#produce 101 season two

[jinhogwarts]

it's been 6 years and i'm not over pd101s2 it was by far my favorite season 😭

#currently crying over the keonhee x hyeongseop erase me challenge #no you don't understand i love them so much 😭 #they were two of my fave contestants too btw #keonhee is my bias in oneus for that reason #and hyeongseop isn't technically my bias in tempest but he's very close to that #pd101s2 #produce 101 season 2 #oneus #keonhee #tempest #hyeongseop

[deep-hearts-core]

the part of my brain that lives in my senior anthropology seminar and never shuts up really really wants to sit down and spit out a meta analysis of the produce 101 "you look good" performance. like do some real discussion on how a) it was a pretty innovative commentary on the shady shit that this television show was putting these teenage/early-20s girls through, not just a commentary but like exposing the top layer of it right at the beginning of the four-season shitshow and b) genuinely sets up the "fear" stage in season 2 thus indirectly causing nu'est's unprecedented rise in popularity.

basically what i'm saying is that fuck you mnet and that nu'est fans lowkey owe kim hyeongeun

#shispeak #produce 101 #the second thing is kind of a joke kind of not #because mnet sets up season two around stuff they wanted to replicate from season one #and even though you look good is a little bit of a diss at mnet they went for it and allowed the fear group to reproduce a similar stage #also i'm a lo/\e so i can make that joke ok #i am a jonghyun fan i am a jonghyun enjoyer he is THE kpop guy i have feelings about #anyway i watched episode 8 today. #rhythm ta team supremacy actually but from an analysis perspective #you look good has so much going on

[auroravictorium]

how to bug netflix 101

a few ideas/tips to put pressure on netflix to reconsider their decision, given the fact that a select few shows have had their fates reconsidered:

Keep Shadow and Bone & Six of Crows trending! Character names, 'No Mourners, No Funerals', Leigh Bardugo, and other key words might help too! And remember that the threshold to keep stuff trending gets higher the longer that words/phrases trend, meaning we have to keep it active!

Spam the Netflix title request form at https://help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest

with Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows, etc. At the very least, it'll inconvenience them.

Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/save-shadow-and-bone-a3b37712-c648-4b87-9bfc-8b8cd685c623

Fill their social medias with calls to renew. Again, at the very least it'll be annoying/inconvenient, but at least our voices will be heard.

If you feel so motivated, you can submit anonymous tips to publications and ask them to pick up the story (though there is no guarantee this will work). IGN, the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Deadline all accept anonymous tips without having to register or provide personal information.

UPDATE (16 Nov.) Send emails to the following people and let them know (respectfully) that we're unhappy with their decision and that they will be losing money as a result!

At the very least, Netflix has continually refused to listen to fans, even though we have shown that fandoms have the power to bring in lots of revenue; they seem to have forgotten who pays for their service and gives them the money they need to pay for the shows nobody has asked for.

Even worse, Netflix is holding the work of the writers hostage by owning the scripts yet refusing to produce them. Either Netflix needs to return the scripts to the writers, or they need to give the scripts to a platform who will actually use them and finish the story!

Industry-wide, there has been a repeated pattern of streaming platforms buying the right to a book or a series and then holding onto it without producing it or canceling it without finishing the story. This is similar to what 'patent trolls' do, filing for a patent without any real intent to use it. This is grossly unfair to the authors, not to mention the cast and crew whose livelihoods depend on a show surviving for longer than a season or two.

Leigh Bardugo deserves better. The crew deserves better. The cast deserves better. We the fans deserve better.

No mourners.

#shadow and bone #six of crows #crooked kingdom #leigh bardugo #netflix #sab netflix #save shadow and bone #save six of crows #six of crows spinoff #shadow and bone season 3 #netflix shadow and bone #alina starkov #mal oretsev #kaz brekker #nina zenik #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #matthias helvar #nikolai lantsov #zoya nazyalensky #the crows

[lol-jackles]

Hello, I’m sorry if this gets a bit long. I’ll try to edit it down once I’m done

So, I’m not saying this to downplay its importance to fans or Jared’s truly wanting to help people, but Jared was also very smart to come out with the Always Keep Fighting campaign, no? I could be talking out of my ass I this, because I wasn’t in the fandom at the time, but as well as being brave to share his anxiety/depression with fans, it also seems smart to share it on his own terms before it could be used against him. I think I’ve read on your blog that actors with MHI are often considered a liability to a production because if they “lose it” or walk off of the project, the higher ups are screwed. But, by Jared volunteering his personal information to the huge SPN fan base (and I assume some amount of press coverage), isn’t this a good way the give himself a bit of insurance? If his bosses are starting to think he looks expendable, they can’t now act on any desire to get rid of him without him or even his fans being able to turn around and call them out for discrimination.

I’m not saying these thoughts were the reason for AKF but do you think Jared had the foresight to sort of protect himself with the campaign as well, or was it all risk for him?.

I’m asking this because I read your recent response on possible reasons Jensen isn’t as sought after as Jared post SPN, despite being the clear favourite of some crew on the show.

Jared must have an amazing reputation to overcome the possible mental health stigma, and the fact that some SPN crew seem to blatantly favour Jensen (Wanek, Phil Segricia, Bib Singer, etc).

On a side note: who on the production crew do you think favoured, or even just backed Jared over Jensen? Or treated them equally even?

Okay, this was a lot. But I’d be interested in seeing your insight on any of this (I know you’ll pick what you would prefer to focus on) because from what I can tell, you really do have a pretty good read on what was likely going on behind the scenes.

I think you’re on the right track because it was also my first gut reaction the moment the Variety article came out. For Jared to come out when his career is still hot is pretty telling, normally actor don’t admit to mental illness until their career is drying up.  It’s one less thing he has to hide and therefore one less leverage others BTS can’t use against or hold over him.   

"I wasn’t in the fandom at the time"

During the early season there were rumors circulating that Jared was always late to the set. My first thought was, "They're setting him up to have a difficult reputation". It's producer tactic 101, put out fake news that the actor is a diva who is always late and if the actor doesn't toe the line, escalate it to "difficult actor" so that the studio is not the bad guy if the actor suddenly leaves. 7 years later we find out that Jared was looking to break his contract, so the producer(s) were preparing to make him the fall guy. Once Jared stayed on, the "late to the set" rumor immediately evaporated.

I bring this up because it ties into our speculation that Jared's decision to out himself for mental illness was at least partly motivated by removing a leverage against him BTS.

It was also the right time because he proved that as the principal lead of the longest continuous genre series in America, he's not a risk because filming schedule was never disrupted, which costs a lot of money. Even when he had a breakdown on set in season 3, he still finished out the season. His subsequent breakdown after season 10 could have derailed that, but he returned for season 11 and again lead the show through it's rating resurgence. Impressed, CBS arrived two years later at his doorstep with a holding deal.

"On a side note: who on the production crew do you think favoured, or even just backed Jared over Jensen?"

My immediate thought was Jeremy Carver. He was not in favor of the season 10 Dean-centric arc that Robert Singer and Jensen were angling for, and even tried to head off their campaign during Comic Con prior to season 9. His wife is currently the showrunner of Walker. There's also writer Adam Glass, I'm not sure why but he just vibed being all about Jared.

ETA: thanks to others' reminder, I would also add Sera Gamble. I can't believe I didn't immediatley thought of her as she's one of my favorite writers.

#jared padalecki

[linghxr]

I watched all the Chinese idol survival shows so you don’t have to (but you should anyway)

About three years ago, I watched 创造101 Produce 101 China, and it kinda changed my life. Yes, really! This show dragged me down a rabbit hole that eventually led to me watching many more Chinese shows and listening to almost exclusively Chinese music. I’m even branching out to cdramas now. All under the guise of, um, improving my listening comprehension!

OK, so “all the Chinese idol survival shows” might be an exaggeration. I’ll be talking about these three classic idol group survival shows from the “golden age” period of 2018-2021:

>> 偶像练习生 Idol Producer/青春有你 Youth with You (iQiyi)

偶像练习生 Idol Producer

青春有你1 Youth with You 1

青春有你2 Youth with You 2

青春有你3 Youth with You 3

>> 创造101 Produce 101/创造营 Chuang (Tencent)

创造101 Produce 101 China

创造营2019 Produce Camp 2019

创造营2020 Chuang 2020

创造营2021 Chuang 2021

>> 以团之名 All For One/少年之名 We Are Young (Youku)

以团之名 All For One

少年之名 We Are Young

Here is the order I actually watched these 10 seasons in:

创造101 Produce 101 China

青春有你2 Youth with You 2

创造营2020 Chuang 2020

创造营2019 Produce Camp 2019

偶像练习生 Idol Producer

青春有你1 Youth with You 1

青春有你3 Youth with You 3

创造营2021 Chuang 2021

以团之名 All For One

少年之名 We Are Young

I started 创造101 Produce 101 China in late 2019/early 2020 and finished 少年之名 We Are Young on Christmas Day 2022. I was literally tearing up. Three franchises, ten seasons, something around 1000 contestants, and three years of my life.

In order to refresh my memory for this post, I rewatched almost all of the performance clips from these shows. I didn’t watch the initial evaluations or any practice room videos (it’s simply too much content). It was simultaneously fun and exhausting. I will go over why you should/shouldn’t watch each season and give any other notable remarks. Let’s get started!

*Please note that for any YouTube links below, there is a risk of muted sections, parts/entire episodes being unavailable, and missing/out of sync subtitles. For official links, whether or not a VIP subscription is needed may change in the future. Fansubbed content may have sections or entire episodes missing.

>> 偶像练习生 Idol Producer/青春有你 Youth with You (iQiyi)

iQiyi rebranded the series by changing its name from 偶像练习生 Idol Producer to 青春有你 Youth with You after the first season. However, they really didn’t change much about the format at all. From what I’ve heard, iQiyi doesn’t have as large a budget as Tencent, which you can see reflected in the show’s production quality. However, I’ve long felt that this franchise has a real charming quality that makes up for lack of flashy sets.

偶像练习生 Idol Producer

Watch on iQiyi (English subs, VIP needed) Watch via Idol Producer Subs (English fansubs, missing part of finale)

Why you should watch it: Though not China’s first idol survival show, this show was the first of a new era. It’s iconic! The theme song is a bop, 10/10. Also, I had heard of all of the winners before I watched this season, so there’s some real cultural relevance. I can’t believe it was nearly five years ago! The whole top 20 remains iconic to this day. In most seasons, there are at least one or two popular contestants who I don’t really like or don’t see the appeal of, but that wasn’t the case this season. This season is also a lot shorter than later seasons, so it’s easier for those who are new to survival shows.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: As I mentioned, there is a lack of flashy sets/stages here. The background of the stage often looks empty. There were some performances that were better than I remembered, but there were others that were...not. I’m pretty sure 黄明昊 Justin was 15 when the show began, which shocks me in a BAD way. And if you’re a Jackson Wang fan, I think he barely appeared in the second half of the show.

My picks: 郑锐彬 Zheng Ruibin, 周彦辰 Zhou Yanchen, 蔡徐坤 Cai Xukun, 王子异 Wang Ziyi, 朱星杰 Zhu Xingjie, 周锐 Zhou Rui

Favorite performance: PPAP A组 PPAP group A This was a powerhouse group. And it was hilarious to watch the boys’ reaction when they heard the whole song and realized the style was not at all what they had initially expected! They totally pulled it off though.

Iconic moments: 蔡徐坤 Cai Xukun’s outfit (and ego) in the initial evaluation, B-A-L-A-N-C-E, when we realized 朱星杰 Zhu Xingjie can sing too, 林彦俊 Lin Yanjun's platinum hair, one of the songs was called Mack Daddy which causes me great distress to this day, 周锐 Zhou Rui aka 周美锐 Zhou Meirui, I’m still laughing over 朱星杰 Zhu Xingjie’s resemblance to 胡巴 Huba.

Verdict: Though this was not my first idol survival show, I think it would be a great first foray for anyone. It’s iconic for a reason. You should watch it (and I might rewatch it). 

青春有你1 Youth with You 1

Watch on iQiyi (English subs, VIP needed) Watch via Qing Chun You Ni Subs (English fansubs)

Why you should watch it: This season is the forgotten child of the franchise, but it still had some great performances and a lot of talented contestants. The theme song is also probably my favorite out of all ten theme songs! It was love at first listen. Personally, I enjoyed this team of mentors more than the first season’s. I also feel that the vocal-based performances were stronger this season. For instance, there were great performances of 李荣浩 Li Ronghao songs.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: I feel that some of the magic of the first season was lost, and overall the contestants were not as memorable or charismatic in my opinion. There were also several contestants I found extremely irritating and some contestants who ranked much higher and last much longer on the show than I feel they should have based on their skill level...but I won’t name names.

My picks: 夏瀚宇 Xia Hanyu, 李振宁 Li Zhenning, 周士原 Zhou Shiyuan, 连淮伟 Li Huaiwei

Favorite performance: 隔壁泰山 A组 Neighboring Tarzan group A This is a very unusal song, but it’s so catchy and memorable. 夏瀚宇 Xia Hanyu really made this performance for me. And this song still gets stuck in my head months later!

Iconic moments: 冯俊杰 Feng Junjie and 夏瀚宇 Xia Hanyu trying to outdo each other, 胡春杨 Hu Chunyang looked angry 24/7 for no reason, they literally got 蔡依林! Jolin Tsai! as a mentor, 李汶翰 Li Wenhan was everyone’s older brother, their performance made me fall in love with the song 耳朵 Erduo, they kinda did a steampunk concept which I love.

Verdict: It’s not necessarily a must-watch, but I still enjoyed it. If you’ve fallen into the black hole of survival shows and want more, I think it’s worth your time.

青春有你2 Youth with You 2

Watch on iQiyi (English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (English subs) Watch on YouTube (no English subs, missing several parts/episodes)

Why you should watch it: As iQiyi’s first time with female contestants, this season was highly anticipated. iQiyi stepped it up with subtitles, got Lisa from BLACKPINK as a mentor (I saw people say they came for Lisa and stayed for the trainees), and made a lot of content available on YouTube. As a result, some of the performances from this season have millions of views. It’s well deserved—a lot of the contestants are overflowing with talent and charisma. And honestly, you should watch this for 蔡徐坤. He’s a great MC/mentor to the girls and was truly a highlight of the season for me.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: This is the only season that I watched week by week as it was airing. It was EXHAUSTING. iQiyi started pumping out two episodes a week, doubling the overall episode count. I was literally burnt out by the finale. So if you watch this, please take it slow. Also, I forgot how much they did that thing where they cut away from the performances to show other contestant/mentor reactions and then have to go rewind on the performance...it really drives me nuts. They overdid it for sure.

My picks: 刘雨昕 Liu Yuxin, 喻言 Yu Yan, 王承渲 Wang Chengxuan, 刘令姿 Liu Lingzi, 许馨文 Xu Xinwen

Favorite performance: 不奉陪 No Company This was a tough choice! I went with this performance because I actively sought it out for relistens. That’s so rare for 主题考核 theme evaluation songs for me. All the members got to shine yet they were a very cohesive team.

Iconic moments: Bad Guy was the ultimate dark horse, how no one knew the song 想见你想见你想见你 Miss You 3000, 王承渲 Wang Chengxuan defeated the evil quads, 乃万 Nineone basically replaced Jony J as rap mentor, seeing 刘雨昕 Liu Yuxin with a wig was terrifying, they let the girls wear shorts if they didn’t like skirts #feminism, I still think about 张钰 Zhang Yu and 王清 Wang Qing’s initial performance all the time.

Verdict: I don’t think I could rewatch this season due to its length, but if you can commit the time, I think you should watch it. I’m sad I’ll never get to see a second 青春有你 Youth with You female season.

青春有你3 Youth with You 3

Watch on iQiyi (English subs, no VIP needed) Watch on iQiyi (no English subs, no VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs, missing several parts/episodes)

Why you should watch it: This season was probably the one I felt most emotionally invested in. I feel like I got to know the boys and was in it together with them (parasocial relationships, I know). And the friendships between contestants were so touching. Like 青春有你2 Youth with You 2, this season was also extra long, but I watched this season after it aired, going at my own pace. There were so many charming contestants and memorable performances. The dancing especially shone, but we got some great vocal moments too. I think iQiyi did a really good job picking songs this season.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: Sadly, the finale never aired. Due to the infamous milk-wasting scandal, the show was cancelled (but a winning group still formed and debuted). Even though I knew this before watching the show, it was still quite sad to never see a conclusion. Additionally, I believe this show started with more like 120 contestants, and I felt that increased number. Lastly, there was some painful singing and lots of very uninspired rapping. I feel like the gap in skill between the contestants was larger, and some of the teams felt very unbalanced as a result.

My picks: 姜京佐 Jiang Jingzuo, 杨昊铭 Yang Haoming, 十七 Shiqi, 徐子未 Xu Ziwei, 张思源 Zhang Siyuan, 连淮伟 Lian Huaiwei

Favorite performance: 燕尾蝶 Wings of Love This performance was everything I could ever dream of. 徐子未 won the world over instantly. He has the voice of an angel. Love the song, love the concept, love everything about it.

Iconic moments: 罗一舟 Luo Yizhou and 余景天 Tony Yu Jingtians’s friendly rivalry, 徐子未 Xu Ziwei’s back-to-back victories, Yuta’s adorable accent, 王南钧 Wang Nanjun would not shut up about 竹 Bamboo, touch 梁森 Liang Sen’s head for good luck, 刘隽 Liu Jun dances like he’s possessed (in a good way), that 雨爱 Rainie Love stage was a trainwreck tbh.

Verdict: Despite the scandals and lack of a finale, it was worth the watch for me. I feel so fond thinking of this season. Truthfully, season three has surpassed season two for me.

>> 创造101 Produce 101/创造营 Chuang (Tencent)

I read somewhere that Tencent officially licensed the Produce 101 name from Mnet, making this franchise more “official.” For season two, they ended up changing the name to 创造营 Produce Camp. The Chinese name remained the same for seasons three and four, but the in English they started promoting the show under the name Chuang. I think they wanted to beat iQiyi in the contest to see who can have the most titles for the same show.

创造101 Produce 101 China

Watch on Tencent Video (English subs, no VIP needed) Watch on 腾讯视频 (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs) Watch on YouTube (no English subs, episode 7 here, episode 10 here) Watch via Produce 101 China Subs (English fansubs)

Why you should watch it: This is the only season I’ve seen twice, so that says something I guess! This season holds a special place in my heart as my first survival show, so I rewatched it earlier this year with some friends who hadn’t seen it previously. One thing that stood out to me about this season was that it felt like there were several dark horses who started to shine closer to the middle/end of the show. I liked this because it’s boring when the debut lineup is completely predictable! And if you’re not already a 孟美岐 Meng Meiqi fan, you will leave as a 孟美岐 Meng Meiqi fan, guaranteed.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: Not gonna lie, I was not a huge fan of this mentor team. I am fine with these people individually, but together it was not an ideal combo in my opinion. They collectively made some very odd decisions that I strongly disagree with. After my rewatch, I’m just kinda done with 黄子韬 Huang Zitao. I also realized there were a lot more instances of...rough singing than I remembered, so be warned.

My picks: 孟美岐 Meng Meiqi, Yamy, 刘人语 Liu Renyu, 许靖韵 Angela Xu Jingyun, 吴映香 Lucia Wu Yingxiang, 李紫婷 Mimi Li Ziting

Favorite performance: 别人家的小孩 Other People’s Kids This is one of the most iconic performances (and one of my favorites) ever from all of these shows! It’s so unique and really has everything you could want. It was truly a perfect collab performance.

Iconic moments: When they had to tap 杨超越 Yang Chaoyue so she wouldn’t miss the beat, 王一博 Wang Yibo’s blue hair was gorgeous, Triple A group reunion, Look What You Made Me Do with creepy marionettes was perfect, when 陈嘉桦 Ella went barefoot on stage, 黄子韬 Huang Zitao literally screamed at them all, I’ll never forget the iconic 乐华 Yuehua performance.

Verdict: Even the second time, this was a season filled with surprises. It’s not perfect, but I think it will manage to charm you anyway. There are some real hidden gems here.

创造营2019 Produce Camp 2019

Watch on Tencent Video (English subs, VIP needed) Watch on 腾讯视频 (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs)

Why you should watch it: This was the first ever male season I watched, and I remember being apprehensive. I ended up having a lot of fun! This season really tugged at my heartstrings with the touching friendships between the boys and the intense 导师推荐生 mentor recommendees segments. I felt like I went through the wringer with them as they were forced to repack all their belongings, endure the brutal F班 demotions, hike across the beach, and more. There were countless hilarious moments too. If I were to rewatch, it would be for 周震南 Zhou Zhennan AKA 南南 Nannan. He just dominates the stage (despite his short stature)!

Why you shouldn’t watch it: I’ll admit, this season probably has the greatest number of contestants that annoy me. Sometimes it’s for no good reason...I just look at them and go ugh. The first round especially has some pretty painful singing, so be warned of that as well. Also, my rewatch made me realize I remembered very few performances from this season, which probably isn’t a good sign. Also, a lot of the performances were very short, sub-three minutes, which personally bothers me.

My picks: 周震南 Zhou Zhennan, 高嘉朗 Gao Jialang, 姚琛 Yao Chen, 陆思恒 Lu Siheng, 李鑫一 Li Xinyi, 贺俊雄 He Junxiong

Favorite performance: 开门见山 Kaimenjianshan I’ll admit that this performance was not as good as I remembered it being (probably because now I’ve heard the original by A-Mei many times), but I picked it anyway to acknowledge the amazing 高嘉朗 Gao Jialang.

Iconic moments: 张颜齐 Zhang Yanqi giving away jars of 老干妈 Lao Gan Ma, we never saw 王晨艺 Wang Chenyi again, 姚琛来了~ (Yao Chen is coming), when 周震南 Zhou Zhennan had his hoodie on but his ears were sticking out omg, try saying 李昀锐 Li Yunrui's name ten times fast, they had 30+ year old men here, this was the OG 乘风破浪 chengfengpolang.

Verdict: Among so many seasons, I don’t think this season stands out that much, but I still remember it fondly. If you want a good laugh and some fun, check it out.

创造营2020 Chuang 2020

Watch on Tencent Video (English subs, VIP needed) Watch on 腾讯视频 (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (English subs, missing episode 3) Watch on YouTube (English subs, missing episode 3) Watch on Viki (English subs, no Viki Pass needed)

Why you should watch it: They went all out on the sets, the location, the accommodations, everything. The performance setup was that the seats were in the middle and various stages were located around the perimeter. The seats would rotate to face the stages!! Some of the stages were stunning. I also want to mention that there were some great vocalists this season and I feel like they got to shine, which always makes me happy. The best round by far was the second round (专业方向). We got some beautiful vocal performances and intense dance performances.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: This season felt messy to me. I think they tried to mix things up, but not everything landed. The beautiful sets almost got distracting…they were more interesting than some of the performances. Several very talented and promising contestants never even made it past the first round. And since the final group only had seven people, the finale was just a frustrating experience. I never want to hear that 小摩托 xiao motuo song or 夏天的风 Summer Wind again. I don’t feel this season lived up to 创造101 Produce 101 China (unless you wanted MORE comments about weight/thinness).

My picks: 王柯 Wang Ke, 华承妍 Hua Chengyan, 刘些宁 Liu Xiening, 苏芮琪 Su Ruiqi, 朱主爱, Joyce Zhu Zhu’ai, 王一桥 Wang Yiqiao

Favorite performance: Manta There were a lot of performances I liked, but I really struggled to pick a favorite. I ultimately went with this because it’s one of the most memorable dance performances I’ve seen on these shows.

Iconic moments: That thin waist contest was simply the worst, they were in a literal castle, we all went crazy for the band and 王柯 Wang Ke, 朱主爱 Joyce Zhu Zhu’ai won the collab stage, wtf stop filming 姜贞羽 Jiang Zhenyu, I want to ride that cute train up the mountain, 毛不易 Mao Buyi did not want to talk, pretend that 吴亦凡 Wu Yifan wasn’t there.

Verdict: This season was competing against 青春有你2 Youth with You 2, and I chose to prioritize 青春有你2 Youth with You 2. I would make the same choice now. If you decide to watch, just be warned it may be a frustrating experience.

创造营2021 Chuang 2021

Watch on Tencent Video (English subs, VIP needed) Watch on 腾讯视频 (no English subs, VIP needed)

Why you should watch it: I wasn’t sure I was going to watch this season because of its international theme. Having foreigners is nothing new, but such a large number was certainly going to alter the show’s dynamic. Well, I watched it anyway. Overall, I’m glad I did. There were some talented and lovable contestants that made this season all worth it. The mentor squad (mostly 宁静 Ning Jing, 邓超 Deng Chao, and 周深 Zhou Shen) were so entertaining. Lastly, compared to the 2019 season, there were more popular vocalists this season, which I 100% support. I’ll be honest, I didn’t remember a lot of the performances from this season, but I ended up pleasantly surprised by how many great ones there were!

Why you shouldn’t watch it: It felt like there was so much focus on Nine and Patrick, Santa and Riki, the Intersection boys, and eventually Lelush as well. The other foreign contestants honestly had very little impact. This didn’t ruin the show or anything, but sometimes I got a little sick of the Santa and Mika show, you know? Also, none of my favorites made it into the winning group unfortunately. While I acknowledge the talent of the winning members, for whatever reason I wasn’t really that invested in most of them.

My picks: 俞更寅 Yu Gengying, 井胧 Jing Long, 林墨 Lin Mo, 奥斯卡 Oscar, 张星特 Zhang Xingte

Favorite performance: Lover Boy 88 This performance was simply infectious! I even made my friends watch to it. 林墨 Lin Mo is so charming. And 张腾 Zhang Teng and 张星特 Zhang Xingte’s vocals were perfect. Just wish it had been longer!

Iconic moments: Mika and 曾涵江 Zeng Hanjiang = my last two brain cells trying to communicate, I still can’t believe Lelush went viral worldwide, 刘宇 Liu Yu broke the Produce curse, Nine and Patrick only learned Chinese for how long???, Caelan kinda does look like Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscar AKA 熊熊 Xiongxiong, the 网红 wanghong group was so talented actually.

Verdict: I think this season got more international attention than 青春有你3 Youth with You 3, and while I prefer 青春有你3 Youth with You 3, this season is worth a watch for its uniqueness and improvements over the previous year.

>> 以团之名 All For One/少年之名 We Are Young (Youku)

I watched both seasons of Youku’s shorter-lived franchise in 2022 only after (and only because) I had finished the other two franchises. I think Youku had a smaller budget and thus tried to stand out by shaking up the traditional survival show formula. I think they made some poor choices and some good choices. I don’t know the story behind the name change between seasons, but the seasons are so different from each other that it makes sense.

以团之名 All For One

Watch on Youku (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs)

Why you should watch it: I’m going to say a lot of negative stuff below, but I wanted to add at least a few positive words. During the finale, the remaining contestants sang S.H.E’s 你曾是少年 Wings Of My Words, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so emotional over a performance ever. 任家萱 Selina was a delight throughout. I also really grew to appreciate 奶茶 Naicha and what a great and thoughtful leader he was.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: As I mentioned, this show had some unique features that made it stand out. The contestants formed ten groups of eight, and the composition of the groups remained unchanged throughout. Entire groups got eliminated together. This created a dynamic where some really talented contestants went home too soon due to their group. It also meant that some groups were popular really just due to having one popular member. In the end, one group won...but I guess they realized this was a bad idea, so they formed a second winning group of the most popular contestants from the non-winning groups. I didn’t like this format and felt is really negatively impacted my viewing. Personally, seeing new team lineups form is one of my favorite parts of survival shows. And because the leaders were constant, they had there was too much focus on them. Also, the mentors were so harsh all the time. Maybe it was deserved, but it really bummed me out to watch them constantly talk about how disappointed they were.

My picks: 奶茶 Naicha, 田书臣 Tian Shuchen, 龙泓昊 Long Honghao, 赖煜哲 AJ Lai Yuzhe, 热亚提 Reyati, 赵品霖 Zhao Pinlin

Favorite performance: 饕餮 Taotie This was not one of the performances that stood out in my memory, but it stood out to me when I did my rewatch. I feel like they really nailed every element, and I don’t think the other teams could have pulled off this song.

Iconic moments: 何展成 Jonathan Ha gave up on speaking Chinese and 袁娅维 Tia Ray had to translate for him, the 王霏霏 Wang Feifei and 孟佳 Meng Jia reunion, 龙泓昊 Long Honghao’s beautiful dance to a Shawn Mendes song, I’m not sure why 奶茶 Naicha chose milk tea as stage name, AJ vs. the hidden snacks, they made 周艺轩 Zhou Yixuan perform a UNIQ song.

Verdict: Maybe you can skip this one. I definitely didn’t devote my full attention while I was watching it. And it felt like the show and the mentors were being mean to the boys all the time.

少年之名 We Are Young

Watch on Youku (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs) Watch via We Are Young Subs (English fansubs)

Why you should watch it: They improved on basically all the issues I had with the first season, and I was pleasantly surprised. Also, this is basically a 青春有你1 Youth with You 1 mini reunion with a few 偶像练习生 Idol Producer alums plus some future 青春有你3 You with You 3 contestants. It was so wonderful to see how the contestants I already knew had grown, and I loved seeing them get new opportunities to shine. There was surprisingly a lot of good raps/rappers on this show! Also, there were some truly incredible performances this season that aren’t like anything I’ve seen on other idol survival shows. And I enjoyed almost every performance—there were only a few that I disliked or thought were, um, not good. The mentors did not always agree...but I don’t care!

Why you shouldn’t watch it: Because they have to be different, when doing the initial evaluations, only about 50 contestants advanced to the next round. This was nice because it meant fewer names/faces, but wow, it felt so mean. Sometimes I wished they had stuck to a more traditional format. Besides that, I don’t have much else negative to say!

My picks: 郭震 Guo Zhen, 寇聪 Kuo Cong, 胡文煊 Hu Wenxuan, 左林杰 Zuo Linjie, 李希侃 Li Xikan, 崔少鹏 Cui Shaopeng, 杨超文 Yang Chaowen

Favorite performance: Don’t Start Now I don’t think I’ve ever seen this exact concept on one of these shows before. This performance was instantly a standout for me, especially because it had some of my favorite contestants!

Iconic moments: They literally had a corgi, 林 (Lin) MUA, everyone shipping 薛恩 Xue En and 程潇 Cheng Xiao, 胡文煊 Hu Wenxuan in a CROP TOP, 胡彦斌 Hu Yanbin told 寇聪 Kou Cong to wear less to show off his body what, 崔少鹏 Cui Shaopeng’s entrance through the pink smoke, 左林杰 Zuo Linjie really bungee jumped with his eyes closed, how 郭震 Guo Zhen, 左叶 Zuo Ye, and 胡文煊 Hu Wenxuan were in the same group four times without anyone noticing.

Verdict: This season ended up being better than it had any right to be! I think it’s worth checking out, especially if you are missing the boys from the 偶像练习生 Idol Producer/青春有你 Youth with You series.

>> Conclusion

If you actually read this entire post, I’m thoroughly impressed. If you, like me, have spent way too much time watching these shows, feel free to send me a message because I need someone to commiserate with. 

I honestly have this weird feeling that a chapter of my life is over. I have so many treasured memories from watching these shows—moments of laughter, tears, shock, pride, and more. They’ve provided a way to ground my language studies and engage with Chinese pop culture. They made me feel less alone during earlier COVID times.

Well, I’m off to find something to fill the survival show-size hole in my heart...maybe I’ll just rewatch 偶像练习生 Idol Producer.

#my watchlist #idol producer #qing chun you ni #youth with you #produce 101 #produce 101 china #produce camp #chuang #all for one #we are young #survival show #cpop #c-pop #c pop #偶像练习生 #偶像練習生 #青春有你 #创造101 #創造101 #创造营 #創造營 #少年之名 #以团之名 #以團之名 #cpop idols #this is my magnum opus #currently going through survival show withdrawal #I may complain but I love these shows #I spent way too long working on this #I literally have pages of notes

[jerzwriter]

Easy As Pie

Based on a three-word ask from @icecoffee90! Thanks for the inspiration, my friend. I hope you like this little bit of silliness.

Book: Open Heart Characters: Aurora Emery, Jackie Varma, Sienna Trinh, brief appearance by Bryce Lahela Words: 512 Rating: Teen Summary: Friendsgiving has been arranged, and food assignments have been handed out. Aurora and Jackie didn't let their lack of baking experience deter them from agreeing to bake pies this year. After all, how bad could it be?

Full Masterlist | Open Heart Masterlist

It was the start of the holiday season, and finding a date to host Friendsgiving was not an easy task for a bunch of medical residents. But a week after Thanksgiving, the day was finally here, and the apartment was bustling with excitement as they prepared for their feast. Aurora and Jackie were brilliant physicians but not known for their culinary skills. But they weren't going to let a little thing like that stop them from agreeing to bake the pies for the event.

“How hard can it be?” Jackie asked. “We both managed to graduate at the top of our classes in Ivy League medical schools. We have to be capable of following a recipe, right?”

With said recipe and dozens of ingredients they had never purchased before in hand, they began their baking adventure.

Thirty minutes later and covered in flour, Aurora wore a bewildered expression. “Who ever heard of lemon zest? Is that even a thing? And why, why, why is zesting a lemon so difficult!” She complained.  

“I don’t know,” Jackie sighed, “but I’m about to deliver more bad news."

Ever the perfectionist, Aurora’s shoulders dropped. “What?”

“The apple pies in the oven....”

“Yeesss?”

“I may have confused the sugar with the salt in the recipe.”

“May have?” Aurora questioned.

“More like... I did.”

Aurora shook her head. “Well, I guess this is what happens when they stop teaching stop teaching How to Differentiate Between Sugar and Salt 101 at Harvard. I knew that was a poor decision! I don't think our pie adventure can get any worse.”

“Oh, no....” Jackie groaned. "It's about to get worse."

“What?” asked wearily.

“Don’t look now, but....”

The tiny baking master, also known as Sienna, buoyantly entered the kitchen with a glint of mischief and satisfaction in her eyes.

“Could you guys use a little help?” she smiled.

“Not if you’re going to tell us, ‘I told you so’,” Jackie sighed.

“Sorry,” Aurora said, removing her apron at once. “Jackie stands alone on this matter! You can tell me I told you so; you can tell me anything you want, just please, please take over this dreadful task!”

Realizing Aurora was right, Jackie eagerly handed her spatula to Sienna. 

“Clearly, I don’t have the skill set to use this,” Jackie stated.

“To use a spatula?” Sienna marveled.

“Let’s never tell my mother, OK?”

“I’ll keep Mrs. Varma in the dark,” Sienna grinned, “but only if you two stay and help me out. Not everyone gets to learn at the foot of a master!”

“You know, I’ve had her banana cream pie,” Aurora nodded. “I’ve got to admit... she is the master.”

Begrudgingly, Jackie agreed to stay. Now reduced to the role of taste testers, Jackie and Aurora watched in awe as Sienna produced three delicious pies with ease.

"I don't know," Jackie said as she licked chocolate icing off a beater. "I guess they were still teaching this course at her Ivy!"

When the friends gathered later that day, Aurora and Jackie had everyone in stitches as they regaled the stories of their culinary disaster.

“You didn’t know the difference between sugar and salt?” Bryce howled. “Wow! So what lesson have we learned?"  

Jackie jumped in to answer first. “I've learned that if Sienna isn’t available, I need to get my cheap ass to a bakery.”

“Orrrrr... we could just practice with Sienna and learn how to do it ourselves,” Aurora smiled.

“Oh, that’s the wine talking!” Jackie said with a shake of her head. “That’s just crazy talk. I’ve learned where my place is... and that place will never be the kitchen.”

Tagging separately.

@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

#open heart #open heart fanfic #choices open heart #open heart choices #thanksgiving #jackie varma #aurora emery #sienna trinh #a little bryce lahela #choices fanfic #playchocies fanfic

[merlot-and-chardonnay]

My (Very Long) Take on the Blacks and Greens Debate

A day or so ago, I posted a poll concerning which was team Green or team Black (and who didn't want to choose), and maybe some of you probably want my two cents on it. And even if you don't, I'll give it anyway cause I really want to talk about the discourse.

First off, I kinda find the Blacks vs Greens debate to be...well a little reductionist (and I know people might take offense at that so please hear me out to the end if you can).

I think the bulk of the debate boils down not necessarily who you think would be the more suited ruler, but more like who do you like as a person (or people) or who do you hate so much that you think they deserve everything coming their way. For example, I notice people who are mostly team Black tend to idolize Rhaenyra and put her on such a pedestal that they see her through this rose tinted lens that she is saintly, that she did nothing wrong, and that she would make a perfect ruler. Additionally, I notice Team Black also hates on Alicent major time, seeing her as some catty, manipulative bitch who hates Rhaenyra cause she births bastards and gets away with pretty much everything without accountability. On the other side, people who are Team Green I notice idolize Alicent and her children and shit on Rhaenyra major time cause they see her as spoiled and entitled and would kill her siblings without a second thought should she ascend the throne.

And this tend to be reflective in the fanfic writes who are either vehemently team Black or Green

I kinda understand where people are coming from, but the discourse is really more nuanced than that. And to see the nuances get erased just really creams my corn sometimes:

So now allow me to present my two cents.

I find the debate reductionist because it doesn't really take into account other factors that led to there being these polarized sides in the first place: When we think about the show (and the book), how the events in the season that lead up to the Dance of Dragons, I actually think about the very first scene with the Great Council of 101 when King Jaehaerys named his new successor, being Viserys

The moment Viserys was considered above Rhaenys by the Westerosi nobles, that pretty much codified the line of succession, being that the eldest male descendent will supersede any of the women in his family; even though Rhaenys was the oldest descendent, even though she was the daughter of Prince Aemon, Jaehaerys' oldest son and Heir Apparent before his untimely death, she was overlooked in favor of Viserys, who was the eldest son of the king's second son Prince Baelon who also had an untimely death (Baelon was also deemed by the nobles as the next Heir Apparent when he was still alive).

And going on a brief tangent here, this wasn't the first time the line of succession was questioned for the Targaryens due to gender optics. In fact, when Jaehaerys first took the Iron Throne at the age of 14, after the death of his uncle Maegor, his claim was initially challenged by his sister Princess Rhaena, whose late husband was Aegon the Uncrowned i.e. the one was supposed to sit the Iron Throne next as the oldest son of the late King Aenys before Maegor usurped him. Rhaena and Aegon had twin daughters, Aerea and Rhaella. Aera was the oldest, and Rhaena insisted that her daughter be next in line for the throne since she saw her husband as the rightful ruler before the usurping. Long story short, Rhaena and Aerea were overlooked in favor of Jaehaerys.

Later, we see Viserys and Aemma Arryn, even though they had Rhaenyra, struggle to produce a male heir, and until that actually happened, Daemon was seen as Heir Apparent over his niece. Nobody actually considers the possibility that Rhaenyra could sit the throne next, they all assume her uncle would be next should Viserys and Aemma fail to produce a son, and that worries the nobles greatly, especially Otto Hightower who sees Daemon as a potential Maegor should he sit the throne next. In fact, Otto suggested to Viserys to name Rhaenyra as official heir after the death of Queen Aemma and her son, both for the sake of optics, and to save the realm from falling into chaos at the hands of Daemon. The man was so scared at the thought of Daemon being king, he flat out convinces Viserys to name his daughter heir, but only under the assumption that Viserys would eventually remarry and finally produce a son to further the line (something Otto definitely took advantage of when he had Alicent start visiting the king to comfort him in his grief).

This is when we see Viserys finally give into the pressure of his council to remarry. He took Alicent to wife and had a total of three sons and one daughter with her, which is more then enough boys to satisfy the line of succession. Yet, both in book and show, Viserys never renounced his succession, never disinherited Rhaenyra despite her reckless actions (and he points out to Rhaenyra in Episode 4 that this would NOT have been the case if these things happened under Jaehaerys' rule). Despite this, Otto and many others were still expecting Aegon to inherited the throne. Even more so when Rhaenyra "allegedly" birthed bastards with Harwin Strong when she was married to Laenor Velaryon.

This all showcases, more than anything, how incredibly sexist this society is. Not just because Aegon is expected to supersede Rhaenyra in succession because he is a man, but also how this society would be quicker to punish the woman for her misdeeds over the man (i.e when Rhaenyra is held under heavier scrutiny for her three oldest children being potential bastards by someone who is not her husband when her brother Aegon was confirmed to have fathered bastards of his own despite being married with legitimate children).

The influences and expectations of this society are part of what led to the divide between the Blacks and the Greens, but there are also personal and individual factors as well:

For example, Otto, being a man of great ambition, seized the opportunity to plant seeds in gaining influence over the realm the moment he sent his daughter Alicent to read to Viserys as means to comfort him after the death of his beloved Aemma (which wouldn't have happened if Aemma was never pressured to produce a son, but I digress). Alicent, being a good girl and a product of her society, does as she is told, which ultimately led to Viserys choosing her to be his new wife (worth noting Alicent never got an actual say in whether she wanted this or not).

For more insight, the Hightowers are the Lords of Oldtown, which is the original seat of the Faith of the Seven. House Hightower is arguably the most devoted House to this Faith due in part to that history. Alicent herself is pretty devout to the teachings of the Seven, compared to Rhaenyra who prefers to do her own thing. Many of those teachings include that women are supposed to be devoted wives and mothers, not meant to rule but to guide the men in their lives who do rule, which in Alicent's case are her father the Hand of the King, and her husband the actual king (and when Viserys passes, she was meant to guide her oldest son in his rule).

I think Alicent sees herself as someone who is good and righteous because of her devotion to the Seven, and by upholding these ideals both from religion and society, by doing her duty, she believes blessings should be coming her way.

In actuality, Alicent is a prisoner of her surroundings; she was married off to a man she did not love at a very young age, and became a mother a very young age too, she lays in bed with her husband at nights merely for the sake of fulfilling her wifely duties and not out of love or pleasure, and she is expected by her father to raise Aegon to be the king this realm needs.

All these things make Alicent miserable, but she soldiers on as best she can, because deep down she feels it is her duty.

In contrast, Rhaenyra is not devoted to the Faith as Alicent is, nor is she one to follow society's expectations. She is a bold, rebellious, and does what she wants with little regard for others' feelings; she swears, she speaks out of term in a man's presence (refer to when she was serving wine to the council members when they were discussing the Stepstones back in Episode 2), she disobeys her father when she flies to Dragonstone to deescalate the situation there, and she defies her father's expectations when she was expected to take a husband (even more so when she cut her betrothal tour short at the start of Episode 4). She sneaks out with Daemon into town and into the Street of Silk where she had her sexual awakening, and being left wanting for more pleasure (cause her uncle couldn't follow through) she heads back to the Keep and uh, coerces Criston Cole to sleep with her and take her maidenhead (worth noting Rhaenyra did all this with little regard to Criston's oath to the Kingsguard or the fact he could've been killed for breaking his oath if they got caught).

All this being done before allegations against her and her three oldest sons were held against her.

Rhaenyra is the antithesis of society's expectations, yet she does not feel bad about her choices, even if others would consider such choices to be indecent and an affront in the sight of gods and men. She is the blood of the dragon after all.

I think in Alicent's mind, the way she sees Rhaenyra carrying on like this, it makes her jealous on a subconscious level; here this good devout girl had only done what had been told of her for the sake of realm, gods, and family, doing what good ladies are supposed to do, but she is nothing but bitter for her circumstances, yet Rhaenyra is not a good girl by society's standards. She is a rebel and has more agency in her life compared to Alicent, and she is happier for it.

And I think Alicent, after being told by her father that the realm will never accept Rhaenyra as heir, and that Alicent's children's lives will be forfeit should Rhae ascend the throne because of this, there is a confirmation bias on Alicent's part when she sees Rhaenyra behaving as she is. This was further confirmed that night on Driftmark when Luke took Aemond's eye and Rhaenyra tried to make it look like her sons where the sole victims in all this for being called bastards and not Aemond who LOST HIS FREAKING EYE! THE KID LOST HIS EYE AND RHAENYRA WAS PREPARED TO HAVE HIM INTERROGATED OVER A FEW INSULTS.

Sorry about the rant. I'm calm now, let us continue.

Yeah, that was a pretty shitty thing for Rhaenyra to do, but at the same time, if Viserys did decide to actually acknowledge Jace, Luke, and Joffery were indeed bastards, Rhaenyra would probably be expected to be punished for this, be it execution for treason or best case sent into exile (kinda similar to how Sera Targaryen was exiled by her father Jaehaerys because she shameless lost her maidenhead to a man/men she fancied instead of waiting to get married). (Again, this also showcases the sexism of this society).

Rhaenyra is not a saint, that much I can agree on with the pro Greens side...

But neither is Aegon.

Yes, I am going there (content warning up ahead).

First off, Aegon is a lazy drunken slob, there is no question about that. Like Rhaenyra, he is also one to indulge in whatever vices deem his fancy on any given day, be it drowning in excess in cups of wine, cheating on his wife with whomever will have him (or not, as we sadly saw in Episode 8), and fathering bastards with little regard for the kind of image that produces.

This is clearly a major source of grief for Alicent, especially when Aegon takes servants against their will, resulting in Alicent having to pick up the pieces and put out the fires he leaves in his wake. (please note how fast the moon tea was delivered in that scene following what happened to Dyana the serving girl- this was clearly not the first time something like this has happened).

Aegon does what he wants with no regard for others, yet Alicent, even though she will scold her son for this indecent and shameful behavior, chooses to cover up for him, which unironically leads to Aegon continuing to do these things.

ALICENT, YOU ARE ONLY ENABLING YOUR SON, YOU ARE NOT DOING HIM ANY FAVORS BY COVERING UP FOR HIS BAD BEHAVIOR.

Sorry, had to get that off my chest. I'll continue:

Aegon does not care for optics or the family image. He is much like his older sister in this way. (and if I'm being honest, as someone who's also watched the entirety of Bojack Horseman more than once, I actually would partly compare Aegon's life to that of Bojack...maybe I should write a post for that).

But he is not under the intense scrutiny Rhaenyra is constantly under for her choices, again pointing to the sexism of this society.

From the same vein, however, I'd also argue the reason Aegon is the way he is because of the way he was raised. Pro Blacks will be quick to point the blame to Alicent, and yes I can agree on that, given how her first instinct is to slap sense into Aegon when he steps out of line, but she is not the only player here. Viserys was basically an absentee parent regarding his children with Alicent (granted, I could cut him some slack due to his declining illness, but the man still could've put a little more effort here), not taking any kind of active role in raising his children. Honestly though, Viserys taking passive over active stances is his status quo, both in his parenting and his ruling, so nothing really new there.

And then there is Otto...actually I don't quite know what is Otto's relationship to his grandchildren, particularly to Aegon, but I think it may be safe to assume there isn't much warmth there. Otto after all sees Aegon has something of a pawn, someone to (presumptuously) look highly and favorably on House Hightower should he ascend the throne when Viserys passes.

It's pretty telling how Aegon breaks down in tears when he laments to his mother how no matter what he does it will never be enough for either of his parents. It's even more telling when he asks Alicent on the day of his coronation if she loves him.

Makes one wonder if Alicent ever told him that once in his life.

Despite his tragic and loveless life, it doesn't excuse the fact that Aegon is a toxic person; If Aegon was to become king, it likely would only intensify his toxic behavior. Being king, after all, he wouldn't have to answer to anyone regarding his actions.

But this is not to say Rhaenyra would be much better at ruling. Now one could argue she'd be better on grounds that she actually wants to be Queen since she was named heir. As burdensome as the title of heir is, she seemed to find the idea of ruling as Queen of the Iron Throne appealing on some level, given how she told Rhaenys in Episode 2 that she planned to establish a new order as Queen (prior to Rhaenys doing her best to give Rhaenyra the hard truth that she may end up being disinherited should Viserys remarry and finally produce a son with his wife).

To put it bluntly, Rhaenyra strikes me as something of a girlboss, to put into modern terms, and if she were to rule as Queen, she would likely rule as...well a girlboss.

Additionally, Rhaenyra was never really given the tools to properly prepare to rule as a monarch, to which I would pin the blame on Viserys for that. Since he was the one to name an heir, the onus to prepare said heir to rule should have been on him, but we didn't really see that.

Rhaenyra also didn't really prepare herself either. She had to have known her status as heir did hang in the balance somewhat because of her gender, surely she should've known on some level she would need to fight to show the people she had the makings of a decent ruler. And yes, it sucks that the reason she would need to do that is because she is a woman, but it's still something she should've thought to prepare for.

Instead, Rhaenyra spent the remainder of Viserys' rule on Dragonstone, hiding away from most of the court and unable to form alliances, and then expecting the Lords to swear fealty to her fully once her father passed and she became Queen, not really expecting said lords to take the Greens side and expect Aegon to be king instead.

Now I could argue that Rhaenyra probably was prepared to fight when she proposed that she and Daemon marry, when she told Daemon she needed him by his side to prepare to fight the Greens for her birthright.

And this was something, I think, Daemon took to mean it would be a physical fight, a war, when he started gathering eggs from the Dragonmount for the warming chambers and mentally calculating the number of dragons the Blacks had compared to the Greens in Episode 10, when they really both should've tried to play the game from a political angle.

As much as the Daemyra ship makes me giddy, Daemon may not have been the best match for Rhaenyra from an optics point. He's unhinged, unpredictable, and craves violence above all else. His first instinct is to fight and cause harm.

It really doesn't help that basically the first public thing Daemon did when he and Rhaenyra returned to King's Landing was decapitate a man in Court when he shouted the one thing everyone else was thinking, and basically not being held accountable afterwards (not even a slap on the wrist).

In conclusion, the Blacks and Greens divide is a nuanced combination of personal choices and societal expectations. The Dance of Dragons is a tragedy that was the result from all these choices made by the characters in the story (or not making decisions on Viserys' part), choices that would eventually impact the Targaryen dynasty down the line and ultimately it's decline and eventual downfall.

The discourse is really not about who you think would make a better ruler, or who even deserves to rule...it's about how the choices made impacts the determined the course of the future, and how people are more often than not the products of their surroundings and society at large.

So, which side am I truly?

Honestly, I would rather not choose at all:

To quote a certain brooding witcher (I know wrong franchise) whom I would protect with my whole life:

Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitary. The definition’s blurred. If I’m to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all -the Last Wish

This is not to say I think Rhaenyra or Aegon are evil, lesser or otherwise, both are products of their circumstances, and are also products by the choices they made as well as by the choices of others.

On principle, however, Rhaenyra should be the next ruler of the Iron Throne. Not because she is a woman, but solely because she was named heir by her father the king. Say what you will about Viserys, but he never changed the line succession, he was clear that Rhaenyra is his heir, to question that the line should change in favor in Aegon is...well sexist. Let's not forget Dorne's custom in terms of inheritance is that said inheritance is passed to the firstborn of the family, regardless of gender. (though she was not featured in the GoT show for some reason, Arianne Martell was firstborn, which made her heir to Sunspear), so there's no excuse there.

Anyway this what I have to say about the discorse.

This took a little longer then I anticipated, so apologies, but I really felt like I needed to show my thought process, so thanks for sticking with me. Also this is just my opinion on the whole thing, it's not law or anything like that, so feel free to disagree with me or not. I would love to hear other people's take on this.

Have a nice day!

#hotd #daemon targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #viserys targaryen #jaehaerys targaryen #aegon ii targaryen #aemond targaryen #jacerys velaryon #team green #team black #rhaenys targaryen #laenor velaryon #laena velaryon

[itzynabi]

survival show

summary: in which eve gets made an offer

set: late jan 2018

word count: 1.5k

warnings: mention of food

an: i feel like it’s been 1929283 years but i’m finally posting another scenario. more shineeve for your feed. words in bold are english. feedback and reblogs are much appreciated 💐

eve’s masterlist

Eve poked her head through the office door. “You asked to see me?”

Jinyoung nodded, gesturing at the chair in front of his desk. When she sat down, she leaned back in his chair.

“How are you?” He asked.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“That’s good, that’s good.” He nodded. Clapping his hands, he leaned forward, placing his arms on the desk. “I don’t want to waste your time, so let me get right into it. There’s going to be another season of Produce 101 coming up and Mnet asked me if I had any trainees I’d like on the show and I thought of you.” He pointed at her.

“Um, that’s–”

“I know that you’ve been going through some stuff recently,” he interrupted, “and you probably don’t want to do a survival show, but–” he shrugged his shoulders, leaning back in his chair again– “I figured you could use a distraction.”

Eve nodded slowly, playing with her fingers. “When does it start shooting?”

“Sometime in February or March. It won’t start airing until later, though.” He played with his rings, staring at the trainee. “How about you think about it? Come back to me in… a week?”

“Yeah, okay.” She stood up from her chair. “Thank you,” she said, bowing before she left.

“And what did you say?” Somi asked.

“Nothing,” Eve answered. “He said he’d give me a week to think about it. So, I’m going to think about it.”

The two girls were at a Korean BBQ place, having agreed to meet for dinner. Eve had just told her friend about the offer Jinyoung made her.

“Unnie, you have to do it!” Somi said, making herself another lettuce wrap. “You’d blow the roof off the place, you’re one of the most talented people I know.” She shoved the wrap into her mouth.

Eve watched over the meat as it cooked. “I don’t know.” She sighed. “I just don’t feel ready.”

Somi rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “That was your excuse for not going on Sixteen. I’m beginning to think you don’t want to debut.”

“Yes, I do! I just want to make sure that when I present myself to the world, I’m at my best.”

“Unnie, there’s no way you can be at your best as a trainee. You’re going to learn more as you’re in the industry,” Somi told her. “Have you told your brother?”

Eve shook her head. “I forgot to tell him yesterday and he’s in practises for SHINee’s upcoming concerts.” She said, assembling her own wrap. “I told my parents and they said they’ll support whatever I choose.” She stopped moving, staring Somi in the eye. “My dad very unsubtly said he wants me to say yes.”

Somi burst out laughing, clapping her hands. “Your dad knows what I’m talking about! Unnie, you are too talented to not make your debut.”

Eve hesitated to eat her wrap. “I… whatever!” She exclaimed, showing the wrap in her mouth. “Enough about me,” she said as she chewed. “What’s new with you?”

Somi groaned. “Just trying to negotiate with PD-nim about my solo debut. The usual.”

Eve chuckled, all too aware of her friends’ struggle with seeing eye-to-eye with their CEO. “I think you might just convince him one of these days.”

“You bet?” Somi asked, a hopeful glint in her eyes.

Eve nodded. “Yeah. And if he doesn’t budge, I’ll fight him for you,” she promised, causing the younger girl to smile.

“Thank you, unnie.”

Eve rolled her eyes, a smile gracing her face. “Yeah, yeah. Eat more.” She put more meat on Somi’s plate.

The next day, Eve walked to the elevators of the SM Entertainment building, dragging her school bag as she walked and entered the first one that opened. She went to the floor that SHINee’s practice room was on, knocking on the door when she arrived. There was silence on the other end and then–

“Come in, princess!” Minho shouted.

She entered the room, letting go of her bag when she closed the room. “I’ve arrived,” she said, doing jazz hands. The four men were scattered in the room: Minho by the speakers, Taemin on the bench, Jinki lying starfish on the ground and Kibum staring at himself in the mirror, going over choreography. Her eyes roamed the room some more, looking for a fifth man, but stopped once she remembered.

“We see that.” Minho chuckled.

“Your hair’s so messy,” Taemin said, pointing at her sad excuse for a ballet bun.

She ran her hand through it. “We ran through every dance five times today and did extra strength and conditioning. Teacher Haeun wants us to do the dances in our sleep! Since it’s the senior’s last performance as students, she wants it to be our best one ever.”

“Right!” Taemin exclaimed. “You’re graduating this year!”

“Finally!” She groaned, making Taemin laugh.

“Make sure you don’t work too hard,” Jinki warned, raising his arm in warning.

Eve saluted. “You got it.” She chuckled as he laughed. Looking to Kibum, she shifted on her feet. “Oppa, can I talk to you?”

Kibum stopped going over the choreography, turned around and looked at her. “What’s up?” He asked, walking to her.

She shook her head. “Nothing major. I just need your advice.”

“I can also give you advice!” Minho shouted, walking to the siblings. The three of them sat down on the floor near the door.

“So,” she started, “JYP PD-nim said that he wants to put me on the upcoming season of Produce 48, but I don’t know if I should.”

“Do you want to?” Kibum asked her.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I think about going on the show and I’m scared. I think about not going on the show, and I’m filled with regret.”

“When do you need to answer him?”

“Um…” She checked the date on her phone. “Three days.”

“I think you should do it,” Taemin spoke up from across the room. He walked to the trio, Jinki following behind him, and sat down with them. “You’ll obviously come in first place and debut.”

“You’re way too talented to still be a trainee,” Jinki added.

She pursed her lips in thought. “You think? Because Somi said the same thing, but I don’t know.”

Kibum lightly shoved her shoulder. “Yah! What’s the worst that could happen? And don’t take that as an invitation to start listing out bad things,” he said, stopping Eve from doing exactly that.

Minho squeezed her leg. “You’re just overthinking it.”

“That’s literally all I do,” she said.

“Close your eyes,” Jinki instructed, tapping her incessantly when she didn’t immediately obey. “Take a deep breath.” He waited for her to do as instructed. “Squeeze your hands. Now, roll your shoulders back. What’s your favourite colour?”

“Pink,” she answered.

“Song?”

“1 of 1.”

“Do you want to do the show?”

“Yes– Oh.” She opened her eyes, looking at the oldest member. “Oh.”

“Hyung, you’re like a wizard,” Kibum commented, shifting away from his member. “But now that you know, are you going to do the show?” He asked his sister.

Eve nodded slowly, thinking it through. “Yeah. I think I am.”

Taemin whooped. “Yeah!”

She sat on her heels, leant forward and wrapped the members in a hug. “Thank you ahjussi’s.”

Minho reached up, wrapping his hand around her wrist. “No problem, Nabi.”

Eve knocked on Jinyoung’s office door, entering when he let her. Looking up from the papers on his desk, he smiled at her.

“I assume you thought it over?” He asked.

She nodded her head. “Yes, I did and I would like to do the show.”

His smile got bigger at her words. “That’s great news! I’ll tell the executives.” She nodded, turning to leave the room, but stopped at the sound of his voice. “This is really great. I’m… I’m planning on debuting a girl group,” he told her, “and I wanted you in it, but I wasn’t sure if you were ready. But this will be a good opportunity to test you — see if you’re ready.” He looked down at the papers on his desk. “Your debut in the group will depend on your performance on Produce 48,” he said, “so make sure to do a good job.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, gulping. She couldn’t deny the amount of pressure she felt too do good in order to debut in a permanent group.

He smiled at her once more. “You may go,” he dismissed.

Eve nodded, leaving his office. She walked to the elevator, going down to the practice rooms for her lesson. As she approached her room, she pulled out her phone.

[nabi’s ahjussi’s]

nabi [18:34] i told PD-nim i’d do the survival show

keybutt (ahjussi #3) [18:34] yeah!!!!!!!!!!! woohoo!!!!

taem (ahjussi #5) [18:34] fighting nabi fighting!!

flaming charisma (ahjussi #4) [18:34] we’ll make sure to support you!!!

Eve stifled a laugh when Jinki sent a dancing gif. She turned her phone off, putting it in her dance bag. As she entered the room with the other trainees, she told herself she’d work harder than anyone in the entire trainee system to secure her place in the new girl group.

tagging: @seolboba // @ateezivy // @ateezjuliet // @cafemilk-tea // @smh-anon // @alixnsuperstxr

©️ kim nabi

#itzy 6th member #itzy added member #itzy additional member #itzy member au #kpop added member #kpop addition #kpop oc #kim nabi #eve kim #itzy eve #oneve #keyve #minbi #namin #shineeve #nami

[anqelblccm]

⊹˳⁺ ⠀⠀⠀ YOU’RE  WATCHING  :  WHO  IS  HERO?  THE  STORY  OF  BETRAYAL,  FEATURING  THE  CULPRIT  :  PDX101  ! 

ib.  :  midnight  theories  on  yt  ! 

final  word  count  :  1.4k

warning(s)  :  none  as  far  as  i  know,  but  do  lmk  if  you  find  some  ! 

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ INTRO  ! 

❝  everyone  remembers  the  trainwreck  of  a  survival  show,  aka  the  fourth  and  last  season  of  the  franchise,  PRODUCE  X  101.  and  just  like  that,  everyone  should  know  the  story  about  the  fan’s  favourite,  HERO,  who  reached  far  in  the  show  and  continues  to  do  so  as  a  re-branded  soloist.  you  better  buckle  up  and  grab  the  popcorn  because  this  will  be  a  long  story.  ❞

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ THE  HISTORY  OF  PRODUCE  101  ! 

❝  for  those  kpop  fans  that  haven’t  heard  about  the  PRODUCE  101  franchise  (  which  i’m  still  wondering  because  everyone  knows  about  it  at  this  point  ),  the  franchise  started  back  in  2016  as  a  female  survival  show,  where  one  hundred  and  one  female  trainees  (  hence  the  “one-oh-one”  in  the  show’s  name  )  battled  against  each  other  for  one  of  the  eleven  available  spots  in  a  girl  group  that  would  debut  following  the  last  episode  of  the  show.  the  trainees  would  do  challenges  in  each  episode,  showcasing  their  talents  and  abilities.  by  the  end  of  each  episode,  a  certain  amount  of  trainees  would  pass  into  the  next  round,  while  others  would  simply  be  kicked  out.  terrible  to  be  in  that  position  of  each  episode,  i  know,  but  something  about  this  show  intrigued  people.  oh,  and  before  i  forget,  the  viewers  get  to  decide  which  of  the  trainees  would  go  forward  in  the  show,  despite  it  having  judges  for  each  aspect  (  singing,  rapping  and  dancing  ),  but  before  you  gasp,  remember  that  fact  for  later. 

as  the  years  went  by,  so  did  the  show's  seasons,  up  until  2019,  when  this  video’s  point  begins  too.  for  some  reason,  the  fourth  season  was  named  PRODUCE  X  101,  and  it  was  for  the  male  trainees  to  compete  against  each  other  while  the  creators  of  it  could  sit  back  and  watch  it  all  go  down.  the  show  has  many  controversies,  but  for  now,  we’ll  focus  on  only  one,  or  at  least  try  to. 

the  produce  franchise  was  notorious  for  debuting  strong  project  groups  like  I.O.I,  WANNA  ONE  and  IZ*ONE,  so  people  expected  the  same  for  fourth  season  winners  X1,  only  in  their  case,  everything  ended  in  shambles  only  a  couple  of  months  later.  X1  was  supposed  to  promote  as  a  group  for  two  and  a  half  years  just  like  the  other  three  groups,  yet  they  only  managed  to  release  one  album  (  the  debut  album  )  called  EMERGENCY:  QUANTUM  LEAP.  debuting  in  august  2019,  the  group  promoted  the  title  track  FLASH  as  much  as  possible,  but  with  the  allegations  their  creator  show  received,  they  disbanded  the  following  year  in  january.  what  a  kick  to  2020,  am  i  right?  now  i’m  not  saying  it’s  mnet’s  fault,  but  i  am  one  hundred  per  cent  saying  precisely  that  because  in  july  of  2019  (  before  x1  even  had  a  chance  to  breathe  as  a  group  ),  an  investigation  started  due  to  suspicion  of  voting  manipulations.  ❞

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ THE  VOTING  MANIPULATION  SCANDAL(?)  ! 

❝  remember  when  i  said  that  you  need  to  recall  that  everything  was  decided  by  the  public?  well,  here’s  where  it  all  comes  together.  as  mnet  explained  in  the  first  season,  everything  was  selected  by  the  fans,  from  the  ranks  to  the  final  lineup  that  would  happily  debut.  turns  out  that  mnet  lied  and  wanted  to  change  the  trainees’  positions  as  they  wished  to,  which  was  quite  dumb  of  them  because  they  couldn’t  hide  it  well  enough  and  outed  themselves.  of  course,  the  culprits  were  arrested,  but  too  late,  in  my  opinion.  after  the  scandal  broke  out,  X1  could  do  nothing  but  (  not  so  )  silently  disband,  which  angered  fans  because,  unlike  them,  IZ*ONE  continued  promotions  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  if  you  asked  me  personally,  it  was  fucked  up  from  the  company’s  side  to  abandon  X1  and  only  focus  on  their  sister  group,  but  that’s  another  story  we’re  not  concentrating  on  right  now. 

i  think  i  speak  for  everyone  when  i  say  that  the  fourth  season  was  the  last  straw  because  it’s  when  the  manipulated  ranks  started  to  show.  just  by  releasing  the  total  number  of  votes  following  the  end  of  the  final  episode  of  PRODUCE  X  101,  fans  began  noticing  inconsistencies  for  each  trainee  featured.  every  contestant's  final  vote  was  a  multiple  of  7,494.442,  which,  if  divided  by  the  remaining  trainees,  is  impossible  because  of  how  similar  the  number  was,  and  it  didn’t  mathematically  vary  from  each  contestant.  it  was  on  december  5th  when  it  was  confirmed  that  the  votes  for  IZ*ONE  and  X1  (  and  possibly  I.O.I  and  WANNA  ONE  )  were  manipulated,  making  this  worse  for  the  fans  supporting  them  from  the  start.

to  make  things  worse,  november  18,  2020,  was  when  the  court  released  a  list  of  trainees  that  were  fucked  up  by  the  manipulations,  our  dear  HERO  being  one  of  them.  ❞

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ WHO  IS  HERO  AND  WHY  IS  HE  IMPORTANT  ? 

❝  so,  after  all,  everyone  must  wonder  WHO  THE  FUCK  IS  HERO,  why  and  how  is  he  included  in  this  video.  well,  you  will  know  if  you  wait  just  a  few  seconds.

HERO,  full  name  KWON  EUIWOONG,  was  one  of  the  most  known  contestants  of  the  PRODUCE  101  franchise.  not  much  is  known  about  his  past;  he  did  mention  that  he  didn’t  plan  on  becoming  an  idol  at  first  but  was  later  encouraged  by  his  friend  to  try.  his  final  rank  was  SEVEN  in  the  last  episode,  and  throughout  the  show,  his  levels  were  consistently  high  and  never  got  under  fifth  place.  need  i  remind  you  that  EUIWOONG  has  been  the  fans’  favourite  from  the  start  due  to  his  calm  nature  and  talent  in  singing  and  dancing  (  i  would  say  in  rapping,  too,  but  he  admitted  he  felt  insecure  in  that  aspect  back  then  ).  so  imagine,  to  fans’  shock,  when  he  was  called  onto  the  podium  as  the  group's  SEVENTH  member  instead  of  a  higher  number.

despite  that,  fans  supported  him  along  with  the  group,  which  some  would  say  was  a  mistake  due  to  the  d-word  (  disbandment  )  of  X1.  like  avatar  aang,  he  vanished  from  the  public  and  left  everyone  in  shambles.  he  successfully  avoided  cameras  and  dispatch  for  a  year  and  a  few  months,  which  didn’t  go  well  on  social  media.  back  then,  when  his  fans  were  unnamed  (  now  called  ODDITIES  ),  they  would  boycott  the  company  and  demand  to  know  what  was  going  on  with  their  idol.  and  as  usual,  boycotts  never  worked  for  companies  like  MIGHTY  DEVIL  and  GLASSHOUSE;  it  went  nowhere,  and  their  questions  weren’t  answered.  twitter  almost  went  up  in  flames,  and  everyone  was  seen  posting  the  same  sentence  over  and  over  again:  WHO  KNEW  THIS  WOULD  BE  THE  LAST  TIME  WE  HEAR  OF  X1  AND  HERO  FOR  A  WHILE  (  spoiler  alert:  everyone  knew,  they  just  didn’t  want  to  admit  it  ).

when  the  list  came  out,  fans  could  see  KWON  EUIWOONG  being  mentioned  in  it,  showing  that  he  was  initially  supposed  to  be  in  SECOND  place  and  not  SEVENTH  like  it  was  established  in  the  end.  pissed  and  thirsty  for  revenge,  his  fans  refused  to  support  their  sister  group,  IZ*ONE  and  flooded  the  mnet’s  comment  section  with  negative  words  and  threats.  this,  of  course,  went  almost  unnoticed  by  other  fandoms,  but  it  was  mentioned  a  couple  of  times  when  talking  about  the  whole  shitshow. 

i’m  mentioning  only  HERO  in  this  video  because,  unlike  other  trainees  whose  ranks  went  from  low  to  high,  EUIWOONG’s  went  the  other  way  around,  which  is  the  first  time  that  happened,  from  my  knowledge.  not  only  that,  but  everyone  knew  he  was  too  good  for  SEVENTH  place,  with  his  talents  and  being  named  the  ACE  OF  X1,  but  no  one  had  proof  of  it  until  the  ranks  were  released.  ❞

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ WHERE  IS  HERO  AND  WHAT  IS  HE  DOING  NOW  ? 

❝  the  hiatus  and  disappearance  of  HERO  was  hurtful  to  his  fans  and  other  idols.  his  previous  members  would  say  they  missed  him  and  wish  to  see  him  perform  again,  indicating  he  wasn’t  interacting  with  them  in  private.  for  some  time,  i  thought  that  was  it  for  EUIWOONG’s  career  and  was  ready  to  give  up  when  all  of  a  sudden,  it  was  like  a  blessing  from  the  angels.  the  july  of  2021  started  terrifically  for  us  because  MIGHTY  DEVIL  finally  had  the  balls  to  release  the  news  about  HERO. 

you  might  be  wondering  how  did  the  company  announce  his  return?  well,  they  technically  didn’t;  they  released  his  debut  single  one  day  and  went,  ‘oh,  here  he  is  lol’.  it’s  badass,  in  my  opinion,  because  there  wasn’t  any  pity  shown,  just  a  short  and  straightforward  debut  single  (  which  received  high  praises  and  30m  views  in  the  first  twenty-four  hours,  might  i  add  ),  bringing  attention  to  him  and  waking  up  his  old  fans.

i  know  that  he  just  debuted  (  again  ),  and  i’m  posting  this  way  too  early  (  and  on  his  birthday,  happy  birthday,  hero!  ),  but  i  am  sure  that  he  will  be  okay  and  be  able  to  showcase  his  abilities  as  best  as  he  can.  he’s  still  the  ace,  but  this  time  not  only  of  X1  but  the  whole  industry,  and  he  can  only  go  up  from  here.

interested  in  his  debut  single?  check  it  out  in  the  description,  and  don’t  forget  to  stream,  support  and  love  our  hero  as  much  as  possible.  ❞

#ficnetfairy #𓂃⊹˳⁺ ୭ study. #𓂃⊹˳⁺ ୭ extra. #kpop oc #kpop au #idol oc #fake kpop idol #fake kpop soloist #kpopfanfic #idolverse #oc soloist #fictional oc #fictional oc community

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Episode 0: Getting to Know the Boys Part 2: Team Soul

Hey friends! Continuing my introductory posts about the guys on MNET's Build Up before I can dive into proper recaps, here's the low down on Team Soul -- their background, basic info, and my opinion on their teaser performance (and other performances). (I did Team Allround last time.) Let's go!

Same disclaimers apply -- 1) these are all excellent vocalists and I am just splitting hairs here 2) this is taking forever and screencaps with my video source are tricky, so please forgive my awkward screencaps and occasional typos. Thank you!!

Ma Jaekyung

Jaekyung is 27 and from a group called Romeo, where he was the main vocalist and performed under the name of Kyle. He also appeared on Mixnine, that blighted show that produced a group that never debuted. It was such a fiasco, ugh, and so many trainees went through hell for nothing. Bitsaeon from M.O.N.T. , Jeong Inseong from KNK, and Donghun from A.C.E. all went on that as well, so they all might have gotten friendly then. 

Jaekyung (and the other members of Romeo) also went on Peaktime, a show for idol groups that had already debuted but weren’t super successful, including Vanner (who won!), M.O.N.T, and BDC, so he may have met Taehwan, Bitsaeon (again), and Hong Seongjun. When Romeo was on Peaktime, they performed the SHINee song Juliette, which is a cute choice since that’s the name of their fandom. And then MNET didn’t bother airing that performance. Thanks, MNET! Themnet. 

So, as for his group itself. Romeo was a 7 member group that debuted in May of 2015, when he would have been 18 years old. The group did slightly better in Japan than they did in Korea, but none of their Korean singles charted at all and most of their MVs have fewer than 200,000 views. Their biggest hit appears to be Lovesick. When the guys from Romeo went on Peaktime, they revealed that Romeo had disbanded at some point in the past. 

In Jaekyung’s k-profiles listing, it says he’s” a 4D” kind of guy, so I guess we should watch out for his personality, if MNET will show it. It’s hard to picture a guy in a tan blazer as wacky, but we’ll see!

His teaser song was V25, Passing by Kim Bum Soo. For me, he has a really nasal tone to his singing that isn’t my favorite, and I am not a huge fan of his kind of wobbly vibrato, but like everyone on this show, he’s essentially a very good vocalist, with what seems like a very good sense of pitch. Again, it’s a ballad and my ears sort of turn off, so I’ll keep an open mind. 

Seokhwa

Here is Kang Seokhwa, who is in WEi. He also went on YG Treasure Box, where he would have met CIX’s Seunghwan, and Produce X 101, where he ranked 35th and would have met two of the all rounders on this show, Choi Suhwan and BDC’s Hong Seongjun.

WEi, pronounced something like “we-eye”, is a six member group that debuted in 2020. WEi is almost entirely made up of contestants from Produce 101, Produce X 101, and Under 19, including some who won their seasons. Seokhwa is their main vocal. The WEi song Spray spent some time on my playlists recently, but I don’t know many of their other songs. WEi’s most popular member, Johan, is significantly more popular than the others; he came in first place in Produce X 101. Their videos get around 10-15 million views each, putting them slightly lower in the popularity ranking than CIX and AB6IX, but leagues ahead of IMFACT and Romeo. 

I checked out an MR removed video of Spray and Seokhwa was really stable, so I can see why he’d come on the show. He’s V37, and it’s a ballad and you know me by now so it’s hard for me to give this a chance but he has a sweet voice that sounds best when he’s singing more softly, which can’t be said of everyone on this show. We’ve got a lot of belters here! He strains a bit on the higher notes, and I feel like he closes his throat a bit when he belts, but doesn’t get too nasal, which is good. He’s young yet -- he’s only 23, one of the younger people on the show -- and I hope he keeps working on his voice, because he has a lot of potential. 

Donghun

Donghun will turning 31 at the end of February of this year (2024), and he’s already done his military service.

He is the main vocal of A.C.E., a five member group under Beat Interactive/Swing Entertainment that debuted in 2017 with the song Cactus. Their songs don’t chart in Korea, but they get into the top twenty on the US World Chart, because USA has taste, yo. 

If there’s one song of theirs that I think you’d know it would be Goblin (Favorite Boys). But there’s also Under Cover, which is also a banger. Whoever did the subtitles on their older videos puts the names of the singers in, so you can easily find Donghun in their videos. Some of their older songs have 15-20 million views, but their newest comeback, an English language mid-tempo ballad called Effortless, has less than a million views, maybe because it’s in English? Or because it’s a mid-tempo ballad? I don’t know, if you like Who Do You Love by Monsta X, songs like that, you might like Effortless. Really, their songs are good. I feel like it’s a weird situation where everyone likes A.C.E. but somehow they’re still kind of nugu. I know, that doesn’t make sense. 

Donghun went on Mixnine (he won 8th place and should have debuted), so he probably knows the other Mixnine contestants on this show: Bitsaeon from M.O.N.T., Ma Jaekhyung from Romeo, and Jeong Inseong from KNK. He may also know Park Jeup from when they both went on I Can See Your Voice 4.

He set himself up for a tough time by singing an EXO song for his teaser song (V20, Miracles in December). Literally no one can sing it like they can. Still, he does pretty well. He has an appealing warm vocal color and he really goes for that long held note, holding it with good breath support. I just worry because I can almost feel his throat straining on the higher notes. He hits them, but it’s got to hurt. He also relies on some pretty loud background vocals so it’s harder to tell how much of it is live. Despite that, he’s an excellent idol singer and I’ll always support A.C.E. and him.

Lee Minwook

Minwook is 23 and is in a group called Newkidd. I guess he likes vests? What, oh what, what on earth is up with the styling for these guys? Most of them are dressed like they’re going to a college interview. I don’t get it!  

As far as I know, Minwook hasn’t been on any other survival type shows, making him one of the 15 members of the cast who haven’t (and 4 of those are musical actors). 

Newkidd is a 7 member group under J-FLO Entertainment, an agency that manages only them, and the debuted in 2019. Most of their MVs get a million views or fewer. From what I can tell, their most popular song is Tu Eres, featuring the Spanish refrain “tu eres, tu eres, tu eres bonita” (you are, you are, you are pretty). The comments on the video are mostly in Spanish and show a lot of excitement about hearing Spanish in a Kpop song, and I can’t blame them! Representation! So maybe Newkidd is more popular in Spanish speaking countries and is courting that market. That’s smart -- it’s a huge market! 

In his teaser, Minwook was V09, The Manuel by Eddy Kim, an example of a ballad I actually like -- it has some interesting chord progressions and isn’t sappy at all. I also like his performance. He seems to just be singing live while accompanied by just one guitar, which gives me faith in his vocals. I think his voice might be more “unique” than “soul” but these categories are pretty reductive anyway. He puts a lot of warmth into his lower notes and makes you almost feel like you understand what he’s singing. He doesn’t display his higher register or belt as much here, so I’ll be waiting to see more of what he can do. 

Lim Sanghyun

Sanghyun is listed as a singer-songwriter, and he’s 27. He’s considered a ballad artist specifically, and is signed to MNH entertainment, where he releases mostly digital singles. I know the ballad market in Korea is really big, even if it’s not my favorite, so go for it, Sanghyun! 

His teaser was V14, one of those kinds of ballads I hate so much that it’s hard for me to be fair. He sings in that classic K-ballad style, that kind of gruff whisper-sing, which can go either way for me depending on the song.I don’t think he ever really lets go and belts in his teaser, so I’ll be curious to hear what that would sound like. 

Bain

This is Bain, age 22, and I adore his voice. (His name is pronounced “bane”, if you’re wondering, based on the hangul.) 

Let me talk about him for a moment. 

No, wait. Instead of me talking, you should just listen to this. It’s just a straight forward, earnest cover of Oliva Rodrigo’s Driver’s License, with no winky “ha ha I’m a boy singing this,” no sarcasm. Just a pure performance. His vibrato is so sweet. He exhibits barely a trace of nasality, and when it’s present, it’s for the emotion of the song. The notes he hits in his full chest voice? I can’t believe it. And his mixed register is like, chef’s kiss. I can’t. I just can’t. I’d never heard of him before this show, but I heard this performance and I was good. Even my fella was like, “wow, this guy has technique.” So you’re going to have to accept that I’m a Bain fan and will be cheering for him. 

I had to look into Just B. They’re a 6 member group under Bluedot Entertainment, a subdivision of Kakao that manages only them. They debuted into 2021, and their members were contestants on Under 19, I-land, and a few other survival shows. (Side note: I watched a lot of I-land, but never saw any of Under 19. Starting to think I should add it to the list.) JustB has a few title tracks out at this point and they usually get about 10 millions views each. I listened to a few of them over the last few days (it’s taking me a while to write this recap) and I’ve come to like a few of their songs. Their most recent comeback is called Medusa, and though the lyrics make negative amounts of sense, it’s pretty catchy. I also liked Damage quite a bit. The group doesn’t seem to have set positions, but it seems that Bain and Geonu are more or less the main vocals. 

Jay

Jay Chang, V02, age 22, famous for almost making it into Zerobase1, landing in 10th place. He’s American, with a white-Filipino-Chinese ethnic background, and on Boys Planet, he was extremely popular among the “Global” voters, but not very popular among the Korean voters. He also went on another show called Under 19 at some point, if you watched that -- I didn’t, but maybe I should. In case you didn’t watch Boys Planet, here is his initial audition to Rush Hour,and here is his performance of Exo’s Love Me Right (he was main vocal).

I know that most of my 3 or 4 readers are Jay fans, and that is cool by me. I’ve always thought he has a really really lovely, clean vocal color, he has good stage presence, and I think he’s basically a nice guy, though he sorta gives me fuckboi vibes sometimes. I also think -- and don’t get mad at me, ok? -- I also think that he needs to work on his pitchiness and nasality. That’s true in both the opening notes of his Rush Hour audition, and at points in his Baby Baby teaser song. He was one of the top 3 or 4 vocalists among the Boys Planet boys, but he’s in a different setting now and might just be outsung by the other vocalists here. I hope that you’re ok with that. I’m not saying that he’s a bad singer. Everyone on this show is a very good singer, and Jay is also a very good singer! I’m just looking for a voice that can compete with D.O.’s voice, and my standards are up in the sky. (Hanuel wilo fly fly!)

Jung Soomin

Jung Soo-min loves slightly goofy, informal outfits that scream “Hi, I’m American!” Which he is -- born in Chicago. That's about all I know about his background.

Check out his performance, V30, a really sweet cover of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You,” in which he accompanies himself on the guitar. I think it speaks for itself, but I’ll say a few words anyway. I really like his voice -- sweet, light, a little textured. Great agility, and good performance of the emotion/feeling of the words. Just delightful. I’ll forgive your hat. 

Here he is on tiktok talking bout his experience on the show (in English). He says that his attitude toward competition is to just do the best he can, that the competition is really with himself. He seems like a nice guy.

Kim Seongjeong

Seongjeong is a musical actor, and his performance in V16 shows that. It’s not a style of singing that I tend to respond to, but I respect its natural quality and hard-earned technique. Vocally, he wouldn’t at all be out of place on Broadway. Considering his rich timbre and excellent breath support, I’d be interested to hear him sing something more in the pop or r&b style to see what it would sound like. My sleuthing tells me that he’s 25 (born in 1999) and acted in Hadestown and West Side Story. And look at that smile! Totally transforms his face. 

Park Joohee

Joohee is another one of the contestants I just can’t find much info on. His teaser song was V15, Stand by Me by SHINee, and it was perfectly nice. Not mind blowing, but easy to listen to. He has good agility and a nice vocal color, but seems to lack breath support -- either that, or he was just really nervous, which seems likely.  Also, the camera hardly ever shows him, so it was really hard to get a screencap of him.

Ok, that's team Soul! Feel free to go on to the next post, Team Power.

And thanks for your amazing response to my first post -- I was really worried you all would murder me for saying slightly negative things and thus far that hasn't happened, so thanks! You're all peaches. Have a beautiful day.

#bpr recaps build up #mnet build up #build up mnet #park joohee #kim seongjeong #jung soomin #jay #jay chang #boys planet jay #bain #just b #lim sanghyun #lee minwook #A.C.E. #Donghun #WEi #Seokhwa #wei seokhwa #ma jaekhyung

[exilology]

SEASONS OF HER, PT.1 is the DEBUT mini album by EXILE HER. the mini album was released on JUNE 15, 2018 by KQ entertainment. the album features EIGHT songs with two title tracks GASHINA and HUSH RUSH. the mini album was promoted for FOUR weeks with each title track getting TWO weeks each. GASHINA managed a total of FIVE wins while HUSH RUSH received ZERO wins. GASHINA did sufficiently better than HUSH RUSH and managed to get EXILE HER her first win and is considered one of the MOST POPULAR SONGS OF 2018.

– TRACK LIST.

HANN (ALONE IN THE WINTER) – 2 : 55

DEAR NAME – 4 : 49

HUSH RUSH – 3 : 27 [TITLE]

RESET – 3 : 02

GASHINA – 3 : 00 [TITLE]

BLOOD MOON – 3 : 14

WHERE IS LOVE – 2 : 57

listen to the full mini album here.

– ALBUM VERSIONS & INCLUSIONS.

SPRING VERS : " the spring of me " photobook ( 107 pages ) + one random photocard out of six + one random mini poster out of four + one random poster out of three + six postcards + stickers + spring diary SUMMER VERS : " the summer of me " photobook ( 107 pages ) + one random photocard out of six + one random mini poster out of four + one random poster out of three + six postcards + stickers + summer diary

– STYLING.

– ERA NOTES.

you were one of the most anticipated debuts of 2018. mainly because you were such a fan favorite on PRODUCE 101 despite not winning. but netizens were keeping an eye on you even after the show and so to see you finally debuting was nice to see for a lot of them.

your debut mini album charted well when it was first released and managed to debut at #30 on the BILLBOARD TOP 100. GASHINA debuted at #4 and HUSH RUSH debuted at #56 on GAON MUSIC CHART. speaking of gashina, that song was EVERYWHERE. you couldn't go anywhere in korea without hearing it playing from several different stores or on the radio. you were surprised by how well it charted as you honestly weren't expecting it.

during this era, you appeared on several variety shows and many netizens praised you for your camera ready personality and how well you were able to talk and have conversations with the mcs.

along with the variety shows, you also filmed several vlogs and videos for your youtube channel. there seemed to be a video every other day and IXLUVS were being FEED with content. you also had several interactions with the ATEEZ who were preparing for their debut later in the year. many fans thought the interactions between you all were sweet and commented on how you had good chemistry with all of them.

GASHINA was also nominated for SONG OF THE YEAR at several award shows; however, it didn't win. you were also nominated for BEST NEW FEMALE ARTIST at those same award shows and managed to win.

– MUSIC VIDEOS.

'Gashina' 'Hush Rush'

#exile her : discography #era : seasons of her pt.1 #ateez ninth member #ateez addition #idol au #kpop addition #kpop oc soloist #idol!reader #poly ateez x reader #ateez added member

[vyvesvi]

(copying this over from my twitter)

pd101 japan s3 mdh steal list + where i want various trainees to go

yoshida hana would do well at starship

yamazaki mitsuki will probably quit music but in my head she could be in a ninemuses-esque group with ando chiharu, koyama mana, tanaka yuuki

i follow a talent scout/trainer who's actively trying to get moro anon a kpop job so

motohashi meika mdh steal list first inductee

i dont care for mizukami rimika. she should start a yt channel if she hasn't already

matsushita miyu isn't for me but maybe she could join the ninemuses reup

fujimoto ayaka was well-liked enough to have a future somewhere. idk where, but somewhere

hatta mena has some issues but i do think she can still debut somewhere

i have no idea where nakano kokona can go but that's baby sister so i want good things for her. maybe the chanmina show? that's the only japanese survival show in the works that i can think of, plus she suits the vibe

i was convinced that takahashi hina and abe nagomi were gonna be 12 & 13 and be frontrunners for the lapone spin off group but they usually dont bother with people who don't make the finale...my non fact based opinion is that a group with these two and a couple others who were eliminated would still do better than a group of the finalists. as it stands, hina should try for the next korean season of pd101, and nagomi will have a future in jpop, even though the idea of splitting them hurts my head.

i loved takagi mayu but her brief foray into the entertainment world is over i fear

sutani yurara would probably hate it conceptually but im zapping her with my ninemuses ray. sorry.

i don't know what to do with sasaki tsukushi but she needs a win and bad. chanmina show? if keiko and rinon weren't fighting for top 11 id say debut them as a trio, i enjoyed their team's balance on bijin a lot

saito serina...i really like her but idk what to do with her. she has great idol potential and fits kbeauty standards more than jpop standards...maybe the next korean season of produce? she's like 45% mdh steal list but that's my bias talking

kano kurihara ninemuses beam

i kind of love kitazume sakura, she's cute but extremely intense & she tries to hide it by simply not saying anything but it still shines through. i think she's great. produce 101 korea just to see, she shouts instead of sings but honestly she gives izone

kikukawa aki...she's fun but she gives flop group, like majors or something tbh

no idea how nogizaka works but kawabata ranka should aim for something like that

kamio ayano reminds me so much of zhang zining it's crazy. if she had a storyline i think she would've debuted but she just never caught on. she would be a great gg member but im not sure where

oda aruha my beloved disappointment. if she had held on a lil longer she couldnt made lapone trainee status but alas. i could see her just working in dance moving forward

okabe nana could be scouted by someone, maybe akb idk

uchiyama rin might not have a future in music but it's kind of a shame since she has such a nice lower register

ando yui my little sister...idk what to do with her so im gonna blindly put her in mdh jpn ngg and say it makes sense because having 2 yui's would be cute

aramaki joa's push was too obvious and she paid the price, but there's no way she's not being kept on as a lapone trainee or getting offers, finals or not. i actually think her vibe sort of suits tripleS although im not expecting anyone from this show to join

i quite liked akiyama ema, something about her reminded me of jihyo but she never fully caught the audience's attention so unfortunately she might just dance from here on out

to be very real i hope suzu fans dont panic vote her into the top 11. she definitely has a future at lapone.

honestly some company is gonna take half the finalists and throw them in a group together regardless of fit so given they dont make top 11 but disregarding that...

sorry i want shizuku to go back to opera

momoka should go on chanmina's show and then transition into an iri copy, she'd actually do sooooo well with that but if she wants a gg...my ninemuses team is only at 7 rn

haruka will get an offer somewhere

koto & rio lapone, kagura too but i want her for the gg im building in my head

in sum:

discount nine muses: yamazaki mitsuki, ando chiharu, koyama mana, tanaka yuuki, sutani yurara, kurihara kano, kamio ayano, kenmotsu nano, kato kagura

mdh: motohashi meika

sorta mdh but not really: saito serina, ando yui, aramaki joa

final top 11 in my brain: momona, miu, rinon, ran ayane, tsuzumi, kokona, kokoro, rin, keiko, and rino (im delusional)

#produce 101 japan #produce 101 jp the girls #pd101 #pd101 japan #t watches tv

[tamapalace]

Miu Sakurai & Hidaka Hazuki Spotted Wearing Tamagotchi Original on Produce 101 Japan The Girls

Miu Sakurai & Hidaka Hazuki are two participants of a Japanese reality television survival show Produce 101 Japan The Girls. In its third season, the show brings tougher 101 contestants with the intention of producing a permanent eleven-member girl group.

Both Miu Sakurai & Hidaka Hazuki were spotted wearing Tamagotchi Original’s hanging from their overalls during a recent performance.

#tamapalace #tamagotchi #tmgc #tamagotchioriginal #tamagotchi original #original #tamatag #virtualpet #bandai #japan #jp #produce101japanthegirls #produce 101 japan the girls #tv

[thiemrossi]

INDYCAR 101 PART 3 RESOURCE MASTERPOST: a 2023 guide to indycar by @thiemrossi

hi, hello, happy race week! If you want to start watching indycar this season but don't know where to start, this is for you. I couldn't cover everything, so I tried to focus on the drivers because there are so many unrecognized great personalities in indycar. If you have questions about anything on here or other stuff I didn't mention, feel free to ask me, I'm happy to help! This will also be multiple parts, so I'll link them all below

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3

This info was originally on slides, but I am just going to share it as text here. So, part 3 is a "how to find out more" masterpost.

Where can I learn more about drivers? (Long-Form Content)

Off Track with Hinch & Rossi Podcast & Bonus content on Youtube

The Vibe: Long-form, unstructured, casual, funny, feels like 3 friends hanging out & talking

Weekly podcast (Thursdays) with best friends Alexander Rossi (current IndyCar driver) and James Hinchcliffe (former driver, current NBC commentator) where they discuss their lives, IndyCar, & other racing with a healthy dose of banter that descends into wonderful absolute chaos in the off season

Fun for new fans & a great way to get to know two key personalities in the series especially if you listen after a race weekend

But you will miss inside jokes (which make it more fun) if you haven’t listened to the old episodes, so I highly recommend going back and listening to those if you have time

Speed Street Podcast with Conor Daly & Joey Mulinaro (full episodes also on Youtube)

The Vibe: Long-form, semi-structured, funny, honest, & casual but also journalistic

Weekly podcast (Wednesdays) with friends Conor Daly (IndyCar Driver) & Joey Mulinaro (Comedian, Journalist) with commentary and interviews from all racing series

Great way to get to know Conor & the drivers he interviews plus get great insider insight into race weekends

Conor also just talks in a very entertaining way that I find very funny

Dinner with Racers Podcast

The Vibe: VERY long-form, unstructured, casual, personal

Hosts Sean and Ryan get to know various figures in racing through long form unstructured conversations over dinner 

These guys REALLY get drivers to open up & are very funny with it

All of the IndyCar driver/series figures episodes are great I highly recommend them

Trackside Podcast/Radio Show

The Vibe: structured, journalistic, informative

Weekly Indianapolis Radio Show with NBC commentator Kevin Lee and IndyCar VP Curt Cavin with series news and driver interviews (also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts)

They're probably the best series news podcast imo because they discuss things in an engaging way & give info we may not have heard yet

The Marshall Pruett Podcast: This Week in IndyCar

The Vibe: structured-ish, journalistic but can be casual

Weekly updates about the series, answering questions, driver interviews

Marshall has great insight but his podcasts can be hard to listen to because he rambles and talks slow, but the info is generally good & accurate

COMING SOON: 100 Days to Indy

IndyCar Docuseries produced by Vice and the CW following the lead up to the 107th Indianapolis 500 premieres April 27th at 9pm EST on the CW (will be available internationally as well)

Where can I learn more about drivers? (Short-Form Content)

Bus Bros with Josef Newgarden & Scott McLaughlin

The Vibe: Medium-form, structured but casual and fun, essentially a comedy show

IndyCar drivers Josef & Scott try local foods, interview fans, tour other drivers/fans motorhomes, read mean tweets etc.

Super fun for new fans so highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t already!

If you want to see drivers having fun & showing their personalities this one is for you

Romain Grosjean Youtube

The Vibe: Short-form, technical, comparative Has a couple driver interviews (Pato, Scott McLaughlin, Conor Daly) but a lot of videos demonstrating technical differences between IndyCar and F1 if that's something you're interested in

All of these are behind the scenes during race weekends

Admit1 with Josef Newgarden You Don’t Know Jack with Jack HarveyPato O’Ward YouTubeIndyCar Inside the RaceArrow McLaren YouTubeJuncos Hollinger YouTubeOutside the Line Andretti YouTube

How to watch IndyCar

United States

 All practices, qualifying, & races available live & on replay with a Peacock subscription

All races (except Toronto which is Peacock exclusive) are also broadcast live on network TV on NBC or USA network

Canada

TSN & TSN+ (this is new I think)

Australia

Stan Sport *looks* to be similar to peacock they’ll carry practice, qualifying, races & replays this season

UK

SkySportsF1 broadcasts most of the races but from what I understand they won’t cut to IndyCar if F1 post-race is still happening & have also heard they sometimes replay the F1 race over indycar :/

According to IndyCar, you can subscribe to IndyCar Live to watch practice and qualifying but no clue how much additional cost that would be or if it actually works

Latin America (except Belize and the Carribean Islands)

ESPN (unclear if they’ll carry all sessions)

Elsewhere:

Check here 

if your country does not have a race broadcaster IndyCar live will probably be available & even if they do, it might still be available to watch practice and qualifying 

Here's NBC's graphic with the race schedule but download the IndyCar app!!! it is the most helpful race weekend resource to have!! It has all the session times & driver radios are free to listen to during races if you make an account!! you can also listen to the radio feed of the whole race (at least in the US) & check championship standings live!! it's one thing this series does right!! download it!!

Thanks for reading I hope you found these posts helpful & if you have questions feel to ask me!

#indycar #marcus armstrong #callum ilott #josef newgarden #alexander rossi #motorsports #motorsport #f2 #christian lundgaard #scott mclaughlin #formula 2 #indy 500 #racing #david malukas #conor daly #pato o'ward #arrow mclaren sp #arrow mclaren #felix rosenqvist #andretti #colton herta #romain grosjean #team penske

[soraontop]

seon liking sora from her ioi times makes sense bc he was actually on produce 101 season 2, so she's a sunbae to him in that regard! of the other ilanders i could also see kyungmin (he moved to mnh, chungha's old company [which like. fawk mnh but he and the other boys in his group 8turn clearly have a lot of love for her as an artist and senior]) and echan (previously known as jaebeom, known for liking female artists) being fans of her before meeting her on the show (you mentioned taki and k but honestly i don't think taki would have been that aware of the female idol world at the time of i-land, mostly because of how young and fresh he was as a trainee, and i don't think k was that into it either [and if he did know and like ioi he probably would have been a nayoung/chungha stan who thought sora was cute, but that's all]. i could also see geonu and hanbin (another gg stan) being fans as well. of the enhypen members, i think the most likely enhypen member to have been her fan previously is sunoo (and i REALLY think she would have been his bias), maybe heeseung as well? (honestly i don't think jake would have known her at all, just because his idol knowledge pre moving to korea to become a trainee seems really male artist focused; he's the member who listens to korean artists the least and when he does they seem to be male artists. ni-ki could also MAYBE fall into this camp but he was a lil gg stan when he was young so i think he would have been aware of her, even if he didn't necessarily follow ioi).

idk the trainees that well so i will take ur word for it hehe. i dont think ill ever want to write the iland episodes so it doesn’t technically matter (to me at least cause i dont even like thinking about iland most of the time lol) but i do agree about sunoo and ni-ki !! sunoo, no doubt. ni-ki, he’d probably know some members and remember choreo but didn’t really stan. jake probably wouldnt, he’d know of them (maybe? depending on what he saw/how far back in time) but id think he probably wouldnt realize it until someone mentioned it after her first evaluation lol. bc i know new stans dont even know ioi existed in the first place so i wouldnt doubt that jake didnt know either. but right, i think thats it cause idk i cant exactly see any of enha being an avid gg stan except those two yknow?

#the only way id ever write the iland episodes is if it was for like character development lol #˖ ࣪ . ࿐ ♡ ˚ . not sora ⌗ asks

[therafanatics]

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY ON RAFAEL CASAL

Rafael Santiago Casal is an American writer, rapper, actor, producer, director and showrunner originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also an online creator of poetry, music, web shorts and political commentary.

Raised between Berkeley and Oakland in California, Casal was able to build a respectable career, starting his apprenticeship as a slam poet at HBO's Def Poetry Jam and moving on to various fields of entertainment.

In the past he was a two-time champion of the Brave New Voice Poetry Slam Festival.

Among his most famous poems we remember:

Barbie & Ken 101

A.D.D.

Monster

Rafael is also known for being the collaborative partner and longtime friend with Daveed Diggs, also from the Bay Area and best known for his role as the Marquis de Lafayette in the musical "Hamilton." Their first album "THE BAY BOY Mixtape" will be the beginning of a long series of musical featurings.

Furthermore, both are co-founders of the BARS Workshop: a theater program to hone the skills of emerging writers and actors through verse. The latest season dates back to 2020.

Casal and Diggs even collaborated as actors and screenwriters in the 2018 film "Blindspotting" and from which the TV series of the same name was subsequently based, divided into two seasons. (2021/2022)

Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal in their respective roles of Collin Hoskins and Miles Turner in Blindspotting. (2018)

On a cinematic level, Casal is also known for playing a former student in the 2019 film "Bad Education" with Hugh Jackman as his old high school teacher and love interest. In the same year he debuted in the reboot of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" in the guise of Mr. Tophat as the main villain of the series. In 2020 he plays a minor role in "The Good Lord Bird."

On October 6, 2023, he arrives for the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a minor antagonist in the second season of Loki.

Rafael Casal as Brad Wolfe/Hunter X-5 in "Loki Season 2." (2023)

On May 3, 2024 he will return to the cinema in the role of O.E. Parker in "Wildcat", a film based on the life and stories of American writer Flannery O'Connor.

Being also active in the world of music, Rafael Casal has released several solo mixtapes online: "As Good As Your Word" (2008), "Monster" (2009) and "Mean Ones." (2012)

While among the most recent singles we list:

"Bad Egg" (2017)

"Oxygen" (2019)

"Quicksand" (2021)

Rafael has demonstrated that he can also manage as a Youtuber, publishing the following Web Series:

The Away Team

Hobbes & Me

The Rafatics (As a political commentator)

Warnings: This biography is nothing less than a brief summary, for more information see elsewhere.

You can follow Rafael Casal on:

Instagram

Twitter/X

YouTube

TikTok

Spotify

Soundcloud

#rafael casal #biography #welcome everyone #the rafanatics #singer #musician #songwriter #writer #showrunner #slam poet #poet #bay boy #producer #artist #bay area