#but even by October standards this year has been insane

[mysecretwindowuniverse]

Absolutely obsessed w the idea of endgame nygmobblepot where Jerome and Oswald dated but instead of it being some fucked up thing, they had a pretty decent relationship and ended up having a mutual breakup bc they just want different things from life.

Ed takes their relationship as a sign that Oswald was doing badly and clearly trying to rebound from his and Ed’s falling out like “I can’t believe you were with that maniac, you must’ve really been doing terribly without me, I’m sure he was horrible to you- how’d you manage to get out?” Oswald’s told him several times that they were fine and the breakup was mutual but Ed doesn’t get it.

@lllillithhill I love this!

Oswald and Jerome are on great terms, which Ed simply can't comprehend, he's convinced Oswald is suffering from some sort of Stockholm Syndrome, despite numerous attempts by Oswald to correct the record.

Jerome and Oswald got together while in Arkham, and it lasted a few months post-breakout, but the pair knew that their relationship had an expiration date, they just didn't know when. And once their relationship had run its course, they parted on amicable terms, and kept in touch (they text with decent frequency). Yet even after going over everything in near-excruciating detail to Ed (minus their . . . very healthy sex life, for obvious reasons), he refuses to get it, much to Oswald's eternal exasperation.

And once Jerome and Ed actually met? Things only got worse. Oil and water get along better than the ex and the endgame, to put it mildly.

Things aren't helped by the fact that Jerome's first words to Oswald were: 'Who's the stiff?' in a wholly unimpressed tone while looking at Ed. Following the initial meeting, Jerome has made it clear on several occasions that he finds Ed to be 'lame', and 'boring', and that Oswald can do way better. He's conveyed this sentiment through text, in person chats, singing telegram and with a complex riddle (that, once solved, conveyed a message that was specifically designed to piss off Ed. It succeeded. Oswald had never before seen Ed's face turn that particular shade of red). Oswald brushes off the comments with ease, but they irk Ed to no end.

Compounding Ed's ire is how Jerome abjectly refuses to call him by his name, choosing instead to favor such monikers as: Jolly Green, Green Bean, Poindexter, Four-eyes, pompous asshole, the list goes on.

Exasperating the situation further is how, when Oswald is out of earshot, Jerome has both insinuated and flat out stated that

He's better in bed than Ed, and there's no way Oswald is satisfied.

That he could saunter in, sweep Oswald off of his feet and steal him away from Ed at any time, anywhere, and there's nothing he could do about it.

This of course results in Ed becoming jealous and loosing his cool, made worse by Jerome playing dumb - save for a sly quirk of the lip - when Oswald comes to investigate the issue, and that enrages Edward further. He ends up spewing all this nonsense about Jerome being abusive to Oswald, how he took advantage of his vulnerability while in Arkham, how Oswald wouldn't have touched him if of sound of mind, etc., and this outburst makes Jerome cackle to the point of tears. While Oswald has chastised Jerome for antagonizing Ed, he also thinks Ed needs to calm down, offering less than helpful advice.

"You know there's nothing between us, and Jerome knows that too - we're strictly platonic. I've told you a thousand times, there was no abuse, no coercion, it was fulfilling for the time but we wanted different things. Our relationship ran its course, and we split amicably! Jerome's only saying these things to get a rise out of you, if you didn't react to his teasing, he wouldn't do it."

In short:

Part 2

#Gotham #asksecretwindow #nygmobblepot #jeromewald #i may have lost the plot in this response #apologies if i did! #sorry for the late response #October is my craziest month #but even by October standards this year has been insane #thanks for sending in the ask! #hopefully next time I'll be able to reply faster #listening to MCR's The World is Ugly on repeat may have influence what I wrote #whoops

[loveinhawkins]

Steve doesn’t think anything of it when he says it.

He’s lying on Robin’s bed, squished between a diverse collection of childhood teddy bears. Robin’s sat opposite him up by the headboard, her feet knocking against his knees; she’s massaging Pond’s cream into her elbows, and the room smells of cocoa butter.

Steve breathes in leisurely.

He thinks back to just a few months ago, when he’d first gotten the job at Scoops Ahoy—when he’d found out that his only co-worker was going to be a Robin Buckley: who the hell is she? he’d thought with a familiar carelessness, an echo from his junior year. Before the monsters. Before…

“Hey, Robin,” Steve begins. The words come slowly, like he’s wandering through the thought. “Do you ever think that, like… that it’s kinda crazy, y’know, how we ended up here?”

Robin pauses in her massaging. She gives him a dry look. “This is a pretty standard Sunday evening for me.”

Steve snorts. “Not like that, dickhead.”

Although maybe it is like that actually.

Maybe it’s about how he now watches Murder, She Wrote in the Buckley’s living room without Robin’s parents batting an eye; how they said he could join them for dinner beforehand, and then he kept showing up earlier and earlier to the point where him and Robin just spend the whole day together, and it’s never awkward, there’s no quips or whatever from her dad about them secretly being together; and maybe it feels sorta like a fairytale in the best way; maybe he feels a little like Laurie except he doesn’t want to propose to Jo.

And maybe it’s that the whole thing is just insane: that the entire goddamn trajectory of his life somehow took this wild turn, has made him land here, of all places, and he doesn’t even mean it in an asshole kind of way.

He means…

“Guess I’m just… just thinking. Like, it all kinda worked out, y’know?” Even as he says it, he knows it’s a risk—because they’ve not talked about Starcourt, not really, they’ve just talked around it, but this hardly counts, right? It’s just a joke, it’s just… “Yeah, I, um, got my head knocked around, but, it, uh, it meant I ended up here, so.”

He wants Robin to laugh—or at least, he thinks he does.

She doesn’t. She just goes very still.

He feels something twist in his gut; she’s got this way of looking at him, like he’s accidentally said more than what he thought he did.

“Steve.”

Robin crawls forward, clumsy and urgent. She grabs hold of his wrist. He feels the grease of body lotion as her thumb moves in tiny circles against his skin.

“That didn’t need to happen,” she says so seriously, and for some reason that’s almost the thing that does it, the thing that almost gets him to break on a slow Sunday evening in October, because whenever his stupid brain brings him back to July, to blood and pain and a deep, unimagineable fear, he tries to remember how it felt: how he laughed through it with Robin in a bathroom stall, and it would almost be enough to soothe the sting, that he could endure it, could endure anything so long as he could have this, please just let me have—

“We could’ve had the most boring summer of our lives,” Robin says, with a smile that’s a little sad, a little wistful, but always kind. “And I still would’ve…”

He hears them again, those words he’s been clinging to.

Listen to me, Steve. It's shocked me to my core, but I like you. I really like you.

“It just would’ve taken longer,” Robin finishes. Her eyes dart all over his face, and he suspects that he knows part of what she’s seeing: the ghosts of bruises. “Okay?”

For a moment, Steve can’t speak. “Okay.”

Robin shuffles up next to him, sitting right on top of one of her bears—“You’re squishing him,” Steve points out, to which Robin just snorts—and then she’s hugging him, maybe tighter than he’s ever been hugged before.

He lets his head fall forward and breathes.

They break apart eventually. If there’s a wet patch on her shirt, Robin doesn’t point it out—just says there’s cake for dessert, and she doesn’t move back to her spot, so her elbows are practically always in danger of catching Steve in the ribs.

And God, Steve tries to believe it: that he could have all of this without… That he could’ve always had it.

He tries.

#sometimes love is looking someone in the eye and saying: you don’t need to hurt to have me #you never needed to hurt to have me #steve and robin #steve and robin ficlet #steve and robin fic #steve harrington #robin buckley

[dtkqer]

wait why ranboo (idk much abt him)

ESSAY WARNING AHEAD do not fucking repost this shit anywhere holy fuck i will kill you!!!!!!! respect my boundaries :((

ok my thought process was somewhere along the lines of

rboo (kid wanting to blow up as a mcyter during summer 2020) getting attention through making fan content of dream smp (also trying to write themself into the lore) -> dream (kid who blew up as an mcyter before the pandemic hit, getting even more insane numbers) sees himself in rboo, adds him to the dream smp

-> path 1: parasocial stan delusion - ran is both viewer and cc, relatable to viewers in a down to earth way while gaining an insane amount of success very very fast -> heightened scrutiny to not fuck things up because his audience is full of normal people who care about social justice on paper (part of dreams influence in having a gender and race diverse (somewhat) audience) -> growing importance of boundaries (tm) -> fandom becomes insanely blue haired liberal and jumps on every mistake, demanding quick and GOOD apologies for both inane and serious shit -> fandom becomes volatile and creates disproportionate responses to everything -> they (rboo) become spineless -> this attitude and spinelessness leaks over to the whole of mcyt since most of dsmp shared an audience at that point -> feedback loop we see today (sidebar: growing media illiteracy combined with volatile reactions extend to lore shit on all ends and was absolutely compounded by their joining -> "sanctity" of the lore -> michael -> dsmp audiences split over the parasocial belief that character = content creator's thoughts beliefs and actions in real life instead of. acting)

-> path 2: control and queerness - branch off from blue haired liberal -> viewers have good intentions in wanting more rep in the cc space (queer and women, not so much race) -> marginalized communities cant afford to make mistakes as much as white men in the space -> disproportionate amount of criticism for both white men and marginalized ccs -> viewers attempting to take control of ccs due to ran blurring the line between viewer and cc during lockdown/most viewers' formative social years being taken from them -> not much education about queerness in the first place -> queerbaiting discourse and queer being a symbol of goodness -> people seemed to want dream to be straight and evil and ran to be gay/queer and good -> double standards when dream and ran come out because of dream's perceived power, status, and past growing up in conservative florida he had already been addressing, but ran gets a warm welcome because of bending to the audience more than dream has and past not holding as many mistakes meaning they could claim queer as an identity -> selective biphobia because if dream is queer hes a bad queer so everything he does is evil

-> return to main thread - brighton bastards formed, beeduo date and break up, everyone becomes bitter boots after lockdown ends and dream abandons his adopted bastard child he came to love that george originally gave birth to -> october and drexodus -> quackity resentment somewhere in there behind the scenes, dtkq breakup -> former audience split over lore comes back into -> qsmp shit -> dream and by extension dteam/munchy is evil except badboyhalo who supports dream but is still on qsmp because hes a lore andy -> schisms from the past continue to grow, new schism of q's side vs dream's side appears (secret third challenger of brighton floptopia) -> people air out their dirty laundry and snide comments -> november and december -> relative peace -> march-> karl gets hit by a car -> present day -> dnf sextape

i may be wrong for quite a bit of this but this is how i saw it . again this is a tumblr exclusive if you repost this anywhere even iwth my url cropped i will fucking kill you.

[genichisojo]

Kagurabachi's Popularity: Familiarity Through Structure

Having a degree in writing and media is so fun because I can write an essay on why Kagurabachi can be defined as well written through craft standards and attribute its popularity overseas to its structure, which is framed similarly to western movies.

And I am!

After this interview confirmed that Takeru Hokazono, author of Kagurabachi, is a huge fan of western films, I went back to this idea I was playing with in October when KB had less than ten chapters. I had been reading since day one, and I knew it was good, and other overseas fan knew it was good. But what made it so good to us, overseas?

I made a quick thread on it on my Twitter account (that I never posted) where I mentioned Blake Snyder's Save the Cat book on script writing and story structure. I also brought up characterization and how it would've been really popular in my comic book class from undergrad. This thread discussed both Chihiro and Sojo, and the quick yet steady pace of the manga has given us more characters and moments to pinpoint. To not overwhelm myself, I'm not going to discuss the craft of characterization (maybe another time), and I'm not going to do a beat sheet for Sojo. For now, I'll try to stay under the first arc to map out why Kagurabachi has so far moved like a high budget film in manga form. So, spoilers ahead!

A quick lesson on Save the Cat, its three main characteristics are: Three act structure Fifteen plot beats Mostly applied to American Hollywood films

One of the biggest things I noticed right away was the resemblance a lot of the chapters, even the story as a whole, had to Snyder's beat sheet. This beat sheet that comes from Snyder's book is somewhat of an industry standard, so a lot of movies, even those that preceded Snyder, go through this structure of Act 1, 2, and 3. Snyder just identified the parts and broke them down to fifteen beats. Plus he dubbed the save the cat moment:

A decisive moment in which a protagonist demonstrates they are worth rooting for. Having the protagonist save a cat can be literal or figurative.

This was something KB needed and did have to have us warm up to Chihiro who post time skip, just gave gloomy orphan energy in the previous chapters. Here, Char would be our cat. Chihiro chose to save Char and chose to protect her, and continued to fight for her until she was rescued. He made this choice even before it's revealed that Char's mother died for her, something that would parallel Chihiro. This is what got readers to see him three dimensionally after being introduced to him. He's still the caring little 14 year old we saw at the start, who continues to take care of the innocent despite the tragedy he's been through. It is only natural for us to care for him, too.

Above are the fifteen beats of Save the Cat and although KB on occasion doesn't hit all fifteen exactly as specified, especially final image as it's continuing, the song and dance is quite similar. Here are examples of The Dark Knight (2008) and Inglourious Basterds (2009), two movies that have inspired Hokazono's work.

Before Chihiro meets Char, we get his opening image of him and his dad forging which is works well as the entire story revolves on the consequences of them creating weapons. We get the set up to his world where he lives with his dad who made famous katanas that wield the power to end a war. The theme is stated, and it's not kept a secret: The katanas they make are weapons made to kill people. Are they willing to carry the burden? In another variation of this question, is Chihiro willing to carry the burdens unintentionally passed down by his father?

The catalyst is his father's murder that catapults him into seeking revenge and recover the katanas.

Now, for the rest of the story, this structure can be applied to the first 18 chapters or even 1-3 chapters at a time which in my opinion, is kind of insane. There's story telling inside the story telling, and these moments are both subtle and grand, signs of a strong and captivating writer. Hollywood would kill for a script like this these days. In order to get you to believe me how prominent these beats are, I'm going to do arc one and Daruma's story. The main story line should be around act one and two right now as of chapter 20, if we want to get down into it, but if anything, this feels like it's moving like a second "movie."

Overall, this structure that comes from Hollywood movies can be identified in multiples parts of Kagurbachi's storytelling. I was going to do beat sheet's for Char and Sojo's stories as well, but I think this is enough of an example of a bigger picture versus smaller. Although other mangas also fall into three act structures, as most story telling does, KB masterfully uses the 15 beats to its advantage. I believe the familiarity of this pace is what hooked oversea audiences, and aside from that, the characters that quickly capture us.

Very quickly, because I don't want to make this about characterization, Chihiro is well written through his past, who he chooses to kill and save, his dialogue that can be surprisingly vulnerable at times, and his cool façade that melts because of how hot he truly runs. He is also straight up a badass. We get handed Char's background in an "all is lost" segment as well as some lore that can present her as a resource for the main cast. We see Azami's phone background photo that's minimum 3+ years old- a government employee with a soft spot for his friends, one who he is still clearly grieving. We get one tiny yet so fucked up bit of Sojo when we see him get a flashback where he's a child and his single dialogue of "I truly love Kunishige Rokuhira," that launched his type of villainy in the maniacal fanboy category. Who does it like that? Nobody but Takeru Hokazono.

Thank you for reading this essay! I do have two other essays drafted, one on Sojo's possible return (I'm a delusional Sojo fan) and just his overall significance and impact as the first villain even if he doesn't return, and on Hiyuki plus servant leadership versus self service.

#kagurabachi #manga #takeru hokazono

[likeadevils]

which albums do you think took the shortest amount of time to put together? i think that evermore was very quick (only two or three months?), am i right in thinking that lover and folklore were pretty quick too?

evermore was super quick! there were about five songs written from october-december, but about 12 songs were written in about a month, between mid august and mid september. which is just crazy. like that’s more songs than the standard edition of debut like that’s insane

the bulk of folklore was written in two months, between may and june, though the jack songs were mostly written between march and april, with some pre pandemic songs (my tears in dec 2019 and trying in jan/feb 2020)

midnights was a bit more spread out— high infidelity and would’ve could’ve should’ve were written in march 2021, i believe bigger than the whole sky and snow on the beach were in early 2022– but still the bulk of it came together in november/december 2021, making it a year in total but mostly done in two months.

rep took almost exactly a year— she starts writing it in september 2016 and finishes in september 2017. the bulk of the album was likely finished by july 2017 though, so it goes was just a super last minute addition.

lover was recorded in about four months— the bulk of the album was between november 2018 and february 2019. there are some exceptions, like death by a thousand cuts in late april and likely london boy in early june, and maybe a few jack songs throughout 2018, but we don’t know for sure which. she was also probably stockpiling songs a bit before jumping into the studio, but we don’t know for sure.

1989 was another stockpiling album— she did this love in 2012, a couple songs jan 2013, and then that aforementioned stockpiling period while she’s on tour, and then a big rush in oct/nov 2013, and then another rush in jan/feb 2014. it sounds like now that we don’t talk came fairly late in the process though, possibly as late as fall 2014, which would make it a two year long writing period, but as far as the original album goes, about a year and a half.

red was also about a year and a half— we have all too well being finalized in march 2011 (after being started in dec 2010), and then 22 and i knew you were trouble in june 2012. there are probably some outliers— stay stay stay might’ve been as early as summer 2010, some stuff on the vault might’ve gone up until september 2012– but that’s at most about two years of consistent writing and recording.

if we’re counting sparks fly (halloween 2006) then it took four years to write speak now, but excluding sparks fly georg the earliest song we know for sure was if this was a movie in april 2009, and then it ended with the story of us in june 2010, which is a little over a year. she was likely writing songs for speak now earlier in 2009 though, making it her standard year and a half, but we just don’t know for sure. the recording process was also spread out throughout both years— the first session for the album was in march 2009, and the orchestra sections were the last thing recorded, in july 2010.

fearless had two big recording sessions, in december 2007 and march 2008, so recording wise the album came together super quickly. that being said, if we just take the first and last songs written for the album, fearless has a pretty big stretch— she had stuff from the vault from like 2005, and then come in with the rain in september 2006, and white horse in december 2006. and then the last song is similarly up for interpretation, with forever and always in late september 2008, and mr perfectly fine in march 2009. so even though it came together very quickly once she got in the studio, counting the vault it was four years to write it, making it one of the longest timeframes, but standard edition is still a fairly long two years.

and then debut! i’m a bit more hazy on debut’s timeline, but a perfectly good heart was written sometime in 2003, and should’ve said no was the last thing written and recorded, on august 10, 2006, making it about three years.

so it’s pretty much an exercise in counting— the earlier and album came in her career, the longer it took her to make it, until we get to post pandemic where she’s busting out almost complete albums in two month periods (ts11 looks like it’s bucking that trend though, so let’s see!!)

#asks* #timeline* #sorry for taking so long to answer i had to write a bit of an essay about it

[1-jar-of-stars]

sorry to rant in your inbox but there's something that's just not right with me rn. I'll start by saying I am white and I don't want to talk over anyone but I really don't like how Tumblr treated somerton vs how They're treating drake. The whole hbomberguy video thing was in October and I haven't seen anyone lament about it but with the whole drake situation I saw lots of people having horrible opinions on it or lamenting about it. Maybe it's just me but it feels like there's this weird double standard for culture vultures. Like even if you don't believe that drake being a pedo or mistreating women is true, there's still the fact that he is a culture vulture. Idk why they would be treated differently. I know the situations aren't identical but still.

Also side note, I really do appreciate what Macklemore is doing and it's amazing and yeah drake firming the ceasefire letter was good, but people acting like they are the only people in the rap industry that spoke up on Palestine is annoying at best. Like yeah I am disappointed that Kendrick didn't speak up about it (from what I know at least) but acting like macklemore is the first to do something because he released a track it's annoying. Like yeah it's good and it makes me angry it took 7 MONTHS, but he's not the first one to speak on it

I can see that!! the fact that kendrick was trending #1 there were definitely people trying to get their viral moment even though they had no idea what they were talking about. But I think a lot of the terrible opinions about this came from “a lack of proof” (which is crazy since this has been documented for YEARS if you’re listening to the right people)

but hbomberguy came with indisputable claims with proof. Unfortunately due to many people not being educated on the culture they don’t see that he doesn’t NEED an hbomber guy set up because his proof is in the way drake moves as a person.

And the culture vulture aspect was clearly lost when uneducated people started commenting.

Also Macklemore dropping a track for Palestine is amazing but he is NOT the first entertainer, let alone rapper to do this. drake speaking up for palestine was great! but that does not change the pedophilia and people using that to be racist or antisemitic are fucking insane.

#if you’re hiding behind Palestine to be racist or antisemitic i wish you a very die #kendrick lamar

[killing-time-w-kaz]

Since October 7, things have been incredibly difficult. What is happening in Israel and Palestine is horrible, but what stands out to me is seeing how much hatred people still have towards the Jewish people.

I have lost friends because they told me their opinion wouldn’t change if I was out there. I was supposed to be out there in January and I was discussing joining an archaeological excavation there in the summer (I have done several research projects focusing on the archaeology of the region of modern day Israel and Palestine). My good friends from high school wouldn’t care if I was one of the people killed or taken. Those people weren’t friends to begin with if that is how they feel. And I’m sorry it took so long for me to realize that.

A tree does not make a forest. The inability to separate the Jewish people from the Israeli state shows me how people lack critical thinking. And will take any chance to blame us. Misinformation spreads like a wildfire. Yes, the Israeli government has not been the best in their treatment of the Palestinian people. But that is not justification for the massacre of citizens on either side. My friend lost two of her cousins who were protecting their 16 year old son from Hamas shooters. Another friend was in Tel Aviv and buried a friend while there. Another friend, her best friend and his family were kidnapped and no one knows where they are or if they are alive. One of my best friends, her cousin lost 6 of his friends at the music festival. There are only 15 million Jews—we are all connected. I don’t know everyone affected but I grieve for everyone, on both sides. The loss of life is never acceptable and if you justify it, you are losing your humanity.

The double standard Israel is being held to is insane. What country would stand still as 1500 of their citizens were massacred and 200 kidnapped? Why does the world expect them to bend to the will of terrorists? Why doesn’t the world pressure the surrounding Arab nations to take on Palestinian refugees? Why does the world take the word of a terrorist organization as immediate truth?

Because this is not just about the Palestinian people. It’s about antisemitism and the hatred of the Jewish people. I see people calling for a ceasefire, but not for the return of the hostages. Because they don’t care about the hostages. They don’t even care about the Palestinian children they’ve been using as their main counter argument. It’s about the hatred of Israel. They call the Jewish people colonialists, but refuse to understand how the Jewish people are indigenous to the land. Colonizer is a buzzword in an empty argument. I have seen stories of synagogues being burned and Jewish people in other countries getting attacked just for being Jewish. It happened in my neighborhood and my mom didn’t leave the apartment for days. And the only people I see calling for this to stop are the Jewish people. Other people don’t care. Never Again doesn’t mean very much anymore.

I have had very few people outside the Jewish community check in on me without me bringing up the fact that I have been on balancing between rage and heartbreak. I’m tired of people citing statistics and justifying the deaths on both sides. I’m tired of having to defend my friends and family. People have been avoiding me on my college campus. These people are cowards. I have a unique position in all this. I was born to a Muslim family and adopted by a jewish mom and Christian-turned-atheist dad. One of the main differences between my friends/family and former friends is that we don’t celebrate the deaths of innocents. At the Chabad house, we mourned the deaths of everyone, while having to watch our classmates cheer for the massacre of our loved ones.

It is possible to want peace in this situation, but what is unproductive is approaching this with hate and fear. Hate and fear are consuming the world. You can still ask for the end of the bloodshed without turning to Islamophobia or antisemitism.

If you have Jewish friends, check in on them. I don’t care what your stance about the current situation is. Check in on your friends. They are grieving. You might not have Jewish friends after this if you let those relationships break down during this.

#jewblr #israel palestine conflict #any hate sent my way will be treated with compassion #take the time to listen

[2goldensnitches]

It's just ironic that the Irish tooted their horn about how much more "principled" they are in the i/p conflict since October fucking 8. And then, BEFORE BEING CONFIRMED about a single Algerian attacker, it sends them into an Islamophobic witch hunts and riots. The irony isn't lost. The various regions in Ireland refusing to do anything regarding rising anti-Semitism, and those in authority citing it as just anti-Zionism, to BDS being welcomed with open arms, to various Irish organizations saying disgusting anti-Semitic comments THE DAY AFTER calling Israelis who were raped and murdered "colonial settlers" who are "getting pushback from 75 years of colonism" are just dowsing in hypocrisy and deafness on ME conflicts. Islamophobia was just the next step. I hate the high stool in which so many countries are commenting from, forever proving that it's more about bringing a group of people down by being loud, than uplifting and empowering the disenfranchised. Bigotry goes unchecked and excused for so long because they believe to be the "right side of things" which grows into this ugly thing.

Reminds me of leftists continuously putting any criticism of bigotry in their side as false and stating the only bigoted people being fascists/alt-right, which feeds this self-grandiose image of their own bigotry being morally justified. This in turn makes the far-right look "sensible" because they are the only ones being called out in the media and their outrageous bigotry squandered (though not really). This makes people move right because any criticism on the left is not able to be brought up, thus far-right become self-grandiose, because at least they allow free speech, and thus bigotry goes unchecked because at least it's better than the other side rinse and repeat, with both sides becoming more extreme. It's all so tiresome.

i actually want to focus more on the last paragraph because even though they certainly don’t allow free speech in reality, it’s something I’ve seen been brought up a few times by (sincerely deranged) people like menalez: saying the left has essentially abandoned them. This is why even by prior standards, I/p has become such a polarised issue. Everything about it has become insanely campist to the point that left/right is no longer an accurate sociopolitical descriptor about it at all, and very few have shown themselves to be consistently sane about this in a way that does not invoke the horseshoe, but resentment against a "side" so to speak makes people do a 180 in an attempt to find support from elsewhere. I’ve seen this sadly with a lot of Jews too but it’s a human thing that’s become accelerated between oct 7 of last year and Russia supporting Syria from 2011.

sadly for Ireland’s case, though not unique to them, a lot of this campism manifests on a national level and turns everything into a team sport in politics. Whether someone is a normie civilian or a high ranking diplomat, Irish xenophobia against (mostly black and brown Muslim) migrants is not seen as contradictory to supporting Palestine against Israel because they’re flawed people like everyone else and people have weird contradictory views all the time. I personally think it makes shows of solidarity look cheap because of that prior consistency few show—in any country, really, but I’m trying to be as neutral as possible when I say that Ireland cannot make out "solidarity with the underdog" out to be some sort of innate Irish trait when it’s really not, no matter how some try to cite English control and oppression of the Irish as something that made them magically more sympathetic.

want to know what Spanish colonisation of Mexico "taught" us? Catholicism and a culture of complaining lmao

#inb4 someone wants to call me a hibernophobe #but Conor mcgregor exists and he’s not my country’s problem #asks #waffle knight

[lozzzyy]

Weird to think tomorrow is my last full day living in the same place I've always lived before I go somewhere completely new. I'm definitely looking forward to it and wish I'd gone sooner, but I still don't think it's sunk in properly. For basically as long as I can remember I've lived in the same place as the rest of my dad's side of the family and, by the end of this week, I'll no longer be near any of them (by UK standards anyway, it's like 40 miles away and just under 3 hours of travel start to finish). It fucks me up how much I hesitated on this. I had basically all of last year to do it with my new job but never had the guts to pull the trigger. The uncertainty killed me for the longest time. Every tiny thing I couldn't nail down with 100% certainty was used as another excuse. I haven't even moved out for something like university before, which I still hugely regret, but I've made that bed and now I have to lie in it. It'll be a shock to the system, but there's no easy way around that anymore. I'm grabbing myself by the scruff of the neck and throwing that dumb bitch outside. That being said, I do have family here who are older than me and have never fully moved away, so I get to be a bit smug about that.

My secret hope is I can use moving out as leverage to coax other family members into moving away from this tiny village to hopefully realise it was fucking them up in the long-term. Places like this are awful for growing complacent and not wanting to do anything. It genuinely drives you insane to live somewhere so small when you start to recognise everyone and go to the same places for years and years on end. My first priority will be getting my younger brother to go to university, then maybe getting my dad to move if possible. It's obvious everyone in that house is as unhappy living here as I am. The current plan is convincing him to move just as my young brother is starting secondary school in the summer of 2024, which will hopefully make a convenient time for everyone else who is able to get themselves set up somewhere new. It's the same as my situation, I don't see a future where any of them are happy living here.

Coming out as trans in December made me reconsider a few things. My family were supportive, but it still didn't feel right. I couldn't stop bouncing between "I need to go now now NOW" and "Maybe I should just stay here until I'm transitioned more". In hindsight, the latter was definitely an awful idea and a symptom of how badly I needed to make a change. My family are supportive but sometimes I wonder how much of it is sincere and how much is just to keep me happy. It feels like they do want to call me Ruby (sometimes get an accidental deadname to my face which isn't the end of the world) but they don't actually consider that to be my name, if that makes any sense? I think living around people who've known you your whole life makes for a lot of friction in the process. Nobody has been hostile about it but it's also annoying and boring answering the same few elementary-level questions constantly. Spending some time away around people who don't even know my deadname sounds very refreshing right now.

What I'm doing isn't special, obviously. Moving out for the first time at 24 is not remarkable whatsoever, if anything you might say that's a bit late (depending on your cultural norms or family situation), but for some reason, it feels really monumental. In the last few months of 2022, something just fucking broke in my brain and it all violently snapped into focus. My situation, how stagnant I've become as a person, having nothing to really look forward to. It sounds like bragging but I don't usually cry much, at least not when I'm just sitting alone. From late October to December, I would literally break down sobbing every other night if I was left alone with my thoughts for long enough, it was BAD. I've had depressive periods before but none of them even come close.

After Christmas, I resolved on moving out. Before anything else I absolutely had to start living somewhere else, I had at least managed to identify that as the main source of my unhappiness. Every day of January was agonising. With each second that ticked by where I hadn't sorted something out, I could feel the passage of time scraping against my bones. Most of my time and energy went into finding a place to move to. Each second was another one wasted, another second closer to becoming even older and having even more regrets. 24 is definitely still "young", but it's your mid-twenties when you maybe start thinking about how much time you have left to be young. The idea of entering my late twenties (or God forbid thirties) and still living here is one of the scariest things I can imagine. You see people around here sometimes who did just that. People who finished their education and never tried to move on. No prospects, no friends, no life. It's mean but there's really no other way to describe it. They settled wherever was easiest and took the path of least resistance. I've definitely done that to an extent and I'm grateful I managed to snap out of that trance before it got even worse. Even now I sometimes catch myself saying "It's too hard, whatever". That mindset absolutely has to be stamped out and killed going forward. Living somewhere with things to do and being closer to friends should help a lot.

But yeah if any of the moots live around South Wales and want to beat each other with metal pipes or smthn hit me up xoxoxoxo

#thoughts i wanted to write down #about moving #wig

[lizzygrantarchives]

The Sunday Times, October 2, 2011

The mysterious Lana Del Rey is behind the song of the year, Video Games. Does it matter who pulls her strings?

Even by the breakneck standards of the digital world, Lana Del Rey’s year has been a fast one. The 24-year-old New Yorker, real name Lizzy Grant, started generating interest in Britain in the spring, when her song Video Games and, more important, the video for it that she subsequently posted on YouTube began to create a stir. In the five months that have followed, Grant’s pseudonym has been dropped so many times, and the hype/mythology machine stoked so vigorously, that, inevitably, a backlash has begun. So far, so virally predictable. What is refreshing — or plain insane, depending on your viewpoint — is that a backlash against the original backlash is now rapidly gaining support. And what is easy to forget, amid all the hubbub, is that Video Games is quite simply the song of the year. Yes, it’s that good.

Back to the chatter, though, for it is deafening. Every constituency involved is manning the barricades. Fans acclaim Grant as one of the best new singers of her generation. Detractors, meanwhile, post poison about her rich dad, self-mythologising back story, mysteriously deleted debut album and suspiciously voluptuous lips, the last presumed by the doubters to be surgically enhanced. (Grant has, surely unwisely, entered the debate herself, responding on one website: “Right — I didnt get surgery whoever the f*** u are — i didnt even have a house to live in let alone $ to f*** w my face.”) Behind the scenes are management, label executives and publicists whose air of micromanaging secrecy communicates not confidence, but anxiety. That’s a pretty rich, not to say putrid, brew. 'I haven’t listened to anything new for 10 years, because, you know, I like what I like'

Yet, and it is important to remember this, the main bullet points of the marketing plot are working with a smoothness beyond the wildest dreams of any team tasked with launching a new artist. Radio is hugely supportive (Video Games is predicted to rise to the Radio 1 A-list this week); other influential tastemakers are jumping on board. What this at once ideal and fractious scenario says about the new lines of communication between artist and fan, and the obstacles that — the democracy and egalitarianism of the web notwithstanding — are placed in the way of them, is about much more than Video Games or Lizzy Grant.

She just happens to be the most recent and glaring example of this new commercial culture. She also happens to be very pretty. Does that make her a fair target? Well, let’s ask her.

Sitting in a London hotel room, her fake-nailed fingers clamping a succession of cigarettes, the singer is easily identifiable as the retro femme fatale who stares expressionlessly at the camera in Video Games, yet utterly different: one minute hard-eyed and verbally robotic (ending some answers with an abrupt, and terminating, “Um, yeah”), the next seemingly unsure of herself, inarticulate or unedited. Some of her replies are so hair-raisingly, well, wrong, almost Miss World-like, you wonder why she was ever let loose with an interviewer.

Talking about the failure of her debut album, and her musical influences, she says: “When I started listening to people I consider to be musical icons, my tastes were sort of confirmed in my own mind. And that’s why, you know, even though nothing good ever happened, I was deterred from trying to be a noteworthy artist. But I wasn’t deterred from making things that I thought were beautiful. In fact, I haven’t listened to anything new for 10 years, because, you know, I like what I like. I mean, sometimes I find things that strike me, but in general I have names — I like, you know, Jeff Buckley, he was a show stopper. When I see footage of him live, I just think, ‘He’s unbeatable.’ Kurt Cobain, just his face alone was, like, enough. He didn’t even have to sing, his presence was scary, sick. Elvis, Frank — and Bob Dylan.”

Then there are glimpses of another, much clearer and less bewildered or regal person, as when she returns, again, to the shelving of her first album. Overseen by the Paul McCartney and Regina Spektor producer David Kahne, and either self-titled or called Nevada (the internet is unclear on this), the album was preceded by a well-received EP in late 2008. A few tracks can still be found online, and songs such as Kill Kill, Kinda Outta Luck and, especially, the blowsy, strings-drenched pop-noir of Yayo are audibly the work of the same artist you hear on Video Games and its double A-side, Blue Jeans: woozy, nostalgic odes to glamour with a murky underside, to love on the wrong side of the tracks, and as visually evocative as anything seen on Grant’s own videos, which feature grainy Super 8 footage spliced with television news snippets, the Stars and Stripes swaying in the wind, and the singer herself, dressed in vintage clothes. If these songs are anything to go by, it must have been a remarkable record. So, presumably, the shelving of the project (and Grant’s management seem determined to sit on it, preferring to big up her new material) must have been devastating. And have made her wary?

I’m nervous, definitely — probably more than most people you might meet this year

“Oh, I’m wary,” Grant agrees. “Incredibly wary. But I’m not jaded. I’m nervous, definitely — probably more than most people you might meet this year. I don’t think I’ve really left anything [behind], stylistically; my new songs are still autobiographical and cinematic. Having the record just shelved for two years, that’s difficult for anyone, especially when you’re younger and you make it with a famous producer, which David was.

“It was an exciting time and, making the record I thought... it’s not that I wanted anything to be larger than life, I just thought, ‘Well, here I am, I’m on my way to not having to do anything else in life.’

And to have absolutely no reaction, and no recognition, and no nothing, after you make a record that you think is perfect, you definitely start to think, ‘Well, good try, but you’d better go find something else to do that works.’ Because, if you keep chasing something that isn’t working, you’ll drive yourself insane.”

The precise reason the album was shelved is as much a mystery as why anybody around Grant felt it was okay for her to enter the publicity fray with stories such as her time spent living in a New Jersey trailer park (albeit, apparently, an unusually bohemian one). Her father is a multi­millionaire domain-name entrepreneur and philanthropist. Then there is the effort to market her as an indie artist — her new releases are coming out on a small label, Stranger Records — when even cursory research reveals that she has major-label dollars behind her, and that she is working with a small army of the usual bespoke-songwriter suspects.

Such nervousness and sleight-of-hand tactics are baffling — who cares if she’s not totally “authentic” (whatever that means) or bears traces of manufacture? Yet neither Grant nor her handlers are forthcoming about details they consider awkward — and they are a little too energetic with the opposite, with results that are what would be politely described as bearing signs of embellishment. (I’d say enhancement, but let’s not go there.)

Her team cannot, however, be solely blamed for such distractions, although these seem at best unnecessary and at worst counterproductive. We are all culpable, and perhaps need to refocus on what really matters — and, for starters, ignore the dafter end of the hype and airbrushing. You sense that Grant is becoming aware of the pitfalls of her current situation. Talking about some of the comments posted beneath her videos, she says: “Obviously, you’re not going to enjoy ones like ‘Oh, look at the hype’ and ‘This will all be over before it begins’.” Then, forlornly, she adds: “If I could do it over, I think I would just post the song.” Ah, “just” the song.

Well, perhaps that’s the point. Listen to Video Games’s incredible bridge, on which, as harp and piano ascend, the singer captures the rapture/wistfulness one-two of love, singing, almost sighing, “It’s you, it’s you, it’s all for you”, then tell me you’re still bothered by her lips or her parentage. It will say far more about you than about Lizzy Grant if you are.

Originally published on thetimes.co.uk with the headline Who’s in the driving seat?, and in the October 2, 2011 print edition of The Sunday Times.

#2011 #The Times #The Sunday Times #Dan Cairns

[ohioprelawland]

The Insanity Defense

By Gemma Volpe-Monrean, Youngstown State University Class of 2026

October 24, 2023

The insanity defense originated in the 1800s and is widely used in the legal system today.  In a criminal trial, the insanity defense is legitimate. The defendant admits to the action but claims a lack of culpability due to mental illness. This defense is considered affirmative rather than a partial defense. First, to understand the use of the insanity defense, it is important to note its differences from the diminished capacity defense. Then, examining its rich history reveals why it is necessary to place strict regulations on a defense that encompasses cognitive functioning. [1]

The “reason of insanity” is the equivalent of pleading “not guilty.” Whereas “diminished capacity” is pleading to a lesser crime. Diminished capacity often seeks to negate the proof of intent to commit a crime. The insanity defense is based on proving if the defendant is legally competent to stand trial. A defendant cannot stand trial if they are legally incompetent. According to the Supreme Court, a defendant is legally incompetent if they are incapable of rationally communicating with their attorney or rationally comprehending the nature of the preceding against them. Assessing someone for legal competency can be done at any time and involves the submission of supporting evidence with the addition of a psychological evaluation. The threshold for identifying someone is often identified as low. If a defendant is deemed incompetent, the insanity defense becomes the default as they are not fit to stand trial. In addition, if a defendant is found fit to stand trial, they can still submit evidence at any point during the trial to support their insanity defense. The foundation of this defense was founded upon a case in England in 1843. [1]

The first famous case surrounding the insanity defense was the M’Nagthen case. A man named Daniel M’Nagthen killed the secretary of the British Prime Minster. Daniel believed that the Prime Minister was conspiring against him. The court acquitted him because of insanity. He was placed in a mental health institution for the rest of his life. This case caused much controversy, and it was ordered by Queen Victora to develop a strict test for insanity. The M’Naghten rule was the standard to be applied by the jury when looking for insanity. After hearing medical testimony and supporting evidence, they would decide if a defendant was deemed insane. This rule created a presumption of sanity unless the defense proved otherwise. This rule also focused on the cognition of the defendant. Firstly, a defendant would be deemed insane if they were incapable of knowing what they were doing at the time of the crime. Secondly, the rule analyzed if the defendant knew their actions were wrong. The “Irresistible Impulse” test is also a factor when considering insanity. [1]

The “Irresistible Impulse” test has lost popularity over the years, but it was essential to the history and development of the insanity defense. This test focused on the defendant’s awareness and will. In other words, it recognized that the defendant knew the crime was wrong but had a lack of self-control. The defiant must suffer a disease of the mind in which their self-control is demised, therefore they were unable to stop themselves from committing the crime even though they had the cognitive ability to understand the crime was wrong. Although this test was widely used concerning the insanity defense, in recent years it has become less portal because it is argued that if a defendant knew the action was wrong, they would have been able to stop themselves from doing it. [2]

The Durham Rule was also influential in the history of the insanity defense. Durham was a man who had been in and out of prison and mental facilities since he was seventeen. He was convinced of housebreaking and his attorney appealed. The district court stated that his attorneys failed to prove that Durham did not know the difference between right and wrong. This case was used to revise the M.Naghten rule. The case was overturned, and a new rule was created. Under this rule, criminals must be proven to have a mental disease or defect to be deemed insane. [2]

To modernize the insanity defense, the American Law Institute developed a new rule surrounding insanity as a part of the Model Penal Code. The Model Penal Code created a test that is much broader than the M’Naghten Rule and the Irresistible Impulse Test. The Model Penal Code test asks whether defendants have a substantial incapacity to appreciate the criminality of their conduct. This test also requires that the mental disease or defect be a mental diagnosis. This modern rule incorporates the knowledge of right and wrong, the lack of control from the Irresistible Impulse test, and the diagnosis of a mental defect according to the Durham Rule. [3]

Currently, the Model Penal Code rule surrounding insanity is where the defense stands today. Although the development of this defense is complex, it is proven to be necessary. Without the evolution of this defense, it would be much easier for defendants to blame their crimes on insanity. That said, this defense is still controversial today and is undergoing change with every trial.

______________________________________________________________

[1] Cornell Law School. (2023). Insanity defense. Legal Information Institute. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/insanity_defense

[2] University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition, 2015. This edition adapted from a work originally produced in 2010 by a publisher who has requested that it not receive attribution. (2015, December 17). 6.1 the insanity defense. Criminal Law. https://open.lib.umn.edu/criminallaw/chapter/6-1-the-insanity-defense/

[3] US Legal. (n.d.). The American Law Institute’s Model Penal Code Test. USLegal. https://criminallaw.uslegal.com/defense-of-insanity/the-american-law-institutes-model-penal-code-test/

[literarygoon]

So,

It's been nearly four months since I was first cast as Count Bertram, a member of the French nobility who is potentially being groomed by the King to be his successor.

He's young, impulsive and headstrong — and according to Shakespeare experts, one of the most problematic characters ever dreamed up by the Bard. He has a tendency to blurt out offensive and outrageous things, and he's so determined to be the captain of his own fate that he routinely leaves those around him frustrated, betrayed and upset.

When I first sat down with director Alex Gallacher, we discussed how we wanted to conjure up this complex and confounding 15th century jerk. Though at times he seems misogynistic and needlessly cruel, it's crucial that the audience understands things from his perspective and gets the opportunity to like him — even if his actions and words are wholly objectionable by contemporary standards. Alex repeatedly coaxed me away from depicting him as mean-spirited and conniving, instead emphasizing his youthful impetuousness and lust for adventure. It's not clear how old he's supposed to be, but I imagine he's somewhere in his late teens — nearly 20 years younger than I am.

(The photo above shows me in the mourning uniform I wear during the first scene, where I'm being sent from my mother's estate to serve the King in Paris. I'm joined here by my costar Laife, who plays my trusty page.)

At first I didn't realize what a choice role this is, as over the course of the play I get the chance to have comedic scenes, dramatic scenes, seduction scenes and even an epic sword fight. It's pretty much an actor's dream, a chance to really explore my range as a performer, and now that we've done two preview performances it's really sinking in how physically and emotionally demanding it is. At times I find myself panting from the exertion of rushing from one scene to the next, pivoting from screaming a mournful lament to leading a battle cry to showing my vulnerable side in moments of tender romance.

This is the third Shakespeare play I've performed in, following Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest in high school. I'm insanely grateful to the Shawnigan Players for giving me this opportunity, and I'm proud to share the stage with an eclectic cast of local performers who also happen to be world-class human beings. I hope to be associated with this troupe for many years to come, and in October I'll be following this with a performance as Laertes in Hamlet. For over a decade now I thought my acting days were behind me, and I honestly can't express how grateful I am to have resurrected these abilities.

There's a special kind of high that comes from bringing a character like Bertram to life, and it appears that I've become thoroughly addicted. The Literary Goon

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

“Absolutely insane” the UC allowed this. Hyung Jin Moon describes violent attacks on wives "blessed” to Korean men.

▲ The Unification Church can be held responsible for the many cases of abuse of imported wives by non-member Korean husbands. The above poster promotes Japanese women available for marriage. It was affixed in a South Korean farming village. Marriages were then officiated by Sun Myung Moon in a mass marriage held in Seoul.

Translation of the poster (Korean on the left and Japanese on the right): True Marriage to a Japanese Woman Nonprofit community service organization: Registration No. 1300 ♥ Junior college or higher educational background ♥ Healthy body and mind ♥ For a young man who has stable employment (around 30 years old) (Previously married men and women, now single, must be aged 60 or less) Ideal spouse with a chaste sense of values. We will match you up. True Family Practice in conjunction with ◯◯ Committee Consultation phone Counselor / Consultation Staff

_________________________________

Hyung Jin Moon Town Hall meeting in San Francisco on October 7, 2012

https://vimeo.com/51465215

3:21:36

Hyung Jin Moon: “The first question was about the Blessing. “Can the Blessing be broken?” was the key question.”

“There are cases in Korea, for example, we had one sister who was physically assaulted. She was hit in the head with a hammer by her husband and her eye literally popped out of the socket – and she pregnant at the time. So we had situations, and of course this was due to the zero standards we had in Korea for the Blessing. Our sisters were given to men who had zero standards. And of course the excuse was Father was forcing us to do big numbers. Well, Father forced me to do big numbers for the Blessing, but we made standards. We had to make standards in terms of the Blessing candidates, specially for people coming in from outside [Korea] for international blessings, in particular for Japanese sisters, Filipina sisters and sisters from Thailand. Before those standards were made we had these kind of situations with severe types of domestic violence. I remember one sister who came to the Cheongpadong Church. She had been assaulted with a knife at her throat. Her husband threatened to kill her.

It is absolutely insane that we would let such fools marry our daughters, honestly speaking. So that is why we had to make clear standards. So of course some of the standards were that you have to be a Unificationist; you have to share the same faith; you have to have a steady job for the last two years, if you are about to get married you have to be employed; you have to tithe to the community so you are owning the faith and you are supporting the community, etc. But also you understand that your wife is a missionary. She is a missionary of the Unification Church, she is not just a mail order bride, is what they would call a bride from a mail order bride church. So this absolutely needed to be done, so we worked with our particular family department, with Mrs Chang who was the head for a couple of years, to make those standards. That was very important. In the case of serious, serious domestic violence and things like that – you probably know Erikawa-san, who the Japanese sisters will know, an incredible leader, who was in charge of the international blessed families group – she also made a shelter for people to leave if their husband had tried to murder them, or something like that, so they were able to find shelter somewhere else. So such realities as that exist.

In those cases of serious, serious threat, of course some sisters were even continually wanting to believe in their husbands even though they were in prison, or whatever, [they] had to make the decision to cut and break their blessing. So there are circumstances in certain people’s situations which really prevent them from operating in their blessing, in their marriage. However, as a church of course we always want to uphold the meaning of the blessing. There are situations where, many times, couples may feel that their blessing has totally collapsed and maybe feel they have no more energy to do it, but maybe have a try, have counseling with a pastor, or counseling with a support group in the church, or things like that to try to start up on a new foot. There are times when that cannot happen; it just doesn’t work. In terms of those cases in Korea that I mentioned, the sisters had to break their blessings; they were simply under threat for their lives. So in those cases the church tried to help them make the transition, to help them find some shelter. Also if there was real domestic violence that was super serious of course it was important to try to put that guy in prison. …”

__________________________________

NOTE: Hyung Jin Moon does not mention children. Some wives escaped with their children, some only with their youngest child, some had no choice but to leave their children behind. Often the husbands held their wife’s passport and took other measures to make it difficult for them to leave. Usually the husbands had paid $thousands for a matching and the Unification Church mass wedding and did not want to lose their investment.

The Roman Catholic Church in Seoul (Philippine branch) took care of many beaten and distressed victims of Unification Church mass marriages. The scale of the abuse became a national scandal.

__________________________________

Why did a Japanese Moon church member kill her Korean husband?

Japanese woman recruited by the Unification Church and sold to an older Korean farmer

Japanese member, Ms. U, married to a Korean man who beat her

6,500 Japanese women missing from Sun Myung Moon mass weddings

Japanese member, Ms. K, was forced to marry Korean man she did not like

“Apology marriages” made by Japanese UC members to Korean men

#Hyung Jin Moon #domestic violence #mass marriages #Japanese wives #abuse #Unification Church #Sun Myung Moon #Hak Ja Han #FFWPU

[uniarycode]

Ghost Game Pre-game

Hello Digifandom, unless you've been living under a rock (or just sick for a week) You've probably heard about Digimon Ghost Game, the new anime set to start airing in October.

This is pretty big news for the brand. The last time we had a new season airing immediately after another season it has no relation to is back in 2002 with frontier.

The last time we got Not-adventure was back with Appmon, which started airing October 2016, five years before Ghost Game will make its debut.

The Vital Bracelet is so successful Bandai expanded it to two other IPs, the current anime is likely airing about 12-15th in weekly viewership (hard to tell where precisely because they only post top 10), and seems to clock in above more recognizable brands like Pokemon or Boruto.

By all indications Ghost Game is keeping its current timeslot, which is kinda insane to begin with, since airing right before One Piece on the one morning a week kids don't have school has to be premium real-estate.

But I didn't make this post to highlight how well the franchise is doing. But more because my experience in this is, whenever Digimon gets a new IP, the fandom tends to be very self-defeating, and I'd like to get ahead of that.

Yes, it is Digimon

I'm not sure if this is the best place to say this; perhaps I'm preaching to the choir. But when a new series is announced, the loudest chorus is people dismissing it out of hand. Digimon is no stranger to experimenting with themes and the general response?:

Frontier wasn't Digimon, it was a power rangers knockoff.

Savers wasn't Digimon, Marcus had no goggles.

Xros Wars wasn't Digimon, there are no levels and's it's just a mecha series.

Appmon isn't Digimon, it's Appmon, in the name.

Of course, Frontier is now generally one of the more warmly remembered series, Savers pretty much didn't use gimmicks. Xrossing is just an extreme of jogressing which iirc predates the anime. and Appmon is just Digimon with a fresh coat of paint.

I don't know how this season is going to go. All we really know about it is that it seems to be based on the VB, but do keep in mind it seems almost anything could be seen as a reason something 'isn't Digimon’.

I state this mostly because I've been duped by this myself. The first time I watched Xros Wars I dropped it like 15 episodes in. While preparing for Digiweek last month I rewatched portions and remembered how much I loved Yuu, who doesn't even appear until more than halfway through.

Dismissing things out of hand is a great way to narrow your worldview.

It's For Kids

Well duh, they're all for kids (other than tri/Kizuna I guess). Just because you aren't a kid anymore doesn't mean that changed.

I've seen a few bizarre takes that this is attempting to knock off Yokai Watch. Bizarre because by all accounts I can tell the franchise is currently going stronger than YW. YW's Anime has been plodding along for a while now, but I believe its ratings have been lower than the Adventure reboots, and the franchise as a whole has been struggling outside of japan. And finally, Bandai owns Yokai watch (at least the toys I think?), so there's no reason they'd compete against themselves.

But even if it's not knocking off YW, it's still for kids of some sort. As was Adventure and tamers and well, everything. That's not inherently bad, just because an item is targeted towards kids doesn't mean they are the only ones who can enjoy it.

That said, it might start slow. Think about your favorite Digimon moments, the ones that really stuck with you. I'm guessing they did not occur in the first 10 episodes.

I'm generalizing a bit, but it feels like the moments people really enjoy don't seem to start coming until about episode 20+

That said:

You Don't Have to Watch it

I'm not here to gatekeep. I'm not going to call you less of a Digimon fan if you haven't watched every season.

A standard 50 episode season is ~17h long, assuming you trim opening/last time/next time/ending to make each episode roughly 20 minutes. That's a lot of time.

If you aren't enjoying yourself, you can do other things.

I personally think in fandom we need to accept "I just don't like it" as a general answer. Don't ask people to assign logic to an emotional response, you won't be able to argue them out of it.

On top of which, we have no idea if this will be legally available outside of Japan on launch. Appmon wasn't. The reboot is, but we don't know why Hulu dropped it.

Anyway, "don't like, don't watch" is probably preferable at this point to hate-watching. Since you won't give it a chance once you get hate-watching.

TLDR

New anime is good for the brand, no it won't be exactly like the others, yes it's still Digimon, yes it's for kids.

Maybe now we can all go into this with open minds and reasonable expectations.

#Digimon #Digimon ghost game

[black-swan-slaps]

My Musings About How BTS Made My 2020 So Much Better

I’m never one to do year end reflections like this, but I think I’ll make an exception for 2020, considering, you know, 2020. Plus, the New Years Eve content made me giddy.

I’ve known about BTS since either 2015 or 2016 (I first saw their videos in a Youtubers React video). I remember being impressed back then when I saw that their music videos had around 100 million + views (look at them now, lol). Since then, I would casually watch some of their performances or interviews, but never really listened to their work. The closest I got was when I became interested in RM’s solo work in 2018 (I really like his song Joke, and I stand by that). I think part of my interest in him was because he spoke English during American interviews, so it was easier for me to find a connection. Besides that, trying to enter the BTS world felt, well, overwhelming. There’s just so much content to get through. 

Fast forward quarantine 2020. It’s the end of April and I have been working from home since the beginning of March. Their carpool karaoke video with James Cordon shows up in my Youtube Recommended. The rest is history.

But seriously, that video is just so much fun, and it was really smart of the editors to include subtitles. Very few American shows will bother subtitling the members (at least early on), but they often say really interesting or funny things! I wound up watching that video every day for like two weeks. I then started watching them on other talk shows, which turned into watching interviews, to then their music videos, performances (hello Jungkook in the James Cordon Boy With Luv performance), funny compilations, and then other content, like Festa. One of the first videos I watched was their 2019 Festa. I had limited context for the members, and didn’t think I would actually watch an hour long video, but I did, and I enjoyed it. 

My May became a whirlwind of watching their content and listening to their music. Part of me was hesitant to spend so much time losing myself in their content, but as I reasoned, I had the time, and I was enjoying myself. I remember honestly laughing so hard as I watched Run, and by this point in quarantine, I had very little to laugh about. BTS gave me a route to escapism, and I happily took it. 

None of my friends are really into Kpop, but I felt so ecstatic as I fell deeper into this obsession. They would listen to me a little as I talked about them, but I did overall refrain from talking their ears off. (Now, whenever I do get to see them, I just give a simple update: “Still really into BTS, btw.”)

Point being, I devoured their content. Run, Bon Voyage, docuseries, concert footage, hell, I even watched American Hustle Life. As I learned more about them, I fell in awe of their success and individual stories. I’m honestly just so happy for them every day. I’m seriously amazed when I think about how much they have accomplished. About how hard they have worked, how many records they have broken, how insanely talented they are. They are truly global superstars, and they are changing the music industry, culture, and are leaving a huge mark in history. It’s just amazing. And what is also amazing, is that being happy for them makes me happy. 

Being happy for other people and their successes is pretty standard for me, but it’s definitely a sentiment that has heightened this year. This is a year where we need to spread happiness, as hard as that can be sometimes. But, getting this invested in a band is a new thing for me. 

I really appreciate their friendship and bond. I know it’s not realistic for them to be lovey-dovey BFFs all the time, but it is clear that they have an incredibly special, and rare bond. It’s something that I really admire. (The Vmin friendship was one of the first things I noticed, and led to me getting interested in the members personally). Being American, platonic intimacy isn’t really something I see a lot, at least on the mainstream level (and especially between men), and getting to see these men work together, laugh together, and express their love for each other is just so refreshing. I truly hope that they are happy with each other. It is so clear, that based on the crazy journey they have been through together, they have a bond that no one else will understand. They’ve said it themselves that, in certain moments, they can just look at one another and instantly know what they’re thinking. That is so valuable and special.  

Their work energized me. I started working on a major project in May, and I felt inspired by them. They gave me the energy to push through. Seeing them be silly while also working hard also helped me to accept myself and be true to my weird nature. I used to be pretty shy and reserved, and never posted online, but I started to adopt Jin’s philosophy of just doing what you feel like. Honestly, I felt the most alive in the first few months of quarantine purely because of them and all the energy I invested in learning about them and received from them. (And it was a welcomed distraction from the real world.)

It’s maybe a bit strange getting practically new content every day, but I have found that between official content and social media, there is always something to look forward to. It’s a part of my daily routine to check tumblr and look for updates. It’s something that has been so helpful as my mental health started to decline around August (I’m sure that with quarantine we’re all in the same boat). These past few months have been hard for me as I’ve struggled with the effects of quarantine and a developing complicated relationship between me, food, and my body, but at least I have had BTS to look forward to.

And I guess that is the point of this. I could honestly go on and on about each member and how I feel a special resonance with Jimin based on his gender expression, or how proud I feel of Jungkook every time I hear him sing and express himself, or how Suga’s First Love stops me in my tracks every time I hear it, but I’ve gone on long enough. What I’ve realized recently is that BTS gives me something to look forward to.

This year has been bleak. We all know this. But what is strange is that even though I have had my fair share of struggles, I also had a lot of self-improvement. Those first few months of quarantine, the energy I received from BTS inspired me to work hard on my major project. I took up learning Korean (I really like learning languages and have been working on Italian for years. I highly recommend TalkToMeInKorean). I started working out every day and actually have stamina to do physical activity (something I was severely lacking). I made strides in my professional life and am working strongly and proactively toward my career goals. Of course, even though I have been technically successful, I still can’t but help feel aimless and lost due to the loss of connection with my friends and peers due to quarantine. As Christmas day was ending, I realized that I had been using the anticipation of the holiday to get me through December. Once it was over, I felt sad. What more did I have to look forward to? The world is still generally terrible. In America, we’re still reeling from our terrible political and covid situation.

But today I realized, oh, there’s still BTS. Maybe it’s silly to say, but it’s true. Yes, I have personal and career goals I’m working toward, but we have to admit there is something so unique and fun about following BTS. That week in October where they released performances and interviews every day on Jimmy Fallon, plus bangtang bombs, was one of the happiest weeks I had. Like I said, their happiness brings me happiness. I look forward to following their careers for as long as they’re active, as well as their solo projects and careers. Honestly, isn’t it exciting thinking about all the great things they will do in the future?

#bts #jikook #vmin #jimin #jungkook #rm #suga #jin #jhope #v #they just make me happy #i hope they make you happy to #happy new year!

[therecordconnection]

Some Thoughts on the When We Were Young Festival

There are already some pretty good posts going around about it but I’d like to throw in my two cents as well: DO NOT GIVE THE WHEN WE WERE YOUNG FESTIVAL YOUR MONEY. Do not. Do not. DO NOT.

I understand the lineup is insane and it hits all the right places nostalgia should, but this shit reeks of a scam on levels like Tanacon, Dashcon, Fyre Festival, and more. I would like to write out a few specific reasons and things I’m seeing that make me very suspicious.

For starters, there’s this. Here in Year Three of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, I have yet to see any venue or performer have this policy. Things have gotten cancelled or postponed left and right ever since live entertainment resumed and this is an immediate red flag to me. Please consider that this festival takes place in late October. Things can change and especially with the way Covid has been handled, it’s complete bullshit for any live event to have a policy like this. 

Plus, what if this thing ends up being like when we attempted to have Woodstock 50 and it ended up getting cancelled due to low ticket sales? What if we have yet another covid spike that doesn’t allow live entertainment in October? Are those people just fucked because of things they couldn’t control? Apparently according to this, they are. They shouldn’t be. 

This is starting to smell a little bit.

This is also a little fishy. Granted, it could be that this is an error(?) Perhaps it was originally going to be a full weekend and then got trimmed to one day and that was just an error that has yet to be fixed? Either way, that’s something that should raise an eyebrow. Why would my wristband be good for a whole weekend if the event is only running for one day?

11 AM to 12 AM for the number of bands the festival is promising sounds fucking ridiculous. Give or take set-up time, each band would get roughly ~32 minutes for a set, which I guess is fine, but why not just have it across a weekend? Or maybe just have less performers on the bill if it’s only going to be a one day affair? This is also something that makes me raise an eyebrow. Most festivals, even first-time ones, are usually an entire weekend. It’s not like this is Warped Tour or anything where it’s hitting multiple cities across a stretch of time. Nope. It’s in one place and it takes place over one day. This is beginning to sound like someone’s fantasy instead of an actual event you could realistically pull off.

Some of the stuff on the banned list is really weird to me. Some of them I understand (drones, drugs, fireworks, video cameras, weapons, etc.) but others just seem really ridiculous and shady to me. Like why wouldn’t you be able to bring in flags or hula hoops??? The fuck is dangerous about those? Pretty sure every festival in existence let’s you bring those things in. Have you ever had some of the things on here (besides the really obvious ones) banned at a festival? I don’t know. Seems weird. Don’t know if I trust it.

For real, HOW do you look at something like this and go, “Oh yeah, that’s standard procedure. Nothing strange here.” “NO Narcissists” the fuck is this? Also, the no pepper spray or mace one scares me only because the nostalgic pop punk scene this festival is catering to has a bit of a history with all kinds of sexual assault (both from fans and bands). If this actually happens and people go, I just hope there’s some kind of safety protocol in place... you know... unless Live Nation was involved...

OH WAIT! THEY ARE! https://www.newsweek.com/when-we-were-young-concert-same-people-astroworld-live-nation-1670681

You remember Live Nation, right? The same people that organized Astroworld? The festival where several people died and more were injured?

Plus, they’re not even done taking heat for Astroworld yet. 

This was the biggest red flag to me. Astroworld happened less than three months ago and we’re gonna let them organize another festival after all of that death, all of that pain, and all of that suffering? Nope. Fuck that. Fuck ALL of that. Do not give them your money. I know Travis Scott and his wild and untamed devotees played a big role in that tragedy and I know there are people that will try to argue that “the scene is different and better than that”, but if it can happen once it can happen again. Live Nation is still catching shit for what happened at Astroworld and they shouldn’t be trusted in the slightest. DO NOT PUT YOUR SAFETY IN THEIR HANDS. I’m writing this for anyone who comes across this post and wants to do a little homework or look at what people are saying because I genuinely care about you and other lovers of festivals and I don’t want to see anything like Astroworld happen ever again. DO NOT TRUST LIVE NATION WITH YOUR MONEY OR YOUR SAFETY. 

If you have any suspicions about When We Were Young, I promise you that you aren’t alone in that feeling, you aren’t being crazy nor are you being delusional. You have every right to be wary of a festival that is already looking VERY sketchy and is already having many aspects called into question. 

This long post basically boils down to this: Proceed with extreme caution, be smart, and stay safe out there. <3

(Final Note: If there are any important details I might have missed or just got wrong, for any reason, please feel free to comment and let me know! Also, if you have any thoughts about this, I would love to hear them. It’s important to talk about shit like this and stick together so none of us get hurt or scammed. We all have to look out for each other).

#original content #when we were young #when we were young festival