#anyway this is me kinda summing up the season and my general feelings about it and how i'm choosing to look at it

[tokuvivor]

DuckTales Character Songs! (Part 4)

And now, here’s the last of 4 parts of my DuckTales character playlist. This time, I’ll be highlighting songs for recurring characters from Season 3 (with one exception, mind you). Sorry it’s a bit late, but regardless, it’s here.

Links to my previous songs:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 2, continued

Part 3

Part 3, continued

And once again, a shoutout to @glowyjellyfish on brainstorming these some with me.

Black Heron

Paint It, Black by The Rolling Stones

First off, I’m kicking myself a little, because how did I forget doing a song for Heron to this point? That said, I guess it kinda makes sense having her song here, considering she was such a big part of F.O.W.L., the main villains of Season 3, so…yeah.

Anyway, this song is very serious, blunt, and kinda dark, like her. It’s also kind of a nod to the fact that the Darkwing Duck iteration of F.O.W.L. was largely a shadowy organization without a real concrete face of it.

Steelbeak

POWER by Kanye West

I was going back and forth as to whether I should use this song. But ultimately, I did. At times during the song, the title is a reference to a power trip, which Steelbeak ultimately did go on when he used the Intelli-Ray in The Last Adventure! Kanye is very bombastic and polarizing, a lot like Steelbeak himself. A lot of the time, he chooses to use his brute strength to forge ahead, and tries to prove all his doubters wrong, even those he works with. So really, regardless of what you might think of Kanye, his music works well for Steelbeak’s narrative.

Daisy Duck

Grown Woman by Beyoncé

No original version of the song? Come on, Spotify!

Anyway, as easy as it could be to choose a song about Daisy, it’s also just as easy to mess it up. She’s way more that just a pretty face. She’s an absolute go-getter that knows what she wants out of life, has worked super hard in the fashion industry, and given both her age and her status, she can do what she wants, but doesn’t let it go to her head.

Phantom Blot

Man in Black by Johnny Cash

Besides his attire, this song kinda plays off of Blot’s backstory, being against magic after Magica laid waste to his town. His attire presumably took on a more somber tone after this, and he started hunting magic users down. Until things can be seen as brighter for him, the Blot will wear all black.

Gosalyn Mallard

Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons

Gosalyn has had a rough life. Her parents die, she loses her grandfather, she’s been on the run from her life circumstances. However, she thrives off of the uncertainty, pushing through barriers, just doing whatever she can to get through life. Also, I just feel like ID’s music in general really suits her edgy, sometimes jaded personality.

The Fearsome Five (well, Four)

Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood and the Destroyers

We didn’t get much of the Fearsome Five (especially Negaduck) in DuckTales, but I think this song sums them up pretty well as villains.

Kit Cloudkicker and Molly Cunningham

Learn to Fly by Foo Fighters

The Greatest Show by Panic! at the Disco from The Greatest Showman

Honestly, I gotta mention this TaleSpin duo in the same breath here. I’d say these songs are mostly self-explanatory. Kit’s a pilot trying to hone his talent (don’t really remember TaleSpin, but from what I’ve gathered, DuckTales did his character all wrong); Molly started her own sky circus, and what better song to embrace the role of ringleader with than this banger? (It has grown on me over the years, I won’t lie.)

May and June (Duck)

Who Are the Mystery Girls? by New York Dolls

Okay, like with a couple of the other songs I’ve used, the lyrics aren’t the most appropriate to describe the situation, but the title…yeah, it’s just the general sentiment for most of The Last Adventure!: “Who are the mystery girls?” Some of the characters, Webby especially, are just trying to figure out May and June.

And that’s it! My complete list of character songs for DuckTales! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did making the list. As for my next musical foray into DuckTales, I will say this: it’s arguably a bit more complicated than just character songs. So stay tuned!

#ducktales #ducktales music #black heron #steelbeak #daisy duck #phantom blot #gosalyn mallard #the fearsome five #bushroot #liquidator #megavolt #quackerjack #kit cloudkicker #molly cunningham #may duck #june duck #the rolling stones #kanye west #beyonce #johnny cash #imagine dragons #george thorogood and the destroyers #foo fighters #panic! at the disco #the greatest showman #new york dolls #Spotify

[under-the-ladder]

(Eurovision 2023 challenge)

Day 3: Most underrated entry of 2023

I needed to think for a while about what it means underrated to me, hence the break of the streak.

So the conclusion is that (to me, at least) underrated doesn't necessarily mean that an entry placed low, but more like I didn't see the community discuss or hype it much, generally great but overlooked.

Aaand that is what I think (despite the great final place) happened to Ukraine and Tvorchi this year.

Since they were chosen at Vidbir, there were cries about how Ukraine could've chosen better. Of course the most likely alternatives were both folk-ish, so the direction that Ukraine has been increasingly praised for taking. As for me I was just content with the choice and happy with the diversity. The staging, however, instantly caught my attention - I thought it was innovative and at the same time intimate, very fitting for the song, but also hard to sync the choreo with visuals - quite risky.

Before the Eurovision week I didn't see Tvorchi being talked much about. People had them rather low in their rankings, I forgot about them for a while too. In the odds, however, they were very high, like 3rd or something for a very long time. I don't really know about the interviews, rehearsals, etc. because I just didn't follow them extensively, but from what I was able to skim through I didn't see much coverage either.

I also woke up on this entry only like a week before the first semi while creating a tier list. Suddenly I realized that Heart of Steel had grown on me since the start of the season and while quietly always there, not appreciated much, it suddenly appeared really good compared to the competition (see: point 1 in reasons).

The ultimate thing that I believe brought them to the attention of the public was the Turquoise Carpet and the fundraiser for the equipment for prematurely born children. That is also about the time that the message of their song started to be discussed more I think.

Anyways, possible reasons for that?

Tvorchi were the first chosen act - they could not be compared to the rest at the time as there was no one to compare yet, probably hanging in this weird limbo for the rest of the season.

Perhaps subconscious application of the host country curse - if Ukraine won for the 2nd time this year, for instance as a result of a 2016 situation between Loreen and Käärijä it would be deemed too political by the vast majority of public opinion, even I think it would look kinda bad.

Not being a part of the big 5 rivalry, but simultaneously not having to compete in the semis, also rehearsals at a later date (basically host country curse pt. 2).

As mentioned before, I can only make guesses about the interviews, parties, etc. Andrii and Jeffery seem pretty chill, but also not the most outgoing ones, English proficiency might have also been an obstacle to promotion.

I don't know, maybe it's just me and my skewed perception or the journey that the entry has gone through in my own ranking but I'm just really glad that the wider public saw this entry and kinda "saved" it. If only the fandom would vote, I feel like they would finish much much lower.

Summing up, Ukraine broke the host country curse and if anyone was to do it, I think they were the right ones!

#ukraine #tvorchi #esc 2023 #eurovision 2023 challenge

[jaeheewillalwaysbemyfav]

How Obey Me Shot Itself In The Foot: Why Raphael is a Terminal Wet Blanket

MASSIVE WARNING FOR DISCUSSION OF RELIGION. Specifically of Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) and their shared God. I am doing this in a media analysis context, not to shame any particular religion or anyone’s particular beliefs. If that makes you uncomfortable, feel free to not read this post, stop reading at any point, and/or unfollow/block me. DO NOT try to start religious discourse on this post or in my askbox/DMs, I will clown on and block you.

Also spoiler warnings for a ton of different Obey Me lessons.

Intro (X), Michael (X)(X)(X)(X), Conclusion (you're here)(X)

This is the conclusion of my setup to why Raphael should kill MC. Are you still reading this? If so, very cool of you. I should probably get tested for ADHD, but that's never gonna happen.

I think there are any number of combinations or mixes of these versions of Michael that could be interesting to explore in Obey Me. Unfortunately, I doubt we’re gonna get an especially rich and complex version of Michael in canon Obey Me.

Why?

Because Obey Me is an otome game first and foremost, and that means they won’t make any of their prospective love interests Too Spicy in a way that isn’t especially marketable. There used to be a bit more edge to the game (that’s where we get iconic shit like Asmo threatening to tear out our heart to see what’s inside, the brothers casually mentioning torturing and eating people, etc.) but with later lessons and the anime it’s much tamer I find. That’s not bad per se, but y’know. I kinda miss the reminders that we couldn’t be left alone at RAD lest we get eaten by a lesser demon, or the stark duality between Diavolo’s generally fun loving and easygoing attitude and the way he ruthlessly ordered Belphegor to be imprisoned and possibly executed for treason.

But Winter, you say, what about Lucifer and Belphegor?

Lucifer’s marketed as a hot daddy dom and, for season one, as a slow burn enemies-to-lovers antagonist. And Belphegor is (allegedly) a yandere, so his manipulation and killing of MC can be seen as fitting into that niche.

Threats and murder can be fun romantic foreplay as long as it all ends well.

The biggest problem with a darker interpretation of Michael is that a lot of his nastier elements involve possible grooming/indoctrination of Luke, which is, crudely put, not a sexy kind of dark topic. Lots of people like Luke, so making a prospective love interest (depending on how Michael is received by fans) a child abuser is… a lot.

And so, to Finally get back to Raphael! If Raphael is the Celestial Realm’s hitman, he has to be sent to the Devildom to go after a specific mark. It makes most sense for that mark to be either Simeon or MC. But if Simeon’s punishment is the revoking of his angelic blessing, there’s not really a point in sending an angelic hitman after him: he’s human now, he’s gonna die eventually anyway.

So that leaves MC, who is (mostly?) human, but has a shitton of magical power and no significant ties to the Celestial Realm, and is thus not under their control (unlike Solomon, whose ring of wisdom comes from Michael).

But who is sending Raphael after MC?

It can’t be Michael, who seems eager to meet MC (and again, while Belphegor did murder us, I don’t think the devs are going to use the murder-to-lovers card twice). (Unless Michael’s plan is to meet MC by sending their ass to kingdom come, which is honestly pretty funny to think about.)

And it can’t be God/Father, because portraying him as a major villain is a Big No-No for a silly otome game.

I guess Raphael could also be gunning for Diavolo, but when Dia can stop time at will, automatically know when people are lying to him, and has a time-travelling butler at his beck and call, it seems highly unlikely that that would work out in Raph’s favour.

So to sum up:

Obey Me’s subject matter deals with representations of Heaven and Hell, as well as God

It’s very, very controversial to play with depictions of Heaven and especially God, and because at the end of the day Obey Me is an otome game/dating sim, I don’t think they’re willing to go full out with any critical representations of the Celestial Realm or its inhabitants because that would get way too heavy for the game’s genre

The game has also lost a lot of its edgier/darker elements as time has gone on, and that plus the addition of new potential LIs suggests to me that the devs are thinking about marketability first and foremost, and so don’t want to make the new characters too unlikeable 

The devs have written themselves into a corner here by the nature of what they’re making.

At least, I think they have. But then again, I’m stuck at lesson 41/8, and Obey Me’s far from over it seems. Who knows what the future will bring.

(But also I think the devs have spread themselves super thin with the introduction of all these characters and are having a hard time juggling them all, so we get weird inconsistencies and unexplored elements — but hey, that’s what fandom is for!)

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me michael #obey me raphael #mine #How Obey Me Shot Itself in the Foot

[the-archxr]

So, now that I'm freshly widowed (Eddie dearest 😭), what did you think of season 4?? 💕

Well first, my condolences. I haven’t cried that hard at a death in a long time, so I get it 😂

But secondly, I have a lot of thoughts about it, so to sum it up in general (so that way this post isn’t miles long), I feel so-so about it??

I liked it very much (vol 1 more than vol 2) but there were some aspects that I strongly disliked to the point where they were kinda hard to ignore.

Here are just a few I didn’t like (with extra details cause I’m bored and need to rant):

Mike Wheeler (no I will not elaborate. Other than the fact that Mike from season 3 on is not the fucking heart of the group.)

other than Noah Schnapp’s amazing fucking acting, especially in THOSE two scenes, I didn’t like that Will was pretty much sidelined again. Like considering he’s technically supposed to be the main character (the one the entire show started with and is essentially about), ever since season 3 he’s not really involved at all. Although it seems that with the ending of season 4, he’ll (hopefully) be in season 5 a lot more, so we’ll see how that pans out.

now my least favourite thing that happened this season was the weird Nancy/Steve romance rekindling. Especially since they didn’t really take it anywhere at the ending (not that it would’ve mattered, I still wouldn’t have liked it). The entire thing seemed pointless and completely contradictory to their character development(s) in prior seasons, ESPECIALLY Steve’s. Steve’s whole character arc after him and Nancy’s breakup (and mainly in season 3), was that he moved on from her. Nancy and Steve are great characters, but to each other romantically, they represent the stereotype/the expected partner. Nancy’s whole thing was that she didn’t want to be with Steve because she didn’t want to end up like her parents. Which stems from Steve originally wanting to be with her, making plans at 18 to marry her and have children because that’s what’s expected from his parents. These are things they moved on from up until the Duffers decided to fuck that up, so by bringing it back it just felt empty; like Nancy was just lonely and had nothing better to do, and that Steve can’t possibly be with anyone else who compliments his personality.

and speaking of Steve (even though it isn’t limited to him)… I was really hoping to get some more insight into the lives of others? more character development, or explanations of other underdeveloped characters?? We got a lot with Max (and her story arc was great, don’t get me wrong), but I feel like there’s so much stuff we still don’t know/haven’t seen from others?? For example, since season two, I’ve been dying to see the Harringtons. I get the whole point is they’re never around and they’re shitty people, but I want to see interactions between them and Steve. I want to see Dustin talk about his dad (is he dead, are his parents divorced??), and I want them to address Hoppers ptsd from being in a Russian prison, instead of making jokes about him loosing weight.

Like I said, I really did like this season. But similar to Multiverse of Madness, a lot of it felt like ramped up action sequences without any “meat” behind it.

Then again, this season was to primarily set-up the next one. And with season 5 being the final one, hopefully, they tie up some of these looser ends??

But anyways how did y’all like it??

✨the-archxr thoughts✨

#the-archxr thoughts #this kinda ran away from me #but yeah #I definitely have some thoughts #also duffers #for the love of god #let Steve wear a crop top in season 5 #I need to see it at least once #steve harrington #joe keery #stranger things #steve harrington x reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #dustin henderson #max mayfield #jim hopper #will byers #nancy wheeler

[finna-liveblog]

Did Wes Come back??? I stopped watching htgawm After his death

Oh boo so did I, but luckily for you I've never not been obsessed with my baby Wes Gibbons so I can in fact answer this, only not in a satisfying way ☹️

As far as I can tell, Wes is still dead at the end of the show. A flash forward showed Alfie walking into a room (or sum) and of course everyone freaked out because Wes is back with a new haircut and everything. But as it turns out, this was a misdirect. With more clarification on the scene later on, that was actually Christopher the grown up version of Wes and Laurel's son and he looks exactly like his father.

I never actually watched any of the scenes so I might have some details wrong but that's generally the idea.

I remember being super irritated when I found this out. I had already lost interest in the show for the most part years ago after he died so I wasn't super invested but I was still peeved. It was part of why I stopped watching anyway. Not just because Wes died but because they clearly didn't care about the fans that loved and cared about Wes. I always felt like they prioritized the shock and moment of devastation than the character as well as the people who cared about the character. We followed this character and were invested in him from the start and they just said fuck you and killed him for shock value? That tells me you don't care, and killing a character is my LEAST favorite way of shocking an audience and causing emotion. After seasons of doing it the right ways, this one felt cheap and unnecessary and heartbreaking to those who actually cared about him. Not only did Wes deserve better but the show did too, do that kinda dumb shit in the 100, not here.

And then on top of that, you play with people again by pretend bringing back that very same character, getting people invested again just to let them down again. Like... Okay fuck us ig. Cause there was no reason at all for y'all to bring Alfie back and let people believe for a moment that Wes could have still been alive this whole time other than "we're gonna really fuck with people"

At the end of the day he's just a character and it's just a show and the writers have the right to do whatever they want. But considering how big the show was and how much people talked about it and how furious people were when Wes died and how many people stopped watching and how it just kinda lost a bit of that shine that was there in the beginning, I wonder was it worth it? I mean really, was the bit worth it? Cause I don't think it was

Sorry to ramble. I clearly have a lot of feelings about this still

#also I'm a writer so I'm not even just viewing this as a viewer who loved Wes #I'm literally looking at the story like was it necessary to kill him #or did you just wanna shock everyone #it was cheap 🤷🏾‍♀️ #and to me brought down the writing of what i remember to be a brilliantly written show #characters die all the time but imagine following Harry Potter #for like 3 or 4 years and then they kill him in book 4 #and other than mourning him everyone just moves on #lol guys turns out he wasn't important and his story is done #like even if he's not your favorite you're kinda like well what the fuck we're the first three books about #why did i bother caring #and why do i bother caring about anyone else #just because it's a shock? it's stupid #look at me still ranting #I'm done now #HTGAWM #how to get away with murder #wes gibbins

[twinstarlovers]

I think ima be in my mars red hair era for 2 years for sure like my Scorpio Venus is gonna be strong. A lot of black sexy clothes idk. But yeah I read hair colors go w a certain planet so red is mars which is about energy, passion & shit & I see it. I was pink hair tbh. Not like bright pink but like a dark pink idk, I think it would only look good if my hair was straight all the time actually idk I could rock it regardless. But like later on in life ima start doing dark colors like midnight blue, dark purple, all that will be close to black lol or I might do black w red streaks type shit. I have my dads genes when it comes to getting white hair & I already have some lol. I’ve had them since I was like 14 lol. #trauma. His started at 18 so yes I think it’s trauma & genetics but anyways not the point. The point is that I think I might want my white hair to grow in like I kinda want it. I love how it looks. It’s like ethereal af even tho it’s showing my ass is about to die but still. My grandma from my dads side dyes her hair black all the time. She should be having full on white hair but she cares how she looks as a Capricorn so she doesn’t wanna look old. Actually now that I’m thinking of it, white is cute & all but ima look old af so I should be dramatic & put color like white w black streaks or sum cus I may look old but don’t get it twisted IMA STILL BE ME. I give old vibes already & its ugly af.

Okay but I’ve been emotional af & triggered cus im on my period cus it’s not fair you having fun in college & making friends but anyways let me stfu but I feel better saying shit out loud cus yes but what triggered this is this college murder case you’ve probably heard about. If you haven’t heard about it then don’t look it up, I’ll tell you in person LMFAO. No but yeah that case literally triggered me cus they was in college & they looked happy & I thought of you but anyways someone posted shit on tik tok about cities & to guess if & they were all so pretty. Idk where I wanna live. New York is cute for the buildings ofc but it’s tooooo crowded & there’s this case I watched that happened in New York & I’ve been traumatized by the energy of New York ever since. I watched this case like 3 years ago. I could go to New York to go but I don’t think I can live there. I feel like sometimes certain cases hit so hard that I feel the energy of it like it literally comes through the screen, it’s actually annoying. I actually had a panic attack over the case cus they did a Netflix series about it & it was sooooo good but incredibly sad & triggering. So yeah new York is a no. Those people aren’t dead tho. So idk why I’m saying a case actually. I love mysteries & murder cases & all of that shit but the downside of it is always the energy that I get from watching it. It’s always eerie & bad like 16 wishes energy LITERALLY. Something was off about that movie. It’s not even on Disney+ . It was poorly made too which I think is part of it but idk bruh, they probably put some evil energy/spirits in that movie. I even tried to look it up on google like if anything sketchy would pop up about that movie & it even popped up on my tik tok & I would look at the comments to see if people would say anything but literally nothing, people loved it. LIKE WHAT. Anyways where was I idk I forgot. Oh right so yeah um I kinda wanna live in Chicago, it’s so pretty. I wanna live in Miami but the heat is a no. I don’t wanna live somewhere where it’s hot all the time. I need all seasons. My fav season is winter. It could change to fall but I haven’t experience the Halloween vibe of fall so. Well Christmas is in winter but mmm the vibes of winter still happen outside of Christmas like the midnight blue sky, the cold, it’s so intense & pretty. The outfits are great. I’m scared to celebrate Christmas & Halloween. I’m literally about to cry now lol. I think it’s most definitely my period but just in general tho, it makes me sad. I still need to try trick or treating. I remember I would be inside watching others trick or treating & my parents would purposely turn of all the lights & shit so nobody would knock. I wouldn’t even eat the candy fr. I don’t trust other people’s food usually lol. Idk. Especially candy. I barely eat candy actually but the point is walking like a kid & looking at the houses. I wish I was a kid so I can actually knock on the doors & people not be weirded out. Brah, I couldn’t even celebrate someone else’s bd at school like if it was someone’s bd or it was a holiday & the class would have a lil party, I would be sent to a different room by myself & sometimes even if I was in the little parties, I couldn’t eat the cake or whatever cus my parents told me I would basically be eating evil energy into me. Even if I would bring it home, they would throw it away & shit. I never understood why Mother’s Day was bad growing up like I would make my moms a Mother’s Day card but she would just throw it away & say it’s bad cus Mother’s Day should be everyday like wow. It’s not that serious. So when Mother’s Day came up, I would say I could make the card but I won’t get to take it home cus my mom won’t appreciate it or anything so there was no point. Idk. Anyways bruh I really be talking out my ass but anyways where was I even at. Chicago & Miami but yeah Miami is way too hot so no. Umm like maybe 3-4 years ago I was really into Canada for a minute because of the buildings & my police show was made in Canada & the vibes of the show & the view of Canada… brb

[m-aster-of-spinjitzu]

my thoughts on possession* that literally no one asked for, xD:

*i mean ns5, not, like, owning property or smth😭 keep reading under the cut, rip your browser though-

- the ghost whip was apparently supposed to be remixed off the ghostbusters theme?? i haven't watched the latter, but idk man, that's pretty cool:D

the fact that the scriptwriters decided to make a teenage emo ghost with awesome hair and too much eyeliner more threatening than the literal embodiment of this show's version of Hell is,,, wild tbh 

the air has water (well, moisture) in it, and food has water in it... like wouldn't it be weird if ghosts could just accumulate enough water on their corporal forms from the air and food and stuff and then slowly dissolve, because of like, eating too much watermelon or something- 

@/wojira made an awesome post (i don't have the link:() about how they'd realized that water is fatal to ghosts probably because it's one of the most important things animals need to live, and that's just such a cool idea 

yang LAUGHED when the others found out cole was dead. he. freaking. laughed. i haven't watched day of the departed but that's,,, geez, that's pretty horrible- 

also!! y'all, back me up here: when you read a post that has the abbreviation 'dotd', i can't be the only one that mentally hears it as 'dotted'?? or am i just weird😭

possession is the only season from one to seven not to have a 'companion' song by the fold:( but day of the departed does have close the circle yk? 

anyways- i'd really like to know what exactly the fsm died from, and how he died? like he could literally create anything couldn't he just create an elixir or life or smthand also!!! i really really want to know whether he was dying from whatever it was and went 'oh shoot, gotta protect the realm crystal, lemme just create a tomb-maze-puzzle real quick!' or he created said tomb-maze-puzzle a while before his death and when he was dying he just went down to the cave and lay there...... 

also this is tragically hilarious, i wasn't sure if i should laugh or cry when i first read it, but- if you search 'morro' on google, the first thing to come up is something called morro..... bay.... 

bay, as in, huge thingamajig of water- i think i've got a new fav antagonist, y'all. the scriptwriters!! 

what happened to all of yang's students, like, before they got ghosted. i wonder what he did to do them for all those years, tbh. like was he actually a teacher, just a really strict one, or straight up horrible? (i know i know, dotted- i'll watch it at some point) 

morro also kinda sounds like "to-morro":(- okay, i'll stop now 

for a homeless orphan who then lived in a monastery with a really strict teacher, i would love to know how morro got access to bleach and hair dye,,,, like, did wu buy it for him or was it a side effect of his powers or,,, actually, now i wanna write this- 😭

who actually sends ppl to the cursed realm? like,,, it seemed to be the show's version of Hell (all the villains were sent there after they died, wu and garmadon sent the anacondrai generals there too), but who DECIDES who goes there, yk...??

the entire season can literally be summed up by this thing my friends and i use sometimes:(((: 😃🔫 

cloud kingdom is basically the show's version of 'what came first, the chicken or the egg' and i'm not sure if i should love that or want to scream every time im reminded of it, because, like, FREAKING GOSH DID THEY WRITE THEMSELVES INTO EXISTENCE OR WAS IT THE FSM OR WAS IT ANOTHER THING LIKE AHHHHHNNGGGG I NEED TO KNOW- 

mmmmmm mmmmm puffy potstickers 

also, how can ghosts gain weight, like, they're legit green misty foggy things-  def gonna reblog and add some more, this is fun, lol- also, thanks for reading if you read all this weird rambling, xD. if you have any similar thoughts or questions, feel free to put them in the chat or the tags!:D

#ns5 #ninjago possession #ninjago morro #ninjago

[vickyvicarious]

Hello! I love your posts about both of the Leverage series. What role does Breanna as a Maker fulfill in the team?

First off, sorry I took so long to answer this. I was holding off until I watched all the episodes because I wanted to see how much more was or wasn't done with 'Maker' Breanna.

And the short answer is? Not much.

But the long answer... well, to sum it up, that might change pretty soon in the next part of the season, and it's actually pretty character-based that we don't see it yet. Let me explain my reasoning.

Breanna tries to sell herself as a team member like this:

Breanna: "I'm not as good a hacker as you."

Hardison: "Damn straight."

Breanna: "But hacking's kinda old-school anyway, it's like any script kiddie can do that. I'm really better with, like, the social media part. Or like, drones, physical builds, you know, like... relevant skills."

So. First off, in this scene she's clearly trying to make herself sound valuable to the team. She doesn't want to just present herself as 'Hardison, but not as good.' She acknowledges that he's a better hacker but then tries to point out her own skills that could be useful, and the 'relevant' dig is just a joke because she's nervous and also he's her sibling so she's gotta.

No one really responds, so she asks them to give her a shot, to let her in because she found them and she's earned this. Hardison, though, is still stuck on her calling him a "script kiddie":

Hardison: "S- I'm s- scrip-script who? Who you calling script kiddie?" [to Eliot, standing behind Breanna] "Bruh, script kiddie? You hear this?"

Eliot: "Hey. Head chef." [pauses, tilts his head towards Breanna] "Chopping lettuce."

I bring this up because I think it's pretty relevant to what we see from Breanna. She literally just tried to present herself as different from Hardison, to emphasize her own skills in drones and social media manipulation. But the very first thing she hears is "head chef/chopping lettuce." Without the context of Eliot and Hardison's earlier conversation about Hardison being torn between his other work (that only he can do) and needing to let go and delegate some stuff, all she's hearing here is Eliot essentially calling her the less experienced cook. Same job really, just not as good at it.

We don't see much reaction on her face to this line. But throughout the rest of the season, a recurring aspect of her characterization is that she gets frustrated or disheartened when people shut her ideas down, and she tends to be less confident in herself/hesitant about offering ideas or surprised by getting praise.

She tries to prove herself quickly in the Rollin' on the River Job by going for the pearl despite being told not to, and then gets very upset and resentful when she's confined to the van for the rest of the con. Thing is, she was trying to prove herself by demonstrating Parker skills - skills which Breanna does not have at this point.

She's also compared negatively to Hardison in I think the same episode or maybe the next one? When she finds the shell corporation and is all proud of herself and then the team just kinda goes "even Harry coulda done that." They're not mean about it, but Breanna clearly isn't going as deep into the research as they like or are used to. Similarly, Eliot complains about having to apply for a job instead of just having it given to him and changes his backstory on the fly when Breanna really isn't ready. She doesn't have all the backups built like Hardison, she isn't able to change them as fast as he can. Again, there's a scene where he left her manuals and she kinda skimmed them but failed at something that would have been explained in the manual if she'd read it all.

She showed up wanting to be an addition to the team, to fill a different role from Hardison. But he took that as the impetus to leave and do his own thing, meaning Breanna now feel like she has to fill his role. And it's not going super well at first because that's not what she's good at. Not that she's bad by any means - but the Leverage team is very used to Hardison, and they aren't slowing down enough for her, or aren't always clearly explaining what they want from her.

Also, they're planning their cons with two things in mind for her: a) her safety, and b) her doing tech. Parker tries to teach her thieving skills onscreen, and just generally be a mentor. They put Breanna in the van early on and hesitate to let her out too much until they're more confident in her skills. This isn't helped by the whole pearl fiasco, obviously, but in general, they build plans around her being with someone else guiding her at first, or her being back at base doing Hardison's old job. Partly because they see that as safer but also because that's just, what they know to plan for.

Breanna is someone who feels bad about herself pretty easily, in my opinion. She gets discouraged. Eliot's early comment and Hardison leaving was enough to push her into the reckless pearl grab to try and impress the team with her skills. When that backfires, she gets a lot less bold about protesting a plan. Part of that comes from Harry's pep talk to her, as well. He encourages her to work as part of a team with the rest of the crew. And she basically takes that and throws herself into being what she thinks they want her to be.

Now, I'm not saying she never offers any ideas of her own. But it takes a while before she's very confident doing so, and it's not until the Card Game Job (which happens to be very emotionally significant for her personally) that she really tries to argue her point. (She repurposes her Halloween decorations to help the con the episode right before, but it's not quite the same situation.) And then she's still shut down. This is partially due to Parker's own hangups about being a mentor meaning she should always be the wiser one and not have to learn from her own student, and that does change over the course of the episode. But Breanna doesn't push super hard for Parker to use her notes at first, despite clearly wanting to. However, she does grow in confidence once her relevant knowledge starts being the key to figuring out the riddle. And at the end of the episode Parker makes a point of mentioning that Breanna's a good teacher.

The very next episode, she brings a drone to a job.

Now, sadly poor little Frodo the drone is killed basically instantly, but that timing seems pretty telling to me. The other incredibly important thing that happens that episode, is that Breanna opens up, at first to Eliot, and then to the rest of the team (minus Harry), about her past and her regrets and mistakes.

We never actually learn what those are, because the team tells her it doesn't actually matter to them. Eliot tells her directly that they don't need her to be Hardison. Parker goes a step further and says "All we need from you is to be exactly the person you are."

And I think that is the key. Breanna was trying really, really hard to show them that she's a worthwhile member of the team. She was trying to live up to their perceived expectations of her, trying to fill Hardison's shoes. And because they aren't familiar with any other skills of hers/don't often work with things like social media and drones, they don't make plans for those. Breanna needs to take the initiative to offer her own skills and ideas, because unlike Nate in the original show, Parker and Sophie don't have the same knowledge of everything Breanna is capable of. They put her in plans in ways they knew she'd be safe, and doing things they expected she could do. And it wasn't exactly wrong of them, but it didn't give her the opportunity to bring many of her own unique skills to the table.

Now, the Double-Edged Sword Job (where they tell her all this) is the second-to-last episode, and the finale is entirely focused on Sophie and the ghost of Nate. Breanna plays a relatively small role in that one, so we don't see instant payoff from this conversation. But I do believe that, now she's no longer carrying the yoke of 'being Hardison', we will see her feeling more confident in offering up her own skills. We will see them succeeded and her own ideas and techniques becoming something the rest of the team learns how to account for in planning cons.

The two things Breanna brags about at the beginning are social media and drones/physical builds. As of yet, we've seen her utilize social media once (to throw the rave in her first episode - when Hardison was still there), and a drone once (the episode after her knowledge was key to the con succeeding). The drone didn't work that time, but I hope to see more, and see more clever applications of whatever "social media manipulation" and "physical builds" even means, in the second half of the season.

(Granted, Hardison never fit fully into a box of just hacking in the first place, and I'm sure there will still be a lot of overlap with Breanna being the primary tech person, but I'm excited for more variety as well.)

#leverage #leverage redemption #leverage spoilers #breanna casey #leverage meta #my meta #anonymous #replies

[somanyerikas]

Nostalgia sells - or does it? About BBC’s rehiring of a previous showrunner for Doctor Who as a marketing strategy

All, right, this is the one where I deal with my issues about RTD’s rehiring from the standpoint of BBC’s business strategy . Brace for passive agression, swearwords, brief history of british television and numbers. So, so many numbers.

Allright, so I already wrote a post about my problem with RTD’s (re)hire from the creative standpoint (it’s here in case you’re interested), but hey, I can bitch about it all I want, but we all know what caused the BBC to make this decision, right? You’ve heard about it for sure. The Dropping Ratings. You’ve read about it on so many posts, lots of them probably oh-so-gladly conflating this fact with their own opinion about the deteriorating quality of the show. (Don’t worry, we’ll get to that.) So Obviously the execs at the Big BBC Quarters needed to do something about it, and what better way to go than rehire a guy who’s run at Doctor Who is a warm childhood memory for so many in it’s fanbase? After all, it’s what we’re seeing nowadays: from Star Wars return to wave of 80′s nostalgia to every old blockbuster star doing a comeback, there is but a single conclusion - nostalgia sells.

Or does it?

Part One: Moving with the change; or very much refusing to.

Let’s start this off with some facts about the ratings for Doctor Who. (Well, I warned you there’s gonna be numbers, didn’t I. Stick with me, I’m going somewhere with this I promise.) In it’s beginnings, in the sixties and seventies , the series flown high, averaging a viewership from 8 up to 10 million viewers per season. Collin Baker’s series 17 brought in a record of 11.21 milion viewer asses in front of a good ol’ TV screen, real champagne opener here. But, as it happens, things were downhill from here. During the eighties, the rating started dropping steadily, reaching an all-time low of 4.15 milion couch-warming bottoms in 1989, the last season of the classic era. 

Years passed, 16 of those years to be exact, and here comes our saviour RTD. Under his wings, the revived series premiered, bringing in over 10 milion viewers to the premiere episode of season 1, Rose. A viewership this high did not last for long, but still, RTD’s seasons averaged between 7 and 8 milion viewers per season, which seemed pretty respectable. But then, as the story likes to repeat itself, not unlike the bbc execs just did, along came the decline again. Ever since 2010, the ratings began steadily dropping again, from 7.95 in 2010 to 5.46 in 2017. Then DW experienced an unexpected peak in 2018 with the premiere of Jodie Whittaker’s first season, which averaged 7.96 viewing asses, but then continued the dropping trend on the next season, averaging 5.40 viewing butts.

So what went wrong?

You see, part of the reason that Doctor Who was bringing in such great viewership numbers in the 60′s and 70′s, was that, to put it simply, BBC did not have much competition. Or, to be exact, only had one competitor. ITV was literally founded in order to break BBC’s monopoly over British television. But in the 80′s, with the launch of Channel 4 and Sky, the british viewers had more and more options to choose from. So logically speaking, they no longer had to watch BBC’s programming just because there was nothing else on. There was more and more new programes to boredom-watch. And here’s something y’all need to know about the tv industry: the boredom-watchers, the casuals? That’s the most important demographic. As hard as it might be to swallow, us hardcore fans, forum dwellers and Ao3 gremlins, we’re not as big of a group as we’d like to think. Loving fans are important to the tv execs as providers of word-of-mouth advertisment, but the real numbers come from the casual, everyday viewer who will just put on the next episode cause the other one was kinda fun I guess. Or more fun than the other options, anyway.

And this is why, by the way, when someone is conflating low viewership with the show Dissapointing The Fans, they’re full of shit. I’m sorry, but we’re really not that much of a force here, definitely not enough to make such a big impact on the numbers. Another factor, that some of you probably noticed already, is that the numbers I’m quoting are from british tv only, while the online fandom is very much international, so our opinions matter even less to the british execs, I’m sorry again, hard pill to swallow I know, but true nonetheless.

But I digress. So, to sum up the previous paragraph, Doctor Who’s viewership decline in the 80′s was the effect of the changing landscape of the TV industry, with which the BBC struggled to come to terms with.

Sound familiar?

Let’s move on to the 2010′s, shall we?

2010 was is actually a good marker of a year to choose, because it marks one important thing that begun a big change in the industry. This was the year in which Netflix expanded their services overseas, from being a DVD rental company to providing VOD services. Over the next decade streaming services grew in importance, from being an add-on to your cable TV that you didn’t really want but they were throwing it in for cheap, to very much self-sustainable media services you might very well buy instead of buying the cable. And if you look at the numbers for Doctor Who viewership declining over the last 10 years, that’s precisely what’s been happening. It’s not that people don’t want to watch Doctor Who on tv, they don’t want to watch tv in general. Do you know what was the most popular channel in Britain this year? Can you guess? Fucking Netflix that’s what. It’s just slowly-yet-steadily ceasing to be the way we use home entertainment anymore. Again, not much to do with the audience approval, because for that matter, let’s see about the specific episodes that saw the spikes in viewership. 

Rose, which i mentioned at the start of it, was for the longest time the unquestionable queen when it comes to viewership, at 10.81 milion. The next episode, The End of the World, pulled in 7.97 - almost 3 millions worth of lost viewer-butts in one week? Is it because it was so much worse than it’s predecessor? No, it simply did not have the smell of Newness, the Event You Must See, and as such brought forth less of the casual viewers who were simply curious about The New Thing. The next season followed the similar formula, peaking at the premiere, when the marketing was at it’s strongest, going down during the season, sometimes rising slightly for the finale, sometimes not. The most popular episodes are, of course, the specials - yet again, the vibe of The Event To Be Seen worked here, but one more thing working to their advantage is they often aired in spaces between seasons, serving as both a long-waited Crumbs of Content for the fans, and the basically stand-alones for the casuals. Do you know what the single most watched episode of revived DW is? No, it’s not Tennant’s goodbye with the role (yeah I know, I thought it had to be that as well). It was Voyage of the Damned, between seasons 3 and 4. The perfect standalone for the casual watcher. And last but not least, you know one more special feature that brought, maybe not as much, but definitely more than expected? The 1996 movie Doctor Who, with 9.08 million. Again, a perfect standalone.

But the standalones aren’t the only way to grab the viewership. The currently-highest viewing non-special episode of DW? The Woman Who Fell to Earth, Jodie Whittaker’s introduction. In 2018 no less, in the year when the streaming was the ruler supreme, this episode brought a whooping 10.96 million buts to the good ol’ TV again. Let me reiterate: this episode brought in more viewers than Rose did in 2005, while having WAY more competition and way less favorable circumstances of release that RTD’s debiut did. Not only that, it managed to bring on some numbers for the entire season as well, not as good of course as the premiere (because again, the Event vibes faded), but still brought a better average than the last six seasons did. (Again, let me reiterate: more than the last SIX seasons. More viewership than any series since 2010, since the Streaming Wars.) So clearly, this must be the way, right? Catering to this Weird New Trend, that saw directors notice there do in fact exist other actors than white men, that surely brought in some profit, even Marvel does it now, right? Out with the old, in with the new!

Part 2 The Deceitful Charm of Nostalgia

Well, it turns out the whole Doing New Things deal didn’t work out that well after all, now did it? The second season penned by Chibbnal averaged 5.40 milion, that’s 2.5 million drop from the previous one! It must mean it didn’t work, right? Well, yes and no. As much as the refreshment of the formula as simple as Let’s Put A Woman In It absolutely worked for one season, it very visibly did not hold up for longer. An Event-Episode is something that can still happen on TV, Event-Series? That’s pretty much reserved for streaming now, if you think about it, and it’s honestly kind of a miracle that Series 11 did as well as it had. Two consecutive Event-Series on network tv? Flat out impossible. 

So how to make those ratings great again? How to get those butts in seats of the Good Ol’? Well, the execs of the BBC have a plan for that. They brought in a devouring beast, and it’s name is: Nostalgia.

Without a doubt, there is a number of people who feel nostalgic about RTD’s era of Doctor Who. It’s a lot of people’s fond childhood memory, or the series they started with, and judging by the numbers, there should be quite a lot of them. So the new plan, as it appears, is to get to those who maybe lost interest in the show and lure them with the promise of the thing That Is Totally Like The Thing You Used To Love, Remember? (This is why I don’t actually think that RTD will be allowed to do anything new and interesting, that’s not what they hired him for. And that’s why I think this is bad from the creative standpoint.) So there are two questions here: One, will the people be lured? And two, for how long?

Nostalgia as a marketing strategy is something that you’re probably sick of seeing already (I know I am). But it has very much been effective on many levels, especially the eighties-baiting, Stranger Things style, can bring a new IP up to relevance. But what about old IP’s that want to have a comeback? 

It’s kind of dificult to find another TV show that I could compare to Doctor Who. Most series that have been running for that long are mostly soap operas, that operate on slightly different rules, and are also targeted to a different audience. So as much as the movie series is still not exactly the best comparison, when I think about a big IP, campy sci-fi, family-oriented (at least in theory) on its path back to relevance, I think about Star Wars, obviously. The Force Awakens gambled on that nostalgic feeling and won big, but the next two movies, while still financially successful, were nowhere near the astounding success of the first one. And that’s because - you guessed it - it created the Event You Must See again, The Great Comeback, but merely two years later, the comeback became old news. So what we can gain from that is that nostalgia can create an Event as well as a new trend, if not better. But the question remains: how long will that last?

That is, after all, the main difference between a movie franchise and a TV series in the traditional, network TV sense of the word: movie franchise must bring in the viewership every year or two, and TV series must bring in viewers every week for at least two months. Is RTD’s Nostalgia Vibes enough to provide for that?

I’ll say this: I’m absolutely certain that the 60th anniversary will be very popular. I still don’t think it will break any records because, as I’ve been trying to explain for this whole post, it is not 2007 anymore no matter how much the tv execs would like it to be. But ironically, the almost-certain success of the special is the very thing that could undermine the effect of bringing their precious Nostagia Boi back onboard. Remember, the first Event Episode is The Big Oof. That’s the one that gets asses to the Good Ol’, if anything ever does. After the first big event one, that’s the point when things start going down. They’re wasting their Special Event Boi for something that already would be an event, dear fucking gods, I hate your plan and I would still execute it better. Either have RTD be the Anniversary Guy and then hire someone new, use that hype and keep it going, OR have RTD come in after the anniversary, then at least you get the Event Effect for the premiere of his first return season. Fukin’ amateurs.

But even if they did that, here’s the thing: do you think that the people who departed from the show years ago actually want to watch another three to five seasons of The RTD Show? I mean, I’m sure the thought warmed some hearts, for sure. A number of people will definitely gladly watch the anniversary, probably the first few episodes of the first return to the basics, but after that? In the world when, due to streaming, they have an easy way to revisit the actual thing they’re nostalgic towards? I honestly don’t think so. And you’re not really gonna get many new people by going back, if that nostalgia factor isn’t there. And then there’s casual viewers, the backbone, as we established. And here’s the thing: lots of those people don’t even know who the current showrunner is, cause they’re not Terminally Online like we are, and the second thing? Lots of those people ARE JUST NOT WATCHING NETWORK TV, IM SORRY GARRY. They’re just. They’re just not. I don’t know how to spell it out better. Even my mum has netflix now. Your biggest base is in another castle mate, gotta get moving and gotta get moving quick, cause here’s another thing: all the nostalgia in the world will not do SHIT for you if your target, people who were kids/teens when the RTD era was airing, PROBABLY DON’T EVEN HAVE A FUCKING TV ANYMORE CAUSE THEY MOVED OUT OF THEIR PARENTS FLAT AND LOTS OF YOUNG PEOPLE JUST DON’T BOTHER. Just. I’m sorry but you’re trying to resuscitate a decade-deceased corpse there buddy. It just won’t work. The times have changed and you gotta swim or drown, and it’s just not gonna be 2005 again, no matter how hard you pretend it is. It’s not your content it’s your business model. Just push more marketing for your iplayer or whatever, focus on streaming as your primary not your secondary cause that’s just what it is now, and maybe don’t rely on the viewer-counting systems of the yesteryear to evaluate your business. Or else you’re gonna get stuck sacrificing the creative growth of your show for a marketing strategy that probably won’t even fucking WORK.

There, I got it of my chest. Feel free to reblog, and also: you somehow got to the end of this, congrats! I’ll make numbers nerds out of y’all yet.

#it's like. my sister and I were #watching a movie lately. the one with multiple will smiths and the de-aging tech #(don't recommend it it's real boring) #but when Youngened Will Smith appeared on the screen my sister got my spiting my tea laughing by innocently saying: #"oh i don't know this actor. it's nice that they're giving opportunities to the young actors. great to see a new face in the biz'' #and u know what #this rehire is the same fucking vibe to me #some cunts from marketing plastering make-up to an old man's face and pretending its 2005 still #anyway #doctor who #i guess.

[variousqueerthings]

Daniel LaRusso: A Queer Feminine Fairytale Analysis Part Three of Three

(another massive, massive thank you to @mimsyaf​ )

part 1

part 2

8. Queerness and femininity and masculinity and the colour red and *record breaks*

If we spin the record aaalll the way back to this paragraph: “…looking at what it is girls and women in fairytales have/don’t have, what they want, and how they’re going to get it. It’s about power (lack of), sexuality (repressed, then liberated), and men.” Reading Daniel as a repressed, bisexual boy in a society that doesn’t accept his desires it’s interesting looking at how he moves through the world of the Miyagi-verse, at how threatened other men are by him, at how obsessed they are with him.

He’s out in the symbolic woods and these large boys and men see him and decide for whatever plot reasons to come for him. And they are large and violent and attractive and apart from Johnny again, they don’t have the nebulous excuse of fighting over a girl and even that excuse dies by around the midpoint when Johnny kisses Ali just to get a rise out of Daniel. He’s not trying to “win her back,” he’s not even really looking at her. He’s just trying to get a reaction. They don’t have any of the fighters in Rocky’s excuse either of Daniel being a macho opponent. 

You can read whatever subtext into TKK1 and TKK2 (which becomes especially tempting once CK confirmed that the guys he fought at seventeen have been thinking about him ever since – for thirty-five years), but TKK3 is where it’s really At in terms of obsession and lust and forbidden desires.

Silver is presented as both a handsome prince who saves Daniel and mentors him (where Miyagi is undoubtedly cast in a fatherhood role) and later on becomes twisted into a dark secret that Daniel has to keep, while he turns that thing that Daniel loves (karate, it’s… it’s karate… it’s also men, but it’s definitely karate, because karate makes him feel… things...) into an abusive, violent version of itself.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

But he’s also offering him something liberating. Whatever is going on in that nightclub scene is about something other than breaking Daniel down. Even the bloodied knuckles aren’t just about revenge. It’s about giving him something that he isn’t, in the end, willing to receive, at least not from Silver. In that roundabout, strange way of these feminine fairytales, it’s exploring hidden desires through the metaphor of karate.

Daniel wears red because it’s his colour. In the movies he wears red a lot. Often in scenes with violence in them (the beach/the hilltop in TKK1 and the date/the destruction of the dojo/the final fight in TKK2), but he also has a variety of shirts (and in TKK3 pants) that pop up all the way through the narrative. He wears a red jacket when he accepts Terry’s training, when he punches a guy in the face, and when he tries to get out of the training again (as badly as that goes).

Did anyone consciously think about red’s link to desire, obsession, and violence when they made these? Eh. But is it there symbolically? When he meets Johnny, when he fights Chozen, when he’s in emotionally fraught situations with Terry? Hell yeah.

Probably the most lust-and-violence infused red is that aforementioned punching-board-until-knuckles-bleed bit – not that I thought Terry was going to pull him in for a kiss, because I knew, logically, of course he wouldn’t right? There’s no way… is there? Or later on when Daniel punches that guy and ends up with blood all over his shirt and Terry once more grasps him, euphorically. Blood is violence. Blood is also desire. Red is Daniel’s colour, even though he doesn’t acknowledge it come Cobra Kai. (Maybe he just needs someone else - cough Johnny Lawrence cough - to inspire it in him again).

Daniel LaRusso’s narrative is exploring that most feminine of fairytale tropes: To want and be wanted by monsters and having to hide those desires.

“Maybe this time that strange churning in my stomach that feels like a mix of anticipation and fear will turn out good for me.” - Daniel’s mind.

At the end of the story, Daniel saves himself, with all of the strange mixed narratives around it, and the acknowledgement that the end of The Karate Kid Part Three isn’t satisfying and its aftermath will likely be delved into in the next season of Cobra Kai.

Nevertheless, he saves himself. Not from Silver or Kreese or Barnes, and not entirely, but he makes a decision not to give in to fear (and he continues to try and live by that decision, making it over and over again for the next thirty-five years, even when the return of Cobra Kai makes that difficult for him). 

He doesn’t do it by being the strongest in the land or even through a lucky shot (although that too). He does it by refusing to be like the male antagonists that surround him, by telling them they have no power over him. The narrative isn’t just his getting lost in the forest and all the monsters he finds there, it’s about how he redefines power for himself within that forest. 

He’s a man who isn’t violent, whose victories include helping out a girl whose ex-boyfriend just broke her radio, successfully doing the moves to a cultural dance he’s trying to learn, sitting with his father figure while he cries over the death of his own father, telling a girl that she’s just made her first friend, and breathing a sigh of relief that a tree that got broken has healed. 

Daniel LaRusso is a good boy is the point!

Karate is a metaphor. It can turn into many things: A series of lessons learned about how to be his own man and take care of his own house, a respect for the history of the father teaching him and sharing his home and story with him, fear, desire, masculinity (and the different forms that can take). 

When a tall, handsome stranger offers to teach him karate in the dark, without Daniel’s caretaker knowing how to help him, and twists that karate into something that hurts him - when he reclaims that, over and over, that means something too. 

This man is fine and definitely isn’t carrying the weight of buried karate-based queer trauma - could a traumatised man do this? *stares blankly at a former tormentor as blood runs down his forehead*

9. In Conclusion Daniel Has Kissed Dudes… Symbolically… But We Can HC Literally:

So there’s Daniel and his coded feminine fairytale narrative. It’s all a series of fun coincidences.

1. Ralph Macchio is just Like That

2. Red. All the red. 

3. large portion of his storyline is about lack of power. Yes, he regains that power by the end of the first and second movie through A Fight, but generally he is framed as powerless opposite these almost monstrously physically powerful boys/men. And in the third one it’s barely even about physical prowess (he’d still lose a real fight against Barnes or Silver) and more about regaining lost autonomy off the back of a manipulative, abusive relationship with an older guy.

4. The third movie in particular is narratively a mess, but if reimagined as a fairytale makes a lot of sense (because it’s secretly all about how karate is bisexuality and Daniel gets manipulated through that desire to be better at karate).

5. Queerness and femininity and themes about hidden desires that can only be approached sideways through couching those desires in symbolism: Handshake meme.

6. The fact that the more I think about it, the more feral I am for a Labyrinth AU.

7. To sum up over 5000 words of text: The inherent homoeroticism of wanting to be slammed against a locker by a bully, but extended over three movies and ever-more inventive ways of hurting pretty-boy-Daniel-LaRusso.

Johnny’s not going to be happy when he realises Daniel’s got other ex-rivals buried in his closet...

10. Some Other Stuff Aka The Laziest Referencing I’ll Ever Do

Further reading on trans Matrix

Further reading on masculinity and rape narrative in The Rape Of James Bond

Youtube Video from Pop Culture Detective (Sexual Assault Of Men Played For Laughs)

Some film/TV references in this: Dracula (Coppola), Princess Bride, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Labyrinth, The Matrix, Rocky, Princess And The Frog, Cinderella, Enchanted, Shape Of Water, Swamp Thing, Phantom of the Opera 

Some fairytale references: Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, The Wolf And The Seven Little Kids, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Company of Wolves (Angela Carter), Through the Looking Glass, Princess Bride

Also referenced is Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel and the subsequent musical Funhome. Further thoughts on this by @thehours2002​ and @jenpsaki​:

https://thehours2002.tumblr.com/post/650033577171533824/daniel-larusso-and-fun-home-click-to-enlarge

https://jenpsaki.tumblr.com/post/650530225997971456/cobra-kai-fun-home-inspired-by-goldstargirls

My list of Cobra Kai meta posts

I wanted to delve into fairytale movies more, but then I was like “fuck, I have actual work to do,” but I was interested in the ways male and female characters are written in these stories:

The Last Unicorn, The Never-Ending Story, The Dark Crystal, Legend, and Stardust.

The Last Unicorn is an interesting one because she’s not really human, until she is. It’s more like The Little Mermaid (the fairytale, not the Disney film) in tone, and of course there’s a pretty substantiated rumour that Andersen wrote that one as a metaphor for falling in love with another man (who eventually got married). 

Andersen in general is just fun to analyse as someone who popularized so many fairytales and exists as an ambiguously queer historical figure – might’ve been modern-day gay, bi, ace, but we’re just not sure. All your favourite fairytales can be read through the lens of queer loneliness and ostracization. Just like horror.

Anyway I didn’t go into the whole Little-Mermaid-Last-Unicorn transformation bit so much as the Monstrous-Desires bit, but I think there could be something to that too, with monsters representing otherhood and all. Stardust is a kinda-almost-this, except she sticks to her human form and all is okey-dokey by the end, she’s allowed to marry the handsome man and be a star.

The Never-Ending Story has Atreyu and Bastian and because of a lack of female characters, an interesting bond between the two of them, but mainly Atreyu is absolutely a go-gettem Hero Type and it’s just interesting to see how Bastian relates to him as both an audience insert, but also eventually as his own character in that world.

The Dark Crystal contains certain… androgynous elements of feminine and masculine coded characteristics in the main character because of how he’s not human, but also they do have a “female” version of his species that he needs to go save (and bring back to life) by the end, so in a way it’s both more and less heteronormative in its characters.

Legend sees another example of a monster (literally called Darkness and looking like a traditional devil) trying to seduce a princess through promises of power, and she “goes along with it” in order to trick him and succeeds in that trick, but is ultimately saved by the male lead. 

In conclusion: I don’t even have Shrek in this.

#daniel larusso #terry silver #the karate kid #the karate kid part three #cobra kai #ck #cobra kai meta #and in conclusion... brain brain brain

[biqherosix]

i know you kinda are on a hitaus, so you can answer this whenever you want(or not at all if you don’t want to). i really like your voltron writing!! 😄✨i’m new to writing, and you’re a huge inspiration of mine because you write the characters so well! i wondered if you had some advice on writing keith, because i can’t seem to get his character right😔

hi anon !! first off, thank you for the kind words. it's always nice to know that my work (especially for voltron) is appreciated ! and if you ever write anything for the love of my life, don't hesitate to tag me as i'd love to support !

let me let you in on a little secret though; when you first start writing fanfic, whether it be for a new character, fandom, or in general, nothing you are going to do will feel right lmao. i know that's how i felt because keith akira kogane is kinda complicated,,, i say this because i project and we're actually the same person ! but, after writing voltron works for months on end, here are a few tips and tricks i can provide that will hopefully help you with our angsty emo boy :)

now, it took me a while to ultimately feel comfortable writing for keith and his infinite complexities. so don't be discouraged ! practice always makes progress. but after reading about his personality on fandom wiki, i managed to come to a simple conclusion that you can derive certain traits from other characters similar to keith. examples include other angsty red tropes, including prince zuko from avatar: the last airbender and mako from the legend of korra !

and as i always say, keith is a mere lovechild between them. so if you have an idea of who they are as people, chances are you've gotten half of the red paladin's personality down :) if not, watching a few episodes is always helpful ! atla's the ember island players and tlok's remembrances episodes are a quick summation of the majority of the series, which lets you grasp onto their respective storylines in less than thirty minutes. that's really the only tip i have, but i can go in depth about his character because he basically owns my soul.

depending on the idea of when you'd like to place the plot of your fic, his personality does slightly fluctuate. but no matter the season, the opportunity for angst and suffering during a keith kogane fic will always be there. anyway, prior to keith's exit in season four, he's much more temperamental. respectively as the paladin of the red lion, he is very in tune with his surroundings and will listen to his intuition of fighting first, thinking later, leaving him to be quite rash with his actions.

but you also have to consider that this is due the amount of loss in his life, as he's got barriers built up, shiro being the only exception to break them down until his brief exit in season three. you also can't expect him to speak to you first, and if he does it'll most likely be "for the cause" (consider his awkwardness, he has tells such as stammers and clearing his throat !) and to sum it up, he will always dance around his feelings and avoid his problems because he's scared to open up ! but once he does (either through exploding and apologizing or something else) the awkwardness doesn't just go away, especially as he misses social cues at times. and with keith, it's always a game of rubik's cubes; when you think you've gotten to know him, there's always a missing outlandish piece of him he hides, but at least he's dedicated.

though he's got a lack of screentime (rip to my king, i yearn for more scenes with the blade of marmora suit) for the next three seasons, it's for good reason. this man physically aged in an abyss, which gives him a lot of development off screen. he's seen as more level headed, and definitely smiles more due to hanging with romelle (another tip, consider keith and romelle's contrast in dynamic, and understand certain traits of hers rubbed off on him having been together for two years plus). keith finally matures enough to take on the leader role he is technically meant to have (though i disagree) and listens. and that is such an important part of his character. though he's still a fighter, he's also more logical, which can be seen in his season seven fight with macidus. and yes, he's still a little awkward, but he's got a softer touch and more in tune with his emotions (and like everyone, he has his moments ! this man almost died for the cause !) and is willing to help people in other ways (eg turning the blade of marmora into a humanitarian organization)

finally, i want to tell you that getting to write for keith kogane and meeting sweethearts like y'all in the voltron fandom has been an utmost honor. and it's okay if you think some things will be wrong, that's just your own little spin (a headcanon if you will) on who he is ! understanding keith, or anyone you write for will always fall into trial and error, and all that matters is that you're happy with your writing and the characters you create ! have fun lovelies and let me know how well these tips / analyses worked <3

#keith kogane #keith akira kogane #keith kogane fanfic #keith kogane imagine #writing tips #writing advice #takashi shirogane #team voltron #paladins of voltron #voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld fanfic #voltron x reader #vld #shut your quiznak daniza 🙄

[gar-trek]

no i care about ur tng s1 opinions !!

Well anon since you asked..... (imagine we are hiking together, lol :)

Alright... season one of TNG... well... it wasn’t great. In fact, if it was not a Star Trek show, I’m not sure I would have gotten through it at all. Now I'm not saying that I hated it, in fact there was plenty that i did actually like. But overall it just kinda boring and it was hard to really get into it. Sometimes mediocracy is a worse then just being flat out bad, ya know? To keep things comprehensive, since half of this was written in an RV and the other half is written whilst im on 3 hours of sleep, lets put my review into a nice list of things i did not like, and things i did about season one of TNG

The bad:

-I have talked about this before, but I think my main issue with TNG so far is the extremely awkward vibe it has. Shots linger way too long after characters are done talking. the jokes do not hit most the time. the dialogue is often stilted and awkward. The characters just do not feel real to me at all. It's just very very strange. I don't know if its a problem with the writing, the directing or the producing, or maybe just all three, but overall shit is just awkward all the time. I wish the charecters felt more real. Like yeah, maybe we didn't see much of Sulu in TOS, but they still managed to make him a guy you could imagine yourself meeting at a bar or whatever. what am i gonna go have some drinks with fuckin season 1 William Riker?? Nah, wtf is that bitches motivations and aspirations ?? that he wants to be captain and has blue eyes ?? what i am trying to say is that nothing feels real and no smart ass not because its a fictional sci-fi show, but because the characters all act super weird or literally just do nothing.

-Picard. I’m kind of turning the corner here but like... he just doesn’t do it for me as captain. I feel like since he’s the captain that makes him the “””””main character”””” and yet... what does Picard do? He’s just kinda boring. Like the man doesn’t even always bean down to the planet or whatever. And you guys already know my thoughts on his relationship with Wes... yeah :/ so no, I don’t hate Picard, I just kinda hate that he’s the captain.

-Where is the action ? Am I an old white male boomer for wishing TNG had a little more tits out violence like TOS did. I mean where is the punching? Where is the redshirt deaths and photon torpedos and shit. I need more violence, and I know that’s like, opposite of the message of Star Trek but dammit... more violence!

-Every single thing that happened to Tasha Yar in Skin of evil. I know you know :/ we all know. :/ and mini rant but in the beginning of that episode Worf and Tasha had a cute little moment and I actually thought “wow they would make a good couple actually or at least best buds” but.. well you know :/ too bad. Also I feel like they spent a lot of time trying to set up Tashas backstory and she actually had something interesting going on so like.... again too bad I guess :/

*cough cough*

anyway, here is what i did like:

-despite their awkwardness i do think some of the characters are neat. Geordi has to be my favorite, he just brings such a good vibe to the crew and I think the whole concept of his character is really interesting. I like Worf but I still feel like we don’t get enough Worf time and of course I like Data, tbh I never disliked him but he definitely grew on me more as I watched. Data does have the tendency to make me cringe... but like in the way your weird lovable friends do. And of course Wes, who deserves so much better then all the dumb ass situations they write for him.

-I think they do a good job of making it feel like the Star Trek universe without just copying everything they did in TOS. like its super different from TOS in a lot of ways, but still it feels like the same universe, and maybe even a little more true to the universe. like the prime directive thing is taken a lot more seriously, same with the federation not wanting to resort to violence right away, all that star trek jazz. its still there, its still trek.

-they don't do a bunch of annoying pandering. i feel like nowadays when they come out with remakes or spin-offs or whatever they always have to have a million callbacks like "hey remember this thing you loved?? here it is again exactly the same" because like yeah that is easy and it more fail-proof. like they could have just stuck a vulcan in the main cast, don't tell me you wouldn't have gotten Spock brain and just ate that shit up, but they were like nah and tried new stuff instead. and i respect that. because the callback episode they did do (naked now) kinda fuckin sucked. so good for them for trying to forge their own path.

okay anyway those are my general thoughts. More specifically, here are the epsidoes i think were the very worst

- Encounter at Fairpoint (literally the first episode and i kept checking my watch wondering when it would be over. it should not have been a 2 parter that was way too long. Q was annoying as hell. the main plot was not that interesting. )

- Where No One Has Gone Before (very tedious and hard to sit through. "oh we traveled too far into space.... oh we did it again! haha lol!" boring. did not like that Traveler guy sus as hell.... hated that Picard only made Wes and Ensign after the Traveler said Wes was important.)

-Skin of Evil (dumb stupid dumb)

-The Nuteral Zone ( i dont even want to get into this. i actually think this one stunk the worst and it was the last episode. so many things wrong)

annnnddd the episodes i liked!

- The Last Outpost (Ferengi Ferengi Ferengi Ferengi )

-Haven (how can you not love Lwaxana Troi this episode made me genuinely laugh so many times. lots of very good character moments here)

-Angle One (i really liked the concept of male wife girl boss society i thought it was funny and interesting)

-Conspiracy (i felt like this one actually kept me on my toes. also liked when that dude's head exploded)

annndddd that about sums it up people! was that a comprehensible review? no. was it long? yes. feel free to disagree with me or fight it out in the comments. what are your least favorite episodes from season one? do you agree with my takes here? let me know

#okay time to be a person now #so tired #so so tired #stick around for soon when i review killing time #yeah thats right bitch i read a book! #star trek #tng #the next generation #tng season 1 #review #my takes #data #william riker #whatever whatever

[redsector-a]

AO3 Ask Game

I was tagged by @themarshalstale which, thank you so much! I feel like I always get missed on these (I know why, it’s been 84 years since I published anything but still). 1. How many works do you have on ao3?

46 it seems. Which...look I’m slow man so that’s not surprising. lol Also crippling depression does not make for much production, at least for me.

2. What’s your current AO3 wordcount?

309662 according to the stats.

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

So do I could only AO3 or in like life? lol I suppose it should only be on AO3 since this is an AO3 ask game. Hrm. Basically AO3 can be summed up as: Marvel (in several iterations - all Avengers related) Torchwood Highlander But isn’t it more fun to consider my entire fandom life, which, I’m sorry, I’m old so...yeah. Not all of this is was published and beyond that a lot is not available anymore...which is likely for the best. Highlander Star Wars Babylon 5 Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers Marvel (again, several iterations also of note Avengers and X-Men both count) Torchwood Star Trek LOTR Stargate (SG-1, SGA) Mortal Kombat I dabbled with the idea of Potter fic but never got past the ideas stage.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1: You rearrange me till I’m sane Clint finds himself spiraling into a deep depression after the Battle of New York...until the Winter Soldier ends up saving him and inadvertently giving him a new purpose – to save the man that the Soldier had once been – Bucky Barnes. Not one to be outdone, the Soldier decides that his new mission is to ensure that Clint remains alive himself. Protecting a blonde man with a self-destructive streak is somehow very familiar to him. Through the back and forth of who is saving whom they cross the country and learn more about themselves and each other – and perhaps find a reason for living. 2: Five Dates Bucky Didn’t Realize He Was on And the One He Planned Himself To say that Bucky was surprised when Clint kissed him was an understatement. But it was nothing compared to the shock he felt when he learned they'd been dating for months without him realizing it.Clint gets whisked away for a mission before they have time to talk and Bucky is left to figure things out on his own - hindsight being 20/20 he can't help but wonder how he missed things the first go around.

3: Puck Luck Bucky Barnes is used to the ups and downs of an NHL season. He's used to the unpredictability of the game, knows that bounces don't always go your way, but that doesn't make a broken hand in the final third of the season any easier to deal with. Especially not when he ends up with an impromptu roommate/personal assistant in the form of one Clint Barton - his agent, Natalia Romanova's (rather attractive) friend he hadn't known existed before his injury.

It's just for six to eight weeks - what could possibly happen in that span of time?

4: Loose Lips Launch Ships

Based on the following prompt: “We go to school together and I think you’re cute and apparently you’re also the pizza delivery guy and my little sibling opened the door screaming hey sibling! you know that kid you’re in love with? you really weren’t kidding when you said his jawline could cut steel holy shit-” Bucky is the pizza delivery guy. Clint's younger (foster) brother has a big mouth.

5: Indelible Bucky Barnes has a pretty decent life – a good job, good friends, a cat that adores him - but something is missing. He’s always found body art to be beautiful and inspiring, and on a whim (and with the hope that maybe he can find what he’s missing) he decides to take the plunge and get a tattoo. That's how he meets Clint Barton. Clint's talented and compassionate and there is an instant spark between the two of them. It's not long before Bucky finds himself wondering and wanting more from the relationship despite the ghosts of the past that crop back up. Because Clint makes him feel normal in a way he truly hasn't for years...

(this was pre-Alpine so I was totally chuffed when canon confirmed Bucky’s status as a crazy cat lady (affectionate).

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not.

I really really really want to do it but I often times don’t end up doing it. There are a few reasons. First, I am akwward AF and bad at interaction adn I feel like just saying thank you would be...not enough? Second - I often times tend to like...turtle (aka retreat into myself) when life gets Too Hard/Busy which happens a lot to me (sigh) and then I miss the vague window in my mind in which it would be okay to respond and then it’s even more weird. I do love and cherish all of them. Like there was one months ago that made me go “hmm...I didn’t think I was going to do a sequel to that fic (You rearrange me till I’m sane), timestamp glimpses sure but a sequel hadn’t come to mind” but then the comment made me think! So...who knows? lol Anyway, I literally have been rereading some in an effort to try and get myself going again. Know that if you have commented, I love you.

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

At the moment? Probably: Look at you look at me Bucky's in love with Clint - problem is he's really not supposed to be. For Winterhawk Week 2019 - Forbidden Love (I really don’t want to give away the spin in the fic but...if you’re familiar with the Secret Avengers Vol 2 run circa 2013ish (aka when SHIELD initially ‘took control of the team’) that’s a bit of a hint as to the spin). Were it done, Torch Song would be up there. ;) Torch Song Clint is sent back in time, via an alien device, to 1938. While he tries to figure out how to get back home, he takes up singing and entertaining to make ends meet and does his best to not disrupt the timeline.Then he meets a 21 year old Bucky Barnes. --- A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship.

7. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Does *wanting* to write crossovers count? lol I want, so badly, to do more crossovers and fusions (which...are kinda deeper versions of crossovers in a way). The only one I do have posted is a crossover between Highlander and Torchwood -

The Immortal Mr. Jones A series of vignettes (some long, some short) in the life of the newly immortal Ianto Jones. My most ambitions project that I have been working on since late 2011/early 2012 is a fusion of the Avengers with Stephen King’s the Stand. I will get that done at some point *shakes fist*  The Stand, for those who don’t know it, is an epic 1000+ page novel about a flu epidemic (I know) that wipes out over 99% of the population and then two figures representing Good and Evil pull the survivors in two directions for a showdown. So basically it’s a non-powered modern AU set in that universe. It’s a passion and comfort project. lol

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. Well, minor bitching back when I was in a prior fandom because I tagged a pairing in a fic but it was pre-slash and not labeled as pre-slash. I got hate on...I think it was Torch Song? And I’ve gotten hate on tumblr re me and my fic in general as well. Fandom! *jazz hands* Oh! And I’ve also been hit by those reviewers within Winterhawk (among general Clint pairings actually) who like rate you on either number scales or the “meh” scale. Which isn’t hate exactly but...it’s passive aggressive bullshit because I can’t believe none of them realize at this point that the authors can see their bookmarks - you know?

9. Do you write smut?

Yes. Do I write it well? I have no idea. lol

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of. Well...there was, I think, one of those reposting sites that had a few fics on it but I don’t think it was being passed off as someone else’s? I can’t quite recall. It’s why I have a note on AO3 about reposting my work anyway.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not entirely, but sort of. Let me explain - I am part of a PBEM game; which for those unfamiliar since it’s a term that was most heavily in use 15-20 years ago, in which you basically do a round robin type writing thing but rather than everyone writing the same characters you write your own characters and you play off what other people have done. Another way of looking at it is  it’s basically DnD without dice and written down rather than done out loud. You also don’t have to all be around at the same time. It’s a lot of fun and yes I have been in it for 20 years even though there aren’t many of us left but they are some of my dearest friends and fabulous writers. Wins all around.  One of the other writers and I have actually toyed with the idea of doing a co-written fic actually, mostly because we work super well together and keep getting ideas for things but can’t really do them as rpgs since the pbem style isn’t used much anymore.

12. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Winterhawk probably. Though, let’s be real - Han & Leia are epic and amazing as are John & Delenn (from Babylon 5).

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Does wanting to expand The Black Stallion books as a wee child count? lol Not much of that was written save for world building ideas but there was a great oral tradition of telling stories to my friends. Otherwise...maybe a tie between Star Wars and Highlander. Star Wars was a love since I was super young but the writing bug didn’t hit me until around the same time Highlander was a thing as well.

14. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? You rearrange me till I’m sane for sure. Though Torch Song, if it were finished, would be tied I imagine (I suck at picking favorites). Honorable mention to Puck Luck and Indelible. Tagging: I have seen this like a million times (okay 5) so I feel like everyone has been tagged already that I know. But...I guess... @vexbatch @crazycatt71 @heartonfirewrites and @disruptedvice sorry if anyone has been tagged before.

#icyredfics #writing #winterhawk #long post

[searching-in-silence]

Our story and thoughts about Jikook

Hi! I first of all love your channel!

I like to tell you my story and thoughts about Jikook. Sorry in advance if it’s too long! :-D

So since august 2020 I became an ARMY, I never heard of BTS nor K-pop before, I just saw the MV Dynamite and I loved it so much. What stood out for me was the dynamic of the boys. But what I also noticed in the MV saw something weird (to me), it was the look Jimin gave JJK before he jumped on his back, I was quite intrigued by this. Anyways I didn’t think of it much further and started looking at more MV’s of BTS and soon I only listened to BTS and watched their MV’s, interviews, old clips of them, RUN BTS,… every day,hours in a row. Jimin and JJK stood out for me but I didn’t think of them as possible boyfriends yet, I just thought Jimin was obviously gay and a cute flirty guy. I was not at all familiar with the term Shipping because it’s not something we do in our country with boysbands or actors, it doesn’t exist here. So me and my sister (she is 17, I’m 33 LOL) became ARMY at the same time in 2020. My sister was way more active on Insta, Twitter,… So it didn’t take long for her to discover shipping, soon she was a Taekook shipper, she said she shipped them because she loves these 2 guys most and because of their looks and their bond. I didn’t understand much of what she meant by this or why she would ‘ship’ them at all (like what is that and why?). Anyways Later on, around September/ October 2020 I noticed more signs of Jikook being something different: like 'arriving late at an interview, 'Jimin saying he was with JK at 4 am while minutes before JK told a different story, some RUN BTS moments that looked so intimate or gay to me. I don’t know, I had a strange but loving feeling with these two. And then BAM while watching some old video’s of BTS Rookie king, American Hustle,.. I got a recommendation for a Jikook video (first ever for me), I watched it and it felt like a puzzle came together. There were moments of concerts in it I hadn’t yet seen, there were very to the point analysis. I was just Jungshook :-O From then on I watched Jikook videos every day on top of everything BTS related. When watching old stuff from BTS I kept an extra eye on Jikook now and wow I was amazed by how slowly but obviously JJK started falling in love with Jimin. But it was only after I saw CGF Tokyo (I was quite late discovering that one) I was very much convinced of Jikook being in love/ being boyfriends. So there I was being addicted to the love between Jikook. One day I talked about Jikook with my sister, who’s a Taekooker. We never did before talk about Jikook specifically, we only talked about BTS in general but that day I asked her why on earth would you think Taekook are a couple while Jikook are obviously a couple. She then said that neither of them are real and showed me a lot of Taekook and Vmin video’s. After that my world came crashing down. I never saw another ship video before, only Jikook. I was so convinced I was witnessing a very beautiful and unique lovestory but then there was my younger sister telling me, I quote: “woman seriously, what did you think? They are all close friends who grew up together and are very much into skinship and fanservice, I’m sorry sis but none of them are dating and if they are then they’re a threesome, doesn’t make sense”. She was right, the interactions I saw between Jikook I could easily see between VMin and Taekook too. I secretly cried for 2 days and felt really bad, not believing in true love anymore. I know it’s weird at my age but that’s what it was like for me. My boyfriend really looked at me like I was a ridiculous teenager but I couldn’t help it. I thought I witnessed a true love couple in front of me but I was being played. I think 2 months went by, me ignoring everything Jikook, only watching BTS in general, luckily for me there was little interaction as in skinship anyways, except for the Christmas Dynamite video when Jimin was all cozy with JJK (I blamed it on fanservice) and then the iconic Black Swan performance, which I watched a 100 times over and cried for (I blamed it on the choreographer because Jikook do make the best dance pair); but then BAM all of the sudden there was the recent Vlive BE.T.S. and I was Jungshook, I was like 'come on, they’re all over each other, but why????’ I felt a little angry at Jikook about the 'fanservice’ this time because lately they didn’t do that a lot and I felt like they grew out of it and I was content with that since my heart was broken because of the fanservice before. It felt more fair to me that the members stopped doing fanservice. But no, there was Jikook again, right in front of all of us, flirting like they hadn’t seen each other in a while. Not just Jimin also JJK was looking at Jimin like a lover. It bothered me a lot because my heart was still healing from a 'break-up’ kinda feeling. But guess what happened next: I got a text from my little sister: “oh my god sis Jikook might be real after all” I texted her back “shut up, don’t laugh at me, I’m pissed”. and she: “No seriously, what is this, they flirt like there’s no tomorrow :-O Boyfriends after all?? ”… I was shocked that she of all people started believing in Jikook, while I finally saw reality because of her and her fiends. I start doubting Jikook again. So we came together and we wrote down some facts that could indicate Jikook being a real couple. Things Jikook did or said that they didn’t do with other members. I first wrote down 'it’s in their eyes, their stares’ but my sis reminded me that it goes for Taekook and Vmin as well so no, not a fact actually. But we came up with these facts:

1) GCF Tokyo, JJK planned this for Jimin’s birthday and it was all about Jimin, you could interpret it as a film for a very special friend but the song that goes with it and the fact that it was for his birthday were too suspicious and the most important fact: he ONLY did that for Jimin, not any other member after that. 2) Jimin is the most special member to JJK. He never gave gifts on B-days to members but he did gave Jimin a B-day present in 2017, just him, not the other members. After the members pointing him about this special treatment he did start giving everyone presents but back then it was only Jimin. 3) I can write a lot about why we think this but we are sure the members are not living together at the dorms anymore, only for work or maybe they crash there sometimes but they don’t actually live there anymore. So they take different cars from there home base to get where they’re going and Jikook always take the same care, especially since 2019, not really sure they live together although we could sum up some facts that could indicate they live together but we can say they at least want to be together before and after work, like almost all the time. An important one for us is that they were both late at the live MBC Radio show in September 2020. The excuse was they took a different highway then the rest and were stuck in traffic (they were like 30 min late). That doesn’t make sense at all, why would one of the cars take a different highway if they are all following each other to get there. We suppose they all gather at the dorms to go to there appointments to make sure they all arrive at the same time at their appointments. So the cars will be following each other, which we can see that is the case, all members always arrive at the same time in different cars (except Jikook, same car). So the excuse makes no sense, it’s either that they both left a lot later then the rest from the dorms (which would be weird) OR they came from a different place (their own place?) and indeed took that certain highway and got stuck in traffic because they weren’t following the other cars. Well that is more likely right? 4) Jimin took a long flight from Paris to S-K just to spend a few hours with JJK on his B-day at the evening. Sure Jimin is a great friend for all the members but this goes beyond that. Me and my sis wouldn’t even do that for each other (our B-days are at the same day, but 16 years apart so it’s special for us too), we would celebrate after our trip. 5) Billboard 1° interview “I was with Jungkook at 4 AM …we cried together”, the day before that interview there was a Vlive for JJK’s B-day and the tension there was weird between Jikook, they seemed unhappy. Jimin was trying to say something about JJK but was caught off twice, anyways he said it the day after: 'he was with JJK’ at that time, since they all don’t live together this is very questionable, all nighter friends forever?… We both found this significant. 6) We all know that Jimin really likes snow. Bon Voyage season 4: JJK got up early and climbed a mountain (without camera’s, so not for fanservice) to get a lump of snow and then gave it to Jimin. So this moment was sweet, romantic but also really awkward, the crew being there and Jimin’s very shy reaction. We believe JJK meant this moment to be just between the two of them (JJk got up early for this) but the crew spotted him and yeah soon ((unfortunately) like 10 people were watching JJK giving Jimin that gift. Jimin didn’t know what to do or say… Between friends it wouldn’t be that awkward or it wouldn’t even happen in the first place. My boyfriend wouldn’t even do this for me, it’s too corny. 7) Rose Bowl, it’s debatable that JJK actually sucked Jimin’s ear but he at least kissed it twice and in an intimate way, this kind of intimacy we couldn’t find between any other members (yes we did search) we saw some intimate moments between Taekook and Vmin that looked very suspicious too but it was not like that special Jikook moment. This is another level. 8) As far as we know they spend the most time together off work: going ice skating, going to the cinemas, touring in London, watching the first snow together. All this in their private time without crew and cameras, no fanservice here. So we can say that even though they already work all these hours together in a day they still want to spend time together after that. J-Hope and Jimin spend time together off work too but mostly it’s Jikook who spend most time together off work. They must really like each other cause honestly I love my boyfriend but no way that I would want to be with him as much as Jikook are together, I would feel suffocated. 9) We debated a while about this one, my sis found it more important than me. RUN BTS episode 116-117 were a member (blindfolded) had to touch/feel the pose the members took to guess the song. Quite intimate game in our opinion but hey it’s S-Korea and skinship is normal… Editors for some reason did not show us JJK touching Jimin, all the others were shown, only of Jikooks scene we didn’t get the footage, just a picture of it afterwards. OK in my opinion the picture is for fanservice but why on earth leave the scene out at all, was it too intimate?, was it too awkward for the crew to film? we don’t know but fact is it was not shown. Normally I don’t over-analyse things but sis is right when she says this one is very suspicious. Editors cut a lot of scenes for different reasons but this one is just too suspicious. 10) Ever since 2013 they are all nighter buddies and JJK loves sleeping in Jimins bed. Just facts.

There is so much more to say about Jikook, like their matching rings, wearing each others clothes but that is not exclusively for Jikook, we found that Taekook also did this. Jikook does it more but still it’s not just them so we don’t take it as proof. Also hand holding, hugs, stares, it’s not something exclusively for them, they all do that, and considering these boys were very young when they got together and lived together a long time as a family, are together 24/7, it’s not surprising that in a country where skinship is normal, these boys are all over each other like there are no boundaries. It’s normal for them. Tae, JJK, Jimin, J-hope are especially into skinship but it hits different with Jikook if you consider what goes on between them beside that. Also we think there is less skinship these days which is quite normal since the members are all grown up now, so it’s a bit surprising when we see Jikook still being quite touchy. About their songs there are a lot of theories too that we can support (I am you and you are me,…) but they are still just theories.

In conclusion: My sister now believes they are a couple LOL. How fast the night changes :-) Taekook is still her favorite ship but she believes Jikook are a real couple, go figure……

I’m personally still careful in what I choose to believe so I can’t be heartbroken again if they turn out to not be a couple after all. I believe Jikook are more than friends/brothers and are likely in love with each other, possibly a couple and maybe living together :-) But still there are many things that make me question them as a couple as well and there is also the possibility that they just come off as a couple because of that special bond they have but in reality they are not. I hope they are a couple though because it would make the world a more beautiful place, I can’t explain why…

Thank you for letting me write our story here and sorry for this book I wrote LOL

Lots of love JD & S (ARMY sisters and Jikook supporters)

FROM SIS : Thank you for trusting me with your story!!! I am glad you came forward with your experience https://youtu.be/MwMLw6FdycY (I hope you don’t mind my comment at the end of it)

#Submission Post #submission

[spongebob-connoisseur]

Spongebob's overhated, not talking about the show, I'm talking about the character. idk man, whenever someone talking about him, they first thing that people comes to mind is in modern one, (the flanderized one), but bro, he's more than just that and relatable as Squidward is, and I kinda blame the mordern season for it

Sorry about the late reply!!

Tbh I never seen much hate for Spongebob as a character. I mean when people talk of spongebob now, they'd usually regard Squidward and Sandy more as their favorites since ya kno, they're really likable, who wouldn't adore them? But spongebob is still well liked.

Unless this is specific to those who don't like the modern seasons. Idk much about that since I don't keep up with that stuff. But I do agree that Spongebob is relatable! Very much so. He has a hard time preforming on his drivers test because of all the pressure on him. He has a hard time saying no to people and sometimes others take advantage of that. He still remains positive through it but there are times when enough is enough, even for him.

He's really likable and remains my favorite even despite the nonsense and trouble he puts others *cough*squidward*cough* through. He's endearing and silly and just wants to have a good time and make everyone smile. The world definitely makes you feel miserable at times but I really enjoy watching him just enjoy little things and make the most of his circumstances. Actually now when I think about it, that song Living in the Sunlight that played in the very first episode suits his personality too well. Pretty much sums up what to expect from this show and what it's all about. It still leaves a positive and warm impression everytime you hear it or rewatch the pilot.

Now as for the modern spongebob. I don't think he's bad either. I still really like him. Though I consider him as his own thing. Each era feels like his personality change and I've grown to accept it. He's just a different genre of spongebob if that makes sense. Anyways usually when people talk about modern spongebob, they usually mean seasons 4-8 because when this discussion about flanderized spongebob and modern spongebob all started with people talking about that era specifically and I used to watch people's videos talking about that a lot and ehh I don't really agree with much of it anymore.

That middle era spongebob did cause a few problems and really degraded his character over time. That's generally what comes to people's minds when they talk about modern spongebob bad and generally unlikable version of sponge. Him stalking people and doing weird shit wasn't funny at all. Squidward was more humanized and seen as some dude who wanted some peace and quiet. The star of the show is constantly making him miserable and ruining his life. It's hard to enjoy. Its not like the current modern era isn't like that too.

The middle seasons annoy me a bit more but even when this happens in the modern seasons, they are really what I hate the most. It's biggest flaw of the modern seasons for me.

I feel like they're fixing it now but gosh idk who thought that was funny. The appeal of spongebob is that you saw it from a child's point of view often. You saw spongebob as just a sweet kid who wanted to play and Squidward as the grouchy adult/older sibling who doesn't notice you or pay attention but you still really want to spend time with them because you think they're a good person deep down. And you know squidward cares back too. There might be times where spongebob messes up but there are still consequences for him and generally there's a balance. You never feel like he's ever being malicious to squidward and nothing super bad happens where it feels like the universe is punishing squidward for being alive.

This was mostly season 1 and 2. Season 3 had a push for Spongebob being more of an adult. He behaved more adultish and the scenarios they were in are a little more mature. Hence why season 3 is often the most remembered season for its adult humor. But the scenarios are simplified enough for a kid to understand the general plot and adults can understand all the true implications and circumstances. There was a balance. Same as having a more adultish spongebob, his relationship with squidward balanced out too. They were closer to equals at this point and Squidward was more annoyed with him being an optimist in their bleak working environment. They were a ying and yang and you could identify with both. They both complimented each other and clashed. It worked.

Past that. They've never found such a good dynamic like that again in post movie episodes. Its been a bit wobbly. Squidward is the most easy character to identify with. While they made him more relatable. Tired, stuffy adult who just wants peace and is wasting his life working at a minimum wage job. They also wanted to keep elements of the classic era without understanding why they were funny and worked so well. Such as squidward's karma. He gets punished for just existing. Its not funny. Squidward often did get the short end of the stick bur usually you'd understand why. He became more of a depressed individual getting punished for being alive. It's not funny.

At the same time spongebob's personality regressed into being too naive to function at times and too babyish than childish. Often times I don't feel like the writers know what to do with him besides bugging squidward. But there used to be a reason why he bugged Squidward. He genuinely liked him. He looked up to him. He really believed deep down there's a part of squidward that cares and just needs a little push. It's stated in the art book. And a lot of things and rules from the art book feel so lost in the show over the years.

You can tell the writers thought of him as how adults think of small children. Loud and noisy, and only want to bug you. They sympathized with squid more but had to keep with the general formula of the show. But forget what made this show so fun was how spongebob was written from a child's point of view. Often times as a kid, you would feel ignored and over looked. Adults talk down to you. You have no free will. Spongebob essentially was a kid but without the restraints and rules a child had to live by. It was freeing and it was nice seeing someone who thinks and feels like you is on screen.

It really feels like they missed the mark with how they interpret spongebob when writing him. They degraded him into a stalker who's obsessed with squidward and torments him. He's often too naive and dumb to function or even interact with other characters. The interesting relationships he used to have feel wiped away. It's hard to enjoy it.

I mean a good example is the reason why he failed his drivings test (though this flanderization already started in the classics era anyways) he fails because he gets nervous and often needs some kind of distraction while driving to keep him calm. He does well on the exams but when it comes to demonstrating what he knows is where he messes up. Its become at this point that he's just an insane person behind the wheel and just magically screws up for no reason. His insanity causes harm to the people around him and we get some of the worst episodes Demolition Doofus. We can't even argue that Mrs. Puff is wrong for the anger she feels since she's endlessly harmed by sponge to the point of basically becoming disabled. Its not funny. It just sours what was supposed to be the golden boy of the show.

Spongebob will never be how he used to be but I appreciate how as of recent there had been some repair to his character. He's really wildly different from the classics era but I appreciate every so often when they remember an aspect of his personality that's been long gone. Even in the middle seasons. There's better episodes that remember why Spongebob fails his driving test and episodes that remember that remember squidward isn't just a tormented sufferer and spongebob is a deranged stalker.

He's kind of his own thing now but I find the modern seasons one cute and more amusing. He's still very flawed but I can at least enjoy him ya kno? I'd like to hear your thoughts on him too!

#Cessmaga #Ask #spongebob #spongebob squarepants #sb #spongebon squarepants #the spongebob connoisseur #spongebob meme

[amphtaminedreams]

Paris Haute Couture Week S/S 2020 Plus a Little Jacquemus: Okay, Dior DID Suck (Part 1/2)

Hi to anyone reading,

Oh my god. I completely forgot there was also 2 haute couture weeks. I FEEL SO OVERWHELMED. Here I was getting all geared up for the F/W 2020 shows and suddenly it’s Jean Paul Gaultier’s last show and everybody’s (predictably) buzzing about the Jacquemus collection. I can’t keep up. But Haute Couture week is a lot less intense than the RTW shows so I suppose I should be enjoying this relative peace whilst I can. 

I remember my last post about Haute Couture week opened with me defending Maria Grazia from the wrath of the internet; if Jacquemus is social media’s Lord and Saviour, this woman is the Antichrist. She’s Michael Langdon minus the dramatic flair. But the thing is, I genuinely really liked the Dior collection last time. Maybe because I was newer to the discipline of scouring Vogue Runway, but the lack of originality didn’t bother me; it was still something I’d die to wear, gothic yet delicate and relevant for 2019. 

That being said, this time round, I have to open by doing the exact opposite and concurring: this time round, Dior was in fact, utter shit.

I feel mean saying it but...really? These were the slightly more salvageable outfits and my favourite of the bunch, and to be honest they don’t really capture the full extent of how outdated this collection was to me. I know that the concept behind the show was this idea of the divine feminine but Greek Goddess has been done SO many times. If you’re gonna go down that route, you have to bring something new, elevate it in some way. It can’t be THIS generic.

I can’t believe that in 2020 we’re really seeing plaited hairbands. The individual dresses are basic, but not so much the problem as the styling; they look like outfits I would’ve put together back in 2012. That’s not an exaggeration. I think even 2013 me would appreciate that you need to make things a little twisty. 

The colour scheme is pretty, don’t get me wrong, and I like the cowl necks-the white dresses are the highlights. I think the concept of this collection was conceived with all the best intentions. But as a designer you need to take risks and I don’t see one single risk here; there isn’t anything that wouldn’t already be sold in your local H&M. Dior is such an established brand, Maria Grazia has room to do whatever she wants. And yet it just comes across like she’s out of ideas. 

You’ve got to look at a designer like Ulyana Sergeenko:

When I say elevated (but still in the vein of wearable), I mean something like this. To be completely honest, I hadn’t heard of Ulyana Sergeenko until I saw shots of this show on Twitter. But what a perfect mix of kitsch and glamour. The influences are clear: Priscilla Presley, Barbie, Jackie O, Valley of the Dolls, the rich stay-at-home wife of the 60s, the Alessandra Rich/Scream Queens-esque sorority girl, Paris fucking Hilton. It’s exaggerated and it’s tongue in cheek with total grounds to call it trashy-there’s a corset resembling a Benjamin Franklin, ffs-but it’s all done with a wink and a nudge. And in all honesty, I just think it’s beautiful. Can you imagine Frances O’Sullivan (@Beautyspock on IG) in one of these looks? It would be worthy of the Rose McGowan cultural reset meme ten times over.

Everything is feline, from the very literal cat silhouettes and cat headed boa, to the makeup and the hair clips. It reminds me of the last RTW Ralph and Russo show but with even more attention to detail. And look at the STAGE. If this collection were a song, it’d be Disco Tits by Tove Lo. And no, I’m not just saying that because one of the dresses actually does feature a (cat shaped) disco tit. Like these are the clothes I dreamed of putting my Bratz dolls, and for null I’m sure, myself in. Absolute perfection. Plus, I’ve loved Coco Rocha since she was on The Face with Naomi Campbell; she is, after all, to thank for the iconic “check your lipstick before you come for me” line. Girl is really the martyr for all purple lipstick lovers, cut down in her prime by a pissed-off Naomi. 

Onto Alexandre Vauthier, which I also really liked. An interesting yet effortless blend of the old and the new, the masculine and the feminine, if I could sum this collection up in one word, it would be cool. I know, it’s not the most descriptive, but it pretty much sums up how I feel; I’m not AS gassed about it as I am about Ulyana Sergeenko or this season’s Elie Saab (wait for it), but it’s a fresh offering, even if the styles aren’t the most groundbreaking. Stand outs for me are the almost petticoat like, debutante dresses which have Elle Fanning’s name written all over them.

I was hard pressed to find favourites in the Armani Privé collection if I’m honest. I’m not saying it was awful, all I know is that it just isn’t my style. It’s all a bit TOO tailored for my liking, and kinda reminds me of the Zara pantsuits my Spanish teacher used to wear. In other words, I find it to be a bit dowdy. On a positive note, the colours, fabrics, and beading are all stunning, so I see that a lot of craftsmanship clearly went into it; I think my biggest issue is the styling and the shapes (or lack of) on show. I’m very much getting a 20s, flapper vibe and whilst that’s an era that fascinates me and that I appreciate was cutting-edge at the time, I’ve yet to see it be bought into the 21st century in a way that doesn’t look stiff or costume-y. 

Then there’s Azzaro. At the complete opposite end of the scale to Armani, it doesn’t look expensive, which I’m sure isn’t something any designer previewing their collection at haute couture week is striving for. BUT that being said, I’d be much more likely to wear something from this collection than I would from Armani Privé. I mean, I have no shot at ever wearing either but ya get me. 

Whilst I’m sure it or something similar has been done before, the mesh diamanté dress is exquisite and I’m a huge fan of the stacked gem chokers and belts. The whole collection looks like something a London socialite who parties by night but (deep breath in) plays in a shitty band so fancies herself a bit of a rockstar by day would wear (exhale) and as much as that doesn’t sound like a compliment, I mean it as one. I’m talking about the kind of person you’d see smoking outside a bar and think “I wish I was them but I am potato lol”. I mean, as far as faux fur and fedoras are concerned, I’m gonna find it hard to completely slate a collection so this is pretty up my alley.

Chanel was a huge step up from their last RTW collection, imo, and probably on par with their last haute couture offering. It’s that same blend of preppy Chanel detailing (i.e the exaggerated collars, the checks and the lace) and practicality, only even more austere this time round.

It’s funny because when I looked back on original notes on this collection, before I’d even done any research into the context, I saw that one of the things I’d written was “giving me Victorian orphanage madame” as well as “something something Amish” and I wasn’t THAT far off base. The collection is, after all, supposed to be a tribute to the nuns who raised Coco Chanel at the beginning of the century in an Abbey-cum-orphanage. This makes me really happy; I know not everyone’s a fan of Virginie Viard’s nods back to the past and the brand’s origins but as a history nerd, I definitely am. 

There’s also definitely a lot of things that can be translated into high street trends here: the combination of decorative white socks and black shoes is something I’ve seen making a comeback already, tulle is always a winner (I actually don’t mind it as an overlay, I think it’s pretty, sue me) and I have no doubt we’ll be seeing these dramatic collars creeping back onto tops and jumpers throughout the year. It’s been a while since they were a thing anyway and we all know how cyclical fashion is.

Another high note for Elie Saab this haute couture season; if I was an expressive person, I probably would’ve audibly gasped as I looked through this collection. It is SO FUCKING MAGNIFICENT. The colour scheme, the baroque prints, the floral sequinned embroidery, these are Cinderella style ballgowns taken to the next level. Elie Saab really is the definition of opulence and I’m not at all mad about it. Please, somebody put Lana Del Rey in one of these, PLEASE. Remind her how much of a princess she is and get her out of those “soccer mom” looks.

I’m so stuck between this collection and Ulyana Sergeenko as my favourite, and the latter might just pip the other to the post, purely because of the staging and extravagance of the presentation itself. 

Georges Hobeika was predictably phenomenal. Like, I’m not going to lie, I am easily won over by some sequins and tulle, I’ve never claimed any different, and if you can expect that from anyone, it’s this guy (ignore that phrasing making me sound like his proud mother). The colour scheme is very spring appropriate and so is the 3D flower detailing, and if there’s anything good to take from Ascot and English royal weddings, Georges Hobeika knows it’s the hats.

It was another strong year for Givenchy too:

Though Claire Waight Keller is also fond of the extravagant details along the lines of feather and tulle, it’s always done in a more organic way; the details are always more reminiscent of nature, something created by accident, than they are suggestive of painstaking attention to detail, the image of someone hunched over a dress beading for hours on end à la Georges Hobeika or Elie Saab. That is not a bad thing at all; if anything, it makes Givenchy more interesting to study and gives you more to think about. Sometimes a dress takes you a bit longer to fully appreciate, but I’d say that only lends to its memorability. This year’s willowy, billowing, and at times coral-esque structures  remind me of something I can see being worn down an Iris Van Herpen runway, set apart by that delicate Givenchy finesse. And side not: I know this post is to talk about the clothes, not the models, but I got super excited over seeing Sora Choi and Adut Akech walk too. 

Guo Pei is always fun to look at. I mean, this collection is giving me half Matryoshka dolls, half It’s A Small World Christmas edition and I can’t hate on that. 

And then there’s Iris Van Herpen, who knocked it out of the park once again. At this point, I wouldn’t expect anything less. Every outfit looks like something that could be exhibited in the Tate Modern (I know, it’s a basic opinion, but it’s true: TATE MODERN IS THE BEST MUSEUM IN LONDON), or honestly, the Design Museum, just for the genius that must go into the way these dresses move. Honestly, if I can see a goddess wearing anything, it’s more one of these looks than anything in the Dior collection. Like wife of Poseidon or something; I know it’s not very feminist of me to not know the Greek Goddess of the sea’s name but I only know who Poseidon is because I was a Percy Jackson fan back in the day so let me live.

It’s not like the whole under-the-sea theme is particularly new, Zimmerman did something similar last RTW (I think? Correct me if I’m wrong), but these constructions could’ve grown out of the sea bed themselves, which is more of an original take than “oo, blue and white and frothy hemlines!”. Additionally, we’ve got these dresses with the overlapping almost plaited fabric that are-we’re sticking with the goddess references here-fit for Persephone ruling over hell. As for the Grudge-looking dress (fourth down, far left), I could be reaching, but is anyone else seeing that as a nod to the oil spills polluting our oceans? Because that would just add yet another layer to this collection. 

Regardless, it’s all impeccable and I’m in love. Iris Van Herpen as a MET Gala theme. Make it happen.

Anyway, to end on a high note, that’s it for this post! 

Sorry it’s such a sudden cut-off but Jean Paul Gaultier was due to be my second to last to review and due to it being the final show, there’s an onslaught of photos that would not fit with what’s already in this post. Plus, I’d rather start a post with Jacquemus then end it as I feel like there’s a lot of hype around his collections online right now so 1). it’s clickbait (for what, I do not know, as I’m not exactly making any money off this blog, just losing my sanity as it transpires when Tumblr accidentally terminated it earlier today and I had a minor breakdown) and 2). this Steve Buscemi meme is the most accurate representation of only 21 year old me to grace the internet:

I will aim to post part 2/2 in the next week, including JPG, as I just mentioned, the Jacquemus co-ed show, Margiela, Valentino and more, and as always, thank you for anyone who read until the end! You are an angel:-)

Lauren x

#haute couture #haute couture week #pfw #paris fashion week #paris #fashion #fashion week #designer #jacquemus #dior #style #review #iris van herpen #guo pei #givenchy #elie saab #sequins #pretty #georges hobeika #chanel #pastels #armani