, what’s this talk about?

Izumo: Eh, ye said that without knowin’?!

Reishi: Then, we will take our leave now as well.

Tatara: Ah, if that’s the case... here, take it.

Reishi: This is...

Tatara: This bread is a present! Please share it with everyone from the Blue Club.

Reishi: Fushimi-kun. Do you think my decision regarding the Red Club today was a little too soft?

Saruhiko: I... don’t care anymore. By the last half of it, I couldn’t think about anything else other than wanting to hurry home.

Reishi: Hm. That’s very like you. Still, this bread is truly delicious. Everyone from the Blue Club will be delighted, right? Only... I hadn’t imagined we’d end up making bread with the people from the Red and Silver clubs.

Saruhiko: Wasn’t that because of a whim of yours?

Reishi: No, this is called fate. Reality is stranger than fiction, after all. You never know what will happen in life. Nevertheless... I enjoyed myself. Days like these every once in a while... are not bad.

#k project #gakuen k #fushimi saruhiko #yata misaki #munakata reishi #kusanagi izumo #yatogami kurou #isana yashiro #neko #ameno miyabi #kamamoto rikio #suou mikoto #k #wonderful school days #drama cd #my translation

206 notes · View notes

tsfennec · 7 years

Text

Consequences in fiction

Lately, I’ve been thinking about consequences in fiction. And some things have been bugging me.

Now, this is not going to be a rant about the level of realism needed in fiction writing (i.e. ”This thing... does not work like that. Please do your research.”). People have all kinds of different tastes and tolerance levels for the kinds of realism they want in different types of fiction - and IMO that’s totally legitimate. This is really about choosing your level of realism and sticking with it so that the story - and the choices that the characters make - has an internal consistency.

I have friends who are ALL ABOUT realistic consequences in fiction. They crave those stories where the heroes make bad choices, do the wrong thing (maybe for the right reasons, maybe not), and it comes back to bite them big time. Messy, complicated situations play out in a messy, complicated way. They want all of the fallout of that dealt with seriously, not glossed over or easily resolved. There are certainly books and shows like that, where you know that even if the characters seem to have come out with a win, anything shady they did (or any relationships they compromised) is going to be hanging over them from now on and will almost certainly have major effects at some point. The characters make their decisions knowing this. Some of them might be more willing to take risks than others, but they go in knowing that if they do this, it’s going to change their lives in some way. The tone is fairly close to the real world in that sense.

I also have friends who really... don’t care that much? To be more accurate, they tend to prefer lighthearted takes on fictional worlds generally. (Or, if not actually lighthearted in tone, more glossed over for the Cool Factor.) They enjoy reading or watching something where you know the hero’s going to come out on top, everything’s going to be worked out in the end. There’s kind of a wink-wink, nudge-nudge understanding between the writer and the audience that either the characters are Just That Brilliant or there are technicalities that’ll let them off or that’s just the kind of world this is, but even if they break the law in the course of their adventure, everything’s going to be smoothed over in the end. If there’s vigilante justice going on, they might beat up the villains, but no one who’s not supposed to is going to wind up with permanent or life-threatening injuries. If the hero kills someone in the Name Of Right, it’s going to be determined justified and that’s that. That crazy breaking-and-entering caper is definitely not going to result in any evidence that could possibly be traced back to our Robin-Hood-style protagonists unless it’s just to keep the plot moving - and in that case, by the end, they’ll have worked it all out and everything’s fine. It’s not meant to be taken seriously, really, it’s all about what makes for a fun, cool story.

Me? I'm somewhere in the middle. I can really enjoy both. Depends on the mood I’m in. I imagine there are plenty of people who feel the same.

But what DOES drive me crazy - and is all too common in fiction - is the writers who can’t make up their minds. And that, that is what drives me crazy.

Very often, everything about a plot sets it up by telling you that this is going to be one of those “yeah, I know, but just ignore that, the good guys always find a way to win here” scenarios. Heroes are playing fast and loose with the rules, maybe killing people, maybe breaking laws, definitely crossing lines. But everything in the tone with which it’s treated tells you not to take this too seriously because it’s not that kind of story.

BUT THEN. Down the road, here come the consequences. And you’re supposed to sympathize with the heroes, want them to get out of this. You’re supposed to hate the nasty, rule-bound type who’s trying to pin them down for what they’ve done. Thing is? They did do the wrong thing, big time. They shouldn’t get away with it. And all the things that this person is bringing up... are actually very legitimate points.

Except. This isn’t the kind of story where the heroes are now going to go to jail. Or face serious disciplinary action that lasts more than an episode or two. Or be dismissed from their jobs and have to find a new line of work. Or have any kind of lasting crisis of conscience that transforms their lives. Or turn into an adrenaline-fueled risk-taker who really doesn’t care about right or wrong. That’d kind of ruin the whole point of the thing. Sooo... We’re going to get a vague, handwavy weaseling out instead. Maybe for some reason the authorities decide, “Okay, we’ll let you go this time.” Maybe miraculously attention is diverted and no one really uncovers any proof. Whatever. They’ll get away with it, and we’re supposed to be relieved.

EXCEPT. All of this would be well and good enough, if this was the kind of story where the heroes do something wrong, play fast and loose, cross lines, and then suddenly have to come face to face with consequences and realize the actual seriousness of what they’re doing. But again, this isn’t that kind of a story. None of this is actually going to change the way the heroes approach things in any meaningful way. Their close escape isn’t going to inform their future actions. It’s not really a case of “wow, next time I need to not do the thing” or “ha, I’m basically invulnerable, I can get away with anything.” It’s just very selective amnesia.

The next time there’s a similar scenario, more often than not, the writer is again coming to the audience, saying, “Hey, just go with me on this, this isn’t the kind of world with those kinds of consequences. We’re just playing this for humor, really. This is supposed to be a lighthearted interlude. The character’s just proving they’re Cool and Tough.” It’s played for laughs. And the characters are going to make their decisions accordingly. As if they haven’t just faced (sort of) consequences. As if this is the kind of world where nothing catches up to you and these choices don’t actually have to be weighed.

And if you do this enough times, I’m not going along with it anymore. This time, I’m just annoyed by the dramatic flip-flop of tone. You “told” me that that particular incident was just a silly caper earlier, and now I’m supposed to believe that there are Real World Consequences... but then go back to believing that the next time a character crosses a line, I’m not supposed to take it seriously, I’m not supposed to be upset about the fact that they did something awful... until the next time the tone flips to Consequences Time? And the characters are supposed to go along too when it comes to this yo-yo of personal responsibility?

Look, I get that any fiction’s likely to have some degree of that. I get it. If I like the plot and characters, I’m really not likely to care about the necessary handwaving because if I’m enjoying it, I want to be on the writer’s side. I’m willing to go along for the ride.

But if you keep having your characters make terrible choices but refuse to commit one way or the other to either a major character arc of change or an episodic world where nothing really carries over to the next week... Now I’m not agonizing with the characters over what choices they should make. I’m not worried over what’s going to happen or on the edge of my seat, wondering how they’re going to fix things this time. No. I know it’s not going to really go anywhere, that this criticism of the characters’ actions doesn’t really mean anything. And I’m just mad at the writer for refusing to commit to any set of actual rules for their world and the seriousness of characters’ actions - and therefore unintentionally making the characters look like absolute idiots. Or horrible people accumulating a trail of despicable actions that’s only addressed when it’s convenient for ~drama~ not when it’s actually relevant. And the characters I fell in love with deserve better than that.

(Note: While I had a lot of different TV shows and books in mind writing this, it’s not actually directed at one in particular. It’s something I’ve been aggravated by over and over in media.)

#writing #writers #writeblr #consequences #stories #tv shows #books #reading #idk #thoughts?

14 notes · View notes